"Thank you, sir!"
The merchant bowed to him once more. Reto waved him off indifferently, then turned and vanished into the windblown yellow sands. Inside a carriage, Mingye poked his head out and looked at the merchant returning to the caravan. "That was Reto!?"
The merchant nodded with a smile. Perhaps because he was delighted to have been saved from the sandstorm, he answered Madara's question without the slightest hesitation. "Yes! He's the most famous ninja in the Land of Wind. Calling him a great hero would not be an exaggeration. Everything he does is for the common people of every village. Don't underestimate him—he holds considerable prestige in the Land of Wind!"
Mingye nodded, then lowered the iron curtain again. Lying in the carriage, he smiled with amusement and muttered to himself, "Of course I wouldn't underestimate him. I didn't expect all the people who were supposed to appear to show up. Heh, this journey is turning out to be quite enjoyable!"
Less than ten minutes after the traveling merchants left, Reto reappeared at the place where they had stopped, his expression blank. Two ninjas flickered into view beside him and knelt behind him.
"My lord, we found no trace of ninjas. They were just an ordinary group of traveling merchants."
Reto's expression darkened with anger. Even from this distant place, he knew very well what Konoha's ninjas had done in the Land of Lightning. He had not only been shocked by Konoha's formidable strength, but had also discovered the young Konoha ninjas who had infiltrated the Land of Wind. Yet just as he hesitated, those ninjas had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. This deeply worried Reto. The barren Land of Wind simply could not contend with the Land of Fire, and the ninjas of