Shimura Zha said quietly, "Clan Head, Ganfū's battalion has been confirmed dead!"
His heart bled as he spoke.
The core of Shimura Ganfū's Assault Battalion consisted of the Shimura Clan's main fighting force.
The Battalion Commander, all four Squadron Commanders, and more than half the squad leaders were Shimura Clan ninja.
The clan had spent dearly to train those leaders. They were its present and its future.
Shimura Ganfū himself was an Elite Jonin skilled in Wind Release.
His battalion had completed more than twenty S-rank missions. It was one of the clan's pillars.
How could a battalion like that have been wiped out?
Danzo glanced sideways at Shimura Zha, who hurriedly explained, "Four Village spies exposed themselves and died to get the information out. A fifth finally sent back the report.
The Stone Ninja recovered the bodies of everyone in Ganfū's battalion!
According to them, the battalion was killed by a Stone Ninja Squadron and three Rain Ninja.
The Stone Ninja may simply have been a squadron Ganfū's battalion ran into. There was nothing unusual about them. But those three Rain
Ninja were exceptionally skilled with swords and incredibly strong."
"Rain Ninja? Has Ōnoki contacted Hanzō? Has Hanzō entered the war?"
Danzo's expression turned grave. Ōnoki was cunning and often gained the upper hand in war by hiring or buying others off.
If Hanzō joined the war, fewer than a thousand ninja would never be enough to hold the Land of Rain front against him.
Hanzō had made the Hidden Leaf Village suffer bitterly during the Second Shinobi World War.
This was a serious problem. Shimura Zha continued, "Clan Head, Uchiha Ling has returned to camp. Shimura Ganfū's Assault Battalion entered the Land of Waterfalls intending to find a chance to kill him.
Uchiha Ling had dared to inherit