Two days later, Kicho and his team officially arrived at Kusagakure in Land of Grass.
There are not many people accompanying him, there are only nine people including Kicho, but everyone who comes is Jonin or Upper Samurai.
"What a run-down village..."
Arriving at Kusagakure, Kicho Although she had heard that the small country's ninja village was relatively poor, after witnessing the real scene with her own eyes, it still exceeded her expectations.
The roads are muddy, and most of the houses are made of wood. Some are even built crookedly with steel plates. The construction is very rough. If the wind is slightly stronger, such houses may be blown around.
At this moment, every household has closed its doors and windows, and pairs of eyes can be seen behind the windows, showing vigilant gazes.
As Kicho went deeper into Kusagakure, we saw potholes where the smoke had not dissipated. The further we went in, the denser the ruins became.
Torn pieces of wood, twisted steel, and some two or three-year-old children covered in blood and stains were sitting in the mud puddle with no shelter and no adults to care for them.
They revealed pairs of black eyes like marbles and looked around confusedly, as if they found the surrounding scene very interesting. They occasionally smiled at Kicho and others passing by, and then started to cry loudly with wrinkled faces.
All these scenes tell that not long ago, this village was experiencing a war.
"I am Kyoukotsu, the new village chief of Kusagakure. Welcome everyone."
A middle-aged man in his forties met with several Grass Ninja, Kicho and others.
The location is outside the office building. It's not that I don't want to be close to it inside the office building, but the entire office building and nearby areas have been severely damaged. Even the place where I sit is a temporary steel hut.
"New village chief?"
Kicho, who originally wanted to ask something, suddenly got stuck.
"Yes." Kyoukotsu nodded slightly sadly and said, "A few days ago, an unknown force attacked the village, and some cadres defected before the battle. Although the enemy was finally repelled, we ourselves also suffered heavy losses. The previous leader died in that war."
He briefly and comprehensively explained the current situation of Kusagakure.
This made Kicho not know what to say for a while. The words he had originally prepared seemed a bit inappropriate to put forward now.
"Please have your condolences."
"Don't worry, we will get through it. However, I have already anticipated your arrival."
Kyoukotsu twitched the corner of his mouth bitterly, as if he knew something.
"Oh?"
Kicho is a little surprised.
"Anyway, come with me first. You will understand when you see that person."
After saying that, Kyoukotsu turned around and led the way.
Kicho hesitated for a moment and followed, but gave the people behind him a wink to ask them to pay attention to their surroundings.
Kyoukotsu doesn't seem to care about the actions here at all. The fatigue on his face is obvious. He may not have slept for several days.
Not long after, Kyoukotsu took Kicho and others to a temporary iron house made of steel plates. There were various documents and scrolls piled up scattered in the room. The number was very large. Kicho could tell at a glance that this was Kusagakure's database.
What surprised Kicho the most was that she met a familiar person here.
With a tall and thin body and an expressionless face, he is Iwagakure's Tsuchikage escort - none.
He and several Iwagakure ninjas were working on the desk, flipping through information and documents in their hands, as if they were looking for something.
Not noticing the movement, I looked up and was very surprised to see Kicho.
He didn't know what the Land of Night people were doing when they came to Kusagakure at this time.
"Mr. None."
Kicho came up and said hello.
"Hello, are you the only one here?"
No curiosity about the purpose of Kicho coming here.
Kicho nodded, then looked at Kyoukotsu, the doubts in her heart needed explanation.
Kyoukotsu took a step forward and explained, "Not long ago, one of our Kusagakure, Jonin, who has been missing for almost a month, was arrested on suspicion of assassinating Mr. Tsuchikage. Mr. Wu is here to find some information about that Jonin."
Kicho: "..."
Although she had already guessed that Kusagakure might have been tricked, she did not expect that things would turn out to be so abstract.
"I would like to know some information about your village Black Fang Jonin."
Kicho expressed his attitude directly to Kyoukotsu.
Black Fang, the assassin who was punched to death by Hisana, was also Jonin who had previously signed a series of trade cooperation agreements with Land of Night on behalf of Kusagakure.
Land of Night has limited knowledge of his situation and can only seek more detailed information from Kusagakure.
As he said that, Kicho also took out a photo.
"Black Fang..." Kyoukotsu looked at the face in the photo, frowned, and then relaxed, "He is indeed a ninja in our village. He has extraordinary skills in assassination and Transformation Technique By coincidence, he was promoted to Special Jonin. But half a month ago, we suddenly couldn't contact him. Unexpectedly... Mrs. Kicho, can you tell me what he did at Land of Night?"
Because the news of Hisana's assassination was blocked, and the impact of the assassination was not large, and not many people knew about it, Kusagakure was definitely not among them.
Kicho did not hide anything and told Kyoukotsu the truth.
Kyoukotsu took a deep breath, the general's side room, Uzumaki Clan was born, suspected to be Seven-Tails Jinchuriki... Although he knew that the missing Black Fang must have done nothing good in Land of Night, he did not expect that the matter would become so big.
'The problem is not big. Compared with the seriousness of the assassination of Tsuchikage, the problem here is easy to solve...'
Kyoukotsu can only take pleasure in hardship.
If there was no such thing as the assassination of Tsuchikage, it would indeed be more troublesome to deal with the matter of Land of Night, but now that I look at it, Kyoukotsu feels that it doesn't matter anymore.
Soon, Kicho led people to join the search for information.
The main purpose is to investigate the interpersonal relationships and recent movements of the assassin Black Fang, hoping to find some clues and unearth the main messenger behind it.
Kusagakure has been put into such a tragic situation. The previous leaders were all killed in battles. Most of them were not directing or acting, otherwise the price would be too high.
And from the beginning, Kusagakure was not within the scope of suspicion of Yayoi and Kicho.
It's just that these things are coincidentally related to Kusagakure. In essence, as long as Kusagakure gives a satisfactory answer, Land of Night will not hold on to it.
◎
Three days later.
Kicho returned to Land of Night with complete information about Kusagakure Special Jonin Black Fang and the promise that Grass Ninja's new leader Kyoukotsu would make a public apology soon.
At the same time, the new leader of Kusagakure, Kyoukotsu, also defined Black Fang as a rebellious ninja and quickly cut him off.
As for the issue of compensation, in Kicho's opinion, it's just a matter of taking your time. Kusagakure is currently in a state of exhaustion and the village system is half paralyzed. Even if he wanted to compensate, he simply couldn't do it.
"I didn't expect there was a problem at Iwagakure..."
In Tenshu Tower, after listening to Kicho's report, Yayoi was surprised that Wu appeared in Kusagakure.
It seems that it is not just Land of Night, but the people behind the scenes are really provocative and have already begun to attack Five Great Nations.
Some plans don't need to be complete and thorough. It's enough to kill important personnel and be effective.
Especially for this kind of plan where you can tell at a glance that someone is trying to sow discord between various countries. The people behind the scenes don't need to make elaborate arrangements, as long as it works.
And the fact is indeed the case. Although Land of Night and Kusagakure successfully ended the matter, there is still no timetable for when they will resume cooperation. Even if they cooperate, they may feel a little uncomfortable in the next period of time, and it is inevitable to look at people with a colored eye.
I believe the situation is the same over at Iwagakure. From this point of view, the countries and ninja villages involved now are all victims.
"What exactly are the people behind the scenes going to do?"
Kicho I don't understand what the enemy's purpose is.
Are you not afraid of being ganged up on and attacking in such a blatant way to sow discord among various countries?
"Perhaps there is not one person behind the scenes, but a complex group with different ideas."
Yayoi looked at the information Kicho brought back from Kusagakure and discovered a very interesting point.
That is, when Kusagakure was attacked by external forces, some of the village's top leaders defected. Obviously, this was essentially a civil war.
This is completely different in nature from the assassinations caused by Land of Night and Iwagakure, and it does not seem to be the work of the same group of people.
"Has your husband guessed something?"
Kicho felt that Yayoi seemed to have noticed something.
"It's not entirely certain, but judging from the fact that many high-level officials of small countries have been assassinated frequently recently, there is indeed a force lurking in the dark that is quite dissatisfied with the current Ninja World situation."
Before Kusagakure, Yugakure, the leader of Land of Hot Water, had already sacrificed his life first. This is definitely not an accident.
"Is that force..."
Kicho is not a stupid person. If he followed Yayoi's thinking, he understood something instantly.
"An alliance formed by a group of losers. Five Kage... It seems that they were a little too kind and did not clean up the pests."
Yayoi calmly took a sip of tea and let out this soft sigh.
The emergence of any powerful force cannot be silent, and will always leave clues in Ninja World.
Especially being able to plan so many assassinations almost simultaneously in Ninja World many small countries means that this force is definitely not weak.
Its emergence must have its origin and development trajectory.
As for the source of this force, Yayoi feels that his guess is accurate.
Due to the establishment of One Country, One Village, Five Great Nations is a pioneer and the first country to complete such reforms and form a powerful ninja village.
But such a road is not smooth sailing. Dangerous elements who hold on to family values and are eager to ignite the flames of war, abandoned by the times, have repeatedly caused turmoil in Five Great Nations Ninja Village.
Some, like Konoha, pressed lightly and did not cause too many casualties.
In some villages, terrible bloodshed occurred, among which Land of Water and Kirigakure were the worst. Many ninja clans failed in internal struggles and died.
However, such cleansing was not absolute, and many people took advantage of the chaos to escape from the ninja village and have been missing since.
Not only Five Great Nations Ninja Village, but also small country Ninja Villages also have similar losers who are on the run.
"In other words, these people are secretly united, right?"
Kicho understood what Yayoi meant.
"High probability."
Yayoi didn't speak too absolutely, but his tone was quite firm.
Apart from this group of 'losers' who had fled from the major ninja villages, he could not think of any other hidden forces in Ninja World that could make things such a big deal.
"If that's the case, it's not going to be easy to deal with."
Kicho frowned, feeling a little tricky.
Putting aside the sensitivity of the identity of this group of people, in terms of strength alone, they are definitely not something that can be easily determined.
Land of Night If you want to take action against this group of people, there are too many things to consider.
"Don't worry, if what I predict is good, Five Kage will take action soon, just wait slowly."
For this kind of dangerous group that threatens the security of various countries and is even full of malice towards the One Country, One Village system, the one who is most worried is definitely not General of the Land of Night, but the Five Great Nations Ninja Village headed by Five Kage.
The assassinations caused by these criminals cannot really threaten Five Great Nations, but they will destroy the international situation that has finally stabilized.
If this kind of thing continues, it will definitely worsen the relations between countries. The peace treaty signed by Five Kage Summit will not only lose its meaning, but also severely damage Five Kage's face.