The Importance of Intelligence

In the end, Jiraiya agreed to Tsunade's suggestion.

He formed hand seals.

"Summoning Technique!"

With a puff of smoke, a small orange-red toad appeared on the ground.

"Little toad, please head in there and gather some intelligence," Jiraiya asked the little toad at his feet.

The little toad nodded and hopped away.

Seeing their summoning beasts, Tsunade felt a little envious.

"If only my summoning beast could gather intelligence too." She sighed helplessly.

Her summoning beast was a slug who only knew healing techniques. She moved slowly and couldn't scout for intelligence.

"Don't be discouraged, Tsunade. Every summoning beast has something it's good at," Jiraiya comforted her. "If we get hurt, we'll still need Katsuyu to heal us!"

"Mm," Tsunade replied quietly.

In truth, she didn't dislike Katsuyu. After all, she was a gift from her grandfather.

And Katsuyu was an excellent match for her ninjutsu, which made her very happy.

"Hm?"

Orochimaru's expression froze. Then he turned toward the enemy camp, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

"What's wrong, Orochimaru?" Jiraiya had noticed his strange expression too.

At his question, Orochimaru said gravely, "This mission might be a little troublesome..."

"Why?" Tsunade asked in confusion.

"Oh no..."

Suddenly, Jiraiya sensed something unusual.

"The Summoning Technique has been released..." His voice was heavy.

"That toad actually survived." Orochimaru was a little surprised.

"Your summoning beast was lucky. It managed to release the Summoning Technique on its own." Orochimaru sighed. "Mine died outright..."

At that, all three fell silent.

"Damn it, we were spotted," Jiraiya muttered bitterly.

Were they really going to abandon the mission just like that?

No. Absolutely not.

"Let me make this clear. I'm not giving up on this mission," Jiraiya said firmly.

"Orochimaru, if you want to go back, you'd better run now!"

Hearing Jiraiya's taunt, Orochimaru gave a soft chuckle.

"I'm not going to be a deserter."

"Neither am I..." Tsunade agreed.

Seeing their resolve, Jiraiya was moved to tears.

"You two..."

"Good. We're going to complete this mission," Jiraiya said resolutely.

He raised his hands and slowly formed hand seals, using the Summoning Technique again to summon the little toad he had sent to scout earlier.

"You..."

At the sight of the little toad, Jiraiya froze. Then he immediately turned to Tsunade. "Tsunade, hurry! Use your healing technique!"

Tsunade stepped forward and frowned when she saw the little toad's injuries.

Then green chakra glowed around her hands, and she began treating the little toad.

Watching this, Orochimaru grew curious too.

When he saw the little toad's injuries, his expression gradually turned strange.

"It can survive like this?" Orochimaru marveled. "This toad has incredible vitality!"

The little toad before them no longer had an intact body.

Only its upper half remained. Its lower half was nowhere to be found.

Although its injuries were severe, the wounds had already stopped bleeding by the time it was summoned.

"Whew..."

Under Tsunade's treatment, the little toad finally regained enough strength to open its eyes.

"Lord Jiraiya..." It looked at Jiraiya in front of it. "It's dangerous. Don't go..."

Jiraiya frowned at its words.

"Rest first. Catch your breath before you tell us." Seeing the little toad gasping for air, Jiraiya was afraid it might die on the spot.

The little toad nodded.

After a long while, it spoke again. "Lord Jiraiya, there aren't just six people in there. There are also ninja from Kumogakure, and a barrier has been set up around the camp."

"Whatever you do, don't approach the barrier. I was detected as soon as I got close."

"The barrier seems to cover a circle with a radius of five hundred meters, centered on the camp."

"That's all the intelligence I have. I need to return to Mount Myōboku to recuperate now."

After sharing that information, the little toad vanished in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya stared fixedly at the spot where the little toad had disappeared, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

A lingering fear stirred in his heart. If he had charged in without listening to Tsunade's suggestion, he would probably have been a corpse by now.

And he would have dragged the other two down with him. Now he finally understood the importance of intelligence.

"What do we do now...?" After the little toad disappeared, Tsunade stopped her healing technique and stood up.

Orochimaru thought for a moment before saying, "We still don't have enough intelligence..."

"What we know so far is that, besides the six rogue ninja, there seem to be ninja from Kumogakure in the camp."

"If the intelligence is accurate, those six rogue ninja may have already defected to Kumogakure."

"Damn it..." Tsunade cursed under her breath.

"Among those six rogue ninja are several jonin who know Konoha's classified information."

"Now that they've met up with ninja from Kumogakure, it looks like those secrets are as good as leaked."

"We need to find a way to kill them all," Orochimaru suggested. "Otherwise, we'll be in trouble if the Kumogakure ninja get away..."

At that, everyone fell silent.

After collecting himself, Jiraiya finally spoke slowly. "We still need to start with the barrier. We have to destroy that sensory barrier first. Then we can sneak in and launch a surprise attack."

Orochimaru pondered Jiraiya's words.

Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him.

"If it's just an area-based sensory barrier, couldn't we easily evade it by using Earth Release to travel underground?"

"Oh..." Hearing Orochimaru's suggestion, Jiraiya felt that it might work.

"That does seem right," Jiraiya said. "But once we're inside the barrier's range, we need to take out the ninja controlling it first."

Orochimaru nodded.

"All right, then let's go in and deal with the barrier ninja!" As he spoke, Jiraiya formed hand seals and used Earth Release, preparing to burrow underground.

Seeing this, Orochimaru helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead, then smacked Jiraiya on the head.

"Idiot..." Orochimaru snapped. "We don't have enough intelligence yet. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Jiraiya rubbed his swollen forehead.

But this time, he didn't complain, because he knew he had a serious problem.

One moment, he had been reflecting on the importance of intelligence, and the next, he had completely forgotten it.

He had to break that habit. Perhaps this mission to earn his promotion to jonin was another test for him.

After stopping Jiraiya, Orochimaru formed hand seals and used the Summoning Technique, summoning a dark brown snake.

"Rock Snake, sorry for the trouble..."

Rock Snake nodded, then twisted its body and burrowed underground.