Kisame, standing nearby, noticed something was wrong with her. He could not help stepping forward to ask.
"Sarada, what's wrong? You've been staring at that scroll. Is there a problem with the mission?"
Sarada slowly raised her head, her gaze grave, and said quietly, "Something's wrong. Konoha's behavior this time is far too strange."
Kisame wholeheartedly agreed and nodded firmly. "It really is unusual."
"Naruto never gives us anything for nothing. Yet this time, he offered us vast amounts of resources and other benefits of his own accord. His only condition was that the entire Land of Rain mobilize and speed up the slaughter of the nobles. It's far too unusual."
"It's not that Konoha has gone soft." Sarada's gaze suddenly sharpened as she grasped the crucial point. "It must have something to do with those strange tremors that shook the heavens and earth two days ago."
As those words left her lips, her entire body tensed. Her face filled with intense wariness, and she spoke slowly, stressing every word.
"Could it be... that the Celestial Dragons really are about to appear?!"
"What?!"
Kisame's expression changed drastically. His heart sank, and panic spread across his face.
He hurriedly asked, "Then what do we do, Sarada? Do we keep carrying out the mission? Is there still time to stop?"
Sarada fell silent for a long while. Every trace of conflict faded from her eyes, leaving only cold resolve.
"It's too late."
"From the moment we slaughtered the first group of nobles, the entire shinobi world assumed that every blood debt was the Land of Rain's doing."
"The reputation, the hatred, the blame-they've long since been pinned firmly on us."
"At this point, whether we do it or not makes no difference to how this ends."
Kisame understood completely. He let out