Otherwise, Sunagakure would never have been reduced to asking Konoha for help.
Meanwhile, Konoha had sent out all its elite forces, leaving its rear exposed, and Sasuke had chosen this exact moment to defect.
With the troublesome Orochimaru as their opponent, it would have been stranger if the Konoha High Command hadn't panicked.
But wasn't all of this a little too convenient?
Raito kept feeling that there was something strange about Konoha's Jonin all heading to Sunagakure to provide support.
Of course, this was no coincidence.
This was clearly a chess game planned single-handedly by that old fox Danzo. By sending all of Konoha's strongest fighters away and leaving the village exposed, he could seize the opportunity to strengthen his control over it.
At the same time, if he wanted to use Sasuke as a bargaining chip to secure Orochimaru's cooperation, he naturally needed an opportunity to send him over.
There was no better opportunity than now.
Konoha's forces were stretched thin. Just maintaining the village's defensive barrier had already pushed them to their limits, leaving no decent elite force available for the pursuit.
Asking Kirigakure for help was probably the Hokage faction's desperate last resort.
They could make use of their current alliance.
At that moment, in Konoha.
The person ordered to take on this hot potato in the crisis was none other than Shikamaru Nara, whose IQ was two hundred.
Shikamaru had just walked out of the Hokage Building, his feelings a tangled mix.
Sasuke has defected!
Raito has been forced to leave the village, too!
The Konoha Three New Monsters, who only just made their names throughout the Shinobi World, have fallen apart in the blink of an eye!
It's just like the Konoha Sannin back then. Is this some kind of curse?
The news of