The Land of Rain's nearly unceasing rainfall was highly unfavorable for Aburame Nami's combat, so recently she had been cultivating insects with strong burrowing abilities.
"Meikyō."
After recalling those insects, Aburame Nami suddenly turned her head and looked at Uchiha Meikyō through the sunglasses concealing her eyes.
"Something is wrong on the western side of town."
"Hm?"
"There is a team of Sand Ninja there, handing something over to Rock Ninja. Both sides should have Jonin-level experts."
Uchiha Meikyō's expression immediately turned solemn. He exchanged a glance with Inuzuka Ryo beside him.
Ever since the Battle of the Sannin half a year ago, Hanzo had formed an alliance with Konoha. Konoha was responsible for dealing with Suna, while Amegakure handled Iwa. Konoha supplied Amegakure, which lacked logistics because the Land of Rain had nearly been torn apart by war. Amegakure, in turn, used its home-field advantage to assist Konoha. The two sides shared intelligence and often coordinated their operations.
Because of this, Suna and Iwa had also begun cooperating and forming an alliance. Alone, they could not possibly stand against the alliance of Konoha, the strongest ninja village, and Amegakure, which held the advantage of its home territory.
"How many are there exactly?"
Meikyō asked Aburame Nami.
"They are both standard four-man squads."
Aburame Nami answered.
"In that case, there are only eight of them. That number does not seem sufficient for a surprise attack on Konoha's nearby strongholds. Even if they wanted to strike our supply routes, it would be a stretch, unless one of the top Jonin was leading them. That also rules out an intelligence exchange, since ordinary intelligence would never warrant deploying such scarce Jonin. Considering that this is where the territories of four factions meet, it is more likely that the two sides are making