The Land of Lightning's coastline.
A figure set foot on the soil of the Land of Lightning as silently as a ghost. It was Lin Ze, who had come from the Land of Whirlpools.
He wore ordinary clothes, disguised as a wandering ninja.
His presence was fully suppressed, almost blending into his surroundings.
His powerful perception swept rapidly over the area. Once he sensed nothing wrong, Lin Ze swiftly headed inland.
But as Lin Ze departed, he failed to notice a faint glimmer lighting up at the core of an extremely well-hidden device inside a seemingly ordinary reef rock on the shore.
A peculiar pulse instantly traveled toward Kumogakure at a speed beyond perception.
Five days later, inside a tavern in a small town beside a major thoroughfare in the heart of the Land of Lightning.
Lin Ze sat in the shadows of the farthest corner, a cup of sake before him, sorting through the intelligence he had gathered over the past few days.
Disguised as a wandering ninja, he had mingled in taverns and black markets across the region, places where information circulated fastest, investigating Kumogakure.
Much like the situation in the Land of Earth, Kumogakure's main forces really are all committed to the front lines.
The village's internal defenses are noticeably weaker than at the start of the war. It seems that even Kumogakure, renowned for its militant stance, is under considerable pressure facing both Konoha and Iwagakure at once.
Lin Ze silently analyzed the situation.
This intelligence largely matched his earlier assessment and the information he had obtained from Konoha.
At this stage of the Third Shinobi World War, all the major ninja villages were showing signs of exhaustion. Resource consumption and ninja casualties had both been enormous.
Konoha was in a difficult position, but Kumogakure