"Captain, something's not right."
Qingya, the captain of Team Three, had returned from scouting. He strode over to Hoshino and spoke in a low voice.
Hoshino frowned slightly and turned to Qingya. "What is it?"
Qingya's expression was grave. "We just scouted the camp and found far fewer people than expected. Akasuna Arashi and the troops under his direct command seemed to have already withdrawn."
"Withdrawn?" A cold glint flashed in Hoshino's eyes. "Didn't the other three commanders in the camp try to stop them?"
"Apparently not," Qingya said gravely. "There were no signs of a fight in the camp!"
Hoshino sneered and swept his gaze over the camp in the distance.
Every last one of them was truly acting as they pleased. They even dared to do this for a missing-nin the village had identified.
They really had sat in the top seat of the border garrison for so long that they no longer knew who they were.
"Do you know which direction Akasuna Arashi and his men went?" Hoshino continued.
"Most likely into the Land of Rivers. My team didn't find any trace of them to the north or south," Qingya replied.
"The mission has changed!"
A cold glint flashed in Hoshino's eyes. He turned to the team members behind him. "Team Three, Team Six, Team One, enter the Land of Rivers immediately and look for traces of Akasuna Arashi."
"As soon as you find them, don't act rashly. Keep an eye on them and notify me immediately."
"Understood!"
The captains of the three teams answered in unison, then led their respective members racing toward the Land of Rivers.
Hoshino watched them leave, then said to Team Eleven, "Let's go. We're heading to the camp."
"Yes, Captain!"
The members of Team Eleven followed close behind Hoshino as they advanced swiftly toward the Red Sand Clan's camp.
Inside a tent.
Three commanders sat together.
The camp outside was as busy as ever, but their minds had long since left such trivial matters.
According to word from the patrolling ninja, the Anbu had arrived, a full four teams of them.
Their numbers far exceeded what the commanders had expected.
It also proved that the village had truly resolved to wipe out the Red Sand Clan to the last.
And what they had done earlier was likely to arouse the Kazekage's suspicions and lead to unpleasant consequences.
If they had known, they wouldn't have let Akasuna Arashi leave. They really did regret it a little now.
But that was all it was: regret. They weren't actually afraid. Surely the Kazekage wouldn't kick them out over such a minor issue!
"Where are the Anbu?" the first commander asked.
"They should be here soon, but all four teams definitely won't come here together. After all, their mission is to eliminate the Red Sand Clan's forces!" the second commander replied.
"What a nuisance!"
The third commander rose and headed outside to receive the Anbu. Seeing this, the other two commanders followed.
As soon as they stepped out of the tent, they saw six masked Anbu force their way into the camp, ignoring the ninja trying to stop them.
"By order of Lord Kazekage, we have come to investigate the Red Sand Clan's defection. We ask the three of you to cooperate with our work."
Hoshino took out his mission order to prove his identity, then got straight to the point.
The second commander frowned slightly at his words. "Investigate? Akasuna Arashi's defection had nothing to do with us. What right do you have to investigate us?"
Temari sneered and said mockingly, "Commanders, Akasuna Arashi's troops withdrew from the camp, yet you took no measures to stop them. We have reasonable grounds to suspect you're in league with them."
The third commander's face darkened. "What do you mean by that? Akasuna Arashi had more than two hundred men. How could we have stopped them?"
"My men's lives matter too, and we didn't receive any orders from the village!"
"Didn't you?" Hoshino looked at them coldly. "Lord Kazekage's notice clearly stated that all ninja in the village were to begin clearing out the remaining forces of the major ninja clans at once."
"Don't tell me you didn't know about it!"
The first commander said gravely, "I received the notice, but it mentioned the Black Scorpion and Night Sand clans, not the Red Sand Clan."
"Excuses!" Hoshino sneered. "The notice was written for the villagers to see. Some things couldn't be said outright, but as commanders of the border garrison, don't you even have that much judgment?"
"Or are you no longer loyal to the village?"
At those words, silence fell over the surroundings. Everyone looked at one another.
Who could withstand having an accusation that enormous slapped on their head?
The three commanders' faces turned pale in an instant.
The first commander in particular already had cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Hoshino's words struck right at the heart of the matter, directly elevating their actions to the level of "betraying the village."
"Anbu Captain, that's going too far!" The second commander forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart and spoke in a grave voice.
"We've served the village for years. How could we possibly be disloyal to it?"
"Akasuna Arashi's troops were numerous and powerful. Rashly trying to stop them would only have caused needless casualties."
"We held back because we wanted to protect the village's ninja!"
Hoshino looked at him coldly and said without expression, "Protect the village's ninja? By letting Akasuna Arashi go, you left the village with a tremendous hidden danger, and now you say you did it for the village's sake?"
The third commander shouted angrily, "You're twisting the facts! Do you know how many people would have died if there had been a clash? Don't you Anbu care at all about the lives of us border garrison troops?"
As soon as he finished, the surrounding border garrison ninja turned their gazes toward Hoshino and his team, their eyes showing clear resentment and hostility.
These border garrison troops had spent years stationed away from home. Their ties with the village were relatively weak, and they relied more on the trust and solidarity between one another.
Hearing their commander's words, they couldn't help feeling that the village had abandoned them.
The Anbu seemed to care only about the outcome of their mission, with no regard for whether the troops lived or died.
Hoshino sensed the change in the atmosphere around him, and his brows furrowed slightly beneath his mask.
So you want to shift the conflict onto me!
These men were the ones who had let Akasuna Arashi go, yet now they were trying to shift the blame onto the Anbu and even stir up the border garrison's resentment toward the village.
What a clever scheme!
Hoshino knew very well that relations between the border garrison and the village were already delicate. At a sensitive time like this, the slightest misstep could spark an even greater conflict.
And the commander clearly wanted to take advantage of that, shifting the conflict onto the Anbu to cover up his own dereliction of duty.
If Hoshino hit back hard now, it would only inflame the border garrison's feelings and might even spark a clash.
He couldn't let them succeed.
Hoshino quickly made a decision. He slowly raised his hand, signaling the Anbu behind him not to act rashly.