"Her only relative?" Shin'un repeated silently, vaguely realizing what was going on.
Shin'un glanced at the pale-faced Kushina Uzumaki and pondered.
Kushina Uzumaki's only family member in Konoha was Mito Uzumaki.
However, since the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki, has passed away, the Nine-Tails should have been transferred to Kushina's body.
Aside from the grief over the loss of his loved ones, the current abnormality may also be due to the presence of an extra Nine-Tails within him.
A thought flashed through Shin'un's mind, and he turned to look at Shiina Kō, who was speaking.
"Furthermore," Shiina Kō continued, "I don't know if you've noticed, but there seem to be more Anbu guarding Kushina than before."
"The tracking methods are much cruder than before, and they occasionally leave traces, probably because they are all new recruits to the Anbu."
"I specifically counted the number of people I had with Kushina these past few days. At the lowest point, there were at least three Anbu squads constantly guarding her."
Upon hearing Shiina Kō's words, Shin'un nodded in agreement.
He had already sensed something was amiss in his surroundings. Centered on Kushina, Genin two seemingly ordinary chunin/genin a dozen meters away, the tall tree canopy swaying in the wind not far away, and further away, several Anbu standing openly...
Hidden, blending into the crowd, transformed into ordinary objects, and standing directly in the open—a total of more than a dozen Anbu silently surrounded Kushina, vigilantly monitoring everything around her.
The mere fact that Shin'un pulled Shiina Kō aside and whispered in his ear had already alerted the Anbu.
At this moment, Shin'un could sense several gazes fixed on him from behind, watching him warily.
Shin'un had no doubt that if he and Shiina Kō made any move against Kushina, these hidden Anbu would immediately rush forward and capture or kill them on the spot.
"Tell me, what's wrong with Kushina? Back when she was in the Ninja Academy, she had a squad of Anbu guarding her all the time. Now that she's peacefully staying in Konoha, the Anbu guarding her is increasing." Shiina Kō frowned, clearly finding it somewhat absurd.
Glancing at Shiina Kō, Shin'un had no intention of telling her about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
After all, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is a closely guarded secret in Konoha, and telling Shiina Kō would not benefit either her or Shin'un.
"Who knows why." After saying that, Shin'un estimated the time and was about to lead the ninja army to set off. He said to Shiina Kō, "Alright, stop thinking about others. Go and call Yūichi and Nawaki. Let's get ready to leave!"
Upon hearing Shin'un's instructions, Shiina Kō immediately became serious and his expression turned solemn.
"Good."
After saying that, Shiina Kō turned and left.
Three days later, at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
Vast stretches of dense forest swayed unnaturally, and within them, one could see the moving figures of numerous ninjas.
Just by looking at the number, you can tell that at least a thousand ninjas passed through.
"Creak!"
Thump!
"Whoosh~"
As they moved forward, a variety of sounds arose, startling all the animals and birds in the surrounding dense forest, causing them to flee.
Sensing the overwhelming force that could not be concealed, Shin'un, at the forefront of the ninja army, helplessly glanced back.
Most ninjas are masters of stealth and concealment, and they always strive for a smooth and uneventful mission.
But no matter how well you can hide, there are always limitations.
When one or two small teams are carrying out a mission alone, they can certainly do so silently.
Even a small team of a few dozen people can operate without any major disruptions.
Even a team of hundreds of people can always find ways to minimize the noise.
However, when nearly a thousand ninjas act together, even the most skillful stealth techniques become useless.
It's just like now, standing out conspicuously in the darkness, like a bright lamp in the night.
"Whoosh~"
Hearing the loud noise behind him, Shin'un frowned...
This is already the border of the Land of Fire. It's just a few more minutes' walk to the Land of Rain. We can't keep making this noise.
Turning his head, Shin'un maintained his pace and looked at Shirai Rei beside him.
"Junior Shirai is about to enter the Land of Rain territory. Send someone to remind them to be stealthy."
"Yes!" Shirai Rei, who had been by Shin'un's side the whole time, immediately agreed upon hearing the order from Shin'un.
Then, Shirai Rei Body Flicker Technique to the side and issued detailed orders to the dozens of ninja squads that were following her.
"Whoosh~"
Hearing the commotion behind him, Shen Cloud Ninja frown.
I had guessed that the scale of nearly a thousand ninjas moving together would be large, but I didn't expect it to be this large.
This was clearly a signal to the surrounding area that a large number of reinforcements from Konoha were heading to the Land of Rain.
In the past, Shin'un always moved in stealth mode when carrying out missions outside of combat.
Even in the very beginning, during his first mission with Orochimaru to destroy the Stone Ninja.
Three years later, when he was conscripted by the Anbu and dozens of people went to the Land of Wind, he was never discovered before he came into contact with Yakushi Nonō.
Shin'un was finding it hard to adapt to their blatant march towards the Land of Rain.
"Report!"
Suddenly, just as Shin'un was feeling annoyed by the commotion behind him, a reconnaissance team from the front appeared.
"Report: Sunagakure spotted ahead."
"Hmm?" Shin'un immediately asked, looking at the Inuzuka Clan ninja who had returned to report.
" Sunagakure?" Shin'un frowned and asked, "What is their exact size?"
The returning Inuzuka Clan ninja replied, "Three Jonin, thirty-six Chunin, and Genin."
Upon hearing that it was only a Sand Ninja force of this size, Shin'un's expression softened slightly, and he immediately asked:
"Are there any noteworthy ninjas among them?"
After a moment's thought, the Inuzuka Clan ninja replied:
"No, and judging from the few Jonin are quite young; they must have been recently promoted after the war began."
Hearing this, Shin'un felt relieved.
He thought it was a rival ninja village that had noticed the thousand ninjas he had brought and sent ninjas to stop him.
In retrospect, encountering those dozens of Sand Ninja was just an accident.
However, even a mere few dozen Sand Ninja were able to break through Konoha's defensive lines and reach the area near the border of the Land of Rain Land of Fire.
It seems that Nara Shikahito, leading 3,000 Konoha Ninja, is already struggling to cope with the attack of 5,000 Sand Ninja.
It seems that there are already many fatal gaps in Konoha's defenses against Sunagakure, allowing these Sand Ninja to easily slip through and reach the rear of the defenses.
No wonder Hiruzen Sarutobi was in such a hurry to send his thirteen-year-old Jonin to lead the team to provide support; it turns out the situation at the front lines had become this critical.
"Looks like we need to speed things up."
Realizing this, Shin'un immediately issued orders to the surrounding ninjas.
"Keep your direction unchanged, advance straight towards those Sand Ninja, and crush them!"