https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-684-The-Perfect-No-Thought-Blade-/12937979/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-686-Kicking-the-Chakra-Steel-Plate/12937981/
Chapter 685: The Tsuchikage Takes the Field
Chapter 685: The Tsuchikage Takes the Field
Rain Country, Six Paths City.
A group of ninjas wearing headscarves and bearing the Sand Shadow Village's headgear entered Six Paths City.
The arrival of the Sand Shadow squad did not attract the attention of the Shinshu ninjas or the residents of Six Paths City.
Ever since the news of Son Ryouka's defeat of Enma spread, Six Paths City quickly became even more bustling than before.
Many people came to buy property, betting that Shinshu could withstand the pressure from Konoha.
At that time, Six Paths City would not only be the safest place in the Rain Country but might also be one of the safest places in the entire Shinobi World, causing property prices to skyrocket.
There were also many people selling properties, perhaps even more than those buying. Many believed that a small ninja organization like Shinshu could not withstand the wrath of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Even if their leader was strong, if the war continued, the ultimate victor would only be Konoha.
The people of the Rain Country were all too familiar with this process, having experienced it once before.
Besides those who wanted to take advantage of the situation to get rich, there were also many ninjas curious about Son Ryouka, who had defeated the Third Hokage, and came to witness the excitement.
Of course, there were also intelligence ninjas from various ninja villages or forces.
"This Six Paths City is so lively; how long has this town been established? Has it been three years? It's unbelievable," exclaimed a Sand Shadow ninja.
He felt that Six Paths City was even more bustling than the Sand Shadow Village, even though it was just a newly established town of a small, rising force.
"Lively? This kind of liveliness isn't a good thing," Night Viper slightly shook his head.
At the moment when the Five Great Shinobi Villages had ceased hostilities, Six Paths City, which had a significant conflict with Konoha, was the whirlpool center of the entire Shinobi World.
Due to the potential shown by Shinshu, not only Konoha but also the surrounding ninja forces were likely to hope that Shinshu would not fare well.
"Let's begin our mission; don't waste time. We don't have much time," Night Viper said.
They had not come to Six Paths City to speculate in the property market but to drive a wedge between Shinshu and Iwagakure, trying to win Iwagakure over to their side.
The Sand Shadow ninjas nodded and began searching for Iwagakure ninjas.
In fact, there was more than just this one Sand Shadow squad; another squad had also come, but they were not wearing Sand Shadow attire and had infiltrated Six Paths City in disguise.
The two squads had different tasks.
Night Viper's squad's mission was to contact the Iwagakure person in charge in Six Paths City, tell him about the dangers of Shinshu, and initially express their intention to cooperate.
However, this was just the first step.
Although profit came first, and everything else was secondary, Iwagakure had been cooperating with Shinshu for quite some time, and Luo Sha did not expect Night Viper to directly convince Iwagakure with his words.
The squad that had infiltrated in disguise was the key.
They would frame and slander Shinshu, thereby driving a wedge between Iwagakure and Shinshu.
When a gap appeared in the cooperation between Iwagakure and Shinshu, the Sand Shadow Village would increase their efforts, making it difficult for the cooperation between the two sides to continue.
However, to avoid exposure and prevent their actions from being discovered by Iwagakure and Shinshu, time was of the essence.
If Iwagakure had just rejected the Sand Shadow Village and the next day, something happened to Shinshu, Iwagakure would easily become suspicious of the Sand Shadow Village.
The act of driving a wedge and Night Viper's contact with Iwagakure had to be carried out simultaneously.
With the addition of the Sand Shadow Village's secret actions, the chances of exposure were greatly reduced.
Even if Iwagakure investigated, they would only find that on that day, only one Sand Shadow squad had entered Six Paths City and approached them.
To minimize the risk of exposure, the two Sand Shadow squads did not communicate at all but instead coordinated their actions through a predetermined time to strike.
They would only contact each other if they could not complete the task within the agreed-upon time, informing the other party that the mission was temporarily suspended.
This was why Night Viper said they did not have much time.
Of course, openly looking for someone was not too difficult, or else this mission would have been too challenging to complete.
"Hmm? There's actually a ninja in Six Paths City who's skilled in puppetry?" a Jonin puppet master exclaimed upon seeing the arm of a Shinshu ninja.
Although the arm looked very much like a real one, a prosthesis was still a prosthesis, and to someone who dealt with puppets daily, it was still discernible upon closer inspection.
The Sand Shadow puppet master was surprised; modifying the human body was not a simple technique.
The Shinshu ninja, seeing the Sand Shadow ninja staring at his arm, had originally wanted to promote their in-house surgery.
Currently, due to limited production and the fact that only Scorpion could perform the surgery, the prostheses were very expensive, except for those within Shinshu.
After seeing the headgear, the Shinshu ninja abandoned the idea of promoting their surgery.
The Sand Shadow Village was the holy land of puppetry, the most advanced ninja force in the entire Shinobi World in terms of puppetry.
The prostheses of Shinshu obviously also belonged to a type of puppetry technology, and it would be bad if the Sand Shadow Village stole their trade secrets.
Although the Sand Shadow puppet master was curious, he had a mission to complete and could only suppress his curiosity and continue with his task.
With Night Viper's swift actions, they quickly found Iwagakure.
Then, at the right moment, Night Viper revealed his identity as the Fourth Kazekage's nephew and smoothly met with the Iwagakure person in charge in Six Paths City—the Iwagakure Jonin Hikage.
"After gaining control of the Rain Country, Shinshu quickly launched actions in the Bird Country, with grand ambitions..." Night Viper began to speak ill of Shinshu's wolfish ambitions, following the plan.
However, what Night Viper did not expect was that Hikage did not show any embarrassment or anger at his words, instead revealing a smile with a hint of surprise.
Night Viper paused, ensuring he hadn't spoken out of turn before continuing.
Hikage, ever polite, waited for Night Viper to finish before speaking, "You're absolutely right. I feel the same way. I never imagined there would be other forces aware of Shinshu's ambitions."
Night Viper: ?
Do Shinshu and Stone Shadow Village even need to be driven apart? Their alliance is purely superficial.
These two forces have never been united, so how can they be manipulated to turn against each other?
Night Viper was perplexed. He had barely taken the first step in his grand plan to drive a wedge between them, and it seemed to be over before it began.
"Lord Night Viper," Just as Night Viper was about to discuss cooperation between the two villages with Hikage, a Sand Hidden Ninja, who had been waiting outside, rushed over, looking anxious.
"Sorry, I have to take a moment," Night Viper apologized and then approached the Sand Hidden Ninja.
"Bad news. Another squad has been captured by Shinshu ninjas. The plan has failed," the Sand Hidden Ninja whispered.
Night Viper: ...
This plan was both smooth and bumpy.
"Don't worry. It seems Stone Shadow Village also doesn't want Shinshu to grow stronger," Night Viper reassured.
So be it if they're captured. If he can reach an agreement with Stone Shadow Village, the mission will be considered a success.
Night Viper and Hikage then discussed at length, both criticizing Shinshu's ambitions and worrying about its potential negative impact on the newly peaceful Shinobi World.
However, whenever Night Viper mentioned cooperation, Hikage became evasive, never committing to a stance and only saying he would consult with the Tsuchikage.
Night Viper didn't get angry about this. After all, he had come seeking cooperation and was prepared for such a response.
In fact, the current situation was already quite favorable. His team had almost completed the mission on their own.
After seeing Night Viper off, Hikage quickly summoned a meeting with Stone Shadow Village and then sent the Sand Hidden Ninja's report there.
"Hikage did a good job this time," Orochimaru smiled after reading the report.
Stone Shadow Village also had the idea of allying with Sand Hidden Village, but in such matters, the one being asked for cooperation is always at an advantage.
So Hikage's approach was perfect. It not only showed Stone Shadow Village's dissatisfaction with Shinshu but also portrayed a hesitant and undecided stance.
"In that case, Sand Hidden Village shouldn't be a problem. It's Grass Hidden Village, the small Shinobi village, that might be tricky to deal with," Orochimaru showed a thoughtful expression.
During the Third Great Shinobi War, Stone Shadow Village had secretly reached an agreement with the leader of Grass Hidden Village, who secretly aided Stone Shadow Village.
Later, Leaf Village intervened, disrupting their cooperation. The former leader of Grass Hidden Village turned into a monster and was killed, causing Grass Hidden Village to turn against Stone Shadow Village. Grass Hidden Village then assisted Leaf Village in opposing Stone Shadow Village.
With Stone Shadow Village's strength, dealing with Grass Hidden Village was easy. Not every small country had a strong Shinobi like Son Ryouka.
But when fighting a dog, one must consider the owner. Currently, Grass Hidden Village was, at best, a subordinate of Leaf Village, so they couldn't be dealt with too harshly.
In truth, for Stone Shadow Village, Grass Hidden Village's participation wasn't crucial. It would merely save some cannon fodder Jounin and wouldn't affect the overall situation.
Orochimaru truly valued Leaf Village's attitude, or rather, the hidden Shinshu information behind Leaf Village's stance.
If Grass Hidden Village refused to take action against Shinshu, could it be the will of Leaf Village? How did Enma lose that battle, and why did it lead to Yu Sheng Mu Yue's succession as Hokage?
"Since we're going to stand against Shinshu in the future, why not use the remaining friendship to gather intelligence while it lasts?" Orochimaru had a sudden realization.
He realized he had been in a mental blind spot, always thinking of gathering battle intelligence from Shinshu and Leaf Village.
In reality, he didn't need to do that. He could send someone or go himself to Shinshu, expressing a desire to witness the Shinso Master's strength and engaging in friendly sparring.
Given the current relationship between Stone Shadow Village and Shinshu, could Son Ryouka refuse? Even if a strong Shinobi from Stone Shadow Village lost, they could request Shinshu to keep it confidential.
This way, they could obtain the intelligence without losing face, unlike Enma, who was exposed.
As for Shinshu revealing the information after the war began, it didn't matter.
Would they care about a little negative news once the war started?
"I'll go myself," Orochimaru thought, deciding it was best to handle this personally.
If Enma lost to Son Ryouka, others might not be able to test Son Ryouka's true abilities in battle.
He was confident his strength wasn't inferior to Enma's, and if Enma could gather intelligence from the battle, so could he.
With this in mind, Orochimaru quickly convened a high council meeting to discuss the matter.
After some debate, Orochimaru concluded that although Stone Shadow Village was preparing to oppose Shinshu, they hadn't done so yet. Engaging in friendly sparring with an ally wasn't risky; at worst, they'd bring more guards.
If Enma, who had a grudge against Shinshu, could return safely to Leaf Village, their Third Tsuchikage certainly wouldn't be held back by Shinshu.
PS: The two chapters combined are a little over 8k words. Please vote for the monthly ticket.
Additionally, I have more to say today, so I'll post it in the author's notes (it's over 200 characters, so it will cost a bit more Qidian coins).
(End of Chapter)
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