"Report!"
Just as Han was trying to decide how to answer Kagerō, a long shout came from outside the command post.
A moment later, an Iwagakure shinobi hurried inside with a man dressed in plain clothes.
"Lord Han!"
The Iwa shinobi dropped to one knee.
"This man claims to be one of our intelligence agents. He says he brought information back from Konoha and needs to report it directly."
Han looked at the man.
During the earlier battle, the armor he usually wore had been shattered by the force of the explosion. Right now, he was only dressed in ordinary clothes, which made his presence seem far less oppressive than usual.
"Information from Konoha?"
Han gave a small nod.
"Speak."
"Yes."
After receiving permission, the intelligence agent bowed, then addressed everyone in the command post.
"Three days ago, news suddenly began spreading through Konoha."
He paused, his expression serious.
"They claimed that Sunagakure had already been defeated and that the Sand had signed a surrender treaty with Konoha."
The moment those words left his mouth, the Iwagakure jōnin who had been silent until now erupted.
"What!?"
"Sunagakure was defeated? Impossible!"
"The war has only just begun! How could the Sand fall that quickly?"
"Isn't this just false information Konoha released to shake the other fronts?"
Doubt and shock spread through the command post.
Since the founding of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, a war ending in barely over ten days was almost unheard of.
Their first reaction was disbelief.
Konoha had to be spreading false intelligence.
It had to be.
But then—
"It's probably true."
Han's low voice cut through the room.
The jōnin immediately turned toward him.
Han sighed.
"Yagami, the shinobi who fought us on the battlefield earlier… said he had come here as reinforcements after defeating Sunagakure on the Wind Country front."
The room fell quiet.
Han did not want to believe it either.
But the pieces were starting to fit together too perfectly.
"What…?"
"He came from the Wind Country battlefield?"
"Then Sunagakure really…"
"No wonder. When we retreated earlier, a unit of about a thousand Konoha shinobi appeared from the left flank."
"So that was the reinforcement force transferred directly from the Sand front?"
One by one, the Iwa jōnin began to understand.
But once they accepted the possibility that Sunagakure had truly surrendered, the atmosphere in the command post became even heavier.
If the Sand had already fallen, then all the Konoha forces that had been tied down in the Wind Country were now free.
And that meant the remaining battlefronts would soon have to face even more of Konoha's strength.
"Wait."
The intelligence agent suddenly frowned.
"You said Yagami already brought reinforcements here?"
Kitsuchi noticed his expression.
"What is it?"
The intelligence agent lowered his head in thought for a moment before speaking carefully.
"There is something strange about the timing."
He looked at the people gathered in the command post.
"Konoha announced Sunagakure's defeat three days ago. But the Konoha unit that should have been on the Wind Country front only arrived here around the same time."
He paused.
"Judging by the distance between the Wind Country battlefield and this front, it should take roughly three days to march here."
His eyes sharpened.
"Doesn't that timing seem too perfect?"
Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes.
"You mean…"
He understood what the man was implying.
"The moment Konoha announced the Sand's surrender… was also the moment their reinforcements began moving here?"
The room stirred again.
"How is that possible?"
"Does Konoha have some way to transmit information instantly?"
"Or did they prepare the announcement before the surrender was even finalized?"
The discussion quickly became noisy again.
Han knocked his knuckles against the table.
"That's enough."
The command post fell silent.
"Whether it was coincidence or planning, we can discuss that later. Right now, we need useful information."
He looked back at the intelligence agent.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
The intelligence agent nodded.
"According to the reports spreading through Konoha, Yagami was the greatest contributor to Sunagakure's defeat."
Kagerō, who had remained silent for some time, immediately raised his head.
"Do you have any information on his abilities?"
There was a trace of hope in his voice.
But the intelligence agent shook his head.
"No. Konoha is praising him as the hero of the battle, but they have not released any detailed combat information."
Of course they hadn't.
Announcing his achievements was one thing.
Revealing the abilities of one of their strongest shinobi was another matter entirely.
No village would be foolish enough to expose the weaknesses of its own trump card.
Kagerō clicked his tongue in frustration.
Han closed his eyes for a moment, then let out another heavy sigh.
"There's no point asking that anymore."
His voice was quiet, but every jōnin in the room heard him clearly.
"We already saw his speed and destructive power ourselves. Even if we knew more, finding a weakness in someone at that level would not be easy."
Kagerō's expression darkened.
"Then how are we supposed to fight this war?"
No one answered.
The command post sank into silence.
Every Iwagakure jōnin present understood what those words meant.
Sunagakure had fallen.
Konoha's reinforcements had arrived.
And the man leading that wave was a monster they had already failed to stop.
After a long pause, Han opened his eyes.
"Tomorrow morning, the army will pull back thirty miles."
The jōnin looked at him.
Han continued in a steady voice.
"Send everything we know about this battle back to the village. Let Tsuchikage-sama and the higher-ups decide our next move."
No one objected.
At this point, Han no longer had his armor.
If he fought Yagami again in his current state, even he could not guarantee that he would survive.
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