Gaara, Temari, and Shizuka were team members, led by Kazuto, heading to Orochimaru's experimental base outside the city to transport his former experimental equipment.
"What about the test subjects?" Karin, who was leading the way, asked.
Kazuto, Shizuka, and Temari were all in a bit of a dilemma.
There were only four of them, how could they move hundreds or thousands of people?
Especially since it was currently during the Fifth Great Ninja War, and there was no telling how many people wanted to capture them and fire the first shot of the Fifth Great Ninja War.
Gaara said coldly, "Take them all, and let Orochimaru handle it himself."
Kazuto frowned. "What if we encounter enemies?"
Gaara said, "Then kill them all."
Kazuto: "..."
It was precisely because he didn't want to kill that he was in a dilemma.
For Hiromi, it was about rooting out the problem. For Orochimaru, they had utility value.
Rooting them out was the best choice and would be convenient for them, but these test subjects were already miserable.
If they were killed directly, Kazuto felt it would be too cruel. But if they brought them along, they themselves would be in danger. It was such a headache.
"Then bring them over, it's not a big problem." Gaara said, his expression remaining cold.
It wasn't a big problem even with life-threatening risks?
Temari suddenly remembered Gaara's resurrection and somewhat understood Hiromi's intention.
"This operation of ours is probably the first shot of the Fifth Great Ninja War that Hiromi is sending out."
"You mean... we are bait?" Kazuto and Shizuka realized this immediately.
As resurrected individuals, their fear of death was much less than that of ordinary people, so they could guess Hiromi's thoughts. Anyway, at worst, they would just be resurrected.
Kazuto and the other three knew this, so they stopped talking and continued their journey with peace of mind.
Only Karin was panicked.
"No, we're the bait!"
"Are you really willing to just be bait like this?"
"People are going to die, you know!"
"Hey! Say something!"
"I haven't even said I want to join the Uchiha!"
"I don't want to die yet!"
Gaara stopped, turned his head, and stared at Karin with a bloodthirsty look. "You're not joining?"
As he spoke, the sand under his feet stirred, ready to pounce and bite at any moment.
"..."
Karin gulped.
While raising her hands with a fawning smile to appease Gaara and tell him not to be impulsive, she moved closer to Temari and said, "Joining, I'm joining..."
Gaara withdrew his gaze, the sand stopped moving, and he continued walking forward with an expressionless face.
Temari smiled slightly and followed.
Seeing this, Karin let out a sigh of relief, but her expression was a bit strange.
Why did these people look more like villains than she did?
—
Three days later.
The Allied Shinobi Forces hurried along and finally arrived before the formal founding of the Uchiha Empire. Next, they needed to formulate a plan to target the Uchiha.
They didn't expect to stop the Uchiha from founding their empire, but they hoped to suppress the reputation of the Uchiha Empire to its lowest point on the day of its founding, so that rogue ninjas would not dare to join the Uchiha Empire.
Therefore, Third Tsuchikage Onoki, Acting Kazekage Baki, and Acting Raikage Mabui convened a meeting.
Those qualified to attend this meeting included Kitsuchi, Chiyo, C, and Jiraiya.
"The first battle must be a resounding victory." Onoki said.
Everyone else agreed with this statement.
In a war measured in years, if the first battle isn't a resounding victory, it would have a huge impact on morale. Therefore, the plan had to be meticulous.
"We can use combined Ninjutsu first and threaten to destroy the city to restrict him." Baki said.
"However, if those people are completely wiped out, I'm afraid that Hiromi will fight us to the death." Chiyo frowned and said.
"That doesn't need to be considered." Mabui said.
Onoki, Baki, Kitsuchi, and C all nodded in agreement. They had all seen Hiromi's strength with their own eyes.
Onoki smiled coldly. "If we can really destroy the city, then the goal of this war can be changed to killing Hiromi."
Upon hearing this, Jiraiya's expression did not change in the slightest. He hated Hiromi for killing his teacher, Hiruzen, but he joined the Allied Shinobi Forces mainly for world peace.
Hiromi...
The Uchiha must never become a major power. Otherwise, the world would be in chaos.
"The moment Hiromi appears, I hope the Third Tsuchikage will use Dust Release to ambush him." Mabui proposed.
"And then?" Onoki didn't think he could solve Hiromi with just Dust Release.
"While you are ambushing him, everyone else will use their large-scale techniques to attack the civilians in the city." Mabui said.
Everyone thought about it and felt it was a good idea. By then, Hiromi would definitely be unable to handle everything at once. Such a chaotic scene would achieve the goal of suppressing the Uchiha Empire's reputation, and afterwards, those of them with powerful combat strength could adapt to the situation and easily turn a small victory into a major one.
The Allied Shinobi Forces could also break up into smaller units after the first wave of surprise attacks to escalate the chaos. Then, they could regroup and use combined Ninjutsu again.
And in this situation, they wouldn't even need to use the Tailed Beast. Although they were worried about being controlled by Hiromi, in the eyes of the tens of thousands of ninjas in the Allied Shinobi Forces, this would be a complete victory, and morale would naturally remain solid.
At this moment, Samui came to report something and requested entry.
The meeting went quiet, and the seven people looked at Samui in unison.
Samui said, "Traces of the Uchiha Imperial Guards have been discovered at sea, along with Gaara and Temari from Sunagakure, who are transporting hundreds of people to the Uchiha Imperial City together with a red-haired girl."
As soon as these words were spoken, the meeting became even quieter.
Gaara and Temari from Sunagakure? Why were they together with the Uchiha? Could it be that Sunagakure had betrayed them?
Everyone looked at Baki and Chiyo with cold gazes.
Baki and Chiyo also frowned.
'Gaara is still alive?' They were suspicious of this news internally, but they didn't show it.
"They aren't being controlled?"
"We have already tried to make contact. There are no traces of control on Gaara or Temari." Samui said.
As for how they made contact, it was very simple: Gaara didn't like eating green peppers, and Temari didn't like spicy food. So, they crushed some green peppers and put them into their food. Gaara and Temari took a few bites, then frowned and stopped eating.
This was just a test, and combined with their actions along the way, it could basically be confirmed that they were not being controlled.
As for Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, no one would think it would be wasted on them.
Hearing this news, the seven highest-ranking members of the Allied Shinobi Forces fell into deep thought.
"This is the first battle Hiromi has sent our way." Onoki said with a solemn expression.
"Two Uchiha Imperial Guards..."
Actually, they could ignore them. With just a few people, what kind of impact could they cause when they had tens of thousands?
However, what if one of those Uchiha Imperial Guards was hiding a Mangekyo?
That would be like unleashing a Tailed Beast in the middle of tens of thousands of ninjas. They dared not imagine the consequences.
"Hiromi's move is truly brilliant." Onoki gritted his teeth.
Now, they were a bit afraid to proceed with the original plan, fearing that those two Uchiha Imperial Guards might be hiding a Mangekyo.
But if they didn't follow the plan, they would be dealing with two Uchiha Imperial Guards and two Sunagakure traitors in the first battle?
For the Allied Shinobi Forces of tens of thousands, even if they won, it would greatly affect morale. It was too much overkill. Now, they only had one method left.
"Split-line strategy. Who will go and capture them?" Onoki asked.
"I'll go." Jiraiya said.
Even if it was a Mangekyo, in Sage Mode, he could definitely capture them.
"I'll go too." Chiyo said.
Her poison could be used by others, so it didn't matter if she was there or not. Therefore, she wanted to see for herself on behalf of Sunagakure whether Gaara was dead or alive.
Onoki and Mabui exchanged glances.
They didn't really trust Jiraiya. Although Jiraiya had reasons to be hostile to Hiromi, he was from Konoha after all.
Now, with Chiyo from Sunagakure also going, they naturally reached a tacit agreement for each village to send one person.
"Roshi will go." Onoki said.
"Samui will lead the team." Mabui said.
Samui nodded.
She knew that Mabui was letting her take the Jinchuriki out to gain some experience. But they could only take one of the two. After all, if an accident occurred, they wouldn't be completely wiped out.