"So, you guys are a merchant caravan from the Land of Fire?"
Using their disguises and wearing grey headscarves, the trio of Motomu and his team, leading camel-drawn carriages, nodded in unison.
The Sand Ninja Chunin squad looked at each other. The squad leader, a Sensing Jonin, was clearly a bit amused by the absurdity.
In the middle of the boundless desert...
A group of weirdos possessing chakra claimed to be a merchant caravan.
It was quite simply an insult to his intelligence.
If they hadn't been unsure which side these ninja belonged to, they would have attacked long ago.
As for those being discovered, Motomu was also quite speechless at the moment.
In a desert so vast and sparsely populated that it was larger than India in his previous life, they had managed to bump into Sand Ninja by pure coincidence.
If it were ordinary Sand Ninja, it would have been easy to slip by using Anbu disguise techniques, but this squad leader was a rare sensing-type ninja.
Looking at the other man's face—painted with purple markings and currently twisted into an ugly grimace—
The 'it's only natural' expression Motomu had been wearing completely fell apart.
Cobra, who had been hiding in the shadows of the cargo boxes on the camel carriage to avoid the heat, finally realized something was wrong when she heard the conversation outside.
She pushed open a crate and spoke with a serious face.
"Can you just pretend you didn't see us?"
"Enemy attack!" the Jonin captain roared at the top of his lungs.
Over a dozen Sand Ninja instantly surrounded Motomu's fake caravan.
Kunai, shuriken, puppets—the methods of the Sand Ninja squad converged on the three people and the snake in the center.
*Is the ultimate secret of stealth really just killing everyone who sees you?*
Despite such a good disguise and having the Byakugan to see the whole map, their team had still been discovered.
Watching the shuriken draw closer with the sound of whistling air,
Motomu's eyes shifted as the voice of the Hyuga Jonin rang in his ears.
"The opponents aren't strong. Don't let any of them escape."
"Understood."
Clang!—
Hand signs were completed.
A Great Fireball, massive enough to obscure their vision and cover all the incoming ninja tools and puppets, surged forward.
Chakra from the Gentle Fist erupted, a Mind Transfer Jutsu was used for a backstab, and a mist of Sage Art: Poison Mist spewed from Cobra's mouth.
The battle ended quickly.
The desert was littered with broken ninja tools and scorched by Fire Style.
The three camels had died miserable deaths from poison, and a carriage full of disguise goods lay scattered everywhere.
The hot wind blew, kicking up charred ashes.
Only Motomu's trio and the snake remained alive.
The Hyuga Captain, the only melee vanguard in the squad, had sustained a minor injury during the ambush and was paralyzed by the Sand Ninja's poison.
The Yamanaka teammate was clearly an old comrade of the Hyuga Captain.
"Can you still move? Was it another blind spot in the Branch Family's vision?"
"Cough, cough."
"It's fine."
"Motomu, help me get Lady Tsunade's antidote."
"Kazama, you know Earth Style. Go clean up the battlefield and disguise the wounds to look like they were caused by Stone Ninja."
Following the Hyuga Captain's orders, Motomu took a bottle of pale green medicine from the man's ninja bag.
As the medicine was poured into his mouth, the Hyuga Captain, who had been struggling to breathe, let out a long sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Motomu."
Recovering his strength, the Hyuga Captain rolled over and pulled a poisoned steel needle from his back.
"This one's on me."
"I didn't expect a Sand sensor to have a range further than my three-kilometer Byakugan vision."
Once the Yamanaka ninja named Kazama finished disposing of the bodies,
The Hyuga Captain spread out a map scroll and quickly planned their next route.
"We are currently very close to the Hidden Sand Village, and our target, the Loulan Kingdom, is twenty kilometers away in the ten o'clock direction."
"Having lost our disguise and knowing the Sand Ninja will realize a squad has gone missing,"
"We must proceed at full speed from here on."
"Getting bogged down in further skirmishes would make it very easy to be surrounded by the main Sand Ninja forces."
"Understood!"
Motomu pulled up the somewhat sun-dazed Cobra and followed the Hyuga Captain.
The sand was soft; even at full speed, they were much slower than jumping through treetops.
As Motomu hurried along, he pondered.
During this period, Konoha still maintained an alliance with the Hidden Sand Village.
They were brothers on the surface.
In the shadows, they had already begun to make moves against each other.
It was just that they hadn't officially crossed the line yet.
For Konoha, tearing off the mask of diplomacy would bring more harm than good.
The Land of Wind was far too destitute, nowhere near as prosperous as the Land of Fire.
Konoha didn't care for the mission rewards from the Land of Wind, but the Sand Ninja cast greedy eyes toward the Land of Fire.
If Konoha went to war and lost, it would be a devastating blow; even if they won, it would be a net loss.
But if the Sand Ninja could take even a small bite, it would be pure profit for them.
Maintaining the alliance with the Sand was of great strategic significance to Konoha.
Along the way, Motomu's Anbu squad encountered many more Sand Ninja.
They avoided most, and for the few sensing ninja who discovered them,
Motomu's teammate, Yamanaka Kazama, used Earth Style to cover their tracks.
However, during this time,
Motomu also left behind some private goods.
He had Cobra use her Sage Art to petrify several statues.
Though Cobra was confused, she complied.
These statues played a vital role in Motomu the Fall Guy's plan.
They were key to testing the Third Kazekage.
Since the Third Kazekage had encountered the petrification Sage Art of the deceased Garaga before, he shouldn't be a stranger to these statues.
Motomu intended to use this to probe the Hidden Sand Village's reaction and see what really happened with Garaga's death.
If the Sand Ninja showed no reaction, then Garaga was certainly killed by Sasori along with the Third Kazekage.
But if the Sand Ninja mobilized on a large scale and tightened their security, it would mean a living Third Kazekage had recognized the statues.
Having gained Garaga's trust, the Kazekage must have known about Ryuchi Cave.
He likely wasn't a stranger to the high-ranking Snake Princesses of Ryuchi Cave either.
Although Motomu didn't know why he backstabbed Garaga in the original story, the result remained: the Third Kazekage had deeply offended Ryuchi Cave.
Garaga's death had caused the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave to pin the blame on Motomu.
However, the Third Kazekage certainly wouldn't know that the White Snake Sage had targeted the wrong person for the debt.
He only understood one thing.
He had killed Garaga.
Therefore, he would most likely look for a way to deal with Ryuchi Cave's retaliation.
Suddenly, snake statues appeared on Sand territory.
Furthermore, many Sand Ninja subordinates had died for no reason.
Upon hearing the news, the Third Kazekage would likely panic.
And conveniently, the White Snake Sage was looking for Motomu.
She might have already followed him to the Land of Wind.
Motomu could imagine it.
On the first day, the Third Kazekage discovers snake statues caused by Ryuchi Cave's Sage Art and Earth Style that resembles Inorganic Reincarnation.
With a guilty conscience, he goes on high alert, and the Sand Ninja mobilize in force.
After waiting a few days and seeing nothing happen, he's just about to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then, damn it all, the White Snake Sage's tracks actually appear in the Land of Wind.
If the Third Kazekage hardens his heart, he might even go out and try to finish off the White Snake Sage himself!
If the two sides fight, the only one who benefits in the end will be Motomu.
Motomu's train of thought was crystal clear!
However, these were still just possibilities.
He continued to consider the worst-case scenario.
Which was facing the White Snake Sage directly.
As for the White Snake Sage's strength,
Motomu had an estimate.
At level 53, the White Snake Sage's power definitely far exceeded that of the Three-Tails.
According to the system's calculation of Pokémon strength, every ten levels was a major threshold.
The Three-Tails, which could use a Tailed Beast Bomb—a map-wiping attack—was only level 49.
A level 53 White Snake Sage was absolutely not someone he could handle on his own.
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