The rain poured down, and sometimes the rumbling of thunder could be heard, making it feel as if the entire earth was shaking. For Karura, her mood was as foul as the weather.
She cautiously peered out, scanning her surroundings. Seeing no one, she pulled her head back in and reported to her captain.
"Almost two hours have passed. Not only have Konoha's ninjas not appeared, but neither have our own people." The captain of this Sand Hidden ninja squad, Ryoma, sighed deeply, his face etched with worry.
"The Konoha ninja squad that ambushed us is also nowhere to be seen. We don't know where they went; they might have already left. Perhaps we could try going out to look for the main force?" one of the team members suggested.
"Nonsense! How did you study in school? Don't assume an empty space is truly empty. Ninjas are adept at concealment. Perhaps those Konoha ninjas are watching us from a place we don't know!" Ryoma immediately barked at the team member.
The person was reprimanded and dared not look up, only muttering in their heart, "My grades in school weren't very good to begin with, so how would I know so much? And yet they sent me here."
Karura, listening to their conversation, couldn't help but nod slightly. Although she had just gone out to scout, as she wasn't a sensory ninja, she wouldn't easily detect enemies who had concealed themselves. It was very likely, as the captain said, that Konoha's ninjas were still hiding nearby.
Instead of rushing out recklessly, it was better to wait where they were. If a Sand Hidden ninja squad appeared, they could at least be somewhat sure of their safety. Although the other party might be Konoha ninjas disguised with transformation jutsu, they could also be genuine comrades. People they could confirm with their own eyes were always better than those they couldn't.
Previously, this Sand Hidden ninja squad had encountered a Konoha assault squad and had barely managed to escape, thanks to the enemy having no intention of pursuing them, which gave the Sand Hidden ninja squad a chance to catch their breath. Nevertheless, the ninja responsible for sensing and communication in their squad had died, and with his death, this Sand Hidden ninja squad also lost its way of contacting comrades.
In this ninja world, the method for achieving something similar to radio communication was a contact ninjutsu based on chakra sensing. Apart from that, there were very ordinary biological messengers and signal flares, etc. Although they tried these methods, they received no response.
According to Ryoma's guess, after that Konoha assault squad, the main force of Konoha Village might have arrived, so much so that the main force was stretched thin and unable to send out rescue personnel. Theoretically, they should go back and find the main force themselves, but due to the unclear situation, and fearing an ambush from Konoha ninjas, they had stayed put until now.
Now they still held onto hope, believing that their comrades would soon contact them. As long as they could make contact, even if there was danger, they would find a way to go out and look for their comrades. But the problem was that they had completely lost all means of communication, just like people trapped on a deserted island, completely lost about the path ahead.
"Captain, it's not a solution for us to just sit here and wait to die," Karura said. "If Konoha ninjas are entangled with the main force, staying here might make us miss a good opportunity."
Ryoma hesitated upon hearing this. How he wished he could leave this place and rendezvous with the main force, but his inner doubts kept him from acting. Ultimately, he wasn't originally the captain of this squad; the original captain had died in the battle with the Konoha assault squad, and Ryoma, the strongest among the survivors, was appointed captain. In terms of experience, he was far from seasoned.
Such situations were commonplace in the current Sand Hidden ninja forces. Due to a lack of funds, Sand Hidden Village could not maintain a large number of ninjas like other ninja villages and had to opt for an elite troop strategy. Now that the war between the two countries had broken out, out of a need for manpower, some ninjas who had not yet experienced mission training were pulled onto the battlefield.
Ryoma was only fourteen years old this year, and had only completed a dozen or so missions, none of which were high-level. His chunin rank was barely obtained, and the other team members were even younger, most of whom had no combat experience. Faced with sudden situations, they couldn't handle them with the same ease as their predecessors.
Karura was also just a twelve-year-old girl. Before being selected, she had never imagined that she would one day participate in a war. She couldn't think of any good solution for the current situation, but an unwillingness in her heart told her that she absolutely did not want to sit here and wait to die. Even if it meant death, that would at least be a result, rather than being stuck in this predicament, unable to advance or retreat.
Karura was different from other Sand Hidden ninjas. She hadn't received much education at the ninja academy, and her ninjutsu wasn't learned from school teachers. Instead, she learned it from a special person in Sand Hidden Village. That special person was the jinchuriki of Sand Hidden Village, the monk Bunpuku, who had been confined in a tall tower for many years. Of course, Karura didn't know Bunpuku's jinchuriki identity, nor did she know why he was imprisoned there.
Although Bunpuku was just a monk and not a ninja, it didn't mean he couldn't use ninjutsu. Even if he didn't want to learn, the moment he became the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, he had to have the power to protect himself, rather than relying solely on others' protection. Besides ninja families or schools, temples also had unique secret arts, and if one had outstanding talent, a monk could become a renowned master.
For example, Chiriku, Asuma Sarutobi's good friend, was a former monk who later became one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire's Daimyo and had a very good relationship with Asuma Sarutobi. Chiriku's strength was considerable. Such chakra-training monks existed in temples across the Five Great Nations and represented a not insignificant force, sometimes even serving as guards for the Daimyo.
Bunpuku's talent was exceptional, possibly influenced by the One-Tail. He had a deep understanding of the Sand Secret Arts and Wind Release ninjutsu created by the Second Kazekage. If Bunpuku were willing to fight, he would certainly be evaluated as a Jonin in Sand Hidden Village. But what the Sand Hidden high-ups resented most was Bunpuku's lack of cooperation.
Bunpuku was unwilling to go to other countries as an invader. He knew how much disaster his jinchuriki power, once unleashed, would bring upon others. The only thing he could do was to protect his homeland when other countries invaded Sand Hidden Village.
Afterward, Sand Hidden Village made an agreement with Bunpuku: they would not force Bunpuku to fight, but Bunpuku, as one of the few masters in Sand Hidden Village, had to educate a group of young students. This was Sand Hidden Village's bottom line; if Bunpuku refused, they would have to resort to other means to compel him.
Bunpuku eventually agreed. On one hand, he truly didn't want Sand Hidden Village to bother him anymore. On the other hand, he also placed some hope in these young people. Although teaching these young children ninjutsu might make them tools for invading other countries, Bunpuku also understood that only those with strong power could become the rulers of Sand Hidden Village. In his heart, he hoped that the students he educated would someday become high-ranking officials in Sand Hidden Village, capable of internal reforms that would make Sand Hidden Village better.
And Karura, after going through multiple selections, became Bunpuku's best student in his eyes. From then on, she became Bunpuku's closed-door disciple. Karura, at a young age, could enter the vanguard unit, and her strength had been verified.
From her teacher, Bunpuku, Karura learned many ideas of Ninshu. Bunpuku also often asked Karura to bring him new theories from the Land of Fire for him to read. After long research, Bunpuku believed that these were suitable theories for the current ninja world, and if Sand Hidden Village could adopt them, they should be able to forge an unprecedented path.
However, as an imprisoned jinchuriki, Bunpuku didn't have that much power. He merely conveyed his thoughts to Karura, hoping that she would shoulder this responsibility in the future. Karura herself didn't know if she could, and she still held a half-believing, half-doubting attitude towards the ideas of Ninshu.
However, in this war, Karura vaguely began to agree with what her teacher said. If not for this war, she might not have encountered such things. Now that there was no way to avoid it, Karura could only choose to move forward, at least to give herself a result without regret.
It was at this moment that a voice, amplified by ninjutsu, echoed through the area. Everyone was startled and pricked up their ears to listen carefully. The gist of the message was that the Sand Hidden ninja forces had been defeated, and this area was completely under the control of Konoha Village. If any Sand Hidden ninja squads still existed, they should immediately surrender. In the spirit of humanitarianism—a term defined in the new Ninshu doctrine, combining traditional Ninshu principles—Konoha Village would guarantee basic treatment for those who surrendered and ceased resistance, so there was no need to worry about suffering the interrogations that traditional ninjas typically endured.
The crowd exchanged glances. Setting aside the content that followed, the mere fact that the Sand Hidden ninja forces had been defeated was unacceptable to them. They had been waiting for contact from the main force, and now they were being told that the main force had been routed and this area was surrounded by Konoha Village. How could they accept such a thing!
"Impossible, how could it be like this?" Ryoma was clearly too shocked to speak clearly. His expression was anxious, and his whole body was trembling. He turned his head sharply, glaring at the others. "You must not be misled by the people of Konoha Village. Don't forget what the village's orders are!"
Sand Hidden Village commanded all ninjas not to surrender. Even if the situation was unfavorable and death was imminent, they were to use the explosive tags they carried to commit suicide alongside the enemy, launching self-detonating attacks—this was actually why Konoha ninjas suffered relatively heavy losses in frontal combat. If there were any who surrendered, they would be traitors to the village!
The others, of course, hadn't forgotten the village's orders. When the war began, they too had felt a surge of hot blood, vowing that if Konoha ninjas truly intended to wipe them out, they would take some enemies down with them even in death. But now they had calmed down, that hot blood gradually receded, and the idea of self-detonation was not as firm.
Of course, this wasn't to say they were afraid of death. In fact, they weren't afraid of death now, but they were afraid of dying without value. There were no enemies present, so if they were to self-detonate, they would have to wait for enemies to appear. As for the option of surrendering, they seemed unable to accept it either, after all, once they surrendered, they would be branded as traitors to the village.
No one dared to speak of surrender at this time. They weren't sure if what the Konoha ninjas said was true. What if the Sand Hidden ninja forces hadn't been defeated? What if they would arrive soon? If they were found to have surrendered then, wouldn't they be directly branded as traitors, unable to return home, and their families in the village might even be implicated?
Ninja villages never showed mercy to traitors. Although Ryoma and the others hadn't witnessed it firsthand, according to the cases provided by the village, those traitors were undoubtedly subjected to clan extermination, or at least the extermination of their entire family. They had to consider their families, even if not themselves.
Another point was that they also didn't really believe that Konoha Village would guarantee their basic treatment. As ninjas of Sand Hidden Village, Konoha ninjas would surely want to extract information from them, so how could they not interrogate them? As a new generation, they didn't know that during the First Shinobi World War, Konoha Village had indeed guaranteed the treatment of captured ninjas. However, Sand Hidden Village would obviously not publicize this to the enemy, so in the ninja academy's education, Konoha Village's treatment of prisoners was no different from other ninjas.
However, Karura was half-skeptical because her teacher was an old man who had lived from the early days of Sand Hidden ninjas until now. He knew a great deal. Those Sand Hidden ninjas who were captured back then were basically all dead and couldn't tell their juniors, and even if they wanted to, they might have been forbidden by the village. But for Bunpuku, there was no such restriction; he could choose not to listen to the village's orders.
Karura vaguely remembered that Bunpuku had praised Konoha Village's attitude towards ninja prisoners. He had always felt that Konoha Village was a village that had deeply inherited the Sage of Six Paths' teachings, and he stated that if Karura could become a high-ranking official in the village in the future, she must choose to befriend Konoha Village. Given the disparity in strength between the two sides, it would be better to pursue peaceful relations than war, and perhaps they would gain more than through conflict.
Although Karura felt that what Konoha Village said might be true, just like the others' worries, the Sand Hidden ninja forces might not have been defeated yet, and she also had to consider her family in the village. So Karura said nothing, only continuing to observe the situation with the others.
They, of course, wouldn't know that the Sand Hidden ninja forces truly wouldn't be coming. At this moment, the Sand Hidden ninja forces were engaged in battle with the team led by Hanzō, and the troops led by Kagami Uchiha would soon arrive from the rear.