For this plan, Danzo had prepared for a very long time.
It could be said that he had almost brought out everything he had left.
After all, the Sunagakure shinobi responsible for conducting a prisoner transaction with Iwagakure would not be weak, nor would their numbers be small.
Moreover, the desert was so vast. Capturing the traces of this mechanical sand ship was no easy matter.
"If not for the spy this old man planted long ago, even investing more people would not have been enough."
But at that moment—
Suddenly—
"Bang!"
An extremely massive explosion rang out.
It was far more powerful than the previous explosion Root shinobi had created with explosive tags.
"Boom!"
The entire ground shook.
Countless fragments flew outward.
The Root shinobi charging toward the mechanical sand ship had no time to react when they noticed the movement. They could only take the force of the explosion head-on.
Too fast!
The explosion's power was too great!
There was no way to block it.
Those Root shinobi were blasted backward at a speed even faster than when they had charged in.
The powerful impact crashed into their bodies, inflicting tremendous damage. Some even had their chests caved inward.
"What?"
Danzo froze. His eyes widened involuntarily.
Then Danzo saw it.
A hippopotamus emerged from the desert, swimming through the sand with remarkable agility and great speed.
Its eyes were red as it charged toward the Root shinobi and began hunting them.
"What is that thing?"
Danzo's eyelid twitched.
The situation before him was completely different from what he had anticipated.
Not only had his ambush failed, it seemed far more like he had stepped into the other side's trap.
The other party seemed to have been prepared all along.
And when Danzo saw the Sunagakure shinobi who had been on the mechanical sand ship crawl out from beneath the ground, he confirmed it.
Sunagakure had known about his plan.
From beginning to end, this had been a trap.
He had fallen for it.
Not only had he fallen for it, he had even been smug, believing his plan had succeeded.
"My man betrayed me!"
"Damn it!"
"How did Sunagakure turn him? How did they find him?"
"He betrayed this old man so easily and surrendered to Sunagakure. His crime is unforgivable!"
Danzo was furious.
But there was no time to rage, because Danzo knew that the most important thing for him now was to allow as many Root shinobi as possible to escape alive.
The plan had already failed. Reducing losses was now the most important thing.
His thoughts stirred.
"Summoning Technique!"
Accompanied by an explosion of white smoke, a huge orange figure appeared.
It was the Baku.
Compared with the Baku from before, this one looked noticeably smaller.
"Go!"
At Danzo's command, the Baku immediately charged toward the Sandstorm Hippo.
"Run!"
Using the Baku as a restraint, Danzo created an opportunity for the remaining Root shinobi to escape. However, not many managed to flee. Only a handful escaped, while the rest all died at the hands of the Sunagakure shinobi.
"Damned Sunagakure. I will remember this grudge!"
"And that damned traitor. This old man swears I will kill you!"
Danzo cast a vicious look in the direction of the Sunagakure shinobi, then left at his fastest speed.
A figure watched from far away.
"I didn't expect Danzo to personally come. What a pity. Our preparations weren't sufficient enough. If we could have taken down Danzo, what an enormous achievement that would have been."
"Perhaps Kazekage-sama would have directly rewarded me with an upper-tier Devil Fruit."
The shinobi who had previously been on the mechanical sand ship came before this jōnin.
"My lord."
The Sunagakure jōnin nodded.
"Is everyone alright?"
"We're fine."
"You acted well. This time, we killed more than a dozen Konoha Root shinobi. Everyone has contributed. Bring the corpses. We return to the village."
"Yes, my lord."
Very soon, this squad returned to Sunagakure.
They immediately went to the Kazekage Building to report.
"Kazekage-sama."
Rasa looked toward the jōnin before him.
"Gora, how was it?"
"Kazekage-sama, our ambush succeeded. By detonating the energy sphere, we inflicted tremendous damage on those Root shinobi. Combined with the Sandstorm Hippo's cooperation, we killed more than a dozen of them."
Gora said, "However, there was one unexpected situation."
Rasa frowned.
"What unexpected situation?"
Gora answered,
"Shimura Danzo of Konoha appeared as well. He was observing from a distance. After realizing something was wrong, he used the Summoning Technique to summon a Baku and restrain the Sandstorm Hippo."
"Otherwise, we could have killed even more."
"If we had known beforehand that Danzo would appear too, we could have arranged a stronger ambush. Perhaps we could even have killed Danzo."
Rasa's eyes flickered.
"Danzo appeared in the Land of Wind?"
According to the intelligence Sunagakure had previously obtained, Danzo should have already been confined by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Because in the Kakashi incident, Danzo had taken the blame for killing Kakashi.
Kakashi believed this without the slightest doubt.
Hiruzen Sarutobi also believed it had definitely been Danzo.
"Because Konoha's situation has become too terrible, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to use Danzo again?"
This was indeed something Sunagakure had not anticipated.
Konoha had contacted Sunagakure's spy, wanting to ambush the Sunagakure squad conducting the transaction with Iwagakure.
But in truth, that spy had long since been exposed.
Back when Rasa used the One-Day Heart Voice Card, he had confirmed the spy's identity.
Afterward, he had arranged ANBU shinobi to monitor him.
Therefore, Sunagakure had known about Danzo's plan from the very beginning.
That was why Rasa had not killed that spy back then.
If he had killed him, there would not have been this opportunity now.
"It has already passed. There's no need to dwell on it. This time, our Sunagakure killed more than a dozen Root shinobi while only losing one mechanical sand ship. You have already done well."
Especially since Rasa saw the name of one Hyuga shinobi on the death list.
When Danzo recruited Root shinobi, he wanted his subordinates to be absolutely loyal to him.
As for the Hyuga clan, because of the existence of the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, the loyalty of the Hyuga branch family was definitely directed toward the Hyuga main family.
Therefore, this Hyuga branch member should not have been a Root shinobi. He had likely been temporarily arranged into the operation plan by Danzo because he needed the Hyuga clan's Byakugan.
This Hyuga shinobi allowed Rasa to see a point that could be manipulated.
Rasa summoned the newspaper office's director, Saki.
"The headline for the next issue has been decided."
"Danzo led a team to attack our Sunagakure shinobi squad, was counter-killed, abandoned his companions, and fled in disgrace… Make sure to especially emphasize that among the people Danzo abandoned was a member of the Hyuga branch family."
Saki nodded.
"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
Join my Patreon to read public release chapters and get 1 chapter ahead for free. Paid members can read more advanced chapters.
Continue reading here
patreon.com/Inkveil_