Naruto: I, the villain template, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 210 "Dawn" - The Beginning of the War

In a narrow, inconspicuous valley, on the only way from the Land of Wind to the Land of Rain.

A ninja unit dressed in gray vests and wearing Sand Village headbands was hiding in this place. The Sand Village ninjas, who were skilled in Earth Release ninjutsu, built simple defensive fortifications here, with arched earthen fortresses standing in the valley.

It was around three in the morning, and the Sand Village members in the valley were all fast asleep, with only the sound of the brazier burning.

But at the only entrance to the valley, a biting wind, carrying rain, blew into the sentry post through the windows on all four sides, making the two Sand Village ninjas on guard feel as if they were on a frozen wasteland.

"Achoo!"

One of the Sand Village female ninjas sneezed, shivered, and moved closer to the brazier, complaining, "This awful weather in the Land of Rain is so annoying!"

The chilling wind felt like a venomous snake, reminding one of the ghost stories from the Land of Wind, where a demon princess would press herself against a person's back and breathe cold air onto their neck.

Thinking of this, another male Sand Village ninja with a good physique unconsciously tightened his robe and sighed, "After all, the southern part of the Land of Rain is now so poor that there's no money left."

"Our plan is to sneak into the northern part of the Land of Rain without Konoha's knowledge, and try to plunder its resources before Konoha does. The operation must be kept secret."

"What a hassle." The female ninja from Sunagakure crossed her arms and complained to herself, "Why did they have to choose to launch a counterattack in the middle of winter? I can feel the cold wind seeping into my bones."

In some parts of the Land of Wind, the average summer temperature can reach over 40 degrees Celsius, with the surface temperature approaching 70 degrees Celsius. However, once the sun sets, the temperature drops sharply, with the average nighttime temperature falling below zero.

After winter sets in, the lowest temperature can drop to minus twenty degrees Celsius, which is much lower than the winter temperature in the Land of Rain.

However, the cold in the Land of Rain is different from the cold in the Land of Wind.

The air humidity in the land of rain is so high that no matter how many layers you wear, it still feels bone-chillingly cold.

"If we launch a counterattack any later, and the temperature drops, there will be even less profit to be made in the Land of Rain."

Another Sand Village ninja offered a wry smile and words of comfort: "The higher-ups probably didn't expect the temperature in the Land of Rain to change so drastically."

The two chatted idly, and even before encountering any enemies, they were already homesick.

This valley is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Unless someone can fly in from above, the only way to attack is through this narrow path that is no more than five meters wide.

Nothing unexpected had happened before, and the two of them had relaxed without realizing it.

"Sigh, I wonder when Lord Duomu will give the order to leave..."

As the female ninja was speaking, a cold wind swept by, and another Sand Ninja instinctively looked towards the outpost.

Upon seeing this, the female ninja immediately shut her mouth, her expression turned serious, and she followed his gaze, only to see a slanted black curtain of rain, with countless raindrops splashing on the ground, creating a hazy mist.

"What's wrong?"

A moment later, she turned to her companion, frowned, and asked.

The Sand Ninja's eyes flickered slightly as he looked outside hesitantly and asked, "Did you hear anything?"

Upon hearing this, the woman turned to look out the window again, listened intently for a while, then shook her head and said, "No, I can only hear the sound of rain. Are you too tense and mishearing?"

As she spoke, it seemed as if raindrops fell on her cheek. She subconsciously raised her hand to wipe them away, but felt a sticky sensation.

"enemy……"

The female ninja's pupils contracted instantly. Without turning her head, she opened her mouth without hesitation, ready to warn the enemy.

puff!

A cold, gleaming blade pierced through her forehead, abruptly silencing her scream. Red and white liquid splashed onto the window with a soft sound.

The dim, almost nonexistent moonlight from outside the window spilled into the sentry post, casting two shadows behind the two Sand Ninja corpses, and also revealing the faces of the two people.

"Too slow."

Nagato pulled out the short sword that had pierced the male Sand Ninja, looked at Yahiko in front of him with a sneer and said without expression, "You're so slow at killing a female ninja. I really don't understand why my brother sent you to hold me back."

"……whispering sound."

Yahiko pulled the katana from the corpse, flicked it to wipe away the steaming blood from the blade, and said with some dissatisfaction, "I'm not good at assassination. Everyone has their own specialty. Didn't the boss teach you that?"

That being said, Yahiko did not deny Nagato's words.

That male Sand Ninja was, after all, a sensory ninja. The moment he sensed something was wrong, Nagato crushed his throat and stabbed him in the head, smashing his brain. He couldn't even make a sound the whole time.

His moves were indeed fast and accurate; Yahiko admitted that he was better than him in this aspect.

Seeing that Yahiko readily admitted it, Nagato felt somewhat bored. He turned his gaze to the innermost part of the valley and said coldly, "I originally thought that the people of Konoha had split into two groups, but it turns out that the idiots from Sunagakure wanted to interfere."

"We haven't even gone to settle accounts with them yet, and they're already coming after us again. They really think we're easy targets!"

Yahiko sheathed his sword, his tone somewhat annoyed, and asked, "Judging from what those two were saying earlier, there might be a big fish here. Shall we go investigate?"

After Blood Pigeon from the intelligence department discovered the anomaly here, the two who were originally planning to confront Jiraiya's forces decided to come here to take a look.

Upon arrival, they found that the valley was indeed heavily fortified, with guards every ten steps and sentries every five steps, even from a distance.

It took Nagato and his companion considerable effort to arrive here without alerting anyone.

"While the appearance of Sunagakure here is somewhat unexpected, with such tight security and Chiyo's daughter personally leading the team, who knows what they might do? We can't just let them pass, can we?"

Yahiko continued to fuel the fire, saying, "Doesn't Jiraiya still have Uncle Yoru? Uncle Yoru has now been promoted to Upper Moon Four. Even if the two of us aren't around, he shouldn't have too much trouble facing Jiraiya on his own."

Nagato ignored Yahiko and instead sensed the troop strength in the valley, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

There are more than 400 Sand Ninjas openly displayed in the valley. If there are more hidden in the shadows, there are at least 600 Sand Ninjas hidden throughout the valley.

Jiraiya led a group of people to ambush at the riverbank, preparing to intercept the Rain Village troops after their defeat, also to guard against the sudden intervention of "Dawn". They had known about this for a long time.

However, when Sunagakure and Konoha were planning to join forces to defeat Amegakure's forces, the Third Kazekage secretly dispatched this force to cross the river to the northern part of the Land of Rain, which truly surprised Nagato.

Is it really to get ahead of Konoha and plunder the resources of northern Rain Country?

That's not right. The Third Kazekage should know very well that Onoki hired bounty hunters to test Dawn, and they slapped him hard. Why would he take such a risk at a time like this...?

"Is this some kind of scheme where the snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman profits?"

Nagato was completely baffled, but Yahiko suddenly spoke up, raising an eyebrow and saying, "Is it possible that the real target of this Sunagakure force isn't us, but rather the Konoha blocking force led by Jiraiya?"

Upon hearing this, Nagato had a sudden realization and glanced at Yahiko beside him.

The Third Kazekage's true objective was not, as these Sand Ninja thought, to raid the northern part of the Land of Rain, but rather to have this Sand Ninja force ambush behind Jiraiya's Konoha force.

Once Jiraiya jumps out to intercept the fleeing Amegakure forces in front, the Sunagakure forces will then jump out from behind, forming a pincer movement against Jiraiya alongside the fleeing Amegakure forces.

They wiped out the remnants of the Amegakure forces and the Konoha forces led by Jiraiya in one fell swoop.

While Sunagakure and Konoha were still working together to deal with Hanzo and Amegakure, the Third Kazekage had already set his sights on Jiraiya.

"These major powers are all ugly, one after another."

Thinking of this, Nagato sneered and said in a low voice, "The so-called alliance is just a piece of paper that can be torn up at any time in their eyes, and the so-called allies are nothing more than people who can be betrayed at any time in their eyes."

Indeed, the way to deal with these guys is to beat them into submission, to inflict pain, and to kill them, so that they remember fear and suffering—this is more effective than any so-called alliance.

"So, are we going to take action? Give me a straight answer!"

Seeing that Nagato remained silent, Yahiko impatiently pressed him for an answer.

"Don't underestimate Jiraiya. Yoru might not be able to handle him alone."

Interrupted from her thoughts, Nagato retorted coldly, then looked up at the distant sky.

A moment later, a black pigeon with a purple metallic sheen on its head, back, and waist feathers gently flapped its wings and landed on Nagato's shoulder.

"Coo coo?"

The black dove blinked its scarlet bird eyes and tilted its head to look at Nagato's face.

Under Yahiko's envious gaze, Nagato raised a finger with a drop of blood seeping out and offered it to the black pigeon, which then sucked it into its beak.

"This is Nagato. Yahiko and I have separated from the group and arrived at our target valley," Nagato said first.

The next moment, in the silent sentry post, Yahiko suddenly heard a familiar human voice coming from the black pigeon's beak, and his expression instantly became quite interesting.

Meanwhile, inside the aerial fortress above the Land of Rain.

The control room in the center of the fortress was brightly lit and filled with the sounds of quiet discussion, while a huge map of the ninja world was projected in the center of the control room.

You can see many red dots radiating outwards from Dawn City, and many of these red dots are flashing and moving as if breathing.

This technology was developed by combining the sealing and barrier techniques of the Uzumaki clan, the Zero-Tail technology of the Land of Sky, and Shennong's Blood Demon Art.

Shennong's Blood Demon Art is not a combat-oriented art, but rather a support-oriented one. It allows him to communicate with the outside world over long distances by relying on "blood" and with the assistance of "Zero Tail" and barrier techniques.

While he couldn't forcibly read the thoughts of those who received blood and communicate telepathically like Yun Chuan, who possessed the "Bloodborne Curse," he could still sense their general direction and location.

Although Shennong could not control the humans who received the blood donation, he could now control the pigeons that received the blood donation.

On this projection of the ninja world, each red dot represents a blood pigeon, and each blood pigeon represents a team.

Shennong's side wasn't fully aware of what had happened in each detachment; he was only in direct contact with the blood pigeons. This meant that the command could only obtain their intelligence by waiting for them to contact them on their own initiative.

"This is Nagato. Yahiko and I have now separated from the group and arrived at our target valley."

Shennong stood before the projection, hearing Nagato's voice in his ear. His gaze swept across the projection before finally settling on Nagato's location. He asked, "Command center has received your message. What's the situation?"

"At least six hundred Sand Village ninja are hiding in this valley. The leader is Chiyo's son, Tamo, and possibly Tamo's wife as well."

Nagato described the troop strength in the valley, explained Yahiko's conjecture, and continued, "Yahiko and I will go to decapitate them; you'll need to send air force to deal with the other Sand Ninja."

"Also, Upper Moon Four: Night needs help; it's not safe for him to face Jiraiya alone."

Upon hearing this, Shennong looked up at the projection and saw the Upper Moon One, which was temporarily stationary in place.

After a brief pause, he heard a familiar, gentle voice and nodded, saying, "Lord Yun Chuan said you should be flexible and adaptable. I'll send someone to you now, and I'll have Kakuzu go to 'Shang Si' as well."

As soon as he finished speaking, Nagato remained silent and decisively cut off the contact.

Shennong knew that this was his personality, so he didn't pay any attention and turned to look at another Kongren who was in charge of communication.

"A 100-strong air force unit has already been dispatched."

A moment later, the ninja looked up and said directly, "We should be able to reach the target within thirty minutes at the latest..."

"Fifteen minutes." Before he could finish speaking, Shennong interrupted him coldly, "They're not the main force of Sunagakure; there's no need to conserve their energy. Get them to the target location within fifteen minutes!"

Having said that, he ignored the hesitant Kong Ren and used his Blood Demon Art once again.

At the same time, inside the Ministry of Finance office in Dawn City.

"Waaaah, when will we ever finish organizing all these account books?!"

A faint sob could be heard, the sorrow and grief in the words causing those who heard it to grieve and weep.

The account books on the table in front of Kakuzu were piled up into a small mountain. When he saw the account books in front of Feng Ai that were wet with tears, he frowned and said in a deep voice, "Stop crying, you've soaked the account books."

Having said that, he looked at another table, but saw no one. He then expertly looked under the table, and finally couldn't help but sigh, "Shui Ju, that's enough!"

Do...do do...

The table was shaking rhythmically, but not because of an earthquake, but because of the person underneath it.

"Oh, how scary, the main body is angry."

That face, so similar to his own, was now deathly pale and emaciated, filled with fear and timidity. He was huddled under the table, clutching a blue jar, trembling.

"Oh! Poor water-fearing man."

Feng Ai rushed over and hugged her in her arms, saying in a mournful and pitying tone, "Main body, look how scared you've made Shui Ju."

Looking at his two bizarre clones, Kakuzu felt his head was about to explode.

He felt he should be angry, but he didn't feel angry at all. He just felt incredibly miserable, and this feeling was really uncomfortable...

Just then, a crisp sound came from outside the window.

dong dong!Boom!

Kakuzu subconsciously turned his head and saw a pigeon pecking at the windowpane outside the window.

"Coo coo! Coo coo!"

Seeing this, Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and sighed, "Jiraiya, he seems a bit difficult to deal with... However, a clone with a fire-attribute heart shouldn't be too troublesome, right?"

(End of this chapter)