On the night of the Nine-Tails, I shattered the Tailed Beast Ball with a single punch.

In order to avoid being easily discovered, Nagasawa had to observe some of the other person's habits, such as whether they were aloof or gentle, what their temper was like, and so on.

Morishita Kizuki avoided the crowds and quietly returned to his home, changing into normal Grass Ninja attire before stepping out.

The Anbu is too special, and unless it is an important mission, they generally do not appear in front of ordinary ninjas and the public. Therefore, he usually changes into normal grass ninja clothes when he gets home.

"Lord Morishita."

"Ah."

Walking down the streets of Kusagakure, Kizuki responded expressionlessly to the Kusagakure ninja who greeted him.

He was one of the few Jonin in the village, and one of the stronger ones, so he was already used to it all.

"I heard that Iwagakure and Konoha have signed a peace treaty. Now we Kusagakure should be able to have some peace for a while," people on the street were discussing this news that was spreading rapidly throughout the ninja world.

Located between Iwagakure and Konoha, the Land of Grass will inevitably become a battlefield whenever the two countries go to war.

Unless one side has a significant advantage and can invade the other's territory, the battle will continue in the Land of Grass.

"Yes, peace is finally on the horizon, that's wonderful," someone nearby exclaimed.

Mu Yue glanced at the two people discussing, and they immediately stopped talking and tactfully walked away.

In Kusagakure, everyone knows that Morishita Kizuki is a staunch hawk who believes that only war can allow Kusagakure to overtake the Five Great Nations.

"They are so short-sighted, only seeing the peace before their eyes but not the oppression to come."

Don't you know that the oppression of small countries by the five great powers is endless? As long as the five great powers continue to oppress the grass ninja, war will never end, even if the grass ninja do not want war.

Only when war has completely weakened them will the Grass Ninja have a chance!

Having said that, Mu Yue didn't bother arguing with the two commoners and continued his walk.

After each ANBU mission, he would take a walk through the entire Kusagakure village to clear his mind. He felt that this would strengthen his resolve and motivate him to work even harder for the village.

As Kizuki strolled through the dilapidated, abandoned area to the east, he sighed.

Everyone thought he liked war, but in fact he hated war the most.

However, if the Grass Ninja doesn't grow stronger, becoming as strong as the Five Great Nations, or even stronger than them, then war will forever be waged against the Grass Ninja.

Moreover, it was done in a way that a ninja, who was extremely unwilling, was forced to take sides.

Faced with the overwhelming military power of the five major powers, they can only act as opportunists, siding with whoever is stronger.

If they want to surpass the Five Great Nations, normal training won't work. The Five Great Nations have more and better resources, and stronger and more diverse ninjutsu. What makes them think they can become stronger than the Five Great Nations?

Therefore, only war can change this situation and cause the five great powers to suffer heavy losses from fighting each other.

Kizuki believed this was the only way for the Grass Ninja to break the blockade imposed by the Five Great Nations.

Suddenly, Mu Yue felt a violent crisis. Just as he was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to leave the spot, a strong pain struck him, causing his vision to go black and him to faint.

Looking at Kizuki who had collapsed to the ground, Nagasawa smiled. He was now a master with half the strength of the old man with the white beard.

If he can't even sneak up on a Jonin and it takes forever to fight, then he might as well give up and just go work at Ichiraku Ramen.

"What should we do with this person?" Nagasawa fell into deep thought.

He had deliberately controlled his power, so he didn't kill the other party directly.

After some thought, Yongze ultimately decided not to kill Kizuki, but instead placed a sealing spell on him and secretly transported him to Kizuki's own home.

He can kill whenever he wants, but if he does, he won't be able to bring the other person back to life. Nagasawa feels that Kizuki might still be of some use.

Nagasawa casually tossed Kizuki into a small room and began searching for useful information in Kizuki's house.

Kizuki is one of the few Jonin in the Grass Village, so his house is naturally not simple; it's quite large.

Yongze turned Kizuki's house upside down, finding all sorts of documents, though most of them weren't things he was interested in.

However, thanks to that information, Nagasawa was able to roughly guess what Kizuki was good at.

Those materials contained a lot of information about various schools of swordsmanship, or some lightning-style ninjutsu.

It's quite obvious that Kizuki is probably a ninja skilled in swordsmanship and lightning release, which also helps him with his disguise.

Nagasawa put on the Kusanagi ANBU uniform and walked towards the Kusanagi ANBU.

……

……

Kakashi, disguised as an ordinary Grass Ninja, cautiously walked the streets of Grass Ninja Village.

Nagasawa's task for him was to investigate the attitudes of ordinary ninjas in Kusagakure towards the war.

Therefore, Kakashi did not disguise himself as an ordinary civilian, which is the easiest thing to disguise, but instead became a ninja.

Based on his experience, the smaller the ninja village, the more they look down on ordinary civilians. So if you want to make contact with them, you must at least be a fellow ninja.

So after observing for a short period of time, Kakashi used his transformation technique to become a young, generic-looking grass ninja.

Kakashi didn't rashly make direct contact with the Grass Ninja. Instead, he went to a tavern, a good place to gather information.

Kakashi ordered a bottle of wine and some snacks, pretending to drink, but actually poured it out little by little on the ground. He wasn't an adult yet, so he couldn't drink.

Inside the tavern, the sounds of various discussions and arguments blended together, creating a lively atmosphere. Under such circumstances, coupled with the stimulation of alcohol, people easily became intoxicated and talked too much.

A grass ninja excitedly slapped the table, took a sip of wine, and said, "Damn it, those bastards from Iwagakure have finally signed a peace treaty with those idiots from Konoha. The war is over."

A grass ninja nearby sighed, "Yeah, the war is finally over. Iwagakure and Konoha were fighting, but we grass ninjas were the ones who suffered. It's really damn bad."

boom!

A grass ninja nearby slammed his fist on the table and roared:

"You people always pin your hopes on those great ninja villages. If you ask me, war should never stop. Let those five great nations fight to the death so that we Kusagakure will have a chance to surpass them."

Many of the grass ninjas nearby also chimed in with their comments.

Kakashi saw this and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

It seems that the Grass Ninja Village is not a monolithic entity; there are those who support the war and those who oppose it. It's just unknown which faction the Grass Ninja Village leader belongs to.

However, judging from the fact that the Grass Ninja sent ANBU to intercept information, Kakashi thinks it's probably the former.

Chapter Sixteen: A Preview of the Life of a Dark Squad Captain

Just as Kakashi felt he had heard enough and was about to leave the tavern, the conversation of a grass ninja caught his attention.

"The speed of treatment in hospitals now is what makes a real ninja hospital. The previous hospitals were built so big, but they were full of people who could only write basic medical ninjutsu. They could only treat minor injuries, making them just like ordinary hospitals."

"That's right. With that red-haired woman, you can recover from your injuries quickly just by biting her. I don't think even the hospitals in Konoha can do it that fast."

'The red-haired woman is recovering from her injuries quickly...' Kakashi paused, silently memorizing these two pieces of information, before walking out of the tavern.

In the ninja world, when people talk about Shanks, they immediately think of the Uzumaki clan and sealing techniques.

The reason why Konoha's sealing techniques are so powerful is because of their alliance with the Uzumaki clan. The Uzumaki clan leader, Uzumaki Ashina, is known as the founder of Konoha's sealing techniques, so you can imagine the nature of their relationship.

Kakashi happened to be quite familiar with the Uzumaki clan and even had a slight liking for them, since his teacher's wife was from the Uzumaki clan.

……

……

"Lord Morishita." The two Kusanagi ANBU at the courtyard gate greeted Nagasawa respectfully as he entered.

"Hmm." Nagasawa responded lightly, then walked directly into the room.

The two ANBU members weren't surprised by Nagasawa's coldness. After Nagasawa disappeared from their sight, one of the Kusanagi ANBU sighed:

"Lord Morishita is really diligent. He just finished a mission and is already here at the Anbu."

Another Kusanagi ANBU member nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right. Lord Morishita always works so hard, yet some people still secretly criticize him. It's truly incomprehensible."

"Those pathetic wretches who only know how to beg for peace can only talk about it in secret," the Kusanagi Anbu sneered disdainfully.

Since they were able to join the Kusanagi leader's direct ANBU, they were all die-hard war enthusiasts.

Inside the house, Nagasawa quickly found the entrance to the underground secret area, in the first room behind the main hall.

The room had no floor; it had been completely hollowed out, and all that could be seen was the staircase leading underground.

Nagasawa calmly walked down the stairs.

Soon the stairs reached the end, where a sentry post appeared. According to his Observation Haki, there were four Kusanagi Anbu inside, with a strength of approximately one Special Jonin and three Chunin.

Passing by the outpost, Nagasawa walked directly to the side and pointed to an ANBU member with the aura of a Chunin, saying:

"Put the documents I brought in my office."

The Kusanagi ANBU member being pointed at paused for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "But I was on guard duty..."

“I said send the documents to my office,” Yongze interrupted directly.

The Kusanagi Anbu glanced at the class monitor sitting next to him, and for a moment they were at a loss.

"If Squad Leader Morishita tells you to deliver the documents, just do it. Why hesitate so much?" the Kusanagi ANBU squad leader said quickly.

With the squad leader's signal, the Grass Ninja Anbu opened the door, walked out of the outpost, took the information given to them by Nagasawa, and quickly headed to Nagasawa's office.

After doing all this, Yongze seemed to have something urgent to attend to, and left the outpost, heading deep into the shadows.

As Nagasawa wandered aimlessly through the Anbu, he sensed the presence of the Grass Ninja Anbu member who had gone to the office of Kizuki.

He had no idea where Mu Yue's office was, so he just grabbed a file folder, stuffed some things in haphazardly, and had someone deliver it to his office and give him directions.

Sensing that the Grass Ninja Anbu had lingered in one place for a while before returning the way he came, Nagasawa set off, following the path of the Grass Ninja Anbu, and found his office.

Yongze pushed open the office door and looked around.

The office was very plain, with little decoration and hardly any furniture, just a chair, a desk, and some cabinets for storing documents.

The documents he had given to that grass ninja were still prominently displayed on his desk.

Sitting in the chair, Yongze casually tossed the so-called documents aside and looked at the pile of files on the table.

Nagasawa glanced at them briefly. Some were ANBU missions issued by the leader of the Grass Ninja, some were various information collected by the Grass Ninja ANBU, and others were mission reports from some of his ANBU squads.

"I guess I'm getting a taste of what it's like to be a captain in advance," Nagasawa said with a smile as he looked at the confidential documents belonging to the group of Grass Ninja.

The Grass Ninja probably never imagined that someone would be so bold as to disguise themselves as an ANBU squad leader and infiltrate the ANBU.

Just as Nagasawa was about to check the cabinet for information on any Kusanagi ANBU members, a knock sounded on the door.