Escape from Konoha.

One of the Jonin came up and, seeing that the Jinchuriki was unharmed, breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the Third Kazekage, his leader, with admiration and respect.

The Third Kazekage nodded to the Sand Ninja.

"As expected of the Kazekage, Shukaku should be able to settle down for a while now."

Regarding the Jonin's assessment, the Third Kazekage shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. Bunpuku still refuses to cooperate. If he were willing to cooperate, I wouldn't have used other methods to provoke Shukaku."

Fenfu is the name of this monk.

As a Jinchūriki, he has a very good relationship with the tailed beast Shukaku sealed within him, which is why Shukaku has remained sealed very stably all these years.

However, there are also problems.

He is a compassionate and merciful spirit, and a Jinchūriki who dislikes fighting.

Therefore, during the reign of the Second Kazekage Shamon, in order to militarize Shukaku's power, the Second Kazekage imprisoned Bunpuku and studied the Shukaku power within him, developing a series of Magnet Release ninjutsu.

Even so, Bunfuku did not yield to the Second Kazekage.

After the Second Kazekage, Shamon, passed away, his disciple, the Third Kazekage, succeeded him. Naturally, he also inherited the will of the previous Kazekage and pondered how to militarize the Tailed Beasts.

This was an experiment, an attempt to use the power of the tailed beasts to catch Konoha off guard and seize the rich resources of the Land of Fire.

However, the effect was not very good. Due to Bunpuku's lack of cooperation, Shukaku's emotions have been very unstable recently. If he hadn't sensed that there was a problem with the sealing method, he wouldn't have rushed here immediately to reseal the rampaging Shukaku back into the Jinchuriki's body.

"What do we do next, Lord Kazekage?"

"This is what the Jonin asked."

"Leaving aside the Jinchuriki issue for now, there's always a way to get that stubborn Bunpuku to cooperate. But what's with the Konoha ninja showing up here?"

It didn't take much effort to suppress Shukaku, since his ninjutsu was developed specifically for this purpose.

Compared to the fact that Shukaku's location had been exposed, the Third Kazekage believed that the key issue was the sudden attack by Konoha ninjas.

The deployment of tailed beasts to the battlefield must be done secretly in order to swiftly defeat the Konoha ninja and invade the heart of the Land of Fire.

"We don't know either; those Konoha ninjas just attacked us suddenly."

The Jonin who answered also looked rather grim.

The matter of the Tailed Beasts should be of utmost importance, and there is no risk of it being leaked.

"Take a thorough reinvestigation of the personnel here."

The Third Kazekage issued this order.

"Yes!"

The Jonin nodded solemnly.

Currently, it seems more likely that there is a mole within the village.

"By the way, how should we deal with those Konoha ninja?"

"Don't worry, when I arrived, a unit had already been sent to hunt down those few Konoha ninjas. I believe good news will come back soon."

The Third Kazekage gazed calmly into the distance, full of confidence in the Sand Ninja he had dispatched to hunt down the Konoha ninja.

The Jonin nodded and instructed the monk who had fainted on the ground to be carried on his shoulder.

"Then, Lord Kazekage, I will go down and reposition the Jinchuriki."

"Go ahead. I will increase the guard force as needed. This time, there must be no more accidents."

"Yes!"

◎

The land of rivers, at the bottom of a valley with forest cliffs.

"what!"

After plunging the kunai into the enemy's chest, Shiraishi took a deep breath, stepped back, and then sat wearily on the ground, clutching his blood-red side.

"These guys are really troublesome... Wind Blades, huh?"

The fact that such a deep, long gash could be easily left on his body, which had been enhanced by natural energy, shows that the Wind Blade, a ninjutsu commonly used by elite Sunagakure ninjas, is indeed incredibly sharp.

Shiraishi frowned, a faint green light swirling around his hand as he covered his side, beginning to heal the wound.

Beside him, Ruri and Ayane sat panting, their clothes covered in dust, eating soldier pills to replenish their chakra.

Around them lay twenty-one Sand Ninja lying in pools of blood, with kunai and shuriken scattered everywhere.

The team was led by three Jonin, and the rest were all Chunin.

The three members of the White Stone family paid a heavy price to annihilate this force here.

After healing the wound on his side, Shiraishi touched his ninja tool pouch. It was almost empty, with only two sealed scrolls and an experimental bottle for collecting Shukaku's chakra remaining.

"Are there any soldier ration pills left?"

Using taijutsu doesn't consume chakra, but medical ninjutsu does. However, he no longer has any soldier pills in his ninja tool pouch.

Even if they make it using local materials, they still have to consider the Sand Ninja who might attack again at any time.

"That's all, that was the last one."

Ayane replied apologetically.

Ruri shook her head as well. The main function of the soldier's ration pills is to fill hunger, and restoring chakra is only used in emergencies.

Even the special ration pills made by Shiraishi can only restore a limited amount of chakra.

Shiraishi sighed helplessly, then struggled to his feet and walked towards the fallen Sand Ninja to see what usable equipment was in their ninja tool bags.

Luckily, he found the first corpse; his ninja tool bag contained several undamaged kunai and two explosive tags.

Shiraishi put all of these into his ninja tool bag.

Suddenly, a Sand Ninja who had fallen to the ground opened his eyes, his hands wreathed in swirling, sharp wind, and swung his wind blade at Shiroishi's body.

Shiraishi was startled; he hadn't expected there to be someone faking death here.

Without thinking, she leaned to the side, and a few strands of hair drifted down.

A cold sweat broke out on Shiraishi's face as he tumbled out in a disheveled state.

The Sand Ninja, relentless in his pursuit, charged towards Shiraishi, his body stained with blood and his face contorted like a demon.

boom!

A fireball came hurtling towards us.

The Sand Ninja had no time to defend themselves. They struggled and roared in the flames, but eventually collapsed helplessly, becoming a charred, blackened corpse.

Liuli took a deep breath, looking even more exhausted.

That fireball just now almost used up her last bit of chakra.

If they continue to deplete their chakra, it will be fatal.

"Idiot, he can't even tell the difference between a dead person and a living person."

"Feel sorry."

Shiraishi awkwardly got up from the ground and dusted off his clothes.

He continued to loot the corpse, but having learned from his previous experience, Shiraishi was much more careful when doing so.

Before touching each corpse, throw out a kunai to prevent anyone from rising from the dead.

Fortunately, this worry was unnecessary; of all the Sand Ninja, only the one from earlier hadn't died completely.

In the end, Shiraishi obtained forty or fifty kunai and shuriken combined, sixteen soldier pills, and about ten explosive tags.

They presented the spoils to Ruri and Ayane, who were too exhausted to move, and began to distribute them.

Ruri and Ayane didn't stand on ceremony, mainly because they were in such a sorry state this time.

Of the sixteen soldier ration pills, Shiraishi and Ayane each took four, while Ruri, whose ninjutsu was all high-energy-consuming, took half each.

The three of them used the soldier pills on the spot to replenish their chakra.

Having recovered, Shiraishi prepared to use healing magic to treat Ruri and Ayane's wounds.

"No need, these are just minor injuries, you can bear with them."

Liuli picked up a white bandage and skillfully wrapped it around her bleeding calf and arm. Even though the pain from the wound was intense, she didn't even flinch.

“Ruri is right. We are not completely safe yet. These injuries will not affect our fighting ability for the time being. There is no need to waste chakra.”

Ayane nodded and followed Ruri's example, wrapping the wound with a medical bandage to stop the bleeding.

"OK then."

Shiraishi didn't force him.

A cold wind blew through the valley, blowing against their faces, causing the three of them to clutch their collars tightly, their bodies feeling cold.

To slow down the pursuit by the Sand Ninja, the three took a longer route and entered the bottom of a river valley in the Land of Rivers.

The terrain here is complex and the environment is harsh, covered by thick fog.

Up close, it appears as white mist, but deep within the mist lies pitch black, like a giant black hole hovering above everyone's heads.

After resting for a while, the three of them finally regained some strength and began looking for an exit.

The surroundings were all damp rock walls, and the further you went, the darker the environment became. The deep valley was filled with a cold, thick fog that made your skin feel icy.

The three walked forward silently, not uttering a single word.

The main reason is to avoid wasting unnecessary energy; in situations like this, it's always good to conserve as much energy as possible.

Ayane activated her Byakugan using the chakra restored by the soldier pills.

In this dim environment, very few things are actually visible, but one can determine whether there are people lying in ambush nearby by observing the flow of chakra through the meridian system.

"Someone's coming. It should be a Sand Ninja."

Ayane stopped and said something.

Shiraishi and Ruri simply exhaled softly, without saying a word.

How many people are there?

After a moment of silence, Liuli spoke.