Escape from Konoha.

How is this going?

These injuries must have been sustained recently... no, today, right?

what happened?

Without asking any questions, Shiraishi immediately followed behind a skilled medical ninja, assisting him. All of these dozens of ninjas required emergency surgery.

Moreover, during the emergency treatment process, some seriously injured people will inevitably be unable to be cared for and will die directly due to the unbearable pain.

Sobbing and wailing mingled together.

Every medical ninja was so busy that they were covered in sweat and had no time for unnecessary conversation.

The emergency treatment ended two hours later.

It wasn't that the emergency treatment was successful; the reason it ended so early was because many people died before they could receive surgery.

Some patients died even after emergency surgery.

Only a dozen or so people were pulled back from the brink of death.

"We did our best."

The attending medical ninja patted Shiraishi on the shoulder, seemingly worried that a young medical ninja like him might have some psychological burden, and offered him a word of comfort.

"Um, senior, what exactly happened? Why did it turn out like this?"

Shiraishi finally asked the question he most wanted to ask.

It's understandable that the head medical ninja knew that Shiraishi was a medical ninja who followed Sakumo, so he was unaware of the situation here.

"We don't know the specifics, but we do know that the delegation that signed the ceasefire agreement with Sunagakure was ambushed by unknown individuals on the way back, and by the time they were brought back, they were already in this state."

The attending medical ninja said with a somber expression.

"What's the status of the ceasefire agreement? Was it the Sand Village ninja who initiated it?"

"I don't know either. But we suffered heavy losses this time; I heard even Jonin Kato was killed."

"Jōnin Kato?"

Shiraishi was taken aback. This surname, and a Jonin at that, could it be...?

"Lady Tsunade is currently in a very unstable emotional state. The sacrifice of Jonin Kato has been a huge blow to her."

The attending medical ninja sighed.

"Kato Jonin is so powerful, how could he..."

Shiraishi couldn't quite understand it.

Kato Dan, Tsunade's current boyfriend, is a Jonin. Although his reputation cannot compare with that of Sakumo, who has the name White Fang, he is still one of the few elite Jonin in Konoha. In a one-on-one situation, he may not be much worse than the Sannin.

After all, the power of the Spirit Transformation Technique is extremely terrifying.

Moreover, it has a wide range of perception capabilities, making it very easy to break through and find a weak point to escape.

"In order to cover his comrades' retreat, he chose to fight the enemy alone. By the time reinforcements arrived, he was already... dying! Lady Tsunade did her best, but she couldn't save Jonin Kato's life."

Is that so?

Shiraishi sighed.

Although he didn't know the Jonin Kato Dan, his selfless act of saving his comrade is admirable from any perspective.

In such times, being born is not something to be happy about, nor is dying something to be sad about.

This is the current theorem of the ninja world.

He could know Tsunade was in pain, but he couldn't experience that pain firsthand.

Human joys and sorrows are not shared.

Because he wasn't familiar with Jonin Kato, his sigh was only for Tsunade.

The death of her younger brother, Nawaki, and the sacrifice of her boyfriend, Kato Dan... she never recovered from that...

No, they are the Three Ninja, surely it shouldn't be like this?

Shiraishi thought so, but he wasn't very confident about it.

Humans are ultimately emotionally fragile beings.

Seeing that there was nothing left to do at the medical unit, Shiraishi left to meet up with Sakumo and the others at their lodgings.

Sakumo and the other two were already waiting there, talking to each other.

"Sakumo-sensei, I'm back. What happened? I heard that the ninja delegation that went to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Sand Village was attacked by unknown assailants."

"That's true. Not only that, Orochimaru was also seriously injured. If it weren't for Jonin Kato's resolute choice to cover their retreat, everyone who went to sign the ceasefire agreement would likely have been wiped out in the enemy's encirclement."

Sakumo briefly explained what he had learned from Orochimaru.

"This is outrageous. No matter what, we must remain on high alert."

Liuli looked angry.

After all, there are precedents for this. During the First Shinobi World War, when the Second Hokage and the Second Raikage of Kumogakure signed a ceasefire agreement, they were ambushed by the radical leaders of Kumogakure, the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, who led a large number of Kumogakure Jonin.

The Second Raikage was killed on the spot by the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers at the signing of the ceasefire agreement. In order to cover his subordinates, the Second Hokage ultimately perished together with the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers and their troops.

This is all because of excessive trust in the enemy.

Having learned from the Second Hokage's experience, we should be more cautious when signing a ceasefire agreement.

Little did they know that Orochimaru, the commander, was seriously injured, and of the hundreds of Konoha ninja, only a small fraction returned.

The one who sacrificed the most was Kato Dan, who fought to the death to cover Orochimaru's retreat and lead the Konoha forces away.

"Now is not the time to blame anyone. Have we found out who the enemy is?"

Shiroshi looked at Sakumo.

Sakumo sighed and shook his head, saying, "No. Their ninjutsu styles are very complex. It is said that one of them is extremely powerful and seems to be immortal. He can be resurrected after being killed once. Because of this ability, many of his comrades were careless and were killed by him in one fell swoop."

Who is he?

"do not know."

The three of them, Shiraishi, frowned slightly.

Such a powerful figure, possessing abilities akin to immortality, could not possibly be unknown in the ninja world.

How could I not know?

"He's probably a bounty hunter from the black market."

Sakumo wasn't entirely sure who the ninja who led the attack on the Konoha delegation was, but he guessed that it might be a ninja who ran rampant in the black market.

It was a truly dark world where the strong preyed on the weak, and there were many powerful but not very famous ninjas in it.

The ninjas who attacked the Konoha delegation fit the image of highly skilled black market ninjas.

"An underground black market? That would make the investigation very difficult. Could it be hired by the Sand Village ninja?"

Shiraishi had also heard of such a dark world.

The dark side of the ninja world, the bounty hunters who roam the black market, are either rogue ninjas or samurai. Although there are many scoundrels, there are also truly powerful ones.

The underground black market has a complex network, with a presence in every country, deeply rooted in the ninja world.

"It's just a possibility, but we have no evidence to prove it. However, before we returned, the Third Kazekage sent an envoy to condemn us for not keeping our appointment on time and whether we intended to prolong the war."

This incident angered many Konoha ninja.

Many Konoha ninjas believed that the ambush on their delegation was orchestrated by the Sand Ninjas.

If Orochimaru hadn't stopped him, that Sand Ninja envoy would probably have been torn to shreds by the numerous Konoha ninja.

The three of them, including Shiraishi, were somewhat somber after hearing this, and they could understand the anger of the Konoha ninja.

Judging from the current situation, it is highly likely that Sunagakure has gone back on its word and intends to catch Konoha off guard.

However, these are all just speculations, and there is no conclusive evidence to prove that the Sand Ninja did it.

It's so frustrating.

"What did they say over there in the village?"

"The village just received this news. Because it is a very important matter, there will definitely be a lot of debate at the higher levels. The accurate order will probably not come down for another three or four days."

This is the most conservative estimate.

Whether to fight or make peace now depends entirely on the decisions of the higher-ups.

Shiraishi had no objection to this; he was never interested in war, and how the Konoha leadership controlled the situation was none of his business.

◎

"Peace talks?"

Three days later, the order came down from the high-level meeting.

To make peace with Sunagakure.

This made many ninjas in the Konoha camp frown.

However, the higher-ups offered an explanation—the ambush on the Konoha delegation, which prevented the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Konoha and Sunagakure, was all part of Iwagakure's conspiracy.

The unidentified ninjas who ambushed the Konoha delegation were hired by Iwagakure from the black market.

If Konoha and Sunagakure continue their war at this point, they will only fall into the trap carefully set by Iwagakure.

Therefore, it is necessary to sign a ceasefire agreement with Sunagakure and to be on guard against Iwagakure.

"What's going on, Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya asked, not quite understanding.

Orochimaru produced another intelligence report, saying, "This is important intelligence gathered by the Anbu. Two days ago, a small-scale conflict occurred between Sunagakure and Iwagakure ninjas in the Land of Bears."

"Sunagakure and Iwagakure...them?"

Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru with even more confusion.

Orochimaru replied, "After Sakumo destroyed Sunagakure's supplies, Sunagakure sought cooperation with Iwagakure, hoping that Iwagakure would provide them with some supplies. Iwagakure agreed to Sunagakure's request, but two days ago, when the supplies were transferred, Iwagakure only provided one-twentieth of the promised supplies to Sunagakure. This led to a conflict between the two sides."

Jiraiya still frowned, feeling that something was amiss.