Uchiha's personal opinion

The ninja with a sense of perception jolted awake as if from a dream, and quickly formed hand seals to sense the surroundings.

"Sensing successful! Locking on!"

Perhaps due to injuries or excessive chakra depletion, the two Sand Village puppeteers, eager to escape, were quickly located by sensory ninjas.

"Northwest 30° direction! 3 kilometers away, showing signs of slowing down!"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Tokumitsu waved his hand, and four Uchiha Jonin quickly rushed in the direction indicated by the sensory ninja.

Then, four Uchiha Jonin were divided into two teams and flanked the target from both sides.

Finally, he personally led four Uchiha Jonin and the sensory ninja who was locating the location of Sunagakure, and together they charged towards the direction of the sensory location.

After nearly half an hour of pursuit, the pursuit team led by Uchiha Tokumitsu finally lost track of two Sunagakure soldiers before reaching a river.

Two Uchiha Jonin went into the water and pulled out two puppets that looked very much like human figures.

Of course, the search was not entirely fruitless.

In the previous battle, the other two Sand Village Jonin who had escaped from the Uchiha Jonin were discovered during the search and quickly surrounded and killed.

Currently, two-thirds of the Sand Village squad has been wiped out, and the remaining enemies are all wounded. From a proportional perspective, this can be considered a pretty successful achievement.

Moreover, these six Sand Village Jonin are clearly elites of the Sand Village, and their strength should not be underestimated.

However, the two Sand Village puppeteers who were the leaders of the raiding squad ultimately escaped.

This greatly displeased Uchiha Tokumitsu, who was used to winning decisively.

As the commander of the ninja army, his displeasure naturally made his subordinate ninja even more fearful.

Uchiha Tokumitsu stared silently at the two puppets lying on the ground in front of him.

Sweating profusely, the sensory ninja trembled with fear at Uchiha Tokumitsu's murderous aura, yet he still futilely used his sensory ninjutsu to scan his surroundings, attempting to make amends for his mistake.

The group of ninjas endured the agonizing three minutes in silence.

"never mind……"

Uchiha Tokumitsu said calmly, "Inform Sakumo-kun about the situation of this battle and ask him to do his best to block the border passages from the north to the Land of Rain."

"Yes!"

A Jonin from the Uchiha clan quickly stepped forward to agree and swiftly pulled out paper and pen to write down the intelligence.

"Notify the garrison that our team has thwarted the Sand Village raiding squad's plot. In total, we killed four Sand Village Jonin, and two others escaped. Our team is currently conducting a search. The escaped enemies were all puppeteers, and one of them was seriously injured and lost an arm..."

Another Uchiha Jonin then took out paper and pen and began to write.

Uchiha Tokumitsu thought for a moment and continued, "The remaining enemies from Sunagakure are no longer a threat. Order the garrison to immediately organize ninja troops to conduct searches for the remaining enemies in small teams. If any traces are found, be sure to report to the combat unit immediately!"

"Yes!"

The two Uchiha Jonin quickly wrote out intelligence documents, handed them to Uchiha Tokumitsu for inspection, and then released ninja hawks, which flew towards the direction of Hatake Sakumo's search team and the garrison camp, respectively.

"No need to explore any further..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu glanced speechlessly at the sensory ninja who was still sweating profusely and making hand seals.

"call……"

The sensory ninja breathed a sigh of relief.

However, because the sound of his exhalation was too loud, he immediately covered his mouth again.

"Our unit will continue to conduct multi-directional searches, with groups of four people each, using this location as the center!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu took out a map and reorganized the search area and the tasks of each team.

"The most important thing is to find these two Sand Village ninja!"

"Yes!"

The eight Uchiha Jonin readily agreed and then sped off toward the designated search area.

Although the Ninja Hawk is fast, it will still take some time for it to reach Sakumo Hatake's troops and the main camp.

Uchiha Tokumitsu had no intention of staying put to wait for a response from either side, and immediately led his troops to continue the search and extermination mission.

……

In the stone forest, a female Sand Village Jonin carries her lover, who has lost an arm, as they flee from place to place.

She originally intended to flee to the northern border, then sneak through the border region of the Land of Rain to the eastern Sunagakure-occupied territory. However, she did not expect that there was a search force led by Hatake Sakumo ahead. After both sides discovered each other's tracks, she dared not continue to fight recklessly. After she abandoned two puppets as bait in a sorry state, she was able to continue her escape.

However, the two of them had very few ninja tools and supplies left, especially the lover who had lost an arm, who was in danger of severe blood loss after burrowing underground to escape.

But no matter which direction they fled, small groups of Konoha ninja search teams were blocking their way.

She glanced back at her lover, whose lips had turned ashen and whose pupils were beginning to dilate.

"You should leave by yourself... I don't think I can make it..." the male Sand Village Jonin said weakly.

The Sand Village female ninja remained silent, continuing her covert infiltration behind her lover's back.

“Or you could kill me, that would make it easier for you to take me back to the village…” the male Sand Village Jonin said haltingly, “If I become a human puppet, I can continue to accompany you on your journey…”

“…Don’t talk nonsense.” The Sand Village female shinobi sighed and stopped walking.

On the cliff ahead, Uchiha Tokumitsu and four of his Uchiha Jonin blocked their way.

Looking to the left and right, four Jonin appeared openly in front of the two Sand Village members.

The puppeteer's skills lie in the puppets themselves, but at this moment, both of them had almost exhausted their puppet tools and chakra, so even fighting to the death would be futile.

"It seems we can still sleep together forever..."

The Sand Village female ninja turned to look at her lover behind her and said gently.

"yes……"

Uchiha Tokumitsu stood silently on the cliff, watching the dying couple.

The Sand Village female ninja took out a scroll from her body, threw it on the ground, and used her chakra to create a wind blade that shredded the scroll to pieces.

Uchiha Tokumitsu did not interfere with the two's actions before they died, but simply watched silently.

After destroying all the items she was carrying, the Sand Village female ninja extracted the last of her chakra, transformed it into a wind blade, and pierced through the chests of both of them from the heart area.

Both of them committed suicide.

Uchiha Tokumitsu watched silently for a while, then closed his eyes to sense it before giving his instructions.

"Let them collect their bodies."

He then turned and left, leaving behind only a slightly desolate silhouette.

Chapter 88 Breaking the Rain Ninja! Commendable courage, nothing more.

The cleanup operation by the Sand Village elite raiding squad has thus come to an end.

The search and extermination team led by Uchiha Tokumitsu wiped out the elite Jonin squad that Sunagakure had deliberately left behind.

Aside from feeling somewhat regretful that he hadn't encountered any enemies, Hatake Sakumo didn't have any other particular emotions.

However, the two commanders of the western border defense forces, Mimura Yomi and Kime Kōtō, were very grateful to Uchiha Tokumitsu.

Uchiha Tokumitsu successfully led his troops to complete the mopping-up operation, and the biggest beneficiaries were naturally the two commanders who were responsible for defense.

Previously, the two had indeed suffered greatly from the attacks of Sunagakure. Although they wanted to expel and kill them, they were powerless to do so. They could only deal with it by strengthening the organization of patrolling ninja and high-density communication reports, so as to prevent the ninjas who went out on patrol or on missions from being found to have long-decomposed corpses.

Now that the Sunagakure elite squad has been completely wiped out, the main Sunagakure ninja army has moved to the Land of Rain to fight against the Rain Ninja army led by Hanzo of the Salamander. For a short time, there are no more troublesome enemies in the area under their jurisdiction. The two of them can finally relax and eat and drink well.

Meanwhile, with the guidance of two high-ranking Jonin, Mimura Yoru and Mokume Kouta, who were well-versed in information about Sunagakure personnel, the identities of the two Sunagakure ninjas were also confirmed.

The two Sunagakure puppeteers, a man and a woman, were the son and daughter-in-law of Chiyo, an advisor to the high-ranking Sunagakure elder. They were a very loving and extremely talented couple of ninjas. So, when they were finally surrounded by the search team led by Uchiha Tokumitsu, her husband was already on his deathbed and had no strength left to fight. She did not make a final, futile resistance, but instead chose to commit suicide after destroying the classified information. In the end, the couple went to the underworld together at Hirasaka.

As the son and daughter-in-law of a high-ranking advisor, and also experts in the Sand Village's elite puppet unit, although they are dead, the intelligence and secret techniques recorded in their minds are still a very important source of core information for Konoha.

Therefore, when the village learned of this news through the border troops' combat situation report, they immediately dispatched a team of secret agents to the land of rivers to retrieve the body.

"A corpse?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu looked at the three ANBU members who had rushed over in a daze with some surprise.

"Yes, Commander Deguang." Although his face was still covered by a mask, one could still tell from his tone that the dark force leader who spoke was quite polite.

Perhaps it was Uchiha Tokumitsu's 'glorious record' of recklessly beating up the Anbu that made the Anbu somewhat wary.

"According to the village's intelligence, two of the puppeteers among the Sand Village ninjas your unit annihilated were sons of high-ranking members. Although they are dead, some information or secret techniques can still be extracted from their corpses. Deciphering this information will give our comrades in the village a greater advantage in future battles and prevent unnecessary casualties..."

The commander of the secret unit continued to appeal to their emotions and reason with them.

Uchiha Tokumitsu was the type of person who responded better to gentle persuasion than force, so he couldn't very well refute such a reasonable argument on the spot. Otherwise, word would get out that he wasn't just arrogant and domineering, but rather disregarding the lives of his comrades.

However, if the Hokage faction thinks they can take away Uchiha Tokumitsu's spoils without giving anything in return, then they have completely miscalculated.

"Alright... I'll grant your request for the sake of our fellow villagers."

Uchiha Tokumitsu waved his hand, signaling his subordinate Uchiha Jonin to retrieve the remains of the Sand Village.

"Thank you, Commander Deguang."

The commander of the Dark Guard remained very polite in his response.

You're thanking me too soon; I hope you can stay like this for a while.

Uchiha Tokumitsu gave him a somewhat amused look, but said nothing.

A moment later, a Jonin from the Uchiha clan walked in carrying six small jars.

"Here it is, take it or leave it?" Uchiha Tokumitsu almost couldn't help but smile.

"This...this is..." The captain of the dark forces was also at a loss, pointing at the six dusty little pottery jars and speaking incoherently.

“These are the remains of Sunagakure ninjas.” Uchiha Tokumitsu pointed to the small pottery jar. “Six people, six pottery jars, it’s fair.”

"Is this... the latest sealing technology?" Clinging to the last glimmer of hope, the Dark Division captain asked cautiously.

"What? It's just a regular earthenware jar," Uchiha Tokumitsu said, feigning ignorance. "These are all made in local workshops in the Land of Rivers. The quality is quite good, and each person gets their own jar, so there's absolutely no mixing. Please use them with confidence..."

"This...it shouldn't be a corpse inside, right?" The Dark Division captain's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, as if he had swallowed a few times, before he said, "You mean...it contains the ashes of Sunagakure's remains?"

"Yes! What else!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu seemed somewhat surprised as he said, "Oh, I see. You feel the portion isn't enough, right? There's a reason for that."