Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Four of them were members of the Sound Four, whose existence had already been known to Konoha during the Fire Temple Incident.

The other three are Sasuke, Naruto, Naruto's female companion Karin, and another white-haired boy, who is probably a new member who joined during this period.

According to the information provided by Jiraiya, the boy should be a secret ninja from the Hozuki clan of the Land of Water, named Hozuki Suigetsu.

"It's Naruto and the others, and there are obvious signs of a battle around them..."

Hinata shared the information she had gleaned from her Byakugan with the people around her.

"So the earlier explosion was indeed related to Naruto and the others!"

Kiba, who was sitting on Akamaru, who had transformed into a giant dog, sniffed and said impatiently, "Now that we've confirmed it's Naruto and the others, let's go there right now!"

Kiba Inuzuka, with his impatient nature, shouted loudly, unwilling to waste any more time staying in the same spot.

"Calm down, Teeth."

Compared to Kiba Inuzuka, who is easily emotional, Shino Aburame, a fellow member of Team 8, who kept himself completely hidden, turned his head and stared at Kiba Inuzuka with his eyes hidden behind black sunglasses.

“Ino’s condition is clearly problematic; it would be dangerous to rush over blindly.”

Aburame Shino restrained Inuzuka Kiba's carefree behavior in an extremely calm tone.

Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame have completely opposite personalities when it comes to things.

No matter the situation, Shino Aburame remains calm and never displays her emotions excessively.

However, Shino Aburame is not a cold-hearted person at heart. His emotions are just as rich as Kiba Inuzuka's. However, unlike Kiba Inuzuka, who expresses his feelings directly, Shino Aburame expresses his emotions in a rather awkward way.

"Shino is right, Kiba. Sasuke and Naruto are not comparable to the enemies you've faced before. You should think more carefully about your decision when facing them. They are both stronger now than they were three years ago. Sasuke and Naruto can easily deal with the Akatsuki members that Jiraiya-sama was wary of and who had been secretly investigating them. Sasuke killed Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, and Naruto held his own against Kakashi and Guy..."

These words were spoken by Kurenai Yuhi, a former Jonin who was the instructor of Team 8 when they were still genin, and is now the team leader.

Kurenai Yuhi shares the same opinion as Shino Aburame.

She recalled the comments that the Fifth Hokage Tsunade and Jiraiya made about Sasuke and Naruto when she visited Asuma at the Konoha Hospital.

He earnestly reminded Kiba Inuzuka.

Compared to Shino, Kurenai Yuhi, as the captain of Team 8, was more able to restrain Kiba Inuzuka.

Even Akamaru whimpered at this moment, reminding Kiba Inuzuka that he should act more cautiously.

"……I see."

Kiba Inuzuka replied.

Kiba Inuzuka may be a bit impatient, but he is not unreasonable.

Kiba's companions' advice calmed him down, and he stopped acting impulsively.

The disagreement that arose between Class 8 was thus resolved very simply.

Yamato then asked Ino to recount the information she had obtained using the Mind Transfer Technique: "Ino, briefly describe what happened when you possessed the hawk using the Mind Transfer Technique."

Yamato's words immediately attracted everyone's attention, since their purpose in forming this team was related to Naruto and Sasuke.

It's not surprising that the actions of the people of Konoha overlapped with those of Sasuke and Naruto, whose target was the Akatsuki organization.

After Orochimaru's death, his power, which he had painstakingly built up over many years, fell into a state of leaderlessness.

Jiraiya, who had never given up on bringing Orochimaru back to Konoha, seized this rare opportunity and infiltrated his intelligence network into Orochimaru's forces.

Because of Sasuke's principle of not killing indiscriminately, it was extremely easy for Jiraiya to obtain information about Sasuke and Naruto's movements.

From then on, Konoha dispatched two ninja squads.

Team 8, consisting of Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, is primarily tasked with tracking Naruto and Sasuke and gathering intelligence. The team is led by Jonin Kurenai Yuhi.

Ino, Choji, and Sakura were also assigned to the search team because they had all met Sasuke and Naruto.

The team leader, Yamato, was handpicked by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, to replace Kakashi and Asuma, who were still recuperating after being discharged from the hospital, forming a brand new Yamato squad.

Based on the information provided by Jiraiya, the Konoha search party tracked down Orochimaru's various strongholds.

The earlier explosion in the forest had drawn everyone's attention. Ino used her Mind Turning Technique to possess the eagle's body and flew from high in the sky to the source of the explosion to gather information.

Unexpectedly, the forest explosion was actually related to Naruto and Sasuke.

However, Ino's method of releasing the Mind Transfer Jutsu was not normal...

Furthermore, Hinata observed a battle taking place in the forest using her Byakugan...

What exactly happened just now?

"It's 'Akatsuki'!"

Ino spoke up, sharing the information with those around her.

Chapter 52 Space-Time Ninjutsu

The eagle that had been circling above the forest fell from the sky and had lost all signs of life.

The black kunai that pierced the eagle's chest took its life.

The one who fired that deadly kunai was Naruto.

"Hey... why are you suddenly trying to kill this eagle? Are you a sadist?"

Naruto, who was talking to Sasuke, suddenly shot a kunai at an eagle in the sky, leaving everyone around him puzzled by his sudden killing of an animal in the forest.

Hozuki Suigetsu's reaction was the most obvious; he asked directly.

Sasuke also looked down at the eagle's corpse that had fallen to the ground between him and Naruto.

He examined the eagle's carcass very carefully and quickly recognized that the eagle Naruto had shot was not a wild bird from this forest.

"It's Ninja Hawk."

Sasuke shared his observations and conclusions.

"Ninja Hawk? Who would use a ninja hawk to monitor us? Is it Akatsuki?"

Hozuki Suigetsu rattled off several rhetorical questions.

It's not surprising that he would identify the owner of the Ninja Hawk as a member of the Akatsuki organization, after all, their target was the Akatsuki organization, and they had just fought with members of the Akatsuki.

Hozuki Suigetsu suddenly felt exhausted, sighed, and plopped down on the ground. He took out his water bottle from his waist, bit the straw, and began to drink.

"Are we going to keep fighting those Akatsuki guys? Sasuke, can we take a break before continuing? The battle just now was exhausting, and my mouth is all dry."

Upon hearing Hozuki Suigetsu's words, before Naruto and Sasuke, who had played a key role in the previous battle against the art duo Deidara and Sasori, could say anything, Karin frowned and walked up to Hozuki Suigetsu, who was sitting down.

Karin pushed up her glasses with her hand and said with dissatisfaction:

"Naruto was fighting that Akatsuki guy who likes to eat dirt all by himself just now, how dare you act like you've worked so hard!"

Hozuki Suigetsu merely glanced at Karin, explaining as he drank water through a straw:

"Because watching the game with bated breath is also very tiring. It's a mental fatigue that's different from physical fatigue. After the excitement, you'll feel tired, just like you just now—'Naruto, nice!'—'Oh no! That dirt-eating bastard actually dared to injure Naruto!'—'Shadow clones!? Naruto is so cool! I'm so happy...'—!"

Before Hozuki Suigetsu could finish giving his various examples, Karin had already grabbed him by the collar with both hands, forcing him to stand up again.

"What...what are you doing..."

Hozuki Suigetsu stared blankly at Karin, whose face had rapidly turned red, and whose ears and neck had also become crimson.

Karin's shy demeanor was not meant for Hozuki Suigetsu's benefit.

What Karin showed to Hozuki Suigetsu were her red eyes behind her glasses, eyes that were angry and trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Shut up. Don't think I can't deal with you. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll force all your water into your own water bottle."

Hozuki Suigetsu and Karin, these two always start arguing over trivial things from the very first time they meet.

Everyone was used to it, and no one paid any attention to the two who were playfully fighting.

The Sound Four had already begun to disperse and be on guard around their surroundings, ready to deal with any unexpected situations that might arise.

Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to Karin's antics at Suigetsu Hozuki's place. His gaze shifted from the hawk's corpse to Naruto.

Sasuke said, "This is the ninja hawk of Konoha."

Ninja hawks are an extremely common means of communication for ninjas, and various ninja villages in the ninja world keep a large number of ninja hawks for long-distance intelligence transmission.

To prevent the enemy from using the ninja hawks that go out to deliver intelligence as a means of attack, the ninja villages have all carried out special marking on the ninja hawks.

As one of Konoha's former Legendary Sannin and a figure at the heart of Konoha's politics, Orochimaru was naturally well aware of the characteristics of the Konoha Ninja Hawk, and this knowledge was naturally passed on to Sasuke.

"It seems that Konoha has already discovered our whereabouts, but they probably don't know our exact location yet, which is why they are using ninja hawks to search."

Sasuke said again.

Without a doubt, the ninja hawk that Naruto shot down from the sky with a kunai came from Konoha.

If the Ninja Hawks did not return on time, it would naturally arouse suspicion in Konoha. However, since they were already under surveillance, killing the Ninja Hawks and cutting off the information they obtained was the best option for Naruto.

Naruto's actions also align with Sasuke's interests. Sasuke has now obtained detailed information about Itachi Uchiha's hiding place from Deidara, and naturally, he doesn't want the Ninja Hawk to bring back the information safely.

This allowed Konoha, having lost its Ninja Hawk, to scatter like headless flies for a while, and also prevented Konoha from appearing at a crucial moment and causing changes to Sasuke's revenge against Itachi.

However, Naruto quickly shattered Sasuke's optimistic view of the situation.

"It's best not to let our guard down too much. Perhaps the Ninja Hawk can get the information from Konoha without me having to go back."

Naruto's hints were not hard for Sasuke, who was also born in Konoha, to guess.

"Are you referring to the Mind Transfer Technique of the Mountain Clan?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and remembered Ino, who was with Sakura in the black market when he was searching for information about Hidan and Kakuzu.

Three years after Naruto and Sasuke's defection, their whereabouts were once again known to Konoha. It was perfectly normal for Ino, Sakura, and Choji, who had all come into contact with Naruto and Sasuke three years later, to be assigned to missions related to Naruto and Sasuke again.

"Just take it as a warning from my gut feeling."

Naruto answered.

The experience Naruto had with the Mind Transfer Technique of the Yamanaka clan remains vivid in his memory to this day.

"If there are indeed Yamanaka clan ninjas among the people of Konoha, then killing the Ninja Hawk will indeed not serve any purpose."

This is why Naruto would suddenly shoot out kunai without any warning.

The weakness of the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transfer Technique, which allows them to possess an enemy's body, is that any damage inflicted on the person or animal possessed by a Yamanaka ninja will be reflected back to the possessed body.

If the Yamanaka clan ninja possessing the eagle could kill it before it could react, the possibility of Konoha obtaining information about Naruto and Sasuke could also be eliminated.