Thick smoke rose into the sky as four figures moved swiftly through burning rice fields. Waves of flames had devoured the entire landscape in every direction around them, casting an orange glow. The figures weren''t phased by the rampant destruction caused by an intense battle and instead had something else on their mind.

    The lady leading the squad muttered, "Suzuki Fujin... What a crazy man!"

    There was no hate or disgust in her voice. It was just plain disbelief. She still struggled to digest all that she had experienced recently. However, her words alarmed her followers, who quickly whispered, "Konomi-sama, not so loudly! Someone might hear us!"

    Konomi snorted, "Even if they do, what''ll they do? Report us to the Commander?"

    The three Jounins accompanying her were left speechless. Neither could figure out any reply as they too were left flabbergasted by the events in the last one and a half weeks. Just like Konomi, they struggled to believe it was real despite having witnessed everything.

    What Fujin had done in the Land of Grass was shocking in itself. From outrageously capturing the ninjas of their ''ally'' to authoritatively destroying an enemy base without a single casualty, it left an impact on the minds of the Konoha ninjas.

    However, instead of pressing on the advantage, Fujin made an extremely strange move. Only the Hoka and Illumi divisions moved forward to continue the mission. As for Konomi''s division, Fujin took command and led them in the opposite direction.

    The Konoha ninjas speculated that Fujin might be pulling off some maneuver to catch the enemy off guard. To their surprise, Fujin led them back into the Land of Fire. They traveled for two days, taking adequate rest during their journey, unlike their rush to the Land of Grass. When they finally arrived at their destination, the entire army was left speechless upon realizing they had traveled to the opposite end of the Land of Fire and reached the Land of Rice, which was under Orochimaru''s control!

    However, there was something that shocked them even more. Perhaps, more than shocked, weirded out would be a better way to describe it. They had just traveled across the width of the Land of Grass, which was on high alert due to Fujin''s outrageous actions, and the Land of Fire, which was on guard due to the recent attack. Yet, they didn''t encounter a single human on their journey!

    Konomi recalled, ''If that wasn''t strange enough, then the events in this country have been even more crazy. Sigh, I don''t even know what I should call it... Strange? Weird? Crazy? Outrageous? I don''t even know... But, I shouldn''t have wished for that...''

    Konomi let out an exhausted sigh. Her division reached the Land of Rice six days ago. Needless to say, everyone understood that it was Konoha''s retaliation. However, Otogakure wasn''t a village in the traditional sense. Instead, it was made up of a vast number of hidden bases throughout the Land of Rice. Except for Orochimaru, no one knew how many bases existed in the Land of Rice. Even his closest subordinates were unaware of a few. Luckily, Konoha excelled in gathering intelligence and Fujin had a jutsu that was perfect to detect people hiding in secret bases.

    Fujin led the initial investigation to find a few of the bases. Needless to say, it was just a cover-up for his Space Time Sensing Technique. Once a few bases were discovered, the Yamanaka ninjas read the memories of the Otogakure ninjas to find other bases.

    While no one knew the locations of all bases, the leaders of bases generally knew the location of a few other bases where they had been earlier. Fujin took a step back and let the army do its thing.

    With Fujin having little interest in fighting the weaker ninjas, Konomi was given the honor of leading Konoha''s attack. As someone who wanted an opportunity to contribute and make a name for herself, Konomi was overjoyed when Fujin asked her to lead.

    However, her enthusiasm started fading away pretty quickly as they kept on finding new bases. The number far exceeded anyone''s guess. In a mere 6 days, they had destroyed 184 Otogakure bases! No?v(el)B\\jnn

    Hiroshi muttered, "Suzuki Fujin... What a fearsome individual... We were completely fooled..."

    Hiroshi didn''t look at any of the council members while he spoke. Instead, he appeared to be lost in thoughts. He muttered, "Suzuki Fujin''s request of sending our army to stop the rebels from hiding in the Land of Grass wasn''t out of goodwill in his heart nor was it a trap set for us. No, he merely wanted to disrupt our forces and divert them temporarily."

    Shock appeared on the faces of nearly every council member as Hiroshi continued, "When we moved our ninjas, it opened up several gaps in our defenses. We didn''t care as the Konoha army was within our borders and attacking us would be equivalent to humiliating them. In addition, none of the gaps were leading to our village.

    However, Fujin used those openings to lead a division out undetected. He must have cooperated with Konoha ninjas in the Land of Fire to ensure they could continue traveling in secrecy. So, when the whole world believed that he was here hunting down the rebels, he''d be secretly eliminating Orochimaru''s forces."

    Silence spread through the council room. If Hiroshi''s words were true, Konoha''s actions were too outrageous. There was no doubt that the entire ninja world would be in a state of shock and disbelief.

    One said in confusion, "However, isn''t that too risky? What if Iwagakure had attacked? Wouldn''t Konoha''s army be destroyed without the Spectral Swordsman leading them?"

    Hiroshi shook his head and said, "It means that they were sure that Iwagakure wouldn''t make a move. Either that, or they have a different arrangement to take care of Iwagakure in case they attack."

    ————

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