RNP Chapter 84 Four months later, is it a huge windfall or an unsolvable conspiracy?
Chapter 84 Four months later, is it a huge windfall or an unsolvable conspiracy?
Chapter 84 Four months later, is it a huge windfall or an unsolvable conspiracy?
Time flies like sand through our fingers; four months have quietly slipped by.
Aside from the night the chaos began, when the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth attempted to invade the Land of Fire while its signal towers were out of order, only to be thwarted by the Leaf Village ninjas, many ninjas from all three countries died in the "first encounter kill" due to a lack of intelligence.
During these four months, no large-scale war broke out among the four countries, making it seem like a chaotic melee involving four nations.
This precisely proves that the command teams of these four countries are all exceptionally capable.
The war between ninjas is actually quite easy to understand.
Just like the names of the detachments in combat units, they are: reconnaissance, infiltration, surprise attack, decoy, support, interception, etc.
All of these can be summarized as – probing and assassination.
The combined ninja population of the five great nations and numerous smaller nations did not even reach 100,000.
If the Ninja World War were a classic clash like in One Piece, ninjas would probably become a rare commodity in no time.
The four great powers will not send out a large number of troops to wipe out their opponents in one fell swoop until they find the right opportunity, are sure there are no traps or ambushes, and have absolute certainty.
Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the losses will be so great that it's basically time to withdraw from the market.
Therefore, during this period, the military forces of the four major powers were divided into small teams of four people to carry out various missions.
The Land of Fire is a little better off; they have no intention of expanding their territory and are only passively defending.
In contrast, the other three countries constantly conducted reconnaissance, set traps, and launched surprise attacks to lure the enemy—and then switched to another tactic once their intentions were discovered.
There are also some high-ranking ninjas who specialize in infiltrating the Land of Fire or the camps on the front lines, either to find opportunities to assassinate certain people or to gather intelligence and find out the routes for transporting supplies.
The reason why the four countries have been able to refrain from large-scale war for several months is that they still have ample resources and the disparity in national strength has not yet become apparent.
When a country is unable to provide supplies to its combat troops in a timely manner, this balance will be broken, and the war will have to enter the next stage.
During this probing period, the reconnaissance team and the special Jonin with exceptional talents are the busiest.
As for the other ninjas, to put it more seriously, they were conserving their energy, but in reality, they had absolutely nothing to do.
Because they can't help at all in this regard.
If it is determined that a large-scale war is unlikely to break out in the short term, the support troops for the handover and rotation, as well as some Jonin, can even return to Konoha from the border for a while, or hold a meeting before coming back.
In the southwestern part of the Land of Fire, along a forest path.
A caravan of twelve people is moving slowly forward.
Beside them were three horse-drawn carriages, each carrying three carts of goods covered with tarpaulins. It was unclear whether they were preparing to go abroad for trade or if their trade in the Land of Fire had failed, leaving them with no choice but to haul their goods and try to avoid the Land of Rain, which was embroiled in a four-way war, and instead enter or pass through the Land of Rivers.
call-
At that moment, a gust of wind swept in, stirring up a large cloud of dust that engulfed the caravan.
The scene of people and horses falling over was revealed through the dust and mist.
Then a series of "bang bang bang" sounds, like popping balloons, rang out.
The caravans, dressed as ordinary people, were shrouded in white smoke and then transformed into teenagers and adults with obvious differences in age and height.
Moreover, they all share a common feature: they wear Konoha headbands but no vests, seemingly just ordinary genin.
The tarpaulin covering the carriage was blown away by the strong wind, revealing large boxes and extra-large storage scrolls sealed with sealing spells.
"Enemy attack!"
With their disguise exposed, the twelve ninjas immediately took out kunai and stood back to back, alert to their surroundings.
Several teenagers, who may have graduated not long ago and had never seen blood before, held the kunai in trembling hands, and cold sweat broke out on their faces.
The other adults acted swiftly.
Two people closed their eyes and formed hand seals, using their sensory abilities.
Another person used a summoning technique to summon a yellow-haired ninja dog, hoping to use its scent to locate an enemy hiding somewhere in the forest.
As a result, neither sensory techniques nor the ninja dog's sense of smell yielded any results.
Now, even the adults broke out in a cold sweat.
"Request backup immediately; the enemy may be beyond our capabilities."
The ninja who summoned his hound immediately took out a scroll that could be held in one hand and instructed his partner, "Pumpkin, when you get back, give this scroll to the person in charge of delivering intelligence—"
Before the ninja could finish speaking, a piercing sound of something cutting through the air reached everyone's ears.
A massive wind blade hurtled towards them.
"The enemy is beyond our capabilities. Let's split up and escape first, then notify the village!"
As the shouts rang out, the twelve ninjas vanished in a blur.
The wind blade's target didn't seem to be the ninja and his dog who wanted to request backup, but rather the carriage carrying large boxes.
With a soft "whoosh," the wind blade easily severed the carriage and the box.
A large amount of supplies and small rolls fell out of the box.
Then a puppet with blue chakra threads attached to its back flew out of the forest. A blade popped out from its toy-like arm and slashed at the storage scrolls and kunai among the supplies on the ground.
The storage scroll, which even the wind blade couldn't destroy, withstood the blade's attack, while the kunai made a clanging sound like metal objects colliding.
This proves that these supplies are genuine.
None of the twelve ninjas who escaped returned to protect the supplies.
So much so that the puppet remained suspended in mid-air, as if representing the puppeteer in a daze.
A moment later, four ninjas wearing vests and Sand Ninja headbands appeared instantly.
They seemed unconcerned about the possibility of a trap, quickly rummaging through the supplies to check for any actual traps.
Soon, one of them exclaimed incredulously, "It's all real, and there aren't any traps! Isn't this going too smoothly?"
"Those twelve people all ran away. Could they really all be genin?"
"I feel like something's not right, but—aside from those twelve people, there's no chakra fluctuation around us, unless they already knew we were lying in ambush here and set up a barrier to block our senses beforehand."
"Our operation this time was completely impromptu; they weren't even on the mission. Could it really be an unexpected bonus?"
Looking at the supplies scattered on the ground, and the storage scrolls whose contents were unknown, the Sand Ninja, who seemed to be the captain, gritted his teeth and said, "Whether it's a trap or not, we can't give up these supplies. At worst, we'll just be more cautious and move quickly."
"yes!"
Then, the four Sand Ninja picked up the four enormous scrolls and vanished in an instant.
Then, figures flew out of the forest, carrying the remaining large scrolls and undamaged boxes as they left.
Finally, there were the supplies scattered on the ground.
These figures all looked exactly like the four Sand Ninja, clearly they were all shadow clones.
These shadow clones scattered in different directions.
After running for an unknown distance, the shadow clone suddenly ran out of chakra, turned into smoke and disappeared, and all the supplies fell to the ground.
After a long time, a Sand Ninja who looked exactly like the Shadow Clone from before appeared out of thin air, picked up the supplies, and continued to travel by teleportation.
After running for an unknown distance, the Sand Ninja once again transformed into a cloud of white smoke, which turned out to be a shadow clone.
This time, even longer passed before the Sand Ninja reappeared.
After picking up the supplies and disappearing in an instant, the Sand Ninja finally revealed an undisguised joy on his face.
As night fell, having almost exhausted all their chakra, the Sand Ninja, whether their true forms or shadow clones were unknown, successfully escaped the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers, which served as a buffer zone between the two countries.
The land of rivers is a very special country.
Most of the towns and villages here are built on or at the foot of mountains, and the vast majority of the land is undeveloped and natural.
The dense vegetation, complex terrain, and continuous mountain ranges create natural hiding places.
The comic also clearly points out that this kind of environment is most suitable for establishing a secret base.
And indeed, this place contains a large number of secret bases.
Not only the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, but also the neighboring Land of Rain, and even other countries.
Even the Akatsuki organization in the original story chose to set up a secret base in this country to extract the One-Tailed Shukaku from Gaara's body.
These Sand Ninja, carrying supplies, vanished into afterimages, scattering among the mountains and forests.
If you were to observe them from a god-like perspective, you would find that they no longer move in a straight line, but rather circle around in a loop.
Finally, they entered a mountainous region shrouded in white mist from different places, and their figures and chakra completely disappeared.
"Bang bang bang—"
In a cave that not only had barriers that isolated perception, but also defensive and trapping barrier spells, a series of balloon popping sounds rang out.
White smoke engulfed the entire cave.
After a long while, the smoke dissipated naturally, revealing supplies scattered all over the ground.
More than an hour later, a large number of tadpole-shaped incantations suddenly appeared on the boulder blocking the entrance to the cave, and then it opened automatically like an elevator door.
Four Sand Ninja wearing vests walked in from outside, and then used magic to move the boulder again, sealing the entrance to the cave.
Each of the four carried a lamp and walked to the supplies scattered on the ground.
Looking at the supplies under the lights, the four Sand Ninja suddenly looked at each other in bewilderment.
Then one of them twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, as if breaking the atmosphere.
"Hahaha----"
The sound of wild laughter immediately echoed throughout the cave, creating a series of reverberations.
They laughed so unrestrainedly, so wildly, that tears welled up in their eyes.
"Is this the spirit of the strongest ninja village? It's hilarious."
"Letting twelve genin escort such a huge amount of supplies, without any strong protectors behind them, and just running away when they encounter danger, I don't know whether to say they are careless or stupid and rich."
"Perhaps they thought their disguise was perfect, that it wasn't the first time, and that things had gone very smoothly for the past few months, so they became careless."
"It's thanks to their arrogance that we got such a good deal."
After a series of mocking exclamations, the four Sand Ninja finally stopped laughing.
One of them seemed to remember something and suddenly said with a serious expression, "Although we have successfully transferred these supplies from the Land of Fire to the secret base, and confirmed that there are no chakra fluctuations within several kilometers around, and that there are no Byakugan surveillance by the Hyuga clan along the way, we still need to be cautious."
"In Konoha, there is a Black Flash who has mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. According to intelligence, as long as he can sense the Flying Thunder God Technique formula, he can ignore the barrier and appear out of thin air."
"If it weren't for the enormous amount of chakra he needed to move the objects, these supplies could have been transported directly from Konoha to the border base or camps on other fronts."
"We must carefully inspect every item, even a kunai, a shuriken, an explosive tag, and a soldier's ration pill—to make sure that none of them have the Flying Thunder God technique incantation on them."
"yes!"
The other three Sand Ninja nodded solemnly.
So the four of them took another ration pill, set up a trap next to the supplies, and then created another shadow clone to inspect the supplies on the ground.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally finished their inspection.
As the shadow clones dissipated, the four Sand Ninja, though exhausted, once again wore joyful smiles.
"No problem at all!"
"Report to Lady Chiyo immediately and request backup."
This time, the Sand Ninja did not hesitate and quickly summoned a summoning beast to transmit the information to the border base.
Chiyo received the message very quickly.
"Three truckloads of supplies, ten super-large reels, one hundred and twenty small reels, fifteen boxes of strategic materials—is this for real?" Chiyo's eyes widened in disbelief. "Such a massive amount of supplies, and Konoha only sent twelve genin to escort them? Are they crazy?"
After saying that, Chiyo looked at her younger brother: "Could this be a trap?"
"Even you, sister, think they're crazy. It must be a trap. How could such a huge pie fall from the sky?" Ebizo calmly analyzed. "However, there was no Byakugan surveillance from the Hyuga clan, no ninjas blocking the way, and no Flying Thunder God Technique seal attached to the supplies. These are facts confirmed by multiple inspections."
"That four-person team is composed of special Jonin with unique talents. I have faith in their abilities and discipline."
"But even if they master Konoha's Shadow Clone Technique, with their chakra, they still can't bring these supplies from the Land of Fire back to the border base. Moving them to the nearest secret base is already their limit."
"If they head to the nearest front line, they will definitely be under the surveillance of the reconnaissance teams. Once Konoha's White Fang and his men receive the news, they will certainly try to stop them, and a large-scale war will inevitably break out on that front. Our side, which needs to escort supplies, will also be at a disadvantage."
"Furthermore, regardless of whether Konoha can track the current location of these supplies and prevent any accidents, we cannot send ordinary genin to transport them. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, we will ruin the future of a number of villages."
"We also cannot mobilize the combat troops on the front lines, otherwise it could be a trap to lure the enemy. Konoha might use the Land of Rivers, a place suitable for concealment, to encircle and annihilate the combat troops, or even take the opportunity to launch an attack on the camps on the front lines!"
Upon hearing this, Chiyo's face darkened. "Are we going to abandon these supplies? Or could we send another small team skilled in shadow clone techniques to help them slowly transfer the supplies to the border base?"
"Of course, no problem, provided it's not a trap set by Konoha," Ebizo said coldly. "If it were a trap, both teams might have perished in the Land of Rivers. From the moment that team chose to move the supplies, we had already fallen into Konoha's trap."
"What should we do?" Chiyo asked hurriedly. "Is there a solution?"
"Yes, and there's more than one." Ebizo said with a deep gaze, "First of all, the combat troops on the front lines cannot be moved, and they cannot be allowed to know this information, otherwise it might leak out."
"To move that batch of supplies, we can only mobilize troops from border bases or villages, and it must be multiple ninja squads with strong combat capabilities and good teamwork, as well as a strong commander who can deal with the enemy's top combat power."
"The best way is to ask the Kazekage to personally lead an Anbu or a ninja squad composed of several Jonin to transport it."
Upon hearing this, Chiyo immediately objected: "No, we can't let the Kazekage fall into the enemy's trap."
"Then it will have to be me, or you, sister, or Bunfuku who leads the team." Ebizo looked at Chiyo.
"We can't send Bunpuku either. Jinchuriki are a strategic deterrent. If we go into battle so early, it might affect the situation on other fronts, or even make us the target of everyone's attacks." Chiyo said with a firm look in her eyes, "I'll go myself."
"What if Konoha leaks the news and attracts Hanzo's attention?" Ebizo suddenly asked. "Besides you, sister, we don't have anyone here who can handle Hanzo."
Chiyo's expression froze instantly, realizing that Konoha's open scheme seemed to have no solution.
Ebizo finally laughed out loud: "From the very beginning, this task could only be completed by me!"
"Isn't that too risky?" Chiyo asked with a worried expression. "If it really doesn't work out, we could abandon that batch of supplies, or wait until we have time to move them later, and we could also observe whether it's a trap set by Konoha."
"We can't give up, otherwise that team is doomed, and we'll lose four special Jonin as well. Konoha might even continue with this kind of open scheme, luring other ninja teams infiltrating the Land of Fire into their trap." Ebizo initially refused firmly, then laughed, "Besides, these speculations are just suspicions born from our cautious nature after gaining such a huge advantage. What if things are really that simple, and Konoha only sent twelve Genin to escort those supplies?"
Chiyo realized that she couldn't abandon the four special Jonin, so she said solemnly, "You can go, but you must bring several Jonin squads and several Anbu escorts. I will apply to the Kazekage for this."
"That's what I think too." Ebizo didn't refuse and expressed his thoughts. "The only way to perfectly solve this is to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. We need to mobilize a large number of powerful troops to provide support. This way, we can save the lives of that small team and also bring back the supplies."
"But the premise is that high-ranking troops that are openly deployed cannot be mobilized."
"Therefore, no one is more suitable for this mission than me, who is in charge of intelligence and espionage work and has a lot of hidden agents."
>