Land of Iron.
A ninja army of nearly a hundred people was advancing on the endless ice plains of the Land of Iron.
This ninja army was different from others. It was not composed of ninjas from a single village, but a joint force formed by selecting elites from the Five Great Ninja Villages, as well as smaller ninja villages like the Hidden Grass, Hidden Waterfall, and Hidden Snow.
The reason for this was that their target was not an ordinary small stronghold, but an important Akatsuki stronghold additionally marked by Itachi Uchiha.
Similarly, because this Akatsuki stronghold was located on the remote ice plains of the Land of Iron, while other ninja armies had already started sweeping various Akatsuki strongholds and even destroyed quite a few, this particular force was still on its way.
Looking at the vast white ice plains in front of him, the leading Jonin frowned. Then, he asked the accompanying Intelligence Division ninja: "How much further?"
This Intelligence Division ninja was a Jonin from the Hidden Snow Village, very familiar with the ice plain environment. So after a simple check against the map, he replied: "Only a few dozen miles left to the target!"
The leading Jonin thought for a moment and instructed: "Pass the order, proceed with covert marching from now on. The Reconnaissance Squad is responsible for leading the way, and the rear squad is responsible for dealing with the traces of the march!"
"Yes!"
The Intelligence Division ninja from the Hidden Snow Village immediately passed down the order.
With the order from the leading Jonin, this well-trained ninja army immediately switched to covert marching mode. Not only did they all put on thick white camouflage, but their formation also switched from tight to dispersed. The entire ninja army seemed to disappear on the snowfield all of a sudden.
Not long after, this ninja army lurked near the target.
Hiding in the wind and snow, the leading Jonin surveyed the snow peak in front of him while asking the Intelligence Division ninja: "Found the entrance?"
The Hidden Snow Intelligence Division ninja pointed to a black dot in the middle of the snow peak: "The entrance is right there!"
According to intelligence, their target was an inconspicuous small cave on the snow peak in front of them. Although the entrance was small, the cave extended all the way into the mountain belly, connecting to a huge internal space inside the mountain body, which also contained natural hot springs. Therefore, it was chosen by the Akatsuki organization and set as an important stronghold.
Seeing the entrance, the leading Jonin instructed everyone: "According to the judgment of the headquarters, this stronghold is very likely to have official members of the Akatsuki organization stationed. So what we will face next may be the most vicious ninjas in the Ninja World. Everyone be mentally prepared!"
Subsequently, the leading Jonin said to the Intelligence Division: "Half of the Intelligence Division stay outside, ready to transmit news at any time!"
"Yes!"
The Intelligence Division ninjas nodded one after another.
Because it was uncertain which Akatsuki members they would encounter, this ninja army of nearly a hundred people was just a vanguard force 'casting a stone to ask for directions'.
After them, there were several ninja armies responsible for support.
Once they encountered official members of the Akatsuki organization, their task was to transmit the identity of the encountered official Akatsuki members immediately, and try their best to entangle the enemy, buying time for the rear to dispatch targeted encirclement troops to deal with the Akatsuki members.
After all, because of Shinji's 'Takamagahara', the Ninja Village Alliance had already formed many encirclement troops targeting various Akatsuki members.
Among them, the simulation win rate of many encirclement troops exceeded 50%, and the win rate of some elite encirclement troops could even reach over 70%!
With everything ready, this leading Jonin from the Hidden Rock Village issued the attack order.
Swish swish swish...
Instantly, several ninjas acting as the vanguard of the ninja army rushed into the cave, followed by a large number of ninjas swarming in, erupting into a great battle inside the mountain belly.
Listening to the roar coming from the snow peak and feeling the slight tremor under their feet, the Intelligence Division ninjas guarding outside, ready to transmit intelligence at any time, looked solemn one by one.
Swish...
After a while, a blood-soaked ninja rushed out of the cave. Without distinguishing direction, he shouted directly at the vast snowfield: "Dark Purple, Dark Green!"
Hearing this, the Intelligence Division ninjas guarding outside with their ears pricked up immediately ran.
And just as the Intelligence Division evacuated quickly, a dark purple tentacle suddenly shot out, wrapping around the blood-soaked ninja who rushed out of the cave entrance, and dragged him back into the cave with a whoosh.
That ninja let out a few angry roars, but they soon stopped abruptly...
After retreating to a safe area, the fleeing Intelligence Division immediately summoned a ninja crow using the 'Summoning Technique', then tied the intelligence with the four words 'Dark Purple, Dark Green' written on it to the ninja crow's leg, and subsequently released the ninja crow.
After transmitting the intelligence, the four members of the Intelligence Division looked at each other, then tacitly dispersed, lurking on the snowfield, monitoring the snow peak not far away.
Regardless of what happened to the ninja army that attacked into the cave, they must stay put here, monitoring every move of the target, providing intelligence support for subsequent reinforcements.
A flying ninja crow was obviously much faster than ninjas trekking in the snow. So not long after, the ninja crow carrying intelligence landed in a Ninja Village Alliance camp located in the south of the Land of Iron.
Responsible for this camp was Mifune, the General of the Land of Iron samurai.
Taking the intelligence from the ninja crow's leg, he immediately unfolded it to look, and the four words 'Dark Purple, Dark Green' came into his view.
Thus, he immediately instructed the Communications Division in the camp: "Finally found a big fish! Transmit to the General Headquarters, we found traces of Mōryō and Shinnō, two official members of the Akatsuki organization, at target number seven!"
Undoubtedly.
The four words 'Dark Purple, Dark Green' were simple codes formulated by the Ninja Village Alliance for the demon Mōryō and Shinnō of the Sky Ninja Village.
Using codes to mark identity was to prevent the opponent from detecting the intention of the Ninja Village Alliance in advance. Otherwise, transmitting the opponent's identity information in front of them, no matter how unruly and arrogant the Akatsuki members were, they would sense something was wrong and make responses in advance.
And taking advantage of the interval when the Communications Division was transmitting, Mifune immediately gathered an encirclement troop in the camp that had undergone simulation training targeting Mōryō and Shinnō in Shinji's 'Takamagahara', and urgently dispatched them to target number seven to support the vanguard force.
Inside the General Headquarters.
Intelligence from the Land of Iron was quickly summarized. Shikaku Nara came to the Five Kage and marked Mōryō and Shinnō next to target number seven in the Land of Iron on the map on the conference table.
Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief: "Very good, the official members of the Akatsuki organization finally surfaced!"
The Third Tsuchikage asked: "Has the encirclement troop been dispatched?"
Shikaku Nara nodded: "Mifune has already dispatched the encirclement troop according to plan. That encirclement troop in his camp has a win rate of 72% against Mōryō and Shinnō in the simulation of Shinji's 'Takamagahara'!"