And so, Zabuza took Shinno to the border of the Land of Rivers. This time, Zabuza was taking Shinno back to the Land of Waves by sea.
After these days of continuously leading robot soldiers into the Land of Fire's capital, they were discovered by the Leaf Village, but no one could be found. This made the Leaf Village very tense, and they had deployed a large number of personnel along the Land of Fire's border.
At this moment, in the Hokage's office in the Leaf Village, this matter was being discussed.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, took a puff from his pipe, exhaled a cloud of white smoke, and calmly said to the elders in front of him, "Have you found out? Which country did the people who invaded the Land of Fire a few days ago belong to?"
In front of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, were the Leaf Village's Elder Council: Danzo, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado. As high-level management advisors to the Leaf Village, the elders' status was almost equal to the Hokage's, serving as strategists who offered advice to the Hokage.
At the same time, they were also the highest management of the Leaf Village. For Hiruzen Sarutobi's question, the three of them couldn't offer any good suggestions.
Only Danzo looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi with anger and said, "Currently, the five great nations show no signs of troop movement, and smaller ninja villages can't mobilize that many people. For now, we can only see if they appear again. If they do, we will quickly mobilize troops from the border to encircle and destroy them."
Danzo was also very angry about this unit appearing in the Land of Fire. Firstly, one of the two dead squads was Danzo's own, and it included someone he valued. Secondly, as the shadow of the Leaf Village, he was very angry about Hiruzen Sarutobi's past actions.
And it had always been him bullying others, never others bullying him.
Danzo secretly made a note in his heart: next time he saw those people, he would definitely give them a hard time.
Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzo, said nothing, but took out the Anbu report and let the Elder Council read it themselves.
Danzo picked up the Anbu report with a puzzled expression. When he saw the information on it, his pupils suddenly constricted.
After Danzo finished reading the intelligence, he casually handed it to Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, not bothering with their reactions.
He then said to Hiruzen Sarutobi in a deep voice, "Hiruzen, are you sure they've been to the Land of Fire three times?"
At this moment, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane also felt incredible after seeing the Anbu's intelligence. The invaders had been to the Land of Fire three times, and they still didn't know who the enemy was?
It was well known that as the strongest ninja village in the Naruto world, the Leaf Village not only had sufficient strength but also sufficient pride.
For invaders to come to the Land of Fire three times, and the Leaf Village still had little information on them, seemed almost impossible to them.
Hiruzen Sarutobi also slowly said, "Yes, according to the Anbu report, the first time they only encountered a small number of people. According to the investigation of those who arrived at the battlefield later, there weren't many of them, so there was no large-scale search."
"The second time was completely different. According to the Anbu report, two squads encountered the invaders. According to the reports from those two squads, the invaders had about a thousand people. Those two squads were killed by the enemy without much delay, and by the time Anbu reinforcements arrived, the invaders had all vanished without a trace."
"The third report, Anbu speculates, should still be the same invading force as last time, but this time it's different from last time. This time they left the Land of Fire, heading towards the Land of Rice Fields. In Anbu's observation, this invading force returned to the Land of Fire shortly after heading to the Land of Rice Fields, but their numbers had become very sparse. After these invaders arrived in the Land of Fire, they vanished again."
"Now, how do you view this matter?"
The three of them looked at each other, a bit unsure of the situation.
However, Danzo heard Hiruzen Sarutobi's words and suggested, "Since they disappeared after going to the Land of Rice Fields, then send people to investigate. We must find out which country these people belong to."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, agreeing with Danzo.
For them, as long as they found out which country the invaders belonged to, it would be easy to deal with, unlike now, where they didn't know where they were or couldn't find anyone.
If they were normal people, they would definitely leave traces of eating, drinking, and relieving themselves along the way. But robot soldiers didn't need to eat, drink, or relieve themselves, which led to the Leaf Village being unable to find the unit Zero led.
"Alright, I'll arrange for Anbu to handle this matter." Hiruzen Sarutobi thought for a moment. He could only find that unit first, after all, if they couldn't find anyone, no method would work.
After Danzo, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado left the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi said to the empty room, "Kakashi."
As soon as his voice fell, an Anbu member knelt on one knee in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, his face covered by a cat-shaped mask. It was Kakashi, the captain of Anbu Team 7.
Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Kakashi and couldn't help but remember Kakashi's father, Sakumo Hatake. If Sakumo hadn't died, would the situation be much better now?
After a moment of reflection, Hiruzen Sarutobi said to Kakashi, "You will lead Team 7 to the Land of Rice Fields to investigate. You must find out information about the invaders."
"Yes."
"Remember, your main mission this time is to investigate the invaders. If the situation becomes unmanageable, you can retreat."
"Yes."
Kakashi finished speaking and vanished without a trace, returning to Anbu to meet with Team 7 and prepare to investigate the Land of Rice Fields.
At the same time, deep underground in the Leaf Village, in the Leaf Village's darkness, the Root, Danzo also gave the same orders. For him, he also wanted to clarify the invaders' identity. After all, he also wanted to be Hokage. Whether this unit was an enemy or could be used, it needed to be thoroughly investigated.
While Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi simultaneously dispatched personnel to the Land of Rice Fields for investigation.
In Otogakure, Orochimaru was experimenting with the intelligence Zero had given him. Although for Orochimaru, some things were unclear.
But some theories greatly opened Orochimaru's eyes. In the Naruto world, most research focused on the human body.
The knowledge Zero gave Orochimaru was mostly scientific knowledge. Although the knowledge from the two worlds was different, it was very useful to Orochimaru.
Just as Orochimaru was engrossed in his research on one particular technology, the communicator Zero had given him, which also stored knowledge, suddenly rang.
Orochimaru was abruptly startled from his frantic research. He looked at the communicator and tapped it.
A light screen appeared in front of the communicator, and Zero was on the screen.
Orochimaru looked at Zero with a smile and said, "I didn't expect you to contact me proactively. Is there something you need to communicate this time?"
Although Orochimaru was smiling, under the cold light of the laboratory, his face looked particularly eerie.
Zero ignored Orochimaru's expression and instead looked at him playfully, "Currently, the Leaf Village has sent quite a few people to the Land of Rice Fields to investigate. You need to be careful not to expose yourself."
Orochimaru heard Zero's words and was stunned for a moment. Logically, he shouldn't have been exposed.
Orochimaru suddenly remembered something. He hadn't been exposed, but had this Mechanical Empire been exposed? They had brought a thousand people to the Land of Rice Fields last time, after all.
But looking at Zero's expression, Orochimaru knew that the Leaf Village was probably looking for them, and he had just been caught in the crossfire.
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