Analyzing the Ninja World Starting from Konoha

Chapter 156 Taking the Initiative

A moment later, the tent flap was gently lifted, and Jiraiya walked in carrying a cup of hot tea.

Jiraiya was taken aback when he saw Aoba sleeping soundly on the table.

"Are you that tired? —"

He walked to the table, looked at the dark circles under Qingye's eyes, and couldn't help but touch his conscience, which seemed to ache faintly.

To be honest, though, this guy is actually quite handsome without sunglasses.

(Of course, he's not as good as the handsome guys in front of the screen.)

"Cough—aren't we pushing this kid a bit too hard?"

Jiraiya muttered something under his breath, reached for a blanket from the cot next to him, and gently covered Aoba's shoulders with it.

However, even though Jiraiya had made his movements very subtle, Aoba's instinctive reactions were still extremely sharp, as an excellent ninja.

The moment the blanket touched his body, Aoba suddenly opened his eyes, his body tensed instantly, and his right hand instinctively reached for his ninja tool pouch.

Upon recognizing Jiraiya, Aoba's tense muscles relaxed. Feeling the blanket on his body, he scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.

"Sorry, Jiraiya-sama, I accidentally fell asleep."

"It's nothing, you've really had a hard time these past few days."

Jiraiya pulled up a chair, sat down, took a sip of tea, and then looked at Aoba with a meaningful gaze. "But you haven't been behaving yourself lately. What have you been up to, sneaking around so late at night instead of sleeping?"

Aoba was not surprised that Jiraiya had noticed.

Even though he always leaves behind puppet clones to maintain the illusion of his main body, it would be too naive to think that he could completely deceive a ninja like Jiraiya with such a small trick.

"I didn't expect you to find out after all."

Aoba stretched and gave a wry smile: "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that I feel my sand control technique still has significant flaws. Its weaknesses are too obvious and its methods are too limited. Against truly top-tier experts, it's easy for them to target me. So recently, I've been developing new ninjutsu to make up for these weaknesses."

"Developing new ninjutsu?"

Jiraiya nodded upon hearing this, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

What is a genius?

Not only do you need talent, but you also need the awareness to constantly improve yourself!

He did not ask Aoba what kind of ninjutsu he was developing.

Every ninja has their own secrets, and that's basic respect. Anyway, we'll definitely see them once this kid finishes developing them.

"That's right! Strength is the foundation of a ninja's standing."

Jiraiya said earnestly, "You are currently in the golden period of your strength growth. It is excellent that you can keenly recognize the shortcomings of your tactical system and take the initiative to make up for them! You must not become complacent because of a little bit of success."

At this point, Jiraiya seemed to have made up his mind, waving his hand dismissively: "Since you're going to develop new ninjutsu, these miscellaneous tasks can't take up too much of your energy anymore. I've decided, tomorrow I'll transfer Nara Salt Water over to be your assistant, so he can help you with some of the work!"

"Nara salt water?" Aoba was taken aback.

He knew this person; he was a junior of Suzaku Nara, only a few years older than him. He was considered a very outstanding young man of the Nara clan in this generation, with an extremely intelligent mind.

"That's right. With him here, you'll only need to come to the command center for half a day each day. You can spend the other half of the day developing new ninjutsu with peace of mind."

Aoba paused for a moment, then her lips twitched slightly.

He thought Jiraiya had a change of heart and was going to let him go.

After all that, it turned out they just brought in another "ox or horse" from somewhere else to share the work of the other "ox or horse".

Evil capitalists!

However, something is better than nothing.

"Then thank you very much, Jiraiya-sama."

Aoba lay slumped on the table and replied weakly.

Just as the two were talking, the tent flap was lifted.

A ninja from the intelligence squad strode in and handed Jiraiya a newly released intelligence scroll.

"Lord Jiraiya, this is the latest intelligence just delivered by the Anbu!"

"Oh? Let me see."

Jiraiya took the scroll and unfolded it, his eyes quickly scanning the contents.

Gradually, the relaxed expression on his face disappeared, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.

"Blue Leaf".

Jiraiya raised his head, his tone suddenly becoming more serious.

"That thing you told me about last time—how confident are you?"

Aoba was still slumped over the table, her mind a little dazed, as if she hadn't quite recovered.

"What is it?"

Jiraiya didn't say anything, but simply handed over the intelligence scroll in his hand.

Aoba took the scroll and glanced at it lazily.

next second.

He suddenly stood up, and his drowsiness vanished instantly!

The intelligence was quite simple: Sunagakure, citing the death of Scorching Release: Pakura in an ambush by Iwagakure, assembled a large-scale combat force and marched north under the banner of avenging a hero, heading straight for the Land of Earth.

"Is it finally coming—?"

Aoba murmured something under his breath, then suddenly raised his head, his tone incredibly firm, "Lord Jiraiya, Sunagakure's target isn't Iwagakure at all! They're using the pretext of attacking the Land of Earth to change course halfway and launch a surprise attack on our Land of Fire!"

Aoba sneered inwardly.

That guy, Rosa, is truly shameless.

Yekura was clearly sold to Kirigakure by him, yet now he shamelessly pins the blame on Iwagakure to incite the village's desire for revenge!

But Aoba knew these inside stories, yet he couldn't bring them up in public.

Upon hearing Aoba's decisive conclusion, Jiraiya frowned.

In fact, the moment he saw this information, he instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

But as the commander-in-chief at the front, he had to consider things more comprehensively.

"Your guess isn't entirely unreasonable, but what are the reasons for that judgment?"

Jiraiya asked in a deep voice, "We are currently at a critical stage in the alliance negotiations between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, and the two daimyo have already reached a consensus. Just now, the Hokage withdrew the defense line of the Land of River to show his sincerity. If we rashly send troops back to garrison without any solid evidence, it will be easy for the other side to seize on this as a pretext."

Jiraiya sighed and continued, "If this leads to the complete breakdown of the alliance agreement, then not only you, a Jonin, but even I, could not bear the stigma of disrupting peace between the two nations!"

Aoba fell silent.

Politics is often more complex than war itself.

Aoba understood Jiraiya's concerns.

The problem lies here.

He has a conclusion, but no evidence.

Logically speaking, it is completely inexplicable why Sunagakure would attack the Land of Fire at this critical juncture when the two countries are negotiating an alliance.

Alas, there are some crazy people in this world who don't play by the rules.

You can't exactly tell Jiraiya, "I'm a time traveler, I know where the future story will go," can you?

Aoba gritted her teeth and changed her approach.

"Lord Jiraiya, don't you think the reason Sunagakure gave for attacking Iwagakure is a bit far-fetched?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow slightly.

Aoba stood up, walked to the map, and pointed to the marching route of the Sunagakure army heading north.

"If Rasa really wanted to avenge Pakura, he could have simply dispatched an elite assassination squad to infiltrate Iwagakure undetected and carry out a targeted elimination. That's the standard practice for ninja villages to handle these kinds of situations."

Aoba's finger traced an arc on the map.

"But he didn't. He chose to assemble a massive army and launch a large-scale, all-out attack. This kind of large-scale, legion-level operation completely contradicts the logic of a revenge operation. Unless his goal wasn't revenge at all, but something else entirely!"

Jiraiya didn't respond, but his silence spoke volumes.

In fact, deep down he also agreed with Aoba's judgment. Sunagakure's motives were indeed too strange. No matter how you looked at it, Rasa's actions did not seem to be simply to avenge Pakura.

If the Land of Fire is taken as the real target, then all of Sunagakure's actions make perfect sense.

But while the reasoning is sound, there is no conclusive evidence.

Recalling troops based solely on speculation could have very serious consequences if the judgment is wrong.

Just as the two were deep in thought.

There was another burst of hurried footsteps outside the tent.

A member of the Anbu ninja strode in.

"Lord Jiraiya! There's movement at the Iwagakure front!"

Jiraiya and Aoba's expressions changed simultaneously, and they quickly got up and rushed to the command post.

At this moment, people were rushing in and out of the command post, constantly reporting the latest intelligence from the front lines.

The intelligence team ninjas have compiled the latest intelligence and marked it on the map.

All intelligence points to one goal—war!

The Iwagakure front has suddenly received an unusually large reinforcement, suggesting they are preparing for a large-scale offensive!

Upon seeing this conclusion, Jiraiya's pupils suddenly contracted.

He turned to look at Aoba.

Aoba also looked at him.

The two looked into each other's eyes and saw the same answer.

"It seems that old fox Onoki has figured it out too."

Aoba gave a cold laugh.

Now it's all good, Aoba doesn't even need to explain anymore, Iwagakure has already given the answer.

Given Onoki's shrewdness and cunning, it was impossible for him not to see through Rasa's true intentions.

The purpose of Iwagakure's reinforcements at this moment is very clear: to completely suppress Konoha's forces in the Land of Grass!

As long as Iwagakure adopts an offensive posture, Konoha's garrison in the Land of Grass will not dare to make any rash moves, let alone send troops south to provide relief.

Of course, if Konoha really dares to withdraw its manpower, then Iwagakure will definitely take the opportunity to press forward.

This is a calculated, open strategy!

"Your judgment is correct."

Jiraiya's expression changed instantly, and his voice became solemn.

A suffocating silence fell over the tent.

The situation is worse than expected.

A heavy atmosphere permeated the command center, and everyone felt caught in a dilemma.

Just then, Aoba broke the silence.

"How about we try taking the initiative?"

All eyes turned to him.

Jiraiya's pupils contracted slightly, and he almost instantly grasped the deeper meaning in Aoba's words.

"You mean—the Four-Tails and the Five-Tails?"

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