Mizukage's Pokémon Ninja Scroll

Chapter 98 Return Point

After the introduction by the intelligence officer named Fujie, everyone gained a general understanding of the current situation in the southern part of the Land of Hot Springs.

Currently, all of Konoha's ninja forces are located in the northern part of the Land of Hot Springs, and even their logistical transport routes go directly from the Land of Fire into the northern part of the Land of Hot Springs.

The two hundred-plus Cloud Village ninjas led by the AB duo were virtually unmatched in the southern part of the Land of Hot Springs.

Although the Land of Hot Water's own ninja village, Yugakure, is located in the southern region, it is more of a tourist destination than a ninja village due to its long-standing commitment to peace.

Even the daimyo of the Land of Hot Springs can only ignore the existence of these Cloud Village ninjas and pretend that the country is still peaceful and prosperous.

Of course, since both the Thunder and Fire Kingdoms are engaged in a fierce battle within the Land of Hot Water, they can't really interfere even if they wanted to.

According to Fujie's intelligence sources, this unit from Kumogakure appears to be searching for Konoha ninja lurking in this area.

However, the exact number of the other party and why they were lurking here remain unknown.

At the same time, although this detachment did not cause excessive trouble for the people of Yu-no-Kuni, the main force of Kumogakure was still fighting on the front lines, so it was inevitable that some ordinary people would be affected.

Therefore, the people of the Land of Hot Water currently have a strong aversion to the ninjas of Kumogakure and Konoha.

There are even rumors that some civilians in the Land of Hot Water have formed an opposition force. Although they cannot harm the main forces of the two villages at the front, they are sparing no effort to attack the Cloud Village troops in the southern part of the Land of Hot Water.

This led to increasingly serious conflicts between the two sides, with not only heavy casualties among the resistance forces, but also rumors that many ninja from the Cloud Village forces were killed or injured.

"How could a resistance army composed of civilians inflict casualties on the Cloud Hidden Army?" Qing immediately asked.

If it were just a few Cloud Village genin who were ambushed and injured, it could be understood as carelessness. But Toge meant that the rebels had already caused relatively significant casualties.

This is why the Cloud Hidden Army treated these civilians even more cruelly.

"It seems that the civilians have gained some combat power through some kind of secret method, but we don't know exactly what it is," Fuji replied without any emotion.

"Could it be that Konoha is secretly supporting the civilians of the Land of Hot Springs?" Ken voiced his speculation.

"Probably not. If Konoha really wanted to attack these Cloud Village troops, there would be no need to use the name of the people of the Land of Hot Water. Besides, even if Konoha wanted to hide itself, if these civilians didn't have the ability to kill Cloud Village members, they wouldn't get Konoha's support."

"Tachibana is right, but this is also a good thing for us. If the Hidden Cloud Village continues its search without any obstacles, we won't have much of a chance to conduct our investigation."

After Qing finished speaking, he turned to look at Fujie and asked.

Do you know what the AB duo is up to right now?

"Yes, sir. The other party appeared in the town of Sigu in the southwest, near the border of the Land of Fire, a day ago, and it was just the two of them acting alone."

"However, the other side is too fast. In the previous times when we had intelligence about them, a day was enough for them to reach any place in the Land of Hot Water, so we are still not sure if this information is outdated."

After saying that, Fujiya rubbed his temples. It seemed that dealing with this kind of ninja-related information was not an easy task for him.

"Ao Jonin, are we heading straight for the AB duo? I heard that AB is the strongest ninja after the Raikage of Kumogakure."

"Snap!"

His head exploded again.

"I'm sorry, Jonin Ao." Hozuki Shingetsu bowed and apologized immediately after recovering.

Ken realized that his disciple was becoming increasingly mischievous, actually questioning the team leader's decisions so directly. He felt somewhat ashamed and apologized to his disciple.

To Tachibana's surprise, Fuji, an ordinary person who was seeing this situation for the first time, showed no emotional fluctuation on his face.

Ao nodded to Ken and the other, seemingly unconcerned by the doubt in Hozuki Shingetsu's words.

"The AB duo might not even still be in Sigu Town. Going to the places they recently passed through might reveal some clues. If they are still in Sigu Town, we should definitely go there. There must be some important reason why they've stayed there."

After explaining to his subordinates, Qing patted Fujie on the shoulder and said.

"Thank you for your hard work. We'll need your continued investigation later; we may need more intelligence support."

The three children couldn't help but facepalm at Qing's increasingly authoritative leadership style.

However, Tachibana Kenkawa followed up with her own words.

"Teacher Qing, shall I send Lanzi's spirit here? It will make it easier to pass on information later."

Previously, because the group was going to pretend to be samurai, it wasn't appropriate to bring along summoning beasts, which are obviously symbols of ninjas.

Jianchuan Ju simply dispelled the spirit communication spell and sent Lanzi back to the village.

Since Lanzi doesn't have a fixed lair like "Mount Myoboku" or "Shikkotsu Forest", he returns to the location of the "Summoning Scroll" given to him by the system every time he dispels a summoning.

If Jianchuan Ju lets Lanzi be summoned with the 'Spirit Scroll', it's equivalent to changing the 'Return Point'.

After that, communication with the intelligence personnel here became much easier, and the risk of this intelligence station being exposed was also reduced.

"Sure, this will make things easier if there's anything I need to know later."

After seeing Qing agree, Jianchuan Ju bit her finger and summoned Lanzi.

Lan Zai, who had just been summoned by spirit, was still holding an apple. Perhaps sensing the spirit, he dropped the apple and went into alert mode the moment he landed.

"Quack! (σ｀д′)σ"

However, after looking around and finding no fighting, he hurriedly and reluctantly picked up the apple from the ground and brushed off the dust.

Jianchuan Ju awkwardly pulled Lanzi aside and whispered something in his ear.

Then the spirit communication spell was dispelled again, and a minute later, Lan Zai was summoned again.

When Lan returned this time, he was carrying a scroll that was almost as big as himself.

Tachibana carefully took the scroll and handed it to Fuji.

"Keep this summoning scroll safe. I will contact you through the summoning beast if I have any information later."

Fujie solemnly accepted the reel and carefully put it away.

In fact, what Jianchuan Ju gave to the other party was not a real system summoning scroll. Or rather, it wasn't just a real summoning scroll.

In reality, Lan Zai's psychic scroll is only a dozen centimeters in size, and when rolled up, it is about the same length as Jian Chuan Ju's palm.

However, when Tachibana Kenkawa considered the need to change the "return point", he specially ordered a larger reel to disguise it and hid the real reel inside a metal shaft.

Previously, when she was at the front-line camp, Jianchuan Ju also kept this large 60-centimeter-long scroll in her tent to facilitate the transmission of intelligence.

After the Konoha attack on the camp, the scroll inside the tent was so badly damaged that only the metal shaft in the middle remained. This new scroll was recently remade by Tachibana Kenkawa.

"Alright, let's go. Let's check out that town of Sigu first."

(End of this chapter)