This Water Shadow is very strong, but overly cautious.

In the Land of Wind, about a hundred kilometers deep into the border, the Sand Ninja army led by Chiyo and Ebizo is currently huddled here, not daring to act rashly.

The reason why we dare not act rashly is very direct.

That means they have been surrounded here by Konoha ninjas.

At this moment, the top leaders of the Sand Ninja Force are gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

However, the entire Sand Ninja Army, from top to bottom, all maintained a tacit understanding and that was silence.

At the main seat, Chiyo and Ebizo, the brother and sister, looked very unhappy. Even though this pair of evergreen Sand Shinobi, who were nearly fifty years old, were helpless in the face of the current situation.

Now we have to admit that the Sand Shinobi's defeat is inevitable and there is no way to turn the tide.

And all this is because of one person - Hatake Sakumo!

When mentioning this person, Chiyo and Ebizo both felt a pang of hatred.

Chapter 472: Awakening, Hunting Time

Even though Chiyo and Ebizo wanted to eat Hatake Sakumo's flesh and drink Hatake Sakumo's blood at this moment, what was the use?

How could they not understand the truth that the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit?

Their hatred for Hatake Sakumo is both a national hatred and a family hatred.

It all started in the early days when the Sand Shinobi decided to rashly launch a war against Konoha.

Originally, after the draw between Sand Village and Amegakure, Sand Village, which had quelled the Amegakure rebellion, would usher in a period of peaceful development.

However, after Hanzo of the Salamander launched an attack on Konoha, the elders of the Sand Village, Chiyo and Ebizo, stubbornly believed that now was the best time to take action against Konoha.

Therefore, Chiyo and Ebizo, relying on the power accumulated over the years within Sunagakure, ignored the opposition of the Third Kazekage and launched an attack on Konoha on their own.

Little did they know that the Sand Village's attack, which they thought was secret, had actually been exposed to Konoha's eyes.

At the beginning of the war, Chiyo and Ebizo sent out their most elite puppeteer troops as the vanguard, intending to take the lead in breaking the situation by relying directly on the combat effectiveness of the puppeteer troops.

Unexpectedly, the puppeteer troops of Sunagakure were attacked by the elite troops of Konoha led by Hatake Sakumo.

Caught off guard, Hatake Sakumo killed the two leaders of the Sand Village puppeteer army in one encounter, which was the origin of the two quasi-shadow masters in Hatake Sakumo's battle record.

The leader was killed and they were ambushed, which led to the ace puppeteer troops under Chiyo and Ebizo being almost wiped out in one battle.

Coincidentally, these two people happen to be Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law, and they are also the "father" and "mother" who are later made into puppets by Scorpion.

Now, the hatred between the two sides is completely irreconcilable.

Under the interference of Chiyo's strong personal emotions, the two sides engaged in a period of brutal fighting.

But in the end, due to Hatake Sakumo's powerful decapitation ability and the unfavorable situation of losing the main force at the beginning, Sunagakure quickly fell into a disadvantage.

As time goes by, the disadvantages gradually turn into defeat.

The defeat of the Sand Ninja seemed accidental but was actually inevitable.

This has to be discussed from all aspects.

The war launched by Chiyo and Ebizo did not receive the support of the Kazekage.

As we all know, since the second generation Kazekage Rasa created puppetry and sand manipulation, puppetry and sand manipulation have become two powerful inheritances with different paths within the Sand Ninja.

In addition to some blood abilities, high-level Sand Ninjas who want to increase their strength will often choose one of these paths.

After the death of the Second Kazekage, Chiyo and Ebizo inherited the Second Kazekage's puppetry technique, while the Third Kazekage Satetsu inherited the Second Kazekage's sand manipulation technique.

After the young Third Kazekage came to power, a group of conservatives led by Chiyoko have been secretly disobeying the Third Kazekage's rule and are unwilling to give up the power in their hands.

Therefore, there has actually been a power struggle within Sunagakure, and this situation will naturally give rise to factions fighting for power.

It can be roughly guessed by mere speculation that as the most outstanding user of sand manipulation ninjutsu today, and holding the high position of the Third Kazekage, although he cannot shake the status of Chiyo and Ebizo due to his youth, the senior ninjas in the Sand Village who are good at using sand manipulation ninjutsu will still instinctively gather under the command of the Third Kazekage.

Naturally, the ninjas who are good at puppetry will inevitably gather under Chiyo to support her.

As a result, the puppet ninjas and the sand-manipulating ninjas formed two opposing factions within the Sand Village.

In the original work, it can be seen from Gaara's abilities that the specialty of sand manipulation ninjutsu is not actually in attack, but in defense and sealing.

Puppetry is completely different. Judging from the performance in the original work, the puppeteer is a completely fragile ADC.

One attack and one defense, forming a completely sharp contrast.

Since the Third Kazekage himself was opposed to launching a war, the high-level Sand Ninjas who used a large number of Sand Manipulation Ninjutsu would naturally be opposed to participating in the war.

In this case, unless Chiyo and Ebizo intend to completely break up with the Third Kazekage, it is of course impossible to forcibly recruit the sand-controlling ninjas.

Therefore, in fact, the main force of the troops under Chiyo and Ebizo are puppeteers and some ninjas who use ordinary escape techniques, and there are very few ninjas who can use sand manipulation techniques.

The characteristics of the ninjutsu of the Sand Village ninjas are mainly based on the offensive wind-style ninjutsu, and there are not many people who are proficient in the defensive earth-style ninjutsu and water-style ninjutsu.

This resulted in the troops led by Chiyo having poor defensive capabilities.

Although they are all powerful Kage-level warriors, their strengths vary and they all have their own characteristics.

And Hatake Sakumo happens to be the biggest nemesis of the puppet masters.

If Puppet Masters are all squishy ADCs who are good at long-range attacks, then Hatake Sakumo is a top-level assassin who has maxed out his attack and agility.

There are two things that Hatake Sakumo is good at.

One uses swordsmanship, the other uses earth escape.

Hatake Sakumo's fighting style is also very simple. He approaches the target unnoticed with his super high earth escape technique, kills the target with a single blow at a speed that can be described as thundering, and then retreats underground.

Although the description sounds very ordinary, complicated and gorgeous methods often do not mean they are effective, and simple means do not mean they are useless.

Hatake Sakumo's fighting style is very simple, which is to maximize speed, accuracy and hatred.

And opponents like Qian Liaozhao are exactly the enemies that puppeteers who are good at flying zithers fear the most.

Even Chiyo and Ebizo, a pair of Kage-level puppeteers, were defeated by Hatake Sakumo, not to mention other puppeteers.

Although their abilities are restrained, the outcome of a ninja's battle cannot be determined by their abilities.

If a fight really breaks out, Chiyo and Ebizo, the brother and sister, may be able to win with their complementary abilities.

Unfortunately, what gave the two of them the most headache was that Hatake Sakumo simply refused to confront them head-on.

Hatake Sakumo, a standard ninja, a ninja who is good at assassination, how could he confront Chiyo and Ebizo head-on?

What is an assassin? Standing on the edge of the blade, walking in the shadows.

The war between Konoha and Sand Shinobi can be described in one sentence.

Hatake Sakumo: Awakened, time to hunt.

Chapter 473, Sand Village Defeat

Hatake Sakumo's tactics were also very simple, and he would only swing his ninja sword at the famous ninjas of Sunagakure.

As the saying goes, there is no false reputation under a great name. Reputation and strength and status are always matched to a certain extent.

Powerful ninjas usually appear on the battlefield as commanders.

As mentioned earlier, most of the high-level ninjas under Chiyo and Ebizo are skilled in puppetry and wind escape techniques, and their defensive capabilities are insufficient.

This often resulted in the commander of the Sunagakure troops being killed by Hatake Sakumo with a single sword strike as soon as the battle began.

Dive into the ground to get close, suddenly attack with a knife, die, then dodge back into the ground

This smooth and flowing operation was performed to perfection by Hatake Sakumo, leaving the Sand Village side unable to think of any way to crack it.

It's impossible that after a battle, not a single high-level ninja from Sunagakure shows up.

Killing a general on the battlefield will naturally have an extremely huge impact on morale. That’s not all. Once the commander dies, the battle formation of Sunagakure will naturally collapse and become a mess.

Over time, a saying spread on the battlefield: Hatake Sakumo, his sword never kills unknown people.

This also caused almost all the Sunagakure ninjas to feel insecure, and their fighting spirit was severely frustrated.

Under the assassination of Hatake Sakumo, the Sunagakure side was always in a passive position in the war and was constantly defeated827.

Up to this point, the Sand Ninjas were so frightened that they were unable to attack and could only stay in the camp and passively retreat to defend themselves.

This also resulted in the Sand Village being completely surrounded by Konoha in the desert, and they were in an awkward situation of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Even so, the Sunagakure side could not escape the shadow of Hatake Sakumo.

There have been more than one cases where Hatake Sakumo has sneaked into the Sand Village camp and successfully assassinated people. If this continues, the entire Sand Village will be in panic and will collapse sooner or later.

Therefore, Sunagakure's defeat is already inevitable.

Chiyo glanced at the Sunagakure jonin present with tired eyes, and after seeing Chiyo's gaze, everyone subconsciously looked away unnaturally, with a chilling look on their faces.

Seeing this, Chiyo felt powerless.

Because she knew that everyone was afraid that she would let them die.

Three days have passed, and Chiyo's last hope has been shattered.

Three days ago, Chiyo was forced into a corner and decided to use the last resort - sending people back to the village for help.

Chiyo also realized that in order to resolve the unfavorable situation in the battle, the Third Kazekage must take action personally.

As long as the Third Kazekage, who is proficient in sand manipulation ninjutsu, takes action personally, the threat posed by Hatake Sakumo will be defeated.

With the Third Kazekage, a Kage-level warrior who is adept at using sand manipulation ninjutsu, and a large number of sand manipulation ninjas under his command who are good at defense joining the battle, Hatake Sakumo's threat will be immediately defeated.

Chiyo naturally knew that it was she who insisted on starting the war and for this she did not hesitate to challenge the prestige of the Kazekage and offend the Kazekage.

And now she is flattering herself and asking for help from the Third Kazekage.

Such an action would undoubtedly cause her prestige to plummet, but she had no other choice now and could only pray that the Third Kazekage would consider the village's face and agree to take action regardless of past grudges.

Otherwise, she would have been defeated in this battle.

Not only did their son and daughter-in-law die, but their own prestige also plummeted. No matter what the outcome of this battle was, Chiyo and Ebizo, the brother and sister, had already been completely defeated.

So three days ago, Chiyo selected the fastest ninjas under her command and ordered them to return to the village for help.

Asking for help is the last chance.

Due to the siege, the Sand Ninjas led by Chiyo had long lost contact with the village.

In fact, even if the Third Kazekage really considers the overall situation and agrees to send troops to rescue, the news must be passed back to the Sand Village.

Under the heavy siege of Konoha, whether the ninja sent by Chiyo to deliver the message can succeed is another matter entirely.

But three days passed and there was still no news.

Chiyo knew that there was absolutely no hope.

Regardless of whether the ninja delivering the message was intercepted or the news was passed back to the village, the Third Kazekage refused to provide assistance.

It doesn’t really matter what the process was because the result is the same in the end.

Chiyo's failure has become a foregone conclusion.

If we continue to drag it out, it will only add more lives.

"Everyone, sitting here like this is not a solution. Let's come up with a set of rules."

Chiyo said this quietly, her face looking ten years older in an instant.

"This"

The Sunagakure jonin looked at each other, thinking that Chiyo was urging them to fight again, and they all started to shrink back.

They are not afraid of going to the battlefield, what they are afraid of is meaningless death and dying in vain.

The fact that more than 30 Sunagakure jonin died under Hatake Sakumo's sword is enough to illustrate a bloody fact, that is, going out to fight is no different from giving away one's head.

"In that case, I propose peace talks with Konoha."

"Who is in favor and who is against?"

Chiyo had anticipated everyone's reaction, so she spoke again, her tone full of powerlessness.

Upon hearing this, all the Sand Village senior ninjas were surprised. They knew very well in their hearts that Chiyo's hatred for Konoha at this moment was higher than the sky and deeper than the sea.

I didn't expect Chiyo to take the initiative to propose peace. This is of course a great thing for the other Sand Ninjas. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that victory is impossible.

Even Ebizo, who was sitting next to Chiyo, showed a hint of surprise when he heard Chiyo say this.

"Peace talks" probably just sounds nice. In fact, Chiyo's statement is tantamount to "surrendering" to Konoha.

"Agree."

After a moment, a Sand Village jonin at the table spoke first.