The land of ghosts, the sea on the west side.

Thick fog converges across the vast expanse of the sea, bringing with it an extremely cold chill.

The steel ship is like a black beast, breaking through layers of thick fog and sailing through the wind and waves in the dense fog-covered sea.

In the outpost area about dozens of kilometers in front of the steel ship, a famous mist hidden ninja was divided into ten teams, put on a standard diving suit, tightly bound his body, and then used water escape ninjutsu to dive into the sea water one after another, merging with the sea water, hiding his whereabouts and swimming forward quickly.

Just like the ninjas in Iwakuin Village, most of the ninjas in the fog have practiced the art of water escape, and a considerable number of fog ninjas, after performing the water escape, will gain the ability to hold their breath in the water for a long time.

If the land is the domain of the Iwakushi ninjas, then the water and the sea are the most beloved battlefields of the Mist Ninjas.

Ten teams, each group of three, a total of thirty elite Misty Ninjas, scattered around, as scouts, they need to grasp the movements of the Ninja forces of the Oni Country in detail before the battle between Misty Hidden and Oni no Kuni begins.

In this way, the large forces in the rear will be able to move forward.

Due to the lessons of Konoha and Iwakure, the attitude towards this war must be cautious and not slacken in the slightest.

Therefore, each of the Mist Ninjas who came to reconnoiter had a cautious and careful attitude to complete this S-class mission personally ordered by their Mizukage-sama.

As the Mist Ninjas dived into the sea and continued to sink, the sounds in their ears became more and more silent, and occasionally there was the sound of water flowing, and the light around them became dimmer and dimmer, as if they were about to fall into a silent and dark world, and only a small area covered by searchlights could be seen.

Some of the fog ninjas looked at their feet, and it was a deeper and darker than the surroundings, and the endless curtain of darkness made people feel infinitely oppressive and cold.

Looking down, the Mist Hidden Ninja couldn't help but twitch his body, and his leg bones seemed to have softened a little, which was an instinctive fear of the darkness.

Even though I have done this kind of diving work countless times and have a lot of diving experience, I still feel my scalp tingle every time I gaze into the depths of the sea.

Compared to land and sky, the deep sea is both mysterious and terrifying.

The fog ninja who knows all this best is naturally full of awe of such an environment.

So, not daring to look down, they stopped and began to swim forward as long as they could still hear the sound and see the light spots on the surface of the sea.

In the sea area at a depth of more than 100 meters, it is difficult to transmit the sound, and the accompanying captain can only signal with gestures to signal the team members to move forward quickly.

In winter, the water temperature of the sea is unusually cold, and the silent darkness constantly challenges the psychological resistance of the fog hidden ninjas, and under this double physical and mental torture, even the experienced fog hidden ninjas must hurry up to complete the task.

I don't know how long it has been, maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour, maybe a day has passed.

In such an oppressively dim environment with no sound source, the ninjas of the fog gradually lost their sense of time.

At this moment, a huge fusiform shadow loomed in front of them.

There were three foggy reconnaissance teams nearby, and they spotted the huge shadow that had surfaced on the surface of the sea almost simultaneously.

I didn't provoke it, but avoided it very interestingly.

Just as they were about to do so, the water rolled rapidly and something rushed towards them.

Then there was a bang, and it exploded in the sea, and the current rolled faster, and a huge fishing net spread, instantly surrounding the three-person Mist Hidden Ninja, and they were tightly bound.

The three of them struggled in the fishing nets, picking up the kunai cutting nets.

I don't know what kind of material this fishing net is made of, and the kunai with chakra attached to it can't be cut at once.

The fishing net was pulled upward, and the three fog ninjas panicked all of a sudden, they knew what the fate of being pulled up would be, and they struggled even more hard in the fishing net.

The other two groups of Mist Hidden Ninjas also stepped forward to assist, picked up the kunai, and began to cut the rope.

The sound of the water rolling came into his ears, like a life-threatening note, which shocked the two groups of fog ninjas who stepped forward to help.

Bang!

Another fishing net spreads out in the water.

The second group of Mist Ninjas was also successfully captured.

The third group of fog ninjas quickly panicked, stopped rescuing their companions, and quickly swam backwards, trying to escape from this sea area.

At this moment, a pair of huge red eyes lit up in the dark and deep depths of the seabed, and a huge serpentine beast like a small mountain swam up from the depths of the seabed, causing a torrent to surge, and tore open the bloody mouth towards the fleeing fog ninja.

……

"Lord Liuli, the thirty fog ninjas in charge of reconnaissance above this sea area have all been captured."

In the command room, the Ghost Country Shinobi, who is in charge of directing the operation, reports on the work of Ruri who walks in.

Liuli was not surprised, the trajectory of the fog hidden reconnaissance team, they had already understood it all, and now they just came out to make a circle, and it was as simple as catching these fog ninjas as fish in a fishing net.

"Keep going. In addition, notify the fleets in Area B and Area C, and the net can also be closed there. ”

"Yes!"

◎

The western sea of the country of ghosts is an uninhabited desert island that belongs to the border between the country of ghosts and the seas of other countries.

At this moment, this desert island has been occupied by the fog hidden ninjas, and they have begun to set up camps on this desert island where they have not picked resources, and looking at their work, it seems that they plan to stay here for a long time.

A total of nearly 500 ninjas were the forward troops sent by the fog this time, and they divided 100 people to set up camps, and 400 people patrolled the border waters of the desert island.

In charge of the scheduling work here, it is a middle-aged shinobi of the ghost lamp clan, who arranges his personal work here in an orderly manner, without the slightest panic, and seems to be at ease.

The surrounding fog ninjas also respect and trust him.

As one of the few ninjas in the Fog Hidden Village who holds secret arts, and has also produced a water shadow, he naturally has a pivotal position in the Fog Hidden Village.

Although because of the past blood mist incident, the Ghost Lantern clan was also vigorously excluded by the Blood Mist faction and the situation became difficult, but then after the four generations of Mizukage came to power, the reputation of the Ghost Lantern clan and other ninja clans, under the arrangement of the four generations of Mizukage, gradually corrected their names and became an indispensable and important pillar of the fog hidden.

"Captain, there's a situation ahead!"

A misty ninja pointed to the sea ahead and shouted at the Ghost Lantern Clan's Shangnin.

"Huh? What's going on! ”

The Ghost Lantern Clan Shangnin leaped over and came to the position of the patrol force, raised his eyebrows, and looked forward.

"I don't know, I just feel a huge chakra approaching here quickly!"

The misty ninja who was in charge of perception couldn't help but shed cold sweat on his forehead, this huge chakra, he had only felt in their Mizukage-sama, a chakra that surpassed the common sense of ninjas!

The sea ahead was shrouded in a thick white fog, and the visible range was very narrow.

I saw that in the depths of the white mist, accompanied by the dull footsteps that followed, the thick white mist was stained with a huge shadow outline.

Winter!

Winter!

The footsteps continued, and the outline of the shadows that appeared on the white mist became clearer, and the dark red body began to loom in the thick mist that continued to roll.

I saw that the 'giant' stretched out its dark red arm and gently swept it to the side, and the white mist rolled in all directions, and the head of the warrior condensed by chakra broke through the thick fog and poked its head out without warning.

"It's—"

See the dark red warrior giants condensed from pure chakra, like towering giant trees, standing between heaven and earth.

Just witnessing such a scene, the vision and spirit of the Mist Hidden Ninja were hit like never before, their faces were shocked, and their brains went blank.

"Hurry up and get in touch with the headquarters and inform Mizukage-sama—"

The Ghost Lantern Clan's Shangnin was the first to react from the shock, realizing something, no matter what, he had to transmit the information here.

This sea area is no longer safe.

However, at the moment when he finished shouting these words, a cold female voice sounded in this sea area.

"Turre!"

In an instant, the screams of pain came one after another.

The sea and the land of the desert island were quickly covered by a web of thunder and lightning, and endless thunder snakes wrapped around the bodies of the Mist Hidden Ninjas, paralyzing their nervous systems and stinging their flesh and blood!

The ghost lamp clan Shangnin, who wanted to avoid the impact with the water transformation technique, also felt a sharp pain in his body, and the terrifying thunder snake wrapped around his body, causing his body to feel more paralyzed than others.

"Oops, I'm not good at dealing with thunderstorms......"

The Ghost Lantern Clan's face was distorted, and they found that the faster they hydrated, the more intense the paralysis in their bodies became.

However, he did not succumb to such a thunderstorm, and with his amazing willpower, he leaped out into the air and rushed towards the contact point on the desert island.

It's not safe anymore, but until then, the most important thing is to get the information out there and let the headquarters figure out how to deal with it.

"Black Thunder!"

Faster than he was moved, a cold voice from above.

The sound of the rolling waves and the screams in my ears all lost their traces in an instant.

The endless darkness darkens the sea, the desert islands, and the void.

When he regained his clarity in front of him, what appeared in the eyes of the Ghost Lantern Clan's Shangnin was the annihilation posture of the entire army except him for all the fog ninjas who were paralyzed by thunder and lightning.

Winter!

Winter!

The Suzuo Nenghu giant trampled on the surface of the sea, crushing the protruding coastal reef, and a huge shadow shrouded it, engulfing the upper ninja figure of the Ghost Lantern Clan.

◎

The country of ghosts, outside the Western Sea, Ghost Cry Gorge.

This is a strait formed by a number of desert islands, and under the careful arrangement of the fog hidden ninjas, this strait has been established into an island fortress that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

A large number of fog ninjas occupied every area of these islands, and the patrol force sealed off the islands layer by layer, forming a tightly guarded security network.

On the main island of its area, there is the largest number of Mist Ninjas.

In the makeshift conference room, the Shinobi of the Fog Hide, along with the Mizukage, held a meeting here.

"Thirty reconnaissance teams, a total of ninety ninjas who are proficient in reconnaissance, have not heard from since they infiltrated the western waters of the Oni Country. Not only that, but the Third Vanguard Force, which was on the border of the Western Sea, had completely lost contact and disappeared three hours ago. According to the investigators' report, the desert island stronghold where the Third Vanguard Force was located was not damaged in any way, there was no bloodstain left by the battle, and the materials in the warehouse were not looted, even the footprints...... It's as if all of them suddenly evaporated from the world. ”

The mist who was summarizing the intelligence was shinobu and read it out in a solemn tone.

After he finished reading, the atmosphere in the conference room was immediately replaced by heaviness, and everyone who participated in the meeting realized that things had become tricky.

Not only was the reconnaissance team responsible for pathfinding completely wiped out, but even one of the three vanguard units that was also dispatched encountered a very strange situation, evaporating from the world on the desert island stronghold.

It can be said that the battle has just begun, and their tentacles and ears scattered in the fog have encountered an unprecedented crisis.

This situation was a surprise to all of them.

It stands to reason that even if it is attacked by the large army of the Oni no Kuni, it is impossible not to get any news out.

What's more, on the desert island stronghold, there are no traces of the battle between the two sides, not even bloodstains.

Even if they gathered here and saw the well-informed Mist Hidden Ninja, they could not restore what happened to the third vanguard force on the desert island stronghold, and what kind of means did the Oni Country take to make the five hundred Fog Hidden Ninjas lose their traces without the power to resist.

The missing Mist Ninja is alive or dead.

"This situation is really not good, although I know that the country of ghosts is not easy to deal with, but I didn't expect that as soon as I came up, it would give us such a head-on blow...... Warning? Or is it deterrence? ”

The other one sighed silently.

As a neutral faction, he actually didn't want to provoke a powerful country like the Oni Country, but he had no choice but to pass this resolution at the high-level meeting, and he could only follow the large army to the front line and fight against the Oni Country.

"The captain of the Third Vanguard is Oni Lantern Akatsuki, he is an experienced elite shinobi in the village, and his strength is close to that of the Ninja Seven, and a ninja like him, along with the hundreds of ninjas under his command, has quietly 'disappeared'. The battlefield has not yet left traces of battle...... It's incredible, it's hard to think about. ”

Another Mist Ninja spoke.

He was over fifty years old, his hair was already a little gray, but he was full of energy, and his eyes seemed to be cloudy, but the depths were shining brightly.

"Although the four-nation alliance army, in the first round of attack, nearly 20,000 ninjas were dispatched...... Sandshade aside, both Konoha and Iwakuin have been seriously hindered. Especially Konoha, according to intelligence, the assault force to which Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas, belongs, is now besieged in the eastern region of the Bear Country, and is in a dilemma. ”

"If you want to break the deadlock, you can only rely on our side now, but ...... The reconnaissance team and one of the three vanguard units are all 'missing', and to be honest, I don't recommend attacking the land of demons at this time. ”

A Kirigin Shinobi looked at the map of the sea area with a sad face.

In addition to the Devil's Cry Gorge, the sea area on the west side of the Oni Country, after the reconnaissance force and the third vanguard force were removed, it was a forbidden area full of blind spots for the fog.

If you venture in, you are likely to be ambushed by the Oni Country, and if not the entire army is destroyed, you will be severely damaged.

Moreover, they are attacking the enemy's territory, and if they don't have the 'eyes' to open their vision, they will be doomed if they take a wrong step.

No one knows what kind of danger is hidden in the sea on the western side of the Oni Country, which is surrounded by dense fog at this moment.

With the discussion of the Kirikin Shinobi, they were roughly divided into two factions, one group advocated continuing to organize reconnaissance teams to respond to the attack of the Allies, and conduct reconnaissance of the battle situation in the western waters of the Oni Country, paving the way for the attack of the large army.

The other faction advocates full defense and waits for the country of ghosts to reveal its flaws.

While the two factions were arguing, the lost position sitting on the main seat spoke:

"The reorganization of the reconnaissance unit, the task of which was to be completed by the 4th Conference Group. If we want to respond to the attack of the Allies, we must establish our own 'eyes' in the western seas. ”

Mizukage's speech was almost final, and the two factions that had been arguing immediately stopped the endless argument.

"And, I want to verify something."

Lost his hands on the conference table, his eyes calmly swept over the Shangnin present, as if he was looking for something.

Some of the upper ninjas were swept away by the loss, and their hearts couldn't help but burst.

"Verify? What does this mean, Mizukage-sama? ”

Some of the fog was puzzled.

"Mizukage-sama means that there is an inner ghost among us!"

The gray-haired Kirin closed his eyes and sighed.

"Inner ghost!?"

The ninjas on the fog changed color in unison, and they instantly comprehended it, and they also understood what was going on with the scrutinizing gaze of the lost position.

Looking for suspicious people among them.

"The reconnaissance team sent out, as well as the Third Vanguard Force, are all organized by the most capable ninjas in the fog. If the Oni no Kuni had not known their course of movement in advance, it would not have been possible for the reconnaissance unit and the third vanguard force to disappear from the western sea without making a sound. I seriously suspect that some of us have betrayed the interests of the village for personal gain, and have colluded with the country of ghosts! ”

Speaking of which, the eyes of the losers who swept everyone became even sharper.

The fog hidden forbearance that he saw, some people looked at it calmly, thinking that they had not betrayed the interests of the fog, and there was no need to hide their heads and tails, and some people were afraid of the majesty of the lost position, and lowered their heads slightly, not knowing what to think.

"Of course, it's just a possibility. After all, I have great trust in the loyalty of everyone here to the village. But for the sake of the bigger picture, I hope that from today onwards, you can monitor each other and prevent the loss of important information. ”

The calm color on Lost Position's face disappeared, and a smile with an affinity bloomed from his face.

But when he showed this smile, the hearts of the misty ninja became even more nervous.

This is a ruthless character who dares to launch a coup d'état and squeeze three generations of Mizukage out of power without making a sound, and they don't think that the loss of position with such a smile is sending a friendly signal to them.

It is better to say that if this kind of 'goodwill' is exposed, he must have firmly believed in his heart that there are internal ghosts among them who betray the interests of the village.

It's not just the loss of positions, but also the fact that some of the clever fog hidden forbearance is also strongly recognizing the view of losing positions.

After all, if it weren't for the fact that the route of action of the reconnaissance team and the Third Vanguard Force was exposed to the Oni Country, how could hundreds of people disappear quietly from the sea on the western side?

The problem here is just too big.

Among them, there must be inner ghosts!

With this in mind, the fog was shinobu and did not speak, but he looked at his colleagues, naturally with a sense of scrutiny, as if to say, 'Could this person be an inner ghost?'.

The fog on the suspicion is hidden, and the face shows dissatisfaction, but it is not good to make a noise at the meeting, and in the same way, they are also suspicious in their hearts, in the upper forbearance here, who is their own person, and who is the inner ghost.

◎

Next.

The ten reconnaissance teams scattered out lost contact again in the sea area west of the Oni Country, and mysteriously disappeared from the sea without splashing a single splash.

And from the time of entering the sea on the west side, until the disappearance, it took less than ten minutes.

It's as if the Ghost Country has set up a net in advance in the sea area ahead, knowing in advance that the reconnaissance team of the Fog Hidden Village will set off from here, and then crash into the trap set by the Ghost Country.

So much so that the patrolling fog hidden team felt a trace of nervousness and panic when they looked at the dense fog area on the sea area on the west side of the country of ghosts.

In the depths of this invisible fog, it was as if countless hideous huge mouths had been opened, just waiting for them to take the initiative to send them to the door, completely predicting the route of action of the Fog Concealment Reconnaissance Group.

In the conference room, compared with yesterday, the atmosphere in today's conference room is even heavier, and even with a sense of suffocation like falling into a quagmire, which makes people's hearts sink.

The expression of the loss was cold, and the fierce gaze swept to the few upper ninjas in the seats.

"The route of action of the Fourth Conference Group, the Second Wave Reconnaissance Group, was arranged by you, but within ten minutes of entering, contact was completely lost...... Now, I need a reasonable explanation! ”

"Mizu, Mizukage-sama, we didn't leak the information! We have absolutely not betrayed the interests of the village! ”

One of the senior members of the fourth conference group was sweating profusely and excused himself for losing his position.

"Bastard, you didn't reveal it, could it be that I, the Mizukage, couldn't reveal it?"

There was a bit of real anger in his tone, and the expression on his face became even more gloomy.

Seeing that the loss of the position was so angry, the rest of the upper ninjas in the conference room also held their breath, and they didn't dare to breathe.

They understand the mood of losing the position at the moment, and the repeated leaks of intelligence have caused the 'eyes' of the fog to be unable to be placed, and the alliance is urging and tight, and now it is neither advance nor retreat.

In this dilemma, as the commander-in-chief of the fog concealment, he was naturally anxious.

What's more, this Mizukage of theirs is originally very irritable and irritable, and he is bloodthirsty and murderous by nature.

At this time, it angered his brow, and absolutely nothing good happened.

"When、Of course it wasn't Mizukage-sama who leaked it, but we really didn't leak the information, so please believe us, Mizukage-sama!"

The upper shinobu of the fourth conference group responded anxiously.

"It's a pity that I, as the Mizukage, only believe in tangible evidence! Next, I will temporarily suspend the authority of your Fourth Council Group, and the Shadow Department will conduct a thorough investigation of all of your upper ninjas. The rest of the group continued to go back to work out new countermeasures, and the meeting was dismissed! ”

Lost his position coldly dropped these words, left his seat, and walked out of the conference room through the side door without dragging mud and water.

The rest of the shinobi also got up from their seats, glanced at the pale faces of the fourth council group shinobi, discussed with each other, and then kept a vigilant distance from them.

At present, the fourth conference group is the most likely to collaborate with the country of ghosts.

Until the results of the investigation are available, it is necessary to keep a certain distance from the fourth conference group to prevent implication.

Many Misty Hidden Shinobu couldn't help but start to feel pessimistic about this battle, and before they could go head-to-head, their hands and eyes were bound by the restrictions of the Ghost Country, and they launched a provocation against the Ghost Country, is it really no problem to go on like this?

They hadn't thought much about this question before, after all, the Four-Nation Alliance had given them enough confidence. But now, the important information of their Shangnin Council is frequently lost and obtained by the Oni Country, which makes them have to think carefully - the consequences of failure!