At the junction, the sky is full of sand and dust.

The landform of the land is mainly mountainous and rocky, and although the land is large, there are not many places suitable for sowing, so it can only maintain the status quo of self-sufficiency, and in the event of a catastrophe, it is necessary to purchase food from the land of fire and thunder to solve the food crisis of the year. But in general, relying on the vast land area and large number of people, it can also occupy a place among the large countries.

At this time, the eastern part of the Oni Country and the western part of the Earth Country were reduced to a deserted land. Due to the outbreak of the Fourth Ninja World War, many areas were bombarded by industrial weapons or ninja ninjutsu, and many places at the junction began to lose land and land barren.

Although it is not as desolate as the Land of Winds, this area also has the basis for the evolution of desertification.

And the camp set up by the country of ghosts is in this rocky wilderness, and the nearest market town is also forty or fifty kilometers away.

Zuosuke arrived at the front line of the eastern position of the Oni Country around August 20th, and after careful calculation, it has been a week since he came here to participate in the border defense mission.

He was given the position of Captain of the 2nd Patrol Squadron and the 3rd Detachment.

And the patrol place assigned by his third detachment is located in the northeast corner of the junction, strictly speaking, it cannot be said that it is completely the junction of the two countries, because to the west, hundreds of kilometers away is the territory of the snow country, and with the speed of the ninja's feet, it is only two or three hours.

There are four patrol squadrons in the frontline position, and each squadron is divided into six detachments, each detachment, with a total of five to eight people, so there are almost one hundred and forty or fifty ninjas in the country of Oni who participate in the patrol work.

Each squadron will be equipped with a Perception Ninja, and each detachment will be equipped with a Medical Ninja to reduce casualties in the event of a conflict with the Iwakushi Ninja.

Standing on a steep rock as straight as a gun, Sasuke looked out over the land from afar.

You can see that all around you are such steep and straight rocks, like needles growing on the ground, and you can't see the end at a glance.

There are slight signs of desertification on the surface of the rock, causing the rock surface to be constantly blown down by the wind, kicking up bursts of sand and dust.

And because of the dark color of these rocks, they are densely packed and towering, and there is a sense of horror.

At this moment, a figure jumped onto a straight rock dozens of meters high and came behind Zuosuke.

"Sasuke-sama, someone just triggered the spider silk I scattered."

The Oni Boy Pill, who has six arms, respectfully reported to Zuosuke.

I can't help but be disrespectful, compared to the big snake pill that he followed in the past, Zuo Zhu has a better temperament, he won't use them as consumables, and he has to participate in dangerous and forbidden experiments without human rights protection at every turn, and secondly, Zuo Zhu's strength is much stronger than that of Orochimaru.

Before coming here, Sasuke had a mock battle with them on the pretext of testing their strength. But even in the simulated battle, Zuosuke hadn't started yet, and just by bursting out the momentum of Chakra, he almost disintegrated the will to fight of the four of them.

You must know that each of the four of them has a strength close to Shangnin, and even with the secret skills on their bodies, they have a certain chance of winning when they encounter Shangnin.

However, under the suppression of Zuo Suke's chakra, he couldn't even have a trace of the idea of fighting, which shows that Zuo Suke's strength has reached a realm that they can't imagine.

For ordinary people, it is a very dangerous patrol character, but in their group, there is a left assistant, which is just a casual thing, and there will be no danger.

"Location, number of people."

Zuosuke didn't look back, just looked straight ahead with a calm gaze, and said concisely.

"Five kilometers to the southeast, the number of seven people, no accident, is the border patrol team of Iwain."

Oni Boy Maru replied quickly.

"If you cross the line, solve it, and if you don't cross the line, let them leave, be careful not to be provoked by them first."

After Sasuke gave the order, the Oni Boy Pill went down with interest.

To deal with Iwain's patrol team, naturally there is no need for Zuo Zhu to do it himself. A battle like this, which is not at the same level, can't even arouse Zuosuke's interest in it.

Therefore, for the Iwakuin ninja who came to attack, it was basically the four people who came forward to solve it, Shigego was responsible for pressing the formation, and the witch Hoshino was in charge of logistics and medical work, under normal circumstances, the latter two would not directly join the battle, unless they encountered a powerful ninja in Iwakure, they would settle for the four.

The left assistant only needs to command and liaise with his superiors.

This kind of patrol day after day, Zuosuke does not feel bored, because here he has a certain degree of freedom, and has a lot of leisure time, which is used to polish himself, and now he has an unstable foundation.

He hadn't forgotten that he still had a shortcoming like the chakra ceiling, and only by making up for this shortcoming could he perfectly exert the full power of the Eternal Kaleidoscope. This kind of patrol life, which is neither loose nor too busy, is currently to his liking.

◎

Iwakushi.

Tsuchikage Building.

The third generation of Tsuchikage Onoki feels that there are basically not too many things to worry about now, except for back pain.

After the Fourth Ninja World War, he began to slowly delegate power, and most of Iwain's affairs were handed over to his son Loess to handle on his behalf, and at the same time, for the sake of Loess's justified name, he was promoted to Tukage's assistant.

In this way, as a tsuchikage, the burden on his body is much easier, although the problem of low back pain has not been cured, but as long as you pay attention to it, you should not usually do intense exercise, and it should be able to support it for a few years.

After all, as long as he lives, Iwakuin still has a powerful weapon to deter other countries, and if he dies, Iwakure, and even the future path of the Earth Country, I'm afraid it will not be easy to follow. The neighbors to the west are not very friendly to the country of rock and earth, if he is here, he can still save one or two, if he dies, with the ability of his son loess, I am afraid that he will not be able to support the strong pressure given by the country of ghosts.

Don't look at the other party's current handling of Iwakuin's affairs in an orderly manner, most of the reason is that he, the earth shadow, is supported in the back, and in some major matters, his son is always indecisive, looking forward and backward, he can become the earth shadow's assistant, but he has not become the shadow of the instrument.

When he dies, not to mention resisting the country of ghosts, I'm afraid that even his own internal personnel will not be able to deter him, and there will be civil strife at that time.

Thinking of this, Onoki couldn't help but feel sad again.

The most regrettable thing is that in my lifetime, I didn't see the birth of the third Dust Ninja of Iwakure.

If such a talent appears, even if he dies, he will be able to completely settle down, so that he will not be still struggling to survive and not be able to swallow his last breath.

"The ability and strength of the black soil is very good...... However, it will take many years for it to grow up completely. ”

Onoki thought of his granddaughter, Kuroto.

Compared with his father's loess, Hei Tu has no flaws in his character, he is confident and strong, and he is also very serious about doing things.

And in terms of strength, it's not a problem either. At the age of eighteen, he independently created a kind of blood inheritance limit, which is enough to be worthy of the name of a genius.

Now he is one of the few elite ninja in Iwakuin Village.

But she is too young, lacks qualifications, and has a stronger voice than her, and she doesn't dare to say that it abounds in Iwain, but it's not a problem to come up with a dozen or so.

In a short period of time, it is not so simple to stand out from the crowd.

Especially when there is no big war, if you want to make some achievements, you can only boil slowly.

However, his granddaughter can survive, but he may not be able to survive.

His body is not as good as day by day, and he may lie in the coffin next year or the year after.

Just as Onoki was thinking about Iwakure's future path, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and a man walked in.

It's the son loess.

Tall and strong, no worse than the group of barbarians in the clouds, but the appearance is unexpectedly a little generous, in short, this kind of exposed aura is difficult to completely deter the people below.

It's not ruthless enough.

However, these dissatisfactions were not expressed by Onoki.

Anyway, compared to most ninjas, Loess's ability is still very good, and his strength is strong enough, if Iwakure has a suitable successor, Loess is indeed a very good Tukage assistant.

"Father, this is a letter from Konoha, Yunyin, and Shayin, because the stakes are so high, you need to make a decision in person."

Loess presented three letters, which came from three different ninja villages, Konoha, Yunyin, and Shayin.

Instead of opening the letter, Onoki guessed something and said, "It's the rain country, right?" You see what Yunyin does, you can arrange it. In short, don't make a bird. ”

In the last war, Iwakure became a bird, and as a result, thousands of ninjas were killed by the Mizukage, and now that he thinks about it, Onoki still feels so painful that he can't breathe. and scolded the Mizukage who took the blame and resigned in his heart again.

Although it is important to recapture the Tailed Beast now, the basis for regaining it is to ensure that Iwain's strength will not suffer too much loss.

Being able to snatch several head-tailed beasts, and hiding them so deeply, Onoki doesn't think it's a small organization that can be kneaded by others, just look at the group of S-class wanted criminals gathered in this organization, you can know how deep the water of this organization is.

As a Tsuchikage, he doesn't want to toss back and forth with the current young people anymore.

"Yes."

"Is there anything else?"

Ohno asked without looking up.

"There's one more thing, indeed." Loess hesitated for a moment and said, "According to the patrol force on the west front line, they saw Uchiha Sasuke who attacked Konoha before in the patrol force of the Oni Country. It is up to you to decide on this matter, father. ”

“…… Uchiha Sasuke? Is that the younger brother of the Weasel of Extermination? I heard that he attacked Konoha and killed two of Konoha's advisor elders, and finally escaped with his whole body, and the Uchiha clan ...... What an amazing young man. ”

Onoki frowned.

Although he had not met Uchiha Sasuke himself, the name of the shadow of the tree, the other party first killed Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas, and then killed his brother Uchiha Itachi, and finally attacked Konoha and killed two advisors, only to escape with his body...... Regardless of whether there is any special reason for this, these names are enough to prove that the strength of the other party is not simple.

】

Moreover, according to the information sent by Konoha, the other party is the same as the Uchiha Itachi and Madara Uchiha in the past, who has opened the kaleidoscope writing wheel eye and can use the fourth stage of Suzuo Nenghu.

"Father, what now? Uchiha Sasuke appeared on the front line of the west, will there be any ...... in this"

Loess looked worried.

For more than two years, Iwakuin's life has not been very easy.

The Fourth Ninja World War, not only killed thousands of ninjas, but also a large piece of land in the western part of the land country was also swallowed up by the country of ghosts, and in terms of morale, Iwakuin was born inferior to the military of the country of ghosts.

Although later, Konoha and Shagakure supported a lot of ninjas to come over, but everyone knows that it was just a pretense, and once the war broke out again, it was unknown whether these two villages would really support reinforcements for Iwakure.

"It shouldn't be, although in the past two years, there has been a lot of friction with the country of ghosts on the border issue, but how can it be so fast to escalate to the level of a big war. Most of them are the military executives of the Oni Country, and they want to hone their skills, this new generation of ninjas of the Uchiha clan. ”

Onoki thought so.

"So leave it at that?"

"Two more ninjas to the front line, and at the same time step up the border defense, and that's it. The most important task at the moment is to find that organization, unite the rest of the village, and recapture the stolen Four-Tails and Five-Tails. ”

As long as these two tailed beasts return, in the face of the problem of the country of ghosts, Onoki can somewhat relax the pressure on his body, and not have a sad face every day.

"Yes. Then, father, if nothing else is commanded, I will go down first. ”

"Well, let's go down."

Onoki nodded, watching the loess leave respectfully.

And when Loess left the office, a look of disappointment flashed across Onoki's face.

He has already put so much power down, and this son doesn't have the slightest idea of seizing power, he always does his duty and diligently completes the tasks he has assigned.

Onoki didn't know whether he had succeeded or failed in educating his children.

In this kind of world of great contention, the loess will definitely be devoured by the surrounding evil wolves and tigers, and even the foundation with the rock will be hit hard.

"It seems that the old man is still a little too early from the age of retirement, I hope this old waist can still hold up......"

Onoki sighed, and then the disappointment on his face disappeared, and his cloudy eyes gradually brightened, revealing a color as sharp as a blade.

◎

"Has the reconnaissance team sent over mysteriously disappeared again?"

Even if he put on a raincoat, he couldn't hide the man's strong body, Yun Yin Shangnin Daru Yin, as always, carried a heavy ninja knife, took the intelligence document passed back by Yun Yin Zhongnin in front of him, and after a careful glance, he learned that the plan to infiltrate Yuyin Village once again ended in failure.

After obtaining the investigation permission from the Rain Hide, a total of 600 ninjas from Konoha, Cloud Hide, Sand Hide, and Iwakure began to carry out a comprehensive search in the territory of the Rain Country, and it was bound to find out the mysterious organization that might be hiding in the shadows.

However, for more than a few days, the investigation force still did not have the slightest information available.

Moreover, it is said that there are four villages, and a total of more than 600 ninjas have been dispatched, but in fact, this is only a superficial number, the actual number of people is more than 1,200 people, and the number of ninjas who came to the Land of Rain to investigate has fully doubled the number of literal numbers.

And Daruyin is the captain of the Yunyin Investigation Team.

He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about the current situation.

Whether it is in the Land of Rain or in the more core Yuyin Village, there is no good news for the time being.

If it was Yunyin's family, forget it, and the other three villages were the same, and they didn't get any useful news.

As the land that can be searched in the Land of Rain becomes less and less, it will eventually evolve into an embarrassing situation where only Rain Hidden Village is left and is not searched.

The scouts who were sent to secretly investigate Yuyin before were just vanguard pawns who were idle.

But now, in the entire rain country, only Yuyin has the most doubts.

Who is Payne, the leader of the rain and hidden?

Why do the people of the rain hidden, and even the people of the land of rain, call them 'gods'?

Who is that 'oracle'?

The messenger sent over only heard the voice of the 'god', but did not see Payne himself.

This is a big doubt.

Why did this chieftain, Payne, dare not meet people?

Is it just to maintain the mystery and power of the 'gods'?

The murderous aura alone shocked the four elites, and Daruyin sighed.

Sure enough, this investigation is not such a simple task that can be completed.

"Wouldn't it be nice to let someone else do such a boring task? Lord Thunder Shadow is really ......."

Daruyin folded the letter, put it in his pocket casually, and then scratched his head with the palm of his hand, complaining helplessly.

And the environment in this country is not friendly at all, fortunately it is still summer, if it is winter, this kind of weather that has been raining, it is okay.

"Daru Yin Shangnin, what are we going to do next?"

Yun Yinzhong asked aloud.

"The progress of the investigation is too slow now, and if it continues like this, I will definitely be scolded by Lord Thunder Shadow. In this case, go and catch some of the rain ninjas who are alone outside, and then ask the mountain ninjas of Konoha to come over and see if you can find some useful information from the brains of these rain ninjas. ”

Although I am not particularly willing to be in the territory of the Rain Country, I have a conflict with Yuyin.

But in order to move the mission forward as quickly as possible, Daruyin felt that his side had to take some drastic measures.

Moreover, if the base of that organization is not actually in the Land of Rain, but someone has misinformed it, they can also stop it as soon as possible, so as not to waste too much time and waste energy.

As for Yuyin, if you offend, you will be offended, and the left and right are just a small country located in the land of chaos and war between the big countries, and Daruyin doesn't pay much attention to it.

"Yes."

Yun Yinzhong nodded and went down.

◎

The days at the root are calmer than expected.

Maybe it's because the leader of the organization, Shimura Danzo, is already dying, so even the aggressiveness of this organization has become a little sluggish.

However, such an innocent idea was just raised in the brain, and it was abandoned by Shikamaru.

That ninja is dark, even if he is dying, the danger is still very high. Coming into contact with such a person is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger.

But now I am also riding a tiger.

The current Konoha is not very calm, both inside and outside.

Especially externally, the pressure has always been great, but if the internal can be unified, then, no matter how great the external pressure is, in Shikamaru's view, there is a way to save it.

A strong enemy is not to be feared, and the division within the village is the key.

If this problem is not solved, the huge machine of Konoha will continue to decay and rust, and when the time comes, it will really be slaughtered.

That's why he came to this dark place.

Learn about this large and dark institution, and make efforts for the unification of the village in the future, or rather, want to be a bridge between the root and the Hokage.

This can't help but remind Shikaku of a person - Uchiha Itachi.

In the secret records of the roots, the Uchiha Itachi was originally the bridge between the village and the Uchiha clan.

But this bridge was eventually abandoned by Danzo, and the Uchiha clan also perished, becoming a hurried passerby in Konoha history.

Shikamaru didn't know what the future was waiting for him, but he knew that if he didn't do it now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The darkness, coldness, ruthlessness, and cruelty of this organization reveal a truly bloody world of ninjas for Shikamaru.

In such a bloody world, there is no place for the Will of Fire, just a group of nameless people who have forgotten their past and names, and they continue to kill and protect Konoha in an extreme way by brutally dehumanizing them.

Putting down the document in his hand, Shikamaru let out a long breath after reading it.

After so many days of data investigation, the understanding of the root has deepened.

It's a double-edged knife.

When he killed the ninjas who were enemies of Konoha, he also slashed the blade deep into his own people.

Such an organization, in wartime, will be Konoha's sharp knife, but in peacetime, if it is not restricted, it will become a moth that eats away at Konoha's vitality and splits Konoha from the inside.

Now that it is no longer meaningful to discuss who is right and who is wrong, Shikamaru feels that it is no longer meaningful.

What is important is how to change the status quo of the village, so that the power of the village can be united, instead of fighting separately and each with its own leader.

Once the war comes again, this will become Konoha's Achilles' heel.

Thinking of this, Shikamaru couldn't sit still.

The things of the roots, including the way this organization works, he has learned about it through so many days of research, and next, it is time to go and officially meet the shinobi darkness.

However, as soon as he stood up, the room was pushed open, and a dark oil girl appeared in the doorway.

"Nara family, Danzo-sama wants to see you next."

Shikamaru was slightly stunned, then regained his composure and nodded.

"Come with me."

Ignoring Shikamaru's reaction, the oil girl took a businesslike attitude, left the door, and led the way ahead.

Shikamaru walked out of the room and followed closely.