"What trouble?"
Of the four, Sakumo Hatake was the first to speak. He had noticed that Tsunade's expression had turned slightly serious.
"It contains an ingredient called Desert's Sorrow," Tsunade answered.
"Desert's Sorrow? What is that?"
The four exchanged puzzled glances. The name sounded strange to them, and none recognized its origin.
Tsunade glanced at them before explaining, "I need this Desert's Sorrow to make the antidote. It's a flower that only grows in deserts—and its poison is incredibly strong."
"A plant growing in the desert? That's odd."
Minato expressed surprise. After all, most living things require sufficient water to survive; otherwise, they would wither and die in the harsh desert environment.
Yet this poisonous flower called "Desert's Sorrow" actually thrives exclusively in deserts—an incredible phenomenon indeed.
"Yes, it practically needs no moisture at all to grow. I've only ever read about it in ancient texts myself—I've never seen one in person." Tsunade gave a slight nod.
"This Desert's Sorrow has only ever been found within the Land of Wind. It can be considered an endemic species unique to the Land of Wind. Moreover, even thriving in the desert, its numbers are exceedingly rare..."
Tsunade pressed her lips together tightly. The scarcity of Desert's Sorrow was exactly the problem—its rarity compounded by being exclusive to the Land of Wind.
Even if Konoha ninja were sent out to search for it, there was no guarantee of finding any. Worse still, the Land of Wind belonged to Suna, which meant their territory was full of spies and informants.
"I see," Minato and the others understood the current situation, and all frowned deeply.
Even if Tsunade discovered the method to create the antidote, without this "Desert's Sorrow," it would be like asking a skilled housewife to cook without rice.
For a moment, the air in the tent grew heavy with silence.
Suddenly, Minato raised his eyes, fixing his gaze on Tsunade and the other three.
"Since Chiyo managed to use Desert's Sorrow to make poison, then surely the Hidden Sand Village must already have some Desert's Sorrow on hand."
"That's obvious enough, but what of it?"
How could someone like Sakumo Hatake fail to understand such a straightforward point?
A calm smile spread across Minato's face. "I have an idea," he said, "though it may carry some risk."
Orochimaru shifted his gaze toward him. "You're not seriously thinking of going into the Hidden Sand Village to look for this Desert's Sorrow?"
Facing the question, Minato gave a bright, cheerful laugh. "Exactly."
"You don't know the meaning of fear or respect," Orochimaru sneered coldly. "The Hidden Sand is one of the Five Great Hidden Villages. You want to sneak into their village looking for Desert's Sorrow? Don't even talk about whether you can get in unnoticed—assuming you do enter Sand, how will you find the Desert's Sorrow and then escape afterwards?"
It wasn't surprising that Orochimaru reacted this way—this time, even Tsunade and Hiashi wore similar skeptical expressions.
Minato's thought seemed nothing more than wishful thinking to them.
"Being a ninja means taking risks. If we're always holding back, how will this war ever end?"
Minato said firmly. Although those four in front of him thought he was overestimating himself, he had his own well-considered reasoning.
"Indeed, Sunagakure is strong. Conventional infiltration would naturally be impossible. However, with the right methods, it's not entirely unthinkable," Minato continued.
Orochimaru maintained his contemptuous expression, while Sakumo—only one of the four whose expression remained calm—asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Minato exchanged glances with him and detected a hint of support in the older man's eyes. He gave a brief nod before glancing at Tsunade and the others. "Among the Five Great Ninja Nations, the Land of Wind and Sunagakure are particularly unique."
"Due to geographical reasons, the Land of Wind suffers from extreme scarcity of natural resources. And during wartime, massive supplies are required. Unlike Konoha, which can be partially self-sufficient, even with the support of the daimyo (regional feudal lord) of the Land of Wind, Sunagakure still struggles. As a result, their supply sources come from various villages scattered across the desert in the Land of Wind."
Minato explained that most of the Land of Wind's territory is desert. This forces settlements to be built only around oases. Consequently, connections between these villages are minimal.
"You mean... Disguised Infiltration?" Sakumo's eyes narrowed. Though Minato had not finished speaking yet, he already guessed his plan from what he had said.
"Precisely." Minato nodded.
"It's definitely an approach," Tsunade frowned, "but even if we attempted disguised infiltration, we'd essentially be walking straight into a trap."
According to Minato's plan, Konoha ninja infiltrating Sunagakure would simply walk through its gates openly. But Suna ninjas weren't foolish enough not to distinguish ordinary people from shinobi.
Moreover, Sand ninja undoubtedly impose strict controls over personnel involved in supply transportation.
"Hehe, I didn't say direct disguise," Minato smiled. "We can observe those Land of Wind villages located within the desert for a few days, intercept them midway during their supply transportation, and then take their place."
"In our Konoha forces, there are shinobi from the Yamanaka clan. For them, extracting memories from commoners is no difficult task. All our infiltration team needs to do is quickly familiarize themselves with the general circumstances of those villagers."
"As for chakra, with Byakugan users from the Hyuga clan among us, we're not without solutions." As he spoke, Minato cast a glance at Hiashi Hyuga.
Hiashi was momentarily stunned before replying, "Through [Pressure Point Strike], we could indeed temporarily stop the flow of chakra in the body, making someone appear non-chakra users for a short period. Still, sensor ninja would probably see through it."
Upon hearing this, Minato smiled slightly. "Leave the rest to me."
"Kushina once taught me a strange [Ninjutsu] capable of temporarily using [Sealing Technique] to seal human chakra..."
What he referred to was naturally the [Uzumaki Sealing Technique]. Yet, publicly knowing Kushina's identity and such sealing techniques was impossible at this moment, so Minato pretended ignorance instead.
Except for Hiashi, all three—including Tsunade—reacted with visible surprise upon hearing his words.
They naturally recognized that the ninjutsu Minato mentioned—the one used to seal a person's chakra—was the Uzumaki clan's Sealing Technique.
The three of them also knew how close Minato and Kushina were—it wasn't out of the question that she had taught him the Sealing Technique.
Yet apart from the First Hokage, no ninja outside the Uzumaki clan had ever mastered the Uzumaki Sealing Technique…
Right after that, they all turned their eyes to Minato—the one who constantly amazed them—with expressions of stunned disbelief.
The plan Minato proposed was remarkably thorough. He'd even factored in the unique abilities of the Hyuga and Yamanaka clans within Konoha.
His strategic mind and abilities had far surpassed theirs.
It was as if he were… just like a *Hokage* (Village Leader)!
...
...
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