Chapter 145: Undercurrent
"Didn't say... he just told me to notify you first."
The agile young girl led the way in front, continuously using the Body Flicker on the rooftops, taking a moment to reply.
A few months had passed. She had already adapted to this mode of moving high up. Even when using the Body Flicker consecutively, she no longer made the mistake of using too much force and smashing the rooftops, as she had at the beginning.
Yūgao, following behind, said no more.
When moving at high speed, speaking would disrupt the rhythm of one's breathing.
Sakura, who was focused on traveling, was very fast. Even for her, if she wanted to keep up with the girl while talking, it was not an easy task.
—Of course, if it was just to be distracted and think about other things, Yūgao still had that much leisure.
What she was thinking about was precisely the matter of Sakura.
As a taijutsu-type ninja, she would naturally be concerned with her teammate's taijutsu ability. The Body Flicker the girl was using was a taijutsu-type. This kind of flicker was a good reflection of the user's taijutsu level. For her speed to be so fast that even an ordinary taijutsu ninja couldn't keep up with her was truly an anomaly among ninjutsu-type ninja.
"And she hasn't even used the Monstrous Strength Technique," Yūgao thought to herself.
A nin-taijutsu of the caliber of the Monstrous Strength Technique was simply balance-breaking. Although everyone used the routine of enhancing their body with chakra, a super-fine chakra technique like the Monstrous Strength Technique was clearly a trick that a bunch of rough men and tomboys couldn't play with, yet it could bring a huge improvement to taijutsu...
Yūgao's feelings about such a nin-taijutsu were really extremely complicated.
Fortunately, the people who had mastered the Monstrous Strength Technique were currently only two, and Sakura was one of them. Otherwise, if every ninjutsu-type ninja had a Monstrous Strength Technique, then those of them who were taijutsu-types wouldn't have a place anymore.
With the reliance on the Monstrous Strength Technique, Sakura's taijutsu ability was definitely not bad. In addition to her powerful Water Style and Ice Style, such strength was undoubtedly a standout even among Jonin.
However, it was precisely because her strength was too great, and she was used to her own solo fighting tactical system, that during the squad's break-in period, Sakura had not been able to integrate well into team coordinated combat. Now, she could only be temporarily positioned as a cannon role that released ninjutsu from a distance for a strong attack.
This was clearly a great waste of her strength.
The thoughts about Sakura's strength only flashed through Yūgao's mind for a moment. Then, very quickly, the girl had brought her to the meeting place: the rooftop of the Hokage Tower.
Shino was already there waiting for them.
"Let's go. We'll talk on the way!"
He waved his hand, put on his mask, and then left the rooftop with a Body Flicker.
"There has been a large-scale, unusual movement of Sound ninja in the northern region of the Land of Fire. It seems they are looking for something..."
Shino said, speeding forward while looking back at Haruno Sakura.
"Someone saw a distress signal issued by a Konoha ninja in that vicinity. So the primary mission this time is to rescue the Konoha ninja trapped in that area. Secondly, to repel the Sound ninja..." Shino said, turning his head back.
"This will very likely be a very dangerous mission. You need to be mentally prepared."
"Is it because of Orochimaru?" Yūgao asked.
Shino's expression was very grave. "There is no intelligence to show where Orochimaru has appeared, but for the Sound ninja to make such a big move, it must be related to him. According to deductions, in the previous Chunin Exams, the injuries Orochimaru suffered were not serious. It's very likely that he has now completely recovered. So the worst-case scenario is that we will face Orochimaru..."
"Once that situation occurs, Lady Tsunade has ordered us to abandon the mission and retreat immediately, until the other supporting Anbu squads arrive!"
"..." Yūgao and Sakura were rare-ly silent at the same time for a while, their faces looking very bad.
To abandon the mission and wait for support meant that the Konoha ninja trapped there would be in a very difficult situation. Orochimaru would be able to do whatever he wanted there...
After all, that place was relatively far from Konoha, and the village's power could not reach that far.
But to do so would be equivalent to substantively abandoning their comrades in the village...
This went against the Will of Fire that Konoha had always propagated, and no one wanted to see this happen. After all, no one wanted to become the next abandoned Konoha ninja.
In the silence, Shino spoke again.
"Also, Tobi, Lady Tsunade specifically told me to remind you to remain calm, obey orders, and do not act on your own."
The girl with the cat-face mask was stunned for a moment.
This special reminder instantly gave her an extremely bad premonition.
She was not the kind of particularly hot-blooded personality like Naruto. The order just now, although she felt very uncomfortable hearing it, she would not directly disobey it...
Why did Tsunade have to specifically remind her of this?
Unless—
"Also, a piece of news just confirmed. Your former teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, is on a mission outside and has not yet returned to the village. The location of his mission... is in that vicinity."
Gasp— Sakura subconsciously sucked in a cold breath.
The moment she heard this sentence, Haruno Sakura had determined that Orochimaru was making such a big move, his target must be Sasuke.
Sure enough, Orochimaru still had his evil designs on Sasuke.
It should be said that he had been coveting Sasuke's body all along... It was just that, unlike the original story, his soul had not been deprived of its arms by the Third Hokage, so although he had been seriously injured in the Konoha Crush plan, with Orochimaru's recovery ability, he had probably completely recovered the next day.
Because he had not suffered a devastating injury, Orochimaru also had no reason to be in a hurry to change bodies. This was completely different from him in the original story.
But on the other hand, because the curse mark Orochimaru had placed on him had been treated by Kakashi's Evil Sealing Method and Tsunade's medical ninjutsu, Sasuke had not been affected by the effect of the curse mark. His thoughts had not been blackened. On the contrary, he had gradually found his own path. This had completely bankrupted Orochimaru's plan to lure Sasuke away.
Orochimaru was getting a little anxious.
If he let Sasuke continue to grow, he was afraid that in a few more years, when Sasuke had grown to Itachi's level, Orochimaru would no longer have the ability to make a move on him.
So, although there was no urgent need for a body for reincarnation, he still launched a plan, plotting to seize Sasuke's body, trying to capture him and bring him back to his base.
But this time, Orochimaru could not use the method of forcing himself on him, to forcibly abduct Sasuke from Konoha. After all, the village had not suffered heavy losses in the Konoha Crush plan, its strength was still intact, and Sasuke had no intention of leaving the village. Just relying on the Sound Four, even with the addition of Kimimaro, and even with all the other riff-raff from the Sound Village, there was no chance.
However, since he couldn't abduct Sasuke from the village, then he could just catch him when he was away from the village, right?
According to the intelligence sent back by the spies, Sasuke had also recently been promoted to Chunin and would occasionally take on a mission by himself.
Then Orochimaru's method was very simple.
He just had to watch Sasuke's mission time, and when he went to accept a mission, he could post a mission that only an Uchiha would be interested in, and he could lure Sasuke out of Konoha.
For example, posting a mission with low pay, long duration, and high difficulty, and then adding some content that only an Uchiha would be interested in to the reward, such as documents like the origin of the Uchiha's family crest, and the family tree of successive generations. Sasuke, who was eager to rebuild the glory of the Uchiha, would definitely fall for it.
Or even simpler, as long as he kept an eye on Sasuke's movements and sent out intelligence when he left the village for a mission, Orochimaru could directly lead people to block him...
Everything could be connected.
The Sound ninja they had searched for before, the several defections related to Orochimaru that had suddenly occurred... were just a few small preludes to this event.
Haruno Sakura could probably guess some of the key points in this.
After a long while, she finally said with difficulty, "This is not a coincidence... is it?"
"Indeed, someone has leaked the intelligence of Uchiha Sasuke's mission outside the village... It's obvious that the purpose of Orochimaru's large-scale operation is for this lone survivor of the Uchiha."
"In that case, since Orochimaru attaches so much importance to him," Yūgao calmly put forward her prediction, "then we are very likely to really face Orochimaru."
"Unless someone can hold him off," Shino concluded coldly, "otherwise the probability of him appearing is one hundred percent."
"So, Tobi, did you hear me? Obey the order, don't try to be a hero. Forcibly facing Orochimaru will just be one more person sent to their death!"
The cat-faced Anbu was silent for a while.
All her emotions were hidden under the mask.
"...Understood."
She said belatedly.
Shino turned his head and looked at her carefully. The girl's expression was hidden by the mask, so he couldn't see her eyes, nor could he see what she was thinking.
Did she really agree, or was she just placating me?
"..." Shino turned his head, fell silent, and said no more, just focusing on the journey.
During the high-speed movement, the sound of the wind whistled in her ears.
Much like the undercurrent surging in the girl's heart.
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