Chapter 79: Smuggling Supplies
His Spiral Wave, unlike the Rasengan, didn't need to maintain the stability of a sphere. Once the spinning chakra took the shape of a tube and unleashed its powerful cutting force, its basic development would be complete. With the Rasengan's terrifying twisting power, its potency would be considerable. The development process was simple: he would use a rubber tube for basic molding, a steel tube for stabilization, and a solid iron rod for the final result inspection.
Leaving a shadow clone to patrol, Sasuke hurried to the military trading post. He had just produced another batch of energy blocks and wanted to exchange them. While he was there, he bought a large-capacity sealing scroll to store the materials he had accumulated in his underground laboratory. Although he had a guard clone there, he would feel safer if everything was sealed, ready to be transported at any time.
As usual, the transaction with Ku Enzo went smoothly. Sasuke sealed ten thousand pounds of maltose, rubber tubes, steel pipes, and iron rods into his new scroll and returned to the defense zone. However, before walking a few kilometers, he encountered a group of ninjas with very suspicious behavior.
'Are they puppet users? Could they be from Sunagakure?' Sasuke wondered.
Although the group was dressed as Konoha ANBU, they were cunning and moved stealthily. And most importantly, there was a complete team of three puppet users among them. The nine-person setup—a taijutsu jonin, a special jonin puppet user, and several chunin—was typical of a Sunagakure brigade.
He was confused. This group passed through Konoha checkpoints with the correct passwords and even had ANBU certificates. He didn't know if they were enemies or allies. But soon after, the matter was resolved.
'Smuggling? Someone dares to smuggle with Sunagakure ninjas!'
Sasuke was surprised and quickly held his breath. He hid, feeling that the danger was unimaginable. He observed more closely. The ANBU-clad group were actually Sunagakure ninjas, from a smuggling clan. And the Konoha group they were meeting with also belonged to a smuggling clan.
It wasn't a total betrayal of their villages; it was more of a commercial agreement between clans to take what they needed. Sunagakure provided gold and iron ingots; Konoha, in return, gave them military pills, weapons, and even a large quantity of explosive tags.
Seeing them exchange explosive tags, a vital strategic material, a cold, silent fury swept through Sasuke. He almost exposed his position due to the sheer intensity of his killing intent.
"Huh? Internal conflict?" he realized that, after closing the deal, a conflict had broken out.
The Sunagakure ninjas were asking for information, but the Konoha ninjas were evading them. He heard keywords: "Ebizō's disciple?", "A puppet with a mechanical shield?", "A team of special jonin trying to break through the defense line?"
Sasuke immediately understood. They were talking about the puppet user team he had annihilated last month, the one led by the scarred jonin, Karakuri. He was Ebizō's disciple, and these Sunagakure ninjas wanted to get information to retaliate.
And the Konoha smuggling team, for some reason, was helping him cover up the information.
'Doesn't make sense? Who is helping me?' he wondered, confused. He was a mere chunin with no clan or background. The only one he had a relationship with was Torifune, but a man with his Will of Fire would never participate in something like this.
The discussion turned into a fight. The Sunagakure ninjas launched a surprise attack and annihilated the guards of the Konoha team, leaving only their leader, an elite chunin, as a prisoner. However, they didn't harm him, nor did they take the items from the transaction. They allowed him to leave.
It seemed they only wanted to teach the Konoha smuggling clan a lesson, urging them to provide the information as soon as possible. As for the business, it would naturally continue as usual.
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