Thanks to the Earth Dragon, Ye Liang and the others barely escaped being buried in the collapsing mountain!
"Was this man-made?"
Ye Liang instantly realized something.
Although the two sand mountains were massive and naturally prone to collapse, it was still strange for them to fall apart so quickly.
Ye Liang clearly detected traces of chakra lingering in the air above the sand dunes.
He maneuvered the Earth Dragon to gently lower them down, frowning deeply.
"Master Ye Liang, let's head into the village first. It might not even be the ninja from Sunagakure," Kakashi suggested.
At this point, there was no use dwelling on it further. If it really was Sunagakure behind this ambush, they would demand an explanation either way.
"Hn."
The group nodded in agreement and entered the village.
Sunagakure was still quite far away from the sand dunes, which meant the villagers likely had no idea their main entrance had already been blocked off.
Ye Liang glanced at both sides of the village path. Everywhere were stalls made of iron racks, giving off a distinct exotic vibe.
But it was also kind of... poor.
Konoha now had proper buildings and housing, yet here in Sunagakure, they were still living in tiny booths and mud huts...
Though there were some rock-made earthen houses in the distance at the center, Ye Liang still looked down upon them.
"At least I wasn't reborn here in Sunagakure."
Ye Liang muttered quietly before walking toward the center accompanied by his group.
"Master Ye Liang, I want that! That raccoon dog hairpin is so cute!" Rin eagerly tugged at Ye Liang's hand, refusing to budge.
Women are so damn troublesome!
"Tch, don't cling to the teacher like that! I'll buy you one!" Obito puffed out his chest beside her.
"Psh, who wants you to buy it? I only want Master Ye Liang to buy it for me!"
"..."
He grimaced—apparently, she had decided he was the one to squeeze for gifts.
Still, his pockets were deep nowadays. Just a small accessory like this wasn't worth fussing over.
Without hesitation, he walked straight over to the stall.
It turned out to be a hairpin modeled after Shukaku.
He looked at the shopkeeper—a middle-aged man with a broad face. The man's back was bent and wrapped entirely in bandages, barely able to stand upright.
"Boss, how much is this?"
"300."
"What? 300?!"
Ye Liang exclaimed in shock!
Three hundred coins was already several days' worth of food money for him. For a hairpin just carved out of stone, selling it at 300 coins was simply outrageous.
"You hard of hearing? 300!"
"Are you kidding me? That's highway robbery!"
Ye Liang shook his head in disbelief—asking him to spend 300 coins on a simple stone trinket? They really did treat him as a sucker.
He immediately turned to leave!
However, when he suddenly saw Rin staring at him with her big teary eyes, looking pitiful enough to tug at anyone's heartstrings, he hesitated.
"It's still three hundred coins..." Ye Liang felt physical pain in his wallet.
In the end, he bought the hairpin.
As the group walked away grumbling about the unscrupulous merchant, the stall owner suddenly stood up straight.
He unwrapped the bandages covering his body, standing fully erect, while a huge shuriken fell from behind him.
"It seems the assassination group has nothing to do with them, but we can't be sure yet. Let's just wait and see," he muttered to himself while nearby vendors nodded in agreement.
At that moment,
Ye Liang and his group were already following the secretary who came to greet them toward Kazekage's office.
"Kazekage-sama is currently in a meeting with elders. Please wait outside for now," the female secretary instructed briefly before turning away and leaving.
After confirming nobody else was around, Kakashi suddenly looked at Ye Liang next to him.
"Teacher, I feel something's off here. What do you think?"
They were guests, but the secretary just left them hanging here, immediately raising Kakashi's suspicion!
"I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but something must have happened to Sunagakure! Earlier on the road, those pedestrians clearly showed caution toward us. We're supposed to be guests, and they shouldn't behave this way!"
Ye Liang analyzed.
"Yeah, definitely!"
Rin Nohara joined in agreement.
"So earlier, I deliberately kept pestering Teacher about buying hairpins just to check if those vendors were really vendors! Good thing Teacher's acting skills are great, otherwise these people might have noticed!"
"You really meant what you said back there?"
"???" Ye Liang was momentarily baffled.
He could swear that Rin Nohara was lying through her teeth!
How could she lie so effortlessly? Doesn't her chest hurt at all?
Ye Liang couldn't understand!
However, Obito Uchiha next to him immediately understood everything.
"No wonder you kept making me buy things and then refused to accept them—it was part of the act all along!"
"You scared me! I actually thought you had a crush on Sensei!" He felt some lingering fear, but Rin Nohara instinctively blushed upon hearing that.
Ye Liang felt a headache coming.
Actually, right now the most important thing wasn't how to uncover Sunagakure's truth, but rather how to ease their hostility!
Earlier at the vendor stands, Ye Liang had clearly sensed a sliver of hostility.
Right!
Just now, Ye Liang had already realized those vendors seemed suspicious, but since they were now inside Sunagakure Village, he couldn't recklessly expose them directly—if they threw caution to the wind, things would get messy.
Not long after, an old woman wearing simple clothes suddenly walked in from outside.
She smiled at Ye Liang, but when her gaze swept over Kakashi, it briefly flickered with viciousness.
"You must be Konoha's envoys. Our Fourth is extremely busy, so he asked me to come in his place for negotiations. If you don't mind, shall we begin?"
"The Fourth won't come personally?"
The inter-village negotiation was an extremely important matter. Moreover, the Fourth had always been promoting relations between Fire and Wind villages. Under such circumstances, why wouldn't he attend?
Ye Liang found this strange but didn't voice his concerns directly.
Then the elderly woman began expressing Sunagakure's stance.
Ye Liang pretended to cooperate accordingly.
...
In the evening, several figures parted ways outside the office.
The mission had gone smoothly—both villages eventually successfully concluded the peace agreement!
"Teacher, is it really over just like this?" Kakashi still felt somewhat incredulous.
By now, they had already arrived at an inn.
They had just finished enjoying the delicacies of Sunagakure Village and were planning to hang around and relax for a few days.
"Of course it's not over yet. Something is definitely wrong here," Ye Liang replied, settling everyone down.
The day had been full of surprises—danger at the village entrance, suspicious street vendors who turned out to be Sand ninjas, and finally, the person they were supposed to meet for today's discussion.
That old lady!
Ye Liang was basically sweating bullets, but when it came to sensing killing intent, no one could beat him.
Earlier, when that old woman looked at Kakashi, her eyes held a level of murderous intent unlike anything he'd ever seen. Although she quickly looked away, Ye Liang was absolutely sure he hadn't imagined it.
"It looks like I really need to investigate this matter carefully."
After making sure everyone was settled, Ye Liang quietly left the room.
The night was deep and silent, with not a soul stirring.
Midnight, not a person in sight!
A woman in her sixties had just taken off her inner garments when a muscular man's hand suddenly landed on her neck.
"Who's there!"
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