Pain understood the ways of these so-called Great Nations all too well.
Greedy, hypocritical, and accustomed to making a big deal out of nothing.
It was clear that their small nations were the biggest victims, yet the Five Great Nations always cried the most pitifully.
Hypocritical.
Sunagakure's movements were exactly as he had predicted.
After spending a great deal of effort in Sunagakure and failing to find any trace of the rogue ninja, they naturally turned their attention to the Land of Rain.
Rasa had coveted this rain-soaked land for a long time. In his eyes, the Land of Rain could not only alleviate the drought problems of the Land of Wind but also serve as a crucial stepping stone for Sunagakure to regain its former glory.
In recent years, Sunagakure's small-scale attacks on the Land of Rain had never ceased. However, they always started with a bang but ended with a whimper, quickly wrapping things up.
This was unavoidable.
Whenever they made too much of a commotion, Konoha would step in to mediate.
Rasa firmly believed that the mastermind behind all of this was the inherently evil Danzo.
This old fox always managed to accurately seize Sunagakure's throat, thwarting their expansionist ambitions again and again with overt and covert means.
Danzo's existence was like a poisonous thorn, deeply embedded in the hearts of Sunagakure ninjas.
Those damned Konoha ninjas just wanted to prevent their rise.
And now, this was a good opportunity.
Entering the Land of Rain under the guise of searching for rogue ninja, Konoha wouldn't be able to stop them, right?
After all, they were doing this for Konoha.
Rasa quickly convened several high-ranking officials.
After a brief exchange, a consensus was reached.
They would use this opportunity to penetrate deep into the Land of Rain's territory. After clarifying the situation, they would pave the way for possible subsequent actions.
After the meeting, Rasa brought up the annoying white-haired ninja again.
That little bastard reminded him of the ninja who had caused them immense losses during the Second Great Ninja War.
Konoha's White Fang — Sakumo.
Back then, he killed the village's ninjas, and now Satoshi was causing them trouble again.
Damn it, no white-haired ninja were any good, especially those from Konoha.
Rasa said, "Baki, make it clear to that ninja from Konoha. This is, after all, an operation led by Sunagakure, and he should obey our command to avoid unnecessary trouble."
"Also, his white hair is really conspicuous. Tell him to cover it up."
Baki nodded lightly. "Understood."
—
He conveyed Rasa's words to Satoshi. He also spouted a bunch of nonsense about everything being for the greater good, everyone having to obey the team, and everyone being the same.
Satoshi readily agreed. He was just wondering where to find a scapegoat.
He put on a mask, pulled down his forehead protector to cover one eye, and changed to a short sword on his back. He also changed his jacket.
Then he looked in the mirror, and the corner of his lips twitched involuntarily.
He was cosplaying Kakashi, who was even more famous than him.
Satoshi thought for a moment, then changed into a Sunagakure uniform and blended into the team.
This team consisted of only a dozen ninjas, who dispersed after entering the Land of Rain's territory.
This was Rasa's audacity.
Don't underestimate us. Even though Sunagakure has few ninjas, each one is an elite... well...
The truth was that Sunagakure had used all its national power back then, only to be beaten badly by Konoha's ninjas, almost exhausting Sunagakure's vitality.
Countless adult ninjas died or were injured, and young ninjas were captured by Konoha. This led to a decline in Sunagakure's subsequent talent pool. They hadn't recovered even now.
A couple of days ago, Shukaku and several large toads demolished the village again. Many ninjas were busy building houses at home and couldn't spare the time.
But that didn't matte. This was just the first wave of probing, and a small number of people was fine.
If it still wasn't enough, then they would throw out the village's ultimate weapon, Gaara.
They couldn't defeat Konoha's ninja, but could they not defeat the weaklings of the Land of Rain?
With various emotions, they stepped onto the land of the Land of Rain.
Unlike the arid Land of Wind, it seemed to always be raining in the Land of Rain.
Baki licked his somewhat chapped lips, and rainwater flowed down his forehead protector.
Was this the legendary long-awaited sweet rain?
Now, what they needed to do was to gather as much intel about the Land of Rain as possible. Later, they would send out a large number of the village's elites to kill Hanzo. When he was gone, they could harvest wildly, acquiring a large amount of spoils of war.
He even saw Sunagakure getting better and better, flourishing, and even becoming the strongest village in the Ninja World.
It was like being under the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Unfortunately, his beautiful fantasy was quickly shattered.
Not long after entering the Land of Rain, Baki noticed something unusual. He couldn't contact his dispersed companions anymore.
A strong sense of foreboding instantly gripped him, something had happened.
After a brief moment of emotion, he took a deep breath. He calculated the direction and quickly headed towards the agreed-upon rendezvous point.
When he arrived at the forest clearing, his brows immediately furrowed.
Several bodies wearing Sunagakure uniforms lay scattered in pools of blood, and a faint smell of blood permeated the air.
The wounds were clean and precise, a single blow to kill.
There were no obvious signs of intense fighting at the scene, as if they had been silently harvested.
"They didn't even leave a single survivor." Baki gulped.
"And the Konoha kid who was with them is also gone."
He scanned the area and only saw a blood-stained hat not far away.
He walked over and carefully picked it up with a kunai. Inside the hat, there were a few conspicuous white hairs.
Baki couldn't help but feel annoyed. "This is troublesome now."
Not only was he the only one left, but the white-haired kid from Konoha was also gone.
Although Baki thought Satoshi was a scoundrel, he didn't think he was a weakling.
From his understanding of the Uchiha clan, they were a group of stubborn individuals who weren't afraid of death.
As long as they had a breath left, they would never easily surrender or be captured.
Now that the hat was here, was the kid ambushed and abducted?
Or was he taking advantage of the opportunity to escape Sunagakure's surveillance and secretly execute some evil plan?
He didn't know why, but he felt a chill run down his spine.
"It's better to let Kazekage-sama decide."
For some reason, Baki retreated much faster than he had arrived. He disappeared in no time.
At this moment, Satoshi emerged from some unknown corner.
He knew Rasa's personality. Even if they had attempted to invade the Land of Rain first, the deaths of many subordinates would now ignite his inner rage.
Then, he would pin the blame with a label like "Sunagakure ninja maliciously killed by the Land of Rain while on a mission, intending to provoke war."
Following that would be a large army approaching.
Don't ask Satoshi how he knew. It's because he was also quite good at pinning blame.
Things unfolded pretty much as he expected.
Sunagakure.
Baki knelt on one knee and reported the encounter in the Land of Rain.
Upon hearing that the squad was almost completely wiped out, Rasa slammed his hand on the table.
"Has the strength of the village's ninjas declined to this extent? We adopted elite education, and who knows how much manpower, material resources, and financial resources were invested in each ninja?"
"Useless, all useless. A group of people couldn't even keep an eye on a brat."
Baki's head lowered even further, not daring to speak, fearing that Rasa would blame their deaths on his ineffective leadership.
Rasa sighed.
And that brat, was he alive or dead?
He didn't want trouble, but he definitely didn't want him to die under their noses. It would be difficult to explain to Konoha then.
"Forget it, I'll go and see for myself what kind of monsters are hidden in the Land of Rain."
Baki quickly tried to stop him. "Kazekage-sama, the village still needs you to preside over the overall situation. You absolutely must not put yourself in danger."
Rasa sneered, "What kind of masters could the Land of Rain have? It's just that Hanzo who has lost his edge. As for his salamander poison, Chiyo has already deciphered it."
"Gather the village's elites, ready to depart at any time."
Baki slowly nodded. "Yes."