After Baki unrolled the scroll in his hands, the surrounding council elders and Chiyo all leaned forward slightly.
A moment later, one of the elders burst out angrily, "That damn Orochimaru—not only did he murder our Fourth Kazekage, now he's even teaming up with the Akatsuki to launch a full-scale attack on the Hidden Sand Village!"
The contents of the scroll roughly described how Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were conspiring together. Orochimaru would provide them with critical intelligence about the Hidden Sand Village and join forces to attack it. In return, the Akatsuki would obtain the One-Tail jinchūriki, Gaara, while Orochimaru's side would seize territory from the Hidden Sand Village.
As for how Orochimaru had obtained such detailed intelligence, everyone present speculated that after killing the Fourth Kazekage, he must have used some method to steal the village's internal secrets.
The meeting room instantly grew noisy. The elders argued over each other, spittle flying, all insisting they should head straight to the rendezvous point mentioned in the scroll and wipe out both enemy factions in one decisive strike.
Meanwhile, Chiyo, who had been watching coldly from the side, turned her head toward Gaara and asked calmly,
"Is the information in the scroll reliable? Has it been thoroughly investigated?"
Gaara gave a slight nod. "I've already given the order. We should have results soon."
The other elders were momentarily stunned. That's right—they had been so caught up in the contents of the scroll that they hadn't even considered whether it was true or not. One by one, they lowered their heads in embarrassment.
About fifteen minutes later, a Hidden Sand ninja entered the room carrying a report.
"Kazekage-sama, we've extracted and examined Yūra's memories. The results confirm exactly what Yūra-sama reported," the ninja said respectfully.
At those words, everyone straightened up. That meant the information in the scroll was indeed credible.
Gaara nodded, then swept his gaze across the room.
"Now that we've confirmed its authenticity, the next step is to discuss how to respond."
The group nodded slightly, but no one spoke. Instead, their eyes shifted toward Chiyo, as if waiting for her to speak first.
"Why are you all looking at this old woman?" Chiyo said in a soft voice, her eyes half-closed. "I already told you—I came here only for information about my dear grandson. I won't interfere too much in other matters."
Seeing that no one else spoke, Baki stepped forward.
"Kazekage-sama, I believe we should share this intelligence with the Hidden Leaf Village and cooperate with them."
Gaara nodded. "That was my intention as well."
At that moment, Chiyo frowned slightly.
"There are no eternal alliances in this world. Relying on others too much is a mistake. The reason the Hidden Sand Village has fallen to its current state is precisely because it never focused on strengthening itself, instead placing all its hopes on others."
Gaara looked at her calmly and replied,
"Didn't you just say you wouldn't interfere?"
Chiyo turned away, ignoring him.
After she fell silent, Gaara turned back to the other elders.
"Does anyone have any other opinions?"
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
"Very well. Make preparations. Time is short—we'll depart for the Hidden Leaf Village immediately. Also, check on Yūra's condition. This operation relied heavily on his intelligence, so we should explain things to him as well."
Gaara issued his orders calmly.
"This old woman will go along as well," Chiyo spoke up.
All eyes once again focused on her.
She then smiled faintly.
"It's been a long time since I've seen my dear grandson. This time, I'll make sure to show him some proper affection."
Gaara nodded slightly, agreeing to her request. The meeting then adjourned, and everyone left to prepare.
...
At that moment, Yūra was being carried out of the interrogation room and transferred back to his hospital ward. His face was pale, his body weak. For the sake of ensuring the plan's success, Sasori had, after recalling him, once again used his mind-controlling puppet technique on him—fabricating a battle and implanting memories of Yūra seizing information from Sasori. It was all to deceive any memory-reading.
After Yūra returned to his room, Baki arrived and asked the medical ninja,
"How is his condition?"
Hearing Baki's voice, Yūra slowly woke up. He stared at him for a long time without speaking.
"You're awake. I hope you don't hold it against the Kazekage-sama. The information in that scroll was too important. He was just worried you might have been used by others."
By now, the seal in Yūra's mind had been lifted, and he had remembered that he was actually a spy planted by Sasori. When he heard Baki's words, his expression went blank.
"I never thought… there would come a day when I'd be suspected by my own village," he said faintly.
Baki patted his shoulder, then handed him the scroll.
Yūra took it and read it carefully. Soon, he looked "shocked."
"Th-this is..."
"Now you understand the Kazekage-sama's caution, right? One wrong move could endanger the entire village."
Yūra nodded slightly, then raised his head.
"So what's the final decision?"
"We're heading to the Hidden Leaf Village to discuss the next steps."
"Then I'm going too!" Yūra tried to get up.
Baki pressed him back down.
"Your body hasn't recovered yet. Focus on healing first."
Yūra stared at his hands in frustration. Damn it—Sasori-sama went too far back then. And after returning, they read my memories again… my body's completely drained. Damn it.
After finishing his instructions, Baki left the room.
...
While everyone busied themselves preparing to leave the village, Gaara stood alone in the Kazekage's office, quietly gazing in the direction of the Land of Fire.
One of the main reasons he agreed to cooperate with the Hidden Leaf Village this time was Uzumaki Naruto.
He knew Naruto cared deeply about Orochimaru's whereabouts—or more precisely, the whereabouts of Uchiha Sasuke, who had defected to Orochimaru.
During the last mission to rescue Sasuke, when he went to the Hidden Leaf Village, he hadn't been able to help much.
This time, he hoped to help Naruto bring Uchiha Sasuke back.
Gaara murmured softly, "This time… I'll definitely be able to help you."
...
Land of Lightning.
Rorin silently followed Kakuzu, maintaining a distance of about one kilometer. After trailing him for half a day, Rorin finally spotted Hidan in his line of sight.
A faint smile curled on Rorin's lips.
At last… I've found you.