Chapter 568: The Worst Incident in History
As the commander, Jiraiya kept the largest number of shinobi by his side and naturally bore the greatest pressure.
The small unit under his direct command had more than sixty shinobi, even more than Mugetsu's so called vanguard unit.
Under the circumstances, that was actually very dangerous. There were still unidentified spies within the force, after all.
Because of that, Jiraiya did not choose a fixed base. Instead, he changed locations every day to prevent their position from being exposed and turned into another ambush.
"This is the vanguard of our reinforcements. More support will arrive soon, and when that happens, it will be our turn to counterattack!"
Jiraiya gathered the unit and introduced Mugetsu, who had arrived as reinforcement, in order to raise morale.
After suffering a painful defeat and being driven around by the enemy, the morale of the Land of Grass force had already sunk to a very low point.
"It's Lord Mugetsu "
A shinobi quickly recognized Mugetsu, and joy immediately appeared on his face.
Mugetsu was a powerhouse on the same level as Minato Namikaze. The arrival of one more person of that caliber could influence the course of the battle all by itself.
"Lord Mugetsu once killed a Jinchuriki on the Hidden Mist battlefield. If he can kill an Iwagakure Jinchuriki this time too, then let's see how arrogant the Iwa force can still be," a Konoha shinobi thought to himself.
The two perfect Jinchuriki in Iwagakure's ranks had placed enormous pressure on Konoha's force in the Land of Grass. No one wanted a Tailed Beast Ball to suddenly appear in front of them in the middle of battle.
Watching the shift in expression across the unit after Mugetsu's appearance, Obito felt a surge of yearning in his heart.
The shinobi he wanted to become was someone like Mugetsu. A person who could give others a powerful sense of security, end wars, and save people in times of crisis.
Jiraiya and Minato paid close attention to the expressions of the gathered shinobi, but they did not spot anyone showing disdain or any other obvious negative reaction.
"It all comes down to Mugetsu's perception," Jiraiya said, unsurprised.
After all, if a spy was capable enough to infiltrate a shinobi force, then hiding their emotions was the most basic skill they would possess.
"Everyone, endure this a little longer. The main body of the support unit will arrive soon, and the final victory will surely belong to Konoha," Mugetsu said with a gentle smile.
As he casually offered a bowl of chicken soup for the soul, he rapidly used Appraisal Technique on the shinobi in front of him.
"Name: Yamanaka Kōsuke"
"Chakra: 4600"
"Skills: Yin Release Chakra Nature Transformation [Proficient], Mind Transfer Jutsu [Proficient]..."
"Name: Miki Hanpei"
"Skills: Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation [Proficient]..."
"Victory belongs to Konoha!" one of the shinobi Mugetsu was unfamiliar with shouted passionately.
"Name: White Zetsu"
"Chakra: 13000"
"Skills: Mayfly Technique, Impersonation Technique..."
Mugetsu's expression did not change in the slightest. He calmly memorized the White Zetsu's current disguise, then continued using Appraisal Technique on the others.
After completing the appraisal, Mugetsu found that the situation was not as bad as he had feared. There was only one White Zetsu in Jiraiya's small unit.
"Next, we're going to regroup with the other scattered teams and prepare for a counterattack," Jiraiya announced.
The Konoha force had been constantly on the move for some time now, and the shinobi were already used to receiving sudden transfer orders. Everyone immediately began carrying them out.
"Mugetsu, did you sense anything?" Jiraiya asked in a low voice as he walked to Mugetsu's side with his disciples.
By all logic, the small unit under his own direct command was the most likely place for a spy to be hiding. Not only did it have the largest number of people, but it also included him, the commander.
"There is one shinobi who is highly likely to be an Iwagakure spy," Mugetsu said after a brief pause.
The Appraisal Technique had worked just as he expected when it came to finding White Zetsu. Still, because he had claimed his method relied on sensing good and evil, he deliberately avoided using absolute language and only said that it was highly probable.
"Highly likely?"
"He harbors extremely deep malice toward me. If given the chance, he would not hesitate to kill me. It's the kind of hatred that borders on being irreconcilable," Mugetsu replied without changing his expression.
"Highly likely? Then he must be a spy," Jiraiya said, feeling that Mugetsu was being overly conservative.
Even if a Konoha shinobi had some personal grievance against Mugetsu, it could not possibly reach that level.
"Who is it?"
Mugetsu took paper and a brush from a scroll, then quickly sketched the disguised appearance of the White Zetsu.
"He probably looks like this. I don't know him personally, so I'm not sure what his name is," Mugetsu said as he handed the drawing to Jiraiya.
"If I'm not mistaken, this person should be called Sakoda Seiichi. He's a chunin," Jiraiya said after a glance.
Originally, Jiraiya had not known him. That was perfectly normal. There was no way for Jiraiya to know every shinobi in a thousand man force. He only knew the jonin and the chunin he had personally interacted with.
But after the force dispersed and the matter of the spies came up, Jiraiya had deliberately memorized the names of all his subordinates to make the investigation easier.
"It's him. Although Sakoda Seiichi isn't from a clan, his family became Konoha residents in the village's earliest days. I didn't expect him to become a spy," Minato sighed.
Sakoda Seiichi's family had been protected by Konoha, and he himself had grown up under Konoha's protection. Minato found it hard to understand why someone like that would betray the village.
Then, when he remembered that even a member of the Sarutobi Clan had turned out to be a spy, it suddenly no longer seemed quite so unbelievable.
"If even a shinobi native to Konoha can betray the village, then what else is impossible?" Minato thought to himself.
"This is difficult. Once news of this reaches the village, it will probably affect Konoha as a whole," Jiraiya said, his mood darkening the more he thought about it.
These spies were not only hard to uncover, but even after they were found, announcing it openly could easily damage morale and might even have wider repercussions for Konoha itself.
"Let's wait until the entire unit has assembled before deciding anything. For now, we should avoid taking action and alerting them," Mugetsu reminded him.
If they wanted to use the White Zetsu to deceive Iwagakure, then the White Zetsu absolutely could not realize that they had already been exposed before the false information was delivered.
Jiraiya and the others all nodded. No one could say for certain whether there were spies hidden in the other scattered units as well.
Worried that dragging things out would only make matters worse, Jiraiya issued the highest level assembly order, instructing every active small team to regroup as quickly as possible.
Thanks to the shinobi's mobility, Mugetsu's group quickly swelled in size, from one hundred to two hundred, then three hundred, and finally to roughly seven hundred once the full force had reassembled.
During that process, Mugetsu continuously used Appraisal Technique to search for White Zetsu. In the end, he found three of them.
Besides Sakoda Seiichi, whom he had identified first, there was also Ryu of the Aburame Clan, a wounded jonin, and the last Hyuga shinobi still remaining in Jiraiya's force, Hiraga.
Jiraiya was stunned when he learned that the only remaining Byakugan user in the force was a spy.
Even a Hyuga clan shinobi had turned out to be compromised. No wonder they had suffered such a miserable defeat.
"What in the world has this become, if even a member of the Hyuga Clan could betray the village?" Jiraiya said, utterly baffled.
The Hyuga Clan held a rather unusual position within Konoha.
Its internal system of main house and branch house was extremely strict. The main house did not simply outrank the branch house in status. It held absolute authority over them and could control the life and death of branch house members through the Caged Bird Seal.
The Hyuga shinobi in Jiraiya's force was naturally a branch house member. Main house shinobi rarely went to the battlefield.
"This is far too abnormal. There has to be some hidden reason behind it," Minato said with a deep frown.
It would not be an exaggeration to describe this spy incident as the worst in Konoha's history.
The Hyuga Clan, the Aburame Clan, and the Sarutobi Clan were all long established ninja clans of Konoha, and each of them had members holding important positions across various departments.
Among them, the Sarutobi Clan was the most significant of all, because its clan head was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage himself.
If news spread that shinobi from those clans were secretly serving as spies for another village, the consequences would be impossible to predict.
If even members of those old established clans could become enemy spies, then how many spies of more ordinary background might still be hidden in the village?
"Uncovering the truth behind the spies is important, but at the moment, the top priority is defeating the Iwagakure force," Mugetsu said, cutting directly to the most urgent matter.
Mugetsu knew the real reason, but he could not reveal it openly. The only thing he could do was steer their thoughts in the right direction.
"Mugetsu is right. The most important thing right now is preventing the Iwagakure force from invading the Land of Fire," Jiraiya agreed with a nod.
The spy problem was serious, and if it spread, it would certainly affect morale. But if the Iwagakure force was allowed to break into the Land of Fire, the consequences would affect the entire country.
This was not the same as the situation with Hidden Mist.
From there, the group began discussing how they could use the spies to create a trap for the Iwagakure force.
They had already identified the spies. The situation had now changed. Iwagakure believed it was on the first level, Konoha appeared to be on the second, but in reality, Konoha had already reached the third.
The stupidest course of action would be to arrest the spies immediately.
The best possible method was naturally to use the spies and the concealed support force to create an information gap, then strike Iwagakure with a devastating surprise.
.....
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