Although Rasa's tricks were seen through, Second Body didn't care; her true desire was to make a fortune in silence, and she even wished for more such flashy operations.
"No problem, the deal is done. Shukaku and Bunpuku are handed over to you. I hope we can continue to cooperate next time."
Second Body put the scroll into her Ninja tool pouch and smiled at Rasa, who thought he had succeeded in his scheme. Both of them were cursing the other as a fool in their hearts.
"Hmph! Iwagakure and Kumogakure are about to attack Konoha. You'd better pray for yourself." Rasa didn't care about Uchiha Ling's trash talk; he patiently waited for the opportunity to ambush Uchiha Ling.
After sending Rasa away, Orochimaru also received a reprimand and a transfer order from the Third Hokage. The reprimand was naturally about the unequal treaty, and the transfer order was for them to go to the Iwagakure battlefield.
Jiraiya was responsible for the Kumogakure front, assisted by the current Ino–Shika–Chō, and Tsunade was in charge of medical services. This meant Konoha was about to fight on two fronts.
In other words, Second Body and her team had just finished one war and immediately had to go to the Iwagakure front, while Minato was responsible for transporting the prisoners back to Konoha.
As for the Third Hokage's reprimand, no one paid attention to it. During wartime, the Third Hokage could only grumble, and even if the war ended, he wouldn't impose any punishment.
"I should have known to slowly stalemate with Sunagakure. Now we've just finished one battle, and we have to go to the vicinity of Land of Grass and Land of Rain to fight Iwagakure."
Second Body had thought she could rest for a few days, but she didn't expect Iwagakure to launch an attack so quickly, which greatly annoyed her.
"Hehe, Sarutobi Shinnosuke is leading the Iwagakure front with two thousand Ninja troops to test the Iwagakure vanguard. With us, we should be able to stabilize the situation quickly."
Although Orochimaru was sneering, the irritation in his heart was no less than Uchiha Ling's. Life, such a beautiful thing, was being wasted on something as boring as war.
"I heard Iwagakure has tens of thousands of Ninja. I don't know how long this war will last."
If it weren't for a Second Body that could conduct various researches for her, she might be as annoyed as Orochimaru. However, for this Iwagakure front, she was determined to slack off.
"Haha, there's nothing we can do. You guys go to Land of Grass first. I'll catch up quickly after sending these prisoners and seriously wounded back."
Minato listened to Uchiha Ling and Orochimaru's complaints, just smiling awkwardly. He also missed Kushina a bit, even though it had only been half a month since they last met.
"Minato-nii, you can take Ebizo back, but I want to take Pakura to the Iwagakure battlefield. If Pakura goes, we can add another Kage-level combat power."
Second Body planned to conscript, and Pakura was a perfect fit. With the methods she had placed on her, Pakura couldn't run even if she wanted to, and could be found if she did run.
As for the old man Ebizo, because of his advanced age, it would be difficult to explain if he died on the Iwagakure battlefield. Moreover, Ebizo was cunning and didn't have the cursed seals she had placed, so he wasn't very suitable.
"Alright." Minato had no objections. Neither of them questioned Pakura's wishes; the main reason was that if Pakura were to choose, she would choose to be with Uchiha Ling.
Returning to Konoha without Uchiha Ling's protection, she would inevitably have to go to the Interrogation Department. She had no masochistic tendencies and would rather die in battle than suffer humiliation in the Interrogation Department.
There were too many people in the camp to go to Land of Grass together, so naturally, Minato took over three hundred seriously injured Konoha Ninja who needed rest, four hundred Sunagakure prisoners, and Ebizo back to Konoha.
Orochimaru took all the Jonin and Chunin and most of the Genin, a total of fifteen hundred people, to Grass Ninja Village first to support Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
And Uchiha Ling led five hundred Genin to escort Medical Ninja, some Edo Tensei Corps, and Sensor Corps to transport supplies, walking at the rear.
With Uchiha Ling and Pakura, two Kage-level escorts, there was no need to worry about safety. Since these six hundred Genin were relatively weak, their travel speed would naturally be slow, so Second Body could slack off for a while.
On the second day, Minato left with the personnel returning to Konoha. After counting fifteen hundred Ninja, Orochimaru and Fugaku also left at noon.
Finally, Uchiha Ling slowly let them pack up, and then slowly traveled at the very end. Kakashi's team and Shisui naturally followed Uchiha Ling.
At this time, dozens of kilometers away, in Rasa's tent, Rasa had dismissed everyone and was meeting a mysterious person who looked like a pitcher plant.
Half pitch black, half ghostly white, one didn't even need to look to know it was a complete villain. That's right, it was Black Zetsu, who had been scared by Uchiha Ling's large-scale Water Release in the desert before.
Black Zetsu hadn't expected Uchiha Ling's strength to reach this level while he was cultivating Yahiko and establishing the Akatsuki Organization.
This directly elevated Uchiha Ling's threat level in Black Zetsu's mind to that of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, so Black Zetsu came up with this two-birds-with-one-stone scheme of using others to kill and then ambushing them.
"How is it, Kazekage-sama? What have you decided? You know Ōnoki of Iwagakure has agreed, and the Third Raikage has also chosen to join."
Black Zetsu was actually bluffing Rasa. In reality, Ōnoki didn't believe Uchiha Ling's strength was that exaggerated, believing she must have used some special method.
For example, storing a large amount of water in a sealing scroll beforehand could also achieve the large-scale Water Release that Uchiha Ling had done in the desert.
Therefore, regarding Ōnoki's hesitation, Black Zetsu planned to have Uchiha Ling inflict heavy losses on Iwagakure on the battlefield, and then that foolish old man would surely agree.
As for the Third Raikage, that hothead directly rejected Black Zetsu's idea. However, the Third Raikage cleverly thought of letting Ōnoki test Uchiha Ling first.
The Third Raikage's intelligence on Uchiha Ling was still limited to what Black Zetsu sold at the Underground Exchange and what his son and Killer Bee knew about Uchiha Ling.
He knew Uchiha Ling was powerful with Water Release, but he absolutely didn't believe Uchiha Ling could use such a level of Water Release in the desert.
Now, only Rasa, who had witnessed Uchiha Ling's power, had fallen for the trap, and he had also redeemed the One-Tail Jinchuriki, which almost made Black Zetsu feel reluctant to trick Rasa.
"I agree. Notify me before you act. I will bring Sunagakure and Shukaku."
Rasa was still somewhat suspicious of this mysterious person, vaguely feeling he had other motives. However, Rasa, burdened with decades of debt, had already become a gambler, only wanting to go all-in.
"Very good, Kazekage-sama. Once Uchiha Ling dies, it will be the time for Konoha's destruction."
Black Zetsu grinned sinisterly, happy about finally getting rid of Uchiha Ling and the nearing completion of his long-cherished wish. However, the most urgent task was to make Uchiha Ling inflict heavy losses on Iwagakure.
Regarding this, Black Zetsu, who knew Uchiha Ling wanted to end the war to rest, did not doubt that Uchiha Ling would go on a killing spree.
Once Ōnoki suffers misfortune and Uchiha Ling's threat is confirmed, the Third Raikage will also participate. At that time, he will have removed an important chess piece of the Null Organization in the Ninja World.
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