Uchiha Rei intended to stop; the number of Hidden Sand shinobi killed and crippled under her hands had already exceeded five hundred, and killing any more would be impolite.
So, after waving to Rasa and the others who were chasing her, she disappeared in front of them with a few Body Flicker Techniques, leaving Rasa and the others with extremely grim expressions.
"Kazekage-sama, should we pursue and eliminate that accursed Kumogakure ninja?"
A Jonin asked Rasa, his eyes filled with hatred, but also no small amount of fear.
If Rasa's gaze could kill, that Jonin would have died hundreds of times over. Pursue and eliminate? Are you going to pursue and eliminate, or am I?
Thousands of us couldn't even surround and kill her, allowing her to break out. And you want to send a few people to pursue and eliminate? This isn't how you feed heads to the enemy.
Under such public scrutiny, Rasa was put on the spot by that question. If he said no to pursuing, would it mean the deep blood feud would go unavenged?
What about Rasa's prestige? If Pakura had been present, he might have been immediately forced to step down, becoming the first Kage in history to be deposed.
If he answered yes to pursuing, then who would he send? Their three Kage-level experts were already at a disadvantage. Whoever they sent would just die.
However, at this moment, Rasa could only arrange for trusted subordinates to pursue, though privately Rasa made it clear that they shouldn't actually be foolish enough to truly pursue.
The Ling returned directly to the Land of Rice Fields. After reverting to its original form, it patiently awaited the return of the Eight Trigrams Eight Man Squad. There should be a considerable income by then.
Rasa immediately convened a meeting with the Hidden Sand Village high-ranking officials to discuss solutions to the Hidden Cloud Village problem, thinking of the Third Raikage who had already left and the Hidden Cloud Village's retreating army.
The few of them decided to test the attitudes of Iwagakure and Kirigakure to see if they would agree to jointly pursue the Hidden Cloud Village army.
They spent a great deal of time pre-planning what to do if Iwagakure or Kirigakure disagreed on how to maximize casualties on the Hidden Cloud Village, and also considered whether to ally with Konoha if they didn't agree.
As it turned out, after their discussion, that very evening they received an invitation for talks from Ōnoki, and it explicitly stated it was about the Hidden Cloud Village problem.
Rasa immediately guessed that if that Hidden Cloud Village ninja had attacked their Hidden Sand Village, there was no way he wouldn't attack the most disliked Iwagakure.
Early the next morning, after discussions between Iwagakure, Hidden Sand Village, and Kirigakure, it was decided that Iwagakure and Hidden Sand Village would jointly pursue the Hidden Cloud Village forces. Kirigakure did not participate, stating that they needed to report to the Third Mizukage for a decision.
Speed is paramount in war. The extremely enraged Ōnoki and Rasa mobilized together, leading nearly 24,000 shinobi to pursue the Hidden Cloud Village forces.
Meanwhile, Fourth Raikage A and Killer Bee, over a hundred kilometers away, were still unaware that they had been framed and made scapegoats.
They were leisurely making their way towards the Land of Lightning border, completely oblivious to the danger.
In Hidden Mist Village, Yagura led the Hidden Mist ninja, unsure whether to attack the Hidden Cloud Village or Konoha. Attacking the Hidden Cloud Village would be like beating a dog in the water, absolutely a crushing blow.
Attacking Konoha might lead to their own collapse. Of course, he could also choose to launch a sneak attack on Iwagakure or Hidden Sand Village, as Hidden Mist Village had grudges with both Iwagakure and Hidden Sand Village.
The Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage died together, and Hidden Sand Village often had conflicts with them. Yagura was somewhat indecisive and could only send the information back to Hidden Mist Village.
Although Yagura suspected that the Third Mizukage had been controlled, the elders of Hidden Mist Village had not been controlled, so asking was necessary.
It also served as an opportunity to test the Third Mizukage's attitude and determine whether he was truly under control.
On Konoha's side, personnel and supplies were all gathered, only for them to be told that the opposing side had internal strife. Konoha had been closely monitoring the movements of the four ninja village alliance.
When the information came back, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze still couldn't believe it. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day, when they heard that Iwagakure and Hidden Sand Village had already launched a sneak attack and defeated the Hidden Cloud Village forces, that they truly believed it.
"So, do we still need to attack?"
Utatane Koharu was also witnessing such a rapidly unfolding major event for the first time. Although the spy reported that Iwagakure had launched a sneak attack on Hidden Cloud Village, and then, in retaliation, a Hidden Cloud Village ninja had assassinated high-ranking Hidden Sand Village and Iwagakure officials.
"Continue to be vigilant. Just have people keep an eye on them. In this situation, it's better to remain still than to act. Konoha's involvement might even be counterproductive."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's mood was extremely complex, with both joy and frustration, feeling as if his pants were down and this was all he was shown.
The happiest person was probably Uchiha Rei. This attack on Kumogakure was incredibly fruitful! Not to mention various confidential files, which had already been sold to the Underground Exchange.
These were all the Kumogakure's dark history and misdeeds, as well as the Kumogakure's most secretive cipher tables, spy personnel, and their distribution, etc., which severely crippled the Kumogakure's espionage system.
In fact, all major ninja villages had people monitoring the Underground Exchange. When these confidential files appeared, everyone paid to buy a copy.
Afterward, the Kumogakure's spies suffered greatly. No matter if it was a large or small ninja village, spies could not be tolerated, so the Kumogakure's spies were basically rounded up.
To rebuild such a massive espionage system, they couldn't even think about it for ten or eight years. For many years to come, the Kumogakure wouldn't be able to cause trouble.
The Kumogakure, now blind, would undoubtedly be thoroughly infiltrated by other ninja villages. As the culprit, Ling felt no apology.
She would only be grateful to the Hidden Cloud Village. She had now acquired three Forbidden Techniques and various Lightning Release Ninjutsu, but the most important were the three Forbidden Techniques.
The most important was the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, known as the pillar of Hidden Cloud Village. Without learning this technique, it was impossible to become the Raikage.
Uchiha Rei now had the complete, unedited version, along with a large number of Supporting facilities Ninjutsu and secret medicines. This was the Hidden Cloud Village's most precious foundation.
However, after researching it, Ling felt somewhat disappointed. The main reason was that this Lightning Release Chakra Mode, when used for body tempering and body activation, would cause premature aging and muscle hypertrophy.
Moreover, she already had a substitute in the Wind Release Chakra Mode. Although it was harder to train, she had managed to master it anyway.
Although Uchiha Rei didn't care about her appearance, she didn't want to become like Nezha from 'One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes.' The psychological damage caused by being a 'Diamond Barbie' was comparable to Megan's 'Old God's Body.'
However, not learning it didn't mean she couldn't draw inspiration from it. The techniques for Lightning Release body activation were extremely clever and could elevate the Chidori series of Ninjutsu to a higher level.
The second acquisition was Black Lightning. Black Lightning, as Uchiha Rei expected, was the ultimate form of Lightning Release nature transformation, at the "I think so" level.
In the original work, only the Third Raikage and Darui could use it. Speaking of which, now that Black Lightning has been revealed, will Darui be blamed for this?
She silently apologized to the future Fifth Raikage, but she would do it again next time. Speaking of which, Darui's age should be similar to hers and Shisui's.
An eight-year-old Darui shouldn't be able to bear this blame. Besides Ling and Shisui, who else at eight years old would have this kind of strength?
The third Forbidden Technique was the Heavenly Transfer Technique, which was somewhat similar to the Flying Thunder God Formation Technique, but this technique did not require a Flying Thunder God Mark. However, it required a stronger physical body to teleport.
But Ling naturally didn't lack a powerful physical body. Now, going anywhere was no longer a problem.
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