Sakumo Hatake already enjoyed a very high reputation throughout the ninja world, and the Iwagakure shinobi had no intention of taking down the area Sakumo Hatake was responsible for all at once.
However, when they learned that Roshi might have been captured by the enemy, the higher-ups in the Iwagakure shinobi camp couldn't sit still.
Roshi was the jinchuriki of Iwagakure, a product of the tailed beast balance measures that Hashirama Senju had established for the Five Great Nations back then.
Regardless of whether the tailed beast balance measures had failed, the role of a jinchuriki was still very important today, and no ninja village could bear the loss of a jinchuriki.
"Han! Are you sure Roshi was captured by the enemy?" one person shouted loudly at Han during the war council in the Iwagakure shinobi camp.
"I'm sure," Han replied, still feeling a sense of lingering fear when he recalled the event.
"If it weren't for the significant increase in my physical abilities and senses due to the tailed beast chakra, I might not have made it back.
There was a very terrifying enemy there; their chakra made the tailed beast inside me feel a sense of dread."
One of the reasons Han chose to leave without hesitation at the time was that he was already entangled with Sakumo Hatake's squad, and adding another powerful opponent, even with the power of a tailed beast, would be disadvantageous.
Secondly, the Five-Tails, Kokuo, inside him sensed a peculiar chakra that put it on high alert.
Chakra, to some extent, carries a person's nature, and the chakra of ninjas with blood ties will also be quite similar.
If placed in Fumori Masaki's previous life, it would be equivalent to the concept of DNA; identifying whether someone is of the same bloodline through chakra is a common method in the ninja world.
And the owners of the Mangekyo Sharingan would also have similar chakra in certain aspects.
In the past millennium, the Uchiha clan had not been without Mangekyo Sharingan users, and those individuals had also coveted the tailed beasts.
The Uchiha ancestors, Indra, had not been forgotten in the memories of the tailed beasts.
Kokuo, the Five-Tails, could confirm that the person who came was from the Uchiha clan, and one of the more powerful ones within the Uchiha clan, whose Sharingan genjutsu was enough to deal with it.
Although not a perfect jinchuriki, Kokuo and Han were not one in body and mind; it had not truly accepted Han as a person, but merely that Han could withstand some of the power it leaked out.
But even so, Kokuo did not want to face a Mangekyo Sharingan user.
Inside Han, it had heard about the Nine-Tails being controlled by Madara Uchiha, and it did not want to repeat the humiliation of the Nine-Tails, so it would rather help Han and leave that dreadful place as soon as possible.
Because of these two reasons, Han chose to retreat from the battlefield and was not completely wiped out by Kagami Uchiha.
If he had really encountered Kagami Uchiha, with his imperfect jinchuriki physique, the Mangekyo Sharingan could have taken him down in merely one or two rounds.
If both jinchuriki of Iwagakure were to fall into the hands of Konohagakure, Onoki could consider surrendering directly, because the longer the fight continued, the more disadvantageous it would be for their side, and surrendering earlier would lead to the best terms.
"Who was it?"
"It was probably the Mangekyo Sharingan user that Lord Tsuchikage mentioned," Han said in a deep voice, "Only the Mangekyo Sharingan can make a tailed beast tremble."
"Mangekyo Sharingan?" Everyone exchanged glances; many did not know about the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
It was only when the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, reminded them that he brought up the need to be careful of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, because they had little understanding of the Mangekyo Sharingan, while they paid attention, they were still somewhat careless.
"Lord Tsuchikage's words have come true," one Iwagakure shinobi said, cold sweat trickling down his back.
"What do we do now? Losing a jinchuriki not only diminishes our strength but also increases the opponent's leverage."
Everyone else had a headache; the consequences of losing a jinchuriki were not something those present could bear.
It was imaginable how furious Onoki would be when he learned of this, and there was no way to predict the fate of the Iwagakure shinobi present.
"There's no choice but to report this news to Lord Tsuchikage first and then make amends," someone said helplessly.
This kind of news could not be concealed; if it were concealed and they failed to retrieve the jinchuriki, it would be an even greater crime, deceiving the Tsuchikage, and being directly imprisoned to await death would not be an exaggeration.
"That's the only way, but can we really bring the jinchuriki back?" Although they said this, everyone else's mood was as heavy as a dark night.
Since Konohagakure had captured the jinchuriki, there was no way they would easily let go.
They would undoubtedly protect this jinchuriki in their hands, no matter the cost.
If it was just a trade, that would be one thing, but what if the jinchuriki inside him was forcibly extracted?
Wouldn't the loss to Iwagakure truly be too great then?
The Iwagakure shinobi were also worried about one particular situation: the Nine-Tails jinchuriki of Konohagakure.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, excluding the Land of Wind, which only had one tailed beast due to special circumstances, the remaining three countries each possessed two tailed beasts.
Konohagakure was the only one initially stipulated to have only one tailed beast.
The reason for this was that among the nine tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails was undoubtedly the strongest.
Other countries wouldn't feel secure without two or more tailed beasts.
Of course, they also didn't know the true strength of the Nine-Tails, and adding a few more tailed beasts might not even guarantee a win.
Mito Uzumaki was the first generation Nine-Tails jinchuriki, a fact known to intelligence ninjas in every village.
They had no intention of targeting the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, and after Mito Uzumaki's death, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was secretly replaced, with intelligence personnel from every ninja village trying to uncover the identity of the new Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
However, there were simply too many people in Konohagakure suitable to be tailed beast jinchuriki.
Even the Uzumaki clan members brought back from the Land of Whirlpools campaign, though not as powerful as Mito, could still be used as jinchuriki.
At most, there might be some danger, requiring the application of even stronger seals.
If Konohagakure's Nine-Tails jinchuriki, like Han and Roshi, could also be deployed on the battlefield, that would truly be unwelcome news.
But if Konohagakure's Nine-Tails jinchuriki was still just a child, then there might be a chance to snatch them away.
Of course, that situation was unlikely right now, but at least knowing the exact situation of the jinchuriki could help them devise a plan.
Han frowned slightly, imagining Roshi's current situation.
They were both jinchuriki, sharing a similar plight, so he naturally cared about Roshi's safety.
Although he had heard that Konohagakure treated prisoners fairly well, what would happen if that prisoner was a jinchuriki?
While the Iwagakure shinobi worried about Roshi's situation, Roshi himself was struggling in Konohagakure's camp.
However, his struggles were clearly futile.
To subdue the jinchuriki, members of the Hyuga clan blocked the meridians that connected to the tailed beast's chakra, while members of the Uzumaki clan added another layer to Roshi's seal.
Coupled with various other methods, the jinchuriki, who was practically a monster, could only rage ineffectually.
Roshi was suppressed in the room by numerous sealing techniques.
He had tried countless times but couldn't break free, and he couldn't even communicate with the tailed beast inside him.
These sealing techniques had completely severed his connection to the tailed beast.
Roshi stayed in the prisoner's room, his mind uneasy.
He didn't know what kind of treatment he would receive next, because he understood the importance of a jinchuriki.
Once he fell into the hands of enemy ninjas, even if Konohagakure had a reputation for treating prisoners well, he couldn't guarantee his own safety.
If the tailed beast inside Roshi were forcibly extracted by someone else, a jinchuriki who lost their tailed beast would only have one outcome—death!
Roshi was battle-hardened and had developed a strong mentality from a childhood full of setbacks.
But facing such a situation where he could only sit and wait for death, his heart felt as if it were being tormented in fire.