He might still have to go to the Land of Grass to handle matters over there, as the Hidden Rock is creating trouble for Konoha on multiple fronts.
Besides Kitsuchi causing chaos in the Land of Rain, the Hidden Rock is also stirring up the radical factions of the Grass Village in the Land of Grass to join the war and eliminate Konoha Ninja on the battlefield.
The sudden appearance of Hidden Rock Ninja put the Ninja Sect's ninjas on alert, surrounding Kitsuchi and others.
"We are not your enemies; I have urgent business to discuss with your leader, Lord Sosuke," Kitsuchi raised his hands slightly, indicating he had no hostile intent.
The ninjas of the Ninja Sect exchanged glances, not trusting Kitsuchi's words. After the false cooperation incident with Hanzo, the Ninja Sect ninjas are highly alert.
At this moment, Mokgetsu's Shadow Clone, having been notified, arrived with Nagato, Yahiko, and others.
Although the real body is in Konoha, Mokgetsu has always replenished his Yang Seal Shadow Clones to ensure they can exist longer without disappearing upon taking disciples.
"Hidden Rock Ninja, is it about the border skirmish?" Yahiko felt uneasy seeing Kitsuchi's forehead protector.
Because Shimura Danzo had handled the traces well, Yahiko still believed they had killed Hidden Rock Ninja on that day.
"Just speak your business directly." Mokgetsu's Shadow Clone thought for a moment and said.
Although he still didn't know why Hidden Rock had come, Mokgetsu believed it wasn't for anything good, even if it appeared harmless on the surface.
Because the Hidden Rock was truly a disruptive force during the Third Ninja World War, suddenly seeking them out at this moment could not be good.
Kitsuchi didn't mind the setting since what he was going to discuss wasn't confidential and simply began to speak.
"I am here representing the Rain Village to clear up misunderstandings with the Ninja Sect. The Ninja Sect and Rain Village shouldn't be enemies."
The surrounding Ninja Sect ninjas showed angry expressions, and some even directly drew kunai from their Ninja Pouch, ready to act if Kitsuchi and his group showed any sign of odd behavior.
Although the false cooperation incident with Hanzo didn't cause actual losses to the Ninja Sect, it was based on Mokgetsu's strong strength foundation.
If it weren't for Mokgetsu's strength, the respected founder of the Ninja Sect would have died in the siege, and other elite members couldn't have escaped.
"Misunderstanding? When Hanzo acted, it didn't seem like a misunderstanding." Yahiko shed his usual cheerful demeanor, speaking with a stern face.
Once Yahiko had idolized Hanzo greatly, now he deeply distrusted him.
He could never forget that day.
They had approached Hanzo with hopeful hearts, believing they would welcome a dreamlike alliance to jointly maintain peace in the Land of Rain.
Instead, they were met with traps and siege, Hanzo throwing kunai with an expressionless face as he forced Mokgetsu to commit suicide—a scene Yahiko would never forget.
"Only now do they say it was a misunderstanding?" Ike Masaya believed this was yet another plot.
Although Rain Village currently had significant power, the Ninja Sect had more strong fighters, and in continued development, it would undoubtedly be the Ninja Sect defeating the Rain Village.
The Ninja Sect ninjas were expressing their dissatisfaction towards the Rain Village vehemently.
Mokgetsu gestured to silence everyone.
The originally noisy environment instantly quieted down, and Mokgetsu looked at Kitsuchi and said:
"Since you want clarification, at least tell us where the misunderstanding lies."
Mokgetsu needed to know what the Hidden Rock wanted to do to contemplate their strategies.
"Actually, Lord Hanzo previously truly wanted to cooperate with the Ninja Sect to build a peaceful Land of Rain. Unfortunately, a Konoha traitor intervened, which led to Lord Hanzo's wrongful actions toward the Ninja Sect," Kitsuchi recited the lines prepared by the Hidden Rock.
These words were difficult for him to come up with by himself, but memorizing them was not an issue.
Then Kitsuchi briefly explained the development of events fabricated by the Hidden Rock.
Under the leadership of Konoha's second-in-command, Shimura Danzo, the evil Konoha Ninja killed Hidden Rock Ninja and framed the Ninja Sect Ninja, leading to both Hanzo and the Hidden Rock disliking the Ninja Sect, ultimately causing the false cooperation incident.
In Kitsuchi's described events, the Rain Village was not the perpetrator but was instead deceived by Konoha's Shimura Danzo, while both the Hidden Rock and Ninja Sect were victims, hurt by Konoha Ninja.
In summary, the blame lay entirely with the Konoha Ninja.
"So that day, we didn't kill Hidden Rock Ninja." Yahiko linked his experiences with Kitsuchi's description, finding it surprisingly coherent, as if Kitsuchi's narrative was the actual truth.
For a moment, Yahiko was bewildered, uncertain of how to face the Rain Village or Hanzo.
If things were truly as described, then Hanzo's actions back then seemed justified.
"Konoha Ninja..." Nagato instinctively glanced at Mokgetsu.
He was the only one in the Ninja Sect who knew Mokgetsu's true identity.
Although hard to believe, the legendary Ninja Master Sosuke and the renowned Konoha strongman, Blazing Sun Mokgetsu, were the same person.
"Do you have any evidence to prove your words are true?" Nagato swiftly redirected his gaze to Kitsuchi and asked.
Even if Konoha Ninja were involved in the whole incident, Nagato believed it couldn't have anything to do with Mokgetsu, after all, Mokgetsu fought hard to protect them at that time.
"Of course, there is evidence. If you want, we have plenty; our Hidden Rock would never allow someone to use the death of our comrades to complete a conspiracy." Kitsuchi continued reciting.
Since the Hidden Rock dared to start taking action, they surely had everything prepared. After all, the trigger of events was the death of their Ninja Village's ninja, and fabricating evidence wasn't difficult for them.
Saying this, Kitsuchi instructed his subordinates to bring out the prepared fake evidence.
"In the current chaotic state of the Ninja World, where the Five Great Countries attack each other, Rain Village and the Ninja Sect, as ninjas of the Land of Rain, should cooperate against external threats," Kitsuchi took the opportunity to persuade further.
Mokgetsu roughly understood what medicine the Hidden Rock Village was selling in their gourd.
If he guessed correctly, the Hidden Rock Village wanted to transform Rain Village's internal conflicts into external conflicts targeting Konoha, causing the Ninja Sect and the Rain Village to hassle Konoha.
Mokgetsu could only say Onoki's schemes were indeed clever.
If Onoki succeeded, Konoha wouldn't be able to solve Rain Village's problems without deploying a ninja squad on the level of thousands.
After all, if the Ninja Sect united with Rain Village, it would be a combination of Ninja Master and Demigod, truly not weak in high-level combat power.
Yet, no matter how cunning Onoki was, he wouldn't be able to anticipate that the leader of the Ninja Sect was actually a Konoha Ninja.
"I need to discuss with my companions before I can give you a reply." Mokgetsu neither refused nor agreed.
Kitsuchi wasn't in a hurry either and directly settled in the surroundings, waiting for Mokgetsu's reply.
Next, Mokgetsu summoned Ninja Sect ninjas for a meeting, where hundreds of Ninja Sect ninjas expressed various opinions, discussing whether to set aside hatred and collaborate with the Rain Village.
"Hanzo is indeed vile, but the Hidden Rock Ninja's words hold truth; if we continue fighting with Rain, the Land of Rain might be the ones getting hurt in the end."
"The most crucial issue is Konoha. Rain's divided power might be precisely what Konoha is happy to see."
Kitsuchi's words didn't succeed in eliminating the Ninja Sect ninjas' resentment and hatred towards Hanzo but did successfully manage to turn the Ninja Sect ninjas' hostility towards Konoha.
"Everyone shouldn't think based on the assumption that all the Hidden Rock Ninja's statements are factual. Although there's evidence, that doesn't guarantee it's the whole truth." Also, Ike Masaya maintained a skeptical attitude.
"Ninjas aren't charities; Hidden Rock wouldn't meddle in the Land of Rain's peace without reason. Think carefully about what benefits they might gain from this." Kakuzu crossed his arms and said.
As a seasoned veteran, Kakuzu was very aware of the nature of the people from the Ninja Village.
They would never allow someone to exploit the death of their comrades to complete a conspiracy. If there's sufficient interests involved, they might even willingly sacrifice their own village's ninjas to achieve their goals.
Finally, everyone looked towards Mokgetsu, who had been silent.
PS: There's another chapter coming up with 4k words, the timing should be about the same.
As for Naruto's side story mentioned in the last chapter, rest assured, if it's written, it won't take up the normal update word count but will be released in a burst update format.