"Lord Yubi!"
Soon, a large number of Sunagakure Ninjas gathered and leapt onto the battlefield at the top of the building.
From within the thick smoke, Yubi, dressed in plain clothes, flickered out.
The squad leader of the Guard Corps immediately stepped forward to check on him, fearing he might be injured.
"Pursue!"
The rest of the Sunagakure Ninjas prepared to chase the enemy.
"No need to pursue."
Seeing this, Yubi raised his hand to stop them.
The opponent was Orochimaru; with just these few people, they wouldn't even be enough for him to kill.
"His concealment of Chakra and presence is simply perfect—I only managed to enhance my perception by augmenting my Mental Energy through the awakening of my Bloodline Limit. But if it were just pure perception, without awakening, it would be very difficult to catch him if the target intended to hide—did he escape under the cover of a Summoned Beast? It seems he was hidden inside a snake's belly—he was too fast," Yubi thought to himself.
Orochimaru's Ninjutsu techniques and variations were truly too many.
One must know that at this point in time, Orochimaru should not yet have begun deep cooperation with Danzo.
That is to say, some of his research results had not yet been applied to Ninjutsu.
Later on, Orochimaru's Ninjutsu would become even more eerie and sinister.
This is a powerhouse standing at the peak of the Ninja World; judging from the state of their exchange, he had almost no weaknesses.
Even some of his basic Ninja skills were ridiculously strong.
It was completely different from the situation when he fought Yagura Karatachi.
For Orochimaru to dare to infiltrate Sunagakure Village alone to assassinate him, with his shrewdness, he must have come prepared—
Failing to kill him in a short time, the opponent naturally wouldn't linger.
Otherwise—once the Sunagakure Ninjas surrounded him, he might not even be able to leave if he wanted to.
In fact, Yubi felt that even if he awakened and locked onto Orochimaru to pursue him all the way, stalling for time to wait for Sunagakure Village's reinforcements, he might not necessarily be able to keep the man there.
Their exchange this time both contained an element of testing.
Yubi didn't want to expose his true strength and let Orochimaru obtain intelligence about his abilities first to take back to Konoha.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru was carrying out an assassination and couldn't afford to make too much noise—plus, having been discovered first, he was in a more passive position.
He couldn't act with too much composure.
He could only try first to see if he could take me out; if not—he would flee immediately.
Without the slightest hesitation.
"What happened?"
Before long, the commotion woke many people in the Village, and higher-ups like Chiyo hurried over.
Seeing the scene before them, everyone's expressions changed.
"Who was the enemy?"
"Orochimaru."
Yubi uttered a name.
"Orochimaru?!"
Chiyo's pupils constricted.
Rasa, who was beside her, also frowned deeply.
"Konoha!"
Grandmother Chiyo gritted her teeth.
The old grudges between Sunagakure Village and Konoha hadn't even been settled yet—and now, Orochimaru had actually infiltrated the Village, wanting to strike at Yubi?
"Everyone, don't be nervous, I'm fine."
"After all, this is our Village—Orochimaru couldn't fully let loose to attack me, we just had a brief exchange—haha—how should I put it—"
Yubi raised his hand to comfort everyone, "I can only say—as expected of one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, he's simply ridiculously strong."
Yubi wasn't joking at all.
Just in terms of the power of their Ninjutsu, he and Orochimaru were far apart.
Another thing was the speed of forming hand seals.
The reason he could contend with Orochimaru was entirely due to the performance of his Bloodline Limit—
He had been maintaining the Blood Release: Red Scale Leaping state to enhance his physical capabilities and mobility.
After all, it was Orochimaru; he still had to give him a certain amount of respect.
Of course, even against Orochimaru, if it came to a life-and-death struggle, Yubi wouldn't be afraid.
He didn't want to be like that Jinchuriki from the Hidden Cloud Village, who was silently struck down by Orochimaru in their own Village during this Ninja World War.
"Although he isn't as abnormal as he becomes in the future—just his invisible aura and that tangible killing intent are enough to scare ordinary Ninjas into being unable to move," Yubi thought with a chill, recalling the feeling when Orochimaru used Narakumi no Jutsu on him.
"Search the whole Village."
Chiyo immediately ordered.
"Yes."
A large number of Sunagakure Ninjas dispersed one after another, rushing to various parts of the Village.
"It's just—my house has been destroyed—sigh."
Yubi said with a chuckle, feeling a bit of regret.
Seeing that Yubi could still laugh at a time like this, Chiyo couldn't help but sigh as well.
That was Orochimaru—even she was particularly wary of him.
The other higher-ups, including Rasa, looked at Yubi with complex expressions—if Orochimaru's target had been them, given his reputation in the Ninja World, they weren't sure they would have survived.
Originally, the Village had some concerns about letting Yubi, Sasori, and Arai face the great war against Konoha in place of the Kazekage.
Looking at it now—it seems they were overthinking it.
"Meeting."
.
Chiyo said.
Subsequently, everyone set off for the Office Building to analyze and respond to this sudden incident.
What the Sunagakure Village higher-ups were worried about was whether Orochimaru's action meant that Konoha was going to strike at them first.
Yubi, however, was certain that Orochimaru's assassination attempt on him was unlikely to have been assigned by Hiruzen Sarutobi; it was most likely the idea of that old ghost Danzo, wanting to give it a try.
If he really killed me—it would be a guaranteed profit with no risk.
There was no need to care about what Sunagakure Village's reaction would be—anyway, war was already inevitable.
Most importantly, my death—could to some extent severely damage the Village's industry and strike a blow to Sunagakure Village.
This way, Sunagakure Village would become even weaker—undoubtedly becoming the first target for other Villages, and the ambition to covet Sunagakure Village's medicinal resources would no longer be suppressed.
"Let's not over-analyze what signal Orochimaru's assassination attempt sent for now; this is actually a good thing for us."
In the conference room, Yubi spoke up.
"Hmm?"
Everyone was puzzled.
"Danzo wants to use this to test our attitude, to see if Sunagakure Village will retaliate against Konoha even if Orochimaru didn't succeed."
Yubi held up a finger and emphasized, "Exactly—we'll pretend this never happened. Then, in Danzo's view, our Sunagakure Village, out of concern for our new industry and the loss of our Kage, dares not take the initiative to launch an offensive against Konoha, intentionally avoiding conflict and preventing the situation from escalating. This will cause him to misjudge our threat to Konoha, thereby lowering his guard."
"When the time comes, we can gain a greater advantage when we launch a surprise attack on the Land of Fire."
"So—I suggest that the Village makes no reaction or statement regarding tonight's events."
"It won't take long, half a month is enough—in half a month, we will deploy our troops according to the original time and plan."
Doesn't Danzo like to play dirty?
Then let's see who's more devious.
Chiyo and the others looked at each other and pondered for a moment.
"Alright."
After a short while, she nodded.
Anyway, the great war was imminent, and it wouldn't hurt to wait a bit longer; let Konoha enjoy their complacency for a while.
Rasa didn't respond; he noticed that the thinking of the Village's higher-ups now seemed somewhat different from when the Third Kazekage was in power.
This subtle change didn't make anyone else feel uncomfortable.
In the past, the Third Kazekage would have certainly deployed troops immediately to cause trouble for Konoha—without considering any strategy.
And Rasa also felt that since Konoha dared to send someone to carry out an assassination within their Village, the Village should immediately retaliate.
But now, before making any decisions or taking action, the levels and factors everyone considered seemed to be more numerous and comprehensive.
To put it bluntly, they knew how to play some tricks.
Not just on a military level, but in terms of overall strategic vision.
In the past, there weren't so many twists and turns.
Moreover, Rasa thought carefully—it seemed that most of these "clever ideas" were proposed by Yubi.
And they were quite effective—
For example, some of the rumors the Village spread stirred up public opinion, making it so that Konoha hasn't dared to say a word even now.
He didn't know why.
He didn't understand.
Rasa originally thought Konoha would take the opportunity to "shout a few words" or mock their Sunagakure Village, or at the very least "prove their innocence"—as it turned out, they didn't.
They seemed—very well-behaved.
Letting public opinion ferment.