Blaze laughed even louder upon hearing this: "Hahaha, I just love your hypocrisy. It's exactly the same as when I first found you! You were willing to give me your most trusted subordinate for my concoctions, so what do these citizens even count for now?"
Hanzō turned his head, refusing to look at Blaze.
Whether it was his imagination or not, he always felt that Blaze's strength was growing stronger and stronger. Her power was changing almost daily. Although Blaze herself had never mentioned it, Hanzō could tell. These people being sent out to guard the camps were definitely not merely being sent to their deaths. There must be something he didn't know about happening in the background.
However, Hanzō was in no mood to investigate.
Just as Blaze had said, he didn't actually care about the lives of these people; power and status were what he had always hoped for! They were the driving force that had kept him alive all these years! The stronger Blaze became, the happier Hanzō was, because their chances of winning increased. The possibility of him regaining power increased. As long as Kumotsuru Torifu was captured, he could retake control of the Land of Rain and annex all the surrounding small countries to become a new major power!
Hanzō's dream was quite good, but even Blaze dared not guarantee a stable victory against Torifu.
"The crystal flowers that covered the entire Land of Rain territory a few days ago, that must have been created by that kid Kumotsuru Torifu, right?"
Hanzō nodded. Originally, he could occasionally go out for fresh air, but with the appearance of these crystal flowers, Hanzō was uncomfortable everywhere. He now spent his days navigating the gloomy base, traveling around using the salamander. There was no essential difference from a rat or a toad; they were all just digging holes.
"This must be a sensing Jutsu. Fortunately, your intuition was accurate, and you didn't touch it on your own, or else we would have already been exposed."
Hanzō acknowledged this: "So what should we do now? When will your plan be completed?"
Blaze waved her hand: "No need to rush. It'll be a matter of these next two days. Once everyone outside is dead, the plan will be completely successful."
Hanzō didn't know what the plan was; Blaze had never told him. He only knew that all the rōnin outside had been given some kind of medicine by Blaze. Hanzō thought it was to increase their strength, but after taking it, there was no obvious change in their abilities. Instead, their minds became less sharp. Yet, they could understand the orders Blaze gave them. Small groups of people quickly formed and began establishing one small camp after another across the Land of Rain. There were over ten thousand of these, big and small. All the tens of thousands of citizens Hanzō had painstakingly gathered were turned into something like idiots by Blaze. But she still hadn't offered any explanation, leaving Hanzō completely bewildered even now. Every time he wanted to ask, Blaze would change the subject, diverting Hanzō's attention with something else. This also made Hanzō extremely annoyed. They were clearly on the same front, yet they didn't trust each other. How could they succeed like this? Victory seemed like a lost cause.
Sensing that Hanzō might be distressed, Blaze decided he might be getting anxious. She lit all the candles in the base: "We won't be living in this gloomy, damp little room for long. The vast world outside is the stage for you and me. Believe me, we will succeed this time. I am completely confident."
Regardless, Hanzō had once saved Blaze's life, and Blaze had always been grateful for that. Hanzō had saved her, giving her a second chance, which was why Blaze kept Hanzō by her side. No matter what Hanzō's motives were at the time, all that mattered was that Blaze felt she was doing the right thing.
Looking at Blaze's seemingly sincere eyes, Hanzō nodded helplessly: "Alright, Blaze-sama. I will cooperate with you fully. What else is needed for the plan?"
Blaze analyzed the situation carefully: "We need to wait until the ninja from the three current countries have all converged in the central city and the rest of the Land of Rain. This is definitely not a good time."
"Once the Kage-level ninja from the other two countries leave, we can safely make our move."
"Good. Everything will be according to Blaze-sama's command."
Blaze's jarring laughter echoed throughout the base, nearly deafening Hanzō's ears. Since she seemed to have nothing more to say, Hanzō chose to leave and check the situation in the other bases. The carpet search on the surface naturally couldn't detect the traces of the salamander moving underground. So, even now, many people weren't sure exactly who they were fighting. These rōnin? They were merely being slaughtered unilaterally by the ninja. These Kage-level enemies? They were still being killed by the allied Kage-level forces. Almost no information about Hanzō and Blaze had been uncovered. The crystal flowers Torifu had deployed throughout the entire Land of Rain couldn't detect anything either, which was starting to annoy him. Fortunately, Naori was constantly there to help Torifu with his clothes, massages, and handling official duties. Otherwise, Torifu alone couldn't have handled so many things.
Around two o'clock in the afternoon, the small teams that had departed that morning to clear the Kage-level enemies returned. Judging by the radiant smiles on their faces, they must have killed all the Kage-level foes.
"Hokage-sama, did anything happen in the central city during this time?"
"No, everything is normal so far," Torifu replied. "What is it? Did someone perform a great service? Though you'd have to buy that in the Instance Shop."
Ebizō also joked: "Each of us has performed a great service! You can probably guess how fierce the battle was just by looking at the damage on our bodies, right?"
Torifu nodded upon hearing this: "Very well, then you should all rest up. You can head back to the village tomorrow or the day after."
Ebizō hadn't expected the mission to end so easily? Those few Kage-level enemies were like they were made of paper; they shattered with a light touch. He had been wondering if he would need to pay compensation. Rōshi and Han also looked unsatisfied, clearly unhappy that the mission was completed so quickly.
"Sigh, it's over already? That's such a pity. I thought we could stay a bit longer."
The person who spoke was a ninja from Sunagakure. He seemed to have killed many enemies during this operation and felt it was a shame, after all, what a great combat training ground this was! Although the training process was cruel, that was part of the mission, and between the two colliding interests, the mission was certainly more important.
"Staying a bit longer is definitely not a problem," Torifu said. "The central city is permanently open, and it can be considered your second village. If you stay here for a while, the Kazekage won't say anything to you."