As soon as he entered, Torifu immediately got what he was looking for.
A middle-aged ninja wearing a respirator was leaning against the wall, eyes closed and silent.
This person was none other than Hanzō, whom Torifu had been eagerly seeking!
He then noticed that this cavern was very spacious. At the very center, there seemed to be a raging fire burning, which the mist could not approach.
Torifu figured that must be Blaze.
The mist couldn't get close, so Torifu could only roughly determine from the outline that she seemed to be training?
It was too blurry for Torifu to guess, but finding their location was enough.
"I found them! They didn't detect my jutsu, but I've confirmed their location!"
At these words, the Kazekage and the Tsuchikage were once again thrilled, but this was immediately followed by tension.
The war a few years ago had indeed caused heavy losses for both villages. Only Konoha, with its relatively stronger power, avoided excessive casualties.
And this time, they had to face Blaze again, who was like a Fire Lord, which made them extremely nervous.
"Then when do we depart? Now?" Despite his nervousness, Ōnoki knew that this war could not be avoided.
He could naturally discard the small, troublesome piece of land that was the Rain Province and ignore these vexing matters.
But Blaze's power was so formidable that if she easily occupied Amegakure, she would certainly use her strength to continuously spread outward in the future.
At that point, their nations would lose more than just the Rain Province.
Another point was that the Hokage was very confident in this battle. If he truly defeated Blaze, and the Land of Earth had betrayed the alliance,
Ōnoki couldn't imagine what kind of retribution Iwagakure would face.
It could very likely fall from the rank of a Great Nation overnight. This was a price he could not afford to pay. He would be nailed to the pillar of shame, reviled by future generations for eternity.
The Kazekage's thoughts were largely the same as Ōnoki's. Although he was very nervous, he still had to confront Blaze.
"More or less. We've found Blaze's location, and I don't know exactly what she's training. It's best to quickly interrupt her. I have a bad feeling that if she completes her training, it will be detrimental to us," Torifu said with a grave expression.
The Kazekage and the Tsuchikage nodded in unison upon hearing this. "Alright, let's depart now. We'll probably have to face Hanzō first."
Ōnoki scoffed, "That despicable fellow! If it weren't for his wretched Salamander, we would have killed Blaze last time!"
The Kazekage patted his shoulder. "It couldn't be helped. At a time of life and death, he surely had to choose the most correct course of action."
Blaze still had a breath left at the time, and as long as she recovered, she could certainly return to her peak. For this life-saving grace, Hanzō would definitely make a comeback.
Torifu stood up, dispelling all the cloud mist surrounding the entire Amegakure. Amegakure returned to its usual state.
He then dialed Naori's phone number.
After only a single ring, the call was answered. "How is it? Can your body still handle it?"
Torifu listened and gave a gentle smile. "Of course, don't underestimate me. Everything is fine. The jutsu was executed very successfully, and we are about to set off."
Naori on the other end of the line was briefly silent for a few seconds. "Mm, alright. I'll make some of your favorite dishes tonight."
Her voice was firm and full of trust. Naori believed that Torifu would definitely return safely.
"Good."
These brief few sentences filled Torifu's heart completely. With his wife waiting for him at home, he had one more reason to win.
The call ended. Torifu pointed his hand in the direction of the Rain Province in the Land of Earth. "They are in that direction. Let's go."
Then, Torifu summoned Aokumo and Ryūfū. "To conserve chakra, you two should ride on my summoning creatures for now."
The Kazekage and the Tsuchikage naturally did not refuse, lightly leaping onto the backs of the two cranes. Although they both had flying ninjutsu, using it for travel would consume far too much chakra.
Torifu had summoned Aokumo and Ryūfū to ensure they would maintain the best mental state during the battle.
This was to prevent the two of them from running low on chakra and holding them back.
"We depart."
Torifu leaped down from the office building, and then a large amount of cloud vapor spewed out, pushing him high up and speeding him towards the detected direction.
Aokumo and Ryūfū flapped their wings and quickly caught up with Torifu's speed.
"Detection is complete. Everyone may move about freely within the city but are not allowed to leave the city without authorization."
As he left the central city, Torifu said this to prevent the villagers from being unnecessarily anxious in their houses.
The speed of the three of them was also very fast, plus the area of Amegakure was simply too small.
They reached the vicinity of the target location in a short amount of time.
Upon arrival, Torifu immediately dismissed Aokumo and Ryūfū. He also canceled his jutsu and started traveling on foot.
This was to avoid tipping them off.
"Be careful, everyone. Watch out for traps in the surroundings."
This method of action was somewhat similar to the missions he participated in as a child, except that his teammates were all Kage.
Following Torifu's guidance, the two quickly arrived at a small valley.
The entrance here was extremely well-hidden, surrounded by a large amount of shrubbery. Without the Cloud Style detection, Torifu would not have found the precise entry point.
Once inside the valley, everything became remarkably flat. Although there was standing water in the valley, it wasn't much. Mainly, the structure of the valley blocked most of the rainwater from entering and turned it into a natural greenhouse.
Just by looking at the withered branches from last year, one could tell that the plants here grew very tall.
"Good heavens. If you weren't a local, you really wouldn't find this place. Leave it to that old schemer Hanzō."
"What do you say, Hokage? Do we make our move?"
Torifu raised his hand, and a wind blade shot out, constantly circling within the valley, completely severing all the weeds and withered grass at the root.
"We're ready. I need the Tsuchikage to create a commotion to force Hanzō and his team out."
Ōnoki made an OK gesture, then quickly formed hand seals. A gigantic rock golem slowly climbed out of the earth.
This giant then began to furiously pound the ground!
The sound of the tremors echoed throughout the valley, and the underground area was also very sensitive to this vibrational attack.
The first to sense it was the Salamander. Its enormous body conveyed the discovery to Hanzō.
It also drew the attention of Blaze, who was absorbing the power of the altar: "Hanzō, what's going on outside? Why is it so chaotic?"
Hanzō bowed slightly upon hearing this and apologized. "I don't know yet. This subordinate will go investigate first."
Ōnoki was purely relying on brute force to smash the ground and did not use a single bit of chakra.
Therefore, Hanzō underground did not detect it, as he was not very skilled in perception in the first place.