By the time Chiya returned to his lodging, the night was deep.
However, he keenly sensed the chakra in the surroundings.
The surveillance ninja from before had left, and yet new ones had already been arranged so quickly, three of them this time.
'Heh. They swapped shifts.'
The corner of his mouth curved up. His fingers curled slightly.
Without a sound, the several Suna-nin hidden in the shadows had their eyes go blank and stood stiff in place, caught in a genjutsu.
Chiya did not linger. He flickered directly to Minato's door.
A light push. It was unlocked.
Inside, Minato was sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing his daytime clothes. He had clearly been waiting.
Seeing Chiya enter, Minato smiled slightly.
"I knew you would come, Senior."
Chiya raised an eyebrow.
"So you guessed my plan?"
Minato nodded. A calm light flickered in his deep blue eyes.
"The situation in Sunagakure is more complex than we imagined. Since we could not move freely during the day, the night is naturally the best opportunity."
Chiya looked at him with satisfaction.
"Smart."
He skipped the small talk and said directly.
"Let's go."
Minato rose quickly and fell into step behind Chiya.
The two slipped out of the inn without a sound.
...
Outside the Kazekage Building, ANBU ninjas patrolled back and forth with tight vigilance.
Suddenly, two figures stepped out of the shadows.
They were wearing Sunagakure ANBU uniforms. Masks concealed their faces.
"Halt!"
An ANBU who appeared to be a squad leader stepped forward to block them and said coldly.
"Identification."
The ninja in front tilted slightly to block the one behind from view and raised his head.
His black eyes instantly became the three-tomoe Sharingan.
The squad leader's hand paused as he reached for the documents. His gaze went distant for just a moment, then he nodded mechanically.
The crimson eyes returned to black.
"Pass."
He stepped aside. The ANBU behind him were puzzled by their captain's efficiency, but seeing him let them through, none dared to ask questions.
And just like that, Chiya and Minato walked openly into the Kazekage Building.
Minato, following close behind, had eyes full of astonishment.
'A single glance, and an experienced ANBU squad leader was helpless to resist...'
'The Uchiha's Sharingan truly is terrifying.'
After entering the building, the two exchanged a glance and split up without a word.
According to the plan, Chiya was responsible for extracting intelligence from one of the Suna elders, while Minato infiltrated the records room to look for any useful leads.
Chiya moved like a ghost and quickly located an elder's resting quarters.
The moment he pushed the door open, the Suna elder slammed his palm on the table and shouted in fury.
"Who is it?! Do you not know how to knock? What kind of manners are..."
Chiya gave him no chance to react. The Sharingan locked onto him in an instant.
The elder's eyes went blank immediately. He sat in place in a daze.
Chiya said in a low voice.
"Has Sunagakure been in contact with other villages?"
The elder's lips opened and closed mechanically.
"The Kazekage, before his disappearance, secretly allied with Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure... The plan was for Sunagakure to strike first and launch a war against the Land of Fire. The others would follow immediately, and together they would divide the Land of Fire among themselves..."
Chiya's eyes went cold.
"Just as I thought."
He pressed further.
"With the Kazekage gone, what does the Elder Council intend to do? Will they still continue to ally with other nations and attack the Land of Fire?"
The elder's expression struggled slightly, as though something touched a forbidden boundary, but under the Sharingan's suppression, he spoke in the end.
"For now, stabilize Sunagakure first and wait for the right moment. It is not ruled out that if the internal conflicts cannot be resolved, they will launch an invasion of the Land of Fire to redirect the tension..."
Chiya said nothing. 'It seems war is still going to happen.'
"Ideally, secure funding from other nations before attacking the Land of Fire. That way, the unequal treaties with the Land of Fire can be reclaimed, and actual material resources can be obtained..."
Before he finished speaking, Chiya suddenly sensed an unusual chakra disturbance.
'Something happened on Minato's end!'
Without hesitation, he turned and charged out of the room, rushing toward the records room.
He had barely rounded the corridor corner when he saw Minato's figure flashing past at speed.
Two Suna ANBU were right on his heels. One of them had already formed seals, ready to launch a jutsu.
Chiya knew he could not expose his identity just yet.
He flickered into position behind Minato and said quietly.
"Meet at the inn."
Minato's brow furrowed slightly, but he knew this was not the moment to hesitate. He gripped the scroll in his hand tighter and nodded.
"Be careful, Senior!"
As his words fell, his figure vanished at the end of the corridor.
The two ANBU saw this and immediately shifted their target to Chiya.
"Catch him. He may be the accomplice of the one just now!"
One of them roared. The kunai in his hand drove straight forward.
Chiya's eyes moved. He brought both hands together and then slapped them hard against the floor.
In an instant, a bone-deep cold swept through the entire corridor. The floor, the walls, the ceiling...
The entire corridor space froze over with a thick layer of ice in a single moment.
The movements of the two ANBU stopped dead. Their bodies were encased in ice. They could not move.
They stared wide-eyed at Chiya, disbelief plain on their faces.
"This is... an Ice Style Kekkei Genkai?!"
"Are you a ninja from Kirigakure?!"
"Is Kirigakure trying to challenge our Sunagakure?!"
"..."
Hearing this, Chiya's mouth curved up. He knew his goal had been achieved.
His figure flickered and disappeared.
...
Fifteen minutes later.
Chiya returned to the inn. Minato was already waiting inside the room.
Seeing Chiya return unharmed, Minato let out a breath of relief.
"Are you alright, Senior?"
Chiya shook his head and cut straight to the point.
"Give me the intelligence."
Minato's expression turned serious.
"Yes!"
He took out the scroll and spread it open on the table.
"I found secret correspondence from Kumogakure and Iwagakure. They appear to have reached some kind of agreement with Sunagakure."
Chiya gave a cold laugh.
"Matches what I found."
He briefly explained the intelligence he had obtained from the elder. Minato listened and for a moment could not quite take it in.
"The Third Kazekage was actually that reckless, wanting to unite the other great nations to surround and attack Konoha?!"
"None of the other shadow villages are easy to deal with. Did the Third Kazekage never consider that this was making a deal with the devil?"
Chiya shrugged when he heard this.
"The Third Kazekage understood that perfectly well, but he did it anyway."
Chiya stood up and looked out the window.
"He simply wanted to gamble."
"But unfortunately, before the gamble even began, he is already dead now. The plan has naturally stalled."
Minato frowned.
"But Sunagakure's movements are still suspicious. Will they continue to execute the plan and launch a war?"
Chiya thought for a moment and said slowly.
"They will."
"Right now, Sunagakure's internal situation is somewhat chaotic. They seem too busy putting out their own fires to even think about launching a war."
"But if the internal conflicts keep going unresolved, then launching an external war is the only path left."
As Sunagakure's ninja numbers grew, their commissioned missions had been handed over to Konoha as reparations for five years.
To put it plainly, handing their commissioned missions over to Konoha was like having their own throat grabbed.
The problems that followed were numerous.
With resources already unevenly distributed and insufficient, and all commissioned missions being funneled entirely to Konoha, the tensions and conflicts would inevitably intensify.
Launching a war against an outside party would shift all the blame onto external forces. Everyone's attention would turn outward. All hatred and resentment would be channeled toward the outside target. It would allow them to reduce the population while acquiring resources, trading lives for material gain.
Once the war ended, the village would return to a stable state once again.
This was the "wisdom" of Sunagakure's current Elder Council.
If you cannot solve the problem, solve the people causing the problem.
Going to war against Konoha was, in their view, a relatively reasonable and correct step.
Minato listened and only half understood, but quickly thought of something else.
"But with Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin appearing at the borders of the Land of Wind, they will probably not give up on the Land of Wind easily."
A cold glint passed through Chiya's eyes.
"Naturally. Some villages love nothing more than kicking someone when they are down and preying on the weak."
"But that is not something we need to concern ourselves with. We should bring the intelligence back to Konoha as soon as possible."
Minato nodded.
"Yes, Senior. Let's leave tomorrow."
"You go back first."
Minato was taken aback.
"Then what about you, Senior?"
The corner of Chiya's mouth curved up. Thinking of the Ice Style he had used today, a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
"I am in no hurry. I still need to cause a little more trouble for Sunagakure."
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