Not long after, an Anbu squad quietly left the Hidden Leaf Village and, following a secret route, entered the Land of Rain.
According to the pre-determined destination, the Hidden Rain Village's Anbu met them.
Both being from Anbu, their operational styles were very similar.
After careful verification, they finally met face-to-face.
"Welcome to the Land of Rain, Anbu of the Hidden Leaf Village," said Us, the Anbu captain who had rendered great service in seizing power in the Hidden Rain Village, acting as a representative to the person standing in front of the Hidden Leaf Village's Anbu.
"No need for pleasantries," the other party replied indifferently, "By order of Lord Hokage, we will assist you in eliminating the former rebels."
"Thank you for your assistance," Us bowed slightly, expressing his gratitude.
The plea for help that Fumori Masaki received was Hanzo's hope that the Hidden Leaf Village would dispatch Anbu to assist in eradicating the former leader's faction.
Due to Orochimaru and others, the Hidden Rain Village had captured a live target, which was undoubtedly a breakthrough.
After severe interrogation, they finally extracted the desired intelligence from the captive.
To catch the ninjas who knew the Hidden Rain Village's methods off guard, Hanzo requested assistance from the Hidden Leaf Village.
For the Hidden Leaf Village, having the Hidden Rain Village closely follow behind was the best outcome.
As long as the request was not too excessive,Fumori Masaki intended to satisfy it.
Assisting the Hidden Rain Village in eliminating rebels would help Hanzo gain complete control of the Hidden Rain Village, which would be beneficial to the Hidden Leaf Village in every aspect.
Of course,Fumori Masaki would not dispatch personnel from the combat squads protecting medical ninjas; their duties were set from the beginning, and there was no reason to involve them.
Therefore, they had to be selected from the Anbu.
The Anbu was an armed organization directly under the Hokage, which Fumori Masaki always held in high regard.
The selection criteria for its members were extremely strict, and those who could enter were all ninjas of considerable skill in the village.
Fumori Masaki even personally participated in the examination tests, partly to assess their strength and partly to foster closer ties with the Anbu, ensuring his influence within the organization.
Among the Anbu dispatched to the Hidden Rain Village this time were Hyuga Kei, who had worked for him for many years, and his student Hattori Heizō.
Hyuga Kei had served in the Anbu since Tobirama's era, making him a veteran member very familiar with Anbu operations.
He also possessed the Byakugan, which granted him superior observation skills, naturally making him adept at external missions.
"Have you accurately pinpointed the enemy's location?" asked Hyuga Kei, who was the captain.
"Yes, according to the intelligence provided, we have already sent people to investigate covertly, and the enemy has not yet relocated," Us nodded and said.
"Could we have already alerted them? The enemy also originated from your Hidden Rain Village, and there are Anbu members among them, right? Is it possible they could have detected your presence?" Hyuga Kei asked cautiously.
"I can't guarantee it, but I think the possibility of them noticing is very low, because there are indeed no signs of them relocating," Us replied.
"If they truly realized it, they might be planning an ambush there, intending to counterattack you," Hyuga Kei said.
"Given that, we need to proceed cautiously.
We have ways to find any traps they might have set, and then the specific battle plan will be up to you to decide, as you are most familiar with this area."
Before arriving at the Hidden Rain Village,Fumori Masaki had warned Hyuga Kei not to be conceited because of the strength of their village, but to respect the other party's position as a ninja village.
Matters that should be decided by the other party should not be taken into their own hands, otherwise, it might cause dissatisfaction in the other party's heart.
Hyuga Kei had always been very trusting of Fumori Masaki.
He followed Fumori Masaki's advice, recognizing that he and his team were only there to assist, not to command the Hidden Rain ninjas to attack, and thus handed over the power to formulate the battle plan to the other party.
Although he could not see the face behind the other party's mask, he could clearly sense from their actions that their attitude had softened.
Us indeed had not expected the Hidden Leaf Anbu to have no intention of taking over, and his impression of the Hidden Leaf Village improved.
He thought for a moment and said, "Even so, your village was the first to establish an Anbu, and its level is higher than ours.
We also hope that you can offer some suggestions."
As Us said, the Anbu was first established by the Hidden Leaf Village.
Although its duties and methods referenced traditional ninjas from the Warring States period, Tobirama also incorporated new changes from the ninja village era.
Undoubtedly, the Hidden Leaf Village's Anbu was the strongest in the current ninja world in terms of skill, though it might lose to other ninja villages with innate advantages in certain specific areas.
However, for the Hidden Rain Village, which was originally just a small ninja village, the only thing worth mentioning was its assassination techniques, which offered no advantage over the Hidden Leaf Village.
Moreover, because the Hidden Leaf Village had participated in frontal battles, it was also more skilled in frontal combat compared to the Hidden Rain ninjas, who mostly only carried out assassination missions.
"No problem," Hyuga Kei readily agreed upon hearing this.
At the same time, in a temporary base, the remnants of former leader Besa were resting.
These days, they were like stray dogs, unable to appear openly in the sight of ordinary people.
If it weren't for their familiarity with the terrain of the Hidden Rain Village, they would probably have had to flee the country.
Even so, they couldn't accomplish anything.
Hanzo had completely taken control of the entire Hidden Rain Village, and their strength had not reached the point where they could overthrow a ninja village.
No matter how unwilling they were to admit it, they could only face one truth—they could no longer avenge their former leader.
Thus, feeling desperate, when they learned that the Hidden Leaf Village had dispatched a medical squad here, an idea popped into their heads: to inflict losses on the medical squad, regardless of their own lives.
Even if the Hidden Leaf Village knew it wasn't the Hidden Rain Village's intention, they would no longer provide any assistance to the Hidden Rain Village.
So, the remnants began to look for an opportunity to strike the medical squad.
It would be even better if the dead Hidden Leaf ninja was an important figure.
Coincidentally, among the rebels who escaped from the Hidden Rain Village, there was one who was a jonin who had accompanied Hanzo to the Hidden Leaf Village.
While he was out scouting, he unexpectedly noticed a familiar figure.
It was a golden-haired girl.
He didn't know her name, but he knew she had a close relationship with Hatake Sakumo and Hattori Heizō, and the latter two were students of the current Hokage,Fumori Masaki.
Regardless of her identity, she could be considered an important person in the village.
After discussing with their companions, these remnants decided to target this girl for assassination.
She was very young, so her strength wouldn't be too great.
Although her escorts were those who had performed well in the joint Chunin Exams, including the winner Hatake Sakumo, they were still too young.
In terms of experience, they couldn't possibly surpass these people with many years of assassination experience.
Due to the protection of the Hidden Rain Anbu and the Hidden Leaf guards, the remnants found very few opportunities.
They finally managed to disguise themselves as people seeking medical attention and lure the girl out, but due to some common-sense errors, the other party noticed something was amiss and called the Hidden Rain Anbu.
The result was that all the members who went to ambush were wiped out, and even those who tried to block outsiders were killed by Hatake Sakumo alone, forcing people to redefine Hatake Sakumo's strength.
However, what was most frustrating was the failure of the assassination, which completely exposed the remnants' intentions and led the Hidden Rain Anbu to intensify their defenses, greatly reducing the possibility of another assassination.
At the same time, discordant voices emerged even within the remnants.
Some accused certain individuals of being cowardly and sending out less experienced people, wondering what slip of the tongue had made the other party realize their identities were disguised.
The experienced ones naturally vehemently refuted, saying that they also needed to preserve their strength, and if they couldn't succeed at once, they could look for a second chance.
The two factions argued fiercely but had no choice but to succumb to external pressure and continue to stay together.
Because of the previous assassination attempt, the Hidden Rain Anbu's patrols became more frequent.
In the past, the remnants could still find opportunities to slip out, but now they could only huddle in their base.
Everyone stayed in the dark, cramped base, not even in the mood to speak a word.
Aside from those who went out to investigate the situation, the rest were resting with their eyes closed.
After a while, the investigators returned, and those taking over the task silently stood up and walked outside; everything was so silent.
After an unknown amount of time, one person suddenly looked up, staring outside with surprise and uncertainty.
As the eyes of the others turned to him, he whispered, "The traps set outside have been disarmed; someone has broken in!"
Everyone's facial expression changed drastically.
The people who had gone out to investigate earlier had not yet returned; if someone had truly broken in, then they were also in grave danger.
Therefore, they abandoned the idea of going out to notify and immediately began to act, heading towards the pre-designed escape tunnel.
However, they did not know that among the pursuers who came this time, there was someone with a Byakugan, and their secretly constructed tunnel had long been exposed.
The group hurriedly entered the secret passage and then, without hesitation, began to sprint.
Although no lights were lit, they were already familiar with the details of the secret passage and did not need them.
In the dark secret passage, only the breathing of those around them could be heard.
At some point, however, a rapid, subtle sound emerged.