Ch.177 Probing

As soon as the Third Hokage finished speaking, the advisory elders all looked at Tsunade.

The current situation was very delicate.

The Akatsuki threw out Yugito, instantly drawing away a large number of elites from the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and now they've sent someone to infiltrate the village and abduct Naruto.

No one could say for certain whether the Akatsuki had more moves planned.

So, as Hokage, the Third chose to stay in the village.

But the one who abducted Naruto was 'A,' one of the strongest members of the Akatsuki. Among those in the village who could stand against 'A' were only the advisory elders and Tsunade.

Tsunade hesitated slightly before nodding.

This time, she didn't refuse.

Because just before Jiraiya led the team out, he had asked her to protect Naruto. She had just agreed, and now Naruto had been abducted by the Akatsuki. How could she tolerate that?

Seeing Tsunade agree, the Third Hokage's worried face finally relaxed.

Sasuke then volunteered, "That guy took Naruto right in front of me. I want to be part of this mission!"

The Third looked at Tsunade.

Tsunade said, "Let him come."

Under the Third Hokage's direction, a temporary team was quickly formed.

Leading the team was Tsunade, and in addition to Shizune, who was always by her side, the Third also assigned Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza, and Yamanaka Inoichi—the Ino-Shika-Cho trio—as well as Aburame Shibi and a Hyuga clan Jonin.

Finally, there was Sasuke, who insisted on joining. In total, there were eight members.

In the temporary camp of Hidden Rain.

A Rain shinobi pulled aside a curtain and whispered, "What's going on tonight? Why are the lights still on in the Hokage building?"

"Something is definitely off!"

Another Rain shinobi said, "Didn't you notice? Not only the Hokage building, but also the camps of Cloud, Mist, Sand, and Stone are all lit up. Earlier, I even saw them moving people around!"

As they talked, the group realized something was wrong.

They quickly came to a conclusion: the Five Great Shinobi Villages were planning something tonight!

Though they didn't know if sending the information back to Hidden Rain now would be timely, doing nothing was worse. So, the Rain shinobi quickly released a messenger hawk with the information.

Outside the Hidden Leaf.

Holding the unconscious Naruto, Shinji stood on the crown of a large tree, gazing distantly at the brightly lit Hidden Leaf Village in the night.

He knew that if he failed this time, this peace would no longer exist.

"I hope everything goes smoothly."

He said silently, then with a flash, he left without looking back.

Every minute and every second was incredibly precious now. There was no time for him to be sentimental.

Racing through the darkness, he left signs along the way, while also organizing his plan.

At the moment, he had pieced together a total of six teams.

One was Karin and the Grass Village, another was Haku and the Mist Village, then Neji and the Hyuga Clan, Kimimaro and Orochimaru, a fifth team was drawn from the combined force of the Five Great Shinobi Villages pursuing Yugito, and lastly, a squad from the Hidden Leaf drawn out using Naruto as bait.

Since everything was hastily arranged, even Shinji, the one orchestrating everything behind the scenes, couldn't be certain about the final overall strength of each team.

For example, in using Yugito as bait, he had initially expected only Cloud's elite forces to respond, but the Five Great Shinobi Villages had decisively sent out a joint unit.

This resulted in that joint unit's strength far surpassing the other teams.

Another example was Neji. Shinji had used 'Jikibi' to discuss things with him, suggesting he leverage the power of the Hidden Leaf through the Hyuga clan, but unexpectedly, Hiashi had decided to act on his own without involving the village.

This meant that Neji's team's strength was less than what Shinji had hoped. After all, the Hyuga clan didn't have many powerful shinobi, and Hiashi was the only notable figure.

But even Hiashi's track record wasn't that great. He seemed to struggle against strong opponents, which made Neji's team not suitable for independent action.

The other combinations, like Karin with the Grass Village, Haku with the Mist Village, Kimimaro with Orochimaru, and Tsunade's group closely following Shinji, were more evenly matched in terms of combat strength.

Even Karin's group, which seemed the weakest, had a basic guarantee of power since Karin had replaced her eyes with the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Now we might have a chance."

Shinji was beginning to feel some confidence.

The level of power in the Demon Slayer World was well known, and even the Upper Rank demons, with all their accumulated chakra, were only around Kage-level at best.

Thus, except for Neji's team, the other five teams all had the capability to eliminate an Upper Rank demon.

Of course, that was assuming nothing went wrong.

After all, aside from Haku and Karin, who knew the full situation, and Neji, who knew part of it, the rest of the teams were thrown together by Shinji through a mix of lies and manipulation, which made the variables quite large.

After some thought, Shinji decided to have the strongest team—the joint force—go in first.

The joint force not only included Cloud's 'AB Combo,' which was two Kage-level combatants, but also had Jiraiya and Chiyo, who were both strong and experienced. Given that it was also the largest in number, sending them to scout out the anchor point was Shinji's best option for now.

With his decision made, Shinji immediately activated 'Jikibi' and contacted Yugito several kilometers away.

Currently, Yugito, under Shinji's genjutsu control, was a useful tool because of 'Jikibi.' All Shinji needed to do was give commands, and Yugito, with little autonomy, would execute them immediately.

The only downside was the limited range of 'Jikibi.'

Once Yugito was beyond that range, she would carry out Shinji's last given command in a daze.

So Shinji had to always keep Yugito within the range of 'Jikibi.' Otherwise, Yugito wouldn't be able to handle any high-level tasks.

Several kilometers away.

Upon receiving new orders from Shinji, Yugito suddenly changed direction and headed towards a forest in the Land of Fire.

That forest was one of the five anchor points within the Land of Fire.

In the joint force.

Cloud's sensor unit detected the change in Yugito's path and immediately reported to the Fourth Raikage: "Raikage-sama, Yugito's chakra has shifted direction!"

The Raikage asked sternly, "What change?"

The sensor shinobi said, "The target seems to have detected our pursuit and altered its path!"

The Raikage waved his hand, "Don't worry about it, just keep chasing. I want to see what the Akatsuki are really up to!"