The next day.
Today, Team Six once again had a rare day without any assignments.
At the puppet corps' base, Hardy was on the covered training ground, practicing puppet techniques with the public training puppets.
This was one of the many perks of being in the puppet corps.
Both puppets were heavy models, each weighing over 100 kilograms and equipped only with non-lethal weapons.
Hardy was controlling both puppets in mock combat, honing his puppet manipulation skills.
Sasori wasn't very interested in this aspect—his talent was such that he could master these techniques with just a little practice. His real passion lay in puppet research and creation.
Miyuki was sitting under the eaves, reading a book.
Suddenly, Keno appeared in the training ground.
"Big brother, what brings you here?" Miyuki asked curiously.
"I'll give you fifteen minutes to get ready. Meet at the village gate in fifteen minutes. I'll explain on the way," Keno said, his expression unusually serious.
"No need. Our puppets are all here. If there's a mission, we can head out right away," Hardy said, retracting his chakra threads and wiping his sweat.
"I'll go get Sasori!" Miyuki dashed inside to call Sasori, who was still working on a puppet.
"I'll keep it brief. The border garrison reported that a small elite Konoha squad broke through the border and infiltrated the Land of Wind. A day ago, they destroyed the black iron mine at Black Sand City and then vanished. The village leadership has ordered the puppet corps to cooperate with the border garrison in searching for this Konoha team.
Right now, we're the only puppet squad available to move out immediately. Once found, priority is to capture them alive. Mission rank: A!" Keno said sternly as Sasori emerged from the house.
The Sasori at the Gate spoke.
"An A-rank mission? Doesn't that mean… there's a jonin-level enemy among them…"
Jian Xue said hesitantly.
She didn't believe that one special jonin and one chunin could lead two genin and complete an A-rank mission.
"We're… supposed to capture a jonin alive?"
Hardy pointed at himself with a constipated expression.
"The target we need to capture alive isn't the enemy jonin. According to intelligence, there's a Uchiha in this small team who has awakened the Sharingan. As for the jonin among the enemy, Captain Shihu and the jonin stationed at the border will handle them."
That explained everything.
If we don't count Wood Release, the Sharingan is the most powerful kekkei genkai in the ninja world, greatly boosting combat ability.
Aside from Konoha, every other village covets the Sharingan. If that Uchiha is captured and taken to Sunagakure, their fate would be nothing more than being used for breeding.
Sasori's eyes also lit up.
An Uchiha, huh!
If only I could turn him into a human puppet. But as of now, human puppets can't retain the kekkei genkai abilities from when they were alive—what a pity.
"We move out now. Head to Yixiantian to rendezvous with Captain Shihu. Our destination: Kurozuna City!"
"Yes!" ×3
…
…
A few minutes later, Hardy and his team arrived at the gates of Sunagakure—Yixiantian.
Yixiantian is Sunagakure's most important and final line of defense, as well as the main entrance to the village.
It's an extremely narrow canyon, as if a mountain had been split in two, leaving only a tunnel barely wide enough for two carriages to pass through.
"One man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot break through"—this terrain is the perfect example. If a Kage-level ninja guarded it with a few strong jonin, outsiders would have almost no chance of breaking into Sunagakure.
But the strongest fortress is often breached from within.
In the future, Sasori and Deidara were able to infiltrate Sunagakure only because Sasori used his Mind Puppet Technique to control the village's high-ranking official, Yura, allowing them to easily bypass Yixiantian.
However, this road also restricts Sunagakure's economic development, so it has both advantages and disadvantages.
After showing their mission credentials to the gate guards, Hardy's group quickly set out for Kurozuna City.
Ninjas travel fast. They received the mission after lunch, and before sunset, they had already arrived at their destination.
"Reinforcements have finally arrived?"
The stationed ninja in charge of liaising with the puppet unit let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Hardy's group.
"What's the situation now?"
Upon arrival, without resting, Shihu immediately began questioning.
"Jonin Jiuichi has been tailing that Konoha team with a sensory ninja. The Konoha ninjas who were preparing to assist their comrades at the border have already been driven back by Jonin Rasa. All we need to do is gather enough strength, and we can take out that Konoha squad."
The chunin in charge of liaison replied respectfully to Shihu.
"Assign someone to guide us. We're heading out to provide support immediately!"
"I can lead the way!"
The chunin bit his thumb and formed hand seals.
A few seconds later, a small desert lizard was summoned, with a note tied to its leg.
The chunin opened the note, glanced at it, and handed it to Shihu.
"Let's go!"
Shihu gave the order with a wave of his hand.
…
…
"Pah! What kind of idiotic order did the higher-ups give this time, telling us to sabotage the Land of Wind's rear lines! This damn place is nothing but desert—what is there for us to destroy?!"
On a sand dune, a young man in a black outfit emblazoned with the red and white Uchiha fan wiped his face and spat out a mouthful of sand.
"It's all your fault, Uchiha Sen! The captain told you to use your Sharingan genjutsu to hypnotize those Sunagakure ninjas so we could sneak in, but you went and killed them outright, exposing us!"
A teammate in a green vest couldn't help but mock him.
"What's that supposed to mean? If I hadn't acted, you guys would be dead! Civilian ninjas are just civilians—no sense at all!"
Uchiha Sen glared, his eyes flashing red as he shouted at his teammate.
"Sigh…"
The team leader, Konoha jonin Nara Hirano, couldn't help but sigh.
The conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha was becoming more and more intense. It wasn't just between the Uchiha and the villagers, but also with other major clans.
The police force enforced the law with violence, regardless of whether you were a civilian or from a ninja clan—everyone got thrown in jail, waiting for a Sharingan genjutsu interrogation.
Now, this conflict had spread into the ninja ranks as well.
"All right, the mission to sabotage Sunagakure's logistics is pretty much impossible now. What we need to do is figure out how to break through the Land of Wind's borders. It's going to be tough to get past the blockade, but I've already contacted Lord Sakumo with my summoning beast. He'll try to lead an elite unit to break through the Sunagakure lines and rescue us. So until then, our goal is to survive—hold out until Lord White Fang arrives!"
Nara Hirano said resolutely to his subordinates.