The six people from the Sand Village sat together in a solemn atmosphere. The dispute between the two other ninja villages not long ago ended with the Sand Village giving in. Only those who were in the situation could understand the frustration. The three Genin were fine, after all, they didn't have much experience and didn't care much about such things, but the three Jonin felt very uncomfortable.

"Are we just going to follow the orders of that Konoha ninja?" Yura said indignantly, "That guy is just a newly promoted jonin, we don't have to be afraid of him..."

"Stop talking, Yura. This is not a question of whether you are afraid or not." Maki interrupted Yura, "I really didn't think it through this time."

"But..." Yura wanted to argue, but the female ninja Juan pulled her arm and shook her head at her.

"Yura, thank you for your hard work this time. Your proposal is indeed tempting, but the Sand Ninja can no longer bear the reputation of betrayal. If we leave at this time, no one in the ninja world will trust us anymore."

If the reputation and trust between individuals can be discounted, then if the reputation of the five major ninja villages is not trustworthy, then the mission system that the ninja villages rely on will be hit hard. After all, even if it is a mercenary, no one will spend money to hire a guy with a tainted credit. If that happens, it will be a heavier blow to the already difficult to maintain Sand Village.

If Yura had only misled Machiavelli on details and intelligence manipulation, the pressure from the general situation would not be enough for Yura to easily convince Machiavelli to change his mind.

"What about Scorpion? It's too inconvenient to be with people from other villages." Although he realized that the mission assigned by Scorpion was likely to fail, Yura still wanted to give it a try, "What should we say to Elder Chiyo?"

"It doesn't matter. There are benefits to being together. Although we are powerful, we cannot guarantee that everything will go well. The most important thing is to bring Gaara back to the village safely. As for Scorpion, if it doesn't work, give up. I will explain to Elder Chiyo."

…

Seeing Juan and Yura retreating with a bit of dissatisfaction, Maki's face darkened and he could no longer hide his fatigue.

"Teacher, what should we do?" Among Maki's three students, Temari, the older sister, is the oldest and the most intelligent one.

"This is none of your business. Don't get involved. These things will end in our generation." It is best not to pass on the grievances of the previous generation to the next generation, especially now that the relationship between the Sand Village and Konoha is developing in a good direction no matter what. Even if there are problems now, they can start over when the next generation comes to power without affecting the overall situation.

"I understand, teacher." Temari nodded in agreement, "But are we really in danger this time?"

"No, we are not the main target this time." Maki replied, "The most dangerous place is Iwagakure Village. We just need to make sure Gaara is safe. Nothing else matters. As for the rest..."

Maki paused, then continued, "We won't actively help the Iwagakure Village, but we'll just have to stay consistent with Konoha."

"Agree with Konoha?" Temari discovered the subtext of Maki's words, "That means Konoha and Iwagakure don't have such a good relationship?"

"Of course. The two villages didn't have much of a relationship. Besides, Mizuki doesn't seem like a fool. He knows what to do." Although he was frustrated by Mizuki, he still recognized Mizuki's way of doing things. "The Konoha ninjas will only trust us, and we will only act in concert with Konoha. After all, we are allies, and those people from the Hidden Rock Village are all outsiders."

Maki, who holds many powers in the Sand Village, knows deeply that the relationship between ninja villages cannot be influenced by one or two actions, or even personal grudges. At least for now, as long as the Sand Village does not do stupid things again, the alliance between the two villages will be unbreakable.

"Yura Jonin seems a little unconvinced..." Temari said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. I'll go talk to him alone later. His idea is good, but abandoning our allies at this time is an action that is one step away from betrayal. We can't afford the consequences." At this point, Maki seemed to have thought of something and turned to Gaara and said, "What do you think of the seal on your body?"

"There is no problem now. The jonin has confirmed that there is no manipulation?"

"Can you confirm this? Konoha's sealing technique is indeed stronger than ours. Is there something we haven't discovered?"

"I don't know about that." Kankuro said, "But the sealing technique is different from other techniques. The possibility of tampering is very small. The above are the original words of the jonin. That's what she said!"

"That's good, but we still have to check carefully after we get back, especially the status of the seal and Shukaku. After all, the jonin named Mizuki is a top seal master according to the intelligence. According to what you said, there was a long blank period, and no one knew what he did to Gaara..."

The Sand Village has also investigated for a long time the causes and consequences of the capture of several Genin in the Konoha collapse plan, but it is basically impossible to have eyewitnesses, so naturally the details of the time were also left unresolved.

"Also, that Chunin, no, he's a Jonin now." Temari recalled the battle against Deidara and Scorpion some time ago, "It was very dangerous. The kind of world-destroying ninjutsu we reported some time ago should not appear in the world."

"I have already consulted Elder Ebizo about this situation. I was just asked not to confront him directly." Although Maki was reluctant to believe that a previously unknown Konoha ninja would have such a terrifying method, he was cautious and went back to check the information. He even asked Chiyo and Ebizo, the most knowledgeable people in the village, but they didn't have much clue. Only Ebizo seemed to have thought of something, but he didn't seem to want to reveal too much, and just told his subordinates to be careful.

"We know."

"I think this is reasonable. Konoha has occupied the most resources in the ninja world for so many years. No one knows how deep its foundation is and what terrible things are hidden in it. However, our enemy is not them. Now we are allies. As long as we grasp this point, everything else is secondary."

…

Just like what Mizuki said, he is not really interested in how Yura deceived Maki. As long as the result is not bad, Mizuki doesn't want to care. As long as the Sand Village still cares about Konoha as an ally, everything will be fine.

After defusing this crisis, Shuimu didn't want to bother anymore. After such a long time, the enemy could appear at any time. Moreover, Shuimu had some expectations about how ambitious Akatsuki was to stop it and how much effort they were prepared to put into it. But no matter what, as long as Pain, the Rinnegan, didn't come, there was room for maneuver for the others. Relatively speaking, the Red Sand Scorpion, which had lost the Scarlet Amber and most of its puppets, might be easier to deal with. The only thing to be wary of was the Sand Iron Technique of the Third Kazekage. But since the Sand Village dared to try to capture the Red Sand Scorpion after getting so much information about him, they were definitely quite confident in dealing with him.

Another easy opponent is Hidan. As long as you have enough intelligence and are careful of his death by blood, it is not very difficult to deal with him. Nara Shikamaru was able to kill Hidan after finding his weakness even when he was at an absolute disadvantage. It makes no sense that Mizuki, who is much stronger than Nara Shikamaru and has Shikamaru's experience in dealing with Hidan, still cannot win. If he really fails, it can only be said that Mizuki's limit is just this.

Apart from these two people, Shuimu, who was not afraid of the human wave tactics, was not very afraid when facing Jue. As for the others, it was a bit difficult.

However, Mizuki, who still has a few trump cards, is much more fully prepared this time than last time, so he will not be so embarrassed when facing the "Akatsuki" organization again.

…

Just like that, the three ninja villages continued to carry on as usual, as if nothing had happened. As time went by, everyone seemed to feel a sense of impending storm, and the atmosphere became increasingly depressing. In the end, only Temari and Juan from the Sand Ninja occasionally came over to have a simple conversation with Mizuki and the two Genin, exchanging information and the like.

As for Yura, whom Mizuki specifically asked to take care of, under the surveillance of Hyuga Neji's white eyes, Aburame Shino's bugs, and Yamashiro Aoba's summoned beast crow, she could no longer move freely as before. And Yura seemed to have noticed something, and has been honest in the past two days, and has not made any suspicious moves. But Mizuki still did not cancel the order to monitor.

It was not until noon on the third day, when the team was temporarily setting up camp to rest in the hot afternoon.

Suddenly, Aburame Shino's expression tensed: "Someone is coming."

"Huh?" Shuimu was also surprised when he heard that someone was coming. "How many people are there?"

"It's impossible to tell." Aburame Shino shook her head. "I haven't sensed many people yet. The bugs that were on guard were killed directly."

"I see." Mizuki couldn't tell if there was anyone in the Akatsuki organization who had a strong enough sense to spot the surveillance bugs everywhere. "Ningji, come and take a look..."

In fact, Shuimu could also set up some perception traps, but the team had just arrived here, and it was only a temporary station, so Shuimu didn't make much preparation. Unexpectedly, the enemy took advantage of this time to find them.

Hyuga Neji followed Mizuki's instructions, opened his Byakugan, and after observing carefully for a while, he said, "There are two people in total, but it seems that they are not coming for us, but aiming at the Sand Village."

"Huh? Why are they targeting them? What are the characteristics of those two people?" Since the target is not me and Deidara, but the team of Sand Village, then there is no doubt that the target is Gaara, the One-Tail Jinchuriki, but is Gaara the priority at this time? Neither caring about the secret of my Samsara Eye, or knowing nothing about it, nor rescuing Deidara, it means that we don't have much friendship.

"One of them was carrying a strange giant sickle-shaped weapon." Neji answered after observing carefully, "The other one was relatively ordinary, but the chakra in his body was also huge, and the flow of chakra in his body was quite strange."

"I understand. You can stop now." Mizuki, who had a general understanding of the intelligence, also knew who these two people were.

"Kakuzu and Hidan? As for the tailed beast assignments, since Deidara was captured and Scorpion is not doing well, have they temporarily changed the people?"

"Don't take part in this battle directly. If you are facing the enemy, try to retreat and don't fight hard. Be careful and tell me if you get hurt."

"Suiki, should we provide support?" Yamashiro Aoba asked, "Although the Sand Village has three jonin and even a Jinchūriki, their combat power is not necessarily superior."

"Of course I know this, but let's not act rashly for now. The enemy may have other accomplices, so we must be extra careful."

Now that it has already begun, Shuimu no longer hesitated, "Send the signal, quickly notify the Sand Village and the Rock Village to be on alert."

"Are Kakuzu and Hidan the first wave? Not bad, Hidan is easy, but Kakuzu is a bit troublesome."

The heart of five attributes, with five lives and five attributes of ninjutsu, is ridiculously powerful. In a head-on confrontation, even Hatake Kakashi was very exhausted. Maki, who is close to Kakashi in strength, has strong overall strength, especially good at wind escape, and it is no problem for him to fight Kakuzu for three hundred rounds. Although the outcome is unpredictable, at least his fighting power is not bad.

As for Hidan, Mizuki thought about it and decided to wait and see. Even if this person started to use the Death God's Blood, he would not kill people directly because of his belief in the evil god and his twisted desire to enjoy pain, so it would be in time for rescue. Moreover, there happened to be a powerful ninja in the Sand Village who was good at sealing techniques. Maybe he could restrain Hidan's performance. The effect of the binding technique was perfect for restricting the enemy's actions. As long as Yura did not turn against him on the spot, there was still a good chance of winning in a two-on-one situation.

Mizuki, who was considering his next move, was suddenly startled by the voice of Aburame Shino.

"Captain Shuimu, there's another person coming. He's coming very fast and directly towards us."

"Ningji..." Hearing that someone else was coming, Mizuki quickly ordered reconnaissance.

"Understood." Hyuga Neji opened his Byakugan and quickly checked the enemy's movements. "One person, the flow of chakra is very strange, very different from that of ordinary people. The speed is very fast, and it is indeed coming directly to our side."