"Lady Chiyo, the group escorting the wounded is led by none other than Usagi Xin," A Suna shinobi reported.
Sunagakure had remained in Amegakure after the ceasefire, with Chiyo debating whether to retreat to the Land of Rivers to support the Third Kazekage or stay for a while longer. Eventually, she chose to remain, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike Konoha hard.
And the group escorting the wounded presented the perfect target.
Konoha's camp had already been attacked once, making it heavily fortified. No openings were left. So, Chiyo shifted her attention to the injured shinobi.
There were still plenty of wounded left in Konoha's camp, and if she could strike at the right time, it would deliver a severe blow to Konoha's morale and fighting strength.
Injured shinobi, once healed, would return to the battlefield, and Chiyo wanted to eliminate as many of these potential threats as possible.
"Usagi Xin..." Chiyo's eyes narrowed. She wasn't unfamiliar with him.
Xin's exploits had spread throughout Suna, and the villagers harbored a deep resentment toward him. After all, he had embarrassed their Kazekage in front of the entire shinobi world. Any shinobi from Suna would leap at the chance to tear him apart.
Chiyo was no different.
She hadn't expected the escort team to be led by Xin.
"What's the status on that explosion in Amegakure?" Chiyo asked.
Konoha had begun peace talks with Amegakure, but before the negotiations could even start, an explosion rocked the city, blowing a hole in the wall and killing numerous shinobi.
Suna's spies in Amegakure had sent this information back. However, the exact cause of the explosion remained unclear.
To avoid further embarrassment, Hanzo had ordered his men to keep the incident under wraps. With the limited access that Suna's spy had, it was difficult to uncover the full details in just a few days.
Chiyo's assistant shook his head.
"Lady Chiyo, our agent is doing everything he can to gather more information, but Hanzo's heightened security is slowing things down. We'll need more time."
"Make it fast!" Chiyo snapped, her patience running thin.
She saw the delay as incompetence, frustrated that even a minor incident like this was dragging on for so long. Suna's spy was clearly not up to her standards.
Now she had to decide: should she make her move?
Xin's Sakura Fall genjutsu, which had humiliated the Third Kazekage, weighed heavily on her mind. What if she, too, fell victim to it? The disgrace would be unthinkable.