If he and Ruri hadn't made such a big scene, and weren't witnessed by so many people, making it impossible to suppress resentment, perhaps in this defection incident, there wouldn't even be a single 'renegade ninja', and it would've just been circulated internally in secret.
Therefore, on the defector list, only his and Ruri's names appeared.
But being designated as S-Class Renegade Ninja meant an extremely high danger level.
Ayane, Hyuga clan branch family member, and the Uchiha Clan defectors—all of them were deliberately omitted, hidden on purpose.
"Truly worthy of being Hokage... So even on our side, we don't want to make a huge fuss out of this?"
A tacit understanding shared by both sides.
It had to be said, this was indeed also part of Hakushi's calculations.
Konoha was preoccupied with war and had no spare force to chase after them.
And on their side, they also needed to keep their profile as low as possible. At least for now, they couldn't act openly—they had to keep things secret.
That Hokage's intentions—Hakushi could pretty much guess them too.
Balancing the village's situation to get through the current war was the urgent thing, not sending forces to hunt down dangerous renegade ninja.
"Forget Konoha for now—will other villages covet the power of the Sharingan?"
Insect Man voiced his concern.
Even though a lot of key information had been played down, Ruri's Sharingan could still arouse a certain greed from some people.
"Maybe a few ideas, but where would they get the intel?"
Hakushi fired back.
Insect Man thought—on the wanted list, only the charges and rank were listed, plus some basic info, while all the crucial details were missing.
Hakushi continued: "Even though Ruri and I have defected, our ninja techniques and combat style are considered major village secrets. Not even alliance countries would share info like that."
As for other villages trying to hunt them down, Hakushi simply didn't care.
After this incident, their intel would be marked as top secret in Konoha, accessible only to the Hokage and close confidants.
Konoha had already marked him and Ruri as S-Class Renegade Ninja, which meant a tremendous strength—and...danger.
If outside ninja wanted to hunt them, first they had to track their movements, then send out a ninja squad to probe, gather intel on their abilities—expending huge amounts of time, energy, resources, and suffering losses in personnel.
It wouldn't be worth it to risk so much just for a Sharingan they might not even get.
That's also why ninja from other villages don't like dealing with other villages' renegades.
"I see."
"How are things arranged on that side?"
"The Uchiha and Hyuga people are already being transferred in batches. If nothing goes wrong, they should safely arrive in the Land of Demons by the morning after tomorrow."
Insect Man replied.
Hakushi nodded. With Ruri and Ayane escorting the whole way, even if the Five Kage showed up personally, they wouldn't get any advantage. So he wasn't worried about safety on the road.
"Let's speed up our transfer as well. Even if I can guess a thing or two, we can't afford to let our guard down. Use more smoke bombs. Whether or not Konoha has sent tracking squads, these follow-up steps mustn't be skipped."
"Yes."
Just as Insect Man was about to leave, the ground rippled and Earth General emerged from the floor.
In its hand was a letter, which it handed to Hakushi, then burrowed back underground.
"Whose letter is it?"
Insect Man was a bit curious.
"Someone I've placed in Konoha Hospital. Maybe there's some important news to report."
Hakushi answered, then tore open the letter and read the contents inside.
Seeing Hakushi's expression change noticeably, Insect Man tensed—thinking something major must have happened in Konoha, probably aimed at their side.
"What happened?"
"Namikaze Minato's not dead."
Hakushi's face twisted into a strange silence.
"Namikaze Minato?"
"A really troublesome Konoha Ninja. I thought he was dead."
Hakushi narrowed his eyes. What was going on? How could he still be alive?
The Shadow Dancer's Shadow Blade had clearly pierced the guy's heart back then. Even if Tsunade herself did surgery, there's no way anyone could have survived under those terrible circumstances.
He was very familiar with Konoha's level of medical ninjutsu. That kind of injury was basically a death sentence.
Reading further, Hakushi finally understood what had happened.
"Mount Myoboku..."
He muttered those three words.
"Mount Myoboku?"
Hakushi thought for a while, then issued a confusing order:
"Allocate some people to collect and catalog books related to ancient history, especially legends and stories about Immortals. They're to be our priority."