"Confirmed—there are concealed enemies present. Descend a bit more. I need to further verify their numbers and identities," Hyūga Hizashi said.
"Enemies…?"
Hagoromo was startled as well. Someone had actually managed to infiltrate such a tightly sealed zone?
But there was no reason to doubt Hizashi's judgment. When it came to reconnaissance, the Byakugan was second to none.
"Maintain this position?" Hagoromo asked.
"Yes."
After receiving a firm answer, Hagoromo guided the Yatagarasu into a slow spiral, descending smoothly before stabilizing again.
Compared to before, their altitude had dropped by several hundred meters, but their horizontal position remained almost unchanged.
"One… two… three… four…" Hizashi counted methodically.
"Confirmed: four squads of ninja, sixteen individuals total. They're using Earth Release to hide beneath the surface, at depths ranging from thirty to fifty meters. Their horizontal distribution is relatively concentrated—roughly within a circular area about two hundred meters across."
In a restricted zone like this, anyone burying themselves that deeply underground could only be an enemy.
And sixteen ninja was no small number.
"They haven't moved for now," Hizashi continued after a moment of further observation. "There are likely sensory-type ninja among them. Worst-case assessment: the enemy may have already detected us."
Anyone who dared to hide underground like this would, in theory, need sensory ninja to keep track of the situation aboveground.
"Are they from Sunagakure?" Hagoromo asked.
This was a crucial question.
If these sixteen belonged to some other hostile force, that was one thing. But if they were Sand ninja, the implications were severe—it would mean Sunagakure had no intention of honoring the peace talks at all.
That would put the Third Hokage in real danger.
If these sixteen were Sand ninja, it would also mean the blockade hadn't been strictly enforced—or worse, that deliberate gaps had been left. In that case, sixteen infiltrators might only be the tip of the iceberg. There could be a hundred and sixty.
The fact that the enemy had hidden themselves so deeply with Earth Release meant they had come fully prepared. At the very least, they possessed detailed intelligence about the Kage summit.
There was no way to tell when they had slipped in—or whether the leak had come from Konoha's side or Sunagakure's. But right now, the most important thing was preventing them from sabotaging the meeting between the Hokage and the Kazekage.
This exact scenario had been anticipated when the mission was assigned. Detailed contingency plans had already been established—precisely so that ninja could make immediate judgments in emergencies, rather than blindly waiting for orders.
The enemy clearly had ulterior motives. If not for the Kazekage having just passed through this area—prompting Hizashi to intensify his Byakugan's focus and coincidentally scan beneath the surface—they might never have been discovered at all.
"Judging from their attire," Hizashi said, "they don't appear to be Sand ninja. They're more likely subordinates of Hanzō of the Salamander."
"Amegakure…"
Hagoromo murmured to himself. Hearing that they likely weren't Sand ninja, he let out a quiet breath of relief.
During the early stages of the war, Amegakure had indeed been unusually active. But a minor nation was still a minor nation. Hanzō was unquestionably powerful—an individual on the level of a Kage—but a Great Ninja War couldn't be decided by a single powerhouse alone.
Hanzō was strong, yes—but Amegakure had little else to rely on. Aside from him, there were very few truly noteworthy ninja.
At present, Konoha was still engaged in conflict with Amegakure. If the Sand front fully stabilized, it was very likely that Konoha would redirect its forces toward Rain. Hanzō certainly wouldn't want to see that happen.
So, upon learning that the war between Konoha and Sunagakure was about to end, he planned to sabotage the talks?
Logically speaking, that made sense.
But then another question arose: why hadn't these hidden ninja attacked when the Kazekage passed through the area earlier? Even if the attack failed, any assault on the Kazekage would have forced him to turn back immediately, effectively derailing the peace talks.
Hagoromo was just about to voice this question—then swallowed it back.
Because an answer had already come to him.
Could it be… that Sunagakure and Amegakure were working together?
No. That possibility was slim.
At the end of the day, Sunagakure was genuinely desperate to end the war with Konoha. What would they gain from sabotaging the talks? Rekindling hostilities so they could counterattack the Land of Fire?
Impossible.
If Sunagakure still had that kind of strength, they wouldn't be seeking peace in the first place.
That line of reasoning didn't hold up.
Which left a more plausible conclusion—
These sixteen ninja were likely suicide operatives, intending to create maximum chaos by launching a simultaneous attack on both the Hokage and the Kazekage.
As for why they hadn't moved when the Kazekage passed nearby:
On one hand, that had likely been an unexpected development. No one would have anticipated such a high-value target passing so close to them. While it was objectively a golden opportunity, it didn't align with their original plan.
On the other hand, given how deeply they were buried, launching a sudden ambush simply wasn't feasible. They would almost certainly be detected by the Kazekage's guards while surfacing—likely killed before they could even attack.
"Overall, the four squads are still relatively close together," Hizashi said. "But the teams themselves are dispersed. According to mission protocol, we're required to eliminate enemies immediately upon discovery—without causing major disturbances."
"Given the current situation, it'll be difficult to force them all out of the ground at once. What do you think—wait for contact from Minato-sama?"
Hizashi's words sounded like he was asking for Hagoromo's opinion—but in truth, it was closer to thinking out loud.
He didn't really expect Hagoromo to come up with a workable solution. Though he had heard of Hagoromo's feats—especially the terrifying jutsus used to repel a tailed beast—those jutsus were too powerful.
If something like that were unleashed here, it might indeed bury all the enemies alive—but the resulting commotion would be far too great.
Hizashi didn't know that, to avoid drawing excessive attention, Hagoromo had long since "sealed" such jutsus in name. According to Hagoromo himself, without stockpiling chakra for three or four years, he couldn't use them anyway.
But the situation was urgent.
Hagoromo decided to act immediately.
"Can you mark the enemies' exact positions?" he asked. "Including the distances between them and their respective depths underground."
He felt that he just happened to have a jutsu perfectly suited for this situation—
One that could bury all of them in a single move.
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