manynovel Chapter 209 Rescue
Chapter 209 Rescue
"Hokage-sama! An urgent message has been sent from the Hidden Mist Village!"
"Lord Kazekage! An urgent message has been sent from the Hidden Mist Village!"
The same scene happened almost simultaneously in the two ninja villages.
Temari, who is now the acting Kazekage, and Tsunade, who has been in office for more than two years, were the first to receive the decrypted documents from the Intelligence Squad.
The document of the Hidden Sand Village is not long, only three lines:
"The One-Tailed Jinchuriki Gaara and the head of the Kirigakure Anbu Uchiha Asaka were kidnapped by Akatsuki members, S-rank rebel ninjas Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. The Kirigakure hopes that Konoha and Sand Village can provide the necessary assistance in accordance with the alliance treaty and launch a joint rescue operation among the three countries."
Temari was stunned.
Gaara and Asaro...?!
Akatsuki...isn't that a mercenary organization? Could someone have hired them to attack Gaara and Asano?
But when it comes to Uchiha Itachi, considering his past of destroying his own clan, people are unsure whether this is an attack against the Hidden Mist Village or involves some personal grudges among the Uchiha.
Temari ordered solemnly, "Send Kankuro to see me."
……
Tsunade put the paper down and looked up at the group in front of her.
"What's wrong?" Naruto, who had just returned to the village, tilted his head in confusion, "Grandma Tsunade, you look so bad."
Kakashi asked, "What happened?"
She didn't reply, but instructed Shizune who was standing beside her, "Team Three should be in the village, notify Gai to come over. Also, have Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino come along as well."
Shizune was slightly stunned: "Yes."
"What? Aren't you saying that I can't accept missions alone? Do you want me to follow Team 3? Shikamaru and Shino have their own companions, we can't assign them to Team 7!" Naruto immediately complained loudly: "I want to carry out missions under the name of Team 7! Granny Tsunade, even if... even if there is only me in Team 7 now, the two of us, Kakashi-sensei and I, are enough!"
Tsunade said, "I have no intention of excluding you from this mission."
Kakashi probed, "Where did this file come from?"
"Mist Hidden Village."
As soon as these three words came out, Naruto, who was still bluffing just now, suddenly fell silent. He widened his eyes: "The Hidden Mist Village... is it Asaro!? Did Asaro send any news?!"
Tsunade was firm: "Naruto, if you can't keep calm, I won't let you go on this mission."
Naruto was slightly stunned and seemed to want to say something else, but when he remembered Tsunade's words, he clenched his teeth and held back.
Fortunately, Team 3 arrived quickly. Behind Kai were Rock Lee, Tenten, and Haruno Sakura, Tsunade's new disciple who was accepted shortly after she became Hokage.
After Neji left Konoha, she was assigned to Team 3 by Tsunade because of her outstanding physical skills.
When she saw Tsunade, she greeted her obediently, "Master."
Not long after, Shikamaru and Shino also arrived.
They looked at each other, Shino was wearing sunglasses and had no expression on his face, while Shikamaru had a serious expression. After seeing Team 3, he seemed to have confirmed something.
Seeing that everyone was present, Tsunade took a deep breath, "There's a letter from Kirigakure asking for help."
"!"
"!?"
Tenten subconsciously said, "Ningji...?"
Tsunade said succinctly, "The One-Tailed Jinchuriki Gaara and Uchiha Asaru were kidnapped by the S-rank rebel ninjas Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. The Hidden Mist Village has therefore asked us for help. Shikamaru and Shino, you will temporarily form a team with Naruto, with Kakashi as the lead jonin, and go with Team 3 as a reinforcement force to the place where Uchiha Asaru and Gaara disappeared last, and meet up with the rescue team from the Hidden Mist Village."
She gave the address provided by the Hidden Mist Village, which was about a day's distance from Konoha.
"Okay!!" Xiao Li shouted, "Let's reach our destination in half a day!!"
Kai was excited: "No, six hours!!"
This time, Tenten and Sakura, who were usually responsible for complaining, didn't say a word.
Haruno Sakura looked at her and then at Xiao Li. Although Xiao Li was always full of energy, this time there was an extra layer of anger in his aura.
Apparently, Team 3 still hasn't gotten over the fact that their former comrade Neji Hyuga left without saying goodbye.
Perhaps it is because of this connection that the Hokage specially assigned Team 3 to carry out this mission.
The third team rushed out first. Kakashi glanced at Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru, wanting to say something, but felt that there was no need to say more: "... Let's go."
Team 3 is like this, Haruno Sakura couldn't help but turn her head to look at Team 7 behind her - Team 7 is missing two members, how would Naruto feel at this moment?
But Naruto, who was always noisy, was uncharacteristically silent at this moment.
Both teams worked at full speed and actually finished the task much earlier than normal.
However, the people from the Hidden Mist Village arrived faster and they were already waiting.
"Has your speed slowed down?" Hyuga Neji was using his Byakugan to carefully survey the battlefield, judging the enemy's capabilities and the direction of their final evacuation.
He stood beside Bai, and although he could be seen without turning his head, he looked at his former teacher and companions with a calm expression, probably to show respect: "Long time no see, everyone. Seeing you as reinforcements, although it may be a bit strange to say this, I feel relieved."
Xiao Li shouted excitedly: "Ningji!! You--! You didn't say a word at that time--!"
"I'm sorry." Neji apologized very straightforwardly: "The only people I feel guilty about are you."
Tiantian said with a glimmer of hope: "No... Have you ever considered coming back?"
"So far, I have not regretted my choice." Neji said, "So there is nothing to discuss about my affairs. Please do your best to help us rescue Asaka and Gaara. We will be grateful."
we.
The "we" he was referring to was himself and Bai who belonged to the Hidden Mist Village.
Xiao Li clenched his fists and Tiantian pursed his lips.
Kai's expression was more serious than usual: "If you have decided..."
At this time, Shino, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked, "What is that?"
Behind Bai and Neji, there was a large block of ice.
"This is why we need an Aburame." Shiro turned his body to the side so that everyone could see the man frozen in the ice. "This is the Konoha Anbu we captured a few years ago. He was captured by Asaro when she was trying to assassinate her. As long as Konoha assists us in a successful rescue, we are willing to return him to Konoha."
Shino frowned, he raised his eyes to block the eyes of the man in the ice, only looking at his nose and lips, and finally determined where the familiar feeling came from: "... Take the root?"
"It's him. I heard that you two have a very good relationship," Bai looked at him, "It's because of you that Chaolu has been unwilling to kill him. You should know how terrible his nano-poison insects are. Chaolu is risking her life to keep him by her side."
"No need to say that, we will also do our best." Shikamaru said: "Tell me the detailed information."
"We don't know much more than you do." Bai said, "The wanted criminal that Chaolu and Gaara were chasing on the bounty list was attacked here."
"When you got the news, how long had they been in trouble?"
Neji said, "We got the news almost as soon as the incident happened."
He looked at Torrek who was frozen in the ice. "Gaara hid Torrek underground. He apparently protected him at the end of the battle... The enemy didn't find Torrek, so he notified Kirigakure as soon as Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame left."
"Why didn't Tone leave on his own, but informed Kirigakure instead?" Shino found something strange: "Isn't he a prisoner? Why would Gaara protect him when he couldn't take care of himself?"
Neji paused, "Asaro has her own way of controlling Togen. For a long time, Asaro, Gaara, and Togen were the team that went out. But apart from her, Togen is uncontrollable to us. Just in case, Shiro had to freeze him."
"Tsk." Just then, the people from the Hidden Sand Village arrived. Kankuro asked, "We are the last ones?"
"Humph." The skinny old woman next to him snorted coldly: "It's good that we are here."
Compared with Konoha, the reinforcements from the Sand Village seemed a bit perfunctory.
Ningji frowned and asked, "Is this the reinforcement from the Hidden Sand Village?"
"This is the elder of our Sand Village. Granny Chiyo." Kankuro said respectfully, "She is a very powerful puppeteer. Temari begged for a long time before she was willing to come out of the mountain."
"I have no interest in the One-Tail or the Uchiha. I just want to see my grandson."
Bai Dao: "Your grandson?"
"He is a member of Akatsuki, just like Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame."
"!?"
At this point, she glanced at Kakashi again and said with disgust: "Are you the son of Konoha White Fang?"
Kakashi was stunned: "Yes."
"You are as ugly as that guy. Humph! After living for so long, you have to endure all kinds of grievances. I never thought that one day, I would act together with the son of Konoha White Fang!"
Kakashi: “……?”
Kankuro lowered his voice and explained to Kakashi: "Chiyo's son died at the hands of Konoha White Fang during the Second Ninja World War."
Kakashi: "..."
"Now that everyone is here," Bai didn't want to waste even a minute: "Let's set off immediately."
When everyone rushed towards the direction where the Byakugan was locked, Naruto, who had been silent all this time, suddenly rushed to Neji's side: "Hey..."
"What?" Neji looked at him: "You didn't say anything just now, which is not like your style."
Naruto only said: "Asakaro... has she been living well in the Hidden Mist Village these years? Is she happy?"
Neji gave him a long look, and the team was extremely quiet, and he was not the only one who wanted an answer.
"Yeah." Neji replied, "She is living a good and happy life. Because she is fulfilling her dream."
Naruto smiled immediately: "That's good!"
But the smile quickly disappeared, revealing a bit of lost sadness: "That's good..."