Chapter 396: , a means to maintain balance

After a battle of thoughts, Hanzo of the Salamander finally sighed lightly.

Originally, this matter was of great importance, and Hanzo of the Salamander’s attitude was "better to kill the wrong person than to let one go."

But now, the matter had instantly changed flavor, and Hanzo of the Salamander could only "better to let one go than to kill the wrong person."

But fortunately, it wasn't that there was no way to handle the matter; it just required some time and trouble.

This female Stone ninja wouldn't "disappear into thin air."

Paper cannot wrap fire; Hanzo of the Salamander only needed to send someone to contact the Mist side for verification.

And before that, he just needed to keep this female ninja under strict watch and treat her with good food and drink.

When the verification results came out, "793" naturally there would be corresponding handling methods.

Thinking of this, Hanzo of the Salamander basically had an idea.

"Then, Miss Mizunuki, the hospitality has been poor, please stay here for a few more days."

"After I verify it with that lord, if there are no problems, I will definitely send someone to send you 'home'."

When he said the words "take you home," Hanzo of the Salamander’s tone became a bit heavier.

The girl understood that this was a kind of invisible threat from Hanzo of the Salamander.

If it turned out that the result was not as the girl said, then the tool Hanzo of the Salamander would use to send her "home" would be the flying sickle in his hand.

Regarding this, the girl naturally knew it well, but she had no objections to it.

Because in her heart, by that time she would have already "gone back," and Hanzo of the Salamander’s threat to her seemed dispensable.

As for if she couldn't go back...

The girl dared not imagine that result and could only shake her head to cast this terrible thought to the back of her mind.

Just as the girl was about to let out a sigh of relief in her heart and prepare to agree to Hanzo of the Salamander’s words, a gentle and scholarly voice sounded in this small courtyard.

"Long time no see, Hanzo."

For a time, the girl felt like she had a fishbone in her throat and needles on her back.

Cold sweat dripped continuously from her fair forehead, and at the same time, her heartbeat stopped completely at this instant.

When Mizunuki Ryosuke arrived in the Land of Rain, the first thing he naturally did was to see Tsunade to alleviate the longing between the two sides.

Things like "insubordination" and taming the female knight were just incidental, cough cough.

After alleviating the longing, Mizunuki Ryosuke also began to busy himself with real business—that is, the matter of the war between Konoha and the Rain ninjas.

Regarding this war, Mizunuki Ryosuke already had many calculations before it even started.

This war seemed to have nothing to do with the Mist, but if the Mist wanted to rise successfully, in Mizunuki Ryosuke’s plan, the war in the Land of Rain was a crucial part.

This war between Konoha and the Rain ninjas had reached this point, and the backup plans he had arranged before should also be used at this time.

In general, Mizunuki Ryosuke hoped to contain and consume Konoha’s combat power through this war, and at the same time use Konoha to dampen Hanzo of the Salamander’s spirit to facilitate his subsequent arrangements.

Therefore, for Mizunuki Ryosuke, the best result of the "Rain-Leaf War" was for Konoha to have a slight upper hand and be able to suppress the Rain ninjas.

That is, roughly similar to the trend of the war in the original work.

But due to Mizunuki Ryosuke’s interference, the situation of the Rain ninjas and Hanzo’s psychological state were much better than in the original work, which also led to the war situation that should have been favorable to Konoha evolving into a draw.

If this were allowed to develop, it was very likely that the final victory would become the Rain ninjas'!

This was naturally a result Mizunuki Ryosuke could not accept.

Therefore, he had to plan from within to change the current war situation and help Konoha stabilize its decline and find a way to suppress the Rain ninjas.

As for the "ally" relationship between the Mist and the Rain ninjas? It was just a collusion of interests.

In the end, although Mizunuki Ryosuke admired Hanzo of the Salamander, the current Rain ninjas and Hanzo were just tools in Ryosuke’s hands to be utilized...

Who is the so-called "ally"? And who is the so-called "enemy"?

These were all just results driven by interests, and now, Mizunuki Ryosuke’s interests required him to weaken the Rain ninjas, so his ally naturally changed to Konoha.

Of course, all of this could only be done in secret; on the surface, Mizunuki Ryosuke still had to maintain a friendly relationship with Hanzo of the Salamander.

And he must never let Hanzo of the Salamander detect Mizunuki Ryosuke’s plan.

This determined that the Mist must not have a single soldier or pawn involved in the war here.

Even Mizunuki Ryosuke’s help to Konoha could only be carried out in secret.

Fortunately, on the Konoha side, Mizunuki Ryosuke had Tsunade as a pusher, and he could perfectly hide behind the scenes.

So after giving Tsunade a strategy to break the enemy, Mizunuki Ryosuke set off to meet Hanzo of the Salamander.

On one hand, he needed to continue to consolidate the superficial alliance relationship with Hanzo.

On the other hand, he intended to probe Hanzo’s reality to make further plans against him.

And as for Hanzo of the Salamander, who was hard to find for Konoha, 3.4 for Mizunuki Ryosuke, finding him was simply easy.

Because long before the war started, a large number of White Shark unit intelligence personnel had already lurked into the Land of Rain, and the entire Land of Rain had already been eroded into a sieve by his spies.

Every move of the Rain ninjas was basically under his control.

Thus, Mizunuki Ryosuke found the wartime Rain ninja lair and Hanzo of the Salamander’s whereabouts without any effort.

Without alerting anyone, using the Magic Mirror Illusion, Mizunuki Ryosuke infiltrated the core of the Rain ninjas.

—Into this small courtyard that was a one-to-one replica of Hanzo’s residence in the Rain Village.

And here, Mizunuki Ryosuke also encountered a matter that not only made him laugh and cry but could be called ghostly and magical.