Hiding in the sand, splitting into many places, starting with Arkham

Sakumo Hatake stroked Nara Hirano's eyes, carried the middle-aged ninja on his back, gripped the White Fang short sword, and his eyes, filled with startling light, looked towards the distant desert.

There, a cloud of iron sand was surging towards Sakumo Hatake.

As the Sand Village's most closely watched enemy, how could Sakumo Hatake break into the Land of Wind without paying a price?

And in the Sand Village, the only one likely to leave injuries on such a powerful opponent as Sakumo Hatake was the Third Kazekage, known as the strongest Kazekage of all time.

"No need to run anymore, we're safe."

That large black cloud in the sky could be seen from a long distance.

After noticing this phenomenon, Ishido breathed a sigh of relief and signaled everyone to stop.

"It's a pity that Jonin Hisashi took the initiative to stay behind and hold off the White Fang in order to cover our retreat... Alas."

Kana sat down on the scorching sand, sighing.

In the eyes of those who didn't know the inside story, Hisashi Jonin was at the very back during the retreat, which was sacrificing himself to protect his comrades, right?

And Hisashi did manage to withstand a few moves from White Fang, buying some time.

"Sacrificing a Jonin and still not completing the mission objective, it seems this mission has failed."

A Special Jonin took out bandages from his ninja pouch and bandaged his wounds.

"Let me do it, I know some simple medical ninjutsu."

Ken Setsu walked next to the Special Jonin, and a shimmering green light appeared on her palm.

"No, if we can kill White Fang, or even just injure him and affect his combat power, this mission will be a success, with gains."

Ishido manipulated the puppets to stand in a row, and took out a soldier pill from his ninja pouch to replenish chakra.

"With my strength, I should barely be able to hold back White Fang for a few moves, creating some opportunities for the Third Kazekage. Send a message ninja to immediately use a summoning beast to report the news to the village. Kenye, lead the team back to Black Sand City to rest!"

"Yes!"

Kenye solemnly nodded to Ishido.

The Chunin who had led the way for Kiyomizu and the others bit his finger again, used blood to summon the village's message squad's summoning beast lizard, wrote the information on a piece of paper on its leg, and then dispelled the summoning.

Afterwards, the group split into two teams. One team was Ishido alone, manipulating five human puppets to return against the flow, and the other team, led by Kenye, returned to Black Sand City.

...

...

Black Sand City was one of the few prosperous cities in the Land of Wind.

A river from the Land of Rivers passed through the border between the two countries and flowed into this place, then the river was blocked by high mountains, turned a corner and flowed south into the sea.

Where there was water, there was a foundation for building a city, and what allowed Black Sand City to develop was that twenty years ago, the Third Kazekage, who had just mastered Magnet Release, passed through this place and sensed that there were large amounts of iron ore here, so he organized people to mine it.

The iron ore here was loose in texture, easy to mine, had a large storage capacity, and was black in texture, hence the name Black Sand. In addition, there was a river, close to the border, convenient for transportation, and conducive to commerce, so in twenty years it had grown and become an economic center of the Land of Wind.

Iron could be used to make weapons, and the iron ore here also had some associated mineral veins. Some metals were good things for ninjas, so usually there were more ninjas stationed here, and in wartime it was also an area that the enemy would prioritize destroying.

Although the mines were attacked by a Konoha elite squad, the city was still prosperous and lively, with bright lights at night.

If it were normal times, Kiyomizu might have strolled around the city after the mission was over, but now, everyone had no intention of playing around.

"I don't know how the Third Kazekage and Captain Ishido are doing now, alas."

Ken Setsu sat on the eaves of the Sand Village's base roof, looking at the moon in the sky, her eyes blurred.

"The Third Kazekage should be fine. Even if the Third Hokage personally takes action, he cannot defeat Lord Kazekage. I am mainly worried about Captain Ishido. White Fang's ability is too restraining for puppeteers."

Kenye sat next to his sister, watching Kiyomizu and Sasori repairing the puppets in the yard.

The fat puppet was still intact, and the little boy had suffered some damage, but Kiyomizu had some spare parts in his scroll, and he could fix it tonight.

On the other hand, Sasori's Ant was basically scrapped, and repairing it was almost the same as recreating a puppet.

Salamander also suffered some damage, but it was within the repairable range.

"White Fang's strength, what is it really like?"

Ken Setsu asked her brother.

Kiyomizu put down the wrench, turned his head to look at the roof, and listened carefully.

Before the time travel, he had heard of the name Konoha White Fang, but he only knew that this person was Hatake Kakashi's father, very strong, killed Sasori's parents in the war, and the rest was basically not shown in the anime, 0 even without any shots.

It was the same now. He knew that Sakumo Hatake was very strong, definitely a Kage-level powerhouse, but he didn't know exactly where he was strong.

This time, he barely experienced a trace of his sharpness.

Although he was busy escaping at the time and did not see the details of Sakumo Hatake and Hisashi's fight, the aura that this person exuded at that time impressed Kiyomizu deeply.

If it were a weaker Genin, they might not even have the ability to move in the face of White Fang's aura.

Sasori also stopped his movements, his expression calm like a pool of stagnant water.

"I may have to disappoint you. In that battle a year ago, when our Sixth Squad was almost completely wiped out, I was seriously injured and fell into a coma not long after the start of the battle. I was lucky enough to get my life back, and I didn't have the opportunity to face White Fang directly. Moreover, those who faced White Fang directly are all dead."

Kenye shook his head and said.

"Instead of asking me, it's better to wait for the captain to come back and ask him."

Speak of the devil.

As soon as Kenye finished speaking, a cloud of iron sand floated from the horizon and landed.

The Third Kazekage, wearing a white Kazekage robe, stood on a platform made of iron sand, with Ishido, whose upper body was stained red, on his back.

"Are there any medical ninjas? Jonin Ishido has suffered serious injuries."

The Third Kazekage slowly landed, glanced at the courtyard, and looked at everyone.

"I remember your name is Kenye, you are a Special Jonin who was just promoted this year. To become a Special Jonin at the age of sixteen is not bad."

"Lord Third, you are too kind!"

Kenye bowed respectfully to the Third Kazekage.

Ken Setsu and Kenye jumped off the roof. The former took Ishido from the Third Kazekage's hand, held him in her arms like a princess, and walked into the room.

The Third Kazekage looked at the closed door, turned around and looked at everyone in the yard.

"I remember you are Kenye, a Special Jonin who just got promoted this year, it's impressive to become a Special Jonin at sixteen."

"Lord Third, you flatter me!"

Kenye bowed deeply to the Third Kazekage, very excited.