Chapter 567 Counterattack Plan

Before reaching Land of Grass, Muzuki used Konoha’s special communication method to contact the Kusa Country Ninja Force.

Out of caution, Muzuki did not disclose specific troop strength and other intelligence about the support force to the Kusa Country Ninja Force, but directly discussed the rendezvous.

Jiraiya was very happy to learn about the support, but he refused Muzuki’s request to rendezvous and informed Muzuki of their current situation.

After regrouping, Jiraiyas Ninja Force still had six hundred and seventy Ninja.

Jiraiya suspected that there were still unexposed spies within his Ninja Force, so he broke the large force into small teams to stop the Iwa Ninja Force.

After two probes, Jiraiya confirmed that there were still spies in the Ninja Force, but for a time he could not determine who the spies were or how many there were.

Jiraiya believed that a rendezvous could not happen before the spies were found, otherwise the previous failure would be repeated.

“Muzuki Commander, how do we reply?” Nara Suzaku asked Muzuki.

Before asking Muzuki, Nara Suzaku had carefully thought about it in his mind but could not come up with a good solution.

The best and most direct way was certainly to find the spies, but Jiraiyas Ninja Force was stronger than the supporting Ninja Force, and had more excellent talents.

Jiraiyas Ninja Force had not yet found the spies, so it was uncertain if the support force would be useful.

Muzuki showed a thoughtful expression and did not reply immediately.

Finding the White Zetsu hidden within the force was not difficult for him; it just required the effort of appraising them one by one.

Muzuki was thinking about how to turn the tables and use the White Zetsu to trick Iwagakure.

Since White Zetsu could act as a spy for the Iwa Ninja Force, it meant that Iwagakure was also infiltrated by White Zetsu.

In this situation, he could let White Zetsu obtain false information and then transmit it to the Iwa Ninja Force, causing the Iwa Ninja Force to be misled by the false information.

“Currently, only the vanguard of the support force has arrived, with only fifty Ninja, and we can rendezvous first to discuss the upcoming battle,” Muzuki thought for a moment and said.

“You can reply like that.”

“Oh, and include the news that I am with the vanguard,” Muzuki added.

Nara Suzaku and the other Ninja discussing looked at Muzuki with confusion, not understanding why Muzuki would reply in such a way.

Before finding the spies, a rendezvous would only expose their own intelligence and lead to a repeat of past failures.

Although Muzuki intentionally gave false information about only fifty Ninja.

But what good would that do? Once they truly rendezvoused, if the spies weren’t found, the information would still be exposed.

“Muzuki Commander, are you planning to take fifty Ninja to help Jiraiya-sama find the spies?” Nara Suzaku asked after some thought.

Only with this reason could Muzuki’s reply make sense.

Muzuki nodded and replied:

“That’s right, I have a sensory ability that can sense others’ goodwill and malice towards me. Although Ninja with malice towards me aren’t necessarily spies, it can greatly narrow down the search range.”

The effect of the Appraisal Technique was too heaven-defying, and Muzuki could not actively reveal it.

Moreover, Muzuki indeed had a Ninjutsu that could sense good and evil; Kenbunshoku Haki could be developed in this direction.

However, Muzuki’s Kenbunshoku Haki had just reached the proficient level, and his mastery was still very low, so it did not have this effect yet.

Nara Suzaku looked surprised, not expecting Muzuki to possess such an ability.

Sensing good and evil was indeed an excellent ability to distinguish spies, especially for a Ninja with a good reputation like Muzuki.

If they were allies, why would they harbor malice towards a gentle and kind person like Muzuki without reason?

If they were enemy spies, they would surely wish to eliminate a famous genius and powerful individual like Muzuki as quickly as possible, making it impossible for them not to harbor malice.

“In that case, it is indeed more appropriate to lead a small force to rendezvous first.” Mimurabe Ketsu nodded in agreement.

This would neither expose the intelligence of the support force nor quickly help the Kusa Country Ninja Force escape their crisis.

Moreover, fifty Ninja was also a significant force, capable of handling most situations.

Once Jiraiya’s side gave a positive reply and set a rendezvous point, Muzuki also called out the Ninja he had already selected.

“From now on, we are the vanguard of the support force, and the true support force has not yet arrived in Land of Grass, do you understand?” Muzuki reminded after gathering the fifty Ninja.

“Except for me, no matter who talks to you about the support force, you must not reveal the true intelligence.”

White Zetsu needed to absorb the Chakra of the corresponding Ninja to use the impersonation Jutsu for transformation. Muzuki was confident that his Chakra would absolutely not be absorbed by White Zetsu, but he could not guarantee whether other Ninja’s Chakra would be absorbed.

Seeing Muzuki’s serious expression, the Ninja all nodded earnestly, taking down all of Muzuki’s words.

After stating the precautions, Muzuki led the Ninja to the agreed rendezvous point.

To ensure that the remaining support force had sufficient combat power, besides his five disciples, for the remaining forty-five Ninja, Muzuki only brought Genin and Chunin, leaving most of the Jonin and Special Jonin with the support force.

As they were about to reach the agreed location, Muzuki first used Kenbunshoku Haki to sense, then activated his Byakugan to carefully observe the surroundings. Only after confirming there were no issues did he lead his subordinates to rendezvous.

To prevent any accidents, Muzuki did not close his Byakugan, keeping it activated.

With the Yang Seal, Muzuki now had abundant Chakra, so using Byakugan and consuming some Chakra was not an issue.

Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze, and his other two disciples had already arrived and were waiting at the designated location.

Seeing Muzuki approaching with his force, Jiraiya quickly stepped forward and said:

“This time, the Iwagakure is truly too strange; their intelligence gathering is incredibly strong. I don’t even know how many spies are in the force.”

To ensure that the rendezvous with Muzuki went smoothly, Jiraiya had arranged it very discreetly. Not only were there very few people aware of it, but he even brought only his three disciples.

Jiraiya no longer blindly trusted family Ninja. If a Jonin from the Sarutobi Clan could be a traitor, it would not be surprising if other clans also had them.

His own disciples were different; from childhood to adulthood, Jiraiya could ensure they had no problems whatsoever.

“I’ve seen the battlefield intelligence, and there are indeed quite a few suspicious points.” Muzuki nodded, then looked at the fifty Ninja behind him.

“Except for Kakashi Hatake, Uchiha Obito… and others, all other Ninja are to spread out and maintain vigilance!”

Muzuki sent all Ninja except his disciples to the surroundings to be on alert.

Although Muzuki, with his Byakugan, did not need their vigilance, the fewer people who knew about their upcoming conversation, the better.

“Toad Uncle, Minato-sensei, are you two uninjured?” Obito couldn’t help but ask.

Minato Namikaze smiled and shook his head, indicating he was fine.

“What are you talking about? I’m one of the Sannin! This little difficulty won’t injure me! And it’s not ‘Toad Uncle,’ it’s Toad Sage!” Jiraiya emphasized, tapping Obito’s head.

“Okay, Toad Uncle.” Obito replied, nodding unmoved.

In his mind, there were only the Six Paths Sage and Muzuki Sage.

Jiraiya: …

“Sohira, we are truly pitiful. Although we are in the same force as Minato, it’s as if we don’t exist at all, even though we helped with training before,” Dekai sighed and said.

“Sohira-senpai, Dekai-senpai, are you injured? I can provide healing,” Rin Nohara asked softly.

“Hehe, no need.” Dekai chuckled and waved his hand. He was just complaining that the two of them had no presence and were always ignored.

Ignoring the somewhat annoying Obito, Jiraiya looked at Muzuki.

Having subordinates on alert was a normal thing, but sending almost all subordinates to perform alert duty, Jiraiya thought Muzuki might have something important to say.

After appraising everyone on Jiraiya’s side, Muzuki said:

“Actually, the entire support force has already arrived. Besides me, there are five hundred Ninja, including fifteen Jonin and fifteen Special Jonin…”

Muzuki first briefly explained the intelligence of the support force.

“Huh? Didn’t you say only the vanguard arrived?”

Dekai was a bit confused, not expecting their own intelligence exchange to contain false information.

“They’re worried about spies getting the intelligence, I suppose,” Minato Namikaze analyzed.

Actually, when he received the intelligence, he felt it was a bit strange.

The Iwa Ninja Force in Land of Grass was far stronger than Konoha’s. Sending a fifty-person elite team on a forced march to Land of Grass didn’t make much sense; it couldn’t change the course of the battle, unless all fifty of those individuals were as strong as Muzuki.

“In that case, Muzuki, do you have an idea for capturing the spies?” Jiraiya asked.

Muzuki’s strength was great; even by himself, he could make their small force safer.

But Jiraiya didn’t think Muzuki would bother to rendezvous just for that.

If he hadn’t seen Muzuki among the so-called vanguard, Jiraiya would certainly have refused the rendezvous to prevent problems.

Muzuki nodded, repeating the explanation he had given to the support force.

“Sensing goodwill and malice, that’s truly a good method!” Jiraiya’s eyes lit up.

If a hated person possessed this ability, its efficiency in distinguishing spies might not be very high.

But if the person with this ability was Muzuki, Jiraiya felt it would be spot on.

Muzuki treated people kindly and cooked delicious food. Under the condition of being a Ninja from the same village, if someone harbored malice towards Konoha, Jiraiya couldn’t imagine how deep their hatred for others would be.

It was impossible for Muzuki to be liked by everyone, but those who disliked him shouldn’t go as far as ‘malice’; at most, they might just be indifferent.

“So, it still has to be Muzuki Sage,” Obito praised in his heart.

Jiraiya was, at best, just a bit strong, while Muzuki seemed to be omnipotent.

“My idea is to first use my ability to find the spies, and then turn the tables by letting the spies obtain false intelligence, thereby creating a favorable situation for our Konoha,” Muzuki said, pushing up his glasses with his right hand, stating his general plan.

“Then the four hundred and fifty hidden Ninja will become a surprise force!” Jiraiya smiled and patted Muzuki’s shoulder, having roughly guessed some of Muzuki’s thoughts.

He had to admit that Muzuki considered all aspects very thoroughly, even better than him, a seasoned commander.

Of course, it was also because Muzuki possessed the key ability to break the deadlock that he could come up with these thoughts.

“What do you think we should do next? Should we go to each small unit to investigate, or gather all the units?” Jiraiya asked after some thought.

Hiruzen Sarutobi’s orders did not include the support force directly merging into the Konoha force in Land of Grass, so Muzuki was currently a force commander on the same level as Jiraiya. They had to discuss things, and neither had the authority to order the other.

“Let’s gather all the units. Investigating them one by one is too slow, and the possibility of exposing the plan would be greater,” Muzuki replied after thinking.

Investigating each small unit would eventually require gathering them anyway. Muzuki was concerned that new White Zetsu might appear during this process, and then a cautious Muzuki might choose to screen everyone.

So Muzuki felt it was better to gather the force and inspect them all at once, then directly begin the plan.

The faster the plan progressed, the less time the enemy had to think.

“Good.” Jiraiya found Muzuki’s words quite reasonable and agreed.

When the plan was mostly discussed, Muzuki called back the subordinates responsible for vigilance and followed Jiraiya to Jiraiya’s small unit.

“I’m truly sorry, it seems you’ll have to take care of Kushina yourself once the war ends, Minato,” Muzuki said with a smile to Minato Namikaze on the way.

It wasn’t long after Minato Namikaze sent him a letter that Hiruzen Sarutobi’s order came down.

Minato Namikaze showed a somewhat embarrassed smile, then sighed, “I hope so. There have been too many unexpected incidents lately.”

He wrote that letter because he had a premonition about the situation of the war with Iwagakure, but the actual developments still exceeded Minato Namikaze’s expectations.

If Muzuki hadn’t possessed the ability to sense malice, Minato Namikaze estimated that the Kusa Country force would have been able to only passively defend for a long time, even with reinforcements.

“If the defeat of the Kusa Country force was due to spies, then Muzuki-sensei, with his special sensory ability, would definitely be considered a thorn in Iwagakure’s side. Could this be why he was surrounded and killed by many Iwagakure experts?” Kakashi thought to himself.

Kakashi had never been a high-ranking member of a Ninja force, but he had been on many battlefields in recent years.

A spy incident that could cause the Kusa Country force to be defeated without warning was certainly not an ordinary spy incident.

“Say less when we get there,” Kakashi couldn’t help but remind Obito.

Following Muzuki, they now knew many confidential pieces of intelligence.

Obito’s face darkened, “Kakashi, you underestimate me too much. I’m not a bigmouth who likes to blab everything.”

“Heh heh.” Kakashi smiled faintly and said nothing.

Obito was fuming. If the timing hadn’t been so inappropriate, he would have wanted to fight Kakashi.

“You just wait and see!” Obito declared fiercely.

To show Kakashi his ability to keep secrets, he planned not to interact with Ninja who weren’t his friends once they arrived. That way, it would be impossible to expose any intelligence.

Kakashi observed Obito’s reaction and nodded inwardly.

PS: There’s one more chapter coming, probably around 3 o’clock.