Chapter 39 Traces

   "Ah, it feels so good after taking a bath."

   Ayane walked from the other side of the forest with her long wet hair, and her skin was still tinged with water vapor, and her skin was white and rosy.

   Behind her was Liuli who remained silent.

  Shiraishi glanced at the two of them, quickly took out Kunai from the ninja bag, and said to Ayane and Liuli, "Before you come here, tell us the secret signal."

   "Signal?"

   Ayane froze for a moment.

  Liuli stood beside her with a blank expression and began to seal, chakra accumulated in her mouth, and she spit it out immediately:

"Art fire escape **** fireball!"

  A huge fireball attacked Shiraishi head-on.

   Baishi fell to the side, dodging the fireball attack in embarrassment.

   Seeing the trees burned by the fireball behind him, cold sweat broke out on his face.

   "How did you answer this code?"

  Liuli smiled on her face, as if she was about to release a second fireball.

  Baishi stood up, and the corner of his mouth twitched: "Yes, it's fine. It's just a joke, there's no need to use Huo Dun to call directly?"

   "Isn't it more convincing this way?"

   Liuli said confidently.

   "Yeah, it's much more convincing than a simple password..."

  Shiraishi sighed and rubbed his sore buttocks.

   "Baishi-kun is also true, I thought we really had some secret code before."

   Ayane came over and said.

  Just as Baishi was about to say something, Liuli looked around and didn't find Shuo Mao, so she asked, "Where did Teacher Shuo Mao go?"

   "I went to look for ingredients. There is not much food in the backpack. I need to go to the sentry point to replenish it tomorrow."

   Shiraishi took out his backpack and said.

   "I really want to eat Yile ramen. I always eat dry food and game outside, and I almost forget what ramen tastes like."

  Ayane rubbed her belly, sat on a rock and complained.

   "Be patient, it will be much better after the war is over."

  The food that Baishi and others eat these days are basically cold products. Only when there is not much food, they will use local materials, but the food is also very simple, fishing from the river, or finding some wild vegetables and mushrooms in the forest to satisfy their hunger.

   "Shiraishi-kun, why not invent a portable ramen?"

   "You can think about Bingliangmaru, but let's forget about ramen."

  Shiraishi shook his head, ignoring Ayane's request.

   "Okay, just eat more when you go to the sentry point tomorrow. You and Mr. Shuo Mao didn't find anything here just now, right?"

  Liu Li carefully observed the surrounding environment, maintaining a high level of vigilance.

   "No, Mr. Sakumo and I were just chatting about the next Hokage."

   Baishi told the truth.

   "Hey, is Shiraishi-kun interested in this kind of thing?"

   Ayane was a little curious.

  Shiraishi glanced at Ayane.

   "Because Sakumo-sensei is the closest Jonin to the position of Hokage, in another ten years, after three generations of adults get old, Sakumo-sensei will have the most appeals to become Hokage. Even the Sannin will be at a disadvantage, and it is well deserved."

   Baishi began to analyze rationally.

   Neither Liuli nor Ayane refuted Shiraishi's opinion.

  The fact is so, Konoha Baiya is indeed Konoha's most appealing jonin, and Sannin should be lower.

  "The village is a country. If you want to advance politically, you need more than the support of the common people. Mr. Sakumo cannot get the support of the ninja, and his personality is not suitable for Hokage. Sometimes, fame is equal to a double-edged sword. It is not only the capital for promotion, but also..."

  Liuli leaned against the tree, with her hands folded in front of her chest, with a very serious expression on her face. When it came to the end, Liuli didn't continue.

  Born from a seed-type ninja that was cultivated by a big family, Liuli is not ignorant of politics, but just not interested in this aspect at all.

  Sakumo's reputation, strength, and character are indeed enough, but the support of ordinary people is not enough to become Hokage.

  In Liuli's eyes, the so-called civilian ninjas don't have a complete whole at all, the factions are complicated, and their interests are too scattered. If no one integrates them, these people will never be successful.

  In contrast, most ninjas have already formed a community of interests. They know what they want to do, what they will get, and what they will sacrifice, and they have the same goal.

   "Listen well, the so-called Hokage... is just a boring game of power alternation at the top, and has nothing to do with the bottom."

  Hearing Liuli who made such remarks, Ayane seemed to be a little worried: "Well, Liuli, is it a bit bad to say that? I think that you can only become Hokage if you are recognized by the whole village."

  "Are you an idiot? If you don't do this, Hokage's reputation will be ruined in the village. You are also a member of the Great Ninja Clan. Isn't your height and cognition not enough to see the essence of Hokage? For me, as long as I have the strength and the idea, the position of Hokage will be at my fingertips. Teacher Sakumo lacks that kind of thinking, so he is an excellent Konoha Jami, but he is definitely not the material for Hokage."

   Liuli had a confident smile on her face, as if she never made mistakes in her opinion.

   Ayane puffed up her mouth angrily, a little aggrieved.

   "Okay, okay, you two, it's still too early to be selected as the next Hokage. At least the most important thing right now is how to complete the tasks assigned by the above."

   Baishi hurried over to be a peacemaker.

   As for Liuli's temperament, Baishi figured it out very early on.

  She doesn't have much respect and awe for the existence of Hokage.

  What she respects is only the third Hokage, a ninja named Sarutobi Hiruzen.

   Respect for a powerful ninja, not out of respect for Hokage's identity.

  As long as you follow this way of thinking, Liuli's thoughts are actually very straightforward and easy to understand.

   After a while, Shuo Mao came back from hunting and found two hares and some fish, which were reserved for dinner at night.

  Before that, they had to find a safe place to hide their whereabouts in the huge hunting ground of the forest.

  ◎

  The next day, came to the nearest sentinel.

  Here has been destroyed, a large number of buildings collapsed, more than a dozen Konoha ninjas fell in the ruins, bleeding all over the place.

   Came here with Shuo Mao's team, and there is also a small class, Anbu.

  There is a squad leader and three team members in the Anbu of this class.

  The squad leader is a Jōnin, one of the three members is a Jōnin, and two are Chunin.

  Shiraishi was trying his best to rescue a Konoha ninja who fell in a pool of blood. His injury was so severe that his entire chest cavity was blown apart by the detonating talisman, and he was on the verge of death.

   That's it, he hasn't died yet. This Konoha ninja has a very strong desire to survive.

  Because the building at the sentinel was completely destroyed, Baishi could only use emergency surgery outside, but he was not sure about the survival rate.

   When they came here, this Konoha ninja had already missed the best time for surgery.

   As for whether he can survive, he can only resign himself to his fate and see if he himself can survive.

   Sakumo and the others did not disturb Shiraishi to carry out the operation, and began to search for other traces in the ruins.

   "It was a large-scale earth escape ninjutsu. It directly knocked down the buildings at the sentry point. After that, there was a sudden surprise attack, so that the people here had no time to defend. The first time they met, they were almost wiped out by the enemy."

  Squad leader Anbu wore a mask. After a professional survey, he briefly explained some problems.

   "One high ninja, six middle ninjas, eleven low ninjas, can't even resist?"

   Shuo Mao's eyes were serious.

   "It is likely to be the special sand hidden army that your team encountered more than two months ago."

  Squad leader Anbe said.

   "Have you verified their identities?" Shuo Mao looked at the Anbu squad leader.

   "The leader, a man and a woman, is the son and daughter-in-law of Sagakushi's adviser, Chiyo, and is also one of the best masters in the Sagakushi puppet army. As for the Sagakushi ninja who can easily divide the battlefield, there is no news yet."

   Shuomo nodded after listening.

  At this moment, Ayane came over and reported to Shuo Maohui: "Mr. Shuo Mao, some of the supplies in the post were taken away, and those left behind were also burned. What should we do next?"

   "Go to another checkpoint later. By the way, can you send another unit of Anbu over?"

   Sakumo looked at the Anbu squad leader.

   "Impossible. At any time, there will be two Anbu squads left in the village. The Anbu of the other squad will assist in the dark on the front line and collect intelligence. Now the Anbu can send out only our squad. Just like this, even with the help of the security team, the defense of the village has become very weak."

   "In short, I hope to send some more people, preferably experts in tracking. I know that the manpower in the village is also very tight, but now is not the time to worry about these things."

   "Understood, I will report to Hokage-sama. As for whether additional manpower can be added, it depends on Hokage-sama's decision."

"please."

  Squad leader Anbu made a gesture, and the other three Anbu companions nodded in understanding, and left here with the instant body technique.

   "Can it be done, Teacher Shuo Mao?" Ayane asked.

  Suo Mao shook his head. He couldn't guarantee that the village would send more people to investigate.

  Based on the white eyes of Ayane alone, the scope of investigation is still too small.

  The enemy troops also have excellent perception ninjas, and are proficient in anti-reconnaissance capabilities. They deliberately search for weakly defended outposts to carry out surprise attacks, causing chaos within the Fire Kingdom. Over time, it is easy to cause huge pressure on the Konoha ninjas on the front line.

  However, the Land of Fire is so big, and the whereabouts of the hidden sand troops are often erratic, with no rules to follow at all, which caused difficulties in the search.

  Back to Shiraishi, Shiraishi has finished the operation and is bandaging the external wound of the wounded.

   "Baishi, how is it, can he wake up?"

   "This kind of thing can only depend on how strong his will to survive is. I can only do this."

  Shiraishi packed up the medical kit and put it back in his backpack.

  Sakumo patted Shiraishi on the shoulder.

   "You've done enough, medical ninjas are not gods."

   Regarding Shuo Mao's comfort, Baishi didn't intend to say anything.

  (end of this chapter)