Leaving the Kurama Clan leader's mansion, Shinji deliberately took a detour through the village. Only after confirming that he wouldn't be spied on by Yakumo's 'Koryugan' did he return to his own apartment.
He believed Yakumo wouldn't dare spy on him casually, but necessary vigilance was still required.
After washing up, Shinji sat at his desk.
Planning before acting was his usual habit. With the current plan going awry, he naturally needed to consider everything comprehensively before making a decision.
"The Heart Demon shares all of Naruto's memories. As long as he's not an idiot, he should be aware of the danger of the Akatsuki organization and will most likely avoid them..."
Shinji wasn't sure if Naruto's Heart Demon went to find the other half of the Nine-Tails, but he analyzed that Naruto's Heart Demon should also know the danger of the Akatsuki organization and wouldn't easily show himself in the Ninja World. So, he still had time to capture Naruto's Heart Demon back!
The prerequisite was that the matter of Naruto being controlled by the Heart Demon and defecting must not be known to Nagato, Obito, and the others.
"If Yakumo hadn't reported to me, even I, the Captain of the Military Police Force, wouldn't have received any news. The village's secrecy work is acceptable; it should be able to conceal it for a period of time!"
The fact that even he hadn't received the news showed that the matter of Naruto being controlled by the Heart Demon and defecting was strictly sealed by the village's highest levels. At this critical juncture, the whereabouts of a Jinchuriki were originally the village's top secret. Therefore, even if Naruto didn't appear with Jiraiya and Yakumo, no one in the village would feel anything was wrong; they would only think Naruto had been transferred.
On second thought, Shinji thought of the transfer order Tsunade sent during the day.
He needed to stay in the village to provide everyone with the 'Takamagahara' for arbitrary combat drills, so he couldn't participate in the operation personally.
Mumei needed to activate 'Yachihoko' to cooperate with Shinji in marking ninjas entering 'Takamagahara', so she naturally couldn't leave the village either.
The remaining ones were only Haku, Karin, Sasuke, and Kimimaro.
The team leader for this operation was Jiraiya. Haku, Karin, and Kimimaro had too many secrets and might reveal flaws. So after thinking it over, the most suitable person in the Military Police Force to be sent out for this operation was Sasuke.
Subsequently, Shinji silently assessed the combat power: "With Jiraiya, Yakumo, Sasuke, plus Kakashi and other village jonin, it should be enough to deal with Orochimaru..."
Orochimaru escaped from Karin last time mainly relying on the 'Impure World Reincarnation bodies' of the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage.
But if the opponent was the Hidden Leaf, the three Hokage would not help Orochimaru. At that time, Orochimaru could only choose to forcibly suppress the consciousness of the three Hokage's 'Impure World Reincarnation bodies' and force them to fight.
And without consciousness, relying entirely on instinct, the combat power of 'Impure World Reincarnation bodies', even if they were Hokage like the First, Second, and Fourth, was actually not too exaggerated.
Shinji pondered again: "As for capturing Naruto controlled by the Heart Demon back, this job, only Karin going would be safer!"
Early the next morning, the elite team was assembled.
Besides Jiraiya, Yakumo, and Kakashi among other village jonin, Sasuke representing the Military Police Force, Darui of the Hidden Cloud invited by the Hidden Leaf, Ameyuri Ringo of the Hidden Mist, Kurotsuchi of the Hidden Rock, and Ryuzetsu and Chino representing the Hidden Grass Village also appeared at the assembly point.
To avoid detection by the Akatsuki organization, the number of people in the elite team was not too large, but almost all were jonin, or geniuses from various villages with strength reaching the jonin level. Therefore, not only was the assembly speed fast, but morale was also high due to mutual competition.
Jiraiya and Kakashi whispered to exchange plans for this operation at the side, while the jonin checked their ninja tools and equipment respectively.
Perhaps because of similar age, Yakumo and Sasuke gathered with the geniuses from various villages.
Ameyuri Ringo glanced sideways at Sasuke: "Isn't your Mangekyo Sharingan exhausted of pupil power?"
Sasuke frowned: "What do you mean?"
Ameyuri Ringo looked around: "The composition of this team is very elite. The enemy we face should not be simple. Is it really okay for you to join this kind of operation?"
Facing the doubt, Sasuke was instantly furious: "What did you say?"
Ameyuri Ringo was not afraid at all: "Is it not so?"
Yakumo hurried forward to mediate.
Kurotsuchi watched the excitement from the side.
Darui held his forehead, muttering: "Thought I could slack off in the Hidden Leaf, didn't expect to be forced into this kind of team, so troublesome!"
Ryuzetsu and Chino looked at each other speechlessly; they also didn't expect to be drafted by the Hidden Leaf.
A moment later, the fully equipped elite team set off!
Almost simultaneously with the departure of the elite team, Karin and Haku, who received orders issued by Shinji as 'A', left a shadow clone in the village respectively and quietly left the village.
Different from the elite team's mission, they were not going for Orochimaru, but to capture Naruto controlled by the Heart Demon.
Involving his subsequent plans, Shinji obviously didn't feel at ease leaving the mission solely to Yakumo.
Land of Rice Fields.
In a dimly lit underground palace, Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto walked side by side.
Knowing his situation, Orochimaru naturally wouldn't choose to sit and wait for death, so he was forced to activate his backup plan.
Arriving at the deepest part of the underground palace, Yakushi Kabuto stepped forward and opened a switch. Subsequently, accompanied by a 'hissing' sound, the airtight door at the deepest part of the underground palace opened.
Orochimaru walked in immediately.
Behind the airtight door were ice coffins, and the corpses, or skeletal remains, in these ice coffins were all ninja corpses that Orochimaru had previously ordered his subordinates to steal from all over the Ninja World.
The vast majority of the corpses, due to being too old, had completely skeletonized, and their identities could not be identified one by one at all. The remaining few that were relatively well-preserved basically had no skin left, making identification difficult. So Orochimaru stored all the stolen ninja corpses in this underground palace for emergency needs.
Yakushi Kabuto took the record book and said: "Orochimaru-Leader, there are a total of one hundred and seventy-eight skeletal remains stored here. Among them, twenty-one were stolen from the Hidden Cloud, sixteen from the Hidden Rock, fourteen from the Hidden Sand, and the remaining one hundred and twenty-seven were all stolen from the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Mist."
Orochimaru nodded, then casually instructed: "Go collect enough sacrifices!"
"Yes!"
Yakushi Kabuto responded and slowly retreated.
Orochimaru's light instruction was tantamount to one hundred and seventy-eight human lives. If it were anyone else, even a ruthless ninja, they would weigh it somewhat. But in the eyes of Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto, human lives were just numbers.
Shuttling through rows of ice coffins, Orochimaru's gaze swept over various skeletal remains.
Since the 'Impure World Reincarnation bodies' of the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage couldn't stop the Akatsuki organization, then he would summon ten more, a hundred more 'Impure World Reincarnation bodies'. He wanted to let the Akatsuki organization know the price of underestimating him.