At the appointed time, dressed in full equipment and with a triple supply of consumables in the form of seals and throwing iron, Pakura arrived at the gate, where two teams were waiting for her, led by unfamiliar jonins, which immediately made her a bit wary - the vast majority of jonins the girl knew by sight, and about those of them, whom she did not know personally, at least heard from acquaintances.
That left only two options, which the girl didn't like very much - people of the elders or ANBU, subordinate to Rasa, who didn't show their faces in public, for the most part.
It was a strange choice on the part of the Sunagakure ruling class, even considering that the negotiations with Kirigakure were not publicized. Sending an unnamed shinobi whose strength was unknown on the other side was a direct way to fail.
The recent embassy was led by Orochimaru, a sannin, a student of the Third Hokage, and a very prominent and serious person with whom any Kage would be happy to talk. In addition, his retinue included many of Konoha's clan representatives, famous not only at home but also in neighboring countries.
Here, however, among the six ninja - five men and one woman - there was not a single recognizable representative of the Suna clans.
The kunoichi's intuition, reinforced by professional suspicion, began to give the first bells, but Pakura did nothing to show it, showing her companions a scroll with the mission and examining the same on the other side with all the proper seals.
Only the senior of the group introduced himself, immediately outlining the order of operations while traveling to the designated meeting point with the other side, as well as during negotiations.
That was another thing that made her even more suspicious - the negotiators had no cover teams! It was one thing when it was an official embassy and quite another to have a secret meeting where anything could happen and the attacking party wouldn't even suffer reputational losses.
Not only would two cover teams not be able to cover the negotiator in plain sight, but they wouldn't even be able to notify the village that a betrayal had taken place.
Pakura was aware that a properly prepared ambush could be a serious threat even to her, despite the advantages of the kekkai genkai, and that was exactly what the Mists were known for. Access to a large amount of seawater close to the rendezvous point only gave them a greater advantage on the intended battlefield.
Promising herself to stay alert, the girl took her place in the marching order and left Suna with the others, quickly disappearing among the sands.
Moving by the light of the moon rather than the blazing sun, as almost all Suna men who did not have urgent missions preferred to do, the group arrived at the rendezvous point before dawn - the sky was just beginning to lighten - but Pakura's nerves were already taut, but she remained calm and her intuition signaled big trouble ahead.
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