But even so...
Was there really a need to rush back that urgently?
The camp already housed a large number of Konoha shinobi. Shouldn't that level of protection have been more than enough?
Especially now that Kirigakure itself had fallen and the Third Mizukage was dead, Satomi truly could not understand how much danger Rin could still possibly be in.
Unfortunately, this was precisely the question Shimizu could not answer.
He could hint at the higher evolutions of the Sharingan and Byakugan, but he absolutely could not reveal the existence of Madara or the masked man.
"There's no need for you to come with me this time," Shimizu said. "Then you won't need to take another soldier pill either—"
"Shimizu!"
A voice suddenly called out from the distance.
Uchiha Fugaku?
Takano was with him as well.
Behind them followed more than three hundred Konoha shinobi.
And judging by the anxious looks on everyone's faces...
Something had happened.
"Shimizu," Fugaku said grimly, "Yoshimaru and the others were suddenly ambushed by a Kirigakure army. They're completely surrounded now."
"!"
Everyone's expressions changed instantly.
Shimizu glanced toward Satomi just in time to see her swallow the soldier pill without hesitation.
"...Where did Kirigakure even get more troops from?"
"It's the main Kirigakure force that invaded the Land of Fire earlier," Fugaku explained. "They returned to reinforce the village."
Shimizu's heart shook.
He had never expected enemy reinforcements to arrive this quickly. By all calculations, those forces should not have been able to reach Kirigakure this soon.
But there was no point dwelling on that now.
What mattered was that this was an army of five thousand Kirigakure shinobi.
With the strength they currently possessed, they simply could not stop such a force head-on.
"How many people are trapped?"
"Aside from a handful who escaped by pure luck," Fugaku answered heavily, "Yoshimaru and the major clans have around two thousand people trapped altogether."
In other words, aside from the Uchiha clan and the Konoha forces under Takano's command, everyone else had been completely surrounded.
Still, although the enemy held an overwhelming numerical advantage, they themselves still had more than four hundred shinobi here. Opening a breach should not have been impossible.
Fugaku's expression darkened further.
"There's more... They're trapped inside the mountain valley leading toward Kirigakure."
The implication made everyone inhale sharply.
The five-thousand-man Kirigakure army had sealed both exits of the valley completely shut.
How were they supposed to rescue them from that?
Two choices now stood before Shimizu.
Should he go save Yoshimaru and the two thousand Konoha shinobi currently trapped in mortal danger?
Or return to protect Rin from a threat that might ultimately prove to be nothing more than his own paranoia?
At this moment, his heart had already tilted decisively toward one answer.
Two thousand lives before his eyes...
Or Rin alone.
To him, there was no real comparison.
First save the trapped forces.
After that, he would deal with Rin's situation.
"We'll think of a way together," Shimizu said firmly at last. "Then we'll go save them."
…
Northern Land of Fire.
The battlefield between Konoha and Kumogakure.
Within the forest, Minato Namikaze was currently fighting an enemy unlike any he had faced before.
After slicing off another massive tentacle with a kunai while narrowly avoiding a streak of lightning, Minato leapt backward several times and returned to his allies' side.
"Wow~ A, this guy's seriously strong. I can't even keep up with that speed..."
A young man's teasing voice echoed through the forest.
Killer B slowly stepped out from the dense woods. Despite the battlefield, he wore an absurdly out-of-place pair of sunglasses as he stared at Minato Namikaze with open admiration.
"He really is something," Killer B remarked. "That blond guy's ridiculously strong."
"That guy..." Tsume Inuzuka muttered in disbelief. "Could he actually be the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?"
The fact that Kumogakure had deployed the Eight-Tails jinchūriki specifically to intercept them was almost unbelievable.
"Minato... should we retreat for now?" Chōza Akimichi asked with narrowed eyes.
As unwilling as he was to admit it, the Eight-Tails was an enemy far beyond what ordinary shinobi could handle.
Minato raised his kunai before him, his posture making his intentions perfectly clear.
"We continue with the original plan," he said calmly. "We wait for the signal."
"As expected of the Yellow Flash." A voice rang out from atop a towering tree.
A Kumogakure shinobi cloaked in crackling lightning stood there, blue arcs of electricity dancing wildly around his body.
"At this speed," the man said with a grin, "even Shunshin Shimizu probably can't compare."
Minato ignored the praise completely.
What remained vivid in his mind was the terrifying speed the man displayed—like a bolt of blue lightning—and the overwhelming destructive power behind every movement.
Those details alone were enough for Minato to identify him.
"You're the son of the Third Raikage, aren't you?"
"No," the man replied, amusement flickering in his eyes. "I am the Fourth Raikage. A."
A's expression carried open mockery as he continued,
"As far as I know, the western front of the Land of Fire is already in crisis. And the war against Kirigakure has supposedly fallen into a bitter struggle as well."
He stared directly at Minato.
"You're really not going to support your comrades?"
Minato answered without hesitation.
"I trust everyone to handle their own enemies."
A trace of ridicule flashed through Ay's eyes.
"You really put a lot of faith in your comrades."
"Just as you trust the Eight-Tails jinchūriki," Minato replied evenly, "I also have comrades worthy of entrusting my back to. I believe in them."
"Then if you insist on fighting to the death..." Lightning erupted even more violently around Ay's body. "You'll stay buried here!"
His gaze turned murderous.
"The debt for my father's death begins with you, Yellow Flash!"
…
Southwestern Land of Fire.
Within a dense forest, a Konoha force marching toward Kikyō Castle had temporarily set up camp.
"When will Lord Orochimaru return?" someone asked anxiously.
"According to a senpai, it was the Reverse Summoning Technique," the responding Konoha shinobi replied with some worry. "He should be back very soon..."
Poof!
A cloud of smoke dispersed, and Orochimaru's figure appeared before everyone.
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru's hoarse voice rang out immediately.
"Shikaku Nara, take half the troops and return to reinforce Konoha at once."
"Now?!" Shikaku was visibly shocked.
"Konoha is in danger."
As he spoke, Orochimaru tossed Shimizu's letter toward him.
"It's intelligence from Shimizu."
Shikaku caught the letter and quickly read through it.
The report described in great detail the possible crisis Konoha might soon face. It particularly emphasized that the two shinobi who had previously infiltrated Konoha were connected to Kirigakure, warning the village to remain on high alert.
Shimizu's concerns were not unfounded.
If a Tailed Beast appeared inside the currently weakened and undermanned Konoha...
The consequences would be catastrophic.
"Understood..." Shikaku replied heavily.
But another problem immediately surfaced in his mind.
Their current army had already been assembled with difficulty. If half their numbers left now, how much strength would remain to face future threats?
After all, the pressure on the Kikyō Mountain front was no less severe than the other battlefields.
"But what about Sunagakure and Iwagakure—"
"I'll handle everything here myself."
Orochimaru's gaze drifted toward the distant remains of Kikyō Mountain.
During one of the previous battles there, half the mountain itself had been vaporized by the One-Tail's Tailed Beast Bomb, while Kikyō Castle had been completely destroyed beneath a massive Sand Gold Funeral.
Shikaku nodded solemnly.
"Then... Lord Orochimaru, please take care."
"Anko," Orochimaru said coldly, "stay close to me."
His voice grew increasingly chilling.
"The next battle... if you stray too far away, even I won't be able to protect you."
"Yes, sensei!"