"'A' retreated?!"
"This…"
"Should we pursue?"
Watching Akatsuki's 'A' and 'E' turn and leave, Tsunade's team exchanged bewildered glances.
Everyone had braced for a fierce battle with 'A,' but they hadn't expected the intelligence team's designation of 'extremely dangerous' to be driven off by Shinji.
Shinji's shadow clone let out a quiet breath and said to Tsunade, "I'm sorry, I acted too hastily earlier!"
Tsunade looked at Shinji with a complex expression. "Forget it, we'll talk back at the village!"
If Tsunade had initially been frustrated by Shinji's recklessness, those complaints were hard to voice now, after he had not only slain Upper Moon Two but also forced Akatsuki's 'A' and 'E' to retreat.
The others in the squad looked at Shinji differently now.
Before, they had seen him as a talented academy student, destined to become an exceptional shinobi with time.
But after this battle, they began to view him as a peer, no longer looking down on him as a junior!
Yakumo, excited, rushed to Shinji's side, sizing him up before scolding, "Shinji, that was Akatsuki's 'A'! You were way too reckless charging in like that!"
Shinji just smiled.
No one present could have guessed that the nerve-wracking battle had been entirely staged by Shinji himself.
His shadow clone's chakra was insufficient to sustain so many Fire Release ninjutsu, so Shinji had been channeling chakra to it through 'Wazunagi' while having the clone bombard him, creating the illusion of a fierce fight.
The purpose was to draw the joint task force to the scene, providing a plausible excuse for Shinji and Sasuke to retreat.
Everything went as planned: Upper Moon Two, dosed with the Type-4 Aging Potion, was destroyed, and Shinji and Sasuke withdrew under the reasonable pretext of the joint task force's arrival.
Moments later, the Third Tsuchikage, floating in the air, and the Fourth Raikage, in his 'Lightning Release Chakra Mode,' arrived together.
Seeing that Hidden Leaf had deployed two of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade and Jiraiya, they felt a jolt of concern, fearing that Upper Moon Two, nearly in their grasp, would be snatched by Hidden Leaf. They asked in unison, "Where's Upper Moon Two?"
Tsunade's team all turned to Shinji.
Following their gazes, the Third Tsuchikage and Fourth Raikage looked at Shinji as well.
Shinji pointed to the spot where Upper Moon Two had turned to ash.
The two Kage shifted their attention to the area, seeing only a scorched mess. The impatient Fourth Raikage pressed, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Shinji shrugged. "Well, Upper Moon Two is right there!"
The Third Tsuchikage floated over, inspecting the ashes before turning to Tsunade's team with suspicion. "You killed Upper Moon Two?"
The Fourth Raikage hurried over, picking up some ash and rubbing it between his fingers, watching it scatter. "Impossible! That guy wouldn't go down so easily! Who killed him?"
Shinji didn't take credit, casually saying, "Maybe he was already heavily injured before he ran into me. Akatsuki's 'A' and 'E' were right behind him, after all!"
Both Kage scrutinized Shinji.
Upper Moon Two had the blood of countless Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud shinobi on his hands, with many elite fighters falling to him. They were reluctant to believe he'd been killed by a Hidden Leaf kid.
Soon, the bulk of the joint task force converged on the scene.
As the task force consisted of elite shinobi from Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud, their investigative skills were top-notch. In no time, they concluded that no matter what methods they used, they could no longer detect any trace of Upper Moon Two—he had vanished from the snowy plains.
This conclusion left both the Third Tsuchikage and Fourth Raikage with grim expressions.
They were left with only two possibilities.
Either, as Hidden Leaf claimed, Upper Moon Two, at the end of his rope, had stumbled into Hidden Leaf's line of fire and been killed by an eleven-year-old boy.
Or Hidden Leaf had staged the scene, having already captured and sealed Upper Moon Two.
Compared to the former, they were more inclined to believe the latter. If Upper Moon Two had been sealed into some artifact or scroll by Hidden Leaf, conventional tracking methods would indeed fail.
"Killing Upper Moon Two and forcing back Akatsuki's 'A'! Heh, Hidden Leaf's youngsters are something else!" the Third Tsuchikage said, his tone laced with sarcasm.
The Fourth Raikage was more direct, glancing at Shinji before addressing Tsunade and Jiraiya. "You're pushing this kid out to make us believe Upper Moon Two is dead? Do you think we're fools?"
Tsunade responded firmly, "Everything we've said is the truth. If you don't believe us, there's nothing we can do!"
The Third Tsuchikage seemed to recall something, staring at Shinji for a moment before asking, "If I'm not mistaken, this kid is an Uchiha, right?"
Tsunade confirmed, "That's right. His name is Uchiha Shinji!"
The Third Tsuchikage said deliberately, "Raikage, if I remember correctly, Hidden Leaf has another Uchiha kid—the one who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, Uchiha Sasuke, right?"
The Fourth Raikage's expression turned serious. "I've clashed with Akatsuki's 'E' a few times these past days, and I suspect he's your village's Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Impossible!" Tsunade and Jiraiya said in unison.
The Fourth Raikage knew the weight of such an accusation and laid out his observations. "That 'E' is clearly a novice. His 'Susanoo' is purple, which matches the traits of your village's Uchiha Sasuke."
"That proves nothing!" Tsunade denied.
Unless irrefutable evidence was presented, there was no way they'd admit to it.
The Fourth Raikage snorted coldly and pressed, "Is that so? What if Akatsuki's 'E' is also highly skilled in Lightning Release?"
Tsunade and Jiraiya's faces stiffened.
They both knew that, aside from honing his dojutsu, Sasuke spent most of his time training Lightning Release under Kakashi.