The dust explosion inside the Gourd Mountain Pass lasted over ten seconds—clearly, the semi-enclosed environment had triggered multiple chain reactions.
The residual shockwaves tore through the pass, unleashing countless sonic booms.
Even with the formidable sensory power of his Sonic Radar Technique, Umino Yoru lost all perception of the interior the moment the explosion began. Only after the chain reaction subsided did his senses return.
What greeted him was a hellscape.
The high-temperature explosion had shattered rock, leaving scorched, glass-like streaks of crimson and black along the walls. In that confined space, the blast's destructive force was equivalent to hundreds of tandem explosive tags detonating simultaneously—effectively turning the pass into a kiln of devastation for those trapped inside.
Yet...
"Huh? Survivors—and quite a few of them!"
Beneath the wreckage of dozens of Mirror Puppet Matrix units, Yoru spotted over a dozen Sand shinobi still standing. Among them, Ebizō—pale as death, coughing up blood tinged with organ fragments—staggered on the brink of collapse.
It was obvious:
At the critical moment, Ebizō had deployed his Red Secret Technique: Puppet Matrix, shielding the survivors. But the backlash from absorbing the explosion's force had nearly killed him.
The surviving Sand nin weren't faring much better. Though alive, their combat strength was halved at best.
"Sensei! Hang on!"
A red-haired puppeteer rushed to support Ebizō, his voice strained with panic.
"Tessai... retreat... get them out..."
With those final words, Ebizō passed out.
"FALL BACK!"
The puppeteer—Tessai—barked the order, his eyes steeled with resolve. He sealed Ebizō inside a specialized puppet and activated Red Secret Technique: Triple Manipulation, deploying two Shield-Type Mechanized Puppets to cover their escape.
Seeing this, Umino Yoru immediately ordered pursuit.
His shadow clone, stationed mid-pass alongside Hagane Kotetsu and Shikuro, led the charge.
"Stick to my path—one misstep, and you're dead."
Guided by Sonic Radar, the Konoha forces navigated the aftermath. The pass was a charnel house—corpses of 300 Sand nin littered the ground, none intact. Worse, the shattered remnants of their puppets were now deadly shrapnel laced with poison.
Once clear, the clone signaled the advance.
"After them!"
With 68 shinobi (28 from Hagane's squad, 40 from Umino's), they had the numbers. Even if most were genin "cannon fodder," sheer volume of kunai could overwhelm the wounded Sand remnants.
But the genin were slow.
To buy time, Yoru—riding his summoned giant white hound—harassed the enemy with Shadow Shuriken Technique.
Earlier, this A-rank jutsu had been useless against the Sand battalion's coordinated defenses. Now?
The Sand survivors had no choice but to halt and block.
"That Tessai... he's an elite jōnin."
Yoru's eyes narrowed. The puppeteer's Thousand-Shield Assembly effortlessly neutralized the attack. But the delay let Konoha close the gap.
With only 0.15 "Kakashi-units" of chakra left, Yoru switched tactics:
Explosive-tagged kunai, specifically targeting Ebizō's transport puppet. Hit-and-run strikes by his shadow clone to punish stragglers.
At first, the Sand nin deflected the explosives with low-level wind jutsu. But chakra conservation soon forced them to resort to physical blocks—even sacrificing puppets as shields.
When they tried scattering, the clone picked them off one by one.
They had no choice but to stick together.
After an hour of relentless pursuit, the Sand remnants neared a river marking the border of Shinano Forest's third defensive layer.
A thick fog loomed ahead.
Tessai hesitated—but with Konoha closing in and Yoru's aerial harassment unrelenting...
"Forward!"
The Sand nin plunged into the mist.