The Cloud ninja's will to survive was strong.
Totai ordered the remaining Cloud shinobi to split into five escape groups, each with a little over twenty men.
East, northeast, north, northwest, and west.
The farther they were pursued, the more scattered they became.
Yako didn't rush Hippo or Nara Kyoichi.
Instead, he had them establish an interception line along the Fire Country border, then split up to search and pursue separately.
He gave them only one order:
Do not let a single Cloud ninja escape.
To Yako, Totai himself wasn't important.
What mattered was buying time.
Time to wait for the next full moon night—
when he could return and make contact with the Evil God.
The rooftop of the Raikage Building exploded without warning.
The Third Raikage stood amidst a storm of crackling lightning.
"What did you just say?! Ryuuren is dead? Gomoi too?!"
Chunks of shattered roofing crashed into the intelligence shinobi below, but he didn't dare dodge.
"Y-Yes, Raikage-sama!
"Lord Ryuuren was killed by Fox near the Fire Country border.
"Lord Gomoi was killed by Fox outside the capital of the Land of Hot Water.
"Lord Totai's whereabouts remain unknown.
"Of the five hundred Cloud shinobi sent to the front, only a little over one hundred remain. They are currently struggling to survive in the Land of Hot Water.
"And most critically… the Two-Tails—that natural disaster of a beast—was also killed by Konoha's Fox.
"People several kilometers from the battlefield saw the fight. Fox has mastered a giant Wood Release construct similar to Senju Hashirama's, over five hundred meters tall.
"Just like Senju Hashirama, Konoha's Fox is exceptionally skilled at dealing with Tailed Beasts!"
The Third Raikage still wasn't satisfied after blowing off the roof.
He threw a punch and blasted a section of the Raikage Building's outer wall into rubble as well.
Only after the dust settled did he finally begin to calm down.
And then he saw Killer B.
On a platform in the distance, B was performing for a group of children from the Ninja Academy.
He was still in school, but he already had quite a few fans.
The Third Raikage immediately barked out his orders.
"Killer B is not to leave the village under any circumstances!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Send more spies into Konoha. Investigate this Fox!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Gomoi has fallen. Convene a jonin council immediately and appoint a new foreign affairs advisor."
"Yes, sir!"
"And dispatch a rescue force at once. Find Totai and bring him back!"
"Yes, sir!"
Ōnoki nearly jumped out of his chair after reading the intelligence scroll.
"Where are Han and the others right now?" he snapped at his aide.
"Tsuchikage-sama, Han and his group should currently be in the Land of Waterfalls."
"Good, good, good! Send a messenger immediately! Tell them to return to Iwagakure without stopping for even a moment. Especially Han. He is absolutely not to linger outside."
Then his expression changed again.
"And didn't Rōshi just submit a request to leave the village? Bring it to me."
His voice hardened.
"I'm rejecting it.
"Starting today, neither Rōshi nor Han is to leave the village unless absolutely necessary.
"Unless it's a battle that doesn't involve Konoha—like a conflict with Sunagakure or Kumogakure—they are not to be deployed."
His aide couldn't help asking, "Tsuchikage-sama… is a Wood Release giant really that terrifying?"
Ōnoki frowned.
"There was only one reason the Warring States era ended.
"Senju Hashirama and Madara were simply too strong.
"When they said one country, one village… then it became one country, one village.
"When they said five great countries, five great villages… then that was what the world became.
"When they said the Tailed Beasts would be distributed, then they were distributed.
"Konoha didn't even want too many of them. And even if we lacked proper sealing techniques at the time, we still had to accept them."
He fell silent for a moment.
"At the time, the First Tsuchikage still argued his case with Senju Hashirama during the negotiations.
"But after Hashirama came in person to hand over the Tailed Beasts…
"the First Tsuchikage was left with nothing but lingering fear."
Ōnoki swallowed hard.
The memory was still vivid.
"The way Senju Hashirama looked that day…
"I remember it perfectly…"
His aide noticed the unease in the Tsuchikage's face and wisely remained silent.
After a long while, Ōnoki continued.
"At the time… Hashirama stood atop a Wood Golem.
"On one side, a Wood Dragon had the Four-Tails bound.
"On the other, another Wood Dragon had the Five-Tails bound.
"Those two Tailed Beasts looked like nothing more than a pair of ninja hounds on his leash.
"They didn't dare do anything to Hashirama.
"They only dared vent their anger outward.
"Their chakra surged so violently that waves of earth around them were blasted away.
"Just one man and two Tailed Beasts standing there…
"and the nearby mountain peaks had already been shaved down by several meters from the pressure alone.
"Do you understand how terrifying that scene was…?"
He paused again before speaking.
"So if Konoha's Fox has recreated Senju Hashirama's Wood Release…
"then the threat posed by Tailed Beasts to Konoha has dropped dramatically.
"Until we know exactly how much of Hashirama's power Fox truly possesses, we cannot allow our Jinchūriki to take unnecessary risks."
More than ten minutes later, Rōshi violently slammed open the Tsuchikage's office door.
"Why am I not allowed to leave the village now? What is it this time?
"The Four-Tails wanted to go sightseeing at the northern volcanoes. You expect me to say no to him?"
Ōnoki glanced at the broken latch on the door and said flatly,
"I know you can already communicate with the Four-Tails.
"So tell him to behave himself.
"Konoha has recreated the First Hokage's Wood Release. A towering wooden Buddha several hundred meters high.
"He knows exactly what that is.
"And he knows exactly what that means."
Rōshi froze.
Then, in the back of his mind, a voice suddenly spoke.
"Rōshi… never mind. We're not going. I don't want to visit the volcano anymore."
Rōshi blinked. "Why not?"
"Because even though Ōnoki is a short, underhanded little bastard with no sense of shame…
"he wouldn't joke about something like this.
"What he's talking about is probably Senju Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands.
"That technique is terrifying.
"Back then, I refused to submit.
"The result?
"The five volcanoes I used to live around were all pounded flat.
"I got beaten half to death too.
"And then Senju Hashirama sealed me."
Rōshi stared blankly.
"He flattened five volcanoes…?"
He said nothing more.
He simply turned and left the Tsuchikage's office.
Ōnoki watched him go and thought to himself:
That stubborn idiot Rōshi has always acted arrogant because of his status as a Jinchūriki.
At least the Four-Tails still has some sense.
Still…
when he thought about Kumogakure's Two-Tails being killed and their inability to deploy that Jinchūriki for years to come—
Ōnoki's mood improved considerably.
Then another thought crossed his mind.
How exactly was he supposed to contact Uchiha Madara?
That rogue of Konoha had supposedly dealt the village a devastating blow.
And yet the more Ōnoki looked at things, the more it seemed as though he hadn't damaged Konoha at all.
They were still monstrously strong.
He immediately turned to his aide.
"Send ANBU into Amegakure.
"Find Uchiha Madara.
"Iwagakure is willing to cooperate with him against Konoha."
For an entire week, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his desk like a hollowed-out shell.
His eyes had no light in them.
Whenever someone entered to report or seek instruction, he behaved as though nothing were wrong, calmly handling the affairs of the village.
But when no one was around, he would dismiss all his aides and remain alone in the empty Hokage's office.
Even the sunlight pouring through the window behind him, hot and bright, could not drive the cold from his body.
Inside the drawer to his left was a report scroll.
A scroll written by Orochimaru.
A scroll Orochimaru had personally brought back.
And on that scroll, the account was written clearly:
Sarutobi Shinnosuke had acted too hastily.
In order to secure the negotiations with the Fire Country's daimyō, he had sent Fox ahead to assassinate the head monk of the Fire Temple.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure had seized the opportunity while Konoha was still reeling from the damage caused by the rogue Uchiha Madara.
They had jointly deployed Gomoi, Ryuuren, Totai, the Five-Tails' Jinchūriki Han, Kitsuchi, and Pokkle—six elite shinobi—to ambush and kill Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Orochimaru had done everything he could.
He had even summoned the First Hokage's supreme defensive secret technique, Rashōmon.
And still, he had been unable to save Sarutobi Shinnosuke from the combined attack of those six.
Hiruzen had imagined the situation again and again from every angle.
Even if he himself had been there, facing those six attackers in a surprise assault…
he likely could not have saved Shinnosuke either.
Now, with no one else in the office, Hiruzen took the scroll out once more and read it again—
word by word.
Carefully.
This was not the first time.
He had already read it more than two hundred times.
If it were possible…
he truly wished he could have died in Shinnosuke's place.
Shinnosuke…
Why were you in such a hurry?
If you hadn't sent Fox to assassinate the Fire Temple's head monk…
then maybe, just maybe, under the joint protection of Fox and Orochimaru—
you might have survived.
As Hiruzen sat there drowning in grief, the office door was suddenly slammed open.
His wife, Sarutobi Biwako, stood there.
The moment Hiruzen saw her—
her disheveled hair,
her bloodshot eyes—
the guilt inside him reached its breaking point.