A few minutes later, the battlefield that had once been filled with blood and steel had turned into a vast blue ocean.
As for the already dilapidated Rakuyō City, it had completely vanished.
The overwhelming torrent had wiped everything away.
Fortunately, the last remnants of the city's ruined walls had bought enough time for the Konoha shinobi. Working together, they had managed to cast a large-scale Earth Release defensive jutsu, barely holding back the devastating force of the water tornado.
"Shimizu that bastard… he was seriously trying to kill us, wasn't he?!" Yoshimaru grumbled angrily.
"If that last wave had actually reached the city… I don't even want to imagine how many of us would've died."
After all, the city had been full of severely wounded Konoha shinobi—many of whom couldn't even move.
"But we stopped it, didn't we?" Minato said calmly.
Then he added, "And he did get us out of the worst of it."
"Minato, you really do defend Shimizu a lot…" Yoshimaru shook his head helplessly. "I mean, yeah, he solved our biggest problem, and I'm grateful."
"But just now my life was hanging by a thread too, okay?!"
He pointed toward the flooded ruins. "The biggest threat to me just now wasn't the Sand ninja—it was him!"
Kosuke burst into laughter.
"That's because you've slimmed down, Yoshimaru. If you were still your old size, I'm sure you'd have been fine."
With the Sand forces wiped out, Rakuyō City saved, and the mission successfully completed—combined with the discovery that his student was still alive and had even mastered the Second Hokage's ultimate Water Release technique—Kosuke felt the tension he'd been carrying melt away.
"…Senior Kosuke, this really isn't the time to make fun of me," Yoshimaru muttered.
"Our Akimichi Clan believes that 'fat is beautiful,' you know…"
"And besides… it's not like I can't gain the weight back."
"Wait… where's Satomi?" Minato scanned their surroundings, realizing an important comrade was missing.
During the most desperate moments of the battle, the young woman had proven her strength and resilience.
She had earned everyone's respect.
She was a true Konoha jōnin—
Not merely a wielder of the Hyūga clan's Byakugan.
"You mean that Hyūga girl?" Kosuke frowned as he recalled the final moments of their escape.
"I remember seeing her near the back when we ran. She was a little slower than the others…"
Under normal circumstances, Satomi would never have fallen behind.
But this time…
Her chakra had already been completely exhausted.
Minato and Yoshimaru exchanged a glance.
A terrible feeling began to grow in their hearts.
"Did the water tornado catch her?"
"…Then where else could she be?"
"But with a technique of that level… and with her chakra already depleted…"
Everyone looked toward the distant expanse of raging blue water.
There wasn't a single figure in sight.
Even the Sand shinobi had been swept away to who-knows-where.
At this point…
Her chances of survival were slim.
Very slim.
...
Several kilometers away, along the bank of a river—
Shimizu struggled as he dragged Satomi onto the shore.
After successfully unleashing Hard Whirlpool Water Blade, he had been watching Konoha's side closely. That was when he noticed Satomi moving far slower than usual before being swallowed by the water tornado.
Without hesitation, Shimizu had activated Intant Water repeatedly and rushed to rescue her.
Fortunately, he had arrived in time.
He managed to pull her out quickly.
But the effort had drained nearly all of his remaining chakra.
"…First, let's wake her up."
From Shimizu's perspective, Satomi hadn't been submerged for very long. With the physical resilience of a jōnin, she shouldn't suffocate so easily.
So he pressed his thumb against the pressure point beneath her nose—
Trying to rouse her.
Several dozen seconds passed.
The girl showed no reaction at all.
Shimizu quickly lost patience. He still needed to recover his chakra—he didn't have the spare energy or mood to carefully tend to this little girl.
So he simply raised his hand and slapped her.
Smack!
No response.
Again.
Smack!
One slap from each side. Two bright red handprints immediately bloomed across the girl's pale cheeks.
"—Cough! Cough, cough!"
Satomi suddenly woke up, coughing violently.
"I knew you weren't dead yet."
After muttering that, Shimizu immediately flopped down beside her and began focusing on recovering his strength.
He let out a quiet sigh.
He had originally planned to harvest a few more Sand shinobi while he was at it…
But rescuing this Hyūga girl had drained the last of his remaining chakra.
Well…
Considering how desperately she had fought earlier…
He could treat this as repaying a favor.
Still, the situation wasn't exactly good.
Even after taking the full brunt of Hard Whirlpool Water Blade, there was no way nearly a thousand Sand shinobi had all been wiped out. Some survivors were inevitable.
And in his current condition, he probably wasn't in much better shape than those survivors.
If they ran into any Sand ninja right now…
It was hard to say who would end up killing whom.
"—Cough… cough…" Satomi was still coughing violently.
Shimizu glanced over and noticed the puddle beside her.
She'd swallowed quite a bit of water.
Once he recovered a small portion of chakra, Shimizu slowly expanded his sensory field. Within a four-hundred-meter radius, every abnormal movement fell clearly within his perception.
Right now—
Safety came first.
"…Senior Shimizu?!"
Her dark eyes widened like shining stars.
It seemed to be the first time he'd seen such open shock on the girl's usually calm face.
How rare.
"Yeah… it's me."
"…Thank you… for saving me, senior."
At least she was sensible. No pointless lines like "Senior, you're still alive?" or "Did you save me?"
Though in Shimizu's opinion, even the simple thanks was unnecessary.
"Don't mention it… though it's a bit early for gratitude. Our situation isn't great."
"…Huh?"
"Both of us are out of chakra. And I just sensed a squad of about ten people heading in this direction."
"..."
Satomi fell silent.
Yet strangely, there wasn't a hint of panic on her face.
Was she confident?
Or simply someone who had already made peace with death?
"You should leave first," Shimizu said. "Head straight back to Rakuyō City. I'll stall them and buy you some time."
Satomi gently shook her head.
…Was that because she couldn't leave?
Or because she refused to?
Shimizu stared at her directly.
He needed an answer before deciding what to do next.
A few seconds later, Satomi finally spoke.
"Then… how will you escape, senior?"
"You don't have any chakra left either."