Shino suddenly said, "He's even more cautious than I thought."
Chisen murmured, "He learned the hard way."
"People like that are trouble."
"But predictable."
"Why?"
"Because he'll keep thinking he can't let the same trick bite him twice." Chisen's gaze settled on the main building. "The more he thinks that way, the more his eyes will turn toward wherever hurt most yesterday."
Shino fell silent for a few breaths.
"So?"
"So he'll lock down places like West Well Courtyard, Southwest Slope, and Main Lane tighter and tighter. Other places, though, he'll leave alone for now unless he needs them right away."
Shino said, "Like Stone Beam Pass?"
"Like Stone Beam Pass."
The conversation inside the main building continued, but grew quieter. Someone had probably moved the plans farther inside, or gone into an inner room altogether.
Shino suddenly raised his hand and gently held Chisen's wrist.
"Someone's coming."
Almost simultaneously, footsteps sounded east of the courtyard.
These weren't the leisurely footsteps of a patrol. They sounded hurried. Two Allied Forces ninja carried someone briskly into the courtyard. Half his body was covered in blood, and the cloth wrapped around his leg had already soaked red. They carried him straight beneath the side building's eaves, and he gave a muffled groan of pain as they set him down.
A medical ninja quickly followed and knelt to examine him. Another man shouted toward the main building, "Another hidden pit collapsed during the digging over at Well Courtyard! People fell in. It looks like an old storage level!"
Two men immediately emerged from the main building.
One was the middle-aged man in gray-white armor. The other was Helian.
Chisen narrowed his eyes.
"An old storage level?"
Shino whispered, "Last night's explosions were too heavy. They loosened whatever was already beneath Well Courtyard."
Well