"It's in my hands." Helian pulled a paper talisman from his sleeve, its surface covered in densely packed sealing patterns. "When you went to Fujisuke, he agreed. He did make a Teleportation Array for you. But while he was making it, he didn't know I was watching. My agent spent three days in his workshop. Once he finished, they replaced the array's activation talisman with this one."
Helian raised the talisman before his eyes, examined it, then folded it in half and tossed it to the ground.
"Your escape point no longer exists."
Chisen looked at the scraps of talisman Helian had thrown down, then lifted his eyes.
"You knew I was here."
"I did."
"You knew the Earth Release would be triggered today."
"I did."
"You knew the Allied Forces' main force would enter the basin."
"I did." Helian's smile widened a little. "Because I arranged all of it."
Chisen pressed his thumb against his sword.
Helian continued, speaking unhurriedly, as though he were giving Chisen a lesson.
"Those fools in the Allied Forces think they're fighting Konoha. In reality, they're paving the way for me. I needed you wounded, isolated, and standing somewhere with no way out. Raincrack Basin-you chose this location, and I'll admit, you chose well. You designed the Earth Release plan too. Very clever. But you forgot one thing."
He took a step forward.
"Every plan you made depended on having people in Konoha helping you. Shikamaru's intelligence, Kiba's patrols, the Hyuga's Byakugan, Kagura's sealing, Hisai's Water Style, Aburame Shikuroo's sensory insects-you used Konoha's finest resources to build an intricate trap. But did you ever consider that someone among those resources might have told me every step?"
Chisen's fingers stilled against his sword.
"The mole isn't the kind you can uncover." Helian tilted his head.