The time rewound to roughly half a day earlier.
At that time, Soji's alter ego, Mizuki Ember, had successfully forced Urashiki Otsutsuki back after activating Karma Stage One.
After driving Urashiki back, Soji initially continued toward Konoha together with the ninjas from Konoha and Kirigakure.
However, not long after they had set out, an inexplicable feeling of unease arose within him.
At Soji's level of strength, he still trusted his instincts when it came to such feelings.
So Soji guessed that something important might have happened.
And the closer he got to Konoha, the stronger that feeling became!
That made Soji realize that the source of his unease had to be somewhere near Konoha.
Thus, after thinking it over for a moment, Soji chose to leave the main group and head to Konoha ahead of them!
Since Soji brought Ranmaru along every time he traveled now, his quiet departure would go entirely unnoticed.
With the concealment provided by Ranmaru's Red Eye bloodline limit, Soji only needed to leave behind an Ice Clone for his alter ego to vanish silently from the group.
And so, without anyone noticing, Soji headed to Konoha ahead of time.
"Something's wrong. Seriously wrong! Why would Urashiki suddenly come to this time-space for no reason? What is he trying to do?"
As he hurried toward Konoha alone, Soji could not help frowning as he sank into thought.
But no matter what possibility Soji considered, none of them were good!
That only made him more worried.
"Ugh, this is all because my main body isn't here! Otherwise, no matter what monsters dared show themselves, I'd suppress them all!"
Soji sighed helplessly and muttered to himself.
All he could do now was pray that nothing too terrible had happened in Konoha.
As Soji raced forward at full speed,