The next day, eleven in the morning, at Konoha's main gate.
A young monk wearing Fire Temple robes hurried up to the two gate guards, panting heavily.
"Quick, quick! Take me to see the Hokage! Something happened at the Fire Temple!"
"What? Even Chiriku... Damn Akatsuki!"
In the Hokage Office, after hearing the monk's report, Tsunade angrily smashed her desk in half with a single slap.
The Fire Temple was the national temple of the Land of Fire and had deep ties with the daimyo. Its head priest, Chiriku, had also once been one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
For the Akatsuki to send people to destroy the Fire Temple was equivalent to viciously slapping the Land of Fire and Konoha across the face.
If they failed to capture the culprits before they escaped the Land of Fire, not only would they be unable to answer to the daimyo, but Konoha's deterrent power throughout the ninja world would also be diminished.
Now, she finally understood what the scene Hawking had seen while predicting the future meant.
"Shizune, immediately gather every ninja not currently on a mission. I want every town and major road near the Fire Temple thoroughly searched. We must capture those two Akatsuki members!"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade."
Shizune nodded and was about to leave when Tsunade immediately called her back.
"Oh, right. Notify Naruto to temporarily stop training, then have Kakashi and Yamato bring Team 7 here as well."
Among the ninjas currently in the village without missions, only Asuma was an Elite Jonin. Without Hawking's prophecy, she definitely would have sent Asuma to lead this mission.
But according to Hawking's prophecy, Asuma would inevitably die at the hands of those two Akatsuki members during this mission.
So Asuma absolutely could not be sent out this time.
After