Hiruko charged straight in alone through Konoha's southern gate.
Hiruko was somewhat afraid of the Fourth Hokage now. He only dared enter Konoha's territory while the Fourth Hokage was being held up by Satori.
After entering Konoha,
Hiruko formed the hand seal for Swift Release and quickly widened the distance between himself and the guards.
But Konoha had clearly been prepared. Anbu kept appearing along the way to stop him.
If not for his Swift Release and Steel Release, which allowed him to ignore most ninjutsu, he would have been stopped long ago.
Hiruko had chosen his target from the very beginning.
The shelter behind the Ninja Academy.
Only greater chaos would give the White Zetsu more opportunities to investigate.
Though Hiruko was fast, his objective was far too obvious.
The sensory unit quickly discovered his trail and immediately reported it to Minato.
After chasing Satori for some distance, Minato stopped pursuing him.
He could already tell that Satori was looking for someone, though he did not know whether it was Naruto or Utakata.
Obito had yet to appear, leaving Minato highly vigilant.
He had stationed people at Konoha's more important locations.
Naturally, the shelter behind the academy was among them.
Minato said to the Anbu standing by:
"Let Hiruko go through. I've already arranged people over there."
"Check whether Kakashi and Guy have set out."
Soon, Inoichi's voice sounded in Minato's mind:
"Some of the Sky Ninja have begun returning. Kakashi and the others are following them."
There were relatively few people in Konoha capable of fighting in the air.
Under these circumstances, the Sky Ninja had lost some men during the first round of bombardment, but two-thirds of them remained uninjured.
Some had even used up all their bombs and begun returning to resupply.
Shino, Kiba, Kakashi, and