A moment earlier, in Konoha, the Hokage's Office.
"Minato's order? Everyone is to return..."
Taking a light but deep drag from his pipe, the Third Hokage, seated in the temporary Hokage's Office, murmured softly.
In his hand was intelligence delivered about ten minutes ago.
All twenty rescue teams, including Shikaku's group, were returning directly?
Had they already given up on Chiba? As he murmured, a look of grief slowly surfaced on his usually unreadable face.
He knew very well what it meant that the report did not contain the words "Chiba has been rescued." Clearly, Minato had already abandoned Chiba.
And for Minato to abandon Chiba, something unforeseeable must have happened. The next report would likely bring terrible news.
What kind of event... could make Minato believe abandoning Chiba was worthwhile?
He was calling back the twenty rescue teams and having them defend the village.
Even if the Nine-Tails had been released, Minato should not have made such a decision. Chiba's existence concerned the village's prosperity over the next century. Even the Nine-Tails might not compare to Chiba.
What could it be?
Better wait for the formal report.
At that thought, the Third Hokage could not help taking another deep drag, his brows tightly furrowed into an inverted V.
What he had received was only a brief report, one of the routine real-time reports he needed as the overall commander. It listed only movements, allowing him to grasp the actions of every unit as a whole. The reasons behind those actions would only be known through subsequent formal reports.
So, he still had to wait for contact from the front.
"Someone."
However, now that he knew what was happening at the front and had gleaned a rough idea from those actions, the Third Hokage, as the village's acting overseer, naturally