Dan Katō was injured. The wound in his leg was deep and relatively life-threatening, seriously affecting his combat ability. Kuroki looked utterly innocent standing nearby. As the one who had started it all, he had not meant for this to happen. He had never expected the strongest fighter, Dan Katō, to suffer such an injury because of it. Worse still, there was no medical ninja. With only herbs and bandages, there was no way to restore Dan Katō's combat strength anytime soon.
Dan Katō did not blame Kuroki either. Leaning against a massive tree trunk, he wore a thoughtful expression. After learning what had happened on Kuroki's side, and seeing that none of the squads had sent back news in time, he immediately began considering the worst possibility.
Clearly, there had been a serious error in the allocation of their combat strength.
Konoha's strength was far inferior to the enemy's. He had clearly noticed that from their very first clash.
A mere squad had two Jonin in it.
There were only two possible explanations for such a distribution of strength. Either the enemy valued quality over quantity, or their overall strength was so overwhelming that they had assigned two Jonin to a single squad. Dan Katō believed it was the second possibility.
With the two sides so mismatched in strength, all they could do was preserve their forces.
"Back to the base."
He made the decision immediately. Leading Kuroki along, he carved communication marks into the route as they went and headed straight for the base.
Dan Katō's judgment was completely correct. Konoha's hundred-man interception force could not stop the Stone ninja at all. By the time he and Ye Zi had each finished their battles, Konoha's forces had been whittled down to fewer than twenty people. Aside from Dan