Who was making a commotion down there?
Mizukage Yagura turned to glance at the rear of the main force, clearly displeased by the noise and unrest there.
Though ninja forces did not have strict rules demanding absolute obedience to every order, this was war. You could not know nothing about proper conduct—when the leader was serving himself food, you spun the table; when the leader was showing off, you refused to play along. That would not do, would it?
"Let this old man handle it." Elder Genji volunteered to deal with the disturbance in the ranks.
A few minutes later, Elder Genji returned in a hurry, his face stricken with panic. None of his previous composure or air of having everything under control remained.
Behind him were several ordinary Genin, each carrying a ninja with a Kirigakure forehead protector on his back.
Yagura examined them closely and discovered that they were all Jonin who had been assigned to the same unit as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Kirigakure had barely more than a hundred Jonin. Every one of them was vital to the village, so Yagura naturally recognized them all.
These Jonin were all unconscious and utterly exhausted. There was not a single wound on their bodies, yet cold sweat covered their foreheads, and terror filled their faces, as though they were trapped in a nightmare.
Yagura listened carefully and heard them continuously muttering things like, "Run, run..." "We can never win..." "Unimaginably strong..." and "Despairing..."
What was going on? Had they fallen under some kind of genjutsu?
Genji ordered the Genin to lay the returning ninja before Yagura, then summoned several medical ninja and genjutsu specialists to conduct a joint examination of the Jonin.
A few minutes later, after the professionals had finished their diagnosis, they finally reached a conclusion: