Uchiha Madara Has His Eye on Me?

"You're saying the chakra signature disappeared?"

Qingye had been about to tell them not to worry about all that yet.

Since that chakra signature was moving away from them, it probably had nothing to do with reinforcements nearby.

But when Himon told him the person's chakra signature had vanished into thin air after sinking underground, Qingye froze.

A bolt of lightning seemed to streak through his mind!

Why had his original plan gone so wrong?

Because of that inexplicably appearing Konoha ninja!

Who was he?

He had disguised himself as someone else, and even Himon's Byakugan hadn't detected any signs of the Transformation Technique... the Impersonation Technique!

He had sunk underground and moved at high speed, and afterward, no chakra signature could be sensed... the Mayfly Technique!

There was no mistake. White Zetsu!

The special abilities White Zetsu possessed matched both of these traits perfectly!

So that inexplicable, seemingly dimwitted "Konoha ninja" from earlier had actually been White Zetsu in disguise?

But why?

"...Uchiha Madara!"

Qingye's expression shifted as all the clues in his mind pointed to the same conclusion.

Uchiha Madara had set his sights on him?!

Since when had Madara been watching him? What was he after?!

If Himon hadn't made that unexpected discovery, Qingye would still be completely in the dark, unaware that Uchiha Madara had been scheming against him!

"Qingye, the outpost's been blown up. We have to go!" Yūhi Kurenai came running back, panting.

"...Let's go!"

Qingye had no time to think further. He pulled out a scroll and sealed Gari's body inside. Then the three of them raced down the mountain.

About a minute later.

Two groups of Iwagakure ninja arrived at the hillside almost simultaneously.

"Lord Kitsuchi!"

Iwagakure jonin Hokari and Taiseki rushed in from the other side, where they ran into Kitsuchi, who had come to reinforce the outpost as well.

"Konoha ninja ambushed this outpost. And it looks like they didn't leave a single survivor... Damn Konoha ninja!" Taiseki said darkly.

Hokari scanned the area, hoping to find a trail. "They can't have gotten far. We can still catch them if we go now!"

Kitsuchi merely stood with a grim expression, unmoved.

"This outpost was guarded by Sumoshi, wasn't it?"

An Iwagakure ninja with a keen eye looked over the many bodies nearby and soon spotted one. "Lord Kitsuchi, Sumoshi is here. He was killed by the Konoha ninja too!"

"What?!"

Hokari's expression changed.

Sumoshi might have been only a Tokubetsu Jonin, but he was a formidable fighter. How could he have been taken out so quickly?

From the moment Hokari had seen the signal flare go up to now, only five or six minutes had passed!

In such a short time, Sumoshi and all the elite Iwagakure ninja stationed here had been wiped out?!

"Lord Kitsuchi, I found them!"

A Sensory Ninja had been focusing on sensing ever since arriving. Now he'd finally picked up a trace. He pointed downhill. "Two kilometers to the southeast. Three people in total!"

"Lord Kitsuchi, let's go after them!"

"Only three of them, and they still had the nerve to act so brazenly!"

"We can't let those bastards get away!"

The Iwagakure ninja clamored, furious.

"They've already gone that far. It'll be hard to catch up," Kitsuchi said, shaking his head.

There were only three of them. They might have been capable, but killing them wouldn't accomplish much.

Besides, Kitsuchi had a nagging feeling that something was wrong.

He frowned as he studied the signs of battle across the area. It felt as though something was missing.

The widespread signs of fighting made it clear that a fierce battle had taken place here, but who had fought?

Sumoshi?

He was only a Tokubetsu Jonin!

"So we're just going to let them get away with killing so many of our men?!" Hokari said, seething.

Kitsuchi sneered. "Of course we're not letting them get away with it. Hmph, the Konoha ninja must have attacked this outpost to destroy the medical supplies here, right?"

That alone was enough to show that Konoha's defenses were on the verge of collapse. They had to resort to tactics like this just to slow Iwagakure's advance.

How much difference could such a petty trick make?

"In five days, once we're fully prepared, we'll break through the Golden Wheel Mountain Range defenses in one strike and bring this war to an end!" Kitsuchi declared.

"...Hmph. Those three bastards can live a few more days," Hokari said bitterly.

As they spoke, an Iwagakure Chunin ran up from the foot of the hill. Seeing the crowd and the bodies strewn across the ground, he looked bewildered.

Kitsuchi frowned and demanded, "Ishikawa? Weren't you with that fellow Gari? Why did you come here to reinforce us too?"

If he remembered correctly, Gari had been assigned to escort supplies. Why had he sent one of his subordinates here?

"Reinforce you? Oh, no, Lord Kitsuchi."

The Iwagakure Chunin waved his hands frantically and hastily explained, "Earlier, Lord Gari was lured away by a strange man who appeared out of nowhere. He left the convoy behind, so I was worried something might happen and followed him."

"By the way, where's Lord Gari?"

He looked around, but couldn't see Gari anywhere.

"...You're saying Gari came this way too?"

Kitsuchi ignored the detail about Gari abandoning the supply convoy, his expression turning exceptionally grim. "Are you sure he came this way?!"

"Y-yes..."

What was going on?

The Iwagakure Chunin trembled, unable to understand why Kitsuchi was so angry.

Seeing Kitsuchi's reaction, the others finally understood too. They looked over the battlefield around them.

"Sumoshi probably didn't put up much of a fight before he was killed. So those traces of battle..."

Hokari looked horrified.

Could they have been left by Gari fighting someone?

Who could have fought Gari to this extent?

And where was Gari? Why wasn't he here?!

"After them!"

Kitsuchi roared and abruptly turned toward the direction the Sensory Ninja had pointed. "Go! I want to see who managed to kill that bastard Gari so quickly!"

The Iwagakure Chunin who'd arrived last was stunned. What did Lord Kitsuchi mean? G-Gari had been killed?

How could that be possible?!

Boom!

Kitsuchi rapidly formed hand seals, then slammed a furious fist into the hillside beneath his feet.

The earth split with a crack!

His punch, empowered by the Earth Style: Heavy Rock Technique, tore apart the slope beneath them. Kitsuchi immediately grabbed at the ground and ripped up a chunk of mountainside ten meters across.

The shadow of the enormous mass swept over them. With a thunderous roar, Kitsuchi hurled it away like a cannonball!

The blast of wind from its passage swept over the Iwagakure ninja. A moment later, the chunk of mountainside landed more than a kilometer away in the distant forest. The violent tremor of the earth soon rolled back to them.

"After them!"

At Kitsuchi's furious shout, he charged first, and the Iwagakure ninja followed as one, racing down the mountain toward the Land of Fire.