"A gigantic sea beast?"
Nishikawa Tetsu rubbed his chin.
"Could the gigantic sea beast that villager mentioned be the giant sea hare that nearly wiped you all out just now? Was that sea hare the one that swallowed the entire Kirigakure Engineering Team?!"
If that really was the case, it changed the nature of the incident. What had seemed like a conspiracy became a natural disaster and a monster attack.
"No, that's not it."
Kana shook her head repeatedly, rejecting Nishikawa Tetsu's guess.
"We thought so at first too, so we followed the direction the fisherman pointed out and searched the sea for a long time. Eventually, we found traces of that giant sea hare."
"But..." Kana's expression grew a little odd. "We secretly watched it for several days and discovered that this enormous sea hare was actually a very docile herbivore!"
"Normally, it just eats seaweed and plankton in the deep sea. It never attacks humans on its own. We even saw it use its huge, fleshy wings to shield several fishermen who'd fallen overboard from the waves during a storm!"
"A docile herbivore? And it saves people?"
Nishikawa Tetsu froze.
He recalled the monstrous healing ability the giant sea hare had displayed on the beach, rapidly recovering after Kushina smashed a huge crater into its body, as well as the jaw-dropping speed at which it had fled.
If it really was a docile creature, why had it lashed at Kushina so frantically just now?
"If it normally doesn't attack people, how did Senior Kushina end up fighting it? And how did she push it to that point?" Nishikawa Tetsu asked in confusion.
At that question, Kana, Shizune, and Terumi Mei all went pale. A trace of fear that still hadn't faded flashed in their eyes.
"Th-that's exactly what