It was a great victory.
Fifteen Kirigakure Ninja had snuck past the front lines and into the Land of Fire. They'd killed three of their own first, then the Konoha Support Force had taken out eleven of them.
There shouldn't have been any survivors, but Higashino Makoto had pulled one back from the brink of death.
As for who'd sent that Mist Ninja to the brink in the first place, don't ask.
The dead ones had all had their heads destroyed. It seemed they'd been prepared for their mission to fail.
If they wanted to know what Kirigakure was plotting, this survivor was crucial.
Higashino Makoto wondered what kind of plot it could be.
He'd sensed the agitated Chakra the adult Jonin from the Hyuga Clan had mentioned long ago.
Not only that, he'd sensed more than agitation. There was also disgust, an instinctive rejection.
Higashino Makoto knew what it was. This Chakra must have belonged to Isobu, the Three-Tails, who had died with Nohara Rin at the beginning of the year.
The Chakra had dispersed through the rivers, lakes, and sea in the Southeast Region of the Land of Fire. It was faint, and most people couldn't detect it.
Tailed Beasts couldn't die. After death, they automatically revived, but no one knew how they came back, where they revived, or when.
Perhaps Kirigakure knew something, having kept the Three-Tails for so many years. That might be why they'd sent people to secretly collect its dispersed Chakra.
Ninja had only begun sealing Tailed Beasts inside Jinchuriki in recent decades. Every village both cherished and resented its Jinchuriki.
They were afraid to hold them too tightly in case they got hurt, and afraid to leave them in the village in case they blew up. They wouldn't experiment on Tailed Beasts lightly,