Victory and Defeat

Whoosh.

With a sharp rush of wind, Ryūsetsuna was the first to reach the battlefield.

She had no time to inspect the devastation around her. She quickly found Chiyo lying in the crater and asked, "Chiyo, are you all right?"

Chiyo looked a little dazed. "I think so!"

In that final exchange, she had completely abandoned her defenses and punched Yakumo in the chest. Yakumo had only struck her shoulder. Though half her body was numb and aching, she didn't feel that anything was seriously wrong.

"You scared me to death!"

Ryūsetsuna finally let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile,

whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Tsunade, Kakashi, and the others soon arrived at the battlefield and found Yakumo in a tree hollow, where Chiyo's blow had sent her flying.

Seeing Tsunade, Yakumo tried to get up and bow. "T-Tsunade-sensei..."

"Don't move!" Tsunade hurried into the hollow and checked Yakumo's condition. Her expression quickly darkened. "You've broken two ribs and have several other deep lacerations. Don't move around!"

"Just two broken ribs..."

Yakumo smiled.

That was much better than she'd expected. At the moment, even breathing tugged at the wound in her chest and brought on sharp pain. She had thought she'd injured her internal organs, but it turned out to be only bone and muscle damage.

Tsunade said no more and focused on treating Yakumo.

Shizune stood nearby, fretting. "How did you get hurt so badly?"

Kakashi, Sasuke, and the others looked around, carefully studying the battlefield where Yakumo and Chiyo had fought. Their expressions grew increasingly grave.

The battlefield was even more devastated than they'd anticipated. It looked as though a typhoon had swept through.

Considering Yakumo's injuries and the clues left at the scene, cautious as ever, Kakashi immediately called over the ANBU accompanying them. He ordered them to secure