Whoosh!
Shinji had temporarily deactivated Susanoo. He dropped from the sky and landed steadily atop a snow peak.
He gazed into the distance, estimating the time and distance in his mind. The cold wind howled, and his Red Cloud outfit snapped in the gale.
Just then, a tiny black speck appeared in the distance and quickly headed his way.
He drew his gaze back from the horizon, glanced at the speck, and smiled.
There was no doubt.
The tiny speck rapidly approaching was a figure—and that figure was none other than Yugito Nii, who had successfully destroyed an "anchor point" in the Land of Fire a few days earlier.
Shinji hadn't expected to maintain control over Yugito.
So, after successfully severing the "anchor point" in the Land of Fire, the last command he gave Yugito, who was on the verge of going berserk, was to head for the "anchor point" in the Land of Lightning.
His thinking at the time had been simple: if it worked, great! If not, Yugito had still helped him sever an "anchor point," so it was a win!
As for why he had chosen the "anchor point" in the Land of Lightning, he'd had his reasons.
In his view, they had plenty of people available to deal with the other "anchor points." At the very least, he had people he could trust, like Haku and Karin.
The "anchor point" in the Land of Lightning was the only one he'd assigned to Kimimaro, who knew nothing about the situation.
Although Orochimaru was behind Kimimaro, it was hard to say how interested Orochimaru would be in Kimimaro joining the Akatsuki Organization, or whether he would intervene personally.
On top of that, after the battle at the "anchor point" in the Land of Fire, Shinji had realized that