"Of course. Of course I won't forget." Ōnoki forced a smile, then turned his gaze toward the two Jinchuriki in Sarutobi Toru's hands.
"Could it be that Konoha Village needs to collect Jinchuriki?" A trace of hesitation flashed across Ōnoki's face as he asked probingingly.
"Of course... not." Sarutobi Toru deliberately paused, nearly making Ōnoki's heart stop.
"I merely want to conduct some research on Jinchuriki Chakra," Sarutobi Toru said with a smile.
Only then did Ōnoki's tense expression relax. Then he realized that he seemed to have acted a little too weakly.
He wanted to say a few harsh words to preserve Iwagakure's image. But looking at the two Jinchuriki dangling from Sarutobi Toru's hands, then at the chaos in Kumogakure's camp below, Ōnoki wisely swallowed those words.
"Oh, right." Sarutobi Toru spoke as though he had just remembered something. "I'm also rather interested in Iwagakure's Five-Tails. Let me study it sometime as well."
Ōnoki's face darkened. After a moment of silence, he finally squeezed out a single word through clenched teeth: "Fine." Afraid that he would lose his composure, he turned and flew toward Iwagakure's main camp.
He had originally planned to take advantage of Kumogakure's leaderless state and the severe injuries suffered by all its high-ranking combatants to launch another attack.
However, after hearing Sarutobi Toru's words, worry immediately filled his heart, and he threw the matter of pursuing the Cloud Shinobi to the back of his mind.
After all, pursuing the Cloud Shinobi would only vent his anger for the moment. It might even result in considerable casualties. He could not forget that the Sand Shinobi were still on the southern battlefield.
As for the Konoha ninja reinforcements? Ōnoki did not think he had the standing to command them.
He even felt that Konoha's three thousand