"The wounded aren't together? They really are on guard..." After approaching the river valley, Akaseki began sensing the Stone Ninja's positions inside.
The strongest, hottest fluctuations clearly belonged to Roshi.
Akaseki also discovered that the wounded lying down were not gathered in one place. They seemed to have been deliberately separated...
Apparently, even though the Stone Ninja had not known Akaseki could recover so quickly, they had still taken precautions against his underground movement-Rock Eel's dying words had carried considerable weight.
Knowing the enemy was on guard, Akaseki became even more cautious.
Akaseki's first target was Kitsuchi...
Whether he wanted to avenge Ranwu and big sis Tsunade or restore Konoha's reputation, Kitsuchi was the person Akaseki most wanted to kill.
As for whether that would give the Hokage Building a headache afterward... that was the Hokage's problem.
Akaseki circled around beneath the river valley twice, but found no particularly good opportunity.
For one thing, he could not identify the separated wounded, only confirm the positions of Roshi and two other Jonin. For another, the soil in the river valley was damp, so Akaseki stayed as deep underground as possible to avoid detection. That meant he would need more time to burst out, leaving a longer window in which he could be discovered...
In short, because the Stone Ninja were prepared, Akaseki felt that forcing an attack would expose him, even though he had successfully infiltrated their position! Roshi had already suffered one underground ambush from Akaseki, and his recent attempt to launch an underground ambush against Konoha had cost him Rock Eel, the man most skilled at it. Naturally, he was now extremely wary of Akaseki's infiltrating Earth Style.
But Akaseki soon came up with a solution...
First, Akaseki picked the wounded person who seemed most likely to be