To Naruto, last night had been nothing unusual. Driving back Kumogakure's three thousand ninja had counted as little more than a warm-up.
Afterward, he had gone home without a second thought and continued sleeping. But for Konoha's upper ranks, it had been a sleepless night.
Once they confirmed that Kumogakure's ninja had truly been repelled, both the Third Hokage's side and Minato Namikaze's side immediately gave the order. The Anbu elites were deployed in full force, and a ninja force was assembled in the shortest possible time to pursue Kumogakure's retreating troops.
Relations between major villages were much like relations between nations. Most of the time, justice and peace were just empty nonsense; only positions and interests remained eternal themes.
Knowing that the enemy was in poor condition after the battle, it would have been foolish not to pursue them and seize hostages. Kicking someone while they were down was not Kumogakure's exclusive specialty—if given the chance, Konoha would not hesitate to do the same.
However, Daruda was experienced and had long anticipated that Konoha would give chase. He abandoned everything that could slow them down and set traps along the way. Though a small number of Konoha elites still caught up, they successfully escaped after paying only a minor price.
Once they left the Land of Fire, Kumogakure's support forces swiftly arrived, and the matter was considered temporarily settled.
Yet the aftereffects of this incident were far from over.
The overwhelming combat power Naruto had displayed caused quite a stir among Konoha's upper ranks. They had known that Naruto had become the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, but they had never imagined that a child barely over three years old could control the Nine-Tails so perfectly.
The combat strength and implications behind that were simply enormous. It could even reshuffle Konoha's