Li immediately created a Shadow Clone, while his real body flashed to the treetop in an instant. On the other side, Shinnosuke used the same technique as Li. As for Hinata and Hatake Yuiga, their abilities with clones and instantaneous movement were lacking, so they could not act as Li had and remained where they were, eating. That did not mean they would simply sit still and wait, however. They would continue eating as before, then catch up shortly afterward. If anything truly happened, they would provide support from behind.
A moment later, another rather tall woman strode into the hot pot restaurant. She appeared to possess no more than genin-level strength, and there was a highly conspicuous scar on her face, seemingly from the previous war. Combined with her considerable height, she gave off a fierce and menacing air.
However, as Li observed the flow of chakra within her body, he saw that although she looked extremely formidable, she was actually suffering from severe internal injuries. Most of her wounds had now been healed by medical Ninjutsu, but those grievous injuries had forcibly reduced her strength to genin level. If one were to assess her true former strength, she might well have once been at Jonin level.
She walked over to Shinnosuke, lowered her head, and said, "Young Master."
Shinnosuke frowned tightly. He clearly had not expected the visitor to be this woman. He jumped straight down from the tree. "Come down. She's one of mine." Li froze for a moment. This woman was actually one of Shinnosuke's trusted subordinates?
Shinnosuke exchanged a few words with the woman. Their conversation mentioned Kirigakure and some forbidden book scrolls, among other things. Afterward, Shinnosuke greeted everyone and signaled for them to follow him. Li tossed his money pouch into the hot