Of the three, Teshima Matsuri specialized in taijutsu and rope darts—in other words, weapon-based combat.
She was also Gaara's disciple.
Among the three, Teshima Matsuri was the strongest as well.
Next was Mikoshi, who specialized in taijutsu combat.
Yukata, on the other hand, was completely unsuited for combat, though she was the only sensory-type ninja among them.
She had never needed to be good at fighting in the first place.
She was the first to notice the change in the shadows.
In truth, Yukata's sensory ninjutsu was not particularly sensitive to changes involving shadows and the like.
She had noticed the shadows because, as a sensory-type ninja, her powers of observation were far stronger than the others'.
Just as Yukata said something was wrong, the three of their shadows suddenly turned into shadowy figures and attacked them.
"Boom..."
The three shadows first attacked Yukata, the weakest among them.
But Mikoshi, standing nearby, smashed one with a punch.
He sent the shadow attacking Yukata flying.
Matsuri also used her rope dart to knock away one of the shadows.
Yet one shadow still managed to wrap itself around Yukata.
The instant the shadow bound Yukata, it transformed into chains and locked her up.
However, it did not try to kill her.
Because this was the work of Monk Fa Yi.
His purpose was to strip away the One-Tail, not to kill anyone.
And as Bunpuku's disciple, he was kind-hearted.
The only reason he had carried out this plan with Fu Yi was that he did not want to see the suffering of Jinchuriki passed down generation after generation.
But Mikoshi and Matsuri did not know that.
After Yukata was caught by the shadow, the two became anxious. Then, as they were attacked by the other two shadows, they realized that they were