Rain veiled the sky as a steady drizzle continued to fall.
Heavy clouds hung at the edge of the heavens, like an inescapable gloom gathering overhead. It was then that—
"Minato, how did it go!?"
Jiraiya hurriedly called out to Minato in the distance, rushing to his side.
Minato frowned, his gaze solemn as he watched the place where the three had vanished. He slowly said, "It's nothing, Jiraiya-sensei. They just got away..."
Upon hearing that, Jiraiya's eyes narrowed in surprise.
"Even your Flying Thunder God Technique didn't work!?"
Minato's gaze slowly settled on the large crater the Rasengan had blasted into the ground. Amid the muddy pooled water lay something resembling melted white bone.
His expression grew slightly grave at the sight of it.
It wasn't that it hadn't worked... The instant the Flying Thunder God's Art Seal attached itself to his body, it had been stripped away...
Such intense vigilance... Was this what made Akatsuki members so terrifying...?
Thinking that, Minato slowly raised his head.
His eyes narrowed slightly as his deep blue gaze turned toward the sky, a complicated expression surfacing in his eyes.
Just how many more upheavals did this Ninja World have in store...?
Standing beside him, Jiraiya saw Minato's troubled expression. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, it became a sigh.
Meanwhile.
Outside Konoha Forest.
"Shrrk..."
With a strange sound, three figures slowly emerged from the trunk of a massive tree within the lush forest, freshly washed by the rain.
"Thud!" "Thud!"
Once the three appeared, Itachi and Kisame immediately jumped down and landed on the ground.
"Tch, that was really stifling!"
Kisame spat at the ground, then vigorously swung his arm and slung Samehada onto his back. Grinning, he said in a hoarse voice, "That way of