The Pursuit

"If those two Konoha shinobi were just illusions created by the Clone Technique, then could the one fighting Lord Kitsuchi also be an illusion?" The Anbu Ninja was stunned.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Anbu Ninja vanished, only to reappear beside Kitsuchi and Minato Namikaze the next second.

Seeing the Anbu Ninja appear so suddenly, Kitsuchi asked eagerly, "Did you take care of those two brats?"

The Anbu Ninja didn't dare give a false report and hurriedly replied, "Lord Kitsuchi, those two brats were only illusions created by the Clone Technique."

What?

Kitsuchi was shocked by the report. A moment later, his shock turned into anger and frustration at being played for a fool.

Kitsuchi immediately stopped fighting "Minato Namikaze." The moment the aggressively attacking "Minato Namikaze" collided with him, it turned into a puff of yellow smoke.

"Hmph, just as I thought. It was the Clone Technique." Kitsuchi stared wide-eyed at the spot where "Minato Namikaze" had disappeared, then punched the ground, leaving a fist-sized crater.

"Those three brats fooled me for a whole half hour," Kitsuchi said resentfully.

"Lord Kitsuchi..."

"You, take a squad of Anbu and pursue those three Konoha shinobi at once. As for the report..." Kitsuchi immediately gave his orders. "I'll take care of it."

"Yes, sir."

In a forest outside Iwagakure.

Three ugly-looking men dressed as civilians came to a halt.

One of the men, who was holding a Ninja Dog, turned to survey the area. After confirming that no one was nearby, he finally spoke. "Phew. We finally got away."

"Now we can undo the Transformation Technique, right?" the man asked.

"Don't let your guard down. The Iwa-nin could catch up at any moment," another man reminded him quietly.

"Tch..."

There was no doubt that these three men dressed as civilians were Uchiha Matsuri, Minato Namikaze, and Kiba Inuzuka, who had just escaped Iwagakure using the Clone Technique.

"Minato, my clone was exposed. How about yours?" Uchiha Matsuri asked suddenly.

"Mine was, too," Kiba Inuzuka added.

"Mine hasn't been exposed yet, but since both of yours were, I'm guessing mine won't last much longer either," Minato replied.

"One Clone Technique fooled Kitsuchi for nearly half an hour. That's pretty good," Uchiha Matsuri said with a smile. "Besides, we've already escaped Iwagakure. With the Land of Earth's rugged ravines, it won't be so easy for them to find us now."

Uchiha Matsuri could already imagine Kitsuchi's furious expression when he realized he'd been fooled by a Clone Technique for half an hour.

"The most urgent thing now is to find Jiraiya-sensei," Uchiha Matsuri said.

"Yeah." Minato nodded.

After Uchiha Matsuri and the others escaped their pursuers, the person in the most danger was none other than Jiraiya, who knew nothing about what had happened and was still waiting for them outside the village. If Iwagakure's pursuers found Jiraiya outside the village, they'd be in trouble.

Ten minutes later.

In a town outside Iwagakure.

Jiraiya rubbed the large bump on his head and muttered indignantly, "All I did was sneak a peek, and they chased me down three whole streets. Honestly..."

Looking at the sun's position in the sky, Jiraiya wondered aloud, "Wait a second. It's been two hours already. Why haven't those kids come back? I hope they haven't gotten themselves into trouble again."

As he spoke, Jiraiya suddenly spotted four Iwa-nin running toward him down the street in the distance.

Seeing the four shinobi running in his direction, Jiraiya didn't think he was their target. Still, to avoid trouble, he obediently turned to face a wall and pretended nothing was amiss.

A few seconds later, however, the four Iwa-nin suddenly surrounded him.

"Hey, why are you surrounding me?" Jiraiya asked unhappily.

"Jiraiya?" The four Iwa-nin cried out in surprise when they saw him.

The four Iwagakure Anbu Ninja had originally been ordered by Kitsuchi to pursue the troublemaking Uchiha Matsuri and his companions. But their targets had already been gone for over twenty minutes, and the direction they'd taken was uncertain. The four Iwa-nin had been at their wits' end.

As luck would have it, they sensed an exceptionally powerful chakra signature southeast of Iwagakure and rushed over. They hadn't expected to find Jiraiya, one of the Sannin.

"Uh..."

Seeing the four Iwa-nin's surprised expressions, Jiraiya's mouth twitched.

Damn it, they didn't even know who I was beforehand, and they still surrounded me without a word. Can someone tell me what's going on?!

"Captain, our targets are those three brats. What do we do about this Jiraiya who just showed up?" one Iwa-nin asked with a frown.

"Hmph, whoever he is, we'll take him back first," the Iwa-nin captain snorted. "Besides, he and those three brats are all Konoha shinobi. Maybe he's the overall commander of this mission to ambush us."

At their captain's order, the other three Iwagakure Anbu Ninja didn't ask any more questions. Instead, they suddenly attacked Jiraiya.

"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!"

Dozens of stone pillars shot up from the ground and surrounded Jiraiya.

"Looks like I can't avoid this fight," Jiraiya said with a helpless shake of his head.

Jiraiya held oil made from chakra in his mouth and performed a Fire Release technique at the same time:

"Fire Release: Great Flame Bomb!"

A massive fireball burst from Jiraiya's mouth, instantly smashing the stone pillars around him.

"What rotten luck. I have to kill people right near Iwagakure. I hope that old geezer Ōnoki doesn't suddenly show up," Jiraiya thought.

The Tsuchikage's office.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, stood with his hands behind his back, looking out the window. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Father." Kitsuchi bowed.

"So it's you, Kitsuchi. Tell me what happened," Ōnoki said bluntly.

After hearing Kitsuchi's report, Ōnoki slammed his fist on the desk. "Konoha shinobi..."

"Father, should we send a few more squads of Anbu Ninja after them?" Kitsuchi asked.

"No." Ōnoki's expression was grim. "Kitsuchi, send someone to Konoha at once. I want to see how that old Hokage responds."

"Yes, sir."

In some bushes beside the street.

Uchiha Matsuri and his companions were hiding in the bushes, watching Jiraiya fight the Iwagakure Anbu.

In the distance, Jiraiya had already taken out two Iwagakure Anbu and was fighting the other two.

"Matsuri, should we go help Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked from beside him.

"No need," Uchiha Matsuri replied softly.