The forest outside Konoha.
A trade road led through it to Konoha.
It was usually bustling with travelers, but today there were even more people than usual.
Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi were walking along the road, carrying the tightly bound Five-Tails Jinchuriki.
They had deliberately spread word through the black market beforehand.
After all, this was the first time a jinchūriki had been captured alive, and every faction was watching.
Some had disguised themselves as merchants; others had used the Transformation Technique.
There was no telling who was who by appearances alone. All they could see were crowds on both sides of the road.
Shisui and Itachi were not as relaxed as one might have imagined.
After all, they had no way of knowing whether the people approaching them were enemies.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Amid the continuous rustling of figures darting through the forest,
an ANBU squad of twelve, along with Kakashi, Asuma, and Might Guy-fifteen people in total-landed in front of Shisui and Itachi.
The ANBU formed a circle around Shisui and Itachi, but faced outward to shield them from prying eyes.
With a complicated expression, Asuma looked at Shisui, then at Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki slung over his shoulder.
He took out Konoha forehead protectors. "Thank you both for escorting the Five-Tails Jinchuriki back to the village."
"To avoid unnecessary trouble, please put these forehead protectors on first."
Shisui and Itachi were currently wearing Black Robes with Red Clouds, with Konoha missing-nin forehead protectors on their foreheads.
Walking brazenly into Konoha like that would be awkward, to say the least.
They had claimed the village's injustice as their reason for defecting. Returning in this manner amounted to slapping themselves in the face.
But compared with the enormous benefits represented by the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, that little humiliation hardly