Catching a Turtle in a Jar

At Konoha's southern gate, Hiruko charged in alone.

Hiruko was somewhat afraid of the Fourth Hokage now. He only dared enter Konoha's territory while Gū had the Fourth Hokage tied up.

After entering Konoha,

Hiruko formed the hand seal for Swift Release and swiftly widened the distance between himself and the guards.

However, Konoha had clearly prepared in advance. Anbu kept appearing along the way to block him.

If not for his Swift Release and Steel Release, which allowed him to ignore most ninjutsu, he would have been stopped long ago.

Hiruko had chosen his target from the very beginning.

The shelter behind Konoha Academy.

Only greater chaos would give the White Zetsu more opportunities to investigate.

Though Hiruko was fast, his objective was far too obvious.

The sensory division quickly discovered his trail and immediately reported it to Minato.

After chasing Gū for some distance, Minato stopped pursuing him.

He had already realized that Gū was looking for someone. He just did not know whether that person was Naruto or Utakata.

Obito still had not appeared, which kept Minato highly alert.

He had stationed people at all of Konoha's more important locations.

Naturally, the shelter behind the academy was among them.

Minato said to the Anbu standing by:

"Let Hiruko go. I've already arranged people over there."

"Check whether Kakashi and Guy have set out."

Soon, Inoichi's voice rang out in Minato's mind:

"Some of the Sky Ninja have begun returning. Kakashi and the others are following them."

There were relatively few people in Konoha with anti-air capabilities.

Under such circumstances, although the Sky Ninja had lost some men during the first wave of bombing, two-thirds of them remained uninjured.

Some had even used up all their bombs and begun returning to resupply.

Shino, Kiba, Kakashi, and Guy had