Tianyi crouched down and quickly began checking their condition, removing their restraints.
Then his brows furrowed slightly as he looked toward the distance.
Minato Namikaze! The blond youth had clearly forced himself to pursue them despite his injuries, his breathing slightly ragged.
His face looked even paler beneath the dusk, his gaze fixed tightly on the red-haired figure in the crater.
Anxiety and concern nearly overflowed from him.
"Senior Tianyi," Minato steadied his breathing, his voice carrying obvious exhaustion and a barely noticeable tremor.
"I only wanted to... make sure she... they were safe."
Seeing that two Uzumaki Clan children were lying beside Kushina, he immediately corrected himself.
Kushina appeared to have merely fallen unconscious, without any obvious external injuries. Only then did Minato's tightly wound nerves relax slightly.
However, Tianyi's faintly furrowed brow was not because he blamed Minato for returning on his own.
Within his senses, an immensely powerful chakra fluctuation filled with violent Lightning Release energy
was rapidly approaching this area from beyond the northeastern border in an almost overbearing manner!
Its intensity far surpassed that Hidden Cloud Village Jonin from before. It was absolutely a Kage-level expert, or at least close to one!
What was more, several equally formidable chakra signatures followed closely along the flank of that powerful presence, moving in perfect coordination.
"Hidden Cloud Village reinforcements... They actually dared to cross the border and push deep into the Land of Fire! They've got some nerve!"
Tianyi's heart tightened. Their actions were utterly unscrupulous.
But that also showed their determination to succeed and their absolute confidence in their own strength.
There was no time to hesitate or explain in detail.
In the blink of an eye, Tianyi vanished from where he stood and appeared beside Minato the next instant.
A chakra mark carrying unique spatial