Plans Change

After explaining the groups and contact methods, Minato did not let Obito jump in again.

Whatever ease they had felt before entering the city had long been crushed beneath the empty streets and the roar of the pipes.

Minato rested one hand on Rin's shoulder and gripped a specially made kunai in the other, looking toward the Rōran palace.

"Obito, Rin, stay close. We'll go to the palace first and find someone who can make decisions."

Obito nodded, while Rin tightened the straps of her medical pack.

Chakra cut through the heat waves as Minato led the two of them in the Body Flicker Technique. Three figures crossed the shadows cast by the towers and quickly vanished.

Only the wind remained, rolling grit across the metal pipes with a thin, scattered clatter.

Ye watched them leave and curled his lips.

They ran so fast, like Tailed Beasts were really chasing them.

Kushina turned around, her red hair tossed by the hot wind. The hint of ease on her face had already disappeared.

"Minato and the others are heading to the palace. Where do we go next?"

Her hand still rested near her lower abdomen.

Kurama's warning just now made it impossible for her to dismiss it as an illusion.

Kushina could fight, and her Sealing Jutsu was vicious enough, but leading a reconnaissance team was not her specialty.

She did not force herself to take charge and simply left the decision to Ye.

Kakashi closed his little orange book and looked up, waiting for Ye to speak.

Ye did not answer immediately.

His senses spread outward along the pipes beneath his feet. Heat currents, gears, and hissing steam all crashed into his mind.

The underground pipelines beneath Rōran were packed together like an iron net spread across the entire city.