"Kabuto!"
The three tomoe spun in Gua's eyes,
and he stepped forward,
but Kabuto and the Masked Man were already gone.
Fugaku's brow furrowed.
"So they weren't after you two?"
"No. They probably just wanted to capture an Uchiha."
Itachi analyzed the situation calmly.
"And Kabuto happened to be the least conspicuous one."
Kabuto wasn't a pureblood Uchiha, but the Masked Man didn't know that.
All he knew was that he needed to capture an Uchiha...
To be honest, Fugaku wasn't particularly fond of a mixed-blood like Kabuto.
Still, he was the one who had brought him along. Now that Kabuto had been captured, he couldn't escape responsibility.
But,
there was nothing he could do about it.
People died on the battlefield. That was inevitable.
"Let's head back first. We can't linger here."
"We should go rescue Kabuto!"
Gua spoke firmly.
Fugaku shook his head.
"While you were blowing up the bridge, Konoha and Iwagakure started fighting."
Gua froze for a moment.
"How do you know that, Clan Leader Fugaku?"
As far as Gua was concerned, Fugaku should have been following them from the shadows to protect them the whole time.
Then how did Fugaku know that fighting had begun on the main front?
Suddenly,
Gua's pupils contracted slightly.
He thought he understood.
Gua looked at Fugaku in astonishment.
"We were bait?"
Fugaku nodded solemnly. "Yes!"
"You were the bait we dangled before Iwagakure. With you, Uchiha Gua, here, they were bound to send extremely powerful opponents to intercept and kill you.
If you died,
panic would spread through Konoha.
By the same token, if nothing happened to you, and you successfully blew up the bridge instead,
then Iwagakure would be the ones to lose their nerve.
As I said before, Kannabi Bridge isn't so important that destroying it would