The signs of combat outside the supply station were faint.
So faint that if the squad had been focused only on finding Morikawa Kai, they might have missed them entirely.
But now everyone knew that faint traces did not mean unimportant ones.
Gen crouched at the edge of the grass, studying several broken blades.
"Someone went down here."
The Medical Ninja examined the bloodstains.
He soon reached a conclusion.
"At least two people."
Crow looked at him.
The Medical Ninja pointed to two remnants of different colors.
"One may be blood left by the Former Informant. The other has a different chakra signature, more like someone trained in sealing."
Root.
No one spoke the word aloud.
But everyone heard it.
Shisui looked at the slender needle beside a tree root.
It was no ordinary ninja tool.
An extremely faint residue of the Paralytic Drug remained on its tip.
Something like this was not used in direct combat.
It was better suited to restraining someone, taking them away, or silencing them.
Itachi followed the trail through the grass with his eyes.
"The target wasn't taken away."
Crow asked, "How can you tell?"
Itachi pointed to the impressions in the ground.
"If he'd been taken away, there would be a continuous drag mark here. But the trail stops at this point."
Gen picked up where he left off.
"Either a third party intervened, or the target broke free on his own."
Both possibilities were troubling.
If a third party had intervened, it meant someone besides Root and the Masked Man was competing for Morikawa Kai.
If Morikawa Kai had escaped on his own, it meant he was more clearheaded than the intelligence suggested-and more dangerous.
Crow's expression grew grimmer.
"We can no longer treat this solely as an external threat."
Gen said