The instant the arrow crossed the Red Rope, Shisui vanished from where he stood.
When he appeared again, he stood in front of the water-fetching line, the arrow shaft caught between two fingers.
The arrowhead was barely half a foot from a child's shoulder.
Weapons were drawn on both sides of the Well Zone.
The people of Iwatari Village were convinced the arrow had come from Ashihara Village's direction.
The Ashihara Village guards pointed at the grass-colored feathers on its tail, shouting that the other side was deliberately framing them.
Before the argument ended, a second surge of chakra rose from the woods.
Three kunai fitted with explosive tags flew toward the Wellhead, the evidence tent, and the Ashihara Village crowd.
Shisui did not look into either leader's eyes.
His figure flickered between the three trajectories in rapid succession.
He kicked the first kunai into an empty clearing.
The second was driven into the wet mud, explosive tag and all.
Just as the third was about to fall into the Wellhead, he looped wire around it and pulled it back into the air.
Explosions rang out one after another, but none reached the crowd or the deep well.
Before the smoke and dust cleared, the security squad was already acting under the limited assistance agreement.
Two members escorted the people fetching water behind the earthen wall.
Two guarded the evidence tent.
The rest only sealed off the direction of the attack, without charging into the woods to search areas outside their authorization.
Shisui followed the fine thread attached to the kunai into the woods.
The archer was cutting away the mechanism secured behind a tree.
He was one of the unaffiliated ninja hired by the Crane Feather Caravan.
He had hidden the bow on the Ashihara Village side in advance,