"Shinobi from Hoshigakure?"
Retsuo left behind a Shadow Clone while he and Jiapan took Grandma Cat and hid far away, then approached with Xiaomi to observe.
The explosions weren't from a battle. They were a group of shinobi who couldn't find their way, blasting the waterfall.
What a brilliant idea!
This group of geniuses wore Hoshigakure forehead protectors, and their strength was not to be underestimated. At least three of them had attack power on the level of a Jōnin, and in Konoha, they could at worst be rated as Special Jonin.
However, Retsuo felt that even his Shadow Clone could deal with them.
His Shadow Clone was no ordinary clone. A Shadow Clone's strength depended on the amount of Chakra used. When he created one while releasing a massive amount of Chakra, its attack output was even stronger than his normal self's.
Once such a Shadow Clone was exposed, it wasn't difficult to deal with, since it couldn't take much punishment and couldn't refine Chakra to sustain itself. But if the opponent couldn't tell, it would become quite troublesome.
That was why Retsuo was actually very eager to obtain the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
The use of the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique had already been demonstrated by Naruto at Mount Myōboku in the Original Timeline. It could serve as a Chakra battery: whenever Chakra was needed, he could dispel one of the clones, and that clone's Chakra would immediately return to the main body.
But this technique was Konoha's most tightly guarded Forbidden Jutsu. It seemed impossible to obtain it without using some special means.
For Retsuo, it was merely a matter of creating a Shadow Clone. But for Takigakure... the waterfall was extremely important.
Without the waterfall's protection, Takigakure's very survival would be in jeopardy against this pack