"Is... is this backup?"
Kusunoki stared at the enormous earthen wall that had suddenly risen, momentarily stunned. Then he immediately realized something.
But his expression soon grew even grimmer. He had intended to find the Konoha Ninja stationed at Shuzaki Castle and have them immediately send the information back to the village.
Yet now they had unexpectedly run into them. He did not like this turn of events at all, because the stationed Shinobi were no match for that man.
Shinobi assigned to garrison duty were generally not particularly strong, and patrols in particular were essentially made up of Chunin and Genin.
That was why Kusunoki had been thinking of having them deliver the intelligence, rather than join the fight!
But now the patrol had come looking for them. This was simply...
Suddenly, Kusunoki frowned. The earthen wall before him seemed excessively large.
And the Chakra Fluctuation of such high quality also made him frown.
If it isn't the patrol, who could it be? Shinobi passing through on a mission?
Kusunoki pondered this, but when someone appeared wearing the same Konoha Anbu uniform as them and a bird-shaped mask, his expression turned rather peculiar.
Konoha Anbu?
What was going on? Why were there more Anbu here?
Were they carrying out a mission nearby, or had they come to meet us?
Or had they happened to notice something was wrong here while on a mission and come over?
"Are you all right?" Before Kusunoki could speak, Xia Yan asked first.
At the same time, he withdrew some of his chakra. He could not keep this up for very long.
"I'm Nightingale, Squad Leader of the First Division Third Squad. What's going on here?"
"Nightingale? It's you?" Although Kusunoki was Captain of the Third Battalion, he knew practically everyone in the Anbu.