Naruto Uzumaki ran in the direction Kakashi had pointed, his footsteps making faint rustling sounds over fallen leaves and broken branches.
His gaze swept behind every tree and deep into every clump of bushes as he muttered, "Where are they... where are they..."
He soon found the first Anbu Ninja.
The Anbu Ninja lay in a hollow between two trees. His mask was intact, but a large section of his chest vest was caved in, and his breathing was shallow.
Naruto crouched down to check his breathing, then felt the pulse at the side of his neck.
"Still alive."
He straightened and continued searching farther out.
Soon, he found the other ninja.
The second and third were in much the same condition.
Unconsciousness, fractures, external bleeding, but none of their injuries were fatal.
Naruto carried them back one by one and laid them together beside the tree Kakashi Hatake was leaning against.
Kakashi looked at the four unconscious Anbu Ninja before him, examining their injuries one by one.
Signs of explosions.
Cuts from kunai.
Every injury was serious enough to leave someone bedridden for ten days or a fortnight.
But every single one had precisely avoided any vital points.
One had three broken ribs, yet not one had pierced a lung.
A fractured left arm, broken cleanly.
As for the injuries caused by explosions, they looked frightening, but the distance and angles seemed to have been controlled.
"Didn't want to kill anyone..." Kakashi quietly repeated his assessment.
Naruto stood beside him with his hands on his hips, obvious unease on his face. "Kakashi-sensei, these people..."
"They're fine. They're all alive." Kakashi raised his right hand and pointed to his ninja tools pouch. "Take out the emergency pills. The green ones."
Naruto hurriedly rummaged through it, pulled out a scroll, and