"Captain!"
His deputy reminded him quietly, "That direction and location... rashly deploying a large force could put the other countries on alert..."
Yamanaka Kazumasa gave his deputy a cold look. "Hyuga Hiashi is the head of Konoha's Hyuga Clan. He was attacked within our defense zone. If I don't go to his rescue, what do you think the consequences will be?"
The deputy immediately shut his mouth.
He had not expected the head of the Hyuga Clan to be involved.
But that was only natural. As a deputy, he was not privy to much of the intelligence.
Yamanaka Kazumasa, however, was different. As the captain, he knew that Hyuga Hiashi had led a team across the border some time ago.
In any case, Hiashi had a travel permit from Lord Hokage, so he naturally had not stopped him.
Of course, he did not know what Hiashi and the others had gone to do.
Six elite ninja filed out of the watchtower and, under Yamanaka Kazumasa's lead, raced toward the purple flare.
Every face was etched with gravity.
For the head of the Hyuga Clan to send a distress signal himself, the battle there had to be going terribly.
"Full speed ahead. We must reach the target area as quickly as possible."
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, in the devastated woodland where Hiashi and the others were, every second felt as long as a century.
He could no longer maintain Rotation.
Hiashi ended the technique and stood facing the lead puppet, panting rapidly.
His chakra reserves had each been depleted by over sixty percent, yet the battle had lasted less than five minutes.
Worse still, perhaps because they had sent the distress signal, things changed.
The puppets abruptly stepped up the frequency of their attacks. Puppet after puppet poured out from deep within the