The night was pitch-black, the moonlight hidden behind thick clouds, with only scattered stars dotting the sky.
Shikamaru and his group spread out around the battlefield, each remaining alert as their eyes swept back and forth across the ground.
The traces left by the battle were still obvious!
Scorched earth, broken tree trunks, scattered puppet fragments, and several craters blasted out by ninjutsu.
A faint smell of burning and blood hung in the air.
But as time passed, those smells would eventually fade.
Tenten crouched beside a large tree that had been severed and reached out to feel the cut surface.
The cut was as smooth as if a sharp blade had sliced through it.
"The way these puppets attacked was strange." Tenten stood, her brows tightly furrowed.
In another direction, Rock Lee found a jumble of footprints, but only after examining them carefully did he realize they had been left by ninja from the Konoha Defense Force.
When it came to combat, Rock Lee was only skilled in taijutsu.
But searching for and tracking enemies were basic ninja skills, so Rock Lee soon established where the footprints had come from.
Elsewhere, Naruto and Hinata were searching farther away.
Hinata kept her Byakugan activated, veins bulging on her beautiful face.
Through her pale eyes, her vision pierced the trees and the ground, examining every detail within several kilometers.
Naruto followed at her side, glancing at her from time to time.
"Hinata, did you find anything?" Naruto asked.
Hinata shook her head, a trace of barely concealed anxiety in her voice. "No... there are no unusual chakra signatures within five kilometers, and I haven't found Hanabi's chakra either."
She had spotted some Konoha Defense Force ninja searching for enemy traces in the distance.
But it seemed they had found nothing either,