Early the next morning, in the Hokage Office.
Sunlight streamed through the window, falling on the pile of unfinished paperwork on Tsunade's desk. Tsunade sat behind it, ink staining the cuffs of her Kage's Ceremonial Robe and dark circles hanging beneath her eyes on her meticulously maintained face. Clearly, she had stayed up all night processing Root's files.
Yamato stood before the desk. He had changed into a clean New Team 7 regulation vest, but his complexion was still poor, his lips pale.
Naruto stood beside Yamato, while Sakura stood on the other side, holding a mission report scroll.
"The follow-up report on Tenchi Bridge, formally submitted."
Tsunade took the scroll, unrolled it, and skimmed through it, tapping one passage with her finger.
"Yamato, you wrote here that after the second collapse, the fissure extended underground, with no bottom in sight. Did you go down to look?"
Yamato nodded.
"Before withdrawing, I sent a Wood Release clone down to investigate. It reached about forty meters before I lost control."
"Lost control?"
"When the clone reached roughly thirty-five meters, it suddenly started growing on its own. Branches sprouted out of its body. I hadn't given any orders."
Tsunade put down the scroll.
"And then?"
"I severed the chakra connection to the clone myself, but before the connection broke, it sent back some images."
Yamato lowered his voice a little.
"A layer of black rock was exposed at the bottom of the pit. It was extremely smooth. My Wood Release clone tried to scratch it, but couldn't leave a single mark."
The office fell silent for a moment.
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
"Couldn't scratch it? What about Wind Release?"
"The clone used three types of ninjutsu: Fire Release, Earth Release, and Wood Release. None of them worked. Even the