The main world.
Summer, Year 30 of Konoha.
Outside the Elite School in Konohagakure.
The gold dust passage had already closed behind them.
Kushina and Jiefang had disappeared at the end of the street. The compacted stretch of road was slowly settling, its edges gradually blending into the surrounding ground, as though it had never been laid.
In the middle of the street, three hundred Toyotomi clan members still occupied key positions on the rooftops on both sides and in the side alleys. The Four Heroes stood in the center of the street, the golden angel and emerald-green tree-man still towering above them, their shadows covering more than half the encirclement.
Ryukōshi's voice came from inside the Angel Susanoo, quiet but loud enough to carry across the entire street. "Let the elderly and children leave first."
The three hundred Toyotomi clan members did not turn to check, but they were adjusting their positions-not retreating, but tightening their formation. The younger ones remained at the front while the older ones drew back, forming a defensive line that slowly compressed inward. Their movements were unhurried, like a formation adjustment they had performed many times before. Everyone knew exactly where to step.
The formation's flanks drew in faster than expected. In fewer than ten breaths, the depth of the entire defensive line had been adjusted.
No one within the encirclement ordered a pursuit, but no one ordered a retreat either. Hiruzen Sarutobi did not speak. Orochimaru stood behind him to one side, his hands still holding traces of the hand seal for Manda's Array of Ten Thousand Snakes, but he had yet to begin forming new seals. Hiruzen Sarutobi held the Golden Cudgel, neither lowering nor raising it.
Jin Zhiyin's voice came from inside his Tree-Man Susanoo, his tone unchanged, as though he