The main world.
Summer, Konoha year 30.
Outside the Elite School in Konohagakure.
The tremors above the street had already subsided.
The platinum-colored fragments of the Tailed Beast Bomb had all fallen to the ground. Only shallow marks remained where the shockwave had overturned the surface. Several new cracks lined the edge of the training ground. There were splatter marks to the left of Hokage Rock. Shattered stones lay scattered along the edge of the shopping street.
Konoha was being covered over again. But no one ordered a pursuit, and no one formed a new counterattack formation.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had yet to tighten his grip on the Golden Cudgel again. Orochimaru still stood within the defensive line behind the snakes. The heads of the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans each held their positions. Both sides of the street had emptied. There had been no evacuation, but everyone had stopped where they were.
The Toyotomi clan members were gathering. Their positions contracted inward. They no longer occupied the rooftops or blocked the side alleys, instead converging on the Four Heroes in the middle of the street. Their formation remained intact, but it was changing direction, preparing to withdraw.
The last few had already crossed the edge of the Gold Dust passage Yōsa had laid down. They had not fully left yet, but their feet were already lifting.
Ryukōshi turned toward Mito. He had already withdrawn his Angel Susanoo rather than leaving it manifested. His voice was not loud, but it carried far enough to reach where she stood. "As it turns out, you slacked off for the Land of Whirlpools, and you slacked off for Konoha too. What have you been doing all this time? Coasting along for a pension?"
Mito did not answer. She stood at the edge of the