306 - The Extent of His Injuries

Outside Konoha.

With the wounded, unconscious Shisui on his back, Guy raced through the forest behind Kakashi. A large force of Root shinobi, led by Danzo, was close behind them.

Guy was completely bewildered. "How did it come to this?!"

"I'm not sure either."

Kakashi's expression was grim. He still did not understand exactly what had happened, but his instincts told him Team 11 had been caught in someone's scheme.

"Where's Naoki?" Guy asked. "I haven't seen him."

Kakashi's expression darkened further.

He already knew that the Naoki Hyuga who had accompanied Team 11 that day was only a Shadow Clone. Judging by Shisui's reaction when the clone was attacked, Shisui had known about it too.

But that was not what mattered most right now. First, he needed to know whether the Third Hokage really had been attacked. "Was there actually an attempt on Lord Hokage's life?"

Guy immediately shook his head. "No. I saw him myself when I went to make my report."

Clearly, after the Hokage's guards caught up with Danzo's group, they had told only Danzo about the assassination attempt. Even Guy, who had been traveling with them, knew nothing about it.

Kakashi glanced back at their relentless pursuers and frowned. "At this rate, they'll catch us sooner or later!"

"Then what do we do?"

After a moment's thought, Kakashi said, "I'll hold them off. Take Shisui to Safe House Four. I'll meet you there once I've shaken them."

ANBU could not stay at inns while carrying out covert missions, so almost every ANBU team maintained its own secret places to rest outside the village.

Guy hesitated. "You, alone...?"

Kakashi waved him off before he could finish. "That's the plan. Shisui needs treatment now! I'll see you at Safe House Four!"

He stopped on a tree branch and rapidly formed hand seals. The shrill chirping of a thousand birds filled the forest.

Seeing the resolve in Kakashi's stance, Guy hesitated no longer. He raced toward Safe House Four with Shisui on his back.

He reached it soon afterward.

Safe House Four was little more than a cave with a few simple improvements. Inside, Guy began bandaging Shisui's wounds.

There were two kinds of injury to deal with.

The explosive tags had torn up almost his entire back. Those wounds looked horrific, but with prompt treatment, they were not particularly serious by shinobi standards.

The other injury came from the kunai Danzo had driven into his back. The stab wound itself was not the problem. Danzo had poisoned the blade, and that poison was why Shisui had lost consciousness.

After giving him the antidote he carried, Guy waited anxiously in the cave for Kakashi.

Fortunately, he did not have to wait long. Kakashi soon arrived, breathing hard. "I sent a Shadow Clone to lead them away!"

Guy gave him a detailed account of Shisui's injuries, then stressed, "I don't know whether our standard ANBU antidote will work."

Kakashi hesitated, then said, "We're going back to Lord Hokage!"

"But what about Lord Danzo?"

"We're ANBU under Lord Hokage's direct command. Danzo has no authority to give us orders, much less punish us on his own! The way he suddenly attacked Shisui... I think he's after..."

Kakashi stopped himself.

Whatever else he might be, Danzo was still one of the village's advisers. Without solid evidence, Kakashi did not want to assume the worst about his motives.

Back in Konoha.

The Third and Fugaku watched Hiruko escape through the air on his composite summoning beast, their expressions grim.

Hiruko had acted decisively at the last moment: severing his chained legs, pushing off the ground with his palms, and leaping onto the beast without a moment's hesitation. Even someone as experienced as the Third had been unable to stop his sudden escape.

His fight with Fugaku had left no doubt about his strength.

One-on-one, there was very little they could do against him. Taking him down would require, at the very least, a well-coordinated team, traps prepared in advance, and a sealing technique to finish the job.

They had just lost a perfect opportunity to do exactly that.

Capturing Hiruko would not only have removed a major threat to Konoha. It might also have given them his forbidden technique for stealing other people's Kekkei Genkai, along with intelligence on the Akatsuki.

Now that the opportunity had slipped away, catching him again would be extraordinarily difficult.

Koharu Utatane approached the Third. "Hiruzen, Hiruko is far too dangerous. We should notify the other major hidden villages at once and work together to eliminate him!"

Homura Mitokado joined them, still carrying his scroll. "Storm Release is one of the Kekkei Genkai he stole. That means it was the Akatsuki who attacked the Raikage and abducted that Storm Release shinobi, not the God Organization!"

The mere mention of those two organizations was enough to give the Third a headache.

Just then, the Hokage's guards finally returned to the village and reported Danzo's brazen attack on Shisui.

The Third frowned sharply. "Bring Danzo back. And send ANBU to assist Team 11!"

In the secret laboratory.

Naoki slowly lowered the hand covering his right eye. "So Hiruko really was nearby. But how arrogant can he be? He actually stood there and took a hit from the Third's Adamantine Staff!"

Although he had left early, Naoki had kept watch through a Crow Clone flying overhead. He had seen Hiruko's spectacular entrance, his abrupt reversal of fortune, and the escape that had nearly cost him his life.

"Team 11 never showed up," he murmured. "What happened to them?"

He had returned in such a hurry that he had not yet met Shisui, leaving him unaware of the team's situation. Without more information, he could not work out what had gone wrong.

"Never mind. I'd better get my real body back here first."

His soul left the Fire Release clone and flew into the sky...