The first to leave was Princess Kushina, carried away by a flying summoning beast.
Longspear Egret, the Eight-Winged Crow, and several other summoning beasts like the giant eagle soared through the sky.
Next came the Kumo-nin, hot on the trail of Uzushio Village's Sealing Scroll.
Following them were two full squads from Konoha's ANBU.
Danzo went after them as well.
The Yellow Dog Unit stayed behind to cover the retreat.
Yako stood atop the wall and glanced back at Uzushio Village.
Within the village, Kirigakure-nin were still chasing down the last Uzumaki kunoichi.
There were over fifty of them—desperately trying to break through the Mist's blockade.
The entire village lay in dead silence. Only near the northwest wall did a few skirmishes remain.
After jumping down from the wall and entering the forest outside the village, Captain Black Ape raised his hand to signal a halt.
The squad was down to five—Black Ape, three sub-captains, and one remaining operative.
"Change into Kumo gear. We have a different mission now."
The lone operative carried a large pack, somehow already filled with Kumo gear.
Yako discarded his ANBU iron flak jacket—scarred by many blades—and slipped into a Kumo-style single-shoulder vest.
He also dropped his half-broken ninja blade and took up a nearly new long ninjato.
There was even a bloodstained Kumo forehead protector.
Most importantly—he donned a mask.
Now, a five-man Kumo-nin squad stood ready.
Black Ape gave a sidelong glance at their only operative. Figuring there was no point hiding anything from him, he said:
"Our mission is to ensure that no remnants of the Uzumaki Clan interfere with Princess Kushina's arrival in Konoha."
There was no need to explain.
Everyone knew what that meant.
Any Uzumaki who got close to the princess—had to die.
The five Kumo-nin burst out from the woods.
The Uzumaki survivors had already fled the village, heading northwest—toward Konoha.
The narrow, peninsular terrain of the Land of Whirlpools gave them little room to maneuver.
Most of the Mist-nin had stayed behind to scour every inch of Uzushio Village. Their targets: sealing technique notes, valuables, intel from corpses.
A smaller portion continued the chase.
The Uzumaki broke into three-woman teams to slow the enemy, buying time for the others.
All of them fixed their eyes northwest—Konoha was their only hope.
But then—five Kumo-nin appeared, long blades strapped to their backs, posture upright and threatening.
Captain Black Ape didn't charge in. He and his men ran parallel to the fleeing Uzumaki, slowly drawing closer—applying pressure.
Under that pressure, even basic actions like jumping, landing, running—became clumsy.
When one girl stumbled on a landing, Black Ape finally gave the signal—his squad hurled kunai.
That poor Uzumaki girl died in a storm of steel.
With Mist-nin in pursuit and Kumo-nin flanking them, the Uzumaki survivors fell deeper into despair.
Yako frowned to himself.
'Something's wrong. You never press a desperate enemy too hard.'
The Uzumaki weren't helpless. They had sealing scrolls, forbidden arts.
If they were pushed too far, they might go for a one-to-one death trade.
And Reaper Death Seal... wasn't something Yako could survive.
He saw several Uzumaki kunoichi with vacant eyes, already steeled for death, edging toward his Kumo disguise.
It was only the seventh of the month—not even a full moon. No revival left.
Trading lives with these cornered women was not worth it.
Yako glanced at Captain Black Ape, who was single-minded in his ANBU mission—kill all Uzumaki.
One Uzumaki kunoichi charged.
A sub-captain met her—only to be caught in the Adamantine Sealing Chains from a scroll.
She no longer wanted to live.
At close range, she detonated an explosive tag, killing both herself and the sub-captain.
Yako grimaced.
The Uzumaki Clan had lost countless lives tonight. Fathers, brothers, even children.
'No. I can't waste myself on these madwomen. And I can't let them reach Konoha either.'
His eyes turned to Yuka.
Yuka was in the middle of the formation, protected by the others.
She was lucky—Longspear Egret was fast, and she'd been chosen to help escort Princess Kushina from the village.
If Yuka died, the summoning contract would end—Princess Kushina wouldn't escape.
But how could he contact Yuka?
While he was thinking, the squad's last operative died too.
Now only three remained: Black Ape, Fox, and Leaf Monkey.
Seeing the Uzumaki still had this much fight in them, Captain Black Ape quickly fell back.
He'd left the village with sixteen men—now only two remained, and Fox wasn't even originally from his squad.
Yako exhaled in relief.
'This is how it should be. Let the Uzumaki and Mist-nin tear each other apart. What are we ANBU doing in the middle of it?'
The chase continued.
Now, Black Ape's unit just observed—tracking the number of remaining Uzumaki.
During a brief lull, Yako picked up a shattered wooden clog.
Gripping a kunai in reverse, he acted like he was ready to throw—but secretly scratched several words into the clog's board.
The Uzumaki were dwindling fast, and every remaining one had become suicidal. It was like they each carried an explosive tag labeled Mutual Destruction.
While Captain Black Ape was tangled with one of the kunoichi, Yako tossed the kunai—along with the wooden board.
He quickly looked around.
No one had noticed.
Yuka spotted a kunai flying at her and instinctively dodged.
Beneath it—a wooden board hit the ground.
With writing on it.
She picked it up—and her expression changed.
Then she crushed the board in her hand.
It read:
Do not go to the Land of Fire!
Yuka stared at the Kumo-nin who'd thrown the board.
She froze.
That figure… different clothes, hair wrapped, masked—but it looked… just like Fox.
She had never connected the Kumo-nin with Fox before. But now…
That was him.
So that board—was a message from Fox?
But why?
Why didn't Fox want her to go to the Land of Fire?
Why was Fox disguised as a Kumo-nin?
Suddenly, Yuka thought of Danzo. Thought of how Konoha still hadn't sent reinforcements.
More than that—why hadn't Konoha warned them about the Kumo and Mist invasion?
Konoha and Uzushio shared intelligence.
And yet this disaster struck without warning. It was as if every single intel-gathering ninja had been purged tonight.
Impossible.
During the Great Ninja War, the Uzumaki Clan had stationed scouts all along the coast.
Unless…
Unless someone gave the enemy their locations.
Only by striking all those scouting teams at once could the enemy blind the village entirely.
It couldn't have been the Uzumaki.
Then…
Was it Konoha?
They shared info. They knew Uzushio's entire defense layout.
Yuka felt her blood run cold.
Could it be?
Could Konoha… have taken part in the annihilation of the Uzumaki Clan?