Naruto: Awakening Eternal Power with My Eye Techniques

However, since most of the manpower had already been dispatched by this Anbu Deputy Commander, the forces now sent out by the Third were mostly personal bodyguards. Although these were elite guards, their numbers were limited.

If the Sannin and Motoi were not currently occupied with other missions outside the village, they might have been deployed as well. At the same time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was prepared to personally intervene.

Now, with the first batch of Anbu dispatched, they moved much faster compared to the Cloud-nin since they didn't need to carry someone like Kushina Uzumaki along during the pursuit. Soon, they caught up with that group of spy ninjas.

Because of this, two jonin among the Iwa spy team sacrificed themselves deliberately by stepping forward to confront Konoha's Anbu squad while the other three carried Kushina away rapidly in retreat, heading toward where Kumo reinforcements awaited.

On Konoha's side, one jonin and three chunin became engaged by those two Iwa jonin, unable to continue the chase. A fierce battle then broke out between them.

Then the main Anbu force quickly caught up, leaving behind an elite four-man squad to assist in finishing off the enemy before continuing further. Otherwise, if not for the fact that these individuals were members of the Sarutobi clan, the Anbu main force wouldn't have left anyone behind to help.

Due to the haste of retreat by the three Cloud ninja carrying Kushina, they hadn't properly erased their tracks on the ground. Thus, it was easy for the Anbu main force to follow their trail again.

Therefore, half of the Kumo elite unit separated from the group and desperately attempted to block pursuit, creating a chance for the remaining ones to escape toward the Land of Lightning.

Under such desperate resistance by the Kumo ninja, the Anbu Commander tried multiple times to break through but failed repeatedly, so he had no choice but to fight back just as fiercely.

Not long after, Sarutobi's reinforcements arrived. Ignoring the ongoing battle, the Anbu Deputy Commander kept chasing based on the footprints left behind. After all, rescuing Kushina Uzumaki was the highest priority.

However, the support squad left behind earlier joined up with the initial pursuers—comprising the jonin originally sent to chase the Cloud ninja—who had now arrived together as fresh reinforcements. In the end, the Anbu Commander managed to break through after killing several Kumo ninja with his subordinates, chasing further in the direction where Kushina had been abducted.

Among the initial pursuit squad, only one out of the three chunin survived the engagement. He had stayed behind due to severe injuries, being treated on-site, when he was just discovered by Shiyu Uchiha and Minato Namikaze returning from training in the Forest of Death.

Confirming through his Sharingan that they weren't enemies, Shiyu Uchiha noticed two fallen Kumo ninjas lying nearby. His mind suddenly clicked—recalling the news of Kushina's abduction—and immediately called over Minato to assist in rescuing the Anbu officer.

While treating the wounded chunin's injuries, Shiyu deliberately startled him a bit to get information, letting Minato learn about Kushina's abduction.

Upon hearing the news, Minato Namikaze, who was normally calm and collected, instantly panicked. Ignoring the exhaustion from just finishing training, he quickly rushed in the direction where Kushina Uzumaki had been taken. Fortunately, the two had refined some chakra after finishing their training, so their reserves were still decent.

Seeing this, Shiyu Uchiha didn't hesitate and instructed the wounded Chunin to continue resting in place. The wound had already been bandaged by him, at least removing any immediate danger. Then, using the Summoning Technique, he summoned Saya, informing her of the situation while running, and hurriedly chased after Minato together with her. The main reason Shiyu notified his clan was because the Konoha Police Force bore responsibility for the village's safety; thus, he wanted Shizhi Uchiha and others to be prepared and avoid taking the blame meant for someone like Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After finishing his instructions to Saya, Shiyu dispelled the summoning technique. Then, picking up speed, he pursued Minato. Mainly, Minato had slowed down to determine the Cloud-nin's escape route, which made it nearly impossible for Shiyu to catch up.

After catching up with Minato, Shiyu quickly pulled out two specially-made Military Rations Pills, handing one to Minato while taking one himself. With these pills, both could recover at least half of their chakra, enabling them to face the enemy head-on once they caught up.

Then, Shiyu activated his Sharingan, cooperating with Minato to search for trails. Following clues left behind, they found the path the Cloud-nin took when retreating and continued forward in pursuit.

At this time, the Anbu dispatched by Hiruzen Sarutobi again caught up to that group of Cloud-nin. However, the Cloud-nin separated some personnel specifically to intercept the pursuers while the rest continued fleeing, with the team leader among those remaining to block the enemy.

However, after this division of forces, only four elite Cloud-nin remained, along with three spies who excelled in the [Shifting Body Technique] but weren't skilled in combat—an overall force of seven people at most.

Since the dozen or so Anbu guarding Hiruzen were absolute elites among elites, after a brief clash, three Cloud-nin broke through the blockade and continued pursuing Kushina Uzumaki.

By now, Minato and Shiyu had already passed through the battlefield where the Konoha Anbu Commander engaged the Cloud-nin and continued moving forward.

The three Cloud-nin who broke through the interception soon caught up to Kushina's group of eight. Then, the four elite Cloud-nin began resisting the enemies wholeheartedly, while the three spies took Kushina away—though there was something eerily unusual about them.

While pursuing, Minato and Shiyu failed to catch up with Kushina even deep into the night, mainly because they couldn't recognize Anbu signals and could only track relying purely on their own abilities.

Fortunately, both were top students and seasoned by battle experience, skillfully tracking without wasting too much time—in fact, they had even surpassed the battlefield involving the Anbu Deputy Commander earlier.

Yet at one location, after confirming the Cloud-nin's retreat path, Minato unusually came to a stop, frowning as he hesitated and said, "Shiyu, I feel something is off...but I don't know exactly what."

Shiyu Uchiha saw Minato Namikaze's reaction and recalled the canon scene where Minato pursued the enemy alone. However, in reality, there were far more pursuers — Shiyu could sense that the number was around a hundred along the way, which clearly didn't match up.

He boldly guessed that the remaining Cloud-nin must've used some trick to throw off Konoha's pursuers before escaping toward the border. That's probably where Minato caught up with them alone. That Kushina Uzumaki only told Naruto about this part later made perfect sense — she was probably unconscious through most of it.

Then he thought about the signal left by Kushina Uzumaki and said to Minato, "Expand your search area. I also believe they might have split into two groups. Kushina Uzumaki is hiding within the other group."

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