After learning the location of Uchiha Kurumi's grave, Kuroto thought a little and said, "It's not very safe here, take care of all the traces and change the site to recover!"

This cave, although a little hidden, isn't very far from the battlefield where the two of them fought. ​​

Once Konoha or Kumo learns that Uchiha Shinichi disappeared/ran away from the battlefield, a carpet search will inevitably begin, and finding this cave wouldn't be very difficult, so neither of the two can stay here for very long.

Shinichi nodded and immediately used a 'Fireball Jutsu' on the place where the blood was left.

After being burned violently by the 'Fireball Jutsu', all the blood evaporated leaving only black traces, and nothing more.

…

On the Battlefield.

The silent confrontation between Team-11 and Kumo shinobi continued and neither side rushed to make the first move.

Both sides were afraid for a reason to make the first attack.

Team-11 as a whole wasn't afraid of the overall power of the Kumo unit led by Yugito Nii, but they were worried that the fight might again light the fuse of an all-out war between the two villages, so they were somewhat restrained.

On the Kumo side, Yugito Nii learned and personally witnessed the fact that the Anbu in the Cat Mask, i.e., Uchiha Shisui [based on the information published in the Bingo Book], seems to also have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, and then there is Hyuga Kuroto; the guy with the Eagle mask; seem to have defeated Uchiha Shinichi; who has awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, so fighting these four Anbu; seems a little difficult for her.

After all, they are still in the Land of Fire; i.e., Enemy Territory; and it wouldn't take very much long for the Konoha Shinobi Army; personally, led by the Toad Sannin Jiraiya to arrive here. And once these reinforcements arrive; the already low chances of winning will even disappear completely.

Bang…

While Yugito Nii was considering whether to stay and fight or retreat; a red flare appeared in the distant sky signaling the arrival.

One of the Kumo Jonin who was part of the unit approached Yugito Nii and whispered silently, "It's Konoha's Flare; it's time we retreat!"

Sighing heavily at the fact that Team-11 was again spared from her clutches; Yugito Nii nodded towards the Jonin and ordered, "Retreat!"

Following Yugito Nii's order; all the Kumo ninjas took a backward step and started leaving the battlefield.

Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…

Finally giving a cold glance to the four members of Team-11; who still didn't drop their guard; she too retreated.

Whoosh…

All the Kumo ninjas turned into after-images and soon disappeared in the darkening night towards the direction of the Land of Hot Water.

"Whew…" Kakashi finally breathed a sigh of relief, he really didn't want the matter to escalate anymore.

While Kakashi was glad, Shisui asked Kuroto anxiously, "Kuroto-San, which direction did Shinichi escaped?"

Kuroto's clone didn't look at Shisui just answered calmly, "Don't be too anxious; let's first wait for Jiraiya-Sama's arrival and then decide the further course of action!"

Understanding that the reinforcements brought by Jiraiya were about to arrive, Shisui suppressed his anxiousness to chase after Shinichi. After all, persuing after Uchiha Shinichi in the night and this dense forest would be extremely difficult, not to mention his anti-tracking abilities would only make it more difficult.

Without making them wait for long, the Toad Sannin Jiraiya arrived at the battlefield along with the reinforcements.

He was quite surprised looking at the scale of damage and the messy battlefield.

Kakashi hurriedly stepped forwards and reported the basic situation about the battle to Jiraiya and finally stated, "After Uchiha Shinichi's fight with Eagle, he is currently missing."

Jiraiya glanced towards Kuroto's clone, and after looking at him from head to toe, he said with a smile, "Hey young guy, we meet again!"

Kuroto was a little speechless as to how to respond to that greeting.

Jiraiya also noticed the confusion and waved his hand, while stating, "Don't worry, aside from your details in the Bingo Book; the old man has already given me some basic information of the members of Team-11; so don't be too restrained!"

Kuroto nodded and bowed towards Jiraiya as a sign of his gratefulness, "I am still grateful for Jiraiya-Sama's help from that time."

The arrival of Jiraiya and Orochimaru; helped Kuroto and Itachi and prompted Yugito Nii to retreat during their mission; if not for the arrival of the two Sannin; the consequences of the accidental encounter with the Nibi's Jinchuriki might have been quite disastrous!

Jiraiya casually nodded and asked, "Tell me the details of your fight with Uchiha Shinichi!"

Kuroto will of course not give an accurate description of the battle between him and Shinichi, so he just vaguely described that the initial confrontation didn't work as all the injuries he suffered recovered strangely moreover even the poison wasn't being effective on him and Uchiha Shinichi activated the Susanoo and used a barrage of attacks which Kuroto continuously dodged; this went on for a while but because neither side was able to connect their attacks with the enemy, so in the end, Shinichi's Chakra levels started dropping and he retreated immediately, and even before Kuroto and others could pursue after him; they had to stop to confront the Kumo unit.

There is simply no loophole in this argument; because the surrounding forest was all damaged only by Shinichi's Susanoo while the attacks from Kuroto's side were very accurate and restricted; so it is difficult to analyze them, therefore, no matter who it is; they can't find any other detail based on the situation on the battlefield.

There are simply no loopholes in what Kuroto said.

As for the matter of Golden Light?

Obviously, it was caused by something on Shinichi's Susanoo… however, it was difficult to accurately identify it as it was some kind of Chakra weapon.

Simple and easy!

After roughly understanding the situation, Jiraiya also deployed the Konoha shinobi; and Kakashi too summoned his Ninken to search Shinichi's tracks.

But because of the interference from Kuroto's main body that was with Shinichi; no matter how much effort they put; no traces of Shinichi's presence were found.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

With Shinchi's speed of travel after a little recuperation, three days was more than enough for him to escape the territory of the Land of Fire; and exactly as Kuroto desired, Team-11 didn't find any results and had to return back to the village.

As soon as Team-11 returned back to the village, they were called to the Hokage Office by Sandaime-Sama.

…

In the Hokage office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had a small frown, with eyes stern, seems to be busy in his thoughts.

On the side, Shimura Danzo also looked gloomy and angered.

The two other elder consultants, Mitokade Homura and Utatane Koharu were also worried.

As the captain of Team-11, Kakashi gave a detailed report of Team-11's pursuit of Shinichi without missing any detail.

By the time Kakashi finished his report, Sandaime asked solemnly, "That is to say, Uchiha Shinichi has defected to Kumo?"

Kakashi shook his head and answered with a guilty tone, "We can't be certain, but the probability of such a thing happening is very high!"

Sandaime nodded and waved his hands to signal Team-11 to leave.

With a courteous bow, Team-11 left the Hokage Office.

With only 4 members of the Advisor Council remaining in the meeting room, Danzo coldly said, "There is a Kumo spy in the Village!"

This conclusion isn't very difficult to draw; after all, if not for the fact that Uchiha Shinichi was more or less induced by that spy; then the Kumo wouldn't have been able to respond to Shinichi's defection and send a unit personally led by one of the Jinchuriki into the hinterland of the Land of Fire.

Not to mention that this time their arrival wasn't even noticed by the Konoha's side; this means that; the enemy had some information on the routes that had less security so they could enter easily.

Adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, Homura added, "This spy was not only aware of the contradiction between Root and the Uchiha Clan, bypass the security of both the Anbu unit as well as the Uchiha Police force to make contact with Uchiha Shinichi and finally sent intelligence about the Konoha's border security details; this shows that his status is definitely not low, it is very likely that he/she is either part of Anbu unit or the Root unit."

Danzo was obviously unhappy at this statement and said with a dark tone, "There will never be any problem from my Root Unit!"

At this time, Koharu said with a mocking tone, "A mere Uchiha kid was not only able to breach the security of your Root Base but also single-handedly annihilated almost all the personnel at the time present at the base. I even heard that many of your storehouses were also robbed, are you sure that the spy didn't have his hands in all this?"

"You…" Danzo glared towards Koharu in annoyance, and finally snorted, "Fine, I will investigate the Root thoroughly, but this doesn't change the fact that there will be no spies among my men!"

Shimura Danzo had a big loss this time. Many of the Root Shinobi loyal to him were killed by Uchiha Shinichi single-handedly, then there was a theft, most of the warehouses and secret laboratory he had were robbed by someone, even the few Sharingan he had left were taken away by the thief!

And finally, Danzo's prestige in Konoha has also been affected severely, so his authority in the Advisor Council has fallen to the lowest of the four.

Sandaime ignored Danzo's look and nodded towards Homura and Koharu with a serious tone, "I will conduct a thorough investigation of the Anbu members."

Finally, with all the discussion over, Danzo stood up while tapping his cane and coldly said, "Hiruzen, now you should understand the threat posed by the Uchiha Clan towards the village, if we leave them as they are, the village will sooner or later be destroyed in their hands!"

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Read up to Chapter - 276 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p-atreon.com/Milta_translations