Chapter 89: The Pull of Home 

Murakumo supported Togekei. Borrowed Instinct had left the younger shinobi barely able to stand. If Togekei died here, Danzō could keep the intelligence for himself. For one cold moment, Murakumo considered sending Togekei after Iwao. Danzō would then receive the only complete account of the operation. 

Movement crossed the edge of his senses. Tonbo landed among the broken branches. His clothes were torn, his bandages gone, and his chakra dangerously low. He still took in the battlefield at once: Iwao's corpse, the ink stains, wooden stakes, and exhausted Togekei. 

"You found trouble too," Tonbo said. 

His attention rested upon one wooden stake. Wood Release. It must have been Obito, his old classmate. 

Murakumo abandoned the thought of killing Togekei. "A powerful enemy intercepted us. Togekei is the reason any of us survived. Did you eliminate your pursuers?" 

"Delayed them. We leave before they solve the delay." 

More than a dozen Root shinobi emerged openly from the surrounding forest. Tonbo gave Murakumo a long look. Danzō wanted his hands on everything. 

Murakumo glanced from Tonbo to the weakened Togekei. The captain was formidable, but with so many men on Root's side, perhaps... 

Tonbo looked at Murakumo. The Root assassin read the warning in his uncovered eyes. 

Another four-person squad arrived from the Fire border. Every weapon in the clearing shifted toward the newcomers until Tonbo recognized their captain. 

"Hayama." 

Shirakumo Hayama surveyed the casualties and the opposing masks. "You took your time." 

During the mission, Tonbo had contacted Hiruzen to arrange support for his return. Hayama happened to be guarding the nearby border. Whether the danger came from Pain or from Danzō's people, Tonbo wanted help ready. 

Murakumo abandoned the idea. The balance of strength had changed. 

"Danzō's reinforcements," he said. "The mission is complete, so we will head back first. He is yours." He released Togekei. 

Murakumo led the Root unit away without looking back. 

Togekei stumbled. Tonbo caught him beneath one arm. 

"Teacher." 

"You did well," Tonbo said. "Now we go home." 

No one argued. Pain might escape the barrier, the masked man might return, and Root's temporary restraint might disappear once Hayama was no longer present. The two Konoha squads crossed the border without stopping. 

Inside Nagato's refuge, Sensory Saturation continued feeding impossible quantities of information through the black receivers. 

Konan attempted the disruption that had helped against Melancholy. This time Nagato's chakra did not settle. Every Path transmitted conflicting sight, sound, touch, balance, and pressure, and the confusion spread back into his own network. 

A strange force came through the receiver in Nagato's back—the connection to the Demonic Statue. It gave him a moment of clarity. 

Nagato severed his connection to the Six Paths. 

The remote bodies went inert inside the sphere. Nagato bent forward, gasping. His thin arms trembled from the strain. 

"What happened?" Konan asked. 

"The technique attacked the process by which I receive information," he said. "Breaking a genjutsu was useless because the barrier replaced every rejected signal. Without the statue, the overload might have damaged my mind beyond recovery." 

Konan had never seen him like this, not even during his battle with Hanzō. 

"Tell Zetsu I want everything about him," Nagato said. 

Several days later, Tonbo placed a thick roll of documents upon Hiruzen's desk. 

"General military structure, assassination networks, patrol doctrine, evidence concerning Pain and Konan, and a separate account of the masked Sharingan user who attacked Togekei's group," he said. "Direct observation is marked separately from witness statements and inference." 

Hiruzen opened the first pages. Tonbo had recorded only abilities he or his team personally observed: the six bodies, shared Rinnegan vision, attraction and repulsion, absorption, restoration, summons, Wood Release, intangibility, chains, and Sharingan genjutsu. He had left out anything supported only by his memories of another world. 

The report would change any future mission into Amegakure. Jiraiya, in particular, could now approach Pain without learning every ability through fatal mistakes. Tonbo's foreknowledge had become less reliable with each alteration he caused, but knowledge preserved in Konoha no longer depended upon him alone. 

"You have done more than the mission required," Hiruzen said. 

"Then I am going home." 

"Yes. When you have rested—" 

Tonbo disappeared before the sentence ended. 

Hiruzen sighed and returned to the report. "Sharingan, Rinnegan, Wood Release." 

Any one of the three would justify a major investigation. Together, they suggested threats Konoha could no longer dismiss as rumors from a closed country. 

Tonbo did not go directly home. 

He first cut the hair that had grown during the mission, bought clean casual clothes and new shoes, and used a cleansing technique to remove the last traces of travel. He spent several quiet minutes settling his breathing and releasing the alertness that had kept him alive in Amegakure. 

Without bandages, his pale hair and blue eyes drew attention along Konoha's main street. Several young women approached to make their interest plain, then looked disappointed when he told them he was married. One wished she had met him sooner. 

He looked at his empty hands. 

Coming home after most of a year required more than a clean shirt. 

The Yamanaka Flower Shop stood along his route. Tonbo entered beneath its painted sign. 

"Welcome," a child's voice called. 

Ino stood behind the counter beside her mother, her blond hair cut to her neck and held by a small butterfly clip. Her eyes brightened when she saw the unfamiliar young man. 

"What a handsome big brother." 

Tonbo smiled. "Little Ino, you have grown. And it is good to see you as well, Mrs. Yamanaka." 

Mother and daughter exchanged the same puzzled look. 

"Do we know you?" Ino asked.