Huff!! Huff!!!
"There is no way that we could escape from this situation." Said a middle-aged man with short messy black hair. The middle-aged man was bleeding. He was sitting while leaning against the wall of the cave. His name was Daichi Takahashi.
Daichi was panting heavily. His face looked pale. He was slowly wrapping a bandage around his left thigh. His left thigh had been pierced by the enemy. He also other many other small and big injuries throughout his whole body. In this current situation, he was as good as useless. Due to his thigh injury, he had lost most of his agility. He won't be able to move as fast as before.
From their earlier confrontation, he had used almost all of his Chakra. He barely had enough chakra left in him to create another Jutsu. This is why he had completely given up on trying to escape.
He had lost hope. He knew that they were going to die today.
"We are not going to die...!!! As long as I am alive, I will make sure that you all return to the village..... alive." Kurenai said in a determined tone. She wasn't going to let her squad die under her watch.
Hearing her words, the other two people who were also resting inside the cave looked at each other and said nothing. Those two people also looked really hopeless. Just like Daichi, they too already had given up. They were currently waiting for their end to come.
The reason they had given up was because of their conditions. They were in no condition for another fight. Unless a miracle happened, there was no way that they could escape from this place alive.
Around a few days back, Kurenai was called by Lord 3rd Hokage. She was specifically given an A-rank mission. Kurenai and her team's mission was to spy on the Rogue Ninja group that appeared in the land of fire recently. Hiruzen also had a strong suspicion that these Rogue ninjas had managed to steal some very secret information from Konoha. So he wanted Kurenai and her team to keep a watch on them for as long as possible and gather as much information as possible
If they were found out, Kurenai was ordered to take them down since the Rogue shinobi group numbered only 6. Normally Hiruzen would have sent Guy or Asuma to such Missions but his son had left the village and was now working as one of the 12 Ninja guardians. As for Guy, he was on another mission away from the Land of Fire with his Genin squad.
Kakashi who recently quit the Anbu, had just finished a S-rank mission all by himself. So Hiruzen gave him half a month to rest. Unfortunately, the strongest Shinobi of the leaf had either retired or was currently out of the village. Tsunade and Jiraiya were out of the land of fire and were traveling on their own. As for Kushina, she had long retired.
Every time Hiruzen thought of Kushina, he only sighed. Kushina the most powerful Kunoichi in the village had since Tsunade left the village. Hiruzen never forced Kushina to work as a Ninja again even in such tough times because he never could understand what she was going through after losing the love of her life and her newborn son.
The Nine Tails incident that happened 15 years ago changed everything. The Hidden Leaf used to be the strongest among the five great nations. But now the number one spot was taken by the Hidden Cloud Village. In the incident, the leaf had lost almost half of its Shinobi. Many Jonin and Chunin died in the attack. And the recent massacre of the Uchiha clan had only weakened the village.
Nowadays, Hiruzen barely has enough Shinobi to protect the village and its borders and also to complete the missions. The money that they received from completing missions was the biggest source of income for Konoha.
In this situation, Kurenai was the only capable experienced Jonin Shinobi that Hiruzen could rely on.
And her teammates were very capable Shinobi chosen by the Hokage himself.
Her teammates was Daichi Takahashi. Daichi was a male ninja with a reputation for his exceptional skill in Taijutsu. Although he is nowhere near as good as Guy at Taijutsu he was one of the best Elite Chunin that the village had currently. His strength and agility make him a formidable opponent in close combat. Daichi is also adept at using various ninja tools and weapons which enhanced his versatility in battle.
Kurenai's second teammate was a woman from the Nara clan. Since Nara clan members are really smart at tactics, the Hokage specifically chose her even though she is an Elite Chunin. She could be considered the brain of the whole team in this mission.
Yumiko Nara is a female ninja from the prestigious Nara clan who is known for their intelligence and the ability to manipulate shadows. She is a strategist and a calm thinker. She often used her clan's signature Shadow Possession Jutsu to control the battlefield.
An elite Chunin wasn't an official rank. But among the Shinobi, an elite Chunin is someone who is very experienced as a Chunin. To be called an Elite Chunin, one must have at least 5 to 10 years of experience in doing missions and also must have additional accomplishments. Daichi and Yumiko Nara were the two Chunin who had been a part of the S rank mission completion Squad that was personally led by Might Guy.
It was mainly because of their experience and intelligence, that both Daichi and Yumiko were placed on this team under Kurenai.
The last member of her Squad was a newly promoted Jonin. Kaito Fujimoto is a male ninja who is known for his proficiency in Ninjutsu. Kaito has a particular affinity for water-based techniques. Kaito is also skilled at using his Ninjutsu to gather information and create a diversion.
Around a week back Kurenai and her team were sent to this mission. However, there had been a big and costly mistake that led Kurenai and her team to be chased by not 6 but rather over 60 Rogue Shinobi.
Kurenai and her team were discovered. More than 60 Rogue Shinobi attacked them. They were already very lucky that they managed to escape with just injuries. Facing 60 Shinobi, the chances of surviving were less than 0.000001%.
The only reason that Kurenai and her team managed to survive till now was that before all the Rogue Shinobi could surround them and attack together, they had fled. However, while being chased, she and her teammates got many serious injuries.
Currently, Daichi and Yumiko are unable to fight. Yumiko only had a Genin-level chakra reserve. And she spent all of her chakra reserve while trying to save their lives. She was severely wounded.
Kaito could still fight but he was very low on chakra and he had several broken ribs. This means he won't be of much use. This only left Kurenai.
Kurenai was also injured. But her injuries weren't that serious. She still could fight but taking on 60 Rogue Shinobi was impossible for her. Kurenai suspected that not even Asuma was capable of defeating 60 rogue shinobi. Among the 60 rogue shinobi, there were around 9 Jonin and the rest were Genin.
'Maybe Kakashi could somehow defeat them.' Kurenai thought of her classmate in this situation. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and sighed.
She and her team had been surrounded from all sides. Very soon, they were going to close the circle and would eventually spot them. While being chased, Kurenai could remember that the enemy had a few sensory Shinobi. Kurenai already had sent an emergency letter to Hiruzen. She just hoped that reinforcement would arrive in time. But the chances of that happening were next to impossible after all they were so far from the village.
Even if the letter somehow reaches Hiruzen's mind, no one from the village could arrive here before the rogue Shinobi kills them. It was just impossible.
'Even though I am telling my teammate to have hope deep down, even I don't have any hope. I guess, I am going to die today.' Kurenai closed her eyes and sighed.
She has so many regrets in her heart. There were so many things that she still wanted to do.
"I will create an opening for you three. You three use your everything to somehow reach the Crimson Leaf Village. As long as you take shelter in that village, those Rogue Shinobi won't dare to chase you there." Kurenai said in a serious tone.
"But what about you?" Asked Yumiko asked. Yumiko was 10 years older than Kurenai yet she was weaker than Kurenai.
"As the team leader, I am going to stay behind obviously. I will hold them back." This was going to be Kurenai's final act.
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