On the plains outside the forest of the Land of Fire, a chase with an unseen target was underway. Two Cloud Village ninjas were ferociously sprinting towards the forest.
At the same time, Yawai was forming seals with one hand, constantly sensing the location of the enemy who was burrowing underground.
Clearly, the speed of Earth-style movement couldn't match the average running speed of a ninja, especially since the other party was also carrying a burden.
Soon, as they approached the forest, the two ninjas closed in on their target!
"Earth Style: Ground Splitting Palm!"
Before completely catching up, Yawai suddenly leapt high into the air, quickly forming seals with both hands in midair, and upon landing, slammed his hands onto the ground.
Crack~!!
Crack~!!
In the next moment, the ground in front of Yawai's hands rapidly split into numerous cracks!
In an instant, the ground shattered, and the layers of earth lifted. The squeezing plates resembled dragons turning over in the soil, continuously surging forward.
Originally, this Ground Splitting Palm was mainly used to disrupt enemies, but it was incredibly effective when used to attack those hiding underground.
Unfortunately, the opponent seemed to sense the commotion and emerged from the ground before being affected by the technique!
A white-haired young man, carrying a red-haired girl, could be seen running forward.
Now!
Swish, swish, swish!
The remaining subordinate grinned viciously, having prepared a continuous barrage of shurikens.
However, the white-haired young man didn't even look back. With a few shakes of his body, he dodged wave after wave of shuriken attacks and rushed into the forest without slowing down!
Seeing this, Yawai's expression grew even darker.
The second subordinate, having thrown all his shurikens, couldn't help but shout angrily:
"Is this guy from the Hyuga clan?!"
"How can he have eyes in the back of his head?!"
Meanwhile, Nasuhiko, carrying Kushina and running desperately, heard their words.
His mouth twitched slightly, and with a thought, he retracted a hand that had been extended from the back of his collar.
It could be seen that the palm had a round eye in the middle, staring unblinkingly at the movements behind Nasuhiko...
At the same time, two more arms grew from his shoulders, holding kunai to cut the ropes binding Kushina.
Because these special ropes were extremely tough, it took Nasuhiko some time to finally free Kushina.
After being freed, Kushina looked anxiously at the Cloud ninjas chasing them and said urgently:
"Nasuhiko, what should we do? They're getting closer. Maybe you should put me down, and we can run together?"
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
Nasuhiko looked down at Kushina in his arms and asked, "Firstly, Kushina, how much chakra do you have left?"
Since Kushina had been continuously using her bracelet to send messages, she must have used up quite a bit of chakra, which is why Nasuhiko asked.
"About thirty to forty percent left," Kushina replied.
Nasuhiko estimated that, given Kushina's total chakra capacity, thirty to forty percent should be plenty.
While dodging the enemy's shuriken attacks, he quickly gave Kushina her tasks.
"...I've also sent the rest of the plan to your bracelet. Just follow it."
Seeing Kushina nod thoughtfully, Nasuhiko smiled slightly and said:
"Then, see you later."
With that, he tossed Kushina forward and slapped a storage card onto her back.
The rocket backpack he had used earlier appeared on Kushina's back.
Reacting quickly, Kushina grabbed it with both hands, strapped it on, and pressed the activation button as instructed by Nasuhiko.
Immediately, the rocket backpack spewed bright blue flames, propelling her forward erratically.
"Ahhhh————!!!"
Despite being mentally prepared, the speed was so overwhelming that Kushina couldn't help but scream.
Her screams echoed continuously, startling flocks of birds as she flew forward.
"What is that thing?!"
The two Cloud ninjas chasing them naturally noticed the commotion.
Seeing the machine spewing blue flames and propelling the girl rapidly forward, the second subordinate couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Yawai's expression grew even grimmer as if he were feeling as though the situation was slipping further out of his control.
Whether it was the explosive tag trap illusion or the blue flame propulsion device, they were things he had never heard of.
When did Konoha get such a strange ninja?
Fortunately, that device was the only one; otherwise, their mission would fail this time.
Watching the white-haired ninja's increasingly clear back, Yawai couldn't help but feel a bit of respect, even as an enemy.
Clearly, this guy was giving the girl hope of survival.
Despite Konoha's decay, there were still those with the Will of Fire.
But for the sake of Cloud's ambition, he could only cruelly extinguish this small flame today!
Moreover, that propulsion device shouldn't last too long. If they quickly dealt with this kid, they might still be able to complete the mission!
The following events unfolded as Yawai had hoped.
Although Nasuhiko occasionally threw various tools and set up makeshift traps to hinder them, the distance between them gradually shortened.
Clang, clang, clang.
The two Cloud ninjas reversed their grip on their kunai, quickly deflecting the shurikens Nasuhiko had thrown.
As Nasuhiko prepared to use the same trick again, he reached into his ninja tool pouch but found it empty, showing a hint of panic on his face.
Although he quickly suppressed his expression, the two Cloud ninjas captured momentary panic.
"It seems this kid is out of tricks," the second subordinate sneered.
"After all the trouble he caused us, it's a shame we have to chase that girl afterwards; otherwise, I wouldn't let him die so easily."
"Don't be careless!"
Yawai remained stern, sensing the white-haired ninja still had something up his sleeve.
However, Nasuhiko's behaviour suggested he was out of options.
After throwing his last shuriken, he bit his lip and hurled his remaining two kunai at the Cloud ninjas.
As the two Cloud ninjas prepared to block the kunai as before, Yawai suddenly felt something was wrong. His figure blurred as he shouted:
"Dodge!"
But his subordinate wasn't as quick as a Pokémon and reacted a moment too late.
As he blocked the kunai, he was horrified to see explosive tags appear on it!
In mid-air, he had no way to dodge!
"Captain, save me..."
Boom!
A fierce explosion lit up the forest.
Nasuhiko turned back and chuckled, "Heh, dirty fireworks."
...
Deep within the forest towards Konoha, a blonde figure was swiftly moving among the trees.
Minato Namikaze.
As Nasuhiko had guessed, Minato had been training outside the village when he stumbled upon a strand of red hair in the dark forest. It reminded him of the girl he hadn't seen in a long time. Concerned, he followed the trail.
He found more and more strands of red hair and saw several white bat markers, growing increasingly worried.
He worried for Kushina's safety and also for her hair...
At that moment, a faint rumble echoed in the distance, and Minato's expression turned serious.
Pushing aside his distractions, he quickened his pace, charging forward at full speed.
(End of Chapter)
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