Poof.
The white smoke dispersed, and the fusion between Inuzuka Kuri and Kyumaru was undone.
Inuzuka Kuri's body immediately lost its strength, and he collapsed to his knees in front of Yuji. Kyumaru lay paralyzed nearby, unable to move, as blood continued to pour from the wound where Yuji's throwing knife had pierced it earlier. The ninja hound had only been forcing itself to endure the injury in order to maintain the fusion and support Inuzuka Kuri's technique.
Even now, Kyumaru struggled to stand and attempted to attack Yuji again, but its body refused to respond. It could not even rise to its feet.
From the moment Yuji revealed himself to the moment he killed Inuzuka Kuri, the entire battle had appeared to go back and forth, but in reality, less than two minutes had passed.
Yuji slowly withdrew his blood-stained arm from Inuzuka Kuri's body. He watched as the man's pupils gradually lost focus and his eyelids slowly fell shut.
"You are strong," Yuji said quietly.
What he meant was not the man's physical power, but his will.
As a member of the supply unit, Inuzuka Kuri understood the importance of the supplies he carried. Even after the battle began, he had never abandoned them. Throughout the entire fight, he had kept the heavy pack on his back. No matter how great his stamina was, carrying such a burden inevitably reduced his combat effectiveness.
Without it, he might have fought even more fiercely.
But even so, Yuji was confident he would still have won.
This man had fought with absolute conviction, prepared to sacrifice his life in order to fulfill his mission and protect the supplies entrusted to him. To others, such a choice might have seemed foolish, but Yuji understood it.
This was the will of a Konoha shinobi.
Yuji respected it.
In the ninja world, there was no absolute right or wrong. There were only different loyalties. Everyone fought for their own village.
He had seen this same resolve before in the Root operatives, and now again in a member of the Inuzuka Clan.
By comparison, although Sunagakure shinobi were also brave, they sometimes lacked this same unwavering conviction.
Yuji raised his hand.
With a swift motion, he threw another blade.
The knife pierced Kyumaru's skull, ending its suffering instantly.
Yuji did not linger.
He immediately pursued the three Konoha shinobi who had fled earlier.
By the time he caught up, the battle there was already over.
Sasori had been waiting for them.
When the three shinobi retreated, Sasori had followed them without hesitation and eliminated them.
Judging by the scene, Sasori had done so quickly and efficiently. There were very few signs of struggle.
Arai soon appeared beside them.
"Clean everything," he said calmly. "Leave no trace. We'll wait for Konoha's reinforcements."
The disappearance of a supply squad would not go unnoticed. When the supplies failed to arrive on time, Konoha would immediately begin an investigation.
The next day, Konoha dispatched several shinobi from the front lines to search along the supply route.
However, those shinobi never returned.
No reports came back, no bodies were found.
It was as if they had vanished.
At that time, the Konoha commander overseeing operations against Iwagakure was Orochimaru.
Among the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade could no longer participate in combat, and Jiraiya was absent, traveling elsewhere. Only Orochimaru remained on the battlefield, bearing the responsibility of bringing the war to an end.
If even he withdrew, Konoha's position would become extremely dangerous.
The village could not allow that to happen.
Although Konoha's so-called "golden generation" was beginning to emerge, they were still inexperienced and had not yet fully matured. They were not capable of independently carrying the burden of the battlefield.
Under these circumstances, Orochimaru, as one of Konoha's highest-level combatants, had no choice but to personally uphold the front line.
After receiving the intelligence report, Orochimaru immediately realized that the supply route had been compromised. Their transport unit had been intercepted and eliminated.
However, the situation on the battlefield was extremely tense, and he did not have the time or manpower to personally handle what was, in comparison, a secondary issue. Instead, he sent word back to Konoha, requesting that the village conduct an investigation.
The supply route itself could be abandoned, but the identity of the attackers had to be determined. It was essential to know who had carried out the ambush, what intelligence they possessed about Konoha, and whether they had any further plans targeting the village.
Meanwhile, on the other side, after eliminating the Konoha shinobi sent from the front lines to investigate, Arai withdrew together with Yuji and Sasori.
It was obvious that their actions had already alerted Konoha to their presence.
To avoid being surrounded by stronger reinforcements, they followed their original plan and retreated immediately.
Their mission had already achieved its objective. Konoha would be forced to abandon that supply route and spend additional time and resources establishing a new one through the Land of Grass.
"Konoha may send more people to investigate," Arai said as they moved rapidly. "We'll take a shortcut back through Amegakure."
"Understood," Yuji replied.
Until they safely returned to the Land of Wind, the mission could not be considered complete. They needed to remain vigilant every moment.
Suddenly, all three of them felt the same sensation at the same time.
Their hearts tightened.
It felt as if an invisible gaze had locked onto them from afar.
A chilling sense of exposure ran through their bodies.
Arai's expression changed instantly.
"So fast…"
His voice turned cold.
"They've found us."
Konoha shinobi had already tracked them down.
Among the enemy, there was someone with extremely powerful chakra perception, capable of detecting them from a great distance.
They had been extremely careful during their retreat, and yet they had still been discovered.
This meant that, despite their efforts, they had left behind traces that allowed the enemy to pinpoint their location.
Yuji's thoughts raced.
The speed of Konoha's response was astonishing.
They had already moved far away from the original battlefield, yet the enemy had still caught up.
This could only mean one thing.
When the first supply squad disappeared, Konoha's leadership had immediately realized something was wrong. They had not waited for confirmation.
They had acted instantly.
The shinobi sent afterward had not come from the front lines alone, but from elsewhere, likely from a prepared reserve force.
This level of reaction speed and judgment demonstrated the depth of Konoha's wartime experience.
It was no coincidence that Konoha had survived being attacked by multiple Great Villages simultaneously.
Their systems, and their decision-making had been forged through countless battles.
Yuji felt the pressure rising.
Whoever was pursuing them now would not be an ordinary opponent.
They were facing a serious threat.
"Faster," Arai said in a heavy tone.
His intention was clear.
They had to escape.
...
Stones <>