Shinji sidestepped the first blade and retaliated with a punch to the second person's ribs.
Crack. The sound of breaking bones.
The man collapsed, screaming in agony.
The third person turned and fled.
Shinji did not give chase.
He stood where he was, gasping for air. His vision was darkening, and his legs felt weak.
He looked down at the female Grass Ninja lying on the ground.
She was propping herself up, crawling backward with a face full of terror.
"Who... who are you?"
Shinji said nothing.
He simply walked over.
He stepped heavily onto her chest.
Crack.
Two ribs snapped. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her eyes bulging wide; after a couple of twitches, she went still.
The male Grass Ninja had already scrambled up and was about to run. Seeing this scene, his legs turned to jelly.
"Don't... don't kill me. I—I'm her teammate! I am!"
Shinji walked over.
He slammed a fist into the man's throat.
The man collapsed, clutching his neck and making gurgling sounds. After kicking his legs a few times, he died.
Karin sat on the ground, her entire body trembling.
She looked at the three corpses—the three Otogakure ninjas—and her two teammates. Blood pooled on the ground, soaking into the fallen leaves in a dark crimson stain.
Then she looked up at the man standing amidst the corpses.
He was covered in blood. His vest was torn, the bandages on his back were soaked through, and the wound on his shoulder was still seeping.
But he stood there, his eyes as calm as if nothing had happened.
"You..." Karin's voice shook, "You killed them..."
Shinji looked at her.
"Were they good to you?"
Karin froze.
Good?
She thought back to those days.
Being ordered around like a tool, not being allowed to rest even when her healing Ninjutsu was overused, and being ignored when she was injured on missions.
Just now, that female teammate had pushed her forward to block a blade.
"No..." her voice was very soft, "They weren't."
Shinji nodded.
"Then that's that."
He crouched down in front of her.
He turned around, presenting his back to her.
"Help me treat this," he said.
Karin looked at the wound.
It was deep. It slashed from his shoulder down to his waist, the flesh torn and still oozing blood. If it were any deeper, bone would be visible.
Her hand trembled.
"This... this is..."
"Done by the person chasing me."
Shinji's voice was very calm. "She'll be here soon."
Karin bit her lip.
She raised her hand and pressed it against the wound.
Chakra flooded in.
A green glow lit up from her palm—warm, gentle, and carrying the breath of life.
Shinji felt the wound itching, the sensation of flesh and blood growing. It was slow, but it was indeed healing.
"You've lost too much blood..."
Karin's voice sounded from behind him.
"I can only stop the bleeding for now. It takes time for the wound to heal completely, and I... my Chakra isn't quite enough..."
"Stopping the bleeding is enough."
Karin stopped speaking.
She lowered her head, concentrating on the treatment. Fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead, trickling down her cheeks.
But she didn't stop, desperately funneling Chakra into the wound.
After a few minutes, Karin withdrew her hand.
"It's... it's done..."
Shinji moved his shoulder. The wound still hurt, but the bleeding had stopped. New skin was slowly covering the gash.
He stood up, turned around, and looked at Karin.
She was sitting on the ground, drenched in sweat, her face pale and gasping for air. Her Chakra consumption was too high.
"Thanks," he said.
Karin was stunned for a moment.
Then her face flushed.
"No... no need to thank me..."
She lowered her head, her voice growing smaller. "It was you who saved me..."
Shinji didn't respond.
He looked up in the direction he had come from.
The forest was quiet—abnormally quiet. No birds chirped, no insects buzzed, and even the wind had died down.
Could she smell it?
Could she smell the scent of blood here?
Could she follow those scents to this place?
"Um..."
Karin's voice came from below. "Are you hiding from someone?"
Shinji looked down at her and remembered. Karin's sensory abilities were very strong; she could detect the presence of Chakra from a great distance.
"Can you feel it?" he asked.
Karin closed her eyes.
After a moment, she opened them.
Her expression changed.
"Such... such powerful Chakra..."
Her voice was trembling.
"It's coming this way... fast... very fast..."
Shinji didn't speak.
He had known all along.
"But..."
Karin frowned, sensing carefully again. "Her Chakra... seems to have weakened a bit? It's weaker than before..."
Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly.
Weakened.
Orochimaru's vessel hadn't fought for nothing, after all.
Though it couldn't last long, it had indeed exhausted Mei Terumī's Water Clone.
He knew very well how much Chakra it took to use Mist Release; that kind of Bloodline Limit was a heavy burden for a Water Clone.
Combined with the ten-minute struggle against Orochimaru, her current strength should only be sixty to seventy percent of when she first appeared.
Sixty to seventy percent.
Still stronger than him.
But the gap wasn't so vast anymore.
Shinji stood there, his mind racing.
Running was no longer an option. In his current state, he would collapse from exhaustion if he ran for another five minutes.
When she caught up then, it would be a dead end.
Then he could only fight.
Fight a depleted Water Clone.
With a Sage Body, fifteen years of combat experience from the simulation, and this forest as cover, he could wait for her at his leisure.
And one more thing.
He glanced down at Karin.
"Can you do me a favor?"
Karin looked up.
She looked into his eyes. They were still so calm, but now, something was moving within that stillness.
"What favor?"
"Help me set a trap."
Shinji said, "To catch the person chasing me."
Karin's face went pale again.
"That... that person is very strong. The Chakra I feel is stronger than even the Jonin in our village..."
"I know."
"Then you still..."
"I'm confident," Shinji interrupted her, "but I need your help."
Karin opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But she couldn't get any words out.
She just stared into his eyes.
Those eyes were too calm, as if he had seen countless scenes like this before, speaking of something as ordinary as can be.
"Okay," her voice was very soft.
Shinji nodded.
He began to set it up.
Explosive Tags. He scavenged five from the two Grass Ninjas. Adding his own three, that made eight. Enough.
Kunai. He gathered a handful from the corpses, embedding them in the surrounding trunks and covering them with fallen leaves.
And a rope. He found it in the male Grass Ninja's tool pouch—very thin and tough, perfect for a tripwire.
Karin watched from the side, her eyes growing wider.
He wasn't placing them randomly.
The position of every Explosive Tag, the angle of every Kunai, the path of every tripwire—it was as if they had been calculated countless times.
Those things linked together to form a whole that she didn't understand but instinctively felt was terrifying.
"What... what is this?"
"A simple trigger-based trap."
Shinji crouched on the ground, burying the last Explosive Tag under the leaves.
"To be used in coordination with your sensory abilities."