I ran as brittle rocks crumbled beneath my feet, the thunder of retreat pounding in my ears as Konoha's forces scattered toward the treeline. Jutsu detonated behind us, sending bursts of stone and flashes of chakra, and screams cut through the air.
I risked a glance back.
Iwa shinobi surged forward like a tide, throwing kunai and unleashing jutsu, pressing hard. Farther behind them, still visible even at this distance, three massive serpents writhed across the battlefield, striking at something I could barely track in the smoke.
Orochimaru… he's stalling Onoki.
The thought barely formed before I shoved it aside. I needed every bit of chakra focused on running.
I pumped more chakra into my legs.
My reserves dipped lower, but my speed surged. Trees blurred around me as I leapt into the forest and continued running. My lungs burned, and sweat stung my eyes.
Ahead, the Konoha ninjas split into smaller groups, rushing toward different stretches of forest to avoid being boxed in. A few stragglers dragged the wounded, while others didn't look back at all.
My gaze swept over the fleeing masses.
Sayuri?
Hanami?
Tsume?
Shigure?
Nothing.
I twisted mid-leap as I sensed Riku's chakra... and...
Seven distinct chakra signatures.
Coming fast.
My stomach dropped.
Seven. Against one genin.
They'd tear him apart.
I hit the next branch and almost kept going. Instinct urged me to flee. Survive. Keep moving and don't look back, everything I had learned in the last brutal weeks screamed it.
I paused.
Only for a heartbeat, but I paused.
A selfish part of me said run.
But…
Images flickered in my mind.
Riku grinning the first day in the tent.
Riku dragging me around camp, introducing me to Sayuri and Hanami as if we were lifelong friends. Riku trusting me on missions.
He was loud. Annoying. Too honest.
Too young.
But he was my teammate and he had never once turned his back on me.
I let out a breath that tasted like metal.
"I can't…" I whispered.
I couldn't be like the others the cold killers who shrugged and walked away,
I had told myself I wasn't like them, If I ran now, I would prove myself a liar.
Even exhausted, even barely holding onto the dregs of my chakra, I tore through the branches, pushing my aching legs harder than before. Each leap sent needles of pain up my spine. My vision pulsed at the edges, and my chakra reserves screamed.
But I didn't stop.
The seven signatures ahead drew closer, tightening around the lone spark that was Riku.
I channeled what little chakra I had left into my legs. My lungs burned, and my ankles screamed with each landing. But the only thing that mattered was the flickering chakra signature ahead.
Riku.
He was erratic, stumbling and wounded. Seven enemy signatures were closing in on him like a tightening noose.
I didn't slow down.
I didn't think about what would happen when my chakra ran out.
I didn't think about the Tsuchikage in front of us or the army with him.
A burst of movement tore through the foliage ahead...
Riku crashed out of a bush, panting, bleeding from the shoulder, dirt streaked across his face.
His eyes widened in shock, then relief.
"B-Basara—!"
"DUCK!" I barked, already yanking kunai from my pouch.
I flicked my wrist..
A fan of kunai tore through the air, one marked with the explosive tag I'd attached on the grips earlier.
Riku dropped just as seven Iwa shinobi burst out of the trees behind him.
The kunai detonated mid-air.
BOOM...
The explosions swallowed the first two attackers, igniting the forest in a violent flash. Bark and dust rained down as the remaining Iwa shinobi broke formation, instinctively shielding themselves.
I grabbed Riku's arm and pulled him upright while creating a half-ram seal with my other hand. The last of the tags I'd primed, buried earlier in my pouch, ignited with a chakra pulse, sending another blast ripping through the undergrowth.
When the smoke cleared, I quickly surveyed the scene:
one of them was down, but six were still on the move. No reinforcements were in sight, and there were no other chakra signatures nearby.
This was bad.
Really bad.
Riku steadied himself, his teeth clenched, visibly shaking with fury.
"We split," I said sharply. "Run as fast as you can."
"The hell I am!" he snapped back, taking a step toward me. "I'm not leaving you!"
I grabbed the front of his flak jacket and pulled him down to my eye level.
"Riku, RUN." My voice cracked with anger and exhaustion.
His jaw worked once, then again.
"You better be behind me," he muttered, his voice trembling.
"I will be," I assured him. "Go."
He hesitated for a heartbeat before pushing chakra into his feet and rocketing upward into the branches. I sprinted after him, then veered sharply to the right.
Almost immediately, I felt it. Five signatures broke off from the pursuit and turned toward me.
Good.
That was the plan.
I forced my legs to keep moving, jumping from branch to branch until I reached a clearing. My lungs felt raw, and my vision blurred at the edges. I needed to hit them hard and fast before my body gave out.
I unsheathed my tanto, channeling chakra reinforcement through my limbs, though it felt sloppy and uneven.
I turned to face the treeline.
Branches snapped.
The first Iwa shinobi burst through the smoke and leaves, mid-leap.
Perfect.
I inhaled sharply, pulling chakra into my gut and condensing it into a tight sphere.
"Suiton — Teppōdama!"
I spat, transforming the chakra into water.
A high-pressure water bullet the size of a large baseball screamed through the air, hitting him dead center.
His torso ruptured, and a spray of blood and shards of armor burst outward as his body folded backward, slamming into a tree trunk and leaving a wet crater where his ribs should have been.
The forest fell silent for half a heartbeat.
My heart hammered in my chest.
I didn't wait.
I shifted my stance, raising my tanto again, my breath harsh in my ears.
"Come on," I muttered.
"Let's finish this."
They came at me in a blur of steel and fury.
Four Iwa shinobi burst from the trees, shouting curses about their fallen comrade. I jumped back, blocking the first slash with my tanto, but the impact rattled my bones. The second swung low, and I barely twisted out of the way. The third came from the side, forcing me into a desperate parry.
Too many.
Too fast.
I was running on fumes.
I managed to sidestep one and drove my blade down, cutting his leg at the knee. He went down screaming, but the other three closed in, rage driving them harder.
A wave of water surged forward, slamming into them and buying me two precious seconds. Two seconds I used to run.
I sprinted up the nearest tree, barely clinging to the bark with the little chakra I had left. Branches whipped past me as the darkness blurred my vision.
Can't see…
Can't feel my legs…
Behind me, their chakra signatures surged again, relentless.
I sensed the hit too late.
The air whistled.
I twisted...
A jutsu detonated behind me.
The Iwa shinobi slammed both palms into the ground, and spikes of stone shot upward like spears.
One pierced straight through my upper thigh.
Another struck into my lower abdomen.
White-hot pain exploded through me. My scream caught in my throat — a choked, broken sound. Blood filled my mouth as I stumbled, losing my footing.
I fell and hit the dirt hard.
The world spun. My breath came in short, sharp bursts. The cold puddle beneath me mixed with the warm spread of my own blood.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Confident.
Certain.
One of the Iwa shinobi loomed over me, his silhouette blocking the moonlight.
"Tree-hugging scum," he hissed. "Die quietly."
I couldn't move.
Couldn't lift my arm.
My chakra… gone.
Is this it?
After everything?
I didn't want to die here.
Not suffocating in mud.
Not like an animal.
Move.... Move!
I forced my hand upward, trying to summon my chakra, but only a flicker responded. My body trembled with shock.
No.
NO.
Something inside me snapped, fear, rage, and desperation merged into a single violent surge.
I thrust my hand forward, not even forming proper seals.
Water chakra.
Earth chakra.
Accidentally mixed together.
Panic tore control from me as I screamed through clenched
teeth...
a raw, broken sound.
The ground beneath the Iwa shinobi bulged.
It cracked and ruptured.
A thick wooden trunk, as wide as a man's torso, erupted from the earth with a violent crack, splintering upward like an ancient serpent.
The first Iwa shinobi the one closest to me was run through cleanly, the trunk bursting out of his back in a spray of blood before splitting into two branches mid-air.
Those branches snapped sideways, impaling the other two Iwa shinobi who had been charging behind him.
One was skewered through the sternum.
The other caught a branch through his throat, his jutsu dying on his fingertips as he was lifted off the ground.
All three bodies jerked, suspended for a heartbeat.
Then the wood twisted and flung them aside like broken dolls.
Mokuton…