"Do you think Byakuya can hold out?"
"And he's carrying a wounded man. He could be in real trouble."
After dealing with the enemies behind them, Shikaku and the others rushed forward as fast as they could. The moment they spotted the clear trail of blood on the ground, all of them frowned.
If even they could track the trail this easily, then the enemy had to be right on Byakuya's heels.
"We need to get there fast."
No one said anything after that. They just moved quicker.
Just when they thought they had nearly caught up, they found several enemy bodies nearby and immediately crouched down to inspect the scene.
"He actually set traps?"
"Looks like they never expected Byakuya to use traps, so they let their guard down. Hard to believe they got taken out by something this simple."
"Really? These traps are way too crude."
"Could he have used genjutsu?"
"Byakuya knows genjutsu?"
Shikaku swept a glance over the enemy corpses that had died to the traps, then answered Inoichi, who clearly found the idea hard to believe.
"Wasn't there someone else with him?"
"Oh, the wounded man?"
"Looks like the two of them worked together pretty well."
"This isn't the time to stand around admiring it."
They might have held on longer than expected, but the two of them had to be close to the end of their stamina.
Shikaku urged Inoichi and Chōza onward, and all three picked up speed again.
It was not long before they saw Byakuya and the wounded man ahead.
"Inoichi."
"Got it."
Perched in the trees, Inoichi used the Mind Transfer Jutsu to take control of one of the enemies, then turned the man's blade against the others.
"Hey! What are you doing...?! Gah!"
Thrown into chaos, the enemy line collapsed almost instantly, bodies hitting the ground one after another.
Even though it had all happened in a flash, Byakuya had seen Inoichi's technique often enough by now that he instantly relaxed, wiping the sweat from his chin.
A second ago, he really had been one heartbeat away from death.
If two enemies had charged him at once, he would have died.
His chakra was gone, his breathing was falling apart, and with a wounded man behind him there had been nowhere left to retreat... If his luck had been even a little worse, that would have been the end.
"You held out well, Byakuya."
"...He did more than I did."
Following Byakuya's gaze, Shikaku looked at the wounded shinobi sitting behind him.
One glance was enough to tell how bad the man's condition was. He was barely even conscious now.
"We need to get back to the village. Byakuya, can you still run?"
"...Yeah."
Byakuya hid his trembling fingertips behind his back and silently fell in behind them.
Even so, he kept checking the wounded man's condition over and over, trying to force down the unease in his chest.
Even he thought it was strange, but he just could not stop worrying about him.
---
"Inoichi, I'm leaving him to you."
"I've burned through too much chakra too, you know. Spare a thought for me here."
They could already see the village in the distance now, and someone suggested using chakra to burst the rest of the way and carry the wounded man straight to the hospital.
Chōza, being slower, stayed behind. Shikaku needed to report to the Hokage immediately and then return to the western sector with reinforcements, so the original plan was for Inoichi to take the wounded man to the hospital. But Inoichi had spent almost all his chakra in the last fight.
"I'll go. I'm the fastest," Byakuya said.
"Do you have enough chakra left?"
"I've recovered a little."
He might have been the smallest one there, but he was definitely the fastest.
Byakuya figured he could just brute-force it with chakra if he had to. He looked to Shikaku, and after a moment, Shikaku nodded and accepted the suggestion.
So Byakuya lifted the wounded man onto his back and took off toward the hospital at full speed.
It did not take long. They had already reached the point where the village was visible, and from there he could run across the rooftops and leap straight into the hospital near the village center, barreling into the ward where the medical ninja were stationed.
"Emergency patient!"
Byakuya shouted the words with everything he had left, and the medical ninja around him rushed over at once, taking the wounded man from his back and carrying him into the room.
He was still breathing. If they moved quickly enough, maybe there was still a chance.
For the first time, a small flicker of hope rose in Byakuya's chest.
And the moment he realized he might actually have gotten the man back alive, all the strength drained out of his body at once.
"Oh, right. The scroll."
That was when Byakuya remembered the scroll still tucked inside his clothes.
At this point, all he wanted was to hand it over to the Hokage and go home, then sleep until the sun was up the next day.
As he signed his name on the routine paperwork, he asked without looking up,
"How is he?"
"Thanks to you getting him here in time, the operation should be over soon. And your pressure bandaging was excellent. The wound didn't worsen on the way here. You did good."
The medical ninja slipped the signed document into a folder and smiled as he praised him.
Byakuya had not done any of this for praise. He only gave a small nod, then turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Hm?
Byakuya stopped mid-turn and glanced back over one shoulder.
He had not assumed the voice was calling out to him, but it was too familiar for him not to stop.
Sure enough, the one who had spoken was Kurenai Yūhi.
This was the first time they had seen each other since graduation. The hair he remembered as just brushing short now looked a little longer.
She looked like she had rushed over in a hurry. There was sweat beading at her temples.
"Um... I..."
The way she hesitated and stumbled over her words was unusual enough to be unsettling.
Byakuya felt his nerves tighten at once. He had a bad feeling this was going to become a problem.
"Thank you..."
"..."
Thank me for what?
Byakuya was genuinely lost. Being thanked to his face all of a sudden left him more thrown off than anything else.
How was he even supposed to respond?
If he was going to play the villain, then ignoring her and walking away would fit the part a lot better, right?
More than that, he honestly wanted to know what exactly she was thanking him for, but asking would go completely against the character he had built for himself.
After a few seconds of indecision, Byakuya remembered the scroll tucked against his chest and decided to shove the whole problem out of his mind.
This day had been far too long already.
Right now, all he wanted was to get home and collapse into bed.
In the end, Byakuya chose not to ask anything and not to answer anything. He simply turned and walked away.
Fortunately, Kurenai did not chase after him.