Dazed and Rescued

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"Damn you, you little..."

As the Kumogakure jonin's chest was sliced fully open, blood sprayed out and his voice grew weaker and weaker. Finally, his whole body collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Naoki staggered several steps, then sat down on the ground and panted heavily.

Around him lay more than a dozen Kumogakure corpses in every direction. The surrounding terrain was a complete wreck, proof of the intense battle that had just taken place.

After catching his breath, Naoki lowered his head and checked his body. A moment later, he sighed in relief.

He had many wounds, but none were fatal. The only serious one was a piercing injury through his left shoulder, and even that did not hinder the sword in his right hand too badly.

"I owe you one," Naoki murmured, putting Kusanagi-maru away.

Being able to wipe out more than ten Kumogakure shinobi at such a low cost was thanks in large part to Kusanagi-maru and the paralytic toxin.

One Kumogakure jonin, unaware of Kusanagi-maru's nature, had tried to block the blade infused with Tenseigan chakra using an ordinary kunai.

Naoki had killed him in a single exchange. That greatly weakened the group's strength and morale, laying the foundation for Naoki's final victory.

After bandaging his wounds simply, Naoki did not dare delay. He immediately hurried toward the retreat point. This was still the Land of Lightning. Every extra minute spent here meant another minute of danger.

Before long, Naoki reached the retreat point Team Eleven had agreed on in advance.

Guy and Shisui, who had arrived first, came forward as soon as they saw him. "You finally made it. We thought something had happened to you."

Naoki said, "It took a little effort to deal with the enemies."

Shisui nodded. "I noticed earlier. Senior, you drew away the most enemies."

Naoki glanced at Guy and Shisui. "How did it go on your sides?"

Guy and Shisui each explained their situations.

The shinobi Guy had drawn away were all chunin and genin, and there had been only eight of them. After a fierce fight, he successfully eliminated every Kumogakure shinobi pursuing him.

Among the twelve Kumogakure shinobi who chased Shisui, one was a jonin. However, that jonin had fallen into Shisui's genjutsu at the beginning. By the time he broke free, the dozen or so chunin and genin around him had already been cut down by Shisui. Without his teammates' cooperation, he clearly could not defeat Shisui in a one-on-one fight and soon died beneath Shisui's short blade.

After listening, Naoki frowned. "So even with the three of us combined, we only dealt with a little over fifty enemies?"

More importantly, among those fifty or so Kumogakure shinobi, only three were jonin. The overwhelming majority were genin used as cannon fodder to drain enemy chakra.

Guy said anxiously, "That's exactly why I'm worried about Kakashi. How is he supposed to handle that many enemies alone?"

Shisui stood to the side in silence.

The situation was already clear. With Kakashi's strength, facing more than a hundred Kumogakure shinobi meant there was no chance of victory. Even if he was lucky enough to destroy the secret warehouse, escaping alive would be almost impossible.

Guy looked toward the valley, his voice firm. "I'm going back to help him."

Shisui opened his mouth but did not know what to say.

The three members of Team Eleven were all wounded, and more than half of their chakra had been spent. Even if they retreated immediately, they might not escape the Kumogakure pursuit force that would follow and return to the Land of Fire safely.

Turning back to raid the valley now would be almost the same as walking into death.

Naoki also looked toward the valley, hesitation filling his eyes.

Inside the valley.

Glancing at the burning Kumogakure warehouse beside him, Kakashi crouched in a pool of blood with one hand pressed to his shoulder, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

'The mission is finally complete.'

'No more comrades will die because of me.'

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

More and more Kumogakure shinobi arrived with the Body Flicker Technique. Dense ranks of them stood around Kakashi, surrounding him completely.

The Kumogakure jonin leading them spoke with a cold expression. "Konoha shinobi, state your name."

Although he was furious, Kakashi's decisive raid had earned a measure of respect from this elite Kumogakure jonin. Before killing Kakashi, he wanted to know his name.

Kakashi raised his head and looked at him.

But due to excessive blood loss, his vision was becoming more and more blurred. He could only vaguely sense the wavering firelight and the shadowy figures of the Kumogakure shinobi around him.

His mind suddenly went hazy, as though the scene before him was familiar.

'I've seen this somewhere before...'

'Right... Kannabi Bridge. Back then, I was surrounded by this many enemies too...'

'But Sensei is gone now. This time, no one is coming to save me...'

'Obito. Rin. I guess I'm finally going to see you again...'

'Heh. Maybe this ending isn't so bad.'

Kakashi felt the strength in his body flowing away bit by bit. His thoughts drifted farther and farther, as if they were leaving the cage of his body behind.

Seeing that Kakashi's consciousness had already begun to fade, the lead Kumogakure jonin shook his head and sighed. Then he made a killing gesture to the subordinate beside him.

A Kumogakure chunin immediately gripped his kunai and walked slowly toward Kakashi.

But after reaching Kakashi, the chunin did not strike for a long time.

The lead jonin urged impatiently, "What are you waiting for? Finish him. We still have to pursue the other Konoha shinobi."

The secret warehouse had been destroyed. If they failed to kill every invading Konoha shinobi as well, then even a highly experienced elite jonin like him would not escape the Raikage's punishment.

The Kumogakure chunin stared at the strangely shaped Sharingan in Kakashi's left eye socket and stammered, "But his eye..."

A figure flashed past and killed the Kumogakure chunin standing in front of Kakashi. Two more figures landed beside Kakashi a heartbeat later.

Naoki shook the blood from Kusanagi-maru and stood guard in front of Kakashi. In a flat voice, he said, "Guy, carry Kakashi and leave first."

Guy hesitated, but seeing Kakashi's consciousness was already blurred and that he could not retreat on his own, he could only lift Kakashi onto his back. Then he said to Naoki and Shisui, "I'll get him settled and come right back!"

Shisui smiled and shook his head. "No need. Take him back to the village first. Senior and I can handle this."

Guy said, "But..."

Naoki's face darkened as he shouted, "Get out of here before I change my mind!"

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