As they ran, several Mist shinobi glanced back. Hearing the painful screams echoing from the sea of flames, their faces were filled with lingering fear.
At the same time, they silently rejoiced—thankful that they weren't Haruki's target.
If they had been, they would likely have shared the same fate as the others, completely swallowed by fire.
Unfortunately… they celebrated too soon.
After eliminating the shinobi injured by his earlier shuriken barrage, Uchiha Haruki immediately turned his attention to the fleeing group.
His Sharingan spun slightly, locking onto two targets. His hands blurred through hand signs as he unleashed—
Wind Release: Blade of Wind!
Whoosh—
A translucent wind blade cut through the air.
Down below, the two targeted Mist shinobi suddenly froze mid-run. A thin line of red appeared across their necks.
In the next moment, their heads flew off.
Their bodies kept moving another five or six meters before collapsing to the ground.
Splash!
Twin geysers of blood erupted, gushing from their severed arteries and soaking the ground.
Only in their final moments did they realize—
"We're already dead…"
Their expressions twisted in agony and disbelief. But it was already meaningless.
They were nothing but heads now.
Thud. Thud.
Their severed heads dropped to the earth, eyes dimming as all consciousness faded.
Haruki calmly withdrew his gaze and turned to the remaining enemies. He reached into his pouch and pulled out several more shuriken, ready to repeat the process.
But at that moment, a loud shout rang out from the Mist shinobi ranks below—
"Everyone, retaliate immediately!"
The moment the order came, the remaining Chūnin and Genin all redirected their attacks at Haruki. Some hurled kunai, others threw shuriken, while a few began weaving hand signs for jutsu.
All of them launched their attacks at once.
But Haruki remained unmoved.
He put away his shuriken and immediately formed hand seals.
In an instant, he activated—
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
He took a deep breath… then exhaled powerfully.
Fwoooosh!
The skies seemed to darken. A howling gale roared from his mouth, surging downward like a natural disaster.
All the projectiles aimed at him—kunai, shuriken, and all sorts of strange flying implements—were blown right back at their senders.
Even the enemy ninjutsu was shredded by the powerful gusts.
This was Haruki's way of handling attacks: overwhelming force crushes all techniques.
No matter your tricks, I break them with sheer power.
Below, the Mist shinobi saw the hurricane sweeping toward them and scattered in panic.
They had no choice—those winds were filled with all the deadly tools they had just launched.
Some of those even carried explosive tags.
Getting caught in that storm meant more than just injury—it could be fatal.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain of explosions erupted.
The blast from the explosive tags, combined with the spreading flames blown by the wind, set the battlefield ablaze.
Despite Haruki's efforts to avoid harming allied Leaf shinobi, friendly fire was still unavoidable.
And there was nothing he could do about it—he could only pray his comrades were lucky enough to escape unscathed.
Refocusing, Haruki scanned the battlefield. His eyes landed on the retreating Mist ninjas. He ended Great Breakthrough, drew a few shuriken, and let them fly.
This chaos was the perfect environment for his Sharingan to shine.
Nearly everyone he targeted failed to dodge in time.
Of course, they were still trained ninja. Their danger sense far exceeded that of ordinary people. So when the shuriken neared, most instinctively tried to dodge.
In the end, only one unfortunate soul took a critical hit. The rest were merely wounded.
Haruki didn't bother finishing them off.
Why?
Because the previously besieged Leaf shinobi had already caught up and were engaging the enemy. Haruki didn't need to micromanage cleanup.
He needed to focus on the bigger picture—cripple the Mist's strength. The rest could be left to his comrades.
With that in mind, he looked around, found another target, and launched another jutsu—
Wind Release: Blade of Wind!
Whoosh—
The wind blade shot forward and struck two shinobi. One was killed instantly. The other's arm was severed halfway.
"AHHHH!"
Both screamed in pain.
Haruki paid no mind.
He was already seeking out his next target, continuing his assault.
In just a dozen seconds, he had chained multiple ninjutsu amidst the chaos, killing or wounding more than ten Mist shinobi.
But the number of kills wasn't the most important thing.
What mattered was that his actions had shaken the Mist formation, disrupting their battle rhythm and occupying much of their focus.
Now, they were hesitant to attack recklessly.
This hesitation gave the dozens of Konoha ninjas the breathing room they desperately needed.
And that… was more than enough.
Haruki glanced toward Terumi Mei and the others rushing toward him in the distance. With a light flap of his chakra wings, he soared toward the next battlefield.
Seeing this, Terumi Mei cursed under her breath.
"Damn it!"
She had no choice but to give chase once more.
This time, they had truly miscalculated.
They had known Haruki was the one stationed here and had prepared accordingly. They knew he was strong and had devised specific tactics to deal with him.
But what they hadn't accounted for—
Was that Haruki had mastered a flight jutsu.
That detail hadn't appeared in any intelligence reports.
If it had been any other jutsu, they might've been able to trap or suppress him, even at the cost of casualties.
But this was flight.
In the entire shinobi world, very few had true aerial combat abilities.
So they hadn't considered such a possibility, much less prepared for it.
Now they were completely reactive, always one step behind.
Before, they had been able to communicate using a jōnin with a secret mind transmission technique to set traps and corner Haruki.
But after falling for their scheme once, Haruki would likely never fall for it again.
And truthfully, even when they had cornered him earlier, they still couldn't bring him down.
That realization was frustrating.
Now, they had no real way to stop him.
All they could do was trail behind him, cleaning up whatever mess he left.
Fortunately, the village hadn't ordered them to capture or kill Haruki.
Their mission was simply to keep him tied down and prevent him from supporting other fronts.
Capturing the outpost was optional—ideal, but not required.
Honestly, without that directive, they wouldn't even know what to do anymore.