The ninja in gray had been keeping an eye on Dacheng. When he suddenly fell into the tree, they had no choice but to wait, as it could be dangerous to go in too hastily. Suddenly, the hatch opened, and they jumped away to hide, as they weren't sure what would appear from within.
***
Meanwhile, the newly recruited, inexperienced Genin had barely survived the various traps - pits, flying knives, etc. - that they had accidentally set off in their pursuit of the intrusive outsider through their travel tunnel network, although some of them weren't so fortunate.
Somehow, the outsider was lucky enough to have found a passage with fewer traps and even luckier to have avoided them. The Genin managed to finally surround the intruder and the hostage outside of an ancient path leading to a hatch hidden in the stump of a tree. The intruder was weakened to the point where he couldn't fight, and as for the girl? She was as good as theirs.
Suddenly, another ninja appeared. The ninja was not wearing black as they did. They wore a mix of gray and white and threw something at them. The Genin couldn't react in time, and a flash of silver was the last thing they saw before they went on a one-way trip to the Great Beyond.
***
Dacheng couldn't believe his eyes.
The ninja who had thrown the knives at the Genin was the same ninja he had seen earlier. Upon further examination, Dacheng realized something - the ninja was a man.
"Go on, lad, get out of here!" the man yelled, throwing some makibishi, or caltrops, to stop the pursuing ninjas.
Dacheng didn't wait to reply and took off, carrying Ritsuko with him. However, the scene of the man's knife-throwing skills impressed itself on his mind.
The man nodded and also ran away once Dacheng and Ritsuko were gone.
Dacheng decided to take Ritsuko back to Mr. Tendō's estate.
His parents gave him the customary lecture on worrying them sick and how going out on his own without them was selfish and insensitive. They also lectured him on the current state of his clothes. Finally, they made him promise to be responsible for anything that would happen if he mishandled the sword he brought home, which they believed was only a toy.
He had managed to dissuade their worries by convincing them his injuries came from rolling into a patch of thorn bushes by accident.
Dacheng took a quick shower, and his parents helped patch him up. They then treated him to snacks they had bought from a nearby store.
"By the way, Cheng-er," his mother opened her mouth, "who is this young lady?"
Dacheng nearly choked on the bite of onigiri he had taken. He loudly pounded his chest and barely swallowed the rice and tuna.
He quickly replied, "U-uh-um, she's a girl I met on my way here! She's looking for her parents, so I was keeping her company until they came to pick her up!"
"OK…" Dacheng's father continued the questioning. "Why does she look familiar? I think I saw her on TV once?"
"O-oh?!" Dacheng made up an answer on the fly. "W-well, I think she was on one of those variety shows you guys were watching! One of those child geniuses, yeah! Isn't that right, Ritsuko?"
He shot her a desperate glance as if begging her to play along. Thankfully, she nodded.
Seeing that his parents were placated for the time being, Dacheng decided to keep talking. "So, yeah, I'm taking her home now!"
Dacheng, wearing fresh clothes and bandages, decided to make good on his promise and bring Ritsuko home. With his parents' approval, Dacheng was escorting her back to her home, following her directions and landmarks, having secretly brought the ninjatō with him.
They had managed to go a certain distance, but then Dacheng heard laughter. It wasn't the happy kind of laughter, however. This was a malicious kind of laughter that conveyed a terrifying, all-encompassingly dangerous killing intent and sent a chill up Dacheng's spine.
Dacheng turned to look in that direction, his heart pounding like a drum, and ended up regretting it. The source of the laughter was all too familiar to our young hero. It was none other than the bat monster he had seen in his dream and the underground room!