Shimizu and his four-man squad sprinted nonstop along the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain. They were still about two hours away from crossing back into the Land of Fire.
He glanced up at the hawk circling high in the sky, tailing them persistently.
That was a tracking ninjutsu of Sunagakure.
Clearly, they had not shaken off the pursuit. What awaited them next would likely be a brutal battle.
Starfire's condition was worsening. His abdomen had been pierced by a Wind Blade. Although Storm Fox had performed initial treatment, it was only temporary. After nearly twenty minutes of high-speed flight, the wound had reopened. Crimson blood had already soaked through the white bandages.
If this continued, he would only drag everyone down.
A decision had to be made.
Shimizu raised his hand, signaling a halt.
"Storm Fox, treat Starfire first."
"Yes!"
Storm Fox placed her hands over Starfire's abdomen. A soft green glow radiated from her palms, gently covering the gruesome wound.
"Captain, about 1.6 kilometers behind us, there's a full Sand shinobi battalion advancing in formation—but they're not moving quickly," Gray Hawk reported, his Byakugan wide open, expression grave.
"No enemies to the flanks or ahead?" Shimizu asked.
During the brief rest, he swallowed a soldier pill. Recovering stamina and chakra was critical. The earlier battle had consumed nearly two-fifths of his chakra. With an entire battalion—thirty-six ninja—shadowing them without pressing the attack, it could only mean one thing.
There was a backup plan.
Gray Hawk observed for a moment. "Nothing detected yet."
"Captain, I'm holding you back…" Starfire's voice was hoarse.
"It's not that time yet. Don't lose heart," Shimizu replied calmly.
"Yes!" Starfire nodded firmly.
But the truth was clear.
Starfire's injury could not be fully healed unless they returned to the village. For now, they could only stall the damage. Yet even at top speed, it would take two days to return to Konoha. If Starfire didn't travel with Storm Fox, he likely wouldn't survive the journey.
In this squad, Shimizu and Starfire were jonin. Gray Hawk was a special jonin. Storm Fox was a chunin.
Shimizu had stationed Starfire at the cave entrance precisely because a jonin should have been capable of handling a sneak attack.
He hadn't expected the enemy to send at least three jonin at once.
He had realized that during the clash. Among the remaining enemy, at least two were highly troublesome jonin.
And he hadn't killed a single one of the three jonin.
That was inevitable. Battles between jonin rarely ended in an instant. Becoming a jonin meant being a battle-hardened elite.
But if he had just a little more time…
Just one more minute!
And yet—why had they entered the cave at all?
It was obvious that the eight-man squad had been bait to lure them into the waterfall cavern.
But without entering, how could they complete the mission?
This mission had been a dead end from the start.
In his previous life, there had been no record of this incident. Most likely, Konoha had indeed sent an Anbu squad here—and they had vanished without a trace. Soon after, the Third Great Ninja War erupted.
Who would remember a missing Anbu squad then?
Who would have the time to care about the life or death of four individuals?
"All done," Storm Fox said, finishing the treatment.
"They won't let us enter the Land of Fire so easily," Shimizu analyzed calmly. "The battalion behind us dares to trail us at an unhurried pace. That means there must be an ambush ahead.
In a moment, each of you create a Shadow Clone and have it follow me as we continue retreating toward the Land of Fire outpost.
Starfire's injury won't allow him to make it back to the village. Storm Fox, you must move with him. The two of you will take the retreat route toward the Land of Rivers outpost.
Gray Hawk, you'll take the detour toward the Land of Rain outpost.
As for me… I'll continue acting as bait. I'll hold them off as long as I can. How long the Shadow Clones can deceive the Sand ninja will depend on our luck.
No matter what—report everything that happened here to Lord Hokage."
"Captain!" Storm Fox's voice trembled with emotion. Shimizu's meaning was clear—he intended to face an entire battalion behind them alone, along with whatever unknown ambush lay ahead. No matter how strong he was, that was certain death.
"Captain, I think I can…" Starfire had meant to volunteer to stay behind himself. He felt he had already become a burden. His chances of escaping were slim—he might as well buy time for the others.
"No need to say more. We've worked together for two years. Don't you know me by now?" Shimizu said softly.
Gray Hawk spoke solemnly, "Captain, being your subordinate has been an honor for the Hyuga clan."
"Kūryū! This is suicide!" Storm Fox blurted out his Anbu codename in her urgency.
"Storm Fox, we are still on mission. You should address me as Captain." His voice turned cold.
Storm Fox abruptly removed her fox mask, revealing a delicate and refined face. Her lips were pale from excessive chakra consumption. She looked straight into his eyes.
"Shimizu Uzuki, you're this strong. There has to be another way, right? You don't have to choose death!"
Gray Hawk and Starfire exchanged a glance and silently stepped back. This conversation was no longer theirs to interrupt.
Shimizu paused briefly.
"I imagine Hatake Sakumo once faced a similar choice. He chose his comrades over the mission. I've often wondered what I would do if I were ever placed in that situation. Back then, I had no answer."
He continued calmly:
"I don't want to walk the same road Sakumo did. I will follow my own heart."
The death of Konoha's White Fang had caused tremendous upheaval within the village. Konoha hadn't merely lost a Kage-level powerhouse—the ripple effects continued even now. His son, Kakashi, remained trapped in a world where missions came before all else.
Humans have desires. Ninja have principles, but they are not tools. They have emotions.
Blind devotion to missions above all, or placing comrades above everything else—neither extreme aligned with the values of a soul that came from another world.
He, Shimizu Uzuki, would complete the mission.
And cherish his comrades.
The only thing left was to sacrifice himself.
He smiled faintly.
"You all know I'm strong. As long as you make it back alive and get reinforcements from the village as quickly as possible, I might just be able to hold out until then."
Tears slid from the corners of Storm Fox's eyes. She put her fox mask back on.
"Fine. I promise. I'll bring Starfire back to the village—and then we'll come find you. You'd better not die!"
"If they want to kill me, it won't be easy… Follow the plan."
"Yes!" ×3
—
About ten minutes later, as they passed through a dense forest, Gray Hawk, Starfire, and Storm Fox each created a Shadow Clone. Their real bodies immediately peeled away from the formation.
The hawk circling in the sky only saw four figures sprinting forward. They disappeared briefly beneath the forest canopy and reappeared moments later. Similar situations had already occurred several times during the chase. Nothing unusual—no suspicion raised.
Shimizu continued forward with the three Shadow Clones, maintaining high speed toward the Land of Fire's border.
"Based on earlier estimates, the clones' chakra should allow them to maintain this speed for about two hours. If they can remain under the Sand ninja's noses for that long, maybe they'll escape pursuit…"
He could only hope the enemy's backup plan would arrive later rather than sooner.
But fate often delights in tearing apart carefully laid plans.
Less than half an hour after splitting up, the Shadow Clone at the front—Gray Hawk's—was suddenly sliced clean in half by a Wind Release technique.
The sudden attack brought the entire formation to a halt.
As expected—the only path back to the Land of Fire had been ambushed.
And by powerful ninja.
When Shimizu saw them clearly, his heart sank.
Sunagakure Anbu.
"One squad… two squads… three squads."
Twelve Anbu stood in a fan-shaped formation, blocking his path.
Looking back, more Sand ninja were closing in behind them.
"One squad… two squads… three squads… four… five… six…"
At some point, three squads had vanished from the rear pursuit.
Had they seen through the plan from the beginning?
Shimizu gave the order at once:
"Dispell the Shadow Clones. Let the originals know what's happening here."
"Yes!" ×2
With two sharp puffs, the Shadow Clones of Starfire and Storm Fox vanished.
The leading Sunagakure Anbu spoke loudly:
"I knew it. Knowing we had a backup plan, there's no way you would've continued advancing without any reaction."
Shimizu said nothing.
What stood before him were nine fully staffed squads—thirty-six Sand shinobi in total. Three of those squads were Sunagakure Anbu.
He focused on recovering stamina and chakra.
"I'd say about forty-five minutes ago—during that mid-way rest—you decided on the plan that followed. Am I right, Captain Kūryū?"
The Sand Anbu leader wore a mask with earth-yellow stripes. Judging by his voice, he was around forty—perhaps older.
Shimizu remained silent, his gaze cold.
"As for where you split up, there were only two possibilities. One was the forest half an hour ago. The other was the river five minutes ago. The moment I considered that you might have already escaped our surveillance, I immediately dispatched enough personnel to search both locations."
Still, Shimizu did not respond.
He understood. The man was trying to crush his will to survive. Every word—true or false—was meant to erode his fighting spirit. Once a person believes there is no hope, death naturally follows.
"That reconnaissance ninja—we haven't located him yet. But that female ninja and the injured jonin… we've already captured them."
Storm Fox!
Shimizu's heart jolted.
Then he forced himself to calm down.
Impossible. It had been half an hour. They should have put enough distance between themselves and the pursuit.
"I suppose you won't believe me," the Sand Anbu continued. "Take a look at this."
He produced a torn piece of black fabric from trousers, and a white scrap of cloth stained with blood.
They were parts of Konoha Anbu uniforms.
Moments later, he tucked them away again.
"You value your comrades' lives and chose to act as bait alone. I admire that. But that female ninja had a chance to escape our tracking. The injured jonin, however, would never have made it back to Konoha in his condition. By taking him with her, she only burdened herself. Your decision was foolish."
Shimizu's heart sank.
He had thought he could delay them at least an hour.
He had thought he could at least allow his comrades to break free of pursuit.
He had thought his sacrifice would not be meaningless…
"Do you regret it? Are you angry, Captain Kūryū? In front of you stand thirty-six Sand shinobi. We are your enemies. Come—draw your blade against us!"
For a split second, Shimizu nearly charged at the Sand Anbu leader.
But then he remembered—three squads had disappeared from the rear.
That suggested three pursuit directions.
Perhaps the logic was strained—but the so-called "evidence" in that man's hand…
They could easily have used clothing remnants from Starfire's first injury as false proof. If they had truly captured them, wouldn't masks or forehead protectors be far more convincing?
He's bluffing.
He wants anger to cloud my judgment—so I lose clarity and he can take me down. Because they're afraid of me.
Shimizu cursed inwardly. The old fox was skilled at psychological warfare. He had almost fallen for it.
"Unidentified Sunagakure Anbu," Shimizu said evenly, his tone devoid of emotion. "Thanks to you rambling on, I've recovered quite a bit of chakra. I'll be able to kill a few more of your Sand ninja now."
"Don't be so arrogant!" one of the nearby Sand shinobi snapped, enraged.
"Captain Kūryū," the leader replied calmly, "my codename is Dust. My reputation is nowhere near yours. When you were operating in the Land of Grass this past April, your mastery of Water Release was remarkable. It reminded me of the mighty Second Hokage!"
What is this guy doing? First psychological warfare, now flattery? Doesn't he realize I'm recovering chakra and stamina?
"From that time on, Sunagakure Anbu recorded you in our intelligence handbook. It reads: 'Konoha Anbu squad captain, codename Kūryū. Specializes in Body Flicker and Konoha-style swordsmanship. Capable of powerful Water Release. Danger level: A+.' To achieve so much at such a young age… we veterans of the Second Great Ninja War are truly ashamed in comparison."
Wait.
He's stalling too.
He doesn't care how much chakra I recover.
I should attack first—
The thought had just formed when a thunderous rumble erupted from underground.
What—?!
Within several hundred meters, the forest began collapsing inward, forming a crater like a meteor impact. At the same time, massive amounts of sand burst upward from beneath the earth, rolling and surging violently.
This enormous technique completely altered the terrain within a 300-meter radius.
The forest transformed into a landscape resembling the sandy terrain of the Land of Wind.
Shimizu's expression darkened to its limit.
Damn it.
All that talking—the Sand shinobi had merely been buying time to activate this massive Earth-and-Sand Release technique to reshape the battlefield.
They were determined to leave him here.
"Captain Kūryū, genius jonin of Konoha," Dust said, raising his hand. "Given time, you might even become another Second Hokage. But today… you will fall here."
With a sharp motion of his hand, he issued the order to attack.