Chapter 55
Day 185. Twenty kilometres from the Nakayama family's hideout.
A young girl in black trousers and a green waistcoat was rushing forward at breakneck speed, leaping through the trees, each time changing her location in an attempt to evade pursuit.
Six stout-looking men rushed after her, repeatedly trying to trap her and throwing shurikens and kunai at her when they had the chance, deliberately not getting within fifteen metres of her.
Once again, the next second after the girl pushed herself off the tree with her feet, a kunai with an explosive seal attached flew into the spot where she had just been - flying in.
There was a loud explosion, and the trunk of the tree was literally torn apart. The large tree slowly tilted and fell, kicking up a pillar of dust and yellowed leaves. The girl miraculously managed to escape the blast wave. She was lucky that she was instantly behind the next tree, which took the full force of the blast.
With her excellent analytical skills, she instantly took advantage of the situation, and threw two shuriken, and a kunai at the three closest pursuers.
Two of the enemies immediately reacted to the attack, and repelled the two shurikens thrown by the girl without much trouble. The third man also prepared to fight off the kunai, seeing that there was no explosive seal on it, and the moment the kunai was two metres away from him, there was a shout from the commander behind him.
- Idiot! Don't fight back, dodge!
But it was too late, and the unlucky shinobi found a thin thread tied to the kunai at the last moment. He had nowhere else to go, so he still kicked the enemy's kunai away, and heard a satisfied shout from the girl.
- Kage Mane no Jutsu! - Folding the seal, the girl shouted out. She perfectly timed the collision of the kunai, and the thread attached to it, which served as an extension of her own shadow, with the enemy's shadow.
The allies of the controlled shinobi made a belated attempt to jump away, but it was too late. The shadow-imitated nukenin was following the girl's movements as she reached into her waistcoat pockets for the explosive-sealed kunai, and the enemy shinobi instantly threw two kunai at her allies.
The girl immediately interrupted the control, and rushed away, not paying attention to the result of her insidious attack. She was just in time, because the next second after the control was broken, the shinobi's head was chopped off by the enraged commander.
Of the two kunai with explosive seals, only one successfully hit the target. The blast wave, the epicentre of which was only a few metres away from the body, burst the eardrums of of the unlucky nukenin, shook all the internal organs, and caused a lung to burst due to excessive pressure.
The body of a Chunin level shinobi had great strength, and thus was not torn apart, but the damage could not be completely avoided, and without Iryonin's help, he might not live to see the next morning.
The head of the group knew perfectly well that his unlucky friend was a dead man, so he cut off his head without a second thought and ordered everyone to resume the chase. He was not going to leave his wounded comrade in the forest, for fear that he would be found by Konoha shinobi and questioned thoroughly.
The black-haired kunoichi raced forward, changing her location, hoping that the commotion behind her would distract her enemies and allow her to escape, but after only three hundred metres the forest suddenly ended, and a few kilometres ahead there were green meadows, and in the distance could be seen huge, impassable for ordinary people mountains.
Irritably cursing to herself, realising there was nowhere to go, she sprinted forward, intent on reaching the mountains, and using her tactical skills to survive.
The moment the group of four noukenin ran out of the forest, the black-haired kunoichi was three hundred metres ahead, but the leader of the noukenin group was very fast, and was steadily reducing the distance, intending to kill that pesky kunoichi.
When it was a kilometre away from the mountains, he got very close to her and threw several shurikens at her, blocking any possible avenues of evasion.
The girl was very smart, so she avoided injury without any problems, and continued to run away, throwing a kunai with an explosive seal at the enemy, not hoping for success, but only planning to buy time until the cherished mountains, which would multiply her chances of survival.
The head of the nukenin chased the cunning kunoichi several more times, and threw shuriken at her, and she dodged competently, but the last time one of the shuriken severed her forearm muscles. The girl did not hesitate, and clenched her teeth and silently fled, checking her wounds as she went.
Finding that the tendons were uninjured, the girl breathed a sigh of relief, and popped a healing pill into her mouth as she walked, to ignore the wound for the time being, and be able to participate in the battle.
With five hundred metres to go, the nukenin commander made another attempt to attack the dodgy kunoichi, this time hitting her in the left thigh. The black-haired girl cried out in pain, and instantly regrouped in a leap, landing on four limbs, positioning herself for a suicidal attack.
The nukenin commander jumped back at the last moment, not daring to take on the attack of the distraught kunoichi, and began attacking her from afar, throwing shurikens and kunai at her.
The girl had no trouble fending off the shuriken, and by the time they ran out, the enemy shinobi was forced to use his techniques to hold her off until reinforcements arrived. He folded the seals in a second, slapped his palm on the ground, and shouted:
- Doton: Arijigoku no Jutsu! - Quicksand appeared under the black-haired kunoichi's feet and wanted to pull her inside. But because of her excellent intelligence, the girl recognised the enemy's technique beforehand, and jumped back just in time, avoiding the danger.
She immediately lunged at her enemy, wanting to shorten the distance, and be able to destroy him with her shadows. Her enemy reacted instantly, and folded another seal, then shouted:
- Doton: Ganchuro no Jutsu! - Instantly, thick stone pillars emerged from the ground in front of the girl and practically imprisoned her in a strong prison, but once again the girl showed her tactical skills and avoided the trap without much trouble, closing in on the enemy.
- Kage Mane no Jutsu! - Kunoichi shouted, and small streaks separated from her shadow and rushed across the ground, trying to touch the enemy's shadow.