Illegal Encounter After Running Away (2)

"It seemed I shouldn't use Lightning Release for the time being." Hagoromo fought through the dizziness and staggered to his feet.

Some of his stamina and chakra had naturally recovered. From this, Hagoromo judged that he must have been unconscious for quite some time after arriving in this space. The Reverse Summoning Technique had knocked him out; at the very least, he could be sure he had not arrived here awake.

He should count himself lucky that no enemies, or even wild beasts, had attacked him during that time.

After painstakingly bandaging his wounds, Hagoromo began moving. He first surveyed his surroundings. This seemed to be a bare, barren mountain, its scenery tinged with lifeless yellow. Though it looked harmless enough, it gave him an instinctive sense of unease—proving that not everyone could be like Jiraiya, casually using a technique with not a single damn side effect and somehow ending up in a holy land like Mount Myōboku.

It seemed that not everyone could be like Jiraiya and reach a holy land like Mount Myōboku even through Reverse Summoning.

Given Hagoromo's circumstances and his more than ten years of never leaving the village, it would be difficult for him to determine this place's exact coordinates by himself. Therefore, his most urgent task was to leave this ominous-looking place, preferably find other people as quickly as possible, and then confirm the direction of Konoha.

As for why he had no intention of looking for Kushina, he felt there was no need. A ninja like Kushina was more adaptable to an environment like this than he was, and she knew what to do in such a place.

"There aren't even any living creatures in sight here, never mind living people." After walking some distance, Hagoromo covered the wound on his shoulder with one hand and muttered softly.

There was utterly no sign of living things here.

Yet as if answering his hopes, a living creature appeared at that moment—though after seeing it, he would rather it had never appeared at all.

Accompanied by the low growl of some beast and strange barking, a massive canine creature appeared before Hagoromo. It had four legs, three heads, short wings on its back, and a ferocious expression.

If Hagoromo had been thoroughly familiar with the plot of Naruto, then the first thing he would have said upon seeing this creature would have been:

"Hey, buddy, you look kind of familiar..."

Well, as long as he still had a brain, he probably would not call a dog "buddy," no matter how bizarre-looking that dog was.

Other than lacking those Black Rods stuck through its body and the ringed eyes, this thing looked exactly like one of Pain's creatures.

It looked a little hungry, so the instant Hagoromo saw it, he sensed its hostility—there was no chance they would happily become friends.

The Three-Headed Dog slowly prowled to within five meters of Hagoromo, then stopped.

Hagoromo removed his hand from his shoulder and bared his teeth at the dog. At that moment, he even smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

How friendly. He was a ninja who loved animals... my ass, if his hands were not forming seals so smoothly.

Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!

A fire dragon brimming with savage fury instantly enveloped the giant dog. It seemed that in the next moment, Hagoromo would smell roasted meat—the legendary case of a man-eater being eaten by a ninja.

However, that did not happen. Once the Fire Release dissipated, the Three-Headed Dog stood there completely unharmed.

"What's going on? Fire Release isn't working?"

Severe blood loss, insufficient chakra reserves, Lightning Release unsuitable for use, and even a B-rank Fire Release could not cook the opponent... In an instant, Hagoromo made his decision. Yeah, he turned around and ran.

Naturally, the Three-Headed Dog chased after Hagoromo. It had been braised for no reason at all. Though it was not seriously harmed, it still hurt like hell, all right?

Even without that, it could not possibly give up food that had practically fallen into its mouth.

Thus, one man and one dog raced across the land, with the man sprinting desperately in front and the dog relentlessly pursuing behind. This once again demonstrated a scientific truth: two legs could never outrun four. Hagoromo could only stop from time to time, use his limited chakra to counterattack, then run again—putting some distance between them, getting caught again, counterattacking again, and repeating the cycle.

The scene returned to the battlefield after Hagoromo and Kushina had left. One sentence was enough to describe its current state: the Sand Ninja were in retreat.

Konoha's ninjas had returned to reinforce them, the Sand Ninja had fallen into a disadvantage, Kushina had vanished without a trace, and Konoha's command headquarters could not be destroyed. At this point, the Sand Ninja could only choose to withdraw.

The Sand Ninja had left behind a field of corpses in this battle, yet gained nothing. Their predetermined objective had not been achieved, the sudden opportunity had slipped through their grasp, and they had nearly even lost the tailed beast. Things could not have gone worse.

However, Konoha was not much better off.

"Tsunade-sama, should we pursue them?" Nara Shikaku, the strategist, asked Tsunade.

The blood on Tsunade's face had not yet dried. Her left hand tightly gripped her right arm, and she did her best to remain calm as she spoke.

She could not reveal her hemophobia in front of her subordinates.

"No. Immediately search for the wounded and treat the injured. Then... use our fastest means of communication to report Kushina's disappearance to the Third Hokage. Have the Hokage contact Minato Namikaze as soon as possible."

"Yes." After accepting the order, Shikaku swiftly went to relay it.

"Reverse Summoning Technique?"

After Shikaku left, Tsunade murmured to herself. Judging from the traces of ninjutsu left where Kushina and Hagoromo had vanished, combined with what had happened when they disappeared, it was highly likely that the two had left the battlefield using the Reverse Summoning Technique.

"I hope they're safe."

Statistically speaking, using an unstable technique like Reverse Summoning was quite likely to cause problems. Tsunade had no idea that someone had made a rather unreliable modification to the technique. And even if the jutsu itself had not gone wrong, both the location and distance of the caster's transfer were essentially random. If those two unlucky fools had been sent to the Land of Wind...

Ahem. They probably would not be that unlucky, right?

Tsunade convinced herself in silence.

In any case, at this time, the only person who could find Kushina was probably Minato Namikaze. Therefore, Kushina's situation had to be reported to the Hokage as soon as possible.

PS:

1. Thanks to reader Tang Wuwuwu for the 1,000 reward.

2. The author genuinely doesn't have the time. If I carefully proofread everything, the update speed would have to drop even further. To readers who can tolerate typos, thank you immensely for your understanding. To readers who cannot, I can only apologize.

3. The years will not be examined in detail. As I recall, the Third Shinobi World War did not truly end until the Hinata kidnapping incident.