Return to Camp

"So it was him?"

A strange glint flashed through the little girl's eyes, and she teased, "Last time, that fellow narrowly escaped from you, the 'Demon,' and today he escaped with his life from an Uchiha jonin. That guy sure is incredibly lucky!"

"No wonder you said we should have the Konoha Sannin give it a try!"

As she spoke, the little girl covered her stomach, pointed at the little boy beside her, and burst into giggles.

Hearing this, the Kirigakure Chunin leading the group couldn't help sighing inwardly as well. That kid really was far too lucky.

He was only a Genin. Even with his team leader dead, he had somehow held out against an Uchiha jonin until they arrived.

It had to be said—this was truly a miracle.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and gestured, then said to the two of them in a low voice, "All right, you two, stop fooling around! I've sensed that man's presence. Stay on full alert!"

"Although we don't know how badly that person is injured, we'd better be careful just in case!"

With that, he led his two subordinates onward at full speed, following the fresh footprints left on the tree trunks.

Meanwhile, Qi Shuang gathered Kamiya Ki's remains together with Kamimura's head.

Looking at Kamiya Ki's charred remains, he sighed and said softly, "Don't blame me, Teacher Ki!"

Judging from Kamiya Ki's injuries at the time, it was almost certain that he couldn't be saved.

Even without his few Explosive Tags, the other man wouldn't have survived for more than ten minutes.

Fortunately, Kamiya Ki had understood his words in his final moments and realized what he intended to do. He hadn't resisted, which greatly eased Qi Shuang's guilt.

At the very least, Kamiya Ki's death had been partly his own choice. It hadn't been the result of Qi Shuang forcing him.

Before long, another dense burst of footsteps sounded through the forest. Judging from the footsteps alone, there were at least ten people approaching.

Qi Shuang knew that Kirigakure's reinforcements had arrived.

After all, on this battlefield, Kirigakure's forward camp was the closest place to this location.

Therefore, the fastest reinforcements could only come from Kirigakure's side.

The footsteps came like rain, pattering through the woods. In the blink of an eye, five or six shinobi wearing Kirigakure forehead protectors had appeared in the clearing.

Another five or six were crouched indistinctly in the surrounding trees, completely encircling the area like an iron barrel.

"Kid, did you see the three-man squad that just came to investigate the situation?" the middle-aged man at the front asked Qi Shuang expressionlessly.

"They went after a fleeing Uchiha jonin!" Qi Shuang replied crisply.

"With their strength, they dared chase a jonin? And an Uchiha at that?" The newcomer raised an eyebrow.

He knew the strength of the squad that had come to investigate earlier very well: one Chunin and two Genin. That was nowhere near enough to take down a jonin, let alone an Uchiha jonin.

"Oh, that person was seriously wounded when he first fought us, so they dared to chase after him!" Qi Shuang hurriedly explained.

"I see!" The man nodded.

Then he selected two subordinates from beside him, pointed at the remains on the ground and Qi Shuang, and instructed them, "You two, safely take them back. Everyone else, follow me."

"The target is to be captured alive!"

No one needed to remind him. He knew very well how important a Konoha jonin—especially an Uchiha jonin—was to Kirigakure.

More precisely, the intelligence in that man's head was vital to Kirigakure's strategic situation.

Therefore, he made up his mind to capture that Konoha jonin alive.

Leaving two subordinates behind, he immediately led the rest after the three-man squad, following the marks they had left behind.

After his companions had completely disappeared from sight, one of the men left behind asked Qi Shuang in surprise, "Kid, on our way here, we found a headless corpse."

"It looked to be around ten years old, and judging by the clothing, it should have been one of our Kirigakure shinobi. Could it have been your companion?"

Qi Shuang thought for a moment, then replied softly, "One member of our squad left ahead of us to bring back reinforcements, but he was killed by a Konoha shinobi."

Then he pointed at the black sphere beside Kamiya Ki's remains and said with a complicated expression, "That's his head. I just don't know where his body is."

"I suppose the headless corpse you two seniors saw must have been his!"

"Alas..."

Hearing this, one of the Kirigakure shinobi sighed as well. Seemingly thinking that Qi Shuang was particularly grief-stricken, he patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "This is the battlefield. Any one of us could die at any time!"

"So you have to learn to get used to it. Only then can you turn your grief into strength and avoid becoming one of the countless dead!"

"Yes! I understand, Senior!" Qi Shuang nodded and forced out a few tears.

Nearby, after the other Kirigakure shinobi had used a Sealing Scroll to pack up the remains, he said to the two of them, "Let's go. We'll pick up that headless corpse too, then return to camp!"

The two men then took Qi Shuang and retraced their route. Under his "grief-stricken" gaze, they collected Kamimura's remains, and the three of them headed toward camp without looking back.

Of the four people in the squad, everyone but him had died in battle. Even the Chunin leading them hadn't survived, while he, a supposedly "pathetically weak" Genin-level brat, had escaped unharmed. This immediately aroused considerable suspicion.

Afterward, following treatment by the Medical Department, Qi Shuang was immediately summoned to the Intelligence Interrogation Department for questioning about the battle.

"Little fellow, what exactly happened to you today? Tell me everything!" a Kirigakure shinobi asked him again, smiling as he handed over a cup of water.

"Thank you!"

Qi Shuang nodded from his chair, cautiously took the offered cup, sipped it lightly, and slowly said, "Today, we..."

Before he could finish, a wave of dizziness surged through him, and his entire body began to feel groggy.

He shook his head and frowned inwardly. What's going on? What happened to my head?

Clatter!

His fingers loosened unconsciously, and the cup suddenly fell to the floor. The crisp sound of shattering glass rang in his ears, and he suddenly realized what was happening.

"Damn it! Those bastards drugged me! They want to use the medicine to hypnotize me and interrogate me!"

Unfortunately, he realized it too late. Everything was already beyond his control.

Or rather, even if he had realized it sooner, there was nothing he could have done.

After all, he was only a child of around ten. It was impossible for him to oppose the power of an entire village.

Now that his superiors wanted to interrogate him, he had no choice but to submit.

All he could do was pray that those bastards wouldn't ask any strange questions and accidentally expose the secret of his memories from his previous life.

Immediately afterward, his thoughts sank into chaos, and he lost consciousness completely.

When he woke again, everyone around him was looking at him with extremely complicated expressions.

It seemed that they had already obtained the intelligence they wanted.

One of them pointed at him and joked to his companion beside him, "This kid isn't exactly harmless either. His squad is now nothing but a name. Why don't we assign him to the squad of the 'Demon Zabuza' and let them renew their old classmate bond?"

"That 'Demon's' squad just happens to be short one person. Sending him over would be perfect!"