Tricky Opponent

Seeing Uchiha Daiki silently head toward the woods off to the left-front, the three behind him immediately frowned.

"Hey!"

Uzuki Sen could not help calling out softly.

Sarutobi Shio also complained with some dissatisfaction, "This guy—seeing that he was fairly strong, and since our captain was already dead, I agreed to form a temporary team with him. I never expected him to be this reckless..."

"He'll get all of us killed acting like this."

Hyuga Koji, however, said nothing. His expression remained unchanged, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Just as Sarutobi Shio finished speaking, Uchiha Daiki's voice came from ahead.

"If you want to complain, wait until you make it back to the village alive."

"If you don't want to die, hurry up and follow me."

Hearing Uchiha Daiki say that, Uzuki Sen, Hyuga Koji, and Sarutobi Shio exchanged puzzled looks.

"Did he discover something?"

Hyuga Koji muttered doubtfully to himself.

"Hmph! That brat is just putting on an act!"

Sarutobi Shio said disdainfully.

But Hyuga Koji had already activated his Byakugan and begun observing the surroundings.

Two or three seconds later, when he turned to look in the direction Uchiha Daiki had been watching, his expression changed instantly.

Seeing the change in Hyuga Koji's expression, Uzuki Sen and Sarutobi Shio's hearts tightened as well.

"What is it?"

Uzuki Sen hurriedly asked.

"A few people are heading in our direction from a kilometer ahead..."

"They look like... the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist from Kirigakure!"

Hyuga Koji answered.

"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"

Uzuki Sen and Sarutobi Shio's faces both changed drastically at those words.

They were Kirigakure's renowned elite ninja.

Every one of them possessed the strength of a Jonin, enough to deal with all of them alone.

They had long heard that Kirigakure had recently dispatched them to hunt down Konoha's other units across the battlefield.

Those people were ruthless and cruel, and they especially enjoyed targeting Konoha's rookie ninja, never leaving anyone alive.

If ordinary people encountered them and did not flee immediately, death was their only path.

"Looks like we should retreat!"

Hyuga Koji warned.

"That brat discovered the enemy's approach long ago?"

Sarutobi Shio frowned and asked incredulously.

No one answered him.

Uzuki Sen and Hyuga Koji had already turned around and begun retreating after Uchiha Daiki's back.

"Damn it... How did he do that?"

Though he was deeply unwilling to accept it, Sarutobi Shio followed as well.

One kilometer away.

Among the first generation Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, a man with fluffy yellow spiked hair, a Kirigakure Anbu mask on his face, and several loops of bandages wrapped around his neck suddenly spoke as they hurried along.

"Oh? It seems they've discovered us."

"Looks like there's a sensory-type ninja among them..."

This man was one of the first generation Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Kushimaru Kuriarare, wielder of the long sword Nuibari.

Hearing this, Suikazan Fuguki, carrying the great sword Samehada on his back, grinned and revealed a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. "We actually had to come out personally to deal with these little brats. Hmph... If they still manage to escape us, that would be a failure of duty on our part."

Immediately afterward, the one-eyed Munashi Jinpachi snorted coldly. "The team responsible for attacking the enemy's Logistics Medical Unit never returned. We sensed that something had happened, so we came to take a look. As expected, there really are enemies here."

"After killing our people, they still want to leave alive? There's no such bargain in this world."

As he spoke, Munashi Jinpachi swung the Exploding Blade Shibuki in his hand through the air ahead.

The other members said nothing.

They silently accelerated together and swiftly gave chase in the direction Uchiha Daiki and the others had retreated.

Uchiha Daiki felt a little frustrated.

He hadn't expected to run into such powerful opponents at a time like this.

Earlier, he had only sensed that the enemy's aura was formidable and their Chakra incredibly abundant. For the time being, their side was no match for them.

But he had not known who the opponents were.

However, Hyuga Koji had directly seen what the targets looked like through the Byakugan, and from that, identified them as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Now, there was even less chance of Uchiha Daiki fighting them.

"They're speeding up their pursuit."

Hyuga Koji and Uzuki Sen quickly caught up to Uchiha Daiki, and the former instinctively warned him.

He had seen Uchiha Daiki take action against those Kirigakure Ninja.

Objectively speaking, Daiki was stronger than any of the three of them, so Hyuga Koji had naturally begun to regard him as their "captain."

Uchiha Daiki turned to glance at him. "If we're unlucky enough to get caught by them later, everyone looks after themselves."

That answer greatly surprised Uzuki Sen, Hyuga Koji, and Sarutobi Shio.

"You Uchiha really are something else."

"You actually make abandoning your companions sound so natural!"

Sarutobi Shio snorted coldly.

"This isn't the time to argue. Escaping is more important."

Seeing that the atmosphere was turning sour, Uzuki Sen hurriedly reminded them.

At that, Sarutobi Shio snorted again and fell silent.

Uchiha Daiki turned to Uzuki Sen and asked, "You're a medical ninja, right?"

When he woke up, he had discovered that the wounds on his body had been bandaged again.

But all the other medical ninja had died, so it was most likely this Uzuki Sen who had bandaged him.

"Yes."

Uzuki Sen answered.

"Then you can follow me."

"The other two can fend for themselves."

Uchiha Daiki did not waste words.

Faced with the pursuit of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he had no intention of bringing along two deadweights.

He still needed to stay alive to carry out his plan.

"Th-This..."

Uzuki Sen froze at his words and hesitantly looked toward Sarutobi Shio and Hyuga Koji.

"If you don't want to, then follow them."

Uchiha Daiki accelerated forward.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were very fast. They had already closed the original one-kilometer gap to less than eight hundred meters.

At this rate, they would be caught sooner or later.

"Hey!! Are you really planning to leave us behind? Damn it!"

"Uchiha bastard!"

Sarutobi Shio cursed furiously. He turned to look at the forest on the right, then suggested they run that way. "Since this brat doesn't want to take us with him, then we'll split up!"

"Hmph! Just wait until we get back to Konoha. Abandoning your companions and leaving on your own—someone like you doesn't deserve to be a ninja at all!"

After saying that, he turned and headed to the right, calling for Uzuki Sen and Hyuga Koji to follow him.

After all, the three of them were members of the same squad. Though Uzuki Sen and Hyuga Koji were conflicted, they still followed after him.