Running Away

Four Sand shinobi from the Land of Wind, their Forehead Protectors in place, blocked Zhou Duan and the others. One carried a long sword, another gripped a Kunai in each hand, and a third held Shuriken in both hands. The leader of the four wielded a battle scythe!

They had different faces and weapons, but they shared the same bloodstained blades and the same crazed, bloodthirsty expressions!

"Southwest! Fall back!"

Zhou Duan threw a smoke bomb to the ground. Without wasting words, he shouted the order. The enemy had only four people, too, but the aura radiating from their leader clearly marked him as a Chunin!

"No! Why should we run..."

Nawaki roared in frustration:

"There are only four of them! Why don't we fight back? Zhou Duan, Minato, Hyakusho, you take out the three weaklings quickly. I'll keep the one with the battle scythe occupied. After that life-or-death fight, I can feel that my strength has improved significantly. With me leading the way, we can definitely turn the tables!"

"Hey, hey, hey!!!"

As they ran, Hyuga Hyakusho grabbed Nawaki by the back of his collar, looking utterly exasperated:

"Please, Nawaki, you couldn't even beat that last Genin. Where did you get the confidence to take on this Sand shinobi, who looks like one of the strongest Chunins around? Never mind that—you didn't even notice when I grabbed you just now. If you fought him, you'd be dead in a single exchange! Damn it, stop moving!"

"Hyakusho, I was wrong about you. You'd actually doubt your comrade's strength..."

Hearing Hyuga Hyakusho's distrustful words, Nawaki flared up. He grabbed Hyakusho's hand and struggled:

"I'll show you my strength right now!"

"Nawaki, looks like you've forgotten I'm here, haven't you?"

Zhou Duan casually set an Explosive Tag behind them, then tossed another smoke bomb, once again stopping the Sand squad from closing in. His voice was cold:

"I told you I'd make you show your tree-climbing skills in front of the whole village. I wasn't just joking!"

"Though, as far as I'm concerned, they're just a bunch of guys we could take down with a little effort..."

Nawaki pulled free of Hyakusho's grip. Hearing Zhou Duan's words, he immediately gave up on turning around to fight and put on a flattering smile:

"But I still have to uphold the captain's authority!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The Sand shinobi easily evaded the casually placed Explosive Tag. Then the Sand squad's leader unleashed a wide-area ninjutsu. It blew away the smoke from the smoke bomb, and the countless wind blades within it kept flying, heading straight for Zhou Duan and the others!

"Wind Release: Violent Tornado!"

A torrent of wind blew from Namikaze Minato's mouth. It gathered without dispersing, then rapidly grew in size, forming a tornado that blocked the four of them from behind. But the jutsu had been cast by a Chunin, and even though it was also a C-rank technique, it couldn't stop everything. When the two techniques clashed, four or five wind blades still came after them. One even grazed Minato's shoulder, leaving a wound!

"Zhou Duan!"

Ignoring the injury on his shoulder, Minato asked Zhou Duan:

"Do you have some kind of plan? These casually placed traps and carelessly thrown smoke bombs don't seem like you."

"Of course I have a plan!"

Zhou Duan tossed out another smoke bomb:

"I'm fishing!"

"Fishing?"

Minato glanced at the few smoke bombs in Zhou Duan's hand and the bottle of gray liquid. He quickly guessed what Zhou Duan was up to:

"You're waiting for them to charge straight through the smoke instead of avoiding it?"

"Exactly!"

Zhou Duan flashed a crafty smile:

"Exactly. I deliberately placed the smoke bombs separately from the other traps and Explosive Tags. That way, the pursuing Sand shinobi would think we were either amateurs who didn't know to set a second layer of traps in the smoke, or idiots who'd forgotten to do it in our panic!

They're in Konoha territory right now. They're eager to kill Konoha shinobi, but they also need to conserve their stamina and Chakra.

The smoke covers a wide area. If they don't want to take a longer route around it and delay their pursuit, they'll have to use ninjutsu to scout ahead. They don't want either of those things, so when they decide there are no traps in the smoke we've thrown out, that's when they'll fall for it!"

"So you can set a second layer of traps in smoke? I never knew you could do that!"

Hearing Zhou Duan's explanation, Nawaki, running beside him, opened his eyes wide in amazement:

"Zhou Duan, you know so much! I never thought you could combine traps and smoke bombs like that!"

"Gasp!"

On the other side, Hyakusho heard Nawaki and couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath:

"Nawaki, I know all you think about is using high-level ninjutsu, but setting traps is one of the basics we learned at the Academy! It comes up in almost every trap class. What on earth were you doing in class?"

"Hmph!"

Nawaki scoffed at Hyakusho's words:

"Traps are something the weak need to learn. The strong only need the most powerful ninjutsu!"

"Enough, stop talking!"

Zhou Duan couldn't be bothered to deal with Nawaki's words, which made him want to punch the guy every time he heard them. He glanced at the three of them:

"I'm almost out of smoke bombs. Take stock—how many do you all have left?"

"Hyuga Hyakusho: ten!"

"Namikaze Minato: eight!"

"Senju Nawaki: none!"

As soon as Nawaki said that, Minato and Hyakusho both turned to look at him. Even Zhou Duan, who was usually unflappable, couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Nawaki looked a little embarrassed:

"Powerful shinobi don't need sneaky tricks to hide themselves!"

"All right. Looks like even I was getting nervous, taking this guy seriously!"

Zhou Duan sighed:

"Minato, Hyakusho, take turns using your smoke bombs with me. I figure after five or six more, this Sand squad won't be able to resist charging through the smoke to chase us. Remember, don't add any extras to the smoke bombs unless I tell you to!"

"Got it!"

"Got it!"

Minato and Hyakusho answered together, then threw smoke bombs behind them. And just as Zhou Duan had predicted, after he threw the fourth one, the Sand shinobi from the Land of Wind finally let their guard down and couldn't resist charging straight through the smoke!

Zhou Duan tied the bottle of liquid to a smoke bomb and hurled them behind him. He saw the Sand shinobi charge headlong into the smoke, then emerge moving noticeably faster. A knowing smile appeared on his face:

"The liquid's working!"

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