What did it feel like to be hunted? Kaede had never experienced it before. This was his first time—and being hunted by a beauty made the experience all the more wonderful.
The dizziness was gradually fading, but using Flying Thunder God Slash had consumed too much Chakra, leaving him exhausted and greatly weakened. He had no intention of fighting Pakura; all he wanted was to get away.
When he glanced back, he could still see Pakura's furious face and murderous glare.
"Bastard, coward! Have you got the guts to stop and fight me?" Pakura had chased him for a long time, only to discover she couldn't catch up. Whenever she spent Chakra to push herself to go faster, he sped up too. Whenever she slowed down, he did the same.
He looked completely at ease, as if he weren't injured at all. It was as though he were deliberately luring her away.
Once they were clear of the battlefield, they reached the canyon where the two villages' Ninja had faced off earlier. Kaede stopped. "This should be far enough. Those few should have rejoined the main force by now."
"Huff... huff... Why'd you stop running?" Pakura stopped on another small mound, four or five meters from Kaede, and caught her breath.
Kaede put away his short sword and said casually, "You look a little tired, so I thought we'd stop and rest. How about we catch our breath, then keep running?" If you keep following me, I'll take you all the way to the Land of Fire. Then you can forget about going back, he thought silently.
"You... bastard!" Pakura was clearly furious. She'd chased him with all her might for ages, and he'd actually stopped so she could rest before chasing him again. It was a blatant insult!
She