Late at night, a figure sped through the woods, the rustling it made startlingly loud. It was Kimura Takuya, fleeing into the forest with his two children.
Ahead, Konoha Village was faintly visible. Its circular outer walls had never seemed so close. Yet the situation was far from optimistic. The Kumogakure ninja pursuing him were not far behind. In less than a minute, he would likely enter their attack range!
With that thought, he desperately pushed himself to move faster.
"Whoosh—thud! Thud!" Two kunai whizzed past his ears. The ones that missed embedded themselves in the trees with dull thuds.
Kimura Takuya was not surprised. If not for his extreme vigilance just now, those two kunai would have pierced his head—less than half a minute had passed, and they had caught up twice as fast as he expected!
Turning his head, he saw Mirai holding up his right arm. To keep him safe, Kimura Takuya held Mirai against his chest, leaving only half of his head exposed over his shoulder. Though this greatly improved Mirai's safety, it slowed him down and put Kimura Takuya himself in greater danger.
"You really can't wait to die!" one of the two bare-chested Kumogakure ninja shouted from behind, flinging three kunai toward Kimura Takuya.
"Whoosh—whoosh—hmph!"
Kimura Takuya successfully dodged the first two, but he could not evade the third no matter what.
Kimura Takuya was already wounded and exhausted, and now he had been injured again. Things truly did not look good. The only thing to be thankful for was that they were still far apart, so the kunai had not sunk too deeply into his back. Moreover, Kimura Takuya had chosen to take the hit in the back rather than the waist.
*Although Konoha is still far away, I'll soon reach the outer