One group fled while the other pursued, swiftly heading deeper into the Northern Forest.
The chase lasted nearly half an hour.
The distance between them gradually narrowed to a dangerous range.
Gentō's breathing remained steady, but he had already begun weighing whether to use his Sharingan to force a counterattack.
Just then, breathless voices rose from the pursuers behind him:
"Captain, haven't we chased them too far? Our assignment..."
"Yeah, what if something goes wrong..."
For a ninja, putting the mission first was a creed etched into the mind.
If their mission failed because they pursued unrelated targets, none of them could bear the consequences.
Another ninja spoke up hesitantly:
"Judging by their clothes, they look like Iwagakure ninja... As long as they aren't from Konoha, we should be fine. Why don't we head back now and avoid unnecessary complications..."
The bald ninja leading them looked conflicted.
He watched Kurenai in Gentō's arms, unwilling to let her go.
After spending so long on this mission, stuck in this godforsaken forest in the middle of nowhere, he was sick of getting himself off with his hand.
Now that a gorgeous kunoichi had practically fallen into his lap, he couldn't bear to give her up.
After struggling for several seconds, he finally gritted his teeth and ordered:
"You four, return to the mission site immediately. Help the wounded and strengthen security. I'll chase them a little farther on my own!"
With that, he abruptly poured more chakra into his legs, accelerating sharply as he charged ahead alone.
As far as he was concerned, the man ahead was merely a medical ninja with reasonably accurate throwing skills. Carrying an injured female companion, he had to be reaching his physical limit by now.
He could handle them alone.
The four teammates exchanged glances. Not daring to disobey, they turned back.
Up ahead, Gentō caught sight of the four leaving out of the corner of his eye and relaxed slightly.
After running a little farther, he estimated that the four had gone far enough away and deliberately slowed his pace.
The bald ninja was delighted. Just as I thought, he's exhausted. He sped up and shouted:
"Can't run anymore? I'll send you to your grave!"
He was somewhat puzzled as to why this medical ninja had better stamina than a jonin like him, managing to run so far while carrying a teammate.
But none of that mattered anymore.
He was about to kill the man and thoroughly ravage the kunoichi in his arms.
With that thought, he closed in on Gentō and Kurenai.
His hands swiftly formed hand seals, and Wind Release chakra gathered into a blade in his palm.
Just as he was about to release the Wind Blade, Gentō abruptly looked back.
A pair of scarlet eyes appeared before him.
"The Sharingan? Wait! You aren't from Iwagakure! You're Konoha ninja!"
The bald ninja's pupils constricted.
Years on the battlefield had exposed him to many terrifying rumors about the Sharingan.
His will to fight vanished. He hastily hurled the Wind Blade, then turned and ran without even checking the result.
I have to survive and get this intelligence back!
Konoha has discovered our plan. Sunagakure has to act ahead of schedule!
But he had only taken two steps.
Shhk!
A cold, piercing pain shot through his chest.
He looked down blankly. At some point, a kunai had plunged into his heart.
Gentō stood before him like a ghost.
"Im... possible... When... did you..."
What the bald ninja didn't know was that the instant he met Gentō's Sharingan, he had already fallen under Gentō's genjutsu.
Although Gentō had never learned any genjutsu techniques, his Sharingan still allowed him to influence opponents with illusions.
Gentō had seized the instant of distraction when their eyes met to amplify the fear in his opponent's heart, successfully disrupting his perception.
From Kurenai's perspective, the bald ninja had stiffened slightly the moment he saw the Sharingan.
Then he had thrown his Wind Blade toward an empty patch of ground and run straight at Gentō, impaling himself on the kunai.
"The Uchiha's ocular techniques... What an enviable kekkei genkai."
Kurenai sighed softly.
"Ordinary genjutsu needs sound, light, and the surroundings to help it work, but you can do it with nothing more than a pair of Sharingan."
After killing the man, Gentō had already begun forming hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Flames swept over the corpse, swiftly engulfing it.
Gentō said with some regret:
"What a shame. He was a jonin captain. If we had enough time, we could have interrogated him for more intelligence..."
Once the flames died out, Gentō turned to Kurenai.
"Let's get out of here as soon as possible. I'll find somewhere safe to treat your injuries first."
"Mmh..."
Kurenai was about to speak when her legs suddenly weakened, and a moan escaped her lips.
Thinking her injuries were merely acting up, Gentō immediately scooped her up and said:
"Hang in there. We'll find somewhere safe to treat the poison first."
As Kurenai breathed in Gentō's masculine scent, an almost imperceptible blush spread across her cheeks. She merely nodded.
Meanwhile, after waiting a long time without their captain returning, the Sunagakure ninja immediately realized something had gone wrong.
However, the ninja sent to search found only a patch of ashes in the northern part of the forest.
Not daring to conceal the incident, they eventually reported it to Ebizo, an elder of Sunagakure.
"Are you certain they were wearing Iwagakure ninja uniforms?"
Faced with Ebizo's question, they dared not delay and immediately recounted everything that had happened in detail.
"Besides, those two also retreated north. They should be Iwagakure ninja."
After listening to their explanation, Ebizo let out a long breath.
"Whew... At least they weren't Konoha ninja."
An hour later, near the border between the two countries, Gentō found a hidden cave.
After carefully sensing the surroundings and confirming no one else was nearby, he told Kurenai quietly:
"Bear with it a little longer. We're almost inside the cave."
By now, Kurenai's face was flushed, and her breathing had grown slightly rapid.
Clearly, the Sand Lust Flower Poison had begun spreading through her body.
They entered the cave.
He took a blanket out of his storage scroll.
"Where are the wounds? Lie down on this first, and I'll treat them."
"On... on my chest..."
Gentō immediately felt a little awkward.
Were the enemy's throws really that devious?
I really wasn't trying to take advantage of her.
"Well... You'll have to take off your clothes before I can treat the wounds..."
"And we need to treat them as soon as possible, or the poison will spread through your body."
Kurenai hesitated at his words.
But out of trust in Gentō, she still undid her clothes with slightly trembling fingers.
Her outer garment slipped off, revealing a broad expanse of snow-white skin.
She closed her eyes, her ears already scarlet.
Although Gentō had admired plenty of adult performers' work in his previous life, seeing such an alluring sight in person still brought a blush to his face.
He quickly took a deep breath to calm himself, then began treating her wounds.
Gentō pressed his hand against her snow-white skin.
"This might hurt a little. Bear with me."
Kurenai nodded.
Then the Chakra Scalpel gently opened the wound, exposing a short section of a fine needle.
"Mmh!"
Kurenai couldn't help letting out a moan.
"Gentō... You... Please be gentler..."
"Okay. I'll try."
"Mmh... Ah... That hurts!"
Kurenai cried out, her fingers already gripping the blanket beneath her.
A bloodstained senbon was then extracted from her body.
Gentō steadied his hands and continued treating the next wound.
From time to time, Kurenai's pained moans drifted through the cave.
A short while later, all three slender, bloodstained senbon had finally been removed intact.
Gentō quickly disinfected the wounds, applied medicinal herbs, and carefully bandaged them.
Gentō watched reluctantly as Kurenai put her clothes back on.
"The poisoned needles are all out. Next, we need to neutralize the poison."
As he spoke, Gentō handed Kurenai one of Konoha's standard-issue antidote pills, thoughtfully offering her a cup of water as well.
Kurenai quickly swallowed the pill and waited for it to take effect.
Five minutes... Ten minutes... Twenty minutes...
Soon, thirty minutes had passed.
Despite taking the antidote, Kurenai showed no improvement. Instead, her face grew even more flushed.
Gentō immediately realized the antidote wasn't working.
"How do you feel now?"
Kurenai involuntarily pressed her legs tightly together and said:
"Gentō... I... My body feels a little hot..."
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