Escape, Split into Two Groups

The aftershock of the explosion still echoed through the curtain of rain. Bai Ye followed Sakumo down the slope, their boots dragging two long trails through the mud. Behind them, the warehouse with half its mountainside blown apart had become a giant torch, flames spraying from the breach and staining half the sky a dark red.

Sakumo led the way, gripping his short blade in a reverse hold, the back of the blade pressed against his forearm and its edge facing outward, ready to strike at any moment. His dark combat uniform had been soaked by rain and blood into a mottled blackish brown, while his silver-white hair hung loose against his forehead.

"How much farther can you run?" Sakumo asked without looking back, his voice carrying from ahead.

"Until I die," Bai Ye said.

Sakumo did not break stride, but Bai Ye noticed his right shoulder dip slightly. That was not a natural movement.

After running for about a quarter of an hour, Sakumo suddenly slowed. He stopped beside a fallen tree, dropped to one knee, and pressed his palm to the ground, feeling the tremors in the soil.

Bai Ye crouched beside him, gasping for air. Rainwater poured in through his collar, but sweat had glued his clothes to his skin. The clashing cold and heat made him feel sick enough to vomit.

"How long before the pursuers get here?" Bai Ye asked.

Sakumo did not answer directly. He lifted his hand from the ground, turned it over, and glanced at the mud in his palm. "They already know the warehouse was blown up. The vibrations traveling through the ground could be felt for dozens of kilometers. Hanzo's people aren't idiots. They'll soon pinpoint the general direction we fled."

He paused and looked up at Bai Ye.

"But you have one advantage."

Bai Ye looked at him.

"None of the guards in the warehouse saw you from beginning to end." Sakumo's voice was clear, yet devoid of emotion. "When I broke out, everyone's attention was on me. While you were dismantling the bombs inside the waterproof canvas, I lured them to the east side of the warehouse. When you escaped, they were still tangled up with me. Not a single Hidden Rain Village ninja ever saw your face."

Bai Ye instantly understood what Sakumo meant.

"So, as far as they're concerned..." Sakumo met Bai Ye's eyes. "They know someone blew up the bomb warehouse, but they don't know who did it. What they saw was me—the White Fang of the Leaf, Hatake Sakumo—charging into the warehouse, slaughtering everyone in my path, then fleeing with the aftermath of the explosion."

The sound of rain filled the silence between them.

"We split up. I'll head west and leave behind as many misleading clues as I can, drawing all the pursuers after me."

"You head southeast from here, following the bottom of the river valley. The valley's dense vegetation can block chakra thermal signatures. Once you leave the valley, there'll be a streambed. Follow it to the end, and you'll reach a refugee road leading from Hidden Rain Village-controlled territory to the Land of Rivers. There are many people on that road. Blend in with the refugees, and no one will give you a second look."

Bai Ye fell silent.

He swiftly ran through the logic of the plan in his mind. Everything Sakumo said was right. The enemy's attention was entirely on Sakumo; he truly was invisible to them. If they fled together, they would be a larger, slower target and more likely to be caught. If they separated, Sakumo could move at full speed, while he could slow down and hide his tracks. The intelligence had already been obtained: the location and scale of the supply warehouse, the number of alchemical bombs, and the extent of the damage. All of it needed to be delivered back to Konoha.

From the mission's perspective, splitting into two groups was the optimal solution.

"Alright," Bai Ye said.

Sakumo rose to his feet. His silver-white hair slipped out from beneath his headwrap, gleaming with reflected rainwater. He looked at Bai Ye, his lips moving as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only spoke two words.

"Let's go."

Then he turned and headed toward the western ridgeline. His pace was neither hurried nor slow. The short blade at his back swayed with each step, rain washing the mud from its sheath and revealing the long old scratch beneath.

Bai Ye stood where he was, watching that figure disappear into the rain. Then he turned and headed south.

Bai Ye raced along the route Sakumo had directed for three days. He only encountered two enemy patrols along the way, and he avoided both. Most of the enemy was probably on Sakumo's side by now. At this point, though his chakra was nearly depleted, he had successfully blended into the refugees.

Sitting beside several refugees, Bai Ye quietly recovered chakra while eating half a filthy piece of dry ration.

Several Hidden Rain Village chunin patrolled through the refugees as usual, but their inspection was clearly more perfunctory than before—who didn't know the White Fang of the Leaf was in the west now?

"You lot, come with me! Lord Hanzo has ordered us to tighten the encirclement! We absolutely cannot let the White Fang of the Leaf escape!"

"Watching these worthless peasants will earn us nothing. The military warehouse has been destroyed, and Lord Hanzo has recalled a quarter of the jonin from the battlefield just to catch him! This is our chance to earn glory!"

"We are willing to follow you, sir! Capture the White Fang of the Leaf alive!"

Bai Ye listened to their conversation without changing expression, but his heart sank to the bottom. Only after they left did he sink fully into thought.

The destruction of such a massive warehouse of munitions would certainly shake Hidden Rain Village's foundation on the front lines. That was why Hanzo was furious enough to recall a quarter of the jonin.

Bai Ye did not know how many Hidden Rain Village jonin made up a quarter of the front-line forces, but even if Sakumo did not have to face all of them at once, even a series of battles or chance encounters would be more than Hatake Sakumo could handle alone. Besides, judging from the situation yesterday, Sakumo was definitely wounded.

No matter how strong the White Fang of the Leaf was, he was still only one man. The enemy had sensory-type ninjas, tracking units, flanking units, and interception units. Four layers of nets would close in on him. Once his stamina was drained to a certain point, once his chakra ran dry, once his wounds began to hinder his movements and speed...

His mind raced, laying every option out before him—continue south and deliver the intelligence back to Konoha. Sakumo's plan was for Bai Ye to retreat safely; even if Sakumo died there, the mission would still be complete. Once the Third Hokage received the intelligence, Konoha would surely win on Hidden Rain Village's front lines. It was a clear, rational, correct path. But if Sakumo died...

Hanzo had turned the entire region into an enormous cage. Its walls were closing toward the center, and the path Sakumo had taken west to lure away the pursuers was not an escape route. He was running straight toward the cage walls.

When Bai Ye closed his eyes, he saw a tightening net in his mind. At its center stood a silver-haired man—the man who, five years ago one night, had crouched under the moonlight and looked at an orphaned Uchiha Clan child sitting by the roadside with a wooden sword in his hands, then said one sentence.

"Do you want to learn the blade?"

Bai Ye began recovering his chakra with all his strength.