The next day, during daylight.
Sunagakure's attacks suddenly intensified.
Hatake Sakumo swept aside the command tent flap, his clothes reeking of smoke.
"Chiyo has shown herself again."
Sakumo went straight to the sand table and pointed southwest.
"C4 Highland. She used a group of mechanized puppets to pin down two of our squads. It's too far away for us to reach her true body."
Kitahara Kaede studied the contour lines on the sand table, his gaze sliding from C4 Highland toward the rear.
The area around the highland was all open ground.
No matter how skilled Chiyo was at controlling the battlefield, she would have to withdraw to her base before she ran out of chakra.
A long, narrow stretch of dark gray caught his eye.
"Broken Cloud Gorge." Kitahara Kaede rapped his knuckles against the narrow cleft on the map.
It was the only direct shortcut from the highland back to the Sunagakure camp.
Going around it would mean crossing a minefield and adding half an hour to the trip.
Chiyo was a commander who valued absolute efficiency. She would never waste time taking the long way around.
Besides, she would never imagine that someone would be bold enough to ambush her behind enemy lines.
Kitahara Kaede turned and left.
Night fell.
Inside Broken Cloud Gorge, sheer cliffs towered over a narrow path where moonlight could not reach.
Wind howled without pause through the cracks in the rocks.
Kitahara Kaede suppressed his every trace of presence, pressed against the shadowed side of the cliff thirty meters above the ground.
Rustle—the faintest footsteps cut through the sound of the wind.
A lone figure approached from the far end of the gorge.
Her gray-white hair was brushed back with not a strand out of place.
She wore a dark brown vest and carried a huge scroll on her back.
Chiyo.
Alone.
Without a single bodyguard.
For a Puppet Master of her caliber, bringing along cannon fodder would only be a burden.
Once the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets were in play, wherever she went became an army.
When the footsteps reached the spot directly below him, and he confirmed that no one was following her, Kitahara Kaede raised his right hand. Lightning silently gathered in his palm.
Chidori Sharp Spear!
Without any unnecessary probing, the blinding lightning tore through the darkness, plunging straight down from thirty meters up and aiming for the back of Chiyo's heart!
The rocks in the ground were blasted into a deep crater, sending fragments flying.
At the instant the lightning struck, a wooden puppet appeared out of nowhere and blocked it with its blade. Its entire right arm was melted off by Lightning Release.
Chiyo retreated ten meters.
She looked up, fixing her gaze on Kitahara Kaede atop the cliff.
"Lightning Release, with shape transformation." Chiyo's ten fingers spread slightly, and her Chakra Threads glowed a ghostly blue. "You're the Konoha brat who dismantled more than a dozen of my puppets on the front line yesterday."
"You came alone to block me? Got a death wish?"
Kitahara Kaede leaped down from the cliff and landed without a sound.
He didn't waste time talking.
Villains died because they talked too much, even if he wasn't a villain.
His hands formed seals at lightning speed, and his chest swelled.
Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
A sea of fire filled the entire floor of the gorge in an instant, surging toward Chiyo.
He had deliberately created this overwhelming pressure.
He'd gone all out from the start to give Chiyo the impression that he was desperate to kill her as quickly as possible.
He wanted to force her to bring out her trump cards for defense.
"That's all you've got?" Contempt showed in Chiyo's eyes.
Her ten fingers flicked, and the scroll unfurled.
Two puppets of different shapes swept into position in front of her.
The one on the left crossed its arms and raised a blue chakra shield to withstand the sea of fire.
The one on the right snapped open its mechanisms. A large amount of purple poison gas billowed from its mouth, surging back at the flames.
Now!
Kitahara Kaede had never expected Fire Release to hurt anyone.
What he wanted was for Chiyo to bring out the puppet she used to spray poison!
Kitahara Kaede couldn't suppress the upward curl of his lips.
Amid the flames, Chiyo caught that fleeting expression.
Her heart gave a jolt.
Damn it!
But it was too late to retreat.
Kitahara Kaede lowered his center of gravity and surged forward at full speed.
He threw himself straight into the edge of the poison cloud before it could disperse.
A dozen poisoned blades met him head-on.
Kitahara Kaede arched backward, sliding past the poisoned blades. His right hand, fingers held together like a knife, crackled with lightning as he precisely severed the puppet's main chakra line.
Crack!
In one swift motion, he chopped off all four limbs of the poison-spewing puppet with his bare hand.
Wood splinters flew as the puppet's body, no longer supported by its limbs, slammed into the ground.
Kitahara Kaede stomped on its belly panel and smashed it open.
Inside the core mechanism, an intact poison sac that had never been exposed to air sat quietly in a wooden groove.
He had it.
He yanked out the sac and stuffed it into the waterproof pouch at his waist.
His right foot slammed against the cliff wall, and he used the force to hurtle toward the exit on the other side of the gorge.
Chiyo finally understood.
The brat had charged in recklessly not to kill her, but to steal the poison sac!
"Leave your life behind!" Chiyo roared furiously.
Her ten fingers snapped shut, tightening the Chakra Threads.
The remaining puppet disassembled in midair, and hundreds of poisoned projectiles burst out like a downpour, completely sealing off every escape route.
Poison needles rained from above, and a web of poisoned blades blocked the ground below.
Chidori erupted in Kitahara Kaede's left hand. He forcibly tore open the web of projectiles in front of him.
His body twisted to the limit in midair, and he squeezed through the gap by sheer force.
Thwip.
A black Kunai grazed his right arm.
There was no bleeding, just a scrape that broke the skin.
Kitahara Kaede landed without slowing and plunged into the forest without looking back.
Chiyo sprang after him, following the trail of snapped branches.
Two blurring figures raced through the forest beyond the gorge.
After two kilometers, points of light gradually appeared in the darkness ahead.
They were the torches carried by the patrols on the outskirts of the Konoha camp.
Chiyo came to an abrupt stop.
The area ahead was already under Konoha's control.
She watched the figure disappear into the night, gave a cold snort, and turned back into the darkness from which she had come.
With that poison in his system, the faster he ran, the sooner he'd die.
The wind whipped past Kitahara Kaede's ears.
He raced desperately from treetop to treetop.
He was still one and a half kilometers from the Konoha rear camp.
In his attempt to escape Chiyo, his chakra was operating beyond its limits.
His blood was flowing several times faster than normal.
Riding on the surge of blood caused by his frantic sprint, the poison spread through his body at an exponential rate.
Three seconds later, his right arm began to go numb.
Ten seconds later, his entire right arm had swollen, heavy and impossible to lift.
A minute later, terrifying black-purple veins crawled up along his veins, crossed his shoulder, and spread straight to his neck.
Kitahara Kaede's vision began to blur, and his chakra flow fell into complete disarray.
His foot missed its mark.
He toppled straight off the tree trunk and crashed heavily into the muddy water.
Mud mixed with the taste of blood and choked his airway.
"Cough, cough..."
He spat out a mouthful of black-purple blood.
His vision could barely focus. With every breath, the paralyzing poison and agonizing pain dragged him inch by inch toward the abyss.
I can't die here.
Kitahara Kaede bit through his tongue.
The pain bought him two seconds of clarity.
With his left hand, he pressed hard on the vital points around his right shoulder, forcibly sealing his meridians to slow the poisoned blood's flow toward his heart.
The blue amulet, its stitching crooked, pressed against his chest through his ninja pouch.
Kitahara Kaede dragged himself to his feet. Like a dying beast, he forced himself onward with his last breath, staggering toward the camp.
The field hospital blazed with light.
Tsunade had just severed the necrotic nerves of a severely poisoned patient.
She straightened, and darkness swam before her eyes. Her body swayed.
"Lady Tsunade, please rest for ten minutes. Your chakra—"
"Get out of my way." Tsunade shook off the medical Chunin's hand and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
She looked toward the tent entrance.
Kitahara Kaede had been gone for a whole day and night.
There had still been no news of him.
"Bring me the patient from bed nineteen. I'll try another approach..."
A sudden noise interrupted everyone.
The flap of the main tent was yanked open.
A figure came flying in and rolled two or three meters across the floor.
"Enemy attack!" The on-duty staff reflexively drew their Kunai.
Tsunade whipped around. The instant she recognized the figure on the ground, her pupils contracted sharply.
"Kaede?!"
She dropped to her knees at once.
Kitahara Kaede lay on his side.
His right sleeve was torn to shreds, and his entire arm had swollen to a purple-black color.
He was breathing in, but not out.
"I got it," Kitahara Kaede said weakly.
His left hand trembled as he pulled the wrapped poison sac from his waist and gently pushed it toward Tsunade.
As soon as he uttered the last syllable, his eyes closed.
"Kaede!"
Her piercing cry broke into a ragged shriek.
Tsunade tore open Kitahara Kaede's shirt.
Black lines of poison had spread to his sternum. They were only two inches from his heart.
"Get the emergency cart! Bring three vials of high-concentration antivenom!"
Tsunade jerked her head up, her eyes bloodshot from exhaustion, and roared at the stunned medical team, "Move!!!"
Two medical Chunins scrambled to wheel over the equipment.
Tsunade's hands were instantly covered in densely concentrated green chakra.
She unleashed the Mystical Palm Technique to its fullest.
Both palms pressed against Kitahara Kaede's chest as she tried to forcibly halt the poison with chakra.
The moment chakra was infused into him, the toxin was stimulated and began to wreak havoc.
Kitahara Kaede convulsed, and a mouthful of pitch-black blood welled out between his lips.
His chest stopped rising and falling completely.
The medical Chunin clutched the syringe of serum, staring at the monitor's needle with a deathly pale face.
"L-Lady Tsunade..."
"The poison took effect too quickly. His heart stopped. He..."
The tent fell deathly silent, save for the sound of the canvas flapping in the wind outside.
Tsunade held her hands in place, pressing down, her eyes fixed on the motionless chest.
Her bloodshot eyes were ringed with red.
He hadn't lost a single hair, but he was about to lose his life.
"Shut up." Tsunade's voice was icy.
She swept aside the medical equipment in her way and poured out every last bit of her remaining chakra.
Before you continue