He used the last of his strength to reach into his ninja tool pouch and pull something out. As it opened, a massive blaze shot into the sky.
The three girls, who had been celebrating after seeing the light, finally snapped back to their senses.
"Not good! That's a signal flare! We need to leave, now!"
The three girls swam frantically toward the shore, only to see more and more birds scattering in every direction. There was no need to guess—large numbers of ninja were already approaching.
"Nan, we've been discovered! What do we do?!" The other two girls' eyes were filled with panic, and even their familiar swimming strokes had become uncoordinated.
Nan did not answer them. She was at a loss herself. She could hardly tell her teammates that she had no idea what to do either. Wouldn't that just make things worse?
About ten seconds later, the three of them finally reached the shore.
Once ashore, they naturally ran toward the direction where no birds had been startled into flight. After all, getting away from danger was every living creature's first instinct. But reality was far harsher than they had hoped, and the three of them were not very strong. They had barely taken two steps before ninja tools flying from afar blocked their path. If Nan had not reacted quickly and pulled the other two back, they would probably have met King Yama on the spot.
"Three young ladies, you really can run!"
"Yeah! You even took down one of my teammates!" As the two voices rang out, more and more ninja sprang from the woods and gathered by the pond.
Several of them appeared to have brought medical supplies, so they immediately ran toward the injured man.
Seeing more and more enemies, even Nan fell