Perilous Escape

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Hyuga Tianyi bolted upright in bed, instantly jolted awake by the explosions.

"Enemy attack!!!" An alarm sounded from outside the tent!

The medical camp was under attack?! Tianyi's heart sank.

How had the enemy found and attacked the relatively weakly defended medical area so precisely?

And judging by the commotion, this was no small infiltration force, but a premeditated raid!

He had no time to dwell on the suspicious circumstances. He formed hand seals and shouted, "Byakugan, activate!"

Veins bulged around his eyes, and his vision turned into a black-and-white, penetrating world.

The tent's obstruction vanished at once, and the battle outside came clearly into view.

Countless enemies clad in dark Hidden Rain Village uniforms darted between the barracks like specters, slaughtering anyone in their path.

Leaf Village's guard ninja were resisting desperately, but they had clearly been caught off guard, their formation shattered by the assault.

Chakra lights constantly winked out amid the clashes.

"Damn it! Something's wrong!" Tianyi gritted his teeth, but now was not the time to investigate.

Staying alive came first! At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the camp's defenses were breached.

He swiftly checked himself. He had his bulletproof vest on, with grenades, Kunai, smoke bombs, and bandages in his waist pouch.

Then his gaze instinctively swept toward where he remembered Mitarai Aoi was.

The tent where she had been on night watch was located toward the rear of the medical area.

Within his Byakugan vision, he saw two clearly hostile chakra lights entangling her from the front and rear.

Mitarai Aoi was trying to shake them off and move toward a safer area, but the two enemies worked in perfect coordination.

Their attacks did not seek to kill her immediately, yet they clung to her like leeches, clearly trying to stall her.

They were probably waiting for a stronger nearby Chunin to take over!

Should he abandon her and flee alone?!

"But she saved me..." Last night's calm, focused face surfaced in his mind.

Her cool fingers as she checked his temperature, along with her words, "Your mission is to recover as quickly as possible."

Tianyi's heart clenched painfully.

If he fled toward the edge of the camp amid the chaos, his odds of survival might be highest, but...

I can't just stand by and watch her die! And if the Medical Corps was being singled out for slaughter...

The scattered wounded like him would be next! Without someone familiar with the area to guide him, fleeing would not be safe either.

After a momentary struggle, he made his decision. He had received nine years of compulsory education.

He was no saint, but both basic morality and reason told him—

Helping Mitarai Aoi escape might give them another chance at survival, as well as someone who knew the camp's situation.

There were two Genin, and they intended to stall. A direct assault? He was wounded, and his chakra was low.

Rushing in to fight two against one was far too risky.

Should he use a grenade? The thought flashed through his mind before he immediately suppressed it.

"No, no, no. That's my trump card, and it would make too much noise.

Using it amid this chaos might cause friendly fire, and it could easily draw more enemies' attention.

I have to save it for the most critical moment, to keep myself alive."

What was his advantage? The Byakugan! Unmatched perception, so...

First, he would blind them!!

With his thoughts clear, he quickly pulled a smoke bomb from the corner of his ninja tool pouch.

He took a deep breath, spun the Kunai in his right hand, and swiftly tied the smoke bomb to its handle with the remaining end of a bandage.

Then he quietly moved near Mitarai Aoi.

His Byakugan locked tightly onto the two enemies fighting Mitarai Aoi as he calculated the angle and distance.

Now!

With a powerful swing of his arm, he hurled the Kunai with the smoke bomb—not at the enemies' bodies.

Instead, he sent it precisely toward an open patch of ground behind and to the side of their fight with Mitarai Aoi!

"Hidden weapon!" One Hidden Rain Village Genin noticed the whistling projectile and reflexively swung his Kunai to block it.

Clang! The Kunai was knocked aside, but the smoke bomb tied to it was struck as well and instantly detonated!

Puff—!

Thick smoke burst outward and rapidly spread, completely engulfing Mitarai Aoi and the two enemies!

"Watch out for the smoke! It's cover! She might be trying to escape!" The two enemies immediately stood back-to-back within the smoke, on guard.

With their sight blocked, their movements inevitably stalled.

This was the moment!

"Clone Technique!" Tianyi shouted, creating a chakra phantom.

Without hesitation, the clone rushed into the smoke from the side, deliberately making hurried footsteps and ragged breathing.

"Over there!" The enemies in the smoke were indeed drawn to the clone and instinctively turned toward the direction it had entered from.

Meanwhile, Tianyi's real body treated the smoke as though it did not exist beneath his Byakugan!

He silently circled behind the two enemies. Drawn in by the clone, they had left their backs completely exposed!

He was close enough! Tianyi raised both palms and rapidly condensed chakra in them!

Gentle Fist: Empty Palm!

He struck through the air! Two invisible yet solid chakra shockwaves burst from his palms.

Under his precise guidance, they split and struck the vital points in the two enemies' backs!

"Ugh!"

"Ah!"

Two muffled groans rang out almost simultaneously as the two Hidden Rain Village Genin suffered heavy blows and lurched forward.

Blood sprayed from their mouths, their chakra instantly thrown into disarray. They lost their ability to fight and collapsed limply to the ground.

The wind scattered some of the smoke, revealing Mitarai Aoi standing tensely in a defensive stance.

A Chakra Scalpel had already formed at her fingertips.

When she saw the enemies suddenly collapse and Tianyi slowly emerge from the other side of the smoke, she visibly froze for a moment.

She quickly glanced at the obvious chakra bruises on the fallen enemies' backs, marks left by a distant Gentle Fist strike.

Then she looked at the veins around Tianyi's eyes, not yet fully faded from his Byakugan activation, and instantly understood everything that had just happened.

"...It was you!" Mitarai Aoi's voice remained steady, but a flicker of gratitude passed through her light brown eyes.

"Thank you."

Without wasting words, she immediately crouched to inspect the two incapacitated enemies.

She swiftly used her Chakra Scalpel to sever the tendons in their arms and legs, preparing to finish them off directly when—

Tianyi acted first, driving a Kunai through each of their throats.

It was not because he enjoyed killing. He mainly wanted to test the matter of skill points.

After seeing Tianyi kill both of them, she turned to him, nodded, and spoke more quickly.

"Is your arm all right?"

"We can't hold this place. The enemy must have an insider. Their targets are the Medical Corps and the wounded.

"We have to break through toward the main camp immediately. The defenses are stronger there. Follow me, and watch the flank!"

Tianyi nodded, enduring the waves of pain shooting through his left shoulder from exerting himself just now as he gripped his Kunai tighter.

"Understood, Sister Aoi."

The two swiftly exchanged a glance. Mitarai Aoi took the lead in clearing a path, while Tianyi relied on his Byakugan to keep watch and cover their rear.

One ahead and one behind, they disappeared into the chaotic night and firelight, retreating toward the main camp, where the shouting and killing were thickest—

and where Leaf Village's core forces were stationed.