Captain, Don't Worry, I Run Like Hell

With a dull thud.

The sound of a Sunagakure ninja hitting the ground was not particularly loud amid the chaotic battlefield.

Yet at that moment, in that particular corner, it sounded exceptionally piercing.

The air around them seemed to freeze for an instant. The Sunagakure elites who had been carrying out a one-sided slaughter all stopped moving at once.

They turned to look at the Konohagakure Genin sitting sprawled on the ground, his face covered in blood. The corpse on the ground was still spilling hot blood, its death gruesome.

In midair, Rasa, standing atop a disk of gold dust, lowered his head slightly as well. His gaze passed over the wrecked supply carts and locked precisely onto Qian Ye.

No one had expected such a development. A civilian Genin with no presence to speak of, whose chakra fluctuations were pitifully weak.

Had erupted with such bizarre speed in an instant. Not only had he evaded a lethal strike, but he had also casually killed a Sunagakure Chunin in one blow.

It made no sense. The remaining Konohagakure Genin were utterly dumbfounded, forgetting even to run.

Less than ten meters from Qian Ye, Jiro was being forced back again and again by two Sunagakure ninjas.

The wound in his thigh kept bleeding, and he had barely any chakra left.

Jiro had already prepared himself to die in battle.

But when he caught sight of Qian Ye's counterkill from the corner of his eye, a fervent light suddenly burst forth in his ash-gray eyes.

Jiro rapidly assessed the hopeless situation before him.

The supplies were absolutely unsalvageable, and the annihilation of this transport squad was only a matter of time.

But the intelligence had to be delivered! The Kikyo Pass front line had to learn that the supply route had been cut off by Sunagakure elites.

If they did not get this message back to No. 3 Outpost, Konohagakure's main force at the front would keep foolishly waiting for supplies.

When the defensive line collapsed, more than a few dozen people would die. Looking at the burst of speed Qian Ye had displayed earlier, Jiro made his decision.

This cannon-fodder Genin he had always looked down on was the only person in the entire squad who had a chance of escaping alive!

As long as Qian Ye could get away, Konohagakure could respond in advance. This was the only value the squad could still create.

"Get out of my way!" Jiro let out a furious roar.

Ignoring the bone-deep wound in his thigh, he forcibly drained the last trace of chakra from his body. His hand seals were even faster than his usual limit.

His fingers strained so hard that his joints cracked. The moment he completed the seals, Jiro's face turned deathly pale.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

This Great Fireball was larger than any he had unleashed before.

The blazing flames burned an almost dazzling bright yellow, carrying savage heat. The surrounding air heated up, and the distorted view was filled with rolling waves of fire.

The two Sunagakure ninjas attacking Jiro were startled by his suicidal momentum and hurriedly leaped back to evade it.

The enormous sea of fire forcibly burned a gap through the airtight encirclement. That gap led directly toward Konohagakure's No. 3 Outpost.

Jiro turned around, veins bulging in his neck, and roared at Qian Ye with bloodshot eyes.

"Run! Forget the supplies! Head through the gap and run for the outpost!"

"Take the intelligence back! Get the hell out of here!"

Jiro's voice had already cracked, his mouth full of bloody foam.

Qian Ye sat in the mud, looking at the man drenched in blood. Jiro had not chosen to flee through the gap himself.

Instead, he used his battered body to block the front of the opening, stopping the Sunagakure ninjas who wanted to pursue.

Qian Ye was deeply shaken.

Jiro was truly using his life to uphold what he had said before.

The mission came before all else. For the greater good, he was willing to sacrifice himself without a moment's hesitation.

Looking at Jiro's blood-covered figure, not a single thought of living and dying together rose in Qian Ye's mind.

What kind of joke was this? He was just a fragile office worker who had only recently transmigrated.

That kind of hot-blooded anime plot where someone cried their heart out and insisted on staying to die alongside their companion simply did not work on him.

"Captain Jiro, go without worry! I guarantee I'll get the intelligence there!"

Qian Ye howled at the top of his lungs, then turned and bolted.

Without the slightest hesitation, his movements were so crisp and decisive that it almost hurt to watch.

He put every ounce of strength he had into it, chakra surging desperately into his legs.

Dull booms exploded across the muddy ground. Qian Ye turned into an afterimage and shot straight through the gap Jiro had burned open with the Great Fireball.

Watching Qian Ye flee, Jiro pulled a pained smile.

That kid really ran damn fast.

At least the front line still had a chance.

Jiro turned back, holding his Kunai across his chest as he stared at the charging Sunagakure ninjas.

"Come on, you Land of Wind trash!"

Jiro's furious roar rang out behind him, followed by the piercing clash of weapons and screams.

Qian Ye did not dare look back.

He was afraid that if he did, the courage he had painstakingly gathered to run would drain away completely.

The wind howled past his ears, and the trees on both sides rushed backward.

Branches tore his clothes and left several bloody cuts across his face.

But he could not spare any attention for them. It was as though even his sense of pain had been shut off.

There was only one thought in Qian Ye's mind now: run.

The farther, the better. Ideally, he would run straight back to the comfort of his bed in Konohagakure.

But he knew that was impossible. No. 3 Outpost was his only path to survival right now.

In midair, Rasa, standing atop his disk of gold dust, watched Qian Ye flee and sneered.

"Trying to run? Are Konohagakure's Genin all this naive now?"

Rasa raised a hand, and several streaks of gold dust transformed into sharp needles that shot toward Qian Ye's back.

Though Qian Ye was sprinting wildly, every hair on his back suddenly stood on end.

It was an instinctive warning of danger. Without thinking, he threw himself forward.

With several whooshes, the gold dust needles grazed his scalp and plunged viciously into the tree trunks ahead.

Wood chips flew everywhere, and several clean holes were punched through the trunks.

Qian Ye's heart pounded as he scrambled back to his feet and kept running.

Was something wrong with Rasa? A rising star of Sunagakure, why was he fixated on a Genin like me?!

Go fight Jiro! Go seize the supplies!

"Catch him. Don't let him reach the outpost alive."

Rasa issued the order to a Sunagakure elite below.

He did not personally chase a mere Genin. What mattered most now was ensuring that this batch of Explosive Tags was destroyed and could not reach the Konohagakure front line.

Since his last attack had missed, he could not be bothered to waste any more time.

Upon receiving the order, the Sunagakure elite immediately turned into a black shadow and chased after Qian Ye.

Qian Ye raced through the forest, his legs beginning to ache from excessive chakra use.

This brutal method of using chakra had his thigh muscles screaming in protest.

As he ran, he called out to the Cross-Border Mutual Aid Group in his mind.

[Qian Ye]: "Old Zhao! Old Zhao! Save me! Your son is about to get chopped to death!"

[Qian Ye]: "Hurry up and see if you've got anything over there that can keep me alive!"

The chat box stayed quiet for two seconds before Zhao Hai's message popped up.

[Zhao Hai]: "Holy shit? Weren't you delivering supplies? How'd you get into a fight so fast?"

[Zhao Hai]: "I just finished my work using chakra and got temporarily called over to move weapons crates. Captain Nezumi is still checking the accounts beside me!"

[Zhao Hai]: "But I can get my hands on way more stuff than I could this morning!"

[Qian Ye]: "Cut the crap! A Sunagakure elite is chasing me, and I'm almost out of chakra!"

[Qian Ye]: "If you don't figure something out, you'll be burning paper offerings for me this time next year!"

[Zhao Hai]: "Hang in there! I'll look!"

[Zhao Hai]: "Give me one minute!"