His tongue was sharper than a blade as he fled, driving a Jonin to spit blood

Shin Kudo's face was as white as paper.

When Fuguki Suikazan lunged at him, he felt as though he already had one foot in the underworld.

But at that critical moment...

A powerful grip hauled him up, lifting him clean off the ground. He instinctively looked back.

That Uchiha had actually turned around. Without a word, he grabbed Shin and tore off into the distance.

"Jin... Uchiha?"

His brain felt like mush.

They had spent enough time together to know exactly what sort of person each of them was.

In his eyes, Jin Uchiha was someone who only looked out for himself.

When it didn't interfere with his own interests, he might lend a hand, provided he thought you were worth the trouble.

But there were two sides to that.

If his own life was threatened, he would abandon his comrades without batting an eye.

All that talk about the Will of Fire was just lip service.

Nothing but words for show.

Yet what was happening now made no sense at all.

He was a nobody from a civilian family. Why would Jin Uchiha risk his life to save him?

Before he could puzzle it out, Jin Uchiha caught up with Kazama Nara ahead of them. With his free hand, he scooped Kazama up, gear and all, and ran like hell with both of them in tow.

Shin Kudo and Kazama Nara were completely bewildered.

What Jin Uchiha was doing made them wonder whether something had gone wrong with their brains.

And they weren't the only ones.

Even Fuguki Suikazan, who had been about to attack, stared at Jin Uchiha in utter confusion, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

Before that astonishment could fade, fury surged up in its place.

Unbelievable.

He was an elite Jonin, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and the wielder of the great blade Samehada. If three Hidden Leaf brats escaped right under his nose, wouldn't the entire Shinobi World make a laughingstock of him?

There was no question about it. He couldn't let this slide.

Fury rushing to his head, Fuguki Suikazan tightened his grip on Samehada and charged straight after Jin Uchiha.

"You little bastard, you've pissed me off!" he roared as he chased them. "Stop right there!"

The corners of Jin Uchiha's mouth twitched.

As though he had heard the biggest joke in the world, he kept his feet moving and his mouth running, shouting back over his shoulder.

"A Jonin? Is that all you've got?"

"With brains like yours, you're one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen? Are you trying to make me laugh myself to death so you can pick up my Konoha forehead protector?"

"You tell me to stop, and I'm supposed to stop? Do I look like a sucker?"

"Unless you've had a blood clot in your brain for three years, how could you say something that stupid?"

"You're getting on in years, aren't you, old-timer? Better head back to the Hidden Mist and get some rest."

"Fighting wars is a job for us youngsters. What are you doing running around at your age?"

Fuck.

Hearing those words, Fuguki Suikazan nearly spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

Damn it, I just shouted the first thing that came to mind.

Why the hell are you making such a big deal out of it?

Everyone shouts that on the battlefield.

His anger burned even hotter.

He had never imagined that this Hidden Leaf brat could have such a vicious tongue.

Worse still, the words left him speechless. He racked his brains but couldn't find anything to throw back at him.

The brat wasn't wrong.

He couldn't actually expect him to obediently stop.

The kid wasn't an idiot.

And that only made the fire in his eyes blaze hotter. He opened his mouth and let out a furious howl.

"You Hidden Leaf brat, you're dead today!"

"Even if I have to chase you until sundown, this won't be over until I've torn you to pieces!"

"To hell with every other mission! I swear I'll kill you today!"

Jin Uchiha didn't take those threats to heart at all.

He didn't consider Fuguki Suikazan a threat in the slightest. If he weren't dragging along two deadweights, he would have turned around and cut him down already.

So...

The moment the man started throwing out threats, Jin felt the urge to run his mouth again.

"Oh my, aren't you full of energy?"

"You need to take it easy at your age. Don't throw out that old back of yours."

"Whatever you do, don't push yourself."

Every word Jin Uchiha said sounded like concern for the man's health, delivered in a tone that claimed to have his best interests at heart.

The problem was that they were mortal enemies.

That kind of sarcastic mockery would make anyone explode.

Let alone Fuguki Suikazan, an elite Jonin among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

If word of this got out, how would he ever show his face in the Shinobi World again?

He became even more enraged.

As he chased with everything he had, he hurled ninjutsu, senbon, kunai, and shuriken at Jin Uchiha as though they cost him nothing.

He all but threw Samehada after him too.

And yet...

Jin Uchiha's taijutsu was absurdly strong, and his endurance over a long-distance sprint left Fuguki Suikazan hopelessly outclassed.

He was already giving it every ounce of strength he had, but he still couldn't catch Jin Uchiha, even with two burdens in tow.

Stranger still, it wasn't just him. Even the ninjutsu he launched couldn't catch that Uchiha brat's heels.

There was nothing he could do.

No matter how powerful he was or how devastating his ninjutsu, none of it mattered if he couldn't catch his target. It left him seething.

He couldn't understand it.

How had the Hidden Leaf raised such an unconventional little bastard?

His abilities weren't top-notch, but his talent for running away certainly was.

Kazama Nara and Shin Kudo had long since gone numb.

Being carried like a pair of chicks in Jin Uchiha's hands looked utterly humiliating, but neither of them dared ask him to put them down.

They weren't stupid.

With their own running speed, they had no hope of outrunning the man behind them.

What else could they do? They would just have to live with it.

What they couldn't understand was why Jin Uchiha insisted on provoking Fuguki Suikazan.

In their eyes, he was simply asking for trouble.

What they didn't know was that Jin Uchiha had already cursed them both eight hundred times in his head.

No shit.

If I weren't stuck with these two useless bastards, I'd have chopped that fatso up already. Would I have to put up with this humiliation?

All that trash talk was just his way of venting.

The chase dragged on like that.

One chased, the other ran, and they somehow kept it up for most of the day.

Fuguki Suikazan had actually been thinking about giving up for some time.

Faced with someone he simply couldn't catch, his urge to cut the brat down had faded too.

He was tired.

With all that fat on him, even his title of elite Jonin couldn't make several hours of running bearable.

He was a ninja, not a marathon runner.

But this was where things got bizarre.

Every time he decided to quit and looked for an opening to quietly fall back, that bastard Jin Uchiha would deliberately double back and unleash another barrage of mockery.

Who could put up with that?

He was so angry he could burst, but to preserve his dignity as an elite Jonin, he had to force himself to keep chasing.

And so...

Before they knew it, darkness had fallen.

When the two of them reached the shore again, they saw more than a dozen large ships flying the flags of the Hidden Leaf and the Uchiha, cutting through the waves toward the Land of Whirlpools.

The commotion of their chase had clearly alerted the people aboard.

A moment later...

More than a dozen figures charged toward them across the surface of the sea.

Leading them was none other than Shisui Uchiha.

All Fuguki Suikazan had left in his head were ten thousand curses, lodged in his throat as he wondered whether to let them out.