"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two figures darted through the dense woods, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Two minutes later, five shadows came in close pursuit.
"Mizuki."
"Mm."
"Someone's behind us."
"How many?"
"I can sense five for now. None of their chakra is weak, and one of them..."
Fujiwara paused before saying, "Is very strong."
Mizuki fell silent for a moment.
"Konoha's ANBU?"
"Probably."
Fujiwara was not actually surprised.
They had spent three full days in Konoha, passing the outskirts of the Hokage Building every day and sensing the chakra around them almost constantly.
If the Konoha High Command lacked even that much vigilance, Konoha would have been gone long ago.
"When did they start watching us?" Mizuki glanced behind her without betraying anything.
"I don't know."
Fujiwara answered truthfully, "But judging by their formation and distance, this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. They've been following us for a while."
As they spoke, the two burst out of the dense woods, sped across a stretch of grass, and plunged into another forest.
Within Fujiwara's perception, the pursuers were closing the distance.
"They're speeding up," Fujiwara warned.
Mizuki nodded.
She discreetly drew her right hand back into her sleeve.
"Split up?"
"Split!"
The next second, Fujiwara swerved sharply left, pushed off a thick tree trunk with his toes, and swept into the dense woods to the left like a startled bird.
Almost simultaneously, Mizuki dashed to the right. The two figures split apart in an instant, heading off in completely different directions.
Their speed reached its limit in an instant.
The trunks beneath their feet shook under their steps, and branches swept past them with sharp rushes of wind.
As he ran, Fujiwara sensed behind him once more.
The pursuers paused for the briefest instant, then split up as