According to the plan, after meeting up with Yakushi Nonō, the group will detour back to Konoha via the Land of Rivers, which is next to the Land of Rain and adjacent to the Land of Wind.
Although this will increase the time required for the return trip, it is safer.
After all, now that they've been exposed to the pursuing Sand Ninja, they can't possibly return via the same route through the Land of Rain.
The part of the Land of Rain that borders the Land of Wind has mostly been controlled by the Sand Ninja.
Entering from the Land of Wind at this point would be tantamount to running into an enemy encirclement.
The Sand Ninja village was located on the border of the Land of Wind. After traveling for more than ten minutes, the group immediately saw the grasslands of the Land of Rivers.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"..."
A dozen or so people walked across the grass together, making a great commotion.
Unlike when they came, when they had to be careful of making a sound and stay in a stealthy state at all times, now they are being chased by a large number of Sand Ninja, and all they have to do is escape.
The Konoha group, including Shin'un, no longer concealed their presence or whereabouts, and used their fastest speed to travel in Body Flicker Technique, trying to shake off the large group of Sand Ninja chasing behind them.
"Strange, those Sand Ninja were chasing us seemed to pause briefly near the wall."
It was Yūichi who spoke. After the two groups met, he and Shiina Kō immediately came to Shin'un's side.
"It's not surprising; we were attacked near the wall as we were leaving town."
"Fortunately, the enemy was weak and we were strong, otherwise we would have really had to rely on you to save us."
Their earlier pause was likely to have been to leave someone behind to examine the body.
"Is that so..."
Yūichi was stunned.
Shin'un turned around and looked back, seeing a large number of Sand Ninja still hanging in the distance, chasing after them.
As you can see, the pursuers behind us seem to be getting closer than before.
There's no way around it; in a chase, the one who's running for their life always comes out worse off.
Those fleeing for their lives need to find routes and devise various methods to escape.
But the pursuit is different; they only need to keep an eye on the person in front of them and chase after them.
Now that they've been exposed to the Sand Ninja ninja, it seems only a matter of time before they're caught up.
At that moment, Shin'un abandoned his thoughts, circulated Chakra beneath his feet, and increased his speed.
Four days later, inside the Land of Rivers.
According to the original plan, the group should have already reached the border of the Land of Rivers by now.
Unfortunately, due to the influence of the Sand Ninja behind them, they were forced to change direction from time to time, which seriously affected their progress and made the Sand Ninja closer and closer.
The two groups of people were about to make contact.
The Sand Ninja behind them were less than 100 meters away, and even their footsteps could be clearly heard. This distance was enough for some ninjas to launch an attack.
"Boom!"
A Kunai with Explosive Tag attached suddenly flew to the group, and the shockwave from the explosion was enough to blow everything around them away.
Fortunately, everyone was already used to attacks from the Sand Ninja behind them and was prepared, so no one was injured or killed.
However, it's clear that the Sand Ninja behind them have gotten even closer.
The situation seems to have reached a critical point, and we must consider the possibility of fighting the Sand Ninja next.
Shin'un looked back and saw that the Sand Ninja had closed to within eighty meters, a distance that would be covered in an instant for any ninja.
Clearly, if the enemies behind them could find a way to delay them a little longer, they would be able to catch up with Shin'un and his group ahead.
" Hirakawa Shin'un."
Shin'un was startled when he heard someone call his name.
Turning around, he discovered it was Hatake Sakumo.
At this moment, he was looking at Shin'un, his brows visibly furrowed, clearly very troubled.
Shin'un sped up slightly and arrived at Hatake Sakumo's side.
" Lord White Fang?"
Shin'un found it strange; why was Hatake Sakumo calling him instead of thinking about how to escape?
Hatake Sakumo looked Shin'un up and down, seemingly confirming some of his own thoughts.
" Hirakawa Shin'un, look ahead."
He pointed ahead.
Shin'un followed Hatake Sakumo's finger and saw a forest a kilometer ahead.
That forest?
Hatake Sakumo nodded and made a long story short.
"Before we enter that forest, I'll lead the others to turn around and engage the Sand Ninja behind us. You take your squad and Yakushi Nonō and go ahead."
"Meet us at the border of the Land of Rivers. If you don't see us within two days, then go your own way."
"Do you understand?"
Shin'un didn't waste any time asking why it was her; she simply lowered her head to indicate that she understood.
At the same time, Hatake Sakumo also relayed his orders to the entire team through word of mouth.
Shin'un silently changed positions and came to his squad's side to relay Hatake Sakumo's orders.
The three of them, along with the Yakushi Nonō, who had also received the order, came to the front of the group.
A dozen seconds later, the planned forest was right in front of them.
The signal to take action was given by Hatake Sakumo.
He drew the short blade from his back; without any Hand Seals, the illusory, silver-white blade extended directly out.
In the crowd, Hatake Sakumo leaped up, turned around in mid-air to face the Sand Ninja chasing behind him, his illusory blade in his hand suddenly swelled, and his aura suddenly soared, becoming terrifying.
The air around him seemed distorted, like the air above a bonfire.
Among the Sand Ninja chasing behind, Camel and Camel immediately saw a figure resembling Konoha White Fang jump out of the crowd, facing them, with a silver-white blade extending from the short sword in his hand. Their expressions immediately changed drastically.
He quickly alerted the surrounding Sand Ninja.
"Watch out!"
Shin'un looked at Hatake Sakumo in mid-air, observing his every move, as if time had slowed down.
With a single swing of his sword, the silver-white blade extending from the short sword in his hand flowed out like water, weaving a massive silver-white sword aura in the void, which then sped backward.
" Getsuga Tenshō?"
Shin'un was surprised to see Hatake Sakumo attack distant enemies with the light of his sword.
Aside from the different colors, the ability that Hatake Sakumo is currently using is very similar to the protagonist's " Getsuga Tenshō " from "Bleach" or the swordsman's "Slash" from One Piece.
The original work does not describe Konoha White Fang's attack methods at all; it only states that he uses the White Fang Tantō as his main attack method.
Unexpectedly, Hatake Sakumo possessed such a long-range attack method.
"That's amazing..."
While marveling at the situation, Shin'un was also puzzled.
This flawless and exceptionally powerful swordsmanship was abandoned by Kakashi Hatake, who later chose to practice the Five Elements Escape Technique, which everyone knows.
Are they blind?
Is there some limitation that prevents Kakashi from unleashing the same power in the Hatake Kenjutsu as his father?
Unable to come to a conclusion, Shin'un naturally gave up thinking about it, since no matter how powerful the Hatake Kenjutsu was, it had nothing to do with him.
"Ah!!!"
As Konoha White Fang made his move, the other Konoha Ninja also turned around, fueled by the frustration of being chased for the past few days, and fiercely pounced on the Sand Ninja behind them with all sorts of attacks.
While all the Konoha Ninja rushed towards the Sand Ninja behind them, the Shin'un squad, which was originally at the forefront, had another mission.
"Walk!"
With his two teammates by his side, Shin'un, his body crackling with faint electricity, grabbed Yakushi Nonō and hoisted her onto his shoulder, rushing into the forest ahead at top speed.