Chapter 63: Dazed and Rescue

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Dazed and Rescue

"Damn it... you little brat..."

As his chest was completely slashed open, blood sprayed out, and the Kumogakure jonin’s voice grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, his entire body collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Hyuga Kagami staggered a few steps before sitting down heavily, gasping for breath.

At this moment, the corpses of more than a dozen Kumogakure shinobi lay scattered all around him. The surrounding area was an utter mess, bearing testament to the fierce battle that had just taken place.

After catching his breath for a moment, Kagami lowered his head and examined his body, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he had quite a few wounds, none of them were fatal. Only the penetrating wound through his left shoulder was somewhat serious, but even that didn’t interfere much with wielding a sword in his right hand.

"Couldn’t have done it without you."

Kagami murmured softly as he sheathed the Kusanagimaru in his hand.

The fact that he had managed to wipe out more than a dozen Kumogakure shinobi at such a small cost was largely thanks to the Kusanagimaru and his paralysis poison.

One of the Kumogakure jonin leading the pursuit had been unaware of the Kusanagimaru’s true capabilities and had tried to block the Tenseigan-chakra-infused blade with an ordinary kunai.

As a result, Kagami cut him down in a single exchange, greatly weakening both the strength and morale of the Kumogakure shinobi. That had also laid the foundation for Kagami’s eventual victory.

After briefly bandaging his wounds, Kagami didn’t dare waste any time and immediately hurried toward the extraction point. After all, they were still within the Land of Lightning. Every extra minute they stayed meant another minute of danger.

Before long, Kagami arrived at the extraction point Team Eleven had agreed upon beforehand.

Guy and Shisui, who had arrived ahead of him, immediately went over to meet him.

"You finally made it! We thought something had happened to you!"

Kagami replied, "It took me a little longer than expected to deal with the enemy."

Shisui nodded. "Yeah. I noticed earlier that you drew away the largest group of enemies, Senpai."

Kagami glanced at Guy and Shisui and casually asked, "How did things go on your end?"

Guy and Shisui each briefly explained what had happened.

The group Guy had drawn away consisted entirely of chunin and genin, and there were only eight of them. After a fierce battle, he successfully eliminated every Kumogakure shinobi pursuing him.

Among the twelve Kumogakure shinobi who had pursued Shisui, there had been one jonin. Unfortunately for him, he had fallen under Shisui’s genjutsu right at the start.

By the time he finally broke free of the genjutsu, the dozen or so chunin and genin around him had already been slaughtered by Shisui.

Without his teammates there to support him, he was obviously no match for Shisui in a one-on-one fight. Before long, he too fell beneath Shisui’s short blade.

After listening to them, Kagami furrowed his brows. "So even with the three of us combined, we only took out a little over fifty enemies?"

More importantly, among those fifty-odd Kumogakure shinobi, only three had been jonin. The vast majority of the rest were merely genin being used as cannon fodder to drain the enemy’s chakra.

Guy said worriedly, "Yeah. That’s why I’m worried about Kakashi. How could he possibly deal with that many enemies all by himself?!"

Shisui stood silently to the side.

The situation was already painfully clear.

With Kakashi’s strength, facing more than a hundred Kumogakure shinobi alone left him absolutely no chance of victory. Even if he somehow managed to destroy the secret warehouse, there was no possibility of him escaping afterward.

Guy glanced in the direction of the valley and said firmly, "I’m going back to help him."

Shisui opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say.

Right now, all three members of Team Eleven were injured, and more than half of their chakra had already been consumed. Even if they retreated immediately, there was no guarantee they could evade Kumogakure’s follow-up pursuit forces and safely make it back into the Land of Fire.

Turning around now and launching another assault on the valley was even more out of the question.

That would practically be suicide!

At this moment, Kagami also looked toward the valley, hesitation filling his eyes...

Inside the valley.

Glancing at the Kumogakure secret warehouse blazing fiercely beside him, Kakashi crouched in a pool of blood with one hand clutching his shoulder, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

"I finally completed the mission."

"And this time, no more comrades will die because of me."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

At that moment, more and more Kumogakure shinobi arrived using the Body Flicker Technique. They densely packed the area around Kakashi, completely surrounding him.

The leading Kumogakure jonin stared at him coldly.

"Konoha shinobi, state your name!"

Despite his fury, Kakashi’s resolute assault had earned the respect of this elite Kumogakure jonin. That was why, before killing him, he wanted to know Kakashi’s name.

Kakashi raised his head and looked toward him.

But due to excessive blood loss, his vision was growing increasingly blurry. He could only vaguely make out the flickering firelight and the indistinct silhouettes of the Kumogakure shinobi surrounding him.

At that moment, Kakashi suddenly fell into a daze.

The scene before him felt strangely familiar.

"I feel like... I’ve seen this somewhere before..."

"Oh, right. The Battle of Kannabi Bridge. Back then, I was surrounded by this many enemies too..."

"But unfortunately, Sensei is already gone."

"This time... no one is coming to save me..."

"Obito, Rin... we’ll finally be able to see each other again..."

"Heh... I guess an ending like this isn’t so bad either..."

Kakashi could feel the strength gradually draining from his body, while his thoughts drifted farther and farther away, as though they were slowly breaking free from the confines of his body.

Seeing that Kakashi’s consciousness was already beginning to fade, the leading Kumogakure jonin shook his head and sighed. Then, he made a killing gesture toward one of his subordinates.

A Kumogakure chunin immediately gripped his kunai and slowly walked toward Kakashi.

But after reaching Kakashi, the Kumogakure chunin stood there for a long moment without making a move.

The leading Kumogakure jonin urged impatiently, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and finish him! We still have to pursue the other Konoha shinobi!"

The secret warehouse had been destroyed. If they failed to kill every Konoha shinobi who had infiltrated their territory on top of that, then even someone like him, a highly experienced elite jonin of Kumogakure, would not be able to escape the Raikage’s punishment.

The Kumogakure chunin stared at the strangely shaped Sharingan in Kakashi’s left eye and stammered, "But... his eye..."

Just then, a figure flashed past!

In an instant, the Kumogakure chunin standing in front of Kakashi was cut down.

Immediately afterward, two more figures landed beside Kakashi.

Flicking the blood from Kusanagimaru, Hyuga Kagami stood protectively in front of Kakashi and said calmly, "Guy, carry Kakashi and get out of here first!"

Guy hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Kakashi was barely conscious and clearly incapable of retreating on his own, he had no choice but to hoist Kakashi onto his back.

He then said to Kagami and Shisui, "Once I get him somewhere safe, I’ll come right back!"

Shisui smiled and shook his head. "There’s no need. Take him back to the village first. Senpai and I can handle things here."

Guy protested, "But..."

Kagami’s face darkened as he roared, "Get the hell out of here before I change my mind!"