"This is getting a little tight," Takeshi said, his voice carrying a meaning no one else grasped. "Time to split."
While the words were strange, the intent was clear enough: they were running. Kakashi and the others immediately fell back, just in time to see Minato’s shadow clone grab Ebizo and vanish in a flash of the Flying Thunder God.
Ebizo’s greatest weapon was his mind, his actual combat strength was no more than that of an elite jonin. He had given chase alone, gambling on the assumption that Takeshi and Minato were at their limits and completely drained of chakra. His plan had been to wear them down further with a relentless pursuit before striking a decisive blow. But somewhere along the way, he realized how terribly he had miscalculated.
His opponents looked exhausted, yet they remained monstrously powerful. Not a single one of his shinobi had been able to withstand a single blow from them.
It was a deeply awkward situation.
’Appearances can be deceiving,’ Ebizo thought with a grimace. ’My assessment was not nearly thorough enough.’
He let out a quiet sigh. Chiyo was the spiritual pillar of the Sunagakure, and her capture was a devastating blow. He had to try.
A wave of dizziness washed over him as the world twisted and reformed. When his vision cleared, he found himself standing before several more ninja: Minato, along with his subordinates.
Something had felt off to him from the start of the engagement, and now he understood why. Aside from Takeshi and Minato, the other Konoha ninja were still children. They were undeniably talented, but their movements were filled with a youthful recklessness.
Looking at them now, he saw he was right. None of them could have been older than ten.
They were just kids. To think Konoha had sent two small teams of children to capture a shinobi of Chiyo’s stature... it was beyond insulting. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt
The rage that rose in him was so sharp it nearly made him black out.
"Oh, that’s the man who was leading the pursuit," Minato said with a slight smile. "He’s Ebizo, the great strategist of Sunagakure. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, just think of him as the Sunagakure’s Danzo."
Without the comparison, the genin might have been vaguely impressed. But with that name as a reference, even Guy, who could be a bit slow on the uptake, understood instantly. This man was dangerous.
"Do not compare me to Danzo, I will not be insulted like that!" Ebizo snarled, the words escaping through gritted teeth. He found the comparison even more humiliating than his capture.
To be captured was a simple matter of being outmatched. But to be likened to Danzo? That was an insult to his very character.
"My apologies," Minato said, though his tone held no trace of remorse. He casually produced a rope and began binding the sealed and powerless Ebizo, making sure he couldn’t move or offer any resistance.
Ebizo sighed internally and did not struggle. It would be useless. He could see that Minato had indeed been injured earlier, but the wounds had since healed, and some of his strength had clearly returned.
He had been half right in his assessment, and that other half had been his downfall. Now, instead of rescuing Chiyo, he had only managed to get himself captured alongside her.
A short time later, the rest of Takeshi’s group caught up. The shinobi Ebizo had left behind were not slow, but with both him and Chiyo waylaying the Konoha team, the others had been able to close the distance.
Ebizo turned his head just as a black cat darted past and landed gracefully on his shoulder. If he hadn’t personally witnessed the creature’s power, he would have dismissed it as a simple house pet. But having felt the might of its claws... a tiger wasn’t half as ferocious.
’Konoha’s ninja are truly a different breed,’ he thought wearily. ’Even their cats have mutated into monsters.’
He sighed again. The lands of others were so rich and fertile, while the Land of Wind was a barren desert. Aside from the gold and gems buried deep beneath the sand, they had nothing of value. How could they ever hope to compete? How could they fight? For years, they had coveted a piece of the Land of Rivers, but it remained forever out of their grasp.
"Meow," the cat purred from his shoulder. "What exactly were you chasing, I wonder? If you hadn’t come after us, your village might have still had a fighting chance. Sunagakure is one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, after all. I’m sure you still have a few powerful ninja left."
Ebizo’s jaw tightened. ’The Five Great Shinobi Villages... You infamous Konoha bandits have the nerve to say that? The Mizukage was one of the strongest shinobi in the Five Great Villages, and wasn’t he carried off by you two bastards?’
’These people are monsters,’ he thought, taking a deep breath to smother the fire in his chest. ’Truly, they monsters.’
"But now look at you," Takeshi continued, feigning a look of pity. "You chased us all this way, only to get caught yourself. With both of Sunagakure’s great elders in our hands, I’d say your village is probably doomed, meow."
Ebizo’s face remained a mask of indifference. He refused to get angry. If he lost his composure, he would lose completely. He would just let the cat talk. He stood perfectly still, pretending he was deaf and blind.
’No reaction? What a shame,’ Takeshi thought. Just then, he noticed Ebizo had stopped walking, planting his feet stubbornly. Takeshi’s eyes lit up. "Obito, this old man can’t walk anymore. Carry him on your back."
"Huh? Why me?!" Obito protested.
"Obito is always doing good deeds around the village for old people," Kakashi chimed in smoothly. "Perhaps he should carry Chiyo instead."
It wasn’t that he wanted to betray a teammate, but Ebizo clearly needed to be carried. If the stubborn old man kept causing trouble, it would slow them all down. And since Kakashi had no intention of carrying him, he was more than happy to nominate someone else for the job.
"Stupid Kakashi!" Obito’s eyes practically shot fire. In the end, though, he grudgingly moved to hoist Ebizo, who stood as rigid as a statue. The old man was incredibly uncooperative, struggling with all his might until a sharp chop to the back of his neck knocked him unconscious.
’For people who won’t cooperate,’ Takeshi thought with satisfaction, ’a dose of Nap-time no Jutsu is always the best solution.’
There was still some distance to the Land of Fire’s border, but their sensory ninja confirmed that the Sand shinobi were no longer in pursuit. The last group had been badly wounded by Takeshi and Kakashi’s team and had lost the ability to keep up. They should be safe now.
They reached the mountain range they had passed through earlier without any sign of the Sand shinobi, who had apparently given up on rescuing their elders. Around this time, Chiyo slowly began to regain consciousness.
She opened her eyes just enough to see that she was being carried at high speed. ’Rescued?’ she wondered for a hopeful moment, before the reality set in. No, she was definitely still a captive. It was one of the Konoha shinobi carrying her.
Remaining calm, Chiyo kept her eyes closed and pretended to still be unconscious. She secretly tried to probe the fuinjutsu that bound her, but the seal was impossibly complex. Beyond the Five Elements Seal, a Four Symbols Seal had been layered on top. Her chakra felt like lead, completely immovable. She couldn’t will even a fraction of it to move, let alone break the seal from within. A fuinjutsu of this caliber was what Sunagakure reserved for Tailed Beasts. It was impossible to break on her own.
"Sensei, Chiyo is awake," Guy observed sharply, his voice a clear warning.
"Meow," Takeshi yawned from up ahead. "Let her be. A little pointless struggling will keep things quiet."
He wasn’t afraid of Chiyo even when she was at full strength, let alone with her chakra sealed. Still, he had to be wary of her poisons. He glanced back at her just to be safe. She was bound so tightly she couldn’t move an inch, and more importantly, Guy hadn’t given her a chance to feign anything, calling her out the moment she stirred.
Realizing she had been discovered, Chiyo had no choice but to open her eyes. There was no point in pretending anymore.
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