The instant Hagoromo grabbed her, Yūhi Kurenai's entire body went limp.
Not because of romance.
Not because of embarrassment.
She was literally limp.
The electrified kind of limp.
There were no complicated emotions involved—no racing heart, no blushing cheeks.
Otherwise, her face would have flushed crimson.
Instead, it turned pale.
Then greenish.
Then an unhealthy mix of both.
The reason was simple.
Chidori might be harmless to Hagoromo himself, but it was still a high-level Lightning Release jutsu, and it most certainly did not come with friendly-fire immunity.
In that emergency, Hagoromo had focused solely on speed.
Whether his teammate was getting electrocuted was… regrettably secondary.
A few seconds of electrocution wouldn't kill anyone.
Painful, yes—but survivable.
As for why he grabbed Kurenai in the first place, that was nothing more than instinct.
There was absolutely no favoritism based on gender involved.
Proof?
The moment they exited the Scorch Release blast zone, Hagoromo unceremoniously tossed her aside.
Most of this happened subconsciously.
From a positional standpoint, Hagoromo could just as easily have grabbed Asuma, who was behind him, as Kurenai, who was beside him.
So the real question was—
Should he princess-carry a girl…
or princess-carry a man?
One was light, flexible, and soft-bodied.
The other—well. Let's just say future facial hair was involved.
Factoring in jutsu, aesthetics, proportional balance, narrative coherence, and the catastrophic risk of breaking the universe's sense of harmony…
Hagoromo chose the lighter option.
Otherwise, was he supposed to grab Asuma and kick Kurenai away instead?
That would be absurd.
From Kurenai's perspective, however, she would have preferred to be kicked.
A single blow hurt less than continuous electrocution at point-blank range.
As for Asuma?
He would very much have liked to be the one carried.
That kick had been brutal.
At this point, he had no idea how many ribs were broken—
only that several definitely were.
The luckiest one was Yamashiro Aoba.
Though he had also been sent flying, Asuma had served as a human cushion for him on the way out.
And on landing, Aoba returned the favor.
They were even.
Unfortunately for Asuma, one of them ended up with fractured bones…
and the other merely with a very sore back.
BOOM!
The enemy's jutsu detonated behind them.
Under such extreme circumstances, with such a powerful jutsu—
it was almost miraculous that no one died.
Hagoromo's reflexes had been the deciding factor.
…Even though he was also the source of the friendly fire.
The evasion was technically successful.
No fatalities.
But the success rate was questionable.
The squad leader had rendered half his team combat-ineffective.
One case of compound fractures
One case of ongoing paralysis
After putting Kurenai down, Hagoromo finally had the chance to inspect the two teammates he had kicked away.
Excellent.
He was quite satisfied with his own leg strength.
The instantaneous burst of power had carried both men cleanly out of the Scorch Release blast radius.
Asuma… did not look good.
He was barely conscious, blood at the corner of his mouth, hovering somewhere between life and death.
Hagoromo silently offered a half-cent's worth of apology.
For some reason, the enemy did not immediately follow up with another attack.
Perhaps she had assumed that first strike was enough.
The line of sight was still partially obstructed.
While it was unclear how they had been detected in the first place, it seemed unlikely the enemy possessed precise sensory abilities.
Aoba quickly helped Asuma back over to Hagoromo's side.
Cough.
"As squad leader," Asuma rasped, "I feel that kick was… unnecessary. I could've dodged that attack myself."
Naturally, he was dissatisfied.
No one wanted their tombstone to read:
'Here lies Sarutobi Asuma, son of the Third Hokage.
Killed by his teammate's spur-of-the-moment kick.'
Hagoromo glanced at him but said nothing.
In a crisis, everyone made their own judgment.
Asuma believed he could evade that attack—that was his assessment.
Whether or not that confidence was misplaced was irrelevant.
Hagoromo's calculation was simple:
Kick him far enough, fast enough, and everyone survives.
He trusted himself more than anyone else.
So he kicked.
Kurenai remained silent.
She was still being electrocuted.
"Scorch Release truly is troublesome," Hagoromo said, as if thinking aloud.
"A Kekkei Genkai that instantly disables half a squad…"
Aoba shot him a look.
If this was leadership, it was certainly impressive.
After all, Asuma's chest still bore a perfect shoe print.
Blood and all.
The art of leadership, apparently, included lying with a straight face.
At present, Asuma and Kurenai were both non-combatants.
Hagoromo dispersed the remaining Chidori and began forming hand seals.
Ninjutsu: Summoning jutsu.
A three-headed, crimson-furred Cerberus-like hound appeared—
not as a weapon, but as transport.
"On the dog."
The command was questionable, but Aoba understood immediately.
He carefully placed Asuma and Kurenai onto the hound's back.
Hagoromo took point—alert and ready to strike.
Aoba stayed beside the summon, ensuring neither injured teammate slipped off.
They advanced past the obstruction.
And finally saw the battlefield clearly.
Ignoring the already mummified corpses, roughly thirty Rain shinobi were still alive and fighting.
Hagoromo's eyes flicked to the opposing ninja.
Female.
Sunagakure forehead protector.
As expected—
Pakura of the Scorch Release.
Since they were already exposed, the squad made no effort to hide.
Besides, Hagoromo was fully prepared to summon Yatagarasu at any moment.
Emergency extraction via air was an option.
Yes.
He could fly.
"Oh?"
A woman's voice rang out.
"You survived that?"
The speaker was Pakura, surrounded by Rain shinobi.
Despite being massively outnumbered, she looked completely at ease.
In contrast, the Rain ninja surrounding her wore expressions of lingering terror.
Shinobi accepted death.
But no one welcomed it.
And no one wanted to die like that.
Pakura turned her head.
When she got a clear look at Hagoromo's group, her brow furrowed.
"…Konoha shinobi?"
Clearly, she had expected Rain reinforcements from that direction.
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