The two groups, one pursuing and one fleeing, rapidly headed toward the northern dense forest.
The chase continued for nearly half an hour.
The distance between the two sides gradually shrank into a dangerous range.
Gento's breathing remained steady, even though he had begun weighing whether to activate the Sharingan to forcibly counterattack.
Panting discussion came from the pursuers behind:
"Captain, are we chasing too far? The mission location…"
"Yeah, what if something goes wrong…"
For a shinobi, mission priority was a creed engraved into their very minds.
If they failed the mission because they chased an unrelated target, no one could bear the consequences.
Another ninja also spoke hesitantly:
"Judging by their outfits, they look like Hidden Stone shinobis... as long as they're not from Leaf, it should be fine. How about we withdraw here to avoid unnecessary complications…"
The bald ninja at the front had an uncertain expression.
He looked at Kurenai, who was held in Gento's arms, and felt extremely reluctant.
After carrying out missions for so long and staying in this godforsaken forest where even birds wouldn't shit, he had long grown tired of taking care of things with his hand.
Now that a top-grade Kunoichi had delivered herself right to him, he was reluctant to let her go.
After struggling for a few seconds, he finally gritted his teeth and gave the order:
"You four return to the mission point, treat the wounded, and strengthen defenses. I'll chase a bit further alone!"
As soon as his words fell, he increased the chakra flowing into his legs, his speed surging as he dashed forward alone.
In his eyes, the one ahead was merely a medical ninja with narrowly better throwing accuracy, and on top of that, he was carrying an injured female companion; his stamina should already be at its limit.
He alone was enough to deal with them.
The four teammates exchanged glances, not daring to disobey, and turned back.
Up ahead, Gento caught sight of the four leaving from the corner of his eye, and his mind eased.
After running a bit further and estimating that the four had gone far enough, he deliberately slowed his pace by a few degrees.
The bald ninja was overjoyed at the sight, thinking the opponent had indeed exhausted himself, and accelerated in pursuit, shouting:
"Can't run anymore? I'll send you on your way!"
Although he was somewhat puzzled as to why this medical ninja's stamina was actually better than his own as a Jonin, being able to run this far while carrying a teammate.
None of that mattered anymore.
He was about to kill the other party and then thoroughly ravage the Kunoichi in his arms.
With that thought, he had closed in on the two of them.
His hands formed seals, wind-nature chakra condensing into a blade in his palm.
At the very instant the wind blade was about to be released, Gento suddenly turned his head.
A pair of scarlet eyes appeared before him.
"Sharingan? No… that's not right! You're not Hidden Stone! You're Leaf shinobi!"
The bald ninja's pupils shrank.
Years of battlefield experience had taught him many terrifying rumors about the Sharingan.
All will to fight vanished from him; in haste, he threw out the wind blade without even looking at the result, then turned and ran.
He had to survive and bring this information back!
Leaf had already discovered their plan; Hidden Sand must act ahead of time!
Yet he had only taken two steps.
A chilling, piercing pain suddenly came from his chest.
He lowered his head. A kunai had somehow already sunk into his heart.
Gento's figure stood before him like a ghost.
"Im… possible… you… when did you…"
What the bald ninja did not know was that the instant he met Gento's Sharingan gaze, he had already fallen under Gento's genjutsu.
Even though Gento had never learned any genjutsu-related techniques, with the Sharingan, he could still use genjutsu to affect his opponent.
Gento had precisely used the moment the opponent lost focus upon meeting the Sharingan to amplify the fear in his heart, thereby successfully disrupting his perception.
From Kurenai's perspective, the bald ninja's body stiffened the second he saw the Sharingan.
Afterward, he threw the wind blade in his hand toward empty ground and ran straight toward Gento, colliding with the kunai on his own.
"The Uchiha's genjutsu… truly a bloodline to be envied."
Kurenai sighed softly.
"Ordinary genjutsu require assistance from sound, light, environment, and more; meanwhile, you can rely solely on a pair of Sharingan."
After killing the opponent, Gento's hands had already begun forming seals again.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Blazing flames swept over the corpse, engulfing it.
Gento said with some regret:
"What a pity. That was a Jonin captain. If we had more time, we could've extracted more intelligence…"
After the flames died down, Gento turned to Kurenai:
"Let's leave as soon as possible. I'll find a safe place to treat your injuries first."
"Mhm~"
Just as Kurenai was about to speak, her legs suddenly gave out, and a soft moan escaped her lips.
Gento thought it was merely her injuries acting up, and immediately picked her up, saying:
"Hold on a bit longer, I'll find a safe place to detoxify you first."
Smelling the masculine scent from Gento's body, Kurenai's cheeks reddened, barely noticeable, as she simply nodded.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side, after the group of Hidden Sand shinobi waited for a long time without their captain returning, someone realized something was wrong.
However, the ninja sent out to search only found a patch of ashes in the northern part of the forest.
Several of them did not dare conceal the matter, and in the end, it was reported to one of Sand's elders, Ebizo.
"You're certain the other party was wearing Stone shinobi attire?"
Facing Ebizo's inquiry, the few of them did not dare delay, recounting the full sequence of events in detail.
"Moreover, the direction those two retreated was also north. They should be Stone shinobi."
Listening to their explanation, Ebizo let out a long breath.
"Hoo~ good thing they weren't Leaf shinobi."
...
An hour later, near the border between the two countries, Gento found a concealed cave.
After carefully sensing and confirming there was no one else nearby, he said softly to Kurenai:
"Endure it a little longer, we'll be inside the cave in just a moment."
Kurenai's face was red, and her breathing had become somewhat rapid.
The poison of "Sand Temptation Poison" had begun to spread within her body.
Entering the cave, Gento took out a blanket from his storage scroll:
"Where's the wound? Lie down first, I'll treat it for you."
"It's… it's on my chest…"
Hearing this, Gento felt a bit awkward.
The enemy's throwing technique was actually that tricky?
This really wasn't him trying to take advantage of the situation.
"Then… you'll have to take off your clothes before I can treat the wound…"
"And it must be done fast, otherwise the poison will spread through your body."
Kurenai wavered.
Even so, out of trust in Gento, she still used her trembling fingers to loosen her clothes.
Her outer garment slipped off, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.
She closed her eyes, the tips of her ears already red.
Although Gento had admired plenty of "teachers' works" in his previous life, when he actually saw such a fragrant and alluring scene, his old face could not help but redden.
He hurriedly took a deep breath to steady his emotions before treating her wound.
Gento placed his hand on her pale skin.
"My method might hurt a bit, bear with it."
Kurenai nodded.
Before she knew it, the Chakra Scalpel cut open the wound, revealing a small section of a thin needle.
"Mm~!"
Kurenai couldn't help letting out a soft moan.
"Gento-kun… y-you… be a little gentler…"
"Mhm, I'll try."
"Mm~ ah… it hurts!"
Kurenai exclaimed, her fingertips gripping the blanket beneath her.
Soon after, a blood-stained senbon was extracted from her body.
Gento steadied his movements and continued treating the next wound.
From time to time, Kurenai's pained moans echoed within the cave.
Moments later, three blood-stained thin senbon were finally removed.
Gento deftly disinfected the wounds, applied medicinal herbs, and carefully wrapped them with bandages.
Afterward, Kurenai put her clothes back on.
"The poisoned needles have all been removed. Next is detoxification."
As he spoke, Gento handed Kurenai the standard-issue antidote pills distributed by Leaf, along with a cup of water.
Kurenai swallowed the pills in a gulp and waited for the antidote to take effect.
Five minutes… ten minutes… twenty minutes…
Soon, thirty minutes had passed.
Seeing that not only had Kurenai shown no improvement after taking the antidote, her face had grown even more flushed, Gento immediately realized the antidote was ineffective.
"How do you feel right now?"
Kurenai unconsciously pressed her legs together and said:
"Gento-kun I… I feel like my body is getting a bit hot~"
...
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