“Pick up the pace.
We have to get the target back before anyone in Konoha realizes what’s happened!” The leader of the Kumogakure delegation, a man named Izumi Saburo, spoke in a low voice as he quickened his pace.
A cloth sack was slung over his back.
Once the Hyūga clan realized that their young heiress was missing, they would immediately activate the Byakugan.
If that happened, there would be no way for them to escape.
“Yes…” His three subordinates answered in unison and quickly caught up.
They had been prepared to sacrifice themselves when they accepted this mission.
But if there was a chance to survive, who would willingly throw their life away?
Closer.
Closer!
The barrier surrounding Konoha was already right in front of them.
As long as they crossed it, Konoha would have no way of catching them.
Just as Izumi Saburo was fantasizing about completing his mission, bringing the Hyūga clan’s young heiress back to Kumogakure, receiving the villagers’ admiration, and being rewarded by the Raikage, a voice suddenly made his blood run cold.
“I’d like to ask you gentlemen to put her down, if you don’t mind.
She’s such an adorable little girl, yet you’ve stuffed her into a sack.
Don’t you know how to treat a lady with a little tenderness?” Sakura stood atop the Demon Sword, holding an oil-paper umbrella in her left hand as she expressionlessly stared at the tightly wrapped group.
After sensing that Hinata Hyūga, who was stuffed inside the sack on Saburo’s back, was merely unconscious, Sakura finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“So it’s just a little girl…” Saburo focused his eyes on Sakura and immediately relaxed.
Thinking about how badly she had startled him just now, however, a murderous intent rose in his heart.
“What a shame.
Such an adorable little girl should be at home sleeping peacefully at night instead of wandering around outside.
It almost feels cruel to kill you.
But there’s nothing I can do.
Since you’ve seen us, I’m afraid you’ll just have to die…” Afraid that they would waste too much time and be discovered, Saburo tossed the sack on his back to one of his subordinates.
He then pulled a kunai from his shinobi pouch, pushed off the ground, and shot toward Sakura like lightning.
As a battle-hardened jōnin, Saburo naturally felt no sympathy.
She was just a child.
There were plenty of children who had already died by his hand.
Killing one more would not trouble his conscience in the slightest.
“What a drag…” Facing the charging Saburo, Sakura sighed softly.
With a thought, the Demon Sword beneath her feet shot directly toward him.
But she had no intention of engaging Saburo head-on.
Her real objective was to rescue Hinata first.
“Oh?
A kekkei genkai that allows you to fly?
Or perhaps a kekkei genkai that lets you manipulate metal?
It doesn’t matter.
Die!” Saburo’s eyes were filled with cruelty.
The thought of Sakura dying by his hand somehow filled him with a twisted sense of satisfaction.
At the instant the two sides were about to collide, a streak of blue light suddenly flashed through Sakura’s eyes.
The light disappeared in an instant, and no one noticed it.
Yet Saburo’s face was suddenly filled with shock.
“She dodged?!” The kunai passed straight through Sakura’s body.
Saburo’s years of combat experience immediately told him that he hadn’t stabbed a real person.
What he had struck was something akin to an afterimage—a phantom that wasn’t actually there.
“Get the target out of here!
She’s going after the girl!” Seeing Sakura ride the Demon Sword toward his back, Saburo immediately understood her intention.
He shouted at his three subordinates before turning around and charging toward Sakura once more.
This time, lightning-natured chakra coated his kunai.
After what had just happened, he no longer dared to underestimate Sakura.
The three shinobi accompanying Saburo were also chūnin.
Upon hearing his order, they reacted immediately.
One of them grabbed the sack and prepared to flee, while the other two stayed behind to help Saburo kill Sakura.
Never let your guard down against any enemy.
That was one of the first lessons they had learned after graduating from the Academy.
Even if their opponent was merely a little girl, they absolutely could not afford to underestimate her.
It was a lesson written in the blood of countless veterans who had died on the battlefields of the shinobi wars.
“You people really are troublesome…” Seeing the three of them surround her in a triangular formation, Sakura couldn’t help but frown.
If they managed to hold her up, Hinata would probably be taken away.
Shinobi were incredibly fast, and this area was already near the outskirts of Konoha.
Given enough time, the shinobi carrying Hinata could escape beyond the range of Konoha’s barrier.
“But your idea is pretty good.
There’s just one thing you forgot…” Sakura suddenly smiled.
Under the moonlight, her pink hair appeared particularly dazzling.
“I can fly!” The moment Sakura said those words, Saburo and the others froze.
Shinobi could accomplish many things that ordinary people would consider impossible.
But as far as flight was concerned, aside from Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, there really weren’t many people in the shinobi world known to be capable of it.
Despair.
That single word perfectly described Saburo and his men’s feelings.
It was like fighting on a battlefield with everyone wielding swords, only for one side to suddenly throw away their weapons, pick up a laser cannon, and point it at their enemies.
Faced with something so completely unfair, there was little left to do besides despair—and perhaps curse under one’s breath.
“Damn it!
Get the target out of Konoha at full speed!
As long as we make it beyond the barrier, we’ve won!” Saburo turned his head and shouted.
The key now was whether his subordinate could get the target outside the barrier in time.
As long as they rendezvoused with their people waiting outside, the mission would be considered a success.
“Still trying to run?
Don’t tell me you think flying is the only thing I can do!” Sakura raised an eyebrow.
Holding the umbrella in her left hand, she extended her right hand toward the fleeing Kumogakure shinobi.
A red glow flashed within her pupils.
“Reality…” The ground beneath the Kumogakure chūnin suddenly rippled.
A layer of stone instantly burst out from beneath the earth.
In an instant, it had firmly locked both of his feet in place.
“Damn it!
Just who is this girl?!” Saburo and the others quickly rushed back and stood beside their trapped comrade.
Their eyes were filled with fury.
Their carefully prepared plan had been completely ruined.
By now, Konoha had probably already discovered that the Hyūga clan’s young heiress was missing.
“Hand her over obediently, and I’ll let you off.” Sakura stepped in front of them once again.
“Otherwise, all of you are staying here.” Her emerald-green eyes showed no trace of emotion.
Yet it was precisely that completely emotionless gaze that made Saburo and the others feel even more uneasy.
“Damn it.
Since the plan has failed, we’ll execute Plan Two…” Saburo’s expression hardened.
Behind him, Konoha had already begun to stir.
It was obvious that their actions had been discovered.
And with Sakura blocking their path, there was no way they could break through her in a short amount of time.
A look of grim determination appeared simultaneously in the eyes of all four shinobi.
Saburo reached for his kunai and thrust it toward the sack containing Hinata.
Plan Two had been specifically designed for a situation like this.
If the mission failed and they could no longer get the target out of Konoha, they would simply kill her.
The death of the Hyūga clan’s young heiress would still be enough to cause Konoha considerable trouble.
“You bastard!
You’re asking to die!
Eight Trigrams—Vacuum Palm!”