Raynor's mind raced at high speed.
The edges of the track were lined with alarms; any non-contestant unit intruding would immediately trigger them. Furthermore, the sides of the track were packed with Greenskins watching the race. The audience loathed outside interference more than anything. If discovered, such meddling units would be torn to pieces by thousands of Orks.
Sasuke had been in the lead the entire time, and no suspicious figures had ever appeared in his field of vision. The only possibility was that these Blood Axe Kommandos had been on the track from the very beginning.
None of that mattered now. The opposition had to pay the price!
Raynor's gaze grew increasingly cold. Since they had been the first to cast aside all pretenses, they couldn't blame him for ignoring the rules.
"Notify the five Hokage Ninja Boyz in the middle segment," Raynor commanded coldly into his communicator. "Find every Blood Axe contestant on the track and kill them all. Leave none alive."
When it came to assassination, his Hokage Clan ninjas were also professionals.
Less than ten minutes after the order was given, news of victory came through the comms. Relying on their familiarity with the track, the five Ninja Boyz flanked the Blood Axe contestants from hidden side paths, slipping into their ranks like ghosts. They completed the assassinations before the targets could even react.
All seven Blood Axe contestants remaining on the track were wiped out, both Orks and Squigs killed. However, the Ninja Boyz also sent back a report: they had only found seven. Out of the ten slots allocated to the Blood Axe Clan, three individuals were still missing. They seemed to have evaporated from the track—no sign of them, dead or alive.
At that moment, within the Blood Axe Clan's camp, a hulking Blood Axe Big Boss sat atop a small mountain of teeth, happily counting them one by one. Those three missing contestants were exactly the hidden pieces he had planted.
The Kommandos had hidden inside the bellies of larger Squigs, intentionally falling behind to the ignored corners at the very rear. Once there, they cut their way out of the Squig bellies and retrieved pre-prepared jump packs. Using their camouflage and jump packs to take shortcuts, they had arrived at the Hokage Clan's supply point ahead of Sasuke and completed the mission.
"Good job, Boyz," the Blood Axe Big Boss grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. He casually grabbed a handful of premium big teeth and tossed them to his subordinates. "Da teef dem Bad Moon, Deathskull, and Evil Sunz gits gave us is enough for us to 'ave a good time for a long while."
For the Blood Axe Clan, the Elf-Gork Rally had nothing to do with winning from the start. They knew that in terms of racing, they couldn't beat the Evil Sunz madmen; in terms of gear, they couldn't outmatch the Bad Moon tycoons; and in terms of tech, they were no match for the Deathskull Meks. Trying to take a slice of the million-tooth prize pool through racing alone was as difficult as climbing the heavens.
Sabotage and dirty tricks—those were what they did best.
The other established clans had long been dissatisfied with the Hokage Clan, a rising power that had appeared out of nowhere. The Hokage Clan held the resources for the Waaagh! GP, and now they were hosting the largest Elf-Gork Rally on Karl-2. If they were allowed to take the championship and cement their fame, wouldn't the Hokage Clan be riding over their heads?
So, several clans had reached an agreement, pooled together an astronomical sum of premium big teeth, and found the Blood Axe Clan. They didn't need the Blood Axes to win; they only needed one thing: destroy the Hokage Clan's supplies so their racers couldn't take the title.
As for the contestants being killed in retaliation by the Hokage Clan? The Blood Axe Big Boss didn't care at all. Those racers were expendable pawns used for cover; he never intended for them to place in the rankings. If they died, they died. Greenskins never lacked for Boyz; as long as there were teeth, a steady stream of Boyz could be recruited.
What could a newly emerged Hokage Clan do to them, even if they held the Waaagh! GP? At worst, they would just stay out of sight for a while. The teeth were already in hand.
"Boss, wot now? Da Hokage lot must've figured it out. We still goin' for da next supply point?" a Kommando asked.
"Course we are! Why wouldn't we?" The Blood Axe Big Boss grinned, his eyes full of greed. "Dem old gits said dey'd add anudda two hundred thousand teef for every Hokage supply point we wreck. If we don't take da teef, are we even Orks?"
On the track, the situation for the Hokage Clan was turning increasingly dire. Having lost the chance to swap mounts, Chidori's condition had deteriorated severely. After sprinting for over a hundred kilometers, even a gene-modified Squig was experiencing muscle fiber dissolution. Its stride grew smaller, and its speed dropped further and further.
No matter how hard Sasuke pushed, he couldn't return it to its previous peak. Meanwhile, the other contestants were drawing closer.
The first to catch up was the Evil Sunz ace, "Smoker" Goru. This fellow rode a bright red Boom Squig, with seven or eight cigars clamped in his mouth, his face entirely obscured by smoke. Every few kilometers, a fresh backup Squig waited for him. Thus, he never slowed down, catching up by sheer force of rotating mounts.
"Hokage Boy! Outta Squigs?!" Goru exhaled a massive cloud of smoke as he passed Sasuke. He then squeezed his mount hard; the Boom Squig's rear emitted a thick burst of black smoke, and he instantly sped past. "Da cup is mine!"
Following close behind was the Deathskull ace, Mek Skog. He sat atop a Hunting Squig fitted with twin anti-gravity engines, his body draped in cables. He gave Sasuke the middle finger. The Pressure Ray cannon on his vehicle swayed toward Sasuke but didn't fire; he simply overtook him with a smug, lingering smile.
In just a few minutes, Sasuke dropped from first place to eleventh. Even worse, Naruto was stuck in the mid-pack. The contestants from various clans seemed to have coordinated to block him in turns. Even though he had rammed and blasted several aside, they surged forward relentlessly, keeping him trapped in the middle of the pack, unable to link up with Sasuke.
But neither Sasuke in the rear nor Naruto in the encirclement showed any sign of giving up. They knew the plan had been disrupted, but they still had a chance. If they could reach the second supply point, a turnaround was possible.
Finally, on a flat straightaway, Naruto seized an opportunity. Riding Kurama, he forced his way through two Evil Sunz racers blocking his side and blew away a Bad Moon Boy in front with an armor-piercing grenade. He finally broke through the encirclement and raced toward Sasuke's position.
The two Squigs converged on the track and entered the supply area simultaneously. Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes. No words were needed; with a single glance, the Twin Stars understood each other's thoughts.
They did not choose the Squigs pre-arranged for the optimal route. Instead, they mounted two slender "Wyvern" Squigs. Following the conventional path step-by-step was no longer an option. They had to take the most aggressive, most insane route possible!
Naruto pointed toward the left side of the track—a region blanketed in multicolored spore clouds—and tilted his chin at Sasuke. Sasuke looked down at his holographic map, tapped the area on the screen, and nodded.
That was the Mushroom Minefield, rumored to be the most dangerous segment of the entire Elf-Gork circuit. This area was overgrown with a highly specialized type of explosive mushroom. At the slightest vibration, they would detonate violently, capable of launching a ten-ton armored vehicle hundreds of meters into the sky. Ordinary contestants wouldn't dare go near it, fearing they would be vaporized by chain-reacting spores.
But this was exactly what they needed.
"You sure you want to play it this way?" Naruto grinned. There was no fear in his eyes, only the signature madness of a Greenskin. "If we mess this up, we're both turning into spores."
"This is the only path that lets us overtake them," Sasuke's voice remained calm. He traced the map and marked two specific points. "Shall we try?"
Naruto burst into a loud laugh and slapped his thigh hard. "Let's do it! I've never been afraid of anything that blows me sky-high! Let's go!"
The two simultaneously veered off-course, riding their Wyvern Squigs headlong into the crimson Mushroom Minefield. Their move caused the entire arena to erupt. The Orks in the stands were baffled, and the Greenskins watching the stream were full of questions. Everyone thought these two Hokage aces had lost their minds. Only Raynor and his team at the control console knew what they were planning.
The two darted precisely through the dense mushroom clusters. Every step landed on bare rock where no mushrooms grew. Soon, they reached the two item boxes Sasuke had marked. Inside were the segment-exclusive items: "Blast-Proof Boots."
These special items, brought to life by the power of "I-fink-so," could perfectly neutralize the shockwaves of the mushroom mines. Furthermore, they could channel the upward thrust of the explosion directly into the wearer without causing a scratch of damage.
They quickly equipped the Squigs with the boots. Sasuke nodded to Naruto. In the next second, both spurred their mounts and slammed their feet onto the largest explosive mushroom in the field.
BOOM!!!
An ear-splitting explosion roared through the minefield, and green light shot into the heavens. The massive impact hurled the two Squigs and their riders hundreds of meters into the sky! The rushing wind filled the Squigs' gaping maws, and the contestants on the ground instantly shrank into tiny black dots below.
Just as their upward momentum was about to fail, Sasuke and Naruto pulled the reins. With a soft squelch, two pairs of broad chitinous wing membranes unfurled from the backs of their mounts!
These Squigs had been spliced with Wyvern genes, evolving foldable membranes on their backs. They also incorporated the biological propulsion traits of Boom Squigs; two specialized biological exhaust vents grew along their tail spines. These could instantly compress inhaled air and blast it out at high speeds, generating immense thrust.
The membranes fully expanded in the high altitude, catching the gale perfectly. Then, two bright blue contrails erupted from the rears of the Wyvern Squigs. Like two shooting stars cutting across the sky, they glided toward the track ahead!
Every contestant on the ground was stunned. They stared up at the two speeding silhouettes, forgetting to even fire their weapons. No one expected that in a ground-based rally, someone would take the race into the stratosphere.
Off-track, some clans complained to the referees about foul play, but the response was: "The two Hokage racers are not carrying any flight equipment; they are simply making reasonable use of Squig traits and the environment."
This was a "bug" Raynor had intentionally left. While the rules forbade carrying rocket thrusters or flight gear, they never said a Squig couldn't grow its own wings.
In just over ten seconds, Sasuke and Naruto glided over ten kilometers of track. They were about to overtake every single contestant on the ground. However, this shocking maneuver also drew the hatred of the entire field.
"Shoot 'em! Knock 'em down!"
Someone roared, and the remaining eighty-plus contestants simultaneously raised their weapons. Big Shootas, las-guns, and even rocket launchers poured dense fire toward the two figures in the sky! Countless bullets and rockets flew upward like rain, blooming into firecrackers around them.
Controlling a glide in mid-air was far more difficult than racing on the ground. They couldn't perform flexible evasive maneuvers. They could only rely on slight adjustments of the membranes and their sheer speed to narrowly dodge the concentrated fire.
Soon, a sharp tearing sound rang out. Naruto's Wyvern Squig had its right wing struck directly by a bolt shell, blowing a massive hole in the chitinous membrane. High-speed air instantly rushed through the gap, and the Squig lost its balance. It began to wobble violently in the air, its maneuverability crippled.
"Naruto!" Sasuke looked back and shouted.
Naruto simply grinned, paying no mind to the spiraling Squig. In the midst of his unstable flight, he pulled a metal device from his gear and hurled it toward Sasuke across a dozen meters. Sasuke reached out and caught it. He looked down, and his pupils constricted.
It was the segment-exclusive special item: the "Invisibility Field Generator." It could grant the user perfect invisibility for five minutes—more than enough to lose all pursuers.
"Why didn't you use this earlier?!" Sasuke roared at Naruto.
Naruto laughed loudly, the fierce airflow whipping his clothes about. But there was no disappointment in his eyes, only resolve and peace. He shook his fist at Sasuke and shouted with all his might:
"The championship this time doesn't belong to me. It's yours!"
"Go! Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes and saw his determination. Under such dense fire, Naruto, with his damaged mobility, couldn't possibly break through without the invisibility field. From the start, Naruto had saved the chance for survival and the hope for victory for him.
Sasuke was never one for indecision. He didn't argue further; he simply gave Naruto a heavy nod and slammed the switch of the invisibility field. After a faint distortion of light, Sasuke and his Wyvern Squig vanished from the sky.
The contestants on the ground instantly lost track of Sasuke. They could only see the one stumbling silhouette remaining in the air. Consequently, all firepower was concentrated on Naruto.
Naruto stopped dodging. He pulled a beautiful cigarette case from his pocket. This was a gift given to him by Big Brother Itachi after he won the first championship. It was said to be the highest quality cigarette of the "humies."
Opening the box, only one cigarette remained. He took it and lightly tapped it against the flame of a nearby exploding rocket. Naruto took a reckless drag of the lit cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. He cherished this gift; he only lit one when the pressure was at its peak.
But this time, he felt incredibly relaxed.
Then, riding his out-of-control Wyvern Squig, he dove straight toward the contestants on the ground. His revolver-hand-cannon fired frantically, blowing several contestants and their Squigs away. His face bore the wildest of smiles, and he hummed the most ancient of Ork war songs. Even as bullets pierced his body and shells detonated around him, he did not retreat an inch.
Finally, under the bombardment of countless cannons, Naruto and his Squig were completely consumed by a world-swallowing fire.
In his invisible state, Sasuke looked back at the dissipating fireball. His fingers gripping the reins turned white. He didn't stop, nor did he look back again. He simply slammed the Squig's thrusters, and the blue contrail surged violently. He was like an invisible bolt of lightning, racing toward the finish line at ultimate speed.
By the time he reappeared in everyone's sight, he had already pulled ahead of the second-place racer by several thousand meters.
At the second supply point, the Hokage Guard had successfully intercepted the next wave of Blood Axe attacks. The Blood Axe Kommandos attempting to ambush the station were all cut down by the pre-positioned Hokage Ninja Boyz.
The rest of the race proceeded without incident. Following the plan, Sasuke completed his final Squig swap at the third supply point, mounting a specialized beast tailored for the final stretches.
He perfectly navigated the Meteor Drift Zone, dodging every falling rock through precise calculation. He calmly traversed the Warp Journey; his disciplined mind, coupled with "special items" provided by the clan, resisted the corruption of the Chaos whispers.
He steadily completed all 512 kilometers of the track.
When Sasuke, riding his Squig, was the first to cross the finish line arch, the entirety of Karl-2 instantly fell into unprecedented madness. Billions of Orks let out ear-splitting cheers; war cries and roars converged into a force that made the entire space station tremble slightly. The Waaagh! field in the air surged to its limit, and a deep green glow enveloped the sky.
Sasuke pulled the reins and brought his Squig to a halt. He took off his goggles and looked back toward the far end of the track—the direction from which he and Naruto had charged together.
The championship of the first Elf-Gork Rally belonged to the Hokage Clan. It belonged to Sasuke. And it belonged to every Greenskin who had worked for it. From this moment on, the name of the Hokage Clan would resonate in every corner of Karl-2.