If Karura were in Hayato Ren's position, she would not hesitate to kill without mercy.
Since death was inevitable either way, why not die with dignity? Rather than perish in a cowardly manner.
After glancing at her subordinate lying on the ground, Karura gritted her teeth and dropped to all fours, prostrating herself on the ground.
However, her eyes burned with fury as she glared fixedly at Hayato Ren.
It was as if she would tear him to pieces at the first opportunity.
Hayato Ren paid no attention to Karura's hate-filled gaze, instead curling his finger in a beckoning gesture.
Human boundaries are eroded step by step. Though Karura was deeply resentful of Hayato Ren's actions, she still slowly crawled toward him.
Looking down at Karura before him, Hayato Ren couldn't resist reaching out to pat her head, softly praising:
"So obedient."
Upon hearing this, Karura gritted her Silver Fang so hard it nearly shattered. Was this bastard treating her like a pet to toy with?
Then Hayato Ren extended his right hand toward Karura and raised an eyebrow.
"Shake hands~"
This was the final straw for Karura.
She sprang up from the ground, glaring furiously at Hayato Ren as she shouted:
"You! Don't push your luck!"
Observing Karura's snarling defiance, Hayato Ren's expression remained completely unchanged.
He simply silently drew his long sword.
After shaking off the blood, he sheathed the blade again.
At that moment, the unlucky man's abdomen suddenly began gushing blood incessantly.
Like a small spring.
At this rate, he would likely bleed to death before long.
"Did you know? An average human will go into shock after losing twenty percent of their blood volume, and will die after losing forty percent."
Karura had no patience for Hayato Ren's sarcastic comments. She tore open the fallen man's clothing and used the fabric as makeshift gauze to plug the wound.
"You're wasting your effort. He's already bleeding internally. Plugging the external wound will only delay his death. Unless you can find a Medical Ninja to treat him right now. Oh, and you'd better hurry - I estimate he has about six minutes left for emergency treatment."
Hearing this, Karura's face instantly turned deathly pale.
In this remote location far from any village, even without Hayato Ren's interference...
...she couldn't possibly produce a Medical Ninja out of thin air.
If she tried to return to camp for help, it would be far too late by then.
Wait - there was still one Medical Ninja here.
Remembering this, Karura looked at Hayato Ren with complicated emotions and asked:
"What exactly do you want? Does tormenting me like this bring you joy?"
Hayato Ren nodded, revealing a malicious smile.
"Of course I'm happy. I simply want you. If you agree, I guarantee these three can return completely unharmed."
Upon hearing this, Karura fell into deep silence.
At this moment, Hayato Ren continued to press his advantage:
"To be honest, I initially planned to eliminate all of you directly, but I abandoned that idea after seeing you. Originally, all four of you were supposed to die. Now, if you sacrifice yourself, the other three can survive. Isn't that a very cost-effective deal?"
Finally, Karura lowered her proud head.
She performed a dogeza before Hayato Ren.
"I can go with you, on the condition that you heal Inoue and let them return. Otherwise, I'll haunt you even as a ghost."
In the latter part of her words, Karura adopted an extremely chilling tone.
If Hayato Ren was just toying with her and didn't save her companions,
she would curse him with the most malicious curse, even if it meant she could never be reincarnated for eternity.
Hayato Ren's body involuntarily shuddered several times.
Based on the original story, Karura indeed possessed the ability to cause trouble after death.
Thus, he abandoned any further thoughts of teasing Karura.
He crouched down, his hands glowing with green light, and began treating the ninja named Inoue.
Under Hayato Ren's exquisite healing skills, Inoue's wounds recovered completely in a very short time.
If not for the bloodstains on his clothes, it would be hard to believe there had been a hole in his stomach just moments before.
Witnessing this scene, some of Karura's hatred toward Hayato Ren dissipated.
At the very least, this guy kept his word.
Even if she were lost, it would be a decent choice if her other teammates could return.
After completing the treatment, Hayato Ren stood up and looked toward Karura, who appeared tense.
Seeing Hayato Ren's gaze directed at her, Karura gritted her teeth and prostrated herself on the ground on all fours again.
Then, she slowly crawled to Hayato Ren's feet.
At this moment, Hayato Ren extended his right hand toward Karura once more.
This time, Karura didn't hesitate in the slightest, slowly placing her left hand in his.
After doing this, a pained expression flashed in Karura's eyes.
Now, she was truly at his mercy like a fish on the chopping block.
She had no idea how Hayato Ren would treat her.
However, what Karura didn't expect was,
after her left hand touched Hayato Ren's right hand, he actually pulled her up from the ground.
Immediately after, Hayato Ren stepped forward and brushed the dust off Karura's clothes.
"An excellent ninja like you prostrating on the ground is truly a waste of talent."
[Hmph, all of this is thanks to you. Now you're pretending to be a good person? How shameless.]
Karura thought to herself, but she couldn't help feeling slightly more favorable toward Hayato Ren.
This person before her didn't seem like an irredeemable villain.
"Alright, those guys will wake up on their own in three hours. Come with me back to the Leaf."
Hayato Ren looked at the submissive Karura before him and spoke these words.
Hearing this, Karura only nodded silently.
From this point on, her life and death would be in the hands of the person before her.
However, Karura had secretly made up her mind. No matter what kind of torture she faced, she would never reveal a single piece of information about the Sand Hidden Village.
Meanwhile, in the Sand Ninja camp, Rasa—who was using his Bloodline Limit to produce Quicksand Gold to fill his private coffers—suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.
Immediately afterward, an inexplicable sense of melancholy washed over him.
It felt as though something that was rightfully his had been stripped away by fate.
However, Rasa did not dwell on it.
He simply assumed it was an illusion brought on by overwork during this period.
He paid it no mind and, after resting for a while, resumed his "gold-digging" enterprise.