Tejuno and Kurenai finally understood why Sora had insisted, over and over, that they follow his lead. He'd been planning to stay behind. To buy them time with his life.
Teju stared at Nara Sakuji's back as they ran, hatred pooling in his gut.
But the battlefield had shifted in an instant, and turning back now would only waste the chance Sora had traded his life to create.
Sora's mind was calm. So this is what the world of the Naruto is really like. If you're not the protagonist, death walks beside you every day.
Everyone dies. The ninja world was pushed along by an invisible hand, soaked in war and killing, and it wouldn't stop until decades from now, when the child of destiny, Uzumaki Naruto, finally brought the era of chaos to an end.
Behind him, the adult male Sand ninja leading the pursuit squad signaled. The whole group hurled kunai at Sora, and while he dodged and deflected, they split into two teams.
Two adult ninja, one man, one woman, leaped over his head with a pair of genin in tow, continuing after the poison jar.
All Sora could do was watch them go from the corner of his eye. Dammit. The weak don't even get the dignity of a fair trade, life for life? He'd transmigrated into a whole new world, and for what? No divine descent, no cheat-code opener. Just tiptoeing around and still coming up short at every turn.
An ordinary person was an ordinary person no matter where you put them. Helpless through and through.
The situation behind him: six against four, one chunin against two. At least his squad had taken out two enemies early on, or it would be even worse.
Hard to predict the outcome. He could only hope Nara Sakuji actually had the skills to match his clan name.
The Nara squad's composition was fine for ambushes and sneak attacks, but in a straight-up fight, they were outclassed. The Nara clan's reputation preceded them across the ninja world. Every major village knew about their shadow-binding techniques, and once an enemy identified a Nara squad's capabilities, half their playbook became useless.
What Sora feared most was Sakuji using his authority as squad leader to throw Tejuno and Kurenai into harm's way.
In Sora's limited life experience, smart people tended to be calculating, and calculating people were rarely kind. The Nara clan was famous for producing smart people.
The two ninja left behind to deal with him were the same pair who'd been on lookout earlier. They settled into position on the water's surface ahead of him.
The tall Sand ninja across from him looked entirely unhurried, spinning a kunai on one finger. "Konoha trash. Your teammates abandoned you. Today you die here."
It was Sora's first time hearing an enemy Sand ninja speak. Small world, the ninja world. Not even regional dialects. Guy sounds exactly like someone from Konoha.
"You got left behind too, pal. In your squad's mission plan, you're the expendable one. We're in the same boat. If you don't want to die, turn around and go home. Otherwise you'll end up like your two teammates back there, dead for nothing." Trash talk was free, and Sora had plenty more where that came from.
The water beneath his feet rippled in the wind. The enemy was clearly in no rush. Sora scanned the valley walls and the narrow strip of sky above, mind racing through tactics.
Of course the opposing ninja wasn't in a hurry. The closer they got to the Konoha base camp, the more dangerous it became. The tall ninja figured babysitting some Konoha kid in the meantime was about as stressful as a walk in the park.
The gorge was too narrow. Bad terrain for fighting outnumbered. Easy to get swarmed and beaten down. He needed better ground, fast.
Sora didn't bother responding. The Foot Seal activated, and he launched himself out of the gorge floor in a single leap.
The Sand ninja blinked. What kind of legs does this kid have? Do all Konoha ninja jump like that now?
The moment Sora cleared the rim and landed on the plateau above, he used the split second he was out of their line of sight to flick a kunai into the ground, an explosive tag tied to the handle.
The two Sand ninja scrambled up after him, one ahead of the other.
The one in front was too eager. His final jump carried him too high, his guard wide open. Sora threw a kunai trailing an explosive tag and ended the man's life in midair.
Youth. Always rushing in. Sora remembered what his boss in his previous life used to say about him. He passed the words along now. May you not be born a ninja in your next life.
He was grateful he'd developed Gale Palm: Revised 2.0. Without it, he'd never have opened the distance he needed to set his traps.
The stronger, taller Sand ninja was also more experienced. Sora didn't have that kind of cold-bloodedness, letting a teammate take point as a canary in a coal mine. Then again... next time he ran into someone from the Nara clan, he might develop it.
He drew his sword. One on one now. He had to end this fast and catch up to Tejuno and Kurenai.
A kunai whipped out first. The Foot Seal fired again and Sora charged behind it, closing the gap, driving his blade straight at the tall ninja.
The plan was to force the enemy toward the cliff edge, where that explosive tag sat pinned in the dirt.
The more combat he saw, the more Sora understood kunai for what they were: probing tools, positioning tools. Expecting a kunai throw to kill an enemy outright was about as realistic as expecting a Fire Release: Great Fireball to actually hit anyone.
The tall Sand ninja hadn't expected a charge that fast. Before he could react, the sword ran him through.
Sora didn't get to celebrate. The tall ninja burst into white smoke, and the blade punched through a chunk of log. Sora stood there, sword skewering a piece of wood, looking like an idiot holding a burnt kebab.
The real Sand ninja came vaulting up from the gorge. He'd used those few seconds when neither of them could see the other to set up a Substitution with a log.
No wonder Kakashi fights like such a coward in the manga. Substitution after Substitution, probing and feinting. One careless moment against an enemy's feint and it was over.
Outside of the few godlike ninja who could carpet-bomb a battlefield, combat always came down to the same thing: probe, probe, probe, until a killing blow appeared from nowhere and ended it.
Losing the initiative on a battlefield was terrifying, and the Substitution had just stolen Sora's.
The tall Sand ninja burst over the gorge rim, excitement plastered across his face. Hands flashed through seals in midair. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. The enemy's wind technique was far stronger than anything Sora could produce, faster by orders of magnitude. It hit him instantly.
Sora managed one look of wide-eyed terror, got his arms up over his head, and the wind technique launched him backward. He curled up as tight as he could and slammed into the boulder behind him.
That really, really hurt.
What the Sand ninja hadn't noticed: the explosive tag on the ground never detonated. The instant the tall ninja's feet touched earth, it went off. One seemingly formidable enemy, killed by a trap he never saw coming.
A throwaway precaution, a move Sora had planted just in case, and it had delivered a kill. He'd been planning to peel it off and take it back later. Getting a confirmed kill out of it was pure profit.
Wind blade cuts scored his forearms, and his back throbbed where it had cracked against the boulder. Even after all that planning, all that calculation, the enemy's jutsu had still tagged him.
He slid the chunk of wood off his sword like pulling a charred skewer off a stick. Careless. If he'd prepared a Substitution of his own, he could have avoided the hit entirely.
Every ninja was an actor. The one with the better performance won.