*****
The 185th day. Twenty kilometers from the Nakayama family's hideout.
A young girl in black pants and a green vest was rushing forward at great speed, jumping through trees, changing her location every time, trying to escape from pursuit.
Six strong-looking men were relentlessly rushing after her, every now and then trying to drive her into a trap, and when the opportunity arose, they threw shurikens and kunai at her, deliberately not getting closer to her at a distance of fifteen meters.
Once again, the next second after the girl pushed off from the tree with her feet, a kunai with an explosive seal attached flew to the place where she had just been.
There was a loud explosion, and the tree trunk was literally torn apart. Splinters scattered on all sides, and a large tree slowly tilted and fell, raising a column of dust and yellowed leaves. The girl miraculously managed to escape from the blast wave. She was lucky that she instantly found herself behind the next tree, which took all the impact.
Possessing excellent analytical abilities, she instantly took advantage of the situation, and threw two shurikens and a kunai at the three closest pursuers.
Two enemies immediately reacted to the attack, and beat off two shuriken thrown by the girl without any problems. The third man also prepared to recapture the kunai, seeing that there was no explosive seal on it, and at the moment when the kunai was two meters away from him, a shout from the commander rang out behind him.
- Idiot! Don't fight back, dodge!
But it was too late, and the unlucky Shinobi at the last moment discovered a thin thread tied to the kunai. He had nowhere to go, so he still beat off the enemy kunai, and heard a satisfied cry from the girl.
- Kage Mane no Jutsu! – Folding the seal, the girl shouted. She perfectly calculated the time of the collision of the kunai, and the thread attached to it, which served as an extension of her own shadow, with the shadow of the enemy.
The allies of the Shinobi taken under control made a belated attempt to jump aside, but it was too late. Taken under the control of the shadow imitation of nukenin, he completely repeated the movements of the girl who reached for the pockets on the vest, in which the kunai with explosion seals are located, and the enemy shinobi instantly threw two kunai at his allies.
The girl immediately broke control, and ran away, not paying attention to the result of her insidious attack. She managed just in time, because the next second after taking control, the shinobi's head was chopped off by an angry commander.
Of the two kunai with explosive seals, only one successfully hit the target. From the blast wave, the epicenter of which was only a few meters from the body, the unlucky nukenin's eardrums burst, all internal organs were shaken, and due to excessive pressure, a lung burst.
The body of a Chunin-level shinobi possessed great strength, and therefore was not torn apart, but it was not possible to avoid damage completely, and without the help of Iryenin, he might not live to see the next morning.
The head of the group knew perfectly well that his unlucky henchman was not a tenant, so he cut off his head without hesitation, and ordered everyone to resume the chase. He was not going to leave a wounded comrade in the forest, because of fears that Konoha's shinobi would find him and thoroughly interrogate him.
The black-haired kunoichi rushed forward at all times, changing her location, hoping that the commotion behind her would distract the enemies and allow her to escape, but literally after three hundred meters the forest suddenly ended, and green meadows were several kilometers ahead, and in the distance there were huge, impassable mountains for a simple person.
Cursing irritably to herself, realizing that she had nowhere to go, she rushed forward, intending to get to the mountains, and use her tactical abilities for survival.
At the moment when the group of four nukenins ran out of the forest, the black-haired kunoichi was three hundred meters ahead, but the leader of the group of nukenins was very fast, and steadily shortened the distance, intending to kill this annoying kunoichi.
When a kilometer remained to the mountains, he got very close to her, and threw several shurikens at her, blocking possible ways to evade.
The girl was very smart, so she avoided injury without any problems, and continued to run away, throwing a kunai with an explosive seal at the enemy, not hoping for success, but only planning to gain time to the cherished mountains, which would multiply her chances of survival.
The head of the nukenins caught up with the cunning kunoichi several more times, and threw shurikens at her, and all the time she competently dodged, but last time one of the shurikens ripped her forearm muscles. The girl did not lose her head, and clenching her teeth, silently rushed to escape, checking her wounds on the move.
Finding that the tendons were not touched, the girl breathed a sigh of relief, and on the move threw a medicinal pill into her mouth to ignore the wound for a while and be able to participate in the battle.
Five hundred meters remained to the mountains, and the commander of the nukenins made another attempt to attack the dodgy kunoichi, this time hitting her in the left thigh. The black-haired girl screamed in pain, and instantly regrouped in a jump, landing on four limbs, taking a position for a suicidal attack.
The commander of the nukenins jumped back at the last moment, not daring to take on the attack of the distraught kunoichi, and began to attack her from afar, throwing shurikens and kunai at her.
The girl easily beat off all the flying shurikens, and by the time they ran out, the enemy shinobi was forced to use his techniques in order to delay her until reinforcements arrived. He folded the necessary seals in a second, hit the ground with his palm and shouted:
- Doton: Arijigoku no Jutsu! – Quicksand appeared under the feet of the black-haired kunoichi, and they wanted to pull her inside. But because of her excellent intelligence, the girl recognized the enemy's technique in advance, and jumped back just in time, avoiding danger.
She immediately rushed to attack the enemy, wanting to shorten the distance and be able to destroy him with her shadows. Her enemy reacted instantly, and folded the next seals, and then shouted:
- Doton: Ganchuro no Jutsu! – Instantly thick stone pillars came out of the ground in front of the girl, and practically imprisoned her in a strong prison, but once again the girl showed her tactical abilities, and avoided the trap without any problems, getting closer to the enemy.
- Kage Mane no Jutsu! Kunoichi shouted, and small strips separated from her shadow and raced across the ground, trying to touch the shadow of the enemy.