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Jirōbō wandered aimlessly through the base, utterly bored.
Besides him, there were other people in the base, but their combat abilities were truly lacking.
At the same time, because Tayuya and the others had left, the responsibility of looking after Kimimaro had also fallen on his shoulders.
He certainly didn't want to be this busy, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
Perhaps due to the repeated torment of his illness, Kimimaro's temper was unpredictable. Sometimes he was very quiet, other times he would be exceptionally irritable.
There was even one time when an enraged Kimimaro used "Dance of the Willow" on a medic changing his IV drip. The scene was extremely gruesome; even Jirōbō nearly vomited.
After that, very few people went to change Kimimaro's medication, and the task of caring for him fell to the five of them.
Tayuya interacted with Kimimaro the most.
As for him?
He usually didn't get a turn.
Jirōbō inspected the entire base, confirmed there was nothing unusual, stretched lazily, and then went to Kimimaro's room. He gently pushed the door open, saw Kimimaro lying in bed, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and was about to exit the room when he heard Kimimaro speak, "Tayuya?"
"Ah? She's not here... she went out to find a medical-nin for you." Jirōbō's heart instantly raced.
"Sigh... I told you, it's useless." Kimimaro opened his eyes, looking at the ceiling. "I know about the illness I have... there's not much chance..."
"Don't say that! After you recover, you still need to work with us to repay Lord Orochimaru," Jirōbō said with a forced smile.
Kimimaro sneered, "I understand it better than you do... and better than Lord Orochimaru understands how severe this illness is. I am from the Kaguya clan. I've seen many people in the clan get this disease; it's truly incurable. Lord Orochimaru has no solution either."
Jirōbō forced a smile, "We haven't given up, Lord Orochimaru hasn't given up, so why should you give up?"
"I don't want to give up either. But I know it's useless. Jirōbō, come here..." Kimimaro's voice was hoarse.
Jirōbō went to Kimimaro's bedside. "Do you have something you want to say?"
"Lord Orochimaru... I'm afraid I won't be able to be of much help to him in the future." Kimimaro sighed. "From now on, you all will have to help Lord Orochimaru more..."
"You'll be fine! Lord Orochimaru won't let you die!" Jirōbō tightly grasped Kimimaro's hand.
"No, I mean, I'm afraid I won't be able to assist Lord Orochimaru on the battlefield anymore. I didn't say I was going to die soon," Kimimaro explained.
"..." Jirōbō quickly coughed twice.
He almost thought Kimimaro was delivering his last will.
"I know, I definitely..."
BOOM!
A loud noise came from outside. Jirōbō was startled and hurriedly ran out the door, where he saw a guard rushing towards him.
"What happened?" Jirōbō asked.
"Someone escaped!" The person spoke close to Jirōbō's ear.
"What?" Jirōbō immediately jumped up.
The other three members of the Sound Five were outside; only he and Kimimaro remained in the base.
Kimimaro was bedridden, his combat ability almost zero.
That meant he was currently the strongest fighter in the base.
No matter what, he couldn't let anything go wrong. Otherwise, he'd never be able to hold his head up in front of the other three again.
"Who escaped?"
"One of the test subjects, Karin, and... Sasuke!"
Jirōbō's eyebrows shot up, a chill running down his back.
The test subject and Karin escaping wasn't a big deal, but Sasuke was the person Orochimaru valued most, even more than the bedridden Kimimaro.
If Sasuke got away, Orochimaru would definitely kill him.
"What's going on?" Kimimaro's voice came from inside the room.
Jirōbō opened his mouth, almost blurting out that Sasuke had escaped, but he swallowed the words back down.
"It's nothing... just a minor issue outside. I can handle it alone... you should rest, okay?"
Jirōbō waved his hand and led the guard to the entrance.
Besides the four guards who had been beaten to death, the main gate had been blasted open, leaving a large hole.
The toughness and thickness of this door weren't something an ordinary Genin could destroy.
So, the escaped test subject must have played a pivotal role in this escape attempt.
What a headache.
Jirōbō frowned, looking around.
It was past midnight, pitch black outside, with no trace of anyone visible.
But this didn't stump Jirōbō. He had someone bring a fierce hound, then took the leash and entered the darkness.
...
Sasuke panted heavily, his legs feeling weak. Unnoticing, he tripped over a stone, his knee hitting the ground hard.
"Are you okay?" Karin asked.
"I'm fine," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.
His knee hurt terribly. Never mind running, even standing was difficult. But they couldn't stop.
Even if his leg were broken, he had to escape Orochimaru's control.
This was their only chance.
Karin rolled up her sleeve again and placed her arm near Sasuke's mouth. "We don't have time."
Without hesitation, Sasuke bit down on Karin's arm.
The tall young man who had escaped with them saw the two children getting ready to continue their flight and crouched down. "How about I carry you?"
"No need, we can manage," Sasuke quickly waved his hand.
"Our time is running out," the man said. "If we're caught, you might at most be punished, but I... I will die!"
"That can't be, you're so strong..." Sasuke exclaimed involuntarily.
This man had been killing those guards with single punches; they were no match for him.
The 10-centimeter thick iron door had also been blown open by his punch.
With such formidable strength, how could he be killed so easily?
"I'm just a test subject. If I couldn't escape, I would have died sooner or later," the man said.
"How could that be..."
"So, you gave me a chance to escape. I'm overjoyed. But if the Sound Five catch up, my fate might be sealed. In a fight, I might not be a match for the Sound Five, but I have plenty of strength. Carrying you while running is absolutely no problem."
The man gestured again for Sasuke and Karin to climb onto his back. This time, the two didn't refuse.
Sasuke held tightly to the man's neck. The wind whistled past his ears, and his heart beat rapidly, afraid the young man might stumble and throw him and Karin off.
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
The three of them ran wildly, not knowing how long they had been running. Even the young man was panting heavily, but he didn't dare stop.
Just then, an earthen wall suddenly rose in front of them. The young man couldn't dodge in time and crashed heavily into the wall.
As the wall collapsed, the three of them tumbled to the ground.
"Running away without a word, that's not very nice, is it?" Jirōbō, having used this moment to catch up, landed in front of the three, blocking their path.