Outside, the sky had already grown dim.
Hayato, still tirelessly leaping across the treetops, occasionally activated his Byakugan to observe the movements of the Kumogakure personnel.
After resting for two hours, Xiao felt that all the fatigue in his body had vanished, and the soreness in his fingers was completely gone.
"Alright, let's continue. Where is Kumogakure's position?"
Hayato was very happy to hear Xiao's command.
He pointed in a direction, and the two quickly advanced forward together.
"The Kumogakure people have regrouped. The one with the broken leg is being carried, but those few corpses have been placed in the same spot."
"They have been moving continuously for two hours now."
Xiao activated his Byakugan to observe.
There were over fifty people on the Kumogakure side. He had shot five dead, leaving over forty remaining.
Given the pace of the Kumogakure Genin, it would probably take them three or four days to return to Kumogakure. That should be enough time.
"No rush. Kiting them means we just have to be better runners and more patient than them."
"My range is long. I shoot an arrow and move to a different spot. They won't know when they'll be attacked. As long as no one comes to reinforce them, they are dead men."
"Our goal is to annihilate the entire group!"
Xiao was so confident because the enemy simply did not have any ninja capable of ultra-high-speed movement.
Currently, within the entire Delegation, besides Totsui with the broken leg, only Kai Gai is a Special Jonin.
As long as Kai Gai is taken out, the others won't be able to escape.
Kai Gai had already been put on alert, so Xiao just needed to wait for the moment they stopped and relaxed—that would be his chance to strike.
The Kumogakure group was already extremely careful, even spreading out several people during movement to search for the Archer hiding in the dark.
But this is where the advantage of the Hyuga's Byakugan became apparent.
Hayato was a full twenty kilometers away from them, positioned diagonally in front of them.
The Kumogakure personnel couldn't find them at all.
Moving continuously for two hours wouldn't be a problem if they were just running away.
But having to guard against Xiao's attacks, the Kumogakure personnel's stamina dropped extremely fast, and some Genin were already giving out.
"Thud..."
One Kumogakure ninja's legs went soft, and his body plunged directly into a snow pit.
Kai Gai vigilantly looked around and saw no high mountains nearby, only forest, and a stone cliff face.
Pointing at the cliff face: "Go over there, rest a bit, and eat something."
He carried the Injured Person to the base of the cliff, sat down, pulled out soldier pills and water from his person, and gulped them down.
"Totsui, did the enemy leave?" Kai Gai set down the Injured Person with the broken leg from his back.
He asked, sounding somewhat doubtful.
Due to massive blood loss, Totsui's face was extremely pale, and the weather was cold with snow still falling from the sky.
After running continuously for two hours, he was even weaker. His body was shaking violently and uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered with a "keke" sound.
His face was ashen, his lips purple, and his eyes stared vaguely at the gray sky as he unconsciously mumbled:
"So cold... so thirsty..."
Hearing Kai Gai's voice, Totsui turned his head with a blank expression.
His eyes slowly focused, and then he glanced at his broken thigh.
The thigh, forcibly tightened with bandages and Chakra to stop the bleeding, had turned black and purple—it was completely Necrosis.
Chakra could not flow there, and the thigh that had been stabilized was now dripping blood again.
He weakly said: "I don't know. Just leave me here. In my condition, I can't make it back."
Kai Gai's nerves were also extremely tense at this point. Although he secretly felt things were bad, he was still trying to cheer Totsui up.
"Don't talk nonsense. Since we came out together, I will naturally bring you back."
"It's just that Tokijin is dead, and we didn't bring a Message Bird, so we can't call for help."
"Once we reach the Land of Hot Springs, we can resupply."
"You absolutely must not sleep. Eat something first."
Saying this, he took several soldier pills and stuffed them into Totsui's mouth.
Totsui had severe blood loss now, and his thoughts were extremely sluggish.
The soldier pills were put into his mouth, but he didn't even know to chew them.
Kai Gai anxiously held the water bottle and poured water into Totsui's mouth.
Unexpectedly, Totsui choked with a gulp, and then spat out all the water and soldier pills.
"Totsui!"
Kai Gai reached out to help Totsui catch his breath.
But in that very instant, his heart suddenly leaped!
"Whoosh—BOOM!!"
The extremely sharp, fabric-tearing long sound rang out once more!
The Four-Edged Heavy Arrow instantly pierced through the rock they were leaning against, striking towards Kai Gai's back.
In this extremely short span of time, Kai Gai only managed to move his body slightly.
The arrow pierced through his shoulder blade.
The moment he was hit by the arrow, Kai Gai felt almost no pain.
His nervous system couldn't process such massive trauma in time.
He only felt like his upper right back had been violently smashed by a searing hot giant hammer, and an irresistible force suddenly shoved him forward.
Immediately afterward, an indescribable, explosive burning sensation erupted across his chest.
Kai Gai's vision suddenly went black. In his ears, he heard the sound of his bones shattering, a "crack," mixing with the "pffft" sound of blood gushing out.
His entire body was sent spinning and tumbling forward by the kinetic energy of the arrow.
Although he was pierced in the right chest, such a terrifying attack had already blown a huge cavity in his front chest.
His shattered lungs could not function.
Instead, a terrifying, choking "hork hork" sound came from his throat—the sound of blood drowning his trachea and bronchi and surging out of his mouth and nose.
Every ineffective breath Kai Gai took caused more bloody foam to bubble out of his mouth and nose.
His vision rapidly narrowed into a tunnel shape, finally blurring completely, and his consciousness vanished as quickly as a screen powering down.
Totsui, who had been knocked down, was covered in splattered blood.
In a moment of Terminal Lucidity, he shouted hoarsely: "Quick, everyone split up and run!"
"You must bring back the information about today!"
"Don't look back, don't stick together, don't regroup, just go!"
The other Kumogakure ninja only realized they had been attacked again when they heard the arrow whistling sound this time.
Although Xiao had only fired four arrows, those four arrows had killed their leader, Tokijin.
Two of the three Special Jonin were already dead, and the remaining one's life was also counting down.
The remaining Kumogakure ninja leaped out like madmen and shot away.
"Quick! Run!"
"Scatter and run!"
With over forty Kumogakure ninja completely separated, the search area was quite large.
A swarm of people rushed into the forest, making it difficult to distinguish them one by one.
The Kumogakure personnel were all extremely nervous, terrified that they would become the next target.
But the opponent... had the Byakugan!
...