Where am I?
Hayashi closed his eyes and strained to remember.
A blurry figure stood before him. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make the outline clearer, but it felt as if a black iron gate separated him from that person.
Without warning, the figure erupted in white light that grew and grew. Their body trembled violently, then with a terrible roar it shattered into over a thousand glowing fragments. Everything around collapsed into ruins, the smell of smoke and blood choking the air.
Hayashi cried out and jolted awake.
The world tasted of iron. A brutal impact left his whole body aching.
He turned his head and pain split across his skull like a hot nail. He breathed shallowly to dull it, then slowly looked around.
His head rested against a soft back, and he felt himself being carried through darkness at speed.
This was no longer the town he remembered. They were in a forest, night swallowing shapes and sound.
"Hayashi, you're awake?" a low voice called, threaded with worry. Hayashi recognized it as Mikoto's voice. She, too, was bloodstained, her dark eyes wide with concern.
A few of the others slowed as Hayashi opened his eyes. Only then did he notice Yura was carrying him.
"Put me down," Hayashi said in a hoarse cough.
Yura froze a moment, then lowered him carefully. He sat beneath a large tree and tried to move his right arm, but a stabbing pain forced him to stop.
A searing throb pulsed at the back of his skull. He lifted his uninjured left hand and felt along his scalp through tangled hair. There was a hard, healed scar beneath the mess of hair.
He must have been hit badly. He remembered a rock striking his head, then darkness.
Yura's expression was complicated as she watched him.
At the last moment of the collapse, the boy had stepped forward and used Earth-style technique to slow the blast's impact. He had smashed falling boulders with his fists when the basement gave way. Because of him, the group had escaped with fewer wounds. Hayashi's injuries were the worst among them, and Yura felt the debt she now owed him.
Hayashi swallowed and asked, "Where are we?"
Nawaki answered quickly, "A forest west of the town. After the blast we got out of the ruins and headed toward the Konoha camp."
"And the others?" Hayashi asked.
Silence fell. Under that explosion, if there had been no warning, survival would have been unlikely.
"Are the Iwa-nin still chasing us?" Hayashi added.
Yura's face darkened. "Yes. Right after the blast I sensed unfamiliar chakra closing in. I pulled us away fast."
She looked at Hayashi, expectant. "Explain what happened."
Hayashi drew a breath. "That Iwa shinobi was a trap. The Sharingan can see chakra flow. There was odd chakra in his abdomen, like an explosive chakra tag planted inside him. He pretended to be captured so you would bring him back, then it detonated. Without a dojutsu—Sharingan or Byakugan—you would not have detected it."
Yura nodded. "After the detonation our position was exposed. The remaining Iwa operatives came to finish the job. Iwa has effective methods."
Hayashi agreed silently. Human bombs were terrifying in every era.
"So what's our situation now? Have we escaped?" he asked, looking to Yura for her sensory read.
"We are surrounded," she said.
"How many?"
"About ten enemies. Most appear to be Chūnin, and their captain is the Iwa Village's prodigy for Explosion Release, Bakuton," Yura replied.
Hayashi felt his chest tighten. There were only four of them left, and he was badly hurt. If his condition were better, they might be able to fight and break free, but now even retreat would be a miracle.
"The enemy hasn't locked onto our exact position yet," Mikoto suggested, "we could set an ambush and punch through."
Yura shook her head. "No, not now. One of us will need to act as a decoy to hold them while the others slip away."
"A decoy means almost certain death," Nawaki said, voice cracking.
Yura closed her eyes briefly. Splitting up was another option — everyone scatters and becomes a potential decoy — but it also meant they could be hunted down separately. In war, cruel calculations were necessary. To preserve the most lives, sometimes one had to be the sacrifice.
She could not accept that here. The boy in front of her had saved them. How could she abandon him now? A life owed could not be paid with silence.
Yura stood and squared her shoulders. "I will be the decoy."
They stared at her.
"Yura-san, no!" Nawaki's eyes spilled over.
Yura placed a hand on Nawaki's head, steadying him. "If I do not stall them, all of us will die. Do you want to watch us all perish?"
"But—"
"No buts," Yura said, voice going cold. "Both my brothers died on that battlefield. Now it is my turn."
Nawaki sobbed, "I'm begging you, Yura-san."
Yura's jaw tightened. She steadied herself, thinking of the collapsed basement, the bodies, the shredded earth. Her decision had been made.
Hayashi felt guilt and gratitude coil together. He had no right to ask her to take that risk for him. He tried to rise, but the pain refused him. He met Yura's eyes and managed a faint, earnest look that thanked her without speaking.
Yura gave a single nod. "Go. Slip through the trees while I draw them out."
They prepared in silence, each breathing shallowly, each understanding the stakes.
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