Overdrafting the Future, Starting in Naruto

Chapter 26: Mission Complete!

After watching Uchiha Namiichi depart, Kinoshita Genichi looked at the corpses on the ground, replaying the previous battle in his mind.

There were no mistakes in his performance. If the Jonin hadn't been there, it would have been perfect.

"Even after depriving a Jonin of his sight, I still couldn't kill him."

"But Sakumo-sensei only needed two sword strikes."

"The gap is too big. It's not just a gap in chakra."

Genichi couldn't help but ask himself, "With my current chakra reserves, is it not enough to become a Jonin?"

Not necessarily. His swordsmanship was still not refined enough. If he had sword skills as exquisite as Sakumo's, combined with the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, he would be able to hold his own among the Jonin.

However, achieving swordsmanship like Sakumo's was not easy.

"It might even be very difficult for me. After all, Water Release nature transformation doesn't seem to synergize well with swordsmanship..."

Suddenly, Genichi raised an eyebrow. "Wait, maybe that's not necessarily true."

Sakumo's style was the path of high attack and high speed. Perhaps he could walk the path of a "heavy sword"? The Hozuki clan had a secret technique that used Water Release to enhance physical strength.

Genichi thought about it carefully, but couldn't help but sigh. The road ahead was difficult.

"I'll think about the heavy sword path later. I still have to keep grinding my iaijutsu. And to increase my speed... I don't have Lightning Release, so even if I trained it, it would be difficult to achieve results. It's better to place my hopes on the Kuji-kiri."

"The Kuji-kiri... perhaps that is my true path..." Genichi thought to himself.

Rumble!

A loud roar suddenly came from the distance. Genichi looked up and saw flames soaring into the sky. Namiichi had made his move.

Genichi focused his mind and prepared himself. Five minutes. At most, five minutes. If Namiichi doesn't come back, I'll have to go and see.

Fortunately, after only about three minutes, Genichi saw Namiichi leaping towards him.

He was injured! Genichi saw that Namiichi's left arm was hanging limply.

"You go first!" Genichi shouted in a low voice, his hands forming seals.

Water Release: Water Shockwave!

Namiichi didn't say a word, brushing past Genichi. After he was gone, the water of the entire lake surged upwards, then swept toward the pursuers like a tsunami. These pursuers were a mix of ninja and samurai. However, faced with the sheer scale of Genichi pulling up the water of an entire lake, they had no choice but to retreat.

But Genichi didn't immediately fall back. Instead, he trod upon the giant wave, moving forward with the surging current.

Splash!

The water exploded. Genichi shot into the air and drew his blade. In the moonlight, his sword flashed like a bolt of silk. A ninja who had just avoided the impact of the water was sliced in two and fell.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Genichi rode the momentum of the water, killing three people in a row before quickly retreating.

When the water receded, the pursuers all stopped.

They were afraid.

And their daimyō was already dead. Was there any need to continue the pursuit? Wasn't it more important now to support a new daimyō?

Several of the leaders exchanged glances, then shouted a command, leading their men back the way they came.

On the other side, Genichi glanced back. Seeing that no one was following, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He then swallowed another soldier pill and gritted his teeth, speeding up to catch up with Namiichi.

"Let's do some emergency treatment first!" Genichi called for Namiichi to stop, then skillfully began to bandage his wound. He had taken a sword cut to the arm, but the injury wasn't too severe.

After treating the wound, the two continued their retreat but changed direction, not following the route Sakumo had taken. This was to avoid running into any returning pursuers.

However, even with the detour, the two of them still left the daimyō's residence ahead of Sakumo and regrouped with En.

"Where's the captain?"

"Is the mission complete?" En asked hurriedly.

A smile appeared on Namiichi's face. "The mission is complete. As for the captain, he should be here soon."

"Get ready."

En breathed a sigh of relief and looked towards the other end of the bridge. Yes, they had chosen this as the rendezvous point precisely so they could blow up the bridge to delay any pursuers.

Genichi wasn't worried about Sakumo's safety either. He reached out, undid the bandage on Namiichi's left arm, and began to heal him with the Mystical Palm Technique.

En looked back over. "How's the wound?"

Namiichi said, "Not serious."

Genichi said, "My chakra is low. For now, I can only stop the bleeding and close the wound partially. I can't heal it completely."

Namiichi said nonchalantly, "A small injury like this won't affect my combat ability."

Tough guy.

Genichi said, "You should recover your chakra as quickly as possible. We might have to fight again later."

Namiichi silently took out a soldier pill and ate it.

About five minutes passed before En shouted softly, "He's here!"

Genichi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them to see Sakumo rushing towards them, with only three pursuers behind him.

Seeing that Sakumo was halfway across the bridge, En immediately formed a one-handed seal.

Rumble!

The bridge on the other side collapsed, and the pursuers on it were forced to retreat.

"Go!" Sakumo's figure didn't stop.

Genichi and the others immediately leaped up to follow.

On the other side of the broken bridge, the three Sand ninja watched as the four of them left, no longer giving chase. Their expressions were all very grim. They had realized something was wrong when Sakumo's shadow clone was revealed, but by then it was too late.

"Captain, are we not going after them?" one of the Sand ninja asked, unwilling to give up.

The captain, a man named Kisan, shook his head. "That's Konoha's White Fang. We can't take them down." He was also unwilling, but what could he do?

...

On the other side.

After confirming that the enemy was no longer pursuing them, Sakumo gave the order to stop and rest by a river. Genichi plopped down on the ground, not wanting to move an inch.

Sakumo took off his mask and smiled. "Genichi and Namiichi did very well on this mission."

A smile appeared on Namiichi's face, his vanity greatly satisfied. After all, he was the one who had killed the daimyō!

Genichi took off his mask and said with his usual humility, "It was because you, sensei, drew the enemy's attention, and Namiichi eliminated the target."

"And without En's support, we wouldn't have been able to escape the enemy so easily."

The credit certainly didn't belong to just one person.

Sakumo smiled and said, "I will report all of your performances truthfully to Lord Hokage."

"Namiichi, how is your injury?"

Namiichi held up his arm. "With Genichi's treatment, it's not a big problem."

Sakumo nodded. "Then we'll rest for an hour, and then we'll continue on our way. We'll rest properly once we're back in the Land of Fire."

The three of them naturally had no objections. They were still in the Land of Rivers and still in danger. It would be troublesome if the Sand ninja caught up to them again.

So, after resting for an hour, the four set out again, crossing the border into the Land of Fire in one breath before stopping to rest again. By this time, it was already dawn.

Genichi leaned against a tree trunk, his eyes downcast. "This should have changed the original plot..."

Although it was said that personality determines destiny, and as long as Sakumo's personality and ideals didn't change, he would sooner or later face a similar situation of abandoning a mission for his comrades.

But at least for the short term, Sakumo would not be committing suicide.

"I can also learn more from him."

"But this is a bit too utilitarian..."

As he thought, Genichi unknowingly drifted off to sleep.

(End of Chapter)