Notes:
According to Chinese beliefs, the dead must pass three tests before passing to the next life, the first being the Bridge of Helplessness
Just when Uchiha Tonan was considering whether or not to kill the two dubious teammates, he noticed something through the white pigeon’s sight. It was precisely those two who right now had briefly greeted the garrison towns’ personnel and sneaked out.
A playful smile slowly formed on Tonan’s face as he poured the tea into the cup and took a sip. A moment later he chuckled as if he thought of something funny. “Is living well not enough for you all? Why do you keep provoking me? I’m walking on the broad road, but you want to cross your Bridge of Helplessness. It’s not very smart.”
Time passed by and the sky gradually darkened. The town’s civilians returned home to rest, leaving behind only a few small and dim lamps on the streets to battle the pervasive darkness. As if worried the gloom was not sufficient, it began to drizzle.
Since this place was near the Land of Rain, showers and downpours were commonplace here. The fine rain knitted into a soft net, like a sticky and wet cobweb, covering the entire town. Under its curtain, the sounds of insects and birds disappeared in unison, and the town was as quiet as a graveyard.
At this moment, two figures quietly appeared at the town’s edge.
“Is he in your perception range yet?”
“Yes, I can sense him. He’s in that inn, very likely on the second floor.”
“That brat’s genjutsu is a bit powerful. To be on the safe side, we’ll close our eyes as soon as he activates the Sharingan. As long as we don’t look at his eyes, he’ll be defenseless.”
The two looked at each other and slinked into the town. As for the soldiers and the genin on duty, they were very unlikely to detect their trace.
Rumble
With rumbling sounds, the rain became heavier, pouring down in torrents on the ground. The inn’s second floor was pitch black but lightning flashes occasionally lit up the corridor. At this moment, two humanoid-shaped figures, hanging upside down from the ceiling, could vaguely be seen on either end of the corridor.
Yoshida Taro made a hand sign and sensed Tonan’s exact location. The two treaded softly from both ends to the center of the ceiling. It was pouring heavily, the dense pitter-patter covering the sleeping sound of the inn rooms.
The two of them walked to a door, step by step, and lightly landed on the floor. Taro gave Kamiya Kazuki a signal with his eyes and they slowly pulled out their tachi.
Kazuki reached out his left hand and gently touched the door.
The next moment.
Bang!
The door was blasted open, and it was pitch dark inside. The two turned into shadows as they rushed in. Tonan, who was sleeping soundly, woke up with a start. He quickly turned over and sat up.
He looked at the two intruders and activated his Sharingan. But at that moment, the two simultaneously closed their eyes.
“It’s you two!” Tonan exclaimed. Kazuki and Taro didn’t care about his fuss and ferociously thrust their tachi in the direction of his voice.
Bang!
Tonan turned into a cloud of smoke. The two noticed something was wrong, and Taro used Sensing Technique. Immediately afterward, he frowned and said, “That was just a shadow clone. There’s no one in the room, let me detect him.” Taro began to increase his perception range.
Crash
Just at that moment, they heard the sound of a trashcan knocking over downstairs. The two opened their eyes, and Kazuki hastily rushed to the window and looked below. He spotted Tonan frantically trying to escape in the rain, running into the distance.
“Chase!”
The two jumped out of the window. One pursued him through the streets holding his tachi, and the other followed him from the rooftops.
“Help! Enemy attack!” Tonan yelled while running wildly. His every step was so heavy that the water on the ground splashed high. His bawl seemed to awaken the quiet town from its slumber. In the narrowly packed residential area, one window after another began lighting up.
“That damned brat.” Kazuki cursed and nodded towards Taro on the rooftop. Taro understood his signal. He sheathed his tachi and formed hand seals. Kazuki joined him on the roof and placed his palms on Taro’s back, transmitting his chakra.
“Nirvana Temple Technique.”
Many white feathers appeared in the sky and fluttered down to the ground. These feathers seemed illusory. They bypassed the walls and fell into every household. The residents and the genin stationed in the town fell into a deep sleep one after another.
Because this technique’s range was too large, Kazuki and Taro consumed over half of their chakra. But they had no time to recoup because Tonan was already out of the town and running towards the mountain not far away.
To avoid troubles that might arise due to a delay, the two decided to overlook their chakra consumption. They used the Body Flicker Technique to increase their speed but they were shocked to discover that Tonan too had learned this technique at some point.
Whenever they were close to catching up, he would use it to increase the distance.
Rumble
Furious thunderclaps were continuously reverberating throughout the mountain for a long time. In the blink of an eye, the sound of rain had turned deafening. The sky seemed to have countless holes, the abundant rain pouring on earth like a waterfall.
Coo coo
Coo coo
Shrill bird cries grew louder in the mountain forest, making people shudder.
Step, step, step…
The mountain forest soil was soaked by the rainwater and turned into mud. Tonan ran desperately. He turned back from time to time, his face displaying his panic and terror. Kazuki and Taro continuously jumped one branch after another with tachi in their hands not leaving sight of their target.
They were soaked by the rainwater but did not have a single mud stain on their clothes. The distance between them and Tonan was shrinking at a noticeable speed.
Tonan was a trifling chunin in the end. Using the Body Flicker Technique several times was challenging his limit. In their view, he was already a lump of meat on the chopping board waiting to be hacked.
Thump
Perhaps because the ground was too slippery, Tonan accidentally fell. He was covered in sludge from head to toe, his appearance miserable. But on the brink of death, he did not care about it. He heaved himself up and crawled on his limbs to get up and run away.
Suddenly, he stopped. He realized there was no way to run further because there was a cliff up ahead. He didn’t think much or pause for long and ran in another direction. But he stopped again, his panic turning into utter despair.
Kazuki and Taro were standing on a big tree straight ahead, staring at him indifferently with tachi in their hands. On their otherwise wooden faces, only their eyes had a hint of disdain.
Tonan gasped for breath, knelt on the mud, and slammed his head on the ground. He begged them for mercy, “Senpai… please let me go…”
