Unknownfate
patreon
Chapter 84 The Clone and the Crone
🕑 Added 2025-07-14 14:24:32 +0000 UTC“Just a clone,” Chiyo said with a dismissive tone, clearly, despite the fact that not even the all-seeing Byakugan could see through the shadow clone, Chiyo had still been able to deduce the truth.
“That’s really too bad, I hoped I would get another go at her.” Sazanami Tokuma said from his place beside her, a smile ever-present on his face.
“Hush, she beat you last time, and she is able to do so again,” Lady Chiyo waved him off. “You girl, the one they call Hyūga ghost, I admit, it is rare to see a Kunoichi your age be so accomplished.”
“You are too kind, Lady Chiyo. Compared to someone like Pakura of your own village, I still have a long way to go.” I greeted her with a slight bow of my head.
There was no need to start a shouting match; both of us knew it. I wasn’t here; nothing they did could hurt me, so instead, it was time for mind games.
“While Pakura is indeed a rare talent of my Sunagakure, I must admit, your Konoha has far more geniuses than we do, something I can only envy.” She sighed.
I could only really offer a slight nod in sympathy. She wasn’t wrong, Konoha was blessed, and it better be, with how easily it kills off its powerhouses and geniuses in power grabs; they needed a steady stream of them, or the village would be doomed.
“I see your team isn’t here, and you aren’t in a hurry to dismiss yourself, which means you aren’t scouting ahead, but covering your retreat.” She casually deduced.
“You are correct Lady Chiyo, your large force scared my team off, and a good thing we left in advance, had I known you were here I would likely have left my team behind to buy me time.”
Chiyo let out a soft chuckle, dry as sand. “Not something I would expect to hear from one of your Konoha shinobi, you are all about sacrifice and team spirit.”
I snorted, “Well, then I’m sure my team will love to handle all the sacrificing for the team.”
Tokuma laughed softly, still grinning. “You talk big for someone made of smoke and borrowed chakra.”
I turned my head just enough to meet his gaze. “You talk a lot for someone who ran from a teenage girl.”
His grin twitched. “Careful. I might get excited.”
Chiyo didn’t even look at him. “Be silent, Tokuma.”
He obeyed, but not without a soft, raspy chuckle and a glint in his eye that promised trouble the next time we met. If we did.
“You and your team have caused a lot of trouble here in River, killed many good Suna Shinobi, I can’t just allow that to continue.” Chiyo continued.
I gave her a small shrug, eyes half-lidded. “That was my mission. I assure you, I have nothing against Suna, not personally. I mean, you have some less than pleasant people.” I gave Sazanami Tokuma a stink eye.
Chiyo followed my glance, then nodded, her expression unreadable. “Yes. Every village has its own problems, your Konoha is no different.”
“Don’t I know it,” I snorted.
“You know, girl.” Chiyo said, “If it weren’t for that mark on your forehead, I would be willing to bring you back, you've got spirit. Sadly, you are but a slave, so you can never be more than an enemy.”
“I’m honoured.”
“Now, let's continue this conversation with your real body, don’t worry, I won’t let you suffer too much, at least I will grant you a quick death.” The old lady offered, much to the vocal displeasure of Sazanami Tokuma.
The next moment, a senbon hit me, and I was undone.
-----
The burst of returning memory hit me like a slap to the face. And a chilling feeling of dread, or at least fear.
Because the last thing she said was that she would finish things in person, that could only mean she intended to deal with us herself.
And even with the extra time earned by our little back-and-forth chat, we weren’t even a full minute away from them. Far too close to call it safe.
“Yuki?” Koji’s voice came filled with worry.
I clicked my tongue, yeah, leave it to him to notice the moment I felt the tiniest bit of fear. That nose of his was beyond impressive.
“Full speed,” I shot ahead, shooting ahead of him and the rest of them.
Honestly, I hadn’t been joking when I said I would have left the others behind if I ran into Chiyo, I couldn’t fight her, ten puppets each not much weaker than me? Yeah, no thanks.
It wasn’t like I was throwing Koji and Kuro into the fire. They were both able to keep up with my speed, no if anyone would fall behind, it would be Haruto and Arata, they just weren’t as fast.
Not that they couldn’t keep up, but they could grow tired much faster than Koji and I.
I wasn’t heartless, I just didn’t see a reason dying pointlessly in trying to hold our ground, no amount of teamwork would be able to allow us to defeat the team following us, not unless I somehow unlocked my true power due to some bullshit power of friendship and will of fire nonsense.
“What’s the situation?” Koji asked as he came up to my side.
“They're close,” I said, keeping my eyes forward, leaping between branches like the forest itself bent around me. “Too close. Chiyo herself is with them.”
Koji let out a low whistle. “As in the Lady Chiyo? The best puppet master alive?”
“Exactly that one,” I confirmed grimly. “And she has Tokuma with her. As well as others, they are an unstoppable team, if they catch us, we are dead.”
Koji's jaw tightened, the humor draining from his face. “Then we’re not slowing down.”
“Not unless you want to get pulled apart like a puppet,” I muttered. My chakra surged as I pushed harder.
“What do we do?” Arata called out from behind us, his breathing heavier, but steady. “We’re not going to fight her, right?”
“No, we’re not suicidal,” I snapped. “We run, and we keep running until they lose us, so prepare to give it your all, because we aren’t slowing down.”
I doubted Chiyo would continue to hunt us for long, she was no doubt the overall leader of the entire Suna force in River, so she couldn’t just leave for an extended period of time.
No, at most, I expected that she would try to catch us for maybe about ten minutes to an hour. As long as we didn’t get caught in that time, she should give up and turn around.
I wasn’t too worried about whether or not we could escape, she wasn’t someone known for her speed, she was skilled, a master of puppets and trickery, able to dodge and stay alive while using her puppets to take down entire squads.
She wasn’t a speed demon, so as long as we kept pushing, she shouldn’t be able to catch up to us.
So we pushed.
For the next twenty minutes, it was nothing but wind and motion.
The forest blurred past around us, green and brown streaks slashing by as we leapt from limb to limb. I set the pace fast enough to strain even Koji and Kuro—Haruto and Arata, meanwhile, were gritting their teeth through sheer determination. No one complained. No one asked how far. We all knew the stakes.
“She still following?” Koji asked in a low breath.
Despite the chakra drain, I kept my Byakugan active the entire time, “No visual.”
It was annoying that we didn’t know if they were still after us, could we relax? Or were they just outside my range, about to catch up to us?
So all we could do was treat it like the worst-case scenario and keep running at top speed, despite our legs feeling the strain from using the body flicker jutsu the entire time.
Damn, that jutsu really was rough on the legs when used like this.
I felt the burn start to creep in just above the knees, the ache of overworked muscles stacking on top of the chakra fatigue. My lungs worked like bellows, even as I forced my breathing into a steady rhythm. Koji was still with me, his jaw tight, sweat running down the side of his face, but his pace didn’t falter. Neither did Kuro’s. Haruto and Arata… they were flagging.
“We’ll need a plan,” Koji muttered, his voice low but urgent. “Even if she gives up, we can’t keep this up much longer without some kind of fallback.”
“There is no plan, we keep running until we can’t run anymore, if we run into anything, we run, fighting back isn’t an option, slowing down isn’t one. So you two.” I called back towards Haruto and Arata. “Keep up!”
Arata gave a pained grunt from behind.
He smartly decided not to waste energy speaking and instead focused on keeping up with both Koji and me.
We ran and then ran some more. Jumped from tree to tree, over rivers and streams, crossing fields and forests. Houses, homes and entire villages and towns. Within a single hour of pushing ourselves to the limit, we cross what we might normally spend a day or two to cross.
Finally, we reached the end of the hour, and nothing had happened; not even once had anyone shown up within my range. And I was fine with allowing us to stop when we reached another town.
“We hide here, do whatever it takes to be unseen, if you notice something, flee on your own, hide for three days, then I will signal for gathering, if you hear nothing within a week, you return to Konoha on your own.” I called out as I slammed my hands together and used a rarely useful ninjutsu.
Transformation Jutsu; Henge no Jutsu.
A puff of smoke burst around me, and when it cleared, I was no longer Yuki Hyūga.
At least, not visibly.
My pale eyes darkened to an ordinary brown, my skin tone shifted just a shade warmer, and my long white hair shortened and curled slightly into a low-cut civilian style.
My clothes changed too—shinobi gear replaced by a dusty traveler's cloak, simple trousers, and worn sandals. The kind of look no one would spare a second glance at.
The others followed my lead almost instantly. Koji's transformation was lazy but effective—his clan tattoos vanished, and he pulled his hair up into a rough bun, slipping into the look of a bored merchant’s guard. Kuro, ever the actor, flattened himself into the shape of a dull, spotted mutt with no trace of chakra.
Haruto and Arata each cast their own henge a moment later.
They were both tied, barely able to move and I didn’t want to force them to continue to move. Since running wasn’t possible, hiding was the next best thing. And where best to hide than within a city?
At least here, we didn’t have to conceal everything carefully, we could hide our scents and tracks in the chaos.
The four of us split up, each making our own entrance, sneaking into the town without getting spotted.
After all, if anyone saw a group of four people and one dog enter, it would be easy to find out if someone asked around.
Much easier sneaking in alone, and should we get found… I would have a good excuse to leave behind the slower ones and make a break for it myself.
Both Haruto and Arata still have plenty of chakra; their problem is that the tenketsu in their legs are stressed to the limit.
They can’t run… but they can buy time for others to run.
“That didn’t take you long, Koji,” I said as another figure sneaked into the loft where I was hidden.
“Well, I figured staying together isn’t too bad, though I worry about the others, they are spent.” He said as he sat down.
“Let’s hope Suna gave up, and that we have no one chasing us,” I whispered. I knew Koji was kind, much more so than I. While I was happy to leave the others behind, Koji was a true Konoha shinobi touched by the Will of Fire.
