Naruto: The Outsider’s Resolve
CH_10.22 (388)

Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spikes

Takuma slammed his hands on the road when he heard the sprinting footfall. Sharp, earthen spikes in the shape of narrow pyramids shot out from the surface, but the intended target leapt over them like it was nothing.

He felt a hot sludge in his veins as he deflected and dodged the barrage of kunai thrown at him. Takuma had been on his fair share of chases in the Police Force, but none annoyed him as much as this one. He had lost targets before, but something about coming so close so many times only for the agent to give him the slip was infuriating.

His clone had even used his experimental chakra augmentation in development from frustration and ended up destroying his clone, thanks to the backlash. He had been trying to implement Masaaki's advice of compression into his augmentation, but the force was too high for his body to bear.

Thus, it could only be used as a kamikaze attack by clones.

Takuma didn't get up from the ground and weaved hand seals for Earth Release: Flying Thrown Spikes. The spikes from the previous ninjutsu gained a muddy kind of glow. They broke off from their bases, began to spin and were propelled across the street.

He couldn't see the agent because he was around the corner, but he took the risk that his attack would hit. He could've got up first and then chased after the ROOT agent, but there was a chance the agent would've crossed the jutsu's maximum range or be far enough that the accuracy would plummet.

It had become increasingly apparent that they were at a disadvantage in the game of cat and mouse, even with their numerical advantage. Something had to change if they wanted to catch the ROOT agent.

After firing the spikes, he sprinted around the corner and saw the agent stumble to his knees with wounds all over his body from the spikes. Takuma sprinted after his target, who staggered to his feet and began running again.

'You're not getting away now,' he thought as he pulled out his sword and went to slow him down even further, but just as he got into range, a gentle, cool gust of wind ruffled his clothes.

The agent, who was significantly slower after having spikes slammed into his back, started running even faster than when he was uninjured. It wasn't just raw speed. He turned corners without slowing down and jumped over buildings like gravity had no hold over him.

"Fuck!" Takuma cursed as he pushed himself to follow, but was falling behind by the second.

He noticed a shadow on the ground around him and saw a cloud of bugs showing swarm behaviour buzzing past him. The black mass seemed like they were communicating with each other and flying in formation. It was almost terrifying.

The agent noticed the bugs and avoided them. The mass split into two and tried to trap him with a pincer movement, but still couldn't touch him. Whatever ninjutsu he was using made it incredibly difficult to catch him. But it was more than that. Then there was an artistic flair to how the agent moved. He found the smallest footholds to push off and had the control to target them perfectly to keep his balance and momentum.

Not to mention, he had the vision and foresight to keep moving forward, knowing that he had ANBU-nin on his tail. Takuma gritted his teeth in frustration when he recognised he was feeling envious. He wondered if he could escape if he were in the exact situation. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew the answer wasn't in his favour.

"Hmm?"

He noticed how the bugs were pushing the agent to the right as though they were trying to corner him. Just as the thought passed him, a sharp screech made him flinch as a fire spear hurtled towards the agent. It exploded at the spot where the agent was a second ago. It didn't hit him, but he was still firmly within the blast radius and was hit by it mid-jump.

Duroc and Krait had worked together to give him a chance.

Takuma rushed forth while weaving hand seals for Water Release: Wild Water Wave and launched it when he saw the agent turning into a corner. The powerful water wave hit him in the back and slammed him into the wall in front of him.

There were a couple of people on the road who ran away screaming. For a second, Takuma was worried that the ROOT agent would take a hostage, but the man stood up with some difficulty and continued running. The ninjutsu hadn't critically injured him, but that was more than enough if it made it easier to catch him.

Takuma rushed around the corner only to have a body pushed into him.

He almost punched the person but recognised him to be a civilian.

'I didn't hear a scream...'

He had his ears open to listen out for civilians who could become potential hostages. From the bruise on the man's face, he was knocked unconscious by the agent. As he looked at the civilian, Takuma's heart lurched when he saw the burning explosive tag on the man's chest. He almost panicked as he slapped the tag—burning the ink with his chakra to defuse it a split second before it would explode—and in doing so, gave the middle-aged civilian some mild bruising to recover from.

However, his problems didn't end there.

For the second time, the agent opted not to run. He stood there and weaved hand seals. Takuma didn't even have time to turn his back on the agent to protect the weak civilian from whatever ninjutsu was coming. Fortunately for the civilians, it was only Wind Release: Breakthrough. 

Unfortunately for Takuma, it was still bad for him as, by the time he set the civilian aside, got up, and began to run, the agent had once again put some space between them.

———

 .

Rui could hear the water.

A shinobi could run for hours without breaks, but that was done at a 'cruising' speed. Running at top sprinting speed while running for life without any breaks is the kind of thing that gets tiring quickly. He didn't have long before the accumulating fatigue set in, and he didn't want that to happen with ANBU-nin on his tail.

The only reason he was still likely to escape was the boost from Wind Release: Second Wind.

The badger-masked ANBU had come too close, and his injuries had degraded his already declining endurance.

Rui was approaching his last solid chance at escaping. Failing to do so would leave him with the sole option of taking the pill and ending his life before the inevitable suffering that interrogation would bring.

He leapt up to the ceiling, and finally, the river that flowed through the middle of the city came into view. It was wide enough that the people coming for him couldn't leap across it. Of course, he recognised they could run over as they were shinobi like him, but he would make it so that walking or swimming wasn't an option.

Rui assessed the chakra he had. It was barely enough for a B-rank jutsu, after which he would only be left with less than 10% of chakra left, which was not enough for emergencies. He never really had a lot of chakra and so had to be careful with every jutsu he used. He wanted to C-rank, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to disorient the badger-masked ANBU a little more, but was forced to settle for D-rank, Wind Release: Breakthrough—which was why the ANBU-nin was still uncomfortably close to him.

If he failed, he wouldn't have the chakra to escape.

He looked to the side and exhaled when he saw a group of shinobi in standard Leaf gear coming from a distance. He assumed they were local shinobi who had finally caught up, and once they got involved, his chances would plummet.

This final attempt was going to be a gamble.

"Okay, here we go," he said to himself as he ran towards the crowded street next to the riverbank and leapt over the people who exclaimed as they looked up at him.

He used a man's shoulder as a jumping pad for a second leap to finally reach the railing before he jumped a third time, but not before finishing the hand seals for a D-rank jutsu.

Wind Release: Jetstream

The railings bent from the force of his jump as he shot upward before a current of wind took over and pushed him up and forth. It wasn't enough to cross the river's width but enough to take him halfway.

'All or nothing,' Rui thought as he began weaving hand seals for the B-rank jutsu.

He wasn't very good at the jutsu because he didn't have many opportunities to practice with it as an undercover mill worker. But it was the only B-rank jutsu he knew and thus his most potent weapon besides his mind.

Wind Release: Great Rising Divine Spiral

He loaded as much chakra as possible into a green ball of spiralling winds, the size of an exercise ball, and threw it into the river. He heaved a noisy breath as he gritted his teeth and weaved another set of hand seals for Wind Release: Jetstream to get him across the river.

On the surface, the badger-masked ANBU was already running on the river's surface with his eyes locked on him.

"You shouldn't have done that," Rui said to himself.

The moment the wind sphere hit the water surface, a vortex began to form. It started small, but exploded in size with more and more mass of water getting sucked in and picking up velocity. The currents became so turbulent that just walking across the river was hard. It was definitely possible if practised, but most shinobi didn't practice running on water beyond still waters and moderate flows as part of basic chakra training.

How often did shinobi tread water in comparison to scaling walls? Most rarely walked on water if there wasn't a practical need, like a shortcut.

The badger-masked ANBU was already suffering as had slowed down from a sprint to cautious jog to suddenly trying his best to not to get sucked into the vortex. Great Rising Divine Spiral was among the strongest B-rank Wind Release jutsu out there. It took a lot of chakra, but it used every bit of it as effectively as possible to keep the jutsu going for as long as possible.

Rui reached the opposite riverbank and immediately began sprinting as hard as possible because he knew the second and final phase of the jutsu was about to start. The jutsu created a spiralling vertical tornado that sucked in everything from trees, boulders bigger than people, and even enemies—before violently expelling them up and outwards.

And when you made the jutsu suck in water from a river...

Behind him, the river itself exploded in a frothing surge. Massive waves the size of buildings loomed in every direction. Water levels were so high that they broke over the bank and slammed into the people on the streets with substantial power. Fortunately, the banks were high enough for everyone to absorb most of the force without harm.

The same couldn't be said about the badger-masked ANBU still on the river surface.

Rui didn't think the operative would die, but it sure wouldn't be pleasant.

Whatever happened, he wasn't sticking around to see it.

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