Chapter 96: The Undying 

"Aaargh!"

Before Sakumo's eyes, Kuriyama Shinzo let out an agonizing scream. Not only had Sakumo's chakra blade severed his right arm, but the lingering Lightning Release chakra danced across the wound, gradually cauterizing the flesh.

His eye sockets turned crimson, veins bulging across his entire eyeballs. Yet Sakumo paid no heed to these. 

For the Kuriyama Shinzo before him was vastly different from his memory. Moreover, he bore grotesque wounds across multiple vital areas, drenched in blood.

Undoubtedly, these were all inflicted by Toriumi Jun.

This was precisely Sakumo's bewilderment - how could this man still be alive after suffering so many fatal injuries?

"What happened to Kuriyama Shinzo?" Sakumo asked.

Toriumi Jun retreated a few steps towards Minato, while the Cloud Chunin, spotting Sakumo, had already fled into the dense forest behind.

After this, Toriumi Jun said, "I don't know, but it seems conventional means can't kill this guy."

She still didn't believe in true immortality, but they clearly lacked sufficient intelligence on Kuriyama Shinzo.

Sakumo immediately understood - the 'conventional means' Toriumi Jun referred to were the fatal wounds littering Kuriyama's body. 

Swish!

A figure darted out from Sakumo's earlier position, landing beside Toriumi Jun and Minato.

The first thing Uchiha Homura noticed was Minato's injured arm, a flicker of some emotion passing through his black eyes.

"If that's the case."

Sakumo flashed over, retrieving his chakra blade from the now charred tree trunk, which instantly collapsed into ash.

He had no time to dwell on it - Yatsuki Rin was heading their way.

The man's speed had slowed considerably, it seemed the freshly remolded Lightning Armor sapped his velocity and strength. 

Facing Sakumo, every pore on Kuriyama's body seemed to open, his crimson eyes full of wariness.

Swish!

The next moment, a blur flickered across Kuriyama's vision, too swiftly for him to defend. He could only raise his remaining left arm before his neck.

Agonizing pain struck again as Sakumo's Lightning Release chakra blasted away half that arm with a "Boom!", barely deflecting the strike.

An even more daunting sensation then enveloped Kuriyama as the brilliant radiance in his pupils grew, only to feel a chill at his throat. 

Kuriyama Shinzo's entire head had been severed by Sakumo.

"Hatake Sakumo!"

At that moment, an enraged voice rang out as Yatsuki Rin burst from the dense forest, his savage chakra assailing everyone's senses.

"Retreat!" Sakumo ordered upon seeing him. He had already noticed Minato's wounded arm. Uchiha Homura was also spent, and Toriumi Jun had expended much chakra.

After such an intense battle, Sakumo couldn't guarantee their safety if he faced Yatsuki Rin's manic onslaught alone.

Swish swish! 

Befitting her Anbu prowess, Toriumi Jun had already retreated with Minato and Uchiha Homura into the forest before Sakumo finished speaking.

Naturally, Yatsuki Rin refused to let them escape, charging straight at Sakumo with a punch.

Sakumo knew this clash was unavoidable, channeling most of his remaining chakra into his next strike.

"Boom!"

Their collision triggered another explosion, Yatsuki Rin blasted nearly ten meters away by Sakumo's blade. Afterwards, Sakumo's eyelids drooped slightly - he had overexerted his chakra.

However, catching sight of Kuriyama's severed head, he smirked faintly before retreating into the forest as well.

Soon after came Yatsuki Rin's maddened roars of anguish.

Sakumo noticed the markings Toriumi Jun had left, a code only Konoha ninja would recognize. 

Clearly, she was worried about pursuit from the Cloud ninja, hence concealing themselves within this forest first.

Swish!

Following the coded trail, Sakumo found their location, though they remained hidden.

Toriumi Jun dropped from an observation point, blade still in hand but sheathing it upon recognizing Sakumo.

"Senpai Sakumo, are you unharmed?" Toriumi Jun asked with concern.

Sakumo chuckled and shook his head before asking about Minato, "But what about Minato?"

"The blood loss, while not fatal, has rendered him unconscious," Toriumi Jun explained.

Though not a lethal wound, Kuriyama Shinzo was an elite jonin - his strike had cleaved through Minato's left arm. Coupled with his subsequent fierce clash against the Chunin without stemming the bleeding, and the exposed flesh being vulnerable to infection...

As she spoke, they circled around to a hollow tree trunk. 

Seeing the pallid, unconscious Minato, Sakumo inquired, "What happened here? With Minato's abilities, a Cloud Chunin shouldn't have injured him like this."

"It was my carelessness," Toriumi Jun bit her red lips, a hint of regret in her eyes. "After my first lethal strike against Kuriyama Shinzo, I was momentarily distracted."

"Don't blame yourself," Sakumo interjected, having deduced the events from her few words.

Kuriyama bore numerous fatal wounds - Toriumi Jun must have assumed he was as good as dead and let her guard down. 

Minato likely took Kuriyama's attack protecting her.

Toriumi Jun wanted to say more, but Sakumo raised his hand to stop her.

"In any case, we should return to the town of Izumi first and treat Minato's injuries. We came too ill-equipped."

Not only that, but in Minato's current state, he would lack mobility for some time. 

Beside Minato, complex emotions swirled in Uchiha Homura's eyes as he gazed upon his pallid, unconscious 'old rival' - a sense of dread welling up within him.

"We'll settle the rest once we've regrouped," Sakumo said, lifting Minato and dashing towards the town of Izumi, Toriumi Jun and Uchiha Homura following closely.

Meanwhile, at the previous battlefield, the furious Yatsuki Rin paced back and forth between three dejected Cloud ninja and the fallen Chunin slain by Sakumo.

This was an unprecedented humiliation for him.

Right under his nose, Sakumo had not only crippled his elite jonin subordinate's arm but killed a Chunin, even beheading the very Kuriyama Shinzo the Raikage had entrusted him to guard.

He had no interest in retrieving the corpse of a foreign missing-nin. As his rage subsided and he prepared to announce failure to his men, a raspy voice came from beside them once more.

"It hurts...so much..."

Everyone whipped around, their hardened ninja eyes widening at the sight.

The severed head of Kuriyama Shinzo bore an expression of agonizing torment, continuously cursing from its mouth.

Kuriyama Shinzo was still alive!

(end of chapter)