Falling Back

Ignoring the pain in his side, Mizuki rushed towards the planned rendevous point, hoping that the remaining two members of their squad were still alive.

After all, In a combat situation, Mizuki was all but useless to the team, as his injuries barely allowed him to move, let alone fight.

Mizuki focused all of his chakra into his body flickers, mainly trying to put distance between himself and Gari.

Even though Mizuki could have spent the chakra healing, he still nonetheless, persisted in using his limited supply to create distance between himself and the Captain of Iwa's Explosion Corps.

Despite Gari currently being unaware of his location, there was still a chance of the jonin finding him and finishing the job.

You don't become one of the most elite jonin in your village without a method or two of tracking down your prey.

However, luckily for Mizuki, said course of events never came to pass.

Be it because he was able to get far enough away, or because he was able to hide his scent by taking a dive into a muddy swamp, or any of the other precautions he took, he was able to live to fight another day.

On an average day, It would take Mizuki just short of half a day in order to reach the rendevous point from his current location.

However, with his injuries, and his trying to remain concealed, he was still a couple of hours away come the next morning.

And that was with continuing on foot throughout the night, only stopping for brief intervals to recharge his chakra and have a quick swig of water along with a piece of ration.

During one of these stops, Mizuzki observed the wound which he had received in more detail.

Luckily for him, the wound had not been infected yet, which gave Mizuki the chance to treat it as best he could without using chakra.

In the end, Mizuki was forced to sterilize the wound by rubbing alcohol over it, which caused him to nearly screech in agony.

Then, Mizuki was forced to cut off pieces of his flesh which were unrecoverable, and would only serve to infect the rest of the wound should they stay.

Now, normally, Mizuki would administer some anesthesia before using the chakra scalpel in order to efficiently remove any potential dangers.

However, unfortunately, Mizuki had no such luxury here.

As he had no chakra left to spare, Mizuki was forced to use a sharpened kunai.

And, as he could not afford to dull his senses, Mizuki had to forsake anesthesia as well.

Needless to say, Mizuki actually did scream in pain this time.

Although, he was able to anticipate this, and so, used his headband as a gag so as to ensure that his screams could not alert any potentially nearby Iwa nin as to his location.

However, Mizuki was able to persist still, and, by the time his chakra recovered to a reasonable amount, he had already finished bandaging his wound, and was ready to continue.

Minutes transitioned into hours, as Mizuki was finally able to arrive at the rendevous point, just on time too, as Neko and Shinku were just starting to pack up.

Neko: "Damnit, looks like Gari got him. Poor kid."

Shinku: "That's war for you, not even the children are spared."

It is at this point that Mizuki arrived.

Mizuki: "Maybe not normally, but looks like this kid's living to fighting another day."

Hearing his words, both of the shinobi whipped around to see Mizuki standing behind them, his trademark playful smile adorning his face.

Neko: "Wait where you are"

Shinku: "We need to confirm who you say you are"

Mizuki: "Oh, ya, easy. Shinku."

Shinku: "Yes?"

Mizuki: "The Sandaime's son is trying to get into Kurenai's pants-"

Shinku: "It's him"

Saying these words, Shinku turned around and finished up the preparation to depart the area, shaking in anger whilst he did so.

Shinku: {I'm gonna crush that little shit}

Mizuki: {Sorry Asuma, your sacrifice will not be in vain}

Mizuki: "And? What's the situation like?"

Neko: "As we expected, what happened at our base was not an isolated incident."

Neko: "Within the hour, Iwa stormed all of the Konoha bases across the frontlines"

Mizuki: "Shit. And the results?"

Neko: "It's a landslide defeat. Iwa had at least ten times the amount of men compared to the defenders. Sometimes more."

Neko: "This is clearly an operation that they have been prepping for a long time."

Mizuki: "Any survivors?"

Neko shook his head.

Neko: "We have not spotted a single leaf shinobi. There is a chance that they are now prisoners, but considering this is Iwa we are talking about, I doubt it."

Mizuki let loose a regretful sigh hearing this, although, in reality, he cared very little.

Neko: "Anyways, you haven't quite told us yet, but what happened."

Mizuki: "I was the unlucky bastard who had Gari on his ass. I was able to deal some small injuries to him. Although they won't do much. He'll be back at full capacity in a day if not two."

Mizuki: "Honestly, I was lucky to escape with my life."

Neko: "That's an elite jonin for you I guess, anyways, how are your injuries."

Mizuki: "Stable. But I am going to need to see a proper doctor soon."

Mizuki: "My treatment was done on the fly, and will only delay the inevitable"

Neko: "The only upside to this as that you get a badass scar after all this is over. I hear that girls go mad over that kind of shit."

Mizuki chuckled slightly and shook his head, thinking about the earful he would get from Anko when he gets back.

Neko: "How much will your injuries slow us down."

Mizuki: "They are severe. At least fifty percent."

Neko and Shinku both winced slightly hearing that number.

Neko: "Luckily, my Ninken can carry you for a little whilst, it's not ideal, and we will still be slowed down a bit, but we will still be moving quicker than we would otherwise"

Shinku: "Alright, I have packed up our supplies and sent a last message to Konoha in the event shit goes south on us."

Mizuki: "Right"

Neko: "Let's go!"

And so, the now reduced group of three shinobi returned to Konoha, bringing with them the beginning of a new era.

The Era of the Third Great Shinobi War.