Ren sprang forward and silently landed near the trio. The two sound ninjas did not even notice him, too caught up in reveling in Karin's struggle.
With a smooth movement, Ren unsealed a kunai and with a wide sweep from behind, he burrowed it right to the side of the man who was tearing Karin's clothing off. Instantly, Ren followed up by creating a shadow clone on the other side of Karin.
The last remaining man who was holding Karin's hands finally managed to wiggle his penis out of his pants when Ren's kunai landed inside his partner's neck and was caught flat-footed. His eyes bulged out and his body tensed, preparing for action as he half-turned in Ren's direction on instinct... only for blood to spray on Karin's face as the man's throat was slit open from behind by Ren's clone, some of the blood landing in Karin's mouth which made her stop screaming and start to choke while sobbing with a whimper.
'And that, kids, is why rape is bad for you.' Ren flatly thought as he tore his kunai from his victim's throat and shoved the body to the side in a way that would ensure it did not land on the currently distraught redhead girl.
His clone did something similar and pulled his victim off Karin before haphazardly throwing his body away. The two might have put up enough of a fight to get a chance to run away if they had not been so caught up in trying to force themselves on Karin.
But Ren's trouble was not over yet. Part of the reason why he dispatched the two so quickly was the still approaching S-rank ninja he could feel with his detection seal. And he was speeding up too.
Ren briefly wondered if the S-rank ninja sensed the demise of the two sound ninjas but he quickly regained his wits and glanced at his shadow clone who slightly nodded before dispersing.
Ren looked at Karin who was staring at him in wide-eyed terrified shock while almost hyperventilating and still crying as she tried to stifle her whimpers because her face was covered in blood. She was clearly still afraid for her life but there was a bit of hopeful relief in her eyes too.
Her presence explained why the three ninjas his detection seal warned him off ran straight in Ren's team's direction. She was probably running from her assailants and felt Ren's chakra signature thanks to her Mind's Eye of the Kagura bloodline technique before deciding that he was her best bet to escape the pursuit.
Lucky her to encounter him. Really, what were the odds?
Still, Ren's arm swished in her direction just as she calmed down a bit and started opening her mouth to speak and he suddenly knocked her out, making her unconscious body slump on the ground.
He didn't need to deal with a hysterical girl right now. The S-rank ninja was almost upon him. At best, he would take thirty seconds to arrive.
Seriously... Ren inwardly groaned.
What were the chances of meeting four S-rank ninjas in two C-rank missions?
His luck truly sucked dick.
But not his dick.
Never his dick.
He was starting to feel like some retarded Shonen protagonist who has strong villains thrown in his path for fun and giggle by some Random Omnipotent Bastard.
But… No. Not today.
Ren took a seal from his pocket and started channeling chakra into it while glaring into the distance.
Seventeen seconds later, Orochimaru, with his trademarked creepy smile walked from behind a tree as if he had always been there but Ren knew, for a fact, that the man had just arrived a moment ago.
Because of course, it would be Orochimaru, Ren inwardly cursed. Who else with S-rank prowess could possibly show up after preventing two sound mooks from kidnapping the Uzumaki girl who worked for the creep in canon?
It couldn't have been somebody more friendly and cuddly.
Really, Ren was not even surprised and it gave the Slytherin wannabe a bit of pause when he didn't instantly burst into terror upon seeing him.
Good. Ren was playing for time anyway.
Eighteen seconds left.
Orochimaru glanced at the two corpses and his smile widened before he looked straight at Ren, "Oh, my, what a curious s-."
But Ren didn't care. He wasn't going to let him monologue. He just gave the pale man a double middle finger while screaming, "Get fucker, loser!"
Orochimaru momentarily stumbled in his tracks and owlishly blinked.
Nineteen seconds left.
Conveniently, a smoke bomb somehow found its way out of Ren's pocket when he was shouting and went off right when he finished his sentence, covering the vicinity in a cloud of thick white smoke.
Barely a moment passed after the bomb went off and Ren could instantly feel the gathering of heavily condensed wind chakra, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple.
But it didn't matter. Twenty seconds passed and he was done.
Orochimaru used the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough to blow away the smoke. He might have given the technique enough oomph to break bones after being disrespected by some nameless chunin. But everything was fine.
The Uzumaki girl could be healed even if some of her bones were broken and her value as a research subject would not diminish either.
Orochimaru's grin, however, fell when the smoke dispersed, revealing that his prey somehow slipped away with his price.
His eyes narrowed as a displeased frown appeared on his face and he instantly summoned a horde of snakes before giving them an order to search the surrounding area and start tracking the Konoha ninja and the Uzumaki girl.
He was not losing a rare Uzumaki test subject with awakened bloodlines!
And who knows? If the Konoha ninja surprised him again, maybe he would even give him some mild painkillers while vivisecting him.
...
Several hundred miles away, Ren suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a small forest clearing and barely managed to keep himself on his feet as the relief hit him and he swayed from side to side.
Orochimaru would not be getting to him today. He was not going to fight an S-rank ninja on a C-rank mission. Nu-uh. He was not paid enough to do it. Screw that. He wasn't working for free like a bitch.
So, he simply used his seal to teleport halfway through the Land of Fire, south-east of Konoha, maybe half a day away from the village.
Considering that the bandit camp was northwest two days away from Konoha, Ren was on a completely other side of the country.
Surely, not even Orochimaru had a way to get at him here, right?
... Right?
"Are you okay?" Ren suddenly heard and looked to the side, only to see Hinata looking worriedly at him. He gave her a reassuring smile despite feeling quite fed up with his shitty luck.
"And who is the girl?" Ino huffed in irritation while standing next to Hinata with her arms on her hips, her eyes narrowed at the redhead Ren had on his shoulder.
Now that Ino reminded him… the girl was kinda heavy.
Ren unceremoniously dumped Karin's body onto the ground with a small thud, causing her to let out a groan despite staying unconscious.
Then, he sat down on a nearby rock where his transportation seal was inscribed and let out a calming breath as the tension left him. He released a disbelieving laugh at actually managing to pull a Niggerundayo move.
Wasn't that practically defying the heavens or fighting against fate or some other bullshit? This running away thingy was seriously underrated. Ren decided he would need to indulge in the practice more.
The shadow clone he dispersed after dispatching Karin's attackers alerted the clone he left with the girls and so, the clone instantly teleported them here.
Ren wasn't risking his students. Not with Orochimaru in the vicinity. They were safe and sound, hundreds of miles away from the pedophile gay creep before the man even showed himself in front of Ren.
And thank the sugar daddy sage for Orochimaru's propensity for grandstanding and dramatics. If the man had instantly attacked when he reached Ren's position, then Ren wouldn't have been able to pull off the teleport and would have needed to properly engage the Snake Sannin.
Which was not something he wanted to do anytime soon. Not ever, really. The guy fought with his tongue.
Ew.
"No idea." Ren lied and both Hinata and Ino narrowed their eyes at him, both catching the lie in their own way. But Ren just rolled his eyes at them. "Okay. Correction. I am not telling you anything other than she is an Uzumaki." He deadpanned at the girls.
One of these days he was going to teach them the unofficial ninja etiquette. Rule number one, 'Don't call ninjas on their obvious bullshit lies because they probably have something to hide and won't tell you anyway' was very important.
Hearing that the girl was an Uzumaki, Hinata's head snapped toward Karin and she quickly approached her before kneeling next to her body as she started to heal her.
Ino, however, didn't have such an appreciation for all things Uzumaki and just snorted.
"And why did you bring her here? She is clearly from Kusa." Ino grumpily complained, getting a chastising look from Hinata.
"Eh." Ren shrugged and bent down, so done with today. He took the forehead protector from Karin's head before summoning a kunai from his storage seal and uncaringly slashing a gash through the middle of the headband, looking at Ino with a raised eyebrow. "Opsie?" He gave Ino an innocent smile, "You were saying? I don't see any Kusa ninja. Just Naruto's relative."
Both Ino and Hinata gaped at him as if they had never seen the creation of a rogue ninja.
Jeez. His girls were easy to impress indeed.
---
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