070: One Million! Iruka, The Only Hope!

[Bonus Chapter]

BOOM!!!

Ootori was slammed hard into the floor by Ijika.

As Ijika prepared to deliver a fatal piledriver, a flash of light sliced through the air.

Swish!

Ijika's, the three-meter giant's, head flew high into the air before crashing to the ground. But quickly, and visibly, the guard began to regrow a new head.

Samui didn't have time for explanations. 

She pulled Ootori up and was about to dash towards the school gate when two more giant guards surrounded them, along with Teacher Ikka, who had been relentlessly pursuing her with masterful Gentle Fist and Eight Trigrams Palm techniques.

Seeing that escaping the school was temporarily impossible, Samui led Ootori back into the South Teaching Building, planning to use the narrow corridors to obstruct the school guards.

These three unkillable school guards were the ones Ootori had led from the North Building. 

He had intended to regroup with Samui and the others to find a way to deal with them. He hadn't expected that Samui and her group would also encounter major trouble, with the bespectacled girl still trapped in the South Teaching Building, her fate unknown.

Just as the two climbed to the second floor and were about to head to the third, the bespectacled girl hopped and skipped down from the third floor landing. 

Her eyes lit up when she saw Samui and Ootori, but she shouted as she ran: "Run! There's a huge guy behind me!"

As she was about to run down the stairs to the first floor, Samui grabbed her.

"This way! There are enemies on the first floor too."

The three ran tirelessly into the corridor, trying to escape from the stairs on the other side. But heavy footsteps echoed from the fog-filled path ahead.

"We're done for! We're surrounded!"

The bespectacled girl's face paled. 

They were on the second-floor corridor; their only option was to jump. 

But as a Sensory Ninja, she clearly sensed giant guards waiting on the first floor, ready to deliver a fatal blow as they landed.

"Come on, let's hide in a classroom. If they dare to come in, I'll give them a slash!" Samui flung open a nearby classroom door and rushed in.

With their paths blocked and jumping out of the question, the three hid in the classroom, preparing to use the terrain to their advantage.

Soon, heavy footsteps sounded outside the door.

Inside the classroom, Samui held her blade, Ootori hefted a desk, and the bespectacled girl, after glancing at their formidable weapons and assessing her own small frame, silently raised a small stool.

The three held their breath, staring intently at the door, ready to unleash a thunderous attack on the giant who broke in.

The tense atmosphere lingered. 

After a few silent minutes, the heavy footsteps outside gradually faded away.

"???"

"What's going on? They left? They're not coming in?"

The three exchanged glances.

After holding their breath for a few more minutes, they finally couldn't maintain such high alert state and began to relax.

"They seem to have really gone."

"Let's go! We'll rush out and run straight to the school gate. We need to get out of this creepy school first."

"But... Karasu is still trapped in the North Building."

"Let's get out first. This school is too dangerous. We need to seek Lord Darui's support and utilize the entire envoy's strength for a better rescue."

"Okay, then I'll go open the door."

Ootori slowly crouched by the classroom door and quietly opened it a crack, peeking outside. 

A gigantic, ferocious head filled his vision. Bloodshot eyes glared at him, and a blast of hot, foul breath washed over his face.

"Ijika!"

"Fucking dogshit!!!"

Ootori's heart skipped three beats. 

His scalp tingled, his hair stood on end, and his body instinctively recoiled.

A large hand burst through the door panel, instantly seizing Ootori by the throat, ripping the door open, and dragging him out.

"Ah!!!"

The scene startled the bespectacled girl, who was near the window to Ootori's left. 

She screamed and swung her chair at the intruding hand. 

However, she was a beat too slow. The attack landed squarely on Ootori's head as he was pulled out.

Already exhausted and without his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Ootori was first scared half to death by the sudden appearance of the giant and then hit squarely on the head by his teammate. 

His eyes rolled back, and he fainted, being dragged out of the classroom like a rag doll.

Before the bespectacled girl could apologize for hitting the wrong person, a veined, door-sized hand burst through the window and snatched her away like a kitten.

With two companions gone in an instant, Samui, who had been standing to Ootori's right, blanked out and instinctively leaped out the door to rescue them.

"Gentle Fist - One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"

Just as she exited, Teacher Ikka's small figure suddenly appeared before her. 

The next moment, a palm struck her left shoulder hard, stagnating her surging Chakra instantly. 

Then, after a full combo attack, Samui was completely disoriented.

"It's over! It's total annihilation!"

She had planned an ambush, but instead of a successful sneak attack, they had been ambushed instead, and they were surrounded.

This school was truly terrifying.

"Ijika!"

"Eeeek, Don't eat me!!!!!"

The three were captured by the giant guards and slowly led down the stairs, through the fog, towards the laboratory building in the depths of the campus. 

The terrifying guards' emotionless, mechanical voices echoed in their ears. 

They were petrified.

"Sis, are they going to eat us?

"I don't want to be eaten!"

The bespectacled girl, dangling in the air like a chick, scratched and struggled, but she couldn't break free from the three-meter-tall guards whose arms were thicker than her body.

Ootori remained unconscious. Since he was also a tall, nearly two-meter man, he was dragged face-down. 

Samui's chakra pathways were sealed, rendering her unable to escape.

"Damn it, if only Darui were here..."

Just as they were falling into despair, regretting their recklessness, the bespectacled girl remembered the reminder from the elusive little ghost.

Clutching at straws, she closed her eyes and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"Teacher Iruka!!!"

After a long moment, there was no response.

The fog still swirled around them.

"What's wrong?" Samui asked strangely.

"I... I don't know." The bespectacled girl blushed, feeling foolish for trusting the words of a little ghost in this school.

Samui was in a bad mood. 

One teammate was missing, three were unconscious, and the last conscious one seemed to have gone mad, yelling incomprehensibly. 

Was she calling for her teacher from the Academy days? 

But there was no such person she knew of in Kumogakure.

Ahead, the shadow of a building gradually materialized in the thick fog. They were approaching the laboratory building, about to be eaten...alive or cooked, they didn't know!

Suddenly, a figure appeared before them:

"Stop!

"Stay right there!

"What are they doing? Why are you arresting them?"

Hearing this, the giant guards immediately released their captives.

The bespectacled girl landed on her backside with a thud. 

Samui, who had been struggling with her head tilted back, landed chest-first. 

Fortunately, both were cushioned enough to avoid serious injury.

"These... are... intruders. Damaging... the school..." the school guard named Ijika replied in a deep, rumbling voice.

"W-we're not intruders! We're the Kumogakure envoy, here for a school visit!" Samui, seeing someone she could communicate with, ignored the pain in her chest and shouted.

"One million!"

The figure in the fog gradually emerged. 

He looked just like Teacher Ikka and the giants, only this person was of average height.

"What do you mean? And... how should I address you?" Samui carefully helped the bespectacled girl up and rubbed her aching chest.

So painful, so red... ouch...

"These guards say you damaged the school. Pay up one million for repairs to public facilities.

"As for you, leaving here will cost extra.

"This is because you haven't harmed my students. Otherwise, you wouldn't be even be able to leave.

"As for who I am... didn't you just call for me?"

Listening to the newcomer, the bespectacled girl's eyes widened: "You're Teacher Iruka?"

That cute little child hadn't lied to her…

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