Saved

"Yuji, Yuji, Yuji..."

In the depths of his consciousness, a familiar voice seemed to be calling his name over and over. That voice sounded like Kushina...

Hearing that voice, Yuji was overjoyed, suddenly turning to look in the direction from which the voice was coming. However, his eyelids were too heavy to open, and all he could see was endless darkness.

He tried to shout, but his lips were sealed tightly. He wanted to move, but his limbs felt as heavy as lead. Then, in despair, he realized the voice was getting weaker and further away. Eventually, he sank into a dark abyss.

"Yuji, Yuji..."

Kushina was holding Yuji's blood-stained hand, tears streaming down her face. If Yuji hadn't come to save her, she wouldn't have gotten so seriously injured. If only she knew medical ninjutsu...

Minato, who had been carefully checking Yuji's condition, felt his heart sink. The joy he had felt when he noticed Yuji still had a faint breath quickly vanished.

"Although the bleeding is slowing down, the injury is too severe. The only option is to get him back to the village for treatment..."

Minato said sadly. They were near the border, and it was impossible to get back to Konoha in time for treatment. If only one of them knew medical ninjutsu...

"It can't be, there must be a way, right? There must be!" Kushina's heart seemed to freeze as she looked at Minato, her voice trembling.

Minato met Kushina's gaze, biting his lip. If there was any hope left, it would lie with the Konoha ninjas chasing them, hoping one of them knew medical ninjutsu. But the chances were slim, and even if there were medical ninjas, saving Yuji's life wouldn't be easy. Either way, they couldn't miss any opportunity.

He turned his gaze toward a large tree, and his mind was made up.

Most people in Konoha didn't know that Kushina was the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Therefore, after Kushina was kidnapped, the Third Hokage didn't make a big fuss but sent many elite ninjas instead.

As ninjas moved through the forest at night, one of them, a white-haired young man, noticed a loud noise coming from the southwest.

The ninja closest to the noise was a white-haired youth. Hearing the sound, he immediately leapt to the treetop. In the bright moonlight, he saw countless leaves swirling in the air not far to the southwest and his eyes narrowed.

Although the noise seemed flashy, more like a signal than anything, he didn't let his guard down and kept moving in the direction of the sound without slowing down.

Nearby Konoha ninjas also noticed the disturbance and began heading toward the source.

When the white-haired ninja arrived, the first thing he noticed was the strong smell of blood, and then he saw his student.

"Minato." Jiraiya called out to Minato before looking at Yuji, leaning against the tree, his expression changing. The sight of him covered in blood was truly horrific.

"Master."

When Minato saw that Jiraiya had arrived, a brief flash of disappointment crossed his eyes. Kushina, too, was surprised. The first person to arrive was one of the Three Ninjas, but not Tsunade.

Jiraiya noticed the fleeting disappointment in their eyes and let out a bitter laugh. Looking at Yuji, who was barely hanging on, he had a look of helplessness.

What kind of opponent did this child face?

With that thought, Jiraiya checked Yuji's wounds and noticed the huge wound had hardly any blood spilling from it. His brow furrowed.

This phenomenon made him think of the worst-case scenario: that Yuji had lost too much blood, but what surprised him was that Yuji's body was stopping the bleeding on its own.

Touching his chin, Jiraiya looked at the child, who reminded him of Orochimaru when he was young, and sighed regretfully, "Even if Tsunade were here, I don't think she could save him."

These words were like thunder in Kushina's and Minato's ears.

"How could this happen..." Kushina's eyes trembled.

Minato turned his head, gripping his fist tightly. If only they had stayed behind... Maybe they wouldn't have been able to catch up with Kushina so quickly, but at least they could have defeated the enemy together and then followed her.

Their sorrow didn't last long when they suddenly heard a crisp shout.

"Get away!"

Then, they watched as Jiraiya was kicked away by a figure, letting out a scream before crashing into a large tree and breaking it in the process.

"Idiot." Tsunade glanced at the flying Jiraiya but didn't care about Minato and Kushina. She immediately began treating Yuji, who was gravely injured.

She could sense Yuji's life force still lingering, and upon hearing Jiraiya's verdict of death, she didn't hesitate to kick him away.

"Kid, don't you dare die so easily."

Tsunade's expression was serious as she clenched her teeth, focusing entirely on treating Yuji.

Minato and Kushina were overjoyed by Tsunade's sudden appearance but didn't dare to interrupt. They could only watch quietly, feeling a bit more hopeful.

"This familiar feeling..."

Jiraiya, who had been kicked away, shook his dizzy head. When he got up and saw Tsunade about to scold him, he suddenly stopped, because he saw Tsunade was treating Yuji.

"Does that kid still have a chance?" Jiraiya rubbed his head and walked over slowly. He didn't know about Yuji's special physique, but Tsunade did.

After a while, another person arrived.

"Orochimaru." Jiraiya said, surprised to see the three ninjas gathering in this way.

Orochimaru jumped down from a tree, nodded at Jiraiya, and then looked at Yuji, who was covered in blood. His cold, snake-like eyes momentarily flickered with a sharp gleam.

His gaze quickly shifted to a corpse not far away, and his eyes turned even colder.

"Cloud Ninja, Kōkyō."

Hearing the name, Jiraiya was startled. He had been so focused on Yuji that he hadn't noticed the corpse. Now, he looked at it and was surprised to find it was indeed Kōkyō.

"This kid actually killed Kōkyō." Jiraiya said in shock.

"Hmph." Orochimaru snorted coldly, clearly surprised. He turned his gaze from the corpse to Yuji, who was being treated by Tsunade.

Jiraiya clearly saw a fleeting flash of anger in Orochimaru's eyes. Even that cold-hearted man would get angry for someone?

"Master, is Kōkyō really that strong?" Minato quietly asked.

Jiraiya nodded and said, "Kōkyō is a special jōnin from the Hidden Cloud Village, skilled with a sword. His taijutsu and speed are both formidable, very troublesome. Even high-ranking ninjas have to be careful not to be killed by him with a single strike."

After saying that, Jiraiya looked at Yuji, deep in thought. He didn't believe a mere genin could take on such a formidable opponent, even a genius wouldn't be able to. Kōkyō's lightning-based techniques were designed to make his blade almost invisible to the naked eye. How did Yuji defeat such a person?

He looked at Orochimaru, who remained indifferent.

After hearing Jiraiya's explanation, Minato finally understood how dangerous the opponent Yuji had faced was.

At this moment, Tsunade let out a sigh of relief and withdrew her hand from Yuji's wound, the green light fading slowly.

"Tsunade-sama, is Yuji..." Kushina asked eagerly.

"He's not in any immediate danger, but we need to get him back to the village for proper treatment." Tsunade responded casually, her eyes full of faint concern as she glanced at Yuji's left arm, which was missing a large portion.

"That's great, really great..." Kushina sighed in relief, her tense body finally relaxing. She looked at Tsunade's profile, her mind already made up.

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