Very quickly, Moku Kairen carried Yūhi Kurenai on his back to the B-zone defense line where Yūhi Shinku and the others were stationed.
In a clearing of the forest stood several small tents.
Yūhi Shinku was instructing Asuma and Nara Yūji in Taijutsu training.
The two were sparring with kunai, striking one blow after another, thoroughly engrossed in their practice.
For rookies exchanging blows, every strike was lethal.
"Rustle..."
The faint sound of branches trembling arose. Yūhi Shinku looked up and saw Moku Kairen carrying Yūhi Kurenai.
Asuma noticed them too—Kairen was carrying Kurenai, her arms wrapped around his neck.
Seeing the intimacy of their posture, Asuma immediately halted his sparring, accidentally receiving a shallow cut from Nara Yūji's kunai.
Kairen leapt down and gently set Yūhi Kurenai on the ground.
He explained to the approaching Yūhi Shinku:
"She was ambushed in the forest by Sunagakure shinobi and poisoned. I've already detoxified her."
Yūhi Shinku gazed at Kurenai. She lowered her head, not daring to meet her father's scrutinizing eyes.
"Kurenai, didn't you say you went into the forest to pick wild fruit? How did you end up with Kairen?!"
Kairen looked at the silent girl in surprise. So, Kurenai had gone to him without Yūhi Shinku's approval.
Kurenai stayed quiet. Yūhi Shinku shook his head.
"From now on, don't leave my sight so casually. The frontlines of war are dangerous."
Kurenai nodded.
"I understand, Father."
Yūhi Shinku turned to Kairen again, noticing the paleness of his face.
"Are you all right?"
Kurenai also looked worried.
"Father, Kairen sucked the poison out for me—he must still have some toxins in his body."
Kairen waved it off.
"Don't worry. I have antidote, I'll take it later."
Asuma stormed over, arm still bleeding from Yūji's cut.
"Moku Kairen, fight me in a ninja duel!"
Kairen ignored him and waved to Kurenai.
"Goodbye, Kurenai!"
"Goodbye, Kairen!"
Asuma swung his kunai, but Kairen's figure turned into a mirage and vanished before their eyes.
"Moku Kairen!" Asuma clenched his fists tightly. He couldn't defeat him, and now even the girl he loved had been carried in his arms.
For the first time, Asuma felt a deep sense of doubt toward himself.
He lowered his head, glancing at the girl sitting on the ground. He stretched out a hand, trying to salvage something.
"Kurenai, I was never involved in Kairen's assignment. Can't you... forgive me?"
Kurenai turned her head away, ignoring him. Even if Asuma hadn't participated, he also hadn't tried to oppose the Sarutobi family's appointment.
He had certainly ignored the fact that Kairen was being sent to the most dangerous sector of the frontlines.
"Kurenai..."
Asuma's hand hung suspended in midair for a long time, never falling. He felt as though something had slipped from his grasp.
Stepped on by a mere civilian genin, he had lost all his dignity. Even some people's gazes toward him now carried hidden mockery.
And now, even the girl he admired no longer cared for him.
Resentment, rage, jealousy, hatred...
A swirl of emotions roiled in Asuma's chest, his eyes darkening. He spat out harsh words:
"That's the A-zone—where even jōnin have no guarantee of survival. Moku Kairen won't last there. He definitely won't last. He'll die. He will definitely die!"
With that, ignoring the stunned looks of the other three, he ran into the dense forest alone.
Yūhi Shinku sighed helplessly.
"A vast difference can inspire awe, but it can also twist the heart. Whether Asuma can overcome this hurdle... we'll see."
Nara Yūji wiped his kunai.
"Asuma has lived since childhood in the pride of others bowing before him. This is the first time a peer has dealt him such a blow. And with this kind of gap, Asuma can't even glimpse the other's back."
Kurenai stood up, face full of anger.
"You all keep worrying about Asuma—doesn't anyone care about Kairen? He's manning the eighth sector alone, with no teammates, no supplies. How is he supposed to hold it?!"
Yūhi Shinku and Nara Yūji fell silent.
...
Kairen sprinted through the forest. His skin grew paler, gradually darkening to black, but his expression remained unchanged.
Just poison? A minor issue.
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Chūnin Matsumoto Taka with poison. EXP +30!"
Even in the afterlife, this Sunagakure extra made sure his name was remembered.
...
Sunagakure frontline command center.
Meimuda handed a letter of assignment to jōnin Koshikawa.
"There's something strange in Konoha's A-zone, eighth sector. I suspect an elite jōnin is stationed there. Among the jōnin, your stealth and raid abilities are the best. Go investigate and find out who it is."
"Understood, Commander!"
Koshikawa accepted the assignment, read through it carefully, memorized the position on Konoha's line, and then left Meimuda's office.
He stepped into a clearing, bit his finger until blood came, and quickly formed seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
With a bang, white smoke erupted. A massive black hawk appeared, white head, black feathers, its sharp eyes gleaming like blades.
"Let's go!"
"Caw—!"
The hawk's cry echoed across the Sunagakure camp. Then its enormous black wings beat down, stirring the wind as it soared into the sky.
...
That night, Asuma pounded his fist into a tree. The trunk dented, smeared with his own blood.
"Why? Why? Why?!"
He asked himself over and over. He was the Hokage's son, the heir of the Sarutobi family, with no shortage of jutsu at home, and no shortage of jōnin teachers guiding his training.
With all those resources, he was still inferior to a civilian genin.
"Kurenai, do you also look down on me?"
Asuma smashed his fist into the hollow again. Blood dripped, but the pain in his hand was nothing compared to the wound in his heart.
Kairen had stepped on him. Every time he saw him, Asuma wanted to regain reputation—but Kairen never even spared him a glance.
In front of Kairen, he was as childish as a fool, stripped of his dignity, stripped of the girl he adored.
Exhausted, Asuma leaned powerlessly against the trunk, muttering:
"What do I even have left?"
A cold snort sounded.
"You're the Hokage's son, the Sarutobi heir. The other is just a civilian genin. Your family's status is your greatest advantage!"
Asuma looked up at a young man in his twenties, whose face resembled his own by seven or eight parts.
"Brother, weren't you on the Rain Country front? Why are you here?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke looked at his useless younger brother and snorted.
"The Rain front is deadlocked. My presence doesn't matter there, and it's hard to earn merit anyway. I came to the River Country front to build achievements."
Asuma looked at his bleeding hands, ignoring the pain.
"Has the old man already decided to pave the way for you?"
Shinnosuke nodded.
"Once this war ends, it'll be time for the Fourth Hokage selection. I will become Hokage and continue the Sarutobi family's glory."
Asuma lowered his head and stayed silent for a long time.
Shinnosuke grabbed his collar.
"What's wrong? Knocked down by such a small blow? You're a Sarutobi man, born noble. How can you be defeated by mere setbacks?"
Asuma pushed him away.
"You don't understand!"
Shinnosuke smirked.
"It's just a girl. For someone of noble status, what woman can't you pursue?"
"Kurenai is different!"
Shinnosuke scoffed.
"I'll handle this. A rootless jōnin—being able to marry into the Sarutobi family would be his greatest honor."
"What are you going to do?!" Asuma shouted.
Shinnosuke's figure flickered and disappeared from sight.
Asuma seemed to realize where his brother was going. Though he didn't want it, his clenched fists slowly loosened.
"Kurenai, there's no future for you with a dead man!"
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