Several large dogs cut in from the side and blocked Shiro's path.
Shiro hit the brakes with his paws and nearly crashed into them.
"Your Highness." Black Fang slowly walked over from the platform. "Where are you going?"
Shiro turned around and bared his teeth at Black Fang.
Black Fang smiled contemptuously, then looked toward Shin-chan at the camp entrance. "Doulo, you brought humans in here and even allowed them to offend His Highness."
Doulo's body tensed. "They came to find the prince."
"Your Highness." Black Fang stopped ten meters away from them. "Do you know these humans?"
"Woof."
"Family?" Black Fang let out a sneer. "It seems our 'prince' still carries quite a bit of human stench. Seize these suspicious humans and invite His Highness back."
As Black Fang's words fell, the dogs in the camp began moving.
About a dozen dogs surrounded them from every direction. They were Black Fang's direct subordinates.
Doulo's pupils suddenly constricted.
It had not expected Black Fang to be this reckless. No matter what, these were the "prince's" friends, yet it showed no mercy at all.
"Run." Doulo's voice was very low, and its tail swept against Shin-chan's leg.
Uchiha Toru had already turned around and was pulling Shin-chan back with one hand.
"But Shiro..."
"We can't save him right now." Uchiha Toru shook his head. "Leave first."
Shin-chan looked back.
Shiro stood behind the large dogs, scraping the ground twice with his front paws and making a whining sound.
He wanted to rush over, but Black Fang's subordinates were blocking him.
Black Fang pressed one front paw down, and dozens of dogs charged at the same time.
Doulo turned and ran. Uchiha Toru and Shin-chan followed behind.
"Woof woof woof!"
The barking behind them grew closer and closer.
As Shin-chan ran, he formed hand seals. "Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
The ground rose into a wall of earth. The dogs charging at the front couldn't stop in time and crashed into it one after another.
The dogs behind them hurriedly braked, bunching together into a pile.
By the time the pack went around the earth wall, there was no trace of them anymore.
Once they reached a safe place...
"It was my oversight. I didn't expect it to attack directly in the camp." Doulo leaned against a rock wall.
Shin-chan lifted his head, opening his mouth to say something.
"I know you want to go back," Doulo said first. "But not now. Rest here tonight. We'll think of a way tomorrow."
Shin-chan leaned against the rock wall, stretched out his legs, and said nothing.
The next morning, he was woken by birdsong.
Shin-chan narrowed his eyes and adjusted to the light.
Uchiha Toru was crouching on a rock, holding dry rations in his hand. Seeing Shin-chan come out, he broke off half and handed it over.
"Black Fang took the main force out," Doulo said as it returned from the distance.
"Where did they go?"
"Judging from the route, the water source," Doulo said. "The main force followed Black Fang."
Shin-chan stuffed the dry ration into his mouth and stood up, about to run toward the camp.
Doulo's tail blocked him.
"Wait."
"Wait for what?" Shin-chan's words were muffled. "Isn't now the best time?"
"Black Fang isn't a reckless dog." Doulo's gaze darkened. "It took the main force out, but it may turn back very soon. If we sneak into the camp now, we might get trapped inside by it."
Uchiha Toru was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
"If I were the one who got taken away, Shiro would definitely come save me," Shin-chan said. "He wouldn't care whether it was a trap or whether it was dangerous. He would only think about one thing, and that's bringing me back."
He lifted his head.
"So I have to go too."
Doulo looked into his eyes. Reflected in its pupils was a tiny figure.
"Let's go." Uchiha Toru stepped toward the camp.
"Toru?"
"You're right." Uchiha Toru did not look back. "Shiro would come to save you, so you'll go save him. It's that simple."
Shin-chan's face immediately brightened, and he ran after him.
Doulo stood where it was, watching the large and small backs walking forward. Its tail swayed lightly.
"You can't just walk in openly like this." It caught up from behind and walked on Shin-chan's other side. "Use the Transformation Technique to sneak in."
Shin-chan and Uchiha Toru looked at each other.
Poof.
Poof.
White smoke scattered, and two little dogs stood where they had been.
Doulo also transformed into a medium-sized brown-black dog that looked completely ordinary.
The three dogs followed the bushes along the edge of the camp and slipped inside.
The camp was indeed much emptier.
The sturdy large dogs from yesterday were all gone. Only some old dogs and young ones remained.
No dog noticed them.
Doulo walked at the front, like an ordinary dog returning to its own camp.
Shiro lay on the platform from yesterday, his chin resting on his front paws, his ears drooping.
Three very small puppies surrounded him. One was rubbing against him, one had fallen asleep leaning against him, and another was trying to stuff its head under his belly.
Shiro didn't chase them away, but he didn't play with them either.
His nose suddenly twitched.
Then he raised his head, his gaze landing on the three unfamiliar dogs below the platform.
One of the little dogs was blinking at him with all its might.
Shiro's tail shook once uncontrollably.
When another little dog saw Shiro looking over, it stretched out a front paw and pointed toward the side of the camp.
Shiro stood up and slowly walked down from the platform.
The little puppies around him followed too.
Shiro looked back at them. "Woof."
The puppies stopped. They looked at each other, then obediently lay back down.
Shiro continued walking until he reached the side of the camp.
The dog Shin-chan had transformed into came closer. The two dogs stood face to face, both wagging their tails.
"Go." Doulo's voice was extremely low.
Four dogs formed a line and moved along the edge of the camp.
They could already see the trees outside the camp.
Then, from the edge of the camp, came a sharp cat cry.
All the dogs turned their heads.
The cat pack surged out of the trees like a tide, surrounding the camp from three directions.
The dogs remaining in the camp began to tremble.
There was no Black Fang. No main force. Only the old and weak remained in the camp.
The cats needed only one charge, and nothing would be left here.
An elderly dog pushed several puppies under its belly and stood in front of them, all four legs trembling.
Fortunately, movement came from behind the cat pack.
Black Fang's group had returned.
The eyes of every dog in the camp lit up.
The elderly dog raised its tail, and even the puppies poked their heads out from under its belly.
Black Fang stood on the high ground in the distance. Behind it was the entire main force it had taken out.
It looked at the camp surrounded by cats, its face ugly.
The Cat Clan just had to come at this exact time, and not a single scout it had left on the road had returned.
Black Fang's gaze passed over the cat pack and landed on the small platform in the middle of the camp.
The fake prince was no longer there.
For the sake of a fake prince, should it throw the entire elite force of the Dog Clan away here?
Black Fang's tail swept across the ground. Then, without the slightest hesitation, it turned around.
The main force followed it in silence.
Not a single dog looked back.