Seeing the rushing enemies, Kazuo remained calm.

Objectively he had no need to be afraid, he wouldn't die or lose anything no matter what.

'What do I do? Do I simply run away? Or do I stay and fight?' Kazuo thought for a split second before his mind whirred into action.

Placing his hand on his wrist guard, Kazuo quickly took a weapon out.

It was a strange kunai, with three prongs and a piece of letter tied to the handle.

On the paper, a set of seals were inscribed.

'You said that you would come, don't fucking disappoint me now, Minato.' Kazuo thought to himself before throwing the kunai at the ground.

However mintao didn't appear, Kazuo had even made sure to inject chakra into the seals however nothing had happened.

The yellow flash of the leaf hadn't come to the rescue like before.

[ Ding! ]

[ Quest has been generated! ]

[ Survive ]

[ Reward: 2 Minor Stat Upgrades ]

Looking at the quest, Kazuo released a sigh before releasing a kunai from the seal on his wrist.

Making a one handed seal, Kazuo quickly found the earth undearneath him softening and in a matter of moments, he was underground, running to the back of the battlefield.

'I just have to survive, fuck attacking, I don't give a shit about that.' Kazuo thought as he ran away from the battlefield.

There was nothing he could do, Kazuo knew it.

If there was then he would have accepted death and gone back in time to warn Shikaru and the others.

'I would simply be treated as a spy and tortured, there really is nothing I could possibly do to tell the others about this. This battle was doomed from the start' Kazuo thought as he got further and further away from the battlefield.

After he had made a wide enough gap, Kazuo headed above ground where he started using the bodyflicker jutsu to head further away.

Its speed was much higher than the hiding like a mole jutsu.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sounds of weapons clashing, jutsu being unleashed, and explosions erupting sounded behind him, all of those sounds being melded together by the screams of dying shinobi.

Kazuo didn't turn back even once however, his only goal was his own survival.

Minutes passed by as Kazuo headed further and further away from the battlefield.

He had gained enough distance that he didn't hear a single sound from the battle anymore.

Kazuo still didn't stop, however, as he continued to run.

Minutes turned into hours and finally, when the morning hours of the next day arrived, Kazuo finally stopped.

*Huff* *Huff*

Releasing harsh puffs of breath, Kazuo held his knees, his entire back was drenched in sweat and his overall condition wasn't good at all.

He was tired beyond belief, he had been tired for hours now but he hadn't dared to stop.

'Thankfully i memorized the map, i should be close to the border of the land of fire now, my travelling speed was much faster than when i traveled to the lightning border however my chakra is completley drained.' Kazuo thought.

Taking out a small dark brown pill from his ninja bag, Kazuo quickly threw it into his mouth, it dissolved almost instantly leaving a horrific taste in his mouth.

However, it did what it was supposed to do.

Kazuo felt his chakra become invigorated and start regenerating at abnormal speeds.

He estimated that in around five minutes, his entire chakra reserves would be filled once more.

Sitting down on the grass, Kazuo looked around.

He was in the middle of a forest with dense foliage, a sign that he was close to the land of fire.

'What do I tell them when I arrive there? That I just ran?' Kazuo thought before shaking his head.

'I have two options, either i tell the truth which will likely ruin my reputation completley however there is a chance that i will survive and they wont do anything to me besides sending me to another battlefield, or i could say that Shikaru ordered me to head back and report if anything were to go amiss so that the leaf wouldnt be operating on old intel.' Kazuo thought before nodding his head.

'Ill try lying first, if i get found out then i could simply die and retry and tell the truth or something else until i find a way to survive the act of deserting the battlefield.' Kazuo thought before releasing a sigh and getting back up on his feet.

His chakra had already fully recovered and he needed to head back to the leaf village as quickly as possible.

'I need to arrive there before the aftereffects of the soldier pill hit me, that would leave me incapacitated in enemy territory, it is basically a death sentence.' Kazuo thought as he used the body flicker jutsu once more and disappeared from his location.

Already tens of meters away.

Hours passed as Kazuo traversed the elemental nations, he had already entered the land of fire, he was now close to the hidden leaf and the chances that he would meet a leaf patroll were increasing by the second.

Finally, around the end of the afternoon, Kazuo arrived at the front of the leaf village gates.

He had met a patrol earlier however after showing his ninja id and a code that all leaf ninja had, he managed to get passed them.

Stopping at the gates, Kazuo saw a shinobi who was controlling every person who was heading into the village.

Using body flicker, Kazuo arrived at the shinobi almost instantly.

"Who are you?" The leaf ninja asked immediately as he took a guarded stance.

"Chunin of the Leaf, Kazuo. Here on a mission to give an emergency report to Lord Hokage by Shikaru Nara." Kazuo said, his tone urgent as he looked at the man.

The ninja seeing the urgency, nodded his head and headed inside a small cabin to the left of the gates.

He didnt take more than two minutes to verify everything before he told Kazuo that he was free to head inside.

'God damn, I should have been a Hollywood star in my past life.'

_____________________________________________________________________________