Twenty seconds passed in the blink of an eye. Guy's attacks abruptly slowed down, his arms hanging limply at his sides, clearly broken.
Though Kurenai had only been using low-level ninjutsu, her limited chakra was now completely exhausted, rendering her unable to cast another jutsu.
Only Sora remained fighting, but alone he couldn't resist the vortex's pull and began descending again.
"Tailed Beast Bomb—Crimson Flame!"
"Tailed Beast Bomb—Gale Force!"
"Tailed Beast Bomb—Water Ripple!"
With no other choice, Sora could only release Tailed Beast Bombs with the strongest recoil force to barely hold the three of them in place.
At this point, other ninjutsu had lost their effectiveness completely. Casting them was no different from not casting at all.
Yet his chakra reserves were critically low; he could manage only five more shots, lasting merely five more seconds.
At that very moment, a ray of hope appeared. The vortex below had begun shrinking rapidly!
"Dammit! There's no way I'll die here!" Sora clenched his teeth, pouring out every bit of chakra left within him.
With a fierce internal squeeze, he forcibly drew out more chakra, converting it all into various Tailed Beast Bombs and firing them downward.
In an instant, thirteen vividly colored Tailed Beast Bombs rushed into the vortex.
Because the vortex had shrunk significantly, its suction weakened noticeably.
As a result, when Sora unleashed these attacks, the three of them were propelled upwards abruptly, reaching an altitude of nearly four hundred meters.
Exhausted beyond his limits, Sora's consciousness became blurry. He managed to glance down one last time, confirming that as soon as they escaped upward, the vortex had finally closed.
With his remaining sliver of consciousness and chakra, he barely managed to cast the Light-Heavy Rock Technique on Kurenai before passing out completely.
As Sora collapsed, Kurenai immediately noticed and grabbed both him and the already unconscious Guy, but now they were plummeting rapidly.
"So, this is how it ends. And I haven't even had a boyfriend yet!" Feeling the speed of their fall, Kurenai smiled bitterly, resigning herself to fate.
Three hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
One hundred meters.
Fifty meters.
Their descent continued accelerating, the vortex below nearly gone. Kurenai gripped Guy and Sora tighter, desperately shifting herself beneath them to cushion their fall, hoping at least they might survive.
After doing this, she closed her eyes, quietly awaiting death.
At that moment, when they were less than twenty meters above the ground, she suddenly felt her body grow lighter!
She quickly opened her eyes, discovering the vortex had vanished, the sky gradually brightening enough for her to see clearly below.
At first, joy surged through her heart, but reality soon sank in.
Even without the vortex, falling from four hundred meters was impossible to survive!
But right then, Guy—who had previously been unconscious—abruptly moved, twisting in mid-air to position himself beneath Sora and Kurenai.
However, just as he completed this maneuver, he was shocked to realize their fall had slowed dramatically.
Logically, they should've crashed into the ground by now, yet they were still airborne!
From ten meters above the ground, their speed inexplicably continued decreasing. While not completely safe yet, at least they wouldn't die instantly upon impact.
Kurenai immediately snapped out of her resignation, pouring the tiny amount of chakra left into her feet, frantically kicking the air to slow their descent.
Her final, desperate efforts worked. Their downward momentum slowed drastically, reducing them to a gentle float, like feathers drifting down when they were merely one meter above the ground.
As the trio gently landed, Guy managed a weary, embarrassed smile before instantly passing out again.
Kurenai, now completely drained of both physical strength and chakra, collapsed onto the ground, unable to even stand up again.
One awake but unable to move, two unconscious—they lay quietly on the ground.
Gradually, the sky brightened completely. Warm sunlight shone upon them, offering a small, comforting relief.
Meanwhile, in a distant village, Kumaichi was convulsing violently, spasming uncontrollably for nearly five minutes before finally regaining his composure.
He slowly stood, feeling the new power surging within his body, and gave a cold, irritated snort.
"You're lucky this time. All that careful planning, and yet it ended in failure!"
Though he didn't know exactly what had occurred, the minimal increase in his strength indicated clearly that the three ninjas hadn't been successfully sacrificed.
"Since I've failed, Konoha will soon discover this. I'd better get out of here quickly!"
With an unwilling glance toward Death God Mountain, Kumaichi turned swiftly, sprinting away at incredible speeds, easily matching an elite Jonin like Kakashi or Guy.
About five to six hours later, a delicate-looking girl entered the village carrying a boy slightly younger than herself and dragging along a robust young man with thick eyebrows.
This girl was Kurenai, carrying Sora on her back and dragging Guy behind her.
After setting them down, she noticed Kumaichi was nowhere to be seen. Although puzzled, she didn't dwell on it.
She hastily ate a simple meal before focusing entirely on chakra recovery.
Earlier, she'd barely regained enough stamina to move her teammates; chakra restoration hadn't been possible yet.
Outside Konoha, lacking chakra was extremely dangerous.
Notably, at the very first opportunity after regaining some strength, Kurenai had urgently sent a message back to Konoha, requesting immediate medical aid from Tsunade.
Both Sora and Guy's injuries were severe, and returning to Konoha on their own was impossible. Their only option was for Tsunade to come to them.
As Kurenai was focused on restoring chakra, Konoha was thrown into chaos. Tsunade and Jiraiya swiftly departed toward their location, pushing themselves to the absolute limit.
The journey, which had taken Sora's team almost a full day, was completed in less than five hours under Tsunade and Jiraiya's frantic pace.
By around two o'clock in the morning, the two legendary Sannin arrived, weary and anxious, at the small village.
"How are they?" Tsunade asked urgently the moment she burst through the door, anxiety etched across her face.
Jiraiya immediately rushed to Sora and Guy's sides. Only after confirming they were still alive did he finally breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Tsunade wasted no time, immediately launching into an intensive healing session that lasted through the night.
Kurenai helped as best she could, assisting Tsunade, while Jiraiya vigilantly guarded the area.
By dawn the next day, both Sora and Guy's conditions had stabilized, though they required further, more intensive treatment back in Konoha.
The local environment and lack of proper medical facilities made a complete recovery impossible even for Tsunade.
Thus, Tsunade and Jiraiya each carried one of the critically injured boys, accompanied by Kurenai, quickly heading back toward Konoha.
///
30+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/Emik01