The rogue commander panicked briefly but instantly regained composure and masterfully dodged the "crawling" shadows, spending as little time on the ground as possible to avoid contact with the deadly technique.
The girl didn't falter and fully concentrated, normalizing her breathing and chakra flow, then her eyes gleamed dangerously. Lightning-fast, she formed seals and shouted:
"Shadow Needle Jutsu!" All the shadow threads instantly rose from the ground like octopus tentacles, then shot up like sharp spikes to impale the reckless enemy who had fearlessly left the ground with no way to dodge.
At the sight of this technique, the rogue commander's heart skipped a beat, and a traitorous thought of possible death at the hands of the sly bitch he thought could only run crept in.
He mustered his last strength, acting at the limit of his control and chakra reserves, forming several seals at the last moment and yelling:
"Doton: Shoheki!" A stone wall materialized under him instantly, consuming nearly all his chakra reserves. Materializing earth element in mid-air was incredibly costly and barely within a Chunin's capability. He immediately stepped on the stone slab, wanting to push off with his feet and leap far aside.
But the moment his feet pushed off the surface, the unbreakable shadow needles pierced the stone slab, and at the last second one needle hit the unlucky rogue's leg, piercing his foot.
He was incredibly lucky because the jump was already completed, and after penetration, the shadow needle couldn't stay in his leg for long and capture him for further destruction.
As soon as he landed on both feet, he immediately screamed in pain, rolled to the side, jumped away again, and landed on one foot.
The girl, in turn, had no intention of letting him go and sent shadow needles after the enemy, who was hopping on one foot and both hands, trying to escape as far as possible from the deranged kunoichi.
To her deep regret, the black-haired kunoichi couldn't finish what she started because at that very moment, other rogue shinobi arrived. She instantly dispelled the technique, turned around, and rushed into flight.
Five minutes later, the wounded rogue shinobi commander somehow limped to the mountains and approached a cave where three of his subordinates stood.
"Where are you standing, where is that bitch?!" he asked angrily.
"Boss, she flew into the cave, and we foolishly rushed after her, but when she stuck torches into the walls, we realized what was coming and ran outside—otherwise, she would have picked us off with her shadows in the half-darkness. But don't worry, boss, at the end of this cave is a dead end, so she won't get away from us. We'll sit here for a week, and she'll die of thirst!" the fat-faced man with a big nose and scruffy beard reported with a vile cackle.
"Idiot! We don't have a week to wait for that slippery bitch!" the commander growled, and gave his stupid subordinate a solid slap.
"That you didn't go inside was the right call. We couldn't afford for her to take us all out at the cost of her worthless life." After thinking, he praised his subordinates.
The four rogue shinobi spent several more hours at the cave entrance, and when it began to get dark, the commander finally recovered some chakra, climbed the mountain, positioning himself right above the cave ceiling, and began forming hand seals.
"Doton: Ganseki Kuzushi!" he growled, and slammed his palm on the ground, triggering the rock collapse.
Everything rumbled, and large chunks of stone and rock debris rolled down from above, burying the cave entrance and blocking the only exit for the kunoichi he hated so much.
"Now that bitch faces a long and agonizing death from thirst and starvation!" the rogue shinobi leader snarled viciously, and spat on the stone blocking the cave entrance. Then he ordered his subordinates to pack up and set off, limping forward somehow.
At that very moment when part of the mountain began to shake, the black-haired kunoichi instantly rose from the ground and prepared to meet the impending danger. She didn't know what awaited her, but she was ready to trade her life for the chance to tear a chunk of flesh from the enemy's throat with her teeth.
When huge boulders rolled into the cave and dust rose, the girl jumped to the far end of the cave and survived the collapse without much trouble, coughing a few times from choking on the dust.
She didn't sleep the entire next night, expecting a sudden attack. But nothing came. By morning, her torn forearm muscles ached mercilessly, and she could no longer use her left arm. She had a small amount of water and alcohol with her, so she rinsed the wound and bandaged it with a small bandage.
By noon the next day, she realized the rogue shinobi had left, abandoning her to die under the rubble. They physically wouldn't dare stay in one place that long, risking destruction by a squad including a jonin.
Trying to clear the rubble, the girl realized it was impossible. Until evening, she tried to shift small stones, but there was no end or edge to them. By the end of her "workday," she had only dug to a huge stone blocking the far edge of the cave. She saw a small crack and cleared it of dirt, inhaling fresh air for the first time in a long while.
The girl understood she couldn't move such a large stone, and she certainly couldn't squeeze through a crack the size of an apple. Only one option remained. She took paper and, in the dim light, wrote everything necessary on it, then pulled out a small scroll and, forming seals with one hand, whispered:
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A small pigeon appeared on the scroll and looked around curiously. The girl immediately grabbed it and attached a tiny note to its leg, whispering:
"Fly home and deliver this note to the clan head!" Stroking the bird's back, she gently pushed it through the crack and mentally wished it luck, knowing this was her only chance at rescue.