Still deep in the forest, Fuki walks in the direction of Akane Village. Or at least what she thinks is the direction of her home. At this point, she's beginning to question herself if she's correct on the village's location. After being thrown out here and falling into several traps, she's feeling tired and isn't that confident in her sense of direction. The traps have also worsened the injuries she has from landing in that tree, and she's forced to walk slowly.

Fuki wonders about how her teammates are doing. She hopes that Itadori and Ume aren't worrying too much, and are safe at the village. She assumes that the Man is currently lock in battle with the upperclassmen, and doesn't want her teammates getting hurt. At the same time, she also hopes that they don't sneak out of the village to find her, since that would just cause trouble for everyone. Anyone coming out here at all would be something that Fuki would feel guilty for, since her bad move is the reason she's out here in the first place. Though, at this point, a part of her is hoping that the village has sent someone to come get her, because she doesn't like being alone in this forest while hurt.

Right after she thinks about that, she senses something. Multiple targets approaching her location. At least she thinks they're targets, at first. But one of them feels very familiar. When Tsuwabuki pops out of the bushes, she understands the feeling. After Shion and Suzuran also appear, she then begins to question about the situation back at Akane, and what happened to the Man. The three girls can see Fuki's condition, so they sit her down on a nearby log and let Tsuwabuki begin helping her.

Tsuwabuki uses her healing jitsu on Fuki, while Shion and Suzuran guard them. The blonde healer explains everything to Fuki. While she's a bit shaken up about how the Man could have potentially found her while she was walking alone, she's also glad that he's away from the village. Fuki asks about her teammates, and is told that the underclassmen are all back home hiding. Once the healing is done, Tsuwabuki will carry her back with them and wait for all the other two groups to come back too. After just a few uses of healing jitsu, Tsuwabuki begins to feel a bit tired. She's not as good with the technique as Mokuren is, and all the work from earlier today has led to a bit of fatigue, but she's not done healing her friend yet. Fuki grits her teeth, and does not complain about the pain. Instead, she feels bad about making everyone worry about her. Meanwhile, Shion becomes alert. Suzuran follows suit, as both look to the same spot in the forest. They both sense something headed this way. Something fairly large. They prepare for the worst, but something unexpected steps out of the bushes.

Suzuran: "A boar?"

A very large boar slowly approaches the group, and it's clearly angry. The big creature stands, ready to fight the girls in front of it.

Shion: "We don't have time for this."

Tsuwabuki: "I'm not done healing Fuki! You have to hold it off!"

Shion and the boar have a stand off, they're both prepared to fight. The wild animal makes the first move, as it charges forward with surprising speed. While it's fast, Shion is faster, and sidesteps the charge. The boar does not stop running, and makes a slight turn to try and hit Tsuwabuki and Fuki. Suzuran attempts to shoot the boar, but it does some sidestepping too, avoiding the arrows. From above, Shion jumps on top of the boar, causing it to lose it's footing and collapse. But to Shion's surprise, it quickly shakes her off before she can attack further, and begins to run again, trying to attack Suzuran now. She jumps to not get ran over, landing on a tree branch. She uses her vantage point to try and shoot the boar again, but it still dodges her shots.

Shion: "This boar's surprisingly tough!"

She says this, but truthfully none of them are trying their hardest. Shion, Suzuran, and Tsuwabuki all have it in their heads that they should save their energy for a potential fight with the Man. Tsuwabuki especially, as she also needs to conserve energy so that she can continue using healing jitsu on Fuki. She should also save her stamina in case anyone else ends up getting hurt during the night. With all that in mind, the boar not being dealt with will just waste their stamina anyway. Shion needs to end this fast. The boar begins to run at her again, so this is her chance. She pulls out two kunai. They're not the best weapon against a boar, but they'll have to do.

Except, while Shion prepares to strike the charging boar, it suddenly stops moving. It's legs become bound by something, it's movement is completely restricted. The boar tips over, landing on it's side. Shion looks closer, and sees that it's become wrapped up with string. She looks over to see Fuki standing up now, still a bit injured, using her string jitsu. The angry animal struggles, trying to get loose, but it's no use. Fuki defeated the boar with one surprise move. It may not make up for her loss against the Man, she thinks, but she doesn't want to risk any of the others hurting themselves here. They're only out here because of her, so it's the least she can do. Shion moves a bit closer to the boar. It might break free from the string if they leave it too long. Now is the time to finish it. But before Shion can do it, she hears her teammate calling out to everyone.

Suzuran: "Wait!"

Suzuran suddenly appears from the bushes. She stops Shion from ending the boar's life, and tells everyone to follow her. She quickly explains that while she was up in the trees, she managed to spot something. The girls follow Suzuran and come across a small boar's den, and in it, several baby boars. They all realize why the boar attacked them now, they got too close to her den. They must have missed this due to being distracted by the search for Fuki, meanwhile the mama boar noticed them, and perceived them as a threat to her kids.

The piglets are clearly frightened by the ninja. They cower in place, trying to comfort each other. The sight of the upset babies makes the girls feel bad for them. The
four girls return to where the mama boar is tied up and look at her. She's still struggling on the ground, trying to get out of the string. She just wanted to keep her young ones safe. The girls all know that the village is currently low on food, and this big boar that's restrained in front of them is free meat. And on a regular day they would think nothing about any animal they catch potentially having children that are dependent on said animal for survival. But between seeing the small piglets for themselves, and not wanting to drag the massive body all the way back home, they decide to spare the mama boar.

Fuki, Suzuran, and Tsuwabuki exit the scene, while Shion goes and cuts the string holding the boar's legs together. She then quickly jumps away, as the boar angrily gets up. She looks around for her opponents, but calms down once she sees that the intruders are gone. It's quiet now, save for some squeals from the kids nearby. Now that they're alone, she can tend to her babies, relieved that they made it out of that alive.

Elsewhere, far from Fuki and her group, Shakuyaku continues to wait for someone to come rescue her. She doesn't know how long she's been waiting here, but she figures that all of the girls must have defeated the Man by now. He's probably been captured after losing the fight, and is being interrogated about his motives. Or maybe he's unconscious, and being guarded by some upperclassmen. Either way, someone should be making the trip to find her. Help should arrive any minute now.

Sure enough, she hears familiar voices calling for her. She turns and spots Dokudami and Aogiri emerging from some far way bushes and running towards her, with Higiri right behind them. The two girls dash through the clearing to greet their teammate. Shakuyaku jumps off her mound and hugs them both. She then asks about the fight with the Man, and is disappointed to learn that he ran off right after throwing her out here. She had hoped that this could all be over, but she then becomes enthusiastic about the idea of defeating the Man herself. Her fellow Boars are also eager to beat him up.

Shakuyaku: "I was tossed away like trash, he needs to be taught a lesson."

Aogiri: "Indeed, our weapons will be the teachers."

Dokudami: "He'll learn that he shouldn't have messed with the Boar Unit!"

They are filled with confidence, they will make the Man think twice about ever attacking them or Akane Village again. Having said all that, the three Boar members turn to Higiri. They'll need her to act as a guide if they want to find him, and then find their way back home after they're done hunting him. This wasn't the plan though, Higiri recalls. The group is supposed to go back to the village after finding Shakuyaku and wait there. It was expected that she would be injured and need to go back for healing, but she actually looks fine, and she clearly wants to fight. She and the other Boars think that tracking the Man down is the right thing to do, because if they don't deal with him tonight, he'll just come back. Plus the others will probably need the help anyway.

Higiri tries to talk them out of it. She states that the teachers can deal with him if they don't, to which Dokudami says that the teachers will be disappointed in all of the students if they find out that they all failed to stop one guy. She then repeats that the others may be fighting him right now and may need help if the plan to mind control the Man doesn't work. Higiri doesn't want to go against Sumire's orders, but she can't shake the feeling that the Boars might be right. The search party sent to find Tsubaki might be in danger. Suzushiro's apart of the group too, so Higiri is extra worried about their well-being. So she's convinced, she will take the Boars to find the Man after all. They'll head in the direction that Sumire's group should be in and try to meet up with them. The four girls leave the clearing, and run off into the forest together, the Boars following the Dragon leader.

She's sure that Sumire and her group will appreciate the assist.