"Of course, I'm afraid of death! How many people in this world aren't afraid of dying?" After a pause, Ishikawa shook his head with a bitter smile, looking directly at Kakashi without hiding the fear in his heart. "But sensei, so what if I'm scared? The enemy won't show mercy just because we're afraid! Rather than panicking over every little thing, we might as well figure out a way to defeat them."
"Besides, I don't want to lose my teacher or comrades on my first mission outside the village! A companion is probably someone who stands tall even when they're scared to death. This must be what Hokage-sama means by the Will of Fire!"
"You've already come to understand this, Ishikawa?" Kakashi's pupils shrank when he heard that as if he saw the shadow of his old friend behind Ishikawa.
That guy was just like this! Terrified to the core, yet he still chased after the Rock Ninja for Rin… and in the end…
"We're not afraid of death either, Sensei!" Taro and Jiro looked at each other, admiration glowing in their eyes as they shouted in unison.
Big Brother really is Big Brother. They still had a long way to go before they reached that mindset! But now that Big Brother had stepped up, how could they run away? At worst, they'd die together. After all, they were all orphans—who were they supposed to be afraid of...?
"Taro, Jiro—you two protect Lady Tsunade. Ishikawa, you're coming with me." After a brief silence, Kakashi finally made up his mind without further hesitation.
Among the three, only Ishikawa could truly help—even if only a little.
"Sensei, I've already come up with a battle plan..." Seeing Kakashi agree, Ishikawa glanced at Tsunade, who still hadn't stirred, and sighed before stepping forward to speak in a low voice.
As expected… if he wasn't the protagonist, his words were meaningless to Tsunade! But this was good enough.
At the very least, he had gained Kakashi's recognition—so getting access to information and even learning Chidori shouldn't be a problem. As for Tsunade? Ishikawa was sure that once she became the Fifth Hokage, this investment would pay off.
That's right—he wasn't risking everything just on emotion. He was following the flow of the times, planning ahead! He had no choice—being a commoner meant he had very few resources...
Even if he had a portal, he'd still need a proper identity to gather intel and trade with Nohara Rin. 'Damn… life's so hard for me...'
"I see. Got it!" Kakashi's eyes lit up after hearing Ishikawa's plan.
Though the strategy was still a bit rough, it had the potential to flip the situation in their favor.
Nodding at Ishikawa, the teacher and student formed hand seals in sync. "Transformation Technique..."
"Go on, keep pushing them to use ninjutsu and force them to burn chakra." Outside the Earth-Style Wall, the two Nokizaru attackers waited for a moment. When they saw no explosions, they nodded and formed seals again.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
At the same time, several shuriken wrapped with tags shot out from both sides of the Earth Flow Wall. In the very next moment, Kakashi and Ishikawa charged in from the left and right.
"Oh no! Explosive tags!"
One of the sharper-eyed enemies screamed and immediately transformed into smoke to evade the attack, surging toward Ishikawa with his smoke-like body. "I'll take care of this little Genin first! Then we'll double-team Kakashi."
"Make it quick." The other didn't object. He rolled to the side, fixing his gaze on Kakashi with vigilance, wary of him offering support.
Meanwhile, the Nokizaru leader was still recovering from Tsunade's heavy blow, while the other two were caught in a fierce clash with the Raikage as they tried to seize the Sugi Village's secret scroll.
Their mission was, after all, to retrieve the scroll. If it got destroyed in the Raikage's self-destruction, they wouldn't get their full reward!
"Hahaha! You little brat, acting tough at a time like this! Don't think you're something just because that Earth Wall blocked our attack!" With a whoosh, a figure appeared behind Ishikawa, kunai in hand and a cruel grin on his face.
For him, this rookie Genin—even if he could burst out chakra—moved slower than a turtle. He didn't even need to use ninjutsu!
"Really? I don't think so." Just as the man was about to strike the killing blow, Ishikawa suddenly turned around and smiled calmly.
In the very next moment—almost simultaneously as their eyes met—Ishikawa's left eye turned into a scarlet Sharingan, activating its hypnotic ability.
In a flash, as the man's pupils glazed over under the genjutsu, his neck was swiftly cut—blood spraying in the air.
At that instant, Ishikawa's body transformed into Kakashi, and Kakashi simultaneously transformed into Ishikawa.
"Transformation Technique? Impossible! How could this happen?" The other Nokizaru member, who had been casually watching, stood there dumbfounded.
He hadn't expected it at all! They were actually deceived by something as basic as a Transformation Technique!
'Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow...'
Just as the man was distracted and vulnerable, Ishikawa—who had already prepared his hand seals—suddenly leaped into the air and launched his attack.
In just a breath, Ishikawa completed the hand seals, clenched his hand, and summoned a streak of white lightning into his palm. Without hesitation, he hurled it at his opponent.
"What?!" The man shouted in alarm as he spotted the lightning arc flashing toward him. Relying on his experience as a seasoned ninja, he quickly turned his body into smoke to evade.
Even though Ishikawa's lightning strike was fast and sudden, the difference in their levels was clear. The Thunderclap Arrow failed to do any harm.
"I'm sorry. I'm not the main attacker." Ishikawa wasn't frustrated at all by the failed strike. Instead, he smiled, clearly pleased with himself.
While Ishikawa was buying time, Kakashi's hands blurred through seals—"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough..."
Whoosh—
Kakashi exhaled, and a powerful gust surged forward, slamming into the enemy who had just transformed into smoke. Caught off guard, the man only managed to reform his upper body—his lower half, still smoke, was scattered violently in all directions.
"No! Impossible—my legs! My legs!!" Seeing his lower half blown away, the man screamed in agony and collapsed with a thud, bleeding profusely.
This sudden shift in the tide of battle left everyone stunned.
One side celebrated, and the other was plunged into despair...
"It seems their strength isn't so terrifying after all—aside from the Exploding Bugs and smoke-form techniques. Now only two of them are left on the Raikage's side." Ishikawa suppressed the unease in his heart and quickly made his way to Kakashi, his expression filled with concern.
Kakashi's chest bore a growing worm-shaped bulge, and sweat rolled down his forehead as he frowned deeply. "I didn't expect the Exploding Bug to grow this fast. Looks like I can only use one more ninjutsu at most."
"Sensei, you'd better not use any more chakra at all, or it'll explode! Let us handle the rest." Ishikawa sighed helplessly. He hadn't expected the bugs to advance so rapidly.
Fortunately, the Raikage was still holding off the other two enemies. With three of them, plus Shizune, they might still manage to win this!
"Ugh... Ha... Huff..." Suddenly, the Raikage groaned from the other side. The Lightning Release Chakra Mode vanished from his body as he exhaled heavily, drenched in sweat.
On his chest, the paralyzed Exploding Bug had clearly swelled—it had broken free of the Lightning Release's paralysis and absorbed a significant amount of chakra once more.
"Damn it! It wasn't fully paralyzed! It's been absorbing small amounts of chakra even while suppressed. I was careless... I didn't notice it growing!" the Raikage roared, fury erupting like thunder in his voice.
Seeing this unpredictable and rapidly worsening situation, Ishikawa's expression finally crumbled—his face darkened as if smeared with ink.
Damn it… Why is my luck always so bad?!