Itsuki Kaguya, Land of Hot Water
"Another transport mission?" I sighed, "and here I was thinking I escaped doing D-ranks."
Ay let out an amused grunt from behind his desk, standing with his arms crossed, "no one escapes D-ranks, Itsuki. If you try to run away, the D-ranks will always find you."
I had gotten to know the guy for around a month now and he wasn't as hot-tempered as I was expecting him to be based on the anime. You'd think he'd be even worse in his youth, but no, the teenager had been pretty chill whenever we spoke.
Then again, I guess we haven't had any real problems yet in the war since I'd arrived, so there wasn't much to be mad at.
"Don't I know it; you've been sending them my way for weeks now." I squinted at him, "C'mon Ay, throw me a bone and give me something good. There's only so much sparring a guy can do."
"Have more patience, boy. You're still too green. You don't have enough experience working in teams just yet. Those training drills they run in the academy pale in comparison to what you learn out in the field," Ay crossed his massive arms. "When a suitable mission comes, I'll be sure your name is included. But in the meantime, you're on the same jobs as the other Genin."
"And how much experience are we talking about exactly until I get better missions?" I said, "because I'm already more than strong enough to become a Chunin as is."
"When you've proven yourself to be ready. I can understand the impulse kid, but there's no need to rush into this. Not a single person your age has even left the academy yet, and here you are in the commanders tent out at war."
Until I prove myself huh?
Noted. I'll have to hold him to that.
The future Kage continued by giving me some advice, "you've still got years left ahead of you for high-risk missions, and what you'll learn in this time will be vital to survive them. Strength isn't everything. Much more is needed to become a good shinobi."
A resigned exhale passed through my nose. "Yeah, I've been told. Your dad said something similar," I said, recalling something the Raikage had told me many months back.
"And just who do you think taught me that lesson?" A smirk quirked up on Ay's face at that, "it seems graduating young always makes for an eager brat."
I left his tent soon after to grab my supplies.
It had been over a month since I'd left the village, and the only missions I'd been on in that time were to help transport supplies and letters to and from various camps. None of them, unsurprisingly, led to any confrontation with enemy nin. It was all very boring.
The sole exception had been the very first mission I had taken, but that could hardly count as a fight. It was a massacre of hundreds of people who couldn't even fight back.
Nothing like the awesome ninja battles from my dreams.
Even if I didn't actively take part in killing the civilians myself since I was ordered to hang back and conceal my identity, the whole thing had really taken some steam out of my enthusiasm.
It was a real wake up call, and I'd since had a while to think it all over.
I was a hired killer, and held no remorse for the lives of the shinobi I took, as they too were in the same line of work so were all fair game (a mindset Ay was pleased to hear when he checked on me the following days), but I couldn't say I felt too great about what I did to those townsfolk.
But unfortunately, that was just the way of this world. Even if I wanted to however, there was nothing I could do about it as I was. Hell, I may even have to do something like that again, and regretfully, I wasn't really in a position to refuse any of my missions right now.
I knew this was a dark place, but I didn't expect to contribute so much to that misery so early on. All I wanted was to have some simple death battles against strong shinobi, but the elemental nations were far more complicated than that apparently.
I wonder if other characters from the show were complicit in missions like the one I'd been on. The Hidden Leaf played a crucial role in the destruction of Nagato's home after all, how much of that were the Sannin to blame for?
Minato should be out there fighting sometime around now. Did a guy as seemingly kind as him have such a cruel mission history?
Whatever the case was, it wouldn't be me who brought peace to this world.
That sounded like way too much boring work to accomplish, and there would be plenty of other people who would try instead of me.
And unlike the child of prophecy Naruto, I wasn't born in a time of peace. I had two wars ahead of me, and there was no doubt in my mind that even by the time this war was over, I'd have made a list of enemies after my head. It would be far more of an uphill battle for me to even attempt what Naruto did.
Maybe these were excuses and maybe I'm just selfish, but I'd already decided long ago on what I wanted out of this life.
And that was what I had and would train every single day to accomplish.
...
'Hmmm. White or light gray?' I held up a pair of haori's in my and, debating which one to put on top of my undershirt for the mission. It was a decision I'd been stuck on for the past few minutes, I wasn't your average anime character who wore the same clothes everyday after all. 'Light gray,' I eventually nodded.
I was pretty tall for my age, reaching the heights of those a couple years older had me towering over all the other seven year olds back at home. My hair was kept long, just as it had been for years, and I had to push it back to tie my shinobi forehead protector, concealing my unmistakable blood-red dots.
Pushing Chakra into a seal kept under my bed, two twin ivory swords the size of tantos appeared in the air, which were both carefully crafted from only the finest of bone found in my spine.
Until the day came where I openly used my bloodline, I had to relegate myself to only using these two bad boys for any Kenjutsu clashes I found myself in. It was the closest thing I would have to my true style after all.
My identity was still a secret that was kept close to those from the Lightning Village, and I would have to try to keep it that way for as long as possible. I'd be placing a henge over myself to hide the crimson shade of my eyelids.
Feeling like the Ghost of Sparta as I strapped both blades behind my back, I finished packing what I would need for the mission, then headed out to find whatever team I would be travelling with.
...
A trio of child soldiers could be seen standing around on the western exit of the camp. Two of the Genins were arguing while the third tried to mediate whatever debate they were having.
A lazy looking Jonin lounged about on the floor behind them, resting his head against a tree as he kept his eyes closed underneath his sunglasses. The toothpick flipping from one side of his mouth to the other was the final detail that brought recollection to my mind.
Scouring through the various bingo books as of late allowed me to link the guy before me to his picture. "Phantom Blade" Ryota Kimura. Renowned for his mastery over both Genjutsu and Kenjutsu, with a bounty of 26 million ryo in Konoha.
Bingo book entries were actually far more common than I initially assumed. If you were anything from a notable Genin and up, and made it through a fight which left survivors, you'd probably find yourself somewhere in the pages.
Except for those who'd been in the Anbu from a young age of course, those guys were hard to get information on.
The mop of short blue hair on one the sole female Genin picked at my brain too, but not because of any bounty. Where had I seen her before?
"Alright, looks like the teams' all here," the Jonin lazily breathed out while he exaggeratedly stood up and stretched.
The Genin's looked around at that and locked on my form, each of them ceasing their arguments as surprise took over their faces.
Ah, I'll probably have to give them my autograph.
The girl broke out into a sprint towards me and vigorously shook my hand.
"Mr Itsuki! It's so great to finally see you again! Are you really the person going on the mission with us!?"
'Oh, right. This was that girl I met at the hospital a couple of weeks ago who told me about my first mission. Guess this is her Genin squad.'
"Sure am, Ami. I don't have a Genin team of my own, so I have to tag along with others. Today's just your lucky day" She beamed up at me as I confirmed her hopes.
"Woah, we get to go on a mission with him!? That's awesome!" I heard one of the boys shout out.
"Ha! This is great! Don't worry, Itsuki, if push comes to shove, you can count on me to watch your back." The other said.
"Watch his back? Why the hell would he need that? Haven't you seen him spar in the training rings?" The lankier one, with one of my swords on his waist, questioned him.
"No? You think I got in this shape by watching other guys fight? Please, I'm too busy getting these gains and fending off girls to waste time on that."
"You know it's crazy to me that you spend all that time training, but you're still weaker than me. Some guys just have bad genetics, huh?"
"Weaker than you!? You know what, maybe next time when I'm working out I won't fend off your sister! I'll get some of my bad genetics all over her face!"
"Well your moms already-!"
Before the other boy could say something about the other's mom, the Jonin huffed out, "man, you kids are way too young to be talking like that." He shook his head, "someone should really be teaching you better."
"You're the one who's supposed to be teaching us sensei," Ami scrunched up her face.
"Eh, I'm here to teach you the ways of shinobi, not basic manners. Don't blame me for your potty mouth, Ami." Ryota waved his hand.
Ami seemed to take offense at the accusation, "I do not have a-!"
"Anyway, we need to get going," the Jonin cut off his students' protest, leaving her staring at him heatedly. He then looked in my direction and pointed at his Genins, "introductions. The one that's apparently drowning in women is Komoi."
Komoi, the muscly boy, nodded at me.
Their sensei continued, "this one here is Yuto."
"I've been wanting to meet you!" Yuto waved.
"My name is Ryota Kimura, Jonin-sensei of team Echo." The Jonin pulled a thumb in his own direction before pointing a finger at Ami. "And I can see you've already met potty-mouth-Ami over here,"
She let out a squawk in protest. "What!? No! Sensei, you're gonna give him the wrong impression of me! When the heck have I-!"
"Woah!"
"Ami!"
"Language!"
Her team were horrified at the vulgarity displayed by their teammate, while Ami could only look at them in shock at the betrayal.
"I- you- that wasn't a bad word!" She stuttered to defend herself, a blush building up on her cheeks. "All I said was heck-!"
A round of gasps passed through her squad as they all flinched back.
A nauseous look was on my face as I slowly shook my head. "I'm Itsuki Kaguya. It was nice to meet you all but I…" I put a hand to the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath, composing myself after what I had just heard. "Too far, Ami. Too far."
I trudged ahead with the other guys as we began heading out for the mission, while Ami remained standing in place behind us beet red and gaping like a fish as she struggled to form words.
...
Orochimaru of the Sannin, Jonin of Konoha, Hidden Steam Village
"Our Village is suffering too much, Orochimaru! We need to push them back, and we need to do it now! We cannot sustain this war much longer!" Kenzo Jokihana, the frustrating Steam Kage, slammed his hands on his desk as he shouted.
Orochimaru had to resist his urge to strangle the man who had been testing his patience for the duration of their meeting. It had not been going as he wanted.
"Konoha is doing all that it can, Lord Yugakage," the Sannin hissed out the "Lord", in an almost mocking tone. "But fighting four different wars at once has left our resources stretched very thin." An explanation he had given enough times he stopped bothering to count.
"So you allow my country to be a sacrifice!? You allow my people to bear the brunt of this war!?" A sneer formed on the village leader's face, "We are your allies; we did not join you to face such destruction when it could be prevented! Or am I as foolish as the Uzumaki's were for believing that an alliance means anything to you?"
This was a delicate conversation, one that they had had multiple times in the past one way or another. He had managed to sway the Kage previously, but this time he had far less confidence.
While Kumo were a very powerful foe, they were one which could be kept at bay for the time being. The resources they would need to divert from the other fronts in order to defeat them would be far greater than what they could afford at the moment; the other great villages would pounce on their openings and deal too great a blow to their forces.
It would be a foolish decision for the Leaf to make, as unfortunate as it was for Hot Water country.
Suna on the other hand, was the weakest of the bunch. And with the forces Sakumo had at his disposal, as well as his own strength, it was only a matter of time before they fell. And once they had, they could dismantle each remaining village one by one with the additional support he could provide.
While Orochimaru understood the Steam Kage's position, holding the line here in the Land of Hot Water was in the Leaf's best interest.
"You would do well to be more careful with your words, Yugakage. The Uzumaki's were dear friends to the Leaf, and their fall was felt deeply by us all. Such disrespect will not be tolerated." Orochimaru bored his eyes into the man who matched his gaze and put on a brave face, but the slight dilation in his pupils betrayed his facade.
The Leaf commander filled the silence by continuing, "you are aware that we're doing all that we can to end this. Sakumo is making strides towards crushing Suna, and our talks with Mifune will see an end to his reluctance to interfere. The burden that your country is facing will soon come to an end, and your efforts will not be forgotten by the leaf. The Steam Village will be heavily rewarded for all that it's done."
"My country will have become shambles long before that time comes, Sannin," the resolve in the eyes of the Jokihana was clear. This wasn't an issue he would budge on. "This is not a solution I can accept. Not anymore. I can no longer wait for your hypotheticals to come to pass while my country crumbles. You have had your time."
The Kage held fire in his eyes now, any hint of nervousness squashed down under his determination to save his people. "You must give the Samurai no choice but to enter this war."
An ugly look took over Orochimaru's face at the suggestion, one he was hoping the Kage would not give. "Foul play? That's your proposal?" He sneered. "And what would you do if they discovered this little ploy? What would your plan be if they set aside their differences with Kumo and turned their blades on us? Discussions alone will bring Mifune into the war without such a risk, you need only wait a little longer. Being brash will throw away the lives of your people and waste the sacrifices they have already made."
"There is no time left for discussion, can't you see!? If they continue to hesitate, it will be the end of this country!" The Yugakage took a deep breath and calmed his tone, but he quenched none of the fire in his voice. "The risk of them turning their forces against us is one we have no choice but to take."
With finality in his tone, Kenzo left Orochimaru with an ultimatum, "either force the Samurai's hand, or I will have no choice but to do what is best for my village. This war must change."
The Sannin could only hold back some of his anger at that, "then tell me, Yugakage, do you believe Kumo will be lenient in your surrender?" Orochimaru took on a darker tone. "Do you believe I will?"
There was silence for a long moment before Kenzo repeated himself, "I believe I am running low on options."
The conversation did not improve from there and Orochimaru left the Kage's office in a sour mood.
If the Hidden Steam were to withdraw from their alliance with Konoha, then the war would be taken into the Land of Fire itself.
It was currently a rare thing for Kumo squads to slip past the Leaf's borders and strike at their home country, but the loss of manpower in the case of the Steam Village departing would leave many of their outposts undermanned.
The loss of manpower with the Steam Village's departure would leave many of those outposts undermanned, and with the country being under the Hidden Cloud's control, their entire focus would then be on Fire Country. It was the very mess that Danzo had to deal with on the Kiri front.
It would be nothing short of failure if Orochimaru allowed it to happen here.
He couldn't even kill the damn Kage and replace him with someone more compliant, Kenzo had taken precautions to see that being a difficult task.
'We cannot afford to lose the support of this village,' Orochimaru regretfully thought. Jomei's team is set to return tomorrow. Perhaps it would be for the best to have them scout in the Land of Iron for any possible targets… '
As Orochimaru stepped out onto the Village's streets, contemplating the necessary steps to make, while making his way towards a training field reserved for himself.
A familiar mess of light-brown hair could be seen in the distance on the field. He was panting with his hands on his knees, but held a triumphant look on his face as he stood surrounded by large puddles of water.
The ground squelched underneath the Sannin's feet as he stepped onto the grass, looking on at the disarray before him.
"Hah- hah. Finally! I can't wait to see their faces when I bust this out!" The boy stood up and swung his arms in the air, "I'll be all like 'woosh' and 'boom'! And they'll be all like 'woah, Nawaki you're so cool'! And then I'll say 'hmph, that was nothing' and look away all serious!"
Orochimaru watched his student for a moment, who had his eyes closed and arms crossed while he posed, before the Sannin chose to break him out from his daydreams and flickered right behind him. "Nawaki."
"Ah!" The Genin fell to the floor before he scrambled back to his feet, his embarrassment on clear display as he rubbed the back of his head and struggled for words, "oh h-hey um, Orochi-sensei! Haha! How uh- how long have you been there? ...Haha?"
Orochimaru looked at the boy in front of him with faint amusement. "Long enough to know that you're the least cool of my students."
"Oh come on! You can't catch a guy getting his celebration on then call him lame. That's messed up, sensei!" He crossed his arms at the snake summoner.
Orochimaru had taken on Nawaki and his teammates over a year ago, after being encouraged by both his own team and his Sensei.
Were it any other group of Genins, he would have refused. For someone of his talents, spending time on training the mediocre would be an egregious waste of time. And that wasn't even including how busy he was with his position in the war.
But Nawaki Senju was a boy he had known ever since Tsunade had first shown him her newborn baby brother. And watching him grow up, Orochimaru knew that 'mediocre' was in no way an apt description for the boy.
"Should I take your celebration to mean that you've learnt the Jutsu?" The Jonin-sensei asked, intrigued to see if Nawaki had learnt the task he had set so quickly.
The Senju brightened up at that, and pointed right at Orochimaru. "Hah! You just watch and find out!" He then spun to face off towards the side and began weaving through hand signs.
Orochimaru watched closely, paying attention to each of the forty four different seals Nawaki made.
'Hmm. His unfamiliarity with the Yang Water sign is clear with the drop in speed as he transitions out of it. Its rare use in Jutsus is no excuse, more refinement will be needed.'
At the interlocking of his fingers for the final time, a large serpentine form began to emerge from the ground out of the masses of water from Nawaki's earlier attempts.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!" The aquatic beast roared overhead as Nawaki shouted out its name. It was the very same technique that was created by his granduncle, Tobirama Senju.
With a flex of his Chakra, Nawaki willed the dragon forward as its sinister, yellow eyes beamed at the small grove of trees before it. With an open maw, the serpent dove and slammed straight through the first tree, demolishing everything in its path before landing in the centre of them all.
With a loud crash, a wild wave of water splashed out in every direction, bark from the obliterated trees scattering into the air and being carried along with the streams. Water rained down from above as both Orochimaru and Nawaki applied Chakra to their feet to resist being swept away by the current.
After a few more seconds, the wave died down as it thinned across the training ground and sunk as much as it could into the already bogged soil.
A smile crept onto Orochimaru's face as his student panted beside him, exhaustion clear on Nawaki after having performed that technique multiple times already.
"Marvelous," he said to his student, glancing at the crater where the trees once stood.
And Orochimaru meant it. That was a B-rank Jutsu, and one of the most complicated elemental ones at that. After months of badgering from Nawaki, Orochimaru had finally agreed and showed him the Jutsu once he believed the boy to be ready.
That was only three weeks ago, while most others would have struggled to accomplish the same in half a year if they were lucky.
Yes, far from mediocre indeed.
...
Itsuki Kaguya, Land of Hot Water
We all stood and watched as the shuriken arced through the air, silently flying above the rocks, before sinking into the back of an unsuspecting fox's head.
"Oof, got it!" Yuto fist bumped before running up the small cliff that separated us from his kill.
"Nice throw, man," Komoi nodded at him.
While the optimized shinobi rations that we had stocked at camp were abundant, and replenished frequently by our supply lines, it was a much more fun time to eat actual meat instead of the protein bars and food pills.
So unless your mission was high priority, it was common to spare a minute or two if you happened to stumble upon an animal to seal its body in a scroll.
Hours had passed while we had been darting through the country at high speeds, and we had just finished making our way around a large volcano that stood in our path, one of the many in the Land of Hot Water.
This diverse country hosted a variety of different terrains, from barren fields of rocky plains with colourful minerals that sparkled with the hot showers of geysers, to dense forests with trees far larger than any found in the Land of Lightning which struggled to contain the steam from the hot rivers found snaking inside.
The route we were taking crossed very few such forests, leaving us much more exposed but also making it harder to watch us without our knowing.
As Yuto wall-walked up the rocks, I sent Chakra into my eyes, a handy trick to amplify vision, and nonchalantly swivelled my head around. Seemingly not looking for anything in particular until I glanced across at the area I suspected a certain something to be.
This area was pretty much secured by the Kumo military, sneaking through it was no easy task. The chances of confrontation were low.
But that didn't mean they were zero.
My thoughts became more cemented with what I saw. 'You little pervert. Fuck off!
Nothing outward had happened yet on this mission, but I had gained a deep disliking for ninja mind games all the same after possibly finding myself on the receiving end. Everything was a game of chess and nothing could be ruled out.
Each time I had glanced up at the sky for the past hour, the same goddamn eagle was somewhere to be found. Be it somewhere in front, behind, or perched up in the distance surveying the area. It was always able to watch us.
To anyone else, the eagle's movements wouldn't be seen as weird. It had behaved close enough to any other of its kind. It had only struck me a few minutes ago where I had seen something like this before, and came up with the first excuse I could to get us to stop whilst signalling urgency to our Jonin leader.
There was no doubt he was also somewhat on edge; we were supposed to cross paths with a patrol group somewhere around the volcano, but were yet to have seen them. Were they still further up ahead
Or are their remains stored up in scrolls right now?
Shinobi tricks can make a man go crazy. This was either a regular old bird looking for food, or we were being tracked by some mind controlling Yamanaka and were possibly surrounded.
I turned to face Ryota and began to communicate to him discreetly in Kumo sign language, "eagle, north-east, tree, on, cliff, following, Yamanaka, maybe." I gave him the location of the very same eagle that was sitting on a tree branch half a kilometer away as we spoke.
"How, long?" He replied back.
"One, hour, maybe, more." I weaved back.
The man had been eating an apple, and continued to do so after I told him about the imminent threat, not giving away that anything important had just been shared. But I knew that the cogs in his mind were spinning at the implications just as they were in mine.
'They're probably just here by coincidence, and after spotting us, they planned to follow to map out where our camp is- No. If they have a Yamanaka, they can just mind read our corpses to get that.' I realized this was a much bigger problem than I initially assumed.
'And if a Yamanaka's here, there's probably an Akamichi and Nara too.' I surveyed the forest ahead of us, only a few hundred metres away and in the direction we were going. 'Fuck, we're walking right into a 500 IQ Nara trap. The forest is the perfect place for their shadow techniques.'
None of our team members were sensors, so we had no way of knowing just how many the Konoha group had with them. But it shouldn't be too large since they managed to sneak so far into our territory.
'Hm. We can probably rule out a Hyuga or any other tracking specialist if they had to resort to a plan like this.'
While Ryota met my eyes as he continued eating, Yuto was cleaning the blood from his shuriken above us. The Jonin began signing back. "We, retreat, back, your, survival, priority, you, flee, we, distract, if, necessary."
It seems he didn't believe it to be a coincidence.
"Hell, no," I emphasised back. How lame of a guy does he think I am?
At the raise of his eyebrows, which conveyed just how serious he was given our current nonchalantness, I mirrored his expression right back.
He clearly hadn't meant that as a request, but there was nothing he could do to enforce it here and stop me from fighting.
Me running away on my lonesome was also a giant risk anyway and he knew it. We don't know how many there are behind us, and if I'm forced to use my bloodline I'll immediately become priority number one.
Komoi and Ami began to pay attention to us at our brief staring contest, just as Yuto did as he began making his way back down the rocks while he too watched on.
Ryota finally sighed, having finished his apple, "I should've packed more of these." He signed to the rest of the team about our potential ambush. "Ami, could you pass me a protein bar?"
There was a slight hesitation in the girl, as she tried to wheel in her fear at the news, "o-oh, sure thing, sensei!" She rushed out as she reached into her pouch.
Continuing to travel east would lead us right into where the ambush likely was. The same forest spread out to the north of the volcano, and we would again find ourselves in the home-field advantage against the Nara.
Our only choices were to either flee to the south, away from both the volcano and the direction of any outposts to get support, bringing who knows how many ninjas chasing us, but we would be less likely to be charge into anyone during our escape.
Or we bolt to the west, back the way we came and in the opposite direction to the forest. We'd almost be guaranteed to face some Konoha goons, but it would likely be a small group, and whoever was in the forest would become more manageable if it came to a fight with them.
And as out in the open as we were, there were very few select spots those flanking us would be hiding in…
Ryota signed as good of a plan as he could come up with given our scarce information, and we prepared ourselves to break away.
Genius or not, the Nara couldn't account for a universe hopping kid with metaknowledge of his traps.
After a final signal, Ryota dropped a few smoke bombs on the ground, picked up both Yuto and Ami, then took off in a Body Flicker to the west. Me and Komoi followed right behind him.
Racing towards the volcano, we broke out of the Jutsu after a couple hundred metres as I faced the few large boulders and trees spread around nearby, and began to make some hand seals.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Bullets!" Sending the small, highly penetrative bullets forward, I watched as three Konoha Chunins jumped out of their hiding spots and prepared for the battle, while the C-Rank technique swiss-cheesed the area.
Ryota hadn't been idle, as he had already dropped the Genins and charged towards the enemy nin. Weaving through hand signs at a speed I struggled to track, one of the shinobi looked up at the peak of the volcano and screamed, while the other two managed to break the illusion.
They weren't able to free their comrade in time before Ryota was on them with his blade, the Jonin didn't even bother looking at the trapped Shinobi as kunai from his students rained down into the man's vitals.
The first nin raised his own tanto to block Ryota's strike, but the blade he saw was the illusion the Jonin wanted him to see as Ryota carved through the man without resistance. His sights immediately fell upon the second who threw a fuma shuriken, trying to retreat back.
Ryota allowed no such thing and blitzed towards him after parrying the weapon aside, the Chunin leaned back to avoid something only he could see, and that moment sealed his fate as Ryota Kimura buried his blade through the man's heart.
"Phantom Blade" Ryota had earned his title through his unique style of wielding his sword with one hand, and layering illusions on it with the other. His fine crafted style was a nightmare to fight against, with enemies and allies alike never truly knowing where his blade really was.
Myself and the Genins rushed over to Ryota to flicker away again, but the temperature on our backs suddenly began to spike. Snapping my head around, I was met with the source.
"Fire Jutsu! Move!" I warned, seeing a massive fireball heading our way.
"Shit!" Komoi shouted out as we all managed to jump away in time, but our opening for escape had vanished. We had no choice but to stay and fight now.
Through the steam, a tall, black-haired man could be seen blurring his way towards us, swivelling his head around as he looked at-
"Tch! Uchiha! Don't look in his eyes!" Ryota called out as he ran to move in front of us, but the Sharingan had already lured in a target.
Ami stood motionless with her eyes wide as she was trapped in the Genjutsu, not bothering to evade the fire dragon that blazed towards us. I flashed through some seals before slamming my hands to the ground, pumping more Chakra than I usually did for the Jutsu.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall!" A giant earthen barrier rose in front of us, quaking as the fire Jutsu slammed into its defences.
Yuto broke Ami free from the illusion behind me, as Ryota finally reached us. "He's a Jonin! I'll engage him, stay back and watch for others!" He moved past the wall as the explosion died down.
"I see your blade, Ryota Kimura!" Pinwheels spun in the eyes of the grinning Uchiha as he blocked Ryota's first swing with his Katana. He was the worst possible matchup for a Genjutsu specialist to face.
Lightning then sung through the air from Ryota's sword as he gripped it with both hands, chipping into the Uchiha's Katana with his next blow. "Then watch as it cleaves you in two." Ryota spoke as the Konoha nin stepped back.
Ryota used the opening to slam a hand into his forearm to reveal a matching second blade in his other hand, electricity dancing between them both.
As soon the pair began their fight, another Konoha nin raced forwards from the distance, his flak jacket visible as he reached for his pouch. At the same time, I felt the ground subtly loosen under my feet, which was all the warning I needed to leap into the air, avoiding the Jutsu I was familiar with as a pair of hands breaching through the dirt in an attempt to drag me down.
Wind coated shurikens streaked their way towards us from the charging man who had almost closed in on us. I reached back for one of my Bone swords and swatted away any that were aimed at me with Earth Chakra pushed into my weapon, then threw it to the ground to block a couple headed for my team.
The other Genins had managed to evade the bulk of them as well, but Komoi had taken a nasty gash to the shoulder. I ignored the sight as the kunoichi from below had almost fully emerged to the surface, but I had already made my hand signs. "Lightning Release: Lightning bullets!"
I rained down bolts from hell on the woman, but she managed to substitute herself away in time with widened eyes and avoided being pelted.
Ripping my sword from the earth as I landed on the ground, I quickly took stock of the situation. 'Is that a Tokubetsu Jonin vest on the wind guy? That's definitely a Chunin vest on the other one.'
I looked further past them, spotting more incoming, 'and are those two more ninjas running at us from over there? Is one of the Ino-Shika-Cho flanking us? Goddamn.'
Despite the danger, and the likelihood that we would all die here, I couldn't hold back the smile on my face.
This was it. This was what I'd been waiting years for. The sole reason I'd been training every single day of this new life.
A true battle of life and death!
Finally!
My heartbeat roared in anticipation as I spoke to the Genins behind me. "Hold off the Chunin."
I didn't turn around but I knew they heard me all the same. It would be a monumental task for them, but one they had to accomplish for us to have any hope of surviving this.
My eyes were locked onto the tougher opponent as I flickered forward. I had to at least try to deal with this guy before the Clan trio arrived.
Surprise was on the forefront of the man's face as I slashed at him with my blade, but he deflected the strike with his sword and kicked my stomach, sending me slightly back. He frowned, not expecting my body to be so tough as he was unaware of my bone armour.
"A little prodigy, huh?" The man's expression became somewhat more focussed, as Wind Chakra began to coat his blade. "Guess I'll have to snuff you ou-."
I spat out some earth bullets, not having the time for him to monologue, then made a couple hand signs.
"Earth Release: Rock Clone Jutsu!"
Another me formed from my body through a technique I had mastered enough to activate with only two seals.
He had already evaded the bullets by the time I had rushed forwards, but with the raise of his blade, I watched it suddenly elongate by a metre with Wind Chakra and I was forced to duck low to avoid the swing he aimed at my head.
I struck upwards with one arm, while my clone supported me by peppering lightning bullets at the man.
He near effortlessly parried my strike and swung at some of the bullets, ducking into the opening he made for himself to avoid the others, then moved onto the offensive.
Blocking blow after blow, his wind coated sword began to chip away at my hardened blades. He wasn't just stronger than me, he was a much better swordsmanship too and fast enough to keep avoiding the attacks sent by my clone.
I was quickly becoming overwhelmed, he wasn't at the speed of fully fledged Jonins that I had fought with, but he still had a massive upper hand. One I couldn't hope to fend off for much longer if I kept holding back.
Breaking my guard, he made a gap in my defence and kicked me away once again, then spun to face my clone. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A massive force of wind was sent my clone's way. Before he could be caught in the Jutsu, he retreated back with a Body Flicker and went to resume the attack.
But as I swung next, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted shadows creeping their way behind my earth clone and rising into the air, taking a solid form. I couldn't warn him in time before the pitch-black technique impaled him through his back, dispelling him immediately.
A Nara, hidden under the darkness of the earth wall, met my eyes and smirked as his shadows snaked their way towards me next.
The explosions and Jutsus ringing out around me from the other battles were ignored as I kept my attention fully focused on the threat in front of me.
I was on the back foot as the swordsman pressed forward, doing what I could to deflect his strikes and step away from the Shadow Stitching technique closing in on me along the ground, but I was quickly losing momentum.
With a heavy blow, the man's sword cleaved straight through one of my blades, cutting it down near the hilt. I threw it at the man's face, pivoting slightly as I moved to step back from the shadows, which momentarily gave me a faint view of a blur heading my way.
'The Akimichi!'
The other Genins were directly behind me now, and I quickly caught onto what their plan was and why I had been pushed back into this position. I was scraping for any ideas that could get us out of this mess.
The Nara saw the brief distraction in my eyes and used that opportunity to raise the closest shadow tendril and struck towards my calf, just as he had against my clone, but this time he picked up the speed a fraction higher than he had previously used to catch me off guard.
Instinctually, I jutted my body back, throwing myself slightly off balance. That gave the swordsman the opening he needed to stab through the underside of my raised kneecap.
The Nara followed up by wrapping his shadows around the only leg I had on the ground and yanked, laying me flat on my back against the dirt.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
A saw a massive bulldozer of a man barrelled his way towards us as he spun, taking the shape of a ball with the signature technique of the Akimichi. And on the edge of my vision, I watched on as several more tendrils made their way over to the Genins, making use of the shadows from the earthen attacks the Kunoichi seemed to have set up during her fight.
The Special Jonin jumped away, but I was pinned down, unable to stand up and evade the attack myself with the Nara restraining me.
There was nothing I could do but sit up and watch while the Akimichi closed the distance at rapid speeds. I held my breath, and waited.
200 metres, 100, 50, 40…
Right at that moment, I slapped my palms together and stretched out my arms, pumping a massive amount of Chakra into them. A giant bone spear over 10 metres in length stretched out from my body and I poured Earth Chakra through every inch of it, holding it steady.
The Akimichi was too close now to change direction, unable to stop himself as he was skewered onto the spike.
Digging deeper and deeper every moment until it pierced right through, a bloody vertical line swirled across the centre of his body as he rolled forward, ripping himself in two.
Two halves split apart and bowled past on either side of me. Drops of blood splashing on my downed body, while a never-ending ocean of the crimson gore rained down from the sky across the entire battlefield as his momentum carried his dead body forwards
The shadows holding me down had slackened as the stunned Nara momentarily tracked his fallen friend, and my knee had long since been healed.
I didn't waste the chance and broke free from the Nara's grip, dropping the bone spear to the ground then charging lightning into my fingertips, something I had only been able to achieve months ago with the help of the Raikage.
Firing off ten elemental bone bullets, they tore through the air far faster than any of their earthen counterparts as electricity arced between them, creating a screeching horizontal cable that would split anything in its path. And right now, that was a Nara who had only just realized the situation he was in.
Just like the Akimichi, another third of the Ino-Shiko-Cho fell as he was bisected through his chest. The earth wall behind him broke apart and collapsed on the dying pieces of the Nara, crushing him into the dirt and ending the man for good.
That entire encounter had merely taken seconds to play out since the Akimichi began charging at me. And now, a faint silence had engulfed the battlefield as everyone remaining seemed to have halted their fights, taking in what had happened.
Looks like there was no reason for me to hold back anymore.
AN: I have returned!
Apologies for the delayed upload. Last month was a very busy time for me with my work and a bunch of other things, but I still honestly thought I'd have this out a while ago. Things have calmed down for me now though so I should be able to start pumping out chapters again like I used to.
Also, catching up on the One Piece manga has made me want to make the bounty system in the Bingo Books a bit more prevalent in this story, as well as bounty hunters. If Asuma's bounty was canonically 35 million, how high do you think it went for the top tiers of the show?