I didn't blame Shikato for letting the others get away. He was just a newly minted Chuunin, barely more than a Genin, being able to hold five other Genin for even a moment was already impressive.
And it allowed the Inuzuka duo to get in nice and close, which was perfect since it forced them to engage in taijutsu, meaning suddenly the only one free to use ninjutsu was our side as both Shikato and bug boy stayed back.
All this happened in a single moment while I was mind air, all caught thanks to my Byakugan's omnidirectional vision.
The sensor Jōnin didn't seem particularly strong, so the four Hyūga Clan members were able to hold their own, which thankfully meant we actually had a decent chance at getting out of this alley.
However, everything depended on my ability to deal with these two.
Being midair wasn't good; it made me unable to move until I hit the ground. Jumping was often a last resort in combat.
Yet, I was still an elite shinobi.
While the Gentle Fist was my bread and butter, I still knew plenty of ninjutsu, and a particularly good one was substitution.
Honestly, it was totally broken.
I twisted midair, fingers flashing through the signs as quickly as I could manage—Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog, Snake.
Substitution Jutsu!
The air twisted around a huge stone-enhanced fist and a wind-enhanced kunai, both passing through where I had just been.
But my body flickered away, replaced with a piece of shattered vine that had been ripped free by the stone spikes.
The woman's kunai sliced through empty air.
I reappeared low to the ground, already sliding forward, momentum carrying me under her next swipe.
Palm strike—right into her hip.
I felt the tenketsu collapse under my touch.
She staggered, her body locking up for a precious second.
Yet, once again, I wasn't able to take advantage of that second, as I had to use it to evade yet another attack by the male.
While I was faster and better than the woman in taijutsu, their teamwork was good, and they never gave me the time I really needed.
Though at least this time, my attack wasn't one she could just shrug off like before. This would limit her somewhat, not as good as a downed opponent, but it was something.
The heavyset man roared and came at me again, his chakra surging into his arms, making his already bulky frame seem twice as massive.
His fists gleamed with stone armor, thick and crude—but it didn't matter how hard he hit if he couldn't land a blow.
I turned sideways, letting him thunder past by a hair's breadth, my hands grazing the inside of his elbow.
Tap—chakra burst.
The stone armor around his arm cracked and splintered, chakra flow disrupted mid-technique.
He stumbled, the sudden loss of reinforcement throwing off his balance.
I pivoted sharply, ready to press the attack—but the woman was already closing the gap, her kunai flashing toward my throat.
I exhaled through my nose, body sinking lower.
Gentle Fist: Swirling Branch.
Not a full rotation like the Heavenly Spin—too wasteful, too loud—but a tight, twisting slip of motion.
Her blade passed harmlessly over my head, and my open palm slammed into the tendons behind her knee.
She gasped and buckled, falling to one side.
I chased her down with a second strike to the lower ribs, precise enough to shut off her core strength for a few precious seconds.
The heavy Jōnin recovered quickly—he was dumb muscle, but muscle conditioned by years of experience—and he launched himself at me again, this time lower, smarter, aiming to grab instead of crush.
I let him.
Let him think he could catch me.
At the last second, I shifted.
His massive hands grazed the edge of my sleeve, fingers clenching on empty air as I spun in closer, right under his arms.
Palm to solar plexus.
Chakra burst.
He wheezed as the energy slammed into his diaphragm, stealing his breath, staggering him back two steps.
A kunai zipped past my ear—another Genin taking a potshot.
I batted it aside lazily with a flick of my sleeve, not even needing to look.
Byakugan saw everything.
The battlefield around me was chaos.
The Inuzuka and his ninken were locked in combat with three Genin; another had died due to being careless and not paying attention to Shikato. Now, it was back-and-forth; the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu was tailored for hit-and-run.
So he zipped around, trying to get a hit in, and with his Beast Mimicry, both he and his ninken were dangerous. More so when shadows could be deadly.
Though it wasn't like Shikato could lend too much help. Since he was also helping Bug Boy and the Hyūga quartet.
In particular, the Aburame was struggling; it wasn't easy to deal with three Genin at once, more so since he was clearly more of a sensor than an assassin, so his poisons weren't potent enough.
So he even had to engage them in taijutsu, and only his strange bug jutsus and support kept him from being taken down.
Meanwhile, the four Hyūga fighters kept pressing the sensor Jōnin, coordinated and relentless.
I could see their strikes flow together in seamless tandem—each one targeting a different point, trying to collapse his defense layer by layer.
The Iwa sensor was holding for now—barely—but it was clear he was losing ground.
Another few minutes and they'd overwhelm him.
If we lived that long.
I really couldn't afford to help them; my fight was the most dangerous and the most important. Should I fall, we all die.
Well, I wouldn't really die, this was at most a clone of mine, but I would remain stuck in my seal, and after getting out, enjoying freedom, I really didn't want to spend the next few decades in there.
Plus, it would mess up my plans, big time.
So I couldn't afford to think like this didn't matter, it did.
The heavy man regained his footing, his chakra burning even hotter now—thicker, heavier.
He wasn't going to bother trying to grapple again. He wanted to end it in a single blow.
Across from him, the woman circled, slower, clutching her side where I'd shut down her chakra.
She was still dangerous.
Still sharp.
I exhaled quietly and let my hands rise again into the Gentle Fist stance—low, open, fluid.
One mistake would kill me.
Yet, I knew that was fine, good even.
It was this kind of thing I needed, it was here I could grow the most.
Right at the edge.
The heavy Jōnin stomped forward, each step making the ground tremble slightly, chakra pouring off him in waves. His earth armor thickened again, rough and jagged this time, more weapon than shield.
The woman darted in on the opposite side, her movements tighter, faster, the chakra on her kunai flickering like a blade of cutting wind.
They came at once.
I didn't move.
Not until the very last moment.
The heavy one swung a backhanded hammer-blow, a crushing arc meant to trap me against the wall of stone he'd created behind us.
The woman struck low—aimed to sever a tendon or pierce a kidney.
I flowed.
One step forward, the barest shift of my weight.
Their attacks crashed into empty space where I had been an instant before.
My palm slid under the heavy man's arm—tap, tap—two bursts of chakra at critical joints.
He grunted in pain, arm jerking stiffly.
The woman twisted, trying to catch me on the counter.
I let her overextend—and my fingers darted out, striking pressure points along her exposed side.
She reeled, her speed faltering.
Still not enough.
A distant roar yanked my attention sideways.
I flicked my gaze across the battlefield—saw one of the enemy Genin unleashing a huge jutsu.
Earth Release: Stone Rain.
Hundreds of sharpened stones filled the sky above the valley, chakra-enhanced and deadly.
They weren't aiming at me.
They were aimed at the enemies he was attacking. It was a foolish move; he would be completely out of chakra, likely fall unconscious immediately.
He would die, there was no doubt about it.
But there was one problem. The main family heir.
Panic burned through me.
I couldn't allow anything to happen to him; the clan was merciless to those who failed their sacred mission.
Even if I were favored, even if my punishment wasn't too harsh, it would totally ruin my long-term plans!
My body moved before my mind fully caught up.
I blurred across the broken ground, dodging a desperate slash from the female Jōnin, weaving between the heavy one's stumbling lunge.
A spike of pain lanced across my ribs—someone else's stray kunai grazing me—but I didn't slow.
I had to make it.
The heir stood frozen in the center, white eyes wide with horror, the incoming storm of stone reflected in his gaze.
Too slow.
He was too slow.
I slammed into him shoulder-first, knocking him off balance, sending him sprawling to the side.
And then the world exploded around me.
The first stones hit—hard, fast.
One tore a gouge along my thigh.
Another clipped my arm, spinning me half-around.
I leaned into the spin, I moved my body, my chakra soared through me as I executed one of the most powerful techniques of the Gentle fist.
Heavenly Spin.
I didn't even need to shout it. My body knew the motion.
Chakra burst from every tenketsu in my body, a perfect spiral, a shield of raw force and rotation that knocked the falling stones away.
The spinning dome of chakra split the air with a thunderous crack, the earth trembling beneath my feet as fragments of stone shattered against the barrier and ricocheted harmlessly into the ground.
When the last of the stones clattered to the ground, I let the spin collapse, my legs buckling slightly under the strain.
Blood trickled down my thigh, down my ribs, warm and sticky. My arms ached. My lungs burned.
But I stood between him and the enemy.
The valley fell silent for half a heartbeat.
Everyone—friend and foe—staring.
The heavy Jōnin cursed under his breath, adjusting his stance.
The woman wiped blood from her mouth, eyes narrowed.
"Well I will be damned, it would seem there is a rare prize among us today, someone from the main family, someone… unsealed." The man said, having seen through my action.
I wasn't surprised, I would have been if they couldn't see through what I did, why I did it. I allowed myself to get hurt, and badly at that, all to save some Chuunin, it didn't make a lick of sense.
Should I die, everyone would, yet I risked everything for someone else; there could only be one reason for that.
The heavy Jōnin grinned, slow and vicious.
"That one's important," he rumbled. "That one's worth dying for."
The woman shifted her weight, adjusting her grip on the wind-chakra kunai. Even the Genin, battered and bruised though they were, started closing the net again, their fear buried under grim determination.
They weren't trying to wipe us out anymore.
They wanted prisoners.
Specifically, him.
And now that they knew who the real target was, they'd tear this valley apart to get him.
I breathed out slowly, centering myself despite the burning throb of pain down my side.
The Hyūga Clan members got into position behind me, forming a diamond formation with the heir in the center.
The heavy Jōnin stepped forward, fists tightening, earth chakra leaking off him like smoke.
"I'll offer you a deal," he said, voice mocking. "Hand over the heir. We'll let the rest of you live."
A scoff tore itself from my lips before I could help it.
"As if," I spat.
He smiled wider.
The woman next to him quickly started weaving signs, no doubt to attack from a distance, to deal with me, and take the heir prisoner, but I couldn't allow that.
I didn't have time to waste.
(End of chapter)
More fighting, still no fireballs, but this is still the taijutsu section of the story, you want ninjutsu? Then you gotta stick around.
So, Yuki risking herself for others? Not very Kaguya of her. But let's be honest, she was Kaguya as we know her, a thousand years ago, everyone would have changed in that time. And again, she can't really die, so her plan is more important than her clone life.
After all, if her plans fail, she might as well just wait for Zetsu to free her.
What is her plan? Well that, is a secret~