"Hah…"
Umino Yoru wiped the cold sweat from his brow, heart pounding. Too close.
Without his Sonic Radar Technique, a mere chunin's reflexes would've never dodged that special jonin's ambush.
"Oh?"
The dark-faced special jonin's eyes narrowed. He avoided that? His Gale Palm strike should've been fatal—yet this Konoha "elite" had substituted away effortlessly.
Impeccable fundamentals. As expected of a Leaf jonin.
"Let's see how many more you can evade."
Abandoning wind techniques (likely low on chakra), he lunged with a kunai instead.
"Hmph."
Yoru smirked. No long-range wind attacks? You're running on fumes.
A puppeteer without puppets was just a glorified chunin.
Expanding his sonic radar, he assessed the battlefield:
Overall: Stalemate. Konoha: Weaker but fresher, better equipped. Suna: Stronger yet poisoned—their momentum wouldn't last. Tekkou's Team vs. Bald Earth Chunin: Three B-rank Earth-Style Walls had drained the Suna-nin's chakra. Only soldier pills kept him standing against Inuzuka Ryō's Fang Over Fang.
Suna's elite training shows. Even half-dead, this guy fights like a rabid badger.
Gekkou Yoru vs. Spiky Jonin: The real shocker. Despite losing fingers, the Suna captain's kenjutsu remained jonin-level. Yet Yoru's Konoha-ryū flowed like liquid moonlight—each feint a lethal crescent.
"A 'Moonlight Dancer,' huh? We've got this."
Relief washed over Yoru. With Genma's patrol half a mile out, victory was assured.
Then—disaster.
"Yoru! The mission comes first—you hold them off. I'll secure the intel!"
Sarutobi Eijirou disengaged from the crippled puppeteer chunin and ran.
The Suna-nin stood frozen, probably too stunned by his sudden survival to pursue.
Yoru:???
We're seconds from backup, you idiot!
Now, the scales tipped:
The "spare" Suna chunin—though wobbling from poison—joined the fray, overwhelming Tekkou's team. Only Ryō's Two-Headed Wolf Transformation kept them alive.
"Hang in there, Ryō!"
Yoru parried the dark-faced jonin's strike, eyes flicking toward his struggling students.
"Worrying about brats? How careless."
The enemy sneered, probing for openings.
"Says the guy too drained for even a C-rank wind jutsu." Yoru shot back.
A tense silence confirmed the taunt's accuracy.
"Tekkou! Fall back to the river!"
Yoru carved a path toward the waterline—a natural barrier. No need to gamble when Genma's squad was—
"Hah! Found your weakness!"
The dark-faced jonin's grin turned feral as he stamped the ground.
"Puppetry Technique: Thousand Needles of Mercy!"
SHINK—!
A hailstorm of senbon erupted from the earth—no, from the scorpion-shaped puppet buried earlier!
"Surprise!" The jonin crowed. "No puppet? Then I'll borrow one!"
The disabled Suna chunin's Black Ant Puppet had lain dormant until now, its venomous payload intact.
"Dodge this!"
A killbox with no escape. Even if Yoru survived, his students wouldn't.
(￣ω￣)