Chapter 32: Combat Tactics
Kael commanded the Earth Dragon to spit out Izumi. With no time to spare for the two combat-ineffective instructors, he mounted the Wind Eagle and flew toward the other battle.
The Jashinist Jonin was a whirlwind of motion, his scythe weaving a deadly net that kept Watanabe Musashi entangled. Watanabe, wielding a black ninja blade, was holding his own in a fierce taijutsu exchange. Nearby, the other six shinobi were locked in their own chaotic melee.
A shadow passed overhead, and a figure leaped down from the sky.
Kael focused wind-nature chakra into the kunai in his right hand. A faint, shimmering wind blade began to dance on its edge.
SHLICK!
With a pained cry, Kael plunged the kunai into the back of a Jashinist ninja, piercing his heart. An intense torrent of sharp wind chakra flooded the wound, extinguishing his life force in an instant.
Kael pulled the kunai out. It was completely clean, without a drop of blood. He kicked the ninja, who was trying to turn around, sending him flying. A cold smile played on Kael's lips; his face, filled with killing intent, looked incredibly sharp.
"Watch out! This kid is dangerous!" The other two Jashinist ninja paled, slowing their assault and moving back-to-back to guard against his surprise attacks. One of them quickly began forming hand seals.
"Earth Style: Fissure!"
He slammed his palm onto the ground. The earth in a ten-meter radius around him began to shake violently and split apart. Fissures spiderwebbed across the battlefield, forcing Kael and the three instructors to leap back.
Wind, Fire, and Lightning Style were essentially just converting and releasing chakra as energy. But Water and Earth Style created something from nothing. In terms of raw power and scale, Earth Style was arguably even stronger than Water Style, and the upper limits for both were the highest among the five basic natures.
The power of Wind and Lightning diminished over distance, and Fire's power was dependent on nature transformation. As for Water Style... aside from the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, no one else's Water Style was much of a threat; it was mostly just for show.
But Earth Style was different. Like Water Style, its power was almost entirely dependent on the user's chakra reserves. An Earth Style master with immense chakra could cause the heavens to fall and the earth to split with a single thought. Moving mountains and filling seas was not an impossibility. Its potential was limitless.
Kael's expression turned ugly as he looked at the fractured, collapsing battlefield. He could barely find a place to stand. This terrifying ability to disrupt and divide the battlefield was something only Earth and large-scale Water jutsu could achieve, and Earth Style was far more effective, instantly turning the terrain into the user's home field.
A thought suddenly struck him, and his eyes lit up. He called to his summons.
A moment later, a barrage of iron quills shot from a distance toward the two Jashinist ninja, who were huddled together. But even faster than the quills was a massive Wind Blade that sliced down from the sky, arriving first.
The two Jashinists' eyes widened in terror, but they had no choice but to defend.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
A brown earthen wall, far taller than the one the Earthen Beetle could create, shakily rose from the ground.
BOOM!
The Wind Blade slammed into the multi-meter-high wall with a deafening crash. The wall trembled but held, blocking the attack completely. The wave of iron quills that followed peppered the wall, but they only penetrated a few inches before losing their momentum.
"What are you all waiting for?" Kael yelled at the instructors as he began forming his own hand seals.
For him, if a problem could be solved with ninjutsu, he would never engage in close combat. He preferred to be the guy hiding in the back, slinging spells, just like how he'd never played a warrior class in any game in his past life.
Hearing his shout, the instructors snapped out of it and began bombarding the earthen wall with their own jutsus. As Kael finished his seals, he secretly gave the Wind Eagle a new command.
"Circle around back!"
WHOOSH!
The Wind Eagle's massive form banked sharply and climbed even higher.
Behind the wall, the two Jashinist ninja tensed, panic rising in their eyes.
"What do we do? That flying summon is hiding again, looking for a chance to attack!"
"That's how Beast got killed! That brat ambushed him from the sky!"
"I'm asking you what to do!"
"If I knew, would I be standing here? Why don't you go ask the Lord?"
"Are you looking to die?!"
"I'll kill you first!"
The two Jashinists glared at each other, kunai now pointed at their ally. The next moment, they both felt a violent downdraft from behind. They spun around in terror, and the look of fear and defiance on their faces was instantly vaporized.
BOOOOOM!
The Bursting Spiral Sphere hit its mark. A violent storm of wind blades shredded the area, the tearing force so intense that even Kael and the others, watching from a safe distance, paled and instinctively retreated.
The Bursting Spiral Sphere was truly the Wind Eagle's ultimate move. Against a Chunin, it was an undeniable trump card.
The three academy instructors looked at each other, then at Kael, completely speechless. They finally understood why Captain Watanabe had given a mere kid the authority to decide whether they would fight or flee. The kid's personal combat skill was only at a Genin level, but his summons... each one was more terrifying than the last.
Although Inoshita and Izumi were out of commission, the Jashinist squad was now down to its last member.
Facing a Jonin again, Kael knew better than to get close. But Watanabe and the enemy Jonin were in a deadlock, and he and the other instructors couldn't risk using large-scale ninjutsu, or even have the Wind Eagle attack, for fear of hitting their captain.
So, Kael started throwing shuriken from a distance.
CLANG!
After deflecting yet another one of Kael's annoying projectiles, the Jashinist Jonin finally snapped. He kicked Watanabe back and, ignoring his own defense, made a mad dash for Kael.
"Aaargh! You goddamn brat! I've had enough of you! You've thrown dozens of shuriken in the last five minutes! You think this is funny?! You animal! You animal! DIE!"
The past five minutes had been torture. It was like a mosquito buzzing relentlessly in his ear, one he would swat away only for it to come right back and take another bite. The constant distraction had nearly driven him mad.
Seeing the Jonin charging at Kael, the three instructors' faces paled. Even Watanabe, who was rushing to intercept, looked horrified. Kael was the future hope of the Hidden Hot Water Village; he couldn't let him die here! He pushed himself to move even faster.
But Kael was completely unfazed.
"Little Wind!" he yelled at the sky.
The next instant, a massive shadow blotted out the sun. Kael grabbed the three instructors and leaped onto the Wind Eagle's back. The wind rushed past them as they ascended, and Kael looked down at the shrinking, furiously raging Jashinist Jonin on the ground. A bright smile spread across his face.
He patted the Wind Eagle's head. "Little Wind, maintain an altitude of fifty meters. Just circle the guy with the scythe."
He then turned to the three instructors on the eagle's back and held out his hand.
"You know what to do..."
"Huh?" The three men looked at him, then at each other, their faces flushing with embarrassment.