We ran through the trees as our client jumped in fright at our sudden departure. Running through the trees, I took out a generous amount of tag-laden Kunai. It hurt my wee little heart to make such an expensive distraction. But well, I'll need money only if I live right?
We found them first. They were still near each other, making a plan, no doubt. But they had sensed us. They probably had a sensor too. We had taken them by a little surprise, so we had an advantage of 2-3 seconds. This was turning too complicated too fast. I threw all the tags I held at them. Causing a series of explosions. I saw a shadow dart to the left, and I followed up with a slash.
The Iwagakure Shinobi had taken out a Kunai. As I charged at him, he suddenly used Rock Bullet Jutsu. Halting my momentum and forcing me to use Water Wall. Before I could reorient myself, he emerged from the left. He had taken advantage of the wall blocking the sight.
I parried hurriedly as a few Kunai flew towards me. I got two of them, but the third lodged into my shoulder. I hurriedly dodged to my right towards the collapsing wall as he charged at me. This guy was fast. Too fast for me. I saw him making hand seals as I changed up shogeki. Months of practice and upgrades, and guidance had made all my jutsu battle-ready. I could even use Shogeki, simple as it was, without hand seals now. I was moving away to buy time as instructed. The guy charged - Right over the water puddle. BINGO.
I saw his expression suddenly change. Suddenly, he changed the flow of the hand seals and cast Rick Wall instead. But Shogeki was faster. This time, I countered with the same emerging from the left, only to realize that my right arm was no longer working right. The Shogeki packed a punch. Usually harmless, but with my right shoulder injured, it had become significant. Shit. This guy would recover in a few seconds.
But for a Shinobi, seconds were long. I quickly dropped the sword and drew out more tag-laced kunai. My left-hand throw in an injured state was especially weak. But we were too close, and the kunai too many. 2 were completely off. One he avoided, and one he parried. But the last one struck him in the stomach. It glowed and went bang.
I was knocked back, but had been outside of the core blast Radius. I looked around to see the battle still continuing. Souta, Shiro, and Rina were still fighting against a single Genin. Although admittedly, the guy was faster and stronger than my opponent had been. He was also using a lot of explosion tags freely to suppress the three. Money matters, huh?
"Retreat!" The opposing Chunin shouted. Threw a few tags around and vanished in the chaos and smoke. Leaving me stunned. He had been clearly pushing our sensei back. I was looking for an opening to cause chaos and help him or the other two. But just as soon as it started, the whole battle ended in under 2 minutes. I jolted up, remembering the third genin. We were supposed to team up 3vs2. Where was he? I looked around to see a badly burnt and damaged corpse of a guy. He had gotten caught up in the initial explosion, where I had sent down over 10 tags.
I had fought before, but I think it's safe to consider that this was my first real fight. "He was smart. Damnit, I was hoping for the credit in the end." We all looked at him for an explanation.
"He was an elite chunin. The guy you three fought was almost a chunin in technique. The guy who died first was a simple sensor genin. While the one ren fought was an elite genin. The guy was pressuring me. But with two of his out, Ren, even though injured, would have interfered and cost the genin his life. Then we could team up on him. I am not weaker, just that I am not a pure fighter. But in 4 vs 1. He would have killed one or, most probably, two of you since Ren is too injured. But exchanging a chunin with genin lives was just not worth it."
The full gravity of the situation weighed into my mind. I looked down to see my badly injured shoulder. I had been inches away from death.
"It was good luck that Ren got one of them from the get-go. We weren't ready for an elite squad. There would have been casualties."
-----
We ate in silence. Nowhere was the jubilant atmosphere that was usually present after victory. After all, we had exchanged two lives for an injury. But we ourselves hadn't come so close to death ever. Bandits couldn't compare. It was a good reminder that we had been lucky and the world is vast. And it takes only a second for everything to end. Just like the first guy, I never even saw his face. He died within the first few seconds.
The merchant, on questioning, told us that his brother must have hired them. Of course, he agreed to the B rank upgrade. Stating he didn't think his brother had enough resources to hire actual Shinobi. Inheritance fight it was.
We completed the journey and took the bodies back to the village. "Sensei. I think we should take a break and train." Sensei nodded. Shiro had been injured and needed time. "Yes, fine. One month break. We will train, though. Same time, same place, " we murmured our agreement.
"Let me take you to the hospital." Sensei offered, and the other two insisted on joining. While the doctor was examining me. An Anbu appeared. It was kinda freaky how they seemed to just appear out of thin air. "The Hokage would like to meet you all after your treatment."
"Understood. We will report to him," Sensei, as the leader answered, handing him the mission report he had been completing. The examining doctor insisted on a thorough in-depth examination for poisons and whatnot, too. Which was probably because he had heard the Anbu. But I'll take the special treatment.
-----
"Two notches on your file and a B Rank mission as a genin. You are turning into quite the Shinobi, I dare say." Hiruzen had a calm and warm smile that made him feel like your usual neighborhood Grandpa.
When I looked up a bit confused, he remarked. "Shinobi kills in the same rank. They are what we use to distinguish elites from standard shinobis."
I nodded. "The experience was..." I paused, not sure how to describe it. "Educational." I finished. We had learnt a lot that was true.
"Good, good, for this I will allow you all to choose a C rank jutsu from the archive. Keep up the good work."
We were all stunned. This was amazing. Jutsus for genin. It also seems a bit suspicious, but we all bowed gratefully anyway.
"Now you all can leave. I have some things to talk to Ren-kun about his clan."
They all bowed again and departed. Clan matters had nothing to do with them. They technically had nothing to do with Hiruzen either, but he was our sponsor and hokage.