Chapter 108: Another Hidden Mist Team
After the flames and gales subsided, Hodaka and Mieko swiftly used the Body Flicker Technique to close in on their opponents.
The Hidden Mist Village genin noticed and prepared themselves.
Kaito thought, If this continues, it might drag on. Let's end this quickly.
He instantly created twelve Wind Clones, who all plunged into battle, while he stayed behind to observe.
As soon as Mieko appeared, Sakai Yumi rushed toward her, and the two began fighting with kunai.
Kido Kohaku used the Stone Shuriken Jutsu on Hodaka. Hodaka dodged and blocked all the attacks but was forced back a step by an explosive tag.
Matsushita Satoru was about to join the battle, but seeing twelve clones approach, his expression became serious. He quickly made hand seals, creating three Water Clones.
He made a few more hand seals and performed the Water Shuriken Jutsu.
Soon, water shuriken flew toward the Wind Clones. However, they all easily dodged them.
Three Wind Clones moved toward the Water Clones. The Water Clones also moved toward them.
With nine more Wind Clones coming at them, the Hidden Mist genin were on high alert.
Matsushita Satoru's Water Clones were confident, thinking the Wind Clones wanted to engage in close combat.
However, just before they arrived, the three Wind Clones suddenly all performed Wind Style: Gale Palm.
The jutsu was cast very quickly. The Water Clones couldn't defend and were hit. All three Water Clones were dispelled.
All the Wind Clones suddenly flickered, surrounding the already injured Kido Kohaku. She panicked! So did her two teammates.
Sakai Yumi wanted to go help her, but Mieko stopped her.
Matsushita Satoru did go to her aid and used the Water Shuriken Jutsu on the Wind Clones.
All but one Wind Clone immediately launched Wind Style: Gale Palm at Kido Kohaku. The last Wind Clone used Great Breakthrough on the incoming water shuriken.
Kaito looked from afar and thought, One down.
However, he was surprised! Kido Kohaku made hand seals and disappeared underground!
Hodaka, annoyed by Kido Kohaku, immediately made his move. He slapped his hands on the ground, performing Earth Style: Stone Spear Jutsu.
Soon, spears began forming underground, targeting Kido Kohaku. She dodged all the attacks underground and reappeared dozens of meters away near Sakai Yumi.
As soon as she appeared, Kaito's Wind Clones launched another round of Gale Palm at her.
However, she ignored them and pressed her hands heavily on the ground.
Stone shuriken immediately fired at Mieko. Mieko immediately stepped back to protect herself.
Sakai Yumi thought, I need to be quick!
She rapidly formed hand seals, and a water wall formed in time, protecting Kido Kohaku.
Kaito, observing from a distance, wondered, Are they really just genin?
The Wind Clones were about to attack again when Sakai Yumi shouted, "Retreat!"
Matsushita Satoru and Kido Kohaku immediately retreated with Sakai Yumi. They retreated toward the tower.
Mieko and Hodaka immediately followed. So did Kaito and his Wind Clones.
The Konoha genin were faster and caught up several times. However, the Hidden Mist genin always managed to defend successfully.
After four minutes of pursuit, the Hidden Mist genin's bodies were cut quite a bit by the strong winds, but none of the wounds were fatal.
The Hidden Mist genin were very worried. Sakai Yumi cried out in her heart, How are these ten-year-old brats from Konoha so strong? We have no chance of winning! Also, why are they so bloodthirsty? All their attacks are meant to kill or severely injure us!
These hateful Konoha hypocrites! They look down on us for being so bloodthirsty, yet they train their own children into ruthless killers. But what can we do? We can't run forever.
She concentrated chakra in her eyes, looking around, praying to find a glimmer of hope. And she really did!
She noticed that about four hundred meters to the north, three chakra signatures were rapidly approaching them.
She recognized them and was immediately invigorated. She shouted, "Follow me!"
Matsushita Satoru and Kido Kohaku both followed her. Kaito frowned.
Another Hidden Mist squad is coming from that direction. If they team up, it'll be very difficult to win. By the way, there's one thing I don't understand. How did that blue-eyed girl detect them? I didn't sense any chakra field. Is it her glowing blue eyes?
Kaito created Shadow Clones after the Wind Clones.
Mieko and Hodaka were still relentlessly chasing them. Kaito flickered beside them and shouted, "Wait! There's another Hidden Mist squad ahead."
Mieko and Hodaka became alert. But soon Mieko said arrogantly, "Let's continue attacking! We'll surely defeat them and take them down."
Hodaka also supported her. "Yeah, this is getting more and more exciting. Let's go."
Kaito was expressionless again, thinking, These little brats!
Seeing that Kaito didn't answer, Mieko and Hodaka turned to continue the chase. However, Kaito had had enough of their antics.
Before Hodaka and Mieko could flicker, Kaito grabbed their shoulders.
Both turned to look at him. Mieko asked, "What is it?"
Kaito didn't answer, just grinned and said, "Wind Style Body Flicker."
Before the two could realize what was happening, the enhanced Body Flicker dragged them both into the nearby tower.
Hodaka and Mieko were both shocked as Kaito dragged them along. They wanted to stop him but were powerless.
In an instant, they appeared inside the tower. Both were dumbfounded. Mieko was very angry and shouted, "Why did you drag us here? The battle was getting exciting!"
Kaito said, both angry and amused, "We couldn't even defeat those three. How do you plan to defeat six people?"
Mieko said furiously, "They run like mice! They just need to look at me, and they're done for!"
Kaito chuckled. "Forget letting them look into your eyes—you haven't even landed a single scratch on them."
Mieko was about to reply when she suddenly realized that what Kaito said was true. All her attacks had been blocked or dodged.
She just snorted. "I'll remember this!"
With that, she walked away.
Kaito just shrugged and looked at Hodaka. He said bitterly, "I couldn't even officially start a fight with one person."
Kaito shrugged again, sighed, and thought, Why do I have to put up with these two arrogant brats? At least Renjiro could control them when he was here. Now they just want to fight without thinking.
Chapter 109: The Power of Ice Release
About a hundred meters from the tower, the genin from the Hidden Mist were still being pursued by Kaito's clones.
But they soon realized that Hodaka and Mieko were missing. Sakai Yumi asked, puzzled, "Where did they go? Are they planning a sneak attack?"
She once again focused chakra in her eyes to observe. However, she couldn't see anyone nearby, which worried her greatly.
She tried to sense them again and again but couldn't.
To her disadvantage, the tower had various anti-sensing barrier seals. So she couldn't detect any chakra signatures inside the tower.
She remained vigilant until their squad encountered another Hidden Mist squad. As soon as Sakai Yumi saw them, she immediately shouted, "Rentaro, save us!"
Satsuma Rentaro was good friends with Sakai Yumi. He nodded and instructed his teammates, "Clear out those clones."
At his command, all six Hidden Mist genin attacked Kaito's Wind Clones. Kaito's Shadow Clone sighed, thinking, My Wind Clones' chakra is almost gone. Otherwise, I could gather more information on them.
As the Hidden Mist genin began their attack, Sakai Yumi shouted, "Be careful! His two teammates are likely hiding nearby, and I can't sense them."
They immediately became vigilant.
The Wind Clones knew their chakra was insufficient. They'd already sensed that Kaito had disappeared with Hodaka and Mieko. So this was just to test their skills.
Six Wind Clones suddenly retreated and disappeared, while the remaining six Wind Clones launched a frontal attack.
When the Wind Clones and Hidden Mist genin met, Sakai Yumi, Matsushita Satoru, and Kido Kohaku were already prepared for the incoming Gale Palm. But the other three Hidden Mist genin were unaware.
When the Wind Clones were about ten meters away, they immediately unleashed several Gale Palms.
Sakai Yumi counterattacked with Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu.
Matsushita Satoru created a water wall, then used Water Shuriken Jutsu.
Kido Kohaku used Rock Shield Jutsu, followed by Stone Spear Jutsu.
Satsuma Rentaro had already drawn his sword, ready to attack with it, but he was surprised by how quickly this jutsu formed and launched.
He lowered his sword and made hand seals. Just before the jutsu hit him, a water wall appeared in front of him.
However, it was a thin water wall, and the wind blew all the water toward him. The water wall did reduce the sharpness of the wind. However, a strong gust still blew through, scratching Satsuma Rentaro's right forearm. He was enraged!
Satsuma Rentaro's teammates also approached Kaito's Wind Clones and were hit by the Gale Palm. They all suffered 4-5 small cuts.
Soon, everyone counterattacked Kaito's Wind Clones. The Wind Clones no longer had any chakra.
So they could only try to dodge, close the distance, and coordinate their actions by observing each other's positions, but all six Wind Clones were hit at the same time.
And just as the Wind Clones were struck, the six clones that had disappeared earlier suddenly reappeared, surrounding the Hidden Mist genin and using up their remaining chakra to unleash Great Breakthrough.
Unfortunately, the remaining chakra they had was too little to be fatal.
The Hidden Mist genin immediately gathered together, building defenses around themselves for protection.
After performing the jutsu, all the Wind Clones dispersed. Only Kaito's Shadow Clone remained.
He looked at the defense. One side was covered by rock shields, and the other three sides by water walls.
Kaito's Shadow Clone sneered, flickered out, and thought, It's a shame I don't have any destructive Wind Style jutsu. I need to learn some as soon as possible.
The Shadow Clone flickered to the outside of the water wall and swung his sword with all his might.
Sakai Yumi was observing the Shadow Clone and noticed him flickering toward them.
She quickly realized that Kaito was about to swing his sword at them again. She shouted, "Everyone jump!"
She jumped up abruptly and suddenly had a thought. Huh? Why did I say jump up instead of duck down?
To avoid the incoming slash, they could either hide below it or jump above it.
Normally, ducking down was the best option, as it allowed for continued mobility. But for some reason, she instinctively chose to jump up.
The other five Hidden Mist genin followed her advice, jumping as high as they could.
In the air, Sakai Yumi and Satsuma Rentaro both unleashed Water Bullet Jutsu toward Kaito's position.
Kaito easily cut through the water wall with a single sword strike. The accompanying wind from the slash destroyed the water wall.
All six Hidden Mist ninja jumped out of the range of the slash. They jumped high enough to avoid a direct hit.
However, the strong wind accompanying the slash still hit them. Sakai Yumi and Satsuma Rentaro's Water Bullets were blocked by the wind. The strong wind caused deep cuts on all of them.
Seeing the extent of the damage, Sakai Yumi was terrified, thinking, If we had ducked down instead of jumping, we would all be dead!
Although these injuries weren't fatal, they still terrified them. To their horror, Kaito came with another sword strike just like that.
Kaito's Shadow Clone thought, Will this kill them, or will they survive again?
Suddenly, Satsuma Rentaro's chakra erupted. He quickly formed several hand seals and spewed out a large amount of water.
At the same time, one of his teammates also quickly made hand seals. The water released by Satsuma Rentaro quickly froze into ice.
The slash initially hit the water, easily splitting it. But soon, the water began to freeze. The slash hit the ice, still passing through and cracking it. However, it slowed down. It cut through 80% of the ice before losing momentum.
The Hidden Mist genin were horrified to see that even the ice was cut. But when they saw the slash stop, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.
The wind accompanying this slash was also blocked. Kaito's Shadow Clone was greatly surprised.
Ice Release kekkei genkai? Isn't the Hidden Mist hunting down bloodline limit clans? Could these guys be from Mei Terumi's faction?
He quickly analyzed as he watched them. Is Mei Terumi trying to get some help from Hiruzen Sarutobi? Also, has she started her rebellion this quickly? No, since she has people with bloodline limits, she should have already started. But until she wins, it'll be a long conflict.
But I don't think Hiruzen should help. This wasn't mentioned in the original timeline. And Konoha is suffering from a manpower shortage. So participating in the war would be foolish. What's more, the Uchiha and the Hokage's faction are vying for power. So Konoha shouldn't have any extra resources.
While he was analyzing, the Hidden Mist genin finally returned to the ground. Satsuma Rentaro's face was grim. He said, "I didn't expect Konoha to have such strong genin!"
Kaito's Shadow Clone responded, "I didn't expect the Hidden Mist to send a ninja with an Ice Release kekkei genkai. I wonder if any of you also have a bloodline limit."
Saying that, he looked at Sakai Yumi and continued, "I also didn't expect that despite going through multiple crises, you all managed to survive. You're also very strong."
Sakai Yumi asked, "Do you want a truce? As long as you don't attack us, we won't attack you in the second phase. That way, we all have a good chance of advancing to the next round. Otherwise, we'll only hurt each other."
Satsuma Rentaro frowned upon hearing this. Kaito was also surprised, thinking, Not only are they excellent at survival, but she's smart enough to ask for a truce. I'm curious if they've already participated in some battles.
Kaito's Shadow Clone's analysis was spot on. All six of them had been in multiple conflicts with the Fourth Mizukage's faction.
They had real combat experience and were battle-hardened. That's why they were able to survive the onslaught.
Sakai Yumi was the one they were grooming to be a leader.
Kaito's Shadow Clone chuckled. "My teammates want to fight all six of you head-on, so a truce is impossible."
Upon hearing this, Sakai Yumi sighed, thinking, I'm worried they'll ambush us again and again. Also, where are his two teammates?
Kaito's Shadow Clone continued, "Anyway, my chakra is also gone. Goodbye."
With that, the Shadow Clone dispersed itself.
The Hidden Mist genin were then shocked to discover that they had been fighting a Shadow Clone all along!
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