Naruto: Akatsuki

Upon dashing, I slashed Ryuma at the front-most shinobi, who was holding onto a kunai,

CLANG!

which was just used to defend my strike.

Subsequently, I ducked, and Minato was seen airborne right above me, with his hands making a snake seal,

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

From Minato's mouth, a strong gust of wind was blown out, pushing away the entire hoard of unexpected ninjas at the front, whose own ninjutsu techniques were interrupted.

Swoosh!

Just then, three Iwa shinobis holding identical-looking greatswords appeared above us—no, it was just one, with two clones.

'...There's simply too many of them here.'

Grabbing Minato by his top and pulling him downward, I slashed Ryuma at a fast speed before the shinobi could react—crumbling down two earth clones back into the dirt and leaving a fatal gash on the shinobi's abdomen, by cutting through the man's greatsword as if it was a soft tofu.

Having realized that not only his weapon was broken but his own intestine was spilling out of his stomach, the shinobi's eyes widened in horror. However, before the man could scream in pain, Minato dashed and ended the shinobi's life with a clean stab in the skull.

"Earth Release: Earth Spikes!"

Immediately after, the ground nearby us churned before two huge spikes shot out at us ferociously. Behind those spikes stood one Iwa Kunoichi, who was glaring at us.

Minato and I hurriedly leaped back to dodge the sharp earth spikes. Subsequently, Minato grabbed me by my right arm and threw me upward, saving me from having my ankle grabbed by a hand that shot out from the ground below.

With both of us airborne in the middle of the destroyed forest, two shinobis were standing with their hands locked in one form of a hand seal, with their mouths puffed up, ready to release their techniques.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

"Lightning Release: Lightning Bullet!"

The jet stream of water was shot from the burly-looking shinobi, while the moderately-sized lightning bullet was shot from the long-haired shinobi. As they flew to the two of us dangerously, the jet stream of water merged with the intense lightning.

Simultaneously,

"""Earth Release,"""

the multiple number of Iwa ninjas slammed their hands on the ground below us,

"""Mud Wall!"""

The mud walls instantly arose around us as the lightning-enveloped blast of water was now right in front of us, cutting off our escape routes.

A waste of chakra, I thought.

'Earth Release: Hiding Like A Mole technique.'

Placing our hands on one of the mud walls and softening it with the application of Hiding Like A Mole technique, Minato and I phased through the mud wall and evaded the dangerous blast of water without much difficulty.

Splash! The electricity-crackling water crumbled the mud walls upon collision, creating a hazard that many nearby Iwa ninjas were forced to leap away from.

'…Too much reliance on ninjutsu, though I am not sure if this hole in their strategy too is done on purpose.'

Now, upon the multitudes of ninjas surrounding us with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, I made a quick assessment,

'Ninjas who follow protocol… too predictable. But if this is the case,'

Targeting the leading figure was the key.

"Tch, it's just the two kids! What's so hard about all this?!" Just then, a burly Iwa shinobi, who seemed to be around mid-twenties in age, then shouted, breaking the silence. The other ninjas gazed at the man warily in response.

'…That man is it.'

"…That man is it."

Minato, who seemed to have reached the same conclusion as me, twirled his kunai with sharpened eyes.

"Earth Release,"

The burly shinobi made series of fast-paced hand seals with complacency written on his face, before slamming them down on the ground.

"Grand Rock Canyon!"

VROOOOOOOM! The entire ground all around us shook, with the huge mass of earth, mixed with many rocks, rising and folding on top of the two of us. The burly shinobi seemed to have expended quite a sum of his chakra reserve, breathing heavily.

The same trick won't work twice. Hiding Like A Mole technique—it isn't as effective against the hard rocks; I knew that the only way out here is the straightforward breakthrough.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

And then, from beyond the huge mass of earth that was approaching the two of us, another shout was heard, causing Minato to stop his quick series of hand seals in a pale realization.

He was preparing for a Lightning Release technique. However, even if we were to break the approaching earth, the following wave of water will electrocute us. Minato stopped his hand seals and let his hands fall to his sides, trying to think of another way through.

Focus.

'Imagine the wind brushing against the blade from both sides. Gently graze, and flow in a way such that, Ryuma's sharpness is intensified by a vast amount.'

Wind Release. The only thing that I managed to learn within the span of 6 months, by myself, was its essence.

If the fire is destructive, the wind is sharp. It is silent, invisible, but deadly. Fire confronts head on. However, wind flows gently, regardless of what situation it may be within.

Swooo...

The invisible wind gathered and flowed around Ryuma, and along with the gentle sound of wind blowing, there now existed a sharp, invisible layer of concentrated air around its blade.

"Minato, when I open the way, get them."

"…Are you sure?"

"No time to explain. You'll have to trust me."

Minato seemed to have understood, as he nodded before sinking down to the ground.

Now, I lowered my stance, while placing Ryuma's blade downward so that it was touching the ground.

'Iaido,'

I let out a deep breath before dashing toward the wave of earth and water that shadowed above me,

"Rend."

My surrounding blurred as my speed accelerated. As I swung Ryuma quickly horizontally, it was as if the world itself was cut open in front of my lone eye—with the approaching rock, mud, and water all alike, being cut in half. Without any resistance, they were cut in half, smoothly.

Swoosh.

As the mass of rocks, dirts, and water crashed behind me, the Iwa ninjas looked at me with disbelief, with their bodies temporarily frozen from the fact that I achieved what they believed to be impossible.

"You…" The burly shinobi narrowed his eyes at me.

And now, while I was hovering up in the air with Ryuma still covered by the wind,

"Hey, where is the other one?!"

PUK!

One Iwa shinobi was stabbed in the heart by Minato, who suddenly shot out from the ground right below.

All the other Iwa ninjas, out of panic, immediately jumped back to acquire some distance away from Minato. However, not giving them any chance to think, Minato immediately threw 5 shurikens in all directions around him,

"Shuriken Shadow Clone technique."

Puff Puff!

At the next moment, an unbelievable sight occurred, where the 5 shurikens instantly amplified into a sheer 50.

The burly Iwa shinobi shouted with a tickmark on his forehead, "Only 5 are real! Don't panic—"

Only to realize that the duplicated shurikens too had the physical properties upon having one stabbed directly in his left eye.

"AHHHHHHH!"

As the burly shinobi fell to one knee with a scream of agony, few other too received some hits on their bodies; Minato's attack was a great success.

Meanwhile, I landed back on the ground, and immediately after the shuriken spree, I dashed at the burly shinobi who just lost an eye. The wind on my blade was gone, for I wasn't able to maintain its state for a long amount of time—the use of wind nature cost far more chakra than fire did.

Clang!

One kunoichi was about to interrupt my approach to the burly shinobi, but Minato intervened with a kunai of his own.

For a span of a millisecond, our eyes met, and I knew, that Minato was thinking the same thing.

Clang Clang Clang!

So I continued dashing. Minato covered me from the back, ensuring that there was no one to stop my way from the fallen burly shinobi.

And now, here I was, right above the shinobi who held onto his eye wound with trembling body, with my sword swung at the man—ready to decapitate at any moment.

'…But I know,'

This was the clone, and the real one was the underground, ready to strike me when I was caught off.

With all my focus, I first cut the clone vertically, causing it to crumble back into the earth. Right after, I stabbed the sword on the ground and used it to lift my body up, so that the man's hand that broke out from the ground failed to grab me by an ankle.

Then, with the man's eye was still intact—having never been hit by Minato's shuriken—he stomped his foot on the ground, and the earth began to churn in front of me.

The extensive use of ninjutsu without hand seal… s***.

"Akashi—tch!"

Clang!

Minato's eyes widened as he saw the state that I was in, but he too was having a difficult time facing many ninjas, all by himself.

Time seemed to have slowed down. The two spikes of earth shot up from the ground, toward me.

'…So be it.'

I gritted my teeth hard. With all my strength, I landed on the ground and pushed against it hard. My body screamed from the stress, but I nonetheless swung my sword at the utmost speed, against the momentum.

'You and me, let's see who's faster!'

"Earth Release: Earth Spikes—"

Right before the earth spikes shredded me apart into pieces,

"Ryujin Jakka."

Ryuma combusted into a vigorous red fire, and using the force from combustion to accelerate my speed,

I cut through the spikes of earth at the next moment, much to the man's shock.

And without the loss of momentum, I spun around, with the man momentarily petrified with widened eyes, unable to react against my slash,

"Torrent of Fire!"

SWOOSH!

The path that Ryuma travelled by was set ablazed into a vigorous fire. The battlefield momentarily fell into silence as the burly shinobi's head was decapitated, flying up in the air while spraying blood everywhere.

And as the churned headless corpse fell on the ground with a thud, here I stood while huffing heavily, with the fire from Ryuma having died down.

"You are full of surprises, aren't you.." Minato, who was sweating profusely from the exhaustion, chuckled as he landed next to me, "Now I am more curious of who you really are."

"There isn't much to talk about really." Replying to Minato's remark without losing my focus on the battlefield, I took a look at the situation around us.

'14 remaining after all that… haa, this won't do.'

We can't afford to bring this hoard to Jiraiya, who probably is in a tight situation already. If he's in a good position to help us, he will come instead.

14 in number. Are proficient in Earth, and showcased some uses of Lightning and Water.

And although one dead, we were running out of stamina and chakra, fast. Honestly speaking, I found that the situation was doomed.

So I asked,

"When do you think a back up will come?"

"…Well, at this point, I'd say that it's not happening." Minato replied impassively as the enemies broke their stance and charged at us, "Multiple attacks are probably happening simultaneously, all around."

As always, war was despicable above any other.