Chapitre 157: CH_5.14 (157)
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———
.
The Clone Jutsu gambit was successful, but it only gained Takuma a few seconds, which he knew. However, a few seconds of stillness in a fight was all one could hope for. This was the first time after the Frost mission he had faced the element of surprise—but this was the first time he was the sole target. The four assailants coming after him were solely interested in taking his life.
He climbed up a building wall and stopped in the middle and stared down at the figure running at him. They were dressed in complete black with a gray mask peeking behind the hood.
He slipped a hand into his weapons pouch and tied one of his few explosive tag to a kunai as he wondered about the identity behind the assassins. His thoughts immediately zeroed in on the drug trade. It was obvious that his recent mission had threatened the drug lords—by taking action outside Hidden Leaf borders, he had set a dangerous precedent—and this could be their attempt to take him out. He was an easy, low-risk target because of his background, and taking him out would definitely force the Narcotics Task Force to review their future plans.
As the man neared, Takuma threw the kunai with an explosive tag on its tail.
The question was: Who was it? Which one of the drug lords had ordered the hit? Takuma felt very invested in finding the scum who had ordered the hit and then beat them to the inch of their lives.
The tag exploded, and the man was thrown back to the ground. Takuma didn't wait to see the man re-attain his balance before hitting the ground; he immediately turned his back to block a kunai from another assailant with his own.
That was all the rest he got.
"I'm afraid this is not how one makes friends," said Takuma as he pushed the man up the wall. "If you wanted to talk, I have recently developed a taste for tea. We can chat over a late-night tea session."
He got no response from the man. Takuma didn't mind; he wasn't expecting them to speak up from the get-go—and he had more time to flare some choice words out of him.
Takuma sent chakra to his soles. The wall beneath him cracked, and he jumped high just when the second man reached him on the wall. He leaped over him and landed down on the road. The moment his feet landed on the ground, he took off again just a moment before a large volley of shuriken could butcher.
He wasn't given a second of rest as three men surrounded him with swords drawn.
A kunai each slipped into his hands, and the moment the steel gleamed, the three men charged.
Takuma clicked his tongue and moved. He caught a sword between his kunai and used his full force to push him away, and began a mental stopwatch of three seconds. He turned back and launched the two kunai towards the second man, who used his sword to block them; the force behind the kunai sent sparks out on impact, but by that time, Takuma had already moved to the third man. Takuma dodged a slash for his torso and followed with a lashing kick augmented by chakra; number three blocked this strike but was pushed back a few feet.
'Resilient,' thought Takuma when his strike didn't blow away the No#3. These days, his Ring opponents spent most of their time in the arena dodging his strikes because every hit slashed away at their chances of victory by a significant percentage.
The three-second stopwatch went off, and Takuma returned back to No#1. The man was fast with his sword and right from the bat, had better kenjutsu skills than any other Ring fighter Takuma had faced; Takuma had to move his entire body constantly so as not to get cut by the sharp blade.
Within a breath, the three men were back on Takuma, and he pulled all of his 2v1 experience in the Ring to handle three men, which was difficult. Not only were there three men for him to handle, but they were also better at collaborative combat than any pair Takuma had fought. In less than fifteen seconds, he had gotten half a dozen cuts on his body.
But in return, Takuma did some damage to their clothes as well. He tore No#1's hood, shredded one of No#2's sleeves, and slit the hem of No#3's robe. They wore exactly the same attires from the boots, to the robe, to the mask—he had to distinguish themselves at a glance to better recognize who was who while he got to understand their combat quirks.
Suddenly, the three men jumped far away from Takuma simultaneously. The answer came before Takuma even had the chance to be confused. He felt a heat and looked up to see multiple basketball-sized fireballs descending towards him.
"Shit!"
Takuma immediately weaved the three hand seals for Body Flicker Jutsu, but the moment he pushed off at inhuman speeds, the fireballs hit the ground, and an explosive force slammed into Takuma along with the blasted pieces of road pavement. He hit the wall with his front side, barely protecting his face.
What he couldn't protect was his injured chest from his Ring fight. His ribs made hard contact with a concrete wall, and whatever Sango's work had done was undone in an instant. Takuma felt the taste of iron invade his mouth, and he knew there was some level of internal bleeding. He gritted his teeth as he slid down the wall to grasp control over himself before he even landed on the ground, No#2 sped towards him with a sword.
Takuma let his knees buckle to avoid a head-decapitation strike, but the pain in his chest didn't allow him to escape from the corner he had been trapped in. He went for the second-best option and threw a fast-acting smoke bomb, which covered seven feet of area in thick black smoke. Bearing the pain, Takuma swept No#2's legs and whipped a blind augmented kick that made contact.
He propped himself on his knee and weaved another set of hand seals, and mist solidified in the air, plummeting the visibility in the area.
Takuma rose up and took out one of the sachets Sango had given him. It was a painkiller; it wasn't an instantaneous drug, but he was hoping it would have some early semi-placebo effect.
A kunai silently came out, and he assumed stealth mode as he moved around the heavy fog of the Hidden Mist Jutsu. The lack of functioning street lights in the area already had visibility in the dumps, but with the mist filling the area, seeing anything was all but impossible even for Takuma, who was trained for combat under the mist.
But against four shinobi whose combat ability was unknown, it was a trade-off Takuma was willing to make. Moreover, the longer he stretched the fight, the greater the chances for someone reporting the fight to the authorities, leading to someone from the Police Force arriving at the scene.
He was taught to finish fights quickly, and stretching the situation for external interference went against the philosophy, but he couldn't see any other option. Escape was an unreliable option—as long as he made it to a populated region, they wouldn't dare to assassinate him there—but fighting while on the run had increased risk and vulnerability, which increased with the number of assailants. Four people weren't great odds.
Plus, there was a non-combat issue with running. If he, the Narcotics Task Force's leader, ran today, he would be setting an example. If assassins could scare the leader, what would that say about the subordinates? He had to thrash this attempt right here and now so that no other drug lord would dare to send assassins after his people.
And he wanted information. He didn't have to kill four trained assassins; he just needed to kill three and capture one alive.
'Now, where are they?'
Takuma's hearing sharpened as he concentrated, spreading around the empty streets. There was no ruckus. The Fire Release jutsu earlier ensured that none of the residents would dare come out. He simply hoped one of them would call the Police Force, but he also knew that the neighborhood he lived in didn't particularly love the Police Force—there was a chance they would instead let the situation pass before they informed the Police Force of the aftermath.
The sound of a skid of boots against the pavement pinged Takuma's ears, and his eyes widened. He quickly whipped back and blocked the sword with his kunai. Clang! Takuma knew the sound was enough to give the others an idea of his location.
He needed to move quickly.
Takuma skipped back a few feet, beyond what the current visibility allowed to be seen so that he could slip away, but the figure jolted forward, not allowing Takuma to escape.
'Fight it is then,' Takuma thought.
He launched ahead and aimed an augmented strike for the head, which was swiftly dodged by a quick side step. Takuma tried to follow with a quick hook kick to the chest, but his leg was grabbed. Without any hesitation, as soon as Takuma felt the grip on his foot tighten, he used the hold as a pivot to take off the ground to land an augmented blow right to the head. Baam! Takuma felt the satisfying reverb shoot through his leg.
The grip loosened, and Takuma landed on the ground. He sprang up and forward for the follow-up attack when a kick slammed into the side of his face.
The man, unphased by the augmented kick, retaliated when Takuma thought he had a clear view for a follow-up attack. The augmentation wasn't at full force due to his awkward position, but it was still enough to disorient someone for a moment, but here, it didn't seem to work.
His eyes went for his marking and found the man missing a hood. It was No#1. He wondered if it was just No#1 who was extra resilient or if it was everyone on the team. He added that to his combat analysis as a punch flew towards his face.
He pulled his torso and head back to dodge the punch. No#1 grabbed the momentum by its reign and launched a flurry of attacks on Takuma, who went on the defensive as he bobbed and weaved out of every single strike. Not a single attack after the initial kick touched Takuma.
And when he was ready, Takuma retaliated. He slammed a body shot into the pit of No#1's abdomen. An elbow strike assaulted the head next. Takuma grabbed No#1 by his shoulder to finish the combo and pulled him down for an augmented knee strike into the chest.
"Come on, bitch," he whispered just loud enough so that No#1 could hear.
No#1 stumbled back to make space but immediately shot forward.
Takuma could hear every exhalation that preceded a strike. The time between the two events was extremely short, and usually, there was no use in tracking the exhalation pattern, but now, with zero visibility, Takuma used that breathing pattern to his advantage.
No#1 unleashed a flurry of sword strikes that Takuma dodged or blocked. They weren't as sharp and precise as before; the mist obstructing the vision was paying off. He side-stepped a sword jab and returned a low kick to the thigh that hobbled No#1. Takuma closed the distance, but the trained assassin wasn't one to go down easily; his sword hissed as it came for Takuma's neck. He diverted at the last second by his kunai so that it could only tear the fabric over his shoulder.
Crack! Takuma's strongest augmentation fist made unobstructed contact with the chest. He felt the familiar sensation of rib bones moving under the force of chakra that shot out from his fist.
"I'm better than you at this," Takuma spat.
"But unlike you, he's not alone."
The voice was followed by a low shrill of a sword, and moved out of the way. However, the sword caught his upper arm and left a deep gash.
Takuma hissed in pain, but the twisted expression stayed on his face only for a second, soon replaced by a large grin.
"So, you guys can speak," Takuma laughed, but he didn't feel good about it.
.
———
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Chapitre 158: CH_5.15 (158)
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
Takuma retreated towards to where he had left No#1 but found the man to be missing. This was a great problem with fighting multiple opponents; help was readily available—something he had recently taken advantage of against a difficult chunin.
He turned back to the second man and recognized him as No#3.
"I must confess, I don't believe I am someone important enough to warrant an assassination," said Takuma. "So, before I die, tell me who ordered this hit."
"You don't need to know," No#3 rushed him.
Takuma crossed his arm to block a punch that Takuma weaved back, making it miss by the width of a finger. Takuma tried to pull away, but No#3 stuck close, targeting Takuma's top to bottom, landing precise strikes in places that hit. Takuma didn't fall short and managed to disarm the sword on top of getting a couple of soft augmented hits in that did more overall damage.
"Come on, can't you give a dead man his last wish?" asked Takuma as he swung the sword at its owner. He then immediately turned and used the sword to block a sword strike from No#2. "It's not that I'm asking too much, and this won't jeopardize your mission… or is it that you are afraid that I'll kill you and live to tell the tale."
No#2 immediately became more aggressive. Takuma smiled internally and let the man think he had control of the momentum as No#3 joined the fight. A 2v1 was just the way Takuma liked it. He observed the two.
He hadn't noticed it before, but both No#3 and No#2 had shockingly similar fighting styles; the same went for No#1. They had their quirks and adjustments unique to them, but they followed the same combat style—one Takuma hadn't faced yet—which told him that they were trained at the same source, but more importantly, they were trained at the source.
No#2 quite easily disarmed Takuma off the sword he had stolen from No#3, who tried to reach for it, but Takuma kicked the sword away. No#2 used the opportunity to smash his knee into Takuma's face, disorienting him for a moment, which gave No#3 the opening to lay down a lethal combo of a punch to the liver, a palm strike to the chest, which sent Takuma's injury flare up worse than a wildfire, and he finished with a lacerating kunai strike to Takuma's shoulder right shoulder.
Takuma barely raised his arm to block No#2's downward strike. The sword clanged against his metal arm bracer; he didn't cut, but the power behind his strike sent a shock up Takuma's arm; he could already feel the bruise forming.
Takuma swept No#2's feet, but he jumped at the last second, and while in mid-air, No#2 threw his word to No#3 as Takuma watched the blade fly over him and landed in No#3's grip, who swung it down without missing a beat. Takuma moved but got a deep gash on his face.
Takuma's first instinct was to open his eyes wide to check if his eyes were cut, but he could still see normally. The pain, however, ended Takuma's information collection process. He wanted to study their moves and observe their teamwork strategies more, but it was clear that he no longer had the luxury.
He grunted and jumped No#2, who didn't have a sword and took him to the ground. No#2 kneed him in the crouch. Takuma grunted in agony but snarled as he went for a kunai in the stomach that was deflected and ended up in a gash to the side.
His instincts screamed, and Takuma grabbed No#2 and pulled him atop, leading No#3 to slash his teammate. No#3 managed to pull back his swing at the last moment, but not before it had drawn some blood. Takuma yelled as he threw No#2 into the presumably startled No#3 before scampering off into the mist.
Takuma coughed and felt the taste of iron grow heavy. His face burned from the cut; the only silver lining was that the cut was below his eyes, which meant blood wouldn't drip onto his eyes, hindering his vision.
Bearing through the pain, Takuma weaved hand seals and slipped underground like fish in water using the Hiding in the Rock Jutsu. He emerged in a different position inside the mist and closed his eyes to concentrate on the sounds.
The sound of dull metal rang in his year. No#2 or No#3 had retrieved the discarded sword. He focused harder and heard the faint sounds of boots against the hard ground. The assassins were clearly trained to walk quietly, and they were clearly trying to cover their tracks more now that they had no idea where Takuma was, but as Takuma had said, he was better than them at stealth.
He stood up straight, resisting the pain to his shoulder and sides, and slowly weaved hand seals as he walked towards the sounds. He eventually came to a stop at a distance he thought would alert the two men and stood in silence.
With each passing second, holding the chakra building up in his body from the hand seals made it difficult, but he persisted. It was extremely difficult and straining to hold chakra created actively for a jutsu—but he needed them in the proper position. The more he concentrated, the more Takuma heard his own heartbeat pumping faster due to the adrenaline, exertion, and blood loss. Holding chakra made his injured chest hurt, as though the chakra was threatening to tear his flesh and bones apart to jump out.
The two sounds slowly moved closer— closer to him and each other— until they were inside Takuma's strike zone.
Water Release: Wild Water Wave
Takuma sucked in deep as the chakra bubbled with vigor inside his body before unleashing a large torrid water wave that hit the two at full force from a shockingly low distance only achievable by the fog from the Hidden Mist Jutsu that kept Takuma's position hidden.
The sound of water splashing and hitting drowned out all the others, making Takuma lose No#2 and No#3, but he didn't stop and began weaving more hand seals. Before Takuma could complete the hand seals, a voice hit his ear— it came from the opposite direction. Takuma abandoned the hand seals, letting the chakra go to waste.
He skidded his boots against the ground, making ample sound, and then took a high leap into the air. There was no danger of getting sniped in the air because of the fog. Takuma weaved a new set of hand seals, and arcs of lightning buzzed around his arm, culminating in front of his palm. The lightning from Lightning Release: Shock made a crackling noise, echoing loudly in the silent surroundings.
The ugly grin on Takuma's pulled on his wound, flaring up the pain, as he dropped down from the sky and shoved the mass of lightning at point-blank range in No#1's back. It was Takuma's weakest jutsu, but it stung like hell when shoved directly into the body.
No#1 screamed bloody, and Takuma pulled out a kunai to finish the deal when he felt someone sneak behind him. He pushed No#1 and whipped back to block a dagger. The figure was once again dressed in exactly the same attire, but the clothes weren't damaged in any way.
'Number Four,' Takuma almost blurted out, but he kept it quiet in case the assassins realized he was cataloging them by their clothes.
He got no response. No#4 swung his dagger in an aggressive dance with speed and a deadly technique. Takuma found his hand manipulated; every one of No#4's strikes was deliberately placed in attempts to pull Takuma's hand to a position that would make a defense against the next strike difficult. It was a masterful display of precision and understanding of the human body and knife work to be able to pull it off.
He had never faced such an opponent, someone with such high skill. Takuma fared well at the start, but eventually, No#4 got in a strike on Takuma's lower arm, which opened up a suite of opportunities that were immediately cashed in. Within the next couple of seconds, No#4 moved quicker than ever and left multiple minor but painful cuts across his body.
As Takuma hobbled, a light green glow appeared around No#4's left hand. A feeling of fear bubbled up inside Takuma. For the first moment, he didn't realize what the glow was, but the moment No#4 stepped towards him, the recognition alarmed in his mind.
It looked like an iryo-nin's healing jutsu.
No#4 was an iryo-nin. The assassination team had an iryo-nin. The danger assessment inside Takuma's head went up two levels. A team with an iryo-nin was a threat, and this one seemed to be proficient in combat as well.
There was no way No#4 would heal him, which only meant that No#4 was trying to do the opposite. Takuma recalled a conversation with Uchiha Kano about how, with some adjustments, an iryo-nin could turn one of their healing jutsu into something that could sever muscles and fry the nerves.
Takuma couldn't afford that.
But as he shifted his foot, a jolt of pain from his leg almost destroyed his balance. Takuma was sure it was No#4's skillful knife work mixed with his knowledge of human anatomy.
He went for the emergency measure.
Takuma threw the kunai in his hand at No#4, buying him a second, which he used to take out his lowest-grade explosive tag, which he triggered instantly before throwing it in between them. The tag wasn't anchored to a kunai, so it fluttered in the air with the edges burning.
It was a gambit he had used before, but this time, the stakes were higher as he had triggered the tag. He couldn't afford No#4 missing the tag because of the fog.
No#4 froze up and leaped back as the tag exploded, while Takuma could only contract into a tight fetal position, covering his head and ears as the explosive force slammed against him. Takuma was thrown away and rag-dolled against the ground several times.
Pain.
That was all Takuma could feel.
How long had it been since he had felt this amount of pain? Even the chunin from the Police Force raid hadn't pushed him this far. It was in his early days of Ring when he had felt so much pain—when he was forced to armor-less, and his defense wasn't as good as it was today, which made deep stabs and gashes common after match.
He had not missed the feeling at all—but he couldn't deny that it brought a sense of strange calm.
In the face of real danger, his mind was clear. Perhaps, the existential dread he had carried with him in his first and even some part of the second year of his life in this world had tempered his mental resiliency—the possibility of imminent death didn't seem as terrifying as he thought.
Takuma weaved hand seals, and he felt a connection established to puddles or water around him. The liquid rose and flowed behind with a fervor, forming a large blob. He flexed his back muscles with his much pain, and eight glorious water tentacles shot out of the blob.
Takuma took out two more of Sango's painkiller sachets and poured the awfully bitter powder into his mouth. One of the tentacles rose and dropped a mouthful of dirty water into Takuma's mouth to help him down the medicine. He skipped double-dosing to directly triple-dosing himself. Takuma wished he had a soldier pill, but this was his only option.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
109 Power
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