Chapitre 159: CH_5.16 (159)
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———
.
Six while moving; seven while stationary.
That was Takuma's limit with Eight Tentacles Jutsu. But today, that wasn't something that would work today. He was injured, and the four assassins had an iryo-nin among them, which meant they had slightly less to worry about injuries— but even that small concession turned into a huge advantage when there was only one opponent to fight against.
First order of business, take out No#4; once the iryo-nin was out, the other three would become more cautious, which Takuma would exploit aggressively.
The tentacles rose as Takuma knelt down and placed his palms on the ground after weaving hand seals for Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu. A ripple went through the ground, which returned with tactile information for Takuma to interpret. When Takuma had first trained the jutsu, he could only see the presence of people in a one-kilometer area—he couldn't tell their direction or their exact distance from him. The jutsu returned too much data, and Takuma only knew how to interpret some of it.
Now though, after more than a year of gradually training the jutsu, he had learned to identify the direction the target was in. He still couldn't tell their exact distance from him, but that would come with more training.
Takuma tuned out everything past the cross-section they were fighting in, and as he expected, there were only four people in his immediate surroundings. Two of them were alone and moving slowly around in the fog, while the other two were huddled together. Takuma was sure one of them was the iryo-nin. It was a stupid move to not move up into one of the buildings and do treatment on higher ground—but a mistake he was thankful for.
Disregarding chakra consumption, Takuma weaved another set of hand seals and performed another ninjutsu. He sunk into the ground as Hiding in the Rock Jutsu became the mode of traversal for him.
———
.
No#4 had his glowing hand placed on his chest, healing the gruesome burn injury that had scorched his skin and bruised his ribs underneath. His mask had a crack on it from the explosive tag. If he had not jumped before the tag had exploded, he would be in a much worse condition.
They had the wrong intel. The target was a maniac. Who used an explosive tag at such close range? He knew of the explosive tag scare tactic due to its effectiveness, but it didn't involve actually triggering the tag. The moment he had seen the burning tag, every instinct, and logical mental process had made him jump away—which was the correct decision.
"The target will be heavily injured," he whispered.
"Understood," No#3 replied.
"Can you proceed without healing?" asked No#4. No#3 had taken ninjutsu into the back, which required treatment, but with the target injured, they could finish the mission now and handle the injuries later.
"Affirmative," said No#3.
No#4 judged that his injuries were not stabilized, and he could proceed for now. His skin still hurt, and his ribs were still painful, but it wasn't the pain amount he couldn't shrug off. As he stood up, a drop of water hit his bare chest, making him alert, only to realize that it was rain.
"Rain," he whispered.
They were having a difficult time with the Hidden Mist Jutsu. They didn't have any Wind Release users; they couldn't blow it away; neither did they have Water Release users to override the mist. But if it rained, the mist would naturally weigh down, eliminating visibility-reducing fog. No#4 almost immediately trashed the plan as he couldn't predict the intensity of rain, and depending on uncontrollable natural phenomena wasn't wise. They had to find the target and eliminate him.
"Done," said No#4.
But as they were about to move out, they heard something. No#4 looked down just in time to see a figure phase out of the ground. It was the target. He ejected from the ground with eight water tentacles floating behind, each holding two kunai. The next instant, all sixteen kunai were thrown towards him from a dangerous short range.
No#3 immediately jumped in between the kunai and No#4. It was normal for the team to protect the iryo-nin, and No#4 weaved hand seals despite seeing the kunai dug into No#3 despite the latter's best effect to deflect them. No#4 knew it would take more than some kunai to take No#3 down, and continued to weave hand seals for Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu.
But then the tentacles slithered like snakes and moved around No#3 to grab No#4, who felt the wet liquid water held together and partially solidified using chakra wrap around his body and more importantly his hands. Before he could complete the last two hand seals, his hands were harshly pulled apart.
Baam!
No#4 felt a strong gust of wind and force flutter his cloak and clothes. He stared in shock as No#3 in front of him slid down to the ground, leaving nothing between him and the target.
The target was a mess. There was an ugly cut on the right side of his face; the left side was burned. His clothes were torn and burned with plenty of unsightly cuts and bruises that he and his team had inflicted. He could tell the target's condition was one push away from serious. Most would fall apart in the target's condition—he now understood why the master instructor had assembled a four people team for a single genin.
The tentacles spasmed and tightened around No#4's arms, legs, and torso. He tried to resist and overpower the tentacles, but the tentacles were iron chains refusing to budge.
"I'll keep one alive, but that's not you," the target whispered as he thrust a kunai towards him.
No#4 closed his eyes, accepting his end. He was aware of the danger of the mission and knew that he could die on any mission. But he was honored to die on duty while protecting the foundation, and repay the life and purpose the Lord Commander had given to him.
Nothing happened in the next moment.
Clang! Clang!
"Ugh!"
No#4 opened his eyes to see two metal chains bound around the target's arms, who struggled against the chains. Their eyes met, and the target immediately chucked his kunai up, which was caught by an empty tentacle that struck out towards him, but before the kunai could reap his throat, the chains pulled, and the target was harshly pulled back—and No#4, bound by the tentacles, went along with him.
The sudden pull disrupted the tentacle holding the kunai, lodging deep into No#4's upper abdomen. He spurted blood out of his mouth.
One of the chains rattled around the target's arm, and in a bright flash, a surge of lightning shot up the chain and electrocuted the target. The next moment, two arms clutched No#4's arm and pulled him away from the tentacles.
"Are you alright, brother?" asked No#1.
"Y-Yeah," replied No#4. "Leave me and focus on the target."
No#1 and No#2 put No#4 down at a distance and disappeared into the fog.
No#4 felt wetness on his face, and a chill shot up through his spine, but then he looked up to see the fog clearing up as rain began to fall in earnest.
He wanted to heal himself, but instead of doing that, he turned back and hobbled toward No#3.
They needed to finish this now.
———
.
Takuma got rid of the chains around him as his body spasmed from the Lightning Release jutsu. The pain in his chest was at an all-time worse as his heart burned with every beat. He was already tired from the Ring fight, and now felt he could collapse at any time.
He looked up as rain fell on the ground, erasing his Hidden Mist Jutsu. His biggest advantage was no more.
Takuma undid his Eight Tentacles Jutsu and let the water fall away. He weaved hand seals for Eight Tentacles Jutsu again, and this time, the water behind his back was double the previous time. The tentacles that formed from the water blob were thicker and longer than before.
He looked ahead, and as the fog dissipated, he could see two figures, but that was only momentarily as two huge fireballs bellowed toward him. Takuma calmly weaved hand seals, sucked in a deep breath, and then spat out a massive water wave towards the two C-rank fire jutsu.
Water Release: Wild Water Wave
The water met the fire, and the flames were extinguished before they could even reach halfway. The collision released a huge amount of water vapor.
Takuma didn't move and observed. His gut told him something was coming, and it turned out right as thick earth spikes flew across the air—it was an Earth Release jutsu— but it wasn't just that. Bright and hot flames surrounded the earth spikes.
It was a combination ninjutsu.
The concept was simple: use two ninjutsu in harmony to become more powerful than a simple sum of the original. Not all justu could be used together in a combination, and the two components needed to be compatible. For example, a Fire Release jutsu could be boosted by a Wind Release jutsu— or a Lightning Release jutsu could cause more damage when conducted through a Water Release jutsu. Incompatible jutsu like Fire Release with Water Release wouldn't work.
Takuma knelt down and quickly formed hand seals before pushing his palms against the ground.
Earth Release: Earthen Dome
Takuma felt the force of the combination jutsu against his shield. He knew it wouldn't last long. Earthen Dome was a derivative of a B-rank jutsu, and unlike the parent jutsu, it lacked the repair ability. Earthen Dome couldn't be repaired and strengthened by actively providing chakra after the initial expenditure.
Takuma weaved hand seals for Hiding in the Rock jutsu to slip into the ground. As the jutsu triggered, Takuma felt a pit in the bottom of his stomach. He was familiar with the feeling—just not during battle.
Perhaps for the first time in a battle, Takuma was concerned about his chakra usage. He hadn't run out, not at all, but this was the first time he had used so much in a fight—and not a single of his enemies were dead.
But with the Hidden Mist Jutsu gone, he could unleash his other specialty.
———
.
No#1 and No#2 stared at the aftermath of their combination jutsu. The jutsu was strong enough to tear through any C-rank jutsu—and in this situation, it had also illuminated the surroundings in the form of fires and embers.
"Can you see the target?" asked No#1.
"Negative," No#2 replied.
They looked at each other and slowly moved closer to the burn site.
"It's okay, I'm right here."
The two assassins whipped around to spot the target standing before them with his hands together, forming a hand seal.
They moved to strike the target down when the situation suddenly changed. Dozens of clones stepped out of the shadows, phasing out of the grounds, jumping down from the buildings. In a couple of moments, the entire road was filled with clones of the target, and they were completely surrounded.
The two straightaway put their swords away and began forming hand seals.
———
.
Takuma walked towards No#4 as No#1 and No#2 dealt with Genjutsu: Mist Servant Jutsu. He had gotten really good at his first genjutsu—he could now create an illusion of multiple dozens of clones appearing simultaneously.
Takuma felt explosions go behind him. He turned to see small football-sized fireballs fly around. The explosions were followed by earth spears; Takuma had to dodge one of them. It didn't matter how many jutsu they used; they wouldn't be able to get rid of the "clones."
'Use more chakra, exhaust yourself,' Takuma thought as he walked away from the two trapped assassins.
He eventually reached his destination, where No#4 was slumped against the ground, healing himself.
They looked at each other, and No#4 opened his mouth to yell, but two kunai thrown from the tentacles dug directly into his throat, instantly killing No#4.
The iryo-nin was down.
Shatter!
Takuma turned back towards No#1 and No#2. They broke through the genjutsu, and they did it fast. From their reaction to directly going for ninjutsu showed that they were deep in the thrall of the genjutsu—aggressiveness was an indicator they completely believed the genjutsu—which made the quick escape abnormal.
'Unless someone else broke them out…'
Takuma turned to No#4 and a tight smile appeared on his face.
"You didn't heal yourself, did you," he whispered.
An iryo-nin's role was to heal his teammates. No#4 had done just that—he had healed No#3, who had then broken No#1 and No#2 out of the genjutsu. It was an excellent decision that snowballed into more good for the team.
"Good man…"
Takuma turned to walk away when his left leg gave away. It was so sudden that the tentacles had to prop himself to stop him from falling on pure instinct.
He stared at his leg in horror, and it was shaking, but no matter how much Takuma tried, he couldn't move it at all.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
Chapitre 160: CH_5.17 (160)
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
He needed to leave his neighborhood and head to a busy main street because no help would come where Takuma lived. But to do that, he needed mobility, which he didn't have currently because of the bum leg.
Takuma didn't dare look at his leg in fear the remaining three assassins would notice the glance and figure out the situation. But simultaneously, it didn't matter as they would figure it out anyway when Takuma moved.
The rain was now bathing the Hidden Leaf. Takuma's ears were filled with the sound of the heavy showers. The rain bore down on him, making his injured body feel heavier than any ankle weight he ever had. Takuma tried to look at the situation positively as his Water Release jutsu gained from the heavy rain—but the rain made the situation difficult as well—his trained ears were hindered, and every single surface in the area would become slippery.
Either the first dose of Sango's painkiller had kicked in, or his body was pumping enormous amounts of adrenaline through his blood because Takuma felt the pain dull a smidge, and his body felt more functional than it should be in his current condition.
But with his foot not operational, he was in no condition to engage three trained assassins.
He needed to escape.
The water tentacles behind Takuma shifted as one tentacle turned thinner and longer as it slowly extended behind him, heading towards the dead No#4. Takuma ordered the tentacle to swipe No#4's weapons pack to replenish his improvised arsenal. It was difficult as he didn't have a good view of No#4, and the rain only made it difficult.
Takuma turned to look at his front when he noticed the three assassins move. They spread out and moved to surround him. The tentacle behind him snatched the weapons pack and retreated quickly.
Takuma weaved hand seals for Hiding in the Rock jutsu and slipped into the ground. The urban landscape restricted his movement as building foundations underground made it so he couldn't just go anywhere—this would not have been a problem if he was at his best, but in his current condition, going any deeper than just below the surface wasn't possible. If he pushed it, he could end up buried alive beneath a city, never to be found.
Takuma turned to follow the road and had only moved a couple of meters when he felt the ground shake. Takuma felt his jutsu fail, and without a moment's delay, Takuma jumped out of the ground. In shock, Takuma looked around to see No#1 kneeling with hands on the ground.
Takuma recalled the earthen spikes he had faced earlier. No#1 was an Earth Release user. He had disrupted the ground, forcing Takuma to re-surface.
'Fuck!'
There went that plan. He would need to take out No#1 if he wanted to escape using Hiding in the Rock jutsu—but Takuma was sure they, too, realized that, which was why No#1 stood a step behind No#2 and No#3 even though No#3 was the most injured among the three. They were protecting him so that Takuma couldn't escape.
As Takuma thought about what to do next, he noticed No#3 look toward No#4. It was a subtle head turn, and Takuma barely noticed it. Takuma thought about it for a moment before returning to his current predicament.
As Takuma thought, No#2 and No#3 charged towards him. In a hurry, Takuma did the first thing that popped into his mind.
Two of the eight water tentacles moved and wrapped themselves around Takuma's leg. He let his legs go limp and let his body weight be supported by the tentacles.
'Just treat them like feet… treat them like feet… just like feet.'
While repeating the words in his mind like a mantra, Takuma jumped back, but instead of taking a big leap, Takuma ended up with a flimsy skip. No#2 and No#3 rapidly closed in, and Takuma had no choice but to engage them.
He dug into No#4's weapons pack, and thankfully, it had a stash of kunai, which he used to arm his tentacle.
Takuma felt horrible as he operated the tentacles at his feet. Without a solid base and nimble footwork, the rest of his body seemed awkward to move. It was the most awful he had felt in combat, so much so that he wanted to throw up.
No#2 swung his sword, and when Takuma went to the counter, the tentacle holding the kunai missed. The sword straight cut through the water tentacle. Takuma had to lurch back at the last moment to avoid the sharp edge, and due to the abrupt movement, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
"Gah!"
Pain shot through his body as a deep cut got pulled from the fall. He had barely squinted for a split-second, only to see No#3 stabbing his sword down towards his chest when he re-focused his eyes. With pure flight instinct, the tentacles pushed Takuma to the side, making No#3 miss.
Takuma's problems had just started as No#2 was ready with his next attack. Takuma didn't know what to do from his current position until he remembered he had tentacles. Like whips, two tentacles assaulted No#2's legs to make him stumble.
Another swing from No#3 threatened Takuma's life, but he didn't miss this time and successfully contested the strike. Another tentacle got in a counterstrike into No#3's side, and Takuma was about to get a final lethal strike to the heart when he saw No#1 in his field of vision.
The next moment, a shuriken came down at him. Every tentacle lurched in front to form a barrier, but Takuma knew that the shuriken would pierce through the water—he pushed chakra into the water to further solidify it so he could survive the attack.
The pseudo-wall didn't deflect the shuriken; instead, the shuriken entered the water but didn't make out the other side.
Takuma didn't have the time to breathe a sigh of relief. The water tentacles moved, the shuriken floating inside moving along with them. Takuma turned the tentacles into a slingshot, flinging the shuriken out—but instead of returning fire to No#1, he aimed at No#2 and No#3 as they were more immediate threats. The two assassins immediately jumped out of the way of the shooting stars, but not before they could avoid all of the shuriken—some hit them—and that gave Takuma a chance to regain footing.
He stood up with the tentacles wrapping around his leg. From his previous failure, Takuma was able to better control the tentacles as substitutes for his legs—he immediately headed towards an alleyway, stumbling along the way, almost falling. Even if he could move now, Takuma was nowhere near the mobility he would normally possess.
Fortunately for him, Takuma knew the alleyways better than his assassins.
In the night of the dark, Takuma moved through the narrow ways of the poorly planned part of the city, but today, it was all to Takuma's advantage. Not only were the alleyways narrow, but the construction companies who had built the houses had over-extended the balconies beyond the assigned plots. The balconies from two opposite buildings had a distance that could be covered with a small jump, putting the balconies directly above the alleyways, which made the streets down below partially blocked and thus inaccessible from the rooftops.
He weaved through the dark village, almost falling multiple times.
But before Takuma even left the block, the moment he entered the first alleyway, he felt something. But the feeling disappeared almost instantaneously, and Takuma had too much on his mind to care. All of his attention was focused on operating the tentacles.
His breathing was labored; the rain sapped the energy from his body, but he couldn't stop. He could feel the assassins on his tails; he could hear them over the noise. They were behind him on the road; they were atop the buildings, following him. It was Takuma's frequent twists and turns that were keeping him safe.
He consciously kept away from main roads and kept to back alleys, knowing that if he gave them the space, they would nail him. He could tell that things were going well as he hadn't faced a single explosive tag to just blow him up—but he hoped they would use explosives or a flashy ninjutsu to create some commotion. That might not have done anything in his neighborhood, but it would work now as Takuma moved toward a better part of the town.
Takuma was avoiding the main roads, but his aim was a large Police Force precinct that would have night shift officers working in the building. The precinct wasn't accessible by back alleys, and Takuma knew that very soon he would have to travel out in the open.
Suddenly, No#2 dropped at the end of the alley Takuma was halfway through. It was an alleyway that opened to a main road.
Takuma got the scare of his life when he saw No#2 weaving hand seals. Time slowed for Takuma; he knew he had close to no chance of avoiding a ninjutsu in the narrow alleyway, and even if he pulled off an Earth Release: Earthen Dome in time, the solid concrete buildings around slowed the dome construction and he would get hit.
The other option was to disrupt the jutsu before No#3 completed it, but he didn't have any kunai equipped in his hands, and the tentacles didn't have enough space to build up the momentum to whip the kunai.
A genjutsu wasn't an option—No#3 was actively operating chakra for a jutsu, which meant, in that moment, he had better control of his chakra, and a genjutsu had a higher than usual probability of failing.
Takuma had less than a second to make a decision, and he made one in the moment.
The tentacles around Takuma's feet tightened. There was no water below his soles, and even though one of his legs wasn't working, he could still circulate chakra into it. He pushed as much chakra he could in the moment into the water tentacle and used his good leg to jump high up just before a stream of fire engulfed everything below him
The jump was pathetic; he barely jumped to a single-storey height. Takuma slapped his hand on the flat surface of a balcony's outside, and his training during the basic training right out of the academy kicked in, and his hand stuck to the surface like his feet would do with chakra adhesion.
His arm was strong enough to pull the weight of his body, and Takuma climbed up as fast as he could. The moment his good foot was on a surface, he kicked himself up and continued his way to the top.
Takuma reached the rooftop and turned his head to see No#1 and No#2 behind him on another rooftop.
The precinct was just a few blocks away, which meant Takuma only needed to cross a bit more distance before he could reach his destination. Takuma didn't have the leaping strength to cross the main road and onto the rooftop across the street, which meant he had to travel by road, which wasn't optimal.
By the time he went down from the rooftop, No#3 would be ready to mount another attack, and the other two would soon follow. But he had no choice; he had to survive his way to the precinct.
Takuma turned to the front and stepped forward when tragedy struck.
He slipped.
Cold rain fell from the sky.
Takuma's mind went blank as he found himself falling back into the narrow alleyway.
He could see the future in his imagination. He would hit multiple balconies on his way down; once on the ground, he would face No#3, who would take advantage of the situation and finish him off. Even if that weren't the case, the other two wouldn't allow him to live much longer.
He was as good as dead.
'Not yet.'
All eight tentacles merged into one and shot forward to wrap itself around an iron rod before pulling Takuma up and flung him into the sky.
Eight Tentacles Jutsu wasn't meant to handle large weights. Its intended usage was to wield small weapons like kunai, shuriken, big daggers, and perhaps a sword or two—but the jutsu wasn't meant to support heavy weights and especially couldn't muster enough force to fling someone Takuma's weight into the sky.
It wasn't even meant to substitute legs like Takuma was using, but he had been pumping chakra into tentacles to increase their ability to bear weight. And in the moment, he was falling, Takuma did the same, he pushed so much chakra into the tentacles that it, for a very short moment, became able to fling Takuma into the air.
And because the Eight Tentacles jutsu wasn't meant to be utilized in such a way, it shattered immediately.
As Takuma flew in the air, he turned his body mid-flight and weaved hand seals for Water Release: Wild Water Wave.
No#1 and No#2 had rushed forward and were well within the range.
Water Release ninjutsu had a special feature. Most of them performed significantly well when there was a body of water present nearby—or an alternate, if it was raining in the area.
Takuma then ejected a wave of water, which was twice as big as the biggest wave he had ever pulled off. It wasn't just the volume; the pressure behind the water was at another level as well. No#1 and No#2 had no opportunity to dodge and were hit by the wave.
But the happiness was short-lived as Takuma fell to the ground violently, missing the opportunity to do a roll to kill the momentum. Fortunately, his body was much stronger than a normal human. Unfortunately, he was in bad shape, and even the fall from a height that Takuma wouldn't feel in his knees sent a wave of weakness throughout his body.
Takuma groaned, and before even attempting to get up, he weaved hand seals for Eight Tentacles through the pain. The water collected from the puddles and rain pulled together in front of his chest. Two tentacles sprouted out and wrapped around his legs. As he forced himself to stand up, the water blob moved from his front to his back before six more tentacles spread out. Each tentacle felt as heavy as lead.
He knew his condition was worsening, and he didn't have enough time; his body would give out before he ran out of chakra.
He heard footsteps, and when he looked up, the three assassins stood around him…
.
———
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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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