บท 169: 168-Let Me Handle This
"RAH!"
With a roar, he lunged forward, swinging his greatsword which gleamed under the moonlight in a wide arc. Hiro met him head-on, their blades clashing with a shower of sparks. The Hatake clan's sabre techniques had been drilled into Hiro relentlessly for the last couple of months, and today was Hiro's ultimate test.
For a moment, the fight was evenly matched. Hiro's sabre deflected Norio's powerful strikes with deft precision. He relied on his clan's techniques, using fluid movements to redirect the force of Norio's attacks. Each clash of metal sent vibrations up his arm, but Hiro stood firm, his eyes locked onto his opponent's.
"Is this all you've got?" Norio sneered.
Hiro didn't respond, focusing on maintaining his defensive stance. Norio, however, was no ordinary mercenary. As the fight dragged on, he began to change his tactics. With a guttural growl, he swung his greatsword in a downward arc, and as it struck the ground, a wave of water erupted from the blade, surging towards Hiro. Caught off guard, Hiro leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the deluge.
The water attacks added a new dimension to the fight. Norio's slashes were now accompanied by torrents of water, making it harder for Hiro to anticipate and dodge.
'I can't use Ninjutsu as much as I want in this situation since I am running low on chakra. I just need to hope I beat him with my sabre.' Hiro thought as he kept his focus, parrying and dodging as best he could.
Then, Norio began to release an ominous orange fume from his greatsword. The air around them grew thick with the toxic vapour, and Hiro became alarmed.
'What is this?' he wondered.
Hiro had heard of the Iron Fangs' notorious poison techniques, but he had never faced them firsthand. The fumes swirled around Hiro, clinging to his clothes and skin, seeping into his pores.
Norio grinned as he spoke. "You know, I did not come from a shinobi background, but my clan still dealt with poison back in the Land of Water, and this is one of them. It is a deadly poison that uses your chakra to sustain itself. You'll find your strength waning, your body betraying you. There's no escape."
Immediately, Hiro felt a strange sensation in his chakra network. The poison was insidious, it was as if his own chakra was being turned against him.
He staggered, his vision blurring, and Norio seized the opportunity, swinging his greatsword with deadly intent. Fortunately, Hiro barely managed to deflect the blow.
Just when things seemed dire, Sama appeared at Hiro's side. With a swift motion, she placed her hands on Hiro, her chakra glowing with a soft green light. Healing energy flowed into him, temporarily mitigating the effects of the poison. "Hang in there," Sama said.
Norio's grin widened as he saw this. "You think you can defeat me?" he taunted. "You killed my comrades. Now, you'll die a slow, painful death."
'They tried to kill us first.' Hiro wanted to complain but due to their current situation, he chose to keep it to himself.
Sama hurled a barrage of kunai at Norio, forcing him to dodge and giving Hiro a moment to recover. Hiro gathered the last of his strength and launched himself at Norio.
This time, Hiro's attacks were more precise, more deliberate. He aimed for Norio's weak points, using his speed and agility to keep the mercenary off balance.
Sama supported him from the sidelines, her weapons creating openings for Hiro to exploit. But the poison continued to sap their strength, and Norio's fury only seemed to grow.
Norio swung his greatsword in a wide arc, releasing a massive wave of water infused with the orange fumes. Hiro and Sama were forced to separate, dodging in opposite directions.
'He's the most dangerous out of the two,' Norio thought.
He then pursued Hiro, his attacks becoming more aggressive. Sama, realizing the dire situation, decided to take a risk. She formed a series of hand seals, her chakra flaring brightly,
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" she shouted, summoning a powerful water dragon.
The dragon roared to life, crashing towards Norio with immense force. Norio was momentarily distracted, giving Hiro a crucial opening.
'I still haven't completely mastered this, but there's no point in not using it if I die here,' Hiro thought, focusing his chakra on a final, decisive strike.
"Raijin no Mai!" he cried, his sabre crackling with lightning chakra. He dashed forward, his blade a blur of motion. Norio turned just in time to see the attack, but it was too late. Hiro's sabre struck true, slicing at Norio's chest and delivering a powerful shock.
Norio staggered, his eyes wide with disbelief. "This... can't be..." he muttered, collapsing to the ground.
After confirming that Norio was dead, Sama rushed to Hiro's side, her healing chakra flowing into him, mending his wounds and purging the remaining poison from his system.
'We need to be in better shape before helping Renjiro,' Sama thought as echoes of explosions could be heard from a distance.
'This is annoying!' Renjiro thought. He had been trading attacks as well as dodging and trying his best to get away from Ige, but the Jounin was much faster than him.
'Nothing is working! I need to find a way to make my genjutsu work even when people are wary of me,' Renjiro thought.
Only his stamina was keeping him alive as he kept healing from all the attacks from Ige that hit him. A particularly fierce lightning attack had sent Renjiro skidding across the ground, his body convulsing from the electric shock.
"Aaargh!"
The sound of the lightning attack crackling in the air was almost drowned out by Renjiro's pained grunt. His clothes were singed, and his skin was covered in burns that slowly began to heal, thanks to his chakra. The healing was great, but it could not remedy the pain his injuries brought.
Just as Renjiro was about to flicker away, Ige appeared behind him, catching him by the neck. "Got you!" Ige sneered, tightening his grip.
Just then, Renjiro's shadow clone appeared, throwing a couple of explosive tags at Ige.
"Boom!"
Immediately, another explosion rocked the area where the two were. The force of the blast sent debris flying, and Renjiro used the explosion to free himself from Ige's grip and flickered away.
'This should buy me a few seconds.' Renjiro thought as he made seven shadow clones that dispersed in different directions.
He waited for a few seconds as the burns he had all over his arms and face began to heal. It was a bit slower than normal since Renjiro was running low on chakra but still effective.
'Renjiro Kamikaze has a nice ring to it,' Renjiro couldn't help but think.
This was the strategy he had been employing for the last couple of minutes. Renjiro was way too low on chakra to use his adamantine chains again, so he chose to empty out his explosive tags stock on Ige.
He was confident in taking the brunt of the blast or, worse, healing from it. He also used his shadow clones in various capacities, such as confusing Ige about where he was, as well as carriers of the explosive tags.
Ige then appeared in front of Renjiro, grabbing him again. Just as another shadow clone appeared once more, Ige used his other free arm to dispel the clone.
"That won't work again," Ige said, increasing the amount of lightning gathering on his arms.
The electricity coursed through Renjiro's body, causing him to convulse violently.
'I can't even use any jutsu...' Renjiro thought, he was almost about to pass out from the lack of air and the shock going through his body when suddenly a figure appeared, hitting Ige on the side of his abdomen, causing him to let go of Renjiro.
All Renjiro heard was, "Let me handle this," before the figure and Ige disappeared in a blur of motion. Renjiro, still dealing with the aftereffects of being shocked, took a few moments to realize what had just happened.
Panting heavily, Renjiro looked around, trying to gather his bearings. His vision was still a bit blurry from the electric shock, but he managed to focus on the figure who had saved him.
"It seems like they are done," Renjiro murmured, relief washing over him.
=====
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