Chương 60: Creeping Mist

Being on the open water was super relaxing for me; it was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and I didn't want to leave it.

Ping, ping, ping

My eyes snapped open as I looked off to my left. "Guys, we have 6 ninjas inbound to our east, and they're coming in hot. Seems like there are 3 jonin and 3 chunin in the group. All 3 of the jonin and the 2 tallest chunin have water release, while the smallest chunin has wind."

Hanzo nodded and drew his sword, watching off to the east, waiting to see the shinobi. "I'll take the 3 jonin; you guys handle the 3 chunin and then back me up once you're done if I need it."

Not even 20 seconds later, a thick mist appeared out of nowhere and surrounded all of us.

"Move to the right, Benimaru!" Not questioning it, he moved swiftly, just avoiding a katana to the neck.

'I need to get this mist out of the way so we're not at a disadvantage here,' I thought while jumping into the air.

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.'

A strong burst of wind came from my mouth as I landed back on the ship, where all 6 of the enemy ninja were gathered around us in a circle.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Molten Blade, Hanzo Shimizu. I didn't realize they had you on babysitter duty during wartime." The leader taunted Hanzo as he drew his sword as well.

Without any talking, Hanzo disappeared from where he was standing, leaving only a streak of red-hot embers and heat waves behind him. Hanzo went to take on the 3 jonin while we went to take out the chunin first.

Raising his sword with lava chakra running through the blade, Hanzo slashed his short sword toward the leader of the group, hoping to take down the most important person to the enemies currently on the ship.

The leader ducked under the sword swing as he gave orders to one of the other jonin on his side. "Kaito, go help with those genin and make sure we take them out. They have to be talented ninja if the whirlpool is willing to send them out on wartime missions right now."

Nodding to his leader, he dashed out of Hanzo's range as the other 2 shinobi blocked Hanzo's path when he went to intercept the ninja that was running towards his kids.

Grunting, Hanzo got to work taking out the 2 people in front of him. 'Benimaru and Kiyoko should be able to take out the three chunin really easily if they work together. And Shiran alone should be able to stall the jonin and wait for a little help from his teammates if needed.'

———

Standing opposite each of the three enemies face to face, I felt both my and my teammates' excitement for battle rising. 'This is the beginning of my legend, our legend; everything leading up to this has been preparation for this moment. Training, sparring, setting battle plans up, fighting weaker opponents on our first missions. We've all been training to be able to protect what we cherish, and now it's sink or swim.'

Looking at my teammates, we nodded in unison, all with a battle-hungry smile as we got into a fighting stance. All 3 of us took the initiative and flickered towards our counterparts while I heard Benimaru's voice echo across the ship.

"Stay in place" All 3 chunin stopped their movements to either block us or dodge.

My chakra chains burst out of my back and went flying toward the person in front of me; Kiyoko became a blur, and Benimaru was making hand signs for a fire release jutsu.

Grinning wildly, my chains got within inches before they were hit aside by a chakra blade. Two water domes were erected around the other two chunin as Benimaru stopped his hand seals and Kiyoko hit the barrier.

We looked over at Hanzo to see he was engaged in a fight with the two other jonin. Burn marks marring their skin and Hanzo's eyes glowing with the intent to kill.

"You should be watching me instead of your sensei." A voice sounded behind me as I activated my kanjogan and ducked under the blade coming right at my neck.

"Fast bastard, aren't you?" He snarled back as all three of us regrouped with each other.

"What, mad that a genin is faster than you even when you tried to do a sneak attack?" I goaded him.

Narrowing his eyes at the three of us, he looked back towards his allies. "You guys good back there?"

"Yeah, we're fine; the brat is from the Kugo clan. We should've been more careful, captain." He eyed Benimaru cautiously.

"Damn right you should've, you almost let three genin take you out." Although he said that, simply looking at three in front of him he could tell they would probably be able to take him out together.

I also looked at Benimaru and could tell that him taking control over three chunin had put a sizable dent in his chakra reserves.

"Benimaru, provide backup for me and Kiyoko here; we'll try and wear them down with taijutsu," I whispered to him as Kiyoko caught my eye and nodded her head as she already knew what I wanted to do.

Benimaru looked reluctant but put up no resistance to the plan. Looking back at the people in front of us, me and Kiyoko vanished as 5 more chakra chains appeared behind me.

"Plan 6, Kiyoko!"

"Gotcha."

———

Looking at my teammates, I told them what I had been thinking about recently. "We need a plan that can hit fast or when we are at a number disadvantage. What I've come up with so far is 'plan 6.'

Nodding, they waited for me to continue. "This plan will come in the form of Kiyoko using her speed and hard-hitting taijutsu to distract as many of the enemy as possible without getting caught. It will follow up with me coming in to place down restraining seals on the ground to bind them for at least a couple of seconds. In those few seconds, they can't move; we will do our best to take as many out as possible with our speed. Benimaru will watch our backs and provide speech support if he sees an enemy attacking towards us."

Benimaru was a little upset-looking as he wanted a more primary role, but his intelligence won out, knowing that we needed a plan for a bunch of different situations. "That's fine, but we're creating a plan for me as well."

Kiyoko laughed at him. "Of course, Beni, we wouldn't want you to feel left out."

————

Watching Kiyoko blur around and grab the attention of all the chunin, I smiled. The only one she didn't get the attention of was the jonin. He had his eyes planted squarely on me.

Flaring out 4 of my chains, I planted them on the ground, allowing intricate seals to form with the chains being the point of origin.

'Granted these seals won't be as strong as they could be had I been able to train them for a little bit longer before this mission, they'll do especially for what their purpose is today.'

Sensing the chakra fluctuating, the jonin flickered in front of me with his blade positioned to stab me in the gut. Taking my short sword out, I deflected the sword to my left as I sent a chakra chain to his left side, leaving a slight cut on his rib area as he dodged.

Pressing the issue, I went on the offensive, sending a series of slashes his way, relying on my speed to compensate for the lack of strength behind my slashes and lack of experience fighting with a sword in combat.

Slash

Another chakra chain lashed out and landed a deep cut on his shoulder leaving him wincing.

Rip

His pant leg was slashed in half by a chain cutting through his thigh from behind while he simultaneously deflected a stab aimed at his heart.

Pierce

A chakra chain pierced his shoulder and went all the way through as he yelled out in pain.

Seeing himself start to fall behind as he was fighting essentially three swords at once, he backed up and watched me carefully. "You're good, brat, I can see why they've let you take wartime missions. Unfortunately, I can't let you live, especially if you're this good, this early, in your life."

He dashed towards me as I looked over to see Kiyoko slit the chunin's, who had wind release, neck open.

Spurting blood everywhere on the ship, the other two chunin gulped. 'We can't keep up with her speed,' they both thought as they went to opposite sides of her, trying a pincer approach. Fortunately for them, she was dwindling down her chakra slowly but surely with such a liberal use of her kekkei genkai.

"I'm ready whenever you are, Shiran!" She shouted over to me as I set my sights on the charging jonin.

'Just come a little closer, dumbass.'

Thud, thud, thud. He was getting closer and closer

'NOW,' pulling my chains out of the deck of the ship, three pairs of purple-colored chakra chains like mine flew out of the ground, binding them and dragging them toward the center of the seal that the chains had come out of.

"They'll only hold for a few seconds, Kiyoko, kill them." She nodded as her body seemed to phase out of reality. As that happened, blood spurted out of the necks of the two other chunins struggling in the chains. Before she could get to the jonin, he busted out and punched her away.

Clearly pissed about having lost comrades and control of the situation, he started making hand seals at an alarmingly fast rate.

'Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu.'

A huge water dragon came out of the ocean, poised to strike both me and Benimaru. 'You will loose in a ninjutsu battle if this is the route you want to go down.

'Storm Release: Cyclone Shield.'

A dragon-sized shield of storm clouds formed in front of us as the two jutsus clashed tremendously hard against one another.

Sensing his movements, I turned to our right. "To our right, he's making hand seals."

'Stop' Benimaru's words echoed once again, causing the jonin's chakra to be displaced for a second, but that was enough for me to form a sign with my hands.

Grinning like a madman, the word flowed out of my mouth naturally. "Katsu."

BOOOOOM

The jonin was blown sky-high as his blood splattered everywhere and rained down from the sky.

Benimaru watched it happen with some entertainment in his eyes. "You really are stupid, you know, why not explode him earlier? I mean, you had already planted those seals on him before, during that exchange between swords, so why wait until now?"

"I don't know, I just felt like I was having a really fun time battling him. I mean, there were real stakes and he was a jonin of the mist even if he didn't seem all that strong. It was fun." I said while smiling.

"Speak for yourself, Rusty, I was stuck on the sidelines." He glared at me.

"Stop arguing you two; sensei is almost done with his fight." Kiyoko spoke up from where she was sitting on the ground watching our sensei cut the arms off of both men causing the wounds to be cauterized at the same time.

"You guys didn't help me." Hanzo-sensei said with a flat stare at all of us while we all sweat dropped.

'You know you're supposed to be the strong one here, right? Besides, it doesn't even look like you tried at all while I watched you fight.' I complained in my head, sitting down next to Kiyoko.

Placing sleep seals and chakra suppression seals on both of our prisoners, he looked at us three. "Good job, by the way, on getting rid of the weaker ninja and planning against the stronger one in tandem. The more fights you have like that, the easier it'll be to coordinate your moves to the point where you won't even need to talk with one another. Anyway, let's keep it moving we still have a mission we're supposed to complete."

———

(A/N: Everyone likes some fighting, how did you guys like it? Were you able to visualize the fight well enough? As was pointed out in the chapter, we seem to have a very battle-hungry team, might not necessarily be the worst thing considering they have to survive 3 wars but we'll see. Lmk if you guys have any feedback.)

70 power stones for an extra chapter.

120 for 2 extra.