Squad Battle

Hearing the alarm bells sound out, Taruho beckoned the guards.

"Guards, what is the problem!?"

One came into the room and reported.

"Three attackers, shinobi seemingly from the group that attacked the shrine with Moryo's soul was sealed." He said.

"Shiki-sama!" Taruho turned to Shiki while Shion waited for his words as well.

"Well you three, it's your time to shine. Go!" He ordered.

"""Yes sir!""" The three responded and set out to meet the attackers.

"You can have your men pull out, no need for any extra casualties." Shiki turned to Taruho and said.

"But . . ." Taruho was feeling doubtful.

"It is fine Taruho, my safety is guaranteed!" Shion spoke out in SHiki's support.

Realizing it had something to do with Shion's future predicting ability, Taruho, knowing there would be no danger to his mistress ordered the guards to retreat.

"Now Shion-sama, let us go towards the secret escape route." Taruho bade his mistress.

"No need for that." Shiki interjected.

"Come then Shion, let's see if my squad lives up to my expectations." He said.

Shion's eyes lit up as she held out her hand in wait. Shiki respectfully took it and guided the Miko to the large courtyard were the battle was taking place.

"Please wait Shion-sama! This i-" Taruho began but was interrupted.

"It is fine Taruho . . . No will have to die for me this day." Shion said with a happy smile that Taruho had not seen for years.

Seeing this, he relented and simply accompanied Shiki and Shion to the courtyard to see the battle as well in order to protect his mistress should it prove necessary.

They reached some kind of balcony from where the battlefield could be observed from above, all of Shion's guards had retreated and, while there were those injured from the initial attack, there were no casualties and the wounded were already being treated.

The fourth member and captain of the Gang of Four who was responsible mainly for supplying chakra from Moryo to the other three hanged back while the rest had engaged with Shiki's squad.

It was a three on three and the groups seemed to have exchanged a few probing attacks but had yet to make any big moves.

"Looks like we got here in time." Shiki said.

"Let's see what these attackers are made of shall we . . ." He added and waited for the show to start.

Setsuna a member of the Gang of Four who had fair skin, long blue hair and light-coloured eyes, wearing a white attire with a hexagram symbol similar to the rest of his group, a belt with pouch, black gloves, and martial artist shoes, looked up to see Shion with Shiki.

Transformed by Moryo's chakra his hair poofed up into three triangular shaped puffs of hair, also gaining two red square-shaped markings coming from the top of his forehead and one of them going over his eyes.

As soon as he potted them, he warned his teammates.

"Oi! Up there!" He said.

His teammates, Gitai, a large man with pale white skin, white shoulder-length hair and red eyes, wearing had a blue cloth around his mouth along with a similar attire to Setsuna.

Transformed he became much bigger and gained two extra sets of arms and a tail. His skin also became a tanish colour and he gained green markings on his arms and faces. He also gained extra faces.

And Shizuku, a woman with fair skin, orange shoulder-length hair, and black eyes offset by blue lipstick, wearing a similar attire to the other two.

Transformed her eyes became purple and her pupils became larger. She also gained three blue markings, one going from the top of her head and going down over her eyes and the last one going down over nose along with two spike-like appendages jutting out the back of her elbow, one on each elbow, her hair becoming messier and a little bit longer.

Both of them looked up and saw their target but none of them moved. Although arrogant, their probing attacks already showed them the kinds in front of them were not to be trifled with and they were drawing on Moryo's power so much that they had fully transformed.

Now that their target was in sight however, they decided to go in for the kill before they lost her with Gitai making the first move.

"Earth Style: Earth Corridor!"

An earthen cavern rose up from the ground around Shiki's team, leaving only an opening that lead to the three members of the Gang of Four. Before having a chance to react to being boxed in however, the follow up came at blinding speed from Shizuku.

"Fire Style: Running Flame!"

A ring of fire rolled across the ground leaving a flaming trailed as it blazed a path to Shiki's team.

Although it seemed to lack an area of effect, realizing it was part of a bigger combination jutsu, Sasuke elected to block rather than dodge.

'Earth Style: Earth Wall'

A thick earthen wall rose from the ground, spiting the Earth Corridor into two but the Gang Of Four could not see this from outside.

This turned out to be the right choice as Hinata and Hanabi immediately saw the final wave coming, launched by Setsuna.

"Wind Style: Divine Down Current!"

A great torrent of wind which would not have been that threatening by itself ran down the corridor, following the flame trail and then a massive explosion occurred.

The wind and fire created a powerful firestorm in the semi closed environment of the corridor resulting in a big explosion that crumbled it but most of the power ended up leaving from where it entered as the was a big opening just sitting there.

However, just as the gang of Four was starting to feel smugh for their quick victory, Hinata and Hanabi burst out from the rubble with their Eight Trigrams: Air Palms, Sasuke following them from behind and all of them being unscathed even if slightly dirty.

Their smug expressions froze on their faces and the pressure was on. They had expended a significant amount of chakra with their previous combination Jutsu for no effect at all and they had to retreat and recharge on win the battle quickly enough or smartly enough as to not run out.

They looked at eachother and decided on one more try before retreating decisively but Shiki's team would not surrender the initiative again.

The enemy was clearly very well versed in combination jutsu but they were more experienced with single combat since Shiki usually prioritised individual ability and how to maximize it even in group battles so they always had their own power to rely on in any situation they may encounter.

As such, the three quickly decided to spit the opponents and turn the 3 on 3 battle into three 1 on 1s instead. Sasuke took on Gitai, Hinata dashed towards Setsuna and Hanabi faced Shizuku.

With masterful use of the Body Flicker Jutsu, the suddenly closed the distance and thew out an attack meant to knock them back once they blocked but in three totally different directions. In went of without a hitch but there was one thing all of them were forgetting.

They usually practiced with either special training puppets or the senior members of Mugetsu these days who could take everything they dished out and much more without breaking sweat. The Gang of Four however, despite their Moryo chakra doping, were not on that level.

The physical attacks meant to push and isolate them from each other had not only damaged them even over their blocks as they went flying but the limbs used for blocking were nearly broken as well.

As soon as they righted themselves, the three members of the Gang of Four did not wait another second before running away at their max speed with zero regard for their companions as they realized the difference in ability between them their opponents.

Shiki's team was clearly taken aback by it and stalled just enough to make the chase counter productive as they would not be able to trap their opponents. The three then jumped onto the balcony where Shiki still was with their head hung low.

"So . . ." Shiki started.

"What mistake or mistakes were you all guilty of in this short battle?" Shiki asked them.

"I thought they did fantastic, Shiki-sama!" Shion praised.

"You must have trained them well." She added and the trio felt slightly proud with Hanabi designating SHion as another possible "competitor" for her Shiki-onii-sama's affections.

"Definitely." Shiki agreed, making the three relax a bit.

"Not good enough for me though:" He added, making them tighten up again.

"Now . . . Answer the previous question, left to right in order." Shiki commanded.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

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You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

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