Chapter 72: Fierce Battle
Chapter 72: Fierce Battle
Without wasting any time, after the battle concluded, Ishiro quickly activated his sensory ninjutsu while his three teammates briefly cleaned up the battlefield.
After scanning their surroundings, Ishiro reported, "All nearby squads are moving toward us. We'll head straight to the border, take out the two teams blocking our path, and then withdraw."
They were now close to the border, and the Leaf outpost lay behind them to the right, making the route ideal for both completing their objective and retreating.
Without a word, the squad advanced quickly toward the two enemy teams near the border.
By the time Ishiro and his squad arrived, the two enemy teams had already merged. Both squads were fairly strong, each having two Chūnin-level ninja.
Now, the four Chūnin and four Genin were waiting in a defensive formation.
Ishiro commanded quickly, "Jun!"
"Understood!" Jun responded immediately, already forming hand seals. "Wind Release: Breakthrough!"
Seeing Jun's jutsu, the enemy didn't scatter. Instead, a Chūnin rapidly executed seals, shouting, "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The wall of water barely managed to withstand the powerful wind attack before collapsing. Although same-level offensive ninjutsu usually couldn't break through a defensive technique easily, Jun's wind attack almost shattered the water barrier in a single blow.
Right after Jun's attack, Ishiro began forming seals as well. Seeing this, two more enemy ninja swiftly stood forward, shouting, "Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
Clearly, the enemies had identified Ishiro as the main threat and deployed double defenses. However, they still underestimated Ishiro's "Water Release: Pressurized Water Line."
Though Ishiro deliberately slowed his hand seals, allowing two earth walls to form, his Water Line pierced cleanly through both barriers. The attack then punched through the chest of one frontline Chūnin, fatally wounding him and even injuring a Genin behind him.
The attack had been precisely calculated. The Chūnin captain died instantly, while the Genin was only injured.
Seeing this, the other team's captain shouted, "Watch out! He's a ninjutsu specialist at Jōnin-level! Earth Walls can't protect us! Switch to formation three and harass him!"
Immediately, the remaining seven ninja scattered from behind the walls, launching shuriken and ranged ninjutsu toward Ishiro simultaneously.
Unable to evade entirely, Ishiro was struck by two shuriken and a water bullet—instantly shattering into clumps of dirt. It turned out Ishiro had swapped himself with an Earth Clone shortly after using the Pressurized Water Line jutsu, using Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique to hide his real body underground.
This trick successfully baited out the enemy's first volley of attacks.
As the Chūnin captain saw Ishiro's clone crumble, he shouted sharply, "Be careful!" realizing it was merely a clone.
As expected, Ishiro quickly burst from the ground at the enemy's flank, immediately casting genjutsu to immobilize the Chūnin captain. Ishiro's teammates instantly seized this chance, finishing off the stunned captain with a coordinated attack.
After the enemy captain fell, Ishiro dodged another volley of shuriken from the remaining six Leaf ninja, who desperately tried to keep him at bay.
But Ishiro swiftly formed two hand seals and vanished instantly from sight. Reappearing moments later with the Body Flicker, he struck a ninjutsu-type Chūnin, kicking him out of the formation.
Simultaneously, Ishiro drew his sword, engaging the last Chūnin—a close-combat specialist—in a fierce sword clash. After exchanging a few strikes, Ishiro used the momentum of his opponent's blow to leap back, creating distance between them. Seeing he couldn't quickly finish Ishiro, this Chūnin turned back, trying to regroup with his isolated comrade.
But Ishiro's three teammates had already targeted the separated Chūnin. Seiten unleashed a barrage of exploding kunai, forcing the enemy into a desperate dodge. Immediately after, Jun's wind attack further disrupted him, leaving the enemy wide open to Fu's lethal sword slash.
Having successfully killed his opponent, Fu quickly retreated to Seiten's side as the enemy's remaining Chūnin and four Genin approached.
Ishiro seized this chance again, using Body Flicker to close in and cast Mind Disturbance jutsu once more, interrupting the final Chūnin's rhythm. Fu took advantage, delivering another decisive blow, killing the Chūnin instantly.
Then, Ishiro, Fu, and Seiten swiftly finished off the four Genin.
The squad hastily gathered the spoils, then immediately departed, racing toward the border.
Less than a minute after Ishiro's squad withdrew, other Leaf patrol squads arrived at the scene, enraged by the grim aftermath.
Moments later, the outpost's commanding Jōnin also arrived but didn't pursue immediately, instead ordering his men to gather intelligence about Ishiro's group.
Soon after, reports were consolidated, and the Jōnin formed a rough profile of Ishiro's squad.
Just then, an Anbu team patrolling nearby arrived on the scene.
The outpost captain quickly briefed them, "Four intruders entered from within the Land of Fire, ambushed our patrols, and escaped across the border into the Land of Iron approximately 35 minutes ago. The group has two ninjutsu specialists—one with Water and Earth Releases, another using Wind Release. The third is skilled in kenjutsu, and the last member is likely a taijutsu specialist responsible for setting effective traps."
The Anbu squad captain analyzed the situation briefly and declared, "We're pursuing them immediately."
Without hesitation, the Anbu team moved quickly toward the Land of Iron border.
If Ishiro had heard the outpost captain's analysis, he'd have been impressed—the assessment was nearly perfect, except for one miscalculation.
Before the Leaf Anbu squad could cross into the Land of Iron, Ishiro's team ambushed them within the Land of Fire border itself.
Seiten quickly demonstrated why he'd confidently claimed his traps could temporarily restrain even a Jōnin-level ninja. His concealed trap barrage severely injured an Anbu Chūnin immediately and, after several rapid follow-up attacks, completely incapacitated that Chūnin and scattered the positions of the remaining three Leaf ninja.
Taking advantage, Ishiro's team focused their attack, quickly killing a second Chūnin. Now, the enemy had only two combat-ready members left.
Without delay, Ishiro directly engaged the Anbu captain, leaving the last Chūnin to his teammates. Confident that three against one, especially with the enemy forced to protect an incapacitated ally, wouldn't pose an issue, Ishiro turned all his focus onto the Jōnin.
The enemy Jōnin's strength was clearly above Ishiro's, pressuring him immediately.
To gain an advantage, Ishiro used Mind Disturbance again without hesitation, briefly stunning the enemy and gaining an initial advantage. But the experienced Jōnin quickly shook off the genjutsu and instantly retreated, distancing himself strategically.
The Leaf ninja quickly identified Ishiro as the dual Water-Earth user described in the intel, now recognizing his dangerous proficiency in Yin Release genjutsu as well. The enemy started probing Ishiro's physical speed, quickly finding Ishiro's major weakness—mobility.
Realizing this, the Leaf Jōnin decided to abandon Ishiro and moved swiftly to help his remaining subordinate. But just as he departed, Ishiro reappeared next to him using Body Flicker.
The enemy captain seemed to anticipate this, calmly slashing toward Ishiro as soon as he appeared. However, Ishiro had already anticipated the counterattack—completing a substitution jutsu just before being struck.
The enemy Jōnin paused cautiously, realizing Ishiro had no intention of directly defeating him yet, merely stalling him effectively. If he had ignored Ishiro initially, he would've already regrouped with his teammate by now.
From a safe distance, Ishiro launched multiple ninjutsu—Water Line, Pressurized Water Line, and Earth Flow Spears—to delay the enemy captain further, fully aware that the Leaf ninja was more anxious than he was.
Eventually, the frustrated enemy captain rushed back to confront Ishiro directly. Ishiro didn't retreat, drawing his blade to meet him head-on.
Although clearly inferior in close combat, Ishiro stubbornly resisted, narrowly avoiding multiple lethal strikes, even sacrificing both his spare swords in desperate blocks.
His efforts bought enough time for Fu, Jun, and Seiten to finish off the final Chūnin and come to Ishiro's assistance.
Seeing his disadvantage, the Leaf captain attempted to retreat again, but Ishiro seized the opportunity. With a rapid five-seal sequence, Ishiro unleashed Body Paralysis genjutsu, stunning the enemy Jōnin.
Despite quickly disrupting his chakra flow to break free, the enemy was restrained momentarily—enough time for Ishiro to trigger a hidden senbon needle from his shoe directly into the enemy's throat.
Though instantly freed from the genjutsu, the Leaf captain clutched his bleeding throat helplessly, only to be swiftly decapitated by Fu's decisive slash.
Only after confirming their victory did Ishiro's exhausted team take a moment to breathe.
Without wasting time, Ishiro urged everyone to quickly clean up, carrying Jun—who had exhausted her chakra—on his back as they rapidly withdrew from the Land of Fire.
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