"Now for the rest of you . . ." Inori started.
"Shinka should stay out of the main fight. Use your Kochu ahead of the first strike to soften them up, kill and weaken as many as possible. After that, stay hidden and use your other insects for the ambushes the others will set up." The Violet Rose began assigning roles.
"Benihime and Makoto will use your respective dojutsu to keep a close eye on the area. If enemies split up from their main group to escape or flank, they'll be your responsibility. Also, if enemy reinforcements show up, your job is to warn us and stall if possible." She continued.
"Fugaku-san and Tomoe-dono will set an ambush for me to draw Kumo in while Mei and Ema-san will set another for Shiki to draw their mercenary friends in."
"Any questions?" Inori concluded with an inquiry.
No one posed any.
"Great. Then move out. Once the ambushes are set, Shinka sends her Kochu and the very instant the enemy figures out something is wrong, Shiki and I will make our move." The Violet Rose declared.
And so, the squad moved out to fight a true battle, one of a scale sufficient enough to simulate a wartime clash of elite squads.
Shinka's Kochu stealthily approached first, unfortunately, a downside of having multiple types of insects was that she could not stock up on as many of each type as pure specialists.
She still had enough to assign a couple to each individual enemy shinobi however.
The only expectation was that they could thin out the enemy's number, if even one of their top combatants was killed or at least weakened, it would be phenomenal success.
But alas . . . The Kumo shinobi, aware that there was an Aburame in the Konoha team, were prepared for insects and though their measures were meant for the standard Kikaichu, they worked just fine on the Kochu as well.
As soon as the insects got close, small sparks flashed around the Kumo shinobi, burning all the approaching Kochu.
"They're here!" Toroi shouted.
It was his jutsu that allowed him to infuse an electric charge into all Kumo shinobi as a safeguard against insect based attacks.
A rather inspired modification of one of his regular jutsu meant for repelling enemies and solid attacks.
Everyone suddenly jumped up with battle readiness. They had been caught by surprise but they were all veterans.
'Ambushed again . . . This does not bode well, even if we withstood the initial sneak attack.' Dodai thought to himself.
He turned his head towards their tenuous allies and saw they had not fared as well.
The two regular squads of mercenaries crumpled to the ground unceremoniously, completely unprepared for the stealthy Kochu.
But the elite squad . . .
The Boil Release user seemed to be clad in an unseen aura of heat which burned the insects on approach.
The Steel Release user's impenetrable skin made sure the Kochu could do nothing to him.
As soon as the Kochu got close to the Dark Release user, they mysteriously dropped dead immediately.
And for the Typhoon Release user, he surprisingly managed to detect the insects before they got too close and blew them away with a burst of wind.
The Kochu thinned their numbers but unfortunately did not manage to affect their truly strong fighters.
'They did, however, give me insight into their abilities.' Shiki thought to himself.
'Dark has an unknown dangerous effect so best not approach him first, Typhoon seems to have an advanced sensory method so there is a high chance of my initial attack being thwarted, Boil's protection is counterattack based, carelessly approaching is inadvisable.'
'Steel though, is just tough and doesn't seem very perceptive, his initial reaction was the slowest too, overconfidence in his defensive prowess perhaps?' The boy's target was instantly chosen.
Although it took a while to explain, everything was happening in a mere instant and, in that very moment, while the enemy was still bracing for the ensuing attack, Shiki and Inori were already striking at their assigned groups.
*
The boy surged out of the ground with silence and speed.
Typhoon and Dark immediately noticed but Boil and the one being attacked, Steel, were lagging behind in readiness.
'Super Compression Rasengan'
Putting all his practice with the Rasengan to good use, Shiki compressed his jutsu to the very limit he was capable of, massively boosting its penetration capabilities, and smashed it into Steel's back.
'His jutsu covers the insides of his body too.' The boy thought as he felt his Compressed Rasengan tear and twist the enemy's innards.
'Typhoon Release: Serial Strong Wind Slicer'
Countless long and sharp air currents suddenly formed in the area, surrounding Shiki in a formation aiming to converge upon his position.
The boy immediately abandoned his attack on Steel and Phantom Flickered before the entrapment could complete, watching as the air currents utterly ravaged the entire area, even hitting the downed Steel.
'I was a bit worried he would still be able to fight after my attack but he's definitely down now. Fighting opponents who care nothing for their teammates does have its advantages.' He thought.
'Fire Release: Flame Bullet'
A massive fireball was instantly spat out of Shiki's mouth, Nirvana Art: Elemental boosting its power to above that of a normal Rank B jutsu and lowering its chakra consumption to the point it could be casually used as a probing attack.
The goal was to see if Typhoon Release could overwhelm Fire Release despite just being an enhanced version of Wind Release.
Alas . . .
'Dark Release: Inhaling Maw'
Dark jumped in to intercept the attack, effortlessly sucking up all of the flames into one of two overlapping square shaped marks on his left hand.
'Dark Release: Judgement'
A massive blast of pure chakra erupted from the other square mark but Shiki casually dodged, his Phantom Flicker continuing to make him the fastest shinobi in any fight he got himself into.
'He's a blower!' The boy internally joked.
It would have been better to save the blast for a better opportunity to hit him.
'Or maybe he can't hold too much energy?' He might have discovered a possible weakness but further testing was required.
Then, out of nowhere . . .
'Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength'
Crashing down from above the boy, a steam jet powered kick pounded him into the ground, cratering the earth.
The rather burly man responsible was already beginning to show a rather disgusting grin, flexing his half naked muscular body, when the Shiki below his foot violently exploded.
'Overconfident bastard!' Typhoon internally ragingly insulted his teammate but still immediately moved to check on him, much to Dark's surprise.
The austere man in a dark grey flak jacket over black clothing, was not known to be caring of his teammates, something which Steel had just felt mere moments ago.
'We're already down one man to only one enemy! We can't be playing recklessly anymore!' Typhoon kept internally complaining, not even counting the two other squads in his forces due to their uselessness.
Unfortunately for him, while Boil's "Steam Armor" did save his life, the right leg that had been directly stepping on Shiki's Shadow Substitution, was blown clean off, putting the overconfident man out of the fight.
"SHIT!" Typhoon could only curse.
'The boss is not going to be happy. The other squads were expendable but kekkei genkai users are too valuable, losing two will mean daily lashes for a week . . . Or death by torture if I still fail the mission.' The man shivered as boiling rage surged in his mind.
The two men, still alive but probably crippled were counted by him as full casualties already, he was not about to try and save them.
'Fire and Wind Release: Great Flaming Breakthrough'
Shiki and a shadow clone he just made unleashed his signature combo jutsu at the still frozen man.
'Come on. Go and absorb it. Let me see if you have a limit.' The boy eyed the young and clearly less experienced Dark Release user, running to his leader's defense once again.
But Shiki's expectations were going to be dashed . . .
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -