The wind howled, tossing strands of hair wildly.
Sawada Fuka clung tightly to the gray feathers of the giant bird, squinting through a telescope with one eye.
The eastern battlefield had fallen silent, suggesting the fight there might be over.
But down below, where Hikari and the others were surrounded, something shifted.
In the beast-ravaged battlefield below, countless animal corpses piled up, staining the lush green forest with stark red.
The trio, who moments ago had been passively enduring the beast onslaught, now stood up in unison.
Fuka's telescope wasn't powerful enough to discern their exact actions, but the faint green glow emanating from Hikari's palm—the strongest of them—set off alarm bells in her mind.
That monster doesn't have a ninjutsu that can hit me up here, does she?
A startling thought crossed Fuka's mind.
No way!
She dismissed the idea.
Ninjutsu capable of reaching three to five hundred meters was already rare, reserved for the elite of long-range techniques. To avoid any risk, she had deliberately commanded the giant bird to soar nearly a thousand meters high.
Few in the ninja world could fly.
Thus, ninjutsu designed to counter aerial enemies was equally scarce.
Ninety-nine percent of shinobi lacked anti-air capabilities. Even the Fourth Raikage himself, facing such a height difference, could probably only glare helplessly.
Was it really possible she'd run into that one percent chance?
Highly unlikely.
If Hikari truly had a technique to strike a thousand meters up, she would've used it by now instead of sitting idly for so long.
No way she just invented a long-range ninjutsu on the spot!
Fuka pursed her lips.
Konoha's reinforcements hadn't arrived, and the eastern battle had already concluded. Her mood lightened.
She had stalled the Nine-Tails and the Byakugan heir, and Kumogakure's elite jonin were closing in.
The plan was nearly complete—she couldn't afford a mistake now.
Better play it safe.
"Fly higher!" she commanded.
The giant bird obeyed, flapping its wings rapidly to ascend even further.
Fuka's movement in the sky didn't go unnoticed by Hikari.
"She's flying higher," Hikari noted.
"Doesn't matter," Ino and Shikamaru replied in unison.
Ino framed the giant bird with her thumbs and index fingers, locking it in her sights.
Shikamaru stared at the bird's shadow on the ground, waiting patiently.
The Yamanaka and Nara clans' mental techniques were mechanism-based: once conditions were met, the target was guaranteed to be hit, regardless of distance.
The only concern was whether Hikari's newly learned "secret technique" could retain enough power over hundreds of meters to bring down the bird.
Whoosh!
The giant bird soared higher, shrinking to the size of a sparrow in their view.
At last, its faint shadow fell into the intricate web of shadows Shikamaru had woven on the ground.
His eyes lit up.
"Ino!"
"Got it!"
Ino focused, her hand seals locking onto the enemy. Once Shikamaru's technique took effect, she'd unleash all her mental energy to seize control of the target's body.
The shadow web snared the bird's silhouette, merging the two shadows completely.
Shikamaru clasped his hands together.
Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) successful!
Unaware, the giant bird followed its master's orders, soaring upward.
Suddenly, its usually nimble wings met resistance. Then, uncontrollably, they folded together in front of its body.
Screech!
The bird's startled cry jolted Fuka, who was perched on its back. Before she could react, the safety rope binding her dragged her down with the falling bird.
Watching the giant bird tumble from the sky, wings clasped together, Ino slid her hand seals downward in sync with its descent.
"I'm losing control!" Shikamaru shouted, trembling, sweat beading on his forehead. The intense chakra drain was thinning the dark shadow at his feet.
Ino didn't respond.
Her cyan eyes dimmed.
Unbeknownst to her, her Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance Technique) had activated!
Thud!
Choji, standing behind Ino, caught her as she collapsed, dragging her limping to Naruto's side to lie down.
To buy time for the team's ninjutsu, Naruto had used Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone Technique) for the sixth time, shielding them from the beasts at the cost of being temporarily immobile.
"Ugh—!"
Shikamaru couldn't hold on any longer. His hands parted, and he dropped to one knee, gazing at the plummeting bird.
Whoosh!
The rushing wind filled Fuka's nose, bringing a suffocating fear.
Clutching the bird's neck, Fuka free-fell through the air.
"What the—hell—is happening?!"
Her voice, distorted by terror and the rushing air, came out shrill.
Ignoring the enemy on its back, Ino, now controlling the bird's body, adjusted to its condition. She spread its wings and began to fly again.
But this time, not upward.
She dove downward!
Boom!
The roaring wind drowned out Fuka's curses.
The wings sliced through the sky.
Ino, carrying the enemy on the bird's back, plummeted toward the ground like a cannonball.
Hikari's Byakugan locked onto the bird, tracking its altitude while condensing nearly a third of her chakra into her palm.
Buzz!
The restless Futon chakra, compressed to its limit, roared like a hurricane.
Gritting her teeth, Hikari used her Byakugan's precision to keep the chakra contained. One slip, and this "bomb" could erupt, wiping out the wounded allies around her.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto gaped, nervously watching the sky.
The bird's form grew closer but blurrier.
Time passed.
The last light on the horizon faded.
In the dim sky, the bird's shape vanished, leaving only a rapidly descending black shadow.
Ino, seeing the glowing green light below, suppressed the bird's consciousness with her near-depleted chakra, diving toward the light source.
Screech!
The bird, controlled by Ino, let out a pained cry.
Fuka, on its back, drew dual knives from her boots and stabbed them into the bird's flesh. The pain jolted the bird's consciousness, sparking a struggle with Ino for control.
The two consciousnesses clashed.
The bird's body could no longer maintain a steady trajectory, its straight dive turning erratic.
Sweat beaded on Hikari's forehead as she controlled the chakra in her hand, calculating the enemy's altitude.
"Seven hundred… five hundred…"
At that moment, Ino's chakra gave out, and she lost control of the Shinranshin no Jutsu.
Regaining its body, the panicked bird ignored everything, frantically flapping its wings to return to the safety of the sky.
Too late!
"Shinranshin no Jutsu has been released!" Shikamaru warned, seeing Ino stirring on the ground.
Hikari didn't hesitate.
Her wrist aligned, fingers forming a claw, the terrifying Futon chakra aimed skyward.
Buzz!
A blinding green light illuminated the forest's center.
The long-charged vacuum cannon erupted.
The air parted under the terrifying Futon, carving a green trail across the sky.
"Climb, now!!"
Fuka's trembling voice screamed as she saw the blinding ninjutsu below. The bird fled desperately, but its speed couldn't outpace Futon.
Buzz!!!
The green light surged, like a laser, engulfing the bird's fleeing form.
No screams, no struggle.
The condensed vacuum cannon tore through flesh and bone without resistance.
The giant bird, with its twenty-meter wingspan, and Fuka were shredded into fragments. The green light stretched far into the darkening sky before fading.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
The cannon's sound dwindled as Hikari's chakra depleted, the green light vanishing completely.
Huff!
Having burned a third of her chakra, Hikari took deep breaths to ease her exhaustion.
Watching feathers and flesh rain down, she smiled with satisfaction.
One shot, one kill—human and beast!
Perfect!
"Amazing!!!" Naruto leapt up, somehow finding the energy, eyes sparkling as he mimicked Hikari's air cannon pose.
Clearly, he was awestruck by her technique.
Shikamaru and Choji were no less impressed.
The dazzling green light, which seemed capable of piercing the moon, redefined their understanding of Hikari.
She mastered a technique like that in minutes?
Is that even fair?
Shikamaru's sharp mind struggled to accept it.
It felt like the rules governing humans didn't apply to this girl.
What a monster!
Hikari, barely winded after her earth-shattering attack.
Naruto, who'd spawned hundreds of shadow clones, gone from collapse to bouncing back like nothing.
Shikamaru suddenly understood why these two were friends.
"Ugh!"
Ino, squinting, struggled to rise. Her consciousness had returned, but massive chakra loss left her immobile until now.
"Ino, your back!" Choji noticed, alarmed, as Ino's clothes were stained red.
Hikari and the others turned to look.
"Got stabbed twice by the enemy on the bird. It's fine," Ino waved it off, trying to act nonchalant, though her grimacing betrayed the pain.
Injuries sustained during Shinranshin no Jutsu transferred back to her body. Luckily, she'd released the technique before Hikari's cannon struck, or she'd have been part of the sky's debris.
Splatter!
Flesh rained down.
The beasts attacking Hikari's group suddenly quieted, then chased the falling blood and meat.
Hikari's Byakugan revealed the beasts weren't eating flesh but the powdered drug scattered with the fragments, broken by her cannon.
"The enemy's down, and the beasts are distracted. We can go!" Shikamaru said, noticing the beasts' sudden lack of aggression, his face lighting up.
Setting aside the monstrous Hikari and Naruto, Ino and Choji were injured, and Shikamaru's chakra was nearly gone from controlling the bird. Their makeshift team was half-incapacitated.
Now, with the enemy defeated and the beasts distracted, they could finally escape this dangerous place.
No one objected.
Hikari took point as the strongest. Naruto supported Choji, while Shikamaru helped the injured Ino.
The five-person squad prepared to leave.
Roar!
A beastly howl came from the east.
Then, a blinding lightning bolt sliced through the beast horde, charging toward Hikari's group like a sword. The vivid blue chakra stood out starkly in the dark night.
"Is that Sensei?" Ino's pale face brightened.
In their current state, a teacher's aid would be a godsend.
"No!" Hikari's expression shifted, sensing trouble first.
The lightning moved too fast, cutting a gap through the beast horde in an instant. No chunin teacher from the academy had such powerful Raiton.
Her Byakugan's vision extended forward.
A towering figure wreathed in lightning, with elite jonin-level chakra, revealed the enemy's identity.
"It's Kumogakure—"
Before Hikari could finish, the lightning-clad giant crossed a hundred meters in a flash, hurtling toward her like a cannonball.
So fast, even her Byakugan struggled to track him.
Zzt! Zzt! Zzt!
"Die!" roared the figure, a towering man whose fist, crackling with lightning, aimed to crush Hikari.
The Raiton's speed was inescapable.
Raising her arms to shield her head, she took the full force of the terrifying punch.
Boom!
The immense impact felt like a freight train. Her arms screamed with pain, as if broken.
Her vision blurred as she flew back over twenty meters, the force unrelenting.
Zzt!
The lightning wasn't done. It chased her airborne body.
Girai Senno Raifu! (Righteous Thunder Sinking Rage Axe)
A deep voice, laced with fury and killing intent, accompanied a chakra-wrapped right leg raised high, smashing down on the airborne Hikari.
Her eyes widened.
In midair, with no leverage, she couldn't dodge the terrifying kick.
Boom!
The devastating leg strike hit the ground, kicking up a dust cloud.
Shikamaru and the others were stunned. The exchange was too fast—before they could react, Hikari, their strongest, seemed to have been killed.
"Hikari!" Naruto shouted, letting go of Choji and rushing forward.
"Stop!" Choji and the others grabbed him, pulling him back.
"What are you doing? Hikari's in danger!"
"Calm down, Naruto! This level of fight is beyond us. Our priority is not to burden Hikari and to find reinforcements," Shikamaru reasoned, snapping Naruto out of his rage.
"Trust Hikari. Find help," Ino and Choji urged.
As the dust settled, a deep crater appeared.
The towering figure stood, left foot grounded, his descending right leg caught by arms cloaked in red chakra. Hikari, half-buried in the pit, her arms covered in tailed-beast chakra, held firm.
Zzt!
Blue and red chakra clashed, Raiton and tailed-beast cloak grinding fiercely.
"She's okay!"
"The enemy's cleared a path. Go get help for Hikari!" Shikamaru fired a distress flare into the sky.
Seeing Hikari unharmed, Naruto trusted Shikamaru's judgment, helping Choji as they, with Ino, quickly retreated.