A wall of earth rose just in time to block a deadly rain of poisoned needles flying at us from a puppet before the wall exploded from a hidden explosive tag on a kunai that had been thrown from a tricky angle.
"Fang over fang!" Koji roared as he smashed his way through another puppet before sharply turning direction to avoid smashing into yet another deadly puppet that was more spikes and blades than wood.
I had to bend over backwards to allow a kunai to cut the space I had just occupied before I lifted one leg and sent it out in a sharp hard kick, forcing my attacker to jump back, giving me just enough time to spin around and smash an open palm into a earth spike before it fully formed.
Not far from where I moved, lightning filled the air and thunder boomed as Arata cast ninjutsu after ninjutsu under the protection of more earth and water walls raised by Haruto as he kept us mostly safe.
Though it was a struggle.
Despite how skilled he was in the jutsu, it still took him three hand signs to produce a wall, and while the walls rose quickly and always did good work, he was burning through chakra fast due to the number of attacks he had to deal with.
Not far out from the clearing where we currently fought, Kuro jumped around as he engaged in a game of cat and mouse, or ninken and puppet, with three puppets as he tried to deal with the hidden puppet users, and they, in turn, wanted to stop him.
This was the problem with fighting puppet masters. If you failed at pushing past their puppets, it was easy to get trapped fighting an unending swarm of them.
It wasn't truly unending, but there were enough to force you into a passive position.
I shook my hip, and a kunai jumped up into my hand just in time for me to throw it out to deflect another one, which were deflected over toward a puppet trying to get the jump on Koji as he stopped moving around for a second.
The explosive note attached to the kunai detonated, destroying the puppet and giving Koji the time he needed to execute his next move. He once more moved at high speed, trying to smash his way through the puppets holding him back and reach the puppet masters behind them.
I raised an arm to block an attack from one of the three Jōnin-level opponents I was currently locked in combat with.
I then vanished as I substituted with a broken puppet, as another attack was timed with my block.
I instantly body flickered away to avoid yet another attack sent my way. Those three were relentless, giving me barely any time to attack at all.
I reappeared just above them, already twisting mid-air, chakra gathering in my palms.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Pulse!"
The sudden shockwave exploded outward as I struck down into the ground with both palms, creating a concussive blast of compressed air and chakra. Dirt and debris flew up in a storm.
The storm of debris knocked up wasn't enough to be a danger to any half-competent Chuunin, much less a true elite. However, it was still enough to force them to halt their follow-up attack and defend, giving me a chance to disrupt their rhythm.
I wasted no time in utilizing that precious second it bought me as I brought my hands together to weave hand signs of my own. I wasn't that skilled with ninjutsu that I could completely skip them just yet, but I had this particular jutsu down to just a few.
Tiger. Ram. Snake.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke burst beside me as another version appeared, and without wasting a moment, we moved. Gentle Fist met sand shinobi as I now used the extra pair of hands to hold them better.
The fight was intense, sweat flowed down my face as my arms moved as a blur, my long hair floating like a ghost behind me as I danced around in a deadly dance of flesh and steel.
I made sure to use my hair to block vision; it didn't block mine, as my Byakugan let me see the entire battlefield, but the three enemy Jōnin weren't so lucky.
That did mean that I had to keep them all too busy to cut it, or grip it, but gripping a Kunoichi's hair wasn't commonly done.
Jiraiya of the Sannin wasn't the first to come up with a jutsu to turn hair into a weapon, far from it.
It was therefore well known that if someone took the risk of having long hair, they had ways of mitigating its potential disadvantage.
Still, I had to admit that these three were good, and so was their entire team; it was seven verses four, but damn did a few puppet masters make it feel like we faced a dozen shinobi.
True shinobi didn't speak much during a fight; only someone like Naruto spent them yapping more than they fought. For the rest of us, it was tense and heavy with concentration.
The only sound spoken was Justus being called out to give them that extra bit of power from the chakra, because yeah, there was an actual reason to call their name. it helped focus the chakra, often making a jutsu stronger or faster.
And when fighting like this—fighting for real—you used every scrap of advantage you could squeeze out.
The fighting showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Everyone on my side was busy defending, and their side kept pushing, having to give it their all to keep us on the defensive.
Yet, without warning, the situation changed.
A few of the puppets suddenly stopped moving and collapsed onto the ground, unmoving and without chakra strings attached to them.
Though I alone wasn't surprised by the sudden change, as I had seen everything happen.
Kuro wasn't alone anymore, and the extra help had allowed him and his helper to push the attack and take down a puppet master in a single strike, not giving anyone any time to react before it was too late.
As for who his helper was, well, that would be my clone, my shadow clone.
Because the difference between making one or two shadow clones wasn't big, it was a considerable difference in chakra cost for sure, but hand signs? Nothing.
So, when I created my clone, I used the remaining debris still flying around to conceal another, allowing it to move out of sight and aid the ninken.
That hidden clone had done precisely what I'd intended—broken the pattern.
And now the enemy formation was collapsing.
One puppet master dead meant a sudden drop in coordination. The other side lost a third of its arsenal instantly.
It was enough to change the situation completely. Haruto quickly used his defensive ninjutsu to buy Arata time to attack; no longer were his attacks used to defend the two of them, but to attack the enemy.
"Fall back!" the lead Suna shinobi called, and my eyes widened in surprise and panic at what I saw.
One of the hidden puppet masters didn't just pull back, but instead, attacked. A small device on his chest launched a large projectile into the center of the clearing where the rest of us were fighting.
"Haruto! Earth, water, earth!" I yelled as I body flickered away from the three Jōnin who also flickered away.
Koji just managed to flicker beside us when a dome of Earth rose to cover us, and I put my hands against it and reinforced it with chakra.
Outside it, a dome of water formed and another dome of earth; it all happened in a split second, and not a moment too soon.
The large projectile fired at us was a large ball of explosive tags, likely containing a good few dozen in total, and they detonated all at once.
The sound was deafening.
The shockwave hit our triple-layered barrier like a tidal wave of fire and force. The outer dome of earth shattered instantly, fragments bursting outward in all directions. The water dome collapsed next, steam hissing as it evaporated under the heat of the explosion.
The innermost wall groaned under the pressure, cracks spidering through the stone like veins.
I gritted my teeth and pressed harder, reinforcing the chakra flow through my palms, feeling the strain burn through my arms and chest.
Haruto was beside me, one knee on the ground, blood dripping from his nose as he funneled his chakra into the structure as well.
Arata crouched low, his hands also pressed against the earthen shell and infused it with chakra.
Koji was pale with worry since Kuro was still out there, though I could see the ninken had taken the chance to create distance between us and the explosion, having been further away than us.
Then, silence.
The roar faded into a dull ringing.
The pressure lifted.
Dust filtered through the cracks in the earth dome. We didn't wait.
"Break it!" I ordered.
The dome split with a controlled outward push, and we burst into the open air. Smoke filled the clearing—acrid, choking. Trees smoldered in the distance, and the battlefield looked more like a crater.
"Kuro!" Koji shouted in worry and fear.
The smoke was too thick for normal eyes. Even chakra sense was muddled by the residual heat and static hanging in the air. But my Byakugan was already active, scanning through the haze, seeking a signature—fast, sharp, and familiar.
"I see him!" I called. "Southwest, he is fine, better than us," I said, trying to calm him.
Though most of my attention was on the enemy, I could still see them, though they were currently moving away from us.
However, I couldn't know if they suddenly decided to turn back against us, because right now, we were in a very poor state, with little chakra to share, and far less to spare on another fight.
"Let's move!" I didn't give them any time to rest before I shot off towards Kuro.
The ground beneath my feet was unstable—burnt, cracked, and pitted from the explosion—but I didn't slow down. Koji was already sprinting beside me, faster even than I, when adrenaline hit him this hard. I didn't mind. Let him get there first.
Kuro had taken cover beneath the collapsed roots of a half-upturned tree, his flank singed and his movements stiff, but his chakra was steady. Strong. The moment he saw us, he gave a low, cautious bark, not out of warning—but relief.
Koji dropped to his knees and pulled Kuro into a tight, trembling hug, his fingers running through soot-stained fur. "You scared the shit out of me," he whispered, forehead resting against Kuro's.
Kuro whined softly and gave his cheek a lick.
"Move it, Partner!" I called out, slowing down but not stopping. Kuro was hardly hurt, but if we got caught in another fight, that might not stay the case.
Kuro barked in response and jumped after me, and Koji followed after that.
"The others aren't following, but that explosion could draw in enemy reinforcement, so we need to leave. We can't stop for rest, so use soldier pills as needed." I told them as I led the way.
Normally, Koji would be leading, but we didn't have time to track by scent, so my Byakugan had to do for now.
(End of chapter)
Not all battles are easy to win, and sometimes, they don't end in the deaths of one side, even if that is the goal. Such is the nature of war, and well… surely nothing bad can come from it right?