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"You can only fight the way you practice."
— Miyamoto Musashi
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The kunai was still in me.
I was still breathing.
Barely
Each breath came ragged, shallow—burning through my ribs. The pain was getting worse by the second.
The kunai was still buried in my side, just under the ribs — and I wasn't stupid enough to pull it out. That would be the end of me. The blade was stopping the bleeding. Barely. If I yanked it now, I'd be dead in under two minutes.
So I left it there.
My fingers wrapped around the axe handle embedded in the ground, and I pulled — slow, steady. The weight of it felt heavier than before. I was getting weaker.
Then—
A flash.
Right corner of my eye.
I twisted without thinking, bringing the axe up just in time—clang.
Sparks flew
Steel rang against steel as the blade of a kunai clanged off the metal and dropped to the forest floor.
But the attack didn't end there.
My head snapped left — and that's when I saw it.
a massive swirling fireball already mid-air, roaring toward me, it looked like a miniature sun.
"Fire Release," I muttered.
Too close. No time to run. No time to roll. No trees for cover. No trench to dive into.
I slammed my right foot into the ground. Chakra surged downward, responding to my will like a second nature. A wall of earth erupted in front of me just as the fire hit.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall."
The fire hit the wall a second later.
Boom.
The blast shook the ground. Heat exploded across my skin — the wall cracked and hissed, and smoke poured out the edges. Flames consumed the forest. My wall held—but the heat punched through, scorching everything in its path. I threw my arms up to shield my face.
The fire curled around the wall, and I felt the heat bite into my forearms.
My arms burned — the skin blistering instantly where I used them to shield my face. Second-degree, at least. Maybe worse.
I didn't scream.
I didn't have time to.
When the flames died and the smoke cleared,
I coughed hard — my lungs felt like fire from the injury, and now this.
Cough. Cough.
I looked up. And then I saw them.
Five figures. Black tactical gear. All in black. All wearing the same blank masks. No mouth holes. Just two holes for eyes.
Same outfit as the bastard I just killed..
Root. Fucking Root.
I couldn't say for sure. Not unless I checked under their tongues for that cursed mark. But I didn't need confirmation. Not this time.
Only one group moved like that.
I'm fucked.
They didn't wait.
All five moved at once.
Three came at me with kunai. The other two had short blades—ninjato, like mini-katanas. The sound of their movement sliced through the rain. They were fast.
I didn't try to run. There was no outrunning a Jōnin. I'm not fast enough.
I twisted my body low, dragging my axe upward just in time to parry a downward strike. Sparks flew. Another kunai aimed for my ribs—I turned with the motion, letting it graze the side of my vest. The two swords came in next. I deflected one, ducked the second, and brought my axe around in a wide arc to push them back. And my injury was getting worse with every movement.
If any one of them pulled that kunai out — I'd be done.
Too many. I can't keep up
I needed space.
Mid-motion, I stomped the ground again.
"Earth Style: Triple Wall!"
Chakra surged—this time faster, fueled by panic and desperation.
Three pillars of earth exploded from the ground. One slammed into a masked ninja's chin, lifting him off his feet. Another cracked against the helmet of the second.
Two down— and disoriented.
The other three backed off.
Good.
That's all I need.
My left hand reached into the pouch and pulled out five medium-sized spheres. I tossed them into the sky
My hand moved in a blur
While they were airborne, I snatched two small spheres from my belt with my right hand. My vision was blurry from the heat and the blood loss, but I could see the three ninjas closing in again.
Two with swords. One with a kunai.
Too close.
Too fast.
But the two I hit with the earth wall were disoriented. Not dead, but dazed.
I slammed my foot into the ground again—hard.
This time—no wall.
The three paused for a split second, anticipating another earth wall. I saw the twitch in their step, the hesitation.
I smirked.
Faked it.
And then hurled the two small spheres.
They hit the two disoriented ninjas still trying to recover— dead between the eyes.
They didn't even have time to react.
Each sphere pierced through their masks like sniper rounds. Blood sprayed like a fountain behind them as the spheres passed clean through skull and bone, punching out the back of their heads with a wet crack.
They dropped like puppets with the strings cut.
Two down
But I had no time to celebrate.
The kunai-wielding ninja appeared right in front of me, so fast I barely registered the movement. His arm blurred, striking straight for my neck — and I barely got the axe up to block.
Shhhhrak—
The sound wasn't metal-on-metal. There were no sparks. No force
It was metal being cut. The kunai sliced through the head of my axe.
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(A/N)
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