In the heart of the forest, Tatsuma looked down at the ninja before him. The man's face was contorted in agony, his eyes wide with a look of pure, stuttering disbelief. Tatsuma flashed a warm, infectious smile.
"The tendons in both your legs and all ten of your fingers are severed," Tatsuma noted calmly. "You picked a fine spot for your grave."
"You... brat..."
The ninja lowered his head, only to snap it up a second later. A hidden senbon shot from his mouth, aiming straight for Tatsuma's throat. From the distance, Inuzuka Shin lunged forward to throw a protective kunai, but Tatsuma was faster.
Clang!
The needle collided with a layer of chakra and spun wildly through the air, reflecting straight back at the Suna ninja. It buried itself deep in the man's shoulder. Tatsuma's smile didn't waver as he watched the ninja begin to thrash.
Within seconds, the skin on the man's neck turned a mottled purple-red. Poisoned. Tatsuma pursed his lips and wordlessly retreated to his original position in the column.
[Ding! PHY +3, SPD +3. Would you like to pick them up?]
[...Pick up.]
Returning to the ranks, Tatsuma noticed quite a few of his comrades staring at him. He hadn't been in a war before and didn't know the "etiquette." Usually, the first exchange of a skirmish was a feeling-out process. Kunai were thrown, parried, and then there was a mandatory pause for the two opposing commanders to exchange threats and posturing.
By charging in and finishing someone off immediately, Tatsuma had been... somewhat impolite.
"Is this the attitude of the Leaf?!"
The weathered female voice rang out again, though now it was laced with a hint of exasperation. Orochimaru shifted his gaze back from Tatsuma to the forest.
"And what is the Sand's attitude?" Orochimaru countered. "Are you planning to surrender today? If so, I can offer Konoha's sincerest apologies. If not..."
A mocking smirk spread across Orochimaru's face. Tatsuma's behavior may have been unorthodox, but he hadn't done anything wrong. This was a battlefield, not a children's game. If someone attacks, you kill them. It was going to happen sooner or later anyway.
"Then there is nothing left to say!"
With those words, a fresh volley of ninja tools erupted from the greenery. Orochimaru waved a hand, and the Konoha formation instantly fanned out. Tatsuma wasn't familiar with the specific unit maneuvers, but he was smart enough to stay close to his squadmates.
The Suna ninjas maintained a constant barrage of kunai and shuriken. Under the relentless pressure of dodging and defending, the Konoha formation began to stretch and lose its balance. The ranks were showing signs of fragmentation—just as the enemy intended.
Orochimaru stood his ground, making no move to dodge. He observed the crumbling formation with a look of feigned anxiety on his face, though his eyes remained chillingly calm. This was his plan: to suffer a series of convincing defeats before the main reinforcements arrived.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. He prepared to leap from his position, but a row of senbon hissed into the dirt at his feet, blocking his path.
"Don't even think about helping them, Orochimaru."
Three puppets clattered out of the brush, hovering before the Sannin. Seeing the specific mechanical designs, Orochimaru's composure finally gave way to a look of calculated caution.
Despite the threat in front of him, he couldn't help but glance toward Tatsuma's position. The boy had been singled out. As the "early bird" who had disrupted the opening parley, he was now being given special attention.
Tatsuma gripped his short sword, warily eyeing the five Suna ninjas who had landed in a circle around him. Noting that they were ignoring the other Leaf shinobi entirely, Tatsuma realized he had successfully drawn a massive amount of "aggro."
To these five ninjas, the mission objectives had likely taken a backseat to the personal satisfaction of killing the brat who had broken the unspoken rules of engagement.
Tatsuma didn't panic. He could sense their chakra; they were all at the Chunin level. It was five against one, but Tatsuma felt a strange, cold surge of confidence.
"Kid, you're dead!" the ninja directly in front of him sneered.
Tatsuma felt no fear at the unoriginal threat. In fact, he found it almost funny. He suppressed the urge to laugh—it would be bad form on a battlefield—and instead offered a polite, level-headed smile.
"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit," Tatsuma said, scanning the circle. "In terms of pure caution, you are excellent shinobi."
"...???"
The Suna ninjas blinked, caught off guard by the boy's tone. He sounded less like a terrified Genin and more like their own academy instructors lecturing them on tactics. Did this kid think he was a proctor?
Swish!
They weren't fools, however. One of them snapped out of it and began weaving hand signs. Tatsuma felt the atmospheric shift above him—Wind Style.
Calculating the trajectory in a heartbeat, Tatsuma executed a butterfly twist, spinning through the air to evade the invisible blades of wind. As his feet touched the ground, another Suna ninja was already lunging at him with a kunai.
For most ninjas, chakra was a precious, finite resource. Even at the Chunin level, kunai and hand-to-hand combat remained the primary methods of engagement; Ninjutsu was reserved for support or a final trump card. These five were clearly a veteran team; their coordination was seamless even without a word spoken.
Just as Tatsuma straightened up, a kunai thrust toward his chest. He opted for a conservative defense, using a silk-reeling cross-hand block to pin the man's arm and parry the blade. Before he could counter-attack, a second ninja closed in from his flank.
Finding his rhythm disrupted, Tatsuma took a sharp step back to reset. As the second ninja overextended and lunged past him, Tatsuma pivoted and delivered a brutal liver shot with a front-kick.
The ninja gasped, the wind knocked out of him as he was sent flying into his comrade. Both lost their balance for a split second. Tatsuma moved in for the kill, but two shuriken arrived before he could. They buried themselves in the throats of the two struggling ninjas.
Tatsuma looked toward the source of the projectiles. Inuzuka Shin, currently locked in his own duel, managed to flash him a quick thumbs-up.
Tatsuma nodded in thanks and turned his focus back to the remaining three. Five-on-one was now three-on-one; the odds were looking much better.
The remaining Suna ninjas didn't retreat. Tatsuma hadn't shown any overwhelming power yet; he had merely knocked two people over—the killing blow had come from someone else.
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter!"
With fewer enemies to track, Tatsuma's perception sharpened. He caught the hand signs and instantly identified the jutsu.
He triggered a Body Flicker, his movements becoming a blur of erratic feints that made it impossible for the Suna ninja to lead his shot. The distance between them closed in a flash. The second ninja moved to intercept his path, but Tatsuma was ready.
He swung his short sword at the interceptor. The Suna ninja didn't hesitate, leaning back into a deep bridge to let the blade pass harmlessly overhead. But in that moment, Tatsuma exhaled a concentrated burst of Wind Style chakra.
The aura of the Gale Blade roared to life, extending the short sword into a full-length katana of shimmering wind. Even though the ninja had leaned back, the extended reach caught him. A deep, horizontal gash opened across his chest, exposing the white of his ribs.
In that final moment, the dying man understood the strange "too long" comment his comrade had made before the battle began.
Splash—!
But that split-second offensive move had given the third ninja the opening he needed. His Wind Style jutsu connected. A spray of blood erupted from Tatsuma's left shoulder as a blade of wind sliced deep into the meat of his arm.
The Suna ninja's eyes widened, expecting the boy to scream or buckle under the pain. Instead, Tatsuma didn't even flinch. It was as if the injury didn't exist. Before the man could even process the horror, the "injured" Tatsuma was already standing directly in front of him.
"Damn it!"
Thud!
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