The man exhaled, and from his mouth poured molten death, a wave of searing orange liquid that hissed as it hit the earth, spreading like fire through the clearing.
The ground blackened, smoke rising instantly.
My brain stalled for half a heartbeat.
Lava Release.
The Konoha shinobi ahead froze, unable to dodge fast enough with their wounds. The lava was already curling toward them.
I didn't think.
My hands moved on their own, the seals burned into me from repetition.
Tiger - Hare - Boar - Ram - Dog - Ox - Snake
Doton: Doryūheki! (Earth wall)
When the wall erupted from the ground beneath my palms, everything stopped.
For a single second, the world held its breath.
The molten roar of Lava slammed into the rising stone wall with a violent hiss, steam blasting upward like a curtain. Even from my distance, I could feel the heat punching into my face.
I clenched my teeth and poured more chakra into thickening the barrier. I didn't let up until the hiss quieted and the flow subsided.
When the noise finally died down, I dropped seal, panting.
Silence...
Just the crackle of cooling rock.
Behind the barrier, the four Konoha shinobi staggered back, reaching us.
Tsume Inuzuka was the first to find her footing. Her hair was wild, with one cheek cut open, flak jacket ripped across the shoulder, and Blood matted on one sleeve. Her Ninken Kuromaru pressed against her leg, panting, fur smoking faintly.
Her eyes snapped to us... and widened when she saw Riku.
"Riku!?"
Shock, fear, Anger, and Relief. All flashed across her face.
He skidded to her side, expression tight with worry. She grabbed him by the front of his vest and shook him in surprise.
"Why are you here!?"
But even as she questioned, her gaze flicked around and saw our team.
"We have reinforcement," she muttered as she released Riku, who still held her. "That's good, I suppose."
The other three with her closed in, A tall kunoichi, hair braided back tight, left arm bandaged from elbow to wrist, blood soaking through.
A stocky chūnin, coughing hard, with scorch marks across his jaw.
A kid around my age, a genin, clutching his side.
All of them were wounded, barely standing.
Sayuri-san and Hanami-san stood beside me. Sayuri pulled out her kunai, eyes narrowing on the wall. She shot me a glance, reevaluating me, and nodded.
"We need distance," she murmured.
We backed up fast, our sandals skidding across churned earth as heat radiated off the still-cooling lava.
"That wall bought us a few seconds."
Riku swallowed hard, gripping his kunai until his knuckles whitened.
Tsume saw it. And she made her decision.
"They're right behind the wall," she growled. "Form up!"
A crack split the air.
Then another.
Chunks of hardened lava and stone shattered outward as Iwa shinobi climbed over them, landing on the cooling rock with practiced ease. Their vests glinted with soot. Their expressions were hard and hungry.
The Lava Release jonin stepped forward, steam pouring out of his mouth, eyes locked on us like prey that had slipped from his jaws.
Nine of us, and an unconscious civilian.
And they weren't going to let us go.
We have to fight
Sayuri didn't flinch.
She pointed toward the enemy line and barked
"Basara-san, Riku-kun, take the front. Push them back."
Her voice sharpened, all softness gone.
"I'll support from behind. Hanami-chan, protect the girl."
Hanami nodded once, stepping back
Everyone responded despite their exhaustion,
weapons raised, stances set, chakra flaring defiantly.
Tsume-san spat blood to the side, wiped her face with the back of her hand, and raised her voice.
"Konoha attack!"
I felt everything inside me focus into a single point.
No fear.
No noise.
No hesitation.
I pushed chakra into my legs, sharp and controlled, and launched forward towards the enemy.
The world blurred.
Dirt exploded under my feet as I drew my kunai in one smooth motion. Riku surged beside me, teeth bared, chakra rolling off him in wild bursts.
The Iwa kunoichi was fast.
She met me head-on, tanto flashing, her eyes cold and hard.
Our blades clashed, metal screeching against metal, as she twisted, her longer reach making each slash cut dangerously close to me.
I matched her strike for strike; every movement was more instinct than thought.
And then I felt it...
I was stronger.
Not by a lot. But enough. Her arm trembled a little more with each clash while my grip only tightened.
But she had reach and experience. Each time she slid back, her tanto angled in ways meant to keep me at bay, to force me to fight on her rhythm.
A classic mid-range wielder.
Annoyingly efficient.
We broke apart, boots grinding through dirt.
I caught a glimpse to my right...
Riku's opponent was younger, a genin, swinging wildly, with speed. Riku dodged easily, slashing when he could; his movements were sharper than the other genin
"I need to get him first," I muttered to myself.
The kunoichi lunged again.
I ducked under her blade, rolled aside, and flicked an explosive tag straight at her face.
Her eyes widened. She leapt back instantly, smart,
So did I
The explosion ripped through the air, cracking the ground apart where we'd stood.
I didn't waste the opening.
Chakra surged into my soles, and I flashed toward Riku's opponent. He turned too late. His eyes went wide, kunai half-raised..
My blade slid across his throat in a clean, precise arc.
A gout of blood sprayed, hot and thick, and he crumpled sideways without a sound.
I didn't blink.
My mind didn't falter.
Just another target.
Riku barely had time to register it before the kunoichi came roaring back, tanto raised.
"Riku together!" I barked.
"Hai"
We moved together, Riku went low, as I went high. She slashed wide, fast, but her rhythm was broken now. I formed a Half Ram seal and pushed a wave of chakra into the ground beneath her feet and willed it to shift.
The soil cracked and moved.
Her stance faltered.
Riku shot out like a kunai, fist slamming into her ribs with a sickening crack.
She hissed, stumbled, but twisted away from my follow-up strike, just barely avoiding a kunai to the skull.
She tumbled back, breath ragged, and the tanto slipped from her fingers, skidding across the dirt, stopping at my foot.
I kicked it up with my toe, grabbed it mid-air.
Now I had reach.
The kunoichi's eyes widened. She didn't wait; she retreated, limping, blood dripping from her mouth.
Riku panted beside me, taking deep breaths. I nodded at him as he flashed me a grin.
Good.
Because everywhere else,
the battlefield was turning.
Along with her team, Tsume-san fought like a storm, her claws tearing through one Iwa Jonin's chest armor while Kuromaru lunged for the throat. Her two teammates, despite being injured, fought with practiced precision.
And Sayuri...
I actually froze for a second.
She was dancing between three Iwa chūnin, movements smooth as a dancer.
A kunai grazed her arm...
or so I thought.
Because the next second, the attacker blinked, stumbled, as he'd sliced his own thigh open.
Genjutsu.
A terrifying one.
Her eyes glimmered, dark and focused. The Iwa shinobi fell into disarray around her.
Three of them died quickly.
I felt a sharp jolt of surprise shoot through me.
I'd underestimated her...
The two Iwa hesitated, glancing between their fallen comrades and the still-smoking lava wall.
Then the jonin fighting Tsume and her team snarled, his voice sharp and furious.
"Retreat!"
He spat the order like a curse.
In an instant, the remaining Iwa shinobi disengaged, pulling back into the smoke-choked treeline. Their leader covered their retreat, spraying globs of molten rock to halt any pursuit.
Within seconds, they were gone.
The clearing was finally quiet, except for harsh breathing and crackling embers from the cooling lava.
I lowered my acquired tanto tanto.
My arm burned with shallow cuts from the earlier exchange. A single line cut deeper across my bicep. Blood trickled down to my wrist.
Tsume wiped her jaw and spat again.
"Dammit… if we weren't injured, we could've finished them."
One of her teammates shook his head, clutching his ribs.
"No… we push now, we die. We're in no shape."
Sayuri sheathed her kunai and nodded once. "He's right."
I lifted a hand and pointed toward the trees. "We have an ongoing mission. We can't risk losing her."
All eyes turned toward Hanami, who stood by a tree with the unconscious girl tucked close.
Tsume exhaled sharply, frustration still buzzing under her skin. But she didn't argue further. She didn't have the strength left for it.
"Fine," she growled. "Let's go."
Riku moved to her side, still shaken, still angry, but determined.
Hanami stepped forward, joining us
Sayuri signaled the route.
We turned as one, battered but alive, and started running back toward camp, the forest swallowing the battlefield behind us.