Red Riot - Chapter 38 - Blood in the water (Patreon)

Matsu Uzumaki:- person of high interest to other Shinobi Villages. Recently promoted Jonin. Medical/Taijutsu/Ninjutsu/Sensory speciality (Not that other villages know about two of these!) MC of the story!

Gengetsu Hozuki:- The second Mizukage and trickster Lord of Kirigakure. Master of Illusions and torment 

Ameyuri Ringo (the eighteenth) - the current wielder of the Kiba Blades. Short and aggressive! Family has a tradition of females retaining the same name to further their standing. Jonin of Kirigakure. Family has a certain naming tradition.  

Koda:- Jonin of Kirigakure and a Squad Leader. Bit stiff but looks after his own. 

Uzuo:- Trap specialist Tokubetsu Jonin of Kirigakure.

Kori Yuki:- Clan Leader of the Yuki clan and the shinobi angling to step up as Mizukage when Gengetsu dies! Was gifted a Byakugan by Gengetsu to embolden him. 

Onoki:- wielder of the Dust release and flight-capable Jonin of Iwagakure. Has a grudge against both Mu and Gengetsu, who teased him as a child. Stands to take over the role of Tschuikage should Mu perish.

Shibito: - Iwa shinobi that is involved in hunting groups of Kiri patrols. Encountered Matsu. Currently TK Jonin ranked. (Canonically supposed to die to Minato)

Lee of Iwa - Chunin who recently completed his mandatory ten B rank mission survived and completed to be promoted. Feeling upbeat about his chances!

________________________

Lee of Backwards Alley in Shanty Town, newly promoted Chunin of Iwa ran headlong through the trees, his eyes peeled for any sign of the enemy. 

He tried not to play with the vest given to him. 

Ten missions they’d said. That was all you needed to complete to qualify as a Chunin in Iwa. 

Everyone else always thought that a ridiculously low number of missions until they learned that they had to be B rank or more.

In Iwa lives were cheap and Mission success was everything. It wasn’t uncommon for squads to be made up of eight Genin with one Chunin. Typically only three were expected to make it back when they ran B rank missions but that was the price of success. 

Life in Iwa was hard.

And cheap.

Except for those blessed from birth.

Lee spared a glance towards Jing, a member of the Kachitori family. 

Jing wore more armour than the others. Had better supplies. Looked like he had access to medical and more. 

He looked like Lee imagined heroes of old would look, marching out of history with armour gleaming and weapon in hand.

Shinobi families, those that had proven themselves over generations, were given more leeway than others. It was a goal that all were to strive for. 

Achieve fifty missions, marry, have children, and by the time your children or grandchildren had another fifty under their belt, you would establish yourself as a Shinobi Family of Iwa. 

Lee, as an orphan from one of the cities around the Land of Earth had a long way to go, but he dreamed big. 

He and his family would make it. They would be some of the privileged few that had priority when it came to access to jutsu repositories, dining halls, and training fields. 

Maybe one day even trainers.

Until you had proven yourself, however, you struggled like everyone else. 

The more missions you had under your belt, the higher your rank and the better you were looked after. 

If Lee had a choice, hopefully, by the time he completed fifty missions, he’d be able to talk with Jun-mi. She had such pretty eyes and a good track record of completed missions herself.

Just another forty missions, and he could take her away from the life of a seduction specialist.

“Eyes front!” barked Jing, glowering at Lee in particular, which had Lee snapping his head forward. He watched for any moving shadows, shapes that didn’t fit, or anything that might indicate that—

“Hello Iwa shinobi!” crowed a woman with extremely sharp teeth. She brandished two blades in a sweeping gesture and Lee stiffened. 

A sword specialist? He was a Taijutsu specialist and if he had to close with her he’d be in serious trouble!

Lee swallowed and glanced around, noting that everyone in their platoon had come to a stop to stare at the woman.

Jing stepped forward. “Ameyuri of the Seven Swordsmen eh? Heh! Seems fortune favours me! Alright team! Kill her and give me the blades!” he commanded.

Lee’s mind stuttered at this new information. One of the Seven Swordsmen? The strongest shinobi swordsmen throughout the Elemental nations?

Lee licked his lips, watching his allies as much as his opponent.

If he could exploit an opening, he might win himself a commendation, which would reduce the number of missions he needed. Or, if he was truly fortunate, he’d be the last one standing…

Then all the prizes would go his way.

Other people leapt forward, and Lee followed in their wake, only for Ameyuri to stick her tongue out and run away.

Lee blinked, stunned at this turn of fortune, only to grin. “She’s afraid of facing all of us! Take her!” he shouted, spurring his fellows on. He changed from hanging back to taking the lead, knowing it might prove all the difference.

It did… in a way.

Lee tore through a wire that he only registered as it strained against his body, the wire pulled taut and snapped at his passage.

Lee had too much momentum to stop, so he barrelled on, rolling as he moved. This proved to be another fortunate move on his behalf, as a brace of kunai launched from a trap where he’d been.

The teammates who had been following him weren’t as fortunate. They didn’t have the warning or the luck to roll.

Instead, they took a branch sharpened into stakes to the chest while others were punctured with kunai.

They fell to the forest floor with a scream or hung from the stakes, rasping air into punctured lungs as their bodies twitched. 

Lee gaped, watching as some spasmed, their eyes flicking frantically around desperately for a few more moments only to go still.

Jing appeared with the next group, sneer fixed in place. “Tch! Keep moving! But keep your eyes peeled! She’s baiting you!” 

A tall man stepped from behind a tree, his Kiri headband proudly on display. “Ameyuri is deceitful like that, yes. But come! I shall face you!” the man roared as he adopted a fighting stance.

Rather than closing with the man, a blast of fire shot out, causing him to dodge. 

“Cowards! Braggards! You shame the very earth you walk upon with your being!” roared the man.

The man was so loud, in fac,t and so attention-grabbing that Lee missed the pair of shinobi, a man and a woman, that threw themselves into the midst of the Iwa platoon. 

Seconds later screams erupted as kunai flashed out.

When the group closed ranks and attempted to murder the enemy in their midst one Shinobi threw the other overhead and away. 

The remaining nin then made a ‘come’ gesture with his hands while the kunoichi fled.

Three Iwa nin struck as one only for the man to drop to the ground and wink at them as he used Hiding like a Mole Jutsu to escape. 

Jing snarled and threw an explosive tag at the ground, causing it to erupt.

Eyes scoured the ground for any sign of blood. 

Hiding like a Mole was a good jutsu; it was one of the jutsu Lee wanted, but he knew its weaknesses like how if you were in the ground when it shifted, you could be crushed or splinched.

It was said to be a quick, if messy, way to die.

Only the very best of users of the jutsu could be underground when the earth was moving around you. 

“There’s no blood,” someone muttered. 

Jing sniffed. “Must have gone deep,” he growled, but he looked uncertain and slightly fearful. 

Had that man been a ninjutsu specialist? Why had he gotten close into taijutsu range after using stealth then? 

It didn’t make any sense.

Lee returned to find the tall man still in position, throwing fists and working himself up. “Come face me with fisticuffs!” bellowed the tall man.

“These Kiri nin are mad,” Lee muttered to himself as he and the others took up with the pair of shinobi they could see.

Somehow, Lee felt like he was dancing to someone else’s tune, but he couldn’t quite understand why he thought that way.

He decided to ignore it and instead gave chase to the kunoichi who had fled moments before.

She wasn’t very quick, and she appeared to be quite dull with how she ran into a clearing that let the group use any long-range attacks they had. She tumbled to the ground, vanishing in the long grass. 

A puff of smoke appeared around where she had fallen a moment later.

Everyone shared a confused look. What had that been?

“She had a transformation on her?” asked one man.

Another snorted. “Probably hideous underneath it, and wanted to bait someone in. Kunoichi do it all the time when they run seduction ops, you never see their real face.”

Lee stiffened. “But not all of them,” he said quickly, thinking of Jun-mi. 

The man snorted but stalked forward. “Come on, we need to get our kunai back. Battles only just start—” the man vanished into a pit hidden in the grass. For a moment, everyone stared only for the man to start screaming bloody murder. 

Lee stared. “It’s all traps… this whole area.” 

He turned, about to shout a warning, when something, or rather someone, blurred out of the shadows and stabbed a kunai into him.

“Precisely,” whispered the man before stepping back and moving onto Lee’s teammates.

Lee fell to the ground, unable to draw another breath.

Before the darkness claimed him, he heard Ameyuri speak up. “It’s kinda fucked up that you had the clones use Henge to fuck with them. Now they’re going to be expecting all the wrong things from us kid. I fucking love it!” 

Lee wasn’t sure what to think of that, but then he didn’t have to think any—

______________

I watched the last of the Iwa platoon fall to our ambush with a bored expression. 

Two of my clones reappeared wearing the guise of Ameyuri and Koda. 

Koda spared the clone a brief look while Ameyuri stalked right up to hers. “I’m hotter than this.”

The clone smiled back at her, displaying the fangs that were almost a signature for some Kiri shinobi. Ameyuri opened the clone's mouth and gave them a closer look. “Hmmm not bad… bit too many needle-like teeth in here. Mine are more blunt shark teeth,” she commented idly. 

“I’ll take that under consideration the next time I use a henge of you,” I commented blandly.

Ameyuri nodded. “See that you do,” she replied.

“Excellent work with the clones Matsu,” Koda stated. “It didn’t drain you too much?” he asked. 

I shook my head. “I could do this all day,” I replied.

It was rather telling that I wasn’t just deceiving my enemies but also my allies, but then again, showing weakness in Kiri was a sin. 

Then again, with my goal of being Mizukage it would pay dividends to build a larger-than-life persona.

Another round of explosions rang out from where Gengetsu and Mu were battling. It still annoyed me greatly that I couldn’t sense where either man was with any true accuracy. 

This didn’t seem to impact either Kage however as their battle raged on, ravaging the land.

I twitched as the clam that Gengetsu had summoned cracked open slightly and a high pressure stream of water shot out causing a line to be cut through the forest. 

I swallowed, and more than a few others in the squad I was with shifted uneasily. 

We were still in range. 

Koda grimaced. “We hold this position,” he ordered sternly. “How many more Iwa nin are coming this way?” he barked pushing us to focus. 

“They faded back with only one approaching.” This drew a few scowls and scoffs from people.

Koda frowned. “Have to be an Elite. What are they doing?” 

“Digging into the ground and… pushing it upwards?” I replied. What on earth was I observing through my chakra sense I thought to myself. 

This was enough to trigger a response from Koda and Ameyuri, however.

“Move to intercept!” they ordered together and we all shifted. A few water clones formed from a few other squad members and shot off in different directions. 

A part of me found it rather darkly amusing that we hadn’t been willing to move when we risked Gengetsu misfiring on us, but for this new, unnamed threat?

“How much earth are they pushing up?” Koda urged and I frowned. 

“A lot?” I replied. What did he want a measurement? “About a few town houses’ worth!” I replied as I gauged the size relative to other mental distances. 

“Watch the skies!” Ameyuri growled, and something about that tickled a memory. 

The Iwa nin that had submerged themselves in the ground flexed with their chakra and a section of the forest found itself completely uprooted. 

It was flung into the air where it hung for all of a second only for another figure to dart out and catch the giant chunk of earth.

“Shit! Onoki’s here!” Koda growled. He made a signal, and we all moved to hide, or at the very least, lower our profiles. 

I clutched my chakra, making sure to emit as little as possible as I controlled everything I could. 

Onoki rose with the slab of earth held above him a fierce scowl on his features. His bulbous nose was present and he’d look rather comical with how small he was but that was easy to ignore with the vast slab of earth he was holding.  

He drew back an arm and threw the chunk of earth towards where the battling Kage were. 

It slammed into the battlefield, and a moment later twin attacks shot back in reply. 

One was a thin stream of high-pressure water that Onoki had to dodge, while the other was a simply spray of mud that despite Onoki’s attempt to evade, still thwacked into him.

I bit my lips in amusement. It would seem neither Kage wanted his interference. 

Onoki flicked his hand, and the mud flew to the side as his scowl intensified. “You’ll regret not accepting aid!” he shouted towards the battlefield. 

The fight, I noticed, hadn’t paused despite administering punishment towards the ‘nuisance’.

Koda shifted and flashed through some hand signs, asking if any of us had some strong long-range jutsu.

Everyone shifted, eying the floating Iwa nin as we began running mental calculations.

Most of the group shook their heads. 

 A few others raised their hands only to draw derisive scoffs from teamamtes. This drew a round of scowls as they made silent arguments with hand signs that they could reach Onoki only for their comrades to deny them.

I ignored them, focusing on memorising Onoki’s chakra signature. I also mentally added Onoki to my list of things I needed to have an answer for. He was far enough up, and we were hidden in the leaves enough that he shouldn’t be able to see us.

Still I wasn’t going to disregard Onoki.

Onoki, especially a merely middle-aged Onoki, was a threat I wasn’t yet ready to handle. Damn Naruto and late story threats! They were all too overpowered in their prime! It was bad enough that I just knew that Zetsu had to be lingering around here somewhere like a creep!

Onoki turned in our direction, and collectively our group felt our stomachs drop. 

Onoki cupped his hands in front of his face, and I tensed, only to relax as his aim tilted upwards.

Then one of my squadmates, one of the ones still trying to argue they could reach Onoki decided to kill us all. 

He stood and with a twist and flicker, threw himself skyward with a shunshin-enhanced leap. 

Everyone stiffened in surprise. “What no! Damn!” Koda snarled as he uselessly raised a hand in the other shinobi’s direction, only to be too late.

I gaped as I tracked the man accelerate upwards. 

Of all the stupid ideas… Had he even considered how he’d come down?

As he reached the zenith of his arc, he drew out a brace of kunai and hurled them at Onoki.

He must have been hoping to catch Onoki off guard. 

Onoki twisted sideways, orienting himself and changing his position seemingly without issue. Then the small conical chakra form of swirling chakra in his hands fired.

A beam shot out, and a moment later, where there had been a Kiri nin there was now nothing. 

Not even dust.

Onoki turned his gaze down. 

“Vicious little rats!” he growled as he snapped his hands down. “Die!” he roared.

“Break away!” Koda ordered with a slash that indicated we were to take our survival into our own hands. 

I threw myself into a shunshin, making sure that my landing point wouldn’t put me too close to any ‘comrades’ lest they decide to throw me back towards Onoki in an attempt to stall him with my death. 

Something I noted another shinobi attempted with a comrade only to get kicked away. One didn’t rise to the rank of Jonin without learning how to survive after all. 

They tumbled and fell and a moment later. Rather than attempt to rejoin us or break in another direction the Jonin turned apparently accepting their mistake for what it was life ending. They shot a torrent of high pressure water at Onoki only for him to sway out of the way. 

A moment later he responded.

I felt their chakra signature vanish as Onoki swept down and carved a line of destruction through the space the Kiri nin had been in. 

Then Onoki cut a line straight at us.

Our group formation broke, and we scattered in the hope of not being swept up in Onoki’s jutsu.

Around me, others ran hard or in the case of the Hozuki, dove into puddles or even a river that we crossed, becoming water. 

The Yuki merely threw themselves into a headlong sprint as around them the air began to mist and footprints of ice were left in their wake.

Moments later ice clones began to form behind them, breaking off in other directions to further muddy the water on which route they’d taken.

Ameyuri clutched the Kiba blades in her hands and when she vanished into a shunshin a small clap of thunder heralded the elemental shunshin, which cast her far ahead of us. 

I noted that it cost a sizeable chunk of her chakra reserves.

I didn’t try to change direction or get cute by hiding, I just poured on the speed as much as I could, flexing the various jutsu I used to train to now enhance my abilities. 

I rocketed away from most of the squad and soon found myself alone in the forest of Steam. 

Onoki, rather than give chase to single shinobi began to rise higher, gaining himself a greater view of the forest while occasionally pointing at specific areas. 

A few moments later, those areas exploded.

The contingent of Iwa shinobi that had withdrawn after our previous success at repulsing them surged into the gaps, unmindful of being potentially caught up in Onoki’s barrage.

I clicked my tongue. That was an effective, if costly, strategy. 

I sucked in some air as I began to track my fellow Kiri nin. Koda was the closest to me, but I could also sense Kori Yuki’s squad nearby. 

They were staying well out of everyone’s range, however and shouldn’t be found by Onoki or anyone else.

Not going to lie, that kind of pissed me off. 

Which was probably why I did what I did next. 

I formed a Shadow clone and had it henge into a generic Yuki clansman, complete with androgynous looks while proudly wearing their clan symbol on their back. 

Then I cut a hard right angle to intercept Koda while my clone turned around to do something potentially stupid. 

“Squad Leader!” I barked as I closed in on him, causing him to stiffen and make a hand sign that I mirrored before adding the countersign to show I was friendly. He relaxed minutely. 

“Good to see you, Matsu, where are the others?” he asked as a loud boom ran through the air. 

“We just lost two of the squad sir!” I announced with a grimace. They’d gotten bogged down fighting a mass of Iwa nin only for one of the Iwa nin to make a suicide run at them. 

“Two of the Hozuki are laying low as puddles while another has begun extracting themselves using the river!” 

“Tch!” Koda growled. “That’d be Mizume, they’ve always been quick to flee. Makes them good at surviving but shit in an extended battle.”  

He tapped his fingers on his thigh as his eyes turned inwards. “We need to link up with the others, but not draw out Onoki.”

“I’ve got a shadow clone moving to engage and lure him out of position for a moment but…” I grimaced. Facing off against a man who could fly made things tight regarding timing. Onoki would be on us if we got bogged down for more than a few seconds.

Hopefully, I could give him a new, slightly more durable target.

Koda grunted. “Lead on to the closest ally, we’ll work as three-man teams going forward.” 

Another explosion rang out. “If we have that many,” he added darkly. 

I grunted and led him towards where two other shinobi were hiding causing our numbers to swell. 

Koda began flicking through hand signs indicating that we were to go quiet for now to lower our chances of detection.

We all acknowledged that and began moving around to the next target who happened to be Ameyuri. 

Just as we drew close, two things happened. 

Ameyuri went loud with her fight, causing electrical discharge to blast outwards in a very clear indicator of where she was, and my clone copied the earlier failed attempt on Onoki only they made sure not to leap as high out of the tree line. 

Instead of going for height, it went for just skimming the tree line. 

Then it fired off a barrage of water bullets at Onoki, forcing his attention to the threat.

Before he could lock onto the target, my clone used the water whip jutsu to drag itself down into the trees and out of sight, only to pop up a few hundred metres to the side where it repeated itself.

Rinse, repeat, prod and irritate.

It wasn’t a winning strategy, but it was one that would allow me to survive.

Onoki dropped lower to engage conveniently allowing us a momentary window with Ameyuri. I flashed a rapid ‘Go! Go! Go!’ signal to Koda and he didn’t second guess me, instead copying the signal. 

We surged into the battle, noticing straight away that there was a myriad more Iwa shinobi than there ought to be. 

“Illusions!” I barked, both warning my team and also that of Iwa that we were there. 

A few stiffened and turned to face us, only for Koda to leap into close range with two kunai in reverse grip. He began hacking and slashing at anyone who drew close, causing blood to fly through the air.

I followed with a Rasengan spinning up as I locked onto a rock-covered form that spun to face me. 

Whoever was inside the rock armour made the mistake of bracing up, ignoring the shouted warnings of other Iwa nin as I slammed my hand into them.

The armour shattered, and blood splashed out the back. 

I turned away and locked eyes with another shinobi who backed up as rocks began to clatter to the ground behind me. 

Rock bullets flew through the air and I ducked under or batted them aside as I shifted position.

A few of the Iwa nin clustered up and began racing through handseals which was admirable but they must have forgotten that at this level, grouping together was a terrible idea.

Ameyuri fell on them like lightning on a stack of explosives. 

Fireworks were not sent flying.

As a pack, we turned to the few remaining Iwa nin together. 

All of us were covered in gore and baring our teeth. 

The group took one look at us, only to turn and flee. 

Ameyuri made to give chase only but Koda called her back. “Hold! You know we can’t blindly give chase! We need to reposition!” he commanded as he turned. 

“Sound off!” he called and we all quickly checked ourselves over.

I had just finished ensuring I wasn’t hit by a stray kunai or something else. I vaguely recalled batting an errant rock bullet out of the way but my arm wasn’t even stinging which was a good sign. 

My Iron Body jutsu was coming in clutch it would seem.

A groan had me looking up to find one of the other nin doubled over on a trio of daggers lodged in his gut. 

“Fuck, thought I dodged those… fucking illusions,” he muttered only for him to grasp the daggers and wrench them out. 

I was on him in moments. “Idiot! Don’t rip them out like that, you’ll cause yourself more damage! Sit and let me heal you!” I growled as I began working on his bloody guts. 

Koda moved to stand over me. 

For a moment, he didn’t say anything only for Koda to cough. “How long will this take?”

I clenched my jaw. “A few minutes,” I muttered, annoyed to find that some of the internal organs had been cut into. The liver blow was particularly worrying but with me staunching the flow and healing him up—

“Mocho… give them hell,” Koda commanded as he grabbed me by the shoulder. “We’re moving out!” he ordered. He dragged me with him and I almost lashed out at him.

I glanced back and watched as Mocho began drawing out explosive tags to lay within the insides of his Jonin vest. He offered us a salute and nodded at me before taking off towards the direction the Iwa nin had fled. 

I turned away, continuing to move. 

“I could have patched him up,” I said aloud, more for myself than truly voicing any dissent at the order to stop healing. 

Koda grunted. “Then you’re a hell of a medic. That was a gut wound and that usually means death in the field. Right now?” he indicated the forest around us. “That means he’s too injured.” 

A large explosion went off behind us, indicating Mocho had found the enemy. 

Koda didn’t say anything else about Mocho but he did signal me to lead us to another survivor of our squad. 

Ameyuri glided up next me me, her face coated in blood. “Looking like a real Kiri shinobi now kid!” she said to me, ignoring Koda’s demand to go silent. 

I just nodded back at her, tracking the various parties moving and fighting around us. There were still other squads of Kiri shinobi but there were also what felt like hundreds if not thousands of Iwa nin running about.

I continued to push my Mind’s eye of the Kaguya as far as it woudl go, observing the battlefield as a whole.

It was a mess, but there was one interesting point that had me smirking.

Far behind me a cluster of Yuki nin that had linked up with my clone led Onoki directly to where Kori Yuki was hiding. 

His group was just starting to move out of the incoming threat however. They were being exceptionally cautious about it even.

Onoki would just skirt past them, leaving them unmolested. 

Well, that wouldn’t do at all. 

I formed another shadow clone and dispelled it a moment later. 

My disguised Shadow Clone changed direction instantly and swept straight at Kori. 

“What’s got you grinning? It’s weird seeing you smiling while coated in blood!” Ameyuri prodded, still ignoring Koda’s commands to fall quiet. 

Koda glanced in my direction, and I could only offer a shrug. “Just sensed something funny.”

That only got them looking at me more closely. Which made me reconsider my phrasing. In Kiri that usually meant people were about to go psychotic. 

I gave another shrug. “Two enemy groups are clashing with each other,” I answered which earned a bark of laughter from everyone. 

“Stupid Iwa nin!” Ameyuri cackled. 

I allowed myself a smile. I hadn’t specified that they were Iwa nin, just enemies.

Oh, to be a Zetsu observing that particular battle. 

Another rumble from where Gengetsu and Mu were fighting reminded me that Zetsu was probably busy observing another battle. 

I twitched as a memory of fighting Onoki and leading him around by the nose slammed into my mind. 

I blinked as the hairs all over my body rose at the chilly feeling of being stabbed through the chest by a blade of ice. 

Huh, it seems Kori Yuki hadn’t appreciated one of his ‘clansmen’ leading Onoki to him.

Tough, I thought to myself as I led our group around to link up where we could or to otherwise fall upon a group of isolated Iwa nin.

Hopefully, when Onoki was done with Kori or vice versa, we’d have thinned the throng a good deal.

______________

Kori Yuki blinked away the chakra smoke. 

A clone? That made no sense… it hadn’t been elementally aligned, he’d have noticed! With his Byakugan he had supreme vision, allowing him to see through such trickery. 

This jutsu… this could only be the fabled jutsu of the second Hokage! The Shadow Clone!

Which meant the most likely cause of this ‘coincidence’ of Onoki finding him was that some Konoha nin had decided to interfere.

Kori glared up at Onoki. 

“Our deal still stands!” he barked at the floating Iwa Jonin.

Onoki stroked his moustache in consideration, a glint of avarice flashing through his eyes.

“Does it? It was only to make sure that two hated enemies collided. I don’t remember anything about us not fighting,” Onoki jeered. 

Kori narrowed his eyes. “You will find that I am not like other opponents,” Kori warned as he began to cycle his chakra in preparation for the coming fight.

Onoki sniffed loudly, his large nose twitching at the action. “I’ve heard that from enough dead men to not take stock in it!” 

He cupped his hands in a signature fashion and Kori exploded into action, darting to the side as his clansmen shifted in a scattered pattern. 

Ice senbon began to fly through the air, only for Onoki to rise, twist and evade the strikes.

Bazo Yuki, a second cousin to Kori formed an ice giant shuriken that whirled through the air arcing around in a crescent path with others quickly following it. 

The strike shouldn’t have done anything as Onoki could easily evade, only for Bazo to grin and form a handseal. “Explode!” he announced as the whirling Shuriken exploded into shrapnel, filling the air with sharp projectiles. 

Onoki dropped out of the sky with a cry. 

Kori was about to twist and intercept him, only for his newly implanted eye to twitch as another image presented itself. 

“Illusion!” he shouted, causing most of his clansmen to balk and bail out from striking the falling trap. 

One wasn’t quick enough, or rather, had been too fast. 

They were already committed to leaping and thus found themselves snatched out of the air by Onoki, who had flown below the image of his falling illusion to catch anyone who struck at him.

Kori growled as his clansmen was whipped around and held above Onoki’s head as the icy shrapnel fell into him. 

The much smaller man grinned as his human umbrella was punctured in moments. 

Onoki flicked the dead body into the arc of another attack. Kori grimaced and began running through handseals as others engaged Onoki. 

Destruction rained as Kori formed up one the strongest jutsu he had. 

“Demonic Ice Mirrors!” he chanted as a huge cage of ice mirrors formed around the battleground.

He wouldn’t have usually used this jutsu, as it was a clear indication that he was here when he should still be in Kiri, but needs must when fighting an opponent like Onoki.

Kori slid into one of the mirrors, and as Onoki looked around, other mirrors showed his appearance. Kori quickly moved through them, changing his true location.

Onoki scoffed and raised his hands to blast one.

“That won’t—” Kori began only for the mirrors that Onoki had been targeting to become erased instantly. 

Kori blanched. 

This fight suddenly became much more dubious for him. Senbon began to rocket around but Onoki was up to the task of strafing, blocking or exploding anything that would truly threaten him.

Kori still got in a few hits, sinking senbon after senbon into Onoki but that only seemed to make the shorter shinobi more dogged in his fighting. Instead of fleeing, Onoki dug in, fighting harder, moving quicker, and getting more dangerous.

At one point Onoki dropped right into the gorund and caused an eruption of earth around himself that formed a dome only to have the dome explode outwards taking out the rest of Kori’s clansmen.

Kori lashed out with an icy dragon from the safety of his mirrors in response which caved its way through the dome of earth.

Only for the dome to be empty. 

Kori had a sinking feeling in his gut, and he ejected himself from the mirror just in time to evade another blast of Onoki’s dust release.

Kori skidded to a halt and glared as Onoki rose out of the ground with a smug grin. “Your Ice prison doesn’t block the earth it forms on,” he crowed. 

Kori knew that, as did any user of the jutsu, what surprised him was that he hadn’t seen Onoki’s chakra signature move through the earth. Did the Byakugan truly have such a blind spot?

It was worrying to find this out mid-combat.

A loud explosion caused Onoki to pause, a frown forming on his face. He was just about to raise his hands when a huge lightning bolt flashed through the sky. 

Onoki scowled. “Neither Mu or Gengetsu are known for their lightning jutsu, either your Kiba blade user is running amok, or Kumo is making a move,” he growled. 

Onoki sniffed once more. He slashed a hand through the air.  “I think I’ve more than proven how things will continue from here. When you take the mantle of Mizukage, remember this moment Kori Yuki!” sneered Onoki as he rose into the air.

Kori clenched his fists, unable to stop Onoki as he flew away from the the corpses of the Yuki clansmen. 

Kori certainly would remember this moment.

He’d make sure to remind Onoki of it as he killed him. 

This, he vowed.

______________

I sat on a branch dripping with sweat as around us, the other three Kiri nin who were still in the fight checked their weapons and swept the corpses of anything useful. 

We’d long since run out of kunai, shuriken, or any throwing weapons.

We hadn’t been able to link up with all of our squad before they’d been cut down, and the multiple engagements we’d entered had eventually seen injuries and then fatalities in those who had linked up. At one point we’d gotten close to another Kiri squad only for them to be swarmed by an Iwa cluster.

They’d died fighting.

By this point I was getting dull to the violence and death.

What was the point of being a medic and being unable to heal those around me?

Koda pulled out what looked like a bar of food. He gave it a sniff and a taste before throwing it at me. “Iwa ration, seeing as you’ve already eaten yours.” 

I nodded in thanks and tore into it. I doubted it was poisoned. None of the Iwa nin that we’d encountered had used such methods. They seemed to favour human wave attacks that saw numbers swarming you. 

That and explosive tags. 

Give them half a chance in a fight and they’d throw everything they could. 

That being said, they were also kind of dumb. 

I’d seen one Iwa nin wrap what had to be ten explosive taks to one handle only to get blasted by Koda with the tag going off among his allies.

“Anyone else getting tired of killing?” I asked. 

Ameyuri shot me an offended look while Koda and the sole remaining Hozuki nin who’d survived until now considered my question.

“That’s just wrong that is,” Ameyuri sniffed. 

I shrugged. “Kind of feels like using explosive tags on fish caught in a pool, is all I’m saying, you know?”

Ameyuri considered this. “Oh! So you’re just tired of killing chum! Okay, that makes more sense!” 

She grinned at me. “You just need to fight some actual Jonin, not the punks they call Chunin!” 

I decided not to correct her, instead turning my focus back to the battling Kage. It boggled my mind that they’d been at this for what had to be an hour or two now. 

We’d swept through what felt like hundreds of Iwa nin by this point, with several loses, sadly, but still it was crazy to see the difference.

Then again, with both Mu and Gengetsu being masters of evasion and misdirection… I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. 

The battle fell into lulls only to see a series of rapid fire explosions and jutsu to flash out before going quiet as both shinobi sought each other out.

I flexed my sticky hands, ignoring why that might be as I watched fake chakra signatures flicker and float around the torn-up battlefield. 

Those were just the phantoms both used to lure the other out, the bait if you would. 

In a way, it reminded me of documentaries regarding snipers. Both were using tricks to bait the other for an advantage. Occasionally, that must happen only for both of them to have enough aces in the hole to save themselves.

Ameyuri moved up next to me and nudged me. “So? Any clusters you want to take on?” she asked. 

I shot her an unimpressed look. “You know we can’t engage with them. Onoki is too much of a threat with how close he is.”

Koda grunted. “He can’t remain up in he air forever. We just need to wait him out, or stay stealthy in our engagements.”

Ameyuri made an annoyed clicking sound with her teeth and I hummed. This group… wasn’t suited for such strikes.

Ameyuri was loud and our Hozuki favoured powerful ninjutsu. 

Koda and myself were thus far the only ones to be able to pull off a silent take down and usually we could only take out two shinobi before the other Iwa nin in a squadron noticed us. 

This typically led to Ameyuri rushing them and then us fleeing Onoki when he appeared. 

I stiffened as more and more Iwa nin entered my sensory range. Only they weren’t all clustered up, but strung out. Just enough to be visible to each other.

“They’ve made a human net that they’re closing around us!” I declared.

Koda twitched his fingers. “We’ll have to go into hiding.” His gaze flickered to the Hozuki who smirked and winked. His puddle trick would work rather well, but that left the other three of us rather exposed.

“Matsu use some more Shadow clones to misdirect them. Any holes that open up we move on.”

I was about to agree before another wave of Iwa nin emerged. “There’s two layers to the net,” I muttered in annoyance. 

“Tch! They’re not leaving it to chance then,” Koda announced.

“Onoki is moving away!” I announced a moment later, shocked at this good fortune. Around me, the others perked up at this news.

“Might have mistimed things,” Koda muttered as his gaze narrowed. “That or Onoki didn’t have a choice.” 

“Good! The fuckers been tailing us for ages!” Ameuyri growled. 

Koda and I ignored her while the Hozuki sneered at her. “And whose fault is that, do you think?” 

Ameyuri pointed a Kiba blade at him. “Awful brave of a puddle to pick a fight while in stabbing range.” 

Koda coughed. “Stop fighting it merely reduces our chances of getting out!” he barked. He turned to me. “Matsu, Shadow clones!” 

I nodded and formed the handseal. A moment later, three copies of me appeared.

I held back a scowl. I’d been trying for six. Was this a sign of fatigue or unfamiliarity with the jutsu?

A wave of fatigue washed through me and I began attacking the tasteless ration bar for some more energy. I had a quarter of my chakra reserves till in the tank. 

Damn I couldn’t recall ever being this depleted. 

Not since the Academy at least, when I’d been pushing myself as much as possible. 

My clones all disguised themselves with a Henge before nodding and moving out. One headed north, one headed south, and the other east. 

We waited. Watching for any gaps to appear in the net. 

As soon as my clones punched through the first net an immediate reaction occurred with shinobi swarming the clones. 

This caused the formation to falter. 

“North!” I barked as I spotted the most significant ‘gap’ in the nets with a trio of even the outer net racing up to fight the clone.

Our group sprinted through the trees. We passed the first net with barely fifty metres between us and one of Iwa's watchers. 

When we hit the second net, I had to click my tongue. 

“They’re closing the holes!” I announced as two shinobi moved to pincher us. Ameyuri clicked her tongue while Koda merely tightened his jaw. “Move faster!” he barked, like we weren’t already sprinting. 

We pushed hard to make the gap only for the two closing Iwa nin to adjust and angle towards us. They were moving with far too much confidence, tracking us perfectly. 

“One of them must be a sensor!” I barked.

“Shit and piss! You couldn’t mention that earlier?” cursed the Hozuki.

I glared back at him. I wanted to point out how ridiculous it was to expect me to notice such a thing but instead I focussed. “Contact in five!” I declared. 

When the two Iwa nin drew into visual range with us, they paused, and rather than moving to fight, they both threw something high into the air. 

The sky lit up with a red glow.

“Flares! Fuck! We’re going to have all of them down on us!” snarled Ameyuri as she broke ranks to throw herself to the side. 

She lunged and caught the kunoichi on our left by surprise while Koda grimaced and moved to cut down the shinobi on our right. He went down in a hail of kunai but with a smile on his lips. 

“They know,” he rasped as he fell and sure enough all around us the Iwa nin were reacting. 

Their formation shifted, going from a straight line into clusters that raced towards us. 

We were about to have tens if not hundreds of Iwa nin on our tail. 

“Fuck this!” growled the Hozuki as he dropped into a puddle and flopped next to a tree to hide himself. 

Koda twitched. “No don’t! That might not be the only sensors they had!” he barked but the Hozuki wasn’t listening. “Fuck! Keep moving!” he roared as he adjusted course slightly. 

I twitched when I realised what he was doing. “You’re taking us there?” I asked as we drew closer towards the Kage fight. 

“Best of terrible choices!” he replied as behind us explosions rang out. It seemed hiding as a puddle wasn’t going to work this time around. 

I grimaced knowing that the noose was very much tightening and they must be sharing information if they knew to attack puddles like that.

So now it was just three of us versus potentially hundreds of Iwa nin. 

I began to cycle my chakra, mapping out my coils in readiness to do the only thing that seemed feasible to me.

The Eight Gates should be able to buy me a hell of a boost, the trick would be surviving it 

Using it would mean I would have to quit the field entirely.

Before we could make it to the battlefield, Iwa’s forces accelerated and intercepted us. 

Rock bullets surged out and exploded the trees around us as we dropped to the ground to put up a fight. 

Koda began flicking through handseals and he surprised me by summoning a water dragon jutsu. 

Ameyuri snorted. “You’ve been holding out on us Squad Leader!” she growled as she began to build up a charge between her Kiba blades. 

“I have merely been conserving my strength!” he replied tersely as his Water Dragon tore through the first to reach us. 

The second wave came in with more hesitance eying Koda as a serious threat. 

They lingered in the trees while others reached us. 

Ameyuri straightened as one of them caught her attention. “That you Shibito? Got a mission for your head! Come down here and let me claim it!” she growled.

I glanced up to find myself looking at a familiar face. The Iwa Tokubetsu Jonin that I’d encountered in the past sneered. 

“Funny for a bitch in your situation you sure are mouthy!” he growled as he ran through handseals to form up his Rock Armour. 

I wet my lips, if he got within range I would be more than happy to repeat our last encounter, only this time I knew for a fact he wasn’t going to walk away from it.

A squad of Iwa nin shot forth from my right and I cursed as I flicked kunai into a few of them. I ignored an illusion, ducking under it like I was still effected only to lunge into a strike that saw me stabbing the would be illusionist in the chest. 

I found myself facing a wave of rock bullets that must have been fired at the backs of their own teammates. 

I tried to call up my chakra to perform a replacement jutsu but I was too slow taking a heavy blow to the chset that saw me sailing backwards where I skidded along for a little while. 

Urgh, that had winded me. 

Should have expected that some of them would be more than happy to commit friendly fire.

“Got one!” crowed a plucky Iwa nin.

I flexed my chakra, caught sight of my target, and grinned as I realised that no one was paying attention to me right now.  

I raced through handseals, completing the sequence for yet another jutsu that before the Chunin exams I’d never encountered. 

Tama Uchiha really had been helpful in that regard. 

Phoenix Flower Jutsu! I thought as I inhaled only to exhale multiple streams of fire that raced out and slammed into Iwa shinobi.

I followed up with a trio of kunai with explosive tags into any clustered Iwa nin cutting a huge swath through their numbers as I reentered the battlefield. 

“An illusion? I thought he got hit!” shouted one of the Iwa nin. 

“Must be a Kaguya freak! Theyr’e strong like that!” shouted another, and if this was any other situation, I’d have to stop and stare.

Instead, I just flicked a kunai into their skull, advancing into the fight and drawing attention. 

Koda flashed through yet more handseals and unleashed another Water Dragon. 

Behind him Ameyuri had begun to spin, her Kiba blades extended as lightning arced around her like a sharp, electric tornado. She was a single woman wrecking crew.

Shibito surprised me by leaping into the thick of it with his rock armour. 

He swept his arms forward in a mighty clap that saw the tornado fizzle and die. Ameyrui grunted at having her tornado destroyed but quickly regathered herself. 

How had he done that with rock armour?

Then I caught the slight shimmer of wind encasing his form. Huh, it seems he’d picked up some new tricks.

Shibito lunged at Ameyuri, and for a second, I was afraid I was about to see her laid out with a blow so heavy she wouldn’t be able to walk it off. 

Then she surprised everyone by flipping up and over Shibito, her blades flashing out as she cut an X across Shibito’s neck. 

It shouldn’t have penetrated, not with electrical energy against a wind armour on top of a rock plate. 

Shibito staggered only to then fall and his head to roll off. 

Ameyuri rose, a feral smile on her lips as she swept her blades around causing them to loosen a low keening noise that caused shivers to run down my spine. 

There was no electrical energy sparking on either blade I idly noted. 

She’d done that with pure skill. No fancy tricks with her blades or elemental advantages, just strength of arm and steel.

Ameyuri stabbed Shibito’s head and nodded to herself before twisting away from a brace of Rock Bullets. 

I threw myself into the fight, weaving and ducking as I flicked our kunai. At one point I even unsealed my metal staff using it to bat people away. Koda had the right idea, I needed to conserve my chakra. 

At one point a broken tree fell and I grabbed it only to hurl it into a line of Iwa nin crushing them under its weight. 

Others climbed over it like ants.  

More Iwa nin poured in and I saw a Rock Dragon get unleashed upon Koda which caused his Water Dragons to finally falter. 

Koda leapt aside only to catch a trio of rock bullets that caused him to collapse. 

A foreign trickle of chakra slipping into my coils was crushed ruthlessly and I responded to the attempted genjutsu by rapid firing a trio of water bullets at the offending shinobi only for them to evade with a smirk. 

“You’re getting tired Kiri nin!” jeered the Illusionist. “Lie down and we’ll make it quick!” 

The Iwa nin all shifted, and instead of leaping forward to die to myself of Ameyuri they began darting and and out, feinting and goading us to attack. 

They had shifted from ants to a pack of wolves and I certainly didn’t care for the change in attitude. 

“F-fuck off!” snarled Koda as he staggered to his feet. His face was misshapen, one arm was bent the wrong way, and his leg was twisted as he stood, but he managed it with hateful defiance in his eyes. 

He held up a hand seal and glared straight ahead. “Gre-great water…” A flash of steel in the tree line behind him was the only warning I got.

I shunshined behind him, deflecting a kunai that would have stabbed into his brain. 

“Keep going Koda!” I urged. 

“Water wave jutsu,” he murmured as he sent a wall of water forward. It wasn’t very big, and by no means was it impressive. 

What it did have was a physical weight to it though, which forced the Iwa shinobi facing it to leap aside. 

Ameyuri and I charged into the gap. I slung Koda over my shoulder as we followed the wave through the trees. 

“Leave me,” Koda muttered but I ignored him. I wanted him to survive. He was a good Jonin, and a respectable man I’d come to realise. 

“Get them!” shouted someone behind us and I felt another wave of Rock bullets and kunai being hurled at our backs. 

I flipped over and flexed my chakra, unleashing a water wall jutsu that blocked everything. I continued my acrobatics and landed heavily, thrown off by Koda’s weight. 

He grunted in pain. “Matsu… leave me that’s an order,” he rasped. 

“Nah, I’m not the following orders sort of guy,” I joked.

It must be the fatigue. I could mentally recognise that we were fucked so many ways to Sunday in this situation. Iwa had unleashed a so many of their shinobi for this fight that we were dieing due to fatigue more than skill.

Death was starting to look like an inevitability and I hated that. 

I kept moving vowing that I’d rip the gates open if I had to, but right here and now I was going to keep Koda alive.

He was a good man, and he didn’t deserve to die today.

A rumble was the first warning of a change in the battlefield that registered to me. 

Then my mind registered the presence of a huge source of chakra being used.

Then the day turned to night, and everyone came to a stop. 

Ameyuri and I landed next to each other and looked up.

We found ourselves staring at a giant wave that was cresting above us. Worse, the wave appeared to be nigh on kilometres long and at least a hundred metres tall.

“Fucking Gengetsu,” Ameyuri muttered. 

She leapt to the ground and began digging furiously sending waves of dirt over her shoulder. She didn’t stop to shout at me. “Get the fuck down her and create a tunnel to hide in! You’re not going to survive a tidal wave otherwise!” she snapped. 

I dropped down next to her, my hands already flicking through seals as the wave of water began to fall. Around us drops of water began to rain down the size of small boulders. 

I finished the jutsu and called up a short earthwall jutsu that sucked the ground beneath us outwards. I repeated the action, forming a wedged shape that would direct the water away from us even as I created a small nook to hide in that would be underground and slightly away from the flow of water.

Ameyuri glanced up only flinch. “Get in!” she bellowed, throwing herself into the hole on the ground. I followed her a moment later with Koda. 

Ameyuri gave me a sad look as she dug her blades into the wall around us, pushing herself as deep into the hole as she could go. 

“Good idea—” I started to say only her to shoot me a sorry look as she sealed the tunnel around herself moments before the wave of water swept over us. 

Despite the hole, and despite the earth wall redirected everything I still found myself swept up and along with the water. 

I clung to Koda as the I was ragdolled by what felt like a pair of giants playing kickball. 

I swept my chakra through my body, reinforcing it as much as I could, empowering my Iron Body jutsu to help me withstand a force I had no right surviving.

When I slammed into the ground, I did so heavily, tumbling over and over. 

I shuddered and coughed, only to spew a moment later as all the water I’d been forced to drink erupted from me. 

I lifted my head out of my own vomit and glanced around, feeling weak and bedraggled. 

My chakra sense wasn’t picking up anyone else around me for at least a kilometre.

“Huh we made it, Koda,” I muttered only to blink as I realised his weight was all wrong. I shifted and drew his arm over my body. That was when I understood.

It was just his arm. 

I stared at it for a long moment, uncomprehending how that had happened, before understanding sunk in. His arm had been that thoroughly broken had ripped off rather than hold him.

I glanced around, hoping against hope that I might see him, but there was no sign of him. 

It was mud and broken trees in a wide swath around me.

I sat there blinking slowly, my mind slowly starting to register the level of hurt it was in after surviving a freaking tsunami. 

I lifted a hand and wiped my face. “Huh, the blood is gone. All washed away,” I croaked. 

I chuckled at that for some reason. The idea of me croaking… hehe. 

I shuddered and coughed up some more water, my throat aching at the action. Why did living have to hurt so much? I glanced around.

The world was mud, and the sky was blue.

I needed to do something. 

Go somewhere.

Do something meaningful.

I clenched my teeth and despite the ache, and despite my body demanding that I just stay there I pushed upwards and into a standing position.

I think if I’d stayed there, I might have just let myself die, and that wasn’t what I wanted. 

I trudged forward, step by miserable step through the mud, my body slowly working faster and faster as I remembered why I was here and what it meant.

My body still hurt, but I pushed it down.

I was born in Kiri, and it taught you to handle hurt. 

Pain was temporary. 

I could get better later, right now I had to find someone.

I wasn’t sure if they were even alive, but still I searched, pushing my aching coils to produce more chakra that I used to widen my senses. 

A flicker of something caught my attention and I surged through the mud for a few more steps before recalling that I was a freaking shinobi. 

I ran atop the mud and water an instant later, my energy preserved as my mind started to catch up with what I was here to do.

Hopefully, I was right about how things would play out this time around…

I stumbled when I hit suddenly dry ground and I tumbled into a roll before shooting back up. 

The chakra signature that I’d felt was here. 

I could see them now, laid out on the ground with their eyes looking up at the sky a victorious smile on their lips.

I marched straight up to Gengetsu and stared down at his bleeding form.

He’d lost an arm and a leg. The mud around him was slick with his blood.

Gengetsu’s eyes flickered to mine, and we locked eyes.

Neither of us said anything. We merely watched the other, assessing for me and resigned but pleased for Gengetsu.

There was too much to say, and at that moment, I suddenly felt like I was standing at a series of crossroads.

I had so many choices of what I could do.

Gengetsu, and it was Gengetsu before me was at his weakest. Not an illusion, of that I was absolutely certain. 

I could stab him with a kunai, maybe even use that to leapfrog my way into Konoha’s ranks.

There I could live a life of luxury.

But I knew that wasn’t ever something I could see myself doing. 

I’d grown too attached to my friends, and the people I considered family. Kiri wasn’t good, but it could be.

And so I did the only thing that promised me a chance at what I wanted.

______________

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons! 

Sorry for the cliffhanger but not really!

What do people think is about to happen?