"Screw this! I'll check it out myself. You better have a good reason to break contact or the value of your Typhoon Release will not be enough to save you." The kunoichi declared.
'Swift Release: Shadowless Flight'
In a blur of motion, she was gone, moving at speeds far surpassing any type of Body Flicker.
*
Back to the battleground . . .
Dodai had already joined up with Zee and Toroi, the former was still trailing Inori, launching the occasional attack to try and figure out the Violet Rose's seeming invulnerability while the latter was listening to Dodai's info.
Clearly, their Konoha opponents were reinforced by people from the caravan they were escorting who were the targets of the mercenary shinobi who approached them for cooperation.
"Can you sense the full battlefield, Dodai-san?" Toroi questioned.
The man shook his head.
"I can only sense the two remaining survivors of the mercenary group chasing that damnable brat but they're moving slow so he's probably just leading them around until they get tired or into an ambush, the kid sure loves those." Dodai responded.
"As for the rest . . . Nothing. I couldn't even sense the girl who attacked me coming. They must have advanced means of hiding their chakra." He added.
Toroi fell into thought.
"My sensory jutsu works differently from regular sensing, it might tell us something. But it will also alert the enemy so be ready to act right away." He declared and wasted no time activating his jutsu.
'Magnet Release: Radar Pulse'
A wave of electromagnetic chakra was sent out, instantly covering an extreme range.
It was interesting how a combination of Wind and Earth release could produce electricity but in the Boruto Era, Shinki, the Iron Sand user from Suna did exactly that, showing that it was indeed possible.
The jutsu allowed Toroi to create a snapshot of an enormous area, both its physical aspects and chakra signatures, from the feedback of the released chakra.
It was not very precise though, cost more chakra than regular sensing and the wave of electromagnetic chakra could be felt by anyone it passed through.
Not to mention that it was a snapshot so enemy positions that shifted constantly required continuous pulses that would quickly drain Toroi.
In the present situation however, the Radar Pulse got exactly what he needed.
More specifically, it was what he couldn't detect that provided the info the Kumo shinobi was after.
"There are two areas in my range that the pulse could not provide feedback for." He quickly revealed.
"Ambush sites, likely hidden by barriers." Dodai immediately concluded, getting a nod of agreement.
With that knowledge in mind, their next move became clear.
Continuing the chase was just playing right into enemy hands.
Rather than targeting Inori who was using some mysterious illusion to protect herself, they were better off rendezvousing with the two remaining mercenaries and quickly taking out Shiki and his support before the two enemy groups could converge.
"You and Zee are much faster than me and the enemy won't be able to hide from my senses when they are on the move. My jutsu is suitable for delaying action so I'll try to hold them for as long as I can while you two take care of things." Dodai declared.
Toroi's eyes widened.
"That's suicide!" He exclaimed, keeping his voice low to avoid giving notice to Inori who they were still chasing at the moment.
"I've already failed the village enough. If I die, then so be it, let this make up for past losses." Dodai responded.
Facing such determination, Toroi could only respect it and ensure the sacrifice was not in vain.
The Magnet Release user instantly caught up with Zee and after a brief talk, the kunoichi's expression hardened.
She looked back at Dodai and solemnly nodded, no further words were needed.
'Lightning Release: Body Flicker'
Using her Lightning Flicker, Zee turned into a bolt of lightning, rushing towards the other battle.
Toroi followed suit with his own unique body flicker.
'Magnet Release: Static Slide'
With this jutsu, he could magnetize the ground beneath his feet and hover at blinding speed almost as if riding on flashes of electricity that surged from his soles.
Naturally, this sudden shift couldn't be hidden.
Inori immediately noticed, as did Benihime and Hyuga Makoto with the latter immediately sharing the info with the ambush squad who he had already reached.
"In this situation it's a race. We need to regroup with the other ambush squad right away." Fugaku, who was in charge after Inori, quickly made the decision.
The Violet Rose came to the same conclusion herself and, confident the others would too, she chased after Zee and Toroi.
With the ambush squads regroup+ing, somebody needed to go and support Shiki who would otherwise be overwhelmed by the sudden influx of opponents.
Beni's thoughts were similar and so, she headed towards the boy's position as well.
However, despite being far away and mid battle, Shiki did not cease his surveillance of the battlefield for a single moment and so, he too noticed the change in Kumo's movements and determined their original plan was shot.
'Should have just taken the risk and led these two into the ambush instead of trying to tire them out.' He admonished himself.
In the pursuit of a perfect result, he had created an opening the Kumo was now exploiting.
'But if I can take these two out before the fools from Kumo get here . . .' Shiki bit the proverbial bullet and decided to take the risk.
And to make such a thing work, he inevitably had to rely on Nirvana Art: Dragon Heart. His new and improved amp was not yet usable so the boy was forced to accept the risk of self injury and go back to his old moves.
Chakra flowed thick through his blood, lightning up the veins beneath his skin and enhanced the boy's power and durability far beyond the norm as the cost of continuously wearing down his body.
'Strike hard and fast, don't let the enemy last long enough for the self harm to become a problem.' Shiki told himself.
The moment Typhoon's next attack came, instead of running away like the enemy was used to, the boy did the opposite.
'Flicker Phantom'
The moment the boy vanished in a blur, Typhoon and Dark immediately began searching for his escape route as before, Flicker Phantom was so great because it was too fast for most sensory methods to keep up.
Imagine the pair's shock, when instead of detecting him some distance away like before, they instead saw a Chakra Cutter enhanced ninja blade slashing right at them.
But they were far from defenseless.
'Typhoon Release: Bursting Strong Wind Wall'
A protective tornado nearly instantly formed around its creator and his companion, blasting away Shiki.
But being played by the boy before, the pair did not dare let their guards down.
And for good reason.
Shiki, who had been blown away, popped into a cloud of smoke while another "him" rose from the ground, decisively swinging his enhanced blade at Dark's back.
Dark Release was far too troublesome and its user was weaker in terms of raw stats so the boy chose to go for him first.
With Dragon Heart pushing him into Elite Jonin level in raw stats, the boy's ambush was brutal but, being highly sensitive to chakra due to his Yin based kekkei genkai, Dark managed to sense Shiki in time, getting away with a shallow cut on his back.
Typhoon was not about to miss the opportunity, molding chakra for another ninjutsu attack . . .
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -