Both sides rushed at each other.
Their blades were drawn. They cycled chakra through their chakra pathways rapidly to reinforce their bodies. Some even started preparing hand seals as they were running ahead.
Whether it was Konoha ninjas or the Shimada clan ninjas and their samurai partners, they were going all out.
This wasn't training. This wasn't a sparring match. This wasn't an individual, deadly battle either.
This was war. A single distraction or mistake could turn them into nothing but corpses.
They were out to kill. And they would continue killing until only one side remained standing.
And a few moments later, both sides clashed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blades and kunai clashed, sending orange sparks of fire in the air.
Boom!
Explosive tags and powerful Ninjutsu were thrown to either burn the enemies to cinders or create a gap in their defense.
No probing.
No testing.
They went straight ahead with the intent to kill.
25 Konoha ninjas, except for Senju Tatsuya, Uchiha Hiroshi, and the ANBU leader, were tangled in a deadly game against a group of 80+ Shimada clan ninjas and samurai.
At first glance, it might look like the Konoha ninjas were at a disadvantage.
However, the battle between the ninjas was never about numbers. It was never about brute force.
Ninjas fought to survive and kill using deception, skill, surprise attacks, and exploiting weaknesses.
And that was where the organized, systematically trained ninjas of Konoha were superior to the independent ninja clans with fewer resources.
In one corner of the battlefield, a Konoha Chunin, Kosuki, was fighting two Shimada clan Chunin and one Genin.
In normal situations, a single Chunin fighting two other Chunin and another Genin should have been at a disadvantage.
But Kosuki's opponents were not the ninjas of the other four major villages, but from an independent clan.
With a blade in his hand, Kosuki clashed with the two Chunin and the Genin.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Too many openings. Even a single average Chunin from Konoha would put me under more pressure with their airtight defense compared to these three ninjas.
Their skills aren't sharp enough.
Their deception skills are pitiful. It looks like they are more used to battling chakra beasts than other ninjas.
Heh! Let's end this.
Kosuki thought and made a plan to counterattack.
He had been defending against the three ninjas while launching only a few offensive sword attacks.
He waited for a perfect moment to counterattack and kill all three of them most effectively and efficiently.
After a few moments, the Genin and one Shimada clan Chunin threw multiple kunai at Kosuki from several tricky angles.
Kosuki tried to intercept the kunai aimed at his vitals and to dodge the others. However, the other Shimada clan Chunin created two water whips and suddenly bound Kosuki's hands and body together with one, while lashing out with the other.
Kosuki tried to break free, but all his efforts were in vain.
And in the blink of an eye, the other water whip and the barrage of kunai landed on Kosuki's body, making his blood bloom in the air.
"Got him." x3.
The three Shimada clan ninja, including the Genin, smiled in triumph.
But soon, they couldn't smile anymore.
The bloody body of Kosuki turned into a human-sized wooden log with a puff of smoke, making the Shimada clan ninjas' eyes widen with alarm.
"Substitution Jutsu?" muttered the Shimada clan Genin.
And before he could finish his muttered words, the Genin suddenly felt a wave of sharp pain coming from his heart.
He lowered his head, only to see the pointy head of a kunai peaking out of his left chest.
"This…"
The Genin looked at his pierced heart in shock before vomiting blood. And then, his vision darkened, and his body fell on the ground like a stringless puppet.
"You had let your guard down," said Kosuki with an icy-cold tone.
Yes, it was Kosuki. By taking advantage of the smoke and the momentary distraction of the three Shimada clan ninjas, he quickly hid himself underground.
Then, he arrived behind the Genin, the easiest target, and stabbed him in the back with a kunai, piercing his heart.
"You bastard."
The other two Shimada clan Chunin glared at Kosuki angrily before launching themselves at him.
Kosuki looked at them, chuckled, and unsheathed his ninja sword again.
He dodged the attack of one of the Chunin and kicked him hard in his gut, sending the poor ninja flying backward for at least five meters.
"Guhh…!!"
Then, he turned around and intercepted the blade targeting his neck with his ninja sword. The power behind the attack deflected the incoming blade backwards.
The force behind the deflection was so powerful that the Shimada clan Chunin, who was holding his blade in two hands, was forced to release his right hand from the hilt of his sword.
Kosuki used this opportunity to grip Chunin's right hand with his left and weaved three forced hand signs in a flash.
Sparks of blue lightning wrapped around Kosuki's left palm, which he used to electrocute the Shimada clan Chunin, rendering him completely paralyzed.
After that, taking advantage of his opponent's paralyzed state, Kosuki thrust the sword's tip at the Shimada clan Chunin's heart.
"STOP!!!"
At that moment, Kosuki heard the other Shimada clan Chunin shouting at him while rushing with his sword.
Since the other Chunin was less than five meters away, if Kosuki decided to plunge his sword at the paralyzed Chunin's chest, he wouldn't have any time to pull his blade out and defend against the incoming attack.
So, retreating was the best possible option in this situation.
But Kosuki went for the kill anyway.
He plunged his blade into the paralyzed Shinobi's heart, ending his life.
Seeing this, the last Chunin's eyes turned red with rage, and he swung his blade to decapitate Kosuki.
But Kosuki suddenly turned around, dodged the blade, and hugged the Shimada clan Chunin.
The Shimada clan Chunin reversed his grip on the blade and tried to aim at the back of Kosuki, who was hugging him.
But at that moment, he could sense chakra boiling violently inside Kosuki's body.
His blade froze as he stared at Kosuki with wide eyes.
"What are you doi…"
He tried to ask, but Kosuki cut him off with a wicked smile. "Enjoy the show."
Shadow Clone: Explosion
The chakra inside Kosuki's body concentrated in his chest before expanding violently, erupting in a deafening explosion.
BOOOOOOM!!
The body of 'Kosuki' exploded, tearing the body of the Shimada clan Chunin apart in the process.
The body parts of the Shimada clan Chunin were scattered all around the blast zone.
Suddenly, the real Kosuki emerged from the ground and looked at the gruesome scene with a sigh.
"Too green. Those guys really fell for the trick, huh? Not that I am complaining."
Kosuki mushed before going after his next target.
Meanwhile, Seimei watched all of this, thanks to the 360° vision provided by Tenseigan, all while slaughtering his own opponents like pigs.
He couldn't help but muse.
Indeed, these people are too green.
Or, it would be more accurate to say that our systematic training made Konoha ninjas more skilled in deception, battlefield management, efficient technique execution, and mortal combat.
Then, he decapitated another Chunin-level Shimada clan ninja before looking at another scene on the battlefield.
Two Shimada clan ninja tried to gang up on a Uchiha clan Chunin using the C-rank Water Bullet Technique. But the Uchiha ninja overwhelmed them using a standard B-rank Majestic Destroyer Flame Jutsu.
The Jutsu execution of the Uchiha clan ninja was faster, and his control over his Jutsu was also better.
The water was vaporized by the flames, covering their battle area in thick mist, obscuring the vision of the Shimada clan ninjas.
Then the Konoha ninja used his Sharingan insight to locate his enemies and three multiple shurikens using Uchiha Shurikenjutsu.
Multiple shuriken landed on the Shimada clan ninjas' vitals, leaving them weakened. And the Uchiha clan ninja took advantage of it, closed the distance, trapped them in Genjutsu, and killed them with a couple of swings of his blade.
Seimei watched all of them and thought. We have better techniques.
At that moment, an Elite Chunin-level Shimada clan ninja rushed at him from his left and swung his kunai at his throat.
Seimei didn't even flinch and used his ninjato to slice through his wrist.
"Ahhhh…"
The ninja cried in pain as his right wrist holding the kunai fell to the ground.
Seimei immediately grabbed the ninja's throat with his left hand and snapped his neck in one clean flick of his wrist, ending the ninja's life.
He exhaled. And I guess, we are faster and stronger than our opponents, too. Well, the academy did feed good stuff to the talented ninjas.
While looking for his next opponent, Seimei kept a close eye on the Konoha ninjas around him. If any one of them were in danger, he wouldn't hesitate to lend a helping hand while sending the enemies to the afterlife.
But before he could move somewhere else, his attention was caught by three figures with distinct features.
A few seconds later, those three figures surrounded Seimei. One of them had an Elite Jonin-level chakra signature, and the other two had full-fledged Jonin-level chakra capacity.
One of them had sharp teeth. Another one of them had seaweed-like hair and greyish skin. And the last one with the Elite Jonin-level chakra signature had blue-grey skin, gill-like patterns on his neck, and strange silvery eyes that didn't look human.
Yeah, there was no fucking way these three guys were from the Land of Fire.
Their features screamed Land of Water.
And the last guy was surely from the Hoshigaki clan, one of the most powerful clans in Kirigakure.
Seimei looked at them leisurely and asked, "You guys finally decided to show up?"
"You, Kirigakure fishes!"
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A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and read up to 17 Advanced chapters!
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