The dark-skinned man sat down on the tree branch, his feet dangling off the side and his chin resting on his palm. Yuto looked at Ganro, then looked at Satoru sitting casually on the branch.
"I saw they sent a team after me, so I decided I wanted to hunt the hunters," Satoru said with a grin.
"Yeah, you always seemed like the early death-type," Genma said, boredly, his hands still in his pockets.
Satoru sneered.
"Ganro, you wouldn't happen to be related to this guy?" Yuto asked, noticing the similar skin complections.
"Who knows?" Ganro said with a shoulder shrug.
Satoru's face contorted in anger as he hopped up onto the tree branch. "You fucking racist," he said, pointing a finger at Yuto.
Yuto was a little alarmed at that, taking a step back. He wasn't trying to be racist; he was just curious. In his previous world, he would probably be canceled, but the guy in front of him could kill him at any moment. And when did racism appear in Naruto?
"First, I'm going to sqeeuwer that brat," he said, brushing his straight black hair to the side, with a thirsty grin.
The blue-haired chunin locked eyes with Ganro. "Looks like you're my opponent," he said with a grin.
"No, this will be over in a second," Satoru said arrogantly.
Yuto unsheathed his blade, his face locked on the chnnin. He hoped Genma would obliterate the guy in a second, like Kakashi did to the demon brothers, but things were never that simple.
"Everyone, prepare for a strung-out battle," Genma said.
Yuto frowned as he knew the longer the battle, the more injuries were likely. He prayed that his scrawny little arms stayed attached to his shoulder blades. He didn't want to end up like his grandfather.
Satoru ran threw a set of hand seals and blew out a gust of wind.
"wind style, great breakthrough"
A few seconds later, the clearing was in shambles. The trees were pulled from the ground, some being torn in half. The wind style jutsu completely altered the terrain. Everyone was separated and consequently matched up.
In another clearing, Yuto and Genma faced off against Satoru. Genma had not a single scratch on him, his sinbon still in his mouth, and a bored expression on his face. Yuto, on the other hand, looked far worse. His black hair was blown out of its ponytail. Sweat rolled down his forehead despite the recent breeze from the wind style jutsu, and his calm face faltered. He had a look of uncertainty, and his tanto shook in his hand. He'd held onto it for dear life when he felt the impact of the jutsu. He had never faced such high-level ninjutsu. Hell, the only time he had seen high-level ninjutsu was when his grandfather cleared the house of dust and the shadow clone jutsu everyone was so fond of using. He looked at the dark-skinned man approaching the pair slowly.
"I'm afraid he won't be enough to protect you this time," Satoru said.
Yuto wasn't even aware Genma protected him. he thought he was only alive because of pure, unbridled luck. He looked at Genma's bored expression. Such incredible speed.
"I didn't even see Sinbon senpai move in front of me, and based on his unscathed body and clothes, I can tell he repelled the power of the jutsu with his chakra alone. So this is the power of a jonin," Yuto thought.
"Satoru, either surrender, or I'll be forced to eliminate you," Genma said.
"Why don't you come and try?" Satoru said with a grin.
Genma sighed before his bored face turned to one of a battle-hardened shinobi. He was prepared to kill the man who stood before him. Genma whipped a kunai from his pouch out swinging it around his finger before gripping it firmly and placing it before him.
"Yuto," Genma said.
"Already done," Yuto said.
Genma nodded. Genma and Satoru locked gazes. Satoru unsheathed the blade strapped horizontally on his lower back before disappearing in a blur. Genma didn't even bat an eye; his kunai clashed with Satoru's short blade, causing sparks to fly in the air.
"You countered my stage one, not bad," Satoru said.
Yuto shot a compressed spitball at Satoru from his side, his hand in a seal.
Satoru caught sight of it, shifting his body just enough to avoid the incoming bullet of spit. He didn't get the time process as Genma planted a kick in his chest, sending him flying back. Satoru flipped in the air, landing on the ground before disappearing in another burst of speed.
Yuto didn't even see what happened as his vision was replaced with Genma's back. Genma had intercepted Satoro's attempt to eliminate Yuto from the equation.
"This is a battlefield, don't let your guard down," Genma said seriously.
Yuto gave Genma a nod and jumped back a few times to increase the distance. To be truthful, he had his guard up. He was so scared that it was impossible not to stay on his toes. The enemy was just that strong, especially compared to a freshly graduated genin. He had no business here. What did Genma expect out of him? But Yuto thought about the mission report and how his contributions would only be helping speed up the enemy tracking speed, as he was aware Genma could track the enemies; it would just take longer to match the speed of the enemy.
He watched as Genma and Satoru fought blade to blade. He watched Satoru flickering all over the clearing of trees.
"It seems like Sinbon senpai is waiting for the guy to run out of steam," Yuto thought.
While Yuto wholeheartedly agreed with the tactic, the issue with that was they didn't know the skills of the other subordinates, and for all they knew, Ganro and Yugao could already be dead. They weren't in a position to stall when the team was separated. He knew that Genma was taking this approach because he trusted his comrades, but Yuto, on the other hand, didn't like taking bargains. He would need to help Genma settle the fight quickly, because he wasn't interested in having teammates die on his first mission.
It would look bad for Genma as well, putting too much trust in yugao's and ganro's abilities comes with outcomes. While it likely won't affect his promotion, it would look bad on his resume if one of his comrades died for a second time while he led the mission. Yuto thought of a way he could change the tide of the battle.
He knew he needed to slow the enemy down; that was the only advantage the enemy had over Genma, and Genma made up for it with his experience. he thought about when he fought Yugao and used his paper tags, attempting to damage her when she left from under the ground. She likely felt the small use of the chakra needed to activate the seal on the tag and used a shadow clone to reassure her suspicions. he simply needed something that didn't require chakra to activate. He remembered the gunpowder his grandfather gave him as a grin emerged on his face.
He pulled out the gunpowder and poured the contents of the bag into his mouth. He started to mold the gunpowder into a paste in his mouth; he knew it would take more than one shot.
He waited for an opportunity; his analytical skills were at an all-time high, and he was put in a position where his skills would decide the outcome of the mission. While the mission would be completed whether he was there or not, he needed to ensure the safety of all his teammates, and he could only do that with Genma's help, which is why he needed Genma to finish things quickly.
Genma was locked in battle with the speester. Satoru was not only fast but an intelligent foe, and stayed out of Genma's attack range and only attacked from Genma's blind angles.
"your better than I thought," Satoru admitted.
Satoru's clothes were submerged in dirt as he'd been thrown to the ground by Genma's kicks. He dusted his shoulder with a grin before disappearing in a burst of speed.
"he's gotten slower," Yuto thought.
Genma blocked Satoru's short blade and spun around into a horizontal kunai thrust to Satoru's side.
Satoru was about to counter, but was forced to shift his body to dodge a black glob of paste. Genma's kuunai graced his side, forcing out a wince.
Yuto grinned, seeing Satoru get injured due to his occupation with the glob of black paste.
Yuto jumped to the side. Three more globs of black paste shot at Satoru from his blind side. Satoru couldn't evade the attack as he was not only injured but was forced to parry the downward kunai thrust from Genma. The paste slammed into Satoru's side, painting his black body suit in the paste.
Satoru's body stumbled as Genma saw this as his chance. Genma caught the faint smell of gunpowder, and so did Satoru. Genma acted quickly, swiping his kunai against the sinbon hanging from his mouth. A spark scrurried towards Satoru's side as Genma anticipated the spark's trajectory perfectly. Satoru noticed it, but it was too late.
The spark landed on his side despite his attempts to evade it. Satoru made a desperate attempt to wipe the paste off his body suit. Genma delivered one of his famous kicks to Satoru's gut, sending him flying back as he was too occupied with the gunpowder to react to the kick. The distance between them was increased, and the time Satoru had left increased even more. Satoru knew this and acted quickly.
Satoru went up into a giant explosion, rattling the tree leaves from the winds made by Satoru's supposed demise.
"It's not over," Genma said.
Satoru appeared back in the clearing with the top half of his body suit gon. he was breathing heavily, and his long black hair looked like hard noodles. His darkskin was sinched a little, and his face was contorted in a fit of rage. His hands shook out of pure anger and agitation.
"You dammed brat," he spat.
"he discarded his blade and tore the top half of his body suit, before using the substitution jutsu to escape the explosion radius," Yuto thought.
Suddenly, a cut under Satoru's arm tore, and blood ran down his side.
"his substitution wasn't fast enough, though," Yuto thought.
Yuto looked at where the explosion had happened, seeing the log in his place. He then looked back at Satoru's form, as he was confused, seeing Satoru's face shift into a grin.
Satoru reached into his pouch, pulling out a kunai. Satoru knew this was his last dance, and he would die like a true shinobi. He had already wasted his chakra, and he was injured, while Genma still looked fresh. He charged at Genma, throwing the kunai at him. Genma stood there indifferently, shooting his sinbon at the kunai. Both projectiles fell to the ground. Yuto was already on the chakra-deprived Sataru, driving his tanto into his back. This time, Yuto looked into his eyes with no fear as Satoru turned his head slowly, locking eyes with Yuto's. He no longer needed to shield his eyes from the sight of death. He couldn't help how he felt on the inside, but he would do his duty anyway. Blood poured from Satoru's mouth, and he dropped to his knees.
"Go to hell, brat," Satoru mumbled before plunging into darkness.
"You could have easily killed that guy," Yuto said, questioningly.
"I wanted you to kill him; in the state he was in, even a genin like you could've taken him down," Genma said casually.
"I see, we should check on the others," Yuto said. That was the whole point for him using the powder to ensure his teammates' safety. he didn't want to waste any more time.
"They're fine, they're on their way back, as we speak," Genma said knowingly.
Yuto was surprised at that, as he expected Yugao and Ganro to be having trouble with an opponent in the same caliber as them.
"You trusted they would prevail, despite not knowing the skills of the other enemies," Yuto said, surprised.
"I have faith in all my comrades; if I didn't trust their abilities, it would be no point in me taking them to the field to die," Genma said.
"You trust my abilities?" Yuto asked.
"Look at what you did, without me giving you one order. If I said I didn't trust your skills, I'd be lying to myself," Genma said.
Yuto smiled genuinely at the praise. If it were someone else who told him that, he would have brushed it off. But this was Genma, and when he said something like this, he truly meant it.
Right then, Ganro and Yugao appeared in the clearing.
"The target has been dealt with," Yugao said indifferently.
She had said it like this was the only outcome. When Satoru was aura farming on the tree Ganro and yugao didn't even bat an eye at Satoru's asalents. There was no introduction, just straight hands. Everyone, but Yuto, left the battle without a single scratch, and Yuto didn't even have a close-up combat battle. The only reason his high-quality jacket was tattered was because of the high-scale windjutsu. Yuto looked at his jacket with a frown. He spent his grandfather's good money on this jacket.
[Be sure to give me your power stones]