"I hope you can still say something like that later, hee hee hee~"
Kushimaru gazed coldly.
With the long blade slung diagonally across his back, his hands quickly formed seals, and a thick mist spread out!
"Scream! Wail! Despair as you wait for the moment death descends upon you! Watch as your intestines spill out, watch as your comrades fall one by one, watch as the blood dyes everything around you red—it's fun, isn't it?! You're looking forward to it too, aren't you?!"
His twisted and perverse voice, filled with excitement, sent shivers down the spines of the Kumo ninjas.
Toroi's eyes narrowed. Originally, he had wanted to stall for a little time, to take the chance to magnetize the ground beneath him. That way, once the battle started, he could use the magnetized surface to his advantage. But the enemy acted too decisively. They clearly knew his abilities well and gave him no such opportunity!
Whoosh—
A sharp whistling sound cut through the air from the right rear.
Jinpachi, wielding Shibuki, lunged forward with a cruel grin, swinging his sword at the last chunin in Kei's team!
Toroi flicked his hand, launching a series of rectangular shuriken behind him. These special shuriken, infused with his chakra, would magnetize the enemy or their weapons upon contact. Once magnetized, his upcoming magnet-based attacks would be drawn to them, making them nearly impossible to dodge!
Boom—!
A violent explosion erupted, sending the rectangular shuriken scattering.
From a storage scroll in Toroi's mouth, chakra-infused smoke erupted one after another as his hands moved in a blur.
Countless rectangular shuriken rained down like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, striking blindly into the thick mist.
Clang! Clang!
The faint clash of metal made his eyes gleam. He instantly conjured two massive rectangular shuriken, each as tall as half a person, and hurled them toward the enemy he had just marked with magnetism.
Splash—
Two water clones dissolved under the impact. Yet, more water clones silently reformed in the dense mist.
Tch—Kiri ninjas, all a bunch of sneaky bastards. Outnumbered as we are, they still use tactics like these... Kei muttered under his breath.
Maintaining a serious facade, he slowly began forming hand seals.
Slamming his palm onto the ground, lightning chakra spread out in a web-like pattern, rapidly expanding into the mist-covered surroundings.
Crackle—
"Hmph!" Several suppressed groans came from the surrounding mist. Numerous water clones dissolved under the Lightning Release attack.
Nigai, along with the remaining three chunin, immediately launched their jutsu in the direction of the pained cries. But the enemy moved just as swiftly. They countered with their own techniques before retreating back into the mist.
One by one, water clones shattered in the lightning, but not a single real enemy was hit—they had already hidden themselves again.
The next moment, two towering waterspouts surged in from both sides. From above, a massive chakra surge erupted, followed by several shark-shaped Water Release jutsu diving straight down toward them!
Faced with the Kiri ninjas' well-prepared ambush, the team had no choice but to dodge. Their formation, which had kept them together, was quickly broken apart.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A relentless barrage of attacks followed.
One after another, the Kiri ninjas pressed forward with attacks that left their opponents no room to breathe!
Kei feigned a desperate roll to the front, raising his right arm to block an enemy's kunai aimed at his neck.
Nigai and another chunin, dodging in the same direction, quickly formed seals back-to-back, unleashing Lightning Release to force back the two incoming enemies behind them.
The sound of crackling lightning hadn't even faded, when an overwhelming rain of water blades, water needles, shuriken, and kunai came at them from all directions!
Their vision obscured by the mist, the team could only scramble to evade the incoming attacks.
In just under a minute, all three of them had already sustained multiple wounds.
"Senpai, what do we do now?" At this moment, Nigai decisively abandoned independent thought and threw the question at Kei.
Perhaps it was because of the earlier instructions, he now had complete trust in this slightly weaker but highly experienced senior.
"Get ready. On my signal, we break through!" Kei shot Nigai a sideways glance.
Was this guy really a jonin? Did Kumo promote people based on anything other than raw strength?!
They weren't just sitting here getting beaten—they had been waiting for the enemy to reposition themselves.
Using Toroi's Magnet Release as a looming threat, they had forced the enemy's top combatants to shift, setting the stage for their escape.
"Understood!" Nigai's brain had completely shut down. Just like when he was a chunin, whatever the squad leader said was absolute.
Boom—
A deafening explosion roared from the direction Toroi had moved earlier.
The previously scattered rectangular shuriken, whether they had fallen into the sea or embedded into the ground, were now drawn together by Magnet Release, forming a spiraling storm of deadly shuriken. This immediately forced several Kiri ninjas who had been relentlessly attacking to retreat!
Even Kushimaru and Jinpachi, who didn't dare let their swords come into contact with these magnetized shuriken, had to back off a certain distance.
"Run!" Kei gave a low shout, forming hand seals and activating Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar.
A strong lightning glow burst from his body, piercing through the thick fog.
This illuminated the position of him and his team for Toroi, who was ready to break through.
The moment Kei spoke, Nigai's hands sparked with Lightning Strike, and he charged forward without hesitation.
Another chunin closely followed behind him.
Receiving the signal, Toroi immediately pushed his Magnetic Release to its limit and rushed in Kei's direction.
At the same time, Kushimaru and Jinpachi made their moves.
Kushimaru flicked his long sword, Nuibari, aiming directly at Kei, who was glowing like a light bulb!
Clang!
Kei raised his arm to block, stumbling as he barely managed to take the hit. Seeing this, Toroi kicked at Nuibari, attempting to magnetize the weapon.
But a sharp blade was already swinging toward him mid-air—he had no room to dodge!
When Toroi saw the shape of the blade clearly, his pupils shrank.
Shibuki!
That bastard Jinpachi—before he could launch an attack himself, the guy had thrown his blade at him first!
"Go!"
At the last moment, Kei grabbed Toroi's belt and forcefully flung him toward Nigai's direction!
Shibuki missed and struck the ground.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted.
Kei curled his body tightly, enduring the blast. As he was forced backward, he rolled to dodge, then immediately sprang up again.
He blocked a kunai strike aimed at his back, then twisted his body, dodging another silent Water Blade attack from behind.
The two Kumo chunin who had been following Toroi were just a little too slow. One of them had his temple pierced by a kunai—he died instantly. The other, though he narrowly dodged one attack, had his stomach slashed open by another Kiri ninja.
As he stumbled, his intestines spilled onto the ground.
The explosion had briefly cleared the fog around the Shibuki.
Seeing Kei in danger, Toroi wanted to rush back to help, but his comrade's urgent voice stopped him.
"Retreat now!"
Looking at his teammate's back as he formed hand seals to use Lightning Release: Spider Web to block the enemy's pursuit—
Toroi could feel his firm resolve.
With clenched teeth, he formed hand seals, unleashing another shuriken storm to stall the enemy before sprinting toward Nigai's breakout route.
Perfect! Perfect! I can finally die! As the fog thickened again, Kei's grin was so wide that it was harder to suppress than an AK's recoil.
After releasing another large-scale Lightning Release technique, he pretended to be exhausted. He stumbled around, dodging the Kiri ninja's attacks. His body inched closer and closer to Jinpachi, who had originally planned to pursue Toroi, but didn't hesitate when he saw an enemy delivering themselves to him.
Without thinking, he swung his blade in a sweeping arc.
Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique.
As Kei's eyes met Jinpachi's, the C-rank Genjutsu briefly confused his vision. At the same time, a storage scroll exploded in a cloud of chakra smoke.
The corpse of Osoi was hurled directly at Shibuki. And Kei himself vanished into the mist using Flying Thunder God Technique.
Boom!
A cloud of blood and body parts exploded!
Drenched in the blood mist, Jinpachi, a man known for his sadistic nature, grinned viciously.
He didn't even bother to look at the scattered pieces of the corpse.
Instead, he turned and, alongside Kushimaru, continued chasing after Toroi and the others.
---
[Significant alteration to a supporting character's fate.]
[Slight interference with the timeline detected.]
[Obtained:
- 1 trait extraction
- 1 gifting opportunity]
---
Using [Silent Walker], Kei completely hid his presence.
Merging into the seawater with Hydrification Technique, he clung onto a shipwreck marked with a Flying Thunder God mark, watching as the Kumo and Kiri ninjas moved further away.
Hearing the system prompt in his head, he blinked in confusion.
Whose fate did I change?
Toroi? Nigai?