Chapter 72: First Real Battle

While Renjiro cleared up the rear, Fujin, Hoka, and Mieko made a move on the injured ninjas.

Of the 15 ninjas from the first wave, only 6 were alive, with just 1 Chunin being in a state to fight. They were terrified by their wounds and were running towards the forest.

And of the 10 ninjas from the 2nd wave, only 2 had jumped high up in the air, and hence were on top of the ruined forest. The remaining 8 ninjas, though unharmed, were buried under a ruined forest.

Hoka activated his Byakugan and said, "Those 8 ninjas are trapped, they'll need some time to get out. Let's attack."

In an instant, all 3 flickered toward the retreating ninjas. Mieko flickered behind the Chunin who could still fight and tried stabbing him with a kunai. However, he turned around and defended himself in time.

He shouted aggressively, "I may be injured, but don't you brats look down on me!" However, his thoughts were the exact opposite, 'Just one opportunity! I'll regroup with others and be safe.'

Unfortunately for him, while shouting, he looked into Mieko's eyes. Mieko didn't miss the chance and cast Genjutsu on him.

Hoka engaged the blinded Chunin. That chunin had lost his sight, and his right leg was badly cut. However, even in that state, he still aggressively attacked Hoka with every weapon he had. This fightback was a testimony to his experience and desperation.

Hoka, however, stayed calm and took his stance. He said, "You are in range." And attacked, 'Eight Trigrams - Sixteen palms'.



All of Hoka's attacks hit on point, with the last one hitting his opponent's chest and stopping his heart. That chunin dropped dead.

Unlike Mieko and Hoka, Fujin went for the weakest ones first. He flickered behind the 2 blinded genins and killed them both with one strike of his sword. He quickly flickered to the remaining 2 genins one by one and killed them as well. Neither of the 4 could even block one attack from Fujin. Just one of those 4 managed to raise his kunai to block Fujin's sword, but his kunai got cut into two, just like his body.

Of the 2 Ninjas who were above the debris, 1 was Chunin, while the other was genin. They were still fearful of that sword slash that wrecked the forest as well as of the Rock Avalanche. So they didn't react when the three kids they were looking at flickered.

When they noticed, the Chunin quickly moved to aid his comrades. But even before he took a couple of steps, Fujin had killed 2 of them. That halted his steps. In the next few seconds, he saw Fujin kill 2 more and look straight at him.

He quickly retreated behind thinking, 'What a bunch of crazy kids! Are they even kids? Did Konoha send their feared Anbu under disguise?' He looked down at the debris and screamed internally, 'Where are the rest? Get out quickly!' The genin also retreated.

Fujin stayed back after killing his opponents. Around half a minute later, Hoka killed his opponent. And soon after, Mieko's opponent stabbed his own throat.

Fujin flickered next to Mieko right after she was free and said, "Let's do it." She nodded and made a few hand signs.

'Fire-Wind Dragon Jutsu'

Both Fujin and Mieko could see the chakra of the ninjas making their way to get out of the debris. A 50 meter huge dragon, mostly made of extremely hot air and having 4 claws and many teeth made of fire.



Seeing that dragon, those 2 began running even faster toward the 3rd wave.

The Dragon moved rapidly and got above the debris. It then dived down right where 6 ninjas were making their way up. They were just about to remove the last log blocking their way when the Dragon dived down right at them.

Fortunately for them, they had one novice sensor who screamed, "CAST DEFENSIVE WATER JUTSU ABOVE US! HURRY!"

Fortunately, the group had a Chunin whose nature affinity was Water. He quickly made hand signs, 'Water Shield Jutsu'.

A water barrier appeared above him. It curved like the surface of a sphere and had a thickness of 6 inches, and was growing thicker as he poured more chakra into it.

Soon, 8 ninjas who were buried under the forest made their way out. They were shocked to see that the ambush from the hill seemed to have disappeared. Instead, they could see a Mud river and a few huge rocks floating in them.

The mud river killed the momentum of the Avalanche and the Rocks slowly slid down the hill through the river.

At that time, the 3rd wave of bandits emerged from the forest. However, they were blocked by 4 meters of ruined forest. The bandits couldn't move forward, but the ninja jumped over the ruined forest and grouped with the 10 ninjas, who had stopped over the ruined forest. From here, they could see all the blood and dead bandits and ninja on the plains.

Wagarashi Tomio, was shocked by this sight, 'What happened here?' He went towards the leader of the 2nd wave and asked him, "What happened? And where is Norio?" He was about to speak when he noticed one of the genins raise his sword, and swung it.

He was at the forefront of the 2nd wave, and he had noticed Fujin swing his sword earlier. He immediately shouted, "TAKE COVER!"

Wagarashi Tomio was surprised and looked at Fujin. He noticed a wave approaching them, and he noticed all ninjas from the 1st and 2nd wave scurry around.

Of the 6 alive ninjas from the first wave, only 1 was relatively uninjured. He quickly dug a hole and went underground.

The remaining 2 one-eyed ninjas ran backward in fear. While the 3 who were blinded had already lost consciousness.

The sword slash ended up killing the 3 blinded ninjas as well as the 2 ninjas who ran away.

The remaining 20 ninjas who were in the ruined forest gathered together. The leader of the 2nd wave shouted at Tomio, "Quickly use Earth wall jutsu! Make it as big and thick as you can!"

Tomio was displeased, 'Why is he shouting at me and commanding me?' However, he could sense the fear in his shout and quickly used Earth Wall jutsu. All the 20 ninjas took cover behind it.

While they were taking cover, Hoka used Byakugan and looked for the 2 ninjas who went underground. He quickly made hand signs, 'Stone spear jutsu' and ambushed them underground. Neither could react and were stabbed to death.

Renjiro focused on the 20 ninjas hiding behind the wall. He smirked and punched the ground in front of him. At the same time, Fujin swung his sword once again. The punch released Earth Release : Ground Shockwave jutsu. It traveled faster than Fujin's slash and hit the earth wall just a few seconds before Fujin's first slash reached it. It caused the erected Earth wall to collapse!

The ninjas, who finally had a sense of security, were dumbfounded.

2 Ninjas from the 2nd wave immediately began creating hand signs to go underground.

The others from the 2nd wave quickly tried climbing on the fallen trees behind them and jumping high up. Unfortunately 2, in panic, stepped on very weak branches and lost their footing. The ones from the 3rd wave didn't understand the urgency and were slow to react. Only Tomio, sensing their panic, jumped back and quickly created a Rock shield as he didn't have enough time to create an Earth Wall. 3 ninjas from the 3rd wave hid behind Tomio.

Fujin's slash reached them. It first hit the ninja who was trying to go underground but couldn't complete his hand signs. Then it hit 3 ninjas from the 3rd wave who didn't take it seriously. 1 ninja was cut into 2. While the other 2 were hit by the accompanying winds which left deep cuts all over them.

The winds then hit the two who had lost their footing, causing them to bleed all over. And next, it hit the remaining 4 ninjas from the 3rd wave, leaving them with similar, but slightly less severe injuries.

Right when the ones who had jumped high up were about to fall, the 2nd slash arrived. This ended up killing or maiming everyone other than the 4 who were hiding behind multiple Rock shields built by Wagarashi Tomio and the one who was hiding underground.

Seeing the result, Fujin said, "I don't think that the remaining 5 will die from this attack."

Mieko replied, "That's good. I want to fight" and flickered towards them. Hoka followed her.

Renjiro said, "Fujin, look after the merchants." And he flickered behind those 2.

A/N - Stopped it here... I initially didn't have Renjiro create a clone in the , that's why no mention was there in this initial draft...]