Yoroi stood in the glittering shade of the trees, silent, yet alert. Moments passed before he turned to see a myriad of swiftly approaching shuriken. The cloud ninja sidestepped the projectiles before sensing an attack coming from his newly exposed rear.
Instinctively, the tattoos on his body flashed, erecting an armor of chakra around his body as he pivoted just in time for him to intercept two drill like masses with each palm. After only managing to push Yoroi back a few feet, the drills stopped their rotation to reveal his opponents, Kiba Inuzuka, and a clone Yoroi presumed to be his canine companion.
With his hands wrapped tight around both boys' wrists, Yoroi slammed his assailants into each other, and they crumbled to the ground. The clone in his left hand disappeared in a poof of smoke, revealing a large white dog. Yoroi looked at Akamaru with cold eyes before kicking him in the side. Akamaru let out a yelp as he was sent rolling into the shrubbery.
"Akamaru!" Kiba cried.
Maintaining his firm grip on Kiba, Yoroi launched a strong left fist directly for Kibas's head. Kiba narrowly evaded the punch then, using his free hand to prop himself, landed a kick to Yoroi's shielded face.
The cloud ninja did not react; however, He appeared bothered when his shield flickered before disappearing. At that moment, Akamaru appeared from the shadows, jaws wide open, prepared to sever the arm that held Kiba captive.
Not willing to risk his arm, Yoroi released Kiba and lept away from the attack. Before the reanimated ninja could reorient himself, the Inuzuka and his companion had retreated into shadows.
"Maybe, we picked the wrong one." Kiba half-joked. He and Akamaru positioned themselves behind a tree to prepare for their next move.
Akamaru let out whine.
"I know, but I wasn't going to fight a girl," Kiba responded.
Akamaru responded in groan this time.
"Does being dead make her not a woman?" Kiba chuckled to himself.
"That cloak of his is going to be a problem, but did you see how it disappeared after I kicked him?"
Akamaru huffed.
"I don't think that kick was enough to do that; otherwise, fang over fang would have done the trick when he blocked us. He also would have just put the cloak back up when you were about to bite him."
Akamaru released a few small, nearly inaudible barks.
"I was thinking the same thing, boy."
Kiba and his dog grew quiet and sniffed the air. Several seconds passed before they both quickly dashed away in separate directions, bearly evading a chakra cloaked Yoroi who came crashing into the ground, leaving a crater.
"Formation delta!" Kiba shouted to Akamaru, who had already disappeared from Yoroi's sight.
Kiba crouched on all fours gathering chakra in his arms and legs before kicking off into a high-speed drill.
Yoroi prepared for Kiba to make an impact, but the Inzuka stopped his assault just short of Yoroi's striking range, coming to a sliding stop then jumping in the air instead.
In that same instance, a separate drill crashed into Yoroi's back. Yoroi planted a foot in the ground, resisting the force of Akamaru's attack as his foot dug into the ground.
"My turn!" Kiba exclaimed, hanging from a tree branch above Yoroi.
"Fang over fang!" He shouted, and he launched himself from the branch. Using gravity and height to increase his power, Kiba descended onto the head of an unsuspecting Yoroi, causing the earth to crack under his feet and dirt to fly into the air.
The Inuzuka's both jumped out of the dust cloud and watched. As the debris settled, Yoroi proved to be unscathed minus a few minor cracks in his shield. Once again, after seconds passed, his armor faded away.
"Seems like we were right. His shield only lasts for about 45 seconds before it deactivates." Kiba said to Akamaru, who barked in response.
"Let's make this count, boy!" Kiba exclaimed.
With that, both Kiba and Akamaru became a blur as they dashed toward Yoroi with incredible speed leaving claw marks in the ground as they moved.
A cloakless Yoroi watched as the duo appeared on either side of him. Kiba, with his claws, prepared to rip into Yoroi and Akamaru, who positioned himself to bite at his jugular.
Yoroi moved at speeds greater than Kiba's when he uppercut Akamaru, forcing his mouth shut. He grasped Akamaru's neck and swung him into Kiba seconds before the leaf ninja could land his attack. The duo rolled along the forest floor before sliding to a stop.
"He's on par with Lee in terms of taijutsu," Kiba complained.
Before he could strategize, Yoroi was standing over him, poised to drop his heel on Kiba's head. Kiba rolled, narrowly dodging the kick, then lunged at the cloud ninja with Akamaru at his side. The three engaged in an advanced taijutsu exchange, but it was clear that Yoroi was in a league of his own. Although the Inuzuka man-beast taijutsu was at its best when battling single opponents, Yoroi's dodges were swift and graceful, but his hits were calculated and firm. Despite the Inuzuka ability to disorient and overwhelm opponents, Yoroi seemed to be more focused and alert than ever.
In the midst of their skirmish, Yoroi's cloak suddenly reappeared.
"Retreat!" Kiba shouted, but it was too late. Yoroi had closed in on Akamaru and was mid punch when Kiba threw himself between the two.
Yoroi's punch hooked around Kiba's arms and landed square in his chest. Kiba let out a loud croak before he was flung several meters back into a tree. Akamaru barked and ran to his dazed partner, licking his cheek until he was alert.
"Hey, boy." Kiba wheezed. He could immediately feel the pain of cracked ribs.
"Taijutsu isn't going to work," Kiba muttered, patting Akamaru on the head as he stumbled onto his feet, using the tree as support.
Akamaru barked in understanding just as Yoroi approached.
Akamaru growled.
"You fought well leaf ninja," Yoroi said, readying a cloaked fist.
"Were not done yet." Kiba panted. "Now boy, Dynamic marking!"
Akamaru jumped in the air, passing over Yoroi in a spinning motion spreading urine around the battlefield and their annoyed opponent.
"Pitiful," Yoroi huffed.
Kiba smirked then performed several hand signs.
At that moment, Kiba thought back to his solo training with Kurenai two years ago.
"You know Kiba, a lot of times when shinobi have such a good grasp of spatial awareness they usually perform well with genjutsu," Kurenai said after taking a sip of tea. They had just finished a tracking drill and in new territory at the border of the land of fire.
"Genju.." Kiba laughed.
"I'm serious, Kiba, don't get me wrong, I don't think you have the aptitude to be a genjutsu master, but would it hurt to have one under your belt? For cases of emergency, at least."
"Don't you need insane chakra control for that tho?" Kiba protested. "I'm no Naruto sure, but I'm also no Sakura or Hyuga either."
"If you have something infused with chakra to stimulate the senses..." Kurenai took another sip of her tea and raised a brow.
"I can bypass the need for finite chakra control..." Kiba said to himself, then looked at Akamaru, who laid curled at Kurenai's feet.
"Watch this Kurenai sensei, Demonic Illusion: Hell hound claiming."
Suddenly, portions of the ground Yoroi stood on began to form dog-like features before lunging at the cloud ninja. He grunted as they bit through his chakra and into his flesh. Once several of the dogs had their jaws clenched into his body, they all began to pull him into the earth. Yoroi let out a final scream before being completely submerged beneath the ground.
Kiba looked satisfied at his petrified victim before falling backward. Akamaru made it just in time to act as a cushion for Kiba's head.
"Thanks, boy," Kiba muttered, his vision fading. Akamaru whined.
Kiba's world turned black for a moment, suddenly he became aware of two familiar silhouettes.
"Hang on, Kiba-Kun, we are going to get you some help." One of the voices said.
Kiba could feel himself being lifted ontop of Akamaru's back.
"I was able to send a message to the medical division. They will likely meet us halfway." Another voice said calmly.
Slowly Kiba's vision faded to black, and he completely lost consciousness.
Kiba jumped up with a start but fell back down onto a pillow after a debilitating pain shot through his chest.
"Lay down, idiot, we just got you stitched up!" Sakura Haruno said turning from some charts she was reading.
Kiba took time to look around and realized he was inside one of the medical tents.
"I survived?" Kiba asked, touching the bandages over his chest. "Where is Akamaru.. and Hinata and Shino!" He shouted frantically.
"Relax, everyone is here," Sakura said. As if on cue, Akamaru burst through the tent's flaps, followed by Hinata and Shino.
"We did it, Kiba." Hinata chirped.
"Wait. What?" Kiba asked.
"Anko and Yamato sensei are in the next tent being treated," Hinata responded.
"Lord Raikage sent out a message while you were in surgery. White Zetsu's production has stopped, and the second division moved to other locations and helped other companies." Shino said.
"Also, Naruto-Kun has made it on the battlefield," Hinata said.
"No way, we have to help him," Kiba responded.
"You need to wait a few hours, war hero," Sakura interjected. "Medical ninjutsu is amazing, but you were pretty beat up. Let the swelling go down, and well see about discharging you."
"War hero," Kiba reflected. "I'm a war hero!" He jumped on top of his bed and threw his hands in the air triumphantly.
"You all are," Sakura said, folding her arms. "But if you don't lay down, you won't live long enough to reap the benefits!" Sakura shouted, so loud that medics outside the tent looked concerned.
Hinata giggled as she assisted Kiba with laying back down. "Kurenai sensei is going to be proud." She said to her teammates.