CHAPTER THREE

That loud crack was certainly worrying seeing that the second after Ishikawa howled in pain, a red line of blood where something had hit him ran across his nose. In the corner of my eye, I saw the flicker of motion coming towards me. Raising my kunai to block the attack, I was met with the overwhelming force of someone doubles my size.

Our weapons were locked in a contest of strength. It was very clear who was winning as I stood on one knee shaking from the pressure put on me while he looked as if this was just a normal Monday afternoon. A few things genuinely made me thankful Watanabe pelting the older boy with earth bullets was one of them.

Those few seconds where he was stunned were all we need to send him back to the rest of the group, whose eyes now showed the faintest hint of caution. They watched their comrade be soundly dealt with, now they watched Watanabe believing him to be the main threat. To some extent that was true but coming at the three of us with that mindset would mean that I and Ishikawa would have a field day.

When three of them charged at Watanabe moving right past us my thoughts were confirmed. their advance was quickly halted by the shuriken that landed right before their feet. The three continued their advance but when I went to stop them with another wave of shuriken, I was stopped by two of them a male and a female Ishikawa was preoccupied with one but the first guy was slowly getting up and moving towards him.

Forced to jump away from a punch that broke the ground beneath me before I could land jagged rocks exploded from the ground. A quick kawarimi got to be away from them. The man moved towards me quickly putting me on the defensive in the taijutsu bout. His strikes were erratic and unpredictable, yet they left no opening for attack. Without a second thought, a threw a kunai at his throat at point-blank range thinking there was no way for him to dodge it.

When he caught it centimetres away from his eye and began to use it against me, I was forced to draw another and parry his strikes. It seemed he was not as well versed in this type of combat so trying to seize the advantage, I took more risks I jumped up eying Watanabe and Ishikawa they nodded accepting the plan leaving a blatant weakness in the defence of the flag. Gullibly he took it running towards it as expected the girl blocked my path to stop him but a Headhunter technique from Watanabe and then a kick to the head from Ishikawa rendered him unconscious which was one down. Of course, only forty-five seconds had passed.

It was ample time for him to wake up and re-enter the fight. Now the pressure was on me I was only fighting one adversary. She looked more controlled by the man. Even faster than I could register she kicked me, and her foot found its place on my face. She followed it up by sweeping, and now she stood over me with a kunai gripped in her hand. In an instant, she was brought down.

I rolled out of the way dodging several more stabs before I could get back on my feet and recover. She, a female, was smaller than me I could probably just knee my distance with my longer arms to avoid attacks. The goal was not to win but to survive. That mindset made the task much easier.

When she charged at me It was not long until once again her speed overwhelmed me this time hands came from under the ground prohibiting my escape when all seemed lost Ishikawa sped through throwing the girl away with a swift punch allowing me to kawarimi away again. That brief intervention had decided that the speediest member of our team would deal with the other fast student. That left me with his now hostile.

Carefully I watched him he couldn't have been any older than one year my senior. There was a sliver of pity in his eyes he probably was in our position a year ago the tournament still fresh in his mind. I hoped that his sympathy would hinder him, but after making the wrong call to block a punch from him, his slender form deceiving me realised this fight would hurt me tomorrow.

Still, I stood my ground and put up a front hiding the pain that was there. When the second punch came did the smart thing and dodged but his advance was halted by Kimura.

He looked at us and spoke "congratulations you lasted four minutes and thirty-four seconds. Much better than last year ", he gave us a slow, patronizing clap.

I looked round to see that the two that Watanabe was facing had gotten past him and taken the flag. We all moved towards Kimura the elderly man scratched his chin.

"The first-timers can stay the rest of you leave but Aikawa stays back". At the announcement, the other students clear out leaving the first-timers and the boy whom I faced until the flag was taken. I assumed he was Aikawa "You did well, but you took unnecessary risks. "

He gave Aikawa a sly look "I'm sure That Aikawa would be happy to tell you all about the risks he took another time". He let out a slow hollow chuckle "after all he is the only surviving first-timer from his batch".

That statement shocked the three of us, of course, the exams were dangerous but officially killing was strictly prohibited. It seemed that the rules could be bent much more than I originally thought. The fact was that going off last year's deaths was possible, but where Kimura might have expected to see expressions of dread or unease there was only a shinobi's conviction.

The rest of the conversation with Kimura involved advice on training before we were dismissed. I went to do my check-up on Ryota sensei's family and so far it was much of the same Setsuko was still the loving mother hen and Yuki was still standoffish. Any semblance of normality vanished when thuds on the door echoed in a familiar pattern.

It meant Ryota had returned and months early at that. Setsuko rushed to the door and hurriedly opened it. Unfortunately, the only thing holding up Ryota's now ghostly frame was suddenly taken from him. He plummeted to the floor. I moved quickly to catch him before he found his face plastered on the floor.

I dragged his large body to the living room where we laid him down flat on his back. His appearance was revolting. His elbow was hyper-extended, and his entire body was a ghostly shade of white. His face was shallow and gaunt, and his eyes looked like he'd all he could do was lie there, helplessly. Some semblance of life was regained as his eyes danced on the figure of each of the people in the room. Very carefully his wife, ever the embodiment of a homemaker, put a glass of water on his very dry lips.

The room was silent, only the hollow, shaky breaths of Ryota echoed through the room. All eyes were trained on him relief would flash over us when his crestfallen chest would rise again, but every time it fell the thought that it would not rise again would fester its way back into our minds. Very slowly his breath became steady. Now that he seemed to be off of death's doorstep, I asked the question on everyone's minds.

"What happened," I asked quietly almost as if I didn't want him to answer. It looked like he had elected to stay silent for a moment, but not long after I had asked, he spoke.

"That entire mission was set up" his voice was weak and raspy a strong contrast from the strong yet mellow voice we knew. "Konoha knew we were there the second we stepped foot on their border"

The Mission

Very rarely was Ryota genuinely surprised? This was one of those very rare moments. On a routine scouting mission, he saw four members of an organization he knew quite well.

Of course, you wouldn't normally see them all the way out here, the black tattoo worn on their shoulders signified them as the Anbu of Konoha an elite force of ninjas but regular Anbu wouldn't be surprising but when Team Ro already here waiting around in some seemingly insignificant area, They were usually in other nations but them being back an on a border patrol mission was worrying.

This was now serious business and had to be handled with caution. He eyed his partner, Daichi, to make sure he understood the importance of the situation perched on the branch of a tree he carefully watched as they began to write symbols on the ground.

To most, it seems like they were mad but to him, this was quite simple. It was a sealing array he'd have to wait and see what it was for and why it was being done so close to normal civilisation.

When it came to things like this, he was an expert in Iwa not many people still practice arrays like this to a high enough level for it to be useful. The leaf Anbu certainly did whatever they were doing it was insanely complicated. It took him around an hour to do anything worthwhile and if it was easy, they could just place it down if they were good enough

The array was massive something was not right especially when they suddenly went to place something on top of the array. Something as reckless as that would cause a massive explosion. That was their goal to create an explosion with little evidence other than a failed Array and an explosion array would have been too obvious, but this would be written off as somebody making a mistake.

Ryota quickly leapt down with the intent of stopping the explosion Daichi followed but quickly they saw us. In a flash they were upon them Daichi went down first a slash to his chest silenced him.

Not flinching Andrew continued to the array and stopped it before it was too late before he could relax the four surrounded him. Any attempt at fighting was futile so he went running. This was his signature move he was famed as an escape artist and a thief. "Chose your battles" was another one of his sayings

It was obviously not having something exclusive to him as an Anbu was hot on his tail. The battle had chosen him. Very quickly he caught up to him and started choking him against a tree before he felt a stabbing pain in his side and blacked out.

The sounds of murmuring were what awakened Ryota. Looking around he saw his dead teammate, Daichi, whose head was slightly visible from what he was placed into. He lay still listening to the conversation of his captors. The audible bits of the conversation mentioned "A great tip" and "an excellent spy".

His mind raced to conclusions; The village had been infiltrated to a level that highly secretive A-rank missions were known by Konoha. This would mark the end of our village if the threat wasn't uprooted. The night was fast approaching, and the Anbu lazily decided to settle down right where they were.

The escape artist chuckled inwardly at their playing right into his hand. It had been long enough, and he'd wriggled himself out of his restraints, but the chakra seal remained. His initial escape would have to be without chakra.

The opportunist grinned as one of the ninjas walked by. Ryota set his foot ablaze. His cries of agony drew the attention of his teammates long enough for Ryota to get enough distance between them as he went them to take the pesky seal off him the team leader grabbed his wrist. Ryota placed a kick into his chest to get some distance.

He eased into a fighting stance and so did his opponent now flank on both sides with two of his subordinates. He might have been able to take on one without chakra but now facing five he did something he'd regret later. He forcefully broke the restraints on his chakra with a raw burst of chakra. Ignoring the pain, he turned the ground they stood on into a mudslide.

On the mud, the moves of the Anbu became sloppy and unrefined, but Ryota looked well-practised. The mud reached the knees of everyone. Ryota easily glided onto the mud, but the seemingly experienced shinobi could not walk on it of course every time they would pour chakra into their feet it would be absorbed into the mud making it more viscous. In the shinobi world, adaptability was the game.

The Leader called out to his teammates, "Stop trying to walk. Your chakra is only thickening the mud." his mask hid what Ryota assumed was a grimace, "We'll have to fight him as is".

Ryota quickly danced around the shinobi. All his attacks were aimed at the weak links but any attempt at harming them was met with a masterful display of defence from the leader. It was clear the leader would have to be the first to fall. The lone Iwa shinobi focused the pressure on the leader waiting for him to slip up.

So far the shinobi defended well with him focused on Ryota clones and could dispatch his teammates. Seeing his teammates in a terrible situation he attempted a last-ditch effort to turn the tide of the battle by stabbing his palm now engulfed in lightning into the mud. His plan succeeded; however, it was too little too late.

When the dust cleared only he and two others of the original five were alive. The trio stared each other down waiting for someone to break the tension. Nerves got the better of the youngest of the Anbu remaining. He roared and then charged quickly yet recklessly at Ryota and in turn, Ryota silenced him with a quick slice to the throat

Two-on-one was much better than the original five on one and Ryota looked tentatively at the two remaining as though asking if they still wanted to continue it was a blatant test of their resolve, where Ryota might have expected to see the fear of unease might have expected to see expressions of dread or unease there was only a shinobi's conviction.

The three exhausted shinobi dared to play again. Ryota normally would just leave the battle, relying on his greater speed to leave his two masked assailants in the dust but any attempt at fleeing was met with one of the shinobi blocking his path and forcing him back. It was almost midnight, and the next patrol would surely be alerted to the battle.

He couldn't wait for an opening so he'd have to create one. The two Anbu simply waited for Ryota's assault they knew that once reinforcements came every single shinobi in a fifteen-mile radius would want a piece of an Iwa scout.

In an almost excessive robotic fashion, Ryota made an attempt at fleeing. The two shinobi judge it to be faint and hesitated for just a second, but in that time Ryota had gotten past them and was on his way to Iwa. He doubted the two of them would stupid enough to follow him across the border into Iwa.

With the two ninjas hot in pursuit the rush of excitement was clear in Ryota. Having grown up in a time of war the peace of the shinobi world while comfortable was monotonous. Just when it seemed the once-young shinobi was heading into the early stages of retirement he got an A-rank mission. They were usually given to the elite or upcoming jounin he was neither. He was much too old to be an upcoming jounin and politics kept him from ever being recognized as one of the elites of the village. So he faded into irrelevance, settled down and started a family. It felt good to be up to the actual shinobi business again.

He let out a sigh of relaxation when he crossed the border his pursuers now head back to where they came from and he could head home.

After the detailed retelling of events from Ryota, he was met with a stern Setsuko angry about his "foolishness" and "reckless behaviour". During the story, Ishikawa popped into the house.

According to Setsuko, Ryota was suffering from a harsh case of chakra exhaustion He'd used a chakra-intensive jutsu for a prolonged period of time and he'd forced his chakra through chakra seals anyone other than an experience jounin would be dead. Now he'd be suffering from the consequences for about a week.

In a week's time, he has to go to the capital and brief the tsuchikage on how he managed to get the heir of a major clan killed in a scouting mission. It didn't help that he'd come back blaming some spy for the failure of the mission. To the rest of Iwa, it looked like that peace had dulled a once great shinobi and he lost them a prosing young shinobi. Now faced with embarrassment he claimed that a spy leaked information on the mission.

It didn't help that Ryota had enemies in the capital who'd love to have him hung. This was the perfect chance no doubt the Ishihasha, from which Daichi was born would be on their side. The cards were not stacked in Ryota's favour. Everyone in the room understood what this mission meant.

I left their house and headed to a training ground to hopefully blow off some steam. The village I thought highly of for so long would be the death of someone I viewed as a father. There were many questions on my mind but the answers evaded me.

The rhythmic thuds permeated through the training ground at two in the morning, I slashed, punched, and kicked the wooden post as I had done for the past week. Only this time I wasn't there to train his skills which were evident in the state of my hand heavily bruised and bandaged after hours of damage to them the log was stained red with my blood

I moved towards the water to practice his chakra control, just like before I could stand on the water but moving was still a difficult thing to do. From a young age, Ryota had it drilled into Me and Ishikawa that combat-ready meant effortlessness. By the sweat on my furrowed brow and my hesitancy to take the next step, it was quite clear it was quite an effort. Finally steeling myself I planted his foot in front of the other.

The quick yell and splash left me annoyed and soaked. A grin was planted on my face as my head popped the water. Flinging myself on the bank he stood up and then repeated this prosses for the next 2 hours. With little hope for any more progress and 6 o'clock fast approaching I decided to clean up and get something to eat before it was time to go to the academy.

However, as soon as the distraction of training left him his mind wandered back to Ryota a grimace plastered itself on my face as I clenched my fist at my uselessness. Ryota a great shinobi was just being thrown away by the village. What about the rest of us did matter to Iwa

Gathering his kunai and shuriken he slowly jogged into town. The cleaning up part was neglected in favour of eating. As much as he smelled like shit, he'd probably eat that same shit if you put it in front of him.

At 6 o'clock there was little choice in what he would eat. So, he went into the first food stall he found open and quickly scarfed down some rice and miso soup before hightailing it to the academy.

Upon entering he was tormented by the current topic of everyone's conversations. News of Ryota's failure had spread fast and as a result, every kid had an opinion on what had happened or rather spewed out their parent's belief. A few of the students even dared to make fun of how they'd hang him. Their mocking stopped after a particularly imposing glare from me.

After one set of crude jokes, I considered starting a fight. I didn't as the angry form of Yuki decided to dash madly into one of the boys, however, my excitement was short-lived as the two second years very easily dispatched the lone first year.

I regrettably did not get involved as there were more pressing matters and a little academy hazing never did anyone harm. In his first year, his adversaries told him it built character.

He chuckled as he made his way to Kimura's training sessions