It was six on four in this situation and yet the enemy refused to back down. That meant that either this was an all or nothing effort for the alliance or it was the final target before the entire alliance passed this exam. In the first case Mana would've wanted to know what exactly caused such a desperate approach to hunting for targets, in the second – she could've split the alliance in half by determining which team already had all the targets and which was one short.
The enemy didn't let Mana think, try and pick up the required clues to piece it all together and make something of it all. The towering genin with the Iwagakure headband called Steinck rushed forward, separately from the rest of his alliance and it didn't seem like any of the four hurried after him to support the brawler. Now that Mana looked at him from the ground up, she realized how absolutely terrifying the Iwagakure genin was. He was not simply tall, he was more than twice Mana's size and almost half of his frame taller than any normal ninja his age.
Steinck ran in a mad dash after Kiyomi, it was a smart strategy – she was a Yamanaka who was capable of massive battlefield disruption with her hidden clan techniques. The fact that the Iwagakure ninja could even identify a Yamanaka to prioritize her in the first place was impressive, Yamanaka weren't too common, if at all prominent in Iwagakure. It was something one would've read about or heard from hearsay.
The worst part was that Steinck was deceitfully agile. His muscles moved in all the right ways, his limbs looked elastic and fit as those of a ninja in their physical prime. Had Kiyomi not been above most genin in skill, even if her skillset wasn't quite focused on martial arts, she'd have been absolutely devastated. Luckily enough she managed to lean and vault aside from the standing push kick into a diagonal stomp and knee strike combination. After Steinck began cornering the blonde with his ceaseless taijutsu combinations Quill-B, one of Junipu-R's teammates came in to back Kiyomi up.
Quill-B came in to block Steinck's combinations with his blades that were positioned at the backs of his arms up to the elbows, similarly to how Hisako used to wield them and strike with those blades using elbow strike motions. Something odd happened, Steinck jumped up caught in an unexpected sensation and dashed back as the alliance prepared to back him up. Quill charged in regardless. Kiyomi stood there and observed the Kumogakure's swordsman's motions, she wasn't familiar with his fighting style, she couldn't fight together with him, just watch him and wait for familiar strings she could join in on.
Quill-B's blades stroke and slashed wildly, the young man spun like a spinning toy on his feet, his knees and his arms. There were buzzing blades everywhere. Mana was barely able to even see anything more clearly than just a silver whizzing flashes and blurs. Just what on Earth was this fighting style? Had Kiyomi tried joining in on Quill-B's attack in attempt to prevent Steinck regrouping she'd have been torn to shreds herself. Glowing in crimson streaks Steinck backed up. The bright red goop dripped from his wounds reminding how real and intense those attacks were.
"Those blades are high quality. So much chakra weaved into the alloy, not much imbuement or augmentation is needed…" Meiko noted. "I don't know how to complement his style…" she uttered looking at Mana questioningly.
The equestrian amphibian charged at Quill-B with a wild stomping barrage raising dirt and dust off the ground. Wherever the amphibian stamped the ground holes and devastation followed, the ground shook in the wake of its rampage. The other swordsman named Hafred charged in with his pitch black obsidian blade slashing at Quill-B, who was on the defensive now.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Wonder!" Inaba yelled out as a lightning bolt fired off from his hands bashed right into Hafred's right jaw sending him rolling aside. The lightning chakra enveloped the swordsman's entire body and continued to send shocks. Judging from the intensity of the ninjutsu and the sound it raised it didn't look like it dealt that much damage, regardless, Hafted remained down on the ground.
"Transportation Seal!" Junipu-R chanted as Inaba's response to enemy alliance's pressure allowed her to weave a technique of her own. Mana was so invested into observing the battlefield and its conditions and making mental observations about the things she had noticed that she completely forgot to analyze her potential opponent's strengths and weaknesses. She didn't see how many hand seals Junipu used in her sealing technique and how proficient she was at weaving them.
Large and intensely bright circular sealing glyph discuses made of solid chakra constructs materialized around Junipu-R's hands. The girl slung one of those discs onward meanwhile she gently laid down on her knee and placed the other one on the ground, as it was placed the sealing glyph stayed on the ground whereas the other one stopped at less than eight meters from where it was launched from.
"Multi-Kunai Jutsu!" Quill-B shouted out as he threw a handful of knives at the first transportation seal on the ground. In mid-air those kunai poofed in a cloud of smoke and multiplied several times over before getting absorbed and disappearing into the first seal and exiting from the other one in the air. The summoner Corot braced herself as the rain of knives enveloped her. After the initial shock of several knives grazing her, the aquatic equestrian shielded her with its large body taking all of the damage for itself and disappearing.
Meiko launched herself at the opened up and vulnerable body of Corot, the burning sword wielder Hafred interrupted her madly fast swipes that'd have quickly opened the girl's throat and gut in mid-swing. The previously stunned swordsman had managed to pick himself up, even if weak crackles of lightning still lit up and stunned him painfully, slowing him down for a brief moment or two. For a moment Meiko carefully backed up from the much longer reaching weapon, carefully using her inferior and shorter ninja tools to deflect dangerous swings and lean to safety. The two danced a very intimate dance of blades as Meiko took the role of a wary mountain cat. Attacking with relentless and lightning fast swipes of her short kunai blades before backing up as the larger and longer reaching dancer responded.
A streak of flames separated from Hafred's sword decimating Meiko's kunai blades completely. The steel just crumbled into dust right in the blacksmith's hands like the heat and concentration of the sword's flames was so intense that the massively inferior tools skipped the heating and melting stages entirely and just went straight on to being reduced to dust completely. Meiko's banged up chest plate fell apart finally folding under the immense heat and pushing force of the scorching blast of fire coming out of Hafred's blade and the red streak on the redhead's chest was hit with so much blaze that it got cauterized immediately. Meiko just coughed up in pain and shock of how powerful the swing and its aftereffects were.
Then in an instant the blacksmith dashed in with a crushing dropkick out of completely nowhere right at Hafred's own sword that bounced back from the crushing force and slammed into the young man's armor. It didn't look like she had successfully forced the obsidian sword to pierce Hafred's vital or important blood vessels in his shoulder area as the cut into his primitive armor was too shallow. Regardless of that – a branching streak of red shattered off like cracks of broken glass down the young man's shoulder.
"What an impressive comeback…" Quill-B noted in surprise. "I didn't expect her to snap back like that, evidently, neither did the opponent. Even if she wields no weapon, she used the opponent's own sword and his lowered guard!"
"We're both marked now…" Meiko grinned as if her own chest injury didn't bother her at all. It appeared that within fraction of a millisecond that it took for her to switch between injured and dazed off Meiko into murderous warrior Meiko she completely forgot about the hellish pain of the wound on her chest.
The Iwagakure youth who had stayed behind the alliance's fight weaved a pair of hand seals. The boy breathed in deeply. Mana's eyes caught his attack immediately, such a foolish manner of attack. Everyone was on their guard and ready to avoid it. Was this boy, this foolish or was this just a first string in a longer and more lethal combination?
"Water Style: Water Assault!" the young man gurgled out before spouting a large mass of water from his mouth rushing at Mana who had remained stationary for so long. He must've thought her to be a medical ninja who would only involve herself once her teammates got hurt. With a graceful and calculated back step Mana leaped back and behind a smaller tree – a sufficient enough barrier to stop any damage that such a low ranking ninjutsu technique would've caused.
"You're being reckless with your techniques, Erblau!" Hafred angrily grunted at his alliance mate who didn't appear to listen to him, just continue to weave further hand seals.
"Mystical Palm: Vapor Variant!" the Iwagakure genin, previously referred to as Erblau, continued to chant out as the small puddle of water created by his low ranking lackluster jutsu evaporated in thin air, indigo colored vapor circulated around Hafred's armor before disappearing in the crack of his armor completely as the blood stopped leaking from inside the cracked plate.
"A medical ninja…" Mana realized to her frustration. Someone of the boy's low ranking couldn't have been too efficient with healing ninjutsu but either way, it'd make her quest of defeating and splitting this alliance more difficult.
"For someone invested into scattering this alliance you're not very active, waitress-girl." Junipu-R noted curiously looking back at Mana.
"They actually stand a chance of winning this…" Mana uttered it to herself before angrily correcting the ebony Kumogakure girl on her exact profession and the nature of her odd attire.
"So you've noticed too?" Quill-B smiled. "Konoha ninja are quite impressive, I'd expect nothing less from a half-tan."
"Again with the skin thing, Quill?" Inaba the beanie guy angrily objected, he had a reason to be offended by the whole "paleskin" cloud hanging over him as he looked about as tan as someone who spent a lifetime living underground.
"You've earned my respect over time, Inaba, paleskins are simply less intelligent and that's a scientific fact proven by actual scientists! Proven again now by this waitress-girl's remarkable show of perception and strategic thinking." Quill-B explained slowly.
"What do you mean, Mana?" Kiyomi asked slightly irked to be reminded of the casual racism she herself endured in the hands of the Imarizu who had kidnapped her some time earlier.
"We may have the numbers but… The numbers are working against us. Everything in here is working against us – we don't know our allies' abilities, their fighting styles, strings and moves. We know nothing of how to strengthen their styles and back them up. If we'd try to we'd simply get in their way or get injured ourselves. In addition the battlefield is too tight and thick to allow us these mistakes. In order to fight together we need to pretty much rub our shoulders…" Mana explained. Much to her surprise the enemy didn't appear to object or try to intercept her explanation, it was an odd thing to notice all by itself.
"What are you waiting for, Hafred?" Corot noted that as well.
With a confident smile Hafred lifted his black sword and pointed it at Meiko, "Any time now, young lady…" he taunted her before relaxing and taking a more open stance.
"Guys, no need to worry over me, just go at them, really, I'm fine!" the medical ninja of the enemy alliance blushed as he began rubbing his cheeks awkwardly.
"It appears the enemy is having second thoughts. If the waitress-girl and her team decides to retreat it'll be better off for us, let her talk…" the giant named Steinck thundered out looking at Corot and completely ignoring his medical ninja of an ally acting out.
"So you're done helping us? You haven't really done anything yet…" Junipu-R squinted angrily at Mana. Her strangely confrontational personality didn't completely evade the magician's analysis and mental safekeeping.
"That's not what I said. I'd also appreciate if you stopped calling me…"
"To the point, Mana!" Kiyomi butt in.
"Fine. We just need to change our style. I won't blab about my suggestion like this with our enemy standing nearby though…" Mana looked back at Kiyomi suggestively. Within moments the mental link was established and the enemy team realized that Team Hokage wasn't about to back out.
"Don't freak out, guys, this is Kiyomi's mental link hijutsu. It's a hidden technique of her clan's…" Mana let out a mental signal.
"Wow… That's… A lot of people…" Kiyomi grunted in pain, it was likely she wouldn't be able to keep all six on the link while engaged in active combat.
Mana's attempts of explaining her suggestion got put on halt. The colossal genin Steinck quickly went through a handful of hand seals before smacking his arms together. His giant thigh and foot got rotated around and flexed out like that of a sumo wrestler before being smacked into the ground.
"Lava Style: Wet Floor!" the giant thundered out as the cracked dirt began to glow red. The force of the rising magma wasn't too great but it was remarkable regardless, enough to heat the dirt and turn it into a finger thick layer of searing molten rock. The magma slowly enveloped the lower areas of the trees in flames beginning to incinerate them and swallow them up at a turtle's pace while the smaller bushes got completely scorched up almost instantly by just being near the glowing red liquid.
The combined forces of Team Cirrus and Team Hokage scattered to the tree line.
"Was that actual lava?!" Meiko yelled out making all the ninja inside the mental link cover up their aching temples as the intensity of the girl's thoughts gave them all a small headache. The link even began breaking up and breaking into static as the effect was multiplied even worse for Kiyomi.
"That's the nature of all elemental ninjutsu – manipulation of the elemental forces. We've seen his friend evaporate water before, it's likely that Steinck simply used his chakra to elevate the temperature and melt small amounts of rock and minerals and raise the mixture up." Kiyomi replied.
"They all work together so well… And appear to get along with each other too." Mana noted.
"It's too troublesome to keep them all online, I'm just keeping the beanie guy on because he's the closest." Kiyomi explained. "You'll relay whatever Mana suggests to the others."
"We need to fight them differently. Not to try to take them all at once while attacking all together. Instead we need to fight one at a time, quickly switching in and out, wearing one select member of their alliance down one by one." Mana quickly got to the point.
"What Quill-B said previously was true, with all our minds together we'll kiss them adieu!" Inaba chanted energetically before his own signature faded away.
"I could really do it without all of his rhyming." Kiyomi admitted.
"I don't remember your technique having a quantity limit. From what I remember it is mostly limited by its range…" Mana relayed through the link before noticing that the summoner girl Corot was following her and hearing some more movement not too far away from her. Seeing how her involvement so far was so lackluster she was likely targeted as the weakest link of the two teams.
"Of course I could've kept all of them online, I just needed to make an excuse to drop them eventually so that someone really silly doesn't accidentally slip the fact that Junipu-R is Mana's target on the link…" Kiyomi relayed back.
Mana leaped and swung around the branches using the tree for cover as a barrage of kunai and shuriken flew her way, piercing through the tree easily but the fact that she hid behind it at least partially covered her up as a clear target.
"Nice thinking…" Mana commended her friend.
"It's true, it does sound like something I'd do!" Meiko giggled out. A loud cracking noise followed her speedy shoulder tackle at the enemy alliance that was evaded leading to Meiko crashing through a pair of trees. Corot flipped gracefully in mid-air before kicking the blacksmith down. It didn't look like the impact carried that much force, likely Corot wasn't a physical combatant and just used this as a free hit exploiting an opening provided for her.
Mana's own hands blurred through the hand seals before she pointed her hands at the enemy and leaped out of the cover.
"Hell Skewer Jutsu!" she chanted quietly as Corot began frantically shaking and trying to block invisible attacks in mid-air. It was a simple scare tactic technique that made the enemy believe that swords were materializing from thin air and aiming to skewer them to the ground. It had absolutely no effect other than visual distraction but Mana wondered if she had allies hidden that could've exploited this opportunity.
The magician screamed out in pain as a sword pierced her own thigh and pinned it to the tree. Mana looked at the wound with teary eyes realizing how miniscule her chances were to fight her target now that her own bone was sticking out from her leg and blood was squirting from the wound where a sword was gapping from. A shocking painful sensation made her shaking frantically body freeze in a creeping up feeling of panic fear – her hand was also pinned up to the tree by another identical looking sword.
"Wait a second…" Mana realized that this technique matched none of the profiles of her previously observed enemies and it suspiciously matched her own genjutsu she just used. Now that her own mind realized the trick she just somehow cast on herself her hand weaved the needed hand seal with little to no trouble.
"Dispel!" she firmly shouted out as the swords slowly faded like a mirage together with her wounds.
How on earth did she get hit by her own illusion just now?
