Grit 2.5
[Hidden Leaf Outpost #66]
[June 8, 2bNb]
My opponent slowly walks to me, a taunting stare in his eyes. I watch as he tells both kunoichi to hang back and support him as needed. To him, I'm insignificant; a child fighting in a man's war.
"You don't belong here, boy," he says, grinning with almost childlike glee.
Despair and anxiety settle in my mind, my knees almost buckling. This is a Jonin, the highest attainable level for a normal shinobi. I'm a rookie Genin with only 2 years and 3 months of training.
I use my negative emotions as fuel, steeling my resolve. I will survive here today, I have to. There is no way-
*BANG*
My head hits the metal pole, blood flowing from the point of impact. His speed caught me off guard and a backhand had sent me flying. As I try to get up, his heavily calloused hand grabs a hold of my hair, hefting my entire body off the ground.
The man looks me in the eye, smiling, "You sure are one strong boy. A hit like that would take out most Genin. It matters not though; you'll die here regardless."
Stars overtake my vision as I'm once again backhanded, his other hand keeping hold of my hair to prevent me from being sent flying. I had to do something; I refuse to die like this.
"Hahahaha, you're still awake. I swear, you fucking tree huggers are like cockroaches."
With my arms limp on both sides, I grabbed my sword as fast as possible, cutting my hair off before dashing backward, trying to create as much distance as possible. It's almost futile with a Jonin on my heels but I soldier on.
"It's futile to run, little leaf, but I'll allow you some respite."
By this point, my body is inundated with pain. I quickly fly through a couple of hand signs before shouting "Water-Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
A thick mist once again envelopes me as my blade comes alight with lightning. I don't stop there however as lightning continues from the tip of my blade and down my arm, stopping in the middle of my bicep. That's my limit for now.
"I blew your mist away before, are you out of tricks or something?"
I remain quiet, ending my retreat before turning to feel the chakra of the Jonin pursuing me. I can tell he's enjoying the chase, which is why I'm not dead yet. I jump to the right, avoiding a blast of wind that disperses my mist once more.
"Alright, kid. Any last words?"
I see the Jonin tense his muscles before pouncing toward me with a fist extended. It's faster than I can track, but I don't need to track it, only react. I do just that, swinging my sword in a wide arc the moment he moves.
Normally, he would be able to react to a Genin's swing but this time is different. However, because of the lightning being channeled through my right arm, the speed of my slash is greater than what he expects.
He loses his hand and half of his forearm as sparks of lightning assault the attached portion of his limb, frying all remaining nerves in his arm. In his split second of reaction, I jumped back, furthering the distance between us.
"Fuck, if you weren't dead before, you sure are now, kid!"
I feel a flare of chakra behind me and immediately duck to the side as massive earthen spears occupy the patch of dirt I had intended to land on. I look towards the culprits, both girls from before.
They each have their hands on the floor and are panting heavily due to their pathetic reserves. It took two of them to perform a single B-Rank Jutsu and it still drained three-quarters of their chakra.
Before I can move to do something about them, a Chunin lands in front of them, engaging in direct combat.
I declare them non-threatening from this point on and cast my gaze back to the Jonin. Aside from his initial shock of pain, he seems unaffected by his hand being removed from his body. Such pain tolerance is extraordinary.
He looks toward me with a murderous gaze before advancing once again. This time, I know I'll be hit, but I can at least do something. Hopefully, I can take another blow because if not, I'll die here today.
A bright blue ball of chakra begins to form in my hand as the Jonin attempts to blitz me. The moment his remaining fist touches my chest, my palm containing the ball of chakra touches his stomach.
I feel the impact of the Rasengan on his midsection, and his hand caving my chest in before it all goes dark.
[Mukai Kohinata]
Mukai moved through the middle of the pandemonium, weaving around leagues of enemy nin like his body was made of water, only to strike back, paralyzing his opponents with each successful hit.
He stood still as 10 enemy Genin surrounded him. He stood still as they weaved hand signs and shouted, "Earth-Style: Mobile Core," sending him into a deep pit. He stood still when a second group advanced, looked down into the pit, and shouted, "Fire-Style: Blazing Inferno," as great columns of fire sought to turn him to ash.
With this one move, he would instill fear into the hearts of these men. He always hid himself to avoid attention, but he now realized that he needed influence to tackle a certain problem. He needed to be known to protect his students from further attempts.
So, he was going to show off and build such a reputation. He waited until the last possible second before assuming a bastardized Gentle Fist stance and snuffing out each column of fire with a mere tap.
"What, there's no way," exclaimed a stone shinobi.
"He just ignored our fire," another said, pointing out the obvious.
"Here he comes, there's 15 of us and one of him," replied a third, filled with false hope.
"Iwase is right, let us show him our Will of Stone!"
2 palms, 4 palms, dead, next…2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, dead, next…16 palms, dead. It continued like this as Mukai Kohinata mowed through 10 Genin in quick succession. The remaining 5 decided to retreat to their countrymen.
Three kunai, three headshots and they were dead. Two got away, rushing to be with a group of Chunin by the wall. They, and his fellow Konoha shinobi saw his Byakugan. His secret was no longer safe, and he was okay with that.
Mukai scanned the battlefield, checking on the safety of his students. Shisui was fine, flickering around of group of Genin, slowly whittling them down as they were distracted by his afterimages.
Kenji was locked in an intense taijutsu bout with an older man but seemed to be winning.
'I'm so proud of them,' he thought, before looking for Ichiro. 'Oh, no.'
He watched as Ichiro's Rasengan drilled through a one-handed Jonin's stomach while the enemy's fist caved his student's chest in.
"No, Ichiro," he cried out, before sprinting over toward his fallen student. He had no medics on his team, and the outpost was currently being overrun. He estimated that Ichiro had at most, 2 minutes to receive medical attention before Ichiro met his end.
"MEDIC," the desperate man screamed. He couldn't lose a student, he promised himself. There had to be someone to save the boy. He cried and screamed for help over and over again. Just as he was about to give up, he saw someone.
As if on cue, a young man bearing a medic sash landed beside him and barked an order, "Keep me safe, I'll take care of him."
"I will guard you with my life," the Jonin responded.
The young man nodded and weaved a few hand signs before his hands were enveloped in a green glow, "Mystical Palm Jutsu."
Shisui and Kenji landed beside Mukai shortly after, forming a perimeter around their fallen teammate. Two suicidal Iwagakure shinobi rushed the three, kunai poised for an attack.
Shisui was first to move, being able to use the Body Flicker Jutsu in combat, immediately taking the enemy Genin's head off with a slash of his tanto. Mukai tackled the other enemy, going overboard with his attack, "Ninja-Art: Forced Gate Activation."
Mukai tapped the approaching Chunin's heart with a delicate strike, forcibly activating the enemy's Gate of Death. Immediately, the enemy's chakra flared to a hundred times his original capacity as his body began to form an aura of red mist.
What consisted of this aura? The Iwa-Nin's blood boiled outside of his body and his body continued to heat up before it was reduced to ash.
Unlike Konoha's strong fist practitioners, this shinobi did not possess enough strength to even move with such a gate open. As such, he was forced to endure the pain and suffering of opening a chakra gate, without being able to use its gains to attack Team 96.
They stood there, guarding their teammate and fighting off enemy shinobi until Ichiro's condition stabilized.
"Alright, he should live now. I can't stay any longer as there are more of our countrymen that need me. He won't be waking up any time soon, so you'll need to protect him," the medic said before he dashed to the next fallen Leaf shinobi.
Mukai was grateful for the help. His student will live, they just needed to protect his fallen form.
[Fugaku Uchiha]
As the commander of outpost #66, Fugaku had to be the one leading the defense against the Hidden Stone's assault. He fought his hardest, dispatching a group of 12 Genin led by a Chunin who attempted to overrun him.
He kept watching as his shinobi excelled in their battles despite being caught off guard and being outnumbered. He was proud to be a Konoha shinobi, and moments like this made him even prouder. Of course, there were casualties, but such is war, his great village was winning and that was what mattered the most.
A group of three shinobi landed before the Uchiha clan head, sneering at the Jonin before pouncing for attack. It was pitiful. In the eyes of the Sharingan, no one was safe.
The first assailant missed Fugaku by a landslide as a consequence of a simple genjutsu that altered his depth perception. The Iwa nin stumbled before his outstretched fist hit the floor and a resounding *BOOM* was heard.
"An explosion corps member, I can use this," Fugaku said to no one in particular.
He quickly dodged the other two shinobis' attempts at hitting him, the Uchiha's mystical eyes allowed him to see the chakra that coated their fists. They were all explosion corps members, it seemed.
He took a mere gaze at the three nin, two Chunin, and a Jonin kunoichi before attempting to lock eyes. The Jonin was able to avert his gaze but the two Chunin immediately froze, before running towards another group of Stone shinobi with their eyes glazed over.
Two loud booms once again wracked the outpost grounds as both shinobi filled their bodies with Explosion-Style chakra before simultaneously exploding themselves, bathing the battlefield with their teammates' guts.
"Wicked-Eye Fugaku, that dojutsu of yours really is something. I can't wait to pluck those eyes from your corpse," the remaining Jonin said.
She pounded her hands together before rushing toward Fugaku. Fugaku would not allow himself to be beaten by this disrespectful enemy.
"How dare you suggest taking the jewels of the Uchiha clan. You will die where you stand," the clan leader exclaimed.
Her first punch was dodged, the Sharingan perfectly predicting her attack. The Uchiha-Interceptor taijutsu style stood strong as Fugaku dodged and weaved around the woman, using his superior speed and the Sharingan's Eye of Insight to get his hits in.
He couldn't afford to deflect or block due to the volatile combination of Earth and Lightning-Style chakras that coated her limbs. The two Jonin were a blur of movement across the battlefield, showcasing the sheer difference in power among the various ranks.
A few shinobi were in awe as they fought, with one saying, "So this is a fight between Jonin."
Eventually, his opponent got frustrated with him weaving out of her attacks and placed two hands on the ground without concern for who was around them. "Explosion-Style: Stone Shrapnel Hell Jutsu," she shouted.
Milliseconds later, the ground beneath Fugaku began to rumble before it exploded, forming a deep chasm and sending sharp earthen projectiles flying for tens of meters in each direction.
This gave Fugaku the ability to show the true powers of the Sharingan as he expertly weaved through each piece of debris before delivering an axe kick to the top of his opponent's head, snapping her neck and ending her life.
He then turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield, just in time to witness a bright, blue ball slam into the stomach of an Iwagakure Jonin.
The commander began to think, 'That Jutsu, it belongs to the Namikaze brat. How did that fresh Genin learn it.'
He had to hold that thought as another squad of 5 Genin touched down before him. He dealt with the like insects before continuing to help his countrymen in the battles.
Occasionally, he took glances toward the downed clan-less boy. He was able to bear witness to Kohinata, now possessing a Byakugan, forcibly activating the chakra gates of his enemies, killing or crippling them in the process.
Shisui, Kagami's grandson was a different kind of beast as well. The boy wielded the Body-Flicker as easily as he breathed, weaving through groups of enemy shinobi much more experienced than himself.
Their final team member, a civilian-born boy seemed to be better than the rest of his kind. He fought at the level of a clan-descended Genin and lacked most of the flaws usually seen in the taijutsu of fresh civilians.
'Jonin Kohinata must be an exceptional teacher, or these boys must be exceptional students,' the Uchiha thought, resolving to discuss his ideas with the team after the invasion was over.
Minutes later, a gigantic explosion was heard towards the northwest and the Stone shinobi began their retreat. Konoha shinobi began rushing after them as they poured out of the wall but were eventually stopped by an order.
"Let them go and tend to our wounded. First Aid takes priority, I need every living enemy in cages and the dead ones stripped of their equipment and burned. Earth-Natured shinobi, reconstruct the wall. I need a comprehensive report on my desk within an hour!"
"Yes, Commander Fugaku," shouted the troops in response before the entire base became an organized flurry of activity.
'I need to see that team,' Fugaku thought, before heading towards the downed Ichiro and his teammates who surrounded him.