Inoichi vs. the Stone Ninja

"Whoosh!" The wind rushed past.

"They're coming!" the Stone Ninja sensor warned.

Of the four Stone Ninja, one held a short sword, one gripped a Kunai, and one formed Hand Seals with both hands. Gari did nothing.

"..."

"?"

"What? Give us their position! What's your sensing good for?" After a moment of silence, the sword-wielding Stone Ninja couldn't help cursing under his breath. He was responsible for close combat, and his teammate calling out the position in advance would give him the chance to seize the initiative.

"This is bad! My Sensory Technique's been turned against me! I can't detect the enemy's presence!" the Stone Ninja sensor said, sounding somewhat panicked.

"Whoosh, whoosh!" There was no need to sense them now. Inoichi created a Shadow Clone, and the two of them charged straight at the Stone Ninja.

"Arrogant Konoha Ninja, there's only one of you anyway!" Faced with Inoichi's imposing charge, the sword-wielding Stone Ninja had no choice but to steel himself and meet it.

"Swish, swish!" Shuriken flew through the air.

As his teammates mounted a feint, the sword-wielding Stone Ninja formed a seal with one hand.

Body Flicker Technique!

"Clink, clink!" Inoichi evaded the incoming Shuriken.

At the same time, the Stone Ninja using the Body Flicker Technique appeared in front of him and raised his short sword high. Then-

He joined the thumbs, index fingers, and middle fingers of both hands, spreading his ring and little fingers apart.

"Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"

"Poof!"

Inoichi's Shadow Clone vanished in a puff of white smoke.

The sword-wielding Stone Ninja immediately turned and charged at his nearest teammate.

"What are you doing? Have you gone mad?!" Faced with his teammate suddenly turning his blade on him, the Stone Ninja scrambled to raise his Kunai and block.

The Shadow Clone had already used the Mind Body Switch Technique, successfully invading the sword-wielding Stone Ninja's body with its mind. Because it was a Shadow Clone, it could avoid the drawback of leaving its own body defenseless after its mind left it. However, with half his mental ability split off, Inoichi's original body could no longer use the technique either.

"That's a secret technique passed down exclusively in Konoha's Yamanaka Clan! He's already taken control of Maeda's body, but his original body's mental energy has also weakened considerably. Attack, now!" The enemy Stone Ninja sensor was no slouch either. Taking advantage of the sudden drop in Inoichi's mental energy, he broke free of the sensory suppression and uncovered his secret.

After receiving his teammate's analysis, another Stone Ninja, who had long since prepared his Hand Seals, immediately unleashed his Ninjutsu-

A dragon's head of mud and stone rose from the ground, its bloody maw gaping open, with mud-bullet projectiles condensed from earth-nature Chakra!

The Stone Ninja swept out his hand, pointed at Inoichi's position, and shouted, "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Inoichi, meanwhile, joined the thumbs and index fingers of both hands, forming a strange rectangular hand sign before him.

"Ninja Art: Mind Body Disturbance Technique!"

"What? My hand's out of control?!" The Stone Ninja's finger, originally aimed at Inoichi, suddenly swung around to point at his teammate. The mud-and-stone dragon's head also turned ninety degrees, and its mud-bullet projectiles blasted toward the teammate!

"You..." Caught completely off guard, the teammate took the high-level Earth Release Ninjutsu head-on and was gravely injured in an instant!

Launching a frontal assault on several Stone Ninja alone, first taking an enemy's body with the Mind Body Switch Technique, then using the Mind Body Disturbance Technique to make the enemy attack their own—this was the true strength of Konoha's elite jonin, Inoichi Yamanaka!

After doing all that, Inoichi was breathing a little heavily. Using advanced secret techniques in succession just now had consumed a considerable amount of his Chakra.

But after carefully examining the Stone Ninja's Chakra with Mind's Eye, Inoichi discovered that none of the Stone Ninja before him had much Chakra left. They had probably used it up while bombarding the village earlier.

As a result, Inoichi now had the upper hand on the battlefield.

"This is bad,

Captain Gari! Think of something, quick!" The Stone Ninja with the Kunai was locked blade to blade with his teammate, whose body had been seized by the Mind Body Switch Technique. For one thing, he was wary of hurting his teammate; for another, he wasn't particularly skilled in Taijutsu. "Damn it! My hand..." Another man had one hand controlled by the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, and was struggling to restrain his right hand with his left.

Gari looked impassively at his teammates, who had lost control to varying degrees, and said mildly, "Don't move. I'll free you from his control."

Inoichi frowned. Impossible. How could the Yamanaka Clan's advanced secret techniques be so easily undone? Unless-

Suddenly thinking of an extreme possibility, Inoichi's pupils contracted!

Gari used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside the Stone Ninja controlled by the Mind Body Switch Technique. With lightning speed, he punched him in the back, sending him flying. An orange-red, glowing fist mark could be clearly seen on his back.

"Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!"

The Stone Ninja's body instantly swelled up and exploded, his flesh torn apart and reduced to ash!

"Pfft!" Inoichi's face went pale, and he spat blood. Half his mental will had been attached to that Stone Ninja, so when the man was killed, he suffered the backlash. This was one of the Mind Body Switch Technique's weaknesses. Fortunately, he had only used a Shadow Clone, or Inoichi would have suffered more than just backlash!

"Just as I thought." Seeing Inoichi's reaction, Gari couldn't help saying coldly, "When the person under control is hurt, the user suffers backlash too. That makes things easy..."

"Captain Gari?!" All the Stone Ninja stared at Gari in horror, evidently unable to believe that he, who usually treated them like brothers, would blast a teammate to death without even blinking!

Gari turned his gaze to the Stone Ninja whose movements had been disrupted by the Mind Body Disturbance Technique.

"Y-you... what are you going to do?!" The man's expression changed drastically.

"Whoosh!" Gari used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of him.

Inoichi endured the searing pain in his head and rapidly formed Hand Seals. "Release!"

"Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!" Without hesitation, Gari struck a lethal blow against his second teammate!

"Whew..." Inoichi gasped for breath. Fortunately, he had recalled the mental energy invading the Stone Ninja at the critical moment, or he might have suffered a second, grievous backlash.

At the cost of two teammates' lives, Gari had gravely injured Inoichi.

"Pfft!" A Kunai pierced the heart of the last teammate.

"Why...?" The last man looked at Gari in disbelief. If Gari's killing of the previous two teammates could be called a tactic of sacrificing the chariot to save the king, then what was this attack on a teammate who wasn't even under control?

"Too much trouble. Rather than let you get controlled by the enemy's technique too, I'd rather get rid of you first—a worthless piece on the board." Gari looked at him expressionlessly, his icy gaze as if he were looking at an insect.

"You don't deserve to be a ninja!" Inoichi glared at Gari in anger.

"This is what a true ninja is." Unmoved, Gari continued, "So what do you plan to do next? With your depleted Chakra, can you still fight me?"

"I really can't fight anymore, but I still have teammates!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Three figures appeared.

"Sensei Inoichi."

Shunren, Kurenai, and Shizune had arrived!