The Final Hand Seal, the Mysterious Girl

The strange birds began to take this human seriously.

They beat their wings, keeping their eyes fixed on him as they waited for a chance to strike.

They were in no hurry. With them here, there was no way the two humans could climb up. Oh, right, there were two little ones above as well.

It had been a long time since they had tasted human flesh. Now they had come across four humans at once, and there were no words to describe their delight.

Chiba drew his Ninja Blade, Winter Water, keeping one hand firmly stuck to the rock.

"Chiba, hurry up and climb up! Don't worry about me. Protect Lisanna and Elfman!" Mira, hanging from the cliffside, knew how dangerous the situation was and hurriedly shouted.

She knew Chiba could climb straight up, so...

Chiba knew he could escape that way too, but... if he really did, the flock of strange birds would seize the opening and attack Mira. That would be no different from abandoning her.

What should he do?

"Come on, you damn birds! Don't you fucking want to eat me? Get your asses over here if you've got the guts!" Chiba began using his taunting skill on the strange birds, cursing them outright.

The strange birds shrieked in anger. They couldn't speak, but they were highly intelligent, and of course they understood what Chiba had said.

But smarter still, despite their anger, the creatures didn't rush to attack him.

"Ding!"

A clear chime rang out as a cyan magic circle formed in front of each bird's beak. Then their bellies swelled sharply, and raging gusts of wind erupted from their mouths, blasting toward Chiba.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

Chiba ran along the mountainside, but how could he outrun the wind the strange birds unleashed? Though he dodged most of the attacks, blade-like gusts still sliced into his skin. Blood streamed from the cuts, staining his entire body.

He hadn't used Chakra to protect himself, because he needed to save it to deal with the strange bird rather than use it for defense.

"Chiba!" Seeing him covered in blood from the birds' attacks, Mira cried out in alarm.

"You idiot! You can climb up, so why won't you?"

Mira's eyes reddened at the sight of Chiba's battered state, and she choked out the words, her voice thick with tears.

Chiba clung to the rock face, panting heavily. He forced a smile, then turned to the strange birds, his gaze growing cold.

He returned Winter Water to its sheath, then threw the whole sword upward.

His Sharingan partially activated. Immediately afterward, he pushed off hard with both legs and shot forward.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

He created one Shadow Clone. Right now, one was all he could manage. This clone didn't fool around either, because he knew how serious the situation was.

Chiba kicked hard, sending the Shadow Clone downward. When the clone dropped below Mira, he clapped his hands together and abruptly gave a low shout.

"Wind Release, Gale Palm!"

A violent blast of wind erupted from his palms, lifting Mira as she hung there. Clear surprise appeared on her pretty face, but before she could react, the force of Gale Palm swept her upward.

Seeing the commotion, the strange birds cried out and charged toward Mira.

"Get the hell out of my way!"

With an angry roar, Chiba sent the Shuriken in his hand flying toward the strange birds.

Rat, tiger, dog, ox, rabbit, tiger!

"Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

He unleashed a full-powered Phoenix Flower Fire. Flame-wreathed Shuriken tore into the strange birds one after another, and fire spread straight through their feathers.

The strange birds cried out in pain, beating their wings and staggering through the air. By then, Mira had landed on the foothold. She shouted to Chiba, "Chiba, hurry up!"

But Chiba stood on the rock face without moving, as if he hadn't heard her.

"One Phoenix Flower Fire... won't kill them..."

If he climbed up now, he would inevitably draw the battle to Mira and the others. And there... the way back was buried under snow and dirt. There was no way they could escape quickly.

He began forming Hand Seals.

But to Mira, his movements seemed painfully slow.

"Then let's do it again..."

He smiled.

"Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

He threw another volley of Shuriken, attacking the strange birds that were still reeling in midair with a Phoenix Flower Jutsu powered by the last of his Chakra.

With the last of his usable Chakra gone, Chiba was physically exhausted and could no longer stay on the rock face. Rather than fall straight down, he might as well drag a couple down to cushion him.

Yes... literally, to cushion his back...

With Shuriken buried in their bodies and flames scorching them, the strange birds had no attention to spare for Chiba. He grabbed one by the neck and drove a Kunai straight into its throat, then relied on his Sharingan to send several Kunai into the necks of the remaining birds.

That move was an absolute showstopper.

At least, Chiba thought so himself.

Mortally wounded in midair, the strange birds stopped flapping their wings and plummeted, taking Chiba down with them.

He closed his eyes.

If possible, please sell my cheat to someone else before I die.

"Chiba!!!!!"

"Brother Chiba!!!"

"Big Brother Chiba!!!"

Mira and the others cried out in anguish at the same time, but no matter how they called, he would never come back.

"How could this happen... how could this happen..."

Mira bit her lip tightly, tears slowly streaming down her pale, pretty face.

"Didn't we promise... you'd take me to a wizards' guild? Liar... you big liar..."

She choked on her words, holding Winter Water tightly to her chest, as though his warmth still lingered on it.

Heavy snow and cold wind howled through the mountains, drowning out the girl's sobs.

"Son of a freaking... that almost killed me..."

The handsome, black-haired youth slowly crawled out of a pile of bloody strange-bird corpses, cursing under his breath.

Luckily, there had been a tall, crooked tree jutting out from the cliff halfway down, which had done a great deal to break his fall. On top of that, four or five large strange birds beneath his backside had served as cushions, slowing his descent and absorbing the impact. Otherwise, he really might have fallen to his death.

He just didn't know how many places he had injured.

Still, the cliff didn't seem as bottomless as it looked, because even including the time it took to break his fall, it had only been half a minute or so...

Yeah... a mere half minute.

He had passed out on the way down, but it seemed he had slept for quite a long time. Otherwise, why was it dark?

As for how dark it was, well... he couldn't see what state the fall had left him in.

"He's still alive..."

Suddenly, a girl's voice came from nearby, nearly scaring the soul out of Chiba.