Fierce Battle with Rogue Ninja!

Tap, tap!

Dense footsteps rang out.

A large number of weapon-wielding bandits blocked the cave entrance.

If they had been ordinary bandits, they would not have been so vigilant.

But these were bandits capable of smuggling ninja tools, with ninjas among them. Once Tang Ping and the others entered the cave, they had surely been noticed.

No wonder Tang Ping had sensed that something was off earlier.

Bandits!

They could not possibly behave with such "discipline."

Among these bandits were one chunin and five genin wearing Hidden Mist forehead protectors.

However, each forehead protector bore a horizontal slash, marking them as rogue ninjas.

At first, Tang Ping had been unable to understand these rogue ninjas. They had already betrayed their villages, so why did they still wear their forehead protectors?

Later, Minato Namikaze told him why.

Wearing a rogue ninja forehead protector was equivalent to making a clean break with one's ninja village. Other ninja villages naturally welcomed such rogue ninjas, greatly improving their chances of survival.

At the same time, forehead protectors could identify them as ninjas. That was also a source of pride in a ninja's heart.

"I'll handle the genin. Kakashi, keep that chunin occupied. Koji, take care of everyone else!"

Tang Ping urgently gave orders to the two beside him.

He was nervous too. After all, this was his first real battle.

Sparring was completely different from a fight where victory and defeat—and life and death—would be decided.

How did those other transmigrators always manage to perform perfectly in their first battle?

Maybe they had been assassins or elite soldiers before transmigrating.

"Got it!" *2

Yamaa Koji and Kakashi both knew that this was the best allocation.

After spending this time together, the three of them had already revealed their respective strengths.

Kakashi possessed the strongest individual combat power among them. He could even fight a chunin.

As for Yamaa Koji, dealing with ordinary bandits was no problem at all.

Tang Ping could use his Summoning Beast and ninjutsu to deal with the remaining five genin.

"Konoha ninjas, our captain has already gone to deal with your teacher. You'll die here today!"

The leading chunin drew his kunai and signaled for the others to attack.

Whoosh!

But before they could make a move, a white figure had already charged out.

It was Kakashi.

He was truly fast.

He was only held back by his young age. If he were as old as Tang Ping and the others, he would at least have the speed of a jonin.

Clang!

Kakashi's short blade collided with the chunin's kunai. His vicious assault immediately left the leading chunin with no room to focus on anything else.

The five genin also fired shuriken toward Tang Ping's group.

Wind Release: Gale Palm!

After forming hand seals, Yamaa Koji clapped his hands together.

Slap!

A tangible, transparent gale surged forth from his palms, blowing away all the incoming shuriken.

It could even blow people away, let alone mere shuriken.

While Yamaa Koji used Gale Palm for cover, Tang Ping completed his own ninjutsu.

Summoning Technique!

With a low shout, he slapped his right hand onto the ground. Tadpole-like black runes spread out as white smoke rose.

A giant crow several meters tall, its entire body covered in Dark Gold feathers, abruptly appeared inside the cave.

"What is that thing?"

"It's a Summoning Beast!"

"Watch out!"

As those cries rang out, the battle began in full.

Caw!

Taiyi lunged forward, pushing off with both claws.

The cave was too narrow for it to spread its wings, severely limiting its speed.

But its enormous body still brought tremendous pressure upon its enemies.

Kunai shot toward it one after another.

Other than those aimed at its eyes, Taiyi ignored every kunai.

Its Dark Gold feathers were like tough vine armor, directly blocking all the kunai.

Large Summoning Beasts naturally held a defensive advantage over ninjas.

Take the Three Sannin's Summoning Beasts, for example.

If their defenses were not strong enough, no one would dare summon them onto a battlefield. If a single round of ranged attacks took them out, they would lose all face and never make a name for themselves.

Compared to the Summoning Beasts of the Three Great Sage Locations, Taiyi was naturally far inferior for now. But it was already beginning to show a bit of their bearing.

The vial of Natural Force injected earlier had benefited it far more than Tang Ping.

Its body had already grown to more than double its original size, and it would continue growing explosively in the time ahead.

In the anime, Gamaki had not been very large when he first met Naruto, yet several years later, he was no smaller than his father, Gamabunta. That proved one thing.

For Summoning Beasts, Natural Energy was the key to growth. Growth speed and genetic limits were not.

So it was not strange for Taiyi to grow so quickly.

Caw!

Taiyi opened its beak and spat out a barrage of fist-sized fireballs.

Their effect was similar to the Uchiha clan's C-rank ninjutsu, the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.

As for the power...

Boom, boom!

The continuously exploding fireballs could shatter even stone, let alone flesh and blood.

"Run!"

"I don't want to die!"

"Damn it, don't block the way!"

The ordinary bandits could not withstand it at all and immediately turned to flee.

No one understood the strength of ninjas better than they did.

Even a single genin could easily slaughter every one of them, so it was hardly strange that they ran at once.

However, Taiyi's attacks did not injure the rogue ninjas.

Ninjas were too fast.

Slow attacks had too little chance of landing.

That was why the Great Fireball Technique was called the technique of mercy.

It was not because it lacked power!

Even a Kage-level expert could not endure its power, but if it could not hit, no amount of power mattered.

Still, it was fine. Tang Ping had summoned Taiyi for crowd-clearing and support in the first place.

At the very least, that attack had thrown the enemy formation into disarray.

Yamaa Koji took the opportunity to rush out of the cave and chase after the fleeing bandits.

Thus, only Tang Ping and Kakashi remained in the cave, facing one chunin and five genin.

Tang Ping needed to defeat his opponents quickly so that he could support Kakashi.

One against five!

If he had been alone, that would have been pure suicide.

But with Taiyi helping him, it definitely would not be a problem.

Fire Release: Flame Bullet!

Tang Ping quickly performed the ninjutsu.

For other genin, a single C-rank ninjutsu would nearly drain all their Chakra.

Yamaa Koji was like that, which was why he had gone after the others instead of staying to help.

Without Chakra, a ninja was not much stronger than an ordinary person.

The difference between ninjas and ordinary people lay entirely in Chakra.

Whoosh!

Tang Ping spat out a fireball like a cannon shell.

Under Minato Namikaze's guidance, he had improved enormously in both timing and casting speed, allowing him to use it in battle.

Having an expert's guidance really was great.

If Yamaa Koji had learned ninjutsu on his own, let alone half a month, it would have taken him at least several months to master Gale Palm.

The Flame Bullet successfully struck two genin who were dodging Taiyi's attacks.

Boom!

The violently erupting flames engulfed them both.

If it had been the Great Fireball Technique, it would have been impossible to achieve such results.

There was only one reason.

It could not hit.

Flame Bullet traveled faster, so although it was considerably less powerful, it was more likely to produce results.

Using two C-rank ninjutsu in succession consumed nearly half of Tang Ping's Chakra.

He drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch. Next, he would have to deal with the enemy in close combat.

Taiyi was doing its best to intercept them.

But there were simply too many enemies. Of the remaining three, two stayed behind to hold Taiyi back, while the last one charged straight at him.

Close combat was absolutely his weakness.

Before transmigrating, Tang Ping had only been a programmer and part-time shut-in. He could stay behind and cast ninjutsu without a problem, but he truly had no talent for close combat.

Of course, lacking talent did not mean he would let someone slaughter him. So, he brought out his trump card.