Patrol Squad, III

"Konoha's ninja are really arrogant. Aren't they afraid of bursting their own bladders with all that bragging?"

The voice was hoarse and low, yet carried a hint of youthful immaturity. It came from the brown-haired boy, who stared at Katsuki and the others with utter contempt in his eyes.

"Whether we're bragging or not, come try us and find out. Or are you... too scared?"

Otoha crooked a finger at him in challenge.

That finger-curling gesture perfectly embodied the arrogance ingrained in the Uchiha Clan's bones. His disdainful, condescending air was so lifelike that even Katsuki's hands began to itch. He really deserved a beating!

If the timing had not been so inappropriate, Katsuki would have sparred with the guy himself.

"Fine, then let's do it. Konoha brat, just make sure you're not all talk."

Rasa's face instantly darkened. Looking at Otoha's expression, an inexplicable fury rose within him. As Sunagakure's genius youth, he had always been the one looking down on others. No one among his peers had ever dared provoke him like this, and he was furious.

Still, angry as he was, Rasa remained cautious. His insults came readily enough, but his feet did not move an inch. Katsuki's group had the numbers, and he was not stupid enough to charge in alone. Their side had a Special Jonin, after all.

The two groups faced off, hurling insults at each other without pause, yet neither was willing to strike first.

Katsuki and the others were not afraid of dragging things out. This was the Land of Fire, and before beginning the pursuit, they had already sent word to the garrison. As time passed, the situation would only become more favorable to them.

Katsuki's group understood this logic, and naturally, the three Sand Ninja understood it as well.

Yet the middle-aged man had not made a move for a long time, which made him uneasy. Against six brats at genin level, there should have been at least one chunin among them. But he could not find that chunin. Instead, a powerful sense of danger welled up in his heart.

"Rasa, Chizuko, go deal with these brats."

As the Special Jonin, the middle-aged man was naturally the team's leader. When he gave the order, Rasa and the young woman's faces twitched. They could neither refuse nor disobey; a superior's orders could not be defied.

Having said his piece, the middle-aged man's figure flashed as he rushed deep into the forest.

Rasa was somewhat confident about dealing with six genin, but the reason he had hesitated was the missing chunin. If that person ambushed him out of nowhere, he was not confident he could retreat unscathed.

Rasa!

No way!

Katsuki stared dumbfoundedly at the imposing brown-haired boy. This was the future Fourth Kazekage...

This was the first famous figure from outside Konoha that he had seen. Though, in his memories of his previous life, Rasa had been an unlucky bastard who died early. He had barely shown his face a few times before Orochimaru and his underlings ganged up on him and sent him to game over. When he finally appeared again, he did not get to do much before being passed by his own son.

All in all, he was a miserable guy who darkened a little after his wife died.

"Little brats, take this."

While Katsuki was still staring wide-eyed, Rasa began forming hand seals. As for the female ninja, Chizuko, she opened a scroll and summoned a puppet with a single horn on its head, three arms, an entirely black body, and a tattered gray robe. It clattered loudly as it moved.

She was actually a Puppet Master.

At the sight of that ugly puppet, all six of them froze. This was their first time seeing such a novel type of combatant. Puppet Masters were unique to Sunagakure. Many people might go their entire lives without ever encountering one—for example, Mist Ninja. They might not run into Sand Ninja even once in eighty or a hundred years.

Earth Release: Sandstone Flow.

While everyone was distracted by their surprise at the Puppet Master, Rasa had already unleashed his ninjutsu. The earth beneath their feet began to rumble. The ground caved in, and the inch-high grass was swallowed by mud and sand, crushed into powder. Rocks and soil alike were transformed into quicksand.

This small patch of land became sinking quicksand, devouring everything on its surface. So long as something had physical form, whether living or dead, it could swallow it whole.

The tree suddenly lurched as the solid earth below turned to quicksand, throwing off its balance. Katsuki, perched in the tree, was nearly flung away. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and drove his short sword into the trunk, leaving himself hanging in midair instead of falling into the Sandstone Flow below.

Damn it, I ought to slap myself twice. Was I trying to get myself killed? How could I lose focus at a time like this, even if there was still a jonin behind us who hadn't made a move?

But that was no excuse.

There would not always be a jonin following him around as a bodyguard. On the battlefield, blades had no eyes; one could die at any moment.

Water Release: Water Whip.

Kushina moved quickly. Chakra gathered and transformed in her hand, water coiling around her arm to form a long whip. She lashed it out, wrapping it around Katsuki's waist and pulling him free from the pit of flowing sand.

"Smack!"

The moment Katsuki steadied himself, a chop landed squarely on his head. Kushina glared at him with puffed cheeks.

"My mistake, Sis."

He honestly lowered his head in surrender. This really had been his fault. Losing focus in battle was practically courting death. If they had not held the numerical advantage this time, and if the enemy had not merely been probing them, one combo would have left him dead or injured.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

A dense barrage of whistling sounds rang out. The one-horned, three-armed puppet took to the air, opened its mouth wide toward the six of them, and sprayed a vast sheet of faintly glowing purple poison needles like a rainstorm.

Clearly, the enemy had no intention of watching them regroup. Chizuko and Rasa had coordinated their attack against them.

The two of them were genin as well, but they did not fear the six people opposite them. So what if they had three times the numbers? Chizuko was a Puppet Master and could already skillfully control her puppet, making her one of the strongest among genin. As for Rasa, he possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

Konoha did have the Byakugan, but unfortunately, it was suited for close combat. Rasa's bloodline ability, on the other hand, specialized in mid- to long-range attacks, giving him a natural advantage over it.

Water Release: Water Wall.

Once again, Kushina was the one to act. More than a year had passed, and Katsuki was not the only one who had improved. After Kushina became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she immediately became a treasured asset protected by Konoha's upper ranks. They opened every possible door for her and spared no effort in cultivating her, hoping she would mature quickly enough to wield the power a Jinchuriki should possess.

Training in Fuinjutsu was a difficult and lengthy process. After all, even the weakest Fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki Clan was B-rank, making it extremely difficult to learn, and some Fuinjutsu were not especially practical in real combat. So while he also studied Fuinjutsu, he learned ninjutsu as well.

What else could she do? She was a member of the Uzumaki Clan. Katsuki taught Kushina the method of training with shadow clones, and the two siblings began training as though they had activated cheats. The speed at which their strength improved was rather terrifying.

A thin, curved line of water appeared across the grass. In the blink of an eye, it erupted with an enormous torrent that surged into the air and formed a curved Water Wall. The dense poison needles struck the wall and vanished without a trace in an instant. Their limited impact was not enough to break through the Water Wall.