"This guy actually woke up at the last moment!" Asuma smacked his lips, looking regretful.
"Then let's take out the others first." Soseki pulled out a shuriken from his tool pouch.
"I'll take the left."
"Then I'll take the right."
The lead ninja's brows twitched wildly as he shouted, "Wake up, now!"
If they could not disrupt the flow of Chakra in their own bodies, help from a companion would work too. The problem was that he could only save one person at a time that way.
So he could only hope that his voice would somehow create a "bond" strong enough to reach them!
Yet it did not work at all!
He watched as a Vacuum Sphere flew toward the left and a shuriken shot toward the right.
Gritting his teeth, the lead ninja could only try to knock away the incoming shuriken with one of his own while sprinting left, reaching his companion in time to send him flying before the Vacuum Sphere struck.
"Whew, made it in time!"
But before he could catch his breath, Soseki and Asuma launched another round of attacks.
"Ah! You damn brats, just wait!"
"You're doing this again?"
"Are you pigs? Wake up already!"
After being run ragged like this three times, even someone as slow-witted as him realized something was wrong.
Each attack seemed to leave just the right sliver of an opening, staggering the timing enough that he never completely lost hope of saving his comrades.
No, these two brats are doing this on purpose! A chill ran through the lead ninja's heart. These two brats had deliberately left him a way out, forcing him to run himself ragged until they could easily defeat him once his stamina ran out.
Kushina was equally surprised. "No one has woken up after all this time. A normal Fox Heart Technique definitely couldn't have this kind of effect."
"My little brother really does seem amazing!"
Seeing the two brats launch another attack, the lead ninja roared and charged forward, his eyes bloodshot. "You damn brats, I'll kill you!"
Being forced to abandon his companions by two children filled him with shame—and pushed his rage to its limits.
"Uh-oh, looks like we pushed him too far!" Despite his words, there was not the slightest fear in Asuma's voice. Instead, he sounded utterly thrilled.
"A Chunin-level opponent... I wonder how strong he'll be?" Asuma was still looking forward to it when dazzling violet lightning suddenly burst from the man's hands.
Lightning Release: Pack Attack!
The lightning transformed into a pack of pursuing wolves, opening their bloodied maws toward Asuma.
So fast! Asuma's heart jolted. The speed of this Lightning Release seemed far greater than anything he had seen in the village.
"As expected of a ninja from the Hidden Cloud!" Asuma quickly formed hand seals as well, spewing clusters of flames from his mouth toward the wolf pack.
Lightning and fire collided, abruptly blooming into dazzling, brilliant light in the nighttime forest.
Amid the roaring aftermath, the lead ninja violently broke through the barrier of lightning and fire and rushed at Asuma.
Seeing the enemy, blackened all over, charging at him, Asuma's pupils shrank sharply. He clearly had not expected him to be this vicious, but thanks to his many fights with Soseki, he was no stranger to such berserk assaults.
With a Substitution Technique, he dodged away in time.
The cloud ninja, now in a berserk state, naturally was not satisfied with this outcome. He kicked off the tree in front of him and used the recoil to pounce at Asuma once again.
"Say, don't you think you've forgotten something?"
Mountain Squall!
Soseki's voice sounded at just the right moment, and his fist struck the cloud ninja while he was still in midair.
Boom!
Like a cannonball, the cloud ninja was blasted away, plowing a long trench through the ground.
"As expected, Soseki is still more brutal," Asuma muttered before asking, "He wasn't punched to death, was he?"
At the side, Kushina nodded approvingly. As expected of the little brother she had claimed for herself—beneath his kind heart, he possessed the same violent strength as she did!
"Pant... pant... what the hell kind of monsters are these?" The cloud ninja's horrified voice came from the dust and smoke.
At that moment, he stared at the fragments on his chest in terror.
If it had not been for this Heart Protection Mirror, he really would have been blown apart by that punch.
No, even with the Heart Protection Mirror absorbing some of the force, the transmitted impact had nearly shaken him to death.
"Still, I won't give you another chance. I'll show you that a Chunin isn't someone brats like you, who aren't even Genin, can deal with."
"But we almost beat you to death!"
"That was because I wasn't careful."
"But we almost beat you to death!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" The lead ninja roared and lunged straight at Asuma.
Yet Asuma merely formed hand seals rapidly, with no intention of dodging at all.
At the sight of this, the lead ninja instinctively thought of a possibility. Before he could react, however, that familiar throbbing sensation appeared again.
"Genjutsu again? Break already!" Knowing he could not delay, the lead ninja barely controlled his left hand and clenched it hard, driving the shuriken he had hidden in his palm into his flesh.
Intense pain surged through him, finally allowing him to break free from the illusion.
Then a surging heat wave rushed toward him.
Having learned from the last time, the lead ninja hurriedly rolled aside, but flames still wrapped around nearly half his body.
"Damn it, to think I've been forced this far!" The lead ninja clutched his left hand and glared at Soseki and Asuma so fiercely that his eyes nearly split apart.
He simply could not imagine that, as a Chunin, he could not even handle two brats.
If he had faced either of them alone, he would not have struggled this much. But those two brats worked together far too well, while not one of his pig teammates could be woken up!
Soseki's face remained calm, though inwardly he sighed. Fire Release really is something else. It still couldn't burn him to death!
No, unless I deal with that brat using Genjutsu first, there's no way this fight can continue. With that thought, the lead ninja gritted his teeth and charged at Asuma again.
Asuma and Soseki did not suspect a thing and instinctively began forming hand seals.
"Three, two, one... here it comes!" A sharp gleam flashed through the cloud ninja's eyes. He had actually predicted the timing of Soseki's Genjutsu in advance, and just before the illusion could confuse him, he crushed the Smoke Bomb in his hand without hesitation.
Damn it, I can't see where the enemy is! Asuma sensed trouble, but his hand seals were already complete. He could only gamble on his luck.
The enormous fireball surged forward and finally plunged into the smoke.
With booming explosions, the rising dust mixed with the smoke and covered more than half the battlefield.
Just as Asuma cautiously guarded against the enemy's next move, a pitch-black figure suddenly burst from the smoke, so black that he nearly blended into the night.
And his target was none other than Uzumaki Kushina.
"Damn it, stop!" Seeing this, Asuma instinctively grabbed a handful of shuriken and hurled them at him.
"Damn it, there's no time to form hand seals!" Soseki shouted in feigned panic, though inwardly he was speechless. That idiot across from him kept glancing toward him out of the corner of his eye even while charging. Was he afraid Soseki would not understand what he was trying to do?
Being "fooled" by such a clumsy performance is really an insult to my intelligence. Still, I can explain it as concern clouding my judgment.
With that thought, Soseki voluntarily "offered" himself up.
Thanks to Weiwo Taoge for the 1,000 reward, Sleeping God 002 for the 200 reward, Paradise Boy Suhang for the 100 reward, and Zhuti Jieke Mang for the 100 reward. Also, thanks to reader Didibojididiboboye for suggesting the skill name "Mountain Squall." Finally, a little off-topic note. I checked the recommendation data today, and my increase in bookmarks seems to rank third from last among the books recommended in the same batch. A little awkward. Is the title and cover of this book too artsy, so hardly anyone even clicks in? () But my increase in recommendation votes is actually first, which means most of you who are reading may have given your votes to me. Thanks! (￣y▽￣)~
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