Under Attack

"Hiss... whoosh..."

Asuma exhaled a long puff of smoke, a look of ecstasy on his face.

Leaving the village to carry out a mission is quite nice; at least there aren't any unsightly Military Police Force interfering while you're smoking.

"Cough cough..."

Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were choked by the thick smoke, coughing incessantly, tears welling up in their eyes.

As the smoke dissipated, another puff of smoke was exhaled perfectly from Asuma's mouth, demonstrating what a perfect transition looks like.

The only one in the group who was unaffected was Tazuna, who could still take a sip or two whenever he had nothing to do.

"Our teacher truly lives up to his reputation as a ninja from the Sarutobi Clan."

Ino watched Asuma's tall figure from behind, covered her mouth with her hand, and muttered a complaint to Shikamaru, who was walking beside her.

"Well, most of the Jonin from Konoha have their own quirks, like..."

Hearing Ino's complaint, Shikamaru looked up at the sky, his tone languid. Just as he was about to give Ino a good talking about the quirks of the Konoha Jonin, the scene before him suddenly changed, and the immense force coming from his waist made it hard for him to breathe.

When the scene in his field of vision calmed down, Shikamaru realized that he and Ino had been grabbed by Asuma's arm and taken to a place a little further away. The spot where they had just been standing was now occupied by two figures.

After putting Ino and Shikamaru down, Asuma whispered "Form C" to them before heading towards the enemy's location.

"Tch, bro, what's next?"

Having missed his first attack, the younger of the two ninjas began to ask his older brother for his opinion.

"Let's solve the problem first!"

Wielding his Ninja Blade, the unidentified ninja ignored Shikamaru and the others, decisively targeting Tazuna, who was still unaware of what was happening.

"Choji!"

Shikamaru, now back on solid ground, immediately alerted Choji, who had fallen behind the other two by a few steps due to eating potato chips and hadn't been Choji by the attack.

"Ah, me?"

Although Choji was somewhat frightened, he bravely ran towards Tazuna's direction and stood in front of him to protect him before the enemy arrived.

"Cut this fat guy off too!"

"Learn!"

The younger enemy, upon receiving the order, also drew his Ninja Blade.

The word "fatty" in the sentence clearly reached Choji's ears. Upon hearing this term, his initial fear was overwhelmed by anger, his eyes blazing with fury as he glared fiercely at the two approaching figures.

"Who are you calling fat?!"

Choji's forehead veins bulged. At this moment, he no longer cared about the difference in strength between himself and his enemy; he only wanted to take the initiative and smash his fist hard into the other's face.

Seeing Choji take the initiative, the two were overjoyed. In their eyes, Choji and Tazuna were full of weaknesses, and they could easily win the battle without even having to use their full strength.

"Die!"

The elder brother swung his blade first, aiming straight for Choji's neck.

"Eura!"

But they clearly underestimated Asuma's speed as a Jonin.

With two muffled thuds, Asuma, who had arrived at lightning speed, kicked his older brother away and then punched his younger brother in the face. Before the two brothers could even see him clearly, they were knocked down by Asuma.

The cigarette Asuma was holding in his mouth had only burned halfway.

"Hmm, well done, Choji, but blindly charging forward will only put you in a dangerous situation."

Asuma stubbed out his cigarette and patted Choji's head. Choji had regained his senses and didn't know what to say in response to Asuma's kind reminder.

"Hey, teacher, you noticed their presence a while ago, didn't you?"

Although Asuma's one-hit kill of the two looked cool, Ino was somewhat dissatisfied that Asuma could have struck first but did nothing.

"Well, after all, I need to confirm what these two guys are after."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

Ino was somewhat puzzled.

"Shikamaru should understand my intentions, right?"

Asuma didn't immediately answer Ino's question, but instead focused his attention on Shikamaru, who seemed unconcerned.

"What a hassle."

Shikamaru muttered a complaint under his breath, then was forced to explain, "Because the guy who attacked was a ninja."

"What happened to the ninja?" Choji, having regained his composure, walked over, just in time to hear Shikamaru explain.

Tazuna felt a little guilty and deliberately avoided Shikamaru's gaze.

"Because Mr. Tazuna issued C-rank mission, which means we only need to protect him from thieves and gangsters, while the request to fight ninjas is Class B, Asuma needs to determine whether these two guys are targeting us or Mr. Tazuna."

After rambling on for a while, Shikamaru muttered "What a hassle" under his breath before walking up to Tazuna.

"So..." Ino understood what the other person meant.

"Mr. Tazuna, you deliberately withheld some crucial information, didn't you?" Choji understood Shikamaru's explanation.

"So, that's how it is." Asuma tightened the rope, even though he already knew the details of the mission, he still had to pretend.

Asuma slowly walked up to Tazuna and placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Mr. Tazuna, it's time to talk about some things you've been deliberately hiding."