The Pain of Life (2)

Chapter 39: The Pain of Life

Sensing the violent tremors in the rock wall above the hidden armory caused by the bombardment of Fire Style ninjutsu, the captain, Masai Shoichi, saw his expression turn grim in an instant.

Originally, hiding halfway up the cliffside, they had held the absolute advantage of high ground.

Who would have thought the enemy would seize upon the weakness of their limited maneuverability in such a cramped space, using Fire Style ninjutsu to bombard the massive rock face directly above their armory!

In a single stroke, the roles of attacker and defender had been reversed.

How truly despicable...

"Captain, the ceiling is going to collapse!"

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

At this moment, under the sustained bombardment of the Uchiha Clan's Fire Style ninjutsu, the once-solid rock wall above the armory had begun to fracture.

Accompanied by the massive vibrations brought on by the fiery onslaught...

Countless rock fragments, each the size of a soccer ball, began to rain down toward the platform at the entrance of the armory.

The sound of whistling air from above caused the vice-captain, Okune Daisan, to turn deathly pale.

"Crack!"

Before Okune Daisan could even formulate a countermeasure, a boulder plummeting from the cliff face above headed straight for his head!

Sensing the danger, Okune Daisan instinctively took a step back.

In a split second, the rapidly falling rock grazed the tip of his nose and slammed heavily into the ground right before his feet.

"Captain!"

Okune Daisan looked at Captain Masai Shoichi with an anxious expression.

Captain Masai Shoichi understood that if they remained here, the collapsing boulders from the ceiling would bury them alive inside the armory.

"Move out! We attack them directly!"

"We have the numerical advantage!"

Gritting his teeth, Captain Masai Shoichi took the lead and charged down the cliffside.

"Kill them!"

"Charge!"

Although many falling rocks flew off the platform and crashed down toward Uchiha Shin, Uchiha Hana, and their group in the canyon, not a single person was hit thanks to their agile dodging.

"They're coming!"

"Attack!"

Uchiha Goichi looked up at the enemy ninjas charging down from the mid-cliff and immediately ordered his squad to engage!

"Shuriken, release!"

"Explosive Tags, release!"

Following Uchiha Goichi's command, Uchiha Shin, Uchiha Hana, and Uchiha Sarina first flung several shuriken toward the descending enemies.

Without waiting to see if the shuriken hit their marks, the three of them quickly pulled kunai with explosive tags tied to their tails from their ninja pouches and hurled them at the enemy as well.

Large-scale combat between ninja units on the battlefield was vastly different from one-on-one duels.

Unit combat emphasized coordination.

Uchiha Shin had initially assumed that clan warfare was just everyone fighting for themselves.

Only now did he realize that the anime had been lying to him.

Even in the Warring States Period, ninjas were quite intelligent, thank you very much!

Under Uchiha Goichi's command, Uchiha Shin, Uchiha Hana, Uchiha Sarina, and the Uchiha Clan's ninja squad launched three consecutive waves of attacks against the enemies charging down from the cliff.

While these three waves eliminated a portion of the enemy, several members of the Uchiha Clan were also severely wounded by the shuriken, kunai, and ninjutsu thrown by the opposition.

"Those who are injured, fall back to the rear of the formation!"

Seeing the enemies about to reach the ground, Uchiha Goichi shouted to the ninjas who were too severely wounded to continue fighting.

As long as they were alive, there was still hope, but if they were finished off by the enemy in the chaos, it would be a genuine loss of combat power.

Setting aside lineage and talent, it was incredibly difficult for an ordinary person to become a ninja; the mere act of refining and controlling chakra barred countless people from the gates of the ninja world.

One only had to look at the total number of participants in the Fourth Great Ninja War from the original Naruto series to see how many ordinary people it took to produce a single ninja.

Therefore, every ninja and every unit of combat power was precious to the clan.

"Charge into their formation, quickly!"

"Engage the enemy in close-quarters combat!"

"That way, the Uchiha Clan ninjas won't dare to use ninjutsu!"

"We have the advantage in taijutsu!"

Masai Shoichi shouted, charging directly into the ranks of the Uchiha Clan ninjas.

"Kill!"

Suddenly, the sounds of battle erupted throughout the canyon.

Masai Shoichi and Okune Daisan coordinated with each other, targeting Uchiha Goichi, the commander of the Uchiha Clan's ninja squad.

The other members of the Land of Fire Ninja Guard also found their own targets.

With both sides locked in a stalemate, the ninja formations had completely dissolved.

The scene descended into a chaotic brawl.

Uchiha Shin activated his one-tomoe Sharingan. With the enhanced kinetic vision provided by the Sharingan, he easily deflected the five shuriken flying toward him.

Uchiha Hana kept Uchiha Shin's orders in mind, going all out to block attacks coming from behind him.

The two moved in tandem, back-to-back, and surprisingly managed to easily kill the three enemy genin who had attempted to attack them at close range.

However, not far away, Uchiha Sarina's situation was looking grim.

Caught in a pincer attack by two enemy genin, Uchiha Sarina was struggling to defend herself.

After only a short while of fighting, the seven-year-old Uchiha Sarina's forehead was already beaded with sweat.

"Haa...!"

The intense physical exertion was making it difficult for her to hold on.

As a girl, she was already at a natural disadvantage in terms of stamina.

Just as she parried a kunai aimed at her throat by one of them and attempted to backflip away to escape the encirclement, the other genin attacking her seized the opening.

He lowered his body, pressed in close, and thrust his kunai upward toward her throat.

He wasn't giving her any chance to escape!

This is bad!

Uchiha Sarina was frantic; she knew that if things continued like this, she would definitely be killed by the enemy within ten moves.

I don't want to die yet, I still have to protect my little brother!

I must find a way to resolve this crisis.

In a hair-raising moment, Uchiha Sarina once again neutralized the lethal attacks from the two enemy genin.

Do or die!

Having made up her mind, Uchiha Sarina switched to a different fighting style.

Instead of dodging the genin attacking her from the front, Uchiha Sarina surged forward, pressing tightly against him.

Her eyes glinted with ferocity as she thrust her kunai directly toward his throat, clearly intending to take him down with her.

That's right, Uchiha Sarina was gambling; she was betting that he would choose to save his own life and retreat.

Sure enough, the ninja attacking her from the front panicked the moment he saw Uchiha Sarina's intent to trade lives.

For a split second, he lost his composure.

He had no choice but to take a step back to avoid her lethal strike.

Now!

Seeing the genin in front of her intimidated into stepping back, Uchiha Sarina sneered inwardly, bent her knees slightly, and pushed off with her feet.

Caught off guard by her sudden burst of movement, the genin behind Uchiha Sarina was sent flying by the force of her back slamming into him.

How could I let you get away?

A flash of killing intent crossed Uchiha Sarina's eyes. Using her momentum, she increased her speed and performed a backflip.

She clamped her legs around the neck of the genin she had just knocked back, exerting all her strength.

A crisp "crack!" echoed through the air!

The genin whose neck she had trapped was already lifeless.

"Damn it!"

"You bastard, you killed Ryumei!"

"I'll kill you!"

The genin who had been attacking Uchiha Sarina from the front saw that his retreat had led to his teammate's gruesome death.

His eyes turned bloodshot instantly.

In a desperate burst of speed, he thrust his kunai straight toward Uchiha Sarina's face!

"Damn it!"

Uchiha Sarina's mind went blank.

She hadn't expected the opponent's counterattack to be a little faster than she'd estimated.

She no longer had time to defend or retaliate.

"Am I going to die?"

"Is this where I stop?"

Uchiha Sarina looked at the kunai stabbing towards her, a bitter smile on her face.

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