Have we outnumbered them?
No, it's the opposite case.
Are we able to outlast them?
No. Judging by Minato's quickened breathing, I doubted that it will be long before our adversity begins.
Are we stronger than them?
Perhaps, but I am unable to conclude based on the information currently given.
If so, we have to defeat all of them by us two alone, within a short amount of time. It certainly wasn't an easy task to accomplish.
'But there certainly exists a way.' I thought as I dodged seven shurikens that were shot at me simultaneously, before moving Ryuma to cut through the piles of Earth Release techniques.
After observing my proficiency in Kenjutsu, it seems that the enemies have decided to strike me from afar.
Minato, on the other hand, was sweating as he ran his eyes from left to right, evading enemies' attacks just like me.
'We can't go into hiding. Not only are there too many eyes for us to properly deceive them, but if we were to retreat from here, there is the risk of these ninjas switching their target to Jiraiya instead.'
Let's think—
CLANG!
—about the possible strategies.
"Earth Release: Mud Bomb!"
BOOM!
Dodging ball-sized hardened dirt that impacted the ground on my left, I grabbed Minato by the back of his shirt and pulled him back hurriedly,
BOOOM!
helping him to evade the explosive tag that was attached to the thrown kunai.
'Earth, water, lightning. I don't see any use of fire and wind from the enemies. If that's the case, then,'
"Lake." Minato, while huffing, whispered to me, "There is a lake on the east."
Upon hearing Minato's words, I tried my best to suppress my eye from widening. His rate of breathing—this b******,
he was acting as if he was tired, from the very start!
'...That's something that I've got to learn from him.'
Additionally, lake on the east. Water. Separation from the ground. Risk of electrocuting themselves if Lightning Release were to be used. Water was the only option for them, but there wasn't a proficient Water Release user among them, from what we've seen so far.
'We have to lure them. But how?'
I thought as I quickly raised Ryuma to block a hard boulder that was sent flying in my way. Upon collision, I intentionally feigned weakness and had myself flown from the impact of the boulder,
"Akashi!"
Minato responded by shouting my name in a panic, before dashing at me in midair, who was temporarily 'disabled.'
Recognizing our situation, the visible 10 ninjas of Iwa dashed at us simultaneously. And I knew that 4 were circling around us, trying to prevent us from escaping. According to the confident smiles on their faces, I could deduce that they've come to believe that we are at our limit.
And of course they would. We were just young 'teens,' and according to the common logic, our chakra reserve and stamina should be lesser than them, granting them the high chance of victory even though we initially managed to overwhelmed them.
However, what they didn't know was Minato's sheer speed. He, within a short span of time, not only grabbed me by torso, but dashed at an unbelievable speed, outrunning the 4 hidden ones and creating a notable gap between the enemies and us.
Then, he stopped within the enemies' sight and placed me down.
""Haa... haa...""
We both breathed. Minato's legs trembled from excessive running, and my arms shook due to the prolonged use of the sword against the heavy objects.
As the enemies were charging at us, I quickly thought,
'To lure them to water... fire is needed.'
It was time for me to act.
Stabbing Ryuma on the ground with difficulty and raising my hands up, with my face expressing a heavy fatigue, I began to run the series of random hand seals at a rapid pace.
Bird, dog, monkey, ox, tiger, serpant, dragon, rat, hard, boar, bird, ram, dog, dragon, monkey, tiger, ox, monkey, horse, rat, ram, hare, bird, dog, dragon, hard, horse, monkey, tiger, serpant, rat, dragon, hare.
Hell, I have no idea what I am doing. But what mattered was the fact that I've done those hand seals at the speed that the enemies could barely see; they came to a stop with obvious caution in their demeanours, probably having no idea of what technique I am about to use.
"Fire Release,"
My cheek puffed up, and enemies immediately began the rapid hand seals of their own; without a doubt, they were about to use Water Release techniques to counter my supposed ninjutsu.
And now, while blowing the empty air out of my mouth,
"H-huh?"
and as those ninjas let out dumbfounded expressions,
'Genjutsu: Dual Shade.'
I instead inflicted my sole genjutsu technique on all 14 of them at the front.
'Clone technique.'
Puff Puff!
Creating two clones, I quickly had one transform into Minato. Then, within this slight span of time that we've bought, I motioned Minato to move behind the petrified enemies, to which he nodded with a raised eyebrow, before taking out the remaining shurikens he had and throwing to the enemies.
Swoosh!
And now, with the use of Body Flicker technique, we shifted our position. While the clones were left in our original position, we hid in the woods behind the ninjas.
"Genjutsu of this proficiency..." Minato muttered with amazement, "Your chakra control is out of control."
"You mean perfectly in control."
On the other hand, the enemies who momentarily froze on their spot, quickly dissipated genjutsu by forming the kai seal. Though they immediately formed another hand seal to dissipate genjutsu, by the time their visions returned,
four of them were convulsing with bubbles in their mouths, due to the shurikens, thrown by Minato, having been embedded in their necks.
Thud thud thud thud! As the four fell, the remaining ten looked with shock, before turning their eyes back at the clones.
"Haa... haa..." The clone Minato breathed rapidly while biting his lips, with his hand in an outstretched position to show that he was the one who threw the shurikens.
"Damn it... only few seconds..." My clone muttered while holding onto the embedded Ryuma, in order to support my weight.
The two clones stood still, as if having no more energy to move. The enemies glared at the clones warily, unaware that they are simply illusory clones without a shadow, due to the latent effect of my genjutsu.
'...Fourteen. All of them are within sight, and since four have fallen, ten are remaining.'
It was time for a big one.
I raised up the Ryuma in my right hand's grasp, as Minato stood silently next to me.
The fire has reignited around Ryuma's blade vigorously. This potent fire was enough to alert the enemies of our position, but it didn't matter. The fact that I was given a few seconds to prepare for this technique was what mattered.
The very technique that resulted in me accidentally burning away the entire forest in the past. I was reluctant to use it here, in the middle of the forest yet again, but this gave us the best chance of victory from my perspective.
Feeling a large amount of chakra sipping out of my reserve, there was the visible movement of air being sucked into Ryuma, due to my operation of Wind Release.
The fire around Ryuma has become extreme. Its red colour blazed up into a terrifying blue, and its overall size was incredible compared to the previous state.
"GET AWAY FROM—"
Before one Iwa shinobi could finish his scream, I slashed Ryuma horizontally at them,
"Blaze Rend."
Then, from my slash, the extremely hot mass of blue fire shot out to the ten enemies in a form of an arc. While the quick three managed to escape at the right moment,
"AHHHHHH!!!"
"Water!! G-get water now!!!"
it was already too late for the other seven.
With a whoosh, the blue fire quickly spread throughout the woods all around and engulfed all vegetation, with nothing but destructive tendencies.
The three ninjas who managed to dodge my attack generated the available Water Release techniques, but to no avail. My technique rendered the atmosphere dry and hot; the air was clearly unsuitable for the proper use of Water Release techniques.
"...These seven already are among the dead. Forget about them." One standing in the middle of the remaining three, the tall shinobi wearing a long brown cloak spoke.
"I think," Minato then said warily, "that one's the real leader actually."
Just as he said. There was a certain calm aura around the man, unlike the burly shinobi with high mastery over ninjutsu that I previously killed.
"Strength isn't everything... I see." I muttered with my breath calmed down, "Tch, it's hard to think rationally while engaging in a battle."
As the seven burned corpses fell to the charred ground lifelessly, the blue fire of mine finally died down, and the trees began to fall one by one all around us.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Minato, me, and our three enemies all leaped and dashed, dodging the trees that have the potential to crush us.
And amidst this mess, all five of us came into sight of the lake nearby, now visible thanks to no tall tree remaining.
BOOM!
Along with the final tree falling down, all of us stood on piles of trees with the cloud of dust surrounding us from below. The burned corpses were nowhere to be seen, having been crushed under these trees.
The enemy's leader gazed at us shrewdly, before he began to form a series of hand signs.
"Earth Release—"
"Minato," I whispered, "Lake."
Minato snorted, "No need to tell me."
Having witnessed my proficiency in Fire Release, it seemed that the enemies were trying to push us to the lake—something that we wanted actually.
"—Opening Earth Rising Excavation!"
VROOOOOOOM!
Just as we utilized Body Flicker technique to instantly travel to the surface of the lake, the ground below the pile of trees suddenly rocketed up.
"...How much more chakra do you have?" Minato asked me.
"Plenty enough." To which I responded with a confident grin of my own, "Doesn't seem to be the same for you, however. I bet that Shadow Shuriken Clone technique cost you a lot."
Minato chuckled upon hearing my words.
"Hey, Akashi,"
As the three Iwa ninjas landed on the surface of the lake in front of us, causing the water to ripple, Minato smirked,
"I am the ninjutsu specialist, remember?"
Two versus three. It was time to end this battle.