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Six while moving; seven while stationary.
That was Takuma's limit with Eight Tentacles Jutsu. But today, that wasn't something that would work today. He was injured, and the four assassins had an iryo-nin among them, which meant they had slightly less to worry about injuries— but even that small concession turned into a huge advantage when there was only one opponent to fight against.
First order of business, take out No#4; once the iryo-nin was out, the other three would become more cautious, which Takuma would exploit aggressively.
The tentacles rose as Takuma knelt down and placed his palms on the ground after weaving hand seals for Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu. A ripple went through the ground, which returned with tactile information for Takuma to interpret. When Takuma had first trained the jutsu, he could only see the presence of people in a one-kilometer area—he couldn't tell their direction or their exact distance from him. The jutsu returned too much data, and Takuma only knew how to interpret some of it.
Now though, after more than a year of gradually training the jutsu, he had learned to identify the direction the target was in. He still couldn't tell their exact distance from him, but that would come with more training.
Takuma tuned out everything past the cross-section they were fighting in, and as he expected, there were only four people in his immediate surroundings. Two of them were alone and moving slowly around in the fog, while the other two were huddled together. Takuma was sure one of them was the iryo-nin. It was a stupid move to not move up into one of the buildings and do treatment on higher ground—but a mistake he was thankful for.
Disregarding chakra consumption, Takuma weaved another set of hand seals and performed another ninjutsu. He sunk into the ground as Hiding in the Rock Jutsu became the mode of traversal for him.
———
.
No#4 had his glowing hand placed on his chest, healing the gruesome burn injury that had scorched his skin and bruised his ribs underneath. His mask had a crack on it from the explosive tag. If he had not jumped before the tag had exploded, he would be in a much worse condition.
They had the wrong intel. The target was a maniac. Who used an explosive tag at such close range? He knew of the explosive tag scare tactic due to its effectiveness, but it didn't involve actually triggering the tag. The moment he had seen the burning tag, every instinct, and logical mental process had made him jump away—which was the correct decision.
"The target will be heavily injured," he whispered.
"Understood," No#3 replied.
"Can you proceed without healing?" asked No#4. No#3 had taken ninjutsu into the back, which required treatment, but with the target injured, they could finish the mission now and handle the injuries later.
"Affirmative," said No#3.
No#4 judged that his injuries were not stabilized, and he could proceed for now. His skin still hurt, and his ribs were still painful, but it wasn't the pain amount he couldn't shrug off. As he stood up, a drop of water hit his bare chest, making him alert, only to realize that it was rain.
"Rain," he whispered.
They were having a difficult time with the Hidden Mist Jutsu. They didn't have any Wind Release users; they couldn't blow it away; neither did they have Water Release users to override the mist. But if it rained, the mist would naturally weigh down, eliminating visibility-reducing fog. No#4 almost immediately trashed the plan as he couldn't predict the intensity of rain, and depending on uncontrollable natural phenomena wasn't wise. They had to find the target and eliminate him.
"Done," said No#4.
But as they were about to move out, they heard something. No#4 looked down just in time to see a figure phase out of the ground. It was the target. He ejected from the ground with eight water tentacles floating behind, each holding two kunai. The next instant, all sixteen kunai were thrown towards him from a dangerous short range.
No#3 immediately jumped in between the kunai and No#4. It was normal for the team to protect the iryo-nin, and No#4 weaved hand seals despite seeing the kunai dug into No#3 despite the latter's best effect to deflect them. No#4 knew it would take more than some kunai to take No#3 down, and continued to weave hand seals for Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu.
But then the tentacles slithered like snakes and moved around No#3 to grab No#4, who felt the wet liquid water held together and partially solidified using chakra wrap around his body and more importantly his hands. Before he could complete the last two hand seals, his hands were harshly pulled apart.
Baam!
No#4 felt a strong gust of wind and force flutter his cloak and clothes. He stared in shock as No#3 in front of him slid down to the ground, leaving nothing between him and the target.
The target was a mess. There was an ugly cut on the right side of his face; the left side was burned. His clothes were torn and burned with plenty of unsightly cuts and bruises that he and his team had inflicted. He could tell the target's condition was one push away from serious. Most would fall apart in the target's condition—he now understood why the master instructor had assembled a four people team for a single genin.
The tentacles spasmed and tightened around No#4's arms, legs, and torso. He tried to resist and overpower the tentacles, but the tentacles were iron chains refusing to budge.
"I'll keep one alive, but that's not you," the target whispered as he thrust a kunai towards him.
No#4 closed his eyes, accepting his end. He was aware of the danger of the mission and knew that he could die on any mission. But he was honored to die on duty while protecting the foundation, and repay the life and purpose the Lord Commander had given to him.
Nothing happened in the next moment.
Clang! Clang!
"Ugh!"
No#4 opened his eyes to see two metal chains bound around the target's arms, who struggled against the chains. Their eyes met, and the target immediately chucked his kunai up, which was caught by an empty tentacle that struck out towards him, but before the kunai could reap his throat, the chains pulled, and the target was harshly pulled back—and No#4, bound by the tentacles, went along with him.
The sudden pull disrupted the tentacle holding the kunai, lodging deep into No#4's upper abdomen. He spurted blood out of his mouth.
One of the chains rattled around the target's arm, and in a bright flash, a surge of lightning shot up the chain and electrocuted the target. The next moment, two arms clutched No#4's arm and pulled him away from the tentacles.
"Are you alright, brother?" asked No#1.
"Y-Yeah," replied No#4. "Leave me and focus on the target."
No#1 and No#2 put No#4 down at a distance and disappeared into the fog.
No#4 felt wetness on his face, and a chill shot up through his spine, but then he looked up to see the fog clearing up as rain began to fall in earnest.
He wanted to heal himself, but instead of doing that, he turned back and hobbled toward No#3.
They needed to finish this now.
———
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Takuma got rid of the chains around him as his body spasmed from the Lightning Release jutsu. The pain in his chest was at an all-time worse as his heart burned with every beat. He was already tired from the Ring fight, and now felt he could collapse at any time.
He looked up as rain fell on the ground, erasing his Hidden Mist Jutsu. His biggest advantage was no more.
Takuma undid his Eight Tentacles Jutsu and let the water fall away. He weaved hand seals for Eight Tentacles Jutsu again, and this time, the water behind his back was double the previous time. The tentacles that formed from the water blob were thicker and longer than before.
He looked ahead, and as the fog dissipated, he could see two figures, but that was only momentarily as two huge fireballs bellowed toward him. Takuma calmly weaved hand seals, sucked in a deep breath, and then spat out a massive water wave towards the two C-rank fire jutsu.
Water Release: Wild Water Wave
The water met the fire, and the flames were extinguished before they could even reach halfway. The collision released a huge amount of water vapor.
Takuma didn't move and observed. His gut told him something was coming, and it turned out right as thick earth spikes flew across the air—it was an Earth Release jutsu— but it wasn't just that. Bright and hot flames surrounded the earth spikes.
It was a combination ninjutsu.
The concept was simple: use two ninjutsu in harmony to become more powerful than a simple sum of the original. Not all justu could be used together in a combination, and the two components needed to be compatible. For example, a Fire Release jutsu could be boosted by a Wind Release jutsu— or a Lightning Release jutsu could cause more damage when conducted through a Water Release jutsu. Incompatible jutsu like Fire Release with Water Release wouldn't work.
Takuma knelt down and quickly formed hand seals before pushing his palms against the ground.
Earth Release: Earthen Dome
Takuma felt the force of the combination jutsu against his shield. He knew it wouldn't last long. Earthen Dome was a derivative of a B-rank jutsu, and unlike the parent jutsu, it lacked the repair ability. Earthen Dome couldn't be repaired and strengthened by actively providing chakra after the initial expenditure.
Takuma weaved hand seals for Hiding in the Rock jutsu to slip into the ground. As the jutsu triggered, Takuma felt a pit in the bottom of his stomach. He was familiar with the feeling—just not during battle.
Perhaps for the first time in a battle, Takuma was concerned about his chakra usage. He hadn't run out, not at all, but this was the first time he had used so much in a fight—and not a single of his enemies were dead.
But with the Hidden Mist Jutsu gone, he could unleash his other specialty.
———
.
No#1 and No#2 stared at the aftermath of their combination jutsu. The jutsu was strong enough to tear through any C-rank jutsu—and in this situation, it had also illuminated the surroundings in the form of fires and embers.
"Can you see the target?" asked No#1.
"Negative," No#2 replied.
They looked at each other and slowly moved closer to the burn site.
"It's okay, I'm right here."
The two assassins whipped around to spot the target standing before them with his hands together, forming a hand seal.
They moved to strike the target down when the situation suddenly changed. Dozens of clones stepped out of the shadows, phasing out of the grounds, jumping down from the buildings. In a couple of moments, the entire road was filled with clones of the target, and they were completely surrounded.
The two straightaway put their swords away and began forming hand seals.
———
.
Takuma walked towards No#4 as No#1 and No#2 dealt with Genjutsu: Mist Servant Jutsu. He had gotten really good at his first genjutsu—he could now create an illusion of multiple dozens of clones appearing simultaneously.
Takuma felt explosions go behind him. He turned to see small football-sized fireballs fly around. The explosions were followed by earth spears; Takuma had to dodge one of them. It didn't matter how many jutsu they used; they wouldn't be able to get rid of the "clones."
'Use more chakra, exhaust yourself,' Takuma thought as he walked away from the two trapped assassins.
He eventually reached his destination, where No#4 was slumped against the ground, healing himself.
They looked at each other, and No#4 opened his mouth to yell, but two kunai thrown from the tentacles dug directly into his throat, instantly killing No#4.
The iryo-nin was down.
Shatter!
Takuma turned back towards No#1 and No#2. They broke through the genjutsu, and they did it fast. From their reaction to directly going for ninjutsu showed that they were deep in the thrall of the genjutsu—aggressiveness was an indicator they completely believed the genjutsu—which made the quick escape abnormal.
'Unless someone else broke them out…'
Takuma turned to No#4 and a tight smile appeared on his face.
"You didn't heal yourself, did you," he whispered.
An iryo-nin's role was to heal his teammates. No#4 had done just that—he had healed No#3, who had then broken No#1 and No#2 out of the genjutsu. It was an excellent decision that snowballed into more good for the team.
"Good man…"
Takuma turned to walk away when his left leg gave away. It was so sudden that the tentacles had to prop himself to stop him from falling on pure instinct.
He stared at his leg in horror, and it was shaking, but no matter how much Takuma tried, he couldn't move it at all.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!