90% of warfare is just sitting around and waiting, in Kannin's experience. He had made a little tent for himself where he managed his brigade, held meetings, and waited for Kumo to do something. Konoha didn't have the manpower to go on the offensive, so most the strategy was just preparing for whatever the Raikage would throw at them.
In the last two months, Kannin had only been in 3 battles. The first fight was shortly after they got settled in their new positions. In the dark of night, around 1 am, his subordinate Hitori burst through is tent flap, waking him up,
"Kannin! Attack on our left flank!"
Scrambling out of bed, and only putting on his cloak over his pjs, he asked, "Oyake's company? How many?"
"About 300."
"Alright," Kannin said, strategizing, "maneuver Mikoto's company to support, put yours in reserve. I don't want to commit in case it's a diversion."
"Yes sir!" Hitori shouted, flickering away to his duties.
Running over to the noise on the left, Kannin emerged in a clearing filled with tree stumps and upturned clods of dirt beneath the inky sky. He tried to get a better view of the situation, but the darkness was too thick.
Looking around, he realized that Warai's brigade was on his left, and she might be here as well. He ran up to the nearest Konoha-nin he could see and asked her if she had seen Warai around, to which she pointed into the onyx haze, slightly ahead and to the left. He thanked her and ran off to find her. With her Sharingan, the darkness would be less of an impediment, just like way back in Uzushiogakure.
After wandering in the void for a few moments without finding anyone, he eventually bumped into Warai battling a Kumo jonin. Looking at her, she was in a tough spot, she wasn't bleeding, thankfully, but she had a number of strange, cobweb-like scarifications on her arms.
"Who are we fighting this time?"
Warai looked over in surprise, and a bit of thankfulness to be getting assistance from her old friend.
"Kumo jonin," She said, "he's incredibly proficient with lightning release. Every time I try to get close he releases a ring of sparks."
"Genjutsu?"
"It's too dark to catch him with my eyes."
"Damn."
Looking around, he knew he wouldn't be able to rely on his eyes as much as he would want. Making up his mind, he released an AOE wind release jutus, 360 Wind Slash to try and catch the Kumo-nin, but to no avail.
"Can you at least see him?"
Warai took a moment to look around, "Behind the tree stump at 10 o'clock."
Locking onto his location, Kannin sent more wind blades, but it seemed like the Kumo-nin dodged them.
"We can take out 500 Iwa-nin on our own, but can't handle one Kumo-nin?" He said with exasperation.
He decided not to rely on Warai's Sharingan for the moment, it was simply too slow. Quickly biting his thumb and letting it bleed, he unfurled his sealing scroll and summoned Kiyo to his side. Just then, Warai pushed him to the side, as he heard two kunai woosh past his ear.
"Thanks" Turning to Kiyo, "Can you pick out the Kumo-nin hiding?"
"4 sandwiches." she responded
Shaking his head, Kannin said, "Fine."
Kannin took Koseki by the handle, and once Kiyo smelled the Kumo-nin in some brush nearby, he closed his eyes, gathering wind chakra to accompany his slash, much like the time in Ame. Once he felt ready, he opened his eyes and swiped his sword across his chest. Warai, who had seen this once before, felt bad for the jonin she was fighting. Kannin had access to one of the strongest wind attacks she had ever seen, so she had little hope for the Kumo-nin to survive.
Kannin released a smaller version of his attack from Ame, which he had yet to actually name, since the last time he used it he ended up on the floor himself. Nonetheless, the force that came out of him was deafening. A wave of condensed air shot out in a crescent across the field, cutting any standing tree in half, shredding their leaves and bark, and stripping the nearby grass and foliage off the earth.
Warai said her prayers for the Kumo ninja's sake, when he vision suddenly brightened. In the voracious emptiness of the night, a pillar of fire erupted, lighting up the surroundings. In the column of flame, Warai saw a man, about 19 or 20, standing with one hand at his chest forming a seal. Warai could see his face, tired and bloody, but his eyes were burning with what seemed like hatred.
Whatever was dry was now ablaze, which had the advantage of lightening the atmosphere for Warai's Sharingan--now she could be of more help. Readying 4 kunai, she ran at the kumo-nin, with Kannin not far behind. She leapt up and threw her kunai, forcing the Kumo-nin to move, right where she had sent a reddish-orange jet of flame from her mouth. The Kumo-nin went to dodge that attack as well, but Warai saw Kannin emerge as if from nothing behind the enemy, sword in hand, and slash at him.
However, he missed--the speed of Kumo-nin was not to underestimated.
"Well, Warai," Kannin said with a smirk, "now that you can see, why don't we let loose."
Warai wasn't going to deny Kannin his fun. She smiled and gathered more chakra to her eyes, the tomoes in her Sharingan spinning with fury.
-
To everyone else fighting in the vicinity, all they sensed was an suffocating pressure as Kannin's large wind slash ripped through the battlefield--and then a searing heat and light climbing into the darkened sky, leaving flames licking up the wood and leaves nearby. Many shinobi had stopped to see who was fighting, only to see a 13 year old and 15 year old fighting a single jonin.