"Look at what we have here."
a Voice comes from the forest around them, followed by many chuckles.
"a Bunch of tree huggers." The voice spoke while a man came out from the trees. On the man's forehead a metal plate was tied around by cloth.
Jiraiya frowned. "Iwagakure." He muttered, sensing more people still hiding in behind the trees, slowly surrounding them.
Minato walked towards Jiraiya, a kunai within his grip while Byakuya slowly followed with narrowed eyes, focused on the enemies.
"Jiraiya-Sensei." Minato called out softly, his expression serious. "We're surrounded and they have at least ten Jonin." He revealed. Jiraiya nodded at the statement as he'd already sensed them.
"What a wonderful welcome ceremony!" Jiraiya clapped his hands, smiling. "But you guys must surely be too confident if you wish to take us down with just this."
The Iwa ninja spat at the ground. "Jiraiya... One of the Three legendary Sannin. a Title given to you by Hanzo the Demi-God." He spoke, carefully choosing his words. "I do admit ten Jonins do not bare the qualifications to battle you head on..." The man glanced at the ninja around Jiraiya.
In total, Jiraiya had brought twenty four men including them. But there was only two Jonin on his side.
Jiraiya frowned, understanding the hidden message. Quickly his hand blurred through seals. Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram. Jiraiya bit his thumb and slammed it against the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Jiraiya bellowed as seals spread out from under his hand before erupting in smoke.
The smoke quickly clearing, Jiraiya stood atop a toad summons that wore seven beads around it's neck. Loyalty standing proudly on the biggest bead.
"Tsk." The Iwa ninja clicked his tongue and roared. "Attack!" His words rung through the forest and many ninja's jumped out the cover from the trees, launching themselves at the Konoha ninjas.
Jiraiya got ready for an attack, only to realize none of the Iwa ninjas had come to attack him. All of their targets were the others. The Konoha Jonin were outnumbered as two Iwa Jonins grouped up against them, with the other Jonin joining in attacking the rest of the group.
"Gama! Protect my students!" Jiraiya commanded before jumping off of the toad's back. Mid-air, Jiraiya made a cross seal with his hands.
"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Around him, clouds of smoke burst into existence before revealing multiple shadow clones of Jiraiya that didn't hover long before they split up, targeting different Iwa shinobi.
Meanwhile, Byakuya stood next to Minato and his two teammates. He slowly drew his Zanpakuto.
In front of them, the leading Iwa Jonin strode carefree. Inching closer to them as he spoke. "Abandoned by the great Sannin." He chuckled, wanting to continue his taunts, but stopped as Gama rushed towards him.
"Gama. I'll back you up!" Minato spoke from behind Gama, who nodded. Minato reached into the bag on his leg and pulled out a few shuriken before throwing it out from behind Gama, hoping to catch the Jonin off guard.
*Ting!*
The Jonin deflected the shuriken, sneering at the toad in front of him. "Shuriken? Really?" He said before feeling something crawl around his abdomen. Looking down, he spots a tongue wrapped around him.
'When did he?' He thought before being flung into the air.
Minato jumped onto Gama's back, using it as leverage and launched himself into the air. Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger → Monkey. His hand speeds through the seals before he took out multiple shuriken. "Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni!"
The shuriken catch aflame and Minato hurls it towards the suspended Jonin.
*Poof!*
Getting hit by the flaming shuriken, the Jonin, bursts into a puff of smoke, his body replaced by a log.
"Shit!" Minato cursed, snapping his head around as he descended. There he saw the Jonin standing behind Byakuya with a smirk.
"Hehe. Stop right there, tree hugger." The Jonin smirk as he spotted Minato trying to rush towards him again. The glint of his kunai shone from underneath Byakuya's chin. "I'll kill this brat if you make one wrong move." He threatened.
Minato winced, spotting a drop of blood streaking down Byakuya's neck. But what confused Minato even more was how calm Byakuya was.
"Minato-san. Just kill him." Byakuya spoke, his voice not wavering.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya glanced into their direction, panting as his shadow clones were nowhere to be seen. He cursed himself. On their way here, the Chunin shinobi had asked him to demonstrate some Jutsu. And him being himself decided to impress them, wasting a lot of chakra.
He had finished off most of the Jonin, leaving only two left, but although they were panting just as heavily as he was, they still outnumbered him. The Jonin on his side had already been taken out. One killed and one unconscious. So only he was left to deal with them.
'Shit!' Jiraiya cursed as he realized the situation.
The Iwa Jonin behind Byakuya started chuckling. "The legendary Sannin. Jiraiya." His tone became dangerous. "I thought I was sent to my own death by my Village... But I trusted the mission. I trusted their words... Jiraiya is too friendly. All I had to do was target the weakest person here. Haha!"
Minato narrowed his eyes before it suddenly widened as he looked at Byakuya's Zanpakuto.
"Your arrogance will be your downfall." Byakuya's voice cuts the Iwa ninja's laughter short.
Sneering, the Jonin pressed the kunai against Byakuya's neck further. "a Dead boy speaking his last wor-!"
Suddenly, two sakura petals shot into the man's mouth, penetrating straight through the roof of his mouth, exiting the top of his head.
Byakuya calmly lifted his arm and pushed the man away.
*Bang.*
The body falls against the floor, blood spilling out of the head.
"C-Captain?!" One of the last Iwa ninja stuttered with wide eyes, looking at the dead body fall.
Byakuya turns towards the one who spoke and waved the hilt of his bladeless Zanpakuto.
*Fwooo*
Hundreds of petals pierced out from the ground underneath the ninja.
"Ahhhhh!" a Shrill cry ring out from the center of the raging pillar of petals. a Few seconds later, the petals calm down and floated back to Byakuya, leaving the bloodied and mangled corpse strewn on the ground.
Minato frowned at the brutality, but brushed it off and appeared next to Jiraiya. His teammates, not falling behind, also reached their sensei.
"Haah!" Dekai, the dark skinned teammate, yelled out, jumping into the air with a kunai gripped in his hand.
The last tired Jonin raised his own kunai, preparing to strike this fool down.
Suddenly, a rope catches Dekai mid air and pulled him back to the group. The Iwa Jonin followed his movements with his eyes, gazing at the team with caution. 'Something's off...' He thought, narrowing his eyes.
'One... Two... Three... Where's the fou-' His thoughts couldn't finish before a kunai pierced his neck. With his last breath, he glanced to his back, wanting to know who killed him, only to see a head of striking yellow hair. "Cough!" His mouth, filled with blood, opens up. "To die like this..."