Although Reina was itching to beat the living hell out of the approaching enemies, she didn't forget her actual mission—protecting Genzo and his goods.
While the enemies were still over seventy meters away, Reina shared the information about the enemy ninjas and their approximate strength with the ninjas and samurai hired by Genzo.
Ninja battles were unpredictable.
Although Reina and Natsumi were confident about dealing with the enemies and protecting Genzo at the same time, she could never be too cautious.
What if one of the enemies launched an unpredictable attack at Genzo from the very first moment, causing him to lose his life?
After all, Genzo was still just a powerless civilian.
If he really died because his guards received enemy intel late or they failed to stay vigilant, wouldn't the mission fail right away?
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Besides, sharing intel on the common enemies was basic combat and tactical code.
As Reina delivered the enemy intel to Genzo and his ninjas, their expressions immediately became grimmer.
Fukada Ren thanked them. "Thank you for the prior intel. We will immediately set up a defensive formation to protect Lord Genzo and his goods. We will also lend you our best ninjas and manpower to help you deal with them."
Reina nodded. "That would be for the best. But I suggest sending Mr. Genzo inside the most secure carriage and protecting it until we all finish dealing with the enemies."
Fukada Ren couldn't agree more. "We were already planning to do that. Thank you for your concern."
With that, Reina said no more and joined Natsumi.
The entire exchange of words happened within a few seconds.
Fukada Ren was incredibly efficient. He quickly sent Genzo into the carriage containing the mysterious hexagonal crystal and secured the perimeter with his most trusted, combat-capable ninjas.
Seeing this, Reina was quite satisfied.
The client's security had been arranged.
Now, it was time to show the skulking, ambushing bastards why the roses were red.
On the other hand, Genzo's moves and the sudden tightening of the security around the caravan didn't escape the notice of the leader of the hidden ambush group.
One of the three Special Jonins spoke gravely, "Look at their movements, captain. It seems we have been exposed."
"That's indeed the case," the team captain, a full-fledged Jonin, agreed with his subordinate's deduction. Looking at the changing formation of the caravan guards and ninjas, even a fool could determine that they had discovered their approach.
The leader looked at his team and said, "Since they have already discovered us, hiding any longer is futile. But it doesn't matter."
"Let's charge at them and show them our squad's power. How could a ragtag group of ninjas and samurai possibly deter us?"
"Yes, Captain!!!" xN
"Let's go!"
At the leading ninja's signal, the group emerged from their hiding spots, drew their kunai and blades, and immediately charged at Reina, Natsumi, Fukada Ren, and the ninja and samurai guards hired by Genzo.
Two Special Jonin and five Chunin at the back formed several hand seals within seconds. Before they could engage in melee, they wanted to overwhelm the caravan guards and surrounding enemy ninjas with devastating ninjutsu attacks.
They gathered a large amount of water-natured chakra in their throats and cast their ninjutsu at the same time.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique x7
All of them expelled torrents of water from their mouths, which quickly transformed into seven several-meters-long water dragon constructs and rushed toward the caravan group with the momentum of a speeding truck.
"Oh no, you don't."
The moment Reina saw the attack coming, she didn't hesitate to take action.
She used two single-handed hand seals, kneading an immense amount of earth-natured chakra. Then she placed her right hand on the ground and flooded it with her chakra.
Earth Release: Earth-style Wall
Ounnnng!
The ground before Reina trembled for a brief moment. Then, in the blink of an eye, a five-meter-high and ten-meter-wide solid wall of earth rose from the ground.
Bang!
A few heartbeats later, the seven water dragons violently crashed into the protective earth wall with a loud bang. The sheer collective momentum of the seven water dragons caused several cracks to appear on the earth wall.
But it still held up.
As Reina cut off the chakra supply to the earth wall, the protective wall immediately collapsed.
The enemy ninjas were rushing toward them. The distance between Reina and the enemy ninjas was less than fifteen meters.
But Reina wasn't worried.
Because Natsumi had already finished forming her hand seals and slammed the ground with both of her hands.
Earth Release: Ground Wave
A quiet shockwave traveled through the ground, folding the earth continuously like the rapid waves formed on the surface of the water after a stone is thrown into it.
The tremor and upheaval of the ground wave quickly reached the approaching enemy ninjas, violently disturbing their balance.
The majority of the Chunin-level or higher ninjas still managed to stay on their feet. But the others, especially the majority of the thirty Genin, failed to maintain their balance and fell to the ground.
And Reina would never miss such a golden opportunity.
After performing only one single-handed seal, she quickly exhaled a large sphere of flames and threw more than twenty shurikens at it.
Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson
The volley of over twenty shurikens passed through the flame sphere, carrying devastatingly hot flames and fire-natured chakra. Each shuriken now had even more piercing power and carried the elemental force to burn its target.
Cold, black metal shurikens turned red-hot and followed bizarre trajectories, bypassed the Jonin and Chunin who were still standing, and precisely targeted the fallen Chunin and Genin.
Many fallen Genin and Chunin still managed to dodge them.
But the others were not so lucky.
"Ahhhhhhh"
"Argh…"
"No…"
The scorching-hot flaming shurikens pierced the throats, hearts, and heads of seven Genin and one Chunin, instantly igniting their breathing pipes, hearts, lungs, and brains, effectively ending their lives.
A few red-hot shurikens also managed to land on the limbs or graze the torsos of the other unfortunate ninjas, dealing severe lacerating and burning damage, diminishing their immediate combat power to varying degrees.
The sight of his fallen subordinates filled the enemy Jonin leader with rage.
He was about to curse and threaten Reina and charge at her to end her life when he witnessed her bringing out two giant fuma shurikens from who knew where.
Reina immediately infused her fuma shurikens with fire chakra and threw them toward the enemy group with great speed.
Ssshhhhkkk…!!
The scorching-hot fuma shurikens tore through the wind and moved with a shrill, high-pitched sound—death set on slicing anything blocking their paths in half.
"Dodge it. Move sideways! Now!"
The enemy leader barked as he and other experienced ninjas who were closest to Reina jumped sideways to dodge the fuma shurikens.
However, one Chunin was still too late to move. One of the red-hot fuma shurikens sliced his left leg at the thigh like a hot knife through a block of butter.
"Ahhhhhh…"
The Chunin screamed and fell to the ground like a broken doll. The pain of losing his leg and the burning sensation of fire chakra almost made him faint in sheer agony.
But the fuma shurikens didn't care and kept moving ahead like sharks ready to hunt the next prey.
The remaining ninjas, who were quite some distance away from Reina, saw the incoming fuma shurikens and dodged them with ease.
The Genin and Chunin at the back, who had just dodged the fuma shurikens, looked at Reina mockingly.
"Heh! Inexperienced brat. Did she think she could hit us with such a large projectile from that far away?"
"Right. Wishful thinking."
"Once we close the gap, we will tear her apart, one limb at a time."
Facing the insults, Reina's expression was calm.
Seeing her calm face, the enemy leader suddenly had a bad premonition. "Something is not right…"
But before he could think any further, Reina moved.
She swiped both of her hands backwards. In her hands were several very thin wires.
And those wires were connected to the fuma shurikens she had just thrown.
The Jonin leader saw those almost imperceptible wires and then her crimson eyes.
A severe chill instantly ran down his spine.
"Oh no, she's from the Uchiha clan," the Jonin leader warned his subordinates behind him. "Scatter now. Her fuma shurikens can change their directions."
Obviously, his warning came too late.
Following Reina's hand movement, the two fuma shurikens quickly disassembled into several sharp, scorching-red pieces.
And in the blink of an eye, those sharp, scorching fuma shuriken fragments stopped in their tracks and turned back toward the snickering Genin and Chunin, who had just dodged the giant shurikens.
At the same time, they also heard their captain's frantic warning.
Before their brain could even process anything, several scorching-hot, sharp fuma shuriken fragments stabbed their bodies.
Some large, red-hot fragments stabbed several Genin- and Chunin-level ninjas' torsos, instantly pulverizing their internal organs using pure brute force, sharp edges, and high-temperature fire chakra.
Other fragments stabbed their limbs.
Three unfortunate Genin were also stabbed in the back of their necks and heads, immediately ending their lives without suffering.
"Arrrggghhhh…"
"Ugh…"
"Ahhhh!!!"
Those who were stabbed by the shuriken fragments but weren't dead yet screamed at the top of their lungs.
In the end, from the fuma shuriken assault alone, 8 Genin and 2 Chunin died.
Four Genin and three Chunin were cripped.
The other enemy ninjas looked at their fellow ninjas' misery with horrified expressions on their faces.
Not even thirty seconds had passed since the battle began, and they had already lost more than half of their Genin and Chunin. Several others were injured or crippled.
Since the beginning of their ninja careers, they had never suffered such devastating losses.
And to their horror, the one responsible for this was just one teenage Uchiha girl.
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A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and get access to the 14 Advanced chapters!
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