The ground was still settling when I turned away from the rising walls.
Stone groaned and shifted across the entire valley as the Shattered Fortress Labyrinth finished locking into place. What had once been open terrain was now divided into colossal corridors of stone with walls climbing skyward in, cutting off wide clusters of teams from each other. Even at the narrowest points, the corridors stretched nearly a quarter of a kilometer across wide and were thick enough to block most C-ranked jutsus.
It was not a subtle jutsu, so everyone realized that something was happening. Shouts echoed from somewhere beyond the stone. Commands meant for tight formations dissolved into confusion as squads realized they had been separated from each other. The open battlefield had become a game of hide-and-seek.
"Nawaki," I said, already turning toward him. "Get moving. My clones will help you gather people and get out of here. The sooner that we regroup, the sooner we can reclaim this region."
He braced himself against the pain in his shoulder, blood soaking into his sleeve where something had torn through muscle. His eyes flicked toward the immense stone corridors, then back to me. "We can still hold the inner line..."
"No," I cut in, calm and final. "You've held long enough, and another four outposts are under attack."
"These corridors are still stabilizing," Earth said. "Wide enough for jutsu exchanges, but the walls will block mass coordination. I can guide safe routes and open paths where needed."
"And we'll find anyone still fighting," Chrono added. "Pull them back before they get boxed in."
"That's your job," I confirmed. Then I met Nawaki's eyes. "You don't fight on the way out. You lead. Anyone who can walk, walks, and anyone who can't gets carried."
He held my gaze for a moment, jaw tight, then nodded. "Don't make us wait."
"I won't."
They moved immediately, Earth guiding the flow of stone subtly as they entered one of the massive corridors. The path ahead widened rather than narrowed; the labyrinth accommodating retreat without turning it into a bottleneck. Their chakra signatures stretched outward almost at once, branching as they began locating Leaf shinobi scattered across the western half.
Without hesitation, I scaled the rapidly forming giant walls and looked over the eastern side. The outpost should have been hidden under the canopy of trees, but some type of explosion or justu had denotated close by, destroying the trees and most of the main structure. There were dead bodies scattered among the rubble, bone, and ice, but no one was currently moving down in the crater, so I flashed through a number of hand signs to activate my FTG Map. It took me a moment to isolate and focus on the area around me, but it gave me a good idea of where our people were clustered.
I summoned my Magnet and Explosion clones then instructed, "Focus on extraction."
They nodded before dashing opposite directions along the top of the wall. I summoned Hana and Saru and had them switch immediately to their weapon forms. With a chakra enhanced leap, I shot off the high and angled myself towards a cluster of Leaf ninjas which already had signs of Kaguya clan members. I charged their tonfa forms with Laser chakra, making them glow blue and red, as I fell like a meteor then lashed out with their whip forms.
The red and blue whips cut through the branches like they were nothing and I flipped to land on my feet. The ground cracked with my landing, directly behind a group of Mist ninjas who were pushing the Leaf back. I spun on my heel, swinging the whips outwards, and sliced through an unlucky chunin. He screamed out in pain as his lower half split from his top, wounds seared shut by the laser whips, which caused the rest of his group to turn around.
My eyes narrowed in on two Kaguya jonin, judging by their chakra levels, and they both looked back at me with bloodthirsty grins. I kicked off the ground as Hana and Saru snapped back to their tonfa forms and dashed straight at the nearest. He raised a bone covered arm to block my blow as he prepared to impale me with his other arm, but the Shinobi world had no understanding of the power of Laser chakra. The long end of Hana stabbed through the bone plating and then his heart as my fist slammed into his arm, forcing it against his chest, like he was made of tofu.
Just like a lightsaber, the tonfa cut and burned its way through his body as I started to turn towards the other jonin. Saru stretched out, shifting to his whip form, and cut several of the nearby chunin and genin to varying degrees of damage. The remaining Kaguya raised his hand, pointing all fingers at me, then fired bone bullets at me. I raised Hana in front of me, cutting through two while twisting my body to dodge the remaining one, though I received two minor scratches across my hip and side. Saru, still in whip form, slashed him in half as I finished my spin and came to a stop.
The few Mist ninjas that were still standing scattered, realizing they were facing a losing battle. I let them go and turned to face the Leaf squad. The jonin was heavily injured, but still standing, and was accompanied by three genin and a chunin, who were all looking at me with various levels of surprise.
"Head west to Escape Route C, and gather any of our people as along the way. I've got clones along the walls, so channel your chakra into them if you need to get through; they'll assist if they can," I ordered, tossing a medkit to the jonin.
"Yes, Commander," the jonin replied.
I did not wait and dashed away, heading deeper east as I followed the sounds of combat. Once I was close to the other wall, I ran up the side with Hana and Saru holstered at my waist, so that I could rain down jutsu on any Mist ninjas I saw; they returned fire when they could, but with my hands free, I could use a marked shuriken to escape any well aimed shots. When I spotted a Leaf ninja, I would summon one of my remaining unused clones to deliver the retreat orders then dismiss themselves.
Around a corner, the corridor was filled with ice and bone spikes that had destroyed much of the forest, and it was clear why. Seven Mist jonin were facing off against three Leaf while a dozen or so chunin and genin fought along the edges. There were numerous dead bodies scattered around, and the Leaf ninjas still standing were covered in wounds, but unsurprisingly, the Uchiha refused to surrender to their wounds.
Recognizing that five of the seven Mist jonin were Kagura clam while the other clan seemed to be Yuri, I knew that I needed to strike hard the moment that I entered. I summoned my Yang clone and fused with her, creating a faint golden glow around my entire body and healing my wounds as if I was actively using my Mystic Palm technique. I pulled Hana and Saru, refilling them with Laser chakra, then kicked off the wall so hard that I shattered a good chunk of the corner.
The following boom drew the attention of all the genin and chunin, and even a few of the jonin, though most of the Kaguya clan ignored it as they pressed their advantage. Hana and Saru extended into their whip forms, glowing red and blue, and I swung them, aiming for several of the distracted Kaguya and one of the Yuri. As expected, when the Kaguya noticed the incoming attack, they simply extended their bone armor and continued their attacks. I sliced through the arms of two of the Kaguya while the Yuri was smart enough to dodge, moving to another ice mirror the moment that Saru started to melt through the one she had been in. Landing caused the ground to fracture and explode in twenty-meter radius of me, disrupting friend and foe alike, but I absorbed the impact and sprang forward, swinging the Laser whips towards the two Yuri jonin since they were more dangerous than the Kaguya to me.
The pair quickly realized that they were my focus and began to retreat together as one created a narrow corridor of ice mirrors, and the other fired numerous ice senbon needles. My armor was able to block most of the needles and the ones that pierced my skin melted away and the wounds closed almost instantly, so I did not stop moving. Hana and Saru swung out like a set of scissors, slicing through the ice mirrors, and one of their legs, with ease. The older man landed hard on the ground with a scream, but I ended it with a stomp to his throat before leaping towards the last Yuri ninja.
"Don't ignore us!" one of the Kaguya shouted.
Multiple bone bullets were fired at my back, but it was the bone spire that erupted under my feet that nearly got me. I broke the tip as I kicked off it, but the bone shards and spire continued to chase after me in the air. I threw Hana spinning at the Yuri like a sawblade while I cut through the bone pieces that drew too close as I flipped through the air.
A fireball exploded into one of the Kaguya that attacked me, curtesy of one of the Uchiha, while I landed and cut through the arm and side of one of the Kaguya. Despite seeing how easily the Lasser charged weapon cut through their bone armor, the one I threw Saru at still met the red swirling laser head-on with both his bone swords. Saru seared through the swords and his chest before he popped with plume of smoke, unsummoning himself just as Hana had done after cutting her own target. Laser chakra was overpowered, but the major drawback was they could only channel it for a short amount of time before the damage got too great for them while even chakra-metal would melt under the stress.
With my Yang clone fused with me, my Yang Chakra Enhanced Strength was on an entirely different level, so I did not need to rely solely on Laser chakra to handle the remaining Kaguya. I shot towards the one who had been hit by the fireball and slammed my fist into his chest, shattering bone armor and sending him flying back, though many of the bone shards tore through parts of my armor.
"Commander!" one of the Uchiha shouted with alarm.
"Help the rest then head for Escape Route C. We're abandoning the outpost for now," I ordered as I pulled a few bone shards out of my gut and arm, wounds slowly sealing on their own.
The Mist genin and chunin had already began to retreat once I cut through the first of the jonin, so many of the Leaf's had given chase with invigorated shouts. The more senior Uchiha directed the other two to assist while he approached me slowly. He had taken a number of wounds across his arms and legs, but none were in life-threatening positions.
"Commander, let me assist you," he said.
"I'm just focused on getting our people out of here. If you have the strength, head northeast and pass along retreat order," I instructed, waiting a few more moments for my wounds.
"I can direct..." his words were cut off by a chime and flash of silver light at my waist.
My silent curse turned vocal the moment that I read the note that had just been sent, and I grabbed the signal flare from my waist, firing a violet rocket into the sky. I summoned my Fire clone before dashing for the nearest wall to scale it. The clone could work with the Uchiha to save more of our people, but it was clear that big moves were truly being made since the main camp was under attack now. It did not take long after I reached the top of the wall before I saw Chrono leap onto another wall as she ran towards me. Although I could make it back on my own, it would leave me drained and force me to rely solely on my clones which I did not want to do. There was only one meaning for the violet flare, so I did not even need to explain before Chrono was teleporting me back the moment that she reached me.
A/N: Yay, I'm not dead nor the story lol... Sorry to my readers, especially those that have messaged me directly asking if I was still working on this. I've been dealing with a lot of mental health issues, but I've been getting better lately. I did myself, and all of you a big disservice by stopping where I did, so please forgive me. I know this chapter was a little shorter than it should have been, but I figured that something was better than nothing. I'm trying to get back into the story, and this should be the first big step.