The battlefield had gone quiet, too quiet. The red flash that had swallowed the ground after Kurogiri had put his hands on the ground for a heartbeat was gone.
But Shota's gut twisted like a kunai in his stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong. This was confirmed by Kurogiri's words, "This is my Explosion Release: Hidden Mine jutsu. Welcome to my playground."
From his hiding spot behind a half-crushed boulder, Shota watched Kurogiri stand calm in the center of the field. Shota immediately used his Erasure to shut down Kurogiri's chakra completely.
No more jutsu for him. So why did the villain look so smug?
Sōshi's voice cracked through the silence, loud enough for even Shota to hear clearly.
"Everyone, freeze! Don't take another step! This is Kurogiri's A-rank jutsu, Explosion Release: Hidden Mine Jutsu!"
Shota's ears perked up. He had heard of Explosion Release before, but never this jutsu. Sōshi kept shouting, his voice steady despite the sweat rolling down his face.
"He poured his chakra straight into the ground the second he touched it. That red flash? That was him planting hundreds, no, thousands of tiny chakra bombs under the dirt. They're invisible. They don't need hand signs to work. The moment anything touches them that isn't Kurogiri himself, boom! They explode with the force of a paper bomb, maybe stronger. The blast radius is small, but step on one and your leg is gone. Step on two and you're dead. He turned this whole field into a death trap!"
Shota clenched his teeth. That explained the red flash. Kurogiri had used the split second before Shota's Erasure kicked in to dump every drop of chakra he had into the ground.
'He used every last bit of his chakra without falling unconscious because he knew that he would not be able to use any more chakra later. Thus, he used it in a single instance.' Shota thought
The mines were already set. Already active. Shota's quirk could stop jutsu from being cast, but it couldn't erase something that was already finished. The battlefield was a giant booby trap now, and they were all standing in it.
The last Suna puppeteer apart from Sõsh gulped audibly. His puppets hovered beside him, "So… we just stand here?"
"Exactly," Sōshi snapped. "One wrong move and we're dead."
Kurogiri chuckled, low and smooth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cheap metal lighter. Flick. A tiny flame danced to life. He stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it with the lighter. Puff. Smoke curled up into the misty air around his face.
Shota stared from his hiding spot. 'Is this guy seriously trying to look cool right now? Lighting a smoke in the middle of a fight? Unforgivable. If my legs weren't charcoal, I'd wrap my capture weapon around his neck and make him eat that cigarette. Sideways.'
The thought made Shota snort despite the pain. He pictured Kurogiri choking on tobacco and ash, eyes bulging. Yeah. That would be funny. Too bad he could barely move.
Kurogiri exhaled a perfect smoke ring. "Let's begin, shall we?"
He dropped into a taijutsu stance, knees bent, fists up, weight balanced. And he charged
Sōshi's puppets sprang to life. Ten wooden figures with blades for arms and poison needles in their mouths leaped forward. The last Suna puppeteer followed suit, his own three puppets rattling into action.
Step. Step. BOOM!
The first puppet hit a mine and exploded into splinters. BOOM! BOOM! Two more went up in quick succession, chunks of wood raining down like deadly confetti. The other puppets didn't last longer, one step, one blast, gone.
Sōshi yanked his strings back, face pale. 'I can't afford to lose more puppets. He had placed these hidden mines for at least a 200 meters in every direction. He knew Shota's Erasure would cut off his chakra mid-fight. So what did he do? He bet everything on that one moment. The second his hands touched the ground, he poured every last drop of chakra into the Hidden Mine Jutsu. Not to fight with it later but to finish the fight before it even started. A trap that didn't need him to keep channeling. A trap that worked on its own. Smart. Terrifyingly smart.'
Kurogiri kept charging and appeared in front of a Suna ninja. The poor guy blocked the attack easily with chakra reinforcement but his feet slid just a little. His eyes widened as the dirt shifted under him.
BOOM!
He leaped straight up, chakra exploding from his legs to launch him into the air. The mine detonated right where his foot had been.
Kurogiri looked up, cigarette still dangling from his lips. Amusement dripped from his voice like honey. "Oh, you dodged the explosion. Impressive. But what happens when you land?"
And the man exploded when he landed on the ground. Kurogiri did not stop his assault though. He reached into his pouch and pulled out two kunai. Each had a paper tag wrapped around the handle.
With a casual flick, he pressed the glowing tip of his cigarette against the tags. They sparked to life, fuses hissing.
Whoosh! He threw them straight at another Suna ninja.
The guy's eyes bulged. He couldn't dodge left or right without risking a mine exploding underneath. He did not have time to use a defensive jutsu. He was a sitting duck.
Sōshi reacted fast. Chakra strings shot from his fingers like spider silk, wrapping around the flying kunai. With a sharp flick of his wrists, he yanked them sideways.
BOOM! BOOM! The explosions went off harmlessly to the sides, blasting craters into empty dirt.
Sōshi didn't stop there. He detached a dozen small snake puppets from his sleeves, each no bigger than a forearm.
The snakes slithered forward in a zigzag pattern, tongues flicking. One exploded after five feet. Another after ten. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They detonated in a chain, carving out a small circle of craters.
"There!" Sōshi shouted. "That spot's clear! Move into the craters!"
The remaining Suna ninja, only four left now hopped carefully into the blasted area. It was tiny, maybe ten feet across, but it was safe. For now.
Kurogiri backed up a little further away, still grinning. There were a lot of hidden mines between him and the Suna shinobi. He reached into another pouch and pulled out fistfuls of clay bombs, small, round, like children's marbles but packed with explosive chakra.
He rolled one between his fingers, then pressed the cigarette's glowing ash against it. Fizzle. It lit.
Whoosh! He lobbed it high into the air toward the Suna group.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" one ninja yelled, hands flashing through seals. A gust of wind erupted from his mouth, slamming into the clay bomb and sending it spinning away. BOOM! It exploded far off to the side.
But Kurogiri was already lighting another. And another. He threw them in arcs, forcing the Suna nin to keep blowing them away. Each Wind jutsu drained their chakra. Sweat poured down their faces. Their hands shook.
Shota watched from his spot, heart pounding. Kurogiri had an endless supply of those clay bombs probably stored in scrolls or pockets.
The Suna team didn't have endless chakra. They were already running on fumes after the earlier fight. At this rate, they'd collapse before Kurogiri ran out of toys.
The distance was the problem. Kurogiri stayed just far enough back that any long-range attack could be dodged. The minefield kept everyone pinned. The Suna nin couldn't charge without blowing themselves up. They couldn't retreat without the same risk.
Shota's burned leg screamed as he shifted slightly. He couldn't erase the mines. He couldn't fight hand-to-hand in his state. But he couldn't just sit here and watch his side get picked off one by one.
His eyes drifted upward. The sky was clear, blue, endless. A crazy idea sparked in his mind. Risky. Stupid, maybe. But it might be their only shot.
'I'll have to try that method,' Shota thought, staring at the clouds.
-------Author Notes---------
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