(June, year 54 AK)
After a couple minutes Shisui returned back to the group and said, "Found the trail of the group that got split. Yohei, Isao, both of you come with me, we will deal with them. Shinji, Itachi, Hikari and Yuta, you pursue the main group. Leave the marks so we will be able to catch up with you when we finish the job. Shinji, you are the leader of your squad, your mission is to pursue the enemy group but don't engage, wait until I'm done with those that got split from the main group and catch up to you."
"Understood." Shinji replied, "But how do we follow the trail? It's barely visible and only you, Shisui, was able to follow it consistently."
"Itachi should be able to follow the trail, he has very sharp eyes." Shisui replied with a slight smile, "Let's go, or they really will get away."
As Shisui said that, he signaled to Isao and Yohei to follow and the three of them quickly disappeared from view.
"Well, Itachi, are you confident you can follow this trail?" Shinji asked and Itachi simply nodded in response, "Let's get going then. Single file, Itachi in the lead, I'm right behind him, then Yuta, Hikari in the rear, stay on guard, it could be a trap."
"Understood." Three Genin replied and the group moved out, following the trail.
Itachi was able to lead the group along the trail without any problem, and they kept moving for about half an hour along the trail, as they moved, Shinji was leaving marks on the trees from time to time with a kunai, so Shisui's group would be able to follow.
As they moved, Yuta was on guard and concentrated on his chakra senses to spot any possible ambush in advance, but also, he was thinking on the possible strategies he could use in combat, after all, this would be his first real battle, and the training sessions with Shisui is one thing, but this is different.
Also, it was quite some time since he went through Shisui's training spars. Those trainings stopped just before his last C-rank mission that went without any action and lasted for a whole month, and since those spars, Yuta had spent a lot of time in a time-loop to train and he had developed his sound based genjutsu, also he had learned the Body Flicker jutsu recently as well. It would be the first time he will be using his new set of jutsus and skills since mastering it.
'For defense I could use Substitution and Body Flicker jutsus to get away. For offense I have my sound-based original genjutsus, Shadow Cloak and Shadow Chains, both if successful, could allow me to quickly finish up the enemy.' Yuta analyzed, 'Both my genjutsus requires a hand seal to complete, so it's not ideal, I probably should try to make a diversion before striking or staying hidden altogether. I have mastered a lot of new moves recently, but I don't have experience of using them and combining them in combat, I should try to get creative with them...'
Although Yuta's mind was working on devising a combat strategy in the background, he was still concentrating on his chakra senses, and thanks to that he was able to sense foreign chakra signatures that suddenly appeared and started to close in on them fast from all directions.
Suddenly sensing many enemies closing in on them, Yuta immediately tensed up, but still, he didn't shown any signs that he was spotted the enemy, he kept running forward same as before, only said quickly and quietly, so only his group would be able to hear what he said, "Ambush, we are surrounded."
It only took a fraction of a second for Shinji to process Yuta's warning, as he quickly said, "How many?". Shinji didn't show any change in his calm expression and kept moving as if nothing had happened.
'As expected of an elite Chunin, Shinji seems quite professional. Itachi didn't react as well, to not tip off the enemies, but that was expected of him, he always seemed as if he was on a completely different level. Hikari was moving behind me, so I can't see if she reacted or not, but from the sound alone, she was moving as before, without missing a bit, even she could be professional when it's needed, I guess...'
"Eight... Ten... Twelve... New ones entering my detection range constantly." Yuta replied immediately to Shinji.
...
Shinji's face tensed up, and after just in half a second, he said in a grave tone, "I'll create a diversion, you three fall back immediately, regroup with Shisui, tell him what happened."
"There is no way we are going to..." Hikari hissed from behind.
"That's an order!" Shinji interrupted Hikari, "There is no way I'm going to lose the lives of Shisui-sensei's teammates like that! When you'll retreat, I will be going right behind you!"
'They are almost here, the attack will be going our way any moment now...' Yuta thought, 'Do we really going to leave Shinji behind like that? Well, doesn't matter what I think, I'll just stick to Itachi and Hikari and go where they are going, it's not like they would listen to me anyway, they never really do...'
"I'm not going anywhere!" Hikari hissed angerly.
"We should follow the orders." Itachi said calmly and quietly.
"Yuta!?..." Hikari half hissed, half asked.
'What now?' Yuta exclaimed in his mind, surprised, 'Is my opinion actually matters now? And what, if I say "stay", does that mean Itachi will listen and stay? And what should I decide in the situation like that...'
Yuta quickly analyzed the situation, he thought about what Shisui said when they split up, then about how they've got ambushed by more than a dozen enemy ninjas, about what would happen next. As he did that, just in a split-second Yuta came to a realization, that they can't really run away here, if they do, Shinji will get overwhelmed by enemy numbers in the matter of seconds, and then the enemy ninjas will quickly catch up to them and they will have to fight anyway.
"We stay." Yuta replied with finality, "No point running."
"Tsk!" Shinji clicked his tongue in annoyance but didn't say anything else. Itachi stayed silent as well.
From the moment Yuta spotted the enemy with his chakra-senses and up to this moment only a couple of seconds had passed.
Suddenly, a group of five ninjas appeared just up ahead, standing on a tree branch and facing them. As Shinji and the others spotted the enemy, they stopped immediately. There was about twenty meters between the two groups, but Yuta clearly sensed another twelve shinobi all around them in a distance.
"Overconfident, are we?" Shinji said calmly to the enemy's group, "Why don't sneak-attack and just reveal yourselves like that?"
Yuta observed the enemy group of five ninjas, they are all clothed the same, gray clothes and gray vests, pouches with ninja tools, some of them had swords, they wore a ninja headbands but those are covered, so Yuta wasn't able to figure out from which ninja village they are.
"Just three kids and one young ninja from the Leaf. We don't need a sneak attack to deal with the likes of you." The man in the middle of the group said, he looked in his thirties and one of his eyes was covered with some fabric, "Besides, don't take us for a fools, or do you really think we didn't know that you already had spotted us?"
'So, they figured that we already knew about them closing in on us, huh... Did someone visibly react when I warned them? No point worrying about spilled milk now, I guess...' Yuta thought.
"So, your group splitting up, that was just a trick so you could split us up and ambush us separately, one after another, isn't that right?" Shinji said calmly as he sized up the enemy ninjas.
"Why ask questions if you already figured it out?" The man with an eyepatch replied.
'This is bad, this guy is bad news, my chakra senses can't size up the limits of his chakra, his chakra must be on the higher levels than I can calculate, that means it is definitely above Chunin level, he is likely a Jonin.' Yuta was able to think those thoughts in an instant, and the next instant Yuta already saw a huge water sphere moving at insane speed in their direction, 'Too fast, I won't be able to use Body Flicker in time to get away...'
What happened next was a series of chaotic events that happened too fast for Yuta to process and react to it. Next instant Yuta felt as he was forcedly grabbed by someone and quickly dragged back, Yuta figured it was Shinji who was saving him from the Water Style ninjutsu attack, then Yuta saw a huge fireball that was shot from his side straight in the direction of the incoming water attack.
Yuta was able to notice that Itachi and Hikari managed to get away from the incoming attack on their own in the last moment, before fire and water collided and a huge explosion resounded just in front of Yuta and everything was covered by water vapor in the next instant. The fireball that collided with the water ninjutsu wasn't able to stop it, but it slowed it down just enough for everyone to escape it.
As Shinji landed on another tree branch, he let go of Yuta, Itachi and Hikari landed beside Yuta at the same time. The view in front of them was completely covered by the water vapor from the collision of two jutsu.
For Yuta all that happened felt like it had all happened instantaneously, he was completely outmatched and unable to react to any of it. Yuta glanced at Itachi and Hikari, he saw that Itachi still had his usual calm expression, but Hikari looked tense and her breathing was hastened.
'That one-eyed guy is surely a Jonin, I didn't even see his attack coming, one instant he was talking, and then, then I was already being dragged back by Shinji away from the incoming ninjutsu attack...' Yuta thought being a bit shocked by the events. His mind was more or less calm and he wasn't scared by the danger he was in, he was ready to escape through time-travel at any moment after all, but still, the disparity between him after multiple years of training, and that enemy ninja over there, was a bit shocking for Yuta after all.
'All that moves and strategies I was thinking about a few moments ago, it was all useless in the face of the overwhelming strength like that... What a joke...'
'I can't fight that Jonin, not yet...' Yuta thought being a little disappointed, but the next moment he calmed down and thought, 'But one day... One day I will surely reach a level of strength that will outmatch that Jonin to the same extent as I'm outmatched right now against him.'
--- AN ---
If you like the story, please consider writing a comment, a review, voting with power stones, or check out my Patreon, 5 advanced chapters is currently available there (patreon.com/SycoreNovels)
Thanks to Jayroy_63, Loalola, Eyes_Of_The_Void, Krishna_Razz and Zen_Slacker for the power stones.