Night fell.
Aoki Ren took a deep breath and rapidly formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Several fireballs shot toward the cave entrance and exploded on impact. The sentries cried out in alarm as chaos erupted inside the cave.
"Enemy attack!"
Bandits poured out, blades drawn.
Tetsuhara Akira vanished in a Body Flicker and reappeared among them.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Razor-sharp blades of wind swept through the front line, instantly cutting down three bandits.
"N-Ninja!"
"Retreat! Get back inside the cave!"
As they scrambled toward the entrance, the ground beneath them suddenly collapsed—it was Ishida Ken's Earth Release trap. Five men fell into the pit and were instantly sealed in by rising rock.
"Nice one!" Aoki Ren shouted.
But at that moment, a deep, menacing voice echoed from inside the cave.
"Fire Release: Pressure Damage!"
A massive wave of flames surged outward.
Akira's pupils shrank. He grabbed Aoki Ren and vanished in a flash.
When the fire finally dissipated, two figures stepped out of the cave.
One had red hair and a single eye. The other had a heavily scarred face. Both wore scratched forehead protectors.
"Rogue ninja from Yugakure," Genma said coldly. "Five hundred thousand ryō bounty on each of them."
The one-eyed rogue sneered.
"Konoha brats… we'll trade your heads for drinking money!"
The battlefield exploded into motion.
Genma immediately engaged the scarred man, senbon and kunai clashing in rapid succession.
The one-eyed rogue charged straight at Akira's group.
"I'll kill the kids first!"
"Ren, fall back and provide support! Ken, use traps to restrict him!"
Akira issued orders as he stepped forward to intercept.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
A compressed blast of air roared forward.
The rogue ninja dodged to the side, his kunai stabbing straight toward Akira's heart.
Flying Thunder God—activate.
Akira vanished and reappeared behind him, slashing toward the neck—
Clang!
The rogue spun around instantly, blocking the strike. The impact sent Akira stumbling back several steps.
"Fast," the rogue grinned, "but too weak!"
He pressed the attack.
"Water Release: Water Trumpet!"
Aoki Ren's support arrived just in time.
A jet of water slammed into the rogue, forcing him to brace himself.
Ishida Ken seized the opening and threw a kunai wrapped with steel wire.
"Binding Tactic!"
The wire wrapped tightly around the rogue's legs.
"Tch."
He sneered. "Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
The flames burned straight through the wire.
"Damn it…"
Akira clenched his teeth. A chūnin-level opponent's chakra reserves and combat experience were something they couldn't overwhelm head-on.
He glanced toward Genma. The scarred rogue was being suppressed—but that fight wouldn't end quickly.
I have to handle this myself.
"Ren, Ken—use that combo," Akira said quietly.
They froze for a split second, then nodded.
They had practiced this.
Aoki Ren began forming hand seals—not for an attack.
"Genjutsu: Mist Servant Technique!"
Mist spread across the battlefield, distorting vision. It wouldn't fool a chūnin for long—but even a second was enough.
Ishida Ken slammed his hands onto the ground.
"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"
The ground beneath the rogue softened and dragged at his legs.
"Useless—!"
He leapt upward—
And in that instant, Akira moved.
Instead of attacking, he hurled a specially modified kunai high into the air. Etched into it was the Flying Thunder God formula.
The rogue instinctively knocked it aside.
But as the kunai flew away, it left behind a chakra mark.
The next moment—
Flash.
Akira appeared at the mark, directly above the rogue.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale erupted point-blank.
BOOM!
The rogue ninja was blasted forward, smashing through three trees before crashing to the ground, blood spraying from his mouth. His spine twisted at an unnatural angle—his body completely unable to move.
Combat effectiveness: zero.
Akira landed heavily, gasping for breath.
That single strike had consumed nearly seventy percent of his chakra.
"W-we… we did it…"
Aoki Ren collapsed to the ground, her legs giving out.
Ishida Ken leaned against a tree, his face deathly pale.
On the other side of the battlefield, Genma finished his opponent as well—senbon precisely sealing the scarred rogue's pressure points and dropping him unconscious.
The forest fell silent.
Tetsuhara Akira stood there, chest heaving.
This—
Was his first real battle.