c12: Show Off Your Skills
By the afternoon of the third day precisely at three o'clock the Iwagakure shinobi could no longer tolerate the passive waiting. With supplies dwindling and morale slipping, their patience finally broke. They launched an all-out offensive before they completely ran out of resources.
More than eight hundred Iwa-nin stormed down the mountain from the northwest the direction of the Land of Earth and the path toward Iwagakure's borders.
They chose that direction because it was the most strategically viable, though Konoha had deliberately reinforced the area with traps, seal barriers, and terrain-altering Earth Release to stall escape. Anticipating an unpredictable breakout, Namikaze Minato issued clear directives: jōnin particularly the fastest among them were to provide immediate reinforcement, while the chūnin and genin teams would close in to form an encirclement.
Minato didn't know in advance which direction the Iwa forces would choose. Thus, he implemented a flexible strategy of static positioning to counter dynamic offense a classic wartime doctrine that allowed high-speed support to any flank.
The mountain was modest in scale, and with a shinobi's mobility, even multiple terrains could be covered in short bursts. After relaying the order through messenger hawks and sensory ninja, Minato instantly teleported to the northwest frontline using the Flying Thunder God Technique his signature jutsu.
He materialized amid the chaos, kunai gleaming in hand, his yellow cloak flaring as chakra surged around him Konoha's Yellow Flash had arrived.
Team 7, Minato's direct subordinates, were among the first reinforcements dispatched. Though Kakashi, the team's leader, was a jōnin, both Uchiha Gen and Nohara Rin were officially chūnin. Yet their combat strength placed them well above the standard.
Still, they arrived slightly later than the fastest teams. Rin, a combat medic, lacked the raw speed of her teammates, and by the time they reached the front, the battle had already reached a fever pitch.
Iwagakure's intentions were clear: if they couldn't kill or cripple the Konoha forces, they needed to break through before the main army could encircle them.
The battlefield was carnage kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags filled the air alongside elemental jutsu. Fire, Earth, Lightning all clashed violently. Screams and detonations resounded endlessly. Life was cheap in this slaughterhouse; even the strongest could die from a stray jutsu or an overlooked trap.
At the heart of the chaos, Minato blurred through the battlefield like a ghost of light. With each flash of his Flying Thunder God kunai, another Iwa shinobi fell many didn't even register his presence before death claimed them.
His presence was a beacon, but also a curse for the Iwa-nin. They had feared him since the Third Shinobi World War, where his assassination raids had shattered their forces. Now, he returned like a phantom unstoppable and untouchable.
At the outer perimeter, Kakashi barked orders: "Triangle formation! Gen, cover Rin!"
"Got it," Gen responded, his tone calm but alert.
"Watch your own back. Just because I'm a medic doesn't mean I'm defenseless," Rin quipped.
"I know," Gen replied sincerely. "I've never underestimated you."
As Rin glanced at the two-tomoe Sharingan glowing in Gen's eyes, she paused. For a moment, she saw a trace of Obito not the one from the battlefield, but the boy who used to laugh clumsily and promise to protect her.
They quickly fell into formation Kakashi leading with lightning-speed reflexes, Gen on the right with the sharp perception of his Uchiha lineage, and Rin holding the rear-left flank, scanning for injuries and chakra disturbances.
Rin, kind, gentle, and selflessalways willing to sacrifice herself for the village. What a pity… Uchiha Madara had twisted fate so cruelly.
Maybe one day, Gen thought, I can find a way to bring her back.
Obito, for all his self-righteous talk, didn't deserve her not in life, and certainly not in the Pure Land. How could she ever forgive someone who killed their sensei, betrayed Konoha, and unleashed the Nine-Tails?
Gen doubted the Fourth Great Ninja War's dreamlike reunion between Obito and Rin had been mutual. He preferred to think it was Obito's delusion.
If Rin returned to life and Obito remained in the Pure Land what ironic justice that would be. A final punishment more cutting than death.
When I was a kid back on Earth, Gen mused internally, I kind of admired Obito. But now? As an Uchiha myself? I can't stand him.
Yet, even lost in thought, Gen's body moved with lethal precision. His Sharingan rotated, tracking incoming threats. With a smooth draw of his ninjatō, he deflected a volley of kunai and slashed through a stream of shuriken with steel-splitting force.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
"Fūton: Daitoppa!"
Recognizing Gen's fireball hand seals, Kakashi instantly followed up with Wind Release. His timing was flawless.
The orange fireball surged several meters, but once empowered by wind, it swelled to over ten meters, burning with golden-orange intensity. The temperature spiked above 1,200 degrees Celsius hot enough to melt stone.
Three unfortunate Iwa genin were caught mid-dodge. The flames engulfed them before they could react. Their screams were brief their bodies scorched black and lifeless by the time the fire dissipated.
It was brutal but not uncommon. None of the Konoha trio flinched. There was no time to mourn or hesitate.
As they pressed deeper into the battlefield, enemy numbers increased but they were mostly genin, no match for a super-elite unit like Team 7.
Even Rin, the least combat-oriented of the group, could take down an enemy squad if she wasn't caught off guard.
The trio's rapid, efficient slaughter of enemy shinobi eventually drew the attention of several Iwa ninjas. Among them, a Tokubetsu Jōnin and two elite Chūnin took notice of the imbalance Team 7 created and decided to take action. The idea of eliminating Konoha's rising stars especially those under Namikaze Minato lit a fire under them.
They surged forward, hands weaving seals even as their chakra signatures spiked. Once within striking range, they abruptly halted and took a triangular stance preparing coordinated ninjutsu like synchronized artillery.
"Doton: Gan'i Teppō no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Rock Iron Cannon Technique)
The trio spewed rocky spheres from their mouths, which instantly expanded midair into basin-sized projectiles. Accelerating with chakra propulsion, the hardened stones tore through the air with deadly momentum.
"Doton: Doryūheki!" (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!)
Kakashi reacted in an instant, slamming both palms onto the ground. A thick, semi-circular earth wall surged upward, composed of compacted rock and chakra-infused soil. The incoming rock shells slammed into it, echoing with a harsh, concussive rhythm—Bang! Bang! Bang! cracking the wall and spewing dirt, but ultimately, it held.
"Protect Rin," Kakashi ordered coldly, already unsheathing his spare tantō. His movements were calm, but his eyes were razor-sharp, his body a blur as he lunged forward like a wolf who had caught the scent of blood.
The Iwa trio met his charge head-on, kunai drawn, moving to surround him.
Steel clashed as the four entered a blur of close-quarters combat. It was taijutsu at its purest kicks, counters, parries, and slashes.
Kakashi was younger and physically smaller, but that didn't matter. His mastery of the White Fang's kenjutsu, combined with the clarity of his Sharingan, allowed him to match them strike for strike. He couldn't overpower them, but he didn't need to. He danced through their movements with surgical precision.
"Rin, stay sharp watch for genjutsu." Uchiha Gen's voice was low but deliberate. Even as he spoke, his fingers were already forming a practiced seal.
"Genjutsu: Nehan Shōja no Jutsu!" (Illusion Technique: Temple of Nirvana)
A flurry of spectral feathers began drifting from the sky thick and layered, as if a pillow had been torn open in the heavens. Because Gen intentionally limited the technique's range, the illusion's potency deepened, bypassing chakra resistance more efficiently.
The feathers glided toward the melee, and though they looked harmless, a subtle genjutsu force pulsed from them. Eyelids grew heavy, reflexes dulled.
Caught in the radius were the three Iwa shinobi and Kakashi.
The two Chūnin staggered first, collapsing as if overcome by sleep. The Tokubetsu Jōnin gritted his teeth and fought for a second longer, but then he, too, slumped to the ground.
"Genjutsu damn!" Kakashi muttered, his pupils contracting. He bit his tongue hard and disrupted his chakra flow, forming a quick seal to dispel the illusion. As the haze lifted from his mind, he blinked at the scene before him.
Wait… it wasn't the enemy's genjutsu?
"Gen, I didn't realize your illusions were that strong!" Rin gasped. "Even Kakashi nearly got caught!"
She had been preemptively circulating her chakra due to earlier advice and her medic training, so she'd avoided the illusion altogether.
"It's quite a powerful jutsu," Kakashi admitted warily. "That was Nehan Shōja, right? An A-rank technique?"
"Correct," Gen replied with a faint nod. "Not easy to pull off without a strong Sharingan, but I've refined the focus area."
Kakashi: "…"
Wait a minute, isn't Gen still a chūnin? What kind of chūnin casually uses A-rank illusions… and ones that almost affect a jōnin-level Sharingan user at that?
Rin giggled, "Well, Kakashi, you're the prodigy here. Didn't you invent your own A-rank ninjutsu before 13?"
"Yes… that's true." Kakashi rubbed his temple. Still… something feels off.
Hold on… shouldn't those three Iwa-nin dispel the illusion themselves by now? Are they seriously still under?
A chill ran down his spine. That's… a terrifying level of genjutsu.
"Rin," Gen said calmly, watching Kakashi's expression twist in disbelief, "disable them. Cut tendons and jaws they might try suicide if they wake."
"Understood."
Moving swiftly, Rin knelt beside the Iwa-nin and got to work. She used chakra scalpels to sever their hamstrings and triceps. With practiced precision, she dislocated jaws as well neutralizing any chance of suicide by tongue-biting or explosive tag activation.
With the threat neutralized, the trio didn't plunge toward the battlefield's core. Instead, they remained on the periphery, eliminating scattered Iwa stragglers.
"Without Hiraishin," Gen muttered, "diving into the center is suicide. Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them…"
Kakashi gave a rare smirk. He couldn't argue with that.
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