Battle On The Bridge 2/3

He slowly walked towards them, and when he reached the pink-haired girl, he sat in front of her. He opened his right hand, and then a green, mystical energy covered his palm.

Lesser Heal, a spell that could instantly cure minor wounds and partially heal broken limbs. It costs little energy to use. But better variations of it are the Greater Heal and Ultimate Heal. He won't use those two because it would seem more suspicious if he suddenly has the ability to heal broken arms.

Now that he thinks of it, what Spell Tier were those spells again?

Arcane Spells are separated by 10 tiers, with Tier 1 being the weakest and Tier 10, the strongest. The tiers of spells are determined by how much energy it costs the user to use them.

The Spell, Fireball, is considered a Tier 1 since the energy needed to activate it is almost next to none for stronger cultivators. But that doesn't mean it's weak, no, a cultivator just needs to add more Arcane Energy if they want to increase its fire power.

For example, the spell, Frozen World, is a Tier 5 Spell. If a cultivator spends just the energy needed to activate it, then it could destroy an entire village. However, if that cultivator decided to add 100 times more energy than before into the spell, then it would have enough power to obliterate an entire city.

Back when he was younger, maybe around his 20s to 70s, he wanted to learn as many spells as he wanted to the point that he would steal the book of spells from an empire's treasury, along with all of their golds and jewels.

Anyway, over time, he managed to learn almost 300 Arcane Spells, ranging from Tier 1 to 8. Tier 9 to 10 Spells are ancient and precious, existing since those godlike cultivators that once roamed the world, that's why most who had them would never let someone to learn even a fraction of those spells; they would rather destroy them.

It's this selfishness that caused him to never learn even a single Tier 9 or 10 Spell. He never knew what was so special behind those spells but he had once heard that a single Tier 9 Spell could eradicate an entire solar system, and a Tier 10 Spell could eradicate thousands of planets at once. That level of destructive power is unheard of, and he really wanted a taste of that kind of power.

But alas, even though they couldn't use it, those people who held those Tier 9 and 10 spells are pretty shitty for denying him the right to learn them.

In any case, that's in the past and he has something to do at the moment.

The green mystical energy on his palms condensed into a small floating orb, and with a single flick of a finger, the orb shot straight towards Sakura's forehead and when it hit, the green energy quickly spread throughout her body. Her wounds visibly healed at an alarming rate, and after seeing that, he turned his eyes on the other two.

They seem fine, only a few wounds here and there. They don't need any kind of treatment but they do need a bit of sanitization, lest their wounds get infected.

It's a good thing that he used to travel and live alone after he had killed his entire clan, or else he wouldn't have learned the proper way to medically treat somebody.

However, just as he was about to use a water spell to wash the two girls, a sudden burst of chakra made turn his head towards the direction of Kisame, who's currently fighting his team and Kurenai. The thing is, the shark-head has literally become a shark, surrounded by a human-size sphere of water.

The guy seems to have grown fins and webbed hands, along with larger gills and a goddamn tail.

But Helel had seen stranger stuff than that, like that one guy he met back then who became a giant koala and started eating his own shit for some reason. His own literal shit.

Anyway, aside from adapting shark features, Kisame seems to have become a lot stronger. Especially his chakra. The swordsman seems to have become a tailed beast, and using the Kyuubi as a comparison, the guy at the very least has enough chakra to fill 1/10 of the fox's own chakra.

And then, a slight frown appeared on Helel's face when he saw Sasuke and Azumi on the ground. It seems like the shark man had targeted them first since they were weaker. It's a good thing Kisame didn't know that Azumi is also a kyuubi jinchuuriki, or else he would've taken her.

Before he could realize that, he needed to be killed.

He left the girls behind, and immediately rushed towards the wielder of Samehada. But as he did so, the sky darkened.

Itachi panted. Thankfully, with his sharingan active, he could react in time to dodge Kisame's strikes. But the thing is, between the two of them, the newly transformed swordsman has more stamina than him. If it's a battle of endurance, Kisame definitely wins.

He is reluctant to use his Mangekyou Sharingan but if he doesn't do it, they'll all die.

"Are you just gonna dodge forever, huh!? Let's see what made you a famous S-Class ninja, Uchiha Itachi!" Kisame shouted with glee as he continued his barrage of water sharks, striking towards him one after the other.

But he ignored him, and just continued evading all of his attacks. He needed to think for now.

Kurenai is out of chakra since she's been fighting Kisame for a while before they came, and although she's a special jounin, her main expertise is in genjutsu, not taijutsu. So even if she wanted to interfere between the two of them, she knew she would more likely be a hindrance rather than help.

And his two students have already fallen unconscious, meaning that he also can't rely on them for support. He sent Ren to go help Team 8 with the other missing-nin, so relyin--

His thoughts were cut off when suddenly, lightning fell from the sky, striking the wielder of Samehada in an instant, and then the loud roar of thunder sounded all throughout the Wave.

"Sensei, I've paralyzed him! Go for the kill!" It was Ren's voice.

When he heard that, he saw Kisame moving wobbly without the sphere of water surrounding him, and moved.

"W-What the fuck was that!!??" He raged but he saw itachi rushing towards him, gripping his tanto tightly.

He tried to dodge but found that he couldn't move that well. Even then, he was able to move out of the way when the Uchiha was just about to cut his head off.

He widened his eyes when he saw Itachi's eyes staring directly at his own. Thankfully, he is immune to genjutsu due to his large chakra pool but that didn't stop the raven-haired jounin from slicing both of his arms off.

"Arghhh!!" Kisame grunted in pain, and glared heavily at Itachi, "Uchihaaa!!" And then, behind the jounin, is a red-haired kid around the age of the two brats he just smashed to the ground. It seems like he was the source of that thunderbolt from earlier, seeing that the kid's right hand was still surrounded by electricity.

He knew he needed to get his revenge but not now. No, he needed to be alive first to plan his revenge.

As Itachi was just about to finish him off, two clones appeared in front of him, and immediately after that, he ran, armless, to jump off the bridge.

The Uchiha, with a single slash, simultaneously killed his clones. However, they soon lit up and exploded.

"An explosive clone!?" He reacted almost instantly but unfortunately, the explosion swallowed him along with the others.

Amidst that, Kisame laughed as he got away through the water down the bridge, and escaped.

Helel sighed. He couldn't believe that his sensei let shark boy escape just like that. Well, at least Kisame doesn't have any arms anymore.

As the smoke from the explosion faded away, Itachi opened his eyes, only to see green energy surrounding him like a cocoon. It seems like this had protected him from the explosion. He looked around, and noticed that the others were also being protected by the same energy cocoon.

"If you're wondering, I'm the one who made these barriers using chakra," He lied.

The older Uchiha turned around to see Ren slowly walking towards them.

At this point, he wasn't surprised that Ren would suddenly reveal another jutsu that he hasn't heard of before and use it so casually. He did want to know how he learned this jutsu but that could wait; he needed to first take his students to Tazuna's house to recuperate for a while.

Meanwhile, Ren suddenly narrowed his eyes. He activated a Tier 2 spell called 'Aura Field', which lets him sense any kind of energy in a certain radius.

With that, he was able to sense hundreds of men marching towards the bridge a kilometer away, and they're definitely not the citizens of Wave. No, their chakra is too big to be. But there is another man there with the chakra of a civilian.

This could only mean one thing…

He turned to his sensei, who's already carrying Azumi and Sasuke on top of his shoulders. He seemed to be talking to Team 8's jounin sensei.

"I'm grateful that you came just in time, Itachi. If not…" It made her uncomfortable just thinking about what her fate would've been if she were to be captured by Gato.

The man's a perverted monster. He specifically ordered the two S-Rank nins to bring her and her team to him alive, she learned this after hearing Kisame saying it. It sickens her what Gato would've done to her students. To those children.

Itachi curtly nodded, "It was Hokage-sama's orders. And Azumi became quite motivated after hearing about your team's situation."

"That, I believe. Those four were friends during the academy," she replied.

But then, they heard Ren shouting in panic, "Itachi-sensei! Kurenai-sensei! Gato's coming towards here with an army of his own! We need to leave immediately!"

The two widened their eyes.

"What? Which direction are they coming from?" Itachi immediately asked.

"They're coming from both sides of the bridge!" Ren replied.

Kurenai then ran to her students, saying, "I'll go get them!"

The Uchiha then asked Ren, "In your estimation, how strong are they?"

"I believe Gato's army ranges from genin to chunin, and some, jounins," Ren's reply.

Itachi grimaced, and said, "That means that our only options are to walk through the water or fight them off, huh? The latter is suicide but the former is much more feasible. Yet those ninjas might also chase us in the waters, which would endanger Azumi, Sasuke, and team eight," then he turned to Ren, "What do you think we should do?"

Although outside, Helel looked panicked and worried, but inwardly, he's smiling with joy. Gato's little army must be a few hundred meters from the bridge at the moment since he wasted a few minutes before telling them about it, and now, they're only option is to use someone as bait.

Just as he planned…

Then, with hesitations in his eyes, he said, "Sensei… All of you are important to the village, and to myself," he couldn't help but cringe inside at how corny that was, "So as a last resort, I'll use myself as a decoy to buy you guys time to escape."

Itachi widened his eyes, and immediately said, "No, as your commanding officer, I forbid you from doing that. You are a young, talented shinobi. The village will suffer if you were to die. Instead…" he paused for a moment, "I'll be the bait."

'Tch, why you little… Why do you have to be so stubborn?' He said in his thoughts.

Outside, he showed regret and sadness, as he said, "But sensei, you're currently one of the strongest shinobi Konoha has to offer. A scion of one of the strongest clans in the Elemental Nations. And then look at me, a nameless orphan. You are much more valuable to the village than I, and even if I die, no one would miss me," well, except for Maha-san that is, "So please, let me have the honor of dying for my comrades. For my village."

This is one of his tactics. Always bring up the village if he wants to convince Itachi. From the anime, this guy did anything for his village, even killing his own parents and girlfriend. Now that's dedication right there.

The Uchiha frowned as he thought about it, and then finally, after moments of contemplation, he said while closing his eyes, "If you really insist, then… do your best to come back alive."

Inside, Helel smiled widely in glee. Outside, he said somberly, "Yes, don't worry. I'll try not to die. Now, please leave. A minute from now, and they'll be here."

His sensei nodded, and turned around while carrying his two fainted students. The only reason he could stay stoic right now is because of years of training and losing many of his teammates back in his anbu days. A week it may have been, he still felt regret. He regretted not letting himself to be the decoy, instead of his student.

Sure, he would eventually defeat those hundreds of shinobis but he'd also die of chakra exhaustion. And even though he would gladly do that, the main issue here is that his eyes are very powerful weapons. If it gets into the wrong hands, it might endanger his village, Konoha.

Ren might be one of the kyuubi jinchuuriki but as the Fourth had said to them, even if one of them dies, all of the kyuubi chakra inside the dead container will eventually return to the other jinchuuriki. He said that he made the seals that way as a precaution.

But Itachi doubts Ren will die. Most likely he'll be heavily injured, to the point of death but he won't die. The kyuubi is rumored to grant its container strong regenerative abilities, and only decapitation can kill the jinchuuriki.

But even so, he must prepare for the worst.

He went to Kurenai at the other end of the bridge, and said, "Let's go, we don't have much time."

She turned to him, and noticed that one of them was missing, "Where's your other student?"

"He offered himself as a decoy to buy us time to escape. It's our only option," he stoically said.

The tokubetsu jounin widened her eyes a bit, but otherwise said nothing. Quietly, she carried two of her unconscious students on her shoulders.

Sakura, who had woken up just moments earlier, had heard what Itachi said. Like her sensei, she kept quiet as they jumped off the bridge. Even if she wanted to stop the red-haired genin from doing that, she would only waste more of their time.

She had learned a long time ago that logic comes first, and emotions second. They're shinobis, this is their job. She only regrets not saying her gratitude after he had saved her from certain death.

Soon, they left the bridge by jumping to the waters, and as much as Kurenai wanted to comfort Itachi for the loss of a student, they didn't have the time.

Helel was left alone, standing on the middle of the bridge. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel the joy coursing in his body.

Gato is a billionaire, and he is worth over 40 Billion Ryo. His shipping company, coupled with the shady things he does in the background, made him that rich. That's why he could afford all of those shinobis, and it seems like he's not holding back this time.

Standing on each end of the bridge were the shinobi he hired from different nations, along with multiple missing-nins among them. But thankfully, none of them were S-Ranks. The only reason he killed Juzo earlier was because he's faster and stronger than him but if there were, say, 10 Juzos, then the battle would've taken a different turn. Most likely, it would've been difficult.

He smiled widely as he stared at all of the shinobis with wide, insane, eyes.

Bloodlust emanated from him, and every animal near him immediately fled, including the fishes below the bridge. It was so strong, that the hundreds of shinobis standing on the bridge instinctively stepped back.

He opened his arms wide open with his body straightened like a spear. Combined with his deranged expression, he looked absolutely terrifying.

"Ah, it's been so long… so long since the world has seen Helel."