C-Rank Mission III

The tension was raising, the seconds became hours, do we leave this place as kids or as ninjas? Do we keep our innocence one more day, or the day to face the cruel reality of this world has come? There was no correct answer, if we engage, we become killers, that will put a weight on the four of us, but if we don't, we'll never be ready to do it, does our humanity matter more than the duty we have? Neji, Lee and my can always say we were following orders, but what about Guy-Sensei? He was the one pulling the trigger, and we were the metaphorical bullets, he certainly killed before, he certainly gave orders like this before, but did he ever give the order to kids before?

"Tiger here, retreat, do not engage" He finally said, there wasn't relief in his voice, he knew that this choice could affect our future as Shinobi, he just took what he believed to be the lesser evil "I repeat, do not engage, over" Neji looked at me, he came to the same conclusion, I was grateful, I got to be a kid one more day, but were we meant to be kids? That is something we'll never know.

Neji and I returned to our position with Lee, waiting for Guy-Sensei to leave the area, five minutes passed, but there was no sign of him, the three of us were worried, maybe we made a mistake and missed a couple of guards, or maybe he decided to engage on his own, Neji used his Byakugan to inspect the camp, but it remained the same as when we left.

"Owl here, Tiger we are ready to leave, where are you? Over" I asked through the comms, but there was no response, "Tiger, do you need help? Over" still no response "Guy-Sensei! Please respond" something was wrong, he should be able to answer unless he found hostiles and didn't want to let them know he had reinforcement, or perhaps he was just pranking us, but we were in the middle of a mission, so I doubt that's the case.

"We need to go to his last known position, he could be in trouble, for all we know, he is trying to either protect us or keeping secret he ain't alone, we need to be fast and stealthy, I'll be taking temporary Leadership" I said according to the strategies we've been practicing since we were assigned to the Team "We advance in V formation, Neji will take the point, Rock Lee be prepared for sneak attacks, operation begins" Both of them nodded to my commands, at first Neji was reluctant to me being in charge if anything were to happen to Guy-Sensei, but after proving him I could outmatch him in this area, he accepted me as the second in command without more issues.

Advancing through the woods, we quickly arrived to Guy-Sensei last position, there were signs of a fight, the branch he was standing broke in half but still attached by a couple of fibers to the tree, there was a kunai in the ground, the angle it landed indicated that the attack came from above, so Guy-Sensei, noticed the attack and when he dodged, he used enough strength to break the branch and probably gain a higher altitude than his attacker, there were other signs of fight going west from here, a trail for us to follow, Neji saw five sets of footprints, four attackers and Guy-Sensei, probably ninjas.

Following the new trail, it didn't take us long to hear the battle, metal against metal, Guy-Sensei was parrying attacks by the way it sounded, no explosions or signs that indicate the use of Ninjutsu, they were either saving their Chakra or they were confident in overwhelming Guy-Sensei with only numbers and Taijutsu.

Guy-Sensei was in a defensive stance, dodging shurikens and parrying swords, connecting a few counters every time he could, his opponents had more damage than him, that was a good sign, with the three of us here, we'll be able to defeat them.

"Attack at your discretion, don't wait for a mistake, just take one of them away from Guy-Sensei, we should be able to at least match their combat prowess" I gave my orders, Lee launched himself in a split of a second he was already in front of one attacker, that lost his balance after being kicked away by Guy-Sensei, taking his opportunity, Lee spun in the air and delivered an axe kick, burying his face in the ground, but the individual stood up again, ready to fight Lee.

Neji didn't lose time, as soon as Lee delivered the first kick, he attacked the Tenketsu point on the leg of one individual with a sword, halting his movements for a second, enough for Guy-Sensei to disengage and gain distance, now he only had two enemies to worry about.

Last but no least, I made my move, throwing a senbon, I hit the shoulder of the ninja, I aimed for his neck, but the bastard dodged at the last second, before he was able to recover, I ran to him, sweeping his legs making him fall to the ground, followed by a stomp, he rolled dodging the attack, but my plan succeed, the distance between us and the other fighters increased.

We were separated, one opponent each, while our teamwork was exceptional, Team three's real specialty is individual fights, while together we have to limit the strength and range of our abilities to avoid disturbing each other's flow, but alone we shined the most, no one to avoid hurting, no one to avoid disturbing, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, everything was permitted, and the limits were lift, we could unleash ourselves, we could fight how we were meant to fight.

"The enemies are Shinobi, they were sent by a crime syndicate to get rid of the bandits as well, but they are missing-nin, we are just a bonus payment for them, you have permission to use deathly force" Guy-Sensei explained the situation and gave orders through the comms, now the real fight begun.