Chapter 1

"Katon: Fireball," - quickly forming seals, the shinobi with the Leaf Village headband spat out a large fireball.

"Doton: Earth Shield," - another shinobi, dressed in red, quickly placed his hands on the ground, and a wall of earth rose before him.

A second later, the fire projectile struck the earthen shield, raising a strong dust cloud. The Konoha shinobi did not rush to attack again. Instead, he decided to wait for the enemy's next move. He wasn't a sensor, so he couldn't feel the approaching enemy beneath the ground.

The Iwa shinobi in the dust cloud, using a technique, burrowed underground. Due to his affinity with the earth element, he had developed sensor abilities within himself. Thanks to this, he easily approached the enemy underground, grabbed him by the legs, and pulled him towards him with a sharp motion, dragging the enemy into the ground up to his neck. Then, the Iwa shinobi quickly emerged from the ground, formed seals, and exclaimed:

"Doton: Earthly Clamps," and the Konoha shinobi was crushed.

Without wasting any time, the Iwa shinobi hurried to help his comrades.

Suddenly, a body fell in the center of the battle. It appeared completely unexpectedly, causing everyone to stop fighting and simply stare at it.

A moment later, the unknown figure twitched slightly, and then slowly began to rise. It was evident that this was difficult for him, and he was barely standing, hunched over and swaying slightly.

When he stood up to his full height, everyone could see his strange attire: a dark blue cloak that resembled the cloak of a Sandaime Hokage, black high boots, pants of the same color, a hood, and a mask. Oh, the mask had everyone's full attention.

It was as if someone had taken the skin off his face and sewn metal plates with steel threads in its place, especially visible around the mouth.

"Euphoria," the stranger spoke with a deep voice and stood up straight.

The shinobi began to exchange nervous glances. A person in strange clothing and a mask muttering something under his breath was enough to make them uneasy. Besides, it was a very delicate situation, and if someone made an extra move, the battle could resume. Not that they didn't want to fight. The Stone shinobi had a mission to eliminate the Leaf shinobi, but due to the uncertainty of where the stranger stood, no one dared to attack first.

"What's going on with them? Stop! Are they blinking?! But there's no facial expression in the Ancient World... Wait, don't tell me I ended up... in the... Naruto... World..."

With such thoughts, Dmitri raised his hand to his mask to make a universal Face-Palm gesture.

An especially nervous Konoha shinobi couldn't take it and threw a kunai at Dmitri. He felt a stab in his abdomen, and then the sound of metal clashing reached his ears. He removed his hand from the mask and saw a kunai lying at his feet. Someone had just tried to kill him, but the kunai couldn't penetrate Dmitri's protective gear. Dmitry immediately recalled an ancient proverb, so instead of waiting for the next attack, he used a Water Magic spell.

"Burning Concealing Mist!" This was one of the variations of the "Concealing Mist" spell.

It created a dense, scorching steam that inflicted severe burns on everyone except the caster and significantly reduced the field of view. Afterward, Dmitri used the "Dark Vision" spell from Dark Magic. With it, he could see through walls, and people and objects were highlighted in light blue and orange, respectively. However, now the world around him had darkened as usual when the spell was cast, but at the same time, it seemed sharper, and people were glowing not in yellow but in light blue.

Before the Konoha shinobi could react to the falling kunai, the scorching mist started to literally cook them, leaving severe burns. They scattered in all directions.

Akiyama Takahashi was relieved that they were finally returning to camp after the mission. He was also relieved that he had survived. In the current war, every third chunin wouldn't make it back home, and he didn't want to be on that list.

Akiyama knew he couldn't expect miracles, so he understood that in any confrontation, he might not make it. This mission was no exception. However, thanks to the combat iryōnin, he had survived despite his injuries.

A loud explosion behind him caught him by surprise. Quickly turning around, he saw the lifeless bodies of three of his teammates.

"An ambush!" raced through his mind.

Akiyama, hesitating, barely managed to deflect the shurikens flying toward him. The ninja with the Stone Village protector, who had thrown the shurikens at him, closed the distance quickly and nearly thrust his tanto into Akiyama.

Leaping backward, Akiyama narrowly avoided the Iwa shinobi's attack. He understood that he was facing a jonin. He assessed his chances and concluded that the probability of his victory was 21%.

"I need to buy time and hope for help," he thought.

Akiyama was barely managing to block the enemy's strikes. He realized that with a little more time, his defense would crumble.

"No, I need to hold on! Just a bit longer, and someone will come to my aid!"

Akiyama decided to go on the offensive. In his estimation, the chance of inflicting a severe wound on the opponent during the exchange of blows was 39%. He deliberately exposed himself to the next attack, which struck his shoulder, and then attempted to drive a kunai into the Iwa shinobi's throat. However, the blade stopped several centimeters from the enemy's body. To Akiyama's surprise, the Iwa shinobi had managed to intercept his attack. The clash between them didn't last long. The Iwa shinobi's hand was covered in a thick layer of stone, and he struck the Konoha ninja right in the face.

The blow stunned Akiyama severely. Swaying, he stepped back a few paces from the enemy and prepared for his imminent death. He understood that the enemy would take advantage of his condition. His entire life flashed before his eyes. He remembered every detail of his life: his first day at the ninja academy, his first kill, and his first love affair with a stunning kunoichi. Akiyama now regretted not dedicating more time to training. If he had been stronger, he might have been able to defeat the Iwa shinobi.

However, contrary to his expectations, the enemy didn't finish him off. When he managed to regain his composure and suppress his dizziness, he saw that the Iwa shinobi was still standing in the same place, staring off somewhere. Akiyama followed the enemy's gaze and saw a person lying on the ground. Then, he quickly surveyed the situation. It was clear that they were losing, which meant they needed to come up with a retreat plan during this brief respite.

What snapped Akiyama out of his contemplation was the movement of the unknown person. Slowly, as if an old man, the individual got up. Now, he could be seen in detail. The first thing that caught Akiyama's eye was the mask. A disfigured face with metal inserts instead of skin, connected by steel threads. And one eye seemed to consist of three pupils.

"Euphoria," a quiet, barely audible deep voice brought Akiyama back from his contemplation.

After these words, the stranger straightened up as if his strength had returned. Akiyama immediately thought it was jutsu.

The tension in the air was palpable. No one was willing to take any action first.

"Hello, I'm Axel Reinhard," a voice from the person rang out like thunder from a clear sky.

Akiyama, out of the corner of his eye, saw his teammate Tetsuo Reto couldn't hold back any longer and threw a kunai right at the stranger. However, instead of sticking into his abdomen, the kunai fell to the ground.

"Could this strange clothing actually be armor? It can't be. A kunai should easily pierce through skin!" raced through Akiyama's mind.

"Burning Concealing Mist," and the battlefield was instantly engulfed in a thick mist.

Akiyama clenched his teeth to keep from screaming. This mist began to boil him as if he were ramen in a pot. Even the rain couldn't penetrate this mist, and raindrops evaporated instantly upon contact.

"I have to endure the pain. The most important thing now is to move toward the camp."

By dispersing chakra throughout his body, Akiyama quickly ran toward the camp. The scorching mist was causing severe burns and reducing visibility, so he ran at a moderately slow speed to avoid colliding with anyone.

Around him, cries of agony filled the air, and along the way, he occasionally encountered the bodies of fallen shinobi. It was taking a heavy toll on his psyche.

Finally, emerging from the mist, Akiyama breathed a sigh of relief. His entire body felt as if it were burning, as if hot coals had been placed under his skin. Even the cool rain couldn't alleviate the pain.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Akiyama spotted two more Leaf and Stone shinobi. They were in the same condition as he was. They were currently standing in a defensive posture.

"Damn it, Akiyama, you scared the hell out of me!" Ichiro Abe exclaimed, putting away his kunai.

"Ichiro! You have no idea how relieved I am to see you!" Akiyama smiled with joy. He thought he was the last survivor from their group.

"Hey, guys, I'm happy for your reunion, but who was that person?" the Stone shinobi asked, also sheathing his kunai. All three of them understood that it was best not to continue the fight.

"Who knows," Ichiro waved his hand dismissively while checking his burns.

"It's better to get out of here as quickly as possible," Akiyama looked at the mist with fear. "We won't be able to defeat him."

"Are we just going to leave the survivors behind?" the Stone shinobi exclaimed in surprise. "We can't just abandon them there!"

"Listen, Akiyama is right," Ichiro said. "We can't defeat him. Do you see this mist?" Ichiro pointed at the mist. "Most likely, it's a wind release technique. He has a kekkei genkai. And those with enhanced genetics are always powerful. Just think about Tsuchikage."

The Stone shinobi looked thoughtfully at the mist. He didn't want to leave his comrades, but there was logic in the words of the Konoha ninja. Besides, the three of them were injured.

"Damn you! Someone's coming!" All of them turned their gaze toward the mist, and indeed, a blurry silhouette of a person was emerging from it.

The shinobi once again assumed their combat stances. They hoped it might be their comrades, but caution was still necessary.

The seconds of waiting felt like hours. Akiyama tried to quickly come up with a plan for a retreat.

"Bijū! We should have run back to the camp immediately instead of trying to regain our strength!" he scolded himself.

And then the silhouette emerged from the mist. It was the same stranger. He was dragging the bodies of two Stone shinobi by their collars, as if they were sacks of rice, and threw them at the feet of the shinobi.

"Oh, you..." The Stone shinobi shook with anger.

"How dense can he be?" thought Ichiro. "I hope this Stone shinobi doesn't charge into a suicidal attack."

"A-a-a-ah!" the Stone shinobi screamed and charged at the person.

"Fire Whip," the stranger's hand produced a long, not very thick strip of fire that resembled a whip.

With a single flick of his wrist, the fire whip entwined the shinobi and began to burn him.

The screams of pain deafened the Konoha shinobi. They watched in horror as the unfortunate man was consumed by flames.

After a few seconds, the charred body fell to the ground, and only then did they snap out of their stupor. The Leaf shinobi realized they had missed their chance to escape.

The stranger raised his head and began to examine the dark clouds. Ichiro and Akiyama exchanged glances, as if silently asking each other, "What do we do?"

"Has the war been going on for long?" the stranger asked unexpectedly. The shinobi were startled but managed to reply hesitantly.

"Well... yes..." Akiyama managed to stammer.

"Good..." the stranger turned his back to them and walked into the mist.

" ... "

" ... "

"Damn it, he just walked away?" Ichiro was shaking from the tension. Even though the stranger had already left, he still couldn't believe they had survived.

"Yeah... They say all strong shinobi are a bit crazy," Akiyama tried to joke, relieving some of the tension.

"Heh-heh-heh, that's for sure," Ichiro clenched his fists to collect his thoughts.

After exchanging another glance, they ran back to the camp without holding back.