16 - Old Friends

Inara hesitated for a moment.

"You know I didn't mean to say that" Inara said, looking uncomfortably at Miura.

With Hamada on his back, Miura said.

"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu"

Miura and his companions slowly disappeared into a thick mist.

"Ah damn" Inara murmured.

"Fūton: Reppūshō"

Inara shot a stream of dense air at the criminals before the fog became too thick.

The three criminals dodged the wave of air by jumping up and separating into pairs, Miura with Hamada and Yamasaki with Kosuke.

"Tsk" Miura muttered.

"Well... I tried to talk..." Inara said.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu."

Inara shot several waterballs at Yamasaki.

*Tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum

"Suiton: Suijinheki"

*Splashhh

Yamasaki spat on the ground, creating a wall of water to defend against Inara.

*Stushh stushh stushh stushh stushh stushh stushh

Thousands of bullets could be heard hitting the wall Yamasaki had created.

"Oh shit!" Miura said and put Hamada down carefully.

Miura pulled out a Fumma Shuriken and threw it at Inara.

*Swoshhh

Inara stopped his jutsu and jumped, dodging the Fumma Shuriken.

"Fūton: Daitoppa"

Yamasaki created a strong gust of wind towards Inara, which didn't necessarily hurt him, but made him defend himself so that he wouldn't fly away with the gust.

Inara was half stuck to the ground.

As Inara defended himself, keeping his center of gravity low to avoid being blown away, he heard.

"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu."

Miura created a thick mist again to camouflage himself.

"Shit..." Inara thought while defending himself against the gust of wind.

Suddenly, Inara noticed that the smoke was thinning. Yamasaki, still performing his jutsu, made the smoke decrease in strength until.

*Tchink

*FRUMMMM

The gust of wind took the form of a streak of fire.

"Damnit" Inara muttered.

Before the flames reached Inara, he made hand signals and said.

"Hyōton: Suishōheki."

*Humm

A wall of ice forms in front of Inara, containing the flames.

*Trummmm

The blast of fire was dense, using the blind spot created by the wall of ice, Inara says.

Kage bushin no jutsu

*Puff

Inara's kage bushin went unnoticed by the sound of the ice wall resisting the fire blast.

Inara's clone says.

"Hyouton: Kōri no michi"

Inara's clone surfs on the ice to the left of the wall's edge, catching Yamasaki's attention and aiming the burst of fire at him.

Taking advantage of the gap, the original Inara steps out to the right of the ice wall, towards Yamasaki.

"YAMASAKI!" Miura shouts.

Yamasaki stops his fireball and looks at Miura, who in the middle of looking away notices Inara coming at him with a kunai.

*TCHIMM

It echoes across the battlefield, Inara and Yamasaki locked in a battle of strength, both of their shurikens resisting each other.

Inara holds Kosuke's hand with his left arm and kicks Yamasaki in the stomach.

*Tushh

"Ahh!" Yamasaki screamed in pain at the impact.

Yamasaki was thrown several meters away from Inara.

Inara had Kosuke in his hands.

*Ploft

As Yamasaki fell and regained his balance, he said.

"Aww shit..."

Miura watched the situation in fear, but not for long.

Inara's clone was just to Miura's left and threw three shurikens in Miura's direction.

Miura took a defensive position with his kunai to deflect the 3 shurikens.

*Puff

One of the shurikens was a clone.

Miura expressed surprise and then received a kick from his kunai with a chakra cloak attached to it, multiplying the power of the attack.

*PUMM

Miura manages to defend himself but can't hold his position.

*Swooshhh

*Ploft

"HAMADA!" Miura shouts.

*Tchik!

Inara's clone places his shuriken close to Hamada's neck.

Original Inara says.

"I said I don't want to fight..." Inara said with a superior look on his face.

Miura and Yamasaki were furious.

"FORGET ME, DO IT FOR THE GREATER GOOD, GET THE KID BACK" Hamada shouted.

Miura and Yamasaki watched in fear without reacting.

"Shut up" Inara's clone said.

*Tush Crack

"AHHHHHH" Hamada cried in tears.

Inara's clone had stepped on Hamada's broken leg while holding his kunai in place.

"Bastard..." Miura muttered.

Inara kept a cold eye on the two criminals.

Inara picked up Kosuke and placed his hand on his chest, using a slight concentration of chakra that almost served as a kind of chakra defibrillator to wake him from the sleeping effect.

*Tum

Inara had practiced such a skill due to the constant circumstances in the war, where sleeping bombs were constantly used, a common practice during the war.

Kosuke gives a glimpse of consciousness, muttering.

"Hm hmm..." Kosuke murmured.

"He'll wake up soon" Inara thought.

"Oof!" Inara sighed in relief.

"What are we going to do? Soon the boy will wake up and our situation will only get worse" Miura asked muttering to Yamasaki.

Yamasaki looked at Miura and then at Hamada's situation in the distance.

...

"Hamada will be killed if we try to attack him" Yamasaki muttered.

"Look, Kotaka will soon realize that we didn't get to the cave with the boy, and he'll probably go the reverse path to see if everything is all right. It's not certain, but if we buy some time, he could be here with us soon... I hope so" Miura muttered and turned his attention to Inara who was watching Kosuke.

Kage Bushin no Jutsu

*Puff

Inara had created a clone that would return to the village to bring reinforcements, both for Hamada's arrest and medical care, and to ensure Kosuke's safety.

"Damn, another problem" Miura muttered to himself.

"In wartime, I've seen the ability Inara just used, the boy will take about 5 minutes to regain consciousness, by the time the clone arrives in the village and brings reinforcements from what's left of the shinobi force of Amegakure, I think we have about 30 minutes" Miura muttered to Yamasaki.

"But do you think he will stand here with the boy?" Yamasaki muttered.

"I think so, because he doesn't know if we have reinforcements, if he left the clone here, we would both find a way very easily, a clone only needs one blow to be undone... and I know Inara very well... he wants information from Hamada" Miura muttered.

"Tsk... what a shitty situation..." Yamasaki muttered.

Inara turned his eyes to Yamasaki and Miura, who seemed to be observing both situations, until Inara heard.

"UUUURRGHHH"

*TUSSHH

Inara was struck in the back by a mysterious ninja.

Inara was unable to sense his presence and the blow knocked him away.

*VUOSHHH

"Urgh" Inara exclaims in pain from the impact.

Inara flies several feet away.

*Ploft ploft ploft

*Tchimmm

Inara uses his kunai to break the fall and regain his balance.

"Who did that?" thinks Inara.

Right next to Kosuke, Inara sees a 2 meter tall ninja in a raincoat, an iron glove on your right hand, scars around his face and clothing characteristic of a war veteran.

Inara's eyes widen in surprise.

...

"Kotaka..." Inara murmurs.

//

Author note 

10 chapters ahead at p@treon.com/persima

If we hit 100 power stones by Saturday, I'll post 1 extra chapter