Chapter 12

I closed my eyes and immediately began to infuse my shirt with chakra. I couldn't see the entire battle, but I doubted that my eyes at my age could keep up with the speed of an ordinary Chunin, so I had to rely on my senses and my hearing.

However, the sounds of blows, the clinking of weapons, and other signs of battle nearby were interrupted every few seconds by explosions and waves of hot air.

- Rin! Damn it!" Senju cursed at the same time as another painful cry, and with a small burst of chakra she simply disappeared, appearing in the middle of the fight.

- Katon: Ko... "BOOH!"

- Gatsuga!

- Doto... "BUH" "BUH!"

Along with the flashes of chakra from the fight that almost blinded my senses, the names of the techniques and the complete absence of water techniques, while even one of Raiton's was used, made me seriously worried - Kiri shinobi mostly used big swords and water techniques, but not fire or earth techniques.

Trying to make sense of what was going on around us, I somehow lost sight of the seventh shinobi using the dive and ended up noticing another source of chakra under my feet until we were about five meters away.

- Underneath us! - I almost shrieked, instantly becoming covered in a cold sweat of fear.

Fortunately, Ma reacted instantly, jumping back and beginning to fold the seals.

- Katon: Erewdan!

Heat blazed in my face and a fire technique flew straight into the spot we were just in. And right into the flames came a shinobi who hadn't had time to deal with the change of scenery.

The shriek of frantic pain was quickly cut short when the explosion occurred. The smell of burning meat almost made me empty my stomach, but with a monstrous effort of will, I swallowed and tried to ignore it, not immediately realizing that the sounds were beginning to fade.

- Kaiten!

With a dome of chakra that was almost palpable to me, the last two enemy shinobi fell out of formation and silence fell, interrupted only by a couple of thuds and groans. There were a few barely audible sounds, as if the weapons had been driven into something and only our squad was left alive.

Two of the chunin were seriously wounded from the chakra fluctuations, but judging by the use of healing techniques and the fact that their condition was gradually improving, there was no need to worry about the consequences.

- Ka-chan, can I open my eyes? - I asked quietly, still clinging to my mother's back and maintaining my protection.

- Wait a bit, my good one, now we'll move away from here and only then I'll let you look around, - Saya stroked my head.

- Did you find anything? - I heard Senju's voice.

- No, just the standard mission gear, a couple of paralyzing seals for the prisoners, and nothing else, not even personal belongings," Hyuga said, "just pictures of you and the baby. It's obvious you were the targets, and my team was not the one the attackers were expecting to see.

- Damn, someone must have ratted us out if the attackers knew when and where their targets were going," Lynley almost growled. - Seal the bodies and get out of here before anyone else shows up.

After waiting for us to move away from the battlefield, I stopped the chakra flow, pleased to see that the total supply hadn't decreased much, opened my eyes and had a chance to assess the damage done to our side.

The chunin were relatively intact, save for some scratches and scorches on their clothes, but almost all of the chunin looked like they'd been put through a meat grinder and then tried to fry.

One of them was holding his whipped arm, and Inuzuka was holding his right side. His ninken looked the most intact, but a few bloodstains near its mouth and on its paws showed that it too had contributed to the overall victory.

- I don't like this," the jonin interrupted the silence as we got a few kilometers away from the clearing, "they knew where we were going to end up, they had pictures taken in Konoha, and they certainly weren't Kirigakure shinobi, despite the armbands! I'd seen enough Mistborn in my time to recognize them.

 It's strange that they didn't expect to see a second team, or they wouldn't have hesitated," the commander nodded, "It seems that the person who provided the information only knew about the Senju-dono-led team and, taking into account all the possible opponents, picked the appropriate group.

- As much as I hate to admit it, we would have lost against seven of them even with Nara-san's help, and we certainly couldn't have kept Ryuu-chan safe," the kunoichi frowned, "let alone detected them early thanks to the Byakugan.

- Most likely whoever sent those shinobi didn't think that I would hire one team by myself and the other by oto-san," Mom informed after a moment's thought. - If that's the case, then the attack makes sense.