Chapter 96

"It'll hold for about twenty minutes even against the most costly techniques," I reassured the jonin, throwing a worried glance back.

Of course, if it's a dozen high-level enemies, the lifespan of such protection will be significantly shorter. But among these unexpected guests, there's hardly anyone of that level—a standard trio of jonin and two squads of chunin with one who seems like a scout judging by the flickering chakra source and its occasional disappearance.

In general, nothing particularly frightening, but it'll be enough for us considering that the skirmish in Iwa's camp is still ongoing. However, they're rushing too much to reach their comrades, giving us an opportunity to arrange a small surprise potentially capable of halving the number of new enemies.

Without wasting words, I explained the plan to Gubashi with a couple of dozen signs and was pleased that there was no usual cloud cover for this time of year, which typically obscures the moon and deprives the Nara of the shadows so necessary for their techniques.

We found a suitable spot on top of one of the hills just two hundred meters from the main battle site—not so close to fall under the hot hand of the scattered jonin or to catch a random technique to the forehead, but relatively close for a hasty retreat if things go worse than expected.

Creating two more clones for cover and sadly noting a loss of nine-tenths of the chakra source and only just starting pills, I settled in the shadow of a large rock on the hill, folding my hands into the concentration seal. Even the keenest eye wouldn't immediately distinguish my figure in such a place, and we needed just a couple of seconds. And judging by the trajectory of the movement of the dozen shinobi, they should emerge right where we are.

"How long can you hold?"

The jonin next to me even applied henge to blend into the rock's color before asking about the available time, tracking how almost imperceptible threads connected shadows from the stones in a small hollow, creating a real network that could only be noticed when you precisely knew what to look for.

"Ten to fifteen seconds, no more," I replied, finishing the trap and noting a considerable chakra loss to maintain even such a small area of my own technique—after all, activating the natural shadows of large volumes is always costly.

Maybe even fifteen seconds is too optimistic for such a large number of targets. I still need some chakra reserve to avoid collapsing from exhaustion during the pursuit of survivors... But nobody was going to give me time to worry—a hostile chakra source approached closely, and I saw with my own eyes the silhouettes of Iwagakure shinobi, leaping at maximum speed over a low stone ridge and ending up exactly where we had calculated. Amplifying the chakra flow tenfold, going into the hizutsu, I managed to stop the bodies that had accelerated, albeit dropping about a tenth of the remaining reserve.

"Nimpo: Kage Mane no Jutsu."

And not a moment later, my clones sprang into action, chasing the one shinobi who hadn't fallen into my net, leaping far aside, while my partner rushed downhill, generously scattering kunai at motionless targets. In the next moment, the enemy realized they were being attacked, and I had to double my efforts to restrain all nine people who began making frenzied efforts to escape the shadow trap. Fifteen seconds?! Here, a dozen would suffice!

With a barely audible sound, a pair of kunai entered the necks of the nearest figures, and on the fly, Gubashi threw the next ones, leaping until I released the bodies (even a fatally wounded chakra user can fight for some time as if healthy, albeit only for a few seconds) and rushing towards the main targets, who had so unsuccessfully shielded the chunin.

By the third second, there were already four corpses, and by the fourth—five. The fifth second forced my partner to spend it on the last chunin, as his neck was protected by something more substantial than just a layer of clothing.

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