Chapter 5: The Counterkill
Chapter 5: The Counterkill
Byakuya's expression remained calm as he drew two kunai and hurled them toward a nearby tree branch. Just before striking the branch, the two kunai collided midair. One fell to the ground, while the other circled the branch slightly before embedding itself into the trunk.
Grabbing the attached steel wire, Byakuya swung his body through the air toward the branch, narrowly dodging the stocky Iwa ninja's crushing blow.
In the sunlight, the thin, refined steel wire glinted faintly, finally catching the Iwa ninja's attention. He immediately canceled his Rock Fist Technique and formed a string of hand signs at lightning speed.
In less than a second, he completed the hand signs for Earth Release: Earth Spikes, summoning sharp stone spears to erupt from the ground right where Byakuya was about to land.
But Byakuya had anticipated this. He released the wire mid-swing, dropping to the ground prematurely.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before his feet even touched the ground, Byakuya threw another set of smoke bombs, unleashing a multicolored cloud of thick smoke to obscure his movements.
From within the smoke, kunai and shuriken—some rigged with explosive tags—shot out like a deadly rain of steel.
"Do you think cheap tricks like this can stop me?"
The Iwa ninja slammed his hands onto the ground, summoning a sturdy earth wall that easily blocked the projectiles and explosions.
The wall also obscured his vision, but he didn't mind. Confident in his defenses, he dispelled the earth wall moments later, expecting to see Byakuya caught in a desperate escape.
Instead, he saw a blurred figure running clumsily in the lingering smoke.
"Game over."
With a twisted grin, the Iwa ninja charged into the smoke and delivered a crushing punch to the figure.
Poof!
The figure vanished into a puff of smoke, merging with the surrounding haze.
The Iwa ninja's grin froze. He had struck a shadow clone, one of the most basic ninja techniques. Yet in the dense smoke, even he hadn't realized it was a decoy.
"Damn brat!"
Furious at his repeated failures, the ninja's instincts screamed danger. His battle-hardened reflexes urged him to use the Substitution Technique, but he was too late.
A kunai plunged deep into his neck before being yanked out in a flash, causing blood to spurt like a fountain.
Clutching his neck in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, the Iwa ninja staggered and collapsed. The severed artery ensured his death was inevitable.
Even as his vision darkened, his mind remained in disbelief. He couldn't understand how he had lost to a mere rookie.
With that final thought, the Iwa ninja's body fell limp, lifeless.
---
Byakuya stood over the corpse, panting heavily. His legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
Though he wanted to burn the body with a fire jutsu, his chakra and stamina were completely drained.
Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting dappled light on the forest floor. As he reflected on his life-or-death struggle, a shiver ran down his spine.
From the beginning of the battle, Byakuya had noticed the ninja's reliance on Earth-Style Wall for defense. He had crafted a risky plan based on this habit.
First, he used his remaining smoke bombs to obscure his movements entirely.
Next, he unleashed a barrage of kunai and shuriken, fully expecting them to fail. His true goal was to bait the ninja into raising an earth wall, effectively blinding him.
In the final stage of his plan, Byakuya used a basic clone jutsu to create an identical decoy of himself while transforming into a rock and hiding nearby.
As the smoke cleared, the clumsy movements of his shadow clone in the residual haze served to lower the ninja's guard.
When the ninja attacked the clone, Byakuya seized the opportunity to dispel his transformation, Blink to the side, and strike a fatal blow to his unprotected neck.
What seemed like a long, drawn-out battle had actually unfolded in mere seconds. Any mistake in execution could have resulted in Byakuya's death.
Though victorious, he felt no relief.
This wasn't even the main battlefield, yet he had barely survived. How many enemies like this would he encounter on the front lines?
In such a brutal environment, human lives seemed as insignificant as blades of grass.
Byakuya swallowed a soldier pill to replenish his strength. As the pill's effects took hold, he looked down at the Iwa ninja's corpse, his expression dark.
"I'm still too weak," he muttered.
In this cruel ninja world, weakness was a sin.
Forcing himself to move despite the pain of the pill's side effects, Byakuya stumbled away from the scene. His body and mind were at their limits, making him vulnerable to even the weakest opponent.
Yet he refused to stay in one place and wait for death. Even if he were to die, he would do so moving forward.
---
Not long after, Byakuya heard the faint sound of movement nearby.
"Are they reinforcements?"
His heart sank with despair. Tightening his grip on his kunai, he pressed himself against a tree trunk and prepared for a final stand.
"If I'm going to die here, at least I'll take one of them with me," he thought grimly, his gaze sharp and unwavering.
"Byakuya, what happened here? Where are the others?"
The familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Turning toward the source, he saw none other than Uchiha Fugaku approaching with his team.
"Lord Fugaku," Byakuya said urgently, "after you left, we were ambushed by Iwa ninjas. I managed to kill one, but the others are chasing Itachi and the others. Please, go help them!"
Fugaku's face darkened, his Sharingan flaring to life. His voice was icy.
"Stay here and guard Byakuya," he ordered one of his men. "The rest of you, with me!"
As the Uchiha elites rushed to aid the others, one ninja stayed behind to watch over Byakuya.
"Itachi and the others will be fine," the man said with a reassuring smile, clapping Byakuya on the shoulder. "Rest for now. I'm here to keep you safe."
For the first time, Byakuya allowed himself to relax. With his nerves unwinding, he succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.
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