Feeling Alive

''There are Konoha scums." Kojima spat as he immediately recognized Riku standing with the opposing force.

Due to their past, it was understandable why they would hate Konoha as its very own shinobi who was the author of their fall from grace.

Fortunately, He and his brothers had managed to use jutsus to traverse the earth right before the collapse.

'Why are they so few?' Tao wondered when he only sensed one jounin from the forces that had just attacked them.

'Anyway, this just makes it easier to escape.'

Analyzing the situation, Tao thought it was better for them to escape and cut their losses while they still had a chance.

The aftermath of the Great Tremor Jutsu had killed a majority of their forces. The casualties included mostly genins and some chunins.

As Tao was just about to start flickering away, he noticed something. His brothers were no longer next to him. He looked around and saw them heading towards the opposing force.

'Why are they always like this?'

He sighed as he joined them. He only did so as he was encouraged by their growing advantage.

Back at the allied group, Renjiro had only spoken what almost everyone was thinking. Facing more than one Jounin put them in a disadvantaged position.

Riku, who was standing at the forefront, assessed the situation with a keen eye. The rogue ninjas, though battered, still posed a potential threat.

"Be on guard. Assume defensive formation." Riku shouted the minute he saw two of the jounins heading towards him.

Maintaining a heightened state of vigilance, everyone headed to his words. They were all aware of the stakes at hand.

Following their bosses, the surviving Chunins and Genins also rushed towards the enemies. Making this a full-blown battle between the two sides.

With a sudden burst of movement, the rogue ninjas unleashed a series of desperate attacks. Their resilience and determination fueled their attempts. A clash of jutsus erupted, marked by flashes of chakra and the sound of colliding techniques.

Team 15 and the rest, guided by Riku, responded swiftly to the renewed threat.

'I need to hold them off till Aoi arrives. He must have already noticed all this commotion. The elite chunin is only a sensor, so I can't expect him to handle one of the brothers. That will be like showing my back to the enemy.'

Riku faced the Hozuki brothers, skilled and formidable opponents with a lineage deeply connected to water-based techniques. Meanwhile, Aiko, Hiro, and the Land of Mountains' forces confronted the surviving chunins and genins.

As the Hozuki brothers unleashed their kekkei genkai, Hydrafication, Riku found himself confronted with a formidable challenge.

The ability to transform their bodies into liquid water granted the brothers a unique form of defence and evasion, turning the tide of the battle( AN://I swear no pun intended) in their favour.

Riku, recognizing the need to adapt, intensified his focus on earth-based techniques. Stalactites and rock formations became his weapons of choice, manipulated with precision to counter the fluidity of the Hozuki brothers.

Yes, Earth Nature was strong against Water Nature, but when you are up against three experts in Water Nature, it's easy to be forced into a defensive position.

The brothers, however, proved to be elusive targets. Their mastery of Hydrafication allowed them to effortlessly evade Riku's attacks, slipping through the rocky projectiles with liquid grace.

'This is getting hard. What the hell is keeping Aoi? I'm sure the location was empty.'

Riku Lamented as he analyzed their movements and sought to exploit openings in their defence. The Hozuki brothers aimed to wear down Riku's defences, while Riku sought opportunities to land decisive blows while still defending.

Riku's ability to withstand the onslaught of the Hozuki brothers stemmed from a combination of factors. His power levels were on the cusp of reaching the pinnacle of jounin ranks, and he was teetering on the precipice of ascending to the coveted S-rank status.

This was a rare rank. Besides the tailed beasts, they were the deterring power of every shinobi village.

The brothers, though formidable jounins in their own right, faced a seasoned warrior on the verge of significant promotion. Konoha's strict criteria for jounin advancement meant that those jounin rank possessed a level of skill and experience that surpassed the standard expectations.

Riku was only on the defensive because he was not sure if he could take on the three of them offensively without sacrificing the lives of the chunins and genins with him.

He was waiting for Aoi to arrive and take on one of them so that they could end this matter.

On the other side of the now battleground, Renjiro found himself engaged in a fierce duel with a chunin from the opposing force. He was not confident in facing a chunin in combat, but considering their current predicament, he had to.

The enemy forces had a majority of chunins surviving as opposed to genins. While Renjiro and his allies had a majority of genins as opposed to chunins.

They did have an elite chunin with them, but he couldn't take on all the enemy chunins, so Renjiro decided to face a chunin so that the rest could quickly finish the enemy genins and aid him.

The chunin, launched a relentless assault, showcasing a combination of taijutsu and elemental jutsu. Renjiro, aware of the significant difference in their ranks, knew that he had to leverage his skills and resourcefulness to overcome this challenge.

The chunin, unleashed a barrage of water jutsus, forcing Renjiro to swiftly manoeuvre through the onslaught. Renjiro had to resort to Taijutsu and dodging the incoming attacks since his Fire and Wind Jutsus wouldn't do much damage to the chunin.

'I wish I learnt Earth Jutsus, they would have really helped in this situation.'

Despite the chunin's proficiency in water jutsus., Renjiro's sharingan-enhanced reflexes allowed him to anticipate and evade the majority of the attacks.

As the fight drew on, Renjiro began experiencing a surge of emotions and sensations that he didn't fully understand.

'Wait. Why do I feel so... Alive? Is that the feeling?' Renjiro was confused.

The clash of steel and the urgency of combat all combined to create a feeling of vitality that coursed through his veins. Despite the perilous situation, Renjiro found himself embracing the challenge, savouring the thrill of the fight.

The adrenaline rush heightened his senses, making every movement more vivid and every decision more crucial. Renjiro's heart pounded in rhythm with the chaos around him.

His instincts guided him with an almost primal precision. With each movement, he flowed seamlessly through the battlefield, a blur of speed and precision. With this, he went from dodging and defending to fully attacking his opponent.

The enemy chunin now found it increasingly challenging to keep up with Renjiro's wild yet controlled manoeuvres.

In a burst of accelerated movements, he outmanoeuvred his adversary, exploiting an opening in their defence. The sound of metal meeting flesh echoed as Renjiro's Kunai met its mark, severing the connection between his opponent and the world of the living.

Finishing him off, Renjiro surged forward, traversing the battlegrounds with calculated chaos to new opponents. Finishing off the chunin made him bolder.

He moved ahead to other chunins with his strikes becoming more precise and devastating. The foes before him fell like leaves in a storm.

The feeling that had initially gripped him intensified, propelling him forward. Renjiro's Sharingan captured every detail of the chaotic environment.

Following the trail of destruction left by him, some chunins took the initiative and closed in on him. His comrades tried their best to stop them but some still managed to get to Renjiro. They only had one thing on their minds. Ending Renjiro's rampage amongst their ranks.

'Good. Come to me.'

Renjiro, fueled by the exhilaration of the battle, entertained a daring idea as the chunins closed in on him. In a swift motion, His hands danced through a series of seals, culminating in the manifestation of countless explosive tags.

Yes. He had summoned all explosive tags he had from his storage seals. These were not ordinary explosive tags; they were the modified version Renjiro had ingeniously devised to enhance their impact. In a heartbeat, Renjiro flickered away.

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I have finally caught up to where I left off in the first iteration. Coincidentally, I have also finished the first arc on my Patreon and uploaded an epilogue chapter. You guys should probably head there and Check it out. It doesn't have any spoilers and contains important announcements going forward.

I will post it here when I am done with the arc here, but that would be in around a month, so the earlier the better.

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