CH_46

Poof! The male Iwa-nin Tōji had grabbed suddenly turned into a Substitution Log…

Alright then. A ninjutsu-specialist ninja did have some tricks in that department.

Boom! A massive ball of flame crashed down from above Tōji!

When the fire faded, all that was burned was an Earth Clone of Tōji… Tōji reappeared at the spot where he'd originally used the 【Decapitation Technique】.

Both of them paused for a moment. They'd already burned through a fair amount of chakra in this exchange.

The young Iwa-nin had started to feel something was off. Were Konoha shinobi generally stronger than Iwa shinobi? This unremarkable-looking guy was actually holding his own against him.

Tōji, on the other hand, was thinking how strange it was—an Iwa shinobi using Fire Release against a Konoha shinobi using Earth Release…

If there was a water source nearby, Tōji would have preferred to use Water Release—it'd save chakra and counter the Fire Release, giving him a growing advantage.

As the two of them caught their breath, it seemed something had happened elsewhere. But Tōji didn't have the spare attention to look toward the commotion.

"Let's go—I don't believe this!" The male Iwa-nin initiated another round of attacks, thinking that as a chūnin, he had the advantage in chakra reserves if they were going to trade jutsu.

Tōji, however, was calm. He wasn't planning to go all-out just yet. As long as Natchi and Neru could handle Ishimin on their side, he was happy to keep dragging things out.

"Ah!" This time, it was a more miserable cry of pain! It sounded like one of the Konoha chūnin—someone Tōji didn't know well…

"【Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Technique】!" The male Iwa-nin probably only knew a few Fire Release jutsu. Seizing the moment when the other side was making a big commotion, he launched another attack.

Tōji had no choice—others could die, but he had to stay at full alert.

Since both Tōji and his opponent had limited chakra left, they started relying less on jutsu and more on kunai clashes. And since both were roughly equal in taijutsu, it became a proper stalemate.

『The outcome really depends on the jōnin. I'll just keep stalling.』 Tōji thought to himself, secretly holding back some strength even as he moved.

Strangely, the young Iwa-nin facing him didn't seem like a traditional Iwa shinobi at all—he didn't know Earth Release and wasn't skilled at taijutsu either, and now he was visibly struggling. Was it nerves? Distraction? Or just a gap in actual ability?

"Ah!" Another chūnin fell somewhere. Tōji stole a glance, but there was too much dust to see clearly!

"Ah!" "Aah~" Cries of pain rang out one after another!

Thud! At that moment, Natchi—who had been pressuring Ishimin alongside Neru—got distracted and took a heavy punch to the chest from Ishimin. Tōji could see a trickle of blood escape from the corner of Natchi's mouth.

"Tōji! Stop stalling!" Neru, seeing Natchi's condition, immediately urged Tōji…

『?! Come on—it's perfectly reasonable for a genin like me to not beat a chūnin… Why does it sound like she's accusing me of slacking off?』 Tōji ranted internally. But he had no choice—he couldn't just let Ishimin kill Natchi.

Besides, Neru probably wouldn't risk herself to save him… She wasn't exactly the model "Will of Fire" successor.

"I'm not stalling! How's a genin supposed to beat a chūnin?" Tōji called back loudly, putting on a tone of difficulty.

But as soon as he said that, he'd already secretly formed a seal. "【Earth Release: Hardening Technique】!" With a low shout, Tōji used a C-rank technique he'd picked up from the Iwa-nin a while back.

Though it was a common technique in Iwa, very few in Konoha knew it. It had taken Rawari's clumsy low-level genjutsu to squeeze it out of a captured Iwa prisoner.