A week pa.s.sed in an instant and Shiori was back under the care of Jiro. RPF had done surprisingly well at taking care of her so Jiro took care of him well in sparring. Despite being continually beaten by Jiro, RPF was able to learn some nuances in close combat and how to effectively use the Sharingan in battle when facing someone overwhelmingly superior.As the battles that were once being fought on the borders of the nations shrunk inward towards Amegakure, the amount of deaths began to spiral upward. More and more battles were taking place at the borders of Amegakure where the nations of Konoha, Iwa, Suna, and Ame fought. As the battlefield shrunk, shin.o.bi were being forced to fight on multiple fronts at once while keeping eyes out for any dangers.
The new policy to have more medic nin as well as shin.o.bi trained in medical Jutsu as well as basic first aid came as a welcome help for the shin.o.bi of Konoha. Furthermore, the effects of Jiro"s Body-Refining Technique rang out as many shin.o.bi from Konoha were stronger than their counterparts in the other villages.
All these advantages helped to keep the casualty rate of Konoha down. However, this was noticed by the other villages.
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Jiraiya and Orochimaru ducked as a flurry of shurikens. .h.i.t the spot they had been previously occupying. Shin.o.bi from Ame, Suna, and Iwa were all flooding in and destroying the temporary base set up for Konoha that served as a makeshift hospital.
As buildings burned and shin.o.bi on either side died, the duo were searching for Tsunade as well as Dan. However, admist the flames and smoke, they found Fugaku and Duy. Teuchi was lying on Duy"s back unconscious and a bandaged stump of flesh was what remained of his legs.
Shin.o.bi continued to swarm in cutting down those who were injured and taking out the medics as well. The sound of metal clashing as well as the dying screams of those fatally injured resounded with a crescendo that echoed.
"Amaterasu!"
Fugaku"s right eye bled as black flames lit up the nearest shin.o.bi. They fell to the ground as agonizing screams rang out. The screams turned into whimpers before ultimately being silenced. There was a slight pause among the shin.o.bi crowd before they all charged towards Fugaku and Duy. Fugaku tossed away the mask that was supposed to cover his eyes before turning to Duy.
"Run. I can handle them."
A red glow began to form around Fugaku as Chakra began to get used at a very fast rate. A red skeletal form barely formed around Fugaku as two arms were revealed. Fugaku ran straight towards the swarm and with the giant arms, swept aside the shin.o.bi or crushed them as he formed a fist.
While doing this, Fugaku winced inside as the pain started to mount from the intense Chakra drain. Orochimaru and Jiraiya both seized the opportunity and joined Fugaku by summoning the largest snake and toad both could manage. The impressive summons easily killed the Genin and some Chunin, but the Jounin bombarded the summons with Jutsu as well as explosive tags.
Fugaku began to face a different problem. The Chakra drain was already making him dizzy. He dispersed the Susanoo and began to fight with his kunai and shurikens. He fought his way over to Orochimaru and Jiraiya who were both making a last stand to hold off more of the shin.o.bi while other Konoha shin.o.bi were guiding the injured or moving supplies.
The line of defense formed by the Konoha shin.o.bi slowly shrank back and continued to shrink back until they were way out of the makeshift base which was almost all burned down at this point. It was at this point that the temporary alliance of shin.o.bi stopped their advance and retreated on their separate ways.
As the crowd left, a large amount of shin.o.bi all wearing the headband identifying them as Konoha shin.o.bi slowly emerged from the woods which were about a minute away. If the alliance had continued to advance, a nasty ambush would have awaited them.
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Kushina paused and took a break in ma.s.s producing seals. The pile of explosive tags she had created were made with the unique pattern of Jiro"s that emphasized the size of the explosion. She took the explosive tags and stuffed them into a scroll of sealing which was pa.s.sed off to a messenger.
As she walked out of her room stretching, she noticed that many seal masters were present in the mansion of her parents and working with each other to simplify the explosive tag process. While distracted, a note fell in front of her. On it was the familiar writing of Jiro.
"First strike."
Kushina sighed as she realized that her teacher"s shadow clones had arrived once more and she already had a strike meaning that there was an opportunity for her to discover the clone, but it got past her.
While strolling out of the house and walking to the practice area, Kushina tried to keep her senses as alert as possible, but she was tired from all the seal making. The instant her senses dulled, a wad of paper slammed onto her face. As she unfurled it, she saw the making of an explosive tag, but it seemed slightly different.
The shadow clone of Jiro noticed Kushina"s absence of attention and sighed while shaking his head. He sent down his Chakra down to the wire connected to the tag. When Kushina noticed the glow, it was too late. The explosive tag specialized in creating smoke went off with no noise, but lots of smoke.
Moments later, a soot covered Kushina crawled out of the smoke screen and lay on the floor while completely out of it. As she stared at the sky, a face loomed over her. It was Jiro who shook his head and helped Kushina up from the ground.
"Kushina, no matter how many strikes you get from me, you still aren"t dead yet. However, the moment you give up, you"re dead."