Chapter 46
Ichiro, the Third, and the Fourth had finally learned to synchronise their techniques, and they were unusually strong and dangerous. After discussing the details of the plan, Kenshin rechecked all the formations on his sons' amulets and then went to bed, determined to get some rest before the coming battle.
In this operation, Kenshin had the role of "commander", as he was the only one who could see the entire immediate area in great detail, which was especially advantageous in the pitch darkness. Although shinobi could still see in the dark as their physical characteristics increased, the Genin and Chunin could not boast outstanding night vision.
By nine o'clock in the evening, Kenshin was already awake, and the first thing he did was to see what was going on outside. Seeing the two strangers sitting in their cave, Kenshin relaxed, and once again instructed his sons.
By one o'clock in the morning, Kenshin had made sure that the two strangers were asleep, and taking Ichiro, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth with him, he moved towards the cave, which was only 400 metres from his hideout. He did not worry about the noise of footsteps, for the formation on all the amulets had been finalised, and muffled the sounds made by the user.
As soon as they reached the cave, they all took their prearranged places, ready to act as needed. Kenshin took a deep breath, and once again checking the location of the outsiders, mentally ordered, "Begin!"
His three sons instantly synchronised telepathically, and with the precision of a millisecond, they began to form seals, and then all three of them shouted out:
- Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! - Releasing a five metre long fireball that immediately flew into the depths of the cave. They had put 70% of their chakra into this technique, and were working at the limit of their abilities.
Without wasting time, Kenshin immediately deployed a homemade formation made of sewn hare skins, with five amulets stitched in specific places, which were the basis of the formation. As the fireball darted forward, Kenshin threw the formation to the ground, right in the centre of the cave entrance, and activated it instantly, barely finishing it in time.
Small flashes of fire erupted from the cave, and had it not been for the formation, they would have burned Kenshina's face without a problem. The formation on the ground was a modified version of the formation on each family member's amulet, with a few changes. It only worked one way, and allowed oxygen to pass through it so that the fire could burn without problems.
As soon as the fireball formed, Izao and Toru instantly opened their eyes. Their battle instincts had kicked in. When they saw the huge fireball at the end of the cave, they realised that there was nowhere to run, so they each tried to escape as best they could.
- Suiton: Suijinheki - Shouted Toru, and a thick wall of water appeared in front of him, right when the fireball was a few metres away.
The wall of water did absolutely no good, and was vaporised in a second, followed by the fire consuming Tora as well, leaving not even bones.
Izao was much luckier because he slept behind a small stone ledge, right next to the wall, and thus got a small natural defence. He immediately folded a few seals, and shouted out:
- Doton: Shoheki! - And a small slab of rock rose up in front of him, about 40 centimetres thick. He deliberately poured more chakra into it to make it stronger.
As soon as the stone wall was formed in front of him, Izao began to form new seals. But due to the complexity of the technique, it was very slow . Although the fireball's initial tangential strike was contained, thanks in large part to the natural protrusion, Izao was running out of time.
The fireball crashed into the end of the cave, and flames spread across the walls. Izao, seeing the flames expanding and rushing towards him from the side, accelerated to the limit, and at the last second, he was licked by one of the flames.
Izao, with a burnt face and burnt hair, instantly fell backwards, and fell through the wall, holding his breath, travelling freely in the rock to find a way out.
*****
Once the technique was formed and the barrier activated, Kenshin instantly climbed the nearest tree with the help of Fifth, and began to observe what was going on inside the cave.
When he saw one of the strangers go down in flames, he was visibly relieved, and reported over the telepathic link "One dead, but don't relax, stay alert!" and started watching the second one.
As soon as Izao hid in the wall, Kenshin instantly reported "User Doton has gone into the wall, everyone spread out and hide!", and all of his sons immediately took up stealthy positions in various places, waiting for the enemy.
After half a minute, Izao stepped out of the wall and took a deep breath. He intended to get away from here as soon as possible, and he was in no hurry to get into a dangerous fight with an unknown opponent. He still cared about his life, so he made an attempt to escape.
But Kenshin wasn't about to let him get away. If one of the enemy could escape, the Nakayama family would be in constant danger of attack and retaliation, so when he saw Izao climbing out of the wall on his radar, he instantly commanded:
"At eight o'clock, fifty metres away, Ichiro, act!" - Hearing his father, Ichiro instantly glanced in the right direction, and activating his sharingan, saw the enemy. He immediately threw two shurikens at him, and rushed in pursuit.
Izao instantly saw the shurikens flying at him, and didn't see anything dangerous in them. But as soon as the shurikens were five metres away from him, they suddenly disappeared, and one shuriken appeared near his heart and another near his femoral artery.
He was stunned, and barely managed to fend off the first shuriken, and only turn his leg slightly to avoid damaging the femoral artery. The second shuriken was halfway through its length, and Izao winced painfully, but immediately pulled it out of the wound, and realised he couldn't escape now.
- Doton: Iwadeppo no Jutsu! - Izao shouted, and with an exhale, four small stones flew out of his mouth like bullets towards the approaching Ichiro.
Ichiro could see the trajectory of the stones thanks to his sharingan, but his body wasn't that fast, and he only managed to dodge three of them, and the fourth one hit him in the right shoulder, but was stopped by an invisible barrier.