Chapter 38: Fierce Battle
Kenmoto was knocked into the air by Ishiro's slash. While airborne, he adjusted his posture and then landed steadily on both feet, ready at once to repel any follow-up from Ishiro. He was confident: if Ishiro pressed the attack, this was his chance to turn the tables.
But upon touching down, Kenmoto found no trace of Ishiro. All around him stood only that lone earth wall.
Scanning the area warily and seeing no one else, he fixed his gaze on the wall. Without question, Ishiro was hiding behind it. As for what he was doing, it was easy to guess he was making more hand seals.
"Careless," Kenmoto thought with a silent curse. He had assumed Ishiro wanted a quick ninjutsu win – perhaps a heavy offense to seize control. Who would have guessed Ishiro's jutsu was only Earth-Style Wall, used as a feint to disrupt Kenmoto's rhythm, followed by a sudden close-range assault. After Kenmoto concluded Ishiro intended to rely on his weaker taijutsu to catch him off-guard, Ishiro slipped away again to cast ninjutsu. Now Kenmoto had wasted a chance to interrupt. He had no option left except to brace for Ishiro's next technique. He realized he couldn't look down on this kid at all.
"Still… what jutsu is it this time?" Kenmoto mused. "According to intel, the brat has two main offensive moves: Earth Spear Gun and a certain Water Release. Probably Earth Spear Gun – that's how you can effectively force an enemy back if they're too close. In that case, I won't be going near him."
Sure enough, from behind the earth wall, Ishiro slipped out and slammed both palms onto the floor.
Kenmoto immediately sensed tremors beneath his feet. Without hesitation, he used a series of quick leaps to avoid the earth lances erupting from below. Altogether, he dodged over a dozen consecutive stone spikes – each time he landed, another spike burst up. Only after multiple frantic maneuvers, ending roughly twice as far from Ishiro as before, did Kenmoto avert the final thrust.
"Phew." He wiped cold sweat. "I never guessed an 8-year-old's Earth Spear Gun would be controlled so precisely. Give a ninjutsu-user enough space to set up, and they're truly a hassle to fight."
He glanced at Ishiro to see whether the kid would continue attacking. Realizing Ishiro was forging ahead with more hand seals, Kenmoto's face tensed. "Damn it, I can't let him keep controlling the pace." But still wary, he didn't rush in blindly.
Suddenly, Ishiro's seals took a shape Kenmoto recognized: Serpent → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger. That was the standard chain for Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. "Impossible. The brat's only 8, and he's already wielding a third element?! Fire Release on top of Earth and Water?"
Despite not believing it, Kenmoto reacted on instinct. He formed seals for a defensive jutsu that Ishiro was all too familiar with – Earth-Style Wall.
Then Kenmoto crouched behind his new wall, waiting for a giant fireball to hit. Moments passed, yet no crash of flames came. Kenmoto instantly caught on to the ruse. "That cunning brat! He doesn't even know Great Fireball. No wonder he was so conspicuous with his hand seals this time, not hiding it at all." Anger flared. Once again, Ishiro had tricked him and seized the initiative.
Meanwhile, Ishiro, seeing Kenmoto's barrier go up, felt amused that a little bluff got such results. Noting that Kenmoto had vanished behind the earth wall, Ishiro promptly weaved new seals for Sensory Ninjutsu.
Benefitting from Kenmoto's brief wait, Ishiro managed to finish the slower hand signs before the enemy reappeared. Maintaining one palm on the ground, Ishiro quickly scanned the area. Indeed, in his perception, a second chakra signature had appeared behind Kenmoto's wall. Ishiro instantly distinguished which was the real body and which was a clone. Identifying their approach vectors, Ishiro ceased his sensory jutsu and initiated another attack plan.
After hearing from Kitsuchi that Kenmoto might use Earth-Style Clone, Ishiro quietly did further research, verifying that rumor from Kenmoto's own teammates. They helpfully "betrayed" Kenmoto at once. Ishiro had resolved to exploit that knowledge now – and sure enough, Kenmoto had made a clone.
While weaving seals behind the earth wall, Ishiro also conjured a simple clone of his own. This clone lacked real combat power but could perform minor tasks, such as holding a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag for a sneak attack. Meanwhile, Ishiro himself formed the signs for Water Thread. Thanks to his stronger chakra control, the technique now included partial water-pressure effects, nearly doubling its old power.
Kenmoto's Earth clone, on the other hand, deliberately caused some noise to lure Ishiro. True to plan, Ishiro quickly emerged from behind the wall, spitting a watery rope that lanced at the clone. The Earth clone, as Kenmoto had arranged, made only half-hearted dodges, acting like it took a minor wound, so Ishiro pressed in for a final blow. Perfectly matching Kenmoto's script: once Ishiro moved in to finish the clone, Kenmoto's real body would swoop down from the training hall rafters for the kill.
And indeed, Kenmoto's real self perched silently overhead, preparing to pounce from above the moment Ishiro dropped his guard. If Ishiro took too long finishing the clone, Kenmoto planned a single lethal strike. A ninjutsu-user with minimal taijutsu prowess couldn't handle Kenmoto at point-blank range.
But as Kenmoto moved to strike, he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye – another Ishiro stepping out atop the earth wall. Startled, Kenmoto instantly assumed that must be Ishiro's real body. Abandoning the first Ishiro, he forcibly altered his dive and lunged at the new arrival. He was convinced that, even if his shift in plans was rushed, the real Ishiro's taijutsu was no match for him.
Yet in mid-lunge, Kenmoto realized something was off. Years of combat experience warned him, "That Ishiro is a clone!" He recognized it just in time to see the explosive tag taped to the kunai.
With no time to dodge in midair, Kenmoto hurriedly called out: "Earth Release: Earth-Style Dodge!" But suspended off the ground, his technique was weaker. Earth Release typically drew from the terrain for maximum effect, and hovering mid-lunge gave him no solid anchor. The partial shield he mustered was enough to soak the explosion – yet the tag's blast propelled that half-baked earth barrier backward, smashing it right into Kenmoto.
If Ishiro had followed up right then, he could have ended it quickly. But Ishiro was still stuck fending off Kenmoto's Earth clone. Even though the clone was weaker, the gap between them and Ishiro remained large enough that Ishiro hadn't immediately cut it down. The moment Ishiro tried to disengage and pursue Kenmoto, the clone doggedly pestered him with total disregard for its own survival. That's the advantage of Earth clones or Shadow clones – they have partial autonomous thought.
By the time Ishiro dispelled Kenmoto's clone, the perfect moment to punish Kenmoto had slipped away. Left with no choice, Ishiro declined to chase. Instead, he cast Earth Spear Gun again.
Kenmoto, who had survived the explosion, saw Ishiro not approaching and breathed a sigh of relief. He could sense his condition was poor, but as long as Ishiro kept his distance, Kenmoto had time to steady his breathing. However, seeing Ishiro begin more hand seals, Kenmoto couldn't help cursing under his breath:
"Damn it… I guess I have no choice but to risk an all-out assault. So be it."
At that point, Kenmoto's mindset unexpectedly calmed. He realized that from start to finish, Ishiro had completely led him around by the nose, and that Ishiro's performance was strong enough to pass. Kenmoto knew well that the examiners must be satisfied – Ishiro's promotion was basically guaranteed.
"If I've already lost," Kenmoto thought, "I might as well try my hardest." So he steeled himself, ignoring the cost. He charged Ishiro recklessly, ignoring the next wave of Earth Spear Gun shots. Ishiro, seeing Kenmoto's determined rush, felt alarmed. He had no illusions about matching a skillful chūnin in close combat.
Though the enemy was hurt, if Ishiro failed to block him, once Kenmoto got in close, Ishiro would be doomed.
Ishiro gritted his teeth and finished conjuring stone spikes. But Kenmoto, fully prepared, hopped around them with consistent short leaps rather than big jumps. Another flurry of stone spikes spent, Kenmoto was breathing raggedly but still not exhausted – and significantly closer to Ishiro.
At that range, there was no time for Ishiro to cast another ninjutsu. Not even his stored scroll-based jutsu could come out faster than Kenmoto could lunge. With no other choice, Ishiro raised his weapon and charged, gambling that Kenmoto's battered state might let him score a direct hit in taijutsu.
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