Ryusei quickly judged the state of the battlefield.
The enemy had the numbers, multiple times larger than Konoha's forces, and while Konoha's quality was higher, it wasn't nearly enough to bridge the gap.
The garrison walls were already breached, and fighting spilled across the grounds. If nothing changed, it was only a matter of time before they were overrun.
The only reason things hadn't already collapsed was because two monsters were holding the line.
Choza Akimichi had transformed into a massive colossus, towering over the battlefield.
His clan's Multi-Size Technique magnified his body into a living wall, each sweep of his giant arms flattening squads of enemies at once.
Every step shook the earth, scattering weaker opponents.
His vast chakra reserves allowed him to maintain it with little sign of slowing, and when the pressure mounted, he unleashed his Human Bullet Tank, a spinning fortress of flesh and chakra, or even activated his clan's Butterfly Mode, his already titanic strength swelling to terrifying levels.
Above him, Yukino Sumi soared on an enormous ink eagle, her brush strokes alive with motion. Super Beast Imitating Drawing gave her the sky itself as her weapon.
Flocks of ink birds dived at the enemy, exploding in bursts of flame and ink-soaked tags.
Larger beasts, drawn in an instant by her hand, leapt from the page into reality, crashing into the battlefield like summoned monsters.
With her Super God Imitating Drawing, she brought forth titanic constructs, living weapons of art that overwhelmed with sheer presence.
Her ink clones darted among the melee, distracting, striking, and detonating when cornered.
Ryusei studied them carefully. Both of them were channeling Yang Release in different forms.
Choza's power came from raw vitality, Yang chakra fueling his clan's body-expansion techniques, turning his flesh itself into a weapon, using the vast fat cells he had stored as some kind of a base for it and nutrients..
His strength was the most literal expression of Yang: physical energy taken to its extreme.
Yukino, on the other hand, infused her chakra into ink, animating her creations with lifelike energy.
Yang chakra breathed vitality into what should have been dead pigment, giving it motion, weight, and force.
Hers was subtler but no less deadly; the same principle applied through art rather than flesh.
"They're both using Yang Release… but in completely different languages," Ryusei thought, his eyes narrowing as he sensed the battlefield through his sensory net.
He realized then why they were considered true Elite Jōnin. In fact, Choza in particular was on another level altogether.
With that monstrous body, bottomless stamina, and butterfly-enhanced chakra, he was closer to a quasi-Kage than anything else.
Even so, even with them anchoring the battle, it wasn't enough.
Ryusei extended his senses further, mapping every chakra signature in the chaos. He found the enemy commander quickly.
The man wasn't fighting head-on; he was circling like a predator, waiting for the right moment.
Ryusei caught glimpses of him striking down two of Konoha's jōnin with precise, ruthless efficiency, his attention repeatedly sliding back toward openings around Choza.
"If he makes a move at the wrong time… Choza will fall. And then this entire stronghold will collapse with him."
He could already tell: against that commander alone, he had no chance.
He was also a legit top-notch elite jonin, and he did not have a hard counter against him like he did with the Yamanaka.
Not yet. If he rushed in blindly, he would just be another corpse on the ground.
But he also knew that if no one challenged him, the commander would pick his moment and end this fight in a single blow.
That left only one option.
"I'll need backup," Ryusei thought grimly, his mind already running through names and options.
He was already moving before the thought fully finished forming.
There weren't many strong fighters left active on the field besides Choza and Yukino.
The masked ANBU captain was also a high-jōnin level like Ryusei himself, but he was tied down, surrounded by dozens, and forced to carve through them with his Inuzuka techniques.
The other mid-jōnin Root captains were likewise locked in their own fights.
So Ryusei kept searching as he ran. His senses stretched wide, eyes sharp, weighing every flicker of chakra.
He cut across the battlefield like a phantom, his First Gate blazing and Lightning Body Flicker fused into each step.
Combined with his sensory suppression, he slipped through entire skirmishes unnoticed.
Those who did spot him too late lunged anyway, only to find themselves striking at a shadow clone.
Ryusei left those clones behind as decoys, binding enemy attention just long enough before dispelling them and pulling back most of the chakra.
Along the way, he revealed pieces of his growing arsenal. The D and C-ranked wind, water, and earth techniques he'd spent the last months polishing now came alive in rapid succession.
A water wall here to smother a fire release, an earthen spike to trip a charging enemy, a slicing gust to knock projectiles from the air.
The sheer versatility turned him into a moving countermeasure, able to nullify whatever element Kusagakure's shinobi hurled his way.
And then there was his newest creation. A fusion of three academy techniques: Clone, Transformation, and Substitution.
Simple alone, but deadly together.
If an enemy targeted him, he'd throw out an ordinary clone, transform it into his own likeness while hiding that he secretly laced it with explosive tags, and substitute his body with it in one seamless flow.
By the time the enemy struck, they'd be cutting into a decoy, detonating in their own face, while Ryusei reappeared unscathed behind them. A trick born from scraps, but far more dangerous than any E-rank.
Suddenly, Ryusei heard an angry shout as he passed a massive earthen wall.
Okabe was there, stationed from the very start alongside several other earth-release specialists to carve up the battlefield and block enemy movement.
The wall itself had become a defensive platform, and a few of Konoha's long-range shinobi were perched on top, firing down from relative safety.
Okabe's face darkened the moment he spotted Ryusei rushing across the field. His expression twisted, as though it soured just from the fact that Ryusei was still alive.
He barked, voice raw with anger, "Where do you think you're going? Why aren't you at your post?"