"Be careful, this isn't an ordinary brat!"
The smoke was slowly dissipating, exposing both Ruri's Sharingan and Ayane's Byakugan for all to see.
As the only two bloodline ninja clans in Konoha, the Uchiha and Hyuga had caused ninjas from all the great ninja villages endless suffering in past wars of the Ninja Realm.
The Sharingan especially had earned the fearsome reputation of "one on one, you'd best flee."
When fighting a Sharingan ninja alone, the win rate was basically near zero.
With Ruri and Ayane unveiling their bloodline abilities, the surrounding ninjas all felt a chill run through their hearts.
The first ninja to attack Ayane was just a Chunin from Hidden Sand Village, but in the smoke he was easily dealt with by Ayane and her Byakugan. Even if he'd underestimated her, under those eyes, he had no chance to pull any tricks.
Not to mention Ruri's Sharingan was beside him, watching like a hunting beast.
As for Hakushi, the unremarkable medical ninja, they simply ignored him.
He was just a medical ninja—defeat the enemy's main strength, and Hakushi was no different from a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in their eyes.
"In that case, let's just split the three of them up!"
A ninja wearing a Hidden Sand headband narrowed his eyes, gathering visible chakra into his hands before slamming his palms down on the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Splitting Palm!"
Boom!
The expressions of Hakushi's group changed instantly. The earth began to shatter like an earthquake, splitting apart over a wide area. With no time to think of countermeasures, the ground beneath their feet collapsed and trembled. The three could only cling chakra to their soles to avoid being hurled away by the violent shaking.
Seeing Hakushi's group thrown into chaos by the quake, the remaining ninjas leapt at them again, eyes full of murderous intent.
"This guy..."
Ruri's gaze locked onto the Hidden Sand ninja who had used Earth Style. His mastery of Earth Style Ninjutsu was powerful, his ability to cleave the battlefield perfect—it was more like the style of a Hidden Rock ninja than Hidden Sand.
The scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan began to spin. At the moment her enemy moved, Ruri didn't dodge. She chose to meet them head-on.
"If it's a Sharingan, just avoid their eyes..."
The ninja trading blows with Ruri, for now could be called a Hidden Sand ninja, since he wore the Sand's headband.
Even though Ruri already doubted the true identity of this Sand squad.
Of course, calling them Sand squad wasn't wrong, but there were definitely unidentified ninjas hidden among them.
This Sand ninja fighting Ruri was quite confident.
Before this war in the Ninja Realm began, the village's veteran ninjas had warned them: if you fight an Uchiha with their Sharingan activated, avoid eye contact or you'll be crushed by Illusion Techniques.
Even if looking away made it easier for your enemy, as a Special Jonin, he only needed to stall Ruri for a bit, let others move in for the kill, and victory was assured.
Thinking this, he parried Ruri's kunai with his own.
But the fierce power surging up his arm made his face instantly go pale.
He almost thought he heard his own bones snapping.
His body stiffened in an instant. He instinctively looked up—and locked eyes with a pair of scarlet eyes.
In the blink of an eye, his consciousness was thrown into chaos, his gaze went vacant.
Ruri swept her kunai across his neck, and as blood sprayed out, she vanished with Instantaneous Body Jutsu, flowing smoothly toward her next target.
Hakushi, watching Ruri and Ayane's display of power from the rear, showed no trace of surprise.
Though the enemy was strong, standing here were two bloodline ninja—the famed Sharingan and Byakugan of the Ninja Realm. At least for a short time, they wouldn't be easily overrun.
After all, the best enemy ninjas were busy pinning down Sakumo—or rather, just stalling him.
Their basic strategy seemed to prioritize keeping Sakumo tied up, finishing off Hakushi's team quickly, then all teaming up to kill Sakumo, the famed Konoha White Fang.
If that happened, it would be a heavy blow to Konoha's morale.
But they underestimated Sakumo's strength—and made the bigger mistake of not foreseeing the power of Ruri and Ayane.
Ayane, maybe not quite Jonin level yet. But Ruri's overall ability was fully up to Jonin standard.
Add the intimidation of the Sharingan; it would take two Jonin to suppress her.
While Hakushi hid behind a large tree, deep in thought, suddenly the earth at his feet split open—something was about to burst out.
"Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu—"
Splurt!
That cut off the enemy's jutsu mid-way.
A kunai stabbed deep into the hard ground.
Hakushi crouched low, his gaze calm.
"Don't just jump out and try to scare me..."
The ninja hidden in the earth would never move again.
He deftly pulled out his kunai, brushed away some dirt, and stabbed the wound as a plug, sealing it and slowly covering up the crack—unhurried, as if nothing had happened.
Then, Hakushi drew out more smoke bombs from his ninja tool bag.
He threw one towards Ayane's position.
The smoke bomb exploded, filling the battlefield with thick white smoke. The enemy, their vision blocked, tried to withdraw from the smoke screen in a panic.
Another smoke bomb flew over, expanding the cloud even further.
For Ayane, this was a perfect battlefield.
If the enemy can split the field with Earth Style, then Hakushi can make his own zone for Byakugan with smoke bombs.
And over where Ruri fought, the smoke rolled in too.
But Ruri, who'd often sparred with Hakushi eyes shut, was only without the illusion power of her Sharingan—her actions weren't hindered. She just needed to pretend she was in one of those "blindfold fights" again, get her rhythm back.
With things this way, those Hidden Sand ninjas must be grinding their teeth at Hakushi—the weak little medical ninja in back, constantly lobbing smoke bombs.
Hakushi, seeing just how effective these little smoke bombs were, fell into thought.
Looks like he needed custom smoke bombs—ones with longer-lasting, wider smoke. That way, in battle, he could stick to healing and throwing smoke bombs.
If this tactic worked, then his and Sakumo's team would've pioneered a unique, brand-new combat strategy.
"Damn it! Get rid of that brat with the smoke bombs, first!"
Unable to take it any longer, a Hidden Sand Jonin howled in fury, nearly spitting blood.
They weren't used to fighting in smoke, and battling blind was courting death.
Yet, eyes open, their vision was limited—but the enemy could read all their moves.
This strategy was infuriating.
Clearly their lineup was superior, and they should have crushed the opposition soon—but ever since Hakushi started lob smoke bombs, the fight had swung the other way.
But to get to Hakushi, they'd have to go through Ruri and Ayane's combo first.
All the while, they wondered—hadn't they sent a ninja good at Earth Style subterfuge for this? Why hadn't he done anything yet?
Did it really take that long to deal with a medical ninja of mere Genin level?