[ JINICHI WATARU ]
Pressure.
That was the only thing I could feel at the moment, the weight of the rocks against my makeshift metal dome, my arms and leg straining from the weight, preventing us from being crushed to death by rocks.
'Pulling an Obito is not the best way to die.'
Even as I joked, I could not deny the severity of our situation, I was barely keeping the dome up and even doing that was like feeling like I was lifting the sky. My muscles were being worn out by the second the more I carried this weight.
Aoi and Kisuke were by my side, their bodies dirty and slightly injured, but overall okay. Their faces were strained from the damage they got from being thrown to the cavern wall.
"Kisuke not to put you on the spot or anything but I would appreciate it if I didn't get turned to mush by rocks!!" I said, my arms shaking from the weight. My breathing slowly becoming more laboured.
"And please think of something fast, my chakra is draining fast."
'Damnit! I've probably only got three more jutsu's in me.'
A disturbed expression grew on Aoi's face. She too also looked at Kisuke for guidance, because in this scenario, he's the next in the chain of command for the team.
Kisuke's face was looking rather paler than usual. But his eyes were determined. He searched his pouch, rifling through his tools for something he could use to aid our predicament.
Then he pulled out a sack, and from it he pulled out a tablet.
!!!
"Is that…."
"A soldier pill." Aoi muttered.
Without wasting any time, Kisuke approached me and put it in my mouth.
The pill had a bitter aftertaste to it but now was no the time to be judging what could possibly the reason we escape this situation.
For a moment I still felt the same, tired, dirty, sweaty, and strained from maintaining the dome.
but suddenly a warm sensation welled up in me, my body felt like it was being revitalized, like I was suddenly overflowing with power.
'Holy shit!!'
The heavy, suffocating fatigue that had been pinning me down just seconds ago evaporated. The raw, aching strain in my muscles from holding the dome transformed into a sharp, hyper-focused buzz. It felt like a dormant furnace inside my chest had just been violently kicked awake, pumping hot, fresh chakra straight through my pathways and out to my fingertips.
I went from the absolute brink of collapse to feeling like I could tear through a mountain.
'Although I can keep the dome up, it will soon be a matter of time before I run out of strength again or breakdown from the side effects of the pill.
What's worse, is that I'm already using all my metal dust to reinforce the dome. I can't redirect it.' I gritted my teeth.
I gritted my teeth against the crushing pressure. The pill hadn't removed the strain of holding the dome, but it had bought me just enough time to think. To act.
Closing my eyes, I forced my mind past the noise and focused inward. I willed my chakra seeped beneath the soil, letting it hunt for minerals. It pushed through layers of dirt and stone, aggressively searching for any dormant minerals hidden in the earth that would heed my call.
I needed something heavy. Something dense enough to anchor and strengthen the dome on its own so I could finally free up my hands and cast jutsu's. Then, deep in the ground, my chakra struck something raw, cold, and unyielding.
Iron.
!!!!
My foot struck the ground with force, the action, leaving my teammates stunned by the sudden display, probably thinking to themselves that it was an act of defiance or irritation at the current situation.
'DAMN IT! ITS REALLY HEAVY!'
the ground beneath us began to shake, until a jagged pillar of Iron erupted from the ground, the sudden action caused Aoi and Kisuke to curse in shock.
'COME ON A LITTLE MORE!!!'
I slammed my foot onto the earth a second time, commanding the rising mineral to bend to my will. The pillar rapidly liquefied and spread, weaving itself directly beneath my original metal dust barrier to form a massive, reinforced secondary dome.
But I wasn't done. Exploiting the brief pocket of safety, I dropped to one knee and slammed both palms flat against the earth, moulding a swift sequence of Earth Style chakra.
'Earth style: Rock Shelter.'
Instantly, the soil beneath our boots softened into fluid mud. Concurrently, the iron dome shuddered as I willed a third layer—a thick, interlocking rock shelter—to manifest directly beneath the iron plating. A triple-reinforced bunker. The deafening, concussive cracks of collapsing boulders echoed from the outside world, but inside, the structure held perfectly. We finally had a moment to breathe.
I finally let out the breath that I didn't even know I was holding. I turned to look at my teammates.
Aoi's breathing had gotten frantic, her chest heaving rapidly as if every gasp was a desperate struggle. Kisuke was worse; his eyes had glazed over entirely, his chest barely moving as his respiration slowed to a dangerous crawl.
"Shit!"
My heart hammered violently against my ribs. 'We're running out of oxygen!!!'
The triple-reinforced dome was too perfect. It was completely airtight. The falling boulders outside had sealed any remaining microscopic gaps, turning our life-saving bunker into a suffocating tomb. My mind raced, fuelled by the erratic, burning adrenaline of the soldier pill. I had to get us out of here, right now, before we suffocated.
Forcing my chakra further into the deep earth, I searched desperately for more metallic deposits. There—streaks of raw iron and copper veins ran parallel beneath the soil. I grabbed them with my chakra, pulling and compressing the minerals into a streamlined, enclosed capsule. A makeshift, iron drill train .
"Get in! Now!" I wheezed, grabbing Kisuke by his vest and hauling his semi-conscious body inside the metal chamber. Aoi stumbled in right after him, coughing weakly.
As soon as the hatch fused shut behind us, I dropped into a cross-legged position at the front of the cabin. I slammed my hands against the iron floor, channelling Earth Release chakra around the entire vehicle.
'Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu!'
Instantly, the dense bedrock directly beneath the iron capsule softened into fluid, frictionless mud. I molded the raw iron at the front into a massive, spinning conical drill. Driven by my chakra, the drill roared to life, chewing through the softened earth and dragging our iron capsule down into the pitch black.
We were sinking fast, but the air inside our small pod was already turning stale.
I extended a thread of raw chakra upward, casting it through the rock layers like an acoustic sonar to detect the surface.
Ping. Ping.
The sonar bounced back a grim reality—there was too much collapsed rubble above us. Trying to drill back to the surface would cause another cave-in and bury us alive.
Suddenly, my chakra sonar pinged a vast, empty void deep ahead of us. Not the surface, but an opening.
The drill breached the rock wall with a loud crack. The iron train tipped forward, sliding down a steep embankment before splashing hard into a body of water.
The hatch hissed open, and the sweet, crisp scent of moisture and fresh air flooded the capsule. We had breached into a massive, hidden subterranean grotto. A sprawling underground cave lit by faint, glowing moss, featuring a wide, crystal-clear subterranean lake.
Aoi collapsed onto the rocky shore, taking massive, greedy gulps of the fresh air. Kisuke groaned, his glazed eyes slowly starting to focus as oxygen returned to his lungs.
We were safe from the collapse, but as I tried to stand, a sharp, icy ache shot straight through my stomach. The soldier pill was starting to push my body past its limits.
I felt the familiar tang of iron forming in my mouth as I fell to one knee. Kisuke and Aoi rushed towards me.
Helping me up and letting me rest on a nearby wall.
" I'm….fine" I said. But even I didn't believe my words.
Kisuke and Aoi glanced at each other for a moment.
"Thank you for saving us." Kisuke said his tone sincere.
"Thank you." Aoi said, with an unusual vulnerability in her tone.
I managed a weak, exhausted smile, leaning my head back against the stone. "I should be thanking you, Kisuke. Without your soldier pill, I doubt we would have gotten out of there."
Kisuke smiled.
I desperately tried to stand, forcing my trembling legs to hold my weight, but my body was completely beyond exhausted. The soldier pill's backlash struck like a physical blow, and I fell flat back onto the damp ground, completely paralyzed by pain.
They both extended their hands helping me off of the ground.
Then, the quiet moment shattered.
Above us, the ceiling of the grotto groaned. Fissures webbed across the stone, and with a deafening crack, the rock broke completely apart.
Through the slowly settling cloud of pulverized rock, four distinct silhouettes dropped silently into the ruined cavern space. They wore blank, expressionless metallic face plates and non-descript gray cloaks to hide their identities.
Assassins.
They stood before us. One of them stepped forward, his voice completely flat, drained of any human emotion. He didn't even look at Kisuke or Aoi; his eyes were locked entirely on me.
"Leave the boy," the leader commanded.
"He is our only target. Step aside, walk away, and you leave here scot-free. Interfere, and we will eliminate you."
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the grotto. I slumped against the stone wall, my heart sinking. I was completely defenseless. My chakra reserves were scraping the absolute bottom, the soldier pill's aftereffects were already starting to freeze my joints, and my muscles felt utterly torn from the sheer pressure of maintaining the dome earlier. I looked up at Kisuke and Aoi's backs, waiting for the inevitable. They had every reason to run.
Instead, the only sound that followed was the sharp, metallic shhhk of steel.
Without a second of hesitation, Aoi drew a pair of kunais, her grip white-knuckled and unyielding. Beside her, Kisuke's hands blurred, pulling taut a lethal web of ninja wire that hummed with tension. Neither of them took a single step back.
"If you want him," Aoi spat, his voice dropping into a dangerous, protective growl, "you're going to have to go through us first."
"Don't underestimate us," Kisuke whispered, his tone from moments ago completely replaced by a fierce, defiant edge.
The assassins didn't waste any time. They moved like shadows.
What followed was a brutal, one-sided beatdown.
They engaged my inexperienced teammates with a terrifying, overwhelming level of combat efficiency. Aoi and Kisuke fought back with absolutely everything they had left in their drained bodies. However, the sheer skill gap between Genin and these elite black-ops killers was an insurmountable chasm.
But Kisuke and Aoi refused to break.
Despite their own exhaustion, they threw themselves into the meat grinder. The assassins tried to systematically neutralize them, using precise, heavy taijutsu blows to shatter their bones and knock them unconscious.
Kisuke's wires were violently severed by chakra-infused blades, and Aoi was kicked brutally across the cavern floor, coughing up blood. Yet, every single time the assassins tried to reach past them to grab me, my teammates dragged themselves back up, placing their own bodies in the line of fire. They were being systematically taken apart, but their loyalty to our squad kept them standing.
I desperately tried to push myself up from the jagged, unforgiving stone floor below. An excruciating, white-hot spike of pure agony instantly shot up throughout my body. I gasped violently.
Every shallow breath I took sent an agonizing shockwave of pain through my ribs. The heavy dust coated my throat, making me cough up thick, dark crimson blood.
…..
Sparks flew as Kisuke frantically parried a blindingly fast sword strike aimed at his chest. He was forced backward, desperately trying to maintain his footing on the uneven, rubble-strewn floor.
Kisuke rapidly threw a wide spread of sharp shuriken, attempting to force the assassins into a bottleneck. He wanted to guide them toward a specific cluster of fallen rocks made from the breach.
He had subtly kicked a hidden explosive tag trap under the rubble during the initial standoff. His tactical mind was always working, always looking for a desperately needed, strategic advantage. He brought his hands together, preparing to form the single detonation seal to trigger the hidden trap.
Before his trembling fingers could even form the correct seal, everything went horribly wrong. One of the cloaked operatives flickered instantly behind him, moving faster than the eye could track.
The masked killer buried a heavy, armoured knee directly into the center of Kisuke's spine. Kisuke let out a choked gasp of pain as he was violently driven down into the dirt. The operative harshly restrained his arms behind his back, wrapping them tightly with reinforced ninja wire.
I watched in absolute, paralyzed horror as my friend was neutralized in mere seconds. Aoi managed to land a desperate, glancing blow on another assassin's cloaked shoulder. She tried to follow up with a swift kick, aiming for the man's exposed knee joint. The assassin simply absorbed the impact, delivering a brutal, open-palm strike directly to her chest. The force sent her skidding across the jagged stones, gasping violently for air.
"STOP ITTT!!!" I Screamed, my throat hurting from the strain.
Aoi rolled onto her side, clutching her bruised ribs as she struggled to inhale properly. I gritted my teeth hard enough to crack them, desperately trying to drag my body forward.
I was completely, utterly useless, forced to watch my team suffer for me. The taste of copper and defeat flooded my mouth as the remaining assassins secured the perimeter.
'WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!'
[ You know why, player [ Jinichi Wataru ] ]
!!!!!!!!!!!
[ Deep in your heart player [ Jinichi Wataru ], you know why. It is because you are weak. And you have stayed weak! ]
[ Billions would kill for your power, and as a result you are seeing the greed of man being portrayed first hand, you were careless and arrogant. And now this is the result. ]
[ You were not given the same destiny of those in this world; your destiny lies far beyond that. Yet you acted as if you were not given a weapon strong enough to throw this entire world into disarray. ]
[ You are no meagre child, you are the successor of the first, the son of the damned, and the lord of life! You have a responsibility to those around you to protect them, but you have deluded yourself into thinking that this world is merely a game, where one will simply be given power.]
[ I said it to you form the beginning didn't I? your strength will only be a result of your effort and you have squandered it! ]
[…..But fear not, the First is ever merciful, but all he asks is that you realize your folly ]
[ Jinichi Wataru, there is no shame in being weak, there is only shame in staying weak ]
The lead assassin casually stepped over Kisuke's restrained, struggling body without a second glance. He pulled out chakra-suppressing seals from beneath his gray cloak. He began walking methodically toward me, his footsteps completely silent against the loose gravel.
I tried to push myself backward, but my body screamed in agonizing protest.
The lead assassin stopped directly over me, his towering shadow completely blocking out the faint, ambient glow of the mossy cavern. He knelt down, his gloved hand reaching forward with the cold, black chakra-suppressing tag.
'I can't let this go on anymore.'
"Stop... please..." I croaked, the words turning to a bloody wheeze in my throat. I stared past him at Kisuke, who was still thrashing against the wire, and at Aoi, who was dragging her shattered body along the gravel, leaving a dark smear of blood behind her.
"Don't hurt them anymore. Just take me." My voice barely a whisper.
"Jinichi, no!" Kisuke screamed, violently pulling against the reinforced wires cutting into his wrists. his voice cracking with a mix of raw agony and desperation.
"Don't let them... take you..."
"Shut up!" Aoi roared, her teeth stained red as she violently tried to push herself up, but her arms gave out, slamming her face back down onto the jagged stones.
"You bastards! If you touch him, I swear, I'll kill you! I'll find you all and kill every single one of you!"
The operatives didn't even flinch at the threats. They stood like stone statues, their metal faceplate masks completely devoid of humanity.
The leader slammed the chakra-suppressing seal directly onto my chest.
An immediate, icy numbness surged outward from the tag, spreading violently through my network of chakra pathways. It didn't just block my energy; it felt like a freezing iron grip had clamped around my very soul. The lingering, frantic heat of the soldier pill was instantly extinguished, leaving my torn muscles completely cold and hollow. Whatever pathetic spark of resistance I had left was entirely crushed.
"Target secured," the leader announced into the quiet grotto, his voice entirely flat. "Prepare for extraction."
Shrrkkkkkk
Suddenly, a sickening, incredibly wet crunch echoed loudly through the tense silence of the cavern. The sound was horribly distinct, like a heavy butcher's knife cleaving through thick, raw meat. The lead assassin paused, turning toward the source of the gruesome noise.
The operative who was holding Kisuke down suddenly jerked backward with a violent spasm. A long, wicked katanna was suddenly protruding directly from the center of his chest. Dark crimson blood rapidly soaked the gray fabric of his cloak as his hands grasped at empty air. He let out a wet, gurgling sound before collapsing entirely onto the dusty stone floor. The dying killer twitched once, freeing Kisuke.
The falling body revealed a strange, towering man standing deeply in the shadows of the makeshift cave-in. He wore loose, dark robes that seemed to blend perfectly into the absolute darkness behind him.
He wore a dark mask with horns protruding from the crown—the terrifying visage of an Oni. The stranger flicked his blade, the blood stained the floor in a curved arc, cleaning the blade in the process.
he glowing red eyes staring through the mask's dark eyeholes shifted directly toward the lead assassin standing over me.
"My, my, what a messy little gathering we have down here in the dark." Oni hissed softly. His voice was smooth and venomous, echoing strangely against the jagged walls of the collapsed tunnel. The remaining three masked assassins instantly froze, completely re-evaluating the drastically altered battlefield.
They did not show fear, but their sudden stillness indicated a massive, internal tactical shift. One of them rapidly signed a complex series of hand gestures to his two remaining partners.
I did not understand their silent tactical language, but the shift in their killing intent was palpable. The presence of a highly dangerous, unknown third party had fundamentally changed everything.
The lead assassin drew his tanto in a fluid motion, his eyes locking back onto my throat. All three of them pivoted simultaneously, launching themselves directly at me with renewed, overwhelming lethal intent.
"Wrong choice," Oni scoffed, his voice dripping with cruel amusement.
"My sensei specifically requested this particular one delivered completely alive and relatively intact." He vanished from his spot in the shadows, moving with a speed that defied basic human physics. He reappeared directly over my prone body, positioning himself firmly between me and the diving assassins. He didn't even bother to assume a formal defensive stance against the three incoming, lethal blades.
With a casual, almost lazy flick of his wrists, he deflected two lethal sword strikes aimed at me. The screech of steel on steel rang out loudly, sparks showering down over my face.
Oni then snapped his leg upward in a brutal, blindingly fast crescent kick. His heel connected squarely with the third assassin's chest plate with absolutely bone-shattering force. The masked killer was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a pile of jagged debris.
I lay paralyzed beneath the towering, strange man, completely bewildered by the chaotic turn of events. For a surreal, terrifying minute, my would-be kidnapper was my sole, absolute line of defense.
He stood over me like a twisted guardian angel, protecting me from my would-be executioners. The situation was completely insane, a twisted paradox of violence playing out over my body. I could do nothing but watch as Oni effortlessly parried another rapid flurry of strikes.
Oni moved with a brutal, fluid sadism that was absolutely mesmerizing to witness. He didn't just block the assassins' attacks; he actively punished them for daring to approach his prize. He sliced a shallow, bloody gash across one operative's forearm, laughing softly at the resulting spray of crimson.
He was clearly toying with them, using his overwhelming speed and strength to maintain absolute battlefield dominance. Slowly but surely, he began pushing the highly trained killers back toward a wall of the grotto.
Kisuke used the distraction to desperately wriggle out of the loosened ninja wire binding his wrists. He scrambled over to Aoi, who was still clutching her injured chest and coughing violently.
They huddled together against the far wall, their eyes wide with fear and absolute confusion. They were just as helpless as I was, trapped in a deadly crossfire between unknown, elite forces. We were completely out of our depth; caught in a shadowy war we didn't even understand.
The masked assassins regrouped, their metallic face plates betraying zero emotion despite the severe physical beatings. They fell into a synchronized triangular formation, preparing to launch a coordinated, high-level ninjutsu assault. Oni simply laughed.
The air grew heavy and suffocating, thick with the promise of imminent, catastrophic violence. I closed my eyes, fully expecting the entire tunnel to collapse upon us in the ensuing clash.
Before the clash could escalate any further, the massive stone blockage at the tunnel's entrance vibrated. A series of deep, structural groans echoed through the rock just seconds before it violently exploded inward. A massive cloud of dust and pulverized granite blasted into the cavern, momentarily blinding everyone present.
The sheer concussive force of the localized explosion knocked the remaining assassins completely off their feet. Oni huffed in annoyance.
Shohei-sensei burst through the settling dust, looking like an absolute demon rising from the underworld. His usually messy hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and dirt. His lazy, detached demeanour was completely gone, replaced by a terrifying, raw fury I had never seen.
He held a pair of wickedly sharp trench knives, his chakra flaring wildly around his imposing silhouette. Beside him, what I assume to be his heavily scarred badger summon, marched at his side, snarling fiercely at the hostile targets.
Shohei's sharp, analytical eyes took in the entire chaotic, bloodied state of our team instantly. He processed the fallen assassin, the remaining three killers, and the Oni masked man in a fraction of a second. His gaze locked onto our injured forms, his jaw clenching with barely restrained rage.
He knew exactly how bad the situation was, and he understood the immense danger we were all in. He stepped fully into the cavern, placing himself firmly between his injured students and the hostile threats.
The masked assassins scrambled to their feet, instantly recognizing the immense threat level of a Konoha Jonin. They gripped their short swords tightly, their previous mission parameters now utterly complicated by his sudden arrival. Oni simply chuckled, resting his serrated blade back over his shoulder with an arrogant sigh. He looked at Shohei with a mixture of mild amusement and genuine, calculating professional interest. The tension in the cavern reached an absolute, unbearable breaking point as the three factions faced off.