Masato VS Mieko & Hodaka --
While Hodaka was engaging the enemy Genin, Hodaka and Mieko were fighting Masato Mano.
Masato easily parried Mieko and Hodaka's initial attacks, even inflicting minor injuries on Hodaka.
Mieko noticed the wound on his chest and, without taking her eyes off Masato, asked,
"Can you still fight?"
Hodaka replied,
"Of course, let's attack together!"
However, before they could attack, Masato advanced with extreme speed and swung his sword again.
Mieko stepped forward and blocked his sword with a kunai. She kept her gaze on his eyes, but Masato always avoided eye contact with her.
Seeing Mieko block his sword, Hodaka attacked Masato again with Gentle Fist.
Seeing Hodaka attack again, Masato simply jumped backward, retreating.
This time, Hodaka did not continue his attack but stood with Mieko.
Masato looked at the two of them cautiously and sighed.
"It's a pity there's too much debris in these ruins. I can't use Earth Release Ninjutsu at all!"
Hodaka also couldn't use Earth Release Ninjutsu, but he didn't mind, as he preferred Taijutsu over Ninjutsu.
Masato was about to launch another attack when he noticed Feng Zheng easily defeating his Genin.
"Tsk. I should go help them."
Mieko and Hodaka noticed his distraction and attacked him again. Mieko once again used Fire Release: Four Technique.
Masato quickly dodged but was once again ambushed by Hodaka.
Learning from his two previous failures, Hodaka switched to attacking with kunai this time.
Masato blocked, but Hodaka continued his attack with his other hand, attempting to seal his Chakra points.
Masato used the force from Hodaka's kunai attack to jump backward.
Before Mieko and Hodaka could continue their attack, he ran towards Feng Zheng. But he was quickly attacked by two Wind Blast Techniques from the Wind Clone left to monitor him.
The Wind Blast Techniques were not actually aimed at Masato. Instead, the Wind Clone launched the Ninjutsu in a way that cut off his path of support.
The Wind Balls exploded before reaching him, threatening him with the generated wind. He had to retreat to avoid the wind, which resulted in him falling back in front of Mieko and Hodaka.
They quickly launched an attack on him, and Masato once again went on the defensive.
Only, this time it was more difficult. Mieko finally found an opening and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying.
As he was kicked away, Masato thought,
"These kids are strong! Even if I fight one at a time, it's hard to defeat them without Earth Release Ninjutsu!"
Hodaka was about to attack again when he saw Mieko perform several Hand Seals.
He quickly cleared the way. Masato also noticed the Hand Seals.
Mieko completed the Hand Seals for "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."
A huge Fireball flew rapidly towards Masato. Hodaka followed the Fireball from the left.
"If he dodges this way, I can catch him."
Masato noticed Hodaka and dodged to the other side. The Fireball reached his original position and exploded.
Since the debris below was mainly wood, it caused another fire. The explosion also sent a large amount of burning wood flying in all directions.
Even though Masato dodged, he had to use his sword to block several incoming burning pieces of wood. The smoke and dust from the explosion and fire engulfed him.
Mieko spotted this opportunity and threw several Shuriken at Masato.
Hodaka, on the other hand, returned to Mieko's position because the fire blocked his direct path to Masato.
Masato heard the sound of Shuriken flying. He quickly jumped to the left, frowning.
"I need to get out of this smoke screen. Both of them have Dojutsu. I will be at a severe disadvantage here."
However, just as he was about to move, three Shuriken flew towards him.
He blocked one with his sword and barely dodged the other two.
One Shuriken left a wound on his right cheek, and the other almost grazed his left abdomen.
After dodging them, he breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly a sense of crisis arose!
He felt two thin threads, one just touching the wound on his face, and the other on his left abdomen.
"Oh no! The Shuriken are attached with thin threads."
Masato quickly performed a Hand Seals.
Seeing Masato fall for the trick and get entangled by the thin threads, Mieko smiled triumphantly.
She pulled the thin threads, allowing them to trap him, and the Shuriken flew back to hit him in the back.
Hodaka also observed with his Byakugan. He saw Masato trapped by the thin threads and the Shuriken hitting him in the back. But the next moment he turned into a log!
Hodaka and Mieko noticed his Chakra reappearing outside the smoke screen.
He had a wound on his right cheek and a very serious expression. He said,
"You brats are quite formidable."
As he spoke, he analyzed,
"Fighting them here is very difficult. I need to move to the ground. However, if I move, all those Genin will die."
As he thought, he turned his head to look at his Genin subordinates. When his gaze met Feng Zheng's, he was shocked.
"All dead? That fast? Damn it!"
Realizing that Feng Zheng would also attack him, he decided to move to an open area.
"The only concern now is whether they will attack Tomio and the other Chunin instead of following me. But if they do, I can ambush them."
After summarizing his thoughts, he quickly tried to leave the ruins and enter the open ground.
Mieko and Hodaka noticed this and thought,
"Oh no! He might want to attack the merchants."
Mieko quickly performed several Hand Seals and used another Ninjutsu, Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.
Small Fireballs shot towards Masato's path, preventing him from escaping. Hodaka used the Fireballs as a distraction to close the distance and attack Masato again.
This time, Masato fiercely counterattacked, forcing Hodaka to retreat step by step.
However, the next moment, he felt a gust of wind behind him. He quickly turned around and blocked the incoming sword with his own.
Feng Zheng noticed Masato trying to escape and used Mieko and Hodaka's attacks as a distraction to launch a sneak attack.
After blocking the sword, Masato looked around and became worried.
Feng Zheng's Wind Clone was moving towards him. However, before he could come up with a countermeasure, another thing terrified him.
Feng Zheng cut his sword in two with one strike! He quickly released his sword and retreated, shouting in his heart,
"What the hell is going on?"
As he retreated, he saw Hodaka moving rapidly towards him. Hodaka sneered,
"It's time to end this."
He took a stance, preparing to use Eight Trigrams Palms.
Masato noticed Hodaka's stance out of the corner of his eye. He quickly performed a Hand Seals.
All three Genin noticed that this was the Hand Seals for the Substitution Technique. Hodaka continued his attack, while Feng Zheng and Mieko gathered Chakra at their feet, preparing themselves.
Just as Hodaka and Masato were about to make contact, Masato substituted himself with another log.
As soon as he substituted, Mieko threw a volley of Shuriken, preventing him from retreating any further, while Feng Zheng delivered a flying slash at him.
Masato was wary and took a step back.
Unfortunately, his only way out was towards Hodaka. He had a bitter expression on his face.
"These stinky brats are truly merciless! Not a single opening!"
Masato was about to prepare to face Hodaka, but Hodaka charged forward.
But before he could engage Hodaka, two Shuriken pierced his back! Hodaka chuckled,
"Projectile Control Technique is really useful."
While Masato's attention was focused on Hodaka, Hodaka used Projectile Control Technique on the Shuriken thrown by Mieko and redirected several of them to attack him.
Although these attacks were not fatal, they caused Masato immense pain. This ultimately provided an opportunity for Hodaka.
He immediately performed Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms on him, sealing many of his Chakra points.
After completing it, he retreated.
Mieko and Feng Zheng both intervened, stepping forward simultaneously to deliver the fatal blow.
Both of them flashed at the same time. Mieko used Fire Release: Four Technique on his chest, where his heart was located. And Feng Zheng slashed at his neck with his sword.
In his final struggle, he wanted to step to the left, so he could move away from Feng Zheng's sword and Mieko's Ninjutsu wouldn't hit his vital points, but many of his Chakra points were sealed, and he didn't have time to dodge.
Mieko's Ninjutsu struck him in the center of his chest, piercing the body of the Elite Chunin.
Feng Zheng's sword was only a few centimeters from Masato's neck. But the next moment, due to the expanded range of the Wind Chakra flow, his head still flew into the air.
Feng Zheng, Hodaka, and Mieko finally breathed a sigh of relief and rejoiced at being able to kill such a powerful Ninja without the help of their teachers.
However, Masato died in great pain! He never had the chance to use his best Ninjutsu!
Renjiro's Shadow Clone witnessed the entire battle.
"Very good. Although they made some mistakes, overall their performance was good. But they were also lucky. That guy's Chakra nature was likely Earth, but due to the terrain, he couldn't use Earth Release Ninjutsu."