The enemy might have been considered an elite.
But to Ishiki Kujo, they were nothing but a footnote.
From their brief exchange, he judged:
at best, the guy was a decent Chūnin.
For Ishiki now, that level barely even registered.
That was why he thought splitting up for stealth attacks was a great idea.
Alone, Ishiki could fight unrestricted.
Having neutralized his opponent,
Ishiki didn't waste time —
he darted towards the origin of the earlier explosive tags.
He hadn't gone far when he spotted two figures clad in Konoha flak jackets.
He halted, scanned the surroundings,
then swiftly molded fire-nature chakra,
and in a burst, unleashed a Great Fireball Jutsu at a nearby tree.
BOOM!
The flames exploded outward —
and through the inferno,
a giant, four-point shuriken hurtled straight at Ishiki!
Uncommon in size and shape,
its spinning silhouette alone made Ishiki's instincts scream danger.
In the Shinobi world,
anyone wielding special weapons usually had the skills to back it up.
He didn't dare underestimate this.
He whipped out a handful of normal shuriken,
hurling them not at the giant weapon,
but at the air behind it —
trying to disrupt the attacker.
Meanwhile, his hand moved,
blocking the massive shuriken with a kunai.
But —
Mid-block, Ishiki felt a tremendous force pulling him toward the giant shuriken!
Reacting instantly,
he triggered a substitution —
vanishing in a puff of smoke, replaced by a bisected chunk of wood.
Fwoosh.
Ishiki reappeared atop a distant tree trunk,
but before he could reset his stance,
an even stronger pull jerked at him.
The wielder of the massive shuriken —
a grey-haired, hollow-eyed Kumo shinobi —
was now rushing straight at him!
Spinning the massive shuriken like a buzzsaw,
he brought it down on Ishiki with a roar.
Only now did Ishiki recognize him.
Troy —
a high-ranking Jōnin of Kumogakure,
one of the few non-Sunagakure users of the rare Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai.
Sharingan snapped open.
Against such an opponent, Ishiki dared not show the slightest laxity.
Troy's presence proved one thing:
the enemy wasn't screwing around.
Leaving someone like Troy to cover their retreat showed how determined Kumogakure was.
Even with Orochimaru incoming, it would be no cakewalk.
Glancing through the woods,
Ishiki confirmed Mirinae was still safe —
then steeled himself.
But in that heartbeat of distraction,
Troy was already on him again!
The massive shuriken, charged with magnetic chakra,
howled through the air —
and the magnetic field around Ishiki pulled it inexorably toward him!
Even minimal contact —
whether with Troy himself or his weapons —
meant getting magnetized,
turning Ishiki into a literal shuriken magnet.
A terrifying combat style.
And Ishiki had already been marked —
their earlier clash had left his body carrying residual magnetic force.
If he fought in close quarters now, he'd be dragged and cut apart.
So — escape was the only option.
Ishiki triggered a Body Flicker Technique, vanishing again.
While moving, he rapidly wove seals —
and as he emerged,
he spat out dozens of blazing fireballs:
Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!
Miniature comets of flame hurtled toward Troy.
But Ishiki wasn't naive —
he knew this wouldn't actually hit.
Troy, biting down on a partially unrolled scroll,
flipped it open further.
Suddenly, a barrage of normal-sized shuriken materialized,
whistling through the air toward Ishiki.
But he didn't throw them manually.
Thanks to Ishiki's magnetized body,
the weapons naturally homed in like missiles.
Ishiki grinned beneath his breath.
He hadn't been relying on the Phoenix Fire to do damage.
The real trap had already been set.
Alongside the flames,
he had hurled dozens of kunai attached to iron wire.
As the shuriken careened toward him,
they tangled in the wires.
And in the next heartbeat —
Snap!
Ishiki pulled sharply on the wires.
A web of taut iron strands lashed across the battlefield,
causing the magnetized shuriken to slow mid-flight —
some veering off course,
others plummeting to the ground as their magnetic momentum vanished.
Fire Style: Wire Dragon Fire Jutsu!
Blazing fire snakes raced along the iron wires,
igniting them in a flash.
The burning wires roasted the shuriken midair,
reducing them to smoldering wreckage before they could reach him.
Troy's assault had collapsed —
nullified.
The Kumo Jōnin's eyes narrowed, his grimace deepening.
He had scoffed earlier when he saw Ishiki using wires —
thinking it suicidal, strengthening the magnetic field further.
But this kid...
In just a few exchanges,
he had seen through the Magnet Release mechanism
and countered it perfectly!
A troublesome bastard!
That was Troy's new evaluation.
Solid taijutsu, precise fire style ninjutsu —
and if this punk knew genjutsu too,
he was practically a textbook Uchiha.
Troy's gaze flickered to the boy's mirrored shades.
Deliberate concealment?
Or something else...