CH_7.44 (262)

CH_7.44 (262)

Kon looked at "Ni", who was writhing on the floor from the lightning ninjutsu channelled through the water tentacles. Water and Lightning-release being complementary elements meant both jutsu had been enhanced.

He immediately pumped fire nature chakra into his sword and swung at Takuma, thinking that Takuma’s lightning ninjutsu would damage him as well—but he stood unfazed by it as he evaded the blade and countered by jabbing a lightning-charged tentacle at Kon, who didn't want any part of and backed away.

Kon clicked his tongue. The water ninjutsu insulated Takuma from the lightning but it was already depleting so he waited for it to completely disappear before making his move. He glanced at Ni, who was no longer moving and was knocked unconscious by the lightning.

The loss of one team member had shifted the fight’s dynamic, tilting the balance towards the middle. Despite this setback, Kon maintained his confidence, knowing his team still held the upper hand. However, the question of whether his men could match Mitarashi Anko's prowess lingered in his mind.

"Take him and get out, both of you," Takuma said to the sword-wielding kunoichi beside him.

She looked hesitant, but rushed Ni and threw him over her shoulder. Kon moved to stop her, but Takuma very aggressively closed in and swung his fist. He felt the phantom pain in his shoulder at the sight of his glowing fist and quickly backed away.

It was the right move as a rush of wind brushed past his ears. Takuma's chakra augmentation was dangerous; he had felt it first-hand and didn't want a second experience.

"Go!" Takuma yelled when he saw his teammates hesitate.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

The second kunoichi moved toward the door, and "San" followed after her, but Takuma positioned himself at the door, intending to hold them back while they escaped.

In taking one of his men alive, Kon recognised that their aim was not extermination but capture for information extraction. Measures like anti-interrogation seals were a standard operating procedure for ROOT agents on missions—all of his men, including himself, had them active on their bodies—and ROOT agents were trained to self-eliminate to stop a potential information leak.

However, seals could be broken, and the self-preservation instinct was difficult to beat out of people. As the mission leader, he couldn't allow one of his men to be captured. The correct thing to do was for one of them to take on Takuma while the other chased after the kunoichi. But as Kon gazed at Takuma, his shoulder began to burn and ache, causing a cocktail of feelings to rise in his throat.

"We're taking him out," Kon said to San, venom in his tone.

Takuma's tentacles flared out at his words as though attempting to cover more of the door and the broken wall beside it.

There was a moment of pause as the two sides measured each other before all three shinobi exploded into action. Takuma acted aggressively and moved toward Kon with one of his tentacles swiping a kunai at the latter's neck. Kon jumped back toward the wall and started weaving hand seals. San shifted between them and attacked Takuma with a dagger that Takuma parried using a tentacle holding a kunai and then countered with an augmented palm strike to the chest.

San gurgled out blood and stumbled back. Takuma closed the distance between them and threw a follow-up augmented liver shot that San barely avoided by shifting his body back at the last second.

"Clear!"

In the back, Kon breathed fire between his hands as he pulled his arms apart, creating a burning fire spear that cast a nasty light on his face.

San half-stumbled and half-jumped to the side, clearing the way between Kon and Takuma.

With the unconscious ROOT agent on Kameko’s back, her and Rikku sprinted across the manor house as fast as possible. The team wanted to capture more ROOT agents to facilitate cross-checking and verify the authenticity of the information during interrogation, but the mission's minimum requirement was completed by capturing just one.

The team now had to judge the situation and see if they wanted to take their chances by going for a second capture and the final decision was Anko's to make. The two kunoichi jumped out of a window near the side of the manor house so they were visible to Anko and Daiki while still having enough distance between them to allow a quick enough escape in case other ROOT agents tried to stop them.

As they jumped, they noticed Anko was fighting two ROOT agents simultaneously while Daiki provided support from a distance. Anko spotted them immediately. She disengaged and backed away for a moment and then yelled something they couldn't hear. Daiki, who was positioned at a distance, looked towards them and seemed to hesitate but sprinted towards them after being yelled at by Anko again.

Kameko instantly realised what was going on—Anko was going to cover for the three of them to escape.

When one of the ROOT agents tried to go after Daiki, she charged with reckless aggression and put herself between the two agents so they would focus on her rather than Daiki.

"Let's go," Kameko said as she started to run away from the manor house.

Rikku followed, but only a couple of seconds later, she stopped.

"What are you doing?!" Kameko exclaimed while constantly looking toward Anko, fighting the two ROOT agents, scared that they would lose their opportunity to escape with the unconscious agent.

"I'm going back," said Rikku, already back-peddling towards the manor house.

Kameko was flabbergasted for a split second before realising what Rikku was going to do.

"Rikku, no—"

"Takuma will need help. I can't leave him alone when I can support him. You and Daiki go—GO!"

Rikku turned away and sprinted without waiting for a response. Kameko shouted at her to stop but was ignored as she picked up more speed.

"What happened? Why is she running to the house?" Daiki asked the moment he was in earshot and gazed worriedly at Rikku as the distance between them and her stretched.

"....Let's go," Kameko said bitterly as her face twitched with frustration. She stayed still for a moment as she internally struggled with how to proceed until, ultimately, she turned her back to the manor house and started running with a hard stop to vent her feelings.

"We have our orders."

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