16 A Hectic Birthday Party 3 (1/2)
The ensuing fight grew more chaotic as she watched on.
Those mask-wearing ninja kept on moving their hands in rapid succession, followed by ridiculous effects as their chakra flowed out to manipulate their environments.
Fireballs, blade of winds, earth spikes, lightning bolts...
For a moment, she'd thought that she had returned to the immortal realms.
What is this madness with elements getting thrown all over the place? Are they newbie immortals showing off their sect's hidden techniques?! Fight more elegantly, godamnit!
”You alright, pup?”
While she was mentally cursing the ninja, Tsume and Kuromaru had brought the kids to the backline, more interested in keeping them safe rather than joining the frontline.
”Mom, we're fine! Shouldn't you help them?”
”Those Anbu? Nah, don't feel like it,” Tsume waved her hand. ”Besides, the fight's already decided.”
This was Konohagakure, their home turf. The Iwa ninja were outnumbered and were caught in a surprise attack. Whether they liked it or not, they had lost this fight.
Even so, they persisted until the very end, leaving the Konoha ninja little choice but to attack with intention to kill. Either that, or letting the invaders escape, which would be a disgrace.
”Kiba! Hikari!”
Wearing white uniform for medical ninja, Hana had also arrived alongside two similarly-dressed ninja. Her face was a bit pale, but color slightly returned to her cheeks when she saw that the kids were under her mother's protection already.
Showing a bit impatience, she roughly pulled Kiba over to get a better look at him.
”Ow, big sis, careful!”
”What are these wounds? Why are you so bloodied? Who did this?!”
The usually gentle Hana suddenly turned deadly cold, enough to frighten the two colleagues beside her.
”Whoa, whoa, relax sis, it's not my blood! Also, those punks are already dead!”
”Dead-” Her eyes widened. ”Did you- did you fight them? Did you won?”
”Well... not really me, it's her...”
Kiba glanced at the girl on his back.
”Ah... are you alright?” Hana gave her a quick look. She didn't seem to be wounded, except for the faint bruise on her neck.
”A bit dizzy...” Hikari murmured.
”Let me check. Relax.”
She put her hand over the girl's wrist, and then closed her eyes. Bluish-green aura thinly covered her palm as she activated her medical jutsu to read the girl's flow of chakra.
”Chakra depletion... it's dangerously low. You'll have to take a long rest later.”
Her voice grew stern.
”Never overuse your chakra like this ever again! If you run out of chakra, you'll die! It's not a laughing matter!”
”How can she run out of chakra with This One here? You're worrying for nothing, human,” Kokuo retorted within Hikari's mind.
But of course, Hana couldn't know. Thus, Hikari just nodded to show that she understood.
”Alright, you guys go patch 'em up, hurry,” Tsume clapped loudly, bringing the medical-nin's attention back to the task at hand. They quickly scrambled toward the kids, one medical-nin laying the girl on a mattress while the other used her chakra to heal Kiba's wounds. They were mostly superficial, so increasing his regeneration rate just a bit would be more than enough.
At the same time, the battle was safely concluded as the last assailant was taken down by Konoha's Anbu.
”No village symbol or any distinguishing traits in their attire, huh...” Tsume grunted. Judging from the opponent's proficiency with Earth Release and their stubborn attitude toward their mission, it was easy to single out Iwagakure as the culprit. However, there was no proof.
Forcing them to confess... yeah, that might work if only they didn't fight until the last drop of blood.
While she was deep in thought, she suddenly grew tense as a familiar scent entered her nose.
The troublesome one had arrived...
An old man dressed in red robe, white haori, and a hat scrawled with the character for 'fire' had appeared alongside animal-mask-wearing ninja on each of his side. With a penetrating gaze, he swept over the battlefield, taking in the aftermath before his gaze honed in toward Tsume, and then Kiba, and then the girl who was being tended by a medical-nin.
With a single leap, he crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, appearing right beside the girl.
”T-Third!” The medical-nin almost dropped to the ground from shock.
”Don't mind me, continue what you're doing.”
He gave the medical-nin an amiable smile. However, his sight never left the girl on the mattress.
Just as he was about to step closer, Tsume suddenly appeared right in front of him, blocking his view.
”Third. As you can see, my son and that girl had been attacked by those people. I believe that we should tighten our patrol.”
”Hmm. I agree.”
However, he still hadn't moved his gaze away, as if he could see through Tsume if he tried a little bit harder.
”...That girl, who is she?”
”She's our family member,” Tsume replied without any hesitation.
”Strange, I've never seen her before. I thought I already know every Inuzuka in this village!”
”Haha! You're a few years too early to claim that! Let me tell ya, she's the niece of the grandfather of the cousin of the daughter of the brother of my uncle. We usually kept her inside the compound all day, so of course you wouldn't know her!”
”...Huh.”
Something... seemed wrong...