Konoha’s Five-Element Ninja

Chapter 35: Overly Cautious

In truth, Hayama, while in his non-human state of the Swift Thunder Kill technique, could easily dispatch the entire medical ninja team on his own. However, he brought Minato along not out of any sense of camaraderie, but because he needed Minato's Flying Thunder God technique for the escape afterward.

Cautious as ever, Hayama had already mapped out their retreat route. As a meticulous ninja, he wouldn't take the lead unless he had a high degree of certainty about the outcome.

So when the enraged Suna commander stormed up to Hayama, ready to punch his head off, Hayama remained calm—so calm he even had the leisure to notice the commander's yellow, unbrushed teeth. He mused that the Suna ninja were all rough types, utterly neglecting their personal hygiene.

While Hayama himself hadn't mastered the Flying Thunder God, Minato had, and that was all that mattered. The technique's complexity required not only exceptional ninjutsu talent but also mathematical prowess. Some things could be learned with effort, but others, like solving certain math problems, would remain out of reach no matter how hard one tried. That was how Hayama saw it—what he couldn't learn, Minato could.

Just as the Suna commander rushed at him, Hayama and Minato vanished, leaving him to slam face-first into a wall. The impact left a human-shaped imprint in the concrete, and the commander quickly rebounded and vanished down the hall. Before anyone knew it, he was gone as fast as he'd arrived, in a spectacle that epitomized both speed and fury.

Meanwhile, Hayama and Minato had already returned to the hospital's outer perimeter. Their uniforms were soaked with blood, but otherwise, they appeared unscathed. Even Akimichi Tangdong, still munching on his rations, assumed the mission was a failure due to how quickly they'd returned.

"Time to scram!" Hayama called out, signaling for the team to retreat. The mission was complete, and if they weren't so far from Konoha's main camp, Hayama would have insisted they teleport straight back. In fact, he and Minato had run calculations the previous night. The conclusion was that the distance from the Suna field hospital to the front lines was just barely within range, but they would likely end up in the middle of a Suna ambush. To avoid a gang-up, they'd decided against it.

The remaining Konoha ninja, seeing Hayama's efficient retreat, followed suit. They disengaged from their opponents and began falling back.

Of course, the furious Suna ninja gave chase, hoping to surround and crush the Konoha squad before they reached safety. But the retreating Konoha forces scattered in all directions, each group making sure some of them escaped. Their sudden scramble made them look less like soldiers and more like a bunch of petty criminals fleeing the scene of a heist.

Ikegami Aonobu, enraged by Konoha's guerrilla tactics, split his forces to pursue different groups. As for himself, he personally chose to chase Hayama and Minato, taking two subordinates along for the hunt. Ikegami was not one to hold grudges—because he never had to. His motto was to settle scores the very same day they occurred.

To him, the loss of medical ninja was secondary; the real priority was eliminating the two young Konoha ninjas. Clearly trained elites, they posed a potential future threat to the entire village. If left alive, who knew how much damage they might cause? Public duty combined with personal vengeance fueled his relentless pursuit. No matter what, even if the ninja world ended today, Ikegami Aonobu intended to take these two down before the final apocalypse.

Following their predetermined escape route, Hayama and his squad ran until they nearly crossed into Amegakure's borders. They finally stopped, not because they couldn't run further, but because continuing would drain their chakra reserves to dangerously low levels. In the wilderness, keeping chakra reserves above fifty percent was a critical safety measure in case of unexpected encounters.

After fleeing nearly a hundred kilometers at full sprint—maintaining chakra flow to their legs and feet the entire way—Hayama reasoned that the pursuing Suna ninja would have difficulty communicating with reinforcements over such a distance. Feeling relatively secure, they chose to stand their ground and prepare to face their pursuers.

This wasn't about Hayama abandoning his cautious nature. Running into Amegakure territory was not an option, as tensions had only recently eased after a conflict. Entering Amegakure would be tantamount to handing themselves over on a silver platter. Staying within the Land of Wind was actually safer since most of Suna's forces were currently tied up on the front lines against Konoha. There was little chance of reinforcements arriving quickly.

And ever since mastering the Lightning Release secret technique, Hayama's confidence in his abilities had grown considerably. Even if they couldn't defeat their pursuers, they could certainly outrun them—thanks, in no small part, to the Flying Thunder God technique.

Hayama downed a soldier pill and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Minato, ready for the impending battle. Akimichi Tangdong, on the other hand, pulled out a large, custom-made bento box and began wolfing down its contents. No sense fighting on an empty stomach, after all.

Sure enough, Ikegami Aonobu and his two subordinates soon arrived. Upon seeing Hayama's group, they paused briefly. After whispering a few words into Ikegami's ear, one of the Suna ninjas stepped back. Ikegami's eyes narrowed in surprise. He quickly dropped any remaining sense of disdain for his opponents.

"So you're on the ANBU's kill-on-sight list. In that case—"

But before Ikegami could finish, Hayama cut him off by unleashing a torrent of flames. To him, there was no point in wasting time with idle chatter. In battle, it was better to act than to talk. After all, once the enemy was defeated, you could say whatever you wanted without fear of interruption.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Ikegami's anger flared even higher at Hayama's discourtesy. Without hesitation, he formed seals of his own, ready to give this impertinent Konoha ninja a harsh lesson.

But his plans were dashed once again. Another Hayama emerged from the ground behind him, thrusting a blade toward his heart. Aonobu smirked coldly. His sensory ninja had already warned him about the underground decoy. Flowery tricks were pointless against overwhelming strength.

With a quick motion, Aonobu caught the blade, only to realize too late that it was a clone. As he crushed the clone, it disintegrated into mud. Not only that, but Hayama had thoughtfully attached several explosive tags to the clone's back, leaving Aonobu with a nasty surprise.

"Boom!"

The explosion left Aonobu unharmed, as he had jumped away just in time. But the incident had clearly riled him up. Why was this young ninja so annoyingly clever?

Meanwhile, Minato hurled several specialized kunai around Aonobu. Just as he prepared to teleport, Hayama grabbed his arm, signaling him to wait. When an enemy had already seen through a jutsu, rushing into close combat could be risky. Although the Suna ninja hadn't said much, what little he revealed gave Hayama enough clues to piece together the situation.

It was better to test the waters from mid-range with more jutsu. Caution would never hurt, and Hayama still had plenty of chakra to spare. In battles of attrition, the one who could sustain their attacks the longest often came out on top.

"Earth Release: Rising Spears!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

But Aonobu was quick, dodging the barrage of jutsu without so much as a scratch.

Hayama squinted, reassessing the situation. Judging by his movements, Aonobu was undoubtedly an elite jonin. Although Hayama was familiar with jonin-level opponents, this one was particularly formidable. Deciding to try something harder to avoid, he prepared a more advanced technique.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

A spear-like bolt of lightning shot from Hayama's mouth, zipping toward Aonobu at lightning speed. As the bolt flew, Hayama swiftly formed more hand seals, chaining into another jutsu.

"Fire Release: Smoldering Pillar Jutsu!"

When Aonobu dodged the lightning, columns of earth rose around him, forming an enclosure. With only one exit—the path leading toward Hayama—Aonobu was effectively trapped. Hayama channeled fire chakra into the enclosed area, causing it to ignite in a burst of flames.

In this confined space, the combination of high temperature and low oxygen could quickly inflict severe damage. The Smoldering Pillar Jutsu required both earth and fire chakra, making it a challenging technique to perform, but one that packed a powerful punch.

However, no matter how powerful a jutsu was, if it didn't hit the target, it was all for naught. Despite Hayama's precise timing and execution, Aonobu remained unscathed. The elite jonin's strength allowed him to counterattack even while trapped. The walls were blown apart by a fierce wind release technique, and the cutting wind blades that followed forced Hayama and Minato to defend themselves.

When the dust settled, both sides were still standing. Hayama's attempt to probe Aonobu's abilities had failed, costing him a considerable amount of chakra without yielding valuable intel.

In the ninja world, gathering intelligence on your opponent was as critical as raw strength. In that regard, Hayama had come up short.

With conventional ninjutsu proving ineffective, both sides silently agreed that the battle would come down to close-quarters combat. Minato, sensing this shift, pulled out one of his marked kunai and handed it to Hayama. Meanwhile, he held a special seal tag in his own hand—a tag that, at first glance, resembled an explosive tag but bore the character for "seal" in the center.

With the introduction of this sealing tag, the fight was about to become a game of "tag." The first to land their paper on the enemy would win—and for the opponent, losing meant certain death.