Shit, did Kakashi actually get poisoned down there?
Floating high above the treeline, Habara stared down at the thick purple mist blanketing the forest below, the worry gnawing at him. Kakashi had acknowledged his warning, but then... silence. There was no sign he'd managed to escape the cloud.
Poison gas was notoriously difficult to deal with. Even using a wide-range Wind Release jutsu was problematic; this was dense woodland, not open plains. Besides which...
"How did the seals for Great Breakthrough go again?"
Right now, all Habara could do was trust that Kakashi could somehow fight the poison gas to a standstill, give himself fifty-fifty odds.
Habara executed a "super jump," clearing the immediate vicinity of the poison cloud before descending back towards the ground near its edge. As he landed, his mind raced. Who was this trap meant for? Just any Konoha ninja? Or a specific Konoha ninja?
Like, for instance, himself.
Just as he touched down back in the forest, barely skimming the edge of the purple haze, a kunai shot out from within the mist.
The attack was sudden, aimed to catch him off guard, utterly— Habara tilted his head slightly, easily dodging the projectile.
It was a decent throw, admittedly, but only by genin standards. As the kunai whizzed past, Habara noticed the thin steel wire attached to its ring.
Thunk. The kunai embedded itself deep into the trunk of a large tree behind him. Instantly, the wire snapped taut, and a figure used the tension to launch itself out of the poison cloud.
For a fleeting second, Habara thought it might be Kakashi. But he immediately sensed something was wrong. The figure was dark, almost unnaturally so, their skin having a strange, dusky sheen like… well, like someone from much further south.
That brief moment of hesitation was enough for the attacker to close the distance.
Since this was clearly an uninvited guest, Habara didn't hesitate further. He formed his hand into a blade, black armor flowing over it, and thrust it directly into the chest of the rapidly approaching figure.
Unexpectedly, the attacker didn't even try to dodge or block. They met Habara's strike head-on, allowing his hand to plunge through their chest cavity. At the same moment, they shot both hands out, seizing Habara's arm in a tight grip.
This bizarre reaction immediately made Habara frown. His hand hadn't felt the resistance of piercing flesh and bone; it was more like punching through cotton. Simultaneously, a sharp, stinging pain radiated from where the enemy's hands gripped his right arm.
How am I feeling pain through my heavy armor?
Alright, perhaps "heavy" was an exaggeration. The iron plating covering Habara's body was actually quite thin, though exceptionally tough due to its composition. Breaching his defense should have been incredibly difficult.
Realizing something was seriously wrong, Habara flared his chakra. Thicker, truly heavy layers of Iron Sand swirled and solidified around his legs. He then unleashed a powerful kick, sending the enemy flying backward.
Habara didn't pursue. Instead, he mirrored the movement, putting distance between them. He already knew this opponent was trouble.
Once they were further apart, Habara looked down at his right arm. His frown deepened. The protective iron plating had been corroded clean through in several spots. Dark, purplish stains were already spreading rapidly across his skin beneath.
The inside of his forearm, the outer part of his upper arm – both were succumbing to the poison.
Without hesitation, Habara shed the corroded sections of armor from his arm. Then, two razor-thin lines of solidified mercury flashed, slicing through the discolored flesh with the sharpness of legendary blades. It was the shinobi equivalent of scraping poison directly from the bone – brutal, decisive self-treatment. Habara carved away nearly half a pound of his own flesh without flinching.
Okay, maybe "brutal" wasn't fair. It was simply the correct course of action. Either lose some flesh or die from the poison. Was it really a difficult choice?
This rough-and-ready "treatment" inevitably caused significant bleeding. In moments, half of Habara's body was stained crimson with his own blood.
Now, Habara finally understood that the enemy before him was far from ordinary. It wasn't just their bizarre attack methods; it was the targeted nature of their assault. Possessing a specialized toxin capable of easily corroding his primary defense... Habara strongly suspected this attack was aimed specifically at him.
The reasoning was simple. There were countless ways to poison a ninja. But encountering an enemy who just happened to use a toxin particularly effective against iron and steel? That stretched the definition of coincidence too far.
This enemy seemed to know him well. Which meant, rather than an external foe, this was likely an internal one.
Which raised the question: who in Konoha had Habara pissed off recently?
Well... he had chewed out a certain village elder not long ago. And even followed it up with a 'subtle' threat. Habara had brushed it off as a minor incident at the time, but was it really so minor?
Whether it was minor or major depended entirely on the magnanimity of Lord Shimura Danzo. And the question then became: just how magnanimous was Danzo? If anyone guessed "very," they were almost certainly wrong.
Lord Danzo truly is a pain in Konoha's ass.
Regardless, the immediate priority was dealing with the enemy right in front of him. And Habara had certainly never encountered an opponent quite like this before.
As the enemy charged again, Habara noticed something else... they seemed somewhat disoriented, almost confused. Their movements were uncoordinated, jerky, like someone suffering from a mild stroke.
Habara swung his left arm. A massive quantity of Iron Sand surged from the ground, instantly engulfing the approaching figure. But his usual, reliable "swing-and-clench" maneuver failed this time.
Even though the enemy was trapped within the swirling mass of iron, Habara felt like he couldn't get a solid grip, couldn't crush them. Barely ten or twenty seconds passed before the Iron Sand construct began to crumble, breaking down uncontrollably. The speed of the corrosion far exceeded Habara's expectations.
As the enemy's figure emerged once more, Habara raised his right hand—the movement slightly strained now—and began forming hand seals, one by one. This time, thankfully, he remembered the sequence.
Ram - Horse - Snake - Dragon - Rat - Ox - Tiger...
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!
Intense flames erupted, the soaring temperature causing the surrounding trees to curl and char instantly. The damp earth beneath cracked and vitrified. Habara's sealing speed might be pathetic, but the raw power of the advanced Fire Release jutsu was undeniable.
The wave of fire slammed directly into the charging enemy. The flames intensified from orange-red to a blinding white, completely swallowing the figure.
Yet, amidst this inferno, Habara heard no screams of agony. Instead, a strange, dense, crackling sound reached his ears, like countless tiny things popping rapidly.
When the fire subsided, the enemy lay sprawled on the ground, smoking. But this wasn't the end. A ninja incinerated by a direct hit from that jutsu wouldn't look like this.
Sure enough, like a zombie from some cheap horror film, the figure began to rise – stiffly, yet somehow lightly – back to its feet.
As the dark mist clinging to its body writhed and pulsed, the limbs and other body parts lost to the fire regenerated, reforming seemingly out of nothing.
This transformation made Habara's frown deepen further.
"Kikaichu? An Aburame?"