It was naturally too much to hope for the mission to go without problems.
Though honestly it would have taken a damn miracle to complete it without combat at least a few times.
Had we only needed to scout once, it wouldn't have been a problem, but given we had to continue scouring the area for a long time, we were bound to run into enemies.
Bandits weren't a problem; they wouldn't be able to find us, and if we wanted to get rid of them, our resident bug swarm filled with all kinds of poisonous critters was enough to handle it from afar.
No, even local shinobi weren't a big deal, a small place like the land of bears didn't have many elite fighters, and certainly not enough to risk taking on a team from Konoha, even if they won, they were likely to earn a powerful enemy, and if they lost, they would also earn one.
So, only the other shinobi villages were a real threat.
And it just so happened that after only about a week here, we ran into a nightmare team. One with a very skilled sensor, able to track us. And while we too could track them, we couldn't lose them.
So, yeah, a fight was incoming and a bad one at that.
"Alright, we have to engage them; they have two large chakra signatures, so at least two Jōnin-level opponents."
I kept my voice low and calm. This was no time for panic, even if it was the first true danger any of us here had encountered.
The others stiffened around me. Even the Hyūga clan members, usually so composed, glanced at each other in grim acknowledgment. The Inuzuka boy muttered something under his breath, his dog bristling at his side.
"Orders?" asked Shikato, stepping closer, his voice tight.
I tapped the map we'd been keeping updated on a flattened rock nearby.
"They're tracking us by our trail," I said. "But their formation is wide. They're cautious. They don't know who they're following, just that it's a large group."
That was our one advantage.
Or it could have been.
One possible tactic would have been to split up, and thin their numbers while keeping their Jōnin busy.
The problem was that the main clan member, I couldn't afford to split the group up; we needed to stay together for his sake, which meant we needed to engage in a direct fight.
I looked over at Shikato, "Nara, got any ideas for how to deal with this situation?"
I wasn't out of ideas myself, but I figured that I might as well ask, his clan was known for their tactical ability after all.
He frowned, chewing on his bottom lip for a second—thinking hard, not panicking. Good. At least he wasn't completely green.
"If we try to flee, they'll pick us off one by one," he said, voice low but steady. "And they're too fast to outrun if they spot us breaking formation."
"Exactly," I said. "So?"
He tapped the map, finger tracing a rough circle around a narrow valley a little further west. "Here. The terrain bottlenecks. We could force them into a kill zone. Limit their movement. Use the trees and narrow paths to neutralize their numbers."
It was a good plan.
Smart, simple, and most importantly—it kept the team together.
I smiled slightly. "Not bad for a first war."
He flushed, but straightened his shoulders a little.
"Alright, everyone listen up," I said, raising my voice just enough to cut through the mounting tension. "We're going to fall back toward the valley. Hyūga in front and sides. Inuzuka on point with Kuro. Bug boy in the center with the main house heir."
I turned to the boy in question, meeting his pale eyes.
"You stay in the middle. You protect yourself if you must, but your job is survival first. Understood?"
He nodded sharply, no hesitation.
Good.
We might just all make it without injuries.
-----
The movement was tense, but disciplined. Given that we knew we would soon engage the enemy, we gave up on stealth and slowed down, saving a bit of energy; it hardly mattered that they gained on us; we would reach the target area well before them anyway.
If we had the time, we could set up some more traps, but we didn't, and with a sensor on their side, they might be pointless, so again, we skipped all that.
I kept my Byakugan active as we ran, I had trained them to near perfection, allowing me to use them with barely any chakra cost, so I could keep an eye on our pursuers as we ran.
The enemy was following—but more cautious now. They'd realized we weren't blind prey. They were adjusting their approach, falling back slightly, tightening formation.
They knew we were preparing something.
Smart bastards.
We reached the valley mouth within an hour. It was perfect—narrow, steep walls of stone and tangled undergrowth.
Normally it wasn't a good idea to fight possible Iwa shinobi in a place like this, too much stone for them to use.
This particular valley, however, was perfect. The undergrowth and thick vines covering the walls and ground made it difficult to use them against us. Any earth-style ninjutsu would get caught.
Which would at least slow down projectiles enough that we could dodge them. So while they might want to use ninjutsu, the best bet here was taijutsu.
Still didn't meant we should get careless.
I gestured quickly to the others.
The Hyūga spread out along the ridges, taking positions in the trees. Shikato crouched low near a fallen log, hands already weaving into familiar shadow seals.
The Inuzuka boy and his dog hunkered down by a boulder, ready to spring.
The Aburame released another cloud of his insects into the thick foliage, masking our scents and laying a silent trap.
All was ready.
Now we just had to wait.
They were close.
I watched them long before they reached the valley entrance.
Before my Byakugan, their chakra signatures were stark against the world—bright flares moving with trained precision. Three Jōnin-level shinobi. Three problems.
I don't know how I missed the third before they came this close, but it was a problem.
My side only had me with Jōnin strength. I might be able to barely handle two, but even if I was willing to show off all my cards, handling three wouldn't be easy.
Not yet, I was only in my mid-teens, not yet in my prime, I wasn't as strong as I could be, my reach was not as long as it would be in a few years, and my chakra needed time to grow.
And there weren't just the three of them; all in all, there were ten of them, more than on our side, and stronger than our side.
It didn't look good at all.
All I could hope was that the extra seven weren't very strong. Their chakra signatures seemed to indicate Genin level... but even Genin could be dangerous, especially if they were used properly.
And in war, everyone was dangerous.
I didn't have time to hesitate.
"Prepare for engagement!" I signaled quickly, flashing a few concise hand signs to the Hyūga on the ridge.
We couldn't flee.
We couldn't hide.
We could only stand.
The lead Jōnin—a tall, heavyset man brimming with stone chakra—moved into the valley first, flanked by the nimble woman with cutting chakra and the cautious sensor hanging back behind them.
The seven Genin spread out like a net, trying to encircle the valley.
I bared my teeth slightly.
Smart.
By stacking up, they were vulnerable to AOE attacks, and by splitting up in a wide net, they could engage with their superior numbers.
Thankfully, the small area to move in would mean that it would quickly become a taijutsu battle, no matter if they want it or not.
And my Hyūga Clan is never afraid of a taijutsu battle.
The Iwa shinobi didn't rush.
They advanced at a steady pace, confident, measured.
They knew their advantage.
When they finally came into clear view, the heavyset leader halted a few meters ahead of us, his feet planted like deep roots in the earth.
He raised a hand in a gesture of parley.
I didn't move.
Neither did my team.
"Team from Konoha," he called out, his voice low and rough like gravel grinding under a heavy boot. "You are outnumbered. Outmatched."
His eyes scanned our formation—sharp, calculating. He lingered for a moment on face, my eyes, the Byakugan. I didn't wear anything to hide the seal on my forehead, though the others all did.
By showing the curse seal, I let them know that there was no point in trying to seal my eyes, made me less of a target.
The others all wore something to cover their foreheads, to disguise the main family's markless forehead.
But even if he noticed the fact that he couldn't steal my eyes, he still took note of the many Hyūga Clan members in this team.
A slow smirk tugged at his lips.
"A smart commander would know when to surrender," he said. "Lay down your weapons. Submit. We'll take prisoners."
He didn't say what kind of prisoners.
He didn't need to.
Behind him, the Genin shifted restlessly, weapons at the ready. The woman to his left, the fast one, gave him a small look of disgust.
Members of the Hyūga Clan were all good looking, our skin fair and bodies lean. We had a noble air to use, and I in particular looked exceptionally fine.
The mark on my forehead meant I would die the moment the main clan learned of my capture, but he would still be able to enjoy his sweet time with me as his prisoner.
It would be a fate worse than death.
Defiled and abused, then killed off. Yeah, there would be no surrendering.
The man must have seen the cold look in my eyes, because his smirk only deepened.
He thought we were scared.
He thought wrong.
I stepped forward half a pace, shoulders relaxed, hands loose at my sides.
"No," I said, my voice carrying clearly over the valley.
Simple. Final.
The Iwa leader's smile twisted into something uglier. His chakra flared in answer, a deep rumble that made the vines around us tremble.
"So be it," he growled. "We offered you mercy."
He dropped his hand.
The world exploded into motion.
While my side were all teens, and their sides too had plenty of young Genin, there were no fools here.
We all knew our advantages and disadvantages, they had the number, they had the strength, so they wanted to use that.
They also knew that we likely had the upper hand in a battle of taijutsu.
We knew that.
So we wanted to engage them, and they wanted to maintain their distance. Stop us from closing in, so they could kill us from afar using ninjutsu.
Two of the Jōnin moved to intercept me as I charged. The man and the faster woman. The third, the sensor, stepped back with the Genin, and they quickly began weaving hand signs.
The first barrage came fast.
I darted forward, weaving between the two charging Jōnin—each of them angling to pin me in place.
Behind them, the sensor and the Genin unleashed their first wave.
A wall of earth exploded upward across the valley entrance, sealing it shut.
No escape.
At the same time, sharp spires of stone burst from the ground, cutting off easy paths between the ridges where my Hyūga had positioned themselves.
They were trying to isolate us.
Crush us piecemeal.
Smart.
But not smart enough.
I twisted between two rising pillars of stone, closing the last few meters between myself and the heavy Jōnin.
He swung—predictable, a hammer-blow fueled by stone-reinforced muscle.
I shifted my weight and ducked low under the strike, feeling the raw force of it pass over my head like a landslide.
A second later, the fast woman blurred in from my right, I could see the sharp chakra coating her kunai.
I turned with her strike, letting it graze the outside of my sleeve, and slammed my palm into her side—disrupting her flow of chakra at the ribcage.
She gasped but didn't fall.
I was forced to give up on the follow-up to that strike as the male was on top of me again. Forcing me to dodge to the side, then low as a kunai flew through where my head had been moments before.
Then I had to jump, I saw the earth under me glow with chakra, and no sooner had my feet left the ground before it transformed into a large spike, shooting straight up.
The others used their Byakugan to evade the earth spikes, allowing them to close in quickly.
A swarm of bugs suddenly assaulted the four Genin to the left, stopping them from using ninjutsu for a moment.
"Fang over fang!" the Inuzuka roared as he and his ninken transformed into two black swirls of teeth, claw, and death and shot across the valley, engaging the remaining Genin, who suddenly found that dodging was difficult.
None had paid much attention to Shikato, who now had a large shadow connected with them.
One of the Genin didn't move fast enough.
The shadow snapped up his leg, locking him in place for a split second too long.
The Inuzuka's fang tore through his side with a wet sound that made even the seasoned fighters flinch. He hit the ground hard and didn't get back up.
One down.
(End of chapter)
Here we go, a fight, a real fight for once, and a good fight at that. Outnumbered and outgunned, can our hero survive? Or will this be the end of their journey?
Find out, on next episode of Kaugya's legacy here on Cartoon networ… wait that's not right… xD