RedX43
patreon
[Konoha2] Chapter 84: Hajime vs. Iwa-nin Elite Forces!
🕑 Added 2025-06-15 18:05:56 +0000 UTCTsunade and the others had already entered the battlefield, but Hajime remained unaware.
In truth, his understanding of the Second Great Ninja War was very limited.
The only things he could clearly recall were a few iconic moments—
The origin of the Legendary Sannin,
The rise of the original Akatsuki trio,
And the time when Tsunade’s team was surrounded by Iwa-nin and nearly killed.
But as for deeper details—who really knows?
Right now, Hajime’s focus was entirely on the encirclement by the Iwa-nin.
The hundred-man force had split into five units—surrounding them from all directions, with one mobile unit held in reserve.
It was a formation that clearly showed they were determined to trap and kill.
Each individual squad didn’t seem large…
But even Hajime couldn’t guarantee he’d wipe them all out in an instant.
That meant the mobile unit would arrive within moments.
Then, the others would close in from the flanks.
Just like adding oil to fire, their numerical advantage would snowball.
Of course, Hajime could choose to break out alone.
He was confident he could escape—but the same couldn’t be said for Crow and the other Root ninja.
Standing atop a rooftop, Hajime was deep in thought.
He needed to resolve this crisis at the lowest possible cost.
“Captain…”
Crow leapt up beside him.
“Iwa-nin are advancing again,” he reported.
“Still the same pattern?” Hajime asked.
Crow nodded. “They’re extremely cautious—every time they advance a little, they reshape the terrain to their advantage.”
“They’ve clearly made up their minds to completely destroy the daimyō’s residence.”
Hajime chuckled. “This is the daimyō’s residence of the Land of Birds, not the Land of Earth. Why would they care?”
Crow’s tone turned urgent. “Captain, the tighter the encirclement, the harder it’ll be to break through.”
Hajime nodded. “You’re right.”
“Then let’s prepare to break out.”
As he spoke, he formed hand seals, and three Wood Clones sprouted from his back.
“You’ll split up and break out with my clones,” he said.
Crow’s face darkened. “Captain, you’re going to stay behind and hold off the Iwa-nin main force alone?”
Hajime nodded. “The Iwa-nin’s target is mainly me.”
“If I stay, they’ll only send a few to chase you.”
“Once you break out, regroup immediately and withdraw from the Land of Birds.”
“Head to the border of the Land of Wind. I’ll rendezvous with you there.”
Crow grew anxious. “Captain, that’s too dangerous!”
Hajime shook his head. “If you stay, that’s what makes it dangerous for me.”
“If you leave, it’ll be easy for me to withdraw.”
Crow was struck speechless.
Only now did he remember—their captain could retreat from the sky.
Hajime waved him off. “Go. My clones will clear a path for you.”
“Yes!”
Crow gave a deep bow, then leapt away with the three Wood Clones.
Once they were gone, Hajime sprang into motion—heading straight for the Iwa-nin’s mobile unit.
He could see it clearly—this was the core of their formation.
The Iwa-nin on the other four fronts were reacting to this unit’s movements.
Meanwhile, at a higher vantage point, an Iwa-nin scout was watching through binoculars.
Seeing Hajime move out so boldly, the scout’s face changed. He immediately sent a clone to report to Yami.
Upon hearing the news, Yami immediately understood Hajime’s intent:
“He’s trying to draw our attention to himself so the others can break out.”
“As expected of the Wood Release user… Does he really think he can safely retreat alone?”
“Is he treating all his comrades as dead weight?”
Yami’s expression turned contemplative.
He was deep in thought—what trump card could this Wood Release user still be hiding to make him so confident?
“Lord Yami,” an Iwa-nin reported, “the Wood Release user is heading directly toward us—alone.”
“Should we alert the others to close in?” he asked.
Yami shook his head. “No.”
“What we’re seeing might not be real.”
“Let’s confirm if this Wood Release user is the real body before signaling the others.”
“Besides, while our main mission is to take down the Wood Release user, we can’t let the others go either.”
“They’ve all taken the lives of our comrades—they must pay for that with their own.”
The surrounding Iwa-nin all nodded in agreement.
Yami raised his voice: “Prepare for battle!”
...
Before long, Hajime approached—landing atop a rooftop several dozen meters away.
Yami and his men had fortified their position at the intersection of two main streets, forming a cross-shaped defense, with multiple Iwa-nin hidden in nearby buildings.
As for civilians—they had long since fled.
Hajime looked ahead but made no move to attack.
Now wasn’t the time for a frontal assault.
Watching him simply stand and observe, Yami frowned slightly.
This guy was too calm—obviously waiting for them to make the first move.
And sure enough, they had no choice.
Yami waved his hand, signaling the offensive.
From the surrounding buildings, shadows flickered out.
Earth Release – Rock Cannon Jutsu!
One by one, Iwa-nin opened their mouths, spewing stones that expanded midair and launched in a dense barrage toward Hajime.
Simultaneously, three Iwa-nin leapt from their cover, slamming their hands onto the ground.
Crack!
The earth split open into a web of fissures, racing toward the house Hajime stood on.
In an instant, BOOM! The structure beneath his feet began to collapse.
As he fell, Hajime brandished his twin blades, leaping from one chunk of debris to the next.
Meanwhile, under Yami’s command, the Iwa-nin quickly repositioned around him, forming seals in unison.
Earth Release – Mobile Core!
RUMBLE!!
The ground shook violently.
The terrain around them began to rise like giant platforms, while the area where Hajime’s house had stood sank lower by comparison.
The rock barrage and collapsing house had all been feints, setting up for this major technique to trap Hajime.
And the attack hadn’t ended yet.
As the terrain shifted, forming four towering walls, massive, jagged stone spikes emerged from the high walls, stabbing inward from every angle.
Hajime slashed with his twin blades, slicing through spike after spike with wind-enhanced strikes.
But even he was forced downward, his momentum stalled by the sheer force of the coordinated Earth Release techniques.
Then—swish! swish! swish!
A barrage of kunai carrying explosive tags whistled through the air, raining down from above.
BOOM! BOOM!
The tags didn’t explode near him—instead, they detonated the stone pillars above, sending a shower of shattered rock hurtling downward like a torrential downpour.
In that instant, not even Hajime’s two-tomoe Sharingan could evade every fragment.
He sheathed his swords and brought his hands together.
From the crumbling rubble below, thick vines burst forth, rapidly growing into towering trees that helped absorb the impact of the falling stone.
Hajime’s body flickered between movements, hands flashing through seals.
Diamond Body Technique!
First, his skin hardened, then his muscles.
The stone fragments that hit him bounced off harmlessly—no pain, no damage.
When the stone rain finally ceased, Hajime leapt onto the treetops. Looking up, he saw Iwa-nin—either standing or crouching—atop the shattered stone pillars, all forming hand seals.
Earth Release – Rock Cannon Jutsu!
Shu! Shu! Shu!
A dense flurry of stone bullets rained down from all directions in a crisscrossing barrage, leaving no blind spots.
Hajime immediately dove downward.
Pu pu pu pu!
Thud thud thud!
The stone bullets tore through leaves and shattered the vines and trees.
Such an overwhelming bombardment brought devastating destruction to the tree canopy, causing it to snap and collapse rapidly.
“Iwagakure’s group tactics really are formidable,” Hajime silently marveled.
If this had been any ordinary jōnin, they’d be long dead by now.
As the vine trees were about to be completely destroyed, Hajime quickly formed hand seals:
Wind Release – Great Breakthrough!
Boom!
A fierce gust erupted upward, sending shattered wood and branches flying into the sky and blowing away the incoming stone bullets.
Even as the storm ended, Hajime’s hands didn’t stop.
He took a deep breath—his cheeks puffed, chest expanded—and then exhaled:
Wind Release – Vacuum Wave Barrage!
Multiple vacuum wind blades, shaped like rippling crescents, surged upward. The Iwa-nin atop the stone pillars quickly dodged.
Some weren’t fast enough—the fractured pillars beneath them crumbled and sent them plummeting.
But right after, new stone columns grew out from the stone walls, catching the falling ninja.
At the same time—
Along the towering stone walls, tall Iwa-nin hoisted huge boulders and hurled them downward.
In an instant, the light above Hajime was nearly blotted out.
“This kind of attack shouldn’t pose much of a threat... unless—are those explosive tags on top?”
With a soft snort, Hajime raised his right hand—a Rasengan rapidly formed, expanding into a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, which he then hurled skyward.
The Rasenshuriken collided with the falling boulders and instantly expanded, swallowing them all in a single blast, then shredding them into countless fragments that rained down.
As expected, among the debris, he spotted shredded explosive tags falling with them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, Hajime’s eyes sharpened.
He saw the four stone walls above beginning to close inward, sealing off the sky.
“They’re trying to bury me alive?”
Even without seeing the full plan, Hajime could guess—the walls would seal shut, and then collapse inward.
“It’s about time. No point dragging this out anymore...”
He brought his hands together and formed the Ram seal.
Wood Release – Nativity of a World of Trees!
In an instant, massive, thick vines shot up from the ground.
Meanwhile, above, after the four stone walls sealed completely, Yami and his Iwa-nin pressed their hands to the ground.
Earth Release – Rock Lodging Destruction!
Crack!
The earth fractured with a thunderous roar and began collapsing inward.
In that moment, the pit they had constructed was filled in completely.
A mid-level Iwa-nin stood up and said coldly, “With over ten meters of rock and soil collapsing in, not even Wood Release could break through that.”
The others nodded in agreement.
It had been buried so deep, with such a massive weight pressing down—they refused to believe anyone could survive.
Yami also didn’t see anything amiss.
By now, others from nearby squads were beginning to arrive.
Then—
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Yami’s face changed. He leapt into the air and shouted, “Scatter!!”
The surrounding Iwa-nin were startled, but instinctively obeyed, leaping away in all directions.
Just as Yami’s shout echoed, dozens of sharp vines burst through the ground, shooting toward the sky.
Some Iwa-nin, just lifting off the ground, were immediately impaled mid-air by the vicious tendrils. Their bodies withered in an instant as their chakra and life force were drained.
A dense mass of tree vines spread out like writhing snakes, consuming everything.
“Damn it! Even this couldn’t kill him!”
Yami’s pupils shrank. As he landed, he immediately slammed his hands to the ground.
Earth Release – Opening Earth Rising Excavation!
(End of Chapter)
