Battlefield, Hidden Rain Village
A sudden wave of relief encroached Ichiko's heart once she caught sight of Hayate's blue orbs. Hayate, as usual, gave her his heart-warming smirk and she couldn't have been more appeased. Their exchange was cut short when boulders from the Earth Style Mud Wall began tumbling down from the bombardment impact. Eventually, it was bound to cause an avalanche.
However, Hayate didn't even have the time to think of himself, since not all of his comrades made it under Ichiko's Susano'o. Simultaneously, he began flickering back and forth between the battlefield. Swinging as much of his comrades over his shoulder and making sure they all make it under the Susano'o. He wasn't even aware that he has cut off his breath as he clenched his jaw. His speed seemed to have doubled from the last time he performed his Teleportation Technique, even Ichiko's Mangeyko Sharingan was struggling to keep up with his speed.
Small sounds of cracking were heard from the Mud Wall, the pouring rain making it tumble faster than it should. Hayate's dampened hair fell over his eyes as he finally gasped for air. He had delivered close to a hundred Leaf Shinobi under the Susano'o's wing.
"Ichiko! Concentrate!", Fugaku ordered in haste as he saw the yellow flame of the Susano'o slightly falter. "Strengthen your defense!", he urged, beads of sweat dripping at the side of his face.
"Hayate...", Ichiko's voice trailed off. She, too, wanted to save as much of her comrades as possible. Hayate was running out of chakra, he knew that eventually, he'd have to save himself too. Ichiko was on her nerves, she internally cursed Hayate for being so stubborn while they were in the middle of a war. The avalanche was nearing its breaking point as larger boulders collapsed from the Mud Wall, snapping Ichiko out of her trance. She bit her lower lip, flaring her eyelashes, she channeled every ounce of her strength into generating her humanoid.
Everyone held their breath as The Mud wall came loose and boulders began collapsing down. The rubble had finally descended along with the rain, taking its shapes like a wave of rocks and hefty boulders. This time, the attack was going to be a serious strike for both sides. The Hidden Leaf had already taken precaution by taking shelter under the Susano'o humanoid. However, the Hidden Stone were worn out from their earlier attack which backfired on them, thus, rendering them defenseless.
Hayate was out of Ichiko's sight, he seemed to be protecting his comrades that didn't make it under the Susano'o shield. In spite of her hastening heart, Ichiko knew that the mission of protecting the Leaf shinobi was far more crucial than anything at the moment. Hayate can manage on his own. She thought to herself. The attack of the crumbling Mud Wall had finally launched, impacting damage on both sides of the battlefield.
The attack sparred no mercy as it pummeled upon the Susano'o. The Mangeyko Sharingan had curses of its own since it was depleting Ichiko's chakra faster than usual.
Everything as of now depended on Ichiko and Hayate as they both squandered their chakra to the maximum to challenge this calamity. Fugaku clenched his jaw when he felt like there was nothing he could do to aid his two comrades in action. He hated this feeling of having his hands tied when there's so much he wanted to do.
Ichiko was deadset on escorting her comrades safely to their village. She made up her mind that if she were to die, she'd rather die from expending her own chakra rather than dying to a boulder. Meanwhile, Hayate was utilizing his Wind Style to deliver various wind attacks towards the exceptionally large boulders. He tears boulder after boulder using the very technique he developed.
Wind Style: Wind Blade Strike
This was done by focusing chakra into the palms of one's hands and using that concentrated chakra in order to manipulate and bend the wind to their liking. In Hayate's case, he bends the wind into forming blades and sliced his way through the avalanche.
Ichiko maintained her ground as well as her Susano'o all the while being exhausted and tired.
Hayate's quick thinking contributed to the diminished impact done to the Susano'o, thus, saving Ichiko from overdoing things with the newly found power of the Mangeyko Sharingan. His erratic breathing indicated how drained his chakra network has gotten.
After a few more minutes of boulders crashing upon one another, the time had finally come for silence to take place. Even though it was still raining aggressively, the sound of the rain's pitter-patter fell upon deaf ears. The avalanche caused by the Mud Wall had almost deafened everyone from the clashing sounds and vibrations of the gigantic boulders. Everything had suddenly come to an abrupt stop, including Hayate's breath.
He fell to his knees once he realized that the avalanche menaced no more, and right there he gasped for air. The smell of rain upon a battle's aftermath filled his nostrils with an almost triumph scent. His tousled blond strands eventually dampened down his face, dripping continuously with cold raindrops.
Ichiko's visual prowess had also taken a toll on her body, leaving behind some noticeable debilitation. She released the Susano'o, making her crimson-hued eyes dim again. She somehow managed to maintain her composure as her eyes desperately hunted for Hayate's blue ones. Hayate would eventually come into view, his current fit wasn't reassuring at all.
The battle has been settled as a win for the Hidden Leaf Village.
Fugaku stood his ground as he observed his surroundings, or rather what was left of his surroundings. A mist of dust has appeared, distorting everyone's vision. The wall that has come undone unveiled a disastrous sight that wasn't for the faint of heart. Even the opacity of the dust couldn't deceive the crimson color that greeted the Leaf shinobi. All that the Leaf shinobi saw was red. Did anyone from the Hidden Stone even survive? There was a possibility that they might have generated a stone cave, where they could shield from their backfired attack. Yet perceiving the sight before them suggested that the attack was too rapid and instantaneous.
Ichiko's body automatically moved towards Hayate's immobile one, only to come to an abrupt stop due to her depleted chakra. Her left knee gave in and crashed into the soft mud as the rest of her body seemed to be giving in shortly. Through the thick dust, her eyes caught onto something. Her eyes attempted to scrutinize it with the Sharingan despite her current physical state. Her expression altered once her observant eye seized sight of the sparkling tip of a kunai, which was aiming her way.
"Die along with your cursed visual prowess!", the headband of what appeared to be a Hidden Stone shinobi glistened under the luminous moonlight. Once the dust had inconsiderably cleared, there was a lone figure standing with bloodshot eyes among the corpses of his dead comrades. The fury that emanated from his voice had spontaneously seized Hayate's eyes and ears.
His heart skipped several beats as he witnessed where the kunai was aiming.
Ichiko's body froze and her eyes glistened with fear. Her body felt completely immobilized as the kunai had been perfectly aimed at her left eye. It'd be too late for her to dodge it. She suddenly began trembling from fear and cold. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to return to her village and tell everyone about this victory. She was supposed to go back to honor the Uchiha name and its visual prowess for winning this battle. If only she could muster up enough chakra to dodge it. If only her heart would stop racing in fear and allow her to think in haste one more time.
And so it did.
Her heart did stop, but that's only because her breath was cut short when the build figure of Hayate hovered over her body. The kunai has been stopped, and for a moment the sole sound that everyone could hear was the rain's pitter-patter. Hayate falls onto his knees, his face leveling that of Ichiko's and surprisingly Ichiko's eyes widened.
Hayate had his signature smirk plastered across his face. The kunai that was allegedly going to pierce Ichiko's left eye was stopped by none other than Hayate.
Ichiko was at a loss for words, she didn't know how to react properly towards the sight before her eyes.
"...Now..we can go... back home..", Hayate breathlessly declared, and Ichiko's eyes lowered down to the enemy's kunai which had been perfectly leveled between Hayate's teeth, ultimately saving her left eye.
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A|N:- I hope I did this chapter justice. And I wanted to point something out. My Wattpad demographics show me that I have readers from ten different countries which respectively are: America, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Sweden, Spain, Republic of Serbia, Iraq, and India, and yet most of them are silent readers. Now listen y'all, I know it's such a drag to comment or vote (I know from experience). And no I'm not asking my silent readers to start engaging by commenting, voting...etc. I'm actually pretty grateful that anyone would read this book, and so it means a lot to me. But I also wanted to send my sincere gratitude to those who actually bother themselves by commenting and engaging as the story goes. Love y'all.
-A