"Miura, leave it to me" Kotaka said.

"Oh..." Miura mumbled in surprise.

Kotaka gets into attack position and runs at an absurd speed.

*Tushh

The ground gives way to Kotaka's strength.

*Swoshhh

Kotaka hits Hanzõ in the face who can't keep up with his speed.

*TUSHHHH

"Ugh" Hanzõ cries out in pain.

"HANZÕÕ! ! !" Kosuke cries out in despair.

Hanzõ is pushed meters away from his position.

*Ploft ploft

When Hanzõ finally regains his balance, he realizes Kotaka's next attack and defends himself.

*TCHIMmMmMm

Hanzõ can't withstand the impact and is thrown back again.

While Hanzõ was being pushed by Kotaka's powerful blows, Hanzõ tried to read Kotaka's movements, looking for patterns to eventually predict where Kotaka would go.

*Plack

Hanzõ lands on the ground and screams.

"IBUSE ! ! !"

Ibuse raises his head, chews on his own stored venom, then understands Hanzõ's request, Ibuse burrows into the ground, waiting for further commands from him.

*Trummmm

Ibuse was soon underground.

Hanzõ continued to follow Kotaka's movements, which became more and more unpredictable.

*SWOSHHH

*SWOSHHH

*SWOHHHH

It was possible to observe Kotaka's numerous movements in the middle of the battlefield in order to distract Ibuse and allow him to attack Hanzõ without any worries.

Hanzõ had an idea.

Kotaka moved around randomly until Hanzõ dropped his defensive position and was completely open for Kotaka.

"Hm?" Kotaka mumbled strangely.

"Giving up already? haha" Kotaka thought.

*SWOSHH

*STUSHH

Hanzõ gets another punch in the face from Kotaka.

"URGH" Hanzõ cries out in pain.

*Crack

Hanzõ's mask breaks, leaving the left corner of his mouth slightly bruised and his mask completely open.

Hanzõ is thrown back a few meters by the impact.

Kotaka boasts.

"You're too weak Hanzõ, you're an impressive ninja and I respect that, but you're outdated, you're not as convinced as you used to be..." Kotaka said in a disappointed tone.

"Humph humph" Hanzõ sighed after so many blows.

"Your arrogance is ruining you Kotaka, you can't even see your mistake now" Hanzõ said.

Kotaka was confused until he saw an explosion seal on his chest.

"HUH?" Kotaka shouted startled.

*BOOMMMMM

Kotaka was caught in the explosion.

"YESS !" Kosuke shouted from a distance.

"KOTAKAA!" Miura shouted worriedly.

...

Shortly after the explosion, Kotaka could be seen on the ground, injured but still conscious.

"Humph humph... Bastard..." Kotaka muttered, gritting his teeth in anger.

Kotaka's chakra cloak flashed, already showing instability after such a blow from Hanzõ.

Hanzõ said.

"KOTAKA!"

Kotaka looked in Hanzõ's direction.

"It's over" Hanzõ said.

"Huh?" Kotaka shouted.

*TRUMMMM

*GLUUPPPP

Ibuse swallowed Kotaka.

"Oh!" Kosuke and Inara exclaimed in surprise.

"KOTAKAAA ! ! !" Miura says in despair.

Miura then says.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu."

Miura creates a water dragon that heads towards Ibuse who has swallowed Kotaka.

*SWASH

"ROOOARRRRRRR!" shouts the water dragon, heading towards Ibuse.

"Not now" Inara said.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu."

Inara uses the same jutsu to stop Miura's water dragon, protecting Ibuse.

*SWASHH

*SPLASHHH

The dragons collide.

As Inara concentrates on the collision of the water dragon jutsu, he hears a whisper in his ear.

"I'm not done with you yet..."

"Uh?" Inara exclaims.

*TUSHHHH

Kotaka punches Inara hard in the face, slamming him into a rock.

*TUMMMMMM

Inara hits the rock and sinks to the wall, badly damaged by the blow.

Inara is unconscious, his face slightly disfigured and bleeding profusely.

"SENSEIIIII!" Kosuke shouted.

Kosuke ran over to Inara who was lying unconscious on the ground with random shards of his mask completely destroyed.

Kosuke saw Inara's familiar face completely changed, Kosuke was shocked to see his sensei, the person he was closest to in this world, completely disfigured and bleeding heavily on the ground.

Kosuke's eyes were shaking and his hands reached for him in a naive attempt to do something about the grave situation.

...

"Sensei..." Kosuke said, a tear running down his cheek.

"Well boy... war teaches us some great tricks for battles" Kotaka said, showing a box of military rations that help to replenish the user's chakra, giving them an instant gain in chakra, something that is harmful to the user because it is an external and unnatural source of chakra, usually pushing the user's body to limits they are not used to.

Kosuke and Hanzõ weren't sure how Kotaka had escaped from Ibuse and even with such doubts, Kotaka hadn't revealed how he had done it, Kotaka had used the same jutsu that Hanzõ had already used, "Shunshin no Jutsu", a teleportation technique that allowed him to get out of Ibuse's mouth and also made him attack Inara by surprise.

Kotaka picks up the last two military ration pills and takes them.

"Glup"

*VOSHHHHHH

Kotaka's chakra cloak begins to glow, not only creating more flashes but also distorting the environment around him.

Kosuke turns his gaze back to Inara, his eyes and hands still shaking, and he hears from Inara.

"Ko... suke... protect the village..." Inara says, breathing heavily.

Kosuke has a fit of rage.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! !" Kosuke shouts.

Kosuke had a chakra cloak around him similar to Kotaka's, his tattoo on his left hand had grown to just above the elbow and his eyes were glowing.

Kosuke turned his gaze to Kotaka, who was also in his prime... as Kosuke watched him for a while, small rays began to shine around him, complementing his form, Kotaka was surprised and thinks.

"Raiton? I'll have to finish this boy soon" Kotaka thought.

"HANZÕõÕõ ! ! ! " Kotaka said.

Kotaka threw 3 kunai with explosive seals right in front of Hanzõ.

Hanzõ is swallowed by Ibuse, who has already been buried to protect him from the explosions.

Kosuke worriedly watches Hanzõ and hears the explosions.

*BOOMMMMM

Kotaka takes advantage of Kosuke's distraction and advances in such a way that the ground he uses to catch the momentum gives way.

*TUSHHHH

*SWOOSHH

Kosuke realizes Kotaka's trick and tries to activate his suzaku to defend himself.

*Tchlak tchlack tchla...

*TUSHHHH

Kosuke can't fully activate his suzaku, but he manages to block Kotaka's attack.

Kosuke was pushed away, but this time without losing his balance.

Kotaka and Kosuke begin to fight intensely after this encounter.

*TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH

Most of their blows were purely brutal, and while Kosuke's lacked technique, Kotaka showed a mastery of grappling that was far superior to Kosuke's. Kosuke was practically only able to use his improved physical strength to defend himself and rarely to attack.

*TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH TUSH

"IBUSEE! ! !" Hanzõ said, stepping out of Ibuse's way.

*PUOOOOFFF

Ibuse throws another wave of poisonous mist at Kosuke and Kotaka.

 //
Author note 
10 chapters ahead at patreon.com/persima