Chapter 88 – Ambush

*Ino’s POV*

“Slow down Kiba, we don't have the scouting we're used to.” (Shikamaru)

“It doesn’t matter who tries to stop us, I'll beat anyone whoever dares show in front of us.” (Kiba)

*Bark* (Akamaru)

“Tchhh” (Shikamaru)

‘This idiot… the forest ruined his nose but he still rushes ahead while ignoring my warnings’ (Shikamaru)

Loud idiots truly are the natural enemies of geniuses.

While the spineless fatso Choji would just go with whatever Shikamaru says, the wild mutt is too full of himself, thinks he's the best and still dreams of being a leader and a future Hokage.

This team has always been a mess…

“I sense chakra signals a 250 meters southeast” (Ino)

I’ve been learning chakra sensing for the past months but I’ve been downplaying both my accuracy and range, only showing the bare minimum when we have to

“Woohoo!! Finally some action, let's head there!” (Kiba)

“Maybe try to move quietly so we can set an ambush.” (Shikamaru)

“Who needs an ambush, let's just beat them head-on” (Kiba)

*Bark* (Akamaru)

Having seen little combat the past day it's no wonder he can't hold himself back in anticipation. He's about to get all the combat he wants.

“Yeah, let’s kick some ass!”(Ino)

*sigh* ‘Idiots…’(Shikamaru)

We stop talking and rely on my telepathy network as we rush ahead at full speed.

We soon find a team ahead, turned toward us, having sensed our approach.

Three Amegakure ninjas looking worse for wear, full of dirt and scratches and carrying a set of heaven and earth scrolls in their hands.

We stop 20 meters away from them and prepare for a fight. As usual, our team has Kiba and Akamaru front lining with me and Shikamaru in the back.

“Give us those scrolls and we’ll leave you alone.”(Kiba)

“Huh, come and take them if you can”(Ame#1)

‘Why didn’t they hide their scrolls?’(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru is already thinking things over, but Kiba is more than itching for a fight.

“Let’s go Shikamaru!” (Ino)

Sensing the enemies to be weak Kiba charges ahead and uses his enhanced strength and agility to strike at the closest enemy. As he does so he extends his nails into usable claws.

The enemy barely blocks Kiba’s fist, getting scratched in the arm and taking a few steps back as his teammates move to flank Kiba.

Me and Shikamaru start approaching closer from each side to prevent him from being surrounded.

This is when the enemies spring their trap.

Already expecting it, I jump back avoiding a rain of needles targeting my position, letting them hit the ground in front of me harmlessly.

Shikamaru reacts late, having seen the needle already flying at him, and only has time to raise his left arm to cover his chest.Over five needles pierced his arm, leaving him injured.

“Shit” (Shikamaru)

“A trap!” (Ino)

From the left of Shikamaru and the right of me, a pair of ninjas show up as another pair moves towards Kiba.

All allong this had been a trap set by a trio of Amegakure teams working together, 9 Genin in total.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I found them last night, fate finally blessed me.

Our team has no way to deal with this many enemies, both my and Shikamaru’s jutsu focus on locking down a single enemy but leaving us vulnerable so giving the enemy any kind of number advantage renders all of them irrelevant and locks us down to relying on basic taijutsu.

Even with Akamaru counted the fight is still a 4v9 with me and Shikamaru able to at most handle one or two ninjas, that leaves Kiba and Akamaru anywhere between a 2v5 and a 2v7.

Kiba is strong but he can’t deal with such a large number of unknown trained ninjas, his style is also too focused on aggression and lacks any defense at all.

Sensing the dire straights of the situation, Kiba quickly takes his emergency food pills, military rations that act as stimulants and temporarily increase his and Akamaru’s chakra.

I wanted to mess with them but I had no way of keeping him from finding out with his enhanced taste and no way to guarantee he would eat them.

Akamaru turns red, true to his name while growling and showing increased aggression.

Kiba barely has time to weave a jutsu turning Akamaru into a clone of himself before he and Akamaru are besieged and encircled by 5 enemies.

Meanwhile, me and Shikamaru were busy holding off 2 Amegakure ninjas each.

A couple of enemy ninjas released a fog around us and tried throwing several shurikens and kunai from a distance, keeping us separated.

‘Shit, what can we do???’(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru spends a lot of effort blocking and dodging away from the projectiles, even getting hit by a couple more needles in a leg and his shoulder while I get to enjoy reading the enemy’s mind and knowing where they are aiming for in advance.

“What do we do Shikamaru?” (Ino)

“Fall back Kiba!!” (Shikamaru)

Kiba fights off multiple enemies, landing several good strikes but only managing to knock out one adversary while sustaining several minor wounds from thrown shurikens and deflected kunai while Akamaru manages to keep a couple of enemies busy but his transformation nearly falls due to multiple grazes.

“Shit, we gotta bail!” (Kiba)

“You’re not going to run away” (Ame#4)

Kiba and Akamaru try to break out of his encirclement while the Amagakure enemies unexpectedly step away from Kiba and Akamaru instead of trying to stop him.

Then while me and Shikamaru can only barely see what is happening around us, our adversaries hiding in the mist also turn their attention to Kiba.

Three of the enemies throw umbrellas they are carrying into the air, making it over a dozen of them, encircling Kiba and Akamaru.

[Ninja Art: Senbo Rainstorm]

The rest of the enemies throw several kunai, senbo and shurikens as well, all aimed at preventing their retreat, but Kiba and Akamaru might still be able to just outrun the majority and make it with only some wounds.

Since it’s come to this.

I focus my mind on Kiba’s, he gets to try this technique I’ve kept a secret from everyone except Anko until now.

[Psychic Scream]

By focusing my attention on Kiba’s mind and releasing as high and as loud of a pitch as I can imagine, Kiba's mind blanks for a second, reeling in shock.

He staggers in his movement, tripping and nearly falling and while Akamaru makes it out of the encirclement with only a few kunai and shuriken hitting him and breaking his transformation, Kiba barely manages to take 2 steps and remains in the line of fire of most projectiles.

Over a hundred needles, dozens of shurikens and a pair of kunai pierce his body, sending blood flying in every direction.

“A—kama-ru…” (Kiba)