Hoshino Ryoichi looked at the ninjas approaching them and commanded, "Stay together and guard Noriyuki. I'll cut down their numbers one by one!"

His words calmed them down. They immediately prepared for the battle thinking, 'As long as we have Ryoichi, we can get our revenge.'

Ryoichi weaved a hand sign. Lightning could be seen on his palms. He placed his palms in the river and said with utter confidence, "Face the consequences of your actions."

'Lightning Release: Lightning Eels jutsu'

The lightning on his palms transformed into small lightning eels and moved towards the rogue nins. However, one of the ninjas weaved hand signs in response.

'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough jutsu'

He exhaled a strong wind current into the river. The attack hit the Lightning eels head-on and dispersed them. Though the river absorbed the Wind current, the winds caused a wave of water to form and move at the Kusa ninjas.

The rogue ninjas used the cover provided by the wave to quickly close in the distance.

Ryoichi was surprised. He thought, 'He countered me so easily. This isn't a random attack. Someone wants us all dead!'

He wanted to use another jutsu, but the ninja who used the Great Breakthrough jutsu suddenly appeared in front of him and attacked with his kunai. Ryoichi raised his kunai and blocked the attack.

The rogue ninja smiled and said, "Sorry. I can't let you run amok, Ryoichi."

At the same time, the other rogue ninjas attacked the ninjas protecting Kagawa Noriyuki with Earth jutsus. Ryoichi realized it and asked, "So the Ide family has allied with Iwagakure?"

The Iwa ninja smiled but didn't say anything and continued attacking. He was evenly matched with Ryoichi. Ryoichi's expression became grim. He didn't have the same confidence as before. He shouted, "We may be weak, but do you think that you can walk over Kusagakure without any consequences?"

The Iwa Jounin just smirked. However, he suddenly became very serious and dived into the river. Fractions of a second later, an air bullet passed from where he was standing. He quickly looked at where the attack had come from and his eyes widened.

Fujin observed the fight for a minute and jumped in at the right opportunity. He flickered next to an Iwa ninja and shot a couple of dozen air bullets at the rogue ninjas. 4 Iwa ninjas that were closest to him died while a few others were injured.

Just like the Iwa ninjas, the Kusa ninjas were also surprised. Only Noriyuki was expecting such assistance. He shouted, "They are our allies. Cooperate with them and eliminate these rogue ninjas!"

The Kusa ninjas were relieved. In just a minute of fighting, they realized that they were completely outmatched. With Ryoichi being held back, their hopes were dying very quickly.

The Iwa ninjas had solemn expressions. A few seconds ago, they were having a complete advantage. But the situation reversed instantly.

Taking advantage of the slight distraction, Yugao and Fumito snuck behind two of the weakest Iwa ninjas. Since their attention was on Fujin and the Kusa ninjas, they didn't notice them until it was too late. In one quick stab, both killed their targets.

The Iwa jounin fighting against Ryoichi was alarmed by the situation. He shouted, "Fall back to the bank and stay together!"

At the same time, he began withdrawing to the opposite bank but Ryoichi immediately attacked him and didn't allow him to leave.

Fujin saw the Iwa ninjas retreating and activated his chakra field. His eyes widened momentarily as he looked at a location on the opposite bank. He muttered, "This will be a tough fight."

As the Iwa ninjas were retreating, they approached Bunjiro who was hiding under the water. He immediately took advantage.

'Water Release: Water Shuriken jutsu'

Dozens of water shurikens formed underwater and launched at the Iwa nins. One of Iwa's jounins immediately noticed it and made a hand seal.

'Water Release: Water Wall jutsu'

A layer of water appeared in front and under the Iwa ninjas in the nick of time. Unfortunately, Bunjiro wasn't their only opponent.

Fujin flickered next to them and a sword appeared in his hand. One of the Iwa ninjas noticed him and immediately attacked him with his kunai. Fujin swung his sword at the kunai. The remaining Iwa ninjas focused on Yugao, Fumito and the Kusa ninjas. But, they turned their attention to Fujin once again. They watched in shock as the headless corpse of their comrade fell into the river.

One of the Iwa ninjas muttered, "How can that be? He killed a jounin in the blink of an eye?"

Fujin continued his attack and swung his sword at the nearest Iwa ninja. However, he stopped and moved backwards. An earth spear passed by from the space he was at a moment ago. Fujin turned his head to the left to see hundreds of earth spikes extending from the opposite bank to their location. Fujin thought, 'They couldn't hold back anymore. I guess that is to be expected considering the losses they were taking.'

The hundreds of Earth spears forced the Konoha and Kusa ninjas back. Even Bunjiro was attacked underwater and forced to retreat. The Iwa ninjas immediately took the opportunity to retreat to the opposite bank.

Apart from Fujin, everyone's expressions became solemn. The attack was just too large in scale. The chaotic battle finally stopped as the three sides reaccessed the situation.

On the bank where Mizukoshi town was, Ide Tomoki stopped his ninjas and instructed, "There is another group there. It looks like the Kagawa family was expecting this attack. We will wait and observe the situation for now."

His ninjas immediately agreed. In a short while, they had seen 7 capable ninjas fall. In addition, they could see the fearsome earth spears extending from the opposite bank to the center of the river. None of them wanted to risk their lives needlessly.

Meanwhile, Tomoki frowned and thought, 'As I guessed, Noriyuki came prepared. These should be Konoha Anbu. Fortunately, I contacted Iwagakure. Otherwise, I'd be dead.'

Fujin observed the situation. On one side of the river were ninjas of the Ide family. On the other side were 21 Iwa ninjas. While on the river, there were 15 ninjas from the Kagawa family and Fujin's team. Fujin observed the ninja who launched the Earth Spears and thought, 'An Elite Jounin. I have been running into way too many of them in recent times. Oh well, now that everyone is out of hiding, I can kill them in one single fight!'

If Fujin wanted to, he could have killed another 3-4 Iwa ninjas. But he refrained from doing so as he wanted to use them to draw them out. Due to this, any traps that they might have set up would be useless.

The ninja, at whom Fujin was staring, looked at the Iwa ninjas who retreated and asked, "Chiharu, are you fine?"

Chiharu nodded and said, "Yes but 7 of our ninjas died. The Kusa ninjas have Ryoichi among their ranks. But Gin, be careful of that Konoha Anbu with the sword. For some reason, he is giving me a very bad feeling."

Gin looked at Fujin and said, "It doesn't matter, they will all die today."

There wasn't a single shred of doubt in his voice.

While Gin was checking on the Iwa ninjas, Noriyuki analyzed, 'Even though Tomoki wants us out of the way, he can't attack us openly. So we have two options. We can withdraw into Mizukoshi and force them to fight with us. Then these ninjas will withdraw. But this option is very risky. The second option is to fight the Iwa ninjas and break through into the interior parts of the country. They won't chase me too deep into the Land of the Grass.'

While he was debating internally, Fujin flickered next to Ryoichi and Noriyuki and said, "Ryoichi, your Lightning nature will give you an advantage against that guy. Hold him back. I'll eliminate the others."

Ryoichi frowned and said, "That is very risky. With his ability, sneak attacking Noriyuki will be very easy."

The scale of Earth spears that was launched was just too big. Despite being far from the land, they were still threatened by that attack.

However, Noriyuki said, "No, that is the only way. Going back to Mizukoshi will be very risky and we all may be wiped out. You hold him back. Konoha ninjas can focus on eliminating the rest. And when the fighting is intense, I'll escape with 4 ninjas protecting me so that I won't hold you back anymore."

Ryoichi asked, "What if there are more Iwagakure ninjas hiding?"

Noriyuki let out a sigh and said, "It's unlikely that Iwagakure will send so many ninjas here just for me. But if they have, then it is only a matter of time before they kill me. After all, that group is already stronger than us. Just escape and ensure that you stay alive. If possible, please see that no harm befalls my family."

Ryoichi didn't want to agree. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any other option. Meanwhile, Fujin was surprised. He looked at Noriyuki and thought, 'That's a surprise. Most of those in power, even if they are just, won't risk their own lives to help others escape. I guess this is why Hiruzen and Shikaku valued him highly.'

Fujin said, "Don't worry. I don't sense anyone else. But be careful regardless."

Noriyuki nodded. They stopped talking at the same time as Gin. Gin rapidly weaved hand signs and slammed his palms on the ground.

'Earth Release: Earth Spike Hell jutsu'