Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve-Chapter 9.42 (357)

Two parties faced each other on a trade route lined with woods on either side. A warm breeze flowed from between the trees, working to distribute the heat from the sun's rays hanging above. It was a clear day, but the mood between the two parties couldn't be cloudier.

"It'd be wise if you returned to Maizuru, gentlemen," said the black-cloaked ANBU-nin in a badger mask, his voice distorted by chakra.

Asawa Fukoji, the Third Squad's leader, raised his fist to silence his teammates before they opened their mouths to get them in trouble. Though the other party hadn't formally introduced themselves, their clothes implied that they were ANBU. They had to handle this unprecedented situation carefully.

He stepped forward and introduced himself as the leader. "You seem to have the wrong group. All of us are just going home. We have approved leaves."

"If that was true, half of you're travelling in the wrong direction." The ANBU-nin directly looked at the ones whose homes were in the opposite direction, rattling the group with his knowledge about their personal information.

"It's over," said the other ANBU-nin in the white cloak. "We know about the illegal assassination. All of you're under arrest under the authority granted to ANBU."

Fukoji didn't have eyes in the back of his head, so he couldn't see how his teammates reacted, but he kept his face straight even though his heart was thumping hard at the words. They had been caught. If there was any chance before, the explicit callout sealed their deal.

"Pardon? I don't—"

The badger-faced ANBU-nin cut him off. "How about we drop the act and set things straight? You are to return to Maizuru now. We can do it the easy way—where you return with us of your volition—or the hard way, where my hand might slip by mistake, and you return to the earth... the choice is yours."

Without waiting for an answer, the ANBU-nin pulled his sword out of the scabbard.

Fukoji wanted everyone to be calm, thinking he could get them out of the situation. However, tensions spiked when team members backed away a few steps while others drew their weapons in response. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he instinctively knew that the time for conversation was past them.

"I...I s-surrender!" yelled one of them, much to the shock of the others—and unstrapped his utility belt that fell to the floor before raising his hands.

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Fukoji's words died in his mouth when he heard the deceleration.

"They're only two. We can take them!" said Yazumon, the other chunin on the team. He was quick to anger and already had veins popping on his bald head.

"We have to take a chance," said Shokoto, a long-haired, effeminate guy. He was a genin who could become a chunin in a couple of years.

They had been on the Third Squad with him since their first job. He cherished them like brothers and would lay his life down for them as they would do for him. They would follow his decisions regardless of what they were.

The Third Squad had six members in total, including Fukoji. They had two chunin and four genin—one of whom had already surrendered.

"Are you sure we should fight? T-They are ANBU!" said the genin who had only been with them for a year.

ANBU had a reputation for being the best of the best, so the team couldn't discount the duo just because they outnumbered them.

"We have no choice," said Fukoji, much to his displeasure. "We all know what'll happen if we return knowing that Jōnin Kumagoro knows about us."

Unauthorised assassinations were serious crimes for Leaf shinobi—and given how many they had done and the identities of some of their targets—death would be their only fate. They could escape and go into hiding if they killed the ANBU-nin. They would have to live a life of wanted rogue-nin for the rest of their lives or leave the Land of Fire altogether, but that was a better outcome than death.

"You always have a choice. If you fight here now, you'll only make it worse for you later," said the deer ANBU calmly as he gazed at the surrendered traitor. "Follow your comrade's example and surrender. He's the wisest of you all."

Fukoji took a moment to make a decision. He nodded to his trusted brothers before turning to the remaining two genin, who looked like they were teetering on the brink of surrender. "You're fighting with us. You must realise that there's no way we are escaping death regardless of what we do here. We only have a chance of surviving if we work together."

The two of them looked unsure and stared at the ANBU-nin. Their masks were great for intimidation, but they worked against them here, as they hid any emotional cues they could have used to persuade them.

"...Okay, I'm in," said one of them.

The other one also nodded hesitantly, not wanting to be left alone.

"Alright, let's get this over with." The badger ANBU was about to step forward when his deer partner put a hand on his shoulder and said,

"I'll take care of this. You should rest."

The badger ANBU seemed surprised but sheathed his sword and stepped back.

"Capturing people alive is harder than killing them," said the deer ANBU as he pulled out a gleaming sword from the scabbard with effortless grace, "so don't try to make it too difficult for me because I don't want to return to the base with you folk missing limbs."

The fallen leaves around the ANBU-nin's feet shot skyward as he turned into a blur and appeared before one of the genin, who hastily tried to back away. It was too late and he was about to be cut down if not for Fukoji arriving just in time to interfere.

The sword clashed and screeched against his two daggers.

———

.

Takuma watched as Campbell opened by attacking the squad leader.

"Get into position!" Fukoji yelled.

Campbell tried to push Fukoji with his sword but immediately backed off when Yazumon, the other chunin, came in front of the side with his battle axe. The axe cracked the ground between them as the blade struck it.

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The two chunin teammates moved with practised coordination to attack him, but he moved effortlessly between them to avoid the heavy axe attacks and light dagger strikes.

Takuma was conflicted about not fighting. On the one hand, he had no qualms about staying out because he didn't think his kenjutsu teacher didn't trust him to pull his weight and genuinely wanted him to rest, but on the other hand, real combat was rare to come by— he didn't know if it was because he had come up fighting in the Ring, but he had self-observed that he developed much faster while under threat because it pressured him to improve or shed blood.

He wanted to hone his sword against the genin.

However, there were still things to learn from watching a kenjutsu expert in live combat.

Campbell faced the nimble Fukoji, who laid a barrage of quick and calculated dagger strikes blocked by the expert showcase of blocking with the sword and efficient footwork to evade those he couldn't block. The axe-wielding chunin rushed in and chopped down with a mighty roar. He kicked Fukoji away before taking the axe against his sword blade. A resonating hum echoed as the weapons clashed. The axe strike was mighty; Campbell had to support the blade with his other hand as his feet slid back a couple of inches.

Not to be outdone, Campbell grunted as he shoved Yazumon back off-balance a few steps before turning around to launch a quick swing to keep the approaching Fukoji away before leaning his torso away to avoid a pair of kunai thrown by a genin. He snatched one of them out of the air and threw it at the recovering Yazumon, who hastily raised his axe to block, sending sparks off.

"Beautiful," Takuma exclaimed.

Campbell picked up that the two chunin were used to fighting alongside each other. As Fukoji occupied him with a dagger dance, Yazumon tried to strike him down with his axe. He pushed Fukoji away first, knowing that if he turned to block the axe, he would be torn up by the daggers in a coordinated attack. Catching the kunai showed phenomenal situational awareness, and throwing it at Yazumon to keep him off balance was quick combat intelligence.

Takuma didn't know how many 2v1 Ring fights he had gone through before he started to develop a similar sense.

Campbell didn't let the opportunity go to waste as he rushed toward Yazumon, but one of the genin slid into his way to cover for his teammate. While the genin stabbed at him with a kunai, Campbell slid down on his knees, took out a kunai and sliced the genin's shin to the bone as he slid past him, where he got up, impaled the kunai into his dominant shoulder, and slashed his oblique muscles with his sword before punching him in the nape to knock him out.

The genin would've been long dead if the goal hadn't been to capture them alive.

However, the genin did manage to achieve his objective, and Yazumon had the time to recover, but instead of facing Campbell, the big man leapt away.

"Lookout!" Takuma yelled.

Fukoji finished weaving hand seals and breathed flames into his hands, where they turned into a spear that screeched as it rushed toward Campbell, who didn't have the time to avoid. His sword glowed in a white shimmer as he struck the fire spear, splitting it in half. The two splits flew past him and then bloomed into two masses of fire that were neither intense nor close enough to harm him.

Shokoto, the genin who had been in Third Squad since the start, rushed between Campbell and Fukoji, who was momentarily vulnerable after casting the ninjutsu without his daggers in hand. And Yazumon, who had his axe stabbed into the ground as he weaved hand seals.

Campbell didn't waste a single moment and entirely ignored all of them and rushed the remaining genin. Yazumon cursed loudly and stopped weaving hand seals; his ninjutsu would've also hit his teammate.

The lone genin was outmatched in every way and had no immediate support. There was no time to launch ninjutsu, and his chances in a head-on clash were low. To his credit, he chose the smart option of running away to buy time for his teammates to come to his support. But Campbell pushed against the ground and all but teleported beside the genin and left a pair of long gashes that made a cross on his back—dismissing him from the fight.

"You still have a chance to surrender," Campbell turned toward the remaining three while the genin cried in agony at his feet. "Surrender before I turn serious."

The genin, who had surrendered-genin stood behind him, had a strange look in his eyes as he stared at Campbell's back and licked his dry lips as though he was considering something.

"No one's going to blame us for one accidental death," Takuma said, controlling his voice so only the genin could hear it.

The genin flinched as he stared at Takuma. He stepped away and bowed his head as he trembled in fear.

"Very well," Campbell said when the remaining three didn't want to surrender.

He directly charged at them with his sword by his side. Shokoto threw a volley of shuriken at him, but he deflected all of them with a mere two strikes as though he tracked all shuriken and made the two most efficient strikes to slash them down.

Yazumon rushed towards him, and he was faster than before. It seemed that he had also been holding back. He swung his axe with such power that it made a noise as it cut through the air. Campbell sidestepped the brutal swing and stabbed him, but it was parried with the axe as Yazumon moved faster.

As Campbell pulled his sword back in control, Fukoji came in from the side with a quick dagger combo that he defended by swiftly stepping away while rocking his torso to avoid getting cut. He then ducked as Shokoto appeared behind him to grab him. He countered with a leg sweep that put Shokoto to the ground, but Yazumon tried to crack his skull open with a downward swing before he could attack.

He rolled away and was almost immediately surrounded by the trio.

Takuma found them interesting as he noticed their teamwork. Yazumon was the main attacking force, aggressively swinging his axe, doing nothing but trying to cleave Campbell. The nimble and agile Fukoji didn't solely focus on attack but instead moved to control Campbell by cutting off retreating paths, funnelling him closer to Yazumon, and sneaking in attacks to create opportunities for others. Finally, Shokoto, the weakest of them, kept the pressure high by continuously striking whenever Yazumon wasn't and supporting Fukoji in herding and creating opportunities.

However, Campbell was more interesting and stayed between them all. There wasn't a wasted movement in his kenjutsu. His strikes didn't flail around and were compact, giving a sense of control contrary to the axe-wielding chunin who seemed to put all of his strength behind each strike, which made it so he had to recover after each strike. He wasn't moving faster than Fukoji, but his footwork was more precise, giving him an edge. He had the insight to move in a way where he wasn't trapped and always had a way out of a tricky position. He never stopped moving. Even though facing three people, he didn't look or laboured. His movements had no break; he always seemed to know what to do next.

None of his movements were flashy, no jutsu to an edge, just pure swordsmanship—and to Takuma, it seemed stunning, as though Campbell was dancing with them three.

There was a scream. Shokoto backed away as his thigh bled profusely. The balance of the three working together broke. Campbell took advantage and turned entirely to Fukoji, pushing him back with bloodthirsty and fierce swings

Takuma glanced at Campbell and then Shokoto who was injured but not out of battle. He appeared behind Shokoto and locked him in a chokehold and applied pressure until he stopped struggling and went limp against his body, falling unconscious.

Until now, Campbell had been measured and restrained because he didn't want to kill them—but in the moment, it felt like Fukoji was aiming to kill. The change in intensity threw him off. A dagger clashed against the much heavier sword and flew out of his hand. Campbell then grabbed the hand with the dagger, pulled him around, and swung him in Yazumon's direction.

Yazumon was about to strike Campbell from behind but was taken aback when Fukoji came stumbling in his direction. He caught his teammate, but when he looked back up at Campbell, he saw him finish weaving hand seals, resulting in half a dozen head-sized fireballs rushing towards him.

Without time to dodge or do anything, Yazumon hugged Fujuki to his chest and turned his back to the fireballs, directly tanking them to protect his leader and friend. The flames ate through his clothes and badly burned the skin, leaving behind a sizzling and smoking grotesque mess.

A moment later, the big men collapsed, revealing a pale-faced Fukoji, whose eyes widened when he saw Campbell dashing toward him with the sword stained with his teammate's blood.

"I surrender," said Fukoji, and the sword stopped an inch away from skewering his abdomen.

"I surrender," he repeated and dropped his dagger.

The defeated man looked around at his fallen team. Not one except the one who had surrendered before the fight remained unharmed. He closed his eyes and hung his head with his thoughts evident on his face.