22 Battle of the bridge

Desert Wind Swan Operation had already begun

As soon as the flare shot up in the sky, tremors could be felt on the ground, most likely an aftermath from the battle that was ongoing at the outpost. Although Kaito could not see what was happening over there, victory was almost assured, unless the Tanigakure leader Hisen came out himself. Unless he used the strange water regent that could raise his powers at the cost of his lifespan, he would not be able to beat the strong kenjutsu high-jonin Baki, who led this operation.

After all, Tanigakure was not one of the five major villages, and it was in a weakened state. 

Since the leader of Tanigakure was located in Tanigakure by spies, victory was almost assured, and it was the Genin Corps' role to make sure to convert this victory into a blood bath that would deal a crippling blow to Tanigakure's military forces. There was roughly a hundred shinobi in this outpost based on reports, so killing even half of them would significantly reduce the potential and strength of the village.

While Kohaku was putting the explosive tags on the bridge, his desert eagle suddenly shrieked.

'An enemy?', Kaito realized, 'How? The battle just began!'

"Looks like our movements were spotted and some of their genins managed to escape before the higher-ups managed to reach the outpost!", Kohaku shouted, "Stall them for a few minutes, there are not enough explosive tags yet!"

Looking from afar, Kaito managed to catch the information he needed.

On his minimap, four red dots appeared, meaning that four enemies entered his range of detection. Although, since he was not a sensory type shinobi, maybe more of them were hiding and not detected. 

[Level 6 Tanigakure Genin]

[Level 14 Tanigakure Genin]

[Level 9 Tanigakure Genin]

[Level 8 Tanigakure Genin]

Although they were already there, it seemed like the teams from the Sunagakure Genin Corps that were closer to the outpost had somehow dealt some damage to them, as none of these four genins was uninjured. Their strongest genin, the level 14 Tanigakure genin, wore a strange mask like Kakashi. His attire was quite typical, but his chakra reserves seemed larger than others.

Neither Eiji nor Aki moved forward, to the surprise of Kohaku: "What are you doing? Go and fight them!"

Tomoko controlled his swordsman puppet and it soon charged at its enemies, but the Tanigakure genin completely destroyed it with a water arrow jutsy that pierced through its heads and cut the chakra strings used by Tomoko. Harumi managed to cast a mass genjutsu on them, but the level 14 Tanigakure Genin managed to break it off in an instant, plunging a kunai through his thigh. Pain was the best way to break off a genjutsu after all, and Harumi was not at the level where you could alter the movements of her enemies.

Still, the three lower level Tanigakure genins were stunned, and swung their kunai in the air.

Kaito did not leave this opportunity go by without punishing.

Revealing his scroll, he instantly summoned his shuriken launcher, and unleashed a wave of poisoned shurikens.

[You have dealt 12 points of damage]

[You have dealt 12 points of damage]

[You have hit a vital spot! You have dealt 36 points of damage]

[You have dealt 12 points of damage]

...

Five seconds.

It was all it took to launch 70 shurikens, half of which found their targets. The poison did not even have time to take effect before the three lower level Tanigakure genins died.

[You have killed [Level 6 Tanigakure Genin]. You have earned 76 EXP]

[You have killed [Level 9 Tanigakure Genin]. You have earned 176 EXP]

[You have killed [Level 8 Tanigakure Genin]. You have earned 132 EXP]

As for the Tanigakure Genin, he managed to parry most of the shuriken. Still, five of them managed to hit him despite his skillful parry. The shuriken launcher's was just too powerful. The waves of shuriken was unbelievably lethal against individuals who did not have enough agility and weapon mastery to block them. The only other option was to use ninjutsu but the genin most likely underestimated Kaito.

[Lv. 14 Tanigakure Genin - HP: 73 / 150]

[Bleeding and poison ailment has been activated on the target...]

[You have dealt 8 points of damage...]

Unless he found an antidote, the Tanigakure would die. 

"You bastards...", he muttered but before he could turn left and escape from Kaito, Aki used [Futonjutsu Drilling Air Bullet] which put holes in his defense and hit him. Legs, arms, belly...Three drilling air bullets managed to bring his HP down to 18 points.

[Katonjutsu - Fire Shuriken]

Kaito used his puppet's giant shuriken launch in combination with the fire shuriken, which effortlessly broke through the wall of water that was sustained by the Tanigakure genin.

*SPLASH*

[You have dealt 115 points of damage...]

[You have killed [Level 9 Tanigakure Genin]. You have earned 296 EXP]

Kohaku, Tomoko and Harumi were left frozen. They had heard about Kaito's team's achievement over the past few years, as well as their progress. After all, they were pretty much the only genin team from the Sunagakure Genin Corps who was their age and managed to complete a B-rank mission and lived to tell the tales, if you didn't take the noble clan heirs into account, that is.

Eiji moved forward and started to collect the shuriken like always, while Aki started to loot them. Kaito quickly aid to Kohaku: "Kohaku, you have to hurry up. If a team managed to come here, then that must mean there are others at the delta region already"

Kohaku bit his lips, unable to say anything at all. He could feel the gap that there was between their teams. Even individually, Kohaku could not discern Eiji or Aki's strength. He remembered Aki for being a timid girl who did not excel at anything, yet she displayed an accuracy and mastery of futonjutsu that far surpassed the average genin from the corps. 

Eiji did not act, but he was the first to locate the enemy using his fighting senses. He was the calmest, and never once moved afar from Kaito. Since their last mission, he had completely understood his role in this formation : protecting Kaito while he defeated opponents from afar.

Their fighting prowess was enough to be classified as high-genin level, even if their levels was only around the mid-genin stage. Only Kaito could be ranked as high-genin based on his level.

A few dozen minutes later, team 142 and 146 retreated, and a huge explosion shook the ground. The first goal of their mission was already a success. They only needed to move to the delta region in zone 324 and farm the Tanigakure mobs who were unlucky enough to choose this path.