Naruto: The Medical Shinobi

The [ReflexGuard Seal] had saved Kaori from the all-sided assault on her; luckily, the shield had a full deploy option as well for such situations. Kaminari and other ninjas were still watching the small disappearing barriers that were all soon withdrawn as the danger was over. 

Kaori did not stop there; she again used the earlier tactic and threw smoke bombs around. She moved in the smoke, employing her stealth and sensing abilities to manoeuvre undetected through the haze before the enemy could attack her again. Shuriken and kunai whizzed through the haze, aimed blindly at her last known location.

Only a few ninjas, who could track her, threw shuriken and kunai at her. As attacks came, hexagonal shields shimmered into existence around Kaori, appearing and disappearing based on her senses and the perceived incoming danger. With every block, she felt her chakra drain slightly.

Her attempt to hide in the smoke failed very soon, as a barrage of lightning bolts tore through it, aimed from multiple directions by the remaining Cloud Ninjas. The [ReflexGuard Seal] flared, simultaneously generating multiple hexagonal shields to block the electrical assault from all sides.

"Incredible," Kaminari murmured, genuinely impressed despite himself. He watched the shields deflect attacks that should have struck her from blind spots. "What a fantastic barrier seal. A perfect defence, even from unseen angles."

Kaori moved swiftly, using her stealth and sensing to take down two more Genin with precise kunai strikes within the smoke. As a result, more bodies exploded.

But as she killed the second ninja and smoke again dispersed due to the explosion of the dead genin, a lone shuriken, thrown from an angle she hadn't visually tracked in the chaos, slipped through where a shield should have been, scoring a shallow cut on her arm. The seal hadn't blocked it.

Kaminari, observing from the edge of the smoke, saw the shuriken hit Kaori and noticed the lack of a shield response. He earlier saw the shield block chakra-based jutsu from all directions and physical attacks she clearly saw coming but failed to block the unseen shuriken that scratched Secretary Kaori. 

A cruel smile touched his lips as Kaminari pieced it together.

"The strange barrier blocked chakra-based jutsu attacks from all sides,"  he thought. "But for physical objects... it could only block what's coming from the front. Or at least what the user could see coming."

He shouted at his remaining men, his voice echoing through the forest. "Stop with the ninjutsu!" Kaminari roared, "Weapons! Use weapons! Overwhelm her with steel."

As Kaori sensed the shift in the enemy's strategy, marked by the sudden cessation of ninjutsu and Kaminari's command to switch to physical weapons, she braced herself for the impending change in the battle dynamics. 

"He saw it," Kaori realised, a grim understanding settling over her. "He found the barrier seal's weakness."

Her automatic defence would be significantly compromised against a well-coordinated physical assault that she couldn't fully anticipate from all sides. She readied herself for the assault.

The focus shifts to the four ninjas trailing Ryu—three Genins accompanied by their Chunin leader. Ryu led them into trees and disappeared. They had lost sight of him exactly in the place Ryu wanted.

"Where did he go?" one of the Genin muttered, looking around frantically.

The Chunin leader glared at one of the Genin. "You're the sensor! Where is he?"

The Genin flinched. "I... I can't sense him, senpai. His chakra signature just... vanished."

Chunin scoffed. "Useless," he spat. "A sensor who can't even track a kid." He looked around, his eyes scanning the dense forest.

Chunin pointed in different directions. "You three, search separately. If the boy escapes... Kaminari is just going to beat you, but you already know what that Onnen does to failures." A cold threat hung in the air. "We all die if that brat escapes."

As the ninjas began searching, fanning out and looking for signs of footsteps or disturbed foliage, Ryu, hidden high in the canopy, made his final preparations.

"Should I kill them?" he deliberated, his mind assessing the situation with detached efficiency. "No, not yet. I should capture them. Find out who sent them."

Ryu knew exactly why they were sent — either due to Fuinjutsu seals or his growing reputation in the medical field.

"But still... I should know the exact names of the people who want me dead. I also need to save chakra," Ryu thought, remembering Kaori, who must be fighting alone and struggling. Saving his chakra was paramount if he were to rescue her and Kohinata later. "I should do the job neatly, without using any flashy jutsu."

Ryu silently fell behind the first Genin after sliding down a rope from the top of a tree. 

Ryu struck, a swift, accurate motion towards the Genin's neck nape, before the ninja could respond.

-[Lightning Style: Lightning Paralysis Jutsu]!

 A low hum of electricity travelled from Ryu's fingers, striking Genin and instantly paralysing him.

"I need to shout and Call for help!" the Genin thought desperately. Ryu moved again and punched the Genin in the face precisely, knocking him out before he could even make a sound.

For a moment, Ryu watched the unconscious ninja to make sure he was neutralised.

Ryu thought, "I saw something when I attacked his nape," and leaned in closer.

Ryu glanced at the Genin's neck once more, at the area where he had used the [Lightning Paralysis Jutsu].

There was a seal marked on the skin on the back of his nape. Ryu could recognise some of its components— enough to understand its basic nature. It was clearly a bomb.

"A bomb in the neck… Suicide Squad of the Ninja Universe?" Ryu thought, and memories of his past washed over him, of a strange connection between the grim reality and a movie he had seen in a past life. 

"Good thing I did not kill them."  He recalled the movie where Amanda Waller monitored the Suicide Squad's lives, ready to detonate them remotely at any time.

"That was a good movie. Unfortunately, poor planning and a lack of a clear, unified vision have turned the franchise into a disappointment. Those losers from DC at least could have given the fans a prequel movie of Affleck's Batman vs Leto's Joker or maybe Batman vs Deathstroke before rebooting the franchise."

Ryu shook his head and focused on the reality. There were three more enemies looking for him right now, not including the ones Karoi was facing.

"Now what to do with this?" Ryu said softly, looking at the Genin on the ground, the chilling seal a stark reminder of the forces he was up against. It was clearly someone like Amanda Waller or … Danzo. Ryu's face became serious at the thought of the man.

"I doubt they will tell me anything of use." Ryu said. "This could also work like Danzo's [Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal] or Amanda Waller's bombs. I shouldn't be asking them questions, as it may trigger the bomb."

Ryu swiftly secured him with rope, ensuring no chance of escape, and gagged him with cloth from the Genin's gear to prevent any outcry.

"Let's finish the others in a similar way," Ryu said to himself. He moved silently into the trees and neutralised other genin. The only one left now was the Chunin now.

As Ryu moved silently through the trees and neutralised the remaining Genin, the Chunin leader continued his search. He spotted something in the bushes – the tied-up form of one of his Genin. The Chunin's body tensed immediately, his senses heightened to maximum alertness. He expected an ambush.

Before he could fully react, Ryu was there, dropping silently from behind, attempting to apply his paralysing technique. "[Lightning Style: Lightning Paralysis Jutsu]!" His fingers made contact, but instead of the solid body of the Chunin, his chakra flowed into unstable energy. The target dissipated in a burst of lightning.

"Shit," Ryu thought instantly as the clone burst. "It was a clone. I couldn't sense him making a clone."

His own intense chakra suppression, used to sneak up on them, was hindering his sensory abilities now. That was the disadvantage of the chakra suppression technique used to hide chakra from sensors. You cannot sense yourself as long as you are in suppression mode.

This move, the use of a decoy clone to anticipate an ambush, indicated this wasn't just any Chunin. It was an elite Chunin; planning and leadership were fundamental requirements for his rank. The chunin had used [Lightning Clone Jutsu] to throw Ryu off.

The discharge from the dissipating clone jolted Ryu, a wave of electricity passing through him. It had an effect, causing his muscles to seize for a split second, but it did not damage him much; his high lightning affinity significantly mitigated the impact.

While Ryu was momentarily vulnerable, reeling from the clone's lightning discharge, the real Chunin moved. He emerged from behind a tree, lightning chakra sparking around his fist, focusing for a powerful strike.

The chunin smirked and shouted, "An academy brat wouldn't catch me off guard," as he attacked Ryu.

##PoWeR StOnEs##

Thank you ,Bigbowser, for supporting me on Patreon.

If possible, please support me on Patreon and leave a review here. A review would mean a lot to me and help me expand the story.

25+ more chapters, including 5 free chapters for everyone, are available to read on patreon. com/PageTurnerPJ.

Your support is what gets this story going, so please donate PoWeR StOnEs to the story and add it to your library.

Please keep supporting the story.