Hoshi plopped down on her butt with a quiet groan, dropping the damaged tanto from her hand and gulping greedily for air. Her whole body was burning with pain from the strain on her muscles and wounds, her chakra was at its lowest ebb, but she was happy. Happy to be alive herself.
And also her best friend, even if Asani was now having her stomach patched up by one of Ryo-sensei's remaining two clones.
Even though the first monstrous blow had wiped out most of the nephews, the surviving jonins still went on a suicidal attack, squeezing themselves to the bone and ignoring their mortal wounds in an effort to take as many enemies as possible with them to the Shinigami.
This was not at all how the young kunoichi envisioned war. Blood, pain, dirt, guts released, limbs severed - many opponents were proficient with cold weapons and demonstrated it on everything in range.
Hoshi was very glad that in the course of her training, Ryo had taught both students how to infuse the sword with elemental chakra, otherwise the last kumo who managed to get within striking distance could have taken two more kunoichi with him.
Feeling the medical fuin working, stopping the blood and gradually tightening the wounds, Hoshi looked around, noting how many border guards were left alive - despite the prepared battlefield, the presence of as many as six of Sensei's kage bunshins, even though they'd spent a lot of money, the jonins were dying in packs, unable to give a decent fight to the furious elite fighters of Kumogakure, and their own jonins were too few and not of equal quality.
Only the fact that almost all the enemies were wounded, sometimes quite seriously, made it possible to withstand the first blow, but even so, about a third of the Konohovs fell despite timely medical attention - those cut in half or in pieces would not be picked up even by the sensei - and another third would not be fighters for the next couple of weeks.
And Hoshi herself might have joined the list of the latter, which included her friend, had it not been for the barrier and kibakufuda cleverly placed at her feet.
But even despite the danger, the kunoichi was rightfully proud of herself, because four jonins could be safely recorded on her and Asani's account, even if the lion's share of the work was on the traps with seals, but two girls killed personally, hence the injury of the last one.
- You'll live," Ryo-sensei nodded to the girl who was gritting her teeth in pain, and without further ado, rushed to the next patient, using up her rapidly dwindling chakra reserves.
Of the six clones, only one was dispelled by the enemy's equipment, the rest were spent on the wounded, and Hoshi doubted that Sensei would be able to do more than pull out the critically wounded. The rest would be taken care of by a couple of full-time iryonins until help arrived and all the unfit were sent to Konoha for treatment.
Even so, given the initial balance of forces, the low death toll was a miracle - Hoshi had read the chronicles of the first wars and listened to her teacher's stories, knowing full well of instances where even larger numbers of people had been wiped out by just a few teams of elite fighters from both sides. If Ryo hadn't given them the last chance scrolls...
Hoshi twitched, picturing herself as a chopped up corpse like some unlucky chunin nearby and was glad she hadn't used all her trump cards. The war was just beginning, and who knew what else she'd have to face?
- How are you? - Finding the strength to get up, the kunoichi stowed her weapon in the scabbard on her back and waddled over to her friend who was lying on her back.
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