Taro clicked his tongue and went to the other side of the room. He pulled out a scroll and began reading.
The old man raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you have there, brat?"
Taro didn't answer, causing the old man to yell, "This brat!"
The book Taro was reading was one of the A-rank Wind Style ninjutsu he gained from the system, the Air Bullets, the same ninjutsu Nagato used in the anime.
The old man clicked his tongue, turned to the side, and stayed quiet. The calming silence made Taro curious, "What's your name?"
The old man smiled and faced Taro, "Hohoho. So you're curious about me, eh?" He stood up and struck a pose, "I am Housen, the guardian of Hosai!"
Taro rolled his eyes and was about to bicker with Housen, when suddenly, Housen straightened up and his face turned serious. He rushed toward the door, making his way outside the balcony of the watchtower.
Housen looked around, then yelled, "Enemy attack! Prepare for battle!"
Everyone stiffened up, but none could sense the enemy. Taro stood up and looked through the vast desert. Nothing.
He closed his eyes and sensed chakra. Nothing.
Taro sighed and mocked, "You really are senile—"
Before he could finish, a massive explosion occurred underground, where the two previous ninjas were playing a game.
Boom!
Taro looked outside where the explosion happened and saw more than a dozen ninjas fighting. The Hosai clansmen were outnumbered 3 to 1, and Jiren was fighting two ninjas that were keeping him at bay.
Then suddenly, Taro sensed something from behind—a massive army of ninjas were running toward them with great speed.
"That's at least a hundred of them!" Taro gasped.
Housen equipped his armor and said, "It's 134 ninjas. We only have a little over 40 ninjas on our side." He went outside the balcony and whistled. Suddenly, a bird came flying in, allowing Housen to send a message to the elders.
He looked at Taro, "Let's go, kid. It's time for battle."
Housen and Taro jumped down from the tower, landing on top of two Hebidoku clansmen, effectively killing them.
When they landed, multiple ninjas caught their attention, from both the Hosai and the Hebidoku clan.
Seeing the new faces in the battlefield, the Hebidoku clan members rushed toward Taro's direction. While Taro defended, Housen pushed through, making his way toward Jiren.
Taro flipped, dodging a kunai hurled at him. Once he regained his balance, he performed a ninjutsu, killing more than three ninjas.
"Wind Release: Hundred Needle Jutsu!"
With the chaos of battle, the simple jutsu became a deadly weapon.
On the other side of the battlefield, Jiren fought with the two notorious brothers, the Mole Brothers.
The Mole Brothers aren't strong by themselves, but when together, they can take on and hold back an Elite Jonin. Their primary weapons were their outgrown nails.
"Kekekeke! You're too slow!" Mole 1 mocked.
Mole 2 giggled, "I was hoping to fight that bastard Kise, but I guess the Ox himself is fine too."
"Earth Release: Bottomless Swamp!"
The two brothers stopped laughing as the swamp began pulling them into the ground. Housen, who performed the jutsu, ordered Jiren, "134 ninjas on the way outside of the wall. Can you hold them off till reinforcement?"
Jiren smiled, "Of course I can. But these two are the main problems."
Housen looked at the two brothers and said, "Just go, I'll take care of them."
Jiren nodded and rushed toward the incoming wave of ninjas, all by himself.
The two brothers performed the same ninjutsu, getting out of the muddy swamp.
"Earth Release: Earth Pillar!"
Two massive pillars pulled them out of the ground. Once the slowness caused by the swamp disappeared, they rushed toward Housen with immense speed.
As the two brothers neared with their disgusting unwashed claws, Housen moved to the side and performed another jutsu, "Earth Release: Earth Cage!"
The ground bent under Housen's chakra, forming a small cage that trapped the two inside.
The cage was tough and took time to break. Using the opportunity, Housen performed another jutsu.
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
The cage melted under the heat, and the two brothers began to burn. However, just as Housen thought the fight was over, Mole 1 shattered the cage and lunged at him, piercing his elbow with a claw.
Housen stared at Mole 1, trying to understand how he hadn't burned to death, when he suddenly noticed patches of scorched hair—some longer than others.
He pushed Mole 1 off him and created space between them, "So, you can grow your hair? What kind of jutsu is that?"
Mole 2 broke the cage and laughed, "Why does it matter to someone who's about to die?"
Mole 2 gathered chakra into his feet, preparing to blitz Housen, when a sharp sense of unease suddenly prickled at his back. He leapt forward and twisted midair, only to see a small child—no older than five—standing behind him.
Taro.
"That's elderly abuse," he warned.
Mole 2 snickered and told Mole 1, "You deal with the old man, I'll play with the kid."
Taro felt disgusted. He covered his chest with his arms, "You PDF file!"
Mole 2 wasn't amused and rushed toward Taro, slashing with his claws.
"Fast…" Taro thought.
Taro continued to block, but every strike was getting heavier and harder to defend. He knew he had to do something. He had to counter.
When Mole 2 performed a heavy attack, Taro ducked and used his sword to slash upward. However, Mole 2 recovered fast and tried to block the sword with his claws.
Mole 2 smiled and thought to himself, "I win."
Suddenly, the sword flared with an orange hue, and when the claw and blade struck each other, a massive explosion erupted upward, blasting Mole 2's arm clean off.
"Argh!" he screamed.
Taro didn't allow him to rest any second longer, and so he rushed with his blade glowing once again. However, Mole 2 learned from his mistake, and dodged the sword by leaping in the air and kicking Taro's face.
Taro was sent flying from the kick. He rolled on the ground and grumbled in pain, "That hurts, you bastard!"
Mole 2 looked at his arm and yelled, "Brother!"
Mole 1 shoved Housen away, sending him flying. He then rushed to his brother and performed a Fire Release jutsu, cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding.
"Do you need help, Brother?" asked Mole 1.
Mole 2 felt offended and roared, "Me?! Needing help against a boy?!"
Mole 1 rolled his eyes and went straight to Housen, continuing their unfinished fight.
Taro got up and performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Mole 2, who had never seen the Shadow Clone Jutsu, asked, "What? What kind of jutsu is that?!"
Taro smiled, "Do you want all five clones to use Mitsuyo or not?"
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Top 37 in power ranking, thank you, you cute bastards. You all crushed my goal of top 50 this month!