**(10 minutes earlier…)**

  Kaida stared ily at his enemy, knowing that Ryota and Yomi would struggle to handle six in by themselves. Despite telling Yomi to run in times of dahe numerous variables at py worried him. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if she couldn't escape or if an enemy ninja managed a surprise attack.

  Although Kaida against a Jonin with far more battle experience, his mind was focused ohing: *Finish the fight as fast as possible and go help your friends.*

  But The moment he spotted the enemy from his per the tree he forcefully supressed all extra thoughts going in his mind and decided to fully focus otle ahead,

  After formuting a simple pn in his mind, he threw a kunai fully coated in fire chakra, the aim was directly at the tre of the heart, something which would surely kill the jonin if nded. but His i wasn't to nd a hit but to create a distra, an opportunity for a real attack.

  As expected, the ninja sehe kunai and dodged it. Kaida used that split sed to appear behind the ninja with a wind-enhanced instantaneous movement and sshed downward with his fire chakra-coated sword. the attack was so fast and ued that Kaida was sure it would nd, because even he himself will not be able to dodge su attack, if the situation were reversed,

  But, He was shocked to see the ninja dodge the attack with astonishing speed. What could have been a lethal blow only left a single wound on the Jonin.

  'Well, he is a Jonin; I shouldn't have expected to kill him irike,' Kaida thought.

  He began f a fireball, and that's when he made eye tact with his enemy. The ninja suddenly started making hand signs. Although Kaida didn't need hand signs to create a fireball, it still took him two seds to fully form and release it. He quickly pleted the fireball and hurled it at the ninja.

  Though the Jonin saw the fireball heading his way, he didn't evade or stop his hand signs. Just before the fireball was about to hit him, a *puff* of smoke appeared, and a massive smoke wall emerged in front of him, revealing an armadillo-like creature as the smoke cleared.

  'Damn, now he has a defeype summon too. This just got trickier,' Kaida thought.

  "Ugh, that hurts. Why the hell did you summon me, Kazuki?" the summoned creature grumbled.

  "Toshi, this is important. The boy in front of us is strong; he's already injured me. We have to get rid of him at any cost. Just protect me the best you , and I'll focus on offense," Kazuki replied.

  Kaida wasn't about to let them form a pn. He quickly used wind instantaneous movement jutsu and appeared behind Kazuki. Knowing that a fireball was too predictable and that the enemy now had a shield in the form of his summon, Kaida unleashed several wind bdes aimed at both Toshi and Kazuki. He was fident they would be hit sih were distracted.

  But Toshi sehe attad used his shell to protect both himself and Kazuki. Kaida's wind bdes were strong enough to slice through a one-inch-thick steel pte, but they couldn't pee Toshi's chakra-hardened scales.

  Realizing that Toshi was hardening his scales with chakra, seeing such a defensive move, Kaida clicked his tongue as he anticipated a prolonged fight. He used wind instantaneous movement jutsu to create some distaween them. He quickly made a shadow e a it toward Ryota and Yomi's location. Sihe e had 15% of his chakra, Kaida was fident it could hahe situation. Or at least bee distra in case the situation became too dire

  Now, he could fully focus on his own fight. He used wind instantaneous movement jutsu once more to close the distao Toshi. Knowing that his jutsu couldn't pee Toshi's defense, Kaida decided to rely osu instead.

  He coated his sword with fire chakra and eoshi in close bat. Toshi defended with his cws but couldn't fend off all of Kaida's attacks and was slowly accumuting wounds.

  Kazuki wao attack Kaida, but Kaida alositioned himself so that Toshi remained between them. Whenever Kazuki tried to create some distance, Kaida seized the opportunity to attack him.

  Within just five mioshi was covered in minor injuries, even if he was covered in scales all over his body and was using Chakra to harden them further, Kaida was somehow able to chip those scales slowly, and during all this Kazuki hadn't nded a single blow on Kaida. Kazuki was certain that if Toshi weren't there, Kaida would have killed him already.

  *Boom.*

  Suddenly, a red smoke signal rose in the distance—a clear order to retreat from their leader. And si was red, it meant their leader had no ce to escape himself.

  "Toshi, I'm retreating. Just hold him off for a while, and I'll unsummon you once I'm at a safe distance," Kazuki said.

  "Okay, but don't expect me to sacrifice my life to stop him," Toshi replied.

  "Don't worry; I have no iion of killing you now that you're running with your tail between ys. If you want to run, then run fast," Kaida taunted with a smirk. And a desding look on his face, like he was looking a worm wriggling to save his life

  Kazuki was angered by Kaida's words. It was a massive blow to his ego to run away from a boy Ohird of his age, especially that look making him feel like shit, he was very much tempted to show why he was a jonin, but he wasn't going to let his pride endanger his life.

  Even though Kaida said he wouldn't attack, Kazuki kept Toshi summoned as he ran 2 kilometers away from Kaida. Meanwhile, Kaida and Toshi remained locked in a standoff, both ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.

  Once Kazuki was at a safe distance, he unsummooshi, not wanting to lose his partner. He then tinued running toward their temporary base. Now that their mission had failed, they o report back as quickly as possible.

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