Two days of grueling marching across harsh terrain finally brought the Kumogakure battalion 20 kilometers to the eastern coastline. Standing at the cliffside forefront, Aya peered out toward the thick mist ahead which looked nothing like standard sea fog; it rolled and surged in dense layers, resembling towering cumulonimbus clouds trapped at ground level.
"Kaien, it's just as you said," Aya observed, her voice calm despite the ominous soon to be battlefield. "Visibility is essentially zero out there. Go ahead with your plan." She turned her head to the left looking down at her son.
Kaien unslung the massive scroll strapped to his back and laid it flat across the ground. "Unseal!" he commanded as he channeled a burst of chakra into the seal.
With a puff of smoke, a thousand storage scrolls spilled out. Kaien looked up at Itachi, who gave him a nod of understanding.
Weaving a quick sequence of hand signs, Itachi performed a mass summoning technique. In an instant, the surroundings were filled with the rustle of feathers and sharp cries as roughly a thousand birds... a mixed flock of crows including Noob and George, falcons, and hawks... materialised around them.
Controlling each avian with fine chakra control, Itachi directed the birds to swoop down and snatch a scroll into their talons, as they launched into the sky forming multiple wide V-shaped formations.
Itachi glanced back at Aya, waiting for her final signal.
"Everyone, get into battle readiness," Aya announced to the battalion behind her before turning back to Itachi. "Proceed."
The enemy forces were stationed roughly twenty kilometers off the coast inside the fog layer, meaning it would take at least thirty minutes for the birds to traverse the distance and get into position. High above the overcast sky, Itachi expertly navigated the flock into a vast 312 grid, keeping each bird spaced approximately four hundred meters apart to cover maximum surface area around the 12 km x 12 km fog.
The thirty minutes ticked by in tense. Finally, Itachi turned to Kaien with a silent signal: the flock was in position.
At Itachi's command, the birds released the scrolls simultaneously. While Kaien unsealed them as smoke erupted high in the atmosphere as forty kilograms of crushed salt burst from every single scroll, cascading down into the cloud-like mist.
"Commander Aya," Kaien reported calmly maintaining the decorum and proper hierarchy, watching the farahead sky. "The salt will bind to the moisture, causing the mist to condense into salt water and clear out the battlefield in about fifteen minutes. However, since Kirigakure has a shinobi with the Byakugan, we must assume they've already spotted the grid formation above them and know something is coming."
Aya watched Kaien talk in such tone, she couldn't help but find his intense professionalism endearing. Nodding to him, she raised her hand and signaled the charge. "Advance!"
Aya sprinted down toward the coastline, as the entire Kumogakure force followed behind her.
~~
As the mist began to dissolve into rain, revealing the Kirigakure vanguard, Kaien didn't hold back, immediately bringing out his heavy-hitting jutsu. Deep within his lungs, he converted his chakra into a highly volatile corrosive liquid.
"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique!" Kaien roared, spitting a thick stream of viscous acidic mud towards the enemy ranks.
The acidic wave swept over a dozen Kiri chunin and several jounin. While few elite Kiri shinobi were naturally resistant to standard fire attacks, the molten corrosive nature of Lava Release was a tier above, melting through armor, weapons, and flesh in seconds.
From Kaien's right, a wave of intense heat flared up. Itachi was already moving, his mouth overflowing with flames as he launched a massive pyre into the lines. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Seeing the fiery onslaught, a dozen Kirigakure shinobi instantly lined up, weaving hand signs in unison to cast a massive defensive combination spell.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
A humongous serpent of churned seawater erupted from the coast, so large it threatened to swallow both the fireball and a massive chunk of Kumo's advancing vanguard.
"Let me take care of this," Guren interjected, stepping up ahead of Itachi and Kaien with a smirk.
"Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon!"
Guren thrust her hands forward, sending a wave of pink crystalline chakra straight into the towering water dragon. The water froze solid mid-air, calcifying into a majestic pink crystal dragon adorned with sharp horns and striking jade-green irises.
With a wave of her wrist, Guren redirected the crystalline beast, sending it crashing down into the Kirigakure ranks. Before the crystal dragon could crush them, an elite squad of Kaguya clan members surged forward, their chest bones protruding into lethal spikes as they activated their Kekkei Genkai, the Shikotsumyaku.
"Dance of the Camellia!"
The elite Kaguya shinobi whipped out a hardened bone blade, striking the pink crystal dragon at its stress points with incredible speed and brute force, shattering Guren's creation into thousands of glittering fragments.
"Look at that!" the Kaguya elite roared, his eyes bloodshot with battle lust. "We are the absolute strongest! Charge forward and butcher these Kumo brats!"
Before the Kaguya squad could take another step, a wild maniacal laugh echoed as Jugo enveloped in his murderous state, dropped from the sky like a meteor, slamming his mutated fist toward the lead Kaguya shinobi.
"Dance of the Camellia: Flower!" the Kaguya reacted instantly, weaving his ribs into a dense, overlapping shield of bone to intercept the strike. Jugo's kinetic power hit the shield like a battering ram producing a deafening crack. Though the bone armor held, the force skidded the elite Kaguya backward several meters through the salt water.
Before the Kaguya could counterattack Jugo, a solitary crow fluttered into his line of sight. The bird dissolved into a murder of crows, coalescing into Itachi Uchiha, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning slowly in his red eyes.
The Kaguya froze instantly, paralyzed by visual genjutsu. In a fluid motion, Itachi drew a kunai, sliced the Kaguya's throat, and vanished back into crows.
Together, the quad squad strike team... Kaien, Itachi, Guren, and Jugo... carved through the Kirigakure forces with efficiency none of their squads had, leaving dozens of enemy corpses in their wake.
"Where is that brute Zabuza?!" Jugo bellowed as memories of their previous humiliation still fresh in his mind. "Bring him to me!"
Guren's expression was equally angered at the name; she, too, was eager to settle the score for how effortlessly Zabuza had toyed with them during their last encounter.
Itachi remained silent and composed. He harbored no personal desire for revenge even though he was toyed, but he knew that if the Demon of the Hidden Mist stepped onto this battlefield again, he would put him down without hesitation.
Amidst the chaos, Kaien activated his Byakugan, veins bulging around his temples as his vision penetrated kilometers. He scanned the battlefield, looking past the grunts and mid-tier commanders.
"I don't see any of the elite vanguard we fought last time," Kaien muttered, his brow furrowing.
While he could see the salt-water trick had successfully dispersed the mist and amplified Kumo's Lightning Release users on the wet field, the total absence of Kirigakure's top-tier commanders raised immediate red flags.
They weren't retreating... they were somewhere else, which meant Kirigakure was setting up a far more dangerous trap.
~~
A/N: The mist is down and the fight is on. How did you like the Quad team: Kaien, Itachi, Jugo and Guren such an unconventional but I believe they complement each very well. And there is sighting of Mei, Utakata, Mangetsu or any other top tier elite.
Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0