Akigo grinned ruefully at noticing Kegawa completing his objective. Mentally he made a note to reward the Inuzuka, with...dog biscuits or whatever Inuzuka ninja liked.<br/><br/>Of course, there was a small problem to solve, first. Or rather, three.<br/><br/>The first jounin to react had sped with unnerving speed right upto where Akigo was hidden, still spurting his wind technique. The ninja had engaged him in close combat, Akigo having to break his wind jutsu to fend off desperate kunai-blows. Seeing the second jounin hurtle at him from his left flank, Akigo had quickly summoned two shadow clones, the limit of his shadow-clone capability. Even then, one was instantly<em>poofed</em>by a flurry of shuriken hurled by the white-masked chuunin, apparantly in a support position, covering her superior's attack on Akigo.<br/><br/>Desperate to gain distance, he used his remaining shadow clone to give him an alley-oop jump, flinging himself into the air, using his wind wave technique to keep him soaring upwards through the air, slinging shuriken back down at the pursuing Mist ninja, desperate to keep them on his trail and away from Kegawa whilst he freed the other two.<br/><br/>Recognising the hand-seals performed by one of the jounin, Akigo quickly countered the mist-jutsu with another wind-wave, blowing away the thick mist as it began to form. Satisfied, he heard a curse from his opponent, but then another was right on him, landing another flurry of blows in close combat, duelling with Akigo in mid-air as they began to fall.<br/><br/>Only having downward momentum, Akigo's shadow-clone scattered senbon onto the floor where the duelling pair would land. Although his comrade gave a warning shout, it was too late to prevent the mist-nin landing on the senbon, his feet pierced with sharp metal stars. Akigo landed on his shadow clone, then safely piggy-backed across the tiny minefield before the second mist-nin took out the clone underneath him with a water-dragon technique.<br/><br/><em>Damn. They're fast. Countering my every move and they've only just started on high-level jutsu.</em><br/><br/>Flying backwards, Akigo heard those same seals being chanted again and quickly blasted off yet another wind wave, once again blowing away the thick mist as it began to form. This relentless use of jutsu would put even the Senju-clan Akigo out of chakra if the battlefield wasn't equalled up, soon.<br/><br/>Sliding backwards just short of his own senbon-field, Akigo picked himself up and reassessed the situation.<br/><br/><em>Alright. I've managed to wound one jounin, although that will only slow his movements, he can still use medium-to-long-range jutsu. The other jounin is right in front of me, and desperate to finish me, with another water-dragon by the looks of those hand-signals. That leaves-</em><br/><br/>The white-masked chuunin whom had been in a support position was suddenly in a<em>very</em>close-combat position, Akigo barely moving in time to avoid being sliced through with a kunai, a wisp of his dark messy hair dropping to the ground where the small knife cut through it.<br/><br/><em>Too close!</em><br/><br/>Although he had evaded, that left him next to no time to avoid the incoming water dragon from the mist-jounin. Falling back on his kawarimi replacement technique<em>gutted that I'm using that so soon in this fight!</em>Akigo re-<em>poofed</em>a few feet away from where the water-vortex had blasted the kawarimi target to pieces.<br/><br/>Panting, desperately trying to regain his breath, Akigo's eyes flicked about the situation, trying to keep an eye on all his opponents at once...but with three to one it was impossible, even for Konoha's Cockerel. The Senju wondered if the few seconds that had gone by were enough for Kegawa to have freed the others from Vision, because time was about to run out for him.<br/><br/>The two active mist-nin swapped places, the white-masked chuunin flinging another barrage of shuriken at him, forcing him to leap out of the way, only to have the jounin appear at his back, with two chakra-claws humming with fatal intent. Blocking, parrying, dodging, Akigo was soon fighting a desperate retreat.<br/><br/>If only he had time to notice that his original ruse had worked, and that the now-conscious Kyosuke and Chiharu, backed up by Kegawa and Hairomaru, had gone unnoticed by the three mist-nin.<br/><br/><br/>