The mission had gone wrong.
Horribly.
Hatake Sakumo knew it when they were surrounded by a masked shinobi of unknown affiliation. He ground his teeth in frustration as he cut down another shinobi. His status as the White Fang is evident in the numerous shinobi focused on getting his head.
They were outnumbered. Sakumo took a glance to assess the situation.
Kota was holding his own against two masked shinobi with only a few light scrapes here and there.
Kai was barely holding on with his right hand dripping red, his left sleeves torn off, his breathing heavy, and dodging the masked nin's tanto by a hair's breadth.
Tenji blew out a Fireball Jutsu and leaped up to avoid a volley of kunai aimed to cripple him.
Reika and Sho were defending Fuuka and the others who were heavily injured, but they, too, were faltering under the relentless assault of those masked nin.
Almost a dozen of their comrades lay stiff around the battlefield, their bodies slowly turning colder. His heart grew heavy as he took in their motionless forms.
Sakumo tilted his head to avoid a sword and used Shunshin Jutsu to get behind the shinobi to take his life. He had to do something, screw the mission, he didn't want his remaining teammates to die.
Sakumo breathed in the damp scent of blood and killing intent, tightening his grip on his trusty tanto as he prepared to order his team to retreat.
But then he felt it.
An immense pressure was descending on them, rendering them stiff and unable to move. The sky darkened with dark clouds converging to a point as if something was sucking them in. The clouds rumbled with red lightning and the winds picked up it's pace.
He had no time to think as he exerted his chakra to ward off the pressure and cut down the masked nin.
"Take cover!!" he barked out with urgency as he felt the pressure slowly grow.
Slicing through another shinobi, he Shunshined to his teammate's side. Then picked up one of the injured ones and broke out the enemy's encirclement with a lightning release.
Kai, Tenji, Reika, and Sho followed, each of them supporting a heavily injured comrade. They too felt the pressure growing heavy as the clouds grew denser by the second, with a purple lightning emerging with the red lightning now.
"Shield the injured with your chakra as well as yourself to ward off the pressure," Sakumo instructed as he led them to a cluster of short trees whilst evading the pursuit of the masked nin.
They reached their destination, mourning the loss of their comrades who died earlier, whilst supporting the ones who barely made it alive. The thunder still raging above their heads, and the masked nin too lost disappeared under the mounting pressure of the upcoming storm.
"Captain, how did they know we'd be here? Was the intel tampered with?" Kota hissed out lowly as he carefully placed the injured comrade beside the tree trunk for Reika and Sho to patch them up. Everyone turned to Sakumo, waiting for his reply.
Sakumo felt himself pause as he heard the unspoken question in Kota's voice 'Did the village knew this was a guaranteed no-survivor mission?'.
"We'll figure that out once we reach the village and report it to the Hokage" though even as he said that, a bitter taste still lingered in his mouth, after all he knew that it was probably the Hokage himself who assigned this mission.
Just as the words left his mouth, a thunderous echo of a sword being pulled out of it's sheathe resounded. The echo resounded throughout their makeshift shelter, their hearts thumping with trepedaition.
Sakumo's nose prickled, a damp metallic scent assaulting his senses.
They were found.
"They are here. Brace yourself for combat", at his command the split second of relief was gone replaced by tension and determination.