It was nearly impossible for Ryo to keep up with the chaos that took place in the matter of minutes in that early morning.
Not long after Azumi had accepted the proposal of an alliance during this Forest of Death stage, they had noticed a figure was drawing closer and closer - and it has become apparent that the person was running from something, as there was yet another genin behind them in pursuit. Ryo had thought he was acting ahead of time by gripping his kunai and backing into a fighting position, however he was tremendously sidetracked, as the girl who seemed to be someone just running from their assailant ended up being the one to initiate an attack.
Within moments, the kunoichi had swiftly made her way behind him as if she was teleporting, while simeoultanesouly conjuring a hell storm of wind- the gale tearing away at the nature around it as it huddled through the forest. Ryo, acting on instinct, had whipped his head around to get a look at the assaulter - which was his first mistake. While he was distracted during his attempt to identify Sagiso, the forcedul gale heading his way had finally reached its destination. He let out a shriek of pain as the entire branch he was standing on was obliterated, and he was knocked a good distance away.
The thin Yamanaka was descending quickly to the deep and hard ground below, and had to act fast. Fortunately, the academy had elaborated on a situation such as this, and although he dismissed many of the lessons as useless for real life use, this was something he was glad to have paid attention in. Ryo had executes a couple of quick hand seals, and extended the index and middle finger on both of his hands, forming them together into a ‘T’.
“A-Aah! Shadow Clone Jutsu!” He called.
Within seconds a dozen of dark blurs had spread from his body single file, forming into exact replicas of himself. The clones extended all the way to a low hanging nearby branch. Immediately, one had gripped on tightly to the branch, the next grabbing his feet, the next doing the same, continuing all the way down until the 12th clone had gripped on to the real Ryo’s hand. Ryo blushed in embarrassment as he dangled, since he and his replicas probably looked like those plastic toy monkeys that the children played with - but it was either this or become roadkill on the forest floor. The clones swung to the side like a large rope, causing Ryo to glide and roughly land on the base of the tree. The clones soon disappeared as he was able to focus chakra into his feet and stand horizontally on the tree.
He observed how far the blast of wind had taken him - and he noticed that he was a good 100 feet from Azumi and Sagiso...as well as a third ninja who was currently still dishing out attacks. Ryo began running quickly up the base of the tree into the thick area of leaves, panting heavily and soon realizing how he had acquired a soreness in his back. He sighed, stretching as he crouched and hoping he hadn’t bruised. He looked on through the leaves at the battle before him, and then began to believe that the assaulter who was chasing Sagiso could possibly harm Azumi as well, and Ryo himself had just agreed a couple minutes prior to fight alongside her.
The blonde took multiple leaps forwards from branch to branch, closing in the space between them. He managed to make it and land beside Azumi on a new stable foothold. He was still panting, and even brought his hand up to his chest, beating at a rapid rate.
“These guys- ....we need to move!” He explained. Chances are at least one of them had an Earth Scroll, but with the current state of jutsu that was being slung around, the opportunity could be more dangerous than golden.
