81 Land of River (4)

A cloud of chakra-infused gunpowder and ash spewed out of his mouth, surrounding Kenta before Asuma flicked his lit cigarette into the cloud and igniting the smokescreen.

BOOM!

The cloud of gunpowder and ash ignited by the lit cigarette resulted in a violent explosion. The shockwave caused by the explosion reverberated into the surroundings, which Asuma used to manoeuvre himself in mid-air before falling and landing on his feet.

On the other side of the battle field, moments before the explosion, Miki had turned her head rapidly in the direction of her partner/lover when she heard his warning cry. Her previous state of arousal was erased in an instant and she pulled out the combat knife she had strapped to her thigh.

Kenta and Miki were no strangers to battles, especially as missing-nin. They were used to always being aware of their surroundings, the knowledge that a hunter-nin from their village or other bounty hunters might appear and take their lives hung over their head constantly.

But Kenta was smart. He devised a system where they could kill and raid to their hearts' content but at the same time remain under the radar of the really dangerous people. That was their modus operandi – keeping a low profile to avoid catching the attention of major hidden villages.

They had once been official chuunin-ranked shinobi of Tanigakure, already lovers when they had yet to abandon their village. Their defection was the result of a desire to escape the stifling system of control and meaningless lives they led while serving the village. Ever since then, they lived a life with no restrictions; no one telling them what to do or what not to do, and no pesky bureaucratic nonsense like incident reports when they killed 'innocent civilians' on missions – the truest sense of what it meant to be free.

But this freedom came with it consequences. Kenta and Miki were labelled as missing-nin, wanted criminals for illegally abandoning their duties and village. Their bounties were low though since the duo made sure not to injure or kill anybody when they were leaving the village. Their only official crime was defection as they had been careful not to get seen when committing other crimes. That, however, did not lower their guards.

They might have been flirting with one another just a minute ago, but even then their senses were on high alert. How things ended up like this baffled Miki, who knew that what she needed to do now was regroup with her lover and make sense of the situation.

As Miki fished out her knife and readied herself to go to Kenta's aid, a thick cloud of what appeared to be ash poured out of the intruder of their romance. And the very next moment, an explosion erupted and engulfed her lover.

"KENTA!!!" Miki screamed out in horror.

But before she could run off to check on him, a sharp pain emanating from her chest stopped her.

Looking down, Miki saw a bloody dagger protruding out of her left breast. Blood gurgled out of her mouth as it seeped out of the corner of her lips.

She turned behind her, teary eyes widened in despair and utter shock. Behind her was a boy, who looked like he couldn't be older than fourteen; black hair tied up in a loose bun and a steely gaze staring straight into her eyes. More importantly, was the grip he had on the dagger thrusted into her back that extended out of her chest.

"K-Ken…ta…" Her last words were cut short as the boy ruthlessly twisted the dagger in his hands sending waves of sharp, indescribable pain through her torso. But the shock of all that had occurred in the past five seconds dulled her sense of pain, and she could only look on in helplessness as her heart that had been pierced stopped beating.

Seeing the slightest signs of life still remaining in his target, Shinji tore out the dagger violently and quickly stabbed her twice more in the back to finish the job. Finally, what little strength she had left was quickly drained, and she no longer had the vigour necessary to even remain standing.

Shinji let her body fall forward, already half a corpse at that point.

He turned to the remnants of the explosion grinning, ignoring the EXP system notification that appeared.

Sneak attack success.

-----5 minutes before-----

A day after we burned down the corn field, we were headed back to Konoha for some much needed rest and recuperation. We were travelling on a path that was not as well travelled since we were hoping to avoid being recognized by any travellers. It was a relatively uneventful journey until Shino suddenly spoke up.

"Sensei, the kikaichu I sent ahead of us to scout report that they detect blood in the distance."

We stopped and Asuma frowned, "Hinata."

The order was clear. Hinata nodded and activated her Byakuugan to see what was going on in front. After months and years of intensive training, the range of her Byakuugan had extended to an impressive four hundred meters.

Before she spoke, however, her face paled visibly. "S-sensei, there are two shinobi, around chuunin-level I think, based on their chakra reserves. They are surrounded by… by a few dead bodies."

The atmosphere turned grim. I put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to continue as well as hoping to act as a source of comfort for the slightly distraught girl. It seemed like it worked as she took a deep breath and carried on her report.

"One of them, a man, is counting money and the other, a woman, is collecting kunai and shuriken from the d-dead bodies. I-I think they are missing nin!"

She knelt down and drew out a kanji for valley on the dirt, before crossing it out with a horizontal line. "They have a forehead protector with this symbol on their person."

Asuma's eyes sharpened, recognizing the rough drawing, "That is Tanigakure's symbol… so what we have on our hands is two chuunin missing-nin who have presumably just murdered and robbed civilian travellers."

He turned to us, his eyes shifting between the individual members of our team as though appraising us and our chances against the missing nin.

"What do we do, Asuma-sensei." I queried. Personally, I was rather happy about this unexpected but fortuitous encounter. After the depressing conclusion of our mission, I looked forward to doing some good for the world. What better way to give back to society, particularly the people of the Land of Rivers, than taking out two of their criminal missing-nin who are apparently raiding innocent caravans?

Hinata and Shino by myside raised their heads, staring at our squad leader, their eyes and demeanour urging him to make the right call.

Asuma sighed reluctantly, "We take them out."

I smiled, excited to finally see some action on our admittedly boring mission. I turned to Hinata, worried that she might be nervous, but caught her watching me as well. I smiled warmly at her, heartened to see her not the apprehensive mess I had expected her to be. Her face reddened but she placed her hand on my arm for reassurance regardless.

Seeing that the situation was serious, Asuma took charge of the operation in lieu of his usual method of letting us figure things out ourselves.

"Which one do you think is stronger, Hinata?" He asked.

"Uhm, just based on the strength of his chakra, the guy looks to be stronger."

Asuma nodded in confirmation and started outlining his plan of attack while we stealthily approached our targets, "I will launch a sneak attack on the man. If the initial surprise factor doesn't take him down, I will use a ninjutsu to force them apart. It will be particularly destructive, so you three take that chance while they are distracted to launch a sneak attack of your own on the woman."

"You guys should be strong enough to take down an average chuunin together, and that is considering Konoha's standards. These minor hidden villages are usually one step below the major hidden villages in terms of quality. But don't get complacent! You never know what to expect when fighting another shinobi. Hidden weapons, poison, or even self-destruct methods can be a possibility." He reminded us.

"Shinji, you will go first. Your reaction speed is fast enough to detect any hidden surprises and you can also move fast enough to avoid it. If your first attack fails, Hinata and Shino, you two will move in to finish the job. Understood?"

""Hai sensei!"" We answered.

He humourlessly nodded, though I could see a trace of pride in his eyes watching us.

"Then let's move."

-----Present------

The dust from the explosion settled, and as Asuma expected, the ninjutsu was not able to finish the job. Ground zero of the explosion was charred black from the soot and intense heat, but where the missing-nin had been standing now stood a small earthen pyramid that seemed to have taken the brunt of the impact.

'A Doton ninjutsu…' Asuma analysed.

The earthen walls receded back into the ground as though it had never been there before, revealing the slightly scorched Tani missing-nin grimacing. Kenta's eyes shifted left and right, searching for Miki before widening when he spotted her laying motionlessly on the ground, blood pooling under her body.

"MIKI!" He screamed in grief but did nothing else. Though rage flooded his mind, he was experienced enough to know now was not the time to mindlessly seek vengeance. Right now he needed to escape. He needed to live. Revenge was a dish best served cold, after all.

Kenta bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, suppressing all the anguish and heartache through the pain. His figure trembled in his crazed desire for revenge, but he pushed it down, deep down within him. If Kenta had been an Uchiha, this would be the moment his Mangekyou Sharingan awakened.

"…Konoha shinobi… I promise you, one day, no matter how long it takes, I will hunt you down and kill every single one of you! This I swear upon Miki! No matter what, I will kill you!" He screamed, promising brutal vengeance.

Asuma raised an eyebrow amusedly, "What are you talking about? The only way you're leaving here alive is tied up y'know?"

Now that there was only one of the missing-nin remaining, Asuma relaxed considerably. He alone would be enough to take down this second-rate Tani shinobi.

Kenta scowled, taking a step back in retreat before turning fully to escape. His path, however, was already closed off by Asuma who had moved faster than Kenta could even react to block off his way.

"Don't resist. I have no qualms taking your life right now, but I kinda wanna show my cute students the proper procedures when capturing wanted criminals in the bingo-book. So it's in your best interest to surrender." The jounin advised.

"You bastard Konoha shinobi, what did we ever do to you! Why… WHY!?" Kenta roared, his grip tightening on his two short swords.

Asuma's eyes narrowed, taking on a deadly glint, "Are you seriously asking that, after what you just did? You're either delusional or plain mad. Come on now, last chance. We don't have to make this any more difficult."

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Kenta screamed, his desire for revenge now clouding his mind, seeing the likelihood of him leaving alive and uncaptured now dwindling before his very eyes. In front of him was, judging by the man's speed and strength, a jounin from Konoha, and on the opposite end were three genin from Konoha.

Just because they were genin did not mean Kenta would underestimate them. He knew from experience that genin from the five major villages were simply of a different level than those from minor villages like Tani. Just by sheer quality, there was a drastic distinction between shinobi of their calibre and the likes of his village. But if he had to choose between a jounin or three genin, then the choice was obvious.

"Hah, I guess we have no choice but to do this the hard way then." Asuma sighed helplessly but with the absolute confidence afforded to a jounin of his level.

Kenta steeled his gaze and readied himself. However, before the missing-nin could make his move, a young voice came from behind him.

"Asuma-sensei, please, let me take him." Shinji requested, sheathing the Assassin's Deadly Dagger before pulling out the wakizashi that was strapped to his back.