23 Chapter Twenty Three- The Killing Prodigy
"So do you have anything to go on? Finding one person out of the twenty thousand that are on this battlefield is going to take more than just running around and hoping we get lucky" I asked the Inuzuka as we both were taking a breather under a dune, explosions and screams of pain left my ears ringing.
"Nothing more than that he is a member of the puppeteer division," Tiber said, causing me to sigh and begin racking my brain for a solution. A bout of inspiration hit me as I remembered another function of the scroll. Telling the Inuzuka to wait here for a moment I channeled a decent amount of chakra in my legs and jumped. Soaring over fifty feet in the air I spun around looking for something.
'There!' I smirked as I noticed the ethereal yellow line that was moving towards the western edge of the battlefield. Just like when I was looking for the scroll on my sensei corpse. a line rose into the sky when I was searching for something.
"My clone found him, let's go. Stay close to me" I said as I was taking command over this 'revenge' mission, especially after what I went through trying to keep this guy alive.
"Really?" The guy questioned my lie.
"Yes, are you coming or not? I'm not sure it's the right guy, though he was wielding puppets and had a scar over his left eye" I replied as I started flickering toward the light in the sky, a few moments later I heard footsteps and the patter of paws behind me. 'Would've been nice if he stayed behind. I could've gone for a stealth kill but I've got the feeling Tiber wants him to know who killed him'
My clone summoned another to watch our backs as we dashed through the kill zone. I was surprised as they managed to pick off a few enemies in the process.
[3X Suna Genin +1100xp]
It wasn't a quick journey as at this point the battle was raging for close to an hour now and thusly caused the battlefield had stretched to over a mile. Not even to mention that fact we had to actively try and avoid the attention of stronger shinobi while dodging stray projectiles.
Luckily enough I even ran past Tora Inuzuka and Hizai Hyuga, both members of Sakumo's squad. I sent them both a nod and I would've stopped for some small talk but they both had their hands full with three squads of Suna shinobi. Though I should say hi to my future squadmates.
I childishly threw two kunai at them that ricocheted and killed two genin clumsily going through the hand seals for the great breakthrough jutsu. It caused the Inuzuka to growl and the Hyuga to smirk at my kill-stealing antics.
[2X Suna Genin killed +700xp]
"You know Uncle Tora?" Tiber asked causing me to almost trip on my next flicker.
"What?" It left so many questions but the first was why he was trying to avenge his dad when the man's brother was probably close to an Elite Jonin in strength.
"We'll talk about it later, our target is just over the dune. Get ready" I said to my squadmate as I pointed over a particularly tall sand dune we'd have to either go around or over.
A growl and a chomp from my left caused me to turn my head in curiosity. A red pill was in the air as Borka came in with a chomp, swallowing the mysterious pill whole.
'That's cool' I admitted as I watched Borkas regular brown fur gain a dark red hue to it. My eyes showed me his chakra was circulating twice as fast and disrupting at irregular intervals. 'A pill designed to make ninja dogs immune to regular genjutsu? Along with the effects of a chakra pill, interesting.'
"Inuzuka Style- Man-Beast Transformation!" I noticed then that it wasn't just the dog that had received a boost but the master as well. As Borka transformed into a copy of Tiber I noticed just how feral Tiber looked. Elongated fangs, spiked hair, and even his chakra almost doubled. I would even bet his physicals received a boost as well given how strained his forearms looked. 'I guess the Inuzuka is considered one of the Great Clans for a reason.' I felt at this point I'd struggle to take on the Inuzuka in single combat.
"How long does that last" I asked as I began formulating a strategy to take out the Suna Jonin.
Before we were even halfway up the dune I received a third of my chakra back along with a surge of memories. The clone I had sent forward for recon had finally completed his mission.
Kazera wielded four puppets with a single hand while wielding a katana in the other. He was currently battling a squad of Leaf ninjas along with another man at his side.
From the looks of it the other man was a ninjutsu-focused chunin. Based on the facts I assumed our target doesn't have a large chakra pool and focuses on kenjutsu and puppetry to hide that fact. Though that didn't mean he wasn't skilled as managed to kill one of our Tokubetsu Jonin's while only receiving a gash to his shoulder and losing a puppet in return.
"Thirty minutes, it's hard to control so watch my back while I charge!" It seemed so, the teenager next to me hadn't stopped shaking since he doped himself up. Luckily he didn't have to wait much longer as with a final flicker we landed on the sight of a smaller battlefield.
In the three minutes since my clone was killed by a puppet's needle storm, a lot had changed. Now there were only three bodies left standing behind this particular dune. It was originally a battle between seven leaf shinobi and two sand shinobi. Now only two leaf chunin stood strong against a very winded Sand Jonin.
{Kazera Urashu Lvl 41 [Earth]}
'He's stronger than Rizen, well in levels that is' I noticed as I turned my allies.
"Reinforcements!" I yelled out to as whatever sneak attack I could've made was thwarted by the man's crazed eyes turning to us the second we touched down.
Though before they could reply they both collapsed and had a light purple tint to their cheeks. "Damn," I said as I flickered next to them while two clones appeared in puffs of smoke to keep an eye on the opposing Jonin.
I had a few all-purpose antidotes given to me by Captain Yoru but it was up to fate if they worked, Suna was known for creating new strains of poison for every battle so I jabbed them both in the shoulder and shrugged. I did my part, their fate is up to the Paths now.
A beastly roar reverberated around this private battlefield, I turned in curiosity and watched as two humanoid tornadoes attacked the puppeteer with a fever. I hoped for a few more allies in this battle, still, they left us with a tired and bleeding enemy.
I hummed as I watched the battle between my wolf-like squadmate and the tired Puppeteer. Despite his exhaustion, the man was keeping up easily, his fingers flew as his puppets blocked, attacked, and retreated all in seconds. Keeping up with a relentless attack while he still kept part of his focus on me.
"Guess I shouldn't keep him waiting. Focus on ranged attacks and try your best to box him in." I ordered my clones as I disappeared in a flicker, seven bursts later and I was in the man's guard. His shocked eyes caused me to smirk as our blades clashed. As our eyes met I sent a tendril of chakra out, this specific genjutsu would mess with your motor functions.
The jonin growled in annoyance as he pushed me away but he barely dispelled the genjutsu in time to dodge a shrunken that left a gash on his nose. 'So close, he'll never lock eyes with me again.'
I retreated quickly as I had just barely flickered away from a storm of senbon, most likely coated in a nasty concoction.
Luckily enough I arrived right next to my squadmate and his copy who both had taken that moment to catch their breaths.
"If you can keep the puppets occupied I can kill him" I said to my teammate in a whisper.
He growled at the thought but simply nodded that it was the best plan, he blasted forward in dual tornadoes. 'Respect'
"Fang over Fang!" My partner howled and I knew he wouldn't end that jutsu until this man died, which was why I blasted back in, along with one of my clones. I noticed the man click his tongue and set all three of his puppets to fend off the Inuzuka teen, which they were barely able to now that we were going all out.
We both utilized our continuous flicker, zig-zagging between each other unknowingly leaving an army of afterimages in our wake. My clone attacked first and clashed blades with the Suna Jonin, though that man didn't even have a moment to think as a boulder-sized fireball was flying towards his back.
The Jonin managed to shift his blade and elbow my clone in the face, he turned around just in time to substitute himself with a cactus.
But I saw it all and I had never stopped flickering. I was at my limit of ten bursts and I attacked just like my sensei, as fast as a bolt of lightning I was in front of the wide-eyed man.
His head hit the sand and I sighed in relief.
But I collapsed right after with a moan of pain as the adrenaline wore off. Looking down I realized my ankle was dislocated. 'Guess it is just a half-baked jutsu' I commented internally with a scowl on my face. At this level I couldn't turn and make erratic movements when going at top speed. Thus it was almost useless at top speed if I risked injuring myself using it.
-
{Quest Completed}
A Favor To The Inuzuka
Objective: Kill Kazera Urashu
Rewards: 1 perk point,3,000xp, Uncommon Loot Cache
-
[Level up….. Level 10 reached! +10 stat points]
'So now I gain ten stat points per level. Nice, my agility had finally caught up' I dropped those points into agility as my squadmate dropped next to me.
"You okay?" Tiber asked as he looked down at my busted ankle.
"Know anything about putting appendages back in my place?" I asked hopefully as I'd rather not do it to myself.
"Yeah I gotcha," He said as he grabbed my foot and jerked it all of a sudden.
"Fuck!" I yelled in pain as I heard the loudest pop of my life.
"You asshole, where was the countdown!" I yelled at my smirking teammate.
"I'm not a nurse buddy." He said as he had the biggest smile on his face when he picked up Kazera's head.
"After all the crap I wen…." I was going to continue whining before I noticed a circle of crows in the sky, flying in a specific pattern that was drilled into my head.
"That's the retreat signal, let's get back to base" I pointed to my sky as my squadmate nodded and helped me stand up.
After putting weight on my foot and doing a few stretches I wagered it was good enough to run on. Tiber morbidly adjusted his grip and held the Suna Jonin's head by his hair.
Just before we set off something was nagging at me in that back of my mind.
"Crap, grab one of these guys Tiber. We need to get them to a healer!" I said to my companion as we both almost forgot about the two chunin who were fighting Kazera before us.
It was then that I noticed something blinking at the corner of my vision.
-
{Hidden Quest Completed}
A Killing Prodigy
Objective: Kill a Jonin before becoming a Chunin
Rewards: 1 perk point, Title.
-
'The hidden quests, how many have I missed out on already?' I voiced out as I was ecstatic by the unexpected reward. However, it left me wondering how many I would miss out on because they were 'hidden'.
[Title Acquired. Prodigious Killer- Boosts stats by twenty percent when fighting an enemy of a higher level than yourself]
It took us around half an hour to make it back to base and another twenty minutes until we got to our squad's barracks. By that point, I was exhausted and ready to head to my room.
We had already stopped by the medical ward and dropped off the two chunin. We also had a nurse wrap my ankle in gauze and put a split on Tiber's half-broken forearm. It was particularly funny watching the gruff Inuzuka howl in pain once his odd pill wore off. Seemed one of Kazema's puppets broke it during their clash. It was actually very impressive he didn't get poisoned during that battle.
What I didn't expect was Captain Yoru and Sakumo sensei to be sitting at the dinner table sharing a cup of tea. However, with a quick check of my eyes, I noticed it was just Sensei's shadow clone.
"Commander!" Tiber said with respect as he did a small bow towards Sakumo. I merely squinted my eyes at that man as if asking why he was here 'if he was so busy' with my eyes.
They both turned to us and paid an extra few moments of attention to the head Tiber held in a death grip.
"Come on kid, let's go for a walk" Sakumo said as he got up from his seat, Yoru nodded to the man in respect and goodbye.
I waited for him at the door and watched as he stopped next to the still-bowing Inuzuka teen.
"I assume you've avenged Kota?" Sakumo asked as he stood next to my squad mate.
"Yes," Tiber replied.
"Good job kid. I'll make sure to let Tora know his brother has been avenged." Sakumo said with a soft smile and placed a hand on the shaking Inuzukas shoulder. Whether he was crying or shaking in rage none of us chose to comment on it. Yoru was looking at his teacup and I was looking at his back.
A few more moments later I opened the door and left with Sakumo's clone following behind me. As I didn't know where to go Sakumo quickly took the lead and took us toward the mess hall.
I grabbed a plate of pork and beans while Clone sensei merely grabbed a cup of water. Weird, my clones said they felt no hunger or thirst.
"So what's going on? Thought you'd be insanely busy." I asked as we took our seats in an unoccupied corner.
"Nothing much, well besides this," Sakumo said with a smile as he put a chunin vest onto the table.
