5 Chapter 5 Cruel

Konoha.

Entrance Gate.

The flow of the people entering and leaving Konoha was immense as at the side stood a figure with a big black blade fixed on his back.

He wore a green flak jacket, a blue shirt and blue trousers with white strips on his left thigh.

"Sorry for the wait!!"

Azuma stood arm across his chest eyes closed but a voice woke him up as he looked in direction and saw Ino in the usual purple attire with a backpack coming towards him waving her hand.

The only addition to her attire was the Chunin Green flak jacket.

Behind her was Shikamaru with the usual lazy aura and a troubled look on his face.

"Ha…

"Sorry, you must have waited a lot"

Ino finally arrived before her and said quickly taking deep breath as she ran straight from her house till the entrance.

"Let's go"

Azuma's expression remained unchanged as he said to her calmly and turned around ready to leave.

"Wait a minute, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?"

But Ino suddenly called out from behind her voice full of expectations causing him to halt.

"Yeah, it's our first mission with you, we should tell each other our good and weak points as it will be easy to cooperate later"

Shikamaru also spoke agreeing with Ino as basic information of their partner was needed for this mission to continue.

Hearing his words, Azuma finally turned around and arrived before the two of them looking at them with the usual expression.

"Cough!!"

"I'll introduce myself first"

Seeing Azuma not speaking just looking at them with a blank face, Ino broke the awkward atmosphere and volunteered to start.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino, from the Yamanaka Clan, I'm good at Mind Transfer Jutsu and I can also perform Medical Jutsu"

"Shikamaru Nara, good at Shadow Possession Jutsu, I'd like to stay behind and plan a strategy for battle"

Ino quickly introduced herself followed by the tired Shikamaru as his lazy eyes looked at Azuma with a painful look in his eyes.

"Another hard to get along with guy, why don't I ever meet normal person"

Thought Shikamaru as he had already gouged out what kind of person Azuma was.

None of his friends are normal, making him wish for one every day.

"Azuma…Yoshitake Azuma…good at Lightning style and Kenjutsu…"

The tight zipped lips of Azuma finally separated as he spoke the longest sentence until now, his expression still the same.

"Azuma-Kun, I'll be in your care"

Said Ino cheerfully as a sense of accomplishment filled her heart as with just such little time with Azuma, she had grasped his personality.

Someone who speaks rarely, tries to avoid the limelight, tries to keep things limited to himself, not bothering anyone neither getting bothered.

And from his behavior till now she can also guess that he has no friends.

So, making him speak his name made Ino had a sense of accomplishment in her heart.

"Good, then you will be our main attack force Azuma, Ino will support from behind and I'll look for enemies' weak points"

Kenjutsu and Lightning Style, from this information Shikamaru could guess easily that Azuma was someone who fought in close quarters so he made him the main attacking force.

""Un.

Hearing his suggestion, Azuma just nodded as it didn't matter to him in which position he fought, with his strength he could solve everything easily.

"Let's set off"

Seeing Azuma agreeing, Shikamaru took the role of the team leader and motioned to Ino and Azuma to follow him.

Swoosh!!

Ino and Azuma turned into afterimages following Shikamaru and they soon disappeared in the forest on the sides of the entrance route of Konoha.

-------------------------

Takashi Town.

"So cruel, how can they do this?"

The prosperous town about several miles away from Konoha was now in state of ruins with corpses everywhere and smoke rising from houses.

Logs and burnt flesh was also on the ground scattered everywhere and some fire could still be seen.

The smell of blood littered the air as the whole town presented a scene of terror.

Ino covered her mouth with her hands, with sadness and anger in her eyes, as the sight before her affected her too much.

Even Shikamaru had a slightly pale expression on his face as this sight before him was really terrifying.

Tap…

Azuma's expression remained unchanged though his eyes were more cold than before as he strode forward and crouching down, he examined one of the corpses.

The corpse was completely crushed, like some huge force had acted on it shrinking it a lot.

Azuma understood immediately what could have produced such a result as he turned around and looked towards Ino and Shikamaru who stood next to each other, with a sad look.

"This one died due to Earth Style Jutsu and the blood is still warm, the enemy shouldn't have gone far"

Said Azuma ignoring the pale faces of the two telling them the result of his investigation.

---------------------------------------

(Read chapters ahead of both Aokiji Yuki and Swordsman at P@treon.com/Navyking6666.)