15 12 2/2

Yoru Clone looked at the group oddly and turned back towards the clan leader as if asking "are these really the guys you lost to?"

Gyoja's face was slightly red in shame, so the white-haired Leaf shinobi decided not to bother and instead looked up towards the still fuming balding man before saying, "…weak."

Chushin paused his tantrum, his face growing redder "What was that?!"

"I said you're weak." Yoru Clone clarified. "You're so pathetically weak that I'm surprised you've even made it this far in life. Though I suppose sucking off everyone stronger than you is a good way of staying alive."

"Y-you!" The man stuttered, his face twisting in anger.

"M-me." Yoru replied tauntingly. "Can you not speak? Or has that cock been shoved down your throat for so long that you forgot how?"

The air around the room's occupants stilled at the vulgarity being spewed from the young child's mouth. Chushin was at a loss for words as his mouth kept opening and closing yet no sound came out.

Ignoring him, Yoru Clone looked up towards the still slightly shocked Akaboshi and stated, "Since you so stupidly ousted Shiranami as your gang leader, I'm assuming he planned this entire thing. Tell me, how did you know we were coming here and where is he now?"

Akaboshi snapped out of his dazed state before shaking his head, "You're in no position to order us around kid, but I don't mind telling you a thing or two about how we set up this ambush before hand." Saying so, he gave Gyoja a look and smirked, "In the building our oh so gracious village leader let your group stay in, there is a dragon mural hung up on the living room wall. You've seen it haven't you?"

Yoru Clone thought about the memories his boss had and nodded his head. The boss had felt something odd about it then but hadn't pursued it. It seemed like his instincts had been on point though.

Akaboshi continued, "As it turns out, our gracious village leader didn't actually trust the Leaf as much as he said he had. The dragon mural can act as a spying device through the use of a technique and Shiranami was charged with watching over your group during your stay."

Yoru Clone raised a brow at that statement and looked towards the Village leader, who had a difficult expression on his face. Yoru didn't fault the man, after all, even though this village was small it was still a shinobi village and he could understand keeping an eye on strangers.

However,

"Spying on his allies, taking note of their abilities, watching their every move…" Akaboshi chuckled. "Our village leader's faith in Konoha need not be extrapolated on much further."

Yoru Clone sighed, "What a troublesome situation…" thinking along those lines, he shrugged to himself, "Good thing I don't have to deal with it." And with that,

He dispelled.

Present time, Yoru POV

My expression changed a few times as I received my clone's memories before I sighed and gave Kotoe a signal.

Immediately she nodded and destroyed the roof of the building directly above where the 4 members had been and in the same moment I charged my hands with lightning natured chakra and fired out a beam of electricity through the wall.

From my clone's memories, I knew precisely where the enemies were located so I was not left surprised when I heard the surprised yells of the Shiranami's group. Without hesitation, I dashed into the building and slammed my foot against Chushin's face after having quickly located him through his chakra signature.

His body was removed from Nango's grasp and sent flying through the wall. Using this moment, I twisted my body in mid-air and slammed my foot into Nangō's temple causing his neck to snap to the side. His head impacted against a nearby wall causing cracks to spread from the point of contact.

"You damn brat!" Akaboshi yelled as he ran towards me, Benten in tow, however before they could make it, I leaped back, just in time for my teacher to land on the area where I had previously been.

Shocked at her sudden appearance, both the men froze for but a moment which was more than enough time for Kotoe to slam her fist into Akaboshi's throat.

The man choked and grabbed his neck in response while stepping backward, and my teacher capitalized on this moment as she stepped forward and threw her poison coated senbon towards the enemy.

Akaboshi was quick to recover as he quickly leaped away and deftly deflected the projectiles with a kunai. Landing on the ground, he placed his hands on the ground before channeling electricity through the floorboards and towards my teacher. With her incredible reflexes, Kotoe managed to throw down 8 chakra infused kunai on the ground around her, causing the lightning to stray off its course and become conducted by the chakra infused metal.

"Dammit! Benten get your ass over here and help me!" The man yelled at his teammate.

"B-But you know that I don't like hitting women!"

"Ohh for fuck's sake!" The man yelled as he took steps back from my approaching teacher. "Then get the fucking kid or something!"

The effeminate man gripped his fists before looking my way, however, I had not been idle during this time. I quickly threw a couple kunai his way, which he easily deflected with his own, however as they were up in the air behind him, they puffed and transformed into shadow clones of me.

The man didn't even get a chance to react before he was bombarded with a combination attack of my clones' Wild Water Wave and Lightning Strike technique. The force of the attack bombarded him forwards towards me.

"Wait…" I thought, looking behind me and realizing that the Village leader, Hato, and Tonbee were still incapacitated behind me. With the force and reach of this technique, they would no doubt suffer collateral damage, so I raised my hands and controlled my clones' combination technique and formed a sphere of electrified water with Benten still inside.

"Benten! Dammit!" Akaboshi stated, seeing his comrade captured as he was. With a snarl, he dashed forward with a kunai in hand, yet with but a tilt of her head, Kotoe dodged the metal weapon and slammed a palm into his throat once more. Akaboshi gagged and fell back from the pain of the attack allowing Kotoe to move on top of him and slam her fist into his nose, breaking it and causing his head to slam into the floorboard, cracking it.

Using this opportunity, she quickly threw senbon at his form and with his positioning, he was unable to move in time. He grunted from the pain but was unable to move due to the paralytic toxin.

It was at this moment that she suddenly threw needles towards my face, so I tilted my head causing them to impact against a solid object right behind me before a thud sounded out.

"Not bad, but you should have made sure he was either dead or unconscious." My teacher stated as she turned towards me and dusted herself off before pointing at Nango's paralyzed body behind me.

"…I was about to act, but you beat me to it." I said, twirling the kunai in my right hand that had been aimed at Nangō's groin.

I could sense some amusement from her at my response before she turned around and noted the village leader sitting up from the ground, his body still in pain.

"What is going on in here? It's clear to me that those individuals weren't invited to your home so how did they get in and what transpired to leave you in that state? You barely have any chakra left in your system." My teacher asked.

Gyoja coughed twice before he looked at me and sighed, "My student's son, Shiranami, set up and ambush against me while my guard was down. Those 4…" he stated, looking at the bodies of Nangō and Akaboshi, "They trapped me in a barrier that prevented me from using my chakra while simultaneously draining it from me and keeping me paralyzed. They seemed to have been a group specialized in combination techniques."

Kotoe nodded her head at that information before asking the more important question. "Where is Shiranami now? Or better yet, where is he heading? Is there anyone else with him?"

The village leader looked at me again before sighing, "…Shiranami took my granddaughter away and if I had to guess, he is probably heading towards Kirigakure."

Kotoe narrowed her eyes before signaling to me, "I need a debriefing. Leave a Clone here."

I nodded and created a couple clones and had them tend to the wounded Village leader and the unconscious Tonbee and Hato before Kotoe asked once again, "I don't suppose you know what route he is using?"

The man shook his head, "I'm not sure, but he should know." He replied, looking at Benten who was still trapped in my bubble of electrified water and whose face was beginning to turn purple.

Kotoe gave me a look and I nodded before releasing my control over my technique.

The bubble burst and the man trapped inside gasped before coughing heavily. He looked at Kotoe and me heatedly and gripped his fists. "Don't expect me to tell you any-"

I slammed my palm into his mouth and clamped it shut. "Be quiet. Don't talk when not asked. If you hesitate to answer us, your comrades will die. If you think of attacking us, your comrades will die. If you lie to us, your comrades will die and trust me, I can tell."

Seeing and feeling the fear in his eyes, I looked to Kotoe who gave me an approving nod.

"I need the direction and destination." Kotoe asked succinctly.

With barely noticeable hesitation, he answered, "N-Northeast towards the ruins of Uzushiogakure. H-he plans to meet up with Kiri-nin there."

As soon as he finished, Kotoe threw her chakra enhanced senbon at his neck causing his body to slump to the ground.

"What an odd turn of events." Kotoe stated before shaking her head. "I suppose your instincts were on point Squirrel, there was something odd about him."

Gyoja's expression shifted, "You knew there was something wrong with Shiranami and you deemed it not important enough to tell me?"

"…I find it amusing how that works both ways." I stated staring at the village leader straight in the eye. In any usual situation, he would probably be able to kill me quite effortlessly, but as of this moment, he was much too weak to do anything. "What exactly was so important about your daughter that Shiranami decided to take her while leaving you and the rest here?"

I turned to look at the still unconscious forms of Tonbee and Hato before continuing, "If he wanted a political hostage then there would be no better individual to capture than you, yet he didn't, even though he definitely could have. How exactly do you explain that?"

The man remained silent and slightly hung his head as he didn't reply while my teacher paid attention to the dialogue between us.

I continued.

"…Would you have believed me?" I asked, causing him to falter. "You apparently didn't trust us enough that you had him spy on our every move in the house you so graciously lent us and look where that got us." I stated causing his expression to become even more difficult.

"Wait, excuse me?" Kotoe asked as she looked between the two of us before focusing her face on Gyoja. "I believe an explanation is warranted."

"…The dragon head in our living room is a spy device. They have been watching our every move and our interactions, so I would be surprised if they have some idea of our abilities."

Kotoe paused and sighed, "I'm going to really need that debriefing." Kotoe stated before glancing at Gyoja sharply and shaking her head. She returned back towards me, "Regardless, I'm going to have to salvage this mess somehow. In the meantime Yoru, I'll have you chase after Shiranami."

I tilted my head, "Then what will you do?"

She gave one last look at the Tsuchigumo clan leader before creating a few clones which body flickered soon after. "I'll let the others know and have them meet up here with me while I get debriefed by your Clone. I trust you will be fine on your own and I know you can escape if things get rough."

I nodded my head before disappearing in a Body Flicker.

3rd person POV

"Now then…" Kotoe stated before looking at Gyoja before looking at one of Yoru's shadow clone. "Tell me everything."

Yoru POV

I dashed through the trees towards the direction that the effeminate man had told me. I knew he had been telling the truth due to my emotion sensing abilities, so there was no hesitation in my step as I moved forward.

My Energy Resonance ability was spread out to its maximum range, however, I narrowed my eyes as I took out a kunai and paused in my tracks for just a moment before throwing it ahead of me. Immediately, seals appeared on the sides of the trees that were on either side of the kunai causing it to freeze in midair.

"Trap Detection sure is handy…" I thought before going around the trap and continuing forward, yet I couldn't help but think, "That's the 3rd one yet, but the way they are positioned…" There were many ways that those traps could have been set up in order to more effectively ensnare an individual, yet they weren't.

It was almost as if they weren't made to capture someone, but to lead them somewhere…

"A trap within a trap…trapception?" I thought, keeping my vigilance on high alert as I again threw a kunai forward. A seal lit up from the ground causing an intense flame to rise and melt the metal projectile.

I continued moving forward for a while before I picked up 2 chakra signatures on the edge of my radar. They were moving very slowly relative to the average Jonin's speed and one was significantly smaller than the other, but more importantly, they were familiar.

"Shiranami and Hotaru. Has he been leading me…wait no!" I thought as I suddenly picked up 6 more chakra signatures, each of them familiar to me.

"Those are the same Kirigakure shinobi that I met around a week ago…"

With that thought in mind, I moved as quickly as I could in order to catch them before they moved off grid. Maybe they had been discussing something of importance beforehand or maybe they had not yet come to an agreement, but I was able to catch up to them as their chakra signatures remained still.

I stood a good distance away while hiding behind a tree and focused my Hawkeyes and enhanced hearing at the 7 individuals (plus one unconscious hostage).

"You have everything we need?" One of the Kiri nin asked.

Shiranami nodded before placing down a tied up Hotaru. "This would have gone much smoother had you succeeded in obtaining her the first time around."

One of the other Kiri nin picked her up before what seemed to be the captain replied, "We were ambushed by the Leaf before we could even get close, so I can only assume they had a competent sensor. With that in mind, the most tactical option for us was to retreat since they had gotten the upper hand."

Saying so, he signaled to one of his men who nodded and stepped forward with a giant scroll in hand.

"Wait." Shiranami stated, before pointing at the scroll, "I want to see the goods up front. I can't have you screwing me over and running away."

The man with the scroll looked at his captain who nodded his head, so the Kiri nin opened up the scroll and ran his chakra through it before multiple puffs sounded out.

I tried to focus even harder at the objects that had appeared and narrowed my eyes when I saw a pile of smaller scrolls on the ground in front of the Kiri nin. Shiranami stepped forward as one of the scrolls fell off the pile and rolled towards him before picking it up and opening it. With his back turned towards me, I couldn't see his expression, but oddly enough, I also couldn't sense any form of satisfaction from him.

Shiranami put the scroll down and checked a few others, yet each time his emotions remained calm and indifferent.

"The Fuuinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan." The Kiri Anbu captain stated as he watched Shiranami. "They've been rotting in our village for years on end with no one in Kirigakure skilled enough in the art to decipher them."

He motioned to the scroll wielding Kiri Anbu who nodded and began to reseal the scrolls into the giant scroll before handing it to Shiranami. The Anbu captain continued, "Since we have a powerful working seal to reference from…" he began, turning his gaze towards Hotaru, "The higher-ups agreed to your proposal."

I could detect certain smugness coming from Shiranami as he stated, "Uzushiogakure…word has it that it took the combined might of three of the Five "Great" shinobi Villages in order to destroy that one clan and even then you all suffered serious casualties. So much so that Konoha was easily able to capitalize on that opportunity leading them to take control of the 2nd Great Shinobi war. That moment echoed the decline of the legitimacy of the Five Great Nations, the aftershocks still being felt today. Wasn't it also for that reason that you became the weakest of the Great Villages due to your proximity to Uzushiogakure?"

"Why you…!"

The Anbu Captain held his hand out in order to prevent his subordinate's outburst. "We have what we want and he has what he wants, don't start anything here."

I could sense that they were sending each other subtle messages as if deciding what to do next, however that still left me with a problem. "What to do…" I wasn't stupid enough to rush in there blindly and while I could come up with something, time was ticking and whatever trap I could set up in this time frame, would probably not work to my favor.

Suddenly, my eye twitched and my expression changed as I held my stomach. "Don't tell me…" I thought before something climbed up my throat and began to force itself out of my mouth. I could hold it in no longer and had to open my mouth before the red toad crawled out and began floating around me.

I heaved a bread for a moment before wiping my mouth and glancing towards it.

"I guess this is where I come in huh." The toad said before extending upwards and unfurling itself. It rolled out the scroll from its body and placed its webbed hands on the reverse summoning inscription.

In a puff of smoke, a white-haired man appeared in front of me, fresh blood on his attire. He took a moment to take a look at his surroundings before he sighed, "Gamachi, this better be an emergency."

"Trust me, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss this." The floating toad stated.

Jiraiya turned around and faced me before giving me a light smile, "What's up kid anything new?"

I looked at the man before looking at the toad and sighing. "…Over there." I said, pointing at the distance.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he watched both the Kiri nin and Shiranami converse before asking, "I'm going to need some info about what's going on."

"Long story short, the black-haired guy traded that little girl over to Kiri in exchange for Uzushiogakure Fuuinjutsu Scrolls." As soon as I said that, the atmosphere around Jiraiya changed, but no sooner did the Kiri Anbu captain signal to his crew and vanish from the area.

"Gamachi." Jiraiya stated, his voice firm, "You really outdid yourself this time. Thank you."

"I just do what I always do." The toad saluted before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Jiraiya was about to move but I told him, "…The girl that the Kiri nin have is most likely related to our secondary mission."

The Sannin paused before nodding his head, "I've been doing extensive research on that technique so I'll take care of them, but you take care of the kid. You now have a tertiary mission." That said he looked at me seriously, "Secure that scroll at all costs."

Ping!

Quest Alert!

Uzushiogakure Remnants!

The Fuuinjutsu of The Uzumaki was feared and renown throughout the shinobi world to the point that three of the Five Great Ninja Villages banded together to destroy Uzushiogakure, the home of the Uzumaki clan. Kiri was one of those three and now their spoils from that war lay in the hands of your target. Secure it at all costs

Reward: 150,000 EXP & Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu Scrolls

Failure: Death and/or disappointing Jiraiya.

I inclined my head before Jiraiya vanished in a burst of speed. I moved forward towards Shiranami who had been standing there silently even though the Kiri nin had already left. I stayed up in the trees and waited for an opening.

"I know you've been there since the beginning." The man stated as he held the giant scroll containing the smaller Uzumaki scrolls. "If you don't come out, you'll force my hand."

"What does he-" My eyes widened as he tossed up the scroll and wrote, in midair, the kanji for "Fire" (火). I had no idea what that entailed, but I knew that Fire + Scroll = bad. My body reacted and I shot out a stream of water from my mouth towards the symbol, however-

"You should have gone for the scroll." Shiranami stated with a smile as he looked my way in the trees.

It was then that I saw the kanji symbol appear on the scroll as it was in mid-air and my gaze tightened. "Crap." I thought but before I could move, my Danger Sense warmed me of an attack and I saw Shiranami scribble in mid-air once more.

I hurriedly jumped out in the open as the kanji symbol for "Ice" (氷) appeared on the tree that I had been on causing frost to spread from the symbol outwards.

"That means…" I thought, looking at the scroll as it was in the air and noting that fire was beginning to spread on it.

With little time to lose, I chopped at Shiranami with the edge of my palm causing a sharp wave of electricity to travel towards him. While he dodged, I twisted my body in mid-air and blew out a stream of water towards the scroll, dousing the fire.

I landed on the ground right below the scroll before gravity took hold and it fell into my outstretched hands. I immediately put it in my inventory just as Shiranami found his footing and gave me an odd smile.

"I'm sure you're tempted to simply escape, but if you do, it won't end well for the girl." The man stated. I looked at him carefully as I planned to simply leave regardless, but then he continued, "Oh and if you don't, I might just make her go boom."

My gaze tightened. "So she does have Fury on her, but 'make' her explode? Can it be activated remotely? And without the user's consent?"

Many thoughts went on in my mind, but I decided to stay. With Jiraiya's level of strength, he would be able to catch up with the Kiri nin in little time and considering the blast radius of Fury was said to be capable of wiping out a city, he would get caught in the crossfire. As one of the Sannin, he was a valuable asset to the village and it wouldn't do to have him killed when it could be easily prevented.

Perhaps noting that I wasn't planning on moving, Shiranami smiled, "I didn't actually expect that to work. Who knew that you Konoha nin were so compassionate? What, did the old man beg you to come to save his 'precious' granddaughter or something?"

I didn't reply. "He thinks I'm staying for Hotaru…" this meant that he hadn't known that Jiraiya was with me, which begged the question, "…how did you know I was here?"

He began to walk around the small clearing in careful steps which I began to imitate in the opposite direction. "The traps you set off along the way alerted me to your presence and while I didn't know who specifically was following me, the only individuals who had known what route I was taking were the guys in my Magaki Group. Considering I told them not to follow me under any circumstances…" he paused his movements, "Well, that could only mean that you Konoha nin must have successfully beaten them and gotten the information from them."

"The Dragon Mural?"

He smirked a little more, "ahh they must have told you about that didn't they?" He shook his head with a chuckle, "Yeah, I knew you and your partner were heading my way when Kiri began to invade Tsuchigumo with the fog, so I let my group know in advance, but even then they couldn't stop the two of you." There was certain mirth to his tone as he concluded, "I suppose the shinobi from the Great Ninja Villages are of a different caliber after all."

I sensed that there was something wrong here as I narrowed my eyes. "He's too forthcoming…is he hiding something or…?"

"There's no need to give me that look." Shiranami stated in amusement. "I promise you that I'm telling the truth."

I once more looked at him carefully. From the beginning of the conversation, I had slowly been invading his chakra system with my own chakra.

Considering, however, that he was at a higher level and would also be able to break out if I acted too rashly, I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind, "…If you didn't want the Uzumaki scrolls and you didn't want Fury, then what exactly is your purpose? Why bother kidnapping the village leader's granddaughter who is in possession of the technique and giving her to Kiri only to obtain a seal of scrolls that you promptly tried to burn? I thought you hated the Five Villages yet you're giving them one of your most powerful weapons?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said before raising his finger, causing me to increase my vigilance. He then curled his finger inwards towards himself, "You can come and find out over my dead body."

I calmly observed him, taking in his relaxed stance and lackadaisical attitude...and also looking at his stats.

Name: Shiranami

Race: Human

Level: Lvl 65

HP: 51000/51000

CP: 26000/26000

STR: 500

VIT: 510

DEX: 500

INT: 600

WIS: 350

ENGY: 400

"Yeah, this isn't going to work…" I thought as I saw how much stronger he was than me.

At that, I mentally placed 126 stat points in STR and VIT and put 137 in DEX. I might have used them all up, but I would surpass him in those stats and would have a greater shot at surviving.

Shiranami smiled at me tauntingly.

I focused my gaze.

Immediately, I threw a powerful chakra enhanced kunai at my target, who merely smirked in reply and tilted his head causing the projectile to miss and deeply lodge itself in the tree behind him.

With that complete, I clapped my hands together in a single seal and breathed in before shooting a ball of fire at my opponent. No sooner did water suddenly appear as he used his unique technique to write out the Kanji for "Water" (水) in order to counteract my Fireball Technique. Steam appeared following the collision of our attacks and obscuring our view, however, I could easily detect his chakra.

I gathered my chakra into a ball of electricity before firing it at the chakra signature I had detected. A small explosion to sound out, the shockwave clearing the steam around us.

It was then that I widened my eyes as I saw multiple copies of Shiranami around me, each with an identical chakra signature. "Shadow clones…no not quite." I thought as I closed my eyes and spread out my Empathy and found out that they had no emotions. Shadow clones each had a personality that mirrored their summoner's own and had emotions, but these clones didn't. All they had was an identical chakra signature to Shiranami.

"Over…there." I thought, snapping my eyes open before clapping my hands to a single seal.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, and."

I switched to another hand seal in quick succession.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu."

I took in a breath and molded my chakra into its fire and wind natures before combining them in my mouth and releasing a blast of blue flames. The force of the attack dispelled the Shiranami clones in my surroundings while the main brunt of it traveled to a certain area at my 1:00.

I could sense a rapid build-up of chakra from that area as Shiranami moved quickly to react. He quickly released a torrent of water at my blue flames, however, the force of my attack vaporized his and continued onwards into the forest and up toward the sky.

A devastating explosion sounded out across the forest.

A figure jumped out of the flames and coughed as it landed on the ground while the fire began to spread around the forest. Shiranami looked me in the eye before dusting the scraps of the burnt parts of his clothes off. "You could pinpoint my exact location despite them being identical copies of my chakra signature…you're not an ordinary sensor."

I didn't let down my guard as I watched his every move. "So he did figure out some of our abilities from spying on us for so long…"

With those thoughts, I moved to attack, however, Shiranami quickly drew the character "Split" (割) in mid-air and aimed it at the ground in front of me. My gaze tightened as I immediate jumped up, just as the ground split open beneath me, however once more Shiranami wrote in the air and the character for "Rock" (岩) appeared in space.

I was in mid-air and typically would not have been able to dodge, however, the kunai I had thrown earlier was attached to thin but durable metal ninja wire, which I used to pull myself out of the way of the attack.

"Hoh?" Shiranami stated before drawing "Slash" (斬) in midair and causing blades of wind to shoot out towards me. I jumped off the tree and flipped before landing a good distance away in front of Shiranami.

"What a troublesome opponent…"

I thought as I gazed upon the man's smiling face.

"What's wrong?" Shiranami stated, that weird smile ever visible on his face, "If you don't come to me, I'll come to you."

Saying so he dashed forwards towards me while drawing "Explode" (爆) in midair meanwhile I quickly jumped to the side before he could complete it. The kanji appeared on the ground in the area I had just been in and caused an explosion that destroyed the surrounding area.

The shockwave from the attack blew me off course and caused me to miss my landing as I skid across the dirt on my sides. Seeing this opportunity, Shiranami appeared in front of me, however, I expelled a stream of water from my mouth before he could go back on the offensive.

Seeing this, he quickly wrote "Flames"(炎) in mid-air, causing a wall of fire to appear in front of him and block my attack.

"Now!" I thought as I flipped through two handseals

"Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot".

Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot (Active) Lvl 38 [22.53%]

Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot condenses the soil and rock in the area to sprout out in the form of four large spikes which attack the target from four separate directions.

Maximum Range: 50 meters

Damage: 600% ENGY

Additionally ignores 50% Enemy Durability

Cost: 1000 CP

From in front of me and in the 3 other cardinal directions around the flame wall, chakra enhanced earthen spears sprouted from the ground and impaled the center of the flame wall. I narrowed my eyes, however, when instead of hearing the sound of flesh being torn, I felt Shiranami's chakra signature disappear from behind the flames.

I immediately threw a few kunai to my right causing them to impact the tree with a thump. I felt his chakra signature move once more and so I again threw many more kunai into the tree lines and at the ground around me.

Instantly, Shiranami appeared behind me and I could feel his chakra molding.

However.

"Checkmate." I thought as I twitched my fingers causing ninja wire to wrap around Shiranami and hold him in place. The kunai I had thrown all had metal ninja wire attached to them which I had used to form a "net" around myself which I could use to trap him.

"W-When did you…?" Shiranami began as he struggled to move.

"Since the beginning." I stated blandly while turning around and noting the kanji for "To Manipulate" (操) disappearing from the air as he gripped his fist that had been inches away from my body. From the beginning, I had moved to trap him in a subtle genjutsu so that he would not be able to see the net I had created around myself.

I looked up to the sky, noting that thunderclouds were forming and that it was beginning to rain. "I guess I didn't need that…" I thought before turning back to Shiranami. "…I'll have you stay here-"

Immediately, my body froze as terrible foreboding feeling overwhelmed me, one which I came to soon understand as Shiranami opened the palm of his hand with a smile.

"Burn."

I widened my eyes as a torrent of intense flames spewed out from his hand.

Steam covered the battlefield once more as I jump back from the assault, however, I didn't come out unharmed.

-8135

[Yorudan]

HP: 57537/65672

The left side of my body was covered with intense burns and I could barely see out of my left eye. My thoughts, however, strayed elsewhere…

"Ahh, I was so close." Shiranami stated as rain fell and the steam dispelled. "I was hoping to melt your face off. That's too bad."

I regarded him down carefully. "He had the kanji for "Fire" (火) inscribed on his right palm…" If it hadn't been for the fact that I could expel water techniques without handseals, I most likely wouldn't have a face anymore.

"Oh? What's with that look?" Shiranami stated with a smile before tilting his head. "Is it because of these?" He stated as he opened both his right and left palms, allowing me to see the kanji for "Fire" (火) And "Wind" (風).

"What other ones does he have…" I thought while subtly keeping my distance.

"To be honest, I didn't think I would have to go this far to beat you." Shiranami stated as lightning began to cover his frame. "You should be grateful though. I now consider you a threat."

With that said, he vanished.

And in the next moment…

I flew.

My body was hurled back, my arms crossed against my chest as I had negated the brunt of the attack due to my Danger Sense. My body crashed through trees from the force of the impact so, I forced myself to turn and backflip before gliding to a halt on the ground.

-6440

[Yorudan]

HP: 51097/65672

However, before I could fully regain my bearings, a stream of intense white fire rushed towards me. In response, I hurriedly spread out my chakra and used the rain that was falling to create a wall of water.

I jumped out of the steam that followed from the impact of the two techniques but had to hastily go through a hand seal as a bolt of lightning flew my way. I didn't finish, however, as I was forced to block a powerful attack from above that sent me hurtling to the ground.

I flipped and landed on all fours before quickly jumping back as my Danger Sense warned me once more. The area I had been at caved immensely from the force of the attack that just struck it.

"Interesting…" Shiranami's voice sounded out as he appeared from the crater he had created. "Whenever you've used a water or lightning style technique, you haven't used hand seals, but for the other elemental technique types, you have." He then smiled, "It seems like my method is much more efficient." With that statement, he opened the palm of his hands and shot out a burst of fire and wind which combined to form white flames.

I flipped through two hand seals and spewed out my blue flames to counter them causing a wave of blue and white fire to ascend to the clouds.

"What to do…" I thought as the flames died down and I crossed my arms to block another attack.

It was then that I noticed something…

"His chakra…" I steeled my gaze and blocked another attack from the side causing my bones to creak in protest. I flew back once more and applied the Mystic Palm Technique to myself in order to boost my regen.

It was short lived as I took another attack, however, I could feel the difference this time around. "He's getting weaker…"

I continued blocking each attack he threw at me while I utilized my healing abilities to keep myself alive. With each attack, I could sense growing frustration building up within him.

"Why. Won't. You. Die?!" He yelled as he launched a lighting coated punch to my crossed arms.

I grunted as he impacted my bruised arms once more, however, I was able to safely land on the ground before jumping back a couple paces just as Shiranami landed in front of me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, seeing the snarl on his face. "You were so energetic earlier. Could it be that you have none left?" I concluded.

"Tsk." He stated as some perspiration leaked from his body, though it was masked by the rain.

"The techniques he implants onto his body use up a lot more chakra than usual…" I thought as I measured him carefully, my body still healing.

"You can take a beating…I'll give you that." The man stated before lightly smiling. "However, I'm not going to play games with you."

I soon found out what he meant as an immense pressure weighed down on my body, more specifically, both my arms. I was barely able to stand from the force as it felt like 100s of tons were weighing me down.

I looked to my arms as I felt foreign chakra on it, and I widened my eyes as I saw the kanji for "Heavy" (重) was written all over them. "W-What…?"

Shiranami smiled. "You didn't think I was just hitting you did you?" He stated though I could sense his chakra dropping even faster than before. "I didn't actually think you would still be alive after I used my inscriptions, but I would rather be safe than sorry." He finished as he looked down on me.

I struggled to move, however, it was to no avail as the burden was too great for me to move effectively. I could only watch as Shiranami approached me with a smile before pulling me up and kneeing me in the gut.

-5313

[Yorudan]

HP: 37857/65672

"Ow…" I thought before I felt my neck being grabbed.

"All you people from the '5 Great Villages' are all the same." He stated before kneeing me once more.

-5133

[Yorudan]

HP: 32724/65672

"You step on us smaller, weaker and insignificant villages and ignore the consequences your actions have on us." He said before tossing me to the ground and stomping on my chest, causing me to cough as my ribs crack.

-5277

[Yorudan]

HP: 27447/65672

He looked down at me apathetically, "Do you even know why Fury was even created in the first place?" He asked rhetorically, pressing down on my ribs and causing their cracks to splinter, "It was to avenge the grievances our clan had faced in the war that your so called 'Great Villages' started. That's why it was named Fury." Saying so, he removed his foot before kicking my body to the side before finishing, "But in the end that pathetic old man decided to rely on the people he used to fight against, but I'm not him."

He drew the character "To Manipulate" (操) in mid-air before it appeared on my body, and I suddenly felt like I lost control of my functions. My body began to move without my volition before Shiranami took off the Anbu mask from my face. "I will collapse the structure of the shinobi world, one hidden village at a time starting with the village that gave purpose to the creation of Fury. Kirigakure."

I looked at him for a moment before raising my head to the sky, "…It's still raining."

"Hmm?" Shiranami stated as he looked up before his eyes suddenly widened in remembrance as he saw the puddles of water all around us.

Immediately large tentacles of water wrapped around Shiranami's legs, arms, torso, and neck before I released as much chakra from my core.

The hold he had on my body began to slowly dissipate as he was not only too exhausted and occupied to keep it, but because I held much more chakra than he. With a little more exertion, I broke free of his technique.

He looked at me in surprise. "How-"

"You were exerting a lot of chakra to bind me, so I just exerted more than you." I stated as my hands glowed a pale green as I began to heal my wounds.

"How can you have more chakra than me! You're a fucking child!" Shiranami's yelled, his expression tight. He tried to struggle free of his bonds, however with each water tentacle that he broke, many more quickly took its place. It didn't help that he was incredibly exhausted from using his inscriptions and had little energy left.

"Who knows." I said as my wounds began to close. I looked behind Shiranami at the result of my fire attack that I had used at the beginning of the match. I had used the energy from my combination attack to warm the atmosphere and create a powerful rising air current, which in turn generated the thunderclouds. The sky had already been overcast before so I had merely sped up the process and with the rain generated form the condensed clouds, I had gained a much greater field advantage.

Shiranami's head hung low before his shoulder trembled as he chuckled. His head snapped up towards me and I could see his eye gleam in madness.

My Danger Sense screamed at me to move.

My body acted on instinct as I jumped back and crossed my arms simultaneously noticing a giant glowing "Explode" (爆) symbol on Shiranami's chest just before he detonated.

His chakra spiked as an enormous wave of bright energy was released from his body. From my proximity to him, I could only watch as the energy consumed everything around him while also inching its way towards me.

Immediately, time slowed down, or more accurately, my perception of time did.

Accelerated Analysis worked at full capacity as my brain began to process information at a rapid rate. Just as the destructive wave of energy began to sizzle the skin of my nose, I thought to myself,

"ID Create: Empty"

Immediately, my body dropped to the ground causing me to groan. I looked up to the red cloudy sky as rain continued to fall on my muddied form.

"Rain appears in ID's too…"

And with that, I thought to myself once more,

"ID Escape."

Immediately, my body dropped once more as I fell into a crater causing me to groan. Silence dominated the surroundings with the only visible sound being the drip drop of the rain against my face the ground and puddles. I sighed and shakily stood up before cleaning the mud off my face and body with some water manipulation. I tried to move my shoulder, however, I noted it was dislocated, so I popped it back in place. I began to heal myself before sighing. "I almost died…"

The rush from the experience left my body and I began to feel some pain from my limbs, but with Gamer's Mind, I was able to mostly ignore it.

"If Kotoe finds out, she'll probably kill me…" I thought while taking slow steps towards Shiranami's immobile body that lay at the center of the crater. I likewise looked around, noting that the area in a 100-meter radius around me was vaporized. The trees had been completely obliterated with the rock and stone being shredded down to grain. Now, the only visible matter on the ground was the mud and Shiranami's burnt corpse.

As I stood above him, I noted the obvious hole in his chest and looked at his body for a moment.

"What exactly was his goal?" I thought before looking to my right just as Jiraiya landed in front of me with a girl in hand. There was now even more fresh blood on his attire, but I ignored it as I gazed up at him, "I take it everything went alright with the retrieval?"

He nodded his head before taking out a scroll and handing it to me. "These are the details of what I could glean from my research on the technique and…" He looked at Hotaru, more specifically her back, before frowning "The implant on her back. It's inactive now though so no worries."

I nodded my head.

"You really did a number on him kid." Jiraiya stated as he looked at Shiranami's sorry state.

I shook my head, "…He did it to himself. He tried to blow us both up as a last resort but I was able to avoid it in time. So, are we done here?"

Jiraiya didn't spare the guy a second glance before he nodded. "Yes, we are." Saying so he gave me Hotaru, "You take her back to the village and in the meantime, I have to file a report to the Hokage about Kiri and more importantly, the Uzumaki scrolls. You have them, do you not?"

I nodded my head and took out the giant scroll from my inventory with a little smoke show for effect.

Jiraiya nodded his head before saying, "Keep them safe till you get back to the village, I know that someone there might have strong feelings about it."

Seeing me incline my head, Jiraiya vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Ping!

Quest Complete!

Uzushiogakure Remnants!

Reward: 150,000 EXP & Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu Scrolls

You have leveled up by 1!

I swiped the message away and looked to the forest, noting that the rain had doused the forest fire that my earlier technique had created. With that, I hoisted Hotaru up in my shoulders and dashed through the forest back towards the village.

Author's Note:

One of my longer chapters, but I hope it was enjoyable. I'm about halfway done with the first arc of this fanfiction.

Also, don't slam me for my pseudo-science in this chap. I know Sasuke did something similar in his battle with Itachi, but I'm not sure if it would actually rain...

Ugh, I've come to understand how annoying it is to copy and paste my works form google docs to here. The formatting of stories here removes some of my important edits like bullet points and the spaces between stats. I have to go back and manually correct them which is annoying cause I still can't use bullet points so I have to use spaces. Another annoying thing is that this format doesn't allow me to do super/sub-script so I have to use (^) to signal exponents. Small things like that are kind of annoying to go through : (.

Anyway, rant over. Until next week.

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