Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Mizutani Takereo was running. It wasn't the first time he had to run for his life. As a missing-nin from Kiri, he was used to being hunted by the hunter-nin. Yet this time, he was running from a true hunter. He didn't know his name, but he had heard of him. A shinobi so proficient with a bow was a rarity, so he was already famous for it.

Like many other shinobi from Kiri, Mizutani had gone rogue after the fourth Mizukage took his position. It wasn't so bad at first, but now it was impossible to know what the Mizukage wanted and his goal. He didn't defend his shinobi when the Daimyo of the Land of Water started requesting clans' lives.

He knew that most of the clans, especially the Kaguya clan, thought of themselves as better than the rest. Many times they tried to take control of the Lands of Water, but they always failed as they didn't work with anyone else. Still, those who wanted to revolt against the Daimyo were long killed. Now the Daimyo started to kill off the rest of the clans, and the Mizukage didn't do anything to stop it.

Like many other shinobi, Mizutani didn't feel safe in his village, so he ran away. After a year of working for all kinds of criminals, he got a bounty on his head worth its B-rank status in Bingo book. He was prepared to take on the hunter-nin. Even if they were dangerous, he thought he knew how they worked and could get away, but a true Hunter started to go after his head.

The Hunter came from Konohagakure. That was all he knew. A year ago, Mizutani heard of him hunting down missing nin with bounties on their head. The Hunter used bow and arrows, and it was said no one could escape from his arrows. He had been running for a few days and wasn't hit yet, so he didn't believe in these rumors, but he always felt like something was watching him.

Just as Mizutani began to relax, he felt a gust of wind pass through his legs. One moment he was running on top of trees. The next, he was on the ground with a hole in his right leg. A greenish and blackish substance was leaking through the wound, mixing with blood. Mizutani's head felt light, and everything started to spin around him.

„I hate when they don't run to their friends," Mizutani heard a young voice. "It would spare us much time if he went to some of his friends."

„It was you who wanted to hunt him down," An older voice spoke, but Mizutani could barely see anything through the blur.

„I let him run for a few days, yet he didn't run to hideout or any of his friends. I can resolutely say that he was working alone."

Mizutani didn't understand what was going on. Voices filled his ears, but he couldn't understand what they were trying to tell. Everything became a blur, and he soon felt like it was a good time to sleep.

...

Kaen looked at his target sleeping on the ground. The poison was quite potent, seeing it only took a few moments for his prey to pass out. Kaen didn't like that he had to ensure his target had no accomplices. He let him run for a few days and only followed from a great distance. He could have already collected the bounty in those few days and returned home.

„You did good, Kaen-kun," Jiraiya complimented.

„We should prepare. He could wake up at any moment. We still need to question him about what is happening in Kirigakure."

That was one of the reasons why Kaen accepted this task. He heard some disturbing rumors in Kiri, so he wanted to find out. He couldn't go personally, as Kiri and Konoha aren't in a good relationship, to say the least. He would be killed or captured on sight without questions, so missing-nin was a good source of information.

„Prepare for a battle," Jiraiya suddenly said.

„They are pretty good if they managed to get this close," Kaen commented. „Protect the target. I will take care of them."

Jiraiya and Kaen were prepared for interference from the Hunter-nin. But it seems they were closer than both of them could realize. It indicated that their hiding and stalking skills were impressive. They evaded Kaen's eyes, which was difficult considering that Kaen could see everything in fine detail once he activated his three tomoe sharingan.

There were four of them, a standard team. Kaen drew his bow and waited for them to show up before making a final plan. Kaen didn't want to kill them, as it would deter the already bad relationship between Kiri and Konoha. But if the need came, he had no problem doing what he needed to do.

„We appreciate for apprehending the criminal, but we will take it away from there on," One, probably a team leader, said.

„That won't happen," Kaen replied, shooting an arrow into the sky.

„He is a missing-nin from Kiri. As a Hunter-nin, we must bring them back, dead or alive."

„We are far from Kiri and the Land of Water," Kaen replied and made a few hand seals. „Rain of arrows."

„So be it," The Hunter-nin jumped back, thinking they could escape Kaen's jutsu.

It was a surprise for them when they found themselves blocking and deflecting dozens of arrows that never stopped falling. Kaen made a few more hand seals and shot another arrow using this situation. This arrow was different. It was enchanted with wind nature chakra, Kaen called it a power shot as the arrow would concentrate wind, and when it touched its target, it would explode in a powerful shockwave.

The shockwave wasn't lethal, but it broke at least a few ribs of the target Kaen chose. Seeing that one of their teammates was out of the fight, the rest got concerned, and the leader tried to jump into close combat with Kaen. The rest followed their leader, but it was their mistake as they were blown away by explosive seals hidden under the ground.

Of course, they were skilled enough to jump away from the explosive at the last moment. But they had already fallen into Kaen's trap. Through smoke and dirt, nine arrows flew out. Three homing arrows for each of them. Yet those arrows were different from the ones he used against Itachi. These arrows contained fire nature chakra, and when they got close to their targets, they burst into fireballs big enough to leave severe burns.

„I let you live, so I would like to advise you all to leave," Kaen told them. „If you are not going to listen to me now, none of you will ever be able to return home."

The team leader, who was still relatively fine, looked at his teammates. Only one could still fight, while the rest were heavily injured. There was no brainer about what should be done, but the team leader did not listen to Kaen's words and rushed at him again. Kaen sighed and prepared to finish the fight.

This time he drew another arrow after finishing his hand seals, breathing fire and wind into his arrow, and he let it loose. The arrow turned into a live fire dragon that flew towards the team leader. The leader decided to use water wall jutsu to black the fire dragon. The water wall stopped the fire, but the arrow still pierced it and hit the team leader in his chest.

The last one didn't have the chance to react as a barrage of arrows flew at him from the mist created by the fire dragon colliding with the water wall. No matter how many he blocked, plenty managed to hit him and cut him. The poison in these arrows quickly spread out and knocked him out.

„They weren't very skilled in head-on confrontation," Jiraiya jumped out of his hiding and commented. „They are best at assassination and tracking."

„Do you have to put me down every time?" Kaen asked, feeling a bit irritated.

„I am just telling the truth," Jiraiya defended himself.

Kaen dropped it and turned his attention to four shinobi on the ground. He wondered how to get any helpful information from them. From his experience, he knew that most shinobi are hard to break. They are trained to resist torture, and Kaen wasn't that well-versed in it. So, he turned to Jiraiya.

...

Kaen didn't learn anything new, but from the reaction from Jiraiya, Kaen knew that the missing-nin had said something interesting that nobody should know. Kaen knew everything there was to know what kind of situation Kiri was in, but he shouldn't know, so he didn't tell anything to Jiraiya and let the missing-nin tell what he knew.

„What should we do with them?" Kaen asked, pointing at four hunter-nin.

The team was bound by seals, unable to move or use their chakra. No matter what Jiraiya or Kaen tried, they couldn't get anything from them. Both knew that physical torture didn't work on them, so they attempted to persuade them to tell anything or, in Kaen's way, try to use genjutsu, but both methods didn't work, and they didn't learn anything from them.

„They won't give up on their mission if we let them go," Jiraiya said.

„So, we can't leave them alive," Kaen replied. „I will make sure nothing is left from their bodies."

„Very well, I prepare for us to leave."

Kaen sighed. He didn't wish to kill if he didn't need to, but sometimes there wasn't anything else he could do. He made it quick and painless. That was the least he could do. Afterward, he burned their bodies and concealed the fighting scene as best as possible. That way, if an investigating team tried to pry into what happened, they wouldn't find much.

After they brought in the missing-nin to their client, they took the bounty and left for Konoha, Jiraiya needed to report to the Third Hokage, and Kaen wanted to check on Sasuke and even Naruto. He missed the energetic blonde sometimes. Kaen wouldn't say that he loved Konoha, but he sure missed it. Well, he mostly wanted to see Ash, his cat whom he hadn't seen in more than a year.

...

Sasuke patiently waited for Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi to start their spar. He could feel a stare from a certain blonde with whiskers. Sasuke only needed to take a quick look at him to know that the blonde wanted to fight someone as he looked at every boy. To Sasuke, the blonde was shortsighted as the blonde didn't even look at girls. Even if some were useless, Sasuke believed that some of the girls from the clans could put up a fight against him.

„Uhm, sensei," Sasuke predicted what Choji would say.

„What is it, Choki-kun?" Iruka-sensei asked.

„Well, the thing is, I don't want to fight against my friend," When Choji put it this way, sensei had to think about what to say to persuade him.

„This isn't a fight, Choji-kun. It is a traditional shinobi hand-to-hand combat. Even the Hokage participated in these drills to get stronger through sparing."

„You might call it whatever you want, but if there is only one winning, it is a match. So if you need to decide who is a victor, then I will make it easier for you by giving up," Shikamaru Nara defeated the whole reason for sparing by leaving the circle and giving up.

Sasuke heard whispers from his peers that Shikamaru was too lazy to be a shinobi, but to him, his reasoning was way above the others in the same age group. Kaen said that you should always look beneath the beneath. There was always a reason for everything, but it was up to you to decide.

„Okay, but make a unison sign before leaving," Iruka-sensei said, lowering his head. Shikamaru and Choji gladly accepted it. „Good, now please, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, please step forward."

Sasuke could see that Naruto was looking for this fight, especially when most kids cheered for him and not for Naruto. Sasuke didn't understand why it was this way. He only tried his best at everything, and the kids decided he was better than everyone else. Sasuke didn't like to put down the others, as he knew that anyone could be considered a genius with time. And that title without hard work meant nothing.