Darkness Approaches

While Kaito was running towards the hideout of the Kekkei troupe, from which he had discovered much information thanks to the rogue ninja Hiroshi, many things were happening in Konoha.

...

Konoha

Ino was walking while thinking about a certain person, showing an irritated and also nervous expression.

'It's been a few months since he left, and I still haven't heard anything. He told me he would come back every month.'

She ended up walking aimlessly until she stopped in front of the Kazeji residence. Her expression quickly turned red because she hadn't planned to come here, but thinking so much about Kaito had led her there.

"Well, since I'm here, I might as well ask about him," Ino said after a few moments of silence.

She walked up to the door and was about to knock when a woman opened it with a smile on her face.

"Hello, is there something you need?" Hana asked with a smile.

"Ah... you must be Kaito's mother, right?" Ino asked awkwardly.

"Yes, I'm Hana, his mother. Is there something you'd like to talk to him about?" Hana asked.

"Hi, my name is Ino. I was wondering if Kaito has returned home yet, Miss Hana."

After Ino asked this, a slight gleam appeared in Hana's eyes, as if she had received crucial information.

"He hasn't come back yet, but don't worry, he's a very strong boy," Hana said while carefully watching for any change in Ino's expression.

As expected, her expression quickly changed from nervous to happy and confident.

"Right, he's already considered a special Jounin, and now that he's 13, I believe it won't be long before he becomes a Jounin," Ino's eyes sparkled as she spoke about Kaito.

Hana smiled at that, having already gone through this stage of life, and she knew well what was going through Ino's mind, as she herself had acted in the same way once.

"Would you like to come in and chat? I just made some snacks," Hana offered.

"If it's not too much trouble..." Ino replied after thinking for a moment.

"It's no trouble at all. Please, come in," Hana said, gesturing for her to enter.

Ino entered, feeling a bit nervous, as it was her first time in Kaito's house.

Upon entering, she noticed all the details, especially the photos of Kaito that were framed and displayed.

"You've noticed the photos, haven't you? I love taking pictures of him, though it's a shame he doesn't like it much. But I have an album of pictures from when he was just born. Want to see it?" Hana asked as she looked at Ino, who was lost staring at the photos on the wall.

Ino blushed slightly and nodded her head.

Soon, Hana and Ino were chatting while looking through the album. They laughed and joyfully commented on Kaito.

The two seemed to have formed a special connection, perhaps because Hana saw Ino as her future daughter-in-law, which made things easier, especially as Ino reminded her so much of herself when she was younger.

...

Hours passed as both were engrossed in a seemingly endless conversation about Kaito, until Ino realized it was getting close to dusk, and she had to head home, as she hadn't told her parents she would be out so long.

"Sorry, Miss Hana, I lost track of time. I need to go now; my parents are probably worried," Ino said, bowing as she stood up.

"You don't have to be so formal, dear. Just call me Hana, or even mother-in-law if you like. You can go, but remember, you're always welcome to come and chat with me whenever you want; my door is always open," Hana said as she walked Ino to the door.

Ino blushed again, hearing Hana mention calling her mother-in-law.

"Alright... Aunt Hana," Ino hesitated a bit, barely managing to call her "aunt." She wasn't brave enough to call her "mother-in-law," so she opted for "aunt" instead.

Hana smiled, said goodbye, and watched as Ino slowly walked away until she disappeared into a nearby street.

...

Ino continued walking, her mind filled with thoughts of her conversation with Kaito's mother, completely unaware of her surroundings.

Several dark figures were leaping between the trees and rooftops nearby, slowly following the young blonde-haired girl.

Eventually, she stopped in what seemed to be a dead-end alley.

"Damn, I took the wrong turn while I was distracted," Ino muttered lightly, finally snapping out of her daydream. But just as she was about to turn back, several figures in black clothing dropped in front of her, startling her.

"Who are you?" Ino asked, retreating slightly and preparing to fight if necessary.

One of the figures stepped forward and began to speak.

"Who are we? Fohororororo, we are the night, the darkness, the evil that dwells in this world. My dear, you will be part of something beautiful when darkness falls upon this world, when the wicked walk the earth, when the seas turn to blood, everyone will know who we are." As he said this, the figure disappeared quickly, reappearing behind Ino and striking her neck.

"Help..." She lost consciousness before she could even call for help, collapsing in front of the dark figures, who quickly grabbed her and vanished from the scene.

...

A few minutes earlier.

Ryuji and Hikari were walking slowly, holding hands as they headed to Kaito's house, ready to pay a visit. At that moment, they saw Ino leaving the Kazeji residence.

Both had the same thought.

'Damn, she's going to see us holding hands.' They quickly let go of each other's hands and pretended to whistle, but to their surprise, Ino walked right past them as if she hadn't noticed them at all.

This left them both worried, as they were friends with Ino, especially Hikari.

"What could have happened for her to be so unaware of her surroundings?" Ryuji whispered to Hikari.

"I don't know. Maybe she's thinking about her beloved Kaito, hihihi," Hikari said, covering her mouth with a mischievous smile.

Ryuji smiled, agreeing with that thought as well.

"Should we follow her? I need to ask her if Kaito has returned," Ryuji suggested.

"Let's go. There's something I need to ask her too," Hikari replied, and they turned to follow her. But by then, Ino had already walked quite a distance while they were talking.

The two hurried their pace and finally caught up, arriving just in time to see the dark figures grabbing Ino and disappearing.

"Damn, someone's kidnapped Ino," they both said at the same time, using all their speed to follow the blurred figures.

The figures were fast, but Ryuji and Hikari had undergone intense training because of how strong their friend Kaito was—neither of them wanted to be weaker than him.

In a way, both had certain strengths that surpassed Kaito.

Ryuji, with his abnormal strength, was definitely physically stronger than Kaito. Even when they sparred, Kaito avoided direct clashes with Ryuji.

And in terms of intelligence and battle strategy, Hikari was often much better than Kaito.

With their training, they had improved immensely, with both reaching Chuunin level.

...

Both pursued the black figures, who didn't seem to notice their presence, until they reached a small stream.

Ryuji and Hikari landed on a tree while watching the people in black carry Ino toward a waterfall that quickly opened to reveal an unnatural cave.

They were shocked by what they were seeing, as this was not far from Konoha, and no ninja had discovered this before; it was certainly suspicious.

"Should we go in?" Hikari asked, using a telepathy jutsu with Ryuji, who nodded in agreement.

Soon, the two ran quickly, taking advantage of a small passage that was about to close.

The moment they entered, they focused chakra in their feet and stuck to the cave ceiling.

With the dim lighting in the cave, they had excellent cover to hide.

They moved slowly, keeping a safe distance between themselves and the black figures, afraid of alerting them and ruining everything.

It wasn't long before they arrived at what seemed to be a prison, where hundreds of iron cages held various people inside—among them were ninjas, samurais, and ordinary villagers.

Among the ninjas, some were from Konoha, others from Sunagakure, and many other ninja villages.

'How did they manage to kidnap so many people without causing any commotion or alerting the villages? Or better yet, how did they get into Konoha?' These questions weighed heavily on Hikari and Ryuji, and a sense of urgency hung over them.

At that moment, they heard some voices.

"Let darkness descend upon this world, let chaos ruin this place, let debauchery take hold of the living, and let the rivers turn to blood; the almighty, I summon you here!" The voice was so loud that the entire cave could hear it, causing all the prisoners to tremble as if they had experienced this before.

Ryuji and Hikari shuddered, sensing that something terrible was about to happen, but they didn't even have time to intervene.

Minutes passed, and nothing happened, leaving everyone shocked.

The prisoners let out a sigh of relief as if they had just faced death and survived.

"Damn, what the hell happened? Did you mess up the ritual, you idiot?" one of the figures shouted.

"Messed up my ass; I recited it right like all the other times, but he just didn't show up. I don't know why," the guy who recited the ritual shot back.

"Can you stop fighting for a minute? It seems like that's all you know how to do. Damn it, we need to figure out why our lord didn't respond to our ritual. This has never happened before. Luckily, we still have our powers granted by him," one of the figures stepped forward, separating the two who were about to fight.

"That's right, Ryoko is right; you guys fight too much," another figure approached, carrying Ino on his shoulders.

Ryuji and Hikari were watching and listening from a distance, and they managed to understand the situation somewhat.

"From the looks of their auras and judging that there are no Jounin ninjas in the cells, I believe they are at most Jounin level and at least Chuunin. We should leave and seek help. However, at any moment, this lord could be summoned, so Ino and the others would be in fatal danger," Hikari quickly calculated how long it would take to go back and ask for help, and unfortunately, it would take more than 20 minutes to return at their maximum speed.

They didn't have that much time, so the only option was to act according to what the situation required.

"Our only way is a surprise attack; after all, they don't seem to have high detection skills. If we can take out two at the same time, it will make our job much easier."

"My plan may seem bad, but it's ideal. It's a shame we might get defeated, but we can't let that happen to Ino or these poor souls." Saying this, Hikari clenched her fist while Ryuji completely agreed with her.

Then, with a nod, both began their attacks, disappearing simultaneously.

Ryuji appeared in front of the four black figures, who were startled by his sudden appearance. He struck with force, taking advantage of the opportunity; his fist landed squarely on one of the figures' faces, sending him flying as Ino fell to the ground, which seemed soft thanks to Ryuji's earth-style ninjutsu.

At that moment, the three figures reacted and attacked. Dark chakra surrounded the three as they attacked with their weapons.

However, at that moment, the minds of the three went blank, and while this was happening, one of the three stopped attacking Ryuji and instead attacked the black figure next to him, finally prompting the two remaining figures to react.

"Damn, what the hell is this, Farkas?" the one who had been hit by his ally's surprise attack yelled, but the called Farkas didn't seem to hear and continued attacking.

"Damn, damn." With his hand on the wound, the black figure cursed while defending himself, but under his skin, the flesh was turning purple as it rotted.

Meanwhile, the other opponent who hadn't suffered any attack continued his assault on Ryuji, even realizing that one of his allies had betrayed him.

Ryuji's hands quickly transformed into stone as the dagger's attack approached him.

He punched the dagger with his black gloves, sending it flying to the side while the figure felt his hands trembling.

"What the hell kind of strength is this?" the figure yelled as he retreated and began to form a hand seal.

"Dark Jutsu: Great Decay!" As he said this, a large purple jet shot from his mouth toward Ryuji, who quickly formed a hand sign.

"Earth Style Jutsu: Great Barrier!" A massive barrier formed between the two, where the black figure's jutsu struck.

The barrier began to crumble as a liquid that appeared corrosive melted the stones.

The figure didn't care and started forming more hand signs while glaring at Ryuji and retreating.

"Dark Jutsu: Cursed Area!" As soon as he finished speaking, a vast area formed around Ryuji, where several purple monsters emerged from the ground, all deformed and strange, rushing toward Ryuji. In turn, he reinforced his gloves again and charged forward, destroying a monster with each punch. However, the earth on his arms crumbled as it melted, but Ryuji didn't care much and simply reformed his gloves and continued to advance.

While they fought, the other black figures faced off against each other. Despite being ambushed and injured, he still had the advantage.

Each blow from his dagger forced his opponent to retreat.

"Damn it, Farkas, I'm going to tear you apart!" he shouted as he landed a solid attack, striking directly at Farkas's chest.

At that moment, a moment of clarity seemed to shine on Farkas's face as he coughed up blood.

"I... was... being controlled, you damn idiot. Leon, I'm going to kill you even if I become a ghost!" Farkas screamed as he fell to the ground.

Leon felt conflicted upon hearing this, but he didn't have much time to think; he soon walked toward Ryuji, ready to attack stealthily.

However, just then, the figure who had been sent flying at the beginning of the fight recovered and was also ready to join the fight against Ryuji.

"Glad to see you back on your feet, Kenny. Come help me out here!" Leon called as he attacked Ryuji, who briefly retreated. Kenny nodded and quickly joined Leon's side.

And once again, something unexpected happened: Kenny attacked Leon, piercing his heart with a dagger covered in decay.

"You..." was all Leon managed to say before his body fell lifeless to the ground.

At that moment, only one black figure remained capable of fighting. Two of the figures had been defeated by Hikari, while one was being controlled, and the other was engaged in battle with Ryuji. This figure was undoubtedly close to Jounin level and could be considered a Special Jounin.