Kaito Chapter 78

Kaito Chapter 78

Itachi shakes his head, his expression serious. "No, if what you said was true, then I don't think you can handle 7 anbu at the same time."

Hotaru nods in agreement, her ponytail bobbing as she speaks. "Hai, we are not letting you fight them alone."

Kaito lets out a heavy sigh, knowing that they won't back down and the approaching anbu only add to the urgency. He nods, resigned to their decision, and tells them, "There is no point in arguing with you guys." He rubs his forehead in frustration before pulling out something from his pocket and tossing it to Itachi and Hotaru. They both catch it and look at Kaito expectantly.

"Alright," Kaito begins. "Here's what we're going to do..."

….

Outside forest of death, a Konoha chunin strolled leisurely along the gates surrounding the training ground with a clipboard in hand. The warm sun beat down on his shoulders as he hummed a catchy tune to himself. He had been tasked with guarding this sector of the gate, ready to disqualify any participant who leaft before their allotted five days were up.

As he idly looked around, taking in the familiar sights of the training ground, a sudden commotion caught his attention. A deafening scream pierced the air, followed by multiple explosions resonating from deep within the forest. The chunin's lips curled into a smirk as he muttered to himself, Well well, it seems like the real fun has begun." With a renewed sense of excitement, he continued on with his duties as if he hadn't even heard the chaos unfolding just beyond the gates.

In a clearing deep within the forest of death was a scene of destruction and chaos. Signs of battle were everywhere, with kunai and shuriken scattered across the ground and embedded in trees. The earth was scorched with black marks and burns marred the once lush greenery.

Team 11 stood in the middle of the destroyed clearing as kaito crouched down and looked at the genin from Kusagakure that he had killed. Kaito then rummaged through the genin's pockets and pouches, Kaito let out a sigh as he finished searching one of the Grass Village Genin's pockets. "He doesn't have the scroll," he said, disappointment evident in his voice. standing back up and He glanced towards itachi.

Meanwhile, Itachi was searching the body of the other member he had killed. He shook his head in disappointment as he held up the items he had found. "No luck here either. He only had some weak explosive tags and shuriken." he muttered to himself, pocketing a handful of weak explosive tags and shuriken for later use.

Kaito nodded in agreement, his eyes going over the dead female genin's who Hotaru was searching through her belongings, as he approached Hotaru, he asked, "Any luck for you, Hotaru-chan?"

Hotaru nodded, holding up a scroll she had found in the genin's pouch. "Hai, I found this scroll." She showed Kaito and Itachi a whute scroll to her teammates. "But it's the heaven scroll, not the earth scroll."

Kaito let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples. "After all that effort, just for the wrong scroll."

Turning back to face them, Kaito said with resignation, "Well, it might come in handy if we run into trouble later on." But then he turned to look at the lifeless bodies of of the kusa genin strewn across the forest floor. "What do you think we should do with them? Leave them or burn their bodies?"

Itachi walked over to join them and suggested, "Since we should just leave them be, I think the chunin proctors will collect them and return them to their respective villages."

Kaito hummed in agreement, knowing full well the importance of keeping the secrets of a shinobi's body safe. It was one of the reasons why hunter shinobi existed – to protect those secrets at all costs.

Kaito felt a sharp sting on the back of his neck and cursed under his breath, swatting at the bug that had bitten him. "Darn bugs," he muttered, feeling irritated by their unwelcome presence. "We should leave this place," Kaito declared ready to leave the area. "There are too many bugs here for my liking.", With a hopeful tone, he added, "And who knows, maybe we'll run into another team before sunset."

Hotaru nodded in agreement, swatting at another bug that had bitten her arm. "Hai, we should leave," she chimed in, eager to escape the troublesome creatures. Itachi simply nodded in silence, not bothering to voice his discomfort as he too swatted away a bug.

With a collective nod, the three of them exited the clearing and set off into the trees, gracefully leaping from branch to branch.

The group continued their steady pace, making good distance as they pushed deeper into the heart of the forest. to implement their original plan to ambush a team near the tower. Kaito, Itachi, and Hotaru began to slow down considerably, feeling the exhaustion and drowsiness creeping in from their long journey.

Kaito shook his head, trying to clear the fog that was settling over his vision. He could feel his breath ragged in his chest as he leapt to another tree, glancing back to see Itachi and Hotaru struggling just behind him. Their movements were sluggish and labored, like they were carrying an invisible weight on their backs.

Just then, "ahhh" Hotaru cried as her foot slipped when she landed on a branch, her body tumbling and her vision blurring. "hotaru" Kaito called out as he quickly changed direction and jumped towards hotaru, expertly catching Hotaru before she fell to the ground. But the abrupt change in momentum caused Kaito to lose his balance, and they both landed with a thud on the forest floor. Kaito took the brunt of the impact, landing back-first with a thud while shielding Hotaru from the fall.

Kaito let out a groan from The impact of their fall, causing him to groan in pain. as he tried to sit up, his body throbbing from the fall. He turned to Hotaru, who lay atop him in his arms, and asked with concern, "Are you okay, Hotaru-chan?" But he saw that she was unresponsive. Her chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, her face pale and sweaty.

Itachi landed beside them, dropping down on one knee as he caught his breath. He could see that something was wrong, as he said to Kaito, "something is wrong" as His eyes scanned their surroundings warily.

Kaito struggled to sit up with Hotaru still in his arms, Kaito's breathing was ragged as he fought to keep his eyes open.. he looked at itachi and said "I think We were poisoned."

Itachi's expression grew serious as he nodded and asked. "But when? I don't remember the Kusa team using any poison."

Kaito nodded in agreement, his mind racing for an explanation. "They didn't...it must have been the bugs." With a shaky hand, he reached into his pouch and pulled out three small vials filled with a general antidote.

But before he could administer it, a kunai hurtled towards them, catching them off guard. Kaito's reflexes were too dulled as the sharp blade impaled his hand, breaking all of the vials and spilling its contents onto the forest floor. He let out a pained scream and quickly moved Hotaru towards Itachi for protection as he tried to stand up.

Itachi, who had been standing beside Kaito, swiftly pulled out a kunai to defend himself and his team against their attacker. But as he struggled to stay conscious, several anbu suddenly appeared, landing on the surrounding trees and looking down at Team 11.

One of them landed in front of Kaito and Itachi, his mask had someword looked like a panda, he chuckled. "Well, would you look at that? They've figured out how they were poisoned."

He stepped forward, grabbing Kaito by the hair and pulling him up to meet his taunting gaze. Kaito tried to fight against the anbu's grip, but his vision began to blur and fade as the poison took hold.

And as darkness closed in around him, all he could hear was the anbu's cruel laughter and mocking words: "Not so tough now, huh?

Author's note: I would also appreciate any feedback on this chapter and your suggestions for how the story should continue. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

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