Ch137. Sanbi 3

Ringo created five clones in total. Two for the right and left side each and one for the middle path where her real body was going to hit. The clones quickly sneak into their positions as the plans start. The ones on the right and left side distance themselves from the ANBU guarding the corridors and create a small commotion not far from that place, drawing at least some ANBU away and creating confusion among them.

Honestly, the cavern corridors were all interconnected and this was a bit risky plan but if she didn't make the side corridors' guards busy, the risk would be way bigger. As long as she dealt with the guards in the middle corridor quickly enough, she might even be lucky enough to lower the number of ANBU guards in the last defensive line with the actions of her clones.

It didn't take long for sounds to start spreading from neighboring corridors and Ringo grinned. The guards in front of her certainly looked restless enough as she watched them from behind a small protrusion on the wall near the ceiling, cowered in shadows, while her clone was a bit further away.

Ringo's clone planted a low-powered explosive tag on the wall of the corridor quite far away from the guards before taking an appropriate distance and hiding in the shadows as the exploding tag ignited.

The explosion alerted the guards almost instantly, making the two visible ones move towards the spot. They were far from the puddle and ceiling guy when they finally arrived only to see a scorched wall. But clone or not, Ringo was still way better at sneaking around... they didn't even manage to widen their eyes as two swords pierced their hearts from behind by the clone lurking in the shadows before it dispelled.

While the two visible guards went away, Ringo infused as much lighting chakra into a kunai and threw it towards the puddle guy. Not even glancing if he noticed and prepared to dodge, Ringo ran on the ceiling towards the ANBU hidden there. She could only hear a sizzling sound of lightning in water and a loud scream as her sword impacted the tanto of the last remaining ANBU, pushing him back. Clearly, her kunai hit spot-on.

Ringo could see the minuscule widening of the ANBU's eyes as he realized just who was clashing swords with him and... panicked. After all, not every day one found himself crossing blades with a legend from his village. His hesitation lasted barely a split second. A small flinch that would mean nothing in front of most jonin but alas, Ringo was not most jonin. Her instincts flared and before even she herself knew it, her sword slightly tapped her enemy's blade away, with minimal strength in order to do it as soundlessly as possible, before the tip of her sword quickly found its way into the ANBU's chest. The man was dying before he finally recollected his wits.

Ringo's eyes also widened in surprise at how she reacted and she only barely managed to catch his body and stick it to the ceiling with her chakra as she flattened herself by laying on her back there just in time for a unit of four ANBU to run under her through the corridor.

'Fortunately, they are too busy to look up.' Ringo mentally sighed, hopping onto the floor and with a quick flick of her wrist, she threw the cloak of the corpse currently sticking onto the ceiling around her shoulders and put his mask on.

Sure, she will probably be discovered if someone pays her too much attention but now? When the second defensive line in the cave is 'under attack'? Ringo doubted anyone would care about one masked ANBU walking around.

Ringo walked through the corridors, avoiding the rushing ANBU. Whenever she met such a group, she pretended to make haste as if she was going to report... and nobody really even raised an eyebrow at her despite her heading deeper into the cave rather than to check out the commotion.

The further she walked, the more apparent it became that the chunin and jonin were just a diversion. In the cave must have been stationed at least a hundred ANBU and compared to that, the first two defense lines were quite pathetic.

Ringo really couldn't help but chuckle and praise herself for making many of the ANBU head outside of the third defense line in order to check out whatever setup her clones made. From time to time, she could even hear explosions going off and only one of her four shadow clones on the sides dispelled so far. Honestly, reputation or not, she didn't like her chances at sneaking inside with such skilled sentries all over it. The entire place was more guarded than a damn castle of a major Daimyo!

After twenty minutes of walking through the cavern corridors that resembled a labyrinth, Ringo finally arrived at the main hall where the sealing of the Sanbi just finished. The whole room was big, almost massive, with a stone altar covered in seals and four big crude stone pillars covered in big sealing tags. On the altar, a small naked form of teenage female laid, only her Konoha forehead protector was still on her head as she drooled onto the altar and occasionally twitched from pain.

Ringo winced when she saw the girl. Killing might have been her job but she at least made sure to make it as painless as possible whenever the target was not somebody deserving it. The girl on the altar though, she was clearly put through hellish pain and her brain was still in the process of rebooting.

Ringo didn't wait and walked towards the girl while discreetly molding her lighting chakra. Before anyone even noticed her actions, she was sufficiently close to the altar and that's when all hell broke loose. The old farts that were Kiri Seal Master tried to desperately distance themselves, the guarding ANBU tried to rush closer to Ringo, and Ringo clapped her hands.

A loud bang resonated through the cave before a static noise unbalanced everyone in range. The second this happened, powerful lighting tendrils coursed out of Ringo's connected palms, creating a cage around the altar, completely cutting out the guards.

'To think this is not even a Jutsu yet, just an exercise for manipulation of my lightning chakra...' Ringo smirked and walked towards the girl before she took a sealing tag given to her by Rei and after twenty minutes of trying drew some of the Sanbi's chakra into it. Mission completed, Ringo sighed as she saw her lightning cage being surrounded by no less than thirty ANBU and flexed her chakra.

The lighting cage instantly morphed but the ANBU guards didn't have time to rush in since the lightning took shapes of various animals... bears, wolves, dogs, deers, and many more, before it started engaging the ANBU who did their damnedest to avoid the moving concentrated lightning constructs. The biggest of them, however, was a big Chinese dragon made of lightning that rammed its head into the side of the cave, creating a way out through the wall.

Ringo briefly glanced at the waking girl on the altar and shook her head before uncaringly walking out.

'And just like that, the last piece is collected.'