Chapter 13: Chapter 13 - Chase
The cloud ninjas gave chase after the black shadow shuttling through the rows of houses, with the shinobi with horns on his forehead in lead.
*woosh*
*woosh*
*woosh*
In a blur of motion, they were already out of the village. Noticing that they weren't moving any closure, the horned shinobi increased his chakra output, leaving a faint boom and air pressure, and moved ahead of his group.
With a grim expression, he finished a few hand seals in a second, inhaled deeply and spewed out a hurricane of sharp wind blades.
"Wind release : Great Breakthrough"
*Swish
*Swish
*Boom
Shinjo was, but a 7 year old child. Despite his expertise in assasination, he had very less frontal combat strength. In a moment, he was swept off his feet, crashing through the trees and breaking a few of them at great speed. Once his momentum stopped, he regained control of his movement and slid to a stop and along with him, the trio of cloud shinobi slid to a stop, surrounding him.
'10 seconds' Shinjo muttered under his breath, calming his erratic breath and controlling his esophagus to not spill any blood.
"A child? Oh how Konoha has fallen. Sending a kid to a border mission." The horned shinobi implied with a grin. He was quite relaxed at the moment.
The eldest in the group cautioned, "He managed to kill Totoi, an elite chunin. He must have his companions and a jonin guide, seeing how strong he is for his age. Be careful, Shukaku"
The third, a lady in her 20s didn't say anything, prepared a fuma shuriken and began sealing hand signs with the other hand.
"Lightning release : Thunder flash"
Zzzzzz!!
with that, she jumped and sent the shuriken now covered with lightning towards Shinjo at a frightening speed.
"Earth release : Earth wall"
Shinjo swift and precise, finished handseals in a fraction of a second and ducked under a diagonal slash coming from his side and slapped his hand on the ground. A wall of rock rose and blocked the path of the lightning infused fuma shuriken. Then he stretched one of his leg to shift his weight and got out of the way under the sword slash from Shukaku in a single motion. While his hands completed another seal and the moment his other feet joined, he stomped on the ground,
"Earth release : Rock thorn bed jutsu" a column of sharp rocky thorns emerged from the ground, blocking the path of the elderly shinobi who was moving into attack.
The momentum of the fuma shuriken dropped but it fragmented the earth wall, giving the kunoichi a line of sight to him. Shukaku was beginning to swing his sword again and the rock thorns were being broken by the elderly shinobi with a few lightning charged fists. Sweeping his eyes once, he grabbed a piece of rock broken from the earth wall and flying towards him, passed a high frequency chakra pulsar pulverizing it to numerous small pieces and fired them at the close-by Shukaku, point blank.
*Thud
*Thud
*Thud
*Thud
*Thud
The resulting dust somewhat covered the area, giving him a chance to get out of the encirclement.
'20 seconds' His inner muttering was broken by a loud shout from Shukaku, "FUCK! I am going to rip you apart, YOU BRAT!"
With that, he continued his retreat towards the supposed direction his teammates would come. He was sure they noticed the explosion by now. He couldn't afford to engage 2 jonins and a chunin in a fight. They had the numbers and strength and judging by their coordination, the experience too. Though he had managed to dodge, once they get used to his style, he would die.
After him, the trio gave chase again, this time a lot more serious. From what they had seen, the kid was strong for his age. They couldn't let him grow up, had to nip him in the bud. With Shukaku in lead, the kunoichi and the elderly flanking him, they stuck close to Shinjo, 5 meters behind him.
The kunoichi kept firing her lightning charged shurikens, predicting and intercepting his retreat, while Shukaku kept sending wind based medium range attacks and the elderly shinobi tried to affect him using genjutsu.
Shinjo, amidst the onslaught, was gradually bottoming out in chakra, he was only above average in chakra capacity, thanks to his Senju lineage. While he tried to keep calm, panick was setting in, his breathing hitched each time his dodge was intercepted. He near fell victim to one of the wind based attacks coming from an angle. The saving grace in this was he was relatively unaffected by the genjutsu, otherwise he would have been in dire situation, facing attacks from 2 jonins and 1 chunin simultaneously.
His breathing ragged, he muttered, '40 seconds'
Due to a momentary lapse, his right leg was struck with a fuma shuriken. The lightning paralysed him for a few second.
*Aghhhh.....
He grunted in pain and collided with a tree branch, during which the horned guy moved in for the kill. Shinjo sensing immediate danger, turned around after the first collision facing the attack. After that, came the second collision, which made him lose his breath, eyes losing focus for a moment.
*Boom
*Gasps
Using his sheer spirit and predicting the direction of the blade incoming, he shifted to the left, before he collided with the third tree, breaking it by the way and slip 10 meters before stopping. A new kunai embedded in his right shoulder.
The trio stopped on the tree branches, once again surrounding the kid, looking down on him with haughty gazes. Seconds wasted, made Shinjo feel grateful for his enemies. Standing up with shaky breathes, his face hardened with pain and left hand holding his right shoulder.
'55'
The horned guy jumped and moved in for the kill, with a kunai aimed for his heart.
.....
From the distant, a faint boom could be heard. Air giving way to a blured figure, that was visually stretched due to its speed. In but a moment, he neared the area where the figure saw his stundent in precarious situation and a horned cloud ninja mid-air about to strike him down.
His eyes glowed with a fierce red, a fast rotating circle could be seen in it. After landing on a branch, he increased the force, with rage and panic apparent on his face, he shot towards the figure mid-air, this time truly breaching the sound barrier.
He arried before the sound did, and before anyone could react, plunged his own kunai fiercely in his heart. The two figures moved a little distance ahead, breaking the tree where they landed. Only then the sound arrived with a continuous roar, covering the area with dust.
*Zzzmmmmm
After the dust settled, the elderly had already sensed the newcomer and moved back to the kunoichi. Whoever had arrived, was way beyond their league. Perhaps only Kinkaku-sama would be able to contend with him.
Truly, what he saw next sent a shiver down his spine. He saw Shukaku laid on the newcomer's arm, his body folded into two from the chest. Already dead. And the fierce flow of red. Born in warring states, he was no stranger to the appearance of the new guy. An Uchiha!!!!
Without a word, he picked up the kunoichi and bursted with full strength and retreated. Lightning burning fiercely on his body.
.....
Kagami, seeing his pupil still standing, made a judgement and threw away the body and gave chase after a second.
Due to the frantic retreat, the cloud ninja was already far ahead, but it was nothing for him. With another leap, he vanished. After a moment, the air rippled and roared.
Seeing his sensei vanishing, Shinjo limped to a nearby broken tree and leaned on it to take a rest. He had come close to death twice in a single day. He thought he had been prepared for the life of shinobi. But only now did he understand the peril he was in, every second of this life. He felt melancholic in this strange land, away from home. He missed the security of his family. But then he remembered, he was the heir of his clan, the responsibilities a massive weight on his shoulder. His shoulders sagged, feeling the pain in his right shoulder, despair set in. He wasn't afraid of dying, but the consequences his death would bring.
His life wasn't his anymore. Who would take care of his unborn sister, in this dog eats dog world. He had to be there. Every step of the way. A pillar of security to his family, as his father was to him.
'And also', he muttered, a picture of a smiling cute girl appeared in his mind.
He looked at the corpse he was avoiding till now that laid a few meters from him and the gruesome view made his stomach churn. The horned shinobi laid there, only now folded into two from the chest, he could see rib bones sticking out. Blood flowed nonstop. His head had snapped his way, the vacant eyes, now lifeless staring towards him. A horn missing. Lifeless. He vomited, then and there.
A human, a shinobi dressed properly and talking and shouting moments ago, now laid lifeless, meeting a gruesome death. The sheer difference between the two states invoked a sense of disconnect in him. He couldn't process what he was feeling and what he was supposed to feel, except for the disgust for the gruesome sight, that instinctively evoked fear in him. He was seeing the result of his training, in the form of corpse now. A lot of life would be lost at his hands in the future, some more gruesome than this. He had been trained as a killer and this would be his life, until death.
Under this palpable desperation, his head swung weakly towards the distance. There he saw shadows of 2 figures, standing on a hill looking his way. He cautioned himself, how could he have relaxed his guard? All it took was one day for him to forget everything he had learned. Truly. Only in the face of death, would one's true nature come out.
He sighed.
.....
In the distant hill, stood two figures. Contrary to what Shinjo assumed, here the two figures were shaking in their legs, nearly shat their pants in fear. They had the first seat view of all that was happening. From the chase, to battle of ninjutsus, the destruction and the violent death of one shinobi at the end.
They were the two patrolling bandits, that Shinjo had overheard before. They looked at each other, seeing determination in each other's eyes, they desperately ran towards the land of hotspring. Leaving a dust in their wake.
.....
After a few minutes, his teammates finally arrived next to him. Seeing that they were his comrades, he relaxed slightly.
Sakumo approached, a few dust marks and a scratch on his cheek, he didn't say anything and started giving fast aid to him. Taking out the kunai in one motion, blood spurted out and Shinjo grunted in pain.
He dressed down the wound and applied pressure while wrapping up a gauge and clothes around it. They were still in the woods, where dangers abound. They had to return to the village and make a report.
While Shinjo was being treated, Kagami arrived with an unconscious ninjas in each hand, asked with a concerned voice,
"Shinjo, are you okay?"
"Hai, sensei, its not serious as it looks. Didn't reach my chest, so I am fine for now." Shinjo replied weakly, while Sakumo placed his right hand in a sling around his neck.
"Alright, lets get moving, Ryuga, you will lead the way back to the village. I will cover the rear, while Sakumo stay in the middle with Shinjo. There may be reinforcement arriving. We need to inform the border patrol and get back to the village fast."
They all nodded and started moving, albeit at a slower speed.
.....
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
rorschach
rorschach I can't help but feel something is missing from the story so far. Feels like I can't see the whole picture of what I have written.
If anyone sees something amiss, please let me know in the comments.
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