Chapitre 258: CH_7.40 (258)
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
The team stalked their way into a manor that was confirmed as the residence of the ROOT team in the dead of night. Despite their timing, getting into the mansion was a struggle because of the city-wide lockdown. There were hyper-vigilant shinobi stationed at every street corner and building in preparation for the upcoming invasion.
Some parts of the city were practically abandoned because the civilians had been evacuated out of their homes and forced to move to the far side of the village—as far away from the side which would be attacked—to keep them safe from getting caught in the crossfire. With the number of shinobi involved, there would be considerable property damage regardless of both side's desire to minimise damage.
The lights in hallways had been on since before the sun completely set and had remained lit even after midnight.
"There is someone keeping an eye on the mansion," Daiki whispered into the wireless comms.
He noticed two shinobi hiding in the shadows, stalking the mansion just like they were doing. They were far apart from each other, covering different vantage points. He spotted them when he had taken a round of the property to get a better feel for their surroundings.
"Only two?" Anko asked through the comms.
"I only noticed two."
"Should we get rid of them?" asked Kameko.
"Let's wait and observe for now." Anko paused for a moment. "It seems like the Hidden Frost doesn't trust them and are having them monitored. They might be a problem when we go in; we will have to take care of them. Team A will take the one on the right; Team B takes the other one."
The team had split themselves into two parties. Anko and Daiki were on Team A. Takuma, Rikku, and Kameko were on Team B. Iori was near the front gates of the city so she could quickly rush to deliver the information.
———
.
Inside the manor, Kon and his team were getting to leave. Their house staff had been sent away to evacuate with the rest of the civilian population. His team had been going through the building with a fine-toothed comb to erase all and every trace of their existence. It was standard procedure when an ANBU team needed to disappear from a location they had been residing in.
"Sir, we've detected a few individuals on the property."
Kon was packing up his belongings when his subordinate came in with the information that he was expecting.
"How many?" he asked.
"Five individuals. Two of them are alone on either side of the building and there's a group of three."
"Five? That's more than a lot."
With an invading force nearly on their doors, Ebi would need every man to mount a proper defence. Putting five men to monitor him was wasting his resources, and Kon didn't consider Ebi to be a man of emotion who would make such a decision just because he didn't like him. And yet he couldn't deny that there were five men on the property.
"Well, putting any men on us was foolish to begin with. It's not like they can stop us," said Kon as he looked at the large property out of the window.
He had brought six people with him to Yu. One of them had died during their ambush of Takuma, which left five people. Two of them could easily contest against a combat-focused chunin while the other three were more than any average genin handle. Even if Ebi had put five men on him, there was no way they could match his team's firepower. The moment the Hidden Leaf hit the city, he and his team would be free to leave.
"Should we take care of them, sir?"
"Leave them be, there's no benefit in getting rid of them. But if they overstep their bounds..."
Kon gave his subordinate a look who nodded before leaving.
———
.
Yumi was a Hidden Frost genin stationed at the corridors on city walls. She clutched her bo-staff nervously as she looked out towards the landscape outside the city in front of her. Everyone had been told that the city would be attacked today and given that she was at the wall, she was part of the first line of defence.
She had ground experience with shinobi combat, but this was going to be unlike anything she had ever faced. An entire army of shinobi would be attacking the city and she was at the forefront. Even if she was ordered to fallback for any reason or wanted to desert, she was at the furthest point and would need to travel a long distance rife with danger if she wanted to escape.
She touched the thick walls that protected the city; it was made by shinobi and provided her with some sense of security—and she was above ground, which put some distance between her and the invaders.. Moreover, two of four jonin were also stationed on the wall, which was the biggest protection she could ask for.
"H-Hey, I s-see something."
Someone fifteen metres away shouted as he looked out with a fearful expression on her face.
The landscape outside Yu was flat greenland. There were trees, but they weren't dense enough to cover the entire land, leaving no way to hide while approaching the city. Yumi widened her eyes as she leaned against the ledge and squinted. That's when she saw a huge crowd of shinobi dressed in Hidden Steam red running towards the city.
"T-They're here," she stuttered and then shouted, "Sound the alarms!"
A few seconds later, loud and harsh bells were ringing to announce the arrival of the enemy.
———
.
Outside Yu, the shinobi of Camp Banana and the Hidden Steam's forces laid their eyes on tall walls that protected the city. They were all dressed in Hidden Steam colours and were moving in formation towards the city. After six hours, they had finally arrived at their destination and the tension was palpable.
The chunin had begun their final go-throughs with their teams. Shirakumo was in the front of the forces and was preparing internally to give a speech to motivate the forces when one of the genin manning a radio ran up to him.
"Sir, we have a message."
The genin held up the speaker of his radio pack on his back and a familiar voice crackled,
"This is Genin Iori serving under Chunin Anko as part of the precursor mission. Reply if you're picking up this frequency. Over!"
Shirakumo recalled the fuin-nin part of Anko's team and gave a nod to the genin to reply.
"We can hear you, Genin Iori. Please proceed. Over."
Iori's urgent voice sounded out from the speaker."Thank god! I thought I was doing something wrong. I have critical information regarding the enemy—"
Shirakumo thought something had gone wrong and they would need to make some urgent last-minute adjustment when Iori dropped a bomb he wasn't expecting.
"—In the time since we sent our final report, we managed to assassinate a jonin and four chunin. The enemy has been unable to replace them, and are thus weaker. Please make suitable adjustments as the enemy is now weaker than what we previously reported. Over."
There were quite a few people around Shirakumo who could hear Iori's words, and they all looked at each other in shock. The precursor team had managed to kill... a jonin? It was utterly unbelievable as even if the entire team banded together, they wouldn't stand a chance against a jonin.
Shirakumo took the radio receiver from the genin and paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking, "This is Jonin Shirakumo. Can you confirm that you just said that you killed one of the jonin... Over."
Iori's response came almost immediately, "Yes, sir! The jonin was killed in an explosion at a gathering. The death was confirmed! Over."
"... Understood. Good job, Genin Iori. Over," said Shirakumo. He looked at the genin as he handed the receiver back. "Contact Jonin Toridasu—Forget it, I'll go to him directly."
Shirakumo leapt across dozens of people and landed right in front of Toridasu who had a sheen of sweat on him.
"Did you hear?" Shirakumo asked.
"Yes," Toridasu nodded as he practised cyclic breathing. "Do you need my help?"
They had five jonin against their four jonin. They were evenly matched before, but now Toridasu's assignment was dead, leaving him free to help other jonin in their fights. It was such a massive game-changer that it more than covered up for the enemy's advantage of being behind walls and having a better strategic position.
"No, don't help any of us. Instead support our troops."
Toridasu looked at Shirakumo for the first time and raised his eyebrow.
Shirakumo continued, "Clear out the enemy chunin and genin. Kill as many as possible, as quickly as possible. Even if their jonin are somehow able to push us back, they won't be able to hold the city because they won't have the foot soldiers necessary."
Killing the enemy jonin would also mean freeing the city, but Shirakumo was thinking about the safety of his own people. If they had Toridasu supporting them, not only would the casualties on their side be much lower, it would pressure the enemy jonin to flee as without their troops, they wouldn't be able to control the city even if they somehow were able to push them out.
Jonin were much more durable and were hard to kill—their fights lasted longer— and as long as the jonin were fighting, the genin and chunin would continue to fight as there was always a chance as long as the jonin were alive. But as the troops held hope for that, casualties from both sides would continue to rise.
Shirakumo did not want that to happen; he would rather protect his troops than take out enemy jonin.
Moreover, the mission wasn't to kill the jonin and weaken the enemy; it was to take back the city.
"You are soft," said Toridasu, making Shirakumo frown, "but... this is not the Land of Fire, and I'll take care of my men when they're far away from their home."
Shirakumo breathed a sigh of relief. Toridasu could've rejected his idea and imposed his own will, but he was relieved that Toridasu was cooperating.
"I'm ready," Toridasu said as he removed his haori and threw it to a nearby genin. "Time to invade a city."
———
.
Takuma had been sitting cross-legged behind a hedge with his eyes closed for the better part of an hour when the sound of sonorous bells reached his ear. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of city gates.
"It's started, they're here," Takuma said in the comms.
"What?" said Kameko, who was ten metres away from him.
Kameko and Rikku were positioned on either side of him, ten metres away from him. He removed his earphones and pointed to the sky, asking them to hear the faint bells—but before either one of them could follow up his instructions, Anko spoke up through the comms.
"We're going to be active in sixty seconds. Kill the Hidden Frost shinobi on your side as quietly as possible before proceeding towards the manor. Over."
All of them did a quick equipment check and got ready to fight. Before they packed away their comms as they would get in the way, Takuma announced to Rikku and Kameko, "I'll take care of the Hidden Frost shinobi. Just follow me."
Both of them looked at him for a moment and made a quick decision as the seconds ran down.
"Okay," said Kameko.
As Anko started the ten second countdown, Takuma put the Hidden Frost shinobi in his sights. He imagined a mask over his face and the phantom feel of his warm breath against his skin—it was comforting and blocked out unnecessary thoughts and allowed him to focus on what was in front of him. He could see the shinobi's back, who had no idea that he was behind him. It was a common phenomenon—people who watched a place lost sight of their own surroundings as they were focused on their target.
"3...2...1... Go! Go! Go!"
Takuma ducked out from the bush hedge and ran towards the shinobi to close the distance between them as Rikku and Kameko followed behind him.
He raised his hands and weaved hand seals.
Earth Release: Hiding in the Rock Jutsu
Rikku and Kameko were surprised when he disappeared into the ground without a warning.
He was gone for a full four seconds, but then he emerged a couple steps behind the Hidden Frost shinobi, who heard him appear behind and turned back—but it was too late as Takuma pulled the shinobi's head towards his chest while covering the mouth with the hand and then slit the throat with a kunai before quickly following up with a stab at the heart.
It was all so quick that by the time Rikku and Kameko arrived, the shinobi was long dead.
"Let's keep moving."
———
.
Inside the manor, everything was packed up and the ROOT team was ready to leave when the bells announcing the arrival of the enemy forces went off. Kon and three of his men were sitting in a room while the other two were keeping an eye on the two Hidden Frost shinobi who were monitoring the manor.
"Should we move out, sir?" asked one of Kon's subordinates.
"Yes, we should," Kon replied, sighing.
Objectively speaking, the mission to convert Yu to the Land of Frost's side couldn't be seen as success. He and his team had done a great job at the start to develop feelings of displeasure and abandonment towards the Land of Hot Water, all the while slowly making them comfortable towards the idea of joining the Land of Frost. It was tough when the shinobi supporting the Goharu Family were acting like tyrants, but he had managed to work with what he was given.
Things only went south when the damned Takuma entered the situation.
Kon clicked his tongue.
Even though the cockroach hadn't shown up much during his time in the city, his impact had been huge. He had spread too much chaos, disrupting the lives of civilians, and causing them to feel less secure under the new rule. The amount of damage he had done in the short amount of time had rolled back a significant amount of his progress.
It had taken a long time to build that positive image. Takuma's arrival and meddling destroyed the vast majority of that work. However Kon wasn't worried that this mission would reflect harshly on him. With the Hidden Leaf forces invading the city to take it back for the Hidden Frost, it didn't matter how he did. He could spin the narrative in his support—that he did his work properly at high competence, but the Hidden Frost forces weren't able to defend the city, making his contribution moot.
Did he think that Ebi would be able to defend the city? No. The moment the jonin was killed in the blast, they had lost. The most Ebi could accomplish was to punish the other side by killing their shinobi, but keeping Yu was a pipe dream.
"Sir, the shinobi monitoring us just killed one of their own. Over."
The radio comms on the table crackled as one of Kon's subordinates keeping an eye on the shinobi reported in.
"What?" Kon uttered, confused.
Then the second subordinate outside tuned in.
"Sir, two new unknowns just spotted. They killed the shinobi monitoring us. Over"
The ROOT agents in the room all stood up. Clearly something was wrong when two people who were monitoring them were just killed within ten seconds of each other.
"It's him..."
They all looked at Kon who spoke barely above a whisper.
Kon knew that the Hidden Leaf would know about ROOT's presence in Yu, and that ANBU might accompany the invading forces. Because they were in hiding, on the run, he had excluded the possibility that the Hidden Leaf team already inside the company would after him. But just like Ebi suspected him of leaving the city, they had also suspected him of leaving and were now targeting him before he had the chance to leave.
"It's Takuma... He is coming for me."
Kon wasn't scared. Not at all. In fact, he was excited. He wanted to kill the thorn in his side, and he wasn't going to miss this chance when it was being served up right in front of him.
He started to laugh and continued laughing while his subordinates stared at him in silence.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
Chapitre 259: CH_7.41 (259)
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
[ https://www̧̧.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
Anko swiftly withdrew her kunai from within the Hidden Frost shinobi. Her eyes then shifted to the three-storey U-shaped manor owned by one of the Yu's wealthy blown up by Takuma's clone blast. A lush perimeter of trees surrounded the building, encircling a meticulously maintained shrub hedge maze.
However, as they advanced towards the building, all cover disappeared, heightening the risk of detection. Anko's gaze swept across the windows, a task she had been diligently performing for the past few hours. Her eyes halted abruptly on a window near the far left, where, in a heartbeat, she caught the fleeting glimpse of a man just as he disappeared behind the wall.
They had been seen. The enemy knew they were coming.
"We've been caught," she told Daiki.
"Crap," he muttered nervously.
The two groups converged at the manor's heavy double doors.
Anko informed Team B of the news, to which they responded with heavy nods.
"We're going to take it slow. Stick close, don't disappear from sight, and keep cover."
She maintained a steadfast front as the leader but was nervous about this undertaking. Having left Iori behind, their headcount was reduced to five. According to Aranai, the ROOT team had seven people, and given that one of them had died, their headcount was six, which put her team at a numerical disadvantage.
Moreover, she clearly remembered a bastard of a sensei telling her that ROOT agents were dangerous—not because they were talented, but because of the training the agents were put through. She wasn't concerned about herself. From what Takuma had told her—regardless of how limited his information was—she was confident that she could take out the leader.
However, if their goal were to exterminate the ROOT team, her confidence ended there. Even if she killed the leader, Team-9 would still be outnumbered and for all she knew, the other ROOT agents could far surpass her subordinates in strength.
They were going in with the little information Takuma had brought back from his fight with the leader and his agents. Thankfully, they were only there to take an agent or two away—which was still very dangerous, but she thought her team had a better chance to succeed without casualties.
Though there was no such thing as a guarantee on an active field mission. Things could go south in an instant.
She signalled to Takuma and pointed at the doors. The team quickly fell back, creating a safe distance. Takuma launched a second form augmented punch; the burst of chakra hit the panes, broke the latch on the other side, and forced the doors open. He immediately jumped back, prepared for potential booby-trapped explosives, but the doors remained still and the entryway looked clear.
They swiftly entered the building with full heads of caution and slowly spread out in the expansive three-storey foyer, where the open corridors on the upper floors could be seen from the lower levels.
A doorway in the front led deeper into the house, and a staircase led up in the corner. Anko motioned the team to stay on the ground floor before moving up. Just as they were about to proceed deeper, a kunai with an explosive tag fluttering on its tail descended from the first floor.
Kameko was the first one to notice and yelled,
"Explosion—clear!"
Everyone jumped towards the walls to clear out of the way. The explosive tag burst near the floor, scorching the gleaming marble and ruining the lush carpet, but the warning saved anyone from getting injured.
Anko jumped to the first-floor corridor railings and saw a man making a break towards a corner. She threw a volley of shuriken, but they were deflected, and the ROOT agent disappeared behind the corner.
She didn't rush after them and called the team up. Around the corner was a small corridor with an open room at the end. Halfway through, a ROOT agent emerged before the open door and released a powerful gust of wind from his mouth,
Wind Release: Breakthrough jutsu.
The gust of wind slammed full force into Anko. She flew through the air and crashed out of a window. As she fell to the manor grounds, Anko saw a duo of ROOT agents standing on the walls of the manor above the window she shattered. They hurled volleys of shuriken and kunai at her while she was in mid-air, unable to change directions, and did her best to deflect the rain of metal coming for her.
Two kunai got her in the leg—one only grazed her, but the other one made a significant gash below her knee—a third sliced through her side.
She landed on the injured leg, sending a jolt of pain as she stumbled. The two ROOT agents jumped towards the ground and then rushed towards her as she landed on the ground off-balance—but the moment they moved forward, Daiki jumped out from the shattered window and launched an explosive tag tied to a kunai towards them. The ROOT duo were late to hear the flutter of the tag and tried to jump away, but the tag exploded when the kunai struck the ground and caught the duo at the edge of the blast radius, throwing them to the side.
Anko used the time to find her balance and weaved hand seals for theFire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu. She spewed an invisible stream of chakra that struck one agent and jumped to the other, and with a final tiger seal, flames sparked at her lips, igniting the streams.
The flames coalesced into a roaring dragon in front of her and the flames washed over her, surging ahead. One of the agents swept a chakra-coated hand through the stream, saving himself from a fiery death but the other wasn't so lucky. Daiki spat an oil globule at the escaping ROOT agent. It hit his gloved hand and ignited into fumes with the freshly chakra-infused oil.
The fire burned up his hand severely through the glove and his ally had managed to douse the flames in a nearby fountain but now was heavily damaged in the places that weren't heavily covered by gear.
Anko put some weight on her injured foot and hid a wince. The injury by no means put her out of the fight, but it was sure to slow her down, which could make all the difference in a fight. Fortunately, the two adversaries were injured as well, which levelled the playfield to some degree.
She glanced up at the shattered window; the team was now split, and she wasn't close enough to provide immediate help. It worried her, but she quickly returned her attention to the enemies before her. There were two of them, which was perfect in the sense that she could put them down quickly and have Daiki carry them off the property.
Then, she could support the rest of the team and get them away from the ROOT agents.
The combat came to a pause as the four shinobi looked at each other, ready to react in case anyone made a move. Anko looked between the two agents and suddenly rushed towards the more injured one—but the moment she moved, both agents moved towards Daiki.
'Shit!'
Her plans immediately changed. She shot towards the less-burned one and weaved a modified version of the Summoning Jutsu. It simplified the hand seals in exchange for limiting the scope of the summoning.
Hidden Shadow Snake Jutsu.
Half a dozen dark, long snakes, as thick as her arm, emerged from the oversized sleeves of her overcoat and flew towards her target; they bit into him and constricted his legs and body, tripping and temporarily stopping his pursuit of Daiki.
Despite her injury, she was still faster and stronger than the ROOT agent, and crashed into him. They wrestled on the ground, and Anko managed to mount him. She swung the kunai at his heart but an earthen spear struck her hand, knocking the kunai out of her hand Seizing the advantage, he struck her wounded side and kicked her away. A third ROOT agent stood on the manor house's roof with two earthen spears hovering over his shoulders. He sent down another spear with a swipe of his hand; Anko avoided it by rolling to the side.
"Rooftop!" Anko didn't forget to warn Daiki.
The second spear flew toward Daiki, who was moving already in the middle of an attack. He had to haphazardly twist his body at an awkward angle after Anko's callout. The front half of the earthen spear missed him, but the back half grazed his upper shoulder.
Anko jumped and placed herself in between Daiki and the three ROOT agents.
"We should—" Diaki tried to say something, but Anko silenced him.
"I know… just let me think," said Anko, taking in the enemies before her.
There were three ROOT agents to deal with—and only one was injured enough for it to make a real difference. It was clear that they were used to fighting together; the third hidden agent aiming for an opening was clearly a planned action. They were around the level of combat-forward chunin—if any of them got their hands on Daiki, he would be dead, which meant she had to protect him while she fought them.
Moreover, neither was the leader, Kon, which meant that the strongest of them was in the building.
The third agent dropped from the roof, and joined the most injured one. Together, they backed away until they were closer to the building, putting the most injured one on the back.
"Daiki, stay behind me and support me. Don't try to deal with them directly," she said.
The one with the burned hand was their vanguard, supported by the new arrival, who followed after him with his sword drawn. The agent in the back, seemingly not in pain at all, fitted several shuriken between scorched fingers and stood at the ready.
A large commotion induced by an explosion from inside the building reached them, stopping the exchange before it could begin. The ROOT agents shifted into a more defensive position and fell back to see what was happening inside the building.
Anko rushed toward the most injured one, ignoring the throbbing in her left. They didn't turn their eyes towards the building, but the sudden break in their plans was opportunity enough. The ROOT agents tried to put some distance between them, but she was faster. She pushed hard, even on the injured leg, and instantly closed in. She cracked him in the calf with a powerful kick and, in one fluid motion, pulled out three shurikens and threw them at the other two agents to keep them away. Returning to the heavily burned agent, Anko nailed him with two consecutive kicks to the head before pulling him close and spinning around. Using him as cover, she peered at the furthermost agent in the distance who was trying to strike her with an explosive tagged kunai.
The hesitation in his stance was enough for her to throw her human shield at the closer agent. He had a sword in his hands so he couldn't sidestep or catch his ally. The best he could do was make sure he didn't impale him in the collision but they still made full contact and fell.
Anko, now open, kept an eye on the only agent standing, who threw his explosive tag kunai toward her. She was about to jump away to dodge, which would put more distance between the two agents she had just disrupted—but another kunai flew from behind her and prevented it from reaching her.
She smiled as she sprinted toward the two agents, weaving the hand seals for a Fire-Release jutsu. Her left hand ignited with screaming fire. As the two agents rolled to their feet from the fall, she grabbed the scorched one and slammed her left hand into his throat, squeezing as the fire grew white-hot and ate through his neck, shoulders, and head.
His agonised screams died the instant the flames melted his voice box. Leaving his burning corpse to fall behind her, she sprinted towards the second agent, who still managed to maintain his grip over his sword.
"Now, this," Anko looked at the two remaining agents, "this is much more manageable."
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
109 Power
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