章 14: Chapter 14: Lake-side Excursions
*Thk Thk* gentle footsteps resounded throughout the forest as a pair of footprints appeared on the snow. The crunching snow echoing through the dark forest, bouncing off the tall trees, their branches high in the air and filled with needle leaves. The moon distant and full, its radiance reflecting off the white frost covering the ground. There was not another soul to be seen, not another voice to be heard. In this place frozen in time, there was a lone cloaked figure, disrupting the quiet slumber of this wintery place as it trudged onwards through, passing the sparsely placed trees and coming upon a vast silver lake. A gasp escaped his mouth as his breath struggled to calm his mind. "It's beautiful."
There it lay, a vast silvery lake in the middle of a green forest. There was no chirping of birds this late at night, no singing of crickets in this cold, no playful giggles of the children. There was nothing to disturb this sleeping beauty as it lay there, without a single ripple or gust of wind, shrouded in the soft duvet of the moonlight.
The figure sighed in resignation and regret, for he knew that his presence would destroy this peace even if he didn't wish for it to happen. His was a life of chaos and destruction, everywhere he would go, only death would follow.
A smile slowly crept on Shin's face as he monologued in his mind about how cool and mysterious he looked right now, 'Maybe I should write a journal and get it published after I retire as a ninja, speaking of…' *Woosh Woosh Woosh* The silent night betrayed the intentions of the attackers as Shin dodged 3 shuriken headed towards him by jumping to the side. Before him 4 figures emerged from the shadows. "The odds seem hardly fair. How about a 1v1?" Shin smiled at his attackers, '2 genin and 2 chunin but only 1 has the stats of a real chunin with Level 34, we can take them. But Shimogakure? This was unexpected.'
"How about you come peacefully and maybe you can live a few days longer." the lead chunin "kindly" suggested with a smirk. "I wonder if my friend got the same choice." Shin was fishing for information, something that didn't go unnoticed by the enemy as he decided to play along, "He did. He refused… and he died." The chunin widely grinned as his teammates joined in the evil snickering. "Well that's that I suppose." Shin sent 6 shurikens flying at the laughing men, catching them off guard. The four quickly drew their kunais to deflect the shurikens when they suddenly changed directions, avoiding the two chunin all together and striking the 2 genins. The sudden shift caused all of them to pause before one of the genin used a substitution just while the other tried to dodge.
"Ghaaa!" "UGhh!" Two screams cut through the silent night, the genin may have avoided some of the shurikens but not all of them, both of them had been hit; one on the left shoulder and one in the chest and right arm. The Chunin were surprised at the quick turn of events as they saw their comrades bleeding but suddenly remembered the cause of this and turned towards Shin. Shin had taken out his sword and charged towards the leader in a low stance. The leader threw his kunai and jumped back to gain some distance but the knife passed right through Shin as hands emerged from the ground and dragged the man underground. The other chunin jumped forward to help his comrade but suddenly whipped around and deflected 2 shurikens before ducking down to avoid a kunai flying towards his head. "There are more!?" he yelled into the darkness as another hooded figure appeared holding a sword.
Atsuki ran towards his target who readied himself but Atsuki changed directions midway to attack the injured genin. The chunin tried to attack but had to turn around to dodge another set of shurikens that circled back at him, leaving him no choice but to deflect them again before defending against a charging Shin.
The man saw the genin's struggle against Atsuki so gnashed his teeth and yelled, "GO BACK! GET THE OTHERS!" The genins immediately nodded to each other as one of them turned and ran. 'Others? We have to finish this quickly.' Shin pushed away the chunin and weaved his hands into seals, 'Wind Scythe Jutsu!' he waved his hands as a wave of air swept towards the chunin who went through hand seals as water rose and enveloped him. Inside the water prison, the chunin weaved his hands again and the water fell before he spit out a jet of water at Shin. Shin dodged the oncoming jet of water as he made seals before slamming his hands on the ground, 'Earth Shore Return!' raising the earth into a wall to block the water. The chunin took this opportunity to get closer as he jumped over the wall, catching Shin off guard, "Got you now you damn Kumo bastard!" the man yelled as he struck down with his kunai. *whish* "What the?!" the man exclaimed as the knife passed through Shin. The chunin's thoughts immediately went to his now dead comrade and he immediately jumped up, in the air he looked at the ground, waiting for SHin to jump up, missing the pair of hands that were emerging from the earth wall that had blocked his jutsu.
"Ghuaa!" The man yelled as a sword stabbed his heart through the back, "D-damn you Kumo ninja!" He cursed as he looked back at Shin before starting to laugh, "Ghahaha, you think you've won? There is another team, I bet they've already killed your friend, just like that spy!" the man laughed in hysteria. Shin's eyes widened as he looked around, 'Atsuki is gone! Don't tell me he went to chase that genin!?' "You damn Kumo nin-" Shin Ignored the man, simply slashing his neck before jumping into the forest. 'Atsuki you idiot! You better not be dead or I am going to kill you!'
Shin ran through the forest at top speed before coming to a stop at the sight of blood. His grip around the kunai tightened as he rushed forward. There were bodies littered all around the, 'atleast 5, there really was another team.' Shin cursed as his eyes were drawn to a blooded body of a boy and a purple haired woman whose hands glowed a hue of green as she pressed them over the boy. "Fujio sensei!" Shin ran to her, "Is he ok?" he asked while taking a closer look at Atsuki. There were deep cuts on his stomach and arms, "He'll live, but we need to get him to a proper hospital." She replied as the light stopped and she sighed in relief. "We need to leave before more ninjas show up. Follow me." She grabbed Atsuki and Shin nodded as they ran out of the forest.
The two didn't stop until they reached the land of hot springs where Atsuki got the treatment in one of the secret Konoha safehouses which functioned as an Inn-cum-hotspring. Atsuki was in recovery for a day and finally on the 6th day the trio started to make their way back home at a slow pace since Atsuki couldn't keep up the usual pace. During that time, the team came across a merchant group being attacked but a few bandits. Shin recognised the merchant as the same one they had hitched a ride with to the land of frost so Shin got Fujio's permission to help out. Shin simply went in, killed the bandits and told the merchants that they were now under the protection of Konoha and disappeared, a bit of publicity never hurt anyone right.
The trio had to stop more often due to Atsuki's injuries and during one such stop Shin decided to ask Fujio the question he had been dying to ask, "Fujio sensei, I didn't know you could use medical ninjutsu." Fujio simply nodded, "hm? Yah. I'm not very good at it though. Nothing more than fixing small cuts and bruises." "Still, it's incredible." Shin praised at which Fujio happily smiled, "Well, guess you could say I am incredible huh." "You think I could learn it?" Shin asked her to which she nodded, "I don't see why not, your chakra control is already good enough. I can introduce you so someone I know. Besides we won't be doing any missions for a while because this idiot." Fujio cast a stare at Atsuki who flinched. The poor boy had been chewed out by Fujio many times from the moment he woke up after getting the treatment. According to Fujio the two of them should've just investigated without engaging in combat since that was all their mission required, or atleast retreated after quickly defeating the 1st squad instead of chasing the second one.
The team returned to Konoha the last last of the mission, heading directly to the hospital to get ATsuki admitted while Fujio introduced Shin to a medical ninja who agreed to train him. After that, Shin and Fujio went to the Hokage office to report on their mission. Hokage laughed when Shin told him about their disguises and praised when he told them about how he defeated 2 chunins by himself, "Very impressive Shin. Not many can boast that level of prowess just half a year after graduation and at such a young age. I'm sure you'll be a great ninja someday." Shin smiled at the man's praise. "But you have been reckless, you must promise me that you will be more careful in the future. There will be many chances for you to prove yourself, and send my regards to Atsuki-kun as well." Hrisuzen continued. "Yes lord Hokage!" Shin bowed before he was dismissed.
As Shin left the Hokage office with a smile, in an underground cavern, somewhere in Konoha, a shadow appeared next to Danzo,"Fujio's team has returned from their mission. According to the report, the spy was killed by Shimogakure who thought they were from Kumo." "Good, the spy completed his mission then." Danzo spoke without any change of tone or expression. Seeing as the shadow had not left, he inquired, "Something else?" "Yes lord Danzo, according to the report, the boy Shin claims to have killed 2 of the Shimogakure chunin by himself." the shadow replied. Danzo narrowed his eyes, 'His growth is quite astonishing. He might just be able to match Kakashi in talent.' "Shimogakure chunin can hardly be called ninja. Nonetheless, send someone to keep an eye on him." Danzo commanded as the shadow disappeared and Danzo opened the book he had been reading; it was more akin to a journal than a book and had depictions of the different stages of the Sharingan.
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