Naruto: Kage of Kages

Concluding his assessment of the situation, [Shiki] lowered his posture like a predator starting a hunt, his expression hollow.

‘Alright then . . .’

Without making a sound, he vanished in a blur of motion.

Each of the boy’s steps seemed to unpredictably push him forward like real stop motion.

His body shifted a slight bit and suddenly, he was metters ahead of his previous position, nearly no perceptible pre-motion and no sound to be heard.

As he weaved his way through the forest floor with blinding speed and predatory silence, [Shiki] sensed movement above.

‘And there they go.’ He thought, not even slowing down.

It was Zee’s group that was intending on helping Dogan capture him.

Unbeknownst to them, they had just crossed paths with their main target and the comrade they were going to support was no longer with them.

Even his corpse had been taken.

[Shiki]’s plan was simple.

Dodge the Kumo reinforcements heading for him using his Ryumon stealth and linking up with Tsunade and Inori to take out their opponents before turning back and chasing after the group he evaded.

A little more time passed and just before Zee’s group arrived at Dogan’s battlefield, [Shiki] had reached Tsunade and Inori’s battlefield with Dodai.

*

Before the boy’s arrival, his sensei had rendezvoused with the Senju princess, both of them quickly reaching an understanding to leave questions and answers to after the battle.

The Yamanaka jonin knew that ambushing the weaker chunin accompanying Dodai was the most efficient way to provide support, especially since she was too injured to fight at her usual elite jonin level.

Unfortunately, with the suspicious circumstances they all found themselves in, Inori feared Tsunade would react to her sudden appearance in a hostile manner and so she had no choice other than to openly approach in order to provisionally abate any suspicions.

At least enough so that they could cooperate in battle.

The moment the Violet Rose joined the field, Dodai was already thinking of bringing the fight towards Zee’s group, exactly the opposite of what he had been intending this whole time.

‘Yamanaka Inori did not escape even with serious injury . . . Did she figure there was no way to exonerate herself from this apparent collusion with Kumo if she did?’ He wondered.

‘No matter. She is a long to mid range specialist that is a far better support than a direct fighter so even with her injuries, so long as princess Tsunade holds the front, the situation is unfavorable for us.’

‘I can’t hold them back with just an elite chunin as backup. At this point, combining forces and then duking it out or retreating is the best option for both sides.’

Coming to this conclusion, The Kumo elite jonin made a signal to his subordinate to prepare a retreat to rejoin their comrades.

Tsunade and Inori naturally noticed these actions and like Dodai assumed, they were much in favor since it would free them up to go for Shiki since the fireworks going off at his location earlier made the two women very concerned.

With this mutual understanding, all of them, including a straining Inori, body flickered away intent on heading towards the blast site.

But all that shifted drastically in a flash.

Suddenly and without warning, blood sprayed through the air as the elite chunin accompanying Dodai was ripped from the sky during his Body Flicker.

“Who!?” Dodai was shocked and on guard.

Intercepting or blocking a body flicker is one thing but delivering a precise killing blow on a shinobi mid-flicker without letting anyone even sense your presence, that was dangerously shocking.

Quickly, Dodai, Inori and Tsunade located the culprit who now stood on the ground with them, blood dripping from the right hand he had used to claw out the kumo shinobi’s throat.

‘Chunin are indeed much easier to deal with.’ [Shiki] thought.

He paused his assault, one he had launched just not to let the enemy get away and rejoin their comrades.

‘The pain is almost gone . . .’ The boy counted the seconds while the three elite jonin present gawked.

[Shiki] had forcefully used some chakra earlier to make a few preparations just in case and though he did not black out since the adaptation was already underway, it still temporarily hampered him.

It did not really matter, it was just about fully recovered.

“Tsunade-sama, do heal up Inori-sensei. I’ll keep an eye on this gentleman from Kumo.” [Shiki] spoke, the utter emotionlessness in his voice disturbing those present.

Inori in particular felt it best with her empathic abilities, realizing her previous dread over the boy’s mental state when she first observed him was not only justified, it was far, far too weak compared to what she should have been feeling had she sensed deeper.

The Senju princess however, despite her misgivings, talked back as she was more familiar with him, even if in this case, that only blinded her to the truth.

The [Shiki] in front of her now was a hollow and unfeeling killing machine whose entire purpose in existence is to be the perfect living weapon, such is the way of the Ryumon.

Until the mission was done the boy was a danger to anyone he interacted with, only after would emotion flow back in.

“That’s an Elite Jonin, he’s not that easy.” Tsunade spoke.

But before Dodai could feel relief at that sort of attitude that might let him get away from the terrifying monster in front of him, it spoke back.

“I know. That other earth release specialist was one too. He died all the same.”

The boy’s words were like thunder in their ears.

Did this literal child that had barely crawled out of his dead mother’s wound really kill an elite jonin?

For Dodai, who understood Dogan’s ability and valued the man’s endurance and resilience the most out of all his traits, it was all the more shocking.

Inori too was rattled.

After all, she had become “intimately” familiar with Dogan during her last infiltration mission on Kumogakure.

The calmest perhaps out of ignorance, Tsunade immediately got to healing Inori, she realized Shiki’s intent was to jump Dodai who was isolated right now and then all three of them could focus on dealing with the rest of Kumo’s forces or retreat if they so wished.

Even if they backed out now, with Konoha suffering no casualties and Kumo taking major losses despite being the initiator and ambusher, it would still be a resounding victory.

Though the circumstances that allowed the ambush to happen in the first place would have to be discussed at length afterwards.

But the battlefield was everchanging and sometimes, plans just could not keep up.

This was one such time.

Zee, who had quickly reached Dogan’s battlefield, despite not seeing a corpse, based on the situation and the terrain, determined that her former lover was already dead, helped by her familiarity with him and his fighting style.

And so, wasting far less time than Shiki assumed she would, the Kumo kunoichi led her group back deeper into the valley, seeking to meet up with Dodai who she was sure must have moved in as well.

‘Lightning Release: Signal Fire’

Shooting a beam of lighting into the air was a C rank jutsu, Dodai signalled his position to Zee who was already far closer than Shiki planned.

The boy’s senses warned of this but the best option was still to try and take out the guy in front of him  or at least injure him before reinforcements arrived.

With shattered ground and sudden unforeseeable motion, Shiki was already upon the Kumo elite jonin.

+++++

Hey, Author here!

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I’m trying to become a full time Author now and I’m not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.

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