Ninja

Mei is on high alert as she runs through the forest, each clan would have around one hundred shinobi ranging from Genin to Jonin. In individual battles, she is not worried, but with over three hundred shinobi teaming up she won't have the stamina to endure.

Suddenly she feels the little man in her arms begin to shift about. Thinking about it she begins to feel deep regret, bringing him on this mission was a terrible mistake, one that will probably lead to his death. As she thinks up to here she feels a tap on her arm. Looking at him with a loving smile she tries not to make him panic like before. If he starts screaming and panicking they will be surrounded.

"There are five ninjas heading in this direction from about two miles west. Judging by the strength of their chakra it should be two Genin and three chunin, but I'm not sure."

Looking into his serious eyes she is stunned for a second.

"Due to the immense pressure, I happened to casually learn a sensory technique."

Mei squeezes his body tighter in fear he may 'casually' grow wings and fly away. Looking into his eyes her heart beats a little faster, gazing at the treasure she happened to pick up. Having a medical ninja on the team is a boon, having a sensory ninja on a team is a luxury, having both in a pint-sized package is unheard of. Without her knowing her eyes turn into slits as the smile on her face deepens.

"They are getting closer, you have to believe me!"

Looking at his panicking face she nods her head.

"Get on my back."

Seeing that she believed him Zitsu becomes ecstatic. Wiggling around he crawls onto her back. Wrapping his legs around her waist and hands around her neck, practically sitting atop her ample bottom.

The smile on his face becomes almost permanent from the comfortable feeling. This is the first time he has been happy about being in a four-year-old body, or this situation could have turned awkward for the both of them if she thought he had a kunai to her back.

With zitsu secured, Mei springs into action as she heads west. Her steps are completely quiet as she flies atop the trees. Reaching into the bag on her waist she pulls out a kunai and holds up two fingers.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu" thick mist is blown from her mouth and quickly spreads throughout the forest.

As he hasn't been able to filter out low-level chakra yet, he picks up the fog as it spreads throughout his range. All the small signatures disappear as they blend in with the chakra rich mist, leaving only the ninja's chakra in his range. Seeing the effects of the mist actually gives him ideas on how to improve his technique.

As he is on Mei's back he gets a first-hand experience, as the mist appears her body practically blends in and disappears. If he wasn't on her back, he wouldn't see her!

With kunai in hand, Mei closes her eyes, using only her ears to listen to the changes of the mist. As a ninja of Kirigakure, the masters of the silent kill, this skill was drilled into her bones.

Suddenly Zitsu feels his body rush forward, and in the next second, he finds himself behind a ninja in purple robes.

Mei's hand moves like lightning as the kunai pierces the back of the unsuspecting ninja's neck, instantly severing his spine.

As the ninja begins to crumble like a ragdoll Zitsu's eyes begin to spin as Mei rapidly rotates around his falling body, appearing before three more shinobi.

Her kunai slashes out horizontally in a black blur, splitting the mist with its speed as it leaves red lines across their necks. As her hand reaches the end of her slash the kunai flies out of her grasp, finding itself embedded between the eyes of the last ninja. Mei Jumps back as blood sprays from their neck, as they begin to choke on their blood the shuriken are launched into the mist. As they spin rapidly they pull the mist towards them, becoming balls of clouds as they fly through the air. Not even giving them the chance to resist the shuriken hit, ending their lives with a puff of mist as only half the shuriken piercing their skull can be seen.

It only took a moment, from the second she appeared to when the shuriken landed in the shinobi's skulls, only a moment passed.

Seeing this Zitsu's face turns serious. This is ninja, this is how ninjas fight. All those frontal clashes of jutsu are only when you fail to kill your opponent in a single strike. Seeing this Zitsu realizes how naive he's been, trying to be like Naruto and running in with a bunch of clones will only get you killed.

The mist clears instantly as Mei stops supplying chakra. Bending down she pulls her kunai and shuriken out the skulls of the ninja and wipes the blood off on their clothes. Putting them back into her bag she searches the body of the ninjas for any information.

Seeing this zitsu opens his eyes wide "Can I have any kunai or shuriken you find?"

"Sure" She doesn't even think for a second to answer such a question.

Searching for a few seconds she hands a pouch to zitsu.

Using only his legs to hang on, he slides the bag into his sleeve and stores it into his inventory. His shuriken total increases to thirty-two and kunai to nine, in the MISC section of his inventory a small pouch appears.

"Nothing" Shaking her head she begins running in the direction they were going before, deeper into the island.

Wrapping his arms around her neck again, he once again enjoys his comfortable seat. He constantly scans the area with his chakra pulses but realizes he's using chakra every time he sends out a pulse. It's not much but will quickly add up. Thinking about it, he decides to send out a pulse every few seconds instead of one right after the other, as the range is fairly large. This way he is able to regen some chakra between pulses.

After killing a total of seventeen clan shinobi, they finally reach their destination. Venturing further Inland the elevation begins to rise, eventually, they came upon a sheer rock face in the forest. If they climb it, they will no longer be in the cover of the forest but the base of a mountain.

Unsure of their destination or why they're here he sees Mei once again make hand seals.

"Seal release." As she slaps the rock face the stone begins to shift. The outline of a door appears and slides into the ground.

Not wasting any time she runs inside, as she does the door slides back up.

Zitsu looks around the well-lit tunnel, surprised that they have electricity inside a mountain. As they enter a room he sees three people gripping kunai ready for battle.

Seeing that it's Mei they collectively let out a breath of air.

"Thank the lucky stars it's you, I thought our days were numbered." Shigeaki sits back down on a rock, breathing heavily.

Zitsu is stunned by what he sees. The hideout is a little stone room with a table of empty supplies, already used or taken by its current occupants. Inside the room is Shigeaki, Hidetora, and one of the other Chunin. Seeing their haggard appearance drains all hope of them banding together to overcome this.

Hidetora looks a lot worse since the last time he saw him, his abdomen is punctured and a large pool of blood can be seen seeping through his bandages. The color rapidly draining from his face as he dies of blood loss.

One of Shigeaki's arms is completely gone, currently wrapped with a dripping blood-soaked bandage. Massive lacerations can be seen on his chest, and worse of all his entire body is covered in burns.

The unknown Chunin is actually in the best shape, only a few cuts over his body and none in the vital areas.

"Keisuke?" Mei asks with a frown.

"Dead" The Chunin shakes his head "He blocked the attacks for Niou and me to escape, but Niou didn't make it."

Mei sighs as she looks at the people in the room, glancing over her shoulder she looks at Zitsu on her back.

No words are said for a while, only the sounds of heavy breathing can be heard as these people slowly die.

Looking at Mei, Zitsu can tell what she's thinking. Not wanting her to make this decision he jumps off her back and walks towards Hidetora laying on the floor.

"Hey kid" he breathes heavily "You disappeared on me" a smile forms on his face "Glad to see you're safe, I looked for you for a while."

Zitsu flicks his wrist and a kunai appears from his sleeve.