Star Guard Mission II

Now that everything was set up, all Shiki had to do was wait for the "thief" to try and come to steal the Star. Before that though, he had, other arrangements.

With his power and skill, he could have stolen the Star himself and not go through all the trouble to obtain its power but that was because the Star itself was not his only goal. Not to mention that Shiki completely didn't need the whole Star.

With the production capabilities of the seals in the Desert Fortress, so long as Shiki managed to obtain a sample, countless other Stars could be produced. With the abundance of Star material, Shiki could even try to purify and enhance its power, making a Refined Star or simply make a huge version for other purposes.

However, with Shiki's plans of world domination, why would he pass up such a nice chance to take over Hoshigakure and, by extension, the land of Bears as well?

Not to mention that Natsuhi, the "thief" and the greatest shinobi of Hoshigakure was hot. Shiki would set her up as the leader of the village and provide means for them to safely use the Star's power, maybe even give them, more Stars.

Hoshigakure would become the testing grounds for Shiki to discover new applications for Star Energy and to train Shinobi into a powerful force with the Mysterious Peacock Method. The most accomplished user of the jutsu in Hoshi, Natsuhi, would naturally become the head instructor.

Gathering a few samples of the Star without being discovered, Shiki sent them to the Fortress for study and reproduction and awaited Natsuhi's appearance.

He would prevent her from getting the Star this time around and would follow her to her hideout to make a deal with her. As someone who both cares for the village and is open minded enough to accept outside help, Natsuhi was the prime candidate for a Soul Contract.

'She's hot too! Let's not forget that!' Shiki thought as he waited.

Soon a, Shiki detected a figure approaching.

'Looks like she has finally come.' He thought as he moved to stop her.

In the original series, due to the uncooperative nature of the locals that refused to allow the Konoha team to approach the building where the Star was housed, stealing it became a much easier matter for Natsuhi but this time around, Shiki took no shit from them so the defense of the Star was airtight.

Shiki immediately moved to intercept her and being noticed, she stopped in her tracks.

"This matter as nothing to do with you all. I don't want to hurt you." Natsuhi declared, her identity hidden by a gas mask commonly used by Hoshi shinobi to navigate the Devil's valley safely without fear of its poison gases.

In response to this Shiki just smiled but didn't move, showing his attitude of fulfilling his mission to guard the Star.

Meanwhile, Kiba and Ino had already took position, opposite of Shiki, caging Natsuhi in according to the defence and capture plan Shiki had laid out while Shino was in charge of incapacitating the trapped opponent with his Kikaichu parasitic beatles.

However, just as Shino attempted to use his Hijutsu: Insect Bog to trap and neutralize Natsuhi, she fought back with her own hijutsu.

'Kujaku Myoho: Whip'

The Kujaku Myoho, the Mysterious Peacock Method, manifested a feather shaped chakra array behind the user spreading out from behind them like a peacock's tail feathers, hence the name.

This chakra could be easily manipulated into various shapes to create different techniques, making it an extremely versatile jutsu. It also possessed other mysterious abilities like allowing the user to exert their power, even after death for a short period of time.

The particular technique used by Natsuhi turned the feather shaped chakra into multiple whips that flailed about by the users will. She used this to swat away Shino's kikaichu and create an opening to flee.

She could sense that fighting Shiki was a bad idea so instead of trying to break through him and take the star, she chose to strike at Kiba and Ino, using the opening created by their dodges to retreat safely.

The team chased her until they reached the Devil's Valley, at which point, Natsuhi used the Kujaku Myoho: Wings to fly away, leaving them no method to pursue her . . . Or so she erroneously thought.

Her greatest opponent, the one she truly reatread because, was in fact just a shadow clone of the real thing, as for the real Shiki . . .

He was following her from a distance with ease as the poison in the valley could not deter him in the slightest. If he wanted to, he could even fly after her with the winged chakra armor's capabilities but he chose not to.

During the tracking, Shiki received a message that the Refined Star experiment was a success and multiple normal and improved Stars of Multiple Sizes were already in production.

To boost his chances of convincing Natsuhi to take his deal, he had a few of those Stars transferred to his personal storage. This way, he could pull them out in during the talks so as to add more weight to his words.

While this was done, Natsuhi finally reacher her hideout, a cave abode carved into the side of the cliff of the Devil's Valley. Hidden from view, and with a natural hazard to ward way searchers, a perfect hiding hole.

'Now that i think about it, Hoshigakure itself is a natural fortress and I can probably use it as an easily defendable strategic location.'

'After I use my fuinjutsu to reinforce its defences and figure out how to extract the Stars' maximum potential, this place can become a terrifying source of military power for me . . .' Shiki considered as he prepared for his dramatic entrance.

Sneaking into Natsuhi's hideout, he laid on her bed and made himself at home while waiting for her to enter the room.

As for the Kunoichi, she took of her mask after arriving and looked back on today's events.

'Damn Akahoshi! He actually hired shinobi from another village to deal with me since he can't do it himself . . . What should I do? Stealing the Star while "he" is there is most likely impossible . . .' She considered.

'That handsome white haired boy . . . He is different. The other three were quite capable for their young age but he, he was something else entirely, just by standing opposite him I could feel the pressure . . . As if I was at his complete mercy and could do nothing about it . . .'

Natsuhi recalled the appearance and aura of her mysterious opponent. But, as she entered her room to rest from today's tiring events, she was shocked beyond belief.

"Hey beautiful! I took the liberty of inviting myself in and make myself comfortable. Hope you don't mind." He casually said as if there was nothing strange about the current situation.

Natsuhi immediately entered her battle ready state but Shiki just held up his hand at her.

"No need to worry, I just want to talk . . ." He said with a calm smile.

"For now at least." He finished, his smile gaining a bit of charming deviousness that made the heart of even an experienced woman like Natsuhi flutter as a slight blush crept onto her cheeks only to suddenly disappear as she shook it off.

Seeing Natsuhi still keeping her guard up, Shiki continued.

"There's really no need to be so defensive you know."

"Oh? So I should just believe that your intentions are peaceful and relax?" Natsuhi asked with slight mocking.

"Not at all!" Shiki said with a bright charming smile gracing his face.

"It's just . . ." He paused.

"Just what?" Natsuhi inquired.

"Even if you keep your guard up, if I want to do something, no matter what it is, you just can't stop me." Shiki declared, his smile turning devilish.

Natsuhi shook. Deep down, she his words were the truth and that she simply didn't want to admit it but, after some internal struggle, she finally gave up and sat on a nearby chair to listen to what Shiki had come to say to her.

"See. Was that so hard?" Shiki teasingly asked.

"Are going to say something useful or not?"

Natsuhi didn't know why but the boy in front of her messed with her mental state in a way she didn't think was possible.

Since young, she could always keep cool and make the best decisions under any pressure. She was the Third Hoshikage's best subordinate and his right hand and she felt like even in a hopeless situation, she could still keep calm.

But, the person in front of her stripped away all her cool confidence and made her feel like an inexperienced little girl and, even though she would never admit it, part of her liked it.

If Shiki knew he was having such an effect on the beauty in front of him, he would surely pleased but, even with his skill, certain things still passed under the radar for him.

Moving on though, it was time to offer Natsuhi a contract . . .

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