Friendly Spar

"So . . . What do you all think?" Shiki asked the group as Tsunade went back to the labs that, out of her own choice, became her actual home.

"Your the leader of Mugetsu? The Reaper who defected from Konoha's Anbu?" Kurenai finally responded.

"In the flesh." Shiki replied.

"I hear quite a few Anbu were killed when you defected." Sasuke said.

"I don't think you're supposed to know that kind of info but I consider it a necessary sacrifice." Shiki countered.

"If you say so." Sasuke shrugged, clearly he didn't care much for the dead when compared to Shiki to whom he owed quite a lot.

"How about you two?" Shiki turned to the Hyuga sisters.

"My admiration for you only increased even further Shiki-nii-sama!" Hanabi immediately responded.

"I just want to be with you and help you on all your endeavours, whatever they may be." Hinata unflinchingly declared.

"My, my! I love you too Hinata." Shiki teased making the girl nearly pass out from embarrassment.

'Guess some things never change . . .' Kurenai and Sasuke though seeing Shiki's flirty behaviour that they were already quite used too.

'Well done nee-sama! You can't let all these other women take nii-sama from us!' Hanabi shouted in her mind while maintaining the same serious expression on her face.

"Alright then, first of all, I want to get a sense of where each one of you is at so we're going to have a little spar just so I can better figure out what to do with each of you." Shiki declared.

"How is it going to go down?" Sasuke asked.

"All of you against me and don't worry, I'll hold back a lot . . . like really 99.99% of my full power. You know, just to keep it safe." Shiki provoked.

The faces of the group immediately changed. Regardless of their feeling towards Shiki, or perhaps because of them, the last thing they wanted was to look weak and useless for him so they were determined to show their strength and capabilities.

"Well, well! You certainly look fired up." Shiki commented before transporting everyone to a wide arena in the training rooms.

"Okay, you can start any time you want." He informed as his eyes narrowed and his Sharingan activated.

Although they were fired up, no one in the group of four was stupid enough to think this was going to be easy even if they had the numeric superiority so they immediately started communicating through eye contact, setting up a plan of attack.

This was a result of all the training they did together, they knew each others moves and preferences and thus could coordinate with impeccable efficiency.

"I appreciate the caution and planning but sometimes, you need to just go in. Not every opponent is nice like me you know, giving you time to strategize." Shiki admonished.

The four freezed and immediately tightened their stances but still did not attack.

"If you don't come then I will." Shiki said.

After the various souls he scoured around the world, he had gotten access to countless kekkei genkais and even if he was no longer melding and refining souls due to the possible backlash, he could still use his soul transmutation to change his own soul in order to gain the kekkei genkai he analyzed.

With Quick Style, he swiftly closed the distance, faster than even Sasuke's three tomoe Sharingan could detect and and threw a punch.

Sasuke, with pure instinct activated his Mangekyo and formed a Susanoo ribcage to protect him.

Alas, Shiki brute strength, enhanced by his chakra burst instantly shattered it sending the Uchiha flying but with minimal damage due to the defense.

Hinata, Hanabi and Kurenai immediate reacted with the latter taking distance and the other two striking at him with a Chakra Burst enhanced Air Palm.

Shiki called on his own Susanoo ribcage to block, causing the Hyuga sisters' attack to just harmlessly bounce off and immediately dismissed it closing the distance between him and them.

Meanwhile, kurenai tried her signature genjutsu.

'Demon Illusion: Tree Binding Death'

Sasuke had already recovered and dashed back with the Body Flicker Jutsu at blinding speed.

Shiki just smiled.

'Trying to get me with genjutsu? Very naive Kurenai-nee.' He though as he used genjutsu reflection to trap Kurenai in her own genjutsu but also strengthening it at the same time so she couldn't easily escape.

'Genjutsu reflection' Kurenai though with alarm as she tried breaking it by biting her lip.

Alas, the enhanced genjutsu would not be so easily broken.

'Damn it! This is much stronger than my version!' She realized.

In the same instant Shiki engaged the Hyuga Sisters in a taijutsu match, easily warding off their blows while oppressing them, easily driving the two girls to their very limits but soon Sasuke finally reached them and immediately got involved.

'Lightning Style: Godspeed' Sasuke used the very jutsu Shiki had created ad taught him against his teacher.

With his body covered in a violent flow of chakra from his Chakra Burst, Shiki did not fear contact with the electrified Sasuke, engaging the three of them in taijutsu as Kurenai struggled with the genjutsu he reflected at her.

Shiki could still handle the three of them comfortably but he decided to mix thing up a little and started using his Gift of the Sages and, as he moved his arms around, golden afterimages wer left behind that materialized into golden arms.

Equipped with a whole lot of extra limbs, Shiki easily overwhelmed his attackers and after shaking them with a couple of hit, he jumped un unleashed his Gift of the Sages in a huge golden palm print threatening to squash them.

Sasuke create a halb body, skeletal Susanoo and this time, managed to block the attack without being it smashed to pieces and Kurenai finally broke the genjutsu and rejoined the battle as Sasuke counterattacked with his Susanoo.

'Kujaku Myoho: Tails'

Using the mysterious peacock method Shiki manifested multiple tails of purple star chakra that blocked the Susanoo's punch and struck at it, knocking the construct back.

The Hyuga sisters dashed out from the Susanoo leaving it between them and Shiki as they tried circling around as Kurenai used a new trick she had recently learned.

A genjutsu tha rather than affect one's enemies, made one's allies fight harder and with more power, using it to support Sasuke, making his Susanoo stronger.

Making it summon a chakra blade, the Uchiha made the Susanoo strike at Shiki again, keeping him busy as Hinata and Hanabi completed the encirclement.

Shiki once again blocked, wondering what their prepared attack could actually do.

'Only one way to find out.' He thought as he let them execute their plan without him interfering.

Once encirclement was complete, the Hyuga sisters seemed to charge up, molding great amounts of chakra in their bursts and forming Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists on their arms.

Meanwhile ,Kurenai and Sasuke summoned all of their strength as Sasuke was visibly strained to transform his Susanoo into the next step, forming flesh and skin while creating its signature crossbow.

With a powerful slam using its Crossbow as a shield, Sasuke's Susanoo pushed Shiki back and nocked an arrow.

Likewise, Hinata and Hanabi were ready to fire off their moves in order to seal Shiki in and force him to take their attacks.

'Come on, let's see what you're all made off.' Shiki thought with anticipation.

And so, the attacks were launched.

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Cannon!"

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Cannon!"

The Hyuga sisters shouted as they fired a powerful lion shaped chakra blast at Shiki.

"Inferno Style: Kagutsuchi Arrow!" Sasuke shouted and launched his attack simultaneously with the sisters.

"Nicely done." Shiki praised as the blindingly fast attacks barreled towards him.

"But far from enough!" He added and, in instant, He summoned his perfect Susanoo in its full glory.

The explosion from the attacks was not even enough to hide its massive form as the four shinobi could only watch in awe as their mightiest attacks could not even leave a scratch on the monster before them.

"I guess this enough." Shiki declared before dismissing his Susanoo.

The group became a little down seeing what little theri efforts amounted to in front of Shiki.

"Aw, no need to feel bad about yourselves." Shiki consoled.

"I'm by far the strongest shinobi in Mugetsu hell, probably the whole world so you don't need to fell down for not standing a chance." He added.

"You have a very weird and narcissistic way of consoling people you know." Kurenai said, her voice dripping with ridicule.

"Hey, we all have our weaknesses." Shiki defended himself.

"But enough of that. You'll be glad to know you're about to become significantly stronger." He declared, making them all perk up.

"Time for the tour of the base and, more importantly, the Core Member Enhancement Package that will make all of your powers skyrocket." Shiki announced.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.