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The earth turned red... Furo screamed in agony... He was injured as Ghost calmly wiped Furo's blood off the blade without any intention to finish him off.

Furo could not fathom what happened.

He was sure he saw Ghost die, 'A mirage', Furo figured out almost immediately

'How could he move so fast?'

In an instant, Furo knew he was not a match for the man in front of him. If he runs away he will be stabbed in the back. His considerable battle experience made a tactic almost immediately, a completely useless tactic.

He knew that avoiding the attack would be futile, for someone with such skills and speed, it would be a piece of cake to catch him. Instead, Furo opted to instantly blur a Kunai out of its sheath, and immediately initiate the attack.

In doing so, Furo planned everything ahead, he would proceed to continue his own assault, never giving Ghost any chance, and then use the water-style Jutsu to finish it off.

The Kunai of Furo was akin to a spear, focused on penetration, hoping to stab or at least force his opponent to block the attack. He enhances Kunai's sharpness through his own chakra flow.

The masked assassin, Ghost did not care as he channeled a little bit of his chakra to just the tip and edge of his sword and swing the blade while simultaneously releasing all of the chakra at once.

A shockwave emanates from the blade and completely obliterates the Kunai in an instant while ragdolling Furo backward. The poor man did not even have the time to react and was hit by Ghost's blade with incredible force.

Ghost twirled his sword without emotion or fear, just an animalistic fighting style, with no regard for the enemy.

Furo, now on the ground, looked up with bloodied eyes and saw a shadow before him with a sword piercing his gut. A horrible sensation washed over Furo's body, the pain was like a punch of adrenaline coursing through him.

With all his might, he tried to lift himself from the ground but to no avail as his whole body was completely drained and numb.

Gritting his teeth he held the sword in his gut with all his strength, pushing it out and letting out a scream. His body shuddered in agony and he felt like he is going to die at that very moment.

He could feel the blood gushing down from his belly into his lap, and he thought he had bled to death, but the pain still lingers...

"Who... are you..?!"

"Ghost", Ghost answered.

"Intriguing. But…" His hand let out a blast of air; the chakra that he had concealed in it burst out, forcing Ghost to slide a few feet back, Furo coughed blood once again as he licked his lips with a hint of excitement and slowly raised his head with a painful grin.

"Is the world-famous Ghost this weak?", Furo concealed his trace, becoming one with the element, as he submerged into the ground again.

Underneath, Furo placed both of his hands between the surface and the layer between, channeling his earthly chakra into it, which change the battleground they were at.

The metallic spiked up under the feet of Ghost. It was partially due to the earthly chakra but with the use of air, Furo did what should be impossible. He did a metal release Jutsu without needing the bloodline for it.

In the meanwhile, Furo was submerging on the other side, forming a seal to create two earth clones, both with the same armor and a similar signature of chakra.

The three submerged, meaning to attack Ghost from three sides; left, right, and underneath… and the fourth? That was the monster that came right in time, Kensui of Kiri. He used the rain to distinguish his scent and signature, his newfound katana pointing downwards waiting for an opportunity. Truly, these two are an unfair combination.

Ghost, knowing full well of what is happening around him, His sensory capabilities is nothing to sneeze at, but... he still did not care.

After jumping high into the air, Ghost was about to land on the ground softly. But using his impeccable chakra control, he sent chakra pulse through the ground, shaking the earth, making Furo stumble, as he bore down at Furo underground with all his titanic strength...

Kensui grinned and jumped from the shadows while saving Furo, "You are not Ghost. Who are you?", His eyes glittering.

Kensui engulfed his katana's hilt with his elemental chakra, amplified with the natural waters that fell out of the sky. It didn't just stop at the hilt, the chakra continued from the blade to the tip, before the water absorbed the particles of the blade. The blade turned invisible.

"Ya know!… " Kensui wicked grin twisted as the katana had become part of the droplets that absorbed his chakra, "I would really like to know your identity!"

"Why are you asking, just take off his mask", Furo said with a grin.

Ghost had no choice but to lean back as far as possible to avoid being disfigured or getting murdered by the invisible blade that came out of nowhere.

But that was not enough, the blade cut the mask off his face, revealing a face that shocked both Furo and Kensui.

"It's you", Kensui and Furo yelled at almost the same time, It was the face of Mei Terumi's personal guard. It's a well-known fact that this guy only follows orders from Mei Terumi and no one else.

Once his identity was discovered, the assassin blurred and disappeared.

Kensui was about to follow but was stopped by Furo, "Mei Terumi tried to assassinate Mizukage sama. I never liked that bitch anyway. I will follow him. You go tell Mizukage sama"

Kensui looked at Furo and nodded, "Be careful. This guy is stronger than you are..!"

Furo nodded, "Don't worry, I will deal with it", He said with an eerie smile and disappeared, following the assassin with a hint of insanity...

...

When Furo reached where he sensed the assassin's chakra, he came out of the ground, only to see a masked man in a black robe all over him, standing with a black sheathed sword in his hand.

"You are still wearing a mask?", Furo narrowed his eyes, "Why? Your face is already unveiled before us"

"The masks have many purposes. One of them, being anonymity", The masked man replied and used his thumb to pop the sword out of the sheath. The clinking sound was obvious, and then back in with a snap. He turned back and walked off. He did what he wanted to do here.

Furo, on the other hand, was having his head flying off his body. He was not prepared for this. He had never seen anything like this! Let alone react, he could not even fathom what just happened. As his body gave off blood like a fountain before it fell off too.

...

The next few days were nothing less than hell for Mei Terumi, her personal shadow was hunted to be questioned by Mizukage forces. She was under heavy suspicion of wanting to kill Mizukage. All her property and finance records were under custody and were being read heavily.

She grits her teeth and used every method to try and find her shadow guard. His job was only to find people's backgrounds why in the world did he try and attend to assassinate Mizukage in these pressing times is unknown to her.

Strangely enough, her personal guard, her shadow that she uses to find people's backgrounds disappeared in thin air. This raised the suspicion even higher.

...

~~Unknown place~~

The man everyone was searching for, sits in a dark room, his eyes closed, his face beaten and shallow with blood covering half his body. There were chains binding him and suppressing his chakra.

A huge splash of water left him drawing more air with an open mouth. His eyes tiredly yet angrily glare at the figure familiar in front of him.

"Who are you?", He asked Raizel who went to the side to get the torture tools.

"I am a shadow without a name or face. Sometimes I am Haru, sometimes I am Takeshi, sometimes Kei, sometimes Kan, currently, people call me Raizel, You can call me whatever you like", He said as he stab the Kiri shinobi's thighs, "Bastard, whore, slut, pig, dog... I accept every name..."

Ghhhhh. Ghhhh

The Kiri shinobi grit his teeth and breath heavily. Trying to fight off the pain. He laughed tiredly in despair, "You think you are great, right? Let me tell you, we already saw your face... sooner or later, they will find you, and then you will be in my position... At that time I will be watching from above", He said taking deep painful breaths.

Raizel sighed as he sit down on the floor just in front of his prisoner; he open the cloth with lots of needles, "Yea. Till then...", he said with a cold look and stabbed the Kiri shinobi's chest with all needles, "You are mine...", The Kiri shinobi screamed in pain

"Say... If I stab your eyes with an infected bottle, will it hurt more..?!"

The Kiri shinobi's body shivered as he screamed, "No!"

Raizel let out a loud laugh, "Aw. But I want to know", With a single gesture and a sharp pain, the Kiri shinobi's left eye popped out.

The Kiri shinobi scream louder, and his whole body shivered. His face contorted as blood poured out of the opened socket.

Raizel chuckled, "It's fine, it's fine, you have two eyes you know" with another swift motion and Kiri shinobi's right eye popped out.

The Kiri shinobi was screaming out in pain. His whole body shook, his face contorted with agony and hatred as tears flowed.

"Sigh. Why are there only two eyes in the human body, maybe, we move onto your nails then... what do you think...?!"

Raizel laughed as he stabs the poisonous needles into the prisoner's fingernails without even waiting for his reply, cracking some of the nails in the process while making them bloody, "Ahhh. Damn... you. We will... Argh... find you"

"No, you can't. You see, everything on me is a lie, from this very skin to my eyebrows to the color of my eyes, even my body smell and my hair are not in their real form, this isn't my real voice either..."

He finished putting the needles in place and stare at the man, "The name and face that I was born with do not exist anymore either. Even if you search the entire world for me you won't find a single thing. Leaving aside the fact that your people can't trace me through my chakra either. I am quite skilled in chakra pulse, and it's very easy for me to fabricate the amount of my chakra and how it feels"

"We have Ao sama", The prisoner grunted in heavy pain; as Raizel just kept stabbing his fingernails.

"Ah, the smart guy with Byakugan, of course, let's just say if he can see anything that I don't want him to see. I would be amazed beyond words"

The man shook with hatred, he has no other word...

Raizel stood up, "If you are done asking useless things, Let's start with the interrogation. If you just corporate with me. I will make sure you disappear without any further pain or suffering; if you don't... I don't need to complete my sentence, do I?"

The man spit blood from his mouth at Raizel who merely tilted his head to dodge it, "Do your worse fuc*er"

Raizel nodded and hammered the iron rusty needle into the man's crotch, making a bloody hole; making the Kiri shinobi squeal like a pig. "You thought I could not do any worse than what I have already done, didn't you..?! Well then, think again!" Raizel said and hammered the iron needle even harder. The Kiri shinobi screamed louder than ever before,

"Speak. What is going on in this locked country?"

...

Mei Terumi had a time coping with the situation, how could she have the mind of backtracking Raizel's background in these conditions? Let alone a background check, she could not even live here anymore. Because of her, they will find the bloodline users here. Their side is not powerful enough to handle Mizukage and his force.

They need time, they still need to amass power under shadows away from the prying eyes of Mizukage and his loyal followers.

So she left, and took Rizel with her, even if she can not do as she pleased now, she still did not forget that Raizel is a man under suspicion and a potential threat. It's better to keep him away from innocent villagers. After all, you keep your enemies closer than your friends.

She thought of killing Raizel at first but shook her head, If she does that then there will be no difference between Mizukage and her, She even thought of telling Fuguki senpai or Kisame but they were not found for days. Apparently, Kisame and Fuguki are working on a secret mission under the orders of Mizukage.

Raizel followed her at civilian speed, surprised by the outcome. His estimation was that she would try to kill him before trying to run away, not take him with her.

He had this all planned, she would take him somewhere isolated and try to kill him, but it would backfire, he would somehow survive by sheer luck and then Mizukage personally will find them while he was desperately running away from her, and then he would give away this entire place location where bloodline users secretly live, as a bargaining chip for his life.

That way he would get rid of Mei Terumi who is constantly suspicious of him, and get on Mizukage's side instead. But it all changed when Mei Terumi decided to take him instead of trying to kill him.

And it was here, in this place, their fate intervened into something that would haunt them forever for the rest of their miserable life...