15. Trolling
(29/100 for a bonus chapter, do it before the next reset)
The genins, who had just backed out, found themselves face-to-face with an Iwa-masked ninja.
He coated his hands with rock and rushed at them.
The genins tried to cast a lightning jutsu, but he didn't give them any breathing space to use any ninjutsu.
It was a completely one-sided beating, with the kids being thrown like rag dolls across the battlefield.
Meanwhile, on Lucky Sensei's side:
After a series of close combat exchanges, he was intentionally taken away from the genins. It was for the better, as a fly-off jutsu might have caused a casualty.
"Now that the kids are out of the way, let me kill you quickly," the Sensei said, weaving hand signs.
"Jinton: Shizuka na Hyō (Swift Release: Silent Panther)," he declared, his form blurring as he covered a 100-meter gap in less than a second.
His kunai was heading for the Iwa kunoichi's head.
"Damn, you're fast, aren't you? Too bad you don't have a good kinetic vision or any other method to overcome this weakness of yours," she taunted just before he saw a sword heading straight for his head, intending to cut it off.
Everything felt slow for him at that moment, as if time was stopping just for him.
He tilted his head, but it seemed that his head was not the target. A few hundred milliseconds later, he realized he couldn't move his right arm's fingers.
He saw the Iwa kunoichi crouching on the ground.
His momentum was too high, so he could do nothing but watch himself blitz past that point and then stop 300 meters away from it.
He found blood leaking from his shoulder.
His hand was cut off.
"You are not an Iwa-nin, are you?" he asked, weaving hand signs with his remaining hand.
"I am not," the kunoichi responded, just before he ducked and saw a sword pass through where his head had been a second ago.
He performed a horse kick, making some distance between him and the kunoichi.
His jutsu was completed, and his stump was cauterized with lightning.
It was very painful, but he had used lightning for conditioning since he was a genin, so he shrugged it off.
"Too bad for you, but I can still weave hand signs with one hand for my kekkei genkai," he said, continuing to weave hand signs.
She was also weaving hand signs. "Yeah, I've been seeing a lot of people who can do that lately."
His body disappeared, and so did hers.
Sword clashed with kunai.
Clang.
Clang.
In a few seconds, they clashed thousands of times.
It seemed they were both operating at elite jounin speeds.
Both of them stopped 100 meters away from each other.
"Did Sukumo send you?" his question startled the girl.
Miyuki was confused about who Sukumo was. She had heard about Sakumo, not Sukumo.
Her confusion was taken as confirmation by the man.
"I knew it. He really wants to become the Raikage, and that's why he's killing people with potential who don't align with his goals. Raikage-sama should have killed him long ago."
"I must kill you and then report to Raikage-sama," he said with determination as if he had shown the same resolve last night.
They both resumed weaving hand signs.
In the next instant, they seemingly exchanged positions.
Miyuki had a cut on her cheek, with blood flowing.
Lucky Jounin was not so lucky this time.
"It was fun, too bad you lost your arm at the start. It could have been more entertaining," was the last thing his head heard before it was detached from his body.
His last thought was, "I should have done a few more rounds last night."
***
Meanwhile, on the genin side, they were being pummeled in a way that reminded them of their genin test. Only this time, the person in front of them was actually trying to kill them.
They only managed to survive due to luck.
Just as one of them was about to have his head crushed, a Kumo ninja intervened.
"Kids, run away now and report to Raikage-sama about Iwa's outrageous actions," he said, kicking the Iwa-nin in the gut and sending him flying like a ragdoll.
"But—" One of the kids started to speak about helping the older man.
He was cut off by, "Hohoho, you can't even kill some kids? Do you still have any face left to show?" The previous Iwa kunoichi appeared and engaged with the Kumo ninja.
"Where is our sensei?" the only girl on the team demanded.
"I chopped him into pieces. I'll feed them to my dogs when I get home." Her smile sent a chill down the spines of all the genins.
"Run NOW! I can't hold this for long. This is an A-rank mission. You have to deliver the intel of what you saw to Raikage-sama now!" The Kumo ninja's loud voice snapped them back to reality.
They grudgingly nodded and ran away with all the speed they could muster.
After a few minutes of intense clashes between the Kumo ninja and the Iwa kunoichi, both stopped.
"Wow, you really are devious. I can't let you get away after this incident," Miyuki said, removing her mask.
The Kumo ninja also undid his transformation.
It was none other than Yukio!
"Glad we still have the corpse of the special jounin you killed. Let's dress it up here, fix the scene, and leave. Don't leave the jounin you fought's body or any signs of using Lightning Jutsu," Yukio instructed.
"Yes, Boss!" Miyuki responded.
They quickly packed up and left the crime scene.
"Jeez, this should cause a war or at least a major conflict, right?" Miyuki asked.
"Well, Raikage will still have some suspicions that Iwa was framed, but he can only target Iwa as the evidence suggests. We just need to do one more thing, and Kumo will initiate a war against Iwa," Yukio smirked.
***
**POV Change - Genin POV**
They ran at full speed to the village without stopping for 9 hours straight.
Their feet were bleeding.
All they felt was fear and anger.
Okay, that's two things, but you get the point. I could argue that combining fear and anger creates an unnamed emotion they're experiencing.
When they reached the gates, two of them collapsed in relief.
It seemed that they were going to live.
"What happened? Where's your jounin sensei?" one of the gate guards asked in shock and concern.
The last genin, out of breath, started to cry.
He cried until he too collapsed.
They were admitted to the hospital.
A few hours later, the only girl in their team woke up first.
"How are you feeling?" a nurse asked.
"Terrible," was her brief reply.
Memories of what had happened shocked her.
They were supposed to be prodigies.
Their jounin sensei was also supposed to be a prodigy when he was young.
How could he have been killed so quickly and easily?
All the praises she had heard since birth now seemed like empty words.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by a flick on her forehead.
She saw a tall, black-skinned man with blonde hair looking at her with a stoic expression.
"Raikage-sama!" She jumped out of bed and kneeled.
"Don't mind the formalities, kid. Tell me what happened," he said, getting straight to the point.
She narrated everything from her perspective, starting from the mission to her sensei's death and what had happened since.
"I see. We have found the dead body of the special jounin who protected you. He was on a mission around that area. You guys were lucky," he said, causing the girl to flinch.
It seemed their escape was due to luck.
Or maybe the Iwa nin didn't think they were worth killing.
She clenched her fists.
"But don't worry. I will make all those responsible pay," he said calmly, though his barely hidden rage was evident to everyone in the room.
He left the room.
After reaching his office, an ANBU appeared in front of him.
Raikage looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What is it?"
"We've been informed that our major trade route to the Land of Frost has been completely destroyed, rendering it unusable by traders anymore."
"WHAT?" A killing intent so thick was suddenly felt by everyone in the room. The ANBU felt the pressure intensely.
The one who was kneeling and giving the report lost consciousness instantly.
Talk about being the elite of Kumo.
The Fourth Raikage took a deep breath and calmed down.
He picked up the document the ANBU had dropped and started reading.
After finishing it, he took another deep breath.
He remained calm, mind you.
"DAMN IT!" He punched the wall of his office and went off to find his brother for a spar.
The report indicated that the destruction was caused by thousands of explosive tags used along with suspected Earth Release.
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