Chapter Eleven (Patreon)

On the flat plains of the Land of Grass, Kusagakure’s walls stood out like mountains. Less than twenty meters tall, the circle of stone featured four gates, one for each cardinal direction. In times of peace each was guarded by a pair of Chunin. In war, it was a full squad.

Fugaku’s eyes flickered as they approached. Hidden beneath his crimson gaze the three Konoha ninja appeared no more than refugees. Their clothes were decent but dirty, their packs heavy, their gazes weary. Only their money separated them from the desperate rabble gathered before the northern gate.

The Chunin guards looked at them. Their eyes fell upon the heavy packs. Senju Tokuro, posing as their father, slipped the guard a handful of ryo. With a simple nod, they were allowed into the village.

Where Konoha was a city in all but name, Kusagakure truly lived down to its title of ‘village.’ If there were more than a thousand buildings inside the village walls Jing would eat her boots.

Jonin Senju led them to a broad building of three stories. Glass windows looked out from wooden walls, a thatched roof hanging low over the top story. Fugaku and Jing shuffled awkwardly after their ‘father,’ children too old to be ignorant and too young to understand. A room was secured, and Jonin Senju led them once more.

The room was plain. Two beds, one window, and a wooden floor.

“Nippo: Area Silencing Technique,” Jonin Senju muttered. With a brief flare of chakra the room was secured. “Help me take out the floor. We’ll need to leave it intact if we don’t want to be caught.”

One by one the nails were pried out. The boards were removed, slowly and carefully to avoid damaging their surface. A single wrong move would reveal their ill intentions, and the last thing they wanted was for Hidden Grass’ sensors to start looking around.

With the boards cleared, it was Jonin Senju’s time to shine. Dirt churned, swiftly pushed to the sides and compact to unnatural degrees. A tunnel emerged from beneath the floorboards. Jing and Fugaku followed the Jonin as he walked down the tunnel, pushing its boundaries. They moved five, ten, fifteen meters beneath the surface. They came to the center of Kusagakure, directly beneath the Mission Desk. A small room was hollowed out for them.

“Uchiha,” Jonin Senju ordered. Fugaku’s eyes changed, dark brown replaced by brilliant crimson. Three tomoe swirled at the center. Chakra pulsed, carrying a wide-ranging genjutsu across the room.

“It’s done. They will have to be stronger than me to break it,” Fugaku said. “Assuming they notice.”

Jonin Senju nodded sharply. He gestured, and the tunnel behind them collapsed back into dirt. On the surface a shadow clone carefully replaced the boards before falling back into nonexistence.

“Hua.”

“Byakugan.” At a word the world changed. Jing was no longer limited to the fifty cubic meters of hollowed-out dirt. She saw through the compacted walls. Up above them, a dozen ninja worked on forms and bureaucracy. Across the street, nine Jonin gathered to discuss the war. In houses and huts civilians continued their lives, make food and washing clothes.

“Three thousand eight hundred sixty-two people,” Jing reported. “Thirty-seven Jonin, eight hundred six Chunin, three hundred twelve Genin are within the village. Nineteen Jonin are within range, six of them outside currently.”

“Begin.”

Jing did not nod. There was no need to. She drew upon her chakra. She drew upon her divine blessings. Lightning crackled in the clouds above the village. A thin ray, no more than a millimeter of plasma, shot down from the heavens. Nearly invisible, it moved with neither intent nor desire, guided only by the paper-thin sheen of chakra that surrounded it. Yet even that hint was enough for the Jonin to take notice. He moved suddenly, guided by instincts that went far beyond the common senses. The Kusagakure Jonin jerked to the right, colliding with a passing civilian. Jing did not hear the civilian’s outraged remark. Neither did the Jonin. The opaque electricity found his neck. It shot up through his neurons, searing the brainstem. The Jonin twitched. He collapsed, dead.

Another bolt of lightning followed the first. Far from the market (as much as one could be far from anywhere in such a small village) it found an on-duty Jonin as he guarded the self-proclaimed Kusakage’s palace. His heart stopped as lightning burned through it. His companion, another Jonin, served as the next victim.

Eight seconds. Three dead Jonin. Jing moved on. A fourth Jonin died as he watched over his Genin. The fifth died as he read by an open window. Sixth, seventh, eighth.

The Chunin began to die as well. They were not the primary targets, but they could be used to draw out more Jonin. Jing targeted the Chunin at the gates, knowing the panic it would cause. The north gate fell. The east gate. The south gate. The west gate.

Three minutes. The alarm was being sounded. Above them the dozen ninja abandoned their paperwork. The nine Jonin across the street hurried out to find and fight the intruders. Lightning greeted them. A Jonin dodged the bolt, only for it to find his colleague. Another twisted just in time, catching the lightning on his wrist. He screamed something. Jing didn’t know what. She couldn’t ready lips.

Their cover was blown, but not their location. Jing attacked across the village. She targeted Jonin as they left their houses, as they gathered in the squares, as they hurried to the Kusakage’s palace to demand information.

Ten minutes. Five Jonin remained. Sensors were sweeping the village, desperate to find the culprit. Jing began to target them. Chunin, Genin, Jonin—it did not matter. The sensors had to die, lest they be found.

Twelve minutes. A group of sensors—two Chunin, one Jonin—were closing in on them. A bolt of lightning nearly skewered the Jonin, only for the Chunin to dive in front of him. Another was aimed. The Jonin flared his chakra, pushing out in a desperate move before another bolt of lightning seared his brain.

“Damn it!” Fugaku swore. “The Genjutsu is broken.”

Jonin Senju swore as well. His hands moved rapidly, Earth Style chakra swelling around him. “I’ll prepare our escape. Hua, finish the Jonin. Uchiha, kill anyone who breaks through.”

“Hai,” Fugaku growled. Jing did not respond. Instead she attacked, attacked, and attacked again. Three Jonin left, all hurrying towards their position. One died as his heart was seared shut. Another died as the Gates in his brain were overloaded. The third avoided her lightning, only for the bolts to curve unnaturally and shoot through his tenketsu.

The earth above them blasted apart. Ten meters of dirt, gone. Thirty-four ninjas appeared around them. Far too many got Jing to handle.

Fugaku’s eyes spun. Thirty-four ninjas found themselves trapped in hell. Such a wide-ranging genjutsu was easy to break. It took a skilled ninja only a second.

A second was all Fugaku needed. His hands moved with uncanny accuracy and inhuman swiftness. Fire poured forth from his mouth. It wrapped around the hole in the earth, a blazing dome covering their escape. Twenty-six ninjas were still trapped in the genjutsu when the flames arrived. Six more could not move in time. All burned, their screams cut short by devilish flames.

Jing did not stop her attacks. Abandoning subtlety she called down a towering bolt of lighting. It was visible for only a split second before crashing onto a herd of ninjas. A Jonin would have dodged such an open attack easily. But there was only one Jonin left in Kusagakure, and he served Konoha.

“The tunnel is clear,” Jonin Senju said. “Time to go. Hua in the middle, keep attacking. Uchiha at the rear, kill anyone who reaches us.”

“Hai!” they shouted. They ran. Lighting scarred the surface. With her new blessings Jing hardly needed to worry about running out of chakra. Whenever she got low, she used Energy Regeneration, taking some of her Boundless Stamina and turning it into chakra. Despite her efforts, ninja did make it into the tunnels. Fugaku handled them with ease. A spinning eye, a genjutsu, and a wall of fire. The cramped tunnel became an oven, then a furnace. Not a single Kusa ninja made it through.

The Konoha trio made it past Kusagakure’s walls. They made it further, another kilometer, before they emerged onto the surface.

“You’ll have to carry me after this,” Jonin Senju said. With a single hand sign, he created three Shadow Clones. A transformation turned two of them into children–Fugaku and Jing. The three clones sprinted away, a false set of tracks leading into Amegakure.

“I can’t lift him,” Fugaku said. His breath was already heavy, and they had another hundred-plus kilometers to go.

“I can’t either,” Jing admitted. Fortunately, she had a better solution. Biting her thumb hard enough to bleed, she called forth her chakra. “Summoning Jutsu!”

It was not Jade Plum who appeared. Instead it was the 8th Crane on the mountain. He was a giant even by the standards of those tall birds. His wingspan rivaled the height of a Hashirama tree, his body matched their breadth.

“Hua Jing,” the 8th Crane said, his voice deep and rumbling. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“I share the sentiment, noble crane,” Jing said with a bow. “I humbly request your assistance in our escape.”

“Escape?” the crane asked. “Since when do the contractors of the Cranes run?”

“Since they had an entire hidden village running after them,” Jonin Senju interrupted.

The 8th Crane turned his head. Beady eyes narrowed. Jonin Senju gulped.

“Very well,” the 8th Crane told Jing. “I will carry you. Consider yourselves lucky. Few are so fortunate as to fly with the great Amethyst Hibiscus.”

Quest Completed: Kill 100 Ninjas

Reward: 1x Major Skill or Spiritual Blessing

Quest Completed: Kill 10 Jonin

Reward: 1x Major Skill or Spiritual Blessing

Quest Progress: Kill 1,000 Ninjas (141/1,000)

Quest Progress: Kill 100 Jonin (41/100)

Major Skill Blessing

Grandmaster Chemistry (chosen)

Your comprehension in the field of Chemistry, the study of matter is beyond any mortal should have. You know how matters and materials are formed, how they form more matter with each other and how matters interact with each other to the point where you could easily come up with never-before-seen miracle alloys and materials never thought of. You will need time and study to properly digest the sheer amount of information this skill provides, at this level, the amount of knowledge stops becoming knowledge and simply comprehension and instinct toward the world around you instead.

Grandmaster Blade Mastery (not chosen)

You are a swordmaster on the level of a Saint, like mythical legends such as Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Even without abilities or energy your skill is at a level where you can even the intangible, you can cut souls, energy, and magic with nothing but your bare body and a blade of any kind.

Major Spiritual Blessing

Gluttonous Abyss (not chosen)

You can extract the energy out of any object you eat to permanently increase your own energy reserves

Decay (chosen)

Allows you to destroy any object you touch by spreading decay to it, breaking down its structure until its dust, you can spread decay further from the initial area more and more with training. Strong targets can resist decay to an extent.

Note: To fit in with the setting, this is replaced by a Kekkei Genkai, the Decay Release, which combines the Yin and Yang Releases