Shinobi from both sides were rapidly weaving through the trees in the valley.
The first clash was imminent.
There was no point in stealth, speed was going to be the deciding factor.
Or was it?
The force blocking the three genin's path consisted of the 10 detected Elite Chunin, one Jonin and the leading elite Jonin.
The remaining two Elite Jonin, five regular Jonin and two Elite Chunin had all focused on Inori.
'Elite Chunin even Shinka and Mei can handle in a one on one, surviving a pursuit should be plenty possible.' Shiki, fully giving in to his emerging natural instinct, prepared his assault.
Mei and Shinka kept up a bit further behind so they could try to break through after Shiki entangled them.
"Is it really okay not to help him and just try to escape?" Mei asked her silent companion.
But the Aburame girl was as riddled with doubts as her, she had not been trained to think, only to obey.
Shinka had been instilled with the belief that self-sacrifice was the epitome of what a shinobi should be but never had she thought it would be others making the sacrifice to preserve her life.
*
Dogan, a recently disgraced Elite Jonin, courtesy of the Violet Rose, Inori's nickname in the world at large, had been given a chance to regain his honor.
In this operation, Inori would be captured and was given the simple but critically important task of capturing their main target today.
Boasting an impressively tall, bulky physique filled with power, tanned skin and a large mane of wild black hair, Dogan could be said to be ruggedly handsome by his facial features.
Rare in Kumogakure, he was an earth release specialist with fire release as a second trained affinity.
'Only three genin, should be a cinch with these forces.' He thought.
His second in command was a jonin skilled in water release and sensory jutsu, the perfect support for this mission considering they were dealing with an Uchiha that should be proficient in fire release and an Aburame that could hide while attacking with their bugs.
'As for the main target, he will be mine to take.' Dogan refocused.
"They're approaching, the main target is ahead, the first two are slightly behind." The sensor jonin announced and the Kumo shinobi readied their ambush.
But suddenly, Shiki's chakra flared before utterly vanishing.
Just before he could warn his compatriots however, the jonin felt the air suddenly form into thick mist with zero visibility.
"Chunin! Wind release now!" Dogan quickly reacted with the right move.
"Where are they?" He asked the sensor jonin.
"The main target is gone, the other two are hidden by what seems to be a bug based jamming jutsu cast by the Aburame.
'Damn it!' Dogan internally raged but cooled it almost immediately.
He soon felt the chunin's wind jutsu but while the mist was pushed back, it instantly came back even thicker.
'What the hell!?' Dogan desperately tried figuring out what was happening.
'It is the Hiding in Mist jutsu no doubt but this feeling . . . Wait.' A flash of insight arrived.
'The target is the ward of the Uzumaki! A sealing barrier using the Hiding in Mist jutsu!?'
*
Indeed!
After casting the jutsu himself, Shiki showed his chakra camouflage skill honed under Inori and with his Kukyo changing, evolving, becoming deeper and colder, the boy became practically undetectable as he spread out paper tags containing the Hiding in Mist jutsu.
Thus a barrier was formed.
Shiki felt he could escape alone if he wanted to, the encirclement was tight but with his stealth being so effective, assassinating one of the chunin pairs making it up and disappearing seemed quite possible.
But with Tsunade as a safety net and his emerging instincts influencing his thoughts, he was more partial to becoming a predator in the mist.
No holding back for this battle.
*
The Kumogakure shinobi were wound up, waiting for anything to happen with the sensor jonin desperately trying to find the target with his abilities.
But he never thought that he would be unable to sense him, even if he was right behind . . .
*squelsh*
A shinobi blade, pierced his back, went through his heart and emerged out of chest.
The jonin coughed blood but held the tip of the blade with one hand while swinging back the other, a kunai having been drawn in an instant.
'I'll take you with me, brat!' He vengefully thought.
But his desperate wing swished harmlessly through the air and a moment after, so did his head fly.
On a nearby branch, Shiki was crouched, the glow of his Chakra Cutter fading from his left hand.
Sealing the enemy's corpse in storage after retrieving his sword from it, Shiki vanished.
Not a moment later, Dogan flickered onto the branch the boy had stood on, the only thing left for him to see being a pool of his second-in-command's blood.
'Fuck! He's not running, he's using the mist to hunt us!'
As an elite jonin, Dogan's battlefield awareness and combat power were formidable, Shiki would never be able to assassinate him with a single sneak attack.
Worse, he would become entangled with him and leave all those elite chunin free to target his teammates.
Shinka and Mei could not move well through the mist, it hampered them as much as it did Kumon so Shiki had told them to hang back and hide with sensory jamming so he could thin out the herd first.
The two had wanted to question his confidence but the aura the boy was projecting made it far too difficult and so they just nodded in acceptance.
Taking care of the toughest target first before anyone realized what was happening was part of the plan and went exceedingly smoothly.
The counter on the verge of death was unexpected but it only triggered Shiki's emerging predatory instinct further.
"The target is using the mist for silent killing, break formation and target the other two!"
Amplifying his voice with chakra, Dogan swiftly commanded the elite chunin to hunt Shinka and Mei in the hopes of luring out Shiki.
'As expected, Elite Jonin really know what they're doing.' Shiki thought.
Two dead Kumo chunin lying by his feet.
Sealing them in storage, he continued his hunt despite knowing it was a trap.
After all, this was a kind of open trap that goaded him to jump in if he realized.
As for Dogan, rather than looking for his foes, he focused his attention on allies instead, the moment one dropped, he would know the target's location.
But would it be that easy?
Noticing the movements of the Kumo shinobi, Shinka and Mei decided to make their move.
The former unleashed her insects who were unaffected by the mist and by providing coordinates once they found an enemy, the latter would send barrages of shuriken curving through the air to hide their source.
'I'll take care of them first then.' Dogan ruthlessly decided.
Although he could not find them before, once they started moving and attacking, they were far too green to hide from him.
But the moment he made that decision.
Two Elite Chunin dodging the insects and shuriken without much trouble, suddenly dropped dead, their necks spraying out blood.
It was instant, with a body flicker, the massive elite jonin was upon the dashing white haired boy.
A thunderous crash followed, blowing some of the mist away but covering the area in a cloud of dust.
In the epicenter, Dogan's tall and bulky frame trapped Shiki underneath.
'Elite Jonin truly are too much for me.' He thought.
"Finally got you slippery brat!" Dogan declared with a scowl.
With the man's knee on his chest, Shiki's response was a bit strained.
"Did you now?"
The boy popped, leaving only a cloud of smoke and an enraged Dogan behind.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -