'Now then . . . To deal with our guest . . .'
Gankutsu was not just another root operative.
Standing at over 6 feet tall with a muscular build and black hair in a buz cut, he certainly cut an imposing figure.
His perpetual scowl as well as cold, harsh facial features did nothing to undercut this image of him either.
As a commander trusted by Danzo with the charge of a facility dealing with Hashirama Cells, Gankutsu was not just another drone with all emotion and self-thinking trained out of it.
No, he was a highly trained Elite Jonin with strong individuality and unquestionable loyalty to his master's cause.
'Earth Release: Hardening'
With a short sequence of hand seals, the ground surged up from beneath Gankutsu's feet to encase him in a dense and hard but also heavy armor of stone.
Even with his superb physical conditioning, getting slowed down was inevitable, however, in exchange, his power and especially his toughness were magnified severalfold.
"Kitsune, take the rear and act as long range support. Neko, assume ambush position and await our guest. I'll face them head on and create an opening." Gankutsu commanded his two remaining subordinates.
Both were Elite Jonin as well though both weaker and less independent than himself.
Kitsune was a sensor and genjutsu specialist, a taller than average blonde with her long hair tied in a bun with two large metal pins clearly usable as weapons in an emergency, her face covered by a fox styled Anbu mask.
Neko was an assassination expert with superb speed and stealth capabilities as well as refined assassin style kenjutsu. He was a man with a lithe but wiry build, average height and medium length, spiky, dark brown hair, his face covered by a cat styled Anbu mask.
They were the last remaining Root forces in the base as far as they knew but they were also by far its best.
'Kitsune only detected one enemy so far. We can't dismiss the possibility of more being hidden beyond her senses but this single enemy is far too strong to fight while keeping attention on external factors.' Gankutsu thought to himself.
*
Still not unknowing of her enemies exact numbers and capabilities, senju Toka still walked deeper into the proverbial mouth of the beast, confident that her own capabilities would not only keep her safe but also see her through to success in her mission.
Slowly walking into a large, empty chamber, she saw a tall, burly man, made to look even bigger with the hard rock encasing him, standing at its center seemingly ready to face her.
Further behind him, a masked woman about as tall as Toka herself, was positioned to provide support from a distance.
'Two enemies? No . . . There might be more hiding. That woman seems to be the one responsible for the sensory jamming, she's probably a sensor herself, this makes her a threat to my preferred combat tactics.'
'The man in front seems to be an Earth Release enhanced taijutsu specialist. He's the one in charge of direct combat.' The Senju woman analyzed.
While Toka carefully observed her visible foes, they, along with their invisible colleague, carefully observed her in turn.
'From her attack on the facility, she seems to be highly skilled in ninjutsu of Water Release while a powerful Earth Release currently protects her body. Build, posture and general way of carrying herself suggest significantly developed taijutsu capabilities.' Gankutsu made an analysis of his own.
However . . . Was what Toka had shown so far truly indicative of her true capabilities?
Giving the Root operatives no further time, the Senju suddenly body flickered.
'Shit!' Gankutsu internally roared.
Taking advantage of his lowered agility of the added weight of his stone shell, Toka had bypassed him completely and unhesitantly went straight for Kitsune hanging in the back.
A Chakra Enhanced Strength backed punch unceremoniously collided with the masked woman's body without giving her any chance to dodge . . .
Only for it to explode into a cloud of smoke.
'Substitution combined with a Shadow Clone.' Toka immediately realized.
With barely any delay, Gankutsu, who had given chase, unleashed a two handed down smash, shattering the ground.
But the Senju had already leaped into the air and out of danger before coming down with a mighty heel drop.
Trusting in his boosted defensive power, Gankutsu brought up a rock armored arm to defend while the other swung around for a brutal counter.
Alas! He overestimated himself.
Toka's heel smashed into his arm, shattering the rock shell and mangled the flesh and bone underneath, pushing down before impacting Gankutsu's left shoulder with reduced force but still enough to injure him slightly through his armor.
Seeing her commander in trouble, Neko did not hesitate to act.
'Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death'
Once the genjutsu impacted Toka however, it was like it didn't even register.
Without a single stutter in her actions, the Senju sent Gankutsu flying with a violent fist before body flickering towards Kitsune.
Momentarily delayed from her ineffective genjutsu attempt, the female Root operative had no escape this time.
However, just as she was about to be crushed, Toka flickered to the side as a black blade flashed across where she had just been standing before its wielder vanished out of sight again.
'So there were indeed more enemies, one more at least.' The Senju thought to herself.
With Neko's interference, Kitsune managed to escape Toka's assault once again and Gankutsu had managed to re-engage her as well.
The Senju kunoichi's eye widened as she evaded and parried a barrage of pouches from the Root commander . . . With both of his arms.
'I definitely took out an arm before . . .' Toka was sure of it.
But after parrying a blow from the supposedly mangled left arm, the truth became clear.
'I see! He's using his rock shell as a prosthetic cast!' She thought it was rather ingenious to be honest.
Sure, the power, speed and dexterity of the arm was heavily reduced, especially in the last of the three but still, it prevented it from being useless.
'That's not enough though!' Toka internally declared.
The Senju kunoichi slipped a right straight and took an uppercut from the weakened left using her Earth Release: Earth Spear hardened body to easily withstand it.
And so, she had her opening.
Just as she was about to take it however.
A chakra enhanced black blade slashed through the air as Toka once again abandoned her attack in order to dodge.
'Annoying.' She thought to herself.
Even with Earth Spear, a chakra enhanced slash of that caliber would critically injure her if it hit a vital point and Neko was picking his targets and timing with incredible expertise.
Truly a born assassin.
'Still . . . I've grasped his preferred timing.' Toka mused.
'I'll make my move when he tries again.' She decided.
The Senju kunoichi smashed her fist into the ground, sending high speed shards of rock in every direction and raising a smoke screen.
Gankutsu instinctively turned his attention towards Kitsune's position and prepared to move.
Little did he know . . .
Toka had decided to switch it up.
Now, in a defenseless posture, the Root Commander could only widen his eyes in shock as a devastating Chakra Enhanced heel fell towards his head at blinding speed.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
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 -