The situation at the entrance to the Hidden Waterfall Village escalated sharply after Menma's words. Yamato became utterly focused. The twins immediately clasped hands, boosting their sensory abilities, while Karin whipped out a kunai and stepped in front of the client as a shield. Shibuki, meanwhile, crouched down and whimpered softly, clutching his head with both hands.
"Report," Yamato demanded curtly.
"Four. Closing in at maximum speed," Menma replied with his eyes shut, concentrating on the enemies' chakra. "Two are weaker, about the level of Konoha's gate guards, like Izumo and Kotetsu. Their chakra flow is nearly identical—likely a synchronized pair."
"The other two are noticeably stronger," Naruko picked up. "One's around Sarutobi Asuma's level, the other a bit weaker."
"Prepare for battle," Yamato ordered.
"This is seriously a repeat!" Naruko couldn't resist. "Four enemies again, just like Zabuza's team!"
"Naruko!" Yamato barked. "Not now!"
Team Eleven fixed their gazes on the forest, silently counting down the seconds.
The waterfall behind them suddenly changed its song. Mixed with foreign chakra, the streams surged upward, taking the form of a massive water dragon. Yamato's hands blurred through seals, and from the seeds he had prudently scattered into the water earlier, a thick tree burst upward. Its trunk slammed into the watery beast, tearing the jutsu apart in a spray of droplets. Rain pelted the clearing.
That curtain of water nearly concealed the next attack. Two puddles darted out of the forest, merging with the flood as they lunged forward. The twins leapt aside in perfect sync, hurling kunai, but the blades only sliced through water. From beneath the liquid film emerged a young man and woman in their twenties, dressed in dark cloaks with Rain forehead protectors. Their hands flashed through seals—and water rose from the ground into twin whips that lashed straight at Shibuki.
He froze like a deer in headlights. Karin shoved him aside—only to be caught herself. The watery whips coiled tight, pinning her arms to her waist. A crackle of lightning surged along the conduits of water.
Poof!
Instead of Karin, a smoking log took the hit. She had trained the seal-less substitution technique to exhaustion—and it had saved her life. At that same instant, adamantine chains shot from the twins' palms. The chainsaw technique ripped through both enemies like wet cloth.
[That pair must have spent ten years mastering two chakra natures for this combo. And they died this fast.]
Silence fell over the clearing. Only the waterfall rumbled on. Fifteen seconds—and the first clash was over.
Menma stared coldly at the still-warm corpses. [So this is what real shinobi battles look like. Fast. Decisive. No theatrics. A couple of jutsu—and done. That whole dance with a dozen techniques in one fight? That's only for monsters like Hashirama and Madara.]
"Well, did you see that?" Naruko was the first to snap out of it. "Another pair tying up enemies with ropes, just like the Demon Brothers!"
"Naruko, shut it," Yamato muttered through clenched teeth, never taking his eyes off the forest.
"I bet a bowl of ramen the next ones are water users too!" she went on. "I've got solid statistics already!"
Yamato drew a deep breath to launch into a tirade, but at that moment two figures stepped into the clearing.
The first—a tall man with white hair, black shirt and pants, a sheathed blade on his back, and a Rain protector. He glanced grimly at the mangled bodies, scowling like a displeased teacher whose students had botched another exam. The second wore gray garb, a Waterfall protector, and a haughty expression.
"Shibuki-kun," the latter drawled with a smirk. "You haven't changed at all. Still hiding behind others. Even now—behind children."
"S-s… Suyen-sensei?.." Shibuki stammered, barely peeking from behind Karin.
"Sensei?" Yamato narrowed his eyes, though his stance didn't falter. "What's going on here?"
"What was bound to happen," Suyen replied calmly, settling into a relaxed pose. "Leaf shinobi, you've meddled in another's affair. Shibuki was my student. And for every technique I passed on to him…" his eyes gleamed greedily. "…he owes me the Hero Water."
"The national treasure of the Waterfall?" Yamato frowned, glancing at the client—but Shibuki only trembled, clinging to Karin's shoulders. "Let's say you do have the right to demand something from the Waterfall's leader. But explain—why are Rain shinobi with you?"
[Yeah, I'd like to know that too.]
"Rain is my future now," Suyen chuckled. "They understand strength. With the Hero Water, they'll make me a jōnin on the spot—and after that… who knows?"
[What an idiot's dream. Steal a national treasure… just to go back to working a job. He could sell it and live in luxury forever. On my list of 'villain plans,' this one's scraping the bottom.]
"Shibuki!" Suyen barked, and the man flinched as if struck. "We'll settle this peacefully. You let these children go and hand over the Water. Otherwise…" his fists clenched. "You know how strong I am. They'll die because of you, and I'll get what I want anyway."
Shibuki went pale, looking ready to collapse right then and there.
"Don't listen to him, Shibuki-san," Yamato's calm voice rang steady. "He's bluffing."
"What did you say?" Suyen narrowed his eyes.
"Suyen. Waterfall jōnin. Primary element: water. B-rank," Yamato recited from memory, recalling the Bingo Book entry. "Shibuki-san, run. We'll handle this. We'll discuss extra payment later."
Barely believing his ears, Shibuki bolted toward the waterfall and vanished into the torrents. Suyen immediately summoned a water tornado, but Yamato's roots tore into it. The clash began.
And no one noticed the twins' clones slipping into the water after Shibuki.
///
Underwater, Menma's and Naruko's clones pulled up their hoods, becoming completely invisible. The academy camouflage technique, perfected—no hand seals required.
They kept a safe distance, mimicking Shibuki's every movement. Even when Menma's sensory skills picked up foreign chakra embedded in the rock—traps—they simply followed his path. Shibuki himself was so consumed by panic he didn't even think of such "trifles" as vibrations behind him.
At last he surfaced in a cavern woven from giant roots. They seemed to grow straight through the stone, forming a living cage.
Shibuki rushed to one of the roots, pressed his palm against it—the seal flared green, recognizing its master. A hidden door opened, and he pulled out a glass flask filled with a shimmering liquid.
Menma frowned, and a faint wave of killing intent washed over the man. Not full strength—but enough. Shibuki collapsed in a faint, nearly smashing the flask. Menma caught it at the last moment.
"Why'd you do that?" Naruko threw back her wet hood.
"I never invited you here," Menma dropped his own.
"Oh, brother…" she smiled indulgently. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice you secretly sending clones? We're tied by one umbilical cord."
"Will I ever get to be alone?" he muttered, though she heard it.
"Of course not!" Naruko pressed her fingers together. "One life for two. So then… why knock out the client?"
"Technically—he arranged his own meeting with the floor," Menma nodded at the unconscious Shibuki. "And the answer's in my hands."
Naruko narrowed her eyes at the flask. "That's the Hero Water? How'd you know he'd lead us here?"
"I didn't," Menma shrugged. "Just bet on a coward's psychology. You know, like pickpockets: one yells in the square that his wallet's been stolen, and everyone checks their own. The second thief just waits to see where the valuables are hidden."
"So," Naruko drawled, smirking slyly, "Suyen said he'd steal the Hero Water, and Shibuki instantly ran to check if it was safe… Brother, you're a genius!"
"Not a genius. Just well-read," Menma smirked faintly. "But getting the Hero Water is only half the job. We still have to smuggle it out."
"What's so hard about that?" Naruko shrugged. "Shibuki didn't see us. No traps in the chamber. I memorized the tunnels back. We just grab it and leave."
"If only it were that simple…" Menma shook his head. "Shibuki might believe he fainted on his own—that's normal for him. But if he wakes up and finds the flask gone, panic breaks out. Then every Waterfall shinobi will search our team."
"Seal it in a scroll?" Naruko suggested.
"We don't know this stuff's properties," Menma snorted. "For all we know, Hero Water doesn't respond to standard sealing at all. And time's against us."
He pulled Shibuki's plastic canteen from his pouch, poured the water out onto the ground, and transferred the shimmering liquid inside. The glass vessel that once held the treasure—Menma smashed it mercilessly against the rock.
"You think Shibuki will believe he destroyed his nation's treasure himself?" Naruko asked in surprise.
"No idea," Menma shrugged. "But it's the best of the bad options."
///
Outside, the battle raged. Yamato's roots tore apart Suyen's water tornadoes, crunch and splash blending into a roar, as if the river itself tried to outshout the forest.
Meanwhile, the second opponent—a Rain shinobi with white hair and a short sword strapped to his back—sprang into motion. His movements were honed like an assassin's, his face twisted with a mix of impatience and rage.
The twins leapt in sync, forcing combat. Karin, just as she'd been trained, immediately pulled back: her place wasn't in the storm of blades, but on the flank, ready to cover with a kunai or seals.
The Rain shinobi's eyes flicked up—predatory gleam flashing within. "I don't have time to mess with children," he hissed, and in the next instant he lunged forward.
His speed shot up to a level comparable to Maito Gai with his first gates open. Air whistled with every burst, his blade flashing like white lightning. Only the twins' animal reflexes saved them—dodging by a hair, by a breath.
Menma felt it through his sensory skills: the enemy's chakra burned like a match—fast, relentless. [Interesting… a technique that boosts speed through chakra? That'd be perfect for me and Naruko. If only Sasuke were here with his Sharingan—he'd copy it instantly.]
But now wasn't the time for regrets. The enemy was faster. And in a shinobi fight, speed was the ultimate trump card.
An ordinary genin would have surrendered already. But the twins had experience—they'd trained against Maito Gai himself. And they had their own tactics to resist monstrous speed, at least a little.
Five seconds of hellish flips and leaps—and finally, the blade found its target. Naruko, her back turned, seemed to hesitate. The enemy smirked and slashed.
Poof!
Smoke burst where Naruko had stood—and in it, face to face with the foe, was Menma. In his hand spun a blue sphere. Rasengan smashed into the sword, snapping it like a dry twig.
"What the—!"
The opponent didn't finish—he was blasted backward, straight into Naruko's path. She greeted him with her own Rasengan to the back.
His body slammed into the rock face, bones cracking, stone splitting with fractures. The Rain shinobi slid down, leaving a bloody streak, and went still.
The twins turned their eyes at once to the jōnin clash. Yamato's roots pinned a sweating, frothing Suyen to the cliff wall, as the man desperately fended off with a water blade.
"He's got a sword!" Naruko yelled, thrilled. "This mission is exactly like the last one!"
"Let's not break tradition," Menma smirked.
Two adamantine chains with spiked tips shot from their palms and pierced the nukenin's skull. His body crumpled, twitching faintly.
"Looks like you two took out all the enemies again," Yamato remarked, appearing beside them. He glanced over the four corpses and added dryly, "I'll put it in the report. The bounty is yours."
"The fame of the Twin Demons spreads!" Naruko high-fived her brother.
[And so does the wallet.]
Menma's eyes slid toward Naruko's pack left by the waterfall. In the side pocket, the little rabbit crunched its carrot peacefully, while in the neighboring compartment—carefully hidden by clones—rested the Hero Water.
///
An hour later, the bodies were sealed into scrolls and the battlefield cleaned. When Shibuki returned, he looked as if someone had just shaken him awake and thrown him back into reality. At the death of his own teacher, he didn't react at all—just paled, shut his eyes, and pretended he'd seen nothing. Apparently, he'd decided the shameful "destruction" of the national treasure was also best left unspoken.
"Considering the enemy shinobi attack," Yamato scribbled corrections into the mission scroll, "this is now B-rank. Which means additional payment."
"Fine," Shibuki nodded absently.
"We did save the leader of a shinobi village," Menma noted. "That carries political weight. Minimum A-rank."
"Fine," Shibuki repeated, sighing heavily as he counted out even more money.
Naruko tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.
"And still, it's strange. So many coincidences: C-rank turns into A-rank, a client with bugs in his head, two enemies with whips, one insanely fast, another with a sword… and all four with water release. What do you say, Yamato-sensei?"
Yamato said nothing. His face was stone, but in his eyes you could read the thought that maybe, just maybe, he had stumbled into the Matrix.
/////
Author notes:
I do have a Patreon, where the story is already 10 chapters ahead.
If you'd like to support me personally as an author, I'd be truly grateful.
patreon.com/Vetrax