The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #36

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Land of Fire

–Kenta Senju–

He eyed the slowly retreating form of the woman with the light lightning chakra nature, as the two heavy lightning users stayed in front of him, lightning crackling around their bodies.

Their builds suggested they used the lightning chakra enhancement in very different ways. The one at the forefront, suggesting by his stance, told him that he was the tank, the one with high physical stats, and the one to the side, with his lean physique and the way his eyes darted all over the place, meant he was a high speed lightning user.

It was as if the Lightning Cloak of the Raikage was dissected into two parts, which were then mastered by two different shinobi. Ofcourse, he knew that was far from the truth.

The Raikage was just a genius for learning and mastering two different schools of lightning chakra enhancement and turning that into a singular cloak technique that put him head and shoulders above the majority of shinobi alive.

He was already in Sage Mode, waiting for the two to make their move, purposefully keeping his gaze on the retreating women, whom he could not underestimate. If he was not wrong, these three were part of a three man special squad sent to reinforce Jounin battalions, for blitz missions.

They had quite a hefty bounty on their heads. He just had to—

He smiled as both of them disappeared from their spot, jumping towards him, only for the speed oriented shinobi to turn to the right, circling around him, as the tank punched him right in the face.

His eyes narrowed in interest as he felt the impact behind that punch, despite being in Sage Mode. This man was somehow punching him with almost a third of Tsunade’s strength and that was saying something.

No one could say that the Slug Sannin’s punches were weak and here he was watching a relative nobody, in the grand scheme of things, punch above his weight class, actually pushing him back a bit.

He leaned to the side, dodging a fist wreathed in lightning, as the second shinobi made his presence known. He had to jump back, disengaging from the fight, as the second shinobi, worthy of his fame, turned direction mid air, slashing at his mid section with that lightning.

It would not kill him but it would hurt, severely.

So, he jumped back in, with a punch of his own, punting the tank into the mountains behind him, as he whirled around, catching the lightning clad wrist before slamming him down on the ground, cratering the surrounding and making the shinobi cough up blood as his wrist was dislocated.

The man below glared at him in anger and fear as he knocked him out, before jumping back, as three arrows, white in color but sizzling as if made up of lightning, stabbed into his previous position. They were sent in such a way that dodging would have only made the situation harder.

Smart.

The next moment, the tank came back, littered in cuts and bruises, wiping off blood from his lips but with anger in his eyes, as the glow around his body increased, along with his speed and strength. To be honest, he was just playing with this man.

The real threat here were the one who was now knocked out, and the lady who was hidden behind the mountains, the location of whom he could sense but it was distorted, as if trying to hide behind something but unable to fully don the curtain of Nature Energy.

She was quite talented at trying to use Nature Chakra to cloak her location, sort of what he did but since she was not quite a Sage, all she could manage was a bastardised version of it, incomplete and easily exploitable to someone like him.

Punching the man once more, he pushed him back once more but the shinobi surprised him once more, switching to kunai as he ducked and danced in between the kunai, and the surprise arrows that were very hard to sense in the middle of a battle.

Despite the difference in their power levels, he could admit that he was enjoying the battle, far more than he had expected to. The first contact where he knocked out all of their Chunin with ease had disappointed him but these guys?

They were strong.

Alas, they were strong but not strong enough. WIthin a couple of exchanges, the man in front of him was already swaying, the lightning around his body long since left as he desperately held on, whilst his comrade from behind the mountains shot chakra arrow after chakra arrow, trying to help him but now that he had ample freedom to focus on her, he could easily dodge the arrows being sent his way.

With a light punch, the man folded in half and then went down, as he jumped in the direction of the woman from earlier, who was their long range specialist. Taking all three of them alive should get the village quite a bit of information. Killing them right now, especially when they were in a shaky peace era, would be wrong.

One misstep, one misunderstanding and Kumo, which was arguably just as strong if not stronger than Konoha right now, could just light the fuse for the next shinobi war and he, for one would rather die than be responsible for starting that meat grinder.

With a punch, he broke through the rocks and started flinging them at her, nodding as he approached her after hearing a bone break, “Smart decision.” He kicked the bow as she was kneeling with her hand raised, and gestured for her to lie down.

A quick chop to the neck later, he checked her pulse and, once he confirmed that she was just unconscious, let the Sage Mode fizzle away as he piled all the Kumo shinobi on top of each other. 

Lighting the flare, he waited for the Uchiha shinobi to arrive, ordering them to imprison them and prep them for transport. ANBU should be here within the day to get them back to the village, while he would wait another day here before leaving with the ANBU as well.

Orochimaru, it would seem, was spooked enough that no sign of him or any of his Sound Four was reported anywhere near the border and with the Snake Sannin’s ability to move about unseen across nations, there was a good chance they were on the other side of the Land of Fire right now.

__xx__

[Two Days Later]

Back in the village, he smiled as he felt Tsunade’s chakra signature, bright and strong, inside the hospital, along with Shizune’s and a dozen other unknown ones as they worked with their Medical Ninjutsu.

He followed the ANBU through their secret tunnels, right up until he reached the Dungeon beneath the Hokage Tower, where politically important prisoners were kept, within reach of the Hokage, as the ANBU did their job, locked them up and left the area, not without leaving him a minder though.

“Yeah, I get it. You people like your absolute secrecy. I’ll leave right away,” he left through the official entrance, surfacing at the lobby of the Hokage Tower, as he began walking up to the top, where the Hokage was working.

He had deactivated Sage Mode before being exposed to the people who worked here, so he could walk up without any undue attention falling on him. Even so, plenty of people shot him curious looks, whispering under their breath as they gawked at the newest Senju Clan head.

Ignoring that, he arrived at the Hokage Office, with his secretary shooting him a withering look as he sat down, waiting for his turn to meet Sarutobi.

He had a couple of things he wanted to address here, but chief among them was the death of one Masato, the deliberate and intentional harm done to the Uchiha clan members stationed there and the strange Fuinjutsu seal on Masato’s tongue.

He had a hunch it was going to be a long one, which is why he began eating his rations, ignoring the piercing stare of the Secretary. She was a Chunin, from the feel of her chakra, a fire specialist too, but that was not going to deter him from eating.

If he was not wrong, the foremost expert of Raiton in the village right now would be the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. If they managed to get the techniques out of the Kumo shinobi, even if they had to give the prisoners themselves back, it would be worth it because the Copy Ninja was a strong contender for the new generation's S-class ninja.

The man was in ANBU, which was an open secret somehow, but sooner or later, he will have to step out, to show the world that Konoha still had its young prodigies for now.

Speaking of prodigies, he wondered if Sarutobi would let him get a team to train.

Those thoughts left his mind as the doors opened up and Shikaku Naru came out of the office, nodded at him and left. After a minute or two, the secretary waved at him to enter, which he did.

Time to confirm if Sarutobi had an agenda against the Uchiha Clan or if the command and promotion structure of Konoha was compromised.

He almost couldn't decide which one was worse.