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Chapter 135 - Attack of the Root: Conclusion
🕑 Added 2022-09-14 18:40:33 +0000 UTCDaichi was grim as he looked at the situation. His mind was operating faster than anything before. His eyes went to Tsunade and then Bu's bleeding arm.
'They know about her hemophobia. The only way they could know that is if Danzo told them.'
Daichi thought about the possible choices he could make. He looked at the three ninjas exuding killing intent. Time slowed down for him as tried to come up with a plan.
'I knew they might use lethal force but I put that as a very low probability. And the fact that they did means they were getting ready to deal with me… They must have a sensor. Someone on their team must have felt the disappearance of the other two's chakra.'
Daichi looked at the three enemies without saying a word. He had a stony expression as he looked at his mentor and sibling student.
Bu moved the sword and placed it near Tsunade's neck. "Release the shadow clones."
Daichi's gaze shifted to the sword the root ninja held and then to Tsunade. 'He has to be bluffing. If anything happens to her then the Hokage and Jiraiya will stop at nothing to find the ones responsible. Danzo must know that. But still… can I take that risk?'
Daichi scrutinized Tsunade chakra movements. 'Her chakra is behaving differently… She's in a genjutsu… I need to get the root ninjas away from them… But I need to save Shizune first. She's critically injured.'
Making a decision, Daichi nodded to the demand and released his four shadow clones.
Seeing their target obey Bu motioned Doka to restrain the boy. Gino stood over Shizune while Doka made his way to Daichi.
Daichi's mind was running through several scenarios as the root ninja approached him. 'I need to take out their sensor. Assuming there is only one… No. Sensor ninjas are rare. It's a waste to have two on one team. Since 'observe' didn't show any sensor abilities for Doka it must be one of the other two. I can't let them knock me unconscious.'
Doka was careful as he approached the boy. He saw that Daichi didn't have any wounds on him.
"You're going to make a great addition to our organization."
Daichi smirked at that. "I wouldn't be too sure of that."
At that moment the sound of flesh being torn apart was heard. Doka and Bu looked towards Gino and saw that he had fallen down, dead. His chest was heavily bleeding and the light left his eyes. Their eyes widened and they couldn't believe what had happened.
At the same time Gino fell to the ground, several smoke bombs erupted around Daichi forcing Doka to suddenly try and grab the boy in front of him but he was unsuccessful.
He waved his hand and the smoke cleared showing him a hole in the ground.
The leader Bu sharpened his senses and looked around. He didn't know how but he was certain that it was Daichi who killed Gino. At that moment he suddenly had an ominous feeling. It was instincts developed as the result of years of fighting in deadly battles. He immediately jumped away from his spot and landed several meters away.
He looked around and didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. 'There is nothing there. Am I in some sort of genjutsu? What’s going on?'
At that moment Bu saw Tsunade jerking her head as if she was waking from her nightmares. 'Damn it. She's free from that genjutsu. But how?'
Suddenly the ground underneath Doka and Bu trembled and they jumped away just before it exploded.
Three Daichis appeared out of the ground in front of Bu and Doka. Two more showed up near Tsunade and Shizune.
And so the battle between the two Root ninjas and Daichi began.
During that time the clone near Shizune began healing her wounds while the one near Tsunade examined her condition. She was clutching her necklace as if her life depended on it.
'She doesn't have any serious injuries but she's petrified in fear.' Daichi concluded as he looked at his master.
"Sensei. You need to get a hold of yourself." Daichi spoke in a soft tone but it had urgency.
Tsunade turned her head and looked at Daichi. "You're alive!?"
"I am. Don't worry sensei. It was just a genjutsu." Daichi replied and he had a small smile on his face to reassure her.
Her gaze then shifted to her other student. Her eyes widened in fear.
"Shizune! She's…"
"Don't worry. That clone is healing her but that won't matter if we don't have you for this fight. You need to stand up and be strong. The real me is fighting the leader but I don't know how long me or my clones will last against them."
"But… Daichi… I don't know if I can." Tsunade looked down as she clutched her green jewel.
Daichi looked at her sorry figure and slightly cursed inside. 'Damn it. She's not snapping out… Time for a tough love speech.'
"Listen. I can't imagine or understand what you're going through. But right now Shizune and I need you. So if you don't want to lose anyone else you care about, then I need you to deal with those fears, get up off your ass and help me kill those fuckers."
Tsunade looked at Daichi's stern expression. But she could also see that he was worried for her.
"He's right, My lady."
The voice of Shizune came as she slowly made her way towards her teacher. Her wound was healed and the clone that healed her went to join the battle.
Shizune knelt down and wiped the blood off her teacher's face. "You can't stay like this forever. If you keep living in your past, you won't have a future. I know you lost your most precious people in your life. But you have us now. You're not alone, Lady Tsunade."
Daichi joined Shizune in helping their master and used his 'Low mental restoration' skill to temporarily reduce Tsunade's negative emotions and improve her mental state.
The 'Low mental restoration' skill was a jutsu Daichi created to heal someone's phobia or other illnesses that affect the mind of a person. It was only created at the end stage of his training and he didn't get time to level it up much. Due to that, the healing effects were reduced or temporary but Daichi didn't care at the moment.
The slug Sannin looked at her two students. "Shizune, Daichi…" She saw that they were depending on her and at that moment she found the strength to push away her fears.
The trembling in her hands stopped and she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
She opened her eyes and looked at the two. "Let's go get them."
Daichi smirked. "Oh yeah."
With a new determination Tsunade stood up and looked at the battle raging hundreds of meters away from them.
Daichi and his clones were keeping the fight away from the two and they were making sure the root couldn't take them hostages.
"Shizune, can you fight?"
"Yes my Lady."
"I will fight the leader and you two will battle the other one. Try to see if you can capture them. We need to see who they are. But that's only a second priority. Your life comes first. If capture is not possible, go for the kill." Tsunade spoke as her eyes went to the masked leader.
"Yes sensei." With those words Shizune and clone Daichi dashed for their enemy while Tsunade made her way to the leader.
Clone Daichis vs Doka.
The three clones were keeping the root Anbu away from Shizune until the clone healed her. They made sure to keep themselves from being dispelled but it was a difficult process. But with a combination of genjutsu and long range ninjutsu it was possible to keep the other party at bay.
The clone looked around and noticed something odd. 'Why isn't the clone attacking these guys? He could kill them easily with all the openings we made…'
It took only a few seconds to figure out the reason for the invisible clones' inactions. 'Someone is watching. I can't sense anyone but he must have. I need to be careful.'
Daichi had given the order that if anyone was watching the fight the clone under the invisibility cloak should keep his movements at a minimum. He didn't want to take any chances.
A hand suddenly emerged from the ground and grabbed a clone's legs. Several small fireballs and shuriken flew towards the trapped Daichi clone. An earth wall appeared in front of the clone protecting it from the deadly fire jutsu.
The next second Daichi's clone turned into lightning and electrocuted his attacker. The hands coming from beneath the ground turned into water.
Doka looked at Daichi's clones. 'That shadow clone substituted with a lightning clone before I captured him. Fire, earth and now Lightning. Not to mention his chakra volume needed for the shadow clones. This kid has been holding back earlier and I fell for it.'
He looked at the three and came to a conclusion after thinking over their tactics. 'Fighting and subduing him without inflicting lethal injuries is more difficult than I thought. And it's taking too much time and forcing me to use more chakra… But these three are most probably clones. They have been avoiding direct hand to hand combat and are trying to fight me at a distance.'
Doka increased his chakra output and rushed towards the clones. His speed increase was much greater than before and he reached a clone before it could escape.
Daichi's clone evaded the first couple of punches but the next fast one to the middle of the stomach and dispelled him.
Doka saw several chakra strings headed his way and he skillfully evaded them. At that moment he sensed several shuriken aimed at his back and quickly made seals for a substitution jutsu and got out of that predicament.
Doka looked ahead and saw that Shizune and another Daichi clone had joined the battle. 'Damn. It looks like he healed her. I thought it would take more time. It seems his skills in the medical arts are greater than I thought. And it looks like Tsunade is joining the battle as well. With the other three down, this mission will end in a failure. I need to report what I learned about the boy to lord Danzo.'
Doka blocked a strike from Daichi and shifted his body to escape the chakra scalpel attack from Shizune. He tried to go for Shizune but Daichi's clones were getting in the way.
Doka grabbed the clone's arm and lashed out with a fast kick. Dispelling another clone, he got out of the poison fog that came out of Shizune's mouth.
'I need to retreat and inform Lord Danzo of what happened here. The captain will certainly die but it's a price that must be paid. Lord Danzo must know about this child's capabilities.'
With a decision made Doka jumped away from his spot and went through several hand seals and took a deep breath. It was a wide area jutsu that took most of his chakra but he was going to make his escape.
"Fire style - Fire song." A long, wide stream of flame came out of Doka's mouth.
At that moment Daichi's clone spit out an enormous amount of water to block the jutsu. "Water style - water wall jutsu."
The two Jutsu collided and created a large amount of steam that covered the area and reduced vision.
Seeing the perfect opportunity Doka lowered his chakra and turned around to escape only for a blade to plunge into his back.
"Ghaa!!"
The chakra coated blade slashed through his back severing his spine and destroying several internal organs. Doka fell to his knees and looked back but all he saw was steam. In seconds he fell forward taking his last breath.
A clone of Daichi came and stood near the body. "Is it him?" The clone asked in a very low voice.
"Yes." Came the reply from an invisible ally.
Daichi's clone didn't ask anything else but his eyes narrowed as he heard that answer. 'Zetsu. He's here watching. The boss needs to know if he doesn't already.' With that though the clone dispelled himself.
Daichi vs Bu.
Daichi sharpened his senses and carefully watched his foe. Both the root leader and the academy student were engaged in a fierce sword battle.
Whenever the root captain was about to land a critical blow on Daichi, his clones stepped in.
"You're quite capable aren't you. Why don't you come with me? I can grant you opportunities that you couldn't even dream of." Bu tried to persuade the boy.
"Not interested pal." Daichi's swordsmanship skill was increasing as the battle continued.
The two clones with him obstructed the enemy's movements and attacked from the blind spot. Daichi's clones spammed genjutsu and ninjutsu attacks on the enemy and forced him to split his attention between the three.
Bu had to keep his chakra moving in an erratic manner and had to keep himself from falling prey to the genjutsu attacks and carefully evade the ninjutsu techniques. He looked at the three and hid a grim visage.
'Damn. I already used the knowledge of her phobia to my advantage. They will be suspicious. But if I use the shadow clone jutsu then they will be able to confirm that we're from the leaf. And it would only cause problems for Lord Danzo.'
At that moment he saw Tsunade heading his way and Shizune joining the battle against Doka. 'This isn't good.'
Tsunade flew and came down with an ax kick above Bu's head. The root leader disengaged from Daichi and jumped back to avoid the powerful kick.
The ground crumbled under Tsunade's kick and she stood up from her spot.
She had a murderous look on her face as she looked at the man. "You're going to regret attacking us."
Bu looked at the Sannin and then towards Daichi. The child was breathing hard but Bu knew his chances of taking the child away now was slim.
At that moment a blast was heard from the other battle side and steam covered the combatants.
Bu looked sideways and after several seconds the steam cleared and it showed Daichi standing over Doka's dead body. The clone dispelled and the Daich he was battling took several deep breaths and steadied himself.
Tsunade saw what happened and smirked. "Looks like you're the last one left. I'll deal with you myself."
The Sannin glanced at Daichi. "You've fought well kid. Now go rest with Shizune. I got it from here."
Daichi nodded and jumped back. He landed near Shizune but both of them looked ready to assist their master if the need came.
Bu looked at the turn of events and concluded the mission a failure.
At that moment Tsunade spoke. "Don't even think about escaping. No matter where you run, I'll follow you and I'm gonna find out everything I need to know about you. Starting with who you work for."
"What makes you think I work for someone?" Bu asked the woman.
"Because guys like you, You take orders. Not give them. You're a dog with a leash. And I'm going to find out who your master is. One way or the other." Tsunade slowly started making her way to the root ninja.
Bu looked at the approaching woman. 'She definitely will follow me. I can't let them find out my origin.'
Bu immediately made a hand seal and his entire body was immediately covered in seals.
Tsunade stopped in her tracks. 'What is he…?'
Bu looked at Tsunade and made the Ram seal. The next instant his entire body was covered in blue flames. The flames expanded. At that moment seals appeared on Gino and Doka's bodies as well. Their bodies too were burned to ash.
Tsunade jumped back and got to safety. She then noticed the other two corpses engulfed in blue fire as well. 'He was willing to die and even made sure I couldn't find anything from their dead. These people weren't from any ordinary organization. And moreover… That man… The leader of the team. He knew about my Phobia… How??'
Shizune and Daichi joined her.
"It's finally over." Shizune spoke with relief.
“Yeah." Daichi dispelled the remaining clone and fell to the ground. He was taking several deep breaths and his chakra was in the low double digits. The adrenaline from the fight was starting to slowly wear off.
At that moment the quest completion notification appeared in front of Daichi.
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Author's Note:
Next Chapter on Friday
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Comments
Zsolt Putnoki
Just figured that Root ninja would be more cautious, alert, subtle. Especially with having clearly outdated intel on their target (the little genius boy), and their mission placing them potentially against one of the Sannin. Great chapter though. A little surprising, but very well done.
Gamer4Life
It's funny you should mention that cause that's going to be addressed in the next chap... lol
Zsolt Putnoki
Just goes to show that staging a kidnapping with posing as an outside faction is a failed idea from the get go. They should have nabbed Daichi in his sleep, apply some seals, to keep him under and leave a transformed shadow clone in place to pose as him, to slow pursuit. But well, not all ninja live long enough to become paranoid.
