Ren stood still for only a minute longer, his body recovering at a ridiculous rate thanks to his mastery over physical training and chakra flow. His injuries were already fading, the muscle strain healing, the slight exhaustion dissolving into clarity. He took one last breath, then silently activated all four gates in a seamless motion.
A deep red aura exploded around him. Seals spread, muscles surged, nerves sparked, blood vessels expanded. He flickered forward and vanished from the clearing in a blur of red and blue.
He didn't need to search as he already knew the direction of his chase.
Only one man had stayed until the very end, watching from the shadows even as the last Root operative fell to Ren's hand. Only once it was certain and only once Ren delivered the final strike had the man begun to retreat.
He was Kimura.
With the gates active, and his agility already at 79, Ren's speed was nothing short of monstrous. Within seconds, the forest blurred around him like streaks of green and brown. He caught up to Kimura in less than a minute and landed smoothly in front of him, cutting off the escape.
The man skidded to a halt, his cloak fluttering behind him as he instinctively reached for his weapon only to freeze when he recognized Ren.
"Hey," Ren said cheerfully, casually deactivating the four gates. His aura disappeared in a whisper of wind and light. "Why are you running? I just have a few questions. Oh, and a message."
Kimura didn't speak immediately. He just stared at Ren, his brows slightly furrowed, lips pressed into a thin line. His chakra flared subtly, not with aggression, but unease.
The man wasn't strong. Ren could see that at a glance. His level was 52, a standard jonin. Nothing remarkable. Certainly not a threat to someone like Ren.
Ren's tone turned casual. "First question: are you with Danzo, or with Commander Yoru?"
There was no accusation in the question. Just curiosity.
Kimura exhaled. "I was sent by Lord Danzo to infiltrate Commander Yoru's ranks. Specifically, his close subordinates."
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"But," Kimura continued, "I was discovered. On the very first day."
He looked almost embarrassed saying that. "I was prepared to die, but Commander Yoru didn't kill me. He placed a seal on me, one that prevents me from divulging any of his secrets."
Ren crossed his arms, frowning slightly.
"When I returned to Lord Danzo," Kimura went on, "I reported everything. He examined the seal thoroughly. Then he did nothing. He just told me to carry on. And left me be."
Ren blinked.
Kimura added with a sigh, "Now I jump between Root and ANBU missions. Both of them have seals on me. I can't tell either of them anything about the other. They know I exist. They just don't seem to care."
There was a long silence.
Ren stared at him like he'd grown two heads. "What kind of weird situationship are you in?"
Kimura shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! Honestly, I wish one of them had just killed me. This limbo is exhausting. I keep thinking today might be the day I get erased, but it never comes."
He looked genuinely frustrated. Aggrieved even. His chakra was calm, controlled, but his voice had that edge of someone who hadn't had a full night's rest in years.
Ren was quiet for a moment as he waited for Kimura to finish ranting, then softly said, "You've worked hard. Surviving under both of them, that couldn't have been easy."
Kimura's eyes watered instantly. He looked away, his shoulders stiff. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in five years."
Ren snorted then asked, "Want me to kill you?"
Kimura actually paused to consider it. His expression brightened with a kind of twisted hope, but then fell. "I... I don't know. I think I want to live. But sometimes, I'm not sure why. It's confusing."
Ren tilted his head slightly, thinking. "Well, how about this instead?"
Kimura looked up.
"Why don't you tag along with me?" Ren said, grinning now. "I'm alone on this mission. I could use someone to help with collecting bodies, looting scrolls, or gathering intel. You wouldn't be fighting, though. The kills are mine."
He wouldn't even let the clones have the kill as the system only recognized the kills and the missions he completed on his own as a completed missions otherwise if he could finish missions through clones then he would've been a God already.
Kimura blinked. "You'd let me come with you?"
"Sure. You won't have to risk your life every day, and you won't be sitting in this weird political limbo alone anymore. And best of all, no seals from me."
Kimura's eyes narrowed. "Aren't you worried I'll tell Danzo about your skills?"
Ren shook his head. "Not really."
His tone was almost amused.
Kimura didn't understand it, but Ren had already thought this through. His true strength wasn't something anyone could understand from watching a few fights. The important things, the clones, the basement training, the system progress were all locked behind layers that not even a spy living in his pocket could uncover.
Besides, the real body, the one Kimura would be traveling with, didn't train any advanced skills. It trained physically and moved like a regular ninja. The rest? The clones handled that. All underground. All hidden.
"That's for me to worry about," Ren said, brushing off Kimura's concern. "So you coming?"
Kimura hesitated for a long moment. Then slowly nodded. "Okay."
Ren smiled. "Nice, then from now on you are dead to them, until we return to the village of course."
As he said this, he thought, 'This guy was left alive by both Danzo and Yoru. No one gets that lucky. He must have a secret, or something fun. Let's see what you're hiding, Mr. In-Between.'
"Alright," Ren said, stretching his arms lazily. "Let's get back to the clearing. I've got bodies to deliver. The commander would want to see them."
They made their way back in relative silence.
Once they returned to the battlefield, Kimura immediately got to work without Ren saying a word. He moved with practiced efficiency, gathering up the twelve Root corpses and sealing them into a large scroll. It took less than ten minutes. His movements were quiet, clean, and professional. He even took the time to tag each scroll with the date and location of the kill just like bounty centers did.
Ren was impressed.
Meanwhile, Ren sat at a tree stump writing a letter, his brush gliding over the paper with deliberate strokes. He folded it carefully and slipped it into the scroll holding the Root bodies.
Once Kimura handed him the scroll, Ren turned and walked into the deeper forest without a word.
Out of Kimura's sight, he formed a hand seal.
Poof.
A shadow clone took his place and quietly re-entered the clearing, watching Kimura from the trees. The real Ren went further into the forest and knelt down and with a few hand signs, he pressed his palm to the ground.
Poof!
A slightly large pink butterfly appeared with a soft flutter. Her wings shimmered with faint chakra as she circled Ren's head before hovering in front of him.
"Ren," Ko said gently, her voice soft as always. "What can I do for you?"
Ren held up the scroll. "This has a letter and some packages. Can you deliver it to ANBU Commander Yoru?"
Ko flapped twice in place, then tilted her wings in confirmation. "The one with the black mask?"
Ren nodded.
Ko took the scroll delicately in her six legs, and the scroll vanished from sight with a poof.
She looked at Ren again. "Do you want me to deliver a message too?"
Ren shook his head. "The letter says everything. He'll understand."
Ko nodded again and flew off, vanishing into the trees.
Ren stood up and walked calmly back to the clearing.
The clone faded with a puff of smoke as he re-entered, replacing it seamlessly. Kimura was still hard at work. He had already cleaned up the scorch marks, used earth release to flatten the uneven terrain, and was carefully dragging a broken tree out of the clearing.
Kimura, covered in soot, turned around. "Oh. You're back."
Ren crossed his arms. "You're really good at this."
Kimura blinked. "At what?"
"Erasing evidence."
Kimura looked at the cleaned battlefield. "Well when you've worked under the subordinates of two of the most secretive men in the village, you tend to pick things up."
Ren smiled and said nothing more.
He watched the man continue working methodically and quiet and of course hiding something.
He didn't know what it was yet.
But he would find out.
Soon.
~~~
Back in the Hidden Leaf Village, tucked into one of the smaller districts that connected directly with the open fields, lay the quiet, shaded territory of the Nara Clan. They were known for many things: their intelligence, their deep connection with the deers, and perhaps most famously for their legendary laziness.
In the wide, sun-dappled backyard of the Nara Clan Head's residence, under the shade of a tall tree, a young boy lay fast asleep. His pineapple-shaped hair barely moved with the breeze, and wrapped snugly in his arms was a small, golden-brown baby deer, just as content as the boy who hugged it.
A soft fluttering butterfly entered the yard.
A delicate pink butterfly, shimmering slightly with chakra and floated gently down and perched on the boy's nose. However he didn't even twitch. Still fast asleep, the boy exhaled slowly, shifting slightly to hug the deer closer. The butterfly tilted its head, as if confused.
Perched quietly on a long wooden porch connected to the house were two men sitting cross-legged across a traditional shoji board.
One of them was Nara Shikaku, the current clan head. The other, wearing the distinct black uniform of the elite ANBU, was none other than Commander Yoru. Neither of them had spoken in a while, too focused on their game to engage in idle talk.
Yoru made a move on the board, his hand calm and calculated. Then, as noticing something, he raised his other hand slightly.
The pink butterfly, recognizing the gesture, fluttered off the boy's nose and glided to Yoru's outstretched hand. It landed softly, folding its wings with elegant stillness.
Shikaku, not even looking away from the board, asked lazily, "He made a contract with the butterflies?"
"Hmm," Yoru replied noncommittally, eyes narrowing slightly.
Still holding the butterfly, Yoru raised his other hand and spoke, "Must be important if he sent you, Ko."
The butterfly, Ko, fluttered her wings once and then spoke in a soft, polite tone, "I don't know either. He just said it was important and explained everything in the scroll."
With that, she lifted slightly and poof, a scroll appeared in Yoru's palm. Ko hovered nearby briefly, then with a final nod-like flutter, vanished into the air.
Yoru unrolled the scroll with practiced ease. A folded note slid out first so he set the main scroll aside and opened the note.
His eyes scanned the message, and a slight twitch formed at the corner of his mouth.
He held the note out to Shikaku.
The Nara clan head leaned lazily over, took the note, and read aloud:
"Hi. Danzo. Root. Assassin. All dead. Love. Ren. Red Heart. Red Heart."
There was a long moment of silence. Then Shikaku leaned back and muttered, "Hmm. Was this his first time dealing with Root?"
Yoru nodded, eyes back on the shoji board. "Yes. I've blocked three previous attempts before they got close enough so he doesn't know yet."
Shikaku made his move on the board. "If you told him about Danzo," he said, "then maybe it's time to tell him about his Senju lineage too."
Yoru didn't hesitate. He made his move and said flatly, "Doesn't matter whether he knows or not. Even if I told him, he'd just say" He shifted his voice slightly into a deadpan mimicry of Ren, "'Cool. You got some missions?'"
Shikaku let out a chuckle at the impression and leaned back, stretching his arms with a yawn. "That does sound about right. I still don't think I'll fully understand him until we've played a proper match."
There was a pause, then Shikaku casually asked, "Any luck with the Sannin?"
Yoru responded as he moved a piece on the board. "Jiraiya hasn't given a definite response. Princess Tsunade, on the other hand, seems interested."
"That's something," Shikaku muttered as he slid a shoji piece forward. "We'll need at least one of them if we want this plan to work. Doesn't matter if your prodigy reaches S-rank in a year, which, by the way, I'm still skeptical about."
Yoru's next move came instantly. "I'll push it with Princess, she is already hostile since she found that Dan died due to Danzo so she is our best choice, Jiraiya is not a good choice, he is too emotionally attached with the third." He paused then added, "Also, he'll make it," he said without a trace of doubt. "He'll most definitely be S-rank before the mission ends."
Shikaku scratched his head and sighed, "An eleven-year-old S-ranker. That'll ruffle more than a few feathers."
Yoru gave no reply. He made his next move, perfectly calm.
Their game continued in silence once more, the quiet clack of shoji tiles the only sound breaking the calm afternoon.
Not far from them, the pineapple-haired boy was still dozing peacefully in the grass, arms curled protectively around the sleeping baby deer. The butterfly's visit had done nothing to disturb his nap.
In the distance, the leaves rustled softly in the breeze and the two shadows who shaped the future of the village continued their game, plotting quietly with a child sleeping behind them, and a storm slowly brewing beyond the walls.
~~~~~
{A new regular character is introduced, wonder how that will go.}
{Also, I won't be adding Danzo's reaction since it would just be, 'Cold snort' 'Cold voice' 'Cold reaction', If you want I can add an entire chapter with Cold written hundred thousand times, that way you get Danzo's reaction and I get the word count, cool?}
{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else}
{200 Stones = Extra chapter}
{STONES!!!!}