Taiki runs as fast as he can, stopping at nothing, knowing there are no people in the city capable of opposing the attackers. His electric jutsu allows him to move at incredible speed, but little by little, his legs begin to feel the strain, and the pain builds.
Once he leaves the city, the man heads straight into the forest and heads east. Soon, he can sense something behind him, the distance decreasing only every time he slows down for a moment.
Minutes pass, and fatigue accumulates, as does Taiki's chakra reserves. The man realizes he needs to lose his pursuer, so after a few hand seals, he produces two electric shadow clones, each of which takes different routes from him.
But whoever is chasing the man doesn't seem to fall for the trap, so Taiki gathers electricity in one of his hands and produces a discharge in the air, resulting in the distinctive sound of thunder, which can be heard for miles around.
The signal has the desired effect, and the clones change direction and head to intercept the pursuer. What follows is a short confrontational sound in the distance and an increase in distance, but unfortunately, this is short-lived, as the chase continues.
Taiki tries his best to increase his speed, but his chakra reserves prevent him from doing so. Desperate, the man stops and tries to hide in some bushes, concealing his internal energy as best he can, hoping his pursuer will become disoriented or pass by.
After a few moments, an individual stops about fifty meters from Taiki, who can sense the presence from his position on the ground. Sweat accumulates on the man's forehead, and his breathing is labored due to exhaustion.
Seconds pass, which then turn into minutes, but the individual doesn't seem to want to move, and Taiki can't stand the uncertainty any longer, so he slowly peeks his face out from the base of the bush. The man manages to observe, through the leaves and branches, an individual covered in a full-body cloak, simply standing in the middle of the forest. The only thing unusual is a strange yellow aura emitting from the hood.
The individual stands motionless looking in another direction than Taiki, making the man feel a little relief. But suddenly the individual's face abruptly changes direction, pointing directly at Taiki.
Even from a distance, the man can see the individual's eyes, red and with a strange symbol, difficult to identify.
"Shit…" is what Taiki manages to say, before feeling the world around him become denser, the air like a real liquid, as if he were underwater.
The man tries to use genjutsu kai to break out of whatever genjutsu he's trapped in, but it's ineffective. Panicking, he decides to run, but he immediately realizes that the world seems to be moving faster than he is. The movement of tree branches, leaves, birds, insects—everything around him moves as if in fast motion.
Taiki can't stand the sensation and falls to his knees, vomiting and trembling. He soon realizes that there is someone in front of him, the individual, who simply observes him, with his red eyes and snowflake-shaped pupils.
The man feels weak and has the sudden impulse to look for something in his clothes, taking out the scroll that Osuke gave him before escaping, which he drops at the individual's feet. Then everything goes blurry, a slight pain in his neck, and everything goes dark and quiet.
…
[Touki]
For Touki, the long-awaited raid on the blacksmith's workshop in the Land of Iron turned out to be a disaster within a success. Although they managed to obtain the precious chakra metal, the chaos they caused in the city put the entire nation on alert.
The cause of the disaster was the leader of the Kumogakure ninja group, who, despite all predictions, stood foolishly in front of the blacksmith, showing everyone around him that something was wrong.
The original plan assumed that the delivery would take place normally and the assault would be executed when the ninjas were preparing to leave the workshop.
Touki, positioned hundreds of meters away on a high building with his sniper rifle, decided to act immediately. The adamantite bullet found its target and immediately incapacitated the ninja leader, but what followed was a disorganized skirmish between the order's samurai and the ninjas, who fought completely on the defensive.
Once again, Touki expected a different performance from his forces. Surprise was key to gaining immediate superiority, but the members of the order demonstrated a clear fear of confronting the supposedly elite ninjas more aggressively, opting instead to maintain a firm line of contact and slowly push toward the heart of the workshop. This tactic resulted in no serious injuries to any of the order's samurai, but gave the ninjas time to organize and form an effective defense.
As Touki rushed to the scene of the action, he ordered Izumi to go directly to the ninja leader and secure the shipment at all costs, and on the other hand, he ordered Suki to secure a containment perimeter around the workshop, through the focused use of fog, something that was vital to give them the necessary time to finish the mission.
Arriving at the scene of the action, Touki wasted no time and used two of his prized single-use offensive devices, the laser generators, and ended the battle immediately, an over-the-top act, but one that bought them enough time to search the wreckage of the workshop for any valuables they could find.
The search was excellent, yielding over 100 weapons of all kinds, all of high quality, including six chakra alloy swords and one made entirely of adamantite. The icing on the cake was the discovery of an adamantite breastplate weighing over 15 kilograms, an exquisitely decorated piece and apparently a family heirloom of the blacksmith.
Having accomplished their objective, the group successfully escaped, all utilizing their armor's emergency mechanism, which allowed them to instantly teleport back to their hideout in the land of tea.
Daizen, the order's strategist, did not participate in the assault but remained in the city undercover to analyze the consequences of the operation, which turned out to be completely different from what was expected.
The city of Fujino was plunged into total chaos, being quarantined, and thousands of samurai were deployed to search everywhere for possible culprits behind the attack. Meanwhile, the nation as a whole immediately entered a state of emergency, causing widespread unrest in the capital and border regions. Apparently, Mifune, the nation's leader, took the discovery of several Kumogakure ninja corpses in his domain, as well as the death of one of his best blacksmiths, quite seriously.
Touki, initially hoping for a less exaggerated response from the land of iron, simply chose to ignore the situation and decided to rely on the order's hierarchy to navigate future problems. He has one mission right now, and that is to manufacture more and more artifacts to strengthen himself and his organization.