Chapter 41: Akatsuki
(Shikomu POV)
It didn't take long before we restarted our movement to the Hidden Leaf.
We all got into our normal formation, and once again Kiba and Akamaru were right with me while we were all running.
I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't get paired with the silent Shino, or the shy Hinata who would barely speak at all.
As we were running, I suddenly felt my senses scream at me. It seems as if my Uzumaki senses enhanced my sensory skills.
A group of people were moving towards us at a ridiculous speed that I have only seen Killer B move at during his fight against Kakashi sensei.
I wondered if just recently getting control of my senses was tripping me up, so I turned to my side to see Kiba who had a frown on his face.
Akamaru himself began to growl crazily, as if his livelihood was being threatened.
So I wasn't going crazy, something was chasing towards us with extreme speed.
Shino, who was with Team Asume, raised his hands and a straight line of bugs formed, which was one of the predetermined signals for being found by enemies and them coming towards us.
The Jonin immediately tensed in front of us, and the formation became slightly tighter as people moved closer to protect me.
This was all happening within seconds where the enemy was getting closer and closer towards us.
I used my senses to see what was going on in my surroundings, and what I saw frightened me to my core.
The amount of Chakra each of these people had…was at least on the level of Naido sensei.
Kage level shinobi…
It was a squad of 4 people, donned in long black cloaks adorned with red clouds, white interiors and high collars.
They also wore conical straw hats and distinctive individual accessories.
However, out of the 4 of them, I was only able to recognize 2 of them.
Those 2 had already scared me to my core…seeing them this early into the game was definitely not something that I wanted!
"Well well well, what do we have here? A bunch of Leaf Shinobi trying to protect their precious cargo. This is going to be interesting. How about we have a little chat before things get messy?" Kisame Hoshigaki, The Monster of the Hidden Mist said.
"There's no need for unnecessary violence, Kisame." Itachi Uchiha made his presence known, as he walked in front of Kisame at a slow, undisturbed pace.
"Don't look at his eyes!" Kakashi sensei shouted, so everyone either closed their eyes or looked away.
I myself never looked at the group, simply at their chests and lower. The second I sensed Kage level powerhouses, I decided it would be smart to not make eye contact.
Who knew my thoughts would jinx me!
"Surrender the Jinchuuriki and we can avoid further conflict." Itachi's calm voice spread throughout the surroundings.
This is way too soon…how the hell were we supposed to even help in this sort of matchup?
Sure, we have 4 Elite-Jonin against their members, but each of their members are Kage level shinobi.
Naido and Kakashi sensei should be able to survive, but I am not even sure about Sora.
Asuma and Kurenai might as well have been genin too. Asuma might be strong in his own right, but I don't think he was ready for this battlefield.
And what the fuck was Kurenai going to do? Use Genjutsu against Itachi fucking Uchiha?
And not only that, who the fuck were those other 2 people?
The other two figures stood slightly behind Itachi and Kisame, their crimson clouded cloaks billowing in the wind.
I didn't recognize them—but that didn't bring me any comfort. If they were rolling with the Akatsuki, they were bad news.
One of them was a towering man with a sharp jawline and medium-length light grey hair, his presence alone radiating raw strength.
Even through the Akatsuki cloak, I could see the contours of his muscular frame. He had a predatory look in his eye, like someone who enjoyed the thrill of battle.
The other was calmer, composed. His light blue hair was neatly tied back, his expression unreadable.
A long spear rested on his back, and I had the sinking suspicion that he knew exactly how to use it.
There was something about the way he carried himself—like a warrior who had never once questioned his own strength.
This was bad.
Itachi and Kisame were already terrifying enough, but now we had to deal with these two unknowns as well? The odds were getting worse by the second.
"Hand over the Jinchuriki and no one has to die today." The man with the spear on his back spoke in a calm tone as he walked forward.
Sora sensei from our group appeared right in front of the man as he himself had a stoic look on his face.
"Seems like this is where you have been hiding, Tetsuya." Sora sensei spoke to the man now identified as Tetsuya.
"I have not been hiding, Sora." He spoke in a calm voice, "I have been busy training, that's all."
Seems like Sora sensei and this man already were familiar with each other.
Testsuya was clearly an original character made by the system. I looked around to see all the Konoha Jonin looked at Tetsuya the same way they looked at Itachi.
It seems like this man might have defected from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Are you giving us Jinchuriki?" Kisame asked nonchalantly, not caring that the strongest of the leaf were in front of him right now.
"I think we are going to keep her. Thank you very much." Naido sensei replied in a calm tone.
"How the hell were you even able to find us so soon?" Kakashi sensei asked.
"Our sources are vast Kakashi, we have our ways of knowing things normal people wouldn't." The man with grey hair replied.
"Itachi, aren't we talking too much? Let's kill them all." Kisame said, to which Itachi had no reaction either.
"So what is it? Naido." Itachi asked Naido sensei directly, who didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that 4 of the most wanted people in the world were in front of us.
"Go fuck yourself." Naido sensei calmly said.
"SO BE IT!" Kisame shouted, while he and 2 other members of the Akatsuki dashed into battle, all towards me.
Right before the trio could reach me though, Kakashi, Naido sensei and Sora blocked their attacks, while I had to watch in shock at their incredible speed.
"Shikomu, move on with the mission." Naido sensei replied as he swung his arms and a massive Earthen spike emerged from the ground against the man with grey hair.
As he said that, I instantly began to spam the body flicker Jutsu.
Sure, as an Elite-Jonin, I can technically help the other Jonin, but I was vastly outclassed in skills.
From my senses, I could tell now that all of them were Kage ranked Shinobi.
That was not my battlefield, not yet at least.
Not only were they stronger, they had better battle experience.
Sure, I was a couple of days from the location, but the point is for me to trust Naido-sensei's words.
He has to have a reason for this.
"Where do you think you are going?" Itachi asked, the second I rematerialised as he stood in front of me.
Great, now I have to get past Itachi Uchiha when I am a Jonin? How the hell was this fair?
Itachi Uchiha stood calmly in the clearing in front of me.
His Sharingan was calmly scanning the environment.
[8 Gates- 4th Gate of Pain: Open]
A greenish aura appeared around me as my strength surged.
Now that my base stats were at the Elite-Jonin rank, with the 4th gates amplifier, I would be moving at a pace where Itachi would probably have to take me seriously.
Well…I sure shit hoped so.
Itachi moved first, forming hand seals with blinding speed.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he declared, releasing a massive fireball toward me.
I simply kicked the ground a little, and instantly dodged the attack which felt rather slow…I am still getting used to my new senses and speed.
Then, I moved once again.
Reappearing behind Itachi and swung a Kunai at him, going for a decisive strike.
Itachi's Sharingan predicted the movement, and he countered with a kunai, the blades clashing and sparking.
The force of my attack pushed Itachi back, but he swiftly regained his footing.
"Impressive," Itachi said, his voice calm. "But not enough."
I made it an extremely strong point to not look up what so ever. Whenever I could, I would look at his feet and predict his movement.
Quickly realizing this, Itachi quickly shifted tactics.
I used this opportunity of him having to change tactics and waste time to launch a series of rapid strikes.
Itachi dodged and deflected, his Sharingan predicting my movements with relatives, but the relentless assault began to take its toll, especially since in my current state, my stats should be higher than a sick Itachi.
However, ever calm, he used his next technique against me.
"Amaterasu," he whispered, black flames igniting on me.
But I was prepared for this since from the second I saw Itachi I knew I had to be careful of this Jutsu.
So I simply moved back, disengaged, and used a C rank Jutsu, [Earth Style- Stone Fang Jutsu] to block in an efficient manner.
One has to remember, in this entire game, I was probably the only one with perfect mastery over the 8 Inner gates.
To use the 8th gate, one had to be anywhere above 7000 EXP.
Guy himself was probably around 7800 EXP, and like I repeatedly mention, the last 200 EXP is basically impossible to get without using the system.
So right now, I had completely mastery, beyond even Guy himself!
And with complete mastery comes its perks.
Such as being able to disengage the 8 Inner Gates this quickly.
However I couldn't just do this constantly.
It would take a second for me to be able to reactivate this Jutsu again.
However for now, Itachi seemed stunned with my combat style, and paused a little.
I couldn't allow him to think things through, so I instantly used [Water Style- Rope Binding Jutsu.]
I was able to pull him towards me, however with a surge of strength, Itachi broke free, forming the hand seals for another technique.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Itachi intoned, summoning a massive dragon made of water that crashed towards me.
I couldn't help but be surprised at the sudden usage of a different element from his normal one, but one had to remember Itachi probably mastered multiple elemental changes by now. He was a once in a generation genius after all.
He also body flickered quite far away, building distance between us as he continued to weave some hand signs at ridiculous speeds.
This is definitely going to be an interesting fight…
...
Authors note:
You can read some chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator