After the meeting with Mei, Ao and Chojuro, Ren and the others spent the rest of the month, training and preparing for the upcoming fight against the Mizukage, Mangetsu and their ANBU escort.
Another thing happened one week after the meeting, Ren received from Sakura a letter where she told him, all the events of Sasuke's defection, how he followed Orochimaru's men, how Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji and Kiba went after him trying to recover him, how Suna's sibiling came as reinforcement, how Neji, Kiba and Choji came back seriously injured, how Naruto wasn't able to stop Sasuke, and more important how useless she felt throughout the whole event and how she asked to become Tsuande apprentice and she was accepted.
After that Ren send his replies to his sister, and goes back to training with Peri, who already learned how to control chakra to the level of walking on water, write and read, he even asked Zabuza for one chakra paper to check his chakra nature, and he found out that he has the water and earth chakra nature, and so he gave him his scroll on basic ninjutsu from his academy days and some basic earth and water ninjutsu that he borrowed from Haku.
Meanwhile Ren was still unsuccessful in mastering the Bankai, the new release made Senbonzakura even harder to beat but he is getting closer, but on the brighter side he was finally able to learn Shunko.
And so the time has finally come, and Ren and the rest of the team, minus Peri as Ren left him in their hideout, moved toward the main island of the Land of Water, the island where the fog surrounding the 15 islands was the thickest, and once there they went to the meeting point where Mei and Chojuro were already waiting.
As soon as Mei saw them she said "You are finally here Ao just send us a message saying that they started moving and that they will reach the ambush point in two hours, so let's hurry and go there...." but Ren interrupts by saying "Wait Mei-san it better to hide ourself first, we do not know how many sensor ninja other than Ao they have better be careful, now everybody come closer"
And even if confused they did so,and once they were near him Ren used the Bakudō #26. Kyokkō (Bent Light) and explained to the other "This will hide our physical form and chakra by bending light, the only thing that doesn't hide is sound, but for that we have Dosu"
Mei once again surprised by this unheard technique asked "Another strange jutsu where did you learn this Ren-kun?" and Ren tired of always telling the same excuse, opted for a half truth "Well, to tell you the truth, I'm unable to use any kind of ninjutsu, every time I try to use even the most basic one, it seem like my chakra is totally incompatible with ninjutsu, so technically I'm not a ninja, so while searching for solutions I found some old, really old stone tablets that talked about mythical being know as Shinigami, they purify spirits who do evil in the World of the Living and ensure the safe crossing of souls who have lost their way after death, by giving them a soul burial."
And as Ren was narrating they started moving towards the ambush point , while Dosu lightly shake his arm to cancel the sound they were producing "They didn't have chakra, after all from what the tablet told chakra didn't even exist, but as these Shinigami were spirits themself they used their spiritual power and called it Reiryoku, and fought these evil spirits that they called Hollow, they were human soul unable to move to the Pure Land and that stay in this world too long and become corrupt spirits with supernatural powers which devour the souls of both living and deceased Humans, many of them then move to the Impure Land"
Now everyone was caught in Ren's story as he continues "The tablets even explained how these Shinigami fought, the tablets called it Zankensoki (Cut-Fist-Run-Spirit), now the Zan stand for Zanjutsu, Sword fighting techniques for the Zanpakuto...." hearing that Zabuza, Haku and Dosu "Wait...", ".....", "The fuck...." but Ren ignore them and continues "Ken stand for Hakuda, an unarmed fighting technique that makes use of one's own body in a fight, So is Hohō, the name for all high-speed fighting movements based on the art of Shunpo, and Ki is Kido, advanced spells that require strong spiritual power, Hadō, Bakudō and Kaido"
Then he drew Senbonzakura and explained "And as I was reading that tablets I hear this sword calling from within, and answering to that call resulted in this sword coming out of my chest, and then she taught me the Zankensoki...So from that moment I trained not as a ninja but as a Shinigami, and the technique I used before to hide us was a Kido"
Then Chojuro trembling asked "So...you are saying.... that spirits, ghost, and these hollow exist?" and Ren with a grin replies "I didn't see any ghost or evil spirits yet, but I know that the Uzumaki have sealed a begin that they call Shiningam but this one eat the soul.....so what do you think?"
Then Mei asked "By the way Ren-kun why hide your handsome face with that creepy mask?" and once again he answer "It is simple I do not want to reveal my face to my enemies"
Then they finally reached the ambush point it was a clearing in the forest between Kiri and the Water Capital, far from any body of water, even if was still full of mist, so the home advantage still existed for Yagura and the other but that way if he transform in the Sanbi he can't escape through the water.
As they felt their target come Mei reminded them the plan "Remember wait for Ao signals, then Ren-kun, Dosu, Haku-kun and Chojuro together with Ao deal with the ANBU, remember if you can knock'em out and if not kill, meanwhile Zabuza-san deal with Mangetsu and I stall Yagura, after you guys are done with the ANBU, come and help me with Yagura, is everything clear?"
And all of them said "Hai!" then soon the figure of Yagura with Mangetsu next to him, and two dozen ANBU all around them scouting for danger was seen by everybody and as soon as they reached the ambush point, Ao distanced himself from the group and activated the preparated Explosive Tag causing a huge explosion that divided the ANBU from Mangetsu and Yagura and taking advantage of the chaos, Mei yelled "GO!"
And so while she and Zabuza went toward the Yagura, Mangetsu pair, Ren, Chojuro, Dosu, and Haku, moved toward the scattered and still confused ANBU.