{Somewhere outside Katsuko Town}
{5:34 PM, 4th July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Ren was running away. This was the last town he had to go to according to his mission so he took the time to test some things out.
'Timed explosive scrolls are way easier for this kind of mission when compared to a straight-up assault.' Ren thought. Fuinjutsu was probably most effective when he had time to plan things along. He looked around then he flew back in the direction of Miyazaki Town
He wasn't far away from Konoha anyway to go back to Hayate's hideout, plus he was interested in the bounty of the Jonin that Hanzou talked about. After that, he could use Hayate sensei's hideout to plan his operation of cleaning the Land of Fire of some Jonin-ranked missing-nin.
'And if he has a team then it could be even better.' Ren thought his thoughts bouncing back to Aoi and his supposed team.
He leveled up once from this mission and he had Sora's body in storage for emergency so at the moment he was all for some exp. Ren has always been selfish, and while he was against murdering innocents and civilians, Missing Nin was fair game. If cleaning up the elemental nations by taking out some missing nin made him stronger as well, he was quite okay with taking on that burden.
He wasn't delusional, he knew he was trying to be a judge, jury, and executioner. But he also lived in a reality where every moment is dangerous, every missing-nin could be a moment away from taking away his life.
'And there is nothing a possessive orphan likes more than the things he considers his...' Ren chuckled at that thought. The academy taught them a lot of things, while some of them might be useless like maths and using geometry to calculate the angle at which to throw a shuriken. Some other knowledge did stand out.
The psychological analysis course, which teaches the academy students ways to try and figure out an enemy's weakness, by trying to see the chinks in their armor helped him out in trying to figure out who he was. Ren paused for a brief moment as one of his shadow clones popped, the memories of his shadow clone exploring Miyazaki Town for the past day came to him.
'So no one, followed my trail from Konoha, I don't fucking believe it. Did they figure out that it was just a clone?' Ren thought as he rushed back.
The Miyazaki Town was just 2 hours away, it took him that long cause he maintained a normal pace and conserved chakra. Before entering though he did the modified hand seal for the shadow clone jutsu and let his shadow clone scout ahead before he instructed it to go back to Konoha and report on the new situation. He could send back a report and at the same time reduce his chakra reserves to make the chakra compression technique effective.
After waiting for another hour the clone was still intact and living life. Ren walked into the Miyazaki Town cautiously as he filtered through the crowd, he didn't wear a henge and as his face was quite generic he simply mingled with the crowd.
He was compressing his chakra as he moved so even if someone was looking for him, at the very least he wouldn't be spotted by a sensor.
The Chakra Compression technique was gifted to him by Nakai (First kill), while at the beginning the skill wasn't that impressive but as it continuously leveled up Ren was beginning to see its effectiveness.
...
[Chakra Suppression(Active/Passive) - B Rank: Lv 7 (21.48%)]
[A technique where the user suppresses the chakra waves leaking through their body by forcibly compressing their chakra back into the core and making sure as little as possible chakra is flowing through your chakra network.
The effectiveness of this technique depends on the degree of your chakra control and the amount of chakra compression you can achieve.
Chakra Usage: 0.1CP/s
Chakra compression rate: (Chakra Control + 14)%
!Warning: The amount of chakra you can use while the jutsu is in effect is 14% of your total reserves.]
...
Hikaru hadn't used or trained this technique much but as his chakra control was at 70%, so to any sensor his 6000+ chakra reserves would seem to be around 960 or even less than that. And with a shadow clone reducing his reserves by half, his effective chakra would show around as around 500, which is high for a civilian but not eye-catching. Though if they see him then his cover would be blown since he did look like a genin.
While that was still too much that most sensor shinobi could pinpoint where he was they should care for genin-level chakra disrupting their plans.
'Okay so maybe it is not that deceiving right now but when my chakra control levels up some more it would be better. Till then it still is a nice addition to my skill set. At least it helps me by making my opponent lower his guard...' Ren thought as he walked toward the Yamagishi Pub.
It was too early for the regulars to still be around so the pub looked empty, except for a team of 4 shinobi that were sitting on a corner table. Their red names immediately attracted Ren's attention so he used his chakra sensing to gauge their strength.
'A High Chunin and 3 genin level reserves... didn't Hanzou say that one of them was a Jonin, his level is at Jonin level but his chakra reserves are on the lower end. Maybe a genjutsu user...' Ren concluded as he looked at their names before turning to greet Hanzou.
...
[Aoi Rokushō Lv 53]
[Kagari Lv 27]
[Mubi Lv 25]
[Oboro Lv 31]
...
"Hey man, too early for a shot?" Ren shot the older man a smile.
"You're back, that's good..." Hanzou smiled as he looked genuinely happy.
His genuine smile made Ren smell a trap so he cautiously asked, "Listen I gotta dip from the Land of Fire, you were talking about a way to sneak into Ame to hide?"
"Not sneak in but join, here let me introduce you..." Hanzou whispered before he shouted out loud, "Hey, Aoi come here, I got you a new team member."
"His jonin team was taking part in the chunin exams so he was supposed to come alone but something happened, did you know Suna withdrew from the exams? Not just a team or two but all 21 teams that were supposed to take part in the exams just backed away and went back to Suna." Hanzou whispered the rumors were likely spreading.
...
Ren blinked and thought, 'Weren't there just 10 teams from Suna participating in the exams, are the numbers already being exaggerated and the rumors are spreading.'
Aoi walked over to see Hanzou whispering with a kid who looked like he had just graduated from the academy. He looked at the slashed-out Konoha headband for a moment before he collapsed on the chair next to Ren and spoke.
"You made me wait for an hour for a kid?"
...
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AN - Who likes the Sword of the Thunder God? We will also be back to Ren's POV for the foreseeable future!
P.S- Read 20 Chapters ahead at Pàtreon.com/Version_401.