Ren wiped the blood off his kunai and turned to leave the room.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"There's an intruder!"
Just as Ren stepped out of the room, he heard frantic, heart-wrenching shouts echoing throughout the village.
Ren frowned.
Useless teammates.
In the dense forest, Anko Mitarashi and Ebisu were racing through the trees, hotly pursued by a group of enemies.
"Where's that kid?" Anko asked breathlessly.
"No idea. He hasn't been spotted, so he's probably already escaped," Ebisu replied.
"Damn it! Did he really abandon us and run off?!" Anko cursed.
Shuriken and kunai whizzed through the air from behind, forcing the two to keep moving without stopping for a moment.
As they dodged the relentless barrage of weapons, the distance between them and the pursuers kept shrinking.
Suddenly, the ground shook violently. A deep fissure split the earth, toppling countless trees—a large-scale Earth Release technique.
Anko and Ebisu stumbled on the tree branches they were leaping across and fell.
Their pursuers quickly surrounded them, cutting off all escape routes.
"Damn!" Anko growled, quickly recovering and standing back-to-back with Ebisu.
"This is bad… it's a death trap," Ebisu muttered, pushing his glasses up nervously. His hands trembled slightly. "I knew we should've made a better plan."
The number of enemies was overwhelming. Facing them head-on would be nothing short of suicide.
"Shut up and fight!" Anko snapped, pulling a smoke bomb from her pouch and smashing it against the ground.
Boom!
Thick smoke erupted, engulfing the area and blocking everyone's vision. The Banraku Clan's ninjas immediately started throwing kunai into the smoke.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Ebisu quickly formed hand seals, spitting out a scorching fireball that blasted through the smoke and into the enemy lines.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" Anko unleashed her secret technique, snakes shooting out from her sleeve and sinking their fangs into one of the enemies.
But the fireball was soon countered by a wall of earth, and though Anko had taken down one opponent, more enemies rushed forward, their attacks coming too fast for her to handle.
Bang!
In the midst of the fierce assault, Ebisu was the first to fall, knocked to the ground and captured. The enemies didn't kill him, apparently intending to take them alive.
Seeing her teammate go down, the last sliver of hope in Anko's heart faded.
This was the end. There was no way she could fight off so many on her own.
With both hands holding a kunai, she blocked the attacks coming her way while retreating until her back hit a large tree. The enemy's next strike was already closing in.
Whizz!
A sharp sound pierced the air, and the next thing Anko knew, something had torn through the throat of the enemy in front of her. A bloodied kunai embedded itself into the tree trunk beside her face.
What the…
Blood sprayed from the enemy's neck, splattering onto Anko's face, the warmth of it momentarily stunning her. The man gurgled and collapsed, dead.
"There's another enemy!"
The Banraku ninjas were instantly on high alert, scanning their surroundings for the new threat.
Boom!
A dragon made of water surged out from the forest, roaring as it charged toward the group holding Ebisu.
Seeing the water dragon rushing toward them, the enemies scattered, leaving Ebisu standing frozen in place, eyes wide in terror, thinking he was about to meet his end.
But just before the water dragon hit, a dark shadow swooped in, snatching Ebisu away in a blur of speed.
Boom!
The water dragon exploded upon hitting the ground, sending waves of water crashing in all directions, forcing the enemies to retreat.
While the enemy's attention was focused on the dragon, a shadow appeared in front of Anko, moving so fast it was almost impossible to track with the eye.
The sudden burst of movement left Anko's enemies in a state of confusion. They glanced around warily, only catching glimpses of the shadow darting among them, the wind from its passing whistling in their ears.
Within seconds, the sound of bodies hitting the ground echoed around her. The enemies attacking Anko were either flung aside or killed on the spot, their bodies collapsing around her.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Before Anko could fully process what had occurred, she was lifted by strong hands and carried away at a breakneck speed.
"Enemy attack! Don't let them escape!"
"Catch them!"
The Banraku Clan ninjas shouted and screamed, the scene descending into chaos.
Anko's body was being whisked through the forest, trees and bushes rushing past in a blur. In her dazed state, she looked at Ren with a mix of disbelief and relief.
"You… you didn't abandon us?" she asked.
"Did I say you were beyond saving?" Ren replied calmly.
Anko exhaled in relief, a rush of joy washing over her. She had already resigned herself to death moments ago.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another Ren dashing ahead, carrying Ebisu.
Two shadow clones… one created chaos while the others rescued us… bold move.
Anko pieced together what had happened.
"More enemies are coming. Can you run on your own?" Ren's voice pulled her back to the present.
Anko was about to answer when she suddenly realized something. Her face flushed red, then pale.
"Where are your hands?!"
Ren let go, allowing Anko to land on her feet.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?!" she yelled, charging at Ren angrily.
Ren glanced briefly at her chest. Despite the seductive mesh underlayer, the modest rise of her chest didn't do much to spark interest.
Not much to feel there.
"Flat."
"I'm standard size!" Anko shouted in fury, throwing a kunai, which Ren dodged effortlessly.
As she prepared to chase him down, the sounds of the pursuing enemies forced her to hold back her anger.
I'll deal with you later!
The three regrouped, and Ren dispelled his shadow clones.
"Can you move any faster? We'll be caught at this pace," Ren said.
Ebisu shook his head, embarrassed. He had taken some injuries, and this was the fastest he could go.
The sounds of pursuit grew closer, and Ebisu knew they were about to be caught again.
Whizz!
A kunai flew past them, embedding itself in a tree just behind them.
"You two go on without me!" Ebisu gritted his teeth. "I'm just slowing you down."
Ren glanced at Ebisu, surprised. For someone who seemed so ordinary, he had at least the resolve to sacrifice himself.
"Hey, kid, if you dare leave him behind, I won't forgive you!" Anko snapped, furious at Ren's silence.
Stupid woman.
Ren frowned slightly.
They continued to flee, eventually reaching a river.
Ren crossed the water and stopped on the opposite bank.
"What are you doing?" Anko demanded as she and Ebisu caught up.
"A trap," Ren replied. "You two can keep running."
Anko was taken aback, her face flushing again.
"As if! Konoha doesn't abandon its comrades!" she declared passionately.
"What jutsu do you know?" Ren asked.
"Fire Style and some secret techniques," Anko answered.
"Mostly Fire Style," Ebisu added.
Ren glanced at the river, unsure what to say.
Swish, swish, swish!
The enemy ninjas finally burst through the trees, just as Ren finished forming the necessary hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"
The river suddenly began to swirl violently, forming multiple water tornadoes that shot toward the enemies.
Caught off guard by the ambush, the Banraku ninjas were too slow to react. Several of them were hit by the water attacks, their screams filling the air.
The surviving enemies regrouped on the opposite side of the river, launching Earth Style techniques in retaliation.
"Earth Style: Rock Cannon Jutsu!"
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon!"
The barrage of Earth Style jutsu was fast and powerful, barreling toward Ren's position.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
Ren formed another set of seals, raising a massive water wall from the river. The Earth Dragons slammed into the wall, causing the water and earth to mix into a mudslide, but the wall held firm.
"I thought you specialized in Taijutsu?" Anko asked, shocked that Ren had single-handedly blocked so many attacks.
"My Taijutsu is better," Ren replied nonchalantly.
"…"
Anko and Ebisu, realizing that Ren was using the environment to his advantage, refrained from using their Fire Style techniques and instead focused on throwing kunai and shuriken to assist him.
Ren took a deep breath, feeling his chakra depleting quickly. He formed one final hand seal.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
The swirling water wall transformed into a fierce dragon, roaring as it charged toward the Banraku ninjas.
"Retreat!" one of the enemy leaders shouted.
With his jutsu complete, Ren didn't waste time watching the results. He immediately turned and ran.
Anko and Ebisu quickly followed.
"Weren't you holding them back?" Anko asked.
"There are too many of them, I don't have enough chakra."
The chase continued, and while Ren was able to occasionally use ninjutsu to hinder the enemies, the overwhelming number of Banraku Clan ninjas was too much for his chakra to sustain.
Anko and Ebisu also unleashed several Fire Style jutsu, setting parts of the forest ablaze. However, the fire spread too slowly, and the enemies countered it with Earth Style jutsu, rendering it ineffective.
"This group just won't give up!" Anko muttered under her breath, dodging the kunai and shuriken flying toward her and Ebisu as they continued their desperate escape.
"We can't keep this up," Ebisu said through gritted teeth. He knew it was his fault for slowing them down, but there was no other option. He had already used up all his courage just by telling them to leave him behind earlier.
Ren quickly counted the number of enemies pursuing them. There were at least ten, and their strength was unclear. Engaging them head-on would be risky.
His gaze hardened. "Keep moving. I'll stay behind and hold them off."
"Wait, what?" Anko was shocked and immediately tried to refuse.
"No way! We can't leave you behind!"
"I'm confident I can handle this. You'd only be a burden if you stayed," Ren said bluntly, not interested in playing out some emotional scene.
Ebisu's face flushed with shame, thinking back to his earlier judgment of Ren. Now, he felt nothing but guilt.
Without another word, Ren came to a sudden stop on one of the tree branches, turning to face the pursuing enemies.
Anko and Ebisu glanced back at Ren's figure, feeling both remorse and gratitude. Determined not to waste the chance Ren had given them, they continued fleeing without looking back.
Ren, on the other hand, couldn't care less about their thoughts. As the enemy drew closer, he calmly closed his eyes.
First time using this in combat… don't fail me now…
Seeing Ren standing alone, the Banraku ninjas were overjoyed and swarmed him eagerly.
But the moment one of them rushed forward, everyone suddenly saw a pair of blood-red, icy eyes.
Their consciousness flickered for a brief moment, and then they saw that everyone around them had turned into "Ren."
Shadow clones?
Without hesitation, the Banraku ninjas drew their kunai and started fighting the "enemy" before them.
When Ren opened his eyes again, the scene before him was chaotic—corpses littered the ground, and the Banraku ninjas were still attacking each other in a frenzy.
His eyes returned to normal as he realized his chakra was almost completely drained.
Even a basic genjutsu consumes chakra… at least my eyes don't seem to have any side effects…
Ren mused silently. Not bothering with the confused and crazed enemies, he turned and began chasing after Anko and Ebisu.
The forest was vast, and Ren ran for what felt like forever without seeing an exit. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he caught up to his teammates.
"Ren!"
Anko's face lit up with joy when she saw him arrive.
Weren't you calling me a kid earlier? Now we're suddenly close? Ren thought wryly.
"Are you okay?" Anko asked with concern.
"I'm fine. The enemies have been dealt with."
"Dealt with?" Anko and Ebisu exchanged shocked glances.
"There were so many… you got rid of them all?"
"I used a genjutsu. They all fell for it, and I took the chance to kill them."
"A… a genjutsu?"
"Yes. Though I am better at Taijutsu."
Anko stared at Ren in disbelief. She couldn't wrap her head around how the enemies that had pushed them to the brink of death had been so easily eliminated.
This guy was younger than her—a junior.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked, unnerved by Anko's gaze.
"Nothing… it's just… you're amazing," Anko murmured.
"If it were Shisui here, you wouldn't have needed to run in the first place," Ren said nonchalantly.
Shisui of the Body Flicker…
He and Ren were from the same generation?
Thinking back to the rumors about Ren, Anko felt more inclined to believe there was something more to his story.
This kid… he's full of mysteries. I need to find out more…
Anko made up her mind.
---------------------------------------------------------
[Name]: Anko Mitarashi
[Gender]: Female
[Age]: 21
[Affection Level]: 70 (+15)
[Relationship]: Fellow Villager
[Difficulty to Pursue]: B
[First Kiss Reward]: Orochimaru's Techniques
[Full Intimacy Reward]: Sage Power
---------------------------------------------------------
This woman's really fickle… her affection level's rising so fast, Ren thought, glancing at Anko. His eyes flicked briefly to her chest, noticing how flat it was despite the tempting mesh underlay.
No appeal.
Anko caught him staring, and her expression immediately turned dangerous.
Affection Level: 69 (-1)
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