Naruto: Cautious Ninja

Quickly realizing that it was physically impossible to throw so many shuriken at the exact same time the redhead calmed her nerves and listened to the air carefully. The world around her slowed by several seconds as she honed in on the approaching weapons and broke down the mechanics of the technique. "She multiplied the number of shuriken through a genjutsu; an optical illusion designed to confuse the enemy. If that's the case, then the real ones should be the ones breaking the air and making noise, so…" Eyes snapping open, her pupils darted through the wind from one area to the other, before she finally picked up on a dead spot coming from, "The right!" Tayuya swiftly changed directions in mid-charge and barreled to her side evasively.

Rolling under the shuriken wall, seeing some pass through her yet ultimately dodging the real ones completely, she then sprang back up and rushed at her opponent. She then slapped her hands together to form a hand seal to a technique she'd just recently finished learning and began the sequence. "Katon…"

"-Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) Noriko shouted a split second before breathing out a torrent of fire at the approaching Tayuya, seeing the girl look up with a start towards the massive ball of flames flying straight at her. "Too slow, kid!"

Seeing the torrent shooting through the air towards her in the form of a fiery wall, it appeared that Tayuya was done for. However, while still running forward and flipping through hand seals, unsure of what to do next, the girl then spotted a rather small yet barely noticeable opening in the attack that seemed to encompass her entire view of the world in front of her.

For some strange reason, she could see her opponent's feet underneath the gigantic sphere of flames now threatening to run her down…

Seizing the opportunity and gaining inspiration from Naruto's fighting methods, the red head threw her upper body backwards and dropped herself onto her back in mid-sprint, resulting in her literally sliding right underneath the giant fireball. By the time she hit the deck, and both she and the attack meant for her grazed passed each other by a hair, the musician had already finished forming hand seals. "-Hosenka-" A quick inhale later and Tayuya slid within range of her target, who'd finished expelling flames from her mouth and was now looking straight down at the girl sliding towards her in shock.

"What?!"

"-no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)

"SHIT!"

Tayuya fired off a smaller, much more versatile ball of fire at the woman, nailing her square in the chest followed shortly by a dozen more. The volley of fire balls exploded against the enemy kunoichi repeatedly, causing her to stagger away yelping out with every hit before she was inevitably sent careening over the side of the building when Tayuya fired off her last and most devastating shot at the woman.

Noriko's charred body flew across the street, rammed into a billboard, and fell three stories to the ground where she landed with a deafening thud. Any villagers wandering the streets below leapt away from the crash site in surprise, having not expected for some random person to suddenly come dropping out of the sky like a sack of potatoes.

After sliding to a stop after a successful attack, Tayuya breathed a sigh of relief, stood and walked over to the edge of the building she was on. Peering over to see the unconscious form of the woman far below, the red head grinned and pumped a fist in victory.

"Fuck yeah, dattebayo!" She then saw the villagers on the street below look up at her oddly and blushed. Tayuya quickly raised a hand in apology, "S-Sorry…"

OOO

Half an hour later…

Elsewhere…

Though it had been a close shave, to have slipped right underneath the Third Hokage's nose and get out with trophy wrapped firmly in hand, the sense of accomplishment and the feeling of pulling off the impossible never felt so good.

Seriously. This feeling of success and joy filled Mizuki's heart and soul as he flew through the trees at top speed, Scroll of Seals over his shoulder and a massive grin on his face.

Chuckling to himself, the man stopped when he came across the familiar hut situated in the middle of the woods surrounding the village; the agreed upon destination where he would cross paths with the trio of kunoichi he had hired on as extra help for the last time. Since this was entirely his plan, he knew exactly what he needed to do, where he needed to be and at what time he needed to be there, all in order to clear up the last of his debts. It was something akin to starting a new life with a clean slate.

He wanted to make sure the cannon fodder did their job, killed the Kyuubi brat, and made it out of there scot-free. The last thing he wanted was an entire village on his heel if they somehow caught wind of him through them.

On the other hand…

"Why would I need to worry about an entire village when I have this?" the man chuckled while tapping his fingers against the massive scroll hanging behind him. "I've got all the power I need right here. Once I learn everything I need from this scroll, I'll become the most powerful shinobi in the world, maybe in all of history!" It did belong to Hashirama Senju at one time after all. That definitely had to count for something.

Once that thought crossed his mind and knowing full well that he finally had his main objective in his possession, Mizuki quickly concluded right then and there that he didn't need to uphold his end of the bargain. This whole business with the three kunoichi and killing Naruto; they were just bumps in the road, mere stepping stones. He only needed to get over them to continue on his way, and what better way to do that then do that right now?

He didn't have to wait around for the extra baggage and risk getting caught. They could have their revenge on the brat. They got the Intel they wanted anyway.

Chuckling, Mizuki rose to full height on the branch and patted his prize. "So long, Konoha," the man sang.

.

.

.

🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉

🎉ko-fi.com/shihao123🎉