255: Kumo & Konoha (1)

Chapter 255: Kumo & Konoha (1)

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It was evening, the sun was starting to set and the clouds were clearing up. Raikage jumped down from the top of a tall rock and descended on the water stream below, causing water to splash all around and startle the animals in the vicinity, also making a dark-skinned man who was seemingly meditating on top of the water lose his chakra control and drown.

As Raikage stood on top of the water, his chakra kept his foot stable, as a head popped out beside him.

"Pff!" Killer Bee popped his head out of the water, coughing out water. "What the frick, bro? I was stunned, you know?"

Raikage frowned and turned off his Lightning Cloak. "Bee, did you notice anyone suspicious around here?" he asked as Bee pulled himself up in the water.

"No? Was someone supposed to come, though?" the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki replied, rapping to himself.

"Nobody is supposed to, that's exactly why I am asking," Raikage said as he looked around. "Lightning Palm Neji is supposed to be in the village; a report made by Samui who's been spying on him for the last two weeks. She theorised he might be after the eight-tails, and I have all the reason to believe her claim given the recent rumour around Konoha."

"Really?" Killer Bee asked, walking over to the land and using a Wind Jutsu to dry himself up. "Perhaps he joined the Akatsuki? Odd mission otherwise, honestly."

Raikage agreed, following behind Bee. He wasn't sure either as to why someone like Neji would be after the Eight-Tails. But in any case, he didn't doubt Samui, she would never give him false intel.

Then both of them heard the distant noise of footsteps and turned their guards up, but it just turned out to be Darui, followed by Karui and Omoi, who ran to greet them.

They were expected, but… something was strange. 'Where is Samui?' Raikage was confused. Why did Samui send her team and Darui but not come here herself?

"Why isn't Samui here?" Raikage asked once the three Ninjas halted in front of him, bowing respectfully. 

"Samui?" It was Darui who asked back. "I have no idea. She didn't come to us, to begin with. It was Mabui who came to inform us about your emergency summon. She did mention Samui, but since that girl didn't come to us by herself we just assumed she must have left for you already."

Raikage frowned at that.

Something didn't feel right.

She had pushed him away when he tried to touch her too…

Weird.

"You guys wait here," Raikage said, launching his Lightning Cloak once again. "I will be back in a second."

The others nodded and Raikage was about to leap himself into the air, but before he could do so he spotted a figure coming towards them from the sky.

Moving fast.

-Boom!

The sky bloomed with the ripple of a supersonic blast as the figure revved and appeared right above them, floating with his arms behind him, while his white hair fluttered behind him beautifully as did his white robe with blue outline.

"This is unwise, baby boss," Raikage heard Samui's voice from beside the white figure, even though she wasn't present there. "There is a reason why I suggested you gather all four of them here in one place—because they're all very strong so them being out of the village was for your own good. It's very dangerous to come to face them on your own here!"

Raikage frowned and so did the other Ninjas beside him. He couldn't see Samui and he lacked context, but he wasn't a Kage for nothing—he could see what was happening here.

Samui had betrayed him. That slut dared. What was she displeased with for her to do such a thing?

…After a moment's thought, he quickly shook his head, discarding the idea. This must be a ploy, a trick for him to doubt Samui. If she was an enemy from the beginning he could understand why she might betray him, but she was a Kumo citizen since birth and someone who had received his love. There was no way she would betray him.

That voice, was it a Genjutsu, perhaps? Surprising, since he couldn’t sense anything and even Bee—a Jinjuriki who should be immune to Genjutsus—didn’t. However, having heard about Itachi Uchiha’s feats, Raikage knew it wouldn’t be too weird if Neji’s unknown eyes had Genjutsu abilities on-par, if not stronger than, the legendary Uchiha.

"…So it seems your eyes are indeed superior to the Byakugan, Neji Hyuga." Raikage said after a pause, and by then everyone had prepared their weapons. "You can even cast such precise Genjutsu. In any case, it is nice to finally meet you.”

Neji gave him a polite smile. “Can’t say the same for me.”

Raikage scoffed softly at that and said, “Was the Samui I met a Genjutsu too? Or was she under your mind control?"

He was asking questions to inquire the limits of his eyes—but at the same time, he was looking for an opening to attack since he was already in his Lightning Cloak. No matter if Neji was indeed here for the Eight-Tails or not, since he was here he was now Raikage's prey. That boy’s eyes already belonged to him!

With that in mind, just as Neji opened his mouth to say something, Raikage leapt high in the air at a blinding speed and slammed his fist at the floating Neji’s chest.

Surprising him, Neji blocked the attack with his right hand, wincing softly at the pain, before he spun around Raikage to come behind him and bang his fist behind the lightning man’s head. 

“Argh!”

Raikage couldn't help but groan as a shockwave-force caused his head to ring like a bell while the coating of a translucent energy around his fist shook the insides of his brain.

‘Shit!’ Raikage cursed. ‘What type of Jutsu was that?’

Raikage realised this battle might not be as easy as he initially thought it would be.

—-

Samui was right. Raikage alone was strong, a [High Tier 10] enemy when he had his Lightning Cloak activated, but there were also the others behind him.

[Killer Bee — Chakra-Octopus-Human — Mid Tier 10]

[Darui — Mid Tier 8]

[Karui — Peak Tier 7]

[Omoi — Peak Tier 7]

He might be used to fighting Tier 8 foes now, but that didn't mean they were ‘negligible’. He needed to go all out from the start.

Raikage dodged and fell back when Neji tried to attack once more and rather gestured for Killer Bee to transform. So they planned to let the Eight-Tails keep him distracted while the others flanked him, huh? That was fine with Neji.

With a deep breath in—Neji activated the 1st gate, then the 2nd, then the 3rd, and soon the 7th Gate as well. Neji felt sheer power rush through his veins as his heart started to pound like a machine gun.

Raikage frowned deeply—as Neji’s skin became dark red and a hyperactive aura of green aura burst up from him—realising the danger Neji posed. All the Kages knew what the Eight Gates were and what they could do. However, Raikage managed a smirk since by then Gyuki had materialised out of Bee as the huge octopus swiped one of its tentacles at Neji. 

The boy, Neji, didn’t bother dodging the incoming attack and rather raised his hand vertically in front of him—the green aura around his forearm thickening and also getting covered in sharp draconic scales—and the instant tentacle came in touch with his forearm, it was cleanly cut in two.

Gyuki groaned but didn’t fall back. But he didn’t attack either—rather allowing Darui to release one of his Black Lightning Jutsus- [Black Panther]. 

Neji gave a short chuckle and created a Shadowclone (consequently destroying another that was in another part of the world, to keep the number of clones at a solid 500) who immediately fired the same technique back at Darui, except with much more lethality given the difference in chakra poured into it. Darui’s technique crumbled against Neji’s, rather getting devoured to empower Neji’s Jutsu, and then descended upon a fleeing Darui.

The dark-skinned young man barely managed to dodge—but the other two Ninjas weren’t so lucky. They received the direct hit of the technique and yelled in pain—though not exactly out of the game yet.

Right then, Raikage blitzed through the air, coming from behind Neji and thus forcing him to take the sudden attack using his clone—consequently making Neji hiss as he felt the pain from the clone that perished a moment later. Now that the ambush had failed, giving Neji time to move, he got out of Raikage’s second attack, the incoming [Hell Stab]. It was quite an easy dodge—given Neji was in the 7th Gate—which also allowed Neji to attack Raikage with the same technique, catching the older man off guard. 

Neji's finger penetrated his lightning armour and poked on his right shoulder, the man grunted and immediately backed off.

“You stole our Jutsus.” Raikage grumbled as he fell back. “Is this another ability of your eyes? Fascinating!”

It was another ability of his eyes, yes. Rather than using the Jutsus that he just learned from raiding the Jutsu Vault—he was actually countering Darui and Raikage by copying their techniques with his [Lord’s Eye], thereby allowing his copied techniques to be on the same Level as the technique released by the enemies, countering to doing the former as they were all Level-1 skills.

As Raikage exclaimed his fascination, Gyuki rejoined the battle. The tailed beast opened its mouth to fire a super-charged tailed beast breath exclusive to the Eight-Tails, making an ear-piercing sound as the beam was fired. The beam rushed at Neji to devour him and then moved forward to devastate the land behind Neji..

It was as if the sun had risen again, the night became bright for ten whole seconds.

“Not bad,” said Neji’s voice as he stood beside Raikage—startling the older man as he tried to ‹Elbow›  Neji, only for the latter to vanish in white light. 

“Slow, though. Both of you.” Neji said as he appeared on top of a hill and smirked down.

Raikage’s heart stopped for a brief instant as he realised what Neji had just done.

“The… Flying Thunder God Technique?” he asked out loud, disbelief clear in his voice. “Shit. Everyone, charge at him all at once and be on your guard!”

Raikage probably thought Neji wasn’t that efficient with the Jutsu, that’s why he had only used it once—and also because of the Chakra requirement. 

However, the Flying Thunder God… Neji had learned it perfectly before he came to Kumo. He could use it at a moment's notice, and the chakra required was negligible for a person of his level. He thought he might be in a pinch against the Raikage—but it seemed his worry was pointless. He had placed the Fuinjutsu Seal required for FTG on Raikage’s shoulder when he poked the man before, so he could teleport to his side anytime.

[Jutsu: Flying Thunder God

Level: 02/25

Details: Users have the ability to place a fuinjutsu seal dubbed as the “technique formula” on anything they can physically touch. Once a formula has been placed on a spot, the users can activate the technique to enter a void where they would see the ‘save-points’ as points of light. When a point is chosen, the user teleports there instantly, and no matter how many minutes the user has spent inside the void it would appear not even a second has passed in the outside world.

*As the level increases, the Gamer will grow more efficient with the usage of this technique. Such as the ability to use the ‘save-points’ created by the previous users of this technique.

*CP Cost: 5,000 per use]

For reference, Neji had 175,900 MP, which was 351,800 CP. That, and taking his regeneration in consideration, he could spam this all day.

Upon hearing Raikage’s orders, the Ninjas charged at Neji, the Eight-Tails threw continuous, smaller tailed-beast bombs at Neji, but they were weak enough for Neji to just slap them away by materialising his draconic tail.

Neji needed a power-up, Seventh-gate alone wasn’t helping him. But unfortunately he had fused with Kurai last night to get the Tenseigan to revive Samui (after fucking her to death) so he couldn't fuse again. In truth, he already had 4 believers, with Tenten converting just recently, and he was hoping to get the 5th from Sakura and be done with it. But that’s for later, for now he entered his Dragonoid form. 

This was enough for now. This hybrid form boosted his stats by an entire 2x, and with the 7th Gate open, that became 7.5x. This much was more than enough.

Neji’s wings flapped as he threw himself up in the sky, essentially dodging the incoming enemies, and before they could even realise what he was doing, Neji—now as large as a giant—dropped from the sky, supersonic shockwaves blasting behind him as he spun rapidly before his tail came crashing on top of Gyuki’s head, making the beast’s legs sway as its eyes went blank and it fall face first. Gyuki transformed back to Killer Bee, lying unconscious on the water stream.

Then, the Raikage—now faster than ever—came in front of Neji with his fist curled up, but Neji simply moved his head to the side to dodge the punch. His tail moved to behind the Kage, wrapping around his neck and slamming him down on the ground. It wasn’t a simple slam, it was a strong and fast one—which was proven by the sound of Raikage’s ribs breaking as the water splashed all around them.

The other enemies—visibly shaken as they still tried their luck against Neji—were taken care of much easily as they met a worse fate. Death. Neji just punched their heads off, one after another, making the skulls hit the trees in the back like footballs—footballs that burst as they hit the trees.

[You have killed Darui, a Mid Tier 8 foe!]

[You have levelled up 13 times!]

[You have killed Karui, a Peak Tier 7 foe!]

[You have levelled up 9 times!]

[You have killed Omoi, a Peak Tier 7 foe!]

[You have levelled up 8 times!]

[You have reached Level 612!]

Rather than celebrating, Neji immediately turned to Killer Bee’s unconscious form—creating 10 ‹Woodclones› who all encircled the unconscious man before wrapping Wood Jutsus around him to stop him from doing anything even if he were to wake up.

Only Raikage was left, who by then had stood up again and was busy weaving hand signs, his expression showing visible panic and regret.

“What a loser,” Neji gave him a mocking chuckle. “I fucked your girl, by the way. She is mine now, just like how your Jutsu will be after I finish you.”

Raikage growled like a beast, fuming at his words but he finally finished his hand-signs as an eastern dragon erupted from his body, rushing over to Neji. At the same time, Raikage moved too, one of his fastest attacks-[Lightning Oppression Horizontal Slash]-that he used by slashing his forearm at Neji’s body.

Neji just scoffed as the lightning dragon hit him—failing to do any damage to his 7th Gate enhanced and Dragonoid form—as he grabbed Raikage by the incoming forearm, his palm releasing a black fire that devoured his forearm immediately, forcing the older man a to jump back and chop his own arm off, down to the elbow.

However, that wasn’t enough to save Raikage as Neji moved in a white and green flash, pulling his arm back and throwing his fist at Raikage’s chest—releasing tremor, shockwave, explosion style, and a force of kinetic blast through the punch and causing the older man to fly far faster than the speed of sound and hit a huge rock-hill, simply making it collapse to the side.

Neji turned off both the Gates and transformation, his eyes seeing the unconscious Raikage laying down without any movements. A moment later, he brought the old man and tied him against a tree, putting a few extra sleeping spells on him to make sure he stayed asleep.

At long last, Neji took a seat down on a wooden chair (more like a throne) made out of woodstyle, releasing a relaxed sigh.

The girls, he noticed, were as silent as the night by then.

“What’s wrong?” Neji asked with a joking chuckle. “I thought you guys were excited to see the battle?”

“Uh…” it was Sakura whose voice trailed off. “I don’t think any of us expected that level of violence. Was killing them necessary?”

“I don’t know,” Neji frowned at the planet-ball that materialised in front of him. “But I am sure keeping your mouth shut is necessary.”

“…”

“Pfft-“

Toga and Temari’s voices barely held back laughter while Sakura and the others stayed silent.

“…So what are you waiting to do now?” Hanabi asked after a minute.

Neji answered as he leaned back on his chair. “Well, I sent one of my clones to Konoha to raid the Yamanaka Clan off their mind-reading jutsus. I need it to extract the location—or the technique itself—from the Raikage’s head.” he then blinked. “There, my clone has reached Kon-”

Neji paused.

Even as seconds passed and the girls asked him what had happened, Neji stayed silent with his face forming an expression of disbelief.

“Shit.”

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