Naruto: Tango with Death

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The group of runaways were resting around a large tree, still garbed in their prison outfits. I counted twenty two of them, so not too hard of a task.

I took out three pellets from my pouch, and closed my eyes as I circulated my chakra through two of my Tenketsu Points and made a hand seal.

'Suiton: Drizzle'

The three pellets evaporated from my hand as they incorporated with my jutsu, turning into a light rain.

Usually, I didn't need handsigns for jutsus I had mastered by myself, with my exploration technique of my Tenketsu Points, but because I was incorporating the pellets into the jutsu, I had to use one.

A few of those below rose their heads, clearly surprised by the rain, but I made sure to hide out of their sight.

Seeing nothing alarming, the escapees returned to whatever they were doing, while I kept pumping chakra to make the rain last. The chakra requirements were meagre too, so I was able to keep at it effortlessly for quite long.

However, those clearly weren't normal people. The three pellets I had dissolved into my jutsu and spread as a light rain were actually a rather strong paralyser mixed with a narcoleptic.

Had I sprinkled normal people with this rain, they would have fallen asleep in ten seconds, and their body would have ended up too.

But here, it was only a minute after the rain started that some of them started dozing off, their movements turning sluggish.

"Don't let the rain hit you!"

And here my peaceful strategy goes. One of the inmates, one of those that looked the least affected, warned the others as he turned his coat into a cover. The coat had been stolen from a prison guard, considering the kanji on the sleeves.

Since my attack was busted, I stopped fuelling chakra, making the rain stop, and watched the ones below try to awaken their mates.

After a quick count, I concluded seven of them were knocked out cold, and ten were looking very tired, but still in a good enough shape to fight. As for the remaining six, they were the leaders of the group, and they looked unaffected.

The one who had discovered the attack had a spear, which he pointed above as he said, "They're onto us! Pull into formation!"

If I already knew there was something wrong with him, that was the cherry on the top. Not only had he obviously been trained as a soldier, I could also feel there was something in his voice. As if it was infused with Chakra.

I felt compelled to go down and get into formation, despite his words not being meant for me. I easily resisted the order, but for me, with all my training and my absurdly strong Yin Chakra, to feel the effect, the results on those much less trained men was obvious.

Despite having no knowledge of team fights, the man's voice seemed to enchant them into forming a two layered formation, with the bigger ones in front and the more agile ones in the back. I could also feel a strong killing intent rise, those were after all death row convicts, they all had probably done at least one terrible thing in their lives.

This was a completely different usage of Chakra compared to what I was used to, the closest thing to it I knew of would be Genjutsu, but even then they were quite different.

However, no matter how interested I was, I had a mission to accomplish.

'Doton: Standing Stone'

With a surge of my chakra, the ground below the group of convicts suddenly rose to form a small pillar. It didn't really hurt any of them, but it pushed them away from each other, breaking the newly formed formation.

Additionally, it created a short moment of confusion, one I obviously used.

Silently dropping like the night, I landed behind their strongest side, where four of their abled fighters had been separated from the rest.

With quick jabs, I incapacitated them one after the other in quick succession, fast enough for not a single one of them to get the time to react.

However, as I was about to get to the last one, my danger sense flared up as my body moved by itself, bending backwards, just in time to see a spear pass right where my head was.

Things were far from over with that dodge though as I had seemingly lost my balance with that dodge, while that spear retreated just as fast as it came. My opponent was good, very good, so it was to be expected that another strike was coming for my upper body this time.

I wasn't a nobody either though as I used my falling motion and my uncanny agility to twirl on myself, moving like an experienced gymnast as the cold metal of the spear brushed against my side.

I ignored the jarring pain to deliver a strong kick to the leader's face, who failed to dodge it as he was sent flying, but I had a new problem that stopped me from finishing him off. Several, actually.

The other convicts were several notches weaker than the leader, but they were still armed men capable of wielding chakra, and ignoring them would spell my doom.

'Futon: Weak Push'

I used yet another of my jutsus, one I had not revealed until now, to generate a small burst of wind under my palm, pushing me up enough to dodge the two spears and one sword about to impale me, as well as give me the push to make a backflip.

This Jutsu's name was inspired by the infamous 'Almighty Push' of Pain, and although they didn't work the same as one released an overwhelming force of gravity and the other generated a small push of wind, their result was rather similar, ignoring their might.

So I made a joke only I would understand and named it as such. But back into the fight, I was finally back onto my feet.

I once again felt my senses warn me of danger as I unsheathed my sword with both grace and speed, deflecting the stab going for my back to another of the inmates, who blocked.

With a second swing, I severed the hands of the one who had tried to stab me in the back, and with a third one I parried the leader's attack, as he had recovered from the kick.

For a moment, as our weapons locked, I saw shock in his gaze as he muttered, "What…"

I'm not really sure what he was shocked at, but it sure did make him lose his focus, something I used to my advantage.

I stopped pouring force into my sword, and the leader was too shocked to react in time as his spear helplessly slide past me, and I slipped through his defences. Were I to want to, I could have taken his life, but that wasn't my mission, so I administered a strong punch to his solar plexus.

Unable the breath, the leader was forced to drop his spear, and he fell to the ground, still looking at me in shock.

I ignored him, and turned to the rest of the lamb.

I could see the fear in their eyes, they treated that man with respect, as someone stronger, and dispatching him so easily obviously shook them. It only made my job easier.

In less than a minute, I found myself surrounded by unmoving bodies, all of them still breathing but unable to move, with a few broken bones for the unfortunate.

Touching my side, I was surprised to find blood. That graze had actually pierced through my armor, and my body's defence, which had grown to be quite strong with the absorption of Yang Chakra.

It wasn't a big injury, but it was more than enough to show me how dangerous the man could be. Well, Anbu mission alright…