Path Of War

After having buried their bodies, he used his Tamashii to scan the forest.

Chakra signatures raced across his vision's range. He searched meticulously, his gaze flitting across the landscape, until three familiar signatures caught his eye—Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji, all about to take a breather.

The two scrolls were with them.

Arthur couldn't remember how this team obtained their scrolls, but he knew that he needed to intercept them before anyone else.

With a silent leap, he propelled himself into the trees. A puff of cloud formed as he morphed himself into that of a generic Sound ninja. He had a plan, a calculated maneuver that would achieve his objective.

Team 10, while intriguing characters, weren't essential for the story's core events. Their survival or demise wouldn't derail the larger narrative. In this twisted game, eliminating them became a viable, albeit ruthless, solution.

With silent steps, Arthur stalked towards their location.

Through the dense foliage, he spotted them huddled around a makeshift campsite. This would be easier than anticipated.

He burst through the undergrowth with a kunai in hand.

"You three," he commanded. "Stay where you are…"

Shocked, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. Chōji leapt in surprise, asking, "What the?! Where the heck did this guy come from?!"

Arthur didn't waste time on theatrics. While skillfully twirling the base of his kunai between his fingers, he said, "The scrolls... Hand them over."

Ino protested, "Why should we?"

Arthur's patience waned.

"You don't want to upset me," he said in a monotone voice. "This is your last warning."

The tension rose. Shikamaru exchanged a worried glance with Chōji and Ino. They were now cautiously defiant.

"We won't be bullied by someone from the Sound Village," Chōji declared.

Arthur's eyes narrowed as he said, "I wasn't planning to bully you; I was going to kill you."

The clearing erupted in a sudden battle.

Arthur threw his kunai, which was easily dodged by Ino. Chōji charged next, growing in size and then tucking himself into ball, rolling forward.

"Human boulder!"

Arthur saw the attack coming a mile away. But it wasn't him that Arthur was focused on.

Shikamaru would undoubtedly use his Shadow Possession technique to restrain his movements after a dodge.

Arthur acted fast, channeling chakra into his fist.

'Chakra-enhanced strength.'

Just as Chōji neared him, Shikamaru was surprised that he hadn't planned on evading.

Arthur met the attack head-on. His chakra-enhanced punch collided with Chōji's massive form, creating a shockwave that sent tremors through the clearing!

The impact was brutal.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in disbelief. He hadn't anticipated such raw power from what looked to be an average Genin. But a strategist always had a backup plan.

"Shadow possession jutsu!"

His shadow snaked across the ground, racing out to ensnare Arthur's movements. A triumphant smirk could be seen on Shikamaru's face as the technique connected to Arthur's shadow.

Then, without notice, Arthur's body was replaced with a log!

It was the substitution jutsu. Arthur hadn't intended to meet Chōji's attack head-on; he was merely creating a diversion, having prepared the jutsu in advance.

With a burst of speed, he propelled himself from the bushes, landing right behind them. His fist aimed for Shikamaru's back, but before Arthur could strike, a feminine warning pierced the air.

"Mind-transfer jutsu!"

Ino then collapsed to the ground. A shadow tendril snaked out, wrapping around Arthur's arm with an iron grip.

"Gotcha!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

Arthur had underestimated this team. Their Ino-Shika-Chō formation wasn't a single technique but rather a coordinated strategy between the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans.

It capitalized on each member's strengths to create a seamless flow of attacks. Team 10 hadn't even been formed for a year, yet their formation was near perfection.

"Looks like you won't be surprising us anymore, Sound ninja," Shikamaru taunted. "Ino, I got him. You can come back now!"

Her body remained limp. Something had gone wrong. Had the jutsu backfired?

Little did either of them know; Arthur had used Tamashii on her, making her think her target was elsewhere. And when the Mind-Transfer technique missed its target, the user becomes unconscious.

"You things..." he said nonchalantly.

"What the?!" Shikamaru screamed.

"… are far beneath real ninjas."

Shikamaru began to channel his chakra, tightening the shadows' hold, but Arthur wouldn't allow himself to be captured so easily. A bead of sweat trickled down Shikamaru's forehead, the strain of maintaining the jutsu evident.

Suddenly, Arthur ripped free, the tendril snaking away. After one backhand, Shikamaru went stumbling to the ground.

"What's going on?" Chōji stammered, a tad dazed after recovering from Arthur's unexpected punch.

Just as Ino was regaining consciousness, Arthur swiftly pulled out three kunai and threw them at her. They each found their mark, impaling her in the head!

Blood trickled down her face as her body fell flat to the floor. Chōji could not believe what he had seen. Ino Yamanaka has died!

Arthur hadn't planned on killing anyone this early, especially not a character on the periphery of the story. But the deed was done.

He was sick and worn out from this game. His life was at stake in the real world, and no matter how much they looked, talked, or felt real, they were still NPC.

Chōji scrambled to his feet, but the instant he saw how cold Arthur's eyes were after killing his friend, he was filled with fear.

"Why so tense, Chōji?" Arthur's voice lacked any empathy. "You signed a death waiver, and did I not give you a choice?"

Chōji, tears welling up, could only stare, his body trembling like a leaf caught in a storm. This carefree, easygoing character who loved barbeque and naps was a distant memory. In his place, a terrified boy stood frozen in the face of an unimaginable threat.

Shikamaru croaked, "Wait! There must be another way!"

But his plea fell on deaf ears. With a roar of defiance, Chōji let his emotions cloud his judgement. He launched himself into his Human Boulder technique.

Arthur remained impassive. Just as Chōji was about to collide with him, he dissolved into smoke. Chōji stumbled to a stop, bewildered and disoriented by where he had gone.

"Shikamaru, behind you," Chōji rasped with fear. His warning came too late.

A cold hand clamped over Shikamaru's mouth, stifling his scream. He groaned in pain as Arthur stabbed him repeatedly from behind.

Sickening, crunching noises filled Chōji's ears over and over and over until Shikamaru slumped to the ground. His lifeless hand twitched once, then stilled. Shikamaru Nara had died.

The harsh realism of their situation finally dawned on Chōji. His two teammates, his childhood companions, were gone, silenced forever by this terrifying person.

His face, covered in tears, met Arthur's gaze. All he could see was that red glow, embodying the monster he never knew existed.

"Who… who are you?" he choked out.

Slowly approaching his face, Arthur replied, "Someone you shouldn't have upset."

Chōji couldn't say anything. Not that he was tired or out of chakra, but that he was paralyzed in fear, a fear that was so primal that it left him dumbfounded.

Arthur threw him a fake name and commanded, "Go... Live out your pathetic days trying to seek revenge, knowing how weak you truly are."

The name meant nothing to Chōji. All he knew was the terror that gripped his heart—the image of his friends lying lifeless on the forest floor. He sobbed as he turned and fled, his large frame vanishing into the dense foliage.

Arthur watched Chōji flee, a cold emptiness settling in his eyes.

With a heavy sigh, he kneeled beside the bodies. He secured Shikamaru's pouch, which contained various ninja tools and the black scroll. Ino's body yielded a similar pouch and the white scroll.

Leave it to arguably the smartest character to separate the scrolls in case enemies like Arthur came around. His flaw? Arthur was this world's greatest enemy.

Shikamaru was written to have been a central character for the plot. Though he was the only child of Shikaku and Yoshino Nara, he was known for becoming Naruto's personal advisor after the latter finally became the Hokage.

During the Exams, he was the only one in the Leaf that impressed the examiners enough to promote him to Chūnin. That was despite his loss in the competition itself.

When Sasuke defected from the village, Shikamaru was chosen to lead a team to retrieve him. The mission marked a turning point in Shikamaru's development, pushing him to embrace his potential and take on more responsibilities within the village.

Regarding Ino, she too was a pivotal character who experienced a remarkable transformation throughout the story.

In her early days at the academy, she thrived as a popular student and the only child in her family. She even befriended Sakura Haruno, protecting her from bullies and fostering her self-confidence.

Placed on Team 10 and entering the Exams, she surprised everyone with her strategic thinking and skills.

As for Ino, she took on more responsibility within the village. She even formed a bond with Sai, a new teammate with an uncanny resemblance to Sasuke. Her journey culminated in her marriage to Sai and the birth of their son, "Inojin."

Arthur considered how he was able to defeat Team 10.

Team 10, renowned for their Ino-Shika-Chō formation, weren't too arduous to deal with. They were a cohesive unit where each member's strengths complemented the others' weaknesses.

Shikamaru, the brain, used his Shadow Possession technique to control the battlefield. Ino, the manipulator, used her technique to disrupt the opponent's flow. And Chōji, the brawn, delivered the finishing blow with his immense strength.

But Arthur, unlike them, wasn't bound by the constraints of a pre-defined strategy. He'd known about them and their tactics prior to the fight. He knew their reliance on a predictable pattern—Chōji's initial charge, Shikamaru's control for a coordinated attack, and Ino's preparation as the final blow.

Arthur wasn't an intellectual like Shikamaru, nor was he a physical brute like Chōji, and his lack of experience with mind techniques paled in comparison to Ino's expertise.

However, he possessed something far more valuable in this situation—a strategic awareness unburdened by the limitations of teamwork and a ruthless willingness to exploit others' vulnerabilities.

The entire time, Arthur's unexpected maneuvers disrupted their whole flow.

Chōji rushed in, Shikamaru was too readable, and Ino faltered under an illusion. Team 10, despite their skills, had never faced an opponent who disregarded the unspoken rules of non-lethal combat.

They weren't trained killers; they were skilled ninjas, yes, but their experience lay in incapacitating opponents, not ending lives.

Arthur felt no compunction in killing them.

The battle was over before it truly began. It was a chilling display of how a strategically superior mind, unburdened by moral constraints, could dismantle even a well-coordinated team.

Neither of those characters served any purpose beyond what Arthur envisioned. Chōji himself was allowed to escape on a whim, a contingency in case things went sour. What Arthur believed was that the preliminary results would be heavily skewed.

Leaving one of the Rookie Nine alive should compensate.

Arthur quickly piled the bodies around sticks and leaves. He then set them on fire, placing worms and other forms of bait around them. He watched as their flesh melted, knowing the gargantuan insects would devour them soon.

With the grisly task completed, he vanished into the night, the scrolls clutched tightly in his hands. He had achieved his objective—securing both scrolls—but at a terrible cost.