Chapter 15- Fight with one of the Seven Swordsmen

Jiraiya POV

"This is gravel road." Ren said a few moments after they set out from Konoha for their first C-rank mission. "Why is this a gravel road?" Ren asked, his voice filled with confusion and incredulity.

He stared at the vast road in front of him and then stared back at Ren in confusion.

 "What's wrong with a gravel road?" he inquired, directing his gaze at Itachi in search of an explanation. However, Itachi appeared equally puzzled by Ren's strong dislike for gravel roads.

"It erodes easily." Ren told him while giving him a look that said 'you should already know this.' "Not to mention that during rainy season the road undoubtedly turns into a muddy nightmare filled with ankle-deep pits."

"It doesn't." He told the boy seriously. "Konoha has the resources and the manpower needed to keep the roads around it in near perfect condition at all times. Plus, you should see the roads of other places. Believe me when I say that Konoha has one of the best, if not the best road network out there."

Ren stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds before he sighed. "So you're telling me that we have to spend vast amount of resources and manpower regularly in order to maintain this road."

"Obviously."

"Well I have a better idea." Ren said.

"And what's this better idea?" He asked, half exasperated and half curious. This was Ren after all.

"How about we use a Jutsu. Like the Earth Release: Earth Style Wall. Except, use it to build the wall horizontally instead of vertically. And use that Jutsu to build roads made of stone."

"That's not how it works Ren-kun." Rin Nohara said before he could give his reply. "First of all, it takes a very skilled Earth Style user to make Earth Wall out of Stone as the usual Earth Walls are only made of dirt. Secondly, even if you create a stone wall with chakra, the minute your chakra stops holding that wall, it'll crumble back into a pile dirt."

Ren frowned at those words and then looked up at him. "Is that true?"

"Yes. Your idea is not bed, Ren but if making Stone walls was so easy for Shinobi, then everyone would be hiring us to build their castles, homes and what not." He said and mushed Ren's hair affectionately. "Frankly, it's surprising to me that you don't know about this since you're a master at Earth Release yourself."

"I… did faced such a problem myself as well." Ren admitted slowly. "But that was back when I was little and started creating my sculptures for the first time."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Then I figured out how to condense and arrange the composition of the dirt, turning it into actual stone instead of just chakra-bound dirt." Ren said, looking slightly confused. "I didn't realise that this was a big problem for others."

He raised an eyebrow at that, feeling slightly amused as Ren finally came across the problem that only super geniuses like him ever face.

The problem of not realising why other people can't do some of the things that you yourself can do so effortlessly.

"How little were you when you faced this problem?" He asked out of sheer curiosity.

Ren looked up at him for a moment before he shrugged. "Little."

Well, if the brat wasn't going to tell him then he wasn't going to push the issue either. "Now that you have your answer, let's start moving. This is your first C-rank mission and I don't want you to fail because you were too late to reach the client."

After all, despite his nonchalant attitude, he was rather serious about the safety of his 3 students and wanted to get them back behind the safety of Konoha walls as quickly as possible.

Especially since someone had leaked the info on Ren and Itachi, and the other villages had subsequently put a large bounty on both of their head.

He had no idea how that info was leaked. Especially since Ren used his ability to remove all the spies and traitors from Konoha.

The only consolation was that the other villages had no idea about the true threat that Ren posed, otherwise they would've made his bounty far higher than his current bounty of a measly 5 million ryo.

And that was not even mentioning Rin Nohara's situation. The other villages might not know about her but Kiri was undoubtedly aware of her status as the 3 tails' Jinchuriki and might target her in the near future. So he needed to be alert at all times and be ready to call for Minato as backup in case the situation goes South.

But as he started walking once again, he only heard two set of footsteps behind him and turned to see that only Itachi and Rin Nohara were following him. And that Ren was still rooted on his spot, staring at the packed dirt under his feat with a frown on his face.

"Ren?" He asked the boy who continued staring at the gravel road for a few more moments before he nodded and got up.

Ren continued the rest of the journey in silence, and he wondered what the boy was thinking about.

—————

Ren Uchiha POV

After two and a half days of walking, they finally arrived at the village which gave them C-rank mission.

Wolf Hunting.

"-have been prowling these woods and slaughtering our cattle for about a month now, Shinobi-san." The village elder explained. "We sent out hunters after them but none of them have met with any success."

"So you guys decided to pool in your resources and asked Konoha for help?" Jiraiya-Sensei asked and the village elder quickly nodded his head.

"It's as you say shinobi-san. Losing some money is preferable to losing more of our cattle. We also feared that if we let the wolves be for longer, then they might get a taste for human flesh."

"Doesn't your lord have Samurai or his own retainers? Why doesn't he deals with this matter?" Rin Nohara asked while he looked around and used Observe on the villagers, a frown slowly forming on his face.

"They do. But despite petitioning them for help many a times, they refused to send anyone. You are our last hope Shinobi-san. Please find and kill those mangy beasts." The village elder pleaded and he had to hold back from scoffing.

The guy was a decent actor if nothing else.

"Worry not my dear friend. Since you paid Konoha to solve this matter on your behalf, consider it solved." Jiraiya-Sensei said with a confident smile before he put a hand on the village elder's shoulder. "Now, why don't you have a hunter show us where the wolves were last seen. It'll be easy to track them from that place."

"Pardon me, Shinobi-san. But are you not going to stay and rest for a while before that?" The Village elder asked, his body trembling a bit from Jiraiya's sheer presence.

"That will not be necessary. My students are not so weak that a few days of walking will tire them out. Now… show us these beasts so that we may finally put them to rest." Jiraiya said and the village elder nodded frantically.

"Yes milord. I mean, yes, Shinobi-san. I'll assign someone to help you." The village elder said but before the guy could turn to leave, he spoke up.

"I'll remain behind in the village."

"You will?" Jiraiya-sensei asked, looking bewildered and confused. So the guy either didn't know or was a great actor as well. Considering how great of a shinobi Jiraiya was, it was probably the later one. "Why?"

"I have no interest such a lame mission. If the mission was to hunt for chakra-mutated wolves, then I would've bothered. But this mission is too easy. Let Itachi and Rin handle it." He said with an uncaring shrug.

Jiraiya frowned at him while both Rin and Itachi remained silent. "Are you sure?" Jiraiya asked after a moment.

"Yeah. Besides, this is my first time outside Konoha. I want to look around and see how people outside Konoha live."

Jiraiya stared at him intensely for a long moment, as if asking if he was sure about this, before he finally nodded. "Very well then. You may stay behind."

—————

That evening, after talking with the villagers and learning about their lifestyle, he finally asked the village elder to show him their empty fields, as he wanted to check the soil content there.

As soon as they reached the fields, distancing themselves from the innocent villagers, he turned to the village elder. Glancing toward the dense forest in the distance, he remarked. "Shouldn't you show yourselves now. I mean, how much longer are guys going to hide in there?"

"Um… who are you talking to, shinobi-san?" The village elder asked, a confused frown on his face.

He stared at the old guy for a moment before he prepared himself for what he was going to do, and then…

Slash.

With a single swing of his Wind Release enhanced kunai, he decapitated the village elder.

…or the kunoichi pretending to be the village elder at least.

As the body and head fell to the ground, the Transformation Jutsu came off and the village elder turned into a brown haired Kunoichi with the slashed off headband of Kusa village.

Foolish of her to try to fool him. He had seen through her poor disguise with just his Sharingan. And then confirmed the details with his Chakra Sense and Observe skill.

Crafting a stone wall, he shielded himself from the barrage of kunai and shuriken hurled at him from the forest, fixing his gaze upon the lifeless form before him.

'…so this is how it feels to kill people.' He thought, slightly disturbed. Not because of any grief or emptiness he might have felt from the deed, but from the seer nothingness he felt from the experience.

As if he had not just killed a woman who might have been a wife, a sister, a daughter, or a mother.

Worse, killing her had not felt any more difficult than swatting a fly.

Sure, his Observe skill informed him that she was a bounty hunter here for his head, but he still should've felt something, right?

He had been afraid that this might happen. But the notion that he can kill someone so easily, and remain completely unaffected in the aftermath was disturbing to him.

Once the barrage of thrown weapons stopped, he dropped the Stone wall and stared at the dozen shinobi who quickly came out of the forest to surround him.

He didn't have the Level System yet, so he couldn't simply look at them and tell how deadly these shinobi were. But the Observe skill did tell him about their general stats. And his Chakra Sense gave him an idea about their Chakra Reserves. This method took longer but he eventually guessed the power level of all these bounty hunters.

Two Jounin, 6 Chunin and the rest were Genins.

All of them had the title of a Bounty Hunter.

Did he already have a bounty in the black market? How?

He had worked so hard to remove all the spies and traitors from the village as well. So who leaked the information about him?

The image of an old man with a bandaged eye flashed in his mind and his eyes narrowed.

 He had no proof and he doubted he would get any even if he tried to look for it. But he was suspicious now. He'll have to look into any recently deceased Uchiha once he goes back to the village.

"Don't look into his eyes. He has Sharingan." One of the Jounin said as the bounty hunters prepared got ready for the fight and he smiled.

'It'll not matter whether you look into my eyes or not.' He thought in his heart. 'You guys fell into my Genjutsu as soon as you entered my range.'

Then he shunshined toward the Jounin standing behind him.

The Jounin tried to block his attack, but missed his Kunai due to a simple Genjutsu that showed the attack coming from above while he instead attacked from below.

So while the Jounin was busy blocking his illusion from up above, he struck from down below and stabbed the Wind Enhanced Kunai into the enemy's heart.

The other bounty hunters jumped into attack as well but instead of attacking him, they started attacking each other instead, seeing his face and body in the form of their allies.

Manipulating the perceptions of so many Shinobi at once might pose a challenge for others, but his Level 16 Multitasking skill made it a breeze for him.

"Everyone! You're fighting a Genjutsu. Break out of it!" The Jounin shouted as he quickly used 'Kai' to break out of his Genjutsu, only to fall into his Genjutsu once again the very next moment.

"It's futile. They cannot hear you." He told the Jounin before he shunshined toward him.

The Jounin lasted a bit longer than the last one. But in the end, it was futile. The Jounin fell with a slit throat and after double tapping to confirm the kill, he turned to look at the remaining Bounty Hunters who were either dead, or injured in one form or another.

'Well… time to end this.' He thought and then gave form his chakra within his body before sending it underground through the sole of his feet.

A moment later, dozens of Earth spikes emerged from the ground, turning the land in front of him into a facsimile of the back of a hedgehog.

Suffice to say, all the bounty hunters were now dead. Well… all except one.

He turned to look at the forest once again and asked. "Are you not going to join the party?"

There was silence in the forest for a moment, and then…

A flash of lighting raced toward him, only to meet with a solid stone wall.

But unlike what he'd expected, the stone wall failed to block the lightning strike properly as it was breached through the very next instant and struck him head one, giving him a mild zap.

-6 HP.

…ah, he had forgotten that Earth Release was weak to Lightning Release. His inexperience in real life and death battle was showing.

Given his substantial Lightning Resistance, the extent of the damage inflicted by the enemy, even after the majority of the attack was directed at breaching the stone wall, was slightly concerning.

The next instance, his attacker flashed in front of him, two blades glowing with Lightning Release Chakra and struck him head on.

He was wise enough to use Wind Release Coated Kunai this time to block the attacks. And after a flurry of lightning fast exchanges, the two of them backed off.

"You're not bad brat. To be able to survive my attack despite your age… the fuck are they feeding you in Konoha?" The Kunoichi asked and a smile formed on his face.

"Just the usual." He said, using Observe skill to confirm the identity of his attacker. "With that said… I was under the impression that you died during the 3rd Shinobi war, Ringo Ameyuri-san."

The kunoichi raised her eyebrow in surprise. "Hoh! You know me brat?"

"I do." He said with a nod. She was one of the few 6th Tier waifus in his Catalog after all.

"Then you know how futile this battle would be." Ringo asked with a smile, showing a sharp row of teeth. "So why don't you just lay down and let me take your head? Spare me the extra work."

He simply smiled at her words as he took out the Tanto from his back.

It was a gift given to him by Fugaku-san after the graduation. An extremely expensive gift that must've cost him a few dozen Million Ryo due to the simple fact that the blade was crafted from Chakra Metal.

"Well… I could do that, but I don't want you to become lazy. This is a dangerous profession after all." He said as he brandished his chakra metal blade and took a fighting position. "Though, before we fight, do you mind answering a few of my questions, Ringo-san."

"Stalling for time, brat?" Ringo asked, looking amused. Yet, her decision to stand there without launching an immediate attack spoke volumes about her confidence or, perhaps, her arrogance.

"Just a few simple questions." He said. "Do you know how to cook?"

"Cook?" Ringo asked, looking a tad bit confused now.

"Yes. I take it that you work alone as a Bounty Hunter. So, do you cook for yourself or do you go to taverns to eat."

Ringo stared at him for a moment before she chuckled. "You are a strange brat. But since I'm going to take your head, I'll be magnanimous and answer your question. Yes, I do know how to cook."

"And do you know how to clean a house?" He asked and Ringo's smile slipped.

"Do you want to die that badly brat?"

"No, I'm just curious." He said as he snared her deeper into his Genjutsu. "I'm in need of a maid, you see. And I wanted to check if you're up to the task."

—————

Rin Nohara POV

Ever since she met Ren Uchiha for the first time, no, even before she met him, Kushina-san had informed her that Ren was a once-in-a-century genius who even more talented than Kakashi in shinobi arts. A person who is destined for greatness.

She had taken Kushina-san's words with a pinch of salt. But her scepticism was quickly washed away when she met Ren and saw him at work for the first time.

But still… to this day, she had not seen Ren go all out in a spar. So she had been under the impression that he must be capable of fighting the veteran Chunins or some of the weaker Jounins at best. And had thought that even this estimate might be too much, considering that Ren was only 6 years old.

So to see him kill a team of Bounty Hunters being led by two Jounins was nothing short of shocking to her. Especially with how easily Ren killed the entire team.

The astonishment she experienced back then paled in comparison to the current shock as she witnessed him engage in a fierce confrontation with one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen.

The only one who fought in the 2nd and 3rd Shinobi war and lived till this day.

"Should we go and help him, Sensei?" She asked Jiraiya who was using some sort of Fuinjutsu barrier to hide their presence.

Itachi-chan was there as well but she had her eyes firmly fixed on the fight from the start.

"…I don't think our presence will be needed in this fight." Jiraiya-Sensei said, looking grim as he observed the fight as well.

"Sensei?" She asked, a faint tremor in her voice. "Did you know that Ren-kun was this strong?"

Jiraiya stayed silent for a long moment and just as she thought that he hadn't heard her question properly, he gave his reply.

"No."

—————

Some world building in this chapter. And an explanation about why people don't use Chakra to create houses, castles, bridges and other architecture in the Elemental Nations.

Also, Ren faced real enemies for the first time in his life and gets his first kills.

Ringo Ameyuri died in canon timeline due to some sort of disease. But she lived in this timeline due to Universal Calibration and became a bounty hunter instead.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

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