16 Chapter 16- S-Class Subordinate

Ringo Ameyuri POV

'This kid is not normal.' She thought to herself for the thousandth time since the battle started.

Not that this was a particularly original thought. She became aware of this kid's monstrous nature as soon as he slaughtered those Bounty Hunters that came before her.

But despite that, she was fairly confident that she would be able to defeat him.

It might take time, and she might suffer some injuries, but at the end of the day, her opponent was just a little boy. It was only a matter of time before she took his head and got that sweet 5 Million Ryo bounty.

Only, their battle has now stretched out for over half an hour, and there was no victory in sight.

To make matters worse, while she herself had been getting tired throughout the fight, the boy looked like he could go on for days.

'This is not working.' She thought to herself.

When the battle had first started, she had held the advantage in speed, strength, skill and experience. The boy's only advantages had been his godly ability to ensnare her under Genjutsu no matter how many times she broke through it, and his ability take hits and keep on going without any injuries.

Early in the battle, she quickly realised that using Physical attacks on the boy was pointless. Her Lightning attacks showed better results so she decided to rely more on those attacks to slowly whittle him down before taking his head with a powerful lightning attack.

Only, her lightning attacks, while damaging, weren't lethal enough to put him down. And it didn't skip her notice that her Lightning attacks weren't as effective as they were at the start of their battle.

'This kid has a second Bloodline aside from Sharingan.' She thought as she took a step back and observed the brat.

Her hands shook from the exertion of holding her Kiba blades. Because during their battle the boy had somehow figured out how to increase the weight of his sword mid-swing and now every clash between them felt akin to being hit by a mountain.

The battle had started with her aiming for the boy's head while holding a great advantage. But now the tables had turned and she found herself wondering if she'll even be able to make an escape.

The only thing that even kept her in this futile battle thus far was her pride as one of the Seven Swordsman.

But she hadn't survived this long by putting her pride above her survival instincts.

"Well… it's been an amusing bout, kid. But I've decided that killing you is not worth the effort." She said, readying smoke bombs and one final attack to cover her escape. "Congratulations. You get to live another day."

"Oh. You're escaping?" The boy asked, his tone carrying a hint of amusement. The bastard didn't have a single injury on his body despite the numerous Lightning scorch marks she'd managed to carve into his skin throughout the battle. His healing ability was something else.

Whoever put his bounty at a measly 5 million ryo was clearly out of his goddamned mind.

"As if. I've just lost interest in you." She said before quickly launching the powerful attack she had prepared behind her back. A Lightning wolf that'll chase the boy for a few precious seconds that she'll use to disengage from this battle.

The next moment, she used smoke bombs to hide the direction of her Shunshin and made her escape.

'No… not escape. It was just a strategic withdrawal. There was no way I am running from a brat who probably still suckles from his mother's teats.' She thought and then sighed to herself. 'Fuck. This is humiliating.'

"Why do I get the feeling that you're cursing me in your heart." She heard a voice above herself and her danger sense screamed at her the next moment as she jumped to the side.

And right in time as well, since the next moment, her previous spot was hit by a hight speed boulder and turned the ground into a giant crater.

'If I got hit by that-' She thought and shuddered.

She secured her footing on top of a tree and glanced up at where the voice had come from.

And then she had to stop her jaw from falling open in shock as she saw the brat flying up in the sky, right above the tree canopy.

"Kai" she uttered, disrupting her chakra, yet the brat continued to hover into the sky, his blood-red eyes penetrating into her own.

'This… this can't real.' She reassured herself. 'There was no way the brat is actually flying. It must be some kind of trick with Chakra threads. Or some sort of powerful genjutsu that I can't break through.'

And then she wasn't allowed to think anymore as the brat made a serious of hand signs before he spat a Stone Bullet at her.

She brought her sword forward in an attempt to block the attack, but the stone effortlessly smashed through her guard, piercing directly into her shoulder. It then continued its destructive path, tearing through a dozen other trees before embedding deep into the earth.

She bit her lips to stop herself from crying out in pain and then looked back at the devastated path carved by that Stone Bullet.

'The brat must've increased the density and weight of that stone bullet.' She thought to herself, feeling like an idiot for not having foreseen this kind of attack.

In the next instant, any coherent thought eluded her as a relentless barrage of stone bullets showered down upon her. Cradling her now useless left arm, she leaped from tree to tree, doing her best to evade the onslaught of pebbles that carried the weight of giant boulders.

'Fucking Konoha. How the fuck did it spawn such a monster?' She cursed inwardly, sprinting and deftly evading the relentless hailstorm of pebbles. Blocking those attacks didn't even cross her mind anymore. Dodge, dodge, dodge – that was the only way she was going to survive this.

But despite how good she as at dodging and despite how fast she ran, the boy continued flying above her, maintaining a visual on her with those accursed red eyes of his, relentlessly showering her with tje unstoppable barrage of pebbles.

It was only a matter of time before one of them hit her.

"Aaarghh…" she cried out as a single pebble pierced through her left thigh, breaking her femur bone and tearing all her muscles. With her left leg now useless, she couldn't control her fall and plummeted 50 feet to the forest floor.

She rag dolled through the ground, crashing through two trees before finally coming to a halt.

Her danger sense screamed at her once again, prompting her to swiftly raise the blade in her right hand to intercept the attack. The boy's sword clashed against her Kiba sword, effortlessly breaking through her guard as if it were nonexistent. It then drove deep into her right shoulder, pinning her to the ground.

Now, with both of her arms and one of her leg useless, she stared up at the blood red eyes of the boy whom she had considered an easy bounty.

'What a fool I was.' She thought to herself as the boy floated down down came to land over her stomach. 'Was he always this strong? If so then why did he even fight me? To train himself?'

She surveyed the forest surroundings, taking in the sunlight piercing through the canopy and illuminating the forest floor.

'So, this is how I meet my end,' she pondered inwardly. She tried to pick up her left sword but the effort proved as useless as she's expected.

"Are you done struggling?" The brat-no, Ren Uchiha asked, his eyes boring into her own with mild amusement.

"Fuck you, brat!" She cursed and that only made the amusement in the boy's eyes even more evident.

"Childish." Ren tutted at her and she scoffed.

Then they remained silent for the next few moments before she prepared herself for what was coming.

She bared her neck for him to see and spoke up. "Very well then. Go ahead. Kill me."

"Kill you?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yes. I'm not going to be captured and taken in for interrogation before being disposed of in some underground cell. You have defeated me. Now, do me a favour and separate my head from my shoulder. I would rather die than be taken alive."

"I don't think you have a say in what will be done to you after this point." Ren told her and she cursed her luck.

"I have a bounty of 55 million Ryo on my head. And 20 million for the return of the Kiba swords."

"I don't care about money." Ren said and then chuckled. "Besides, the bounty is offered by Kirigakure. Who knows if those people even have that much money in their treasury to pay me."

Even though she betrayed and left Kirigakure herself, the boy's mockery of her home country still managed to stir a hint of irritation within her. But it wasn't like they boy was wrong either.

It was unlikely that Kiri would uphold their end of the bargain and pay the boy 75 million ryo for the return of her head and the Kiba swords. In fact, the boy would be lucky to escape with his life if he ever went to Kiri.

They aren't known as the 'Bloody Mist' for their good natured diplomats after all.

"What do you care about then? I'll give you anything if you'll grant me a swift death rather than take me to be tortured and interrogated."

She had heard nightmarish tales about rogue shinobi who fell into the hands of the torture specialists of Konoha. And she had no interest in becoming the source of yet another one of those horror stories.

"What I want…" The boy said as he leaned down, his blood red eyes staring right into her own. "Is you."

She frowned and looked at the boy up and down a few times. "Aren't you a bit too young for that kind of thing?"

The boy chuckled at her words as if she'd just told him the most interesting joke of the day. "For now, yes. But no, that's not what I mean. I want you to serve me as a loyal subordinate. A guard. Or a maid. It's your choice, really."

She stared at the boy. "You're crazy."

"On the contrary, I think that having a Low S-class Kunoichi as my subordinate is a very wise decision." The boy said. "And when I grow up, we can have kids. And those kids will undoubtedly have the potential to become S-class shinobi as well."

"…how old even are you?" She asked, holding in the urge to call him a boy.

She really didn't want to antagonise the person who can spank her like a red-headed step-child.

"Six."

'I got defeat by a six year old boy.' She thought as the last hints of defiance left her body.

She had known that the boy was young but she had still hoped that he was older and was just suffering from some strange form of dwarfism that made him look like a child.

It seems like fate was just not on her side today.

"Suppose… suppose you take me as your maid, guard, or whatever have you. What's stopping me from slitting your throat in the middle of the night?" She asked.

In reply to her words, the boy took out a kunai and jammed it deep into his chest. Or that's what should've happened. But the tip of the kunai stopped at his skin and refused to go any deeper.

"I'm very durable." The boy told her with a smug grin. "It'll probably take someone like the 4th Raikage or the strength of Lady Tsunade to pierce through my defence. And even then, I have no problem surviving a slitted throat. Or even a hole in the brain. Trust me, killing me is not easy."

"I can poison you." She told him, wondering why she was even speaking up against him letting her live. Isn't what what she'd always wanted.

"I'll highly resistant to poison as well. In fact, I doubt there's a single poison in this world that can kill me at this point."

"I can…" 'use lightning attacks' she about about to say but stopped herself.

The brat had taken some of her most powerful Lightning attacks and came out on the other side with nothing but mild burns that healed up within seconds. Saying that she could kill him with a Lightning attack would just make him laugh at her.

"You can?" The boy asked, looking even more amused.

"I can always run."

"You can. But then I'll catch you and punish you for your defiance. Besides, I don't think you'll run."

"And why is that?"

"Because I intend to treat you well and make it so that you'll want for nothing. Not to mention that you have your own pride as a one of the seven swordsman. Will you really run away from the opponent who defeated you and then gave you another chance at life."

"I can always kill your friends or relatives." She told him and then cursed her stupid mouth as a dark look entered his eyes.

"Come now. You just told me that you would rather die than go through torture and interrogation. Would you really choose such an ending over enjoying a good life as the subordinate of the strongest man in the entire world."

"You're not the strongest man in the entire world." She told him. 'You're not even a man yet. Just a boy.'

"I'll gain that title eventually." the boy remarked with a nonchalant shrug, as if it were an inevitable outcome. Grudgingly, she admitted to herself that the boy wasn't entirely wrong.

And considering it from that perspective, would it truly be so bad to be the subordinate and, eventually, the wife/lover/concubine of the future strongest man in the world?

"I… need time to think on this." She said with some hesitation.

The boy stared at her silently for the next few moments before he smiled. "You have a day. Now, Jiraiya-Sensei, do you know any medical jutsu that can be used to heal her."

Her eyes widened as three footsteps entered the clearing and she saw Jiriaya of the Sannin standing a few feet away from her, looking highly amused at her situation.

'Had… had he been there all along?' She thought as she had been under the impression that the Sannin and his other students had left to hunt down those non-existent wolves.

"Yes. He was there from the start of the battle." Ren told her, as if he'd just read her mind. "And no. I didn't read your mind. You're just being that expressive right now. Plus, I'm good at reading faces. Even got a skill for it."

She quickly blanked her expression, eliciting a chuckle from the little monster

"Brat. How were you were able to sense us through the Fuinjutsu Barrier I created." The toad Sage asked and her possible future boss simply shrugged.

"I'm just that good." The boy said before he took the sword out of shoulder.

She bit her lip to stifle another cry of pain and then directed a fierce glare at the boy.

"Now, can you heal her Sensei?" Ren asked to which the toad sage simply gave her a suspicious look.

"Are you sure about this brat? She might betray you."

"If she does that, then I'll kill her myself." Ren said, looking right into her eyes to show that he meant it.

She gave him a nod back, acknowledging his sentiments if nothing else.

"What if she killed someone else. Like Itachi over here."

"Then I'll just bring Itachi back from the dead." The boy said with a nonchalant shrug that made everyone in the clearing stare at him, wondering if he had any screw loose in his head.

"You can't bring people back from the dead." She told the boy. The faster he learned this lesson, the less heartache he'll suffer. "Once they're gone. They're gone."

"For you, perhaps. But I'm not you," the brat retorted, prompting a sigh from her. She pondered whether being his subordinate was truly as wise a decision as she had initially thought.

"Even if you bring her back to the village, she'll have to be interrogated and kept under watch. At least till she has proven that she can be trusted. Are you sure she's worth the effort." Jiraiya asked.

"She a S-class Kunoichi. You tell me." Ren replied and she could see that despite his objections, Jiraiya could see the benefits in having her join Konoha as well.

Jiriaya and Ren stared at each other in silence for a long moment before Jiriaya finally let out a sigh.

"Very well. But if something goes wrong, then it'll be on your head brat." Jiraiya said before he bent down to heal her wounds. Though not before he sealed all her chakra with his Fuinjutsu seals.

"So much for a simple C-rank mission." Jiraiya muttered to himself and she would herself unconsciously agreeing with him.

'So much for an easy 5 million Ryo bounty.'

—————

Minato Namikaze POV

He rubbed his ears to make sure that he was hearing this correctly.

"So you set out on a C-rank mission?"

"Hn"

"Find that the one who gave the mission was an imposter. A bounty hunter in disguise."

"Yes."

"And decided to fight this guy and his fellow bounty hunters, all on your own?"

"It was a woman. But yes."

He sighed. "And after having killed them all, you got attacked by an S-class kunoichi and decided to fight her head on instead of retreating and asking Jiraiya-sensei for help."

"…in my defence, Ringo is only a high Elite Jounin. She only classifies as an S-class when using her Twin Kiba blades."

"I don't care about that. I care about the fact that you thought it was wise to risk your life fighting a S-class kunoichi instead of retreating."

"I thought I could take her." Ren said with a nonchalant shrug and he felt the urge to throttle the kid or bang his head on the desk.

"And what if you were wrong? What if you couldn't take her? What if she was better than you had expected?" 'What if she had killed you? Who would take this seat from me in the future?'

"Well, Jiraiya-sensei was just there, hiding in the corner."

He gave a look to his Sensei who simply gave a nod.

He rubbed his eyes and let out a tired sigh. "No C-rank missions for the next month for your team."

"But Minato-san, we-"

"No buts. No complaints." He said firmly. "My wife has been asking for you to babysit Naruko as D-rank missions. I thought that it would be a waste of your time but now I see the necessity of such a mission."

"Oh come on. I defeated and made an S-class Kunoichi join Konoha. Are you really going to punish me for that?"

"Yes. And as thanks for babysitting Naruko for the rest of the month." He said, adding another S-rank mission payment for the brat. Because while the brat had indeed been reckless, he had also forced an S-class Kunoichi to join Konoha. Which was a huge deal.

"Being a Hokage has made you cruel." Ren told him and he scoffed.

"Brat. Do as much paperwork as I do and you'll understand the true cruelty of this world. Now… chop chop. I still need to finish the rest of the paperwork. Your D-rank babysitting mission starts from tomorrow."

The brat groaned but didn't make any complaints and stumbled out of the room, followed by his two female teammates.

Once the three of them were gone, he sealed the room and gazed at his Sensei with a firm gaze.

"Tell me everything Sensei. How did Konoha's most valuable shinobi ran into an S-class threat on his very first, very simple mission."

Jiraiya-Sensei let out a sigh that made him seem a decade older as he took a chair as well.

"You already have your guesses Minato."

"Yes." He said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "It seems like the elders need to be reminded about why going against your Hokage is a foolish thing to do."

—————

AN: MC figured out how to use 'Earth Release: Ultra Added Weight Rock Technique' in the midst of the battle and used it to turn the tides against Ringo. This is an actual technique used by Onoki in the story so I'm not making shit up, in case you're wondering.

Ren didn't kill Ringo because she's a Tier 6 waifu. And Capturing her will give him 30 points (40 if he Sold her to the Company). So don't think that he didn't kill her because she was a woman or he took pity on her.

And for those wondering, no, MC will not use his Stamp on her. That would be a huge waste considering that he can get much more points by Capturing Fu or Nii Yugito who are both 6 tier waifus as well as Jinchuriki and will thus give him +60 points for the capture of their Familiars (tailed beasts) as well.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

8 advanced chapters in Patreon for those interested in reading ahead.

My Patreon: https://www.p@treon.com/ankit1

Have a nice day