Prelude to a Boss Battle

Edited by: ShinBowlnoodles#3554

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Chapter 67: Prelude to a Boss Battle

Jutsu of the day:

<Misunderstanding no Jutsu>

Courtesy of everyone except Yours Truly.

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[Previously on NaRUS?]

.

Oops? I was just here to kill one Jonin… How did it turn into… Well, this… Maybe I am tagged with some bad luck… Sigh… Honestly thought it would be… Harder?

I shook my head seeing as I got ahead of myself.

I then looked towards the other side of the battlefield and noticed another target but from the Kumo faction.

Well, better keep things balanced, yeah?

Thinking so, I body flickered towards my new vict- I mean worthy opponent.

Hopefully, I will leave at least a body to steal some good Just or bloodlines…

.

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~*Time Skip*~

One and a half years since Mitsu joined the battlefield~

Location: Kumo Camp, Chisura high lands

[General]

.

A loud thud sounded, followed by the sound of wood cracking

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHO THE BASTARD IS?!" Raikage A, slammed his fist on the war table cracking it as he shouted in anger.

"As I said, A-sama, no one knows who the Phantom Blade is, and no matter what we tried nothing came up. Honestly, even the black market is stumped about it," Mabui reported dutifully.

"Argg!..." A could only grunt in annoyance as he glared at his assistant.

"Are you telling me, that an unknown swordsman, with NO BACKGROUND, killed, not 1, not 2 but 92 of my JONIN? AND CRIPPLED 120 MORE?" A shouted at the end.

[A/N: For those who think the number might be too much. The 4th Ninja War had 80,000 ninjas fighting in it. So a village having over a few hundred to a thousand Jonin is simply logical.]

Mabui could only sigh… It was hard for her as well.

But, no matter what they try, they simply couldn't find this figure, not to mention the news of a group in dark vestments who were helping and protecting the people of Hot Water…

"At least tell me about the group that's calling themselves Nightingales! We should at least have some idea about them dammit!" A ordered in anger.

"Forgive me A-sama, but even that group is mysterious. They hide their face and their armor covers their body completely. All we know about them is that they have 3 members.

1 adult and 2 teenagers, determined by heights at least, other than them saving the Hot Water's people and stopping massacres. They haven't hurt any of our ninjas.

Well…

They did destroy a platoon of Iwa nin, however…" Mabui reported.

"They killed a platoon of Iwa nin? Why?" A asked in interest.

"One of their ninjas got unlucky and landed an accidental hit on the smallest of their group… And… The eldest one didn't take it well, he obliterated the whole platoon." Mabui answered with a sweat drop.

A turned silent.

This was too unusual of a group for his liking.

"Do you think the Phantom Bastard is part of that group? And do you think they are from Yugakure?" A asked silently, of course, it was a cause for concern as they were fighting in their lands after all.

They had an agreement about not getting involved as long as they kept the fighting out of the main villages. But that could change any moment.

Yugakure was a pacifist Ninja village. They don't want war, but when the war comes to them, they had no other choice but to make compromises.

"Possible… If the speculations are right and the Phantom Blade is part of their group, then it will make the group's threat level a lot higher…

"Also, about Yugakure… It's possible that they are from there but we already sent a message to the Yukage."

"He denied any involvement, he also declared that whoever was messing with us was not from his village and if we can capture them then they are ours to deal with." Mabui replied as she looked over some papers."

"Dammit! You and I both know that's bullshit! I read reports on how the villages are singing praise of the Phantom Blade!" A was truly furious.

Yes, he knew that they were in a precarious situation but the only saving grace for them was the fact, that the Phantom Blade wasn't attacking them alone… It was attacking Iwa at the same time causing Iwa to lose as much as them if not more.

But it was their biggest issue nonetheless.

"This needs to stop… At this rate, we will need to pause the war. And if we do that we will be the biggest losers of this war, as we have gained NOTHING! While we lost so many resources." A stated angrily.

"The Iwa front has suffered as much as us… But I believe that you are right A-sama, none of our Elite Jonin were able to stop the Phantom Blade…"

"At first, it only seemed to be at normal Jonin Level but no matter who we sent, the phantom seemed to match their level. And honestly, many who survived claimed that it was getting stronger during their fight… It was baffling. And yesterday…"

A finished for her.

"And yesterday he crippled Kitsuchi of all people." Mabui winced at the words but that was a fact.

Kitsuchi was the commander of the Iwa force and the Tsuchikage's son-in-law.

And if the pattern was as it seemed…

"And if the pattern continues… Then that bastard's next target is Darui!" Shouted A.

That was simply the most logical answer to their predicament. Darui was the current commander of the Kumo forces, well no one knew that A had arrived at the battlefield as it was kept a secret.

It has always been like that. 1 Iwa Jonin then 1 Kumo Jonin. So why would this time be any different?

Yes, they had tried to set traps to take the Phantom Blade down a few times but whenever there was an ambush, the Phantom would simply take a break for a couple of weeks, making it only a temporary solution.

At first, they thought that the Phantom was afraid of too many opponents. But they were proven wrong when he took on a Jonin force of 20 Ninjas alone, killing 11 and crippling 9 of them.

Then it clicked with everyone. The Phantom simply didn't care and probably enjoyed messing with their plans…

It was frustrating to say the least.

Taking a deep breath, A addressed Mabui again, "Do we know anything else about that bastard?"

"Other than what we already know… He appears to wear a Hannya Mask… Something that depicts jealous female demons… So, our best guess is that Phantom Blade is actually a female. And might have some grudge with Iwa and Kumo…

Also… It has only killed male Jonins till now… most of the female Jonins were at best crippled, including Yugito."

"Female… Grudge with Iwa and Kumo and only kills males!?"

How is Yugito by the way? It must have hurt her ego a great deal.

GAH! Doesn't matter! Mabui! Call for Bee." A ordered with a resolute face.

"Bee-sama? Are you sure about that? That will leave Kumo completely defenseless… Yugito Nii is here as well after all… Also, she is healthy… But you know… What the Phantom did to her will haunt her for life… She is a woman after all."

"Also calling both our Jinchuriki might tick Iwa off." Mabui answered with some concern."

"Send Yugito back to Kumo to defend it, God knows that the girl needs some rest and time to get used to her predicament…

"This battle will be too much for her, it's already established that the bitch is faster than Yugito from their last bout. Not to mention she might lose control if they fight again."

'So we will do what my father used to say 'When you can't match them with speed, then you overwhelm them with power…'

"Send a message to those damned mud bastards… Let us combine the Kage level and elites of our villages to take down this phantom first… We will call for a temporary truce."

"That bitch has already killed way too many of my ninjas. She will pay with her life!"

"We need to bury her 20feet down the ground Ghost or not she will never see the light of day again!"

Mabui could only nod in apprehension. Something told her that things would not go their way…

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A day after~

Location: Iwa camp.

[General]

.

The new commander of Iwa camp, a man with a full beard and mustache, wearing Iwagakure forehead protector, was reading the message from Kumo camp.

Beside him stood most of the Elite Jonin and a very tall masked man wearing armor.

"Is this a joke? They want to attack a single person with 2 Jinchurikis? And the Raikage wants to join as well?" One of the Jonin asked in disbelief.

The new commander sighed, "I know it sounds ludicrous, but the situation is simply that dire, at the start, the Phantom Blade seemed harmless, as it was only fighting with the Jonins at a similar level, only trumping them with its impeccable Kenjutsu and speed."

"But soon that changed…"

No matter who it faced, the Phantom defeated them… And it simply seemed like it was getting stronger and stronger to match its opponent.

It has already clashed with Han and Yugito, separately. The battle lasted a long while…" The commander paused there as he eyed the tall man.

"W-what happened? Did the Phantom run away?" One of the newer Jonin asked.

He looked around and saw that their Jinchuriki Han was with them in the tent, so that was the only probable conclusion.

The commander sighed, but someone else answered the question.

"I lost." It was Han. He answered as a matter of fact.

While the newer Jonin looked at him in disbelief.

"The Phantom Blade was simply too fast, I couldn't even land a hit, and whenever I used my Boil Release, it simply swatted it away with Wind transformed Kenjutsu. It was frustrating." Han paused as he let what he said sink in.

"Of course, I didn't use my tailed beast cloak, as it didn't seem like The Phantom wanted to kill me for some reason. It seemed more like…

It was honing its skill as it fought me. The same happened to Yugito as well… Well, she had it worse than me as she was trashed to the ground because she insulted the Phantom about something. And…"

He paused again as what he was about to say next simply felt ridiculous even to him.

"And the Phantom drew cat whiskers and colored her nose with some permanent ink. Then wrote pussy-cat on her head…"

The whole room was speechless. That was truly vindictive…

"This makes no sense! At one time it kills almost hundreds of our Jonin, crippling even more of them and almost a few hundred of our Chunin."

"While the next he literally takes down a Jinchuriki and simply lets her go? How does that make any sense?" The commander asked a bit irritated.

"Well, he did knock me out as well… He was simply too fast and the other Jonin couldn't really support me, so I believe this might be a good idea. Having Killer Bee to support and Raikage for speed, we can surely take down The Phantom." Han answered.

And everyone nodded.

What others didn't know was.

'Like hell, I am going to tell them that the Phantom drew penises on my face and head… Thank the Lord for the armor and my hat…' Han thought with some cold sweat on his back.

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Meanwhile~

Location: Mitsu's Hideout, Land of Hot Waters

[General]

.

At the moment Mitsu was having lunch served by his beautiful cook and future Battle Maid Yukina who seemed delighted that her master loved her cooking.

He went the extra mile to teach her all these new recipes. She really liked making this pizza dish, it had so many possibilities with so many combinations that making different types made her feel giddy.

And seeing that her master enjoyed eating it was just the cherry on top.

As Yukina was watching her master eat, the masked troublemaker entered the room, making her feel a bit annoyed.

"Ah! Micchan! Did you miss Tobi? I got biggg news~" Tobi said in his usual cheery voice as he danced to make his point.

"Tobi-san! You should show more civility when you talk to our master!" Yukina said with irritation.

"Mah, mah~ Don't be so hard on him Yuki-chan, Tobi is after all our star errand boy! So what news do you have for me, Tobi?" Mitsu asked intrigued.

"Ah~ Micchan! The angry wrestler is calling for the octopussy guy and plans to attack you with eyebrowless armor guy!" Tobi answered cheerfully.

Mitsu looked surprised.

"They actually want to attack The Phantom with 2 Jinchuriki and a Kage? Isn't that kind of drastic?" Mitsu mused.

"Micchan, you do remember you beat back the cat girl and even inked her face right? And even beat the eyebrowless armor guy? So of course they would send the angry guy too!" Tobi replied.

"Sigh… Well, this is good I guess. If I beat them up well enough the war should end. I have already gotten what I came here for after all and it's about time I get back to Konoha…" Mitsu mused out loud.

"Mitsu-sama… Do you think it is safe to face so many strong opponents? Shouldn't you take Fuse-san and Itachi-kun with you? Maybe Haku-chan as well? And maybe even this troublemaker just to be safe?" Yukina asked worriedly.

"Ah~ So sweet of you Yuki-chan. But no need to worry. I have already beat them back before, It won't be that hard honestly…

Anyway, is there anything else Tobi?" Mitsu asked without much care.

"Ah~ Yes! The big boobi-chan with the angry guy thinks that you are a girl, Micchan! Your plan worked! Hehehehe~" Tobi giggled.

'He said what now?' Mitsu's head started turning.

"W-what do you m-mean by a girl and my plan working, Tobi?" Mitsu asked with his eyes twitching.

"Etto~ Mitsu-sama, you started wearing the Hannya Mask to make them think you were female, no? Haku-chan and Itachi-kun told me so! I thought the idea was brilliant! This way there is an extra layer for them to crack before they find out that you are the fire prince!"

"Itachi-kun was right, you come up with many brilliant ideas! Even making them wear the black armor while you wear the white one to contrast the group! "

"I heard Haku-chan saying that your plan of making people believe that you are their vengeance was such a noble goal! She told me that the people of Hot Water are getting their fighting spirits back!"

"The rescue efforts have been going very well now. Many even started volunteering to help! So wonderful!" Yukina finished with a brilliant smile.

On the side, Tobi was standing with his arms crossed, nodding his head energetically.

"That's right Micchan! All of them think you are a girl now! The Iwa had the suspicion for a while, but seeing you only kill the Male Jonins and spare the cat girl, simply made the idea cement itself, Goodjob~" Tobi finished with a dance.

On the side… The boy in question had his eyes and lips twitching.

'Since when was that my plan?...' He could only cry inside his head, as no matter what he said… No one would believe him…

'You bastards, just you wait… I am gonna spank your asses for spreading such rumors…' He grumbled as he prepared for the battle to come…

It was bad news for the ones that will participate in said battle… As Mitsu at the moment was determined to bestow the great virtue of pain…

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[A/N: Hey there beautiful people! This arc won't be long, as the graduation of konoha rookies will happen in a few months.

If you want to join the discord! The link is on the synopsis!]