The Border.

[The next day}

The sun stood high in the sky as noon came upon the Land Of Fire. Four figures clothed in light blue robes flickered through the forest with incredible speed, heading towards the border between The Land of Fire and The Land of Rivers. The village the missing-nin took over was not too far from said border but the few shinobi stationed there couldn't leave their duties to take care of the problem.

So, it was left onto the shoulders of the Fire Temple, who worked directly under the daimyo.

"Brother Tendo, we're closing on the village. What do you want us to do? Should we ask around the surrounding villages for info?"

One of the monks who joined Tendo last minute asked him about their first set of directions. The rest of the monks heard this and stopped on a tree branch in front of Tendo, turning around to await their orders. It seemed like the hierarchy of the group had been decided without Tendo's notice. But, that only made things easier for him.

Stopping on a tree branch right next to them, Tendo cleared his throat and said calmly, "We wait. They probably already have spies in surrounding villages so going there would be a death sentence. Before attacking, we need to find out the enemies numbers, their strength and their objective. As long as we can gain an accurate estimate of the first two, then we can attack. Otherwise, we take things slowly."

The rest of the monks gave the plan a few minutes of thought before Sora responded nervously, "But brother Tendo, how would we figure out all of that? Wouldn't it be incredibly dangerous to approach the enemy like that?" Hearing Sora's question, Tendo was about to answer when...

SHWICK!

SHWICK!

SHWICK!

Three kunai flew out of the bushes towards Tendo who barely managed to hear it coming with his enhanced senses. Tendo dodged the kunai while catching the last one to pass and threw it back at the direction it came from with incredible speed.

"UGH!"

A shinobi from the Land of Rivers fell out of the tree with the kunai running through his skull, causing the movement from nearby trees to suddenly increase drastically. The leaves rapidly shook as shinobi after shinobi appeared from out of almost every tree, easily surrounding the four monks. As soon as they did, the forest got extremely quiet as no one made a move.

Gulp.

One of the monks swallowed his saliva in pure fear and turned towards Tendo for help. He didn't doubt that he could take at least one or two enemies down, but the rest would probably kill him before he had a chance to do anything else. He didn't want to die so early.

Tendo, who had an unbothered look on his face the whole time this was happening was secretly feeling incredibly blessed on the inside. It was like the heavens kept giving him ways for him to shortcut his plan significantly. The plan as he had thought out a while ago went like this; first, it hinged on how smart and alert the missing-nin were. He wanted them to be found out so he intentionally made up 'strategies' that would make it easier for the missing-nin to do so.

Secondly, on his way there, he was intentionally moving behind the rest of the monks so that he could leave small marks or broken tree branches, making it even easier for the missing to track them. In the event this part of the plan failed, he would rely on his faulty 'strategies' to lead them to the missing-nin. Lastly, when the missing-nin eventually find them, the plan became much more simple.

'I'll let these two monks die to fuel Sora's rage. When I 'accidentally' get injured from the amount of shinobi surrounding me, that will be the tipping point for him. He should lose control of the 9 tails power within him, causing him to go berserk. That would take care of the missing-nin here and at there headquarters, but most importantly, when he eventually tires out, the chances of me absorbing him increases significantly. But, for now, lets get this fight started.'

Tendo then focused on the first set of Shinobi in front of them and said to the rest of the monks in a low tone, "Sora, Ichimitsu, Zenin, we have no choice but to fight. If any of us makes it out of here alive, then we go back to the temple for help. If not, then it was worth meeting all of you in this life. Sora, my brother, in the end if I'm not able to protect you, please, forgive me."

Tendo wondered if his acting was good enough immediately after giving his speech. After all, he needed to properly sell it for it to be believable. Fortunately, his question was answered when the three monks, Sora included, recklessly charged into the group of missing-nin with fire and tears in their eyes. Sora turned around mid-air and shouted, "RUN AWAY, BROTHER! WE'RE NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE HERE!"

The missing-nin immediately reacted and an all-out battle ensued. The monks fought with all they had for the man they believed in. All for the man who was planning to let them die for his benefit.

'...Hm. My speech worked better than intended. Well, time to go to work.'

Lightning, which was the chakra nature Tendo was born with, started coursing over his body as he outstretched his right hand in a Knife-hand position. The lightning started to focus itself over his hand as he locked onto his first target, a missing-nin who was in battle with Sora. All of this happened in less than a second.

BZZT!

The lightning formed itself into a kind of knife over Tendo's fingers as he disappeared in flash of electricity, blowing the branch that he was standing on to pieces.

'Lightning Lance.'