Chapter 131: Operation Soft Launch (Part-6) [The Blue Menace and the Shadow War]

Chapter 131 - Operation Soft Launch (Part-6) [The Blue Menace and the Shadow War] As soon as the fight ended, Raiken tried to escape. He knew that even though Yoru had said his role was only to observe and report, there was no chance he'd be allowed to leave in one piece. So he took the moment of Ren's victory to make his move. But Yoru wasn't someone who would allow that. The instant Raiken moved, Yoru flickered in front of him. Raiken tried to enhance his speed with lightning chakra, but before it could be of any use, Yoru had already driven a kunai through multiple tenketsu points in his right arm. His left arm had already been disabled by Yoru before. Now with both arms useless, Raiken understood his shinobi career was over. There was no way he'd reach a village in time to heal himself, and he wasn't talented enough to use jutsu without hand signs. Still, as long as he had his life, he could run. Strangely, Yoru didn't continue to chase him. He just stood there as Raiken stumbled away. Raiken turned around once, glancing between Yoru and Ren. An idea flickered in his mind, then vanished. Ultimately, he still left, but not before shooting both of them a look filled with hatred. ~ Ren, who had just finished cleaning up the remaining rogues, sat for a moment and slowly deactivated the Hyperfocus. The world returned to its normal pace, and disorientation hit him like a wave. He pulled off his mask and touched his face. Immediately, he felt the blood streaming from his eyes. He sighed. 'Though it's somewhat less than before, there's still strain using Hyperfocus for too long. I guess it's not something that can be solved in one battle.' He started healing himself. Most of his injuries had already partially healed thanks to his passive regeneration, but he wasn't a monster with advanced healing abilities, so he still needed to put in effort. Within a few moments, he was back in functional shape. Once done, he began gathering all the bodies. Most of them were intact, except for Renji, who had been split in two. Ren felt a tinge of disgust at the sight, but since he'd done it himself, he forced himself to handle it. He pulled Renji's remains together too. He performed some quick tests on Renji's body, searching for anything that might explain the strange feeling he had earlier. But nothing unusual turned up. Ren frowned. 'Just what was that weird feeling?' Still without answers, he was reassured by at least one thing: eliminating Renji first had been the right decision. The rogue's potential to heal the others mid-battle had been too dangerous. He shrugged slightly. 'As they say, deal with the healer before the dealer.' As soon as he finished collecting the corpses into one place, Yoru appeared. Ren looked over. "Boss man, did the head ninja show up?" He had been too busy fighting to pay attention to anything else. Even if he had been free, he doubted Yoru would have allowed him to witness whatever happened. Yoru responded calmly, "Yes. Raiken was here. He's gone now." Ren nodded. He didn't press for details, anyone below S-rank wouldn't last long against Yoru anyway. After all, even with Ren's current level at level 69, he still couldn't gauge Yoru's level at all. Yoru probably was already pushing into Kage level. Ren glanced back at the corpses and sighed, "Well, my Taijutsu got a good showing, but I didn't get the chance to show off my fire release. I ended up using lightning instead. But it felt more natural in that situation." Yoru spoke without concern, "It's all the same, as long as you keep your wind mastery hidden. Just master lightning release instead of fire now." He spoke so casually that Ren was speechless. 'Does he even understand what he's saying? The way he talks about things that would give normal shinobi a heart attack.' Ren sighed inwardly. 'Fortunately, I'm the great Ren Takahashi with the system. Otherwise, no one could meet this man's expectations.' Once he finished his inner monologue of narcissism he looked at Yoru and asked playfully, "Commander, since I completed your requirements, don't I get a reward?" Yoru looked at him for a moment before replying, "Though it doesn't make sense to reward you for something that already benefited you, fine. You'll start training Genjutsu with 3. I'll instruct her to free up some time." Ren instantly protested, "No! What use is genjutsu? Didn't you see how badly Yuka failed? Though that's because it's me, but honestly, have you ever seen anyone use Genjutsu effectively in a high-level fight till now?" He added the last part reluctantly. 'Except for Itachi humbling Sasuke, of course but besides him, not many.' He of course didn't include Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi, if he had the Rinne-Sharingan to cast it, he wouldn't be playing here. Yoru gave him a sharp look. "Don't you want to begin with yin release?" Ren frowned. "No matter how much I practiced genjutsu, I couldn't use yin release." That was true. He'd received Genjutsu mastery as a reward and trained it further. But even after weeks of practice, the yin release still didn't show up on his mastery list. So eventually, he'd shelved it. Yoru responded, "That's because most low- and mid-tier Genjutsu, even up to B-rank and some A-rank ones use only the spiritual component of chakra. Only a few A- and S-rank Genjutsu actually require yin release. That's why you didn't unlock it." He paused, then asked, "Have you even tried learning high-level Genjutsu?" Ren quickly shook his head. This was new information, he hadn't come across it in any of the files or training materials he studied. Yoru concluded, "Well then, I think this should be enough of a reward. Let's go." With that, he flickered away, leaving Ren to pack up. Ren sighed as he collected the corpses into a scroll. 'Damnit. If I had kept up my genjutsu training, I probably could have unlocked yin release already.' He sighed again.'No point dwelling on it now. I'll start again.' He gave himself a final once-over, nodded, and flickered away, chasing after Yoru lamenting about wasted time and just one more clone. The return journey was just as silent and secretive as their departure, on the way Ren also told Yoru about what the rouges said about Kakashi being present but Yoru dismissed it as handled. Within two days, Ren and Yoru were back in the Hidden Leaf Village, undetected and without fanfare. As they entered through one of the ANBU-exclusive tunnels, Yoru gave Ren a brief nod and said, "Rest for a week and get used to Hyperfocus. You'll have new assignments starting next week." Without waiting for a response, Yoru flickered away, vanishing from sight as usual. Ren didn't linger. He headed straight to his home and, upon arriving, immediately created a shadow clone. "You'll be working on Genjutsu," even though he didn't need to he still instructed the clone. The clone nodded and moved toward the training basement. As for Ren, he didn't even bother changing. He walked into his room, collapsed onto the bed, and was fast asleep within seconds. ~~~ Yoru reached the Hokage's office soon after their return. Hiruzen was already waiting, and as Yoru entered, the Third Hokage slid a book across the desk toward him. "I assume the mission went well, on both fronts," Hiruzen said with a faint smile, puffing on his pipe. Yoru picked up the latest edition of the Bingo Book and flipped to the marked page. His eyes scanned the profile quietly. Alias: The Blue Menace Bounty: 15 million ryo from Kumogakure, 10 million from Iwagakure. Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village Threat Level: A+ Abilities: Taijutsu expert. Basic ninjutsu proficiency. Skilled with bladed weapons. Notable Deeds: Eliminated a team of elite Jonin-level rogue shinobi. "Of course there is no mention of Hyperfocus," Yoru noted. Hiruzen nodded. "There's a quiet understanding among the major players. No one wants the existence of Hyperfocus to become common knowledge, not even the Cloud. It keeps the danger contained." Yoru closed the book and replied, "They acted fast with the bounty, but they're still being cautious." Hiruzen gave a soft chuckle. "Cloud couldn't list too many details without making themselves look incompetent. And Stone only added him because Onoki wanted to join in with Kumo to make a target on Ren's head. Still, not a bad first entry. I wonder how the others reacted when they got the news." ~ 1.5 Days Earlier Land of Lightning Kumogakure Raikage's Office The Fourth Raikage sat with a frown, arms crossed, listening to Raiken's full report. Once it ended, Raiken collapsed to the floor, unconscious from chakra depletion and travel injuries. The Raikage didn't even blink. "Take him to medical. Heal him as much as possible," he ordered coldly. "Mabui, prepare a list of potential replacements for the head ninja post." Even though it hurt the village to lose a potential S-Ranker, it didn't affect them much. Though the cloud didn't have many top-tier ninja, their army was the strongest of the five villages, so they still had 10+ shinobi of Raiken's level. The only reason they aren't the strongest village is because the leaf has very strong and a great number of top-tier power which could make cloud's army helpless. To his right, Mabui nodded and began making notes. As ANBU flickered into the room and carried Raiken out, another figure in the office, Darui, spoke up. "Boss, it's clear the Leaf used us to promote that kid. But if what Raiken said is true, couldn't they have kept it hidden a bit longer?" A's frown deepened, and he leaned forward. "It wasn't just about showcasing strength. It was a message. Konoha wanted everyone to know: if you plan to deal with their new genius, don't bother with squads of Jonin or minor threats. That boy, if he really has Hyperfocus, is already past that level. Sending anything less than an S-rank shinobi or a Jinchuriki would just mean more losses. No village can afford to throw such power around lightly right now." Darui looked contemplative. "So, any plans for retaliation?" A shook his head. "No. We don't need to do anything." Darui frowned. "Why not?" The Raikage smirked, and an unsettling expression formed on his face. "Because Konoha's foundation is already starting to shake." Darui's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, Boss?." "Danzo," A said with a cold tone, "the shadow of the Third Hokage. And Yoru, the shadow of the Fourth. Those two are about to clash. They've danced around each other long enough. But now? They can't coexist." A's gaze darkened. "Raiken was working with Danzo to target Hatake Kakashi. That alone tells us how deep this internal conflict runs. But for Yoru to personally appear on the battlefield with his own subordinate? That means war." He slammed a hand down on the desk, splintering the wood beneath it and laughed loudly. "Two shadows cannot survive in one darkness. There will be turbulence, and when that happens, even the light is affected." His voice dropped into a dangerous growl. "Konoha still hasn't recovered from the Nine-Tails incident. If another internal shake-up happens now, their so-called 'stable tree' will crack. When it does, we move." Turning to Mabui, he instructed, "Sell all the information Raiken brought back. Let every village know about their 'Blue Menace.' Help them spread the propaganda they want, but twist it just enough." He looked at Darui next. "It would be unlike us if we don't do anything so send a few squads to destroy border camps and outposts near the Fire border. Make it look like retaliation. Konoha will try to downplay it, but the unrest will only grow." Mabui and Darui both nodded and left the room to follow his orders. Left alone, the Raikage leaned back, cracking his knuckles with a chuckle. "Minato... your village is going to collapse from within. Not from our hands. But from your own people. What a lovely tragedy." With that, only a sound of loud laughter remained in the Raikage's office. ~~~~~ {With this, Operation Soft Launch Arc comes to an end, the main purpose of this arc, aside from showing the Hyperfocus in action was to set up the stage for a future arc, The Shadow war, yes I am spoiling the name right now, and this arc would also include the Uchiha Massacre (With Changes), it won't be happening anytime soon, but the spark has been lit.} {Also, this was my first reaction Chapter, so tell me how it was.} {If you want to, you can support me on pat-reon.} {Thanks Blue61, nanami, Grim, zogio and One winged angel for becoming members on pat-reon} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else} {200 Stones = Extra Chapter} {STONES!!!!}