Ash still drifted in the air like gray snow when the sun began to sink over the wreckage. The once-grand casino was now a blackened skeleton of stone and twisted steel, its sign hanging crooked and half-melted. Gato stood at the center of it all, his pristine white suit streaked with soot, his jeweled rings glinting as his fists clenched in fury. Around him, a dozen guards lingered nervously, flanked by three battle-hardened jōnin.
"Find out who did this!" Gato shouted, his voice breaking into a hoarse rasp. "I want the bastards found and gutted before nightfall! Burn my casino, steal my money?!" He kicked at a half-melted roulette wheel, sending it crashing against the rubble. "Hehehe… they say it was two women. Fine. Find them. I want them alive. I'll show them what happens when someone crosses Gato."
The jōnin bowed sharply. "Understood, sir!"
But a calm voice cut through the smoke. "No need to look too far."
Every man turned. A slender figure walked through the haze, white hair glowing faintly in the dying light. Her steps were slow, deliberate, as if she had all the time in the world. Yumi padded silently beside her, tails swaying.
Gato blinked in disbelief. "Who the hell are you?"
Raven stopped just short of the rubble. Her voice was soft but carried over the ruins. "The one who burned your casino to the ground."
Gato's jaw fell open. "There were two of you! Where's the blonde?!"
Raven tilted her head. "Busy counting your money."
His face turned scarlet. "Kill her! Kill that arrogant brat!"
The three jōnin leapt into motion, spreading into a wide triangle. Their chakra flared, heat shimmering in the smoky air. Yumi flicked her tails lazily. "Standard-level jōnin," she said, her tone unimpressed. "Barely worth your effort."
Raven's hand settled lightly on her short sword. "Agreed."
The first jōnin blurred through hand signs. "Suiton: Suishōha!" A roaring wave water erupted from his mouth, crashing toward her with enough force to flatten a small house.
Raven didn't move. Her two fingers touched the edge of her blade she pulled out from it's sheath, and fire chakra ignited in a blinding flare. "You'll have to do better than that."
Steam exploded outward as she stepped into the wave, her sword cutting through the torrent like molten glass. The air hissed, vaporized in an instant. Before the jōnin could blink, she was in front of him, blade whispering through the air.
He froze, eyes wide. A thin red line opened across his throat. Then his head slid cleanly from his shoulders and dropped into the dirt with a dull thud.
Yumi's eyes glimmered. "You've taken up swordsmanship, I see."
Raven wiped the blade, fire flickering faintly along its edge. "The ancestral sword arts of the Uzumaki clan. I didn't use them often in my last life." Her tone softened briefly. "No one remembers these sword forms now. So I carry them forward for the Uzumaki."
The remaining jōnin regrouped, one kneeling and slamming his palms to the ground. "Kusa Ninpō: Shokubutsu Kabe no Jutsu!" Thick, dark-green vines burst from the soil, twisting toward Raven's legs like living snakes.
The second jōnin followed instantly. "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" A massive dragon of flame surged toward her, its heat washing across the clearing as dozens of explosive-tagged kunai whistled through the smoke.
Raven exhaled. "Pointless."
The vines closed around her ankles—and then her body shimmered, dissolving into ripples of heat.
Both men froze. "Where did she—"
A whisper brushed against the back of their necks. "Too slow."
Raven appeared behind them, her sword wreathed in golden light. Yumi's tails flicked in recognition. "Wait—that chakra pattern—"
Raven smiled faintly. "Yes. The Flying Thunder God Technique."
She drove her blade straight through the back of the jōnin who had conjured the vines. "Minato's masterpiece. He taught me himself." The man's breath left him in a choking gasp before he fell forward, blood spilling across the stones.
The last jōnin backed away, horror twisting his face. Raven looked down at the glowing spiral seal etched into her palm, faintly pulsing. "Still efficient. Only a small chakra cost to use the technique."
Yumi's tails curled lazily. "You're still not storing enough. Your reserves are laughable."
Raven didn't look at her. "I'll manage. Sage Mode isn't a race i will get there soon enough Yumi."
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