The Sarutobi squad, led by the seasoned ninja Shino, entered the desolate village.
His two subordinate ninjas followed closely, their initial confidence slowly eroding as the eerie silence enveloped them.
The village was unsettlingly empty, every door ajar, every window dark. It was as if the inhabitants had simply vanished.
Shino, a man whose patience wore thin quickly, scowled.
"Search! Find anyone, find anything! This silence is a deliberate trap," he barked, his voice echoing in the deserted streets, breaking the oppressive quiet.
The two subordinates immediately split up to obey the direct order.
As Shino began his own perfunctory search, his eyes caught movement on the roof of a dilapidated building.
There sat a boy, no older than twelve, with striking white hair that seemed to glow in the dim light.
The boy sat with a chilling stillness, a toy-looking sword resting across his lap, his gaze fixed on Shino with an expression that was nothing short of murderous intent.
Suddenly, the third member of the squad, the injured ninja who had witnessed Ishiki, gasped in recognition.
"Leader! That's him! He's the one I told you about! The one with the sword!"
Shino turned his full attention to the child, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face.
He recognized the boy's posture and the atmosphere of quiet danger surrounding him as the mark of a potent adversary, despite the age.
"Well, well. A clever little brat," Shino called out, his voice smooth and deceptively calm.
I heard you possess a powerful tool, one that can apparently nullify ninjutsu.
Hand it over to me, and I'll consider sparing your life and letting you leave this place alive.
The boy, Ishiki, returned the smile with a chilling, knowing grin.
Before Shino could react, Ishiki vanished from the rooftop with a burst of speed that defied their expectations.
A moment later, a sharp, metallic shing sound sliced through the air, followed by a muffled, gurgling cry of pain from a side alley.
Shino and the still-injured ninja sprinted towards the sound's origin.
They found the first subordinate chunin, the one who had split up earlier, splayed on the ground, his throat cleanly and fatally sliced.
The suddenness and brutal efficiency of the attack sent a fresh wave of panic through the remaining squad members.
They spun around frantically, their senses heightened, but Ishiki was nowhere to be seen. The village had swallowed him whole.
The injured ninja, his previous injury a distant memory, gulped audibly, the whites of his eyes showing the depth of his fear.
Where is he? the thought hammered in his mind, the invisible predator creating a suffocating dread.
Shino roared, his calm façade shattered by the death of his subordinate.
"Brat! I gave you a chance, and you threw it away! You think you can hide from me? I don't know where you've hidden the villagers, but I'll find them! And I will kill them, one by one, until you are forced to come out and face me!" The threat was cold, brutal, and entirely serious.
As if summoned by the threat to the hidden villagers, Ishiki materialized instantly behind Shino, his sword whistling as he brought it down in a devastating overhead strike.
Shino, reacting purely on instinct honed over years of combat, blocked the blow with his own sword, the clang of steel echoing through the village.
Before Ishiki could press the advantage, Shino delivered a sharp, powerful kick to the boy's chest.
Ishiki was sent flying back.
Just as Shino prepared to press his counter-attack, Ishiki's body exploded in a puff of smoke: it was a Shadow Clone.
Shino's annoyance boiled over into outright fury.
The boy was mocking him, leading him on a deadly, frustrating chase.
He began to systematically destroy the surrounding houses, ripping apart the fragile structures in a frantic search for the real Ishiki or the villagers.
Every time Shino searched a house, tearing down walls and kicking in doors, the white-haired boy would appear before him, only to dissipate in another puff of smoke.
Each successful feint, each wasted action, chipped away at Shino's composure, escalating his anger to a blinding rage.
Watching the infuriated Sarutobi leader from the cover of a shadowed ruin, Ishiki allowed himself a small, private smile.
He reached into his pouch and drained the last precious drops of his liquid from the Concentrated Food, feeling a restorative warmth spread through his young body.
He then glanced at the internal display accessible to him, checking his current status after the relentless series of maneuvers.
-----STATUS
Name: Ishiki
Age: 12
Chakra: 30/56
Strength: 28
Ninjutsu:
Shadow Clone (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu): Intermediate
Transformation (Henge no Jutsu): Beginner
Body Replacement (Kawarimi no Jutsu): Intermediate
Taijutsu: Intermediate
Genjutsu: None
Elemental Affinity: None
The non-stop use of his Shadow Clone for decoys and the precise execution of Body Replacement had not been wasted effort.
All that intense, real-time combat under duress had refined his control, elevating both jutsus to the Intermediate level.
Furthermore, the constant movement and evasion had sharpened his raw physical fighting skills, boosting his Taijutsu to Intermediate as well.
His maximum Chakra reserve and pure Strength had also seen a marginal, but vital, increase.
He ran a hand over the gleaming blade of his new, most crucial gadget, Denkomaru.
Denkomaru: A sophisticated gadget acquired from the 22nd-century robotic cat, Doraemon, this device takes the form of a simple, colored toy sword. When activated, it glows a brilliant gold; when dormant, it is silver. Its core function is a flawless defensive mechanism: it allows its wielder to automatically attack and perfectly parry incoming attacks.
With his improved skills and the absolute confidence instilled by his new defensive gadget, Ishiki knew he held the advantage.
He looked out at the spectacle of the angry, frustrated Shino destroying the village, and a cold certainty settled in his heart: he was going to win.