22 Chapter 22: Renko the mercenary

"I need to act now... shouldn't have let them recover..." Renko was now mad, her owls had looked for Sakumo during the whole night and their search covered a big area at that. With Sakumo out of the picture, she had to take the initiative.

Utilizing the cover of the night, she sneaked over to where Sakumo's clone was located. It seemed to be watching out for something, as she immediately formed purple crystal Shuriken using the moisture around her. They traveled extremely fast, but as they were about to hit Sakumo, he ducked and successfully dodged.

"You're good... Sakumo of the leaf." Seeing him dodge her shuriken with such ease, she was surprised and thus praised him for it with a sneer. Sakumo's clone looked at her with serious eyes, as it retrieved a short-blade from it's back and lunged at her with a flash of white light. "What speed!"

The clone's white chakra blade cut her in two, revealing that it was only a crystal clone. She then appeared behind him and quickly formed hand seals.

"Crystal Release: Crystal Needles!"

Sharp needles made their way towards Sakumo, who easily dealt with them by using his white chakra blade. "Crystal release, huh? I have never heard of it before. It's your Kekkei-Genkai isn't it?" Sakumo was impressed by the durability of the crystal and its inherent power, he had to admit it was strong.

"Heh, You haven't seen anything yet." She jumped backward and aimed at Sakumo as she shouted. "Crystal Release: Shuriken Wild Dance!" The particles surrounding her transformed into crystal through her chakra and danced around her for a moment as she launched them towards Sakumo.

"One of these and goodby clone..." Sakumo was in dire straits, he used earth style almost immediately. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" A huge wall three times taller than him was erected between them, the crystals were blocked at first, but with no signs of stopping, they pierced through and continued their assault.

Sakumo blocked all of the incoming blades that were coming towards him with his white chakra. Then, he suddenly realized that he had been played. A crystal clone of Renko's appeared behind him through a mirror and placed its palm on his shoulder."No!"

"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Prison Technique!" Sakumo was instantly imprisoned in a huge block of crystal, his shadow-clone prevented from being canceled. "Phew... I used up too much chakra..." Renko was exhausted, the repeated use of her Kekkei-Genkai left her tired because of her average chakra reserves.

"I'll recover for a while and go deal with those three kids later." She sat down and recovered her chakra soon after.

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Meanwhile, Jin and his cousins were around a bonfire, eating grilled fish. They looked relaxed and confident as if the fact that they were obviously going to be attacked did not bother them at all.

"Guys, I am feeling a foreign chakra signature coming from the North. Be ready for battle." Fugaku and Hideki tensed up, this was their moment. After a while, a figure walked into their little clearing.

"Hey guys, I did not find any of them yet. They might still be doubting." Sakumo was back, and he seemed to be empty-handed from his search.

"It's okay sensei, we should Just relocate." Jin got up and spoke with a calm smile. Before Sakumo could sit down, he was pierced in the heart by Chidori. It went through cleanly and assured the kill.

"How?" Sakumo morphed into a human-shaped block of crystal before disintegrating due to the black lightning. Not far away, Renko started to sweat coldly. She had not even seen the kid perform hand seals to form the attack, everything went too fast. And how did he know?

"What? How did I not notice?" her doubts were instantly lifted when she saw the kid's glowing-red pair of eyes. "So they are Uchiha... I hadn't really focused on them enough... Stupid me." Now that she failed the sneak attack, she would have to fight all out.

"I might just call for the rest..." As she prepared to make an appearance, what seemed like the grim reaper's voice sounded as Hideki appeared behind her soundlessly.

"Boo."

He had learned this quote from Sakumo and was dying to use it since then.

He thrust his blade towards her neck, only to be met with unexpected resistance. Sparks flew as his blade was pushed back. Renko jumped away immediately creating some distance as she sighed in relief. "What speed! Thank god he's weak. If I hadn't had my crystal armor, I would be a dead body!" She looked around her, as the three surrounded her.

"I guess I'll have to fight seriously... Crystal Needles!" The same needles from before spread out in three directions at top speed. Hideki flickered out of the way, while Fugaku destroyed them with his sickle as they approached. Jin used Chidori once more, and in a similar way to Sasuke against Itachi, continuously destroying the incoming needles as he ran towards her.

"Not good!" She felt the threat of that jutsu as her scalp tingled in fear. A mirror formed next to her, as three clones appeared. One of them threw itself at Jin,and took the attack by itself, crumbling afterward. "This kid is not as fast... But if he touches me I am dead." jin's penetrating power was unseen.

"Don't you forget about me!"Fugaku screamed and thrust his sickle into the ground, creating a massive array of fissures all going towards Renko.

"Crystal Release: Crystal Encampment Wall!" A wall of Crystal appeared in between the four and regenerated as it was hit by the small earthquake. Effectively stopping it. Fugaku was surprised and was hit by a surprise attack.

One of the clones from earlier appeared next to him while he was distracted by the wall, and used the Shuriken Wild Dance as crystal blades attacked Fugaku.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Flames burst out and engulfed the crystal blades, but it wasn't enough. Some blades penetrated through and buried themselves into Fugaku.

"AAAARGH!"

Fugaku dropped on one knee as he covered one of his multiple bleeding injuries. Hideki had already hidden due to having lost half of his chakra through the use of wind chakra mode, he watched the scene and gulped.

"Are we really ready for this?" His knees trembled. This was the first time he felt the threat of death, as this woman was just too strong for them. He wanted to come out of hiding, but he did not dare.

Jin was in a similar situation when He was attacked by two clones that formed crystal blades on their arms. Jin brought out a kunai and parried, but it was sliced through, and the blade of one of the clones dug into his left arm. He flickered and reappeared a bit further away.

"Not good. Fugaku has been incapacitated and Hideki is still hiding, probably too scared to move. If I do not work something out now, we're dead. I might have to call sensei through the tag." He felt pressured, and took out a tag from his pouch.

"Oh, no you don't!" Renko grimaced when she saw the tag, Sakumo was the last person she wanted to see right now. She formed hand seals, and a huge spear appeared in her hand, almost three times as long as her.

"Gulp..." When Jin saw the sharpness of that spear, the first thought that popped into his head was... RUN!

Renko threw the deadly spear at Jin, and it landed right on him as he flickered away at the last second. She continued firing those spears repetitively, not allowing for him to use the tag.

"What should I do? Fugaku can't move anymore... What should I do?" He was too scared. A six-year-old boy was not cut out for this type of thing.

Jin was avoiding the spears, and he thought of his dad. One of the only family he had ever had in two lifetimes was killed... murdered. He started emitting murderous intent, as his eyes became ice-cold. He would not die until he killed. That man.

He summoned two shadow clones and attacked Renko. "She has armor, so my fire style or weapons will be useless. It's either Chidori or Oyamatsumi." Renko saw the kid's eyes change color, and she closed her own. She was not going to be hit by a Genjutsu.

Jin smiled coldly, That would not be enough to stop his Genjutusu.

"You sure you want to close your eyes?" Jin's eyes became freezing cold as he saw the Raikage merge with Renko's figure. His rage was overtaking him, as he activated Chidori and went straight for her.

She tried to avoid it, but she messed up the timing and her shoulder was pierced. She screamed and flickered away, covering her wound with a thin layer of crystal to stop the bleeding. Jin had dug a hole into her shoulder, rendering her left arm useless.

"YOU DARE!"

What she did not know, was that earlier, she had already been put into a genjutsu, where she thought that her eyes were closed when in fact they weren't.

"Let's see how I can make you suffer... Kukuku." Jin's eyes spun as he cast Oyamatsumi. He appeared in a mental realm, and Renko was tied up with crystal chains, in front of him. He looked into her soul and saw her memories. She was an orphan, that was picked up by a magnanimous couple in the land of the waves. They raised her and educated her, before finding out about her Kekkei Genkai and her talent as a ninja.

As her ability was so rare, they feared she would become a lab-rat in any of the villages, so they trained her themselves. They were retired mist ninja, making them qualified to do so.

When she became an adult, her parents fell ill, and she became a mercenary to pay off their debt and medicine. She performed any kind of act for the money, assassination, selling drugs, ext...

When she met her current boss Yuren, she felt happy because of the amount offered for a simple escort mission. She had no Idea her opponents would be so strong.

The current emotion she felt, was regret mixed with sadness when she thought of her parents.

"Sorry, mom, dad."