Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 8.2 (Patreon)

Once Daiki removed the kunai from Shizuku's mother and healed her up enough to make sure her life wasn't in any danger, the group quickly located deeper into the forest, out of sight and sound.

Daiki sat his ass down against a tree, catching his breath, and Shizuku immediately slammed into his side and huddled against him, arms wrapped around his midsection.

She apparently found comfort during this situation in being close to him.

"Daiki, how much chakra have you got left?" Sasuke got right down to the brass tacks as soon as he finished healing the woman, "You fired off quite a few jutsu there."

"Enough," Daiki answered, "About three quarters of my total, I've got enough in the tank to put the boot to these idiots asses."

Sasuke nodded, "Right," he crossed his arms, before looking at Shibuki, "Looks like our mission continues then."

Shibuki opened his mouth, but Daiki cut him off, "That is unless you don't want our help?" he raised an eyebrow pointedly.

The leader of Waterfall grimaced, "…No…I suppose there's no choice." he visibly trembled for a moment, before swallowing and composing himself.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist, "Now we can go pay those clowns back for jumping us like that!"

"My thoughts, exactly," Sasuke smirked, "Sakura, you stay here and guard the kids and the kids mother, we'll be going ahead."

Sakura grimaced, but nodded, "Alright Sasuke-kun, I'll keep them safe." she promised.

'Well, even she can't fuck up hiding away far away from the fight and looking over a few kids,' Daiki mused, before slowly standing up, "I'm gonna go take care of these idiots invading your village, kay?" he pressed his hand atop Shizuku's head, gently forcing her to let go.

"…Okay…kick their butts nii-chan!" the young girl rubbed her eyes before cheering him on.

He flashed her a confident smile and a thumbs up, before joining Sasuke, Naruto and Shibuki to head out towards the Waterfall Village.

Shibuki led them back towards the river, and then towards the waterfall itself, edging around the water surface over a series of rocks that led to around behind the huge waterfall, "So your village is hidden behind a place like this, huh?" Sasuke mused thoughtfully.

Shibuki sighed, "Let me be clear, do not tell anyone about this entrance." he ordered, voice serious and level…for once. He hopped down off of the rock surface, onto a narrow pathway that was only about a foot wide.

"We know, we know." Naruto rolled his eyes, hopping down after him, followed by Naruto and Daiki himself.

Continuing on, Shibuki led them over the path, to directly behind the waterfall itself, where a large cavern system seemed to lay.

But, there was little to it, just a wide empty cavern, beyond thee large holes filled with water.

'Just as I remember.' Daiki nodded to himself.

As one, all four of them quickly took position behind a large rock outcropping near the entrance, Daiki on the far most left and Sasuke the far most right, with Naruto and Shibuki in the middle.

"Be ready, Naruto." Sasuke ordered.

"That's my line." the blonde shot back, drawing a kunai and preparing.

Daiki ignored them, spreading his awareness out. But, he couldn't feel anyone in the cavern beyond them and not a sound echoed beyond that of dripping water.

"It's fine, there's no enemies in here that I can sense." Daiki voiced. If there was an enemy in here in such close proximity that he couldn't sense, they'd have far bigger things to worry about than getting into the Waterfall Village anyway.

Shibuki, who had crouched down and covered his head with his hands, perked up at the mention of no enemies and stood up, pushing passed the three boys and making his way around the rocky outcropping towards the holes filled with water.

"This way!" he ordered, beckoning the three Konoha genin to follow, "Hurry!" he prompted them, before diving straight into the the first hole of water.

"…Hey Sasuke…Daiki.." Naruto gave them both a blank look.

Sasuke sighed, "…We have no choice." he huffed, before following after Shibuki, prompting Naruto to do the same.

Daiki rolled his eyes and did the same. Why did he have to be so dramatic about leading the way into the hole. He could have literally just pointed and said, 'There's the entrance', but no, he had to be all dramatic about it, as if it was some big revelation and trying to shock them by jumping into the water filled holes.

'Drama queen.' the tan genin huffed, the sounds of water splashing loudly as Sasuke and Naruto dove in after Shibuki.

Seriously, as if it wasn't obvious that those water filled holes were the entrances to anyone with half a brain.

Holding his breath, Daiki copied them and dove in. Sound became muted by the water around him, and he swam downwards alongside his fellow genin, finding a narrow cavern at the bottom stretching forward, and glowing with a faint green light.

He met the eyes of Sasuke and Naruto who were examining it, before nodding at them and swimming forward through it, towards the faint silhouette of Shibuki he could see about thirty feet in front.

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"..Do you think they'll be okay?" Shizuku fretted as she hovered over her mother, her friend, holding her hand to help her keep calm.

Sakura gave the younger girl a smile, "Don't worry, Naruto, despite being an idiot is pretty strong," she reassured the girl, "And Sasuke-kun and Daiki are the two strongest genin in Konoha!"

Honestly, it still astounded her that Daiki was actually stronger than Sasuke-kun now, but it made some sense, since he had much more time to himself to train.

She knew after all, after Wave, that she was dragging her team down, Naruto was far stronger than her, nevermind Sasuke-kun, and she was even hampering Sasuke-kun in getting stronger.

…She was really glad Daiki was around to help and pick up her slack. "Between those three, whoever is causing trouble in your village doesn't stand a chance," the pink haired girl continued, "I mean, you saw how easy they beat those other guys right?"

"Hoh, now that's interesting to hear." an unfamiliar, male voice suddenly sounded behind her.

Sakura's eyes widened and her hand shot down to her pouch, but before she could even reach it, she felt a sharp impact on her neck and everything went dark.

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"Oh…wow…" Naruto trailed off with a gasp as soon as they surfaced, within the middle of a huge lake.

And Daiki couldn't blame him.

They'd had to swim upwards thousands of feet to reach where they were right now, finding themselves within the confines of the top of the mountain, where the waterfall led from.

In front of him, he could see a mass of land, filled with beautiful greenery, with a village settlement spread throughout it.

Meanwhile behind him, there was another landmass, this time, an island right in the middle of the huge lake, the only thing atop this island though, was a single tree.

An absolutely gargantuan tree.

It had to be at least five hundred feet weight and stretched so far up into the sky he couldn't even measure it properly, but he could tell from the get go, it was at least, as large as tall as the mountain it resided in.

Huge tree branches spread out over the top, creating a massive green camouflage with the many tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, or even millions of thick, healthy green leaves. The branches were so thick, they spread out over the entirety of the top of the open mountain top, blocking it more or less, completely.

Village Hidden In The Waterfall indeed. That meant, the only entrances to the village were either through the actual raging waterfall, or the holes Daiki and his companions just came through.

'That tree…' his thoughts trailed off as he stared at it. While even with its size, it still couldn't compare, it did remind him of it.

The Shinju, the god tree from which the chakra fruit sprung from, which Kaguya Otsotsuki her power.

'The Hero Water comes from this tree as well.' Daiki's eyebrows furrowed in thought. Was there a connection of some kind?

"Daiki." Sasuke called to him, breaking him from his thoughts. The Uchiha met his eyes and gestured with him to follow along with them as they swam towards the shore of the village.

He nodded, putting his thoughts aside for now and made his way to the shore with them.

"Man, I've never seen such a pretty place." Naruto looked around in awe when they reached the surface, "Man, I wish Sakura could have gotten to see it too!"

Daiki frowned, looking around.

It was quiet, eerily quiet. And there was not a single person in sight.

He caught the frown on Sasuke's face and knew he was thinking the same.

It was only then, Daiki noticed something else, 'Where the hell is Shibuki?' he wondered.

He was right behind him, so how did that coward give him the slip?

Just then-

Daiki's senses went haywire and he jumped back, just as a series of shuriken screamed through the air towards him.

Sasuke moved at the same time, pushing Naruto out of the way of a set going after him, and deflecting them with a drawn kunai.

"The hell was that f-" Naruto growled as he landed in the water, before realising what was going on.

From behind the closest village houses, dozens of shinobi dressed the same as the ones from earlier came rushing out, blitzing towards them.

"Go protect Shibuki!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto.

The blonde growled again, but dove into the water, out of the way despite his reluctance, leaving the pair of Daiki and Sasuke to deal with their approaching enemies.

Just like the ones before, Daiki noticed, they all wore headbands depicting the symbol of the Village Hidden In The Rain, each with slashes through the middle.

Honestly, it was quite a lot of rain shinobi, In total, this time he counted twelve, which made for twenty at least.

It was like they deserted en-masse.

Had Nagato already taken over the Rain Village and killed Hanzo?

That didn't matter for now he supposed.

Whipping his hand out, Daiki flared his chakra, summoning and shooting forth a series of kunai, shuriken and swords, a small wall of pointy death straight towards the approaching shinobi, before shooting forward himself.

Most of them avoided easily.

One did not, and was riddled with the weapons, falling dead a moment later.

See, that was the problem with rushing in a group, it left you little room to dodge if you were focused on by the enemy.

"Tora!" one of them roared angrily, rage filled eyes settling on Daiki.

They were spreading out, trying to flank them from all sides and surround them, but Daiki wasn't about that shit,

He made a beeline towards the one who shouted.

"Die!" the man shouted as they approached one another, just as they were in front of one another though, Daiki whipped his hand out again, unleashing his Force Palm Jutsu from his left hand and spinning.

He torqued around the mans lunging stab with his kunai, aimed for the tan teens throat, and man didn't even have time to register his make before Daiki's massively momentum enhanced knee strike smashed into his temple and crunch went his skull.

Then, not taking anytime to admire his handiwork, he thrust both hands out again, unleashing the Force Palm Jutsu a second time, jettisoning him backwards through the air like a bullet.

He flipped backwards, coming down into a handstand right below another of the men and thrust up with a double mule kick right up at his chin.

He, like his fellow, was far too slow to react to the sudden spastic movement and his head snapped up and backwards, his neck breaking audibly and tumbling backwards from the sheer force of the blow.

He was just in time to get an upside down view of Sasuke leaping into the air, his hand cupped around his mouth, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He unleashed a huge fireball down below, catching four of the rain ninja before they could escape the blast radius, and their screams echoed loudly as they were burned alive.

Daiki didn't have time to admire it, because a third changed paths, rushing towards Daiki, twin kunai held in his grasp.

Thinking quickly, Daiki unleashed another shot of the Force Palm Jutsu from both hands into the ground, shooting him up into the air above the man, just as he shot forwrd, slicing his kunai where Daiki's belly was just a mere moment ago.

Flipping around above, Daiki copied Sasuke, running through hand seals of his own, before inhaling and exhaling powerfully, spitting out a quick fireball jutsu of his own.

The man, like his fellows, screamed in agony as he was cooked to death.

He landed, and looked to Sasuke, surrounded by the the remaining shinobi, only four of them.

But he didn't have to.

Sasuke unleashed a rain of shuriken from his hands, wide and winding, easily dodged by the rain shinobi…except for the wires wrapped around them that bound them in their attempt to dodge.

Wires leading back to Sasuke's hands and up to one single one in his mouth, the Uchiha teen running through four rapid hand seals, before flames sparked into existence, before travelling along the wires and lighting the trapped shinobi alight.

The air was filled with the scent of burning flesh.

Running chakra through his palms, Daiki triggered the return seal on his weapons and summoned them back to his Dimension Force Seal, 'Is that them all?' he wondered.

They weren't…very impressive at all. They were weaker even, than Daiki had been months ago when he first woke up with his system after being murdered by those rock humpers.

The him of back then could have at least taken two or three of these guys.

That left only the the main instigator that was after the hero water, and-

Daiki juked to the side, allowing a kunai to pass through the space where his head had been and spun, lashing out with his forearm behind him, just in time to catch and block a powerful punch aimed at his kidney.

"Miss me kid?" the grey haired leader in the muscle shirt cackled, he gave a shout and thrust more force into his fist, trying to overpower Daiki's blocked.

It didn't work out for him, not like it had for him earlier when he could leverage his greater strength and reach against Sasuke.

Daiki was not only taller than Sasuke, but far stockier, and far physically stronger as well.

Locking him down, Daiki summoned his tanto into his free hand and swung at the mans head, making him yelp and jump backwards, "Man that was close! You're a strong one ain't ya?" the man laughed, before shrugging, unconcerned, "Oh well, that's why ya' make backup plans after all."

What?

A tight pressure on his wrist made him look down, and his eyes widened to see a thick, watery rope wrapped around his wrist, leading straight to the grey haired Rain Ninja's hand.

"Water Style!" he growled in realisation.

He swung his tanto over head to cut through it, but as he did, he felt a presence rush him from behind and quickly changed his swing, directing it into a stab directly behind him.

"Oh my!" a purring, female voice gasped slightly in surprise, in his peripheral, he caught sight of a pretty, brown haired woman dressed in a pair of tight spats, and kimono top that hung open at her shoulders, baring her chest, only hidden by a tight crop top that kept her breasts from being in clear view.

She jumped backwards, but as she did, Daiki felt another tight pressure on his wrists.

And then his arms were pulled from both sides, jerking them out and stretching him out so hard it felt like his arms were moments away from being pulled out of their sockets.

"Hehe, what a big fishy we caught here, eh Hisame?" the grey haired rain cunt cackled once more.

"A shame too, he has quite the robust build does he not?" the Kunoichi, Hisame appeared giggled flirtatiously.

"Daiki!" Sasuke shouted in worry and began rushing over at a blurring speed.

"Ah-ah!" the Kunocihi called out to him, making a single hand seal and causing electricity to spark around her hands, "Get any closer and your tasty and muscular friend here is going to become a lightbulb."

Sasuke skidded to a stop, a snarl on his lips and his Sharingan tomoe spinning in agitation.

'Of course the first good looking chick to flirt with me, would be an enemy.' Daiki groused, ignoring the pain coming from his arms as best he could.

Just his luck, as per usual.

…If only that cunt Kakashi had helped him get the chakra flow technique down. He could just run pure lightning chakra through these damn water whips binding his arms and light these fools up.

That left him with only one option.

The fools had left his palms exposed to the air.

…This was going to hurt like fuck though, with his arms pulled out this wide and the force..

Daiki grit his teeth and braced himself, then he chanelled as much chakra into his seals as they could muster, "Force Palm Jutsu!" he roared, he wanted them to know exactly what killed them.

He twisted on his feet as he unleashed it, and a pair of surprised shouts left the two ninja binding him as the pure force behind the the jutsu he unleashed from his palms as he jerked his arms, bodily lifted them up and dragged them through the air like a pair of ragdolls.

Agonising pain ran down from Daiki's shoulders as his arms were dislocated, but he powered through, a savage smile spreading across his face as he completed his rotation and found the terrified face of Hisame soaring towards him, while her cackling buddy soared right passed her through the air towards Sasuke.

Forcing himself to ignore the pain, Daiki thrust both arms out and caught the woman right in the solar plexus, "Begone thot." he spat, and once more unleashed what was rapidly becoming his signature technique.

The air shook from the sheer force of the impact that roared through the womans stomach as he unleashed the Force Palm Jutsu at point blank rage.

She gagged, not even able to scream, a deluge of blood erupting from her throat, eyes rolling up into the back of her head and was summarily shot flying back through the air from the way she came.

"Fuck!" Daiki roared as white hot agony beyond the agony he felt before, lanced down his arms.

The impact reflected back at him from his jutsu, had forced his arms back into their sockets and holy fucking shit did it fucking hurt!

"Ah…" Daiki groaned, slumping to his knees.

The sound of a body hitting the ground drew his attention, and he looked over to see Sasuke hilting his kunai in the throat of cackle boy, before pulling it out.

"Daiki, you okay?" Sasuke asked, rushing over to help him.

"Could be better, but I'll be fine." Daiki replied, though, he didn't move from his kneeling position, and his arms were utterly numb beyond the pain burning throughout them.

He'd be able to heal them, but it would be a pain in the ass to do it one by one, and hurt like a bitch in the process.

Not to mention, he was dwindling though on chakra. He only had about a quarter left now.

"Right, good, you can rest for now then," Sasuke nodded, "Those two seemed to be the leaders, so we just need to get Naruto and Shibuki and we're done here."

No, they weren't actually.

The leader of this nonsense, and the strongest of them was still around, hiding somewhere, looking to get his hands on the Hero Water.

Daiki opened his mouth to say something, find a way to tell him to keep on his guard, only for his eyes to widen in horror as a tall, burly man with a bandana over his head seemingly materialized from thin air behind Sasuke.

"Not quite." the man stated with a predatory grin on his face. Sasuke's eyes widened, but he didn't have time to react before the man lashed out and punched him in the side.

Sasuke gagged, blood erupting from his mouth, before the force of the punch sent him flying through the air, smashing into and through one of the village houses over fifty feet away, making it collapse on him.

"Sasuke!" Daiki shouted in worry, before a snarl of rage at what happened to his maybe semi-friend and he lunged to his feet, forcing himself to move.

The man backhanded him contemptuously before he even got halfway up, smashing him back into the dirt.

His cheek flared with pain and stars erupted in his vision, he could already feel a bruise forming from the blow.

Before he could even think to do anything or gain his bearings, a fist grasped him by his hair and bodily lifted him up, before his face was brought down into a knee strike.

Crunch went his nose as it broke from the blow. The force of it, actually pushing him back up to his feet as the man let go of his hair.

Yet, even then his legs threatened to buckle beneath him.

If only he could use his ar-

A fist deposited itself in his chest and Daiki felt his ribs snap under the blow, and then he was soaring through the air, his vision beginning to go dark.

Just before his consciousness faded away, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and the feeling of weightlessness fade away.

"I've gotcha!" a voice echoed in his ears.

…Who?

Darkness claimed him.