The man dressed like a sand ninja flickered in front of Dante, right after Dante mentioned root. There was no warning, no hesitation.
Once Dante finished his sentence the man was already in front of him, kunai in hand slashing towards his neck form the left.
Dante knew mentioning root would force the man to attack. He was ready.
Out of nowhere a light shield appeared, on his left side. The man's kunai hit the shield, he was surprised for a split second.
Dante first used his light conjuration to make a shield stopping the man's attack, then he used triple cast and cast light bullet.
Six light bullets shot out at the man, one to the head two to the body, center mass and one to each foot.
He had laid a trap for the man.
The man was quick, even though he was caught off guard he shot back.
The light bullet aimed at his head hit his left ear, he used a clone to take one shot aiming at his chest, the other shot to his chest was parried by the kunai in his right hand, the shot aiming for his right foot missed, but his left foot was hit. He had propelled himself with his left foot so it remained a bit longer than his right.
Once he was 5ft back he checked his body status. His left foot was gone, not torn off but there was a hole in it interfering with his movements. His left ear was actually gone and along with it a part of his mask.
Dante didn't give the man much time he stood to a crouch and lunged at the man.
The man landed on his right foot, he spun and threw three shuriken.
Dante saw them coming and twisted his body mid air, then one shuriken curved mid air and struck him.
He had been hit mid air, the shuriken embedded itself onto the back of his left shoulder.
Dante felt it but he didn't stop, he couldn't he was mid air.
Once the man threw the shuriken, he then planted his left foot towards the back and prepared to slash Dante with his kunai.
Just as he put weight on his left foot he stumbled back. He couldn't put any weight on his left foot.
Dante arrived and punched the man in the stomach.
Poof...
It was a substitute, Dante had punched a log...
The man appeared back in the kitchen.
Dante then ran towards the kitchen, as he got there the man lunged from behind the wall. He stabbed out, his right kunai towards Dantes head and his left towards Dante left rib.
Dante used a substitute of his own and appeared up on the ceiling of the kitchen and kicked off it with all his might, the ceiling was destroyed, it was splintered and you could see the floor above.
Dante reached the man instantly and tackled him. The man was crushed on the ground, but he recovered almost instantly.
He tried to roll to his left but Dante was on top of him, once he realized that he struck out with his kunai.
Dante was stabbed once on his stomach and once on his right rib.
He bit through the pain and punched the man in the face. The first hit shattered the man's mask, the second broke his face and the third knocked him out.
Dante then stopped and took out the kunai from his rib.
Just as he took it out, the man woke up and punched Dante in the face with his empty right hand sending he off.
Dante was surprised, he was certain the man had been knocked out.
Then the man stood and instantly lunged at Dante, with his injured foot he knew running away wasn't an option. He would be caught without a doubt. The only option was to kill Dante and rendezvous with his squad.
Dante saw the man lunging and smiled, he shot a light bullet at the man. The man parried it with his kunai.
Then another shot came and hit him in the middle of his chest, as soon as he parried the first shot.
The man now had a hole in his chest, he knew he would die, but he would at least kill the boy and complete the mission.
Once on top of Dante he struck with his kunai, but it happened again.
A shield of light manifested in front of his strike and his hand bounced back.
Dante had delayed one shot, he was aiming at the point where the man would parry or block the first shot. He didn't think the man would disengage, after all root ninja are trained to always complete a mission, no matter what. They would almost never run.
Once the man parried the first shot Dante shot the second shot. It went through the man's chest. The man didn't hesitate and stabbed at Dante, but Dante had already won.
He conjuration a shield to block the attack, and then he drove the kunai he had into the man's throat...
Blood spurted from his throat as his strength faded, the last thing he saw was a red eyed boy with horns covered in blood with a wide smile on his face.
Dante then threw the man to the side and took out the kunai in his stomach and the shuriken from his right shoulder and used Regen. He had been stabbed a couple times.
The most pressing injury was his rib, his right lung had been cut by the tip of the kunai, it was a bit hard to breath and it hurt, but Dante couldn't stay and rest. He had to make his way to Setto and Sona.
He didn't know how many ninja would attack, but he knew they wouldn't use any destructive ninjutsu.
The ninja he just killed didn't use any, they wanted to do this assassination as silently as possible.
He also knew the ninja would be low at low chunin strength or better.
If there was a jonin he wasn't sure he could win.
Before he left he took the man's utility pouch, it still had 2 shuriken and another kunai, he then took the kunai out of the man's throat and the kunai in his hand and put them inside the pouch along with the shuriken he took out of his shoulder.
Then he ran to his living room and grabbed his sword.
He opened his door and flickered.
...
...
Once Setto dropped Dante off at the house next to his he went home.
Sona I'm home...he called out as soon as he entered his house.
He heard footsteps, a moment later he saw Sona.
Brother, where did you go?
I went out to meet someone.
Sona looked at him and knew he was hiding something.
Who was it? What was it about? She asked
It wasn't that important, I just promised to meet up but I forgot, haha.
Ok, I made dinner she said.
Alright, let's go eat.
Setto walked to the kitchen, Sona followed behind him.
He pulled out a chair from the table and sat down.
Sona brought out a cooked fish with vegetables on the side and set it down on the table at her seat.
Then she brought over cup noodles to Setto.
Setto smiled and asked, is there something wrong Sona?
Something wrong? She asked.
Like what?
She then walked over to her meal and started eating.
I mean dinner.... Said Setto.
Oh, that's what you're talking about.
Sorry, looks like I forgot about your portion, since you weren't here, she said.
I see, well don't worry about it.
People forget things sometimes.
They then ate, talking about what happened during the day, Sona kept trying to ask about who he met and for what reason, but Setto skipped over those questions and talked about other things.
Once they finished eating Setto headed upstairs and Sona cleaned up.
Upstairs Setto layed down on his bed for a while. Five minutes passed and he could still hear the water running, but he didn't hear anything else.
He stood up, with a serious look on his face.
Then he made his way downstairs.
Sona, I forgot to mention. Father should be home by tomorrow.
Once Setto was downstairs he went to the kitchen, but Sona wasn't there. Then he heard quiet sobbing from the living room.
He walked over, he saw three ninja. All dressed like sand ninja, with white masks.
What's going on here asked Setto.
You guys are far from home, do you think you can infiltrate the leaf and no one will notice? Sona looked over at Setto, tears in her eyes.
She wasn't hurt, but her arms and legs were restrained.
Sit down, said one of the ninja.
Setto was about to refuse, but before he could the man took out his sword and pointed it at Sona's neck.
After that Setto, went over next to Sona and sat down.
Setto then thought to himself...
" In the end, it didn't matter, sorry Dante. Looks like I pulled you into something far beyond your capabilities."
Then he steeled his nerves and asked....
What do you want?
The ninja with the sword, responded.
Setto assumed that was the leader.
It's simple, all we want....
Is your life, so just sit there and die...
As he said that he swung his sword.
Setto wanted to react, but he couldn't.
This ninja was a jonin... A strong one.
Before his sword could take off Sona and Setto's heads, the floor under him collapsed and two hands struck out grabbing his ankles.
Setto didn't hesitate, he didn't know what was happening but he moved.
He grabbed his sister and jumped as far as he could. Once he landed he set his sister down and punched to his right.
His sister's hands and feet were still tied up but she used her hands to propel herself up and mule kicked to the left.
Setto hit something, it wasn't a wall. He hit a ninja the ninja had followed him and slashed out with a kunai. He didn't expect an academy student to react to his attack.
On the other side Sona also hit something.
It was a log. The log shattered into splinters on impact, the ninja had substituted at the last second.
Sona then spun her hand that were still planted on the ground and used the spin to stand on her feet.
Once upon she broke the ropes on he hands with brute force, then she took off the restraints on her feet.
Once she untied herself,she and Setto both faced back to back in a fighting stance.
Sona's crying face was gone and in its place was a serious expression.
In the living room, the man's ankles had been grabbed. He instantly used a substitution jutsu.
He knew what this jutsu was. It was the earth style: head hunter jutsu.
If he allowed himself to be buried he would be in serious trouble.
He was now standing on the opposite side, where Setto and Sona were sitting a second ago, but he was standing on the ceiling.
Then he saw a man come out of the floor.
He was a leaf ninja, wearing a jonin flak jacket and a leaf headband on his forehead.
He had short brown hair with brown eyes and a scar down the left side of his cheek.
The man spoke..
So....you chose to attack.
I was getting bored down there, you know.
I was down there for five days. You should have attached sooner, I'm a bit hungry now.
As he finished speaking his stomach grumbled....
The sand ninja looked the man up and down and spoke, you should be out on a mission.
Oh that? I finished that days ago.
Then I came back and found a nice spot to take a nap...
The sand ninja then spoke, oh well it saves us some trouble.
Then he attacked.
The man was ready, his hands clenched and he disappeared. The two met in the air and clashed a couple times.
The man came out with no injuries, and the sand ninja was coughing up blood.
It was obvious, the sand ninja was outmatched.
The sand ninja then flickered towards Setto and Sona.
The man flickered to intercept him, but it was a feint.
Once the man was in front of him the sand ninja flickered again and appeared on the man's left. The man's left hand was mid punch and he couldn't flicker away, or the man would attack the kids.
The sand ninja stabbed out.
His blade stuck itself into the left side of the man's stomach.
before that happened, Setto and Sona were both doing their best to fight back against the other two ninja, but the one that Setto hit had put up his guard.
They were struggling, every punch and kick they threw would be blocked or answered with a cut.
Setto had wounds all over his body, he was stabbed multiple times in the stomach and back. He tried his best to cover his head and heart, but he still had two cuts on his head. One across his forehead and one across his face, from his forehead to his chin.
Sona was doing a bit better, she hadn8been stabbed. Everytime one of the ninja tried to stab her Setto would put himself between her and the kunai.
The man was now bleeding from the hole left after the sand ninja had stabbed him.
He went into his utility pouch and threw two shuriken and two kunai towards Setto' s and Sona's fight.
The two shuriken were aimed at the two sand ninja and the two kunai were aimed at Setto and Sona.
The two ninja stopped their assault and blocked the shuriken. Setto and Sona each caught a kunai.
Then the man flickered and attacked the sand ninja with the sword.
He couldn't afford to let the sand ninja do as he pleased.
The man was noticably slower, and was getting slower over time, but he still pressured the sand ninja.
Setto and Sona were now able to deflect strikes with the kunai's. They weren't getting injured as much anymore but they would still die. Setto was getting slower, he was bleeding from all over.
Just as the sand ninja was about to stab the man, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
It was a bright beam of light, he quickly redirected his blade and parried it.
Then five more beams shot out, the leaf jonin had also noticed and flickered between the shots.
As the sand ninja was deflecting the beams of light, he saw the man close in on him using the light beams as cover.
He prepared to flicker away, but before he could. He sensed someone behind him. He ducked and rolled to his right.
The leaf jonin was there and punched him with all his might. The sand ninja quickly flickered away, once he did the leaf ninja hit the ground collapsing the entire living room. Setto, Sona and the other two sand ninja were sent flying.
The sand jonin, upon landing from his body flicker slashed behind him. He was met with a boy's face, drenched in blood with a large smile on his face and a pair of black horns on his head.
He wasn't startled or scared, he was a root jonin any sense of emotion was long beat out of him.
Just before his sword cut off the boys head, it hit a shield, made of light.
His sword rebounded and before he could flicker away, he was cut....
...
Once Dante flickered to Setto's house he heard fighting. He quietly sneaked in, it was easy. Everyone had their attention on the opponents in front of them.
Once inside he saw Sona and Setto, they weren't doing good. They would die within the minute.
He then flickered into the living room, once inside he instantly used triple cast and light bullet, targeted at the lone sand ninja, fighting the leaf ninja.
Once he fired his shots, he flickered again, this time he positioned himself behind the sand ninja.
The sand ninja's reflexes were fast, he noticed Dante instantly and rolled away, but once he rolled he was met with the leaf ninja.
He had to flicker to the opposite side. At the same time Dante flickered to the same side.
The sand ninja instantly felt Dante behind him and slashed out.
His sword hit a shield, made of light and before he could flicker away he was cut across his waist.
He kicked Dante away and flickered away.
He was chased by the leaf jonin.
Dante hit the wall and went through it.
Outside, he saw Dante and flickered towards him, the leaf jonin flickered to intercept.
The sand ninja then changed trajectory and slashed out towards the leaf jonin, but this time the leaf jonin was holding two kunai, on on each hand.
With one kunai he parried the slash and slashed out with the other.
The sand ninja and the leaf ninja remained outside, fighting faster than Dante could see.
As soon as Dante touched ground he flickered into the house. He saw Setto about to be stabbed through his throat.
He then flickered again and tackled the ninja, the ninja tried to move but it was too late. He was knocked into the wall, he went through it and rolled once before he flickered back inside.
Once Dante had tackled the sand ninja, he flickered towards him.
They met in the air Dante still had his sword and he slashed out.
Once his sword made contact with the ninjas kunai, the ninja pressed through and broke his sword.
Then he slashed at Dantes neck aiming to chop it off.
Just as he was about to make contact, his head was pierced from below.
Dante had conjured a light spear in his palm and slammed it up into the man's chin, piercing his brain.
The remaining momentum from the man's slash hit Dantes left horn, it didn't break, instead it knocked Dante away.
....
When Dante had tackled the sand ninja, and flickered away.
Sona was pushed away, Setto had pushed her, and attacked the other sand ninja.
He was stabbed again, in the right shoulder, but he also stabbed the sand ninja in the right leg.
Sona, looked on and then she rushed and slashed at him. He instantly ducked and low kicked her feet.
He then took out another kunai and stabbed towards Setto again.
Setto, tried to parry. The sand ninja was too fast, he stabbed setto in the stomach.
Setto fell to one knee, and as the man went to kill him, a kunai launched at him.
Sona had thrown her kunai at him.
He parried it, but his leg gave and his stance faltered, and in that moment Setto attacked, he plunged the kunai into the mans throat.
Outside, the battle continued between the leaf jonin and the sand jonin.
The cut Dante landed on him was slowing him down, one by one he felt his squads chakra vanish.
They had died, and he was the last one left.
All he had to do was kill this jonin and the rest would be easy.
There was no running. No mission could fail. If he ever failed a mission he wouldn't still be alive.
The leaf jonin wasn't doing good, he had more cuts on him than the sand ninja.
He didn't specialize in taijutsu or kenjutsu, he was a ninjutsu specialist, specifically earth jutsu, but the problem was he couldn't use ninjutsu, he would change the entire Senju compound if he did.
On the other hand, this sand ninja was obviously a kenjutsu specialist.
Once again they flickered and clashed multiple times in a second. Every clash left the leaf ninja with more cuts, but the sand ninja wasn't unhurt.
The cut across his abdomen, was bleeding profusely. He would die, he had at least thirty minutes before he would bleed out, if he didn't get any medical treatment.
....
....
Once Dante had stabbed the sand ninja with his light spear, he flickered into the house.
Inside he saw the dead sand ninja.
Setto was bleeding from everywhere, he needed immediate treatment.
Sona was doing better in comparison, but she was still injured.
She was bandage Setto up with the sand ninja's bandages she had gotten from his utility pouch.
Dante then walked up, Sona instantly turned around kunai in had slashing at him.
Dante blocked it with his own kunai.
Once she noticed, his appearance she was shocked.
He was covered in blood, unrecognizable, but there was only one person with horns on his head in the village.
Dante, what are you doing here?
Nevermind, help me bandage Setto. He's in bad shape, he was protecting me. Her voice faltered at the last words.
Dante then went up and pointed his hand at Setto.
He then used Regen, he had never tried to use it on anyone else, but the skill didn't specify it could only be used on himself so he tried it.
His hand glowed green, then Setto's entire body glowed green for a second. His minor cuts started closing and the bleeding slowed down. Dante then looked at Sena and said, keep bandaging him up. That won't be enough to heal him completely.
Sena was taken out of he surprise, she never would have guessed, Dante knows medical ninjutsu....
She then continued to bandage Setto up.
Before Dante left he, turned over the sand ninja corpse and stabbed it in the head. He wasn't taking any chances, if this ninja was faking his death Sona and Setto would die.
Dante then flickered outside, where the jonin were fighting.
He didn't know if he would be a burden, but he knew the leaf jonin was severely injured, if he didn't do anything they would all die.
Outside Dante appeared and shot two light bullets at the sand jonin, the sand jonin effortlessly parried them.
The leaf ninja spoke, kid you should have taken the other two and ran....
Run? Run to where? Run to who?
In case you haven't noticed old man, we are being attacked within village walls, and no one has appeared yet....
Hah, yeah you're right kid, but I won't be able to protect you if you get involved in this fight.
Why do I need your protection, if he attacks me. He'll pay the price...
Once Dante finished his sentence the sand ninja flickered. Then the leaf ninja flickered.
Dante couldn't keep up, before he knew it they were both clashing in front of him.
Dante then flickered he tried to predict the sand ninja's movements, but he was too slow.
Then, instead of following the sand ninja he would shoot out two light bullets towards the clash at random. He would leave it to the leaf ninja to try to draw the sand ninja towards one of the light bullets.
The sand ninja noticed the play instantly and flickered closer to Dante.
Dante couldn't keep up, but he could see. Everytime the two ninja flickered they were getting closer.
Dante then prepared himself, once they were close he conjured a light sword. He held it in his hand, if the sand ninja was going to attack him he would have to be wary of the light sword. One cut was all it took.
The sand ninja closed in in Dante with the leaf jonin behind him.
He saw the sword made of light, he went for an attack anyway, no hesitation.
He appeared behind Dante and slashed at his head, Dante couldn't keep up, but he ducked, and spun around and slashed, then he shot out two light bullets.
It was a gamble. Dante had guessed the sand jonin would go for the head, and he did.
Just as Dante was mid slash the man flickered back. He parried one of the light bullets, then the leaf jonin appeared.
He engaged the sand jonin and just as sword met kunai the second light bullet passed through the leaf jonin, it grazed the side of his left abdomen and struck the leaf jonin.
He had been hit, he flickered away.
He now had a hole in his abdomen.
Dante then flickered light sword in hand, behind the sand jonin.
The leaf jonin flickered in front of him, he had a choice, the leaf jonin or the boy.
He chose to kill the boy, his jutsu was too dangerous to be left alive.
He slashed back at Dante, he planned on slashing through his light sword.
Just as his sword met Dantes, he was cutting through the light sword.
He watched as the sword went into Dantes head, and then poof!
Dante had substituted as his sword had been cut through.
He appeared behind his log, now cut in half.
The sand ninja was about to flicker away, but it was too late. He felt two pairs of arms around him.
The leaf ninja had caught him...
Once the leaf ninja squeezed, poof!
A log was crushed.
The sand ninja was now in the air, slashing down at Dante. His sword once again met Dantes head.
Then poof! A clone.
Dante was directly behind the clone he felt the wind part as the sword passed if front of him and he struck out with a kunai in hand, he plunged it into the sand ninja's chest.
He had missed the heart, the sand ninja instantly flickered, his life was fading fast, but he would kill the boy.
He had flickered behind Dante, but he was instantly met with a fist, it came from above him. It was the leaf jonin.
...
...
Moments before...
The leaf jonin grabbed hold of the sand jonin and squeezed. This is the end!! He thought.
Then he saw a puff of smoke and a log was crushed instead of the sand ninja.
Then he saw the sand ninja positioned above slashing down towards Dante, but from his point of view, he could see four arms.
He quickly processed, once the sand ninja notices his slash will hit a clone. He will most likely appear behind the kid.
The he flickered above and behind Dante, he punched down, infusing his fist with chakra...
CRACK!!!! BOOOM!!!!!
Dante heard a sickening crack behind him, then he was thrown forward as a crator formed where the sand ninja was at.
The sand ninja's head was instantly pulverized and his body folded into itself.
The crator was 10ft in diameter and the leaf ninjas fish and arm were broken.
Dante then got up, he was on guard, ready for another attack, but there was silence.
Once the smoke cleared Dante saw it, the sand ninja's body. It was missing a head and his body was splattered around the crator.
The leaf ninja was sitting on the floor next to the center of the crator.
Dante walked up slowly.
Hey old man... You gonna make it? Dante asked.
Damn kid, who you calling old man?
I'm in the prime of my life you know, I'm a young 35.
Then Dante raised his hand and cast Regen on the jonin.
The jonin noticed, he saw the familiar green chakra.
Then he felt his wounds start to heal.
His broken arm and hand were moveable, painful, still broken but he could move it at least. He had thought his hand and are would be useless now.
Thanks kid, the name's Tyr, Tyr Senju.
My name is Dante.
The sat there in silence for three seconds then the both flickered into the house.
Sona was on guard, kunai still in hand.
Then two figures appeared.
Uncle Tyr, she screamed. Then she dropped the kunai and passed out.
Setto was unconscious, he was bandaged up all over.
Use your medical ninjutsu on Setto, Dante.
Ok, Dante then used Regen on Setto and Sona, and once on himself.
Their wounds started closing, Dante was near perfect condition, if it wasn't for all the bood he was covered in, you'd think he didn't even fight.
Then after 10 seconds, he used Regen on Tyr again.
Tyr was amazed, he had seen Dante use a bunch of light based jutsu and he had been flickering a lot, but he still had enough chakra to use medical ninjutsu.
Then he noticed his arm and hand, the pain lessened, his bones were healing. Something like that usually took weeks.
He was staring at Dante, don't look at me like that old man, I'm into girls.....
Once Dante said that Tyr was instantly irritated.
You little bastard, no one is looking at you like that. I mean look at you, you're a freak with a face only a mother could love.
Whatever old man, jealousy isn't a good look.
Then Dante spoke seriously, old man I can't heal anymore, my chakra is too low.
Hmm, don't worry about it kid.
People are starting to show up. Stay here, I'll go greet them.
Dante then sat down and closed his eyes, he wasn't unconscious.
He was going to meditate, to try and recover as much Chakra as he could...