For more than six hours straight Ren didn't slow down once, his body tearing across the forest as he made for the border near the Land of Iron. His pace was relentless, the kind that would've broken most jonin after the first hour, but he wasn't even considering rest.
The butterflies were already on his father's trail, keeping tabs on every little movement. He had a good idea of Juichi's location. The real problem was the incoming threat.
One of the Akatsuki members was also moving toward Juichi. It was not Kakuzu, at least not yet, but another shinobi.
Ren had set his butterflies to track the Akatsuki as best they could, leaving only a few extremely high level threats like Pain, Obito and Zetsu, so he was aware of the general locations of all Akatsuki members, that's why he knew when someone was on the move.
This particular shinobi wasn't a familiar face. A random S-ranker who had been spotted with Kakuzu before. Which all but confirmed it, this guy had been Kakuzu's partner before Hidan ever joined the group.
Ren's expression darkened at the thought. Canon or not, the man was still a legitimate S-rank shinobi. That wasn't a level you shrugged off. And as much as Ren wanted to trust his father's strength, the math wasn't in Juichi's favor.
The last time Ren had properly checked his father's level, Juichi had been sitting at 79, the peak of jonin but still a wall most never broke through. Plenty of shinobi stayed stuck at that ceiling for decades, never finding the push to step into S-rank territory. If his father hadn't advanced, then the chances of him holding out against an S-rank opponent were slim to none.
That was the part that gnawed at Ren. His father wouldn't survive if this enemy was seriously aiming to kill. Which is why Ren pressed harder, pushing for more speed when suddenly, a butterfly flitted down from the trees and landed on his shoulder. Ren halted mid-stride, tilting his head slightly as he listened. The tiny chakra signal thrummed against him, passing along information bit by bit.
The longer he listened, the grimmer his expression became. By the end, his lips pressed into a hard line.
Kakuzu had finally started moving.
Ren exhaled sharply through his nose. 'So it's confirmed. Dad's just bait. His real target is me.'
Oddly enough, the realization steadied him. Kakuzu coming for him was fine, Ren had contingencies, multiple methods of escape even in the event of a complete defeat.
But his father? Against Kakuzu, he wouldn't last minutes. If the mercenary had actually gone straight for Juichi, it would've been a death sentence. That Kakuzu's eyes were fixed on him instead that was almost a relief.
Ren didn't waste time. He immediately formed a clone, pouring nearly all of his current chakra into it. The clone flickered to life, practically brimming with power, and without a word shot off in the direction of Juichi's last known location. That would buy his father time, at the very least.
As for himself, Ren popped one of the chakra battery clones he had kept in reserve, flooding his system with fresh chakra. His body thrummed with energy again, and he wasted no time redirecting his course. His path shifted cleanly, no hesitation, straight toward the incoming Kakuzu.
There was no running or delaying. The clash was inevitable. And Ren wasn't the type to sit back and wait for the fight to come to him. If Kakuzu was coming, then Ren would do what he did best, meet the threat head-on and fight.
~~~
Just past the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron the ground opened into that long neutral strip, trees thinning into a wide stretch of grass that ran for miles. Borderlands like this always favored Leaf shinobi, trees to hide in, shadows to use, terrain that made life hard for anyone used to open plains.
Today the grass was flattened in a line where something had run hard across it, and on that plain a cloaked figure burst to a halt.
He peeled the cloak off in one motion. The face beneath was handsome in a worn way, middle-aged, hawk-boned, black hair wild from the run.
He paused only a heartbeat to listen to the wind, then glanced right and called out, "So you're the one after me?"
The grass shivered and the ground rose with a soft hiss and another figure unfolded out of it like a dark thought made flesh. Black cloak with red clouds, brown hair, a full beard and the sort of face that smiled too easily in battle.
He clapped once, slow and mocking. "Well, as expected of the One-Armed Viper of the Leaf. Your senses are sharp, Juichi Takahashi."
Juichi's expression didn't change. He knew the man, who in this business didn't know the famous hunters?
Shinden Arakwa, the Phantom Current. Former Hunter Nin Captain from the Mist, one of those S-rank rouges whose name in a bounty ledger made low-level shinobi sleep badly. He'd turned up in a dozen stories and a few nightmares.
Juichi tossed his cloak aside like it was a useless prop and revealed the scarred, muscled torso beneath. The right sleeve hung empty; his right arm was gone but he didn't cry for it, he'd gotten used to it by now.
He walked a few steps towards Shinden and from his scabbard he drew Gryphon with a deliberate move. The sword slid free and lightning glittered along its length, small sparks licking the air, it was not just decoration, but blood-and-bone work.
He set the blade besides him, pointed low, and faced Shinden with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Consider me honored," Juichi said, voice flat. "An S-rank coming personally to collect my head. Tell me, when did you decide to work for Danzo? I don't remember the Leaf hiring phantom dogs."
Shinden sniffed. "Danzo doesn't own me, old man. I'm not a dog. I'm a hunter, and your bounty is tasty. Forty million, it's worth the trip." He spoke casually but Juichi saw the easy confidence of a man who'd killed for coin too many times.
Juichi braced his left arm and flexed. He set the sword in his left hand, the blade humming with electricity.
"A child is a parent's weakness," he said, low. "Not the other way around." He smiled with more menace than mirth, and the lightning on Gryphon snapped louder.
"So please. Die."
Shinden's grin widened, and for a second the air between them felt like a held breath. Then both men moved, old predators meeting on a field neither of them wanted to lose. The grass shivered, the border wind chewed at their cloaks, and whatever friends or butterflies watched from the trees tensed for the first strike.
~
By this time, Ren's clone had already reached the scene. He didn't announce himself, didn't even shift the grass under his feet instead, he settled into the open field and drew his presence down until it was almost nonexistent.
To an ordinary observer, it looked ridiculous, someone crouching in plain sight with nothing to hide behind. But neither Juichi nor Shinden so much as twitched in his direction. Ren's suppression was so absolute it bordered on unnatural; even experienced hunters like them couldn't sense him at all.
At first, his plan was simple. Arrive, cut Shinden down as quickly as possible, and then escort Juichi back to the village before anything else could complicate the situation. That was the intention when he'd sent the clone. But standing here now, watching the two men size each other up, he felt his instincts shift.
Ever since gaining even a basic understanding of the Flow, Ren had used it as his quiet measuring stick. It let him peel back the surface of people, not just their chakra, but the rhythm of their presence, the weight of their movement.
From the Flow, he could infer where they stood on the invisible ladder of strength. It was never exact, but it was enough to see where people plateaued, where they peaked, and where they frayed at the edges.
And right now, the Flow swirling around Juichi was… unstable.
It fluctuated wildly, rising one moment to the dense, commanding level of a solid S-rank shinobi and then dropping the next heartbeat to something even weaker than a high jonin. It wasn't steady, but Ren knew what it meant.
His father was right on the edge, the thin, brutal border between the strongest of jonin and the lowest of S-rankers. He only needed a push, the right kind of battle, the right kind of danger to force the step forward.
And Shinden might just be that push.
Ren's eyes narrowed. Originally, he had no intention of letting his father face an S-rank opponent alone, not with his arm missing and the odds so skewed. But watching the way the Flow bent and broke around him, Ren hesitated. This fight could be exactly what Juichi needed. A forge fire, brutal and merciless.
Of course, he wasn't careless. If the tide turned in the wrong direction, Ren was here. With Hyperfocus active, the battle in front of him unfolded in slow, precise detail, every twitch and shift of chakra mapped out in his head. If Juichi was about to be cut down, he could step in at any instant, there wasn't a technique or trick Shinden could use that Ren couldn't counter in time.
For now, though, he chose to wait. To watch. His clone crouched in silence, not as a rescuer but as an observer. If his father really was standing at the threshold of S-rank, then this was the moment to break through it. And Ren, hidden in plain sight, wanted to see just how far his father had grown in these years apart.
~~~
Juichi kept his blade low, eyes locked on Shinden. The air had already shifted. Moisture rolled heavy in the air and mist followed right after, curling low at first, then rising in thin sheets that blurred outlines. That wasn't all, he could sense the water that was slowly seeping through the ground, creating the perfect field for Shinden.
Shinden didn't move much. He just raised a hand and snapped his fingers. From the water at Juichi's side, tendrils burst upward, thin, twisting streams that crackled faintly with lightning.
[Phantom Current: Binding Stream]
Juichi shifted his stance, letting his blade meet the first whip with a sharp deflection. The current hissed as lightning sparked off the Gryphon's edge. Another stream lashed out from the rear, then another from above.
He pivoted and began redirecting with minimal cuts, his body turning with fluid, practiced economy. Still, each whip forced him a step back, the pressure constant.
From the mist, a shape coiled, it was long, serpentine and felt alive.
[Phantom Current: Flow Serpent]
The serpent lunged fast, snapping open like a constricting rope. Juichi slid to the side, sword flicking to meet its head. His blade carved through the watery body, scattering it in a spray, but the lightning embedded inside clung and stung against his arm before fading.
Tch. He clicked his tongue and shook off the sting. Another serpent rose behind him immediately, forcing him into a roll across the wet grass.
Shinden's voice cut through the fog, calm, almost conversational. "You move well but… this is my field."
Juichi exhaled through his nose, eyes scanning the mist. His muscles stayed loose, blade angled down, the curved edge ready to turn anything aside.
Every time he cut a whip, two more replaced it. Every serpent he dispersed reformed from the water littering the ground.He now understood, Shinden wasn't rushing, he was corralling, setting pace, letting the battlefield itself wear him down.
A whip lashed at his ankle. Juichi pivoted, blade flashing down. He one again followed the same routine, redirect, cut, counter.
Sparks hissed, the whip split apart. But before he could reset, another wrapped at his side, buzzing against his ribs. He twisted sharply, forcing it off before it could tighten.
The mist thickened further, each breath carrying the faint taste of static. Juichi kept his guard steady, but even with his sharp instincts, the pressure mounted. Shinden's control was surgical. It felt less like a duel and more like being stalked by a predator that already owned the ground.
Juichi steadied his grip, eyes narrowing. The opening exchange was clear, Shinden was dictating everything.
~~~~~
{Just to clarify, Shinden doesn't have Storm release, he's just, in a sense coating the water whips and serpents with lighting, so as to achieve a greater effect.}
{Also, Phantom Current is not the Jutsu style I just didn't understand where to place it, water or lightning so I just left it as it is.}
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