The mountain air, already thin and biting, turned frigid with unseen threat. Gamakichi melted into the shadows with a toad's unnerving silence, leaving Kaito to follow, his << PER: 30 (Effective) >> stretched to its absolute limit. The faint, cold ripple of chakra pulsed again, stronger now, originating from a jagged outcrop overlooking their training ground. It wasn't aggressive, not yet. It was probing, methodical, like a surgeon's scalpel searching for a nerve. << Sensor Presence Detected! >> << Estimated Level: High Chunin/Low Jonin >> << Affinity: Unknown. Signature: Suppressed, Cold. Intent: Reconnaissance. >>
Cold. Gamakichi's description resonated. It wasn't the elemental chill of wind or ice, but a void-like absence of warmth, a deliberate emptiness in the chakra signature that felt unnatural, almost wrong.
Kaito dampened his own chakra further with << CC: 29 >>, becoming a ghost within the mountain's own energy field. He moved like one too, << AGI: 31 >> allowing him to flow over rocks and through sparse brush without a whisper, his << Title: Mountain Ghost >> granting an instinctive understanding of the terrain's concealment. He spotted Gamakichi ahead, a darker green shadow pressed against a boulder, his large eyes narrowed, fixed on the outcrop.
A flicker of movement. Not a person, but the subtle shift of light revealing the outline of a figure clad in mottled grey and rock-dust camouflage. The figure crouched low, one hand pressed flat against the stone, the other holding a complex, multi-lensed device – some kind of advanced chakra sensor scope. Kaito's enhanced perception caught the faint hum of its operation. Technology? Not standard shinobi gear. This felt different.
<< Analysis: >> Kaito's mind raced (<< INT: 32 >>). Non-standard equipment. Suppressed, cold signature. Probing, not attacking. Likely scout. Where there's one...
He scanned the periphery instantly. << Perception Check: Success! >> A second figure, nearly identical in gear and posture, was positioned twenty meters to the left, covering the first's flank. A third lurked further back, near the base of the outcrop, hand resting on the hilt of a straight-bladed chokutō. Leader. << Estimated Threat Level: Low Jonin >>.
Gamakichi's voice, a mere vibration carried on a thread of chakra only Kaito could perceive thanks to their proximity and his heightened senses, reached him: "Three. Scouts. Gear's weird. Not Konoha. Not Iwa grit. Smells... clean. Sterile. Wrong. Take the flankers. Leader's mine. Go!"
The command was clear, the strategy sound. Eliminate the observers before they could report. Kaito didn't hesitate. This wasn't training. This was the encroaching shadow Jiraiya feared.
He targeted the right flanker first. << Void Step! >> He vanished from his cover, the << 15s Cooldown >> timer igniting in his mind. He reappeared behind the unsuspecting scout, the displacement of air masked by the mountain wind. Before the scout could react to the micro-disturbance, Kaito struck. Not a killing blow – too risky, too noisy. A precise, chakra-enhanced nerve strike (<< Taijutsu: Subdual Technique >>) to the base of the skull. The scout stiffened, eyes rolling back, collapsing silently into Kaito's arms. << EXP +250 >> << Target Neutralized! >>
He lowered the body gently behind a rock. One down.
The left flanker had sensed something – a flicker of movement, the faint pop of displaced air? He started to turn, his hand going to a kunai pouch. Too slow.
Kaito was already moving. No chakra for another Void Step. Pure speed and terrain. He darted low, using a gully for cover, then exploded upwards behind a stunted pine just as the flanker's gaze swept his previous position. << AGI: 31 >> in action. The scout's eyes widened, focusing on the empty spot where Kaito had been a second before. Confusion reigned for a critical half-second.
Kaito used it. He flicked a small, Saisei-grown wooden token, carved with a Phantom Snare Trap seal, onto the ground between himself and the scout. He triggered it remotely with a minuscule chakra pulse.
FZZT! The Temporal Bind flared, invisible but potent. The scout froze mid-turn, his expression locked in surprise. The micro-teleport activated. With a soft whump of displaced air, the frozen scout vanished, reappearing two meters away, directly in front of Kaito, just as the Chakra Disruption Burst detonated.
<< Phantom Snare Trap Triggered! >>
<< Chakra Disruption Burst! >>
No loud bang, just a localized wave of chaotic energy. The scout gasped, his chakra system momentarily scrambled, his muscles spasming uncontrollably. Disoriented, blinded by the internal disruption, he was helpless. Kaito closed the gap in a heartbeat, another precise nerve strike dropping him silently beside his companion. << EXP +250 >> << Target Neutralized! >>
Two down. Silent. Efficient.
A guttural roar and the clang of steel on steel erupted from the outcrop. Gamakichi had engaged the leader.
Kaito scrambled up the rocks, peering over the edge. The scene was chaos. Gamakichi, far larger and stronger than his teenage form suggested, moved with surprising speed, his massive tanto a blur of gleaming steel. He deflected a lightning-fast thrust from the leader's chokutō, the force of the impact cracking the stone beneath their feet. The leader was fast – Jonin-fast – his movements economical, deadly, his expression coldly focused beneath his camouflage hood. His chakra flared now, confirming Kaito's initial assessment: << Shinobi: Jonin-level (Estimated) >> << Chakra Nature: Lightning (Suppressed Core) >> << Style: Kenjutsu Focused. Precision Strikes. >>
Lightning. The cold signature made sense – a deliberate suppression or alteration of his natural affinity? Why?
Gamakichi roared, spitting a pressurized stream of water like a cannon blast. << Water Release: Gunshot! >> The Jonin leader dodged with preternatural speed, the water blast tearing a chunk out of the outcrop behind him. He countered instantly, his chokutō lancing forward, coated in crackling blue-white lightning. << Lightning Release: Chidori Needle! >> Not the full Chidori, but a focused, piercing strike.
Gamakichi twisted, but the lightning-fast thrust grazed his flank, drawing a line of seared green skin and a hiss of pain. << Gamakichi HP: 88% >>
Kaito saw the opening. The Jonin was focused entirely on the toad, his back momentarily exposed. This was the moment. He drew a Hiraishin kunai. Etching a mark now would take seconds he didn't have. But he had prepared.
Earlier, during his Hiraishin sensory training, he'd marked a small, unassuming rock near the base of the outcrop. << Pre-Placed Hiraishin Marker Detected! >> It was 30 meters below and behind the Jonin leader.
<< Hiraishin no Jutsu! >>
Kaito poured a massive surge of chakra (<< Chakra: 400/400 >> → << 250/400 >>) into the teleport. This wasn't the desperate lurch from the bandit fight. This was a controlled, intentional spatial fold. The world compressed, then snapped back.
He reappeared exactly where he intended – crouched low, silent as death, directly behind the Jonin leader, who was mid-lunge towards Gamakichi. Kaito didn't attack immediately. His << CC: 29 >> and the Hiraishin's inherent spatial stabilization allowed him to land perfectly balanced, utterly silent.
He struck with the kunai in his hand, not aiming to kill, but to disable. A vicious, precise thrust towards the junction of the leader's neck and shoulder – a nerve cluster that would cause temporary paralysis if hit.
<< Perception Check (Target): CRITICAL SUCCESS! >>
The Jonin leader was good. Preternaturally good. Perhaps he sensed the minute spatial distortion, perhaps it was pure battle instinct honed by years of survival. At the absolute last millisecond, as Kaito's blade was a hair's breadth from his skin, he twisted.
Sssshunk!
The kunai sank deep, but not where Kaito intended. Instead of the nerve cluster, it plunged into the meat of the leader's upper trapezius muscle, near the collarbone. The man grunted, a sound of shock and pain, whirling with blinding speed, his lightning-coated chokutō already lashing out in a backhanded slash aimed to bisect Kaito at the waist.
Kaito was already moving. << Void Step! >> He vanished just as the crackling blade passed through the space he'd occupied, reappearing five meters away, near Gamakichi. << Cooldown: 15s >> His heart hammered. Too close.
The Jonin leader clutched his bleeding shoulder, his cold eyes, now visible beneath the displaced hood, locking onto Kaito with a mixture of fury and intense, analytical interest. They were pale grey, like winter ice. He didn't look like typical Kumo or Iwa. His features were sharp, disciplined, almost aristocratic.
"Teleportation..." the man hissed, his voice as cold as his chakra. "Unregistered. Unreported." He glanced at the two unconscious scouts, then back to Kaito and Gamakichi, assessing. The odds had shifted. He was wounded, facing an unknown teleporter and a summon toad.
He made a sharp, aborted hand sign. Not an attack, but a signal. A small, disc-like device on his belt emitted a high-pitched whine and then dissolved into shimmering ash. Data purge?
"Target identified. Parameters exceed initial assessment. Withdrawing," the leader stated coldly, his eyes never leaving Kaito. He didn't flee. He simply took a deliberate step backwards... and vanished. Not in a shunshin blur, but in a ripple of distorted light, like water evaporating instantly. << Space-Time Technique Detected! >> << Nature: Advanced Short-Range Warp >>
Silence crashed back onto the outcrop, broken only by Gamakichi's heavy breathing and the drip of blood from his seared flank.
"Kuso," Gamakichi spat, wiping his snout. "Space-time and lightning? Who the hell were those freaks? Gear like lab rats, moves like ANBU." He limped towards Kaito, eyeing the Hiraishin kunai still clutched in his hand. "And you. That wasn't just your little hop-skip. That felt... bigger. Colder. Like the flashy bastard himself." His gaze was sharp, probing. "The Gaki doesn't even have that yet."
Kaito ignored the implied question for now, his mind racing. << INT: 32 >> piecing together the clues: Cold, suppressed signatures. Advanced tech. Lightning affinity masked. Space-time escape. Disciplined, analytical approach. "They weren't just scouts," Kaito said, his voice tight. "They were researchers. Cataloging. That device... it scanned me. Specifically me." He looked at the spot where the leader vanished. "He called me 'unregistered'. Unreported." The implications were chilling. Someone was systematically searching for anomalies. For him.
Gamakichi grunted, understanding dawning. "Danzo's got his Root. Other villages got their black pits. But this... this feels new. Something else." He poked his wounded flank gingerly. "Pervy Sage needs to know. Yesterday." He looked at Kaito, all traces of laziness gone. "You hurt?"
Kaito shook his head, adrenaline still singing in his veins. "No. But he saw the Hiraishin. He felt it. And he got away." He knelt by one of the unconscious scouts, searching for identifiers. Nothing. Gear was generic, stripped of markings. Even the fabric felt synthetic, unfamiliar. << Item Analysis: Camouflage Suit - Unknown Synthetic Material. No Village Insignia. >>
"He got away knowing," Gamakichi corrected grimly. "Knowing you exist. Knowing what you can do." He spat a glob of greenish fluid onto the rocks. "Jiraiya's gamble just got riskier. Mountain ain't safe anymore, Thornbush. Time to dig in deeper. Or get ready to move." He looked towards the distant horizon where Konoha lay. "And hope the Pervy Sage sorts his mess out fast. Because whatever that was?" He gestured at the empty space where the leader vanished. "It's coming back. With friends."
The victory over the scouts felt hollow. They'd defended their ground, but they'd also revealed a critical piece to an unknown enemy. The shadows weren't just lengthening; they had eyes now, cold, calculating eyes that had seen the ghost, and recognized the forbidden steel he wielded. The mountain sanctuary was breached. Level 20 suddenly felt terrifyingly inadequate. The path to Level 40 wasn't just about power anymore; it was about survival against an enemy they couldn't even name. Kaito tightened his grip on the Hiraishin kunai. The mark hummed faintly, a promise of speed, and now, a beacon of danger.