Pakkun rushed back to the group hurriedly to tell about the bandit group he had seen. But he also took care to take a roundabout route while covering his tracks to prevent being reverse tracked by anyone. He also took the time to do some additional scouting to see if he had missed anything.When he reached the team, first to reach him was Kakashi who quickly checked for any anomalies before relaxing. Soon the rest joined them too.
"What did you find Pakkun?" Kakashi inquired in a whisper
"Nothing much, Just a group of intelligent bandits. I would place them at a Chunin level at max. Still take care as you go since you too are at an undercover mission of sorts and can"t exactly reveal yourselves."
"We will take care of that Pakkun. You go and rest, you have done enough." Saying so Kakashi released the Jutsu, sending Pakkun back.
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After Pakkun was sent back, the team decided to continue from the roundabout way Pakkun had taken to avoid the bandit"s attention. Travelling quickly and silently, they soon reached the outskirts of the forest near the Tanzaku Town.
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Jun and Itachi went to scout as Kakashi kept an eye out along with the two girls.
"So, what do you think? Will we be running into bandits or not?" Itachi asked Jun as he activated Sharingan to see better and find traces of Chakra that might be left.
"Just between us, I don"t believe Pakkun"s report." Jun said while talking softly and releasing his Seitengan to test out its new perception increase powers.
As they were discussing, Jun"s Seitengan picked something up. It seemed as if the trees somewhere in the distance were distorting a bit. He looked towards Itachi to see if he noticed anything, but he looked normal.
Before he could warn him, he saw the extremely well formed Genjutsu break down because of his bloodline and a figure rush towards them. The man rushing towards them had his arms spread wide and low as he ran half crouched.
"Negation release: Power Lock!!" The man growled with his eyes glowing bright red, as if red laser was spilling out of his eyes.
Suddenly Both Jun and Itachi felt a weird sensation in their eyes. Itachi"s spinning irises of his Sharingan froze, dispelling its ability of Genjutsu and Enhanced Perception. Jun"s Enhanced Perception was dimmed down too; however, he could still access his rune summoning technique of his eyes. He wondered if they were different from a Dojutsu ability.
"He is somehow interfering with Dojutsus!!" Jun shouted to warn Itachi and Kakashi as he went on to engage the man.
"Spatial Flicker Light Steps!" He willed the third rune in his eye light up as he became a ghost, flickering in and out of vision. Before the man could understand, Jun had already crashed into the man"s stomach, with his shoulder ploughing into it like a speeding truck. The man was thrown back while spouting a groan and a mouthful of blood.
"Fire style: Grand Fireball!!!" Itachi sent an enormous ball of fire after the guy.
"Wind-Water Combination: Storm Blast" As the man tried to block the fireball with a strong water-wind combination jutsu, Jun appeared behind him with his Spatial Flicker Steps activated.
"Nature Style: Demonic Poison Technique" Jun placed a finger at a pressure point on the man"s neck and activated the 2nd rune in his eye. The man suddenly stiffened as ghastly black lines started spreading from the pressure point in his neck that Jun had struck with the Demonic Poison Technique.
"Kakashi Sensei! Now!" Itachi shouted as he distracted the attacker with a bunch of shurikens.
"Raikiri!!" Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan as a huge amount of lightning chakra gathered in his right hand. Kakashi gripped his right forearm with his left as the lightning chakra covered the hand and let out huge amount of chirping like noise.
Kakashi ran towards the attacker who was dealing with Itachi"s shurikens. Flashing from the side, Kakashi jabbed Raikiri at the man.
"Ahh" The man somehow managed to dodge to the side but his left arm got shredded by Raikiri.
However, before Jun, Itachi and Kakashi could take further action, huge mirrors surrounded the injured man on all sides. No matter what attack they sent on it, the mirrors were constant, without a single scratch.
"Plant Style: Trap of Despair!!" Jun made a quick seal before executing the jutsu. Huge amounts of plants and vines burst from the ground, surrounding the mirrors. Each moment, the vines and plants branched out more and more, thoroughly surrounding the dome of mirrors within seconds.
"Kakashi sensei, it"s your call now. I have a feeling that man is not alone in there right now. Since my sensing abilities are being inhibited by those mirrors, I can"t say for sure, but I have a feeling that man has at least two-three people supporting him now. And if each one of them is as powerful as the one who cast this weird jutsu mirrors, then we will be in serious trouble."
"It"s too late for that my friends" A voice called out from beyond the mirrors "You gave a "present" to one of our own. Allow us to give a return gift."
The mirrors shattered and shredded the plants surrounding it, revealing seven people, which included the injured old man who attacked them. The rest of the six had a kind of plain white mask on their faces. The one standing in the front was the only who had a white mask lined with green-gold colored edges. Wind was acting strangely around him, making his l.u.s.trous brown hair blow around gently.
Jun"s instincts screamed like crazy, he got the sense as if G.o.ds of death were looking at him. The only one he felt he could combat was a lean guy at the back, who was treating the old man in the group. Just as Jun was watching him, the guy looked back at Jun. His piercing blue eyes seemed as if they found a rival pair and a lock of his deep black hair fell forward onto his white mask.
"Jun!!" Yak.u.mo suddenly appeared behind him. Her Chakra Ghost technique had hidden her and Chino, till now "The one in the front, he is not normal at all. We will all die if he wants so."
Chill ran down Jun"s back as he found his own fears being admitted as true by someone else.
Kakashi came to the front "Don"t worry, I am the team leader. Even if I must sacrifice myself for it, I will ensure the safety of you guys so that you have a chance of completing the mission. But for now try to retreat, that is the priority."