Chương 20: The Black Cinders

Morning sunlight filtered through the forest canopy, casting mottled, shifting patterns of light across the ground. A gentle breeze swept through the trees, carrying the earthy scent of foliage and crisp stream water. As Shingo stepped out of his house, he happened to run into Nohara Seiji preparing his food cart. Seiji thrust a small box of oden into Shingo's hands, explaining that it was a brand-new flavor he had recently experimented with, and asked him to taste-test it and offer some feedback.

And so, Shingo strolled toward the training ground against the cool morning breeze, enjoying a piping-hot breakfast of oden. The new recipe carried a subtle, pleasant kick of spice that suited his palate even better. Being able to savor such delicious food first thing in the morning put Shingo in exceptionally high spirits. By the time he reached the training ground, he had finished the last bite and immediately began his warm-up routines. Might Duy wasn't around today.

He had been taking on missions lately, generally only showing up to train after finishing his assignments in the afternoon. With his warm-ups complete, Shingo settled into his regular training regime. A short while later, a familiar pair of footsteps echoed from beyond the clearing.

"Morning, Shingo." Nawaki stepped into the training ground, flashing a wide grin when he saw Shingo already hard at work.

"You're the earliest one here again, as usual." Shortly after, the other members arrived one by one, immediately breaking off to begin their respective training plans. Following a grueling round of exercises, Shingo walked over to the edge of the nearby stream and splashed cool water onto his face. Refreshing himself, he sat down directly on the ground. Nawaki, having just finished his own set, wiped the sweat from his brow and caught sight of Shingo sitting by the water.

Stirred by a sudden thought, he loped over and asked with eager curiosity:"Say, Shingo, how's that jutsu development of yours coming along?"

"It's a bit more stable than before." Shingo set his canteen down, then added:"Though I'm still not entirely satisfied with its destructive power. There's plenty of room for improvement."

"You're still not satisfied? Aren't your standards a bit too ridiculous?" Nawaki clicked his tongue inwardly. From his perspective, Shingo's self-developed technique was already formidable.

"This is..." Shingo started to reply, but his movements froze mid-sentence. His Mind's Eye had just picked up several unfamiliar, chilling presences hurtling in from the distance, locking straight onto their current location.

"Someone's coming." Shingo warned the others instantly. They were moving at an incredible pace while deliberately suppressing their auras. Without a doubt, they were harboring malicious intent. We just went through this recently... Could this be the Hyūga clan again? It seemed Nawaki and the others were getting dragged into trouble because of him. Hearing Shingo's voice, the smile vanished from Nawaki's face in an instant.

The rest of the group immediately halted their training, shedding their heavy weights and grabbing their kunai as they braced for combat.

"Nawaki, head back to the village and call for reinforcements. Everyone else, get ready to fall back." Shingo's instinct was to have everyone retreat to the village together. However, judging by the velocity registered by his Mind's Eye, if they all tried to flee right now, not a single one of them, aside from Shingo himself, would escape in time. Simply running away wasn't an option. With four assailants inbound, Shingo alone would struggle to hold them all back at once.

Therefore, the only viable play was to have the fastest runner and highest-stamina member, Nawaki, make a break for the village and summon reinforcements. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. If they could just hold out until backup arrived, the crisis would be resolved. Shingo had already made up his mind: the moment he confirmed their target was him, he would order the rest to withdraw.

He refused to let his friends pay the price for his baggage.

"Got it!" Nawaki didn't hesitate for a second. Knowing the gravity of his mission, he whipped around and sprinted at full speed toward the village. At that exact moment, a sharp whistling tore through the air. A flurry of shuriken burst from the tree line, targeted with absolute precision straight at Nawaki. Startled, Nawaki instinctively raised his kunai to deflect the lead projectile. Ami and Inoichi, stationed closest to him, lunged forward to assist.

A rapid chain of metallic clashes rang out as the remaining shuriken were swatted aside. Are they aiming for no survivors? Doubt flickered through Shingo's mind. Or were they... actually after someone else? The attackers belonged to a mercenary group known as the Black Cinders, numbering four in total. Their leader was Gray Fiend, accompanied by three subordinates: Red Falcon, White Tanuki, and Cinder Bone. Their primary objective wasn't actually Shingo, though Shingo was certainly on their target list as well.

Bursting out right behind the shuriken barrage was their most powerful combatant, Gray Fiend. His eyes remained locked relentlessly onto Nawaki, completely ignoring everyone else present. With a brutal stomp of his foot, he drew the long blade at his waist and charged straight at the fleeing boy. Seeing this, Shingo's hands instantly surged with blue light as the Chakra Armament: Spike materialized over his fists. With a burst of acceleration, he intercepted Gray Fiend's path.

Gray Fiend had no idea what kind of jutsu Shingo was wielding. Even though Shingo was moving fast, the mercenary didn't think much of it. Intelligence reports had explicitly noted that despite his tall frame, the kid was merely a six-year-old ninja academy student. To seasoned bounty hunters who had clawed their way through the brutal shinobi world, no matter how much of a prodigy a child was, they weren't worth fretting over.

Even though the brief mentioned Shingo's exceptional aptitude for taijutsu, Gray Fiend hadn't truly taken it seriously. His strategy was simple: Kill the brat blocking his path first, then cut down Nawaki. Gray Fiend slashed downward, aiming the edge directly at Shingo's neck. Shingo didn't retreat. He stepped forward with his left foot, lowering and angling his center of gravity.

Raising the Chakra Armament on his left fist at an upward slant, he bypassed a direct clash of brute force, instead swatting outward at the exact instant the blade descended. Clang! The edge struck the spike, producing a harsh, screeching ring of metal. He actually blocked it?! Before the thought could even settle in Gray Fiend's mind, Shingo's right foot had already stomped half a step inside his guard.

Slipping smoothly through the blind spot of the sword's trajectory, Shingo drove his right fist straight toward Gray Fiend's chest. This brat is way too fast! A sword's primary advantage lay in its reach; once an opponent closed the distance to close quarters, it became exceedingly difficult for Gray Fiend to generate leverage. Yet Gray Fiend was a veteran, far from unfamiliar with fighting close-combat specialists like Shingo. Flipping his wrists, he didn't pull the deflected blade all the way back.

Instead, using the downward momentum, he slid the flat of the sword tightly along Shingo's left arm. The edge grazed the outer margin of the chakra spike, slicing directly toward Shingo's wrist. If that cut landed cleanly, it would cripple his hand or sever it entirely! Through his Mind's Eye, Shingo perceived the subtle twitch of Gray Fiend's wrist shifting well before the blade actually moved.

Instead of pulling his left arm back, he hunched his shoulder forward and leaned straight into the sword's descending path. Chakra Armament: Plating! Chakra vented from the acupoints along Shingo's forearm, instantly condensing into a dense, thick layer of protective armor. The blade ground harshly across the plating, sending a shower of sparks flying, but failed to bite through. Simultaneously, Shingo's right fist struck forward.

Sensing danger, Gray Fiend leveraged the collision between his blade and the forearm armor to half-spin backward, sweeping his long sword horizontally in an arc to block the incoming punch. Clang! Another sharp ringing clash echoed through the clearing. Gray Fiend whipped around rapidly, swinging his blade from Shingo's neck toward his spine with a vicious, angled trajectory. This was Gray Fiend's signature combat style: he never fought opponents head-on.

The moment one strike missed, the next immediately targeted a vulnerable blind spot. His blade flowed with the twists of his wrists, now dropping low, now thrusting diagonally, waiting for the slightest lapse in defense to deliver a fatal blow. Against an ordinary ninja, a split-second delay in reaction time would have meant a slit throat. But Shingo was different. No matter how Gray Fiend twisted his posture or altered his attacks, he couldn't find a single blind spot in Shingo's defense.

Under the lens of the Mind's Eye, the shifting of neck muscles, the tightening of core and waist, the subtle weight-shifts in the feet... Not a single physical detail of Gray Fiend's body could be concealed. Long before the blade was even swung, every single offensive intent and follow-up variation of Gray Fiend had already been fully unmasked and read by Shingo. After a few exchanges, the condescension vanished entirely from Gray Fiend's face, replaced by grim concentration. This kid is wrong!

That physical strength! That speed! And this ridiculous, almost pre-emptive reaction time! Gray Fiend felt completely restricted on all fronts, his every move transparent to the brat! Duck-stepping to evade a punch from Shingo, Gray Fiend countered with a backhanded slash, sweeping upward toward Shingo's flank. Shingo intercepted it with his right fist, his left fist immediately driving a follow-up blow straight toward Gray Fiend's weapon-wielding elbow.

Gray Fiend was forced to retract his sword in a hurry, barely managing a parry in time. Clang! The spike slammed into the blade, sending a jarring numbing sensation shooting up Gray Fiend's wrist. Before he could recover distance, Shingo was already pressing the advantage, closing in once more. Shingo maintained his spacing with surgical precision, denying Gray Fiend any opportunity to leverage the reach of his long blade or slip past him.

Whenever Gray Fiend attempted to break away, Shingo exploited microscopic openings to counter-press. Had Gray Fiend not possessed lightning-fast reflexes, he would have already been torn open by the chakra spikes. In the span of just a few short clashes, far from breaking past Shingo, Gray Fiend had been forced onto the defensive, pushed into a frantic retreat. This kid... calling him "talented in taijutsu" is a joke! He's an absolute monster!