Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Lost Son ❯ The Fiery Grave ( Chapter 5 )

The ANBU who had been blocking Kenichi's escape, stood motionless with the kunai sticking out of his head. Then, poof! The kunai clattered to the floor as the body that it had only seconds ago been impaled in, vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

 

“And speaking of friends,” Kenichi started, obviously unsurprised by the little illusion he had just witnessed, “why don't you and yours come down and play.”

 

With that, the four ANBU jumped down from the roof tops, all throwing their kunai at the stranger standing in the middle of the road. As quickly as he shot his own kunai at the clone in front of him, Kenichi pulled out another one, and deflected all four enemy kunai away from him. He stood among the pack of hunters, calm and pensive, while they maneuvered themselves around him.

 

Suddenly, two of the ANBU, one wearing a bear-inspired mask, and the other wearing a dog-inspired mask, made their move and lunged at Kenichi in a coordinated strike. One went low, sweeping his kunai along the ground, while the other went straight for Kenichi's neck.

 

“Wind Release: Spinning Vortex Wall jutsu!” shouted Kenichi.

 

Before either ANBU's kunai could touch Kenichi, a spiraling tube of wind surrounded his body and expanded outward until it held both attacking ANBU in its clutches. Ripped from the ground, they spun round and round, faster and faster, until the spinning vortex stopped abruptly, sending both attackers flying through the crisp night air. They crashed into a solid brick wall just behind the remaining 2 ANBU officers with a thunderous “BOOM!” almost destroying the structure with the force of their impact. The only sounds that came out of the dusty holes were their barely audible groans of pain.

 

“Damn…#2, you tend to #3 and #4,” an unfamiliar voiced barked from under the monkey-inspired ANBU mask, directing Kakashi to aid his fallen comrades. “Check their injuries and stabilize them, if you can. I'll try to hold him off, but I need you in the fight as soon as you're done.” With that, the lead ANBU charged Kenichi.

 

He leaped into the air and hoping to take advantage of his elevated position, he launched a set of kunai at the dangerous fugitive below. With the graceful steps of a master shinobi, Kenichi dodged them, allowing the 3 weapons to plant harmlessly in the ground behind them. But Kenichi soon realized his mistake when he heard the unmistakable sound of a burning explosive tag. He turned to see not 3, but 4 kunai sticking out of the ground. That tricky ANBU had hidden the tagged kunai in the shadow of the one of the other kunai, blocking Kenichi's view of it.

 

Kenichi barely had time to raise his arms over his face when the tag exploded into a fireball, throwing him away from blast and into the path of the incoming ANBU's uppercut. The punch sent Kenichi somersaulting through the air. The monkey-faced ANBU saw an opening, and used it to activate his own jutsu.

 

“Fiery Tombstone jutsu!” He yelled, as Kenichi's body hit the ground a couple of feet away.

 

A glowing, red circle that grew brighter by the second formed around Kenichi's limp body, and with a “ROAR!” it erupted into a 6-foot-high, geyser of flame, completely engulfing Kenichi in its core.