{Purple-Water, Yellow-Shadow, Green-Fire, Blue-Invisible. If it's wrong somewhere please mark it.}
~~~
Everything clicked.
Ren's body, battered and bloodied, no longer felt like a collection of torn muscles and cracked bone held together by sheer will. Now, he could feel the heat of friction between his joints, the pulsing rhythm of blood through collapsed veins, even the micro-twitches in his fast-twitch muscles as they realigned mid-motion. His awareness no longer just absorbed the world, it commanded it.
He stepped.
The air bent around his shoulder as his muscles preloaded the movement. His footfall was silent, yet the displacement of air caused a faint swirl in the dust nearby. To others it would seem like he vanished, no blur, no boom, no flicker of chakra.
Purple struck first again, launching from a newly emerged pool of stagnant water. But this time, Ren didn't just react. He felt the shift in the air before Purple even broke the surface. He pivoted mid-step, twisting at the hip, and slammed his heel straight into Purple's jaw before the man could fully rise. The impact cracked the side of the building wall ten meters away as Purple's body pinwheeled into it, cracking mortar and concrete.
"That was one," Ren muttered, eyes flicking to his left.
Shadow surged from the corner of a building, Yellow was next, trying to attack from behind.
Ren didn't even look. He let the flow guide him.
He dropped his weight and spun, elbow extended backward. It smashed into Yellow's sternum before the blade even left its sheath. The man choked on the force and stumbled back but Ren didn't give him the chance to recover. He snapped around, caught Yellow by the collar and threw him over his shoulder into the air, then leapt after him.
Yellow barely raised his arms in defense before Ren kicked straight through his guard, midair, sending the man crashing down with a trail of blood.
"Two," Ren breathed, eyes shining.
Green shimmered into view above him, descending with a kunai wreathed in fire. He must have activated his fire concealment mid-air, expecting Ren to be grounded.
But Ren wasn't grounded.
He had already jumped again mid-arc, pushing off debris in the air that no one else would've even considered a foothold. He met Green head-on in the sky.
Their clash was brutal. A flurry of Taijutsu in midair, fire crackling with each blow. Green was skilled, even among elite jonin. He weaved around Ren's blows with clinical precision. But Ren had something more now.
He read the flex in Green's wrist half a second before his blade came. He shifted his balance accordingly, deflecting the blow before it began. He was fighting a fraction ahead of time, guided by the flow that connected his motion with the enemy's intention.
He locked Green's wrist with one hand, kneed him in the stomach, then rotated the elbow until it cracked. The kunai dropped. Ren caught it midair, spun around, and plunged it into Green's shoulder, using him as a springboard to flip back to the ground.
Three down. One left.
Invisible Blue.
Ren stood straight now, breathing heavy, chest rising and falling with rapid pulses of energy. The Fourth Gate raged through his body, burning his skin from the inside, but his mind was stable. His vision didn't shake anymore, it flowed with clarity, like water finding its course.
Still, Blue remained. No puddles. No fire shimmer. No shadows.
Invisibility.
But Ren was no longer depending on vision, chakra sensing, or sound. He was feeling the subtle resistance of his own motion against the world and theirs too.
He slowed his breath and began to walk, injured leg dragging slightly. Not out of weakness. But as bait.
He let blood drip from his fingers. Let his head tilt as if dazed.
Blue took it.
There was the faintest shimmer and a distortion in airflow behind his back.
The kunai moved before the hand did.
Ren twisted, grabbed the arm mid-stab, then snapped Blue over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crater it. He followed with a heel into the spine, disarming Blue in one precise, brutal stomp.
Blue gasped, trying to flicker out again, but Ren didn't let go.
"You're not hiding anymore," he growled.
He lifted Blue up by the face and slammed him into a nearby wall then again into a metal pipe. The man's camouflage sputtered off completely.
Ren stepped back, blood rolling down his side.
"Four."
But they weren't done.
Despite shattered ribs, dislocations, and broken limbs, the Nokizaru members began to rise one by one. Their faces bloodied, movements slower, but eyes focused. Silent coordination.
They circled him.
He didn't move. The wind curled around his frame like threads of wire, each strand feeding him minute updates about their shifts in stance, in tension, in weight. He could feel when a hand tightened around a hilt. When a foot slid back for balance.
They all attacked at once.
But this time, they didn't vanish. They tried overwhelming him with speed and feints and for a moment it worked.
Purple's punch grazed Ren's cheek as he blocked Green's kick. Blue spun with a sweep that tripped him to one knee, and Yellow slammed down with both fists. The ground cracked from the force.
Ren spat blood.
He looked up and grinned.
"Thanks for confirming that I can indeed read you guys." he muttered, his voice low and rough.
He burst forward like a shockwave.
Purple threw a kunai but Ren weaved under it and closed the distance in a second, striking Purple in the solar plexus with a palm. He followed with a triple combo of palm, elbow, roundhouse cracking Purple's ribs and slamming him into a broken wall.
Green tried to catch him mid-combo, but Ren grabbed the arm and twisted, dislocating it with a savage crack. He didn't stop. He turned with the movement and drove a fist into Green's nose, flattening it. Blood exploded in the air.
Yellow and Blue came in together, one from each side.
Ren ducked, grabbed Yellow's leg as it passed over his head, and spun him into Blue like a battering ram. Both crumpled.
He stood amidst them. Panting. Bloody. Trembling from the intensity.
They staggered back up.
Four-on-one again.
This time slower. Their stances were loose, broken, breathing ragged.
Blue limped forward first, breathing harshly, chakra flickering. He took two steps before a blur crossed his vision.
A palm strike to the throat.
Then a fist to the heart.
Ren twisted as he delivered the final strike, sending Blue flying into a collapsed beam. The man didn't move again.
Ren turned without pause.
Yellow was charging with a kunai, hand over his ribs. Ren allowed him close then stepped inside and drove his shoulder into Yellow's jaw, launching him up. He followed, grabbing Yellow's ankle and slamming him back down, hard.
Green and Purple tried a pincer again.
Ren stepped back, letting them close in, then ducked under their combined slash. He pushed upward between them, twisted in midair, and axe-kicked Purple down. Green tried to back away, but Ren grabbed his collar mid-fall and spun, slamming his head into the ground.
Purple twitched, hand raised as he tried to crawl.
Ren walked up slowly.
No words. No flourish.
He raised his foot and stomped. Purple stopped moving.
Yellow's hand trembled as he tried to pull himself away, leaving a trail of blood behind.
Ren followed, walking slowly.
Yellow turned his head and croaked, eyes wide, one arm extended as if in surrender.
Ren's hand blurred.
A kunai pierced Yellow's temple before he could speak.
Only Green remained now. Drenched in blood. Breathing in gasps.
He turned and ran.
Ren didn't rush.
He walked after him, boots thudding softly on broken stone. The wind was silent now, the flow steady.
He could feel the path Green would take.
He cut him off at the alley exit.
Green skidded to a halt. Eyes wide. He looked ready to beg. But Ren didn't wait.
He closed in, driving his knee into Green's gut. Then grabbed the man's collar and headbutted him twice blood exploded from Green's nose and mouth.
Ren threw him up and twisted his body midair. One punch.
That was all.
One final, perfect punch. Into the throat.
Green landed in a broken heap. No more movement.
The compound was silent.
Ren stood in the center, body swaying slightly.
He was drenched in blood, most of it his own. His skin was cracked. Veins bulged along his arms and neck. He was shaking, but not out of weakness. His body was still burning. The gates were still open. His nerves were fried. His organs damaged.
But his mind. His mind was clear.
He dragged in a breath. It rattled through him like a windstorm through broken glass.
Then he tilted his head and looked at the blood, the corpses, the quieted world.
A grin spread across his face.
"Damn," he said, breathing out as he straightened his spine.
"I really am awesome."
The words echoed quietly as blood dripped down his chin. His grin didn't fade.
And somewhere in the shadows, even the wind seemed to hesitate.
~~~
In the open compound stood two figures, one bleeding, one wheezing with anger.
Tsunade's fury erupted as she glared at the bloodied figure of Kimura. "You bastard! He'll die if you keep getting in the way!"
She had tried to reach Ren multiple times, but every time she stepped forward, Kimura intercepted her with reckless, almost suicidal attacks. She could have taken him down as her strength far surpassed his but something stopped her.
She didn't know the connection between Kimura and Ren.
Kimura's voice came in a quiet rasp. "You can't go. He ordered. No one can disturb him."
Again, and again, he repeated the same words, like a prayer, like a curse.
"You can't go. He ordered."
"You can't go."
"You can't…"
Suddenly, dull thuds broke the tension.
Both turned sharply, instinct tensing. Then they saw him.
Ren.
The boy's small, blood-soaked figure emerged from the ruins, dragging himself toward them.
His sunglasses were cracked, his arms hung limp at his sides, and one leg was barely functional, scraping behind him in a slow, uneven rhythm. Cuts, bruises, and wounds marred every inch of visible skin, his body looked barely human.
But one thing remained.
That grin.
That bloody, broken grin that cut through the pain and silence like a blade, shining through the carnage as if everything in the world was perfectly fine.
He staggered toward them slowly.
Tsunade froze.
Her breath caught in her throat. Her shivering, already bad, intensified until her hands trembled uncontrollably at her sides.
Still, she began to move, hesitantly, slowly, as if trying to wake from a nightmare.
But Kimura was faster.
Despite his injuries, he reached Ren first. He dropped to his knees beside him, chest heaving.
Ren tilted his head up, eyelids fluttering weakly. He couldn't fully open his eyes, but he recognized the presence.
A grin tugged wider at his face.
"You look like shit, Kimura."
And then his body gave out.
He collapsed forward.
Kimura caught him instantly, his breath hitching.
"You're not someone I want to hear that from," he muttered with a soft sigh.
Carefully, gently, he laid Ren down on the broken stone. His chest rose and fell with shallow, broken breaths.
Tsunade reached them moments later, eyes wide with horror, lips moving but forming no sound. Her gaze locked on Ren, then flicked upward.
A sudden puff of smoke erupted around Ren's body.
Both Tsunade and Kimura tensed, instinct readying for battle, but they didn't attack. They just watched.
As the smoke cleared, a gentle light shimmered in its place.
Two butterflies fluttered just above Ren.
One had wings painted in a soft mix of green and blue, colors shimmering like dew on leaves. The other's wings were white, nearly translucent, catching the light like moonlit snow.
Tsunade's knees buckled.
She dropped behind Ren's head, her eyes locked onto the butterflies.
"No…"
Her voice broke.
"You two… that means…"
She shook her head violently, trying to deny the truth unraveling inside her.
"No. No. He was dead. I saw his body. I cremated the two of them myself. It can't be him. It can't be…"
Her eyes began to dim, breath catching in her chest.
Then. A voice came. Soft. Kind. Gentle like rain after a drought.
"Please calm down, child."
Tsunade's head jerked slightly as the words resonated in her ears.
"He is indeed who you think he is," the voice continued. "But right now, it is necessary we save him first."
There was a pause. The butterflies hovered lower, wings glowing with chakra now, one warm and nurturing, the other pulsing with a quiet, profound strength.
"Could you please help me?" the voice asked again, softly. "I have not recovered my powers since the first time I helped him."
~~~~~
{What might be the reason for Kimura's madness? Nobody knows, except me of course}
{Also, Tsunade finally knows, who knows what might happen next, will she heal Ren? Will she tell him the truth?}
{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else}
{200 Stones = Extra chapter}
{STONES!!!!}