Chapter 23 - First Mission (2/2)

Shun strides through the trees and notes the hollow locations. 'There shouldn't be this many...this is unusual. There are too many in the area. I might need to kill some of the solitary ones to lower their numbers.'

Shun stops at the edge of a forest clearing to see a couple of large hollows aimlessly walking around it. Shun suddenly feels the cold edge of a blade on his neck.

”You're out of your league, stealth corps.” A man whispers next to Shun's ear as he cuts the blade through Shun's neck.

”W-what?” The man is shocked that his blade went through Shun's body entirely. 'An afterimage?' The man turns around and Shun delivers a fierce kick to his head, knocking his mask off. He covers his face with one of his hands and has his blade drawn out in front of him with his other.

As both of them stare each other down, waiting for the other to make a move, a large explosion in the distance interrupts their concentration.

'That came from Itachi's direction…' Shun thinks as he looks back at the man who had a panicked look on his face.

'No...that explosion was from the revelation seal...why would it go off now?' The man reveals a strange bracelet on his arm and points his hand at Shun. Shun instinctively jumps back as both of the hollows in the clearing come bursting through the trees. The mysterious man uses this chance to escape and quickly leaves the area while Shun tries to fight off two large hollows.

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The trees that once stood in the area were reduced to ashes. Itachi stood in the clearing with his arms out in front of him. He managed to cast Enkosen just in time to block a majority of the blast but his uniform was in tatters and he had minor burns scattered across his body.

'That explosion...was from a pre planted kido meant to set off only when certain information was revealed. It's similar to the curse seal.' Itachi looks around and sees his burnt surroundings. He tries to find the body but cannot find it. 'Must have been completely incinerated by that blast. Hollow cultivation…' Itachi's thoughts are cut off as he someone out of the corner of his eye watching him. Itachi looks around with his Sharingan and notices someone behind a tree trunk trying to conceal their presence.

'That person there...it's not Shun. It could possibly be an accomplice to Tome…' Itachi flash steps towards the man, leaving an afterimage in his place.

'Who is that guy?' The man behind the tree trunk looks at Itachi, seeing he is not moving. Suddenly he hears someone land next to him. He quickly turns his head and his eyes meet Itachi's gaze. The man falls to the floor and Itachi picks him up, putting him over his shoulder. 'It's not sun down yet but I should find Shun immediately and report this.' With his free hand, Itachi sends out the small flare and then vanishes as he flashes back to the original meeting spot. Once he arrives he takes out the hell buŧŧerfly and sends a message back to the 2nd division.

He waits at the meeting spot for a few more minutes before another figure lands in front him.

The new figure was Yami.

”Itachi, what happened??” Yami asks as he looks towards the figure Itachi is carrying.

”This is an ȧssailant I ran into in the forest. He may have something to do with the large amounts of hollows in this area. He had an accomplice, who unfortunately perished. They seem to have kido placed in them that explodes to prevent specific information from being leaked.” Itachi said.

”So that's what the explosion was earlier. For these guys to use a method like that...” Yami ponders for a moment before sending a message back as well with a hell buŧŧerfly.

”Itachi, we will group and wait to receive further instructions before acting.”

”Understood.” Itachi replies and the two vanish.