The Fox's Third Flash of Hope

Chapter 7

I really wanna know if this story is dragging out and getting boring..........that's how I feel when I'm proofreading. Basically this is going nowhere at all. Hopefully this chapter has some better stuff :/

Kansen's form blurred.

Hareto was simultaneously knocked backwards by a hit to her chest. Electricity traveled through her body, leaving smoking burns and causing her to shriek in pain before dissipating into the air in bursts of static. The Grass kunoichi was now lying on her side on the sharply sloping roof, the only thing keeping her from falling being the rough tiles digging into her skin.

Kansen crouched in front of her, a glowing blue figure in the center of a second crater a few feet from the original. The new crater was larger than the first, probably due to the fact that Kansen had jumped up to kick Hareto and then landed heavily and off balance due to her spinning vision.

"Oh, looks like just a moment of contact wasn't enough to kill you. Well, I'll just electrocute you to death right now, then. Might as well," the red haired girl said. There wasn't a hint of remorse or disgust in her voice now. On the contrary, it now had a lighter tone to it.

"A-as if you would be able to—" Hareto paused and spat out some blood. "T-to kill me...." The curly haired jonin went limp, her muscles noticeably relaxing. Her eyes were still open, but with a glassy stare in them.

"Did you actually kill her?!" Boruto said with disbelief, "How could you?"

"Shut up, idiot," Sarada stated while pulling him to his feet, brows furrowed slightly. "She's just paralyzed. That electricity probably short-circuited her brain or something. But one thing's for sure, she won't be getting up for a while."

By now Kansen's aura had faded. With the disappearance of the last few sparks, she fell to her knees and then collapsed onto her back. "That was the first time I actually had to use that............."

"Well, you did a pretty good job, I have to admit." A deep voice echoed in her thoughts.

"Why are you all of a sudden talkative today? Are you always like this?"

"What's with the questions?"

"Don't answer a question with a question! " Kansen screamed in her head, exasperated with the fox's careless demeanor.

And thanks for that thunder natured chakra, by the way. It really was quite sustaining.

"Oh, you're wel- WAIT. You absorbed my chakra?!" Now Kansen was screaming from shock and anger, her hair standing on edge and a vein popping on her forehead. How weird she must have looked to people in the physical world that had no idea what was going on in her head.

"Only when you have enough to seep through the seal. It would be a shame to let such tasty chakra go to waste, no?"

Kansen sweat dropped. Tasty......chakra....? She decided not to ask about that. "Ok, fine. But you still haven't told me why you're suddenly starting conversations with me today."

"It's the first time you're risking life and death, how could I miss it?"

"-ou are that strong, why are you lying on the ground incapacitated now?" A voice cut through her thoughts again. Her vision focused to see Boruto Uzumaki kneeling down next to her, staring at her with......was that concern? Sarada Uchiha was standing up with arms still folded against her chest.

"What?" Kansen asked, really quite confused.

"I said, if you really were as strong as you claimed to be, why are you lying on the ground right now?" Boruto repeated.

Closing her eyes and smiling, a breathy half laugh emerged from her throat. "It was a bluff," she replied cheerfully. "If I actually had to fry her, I would have needed to have direct contact with her for a lot longer."

The blond male stayed quiet, staring at her with disbelief again.

*****

A man in his fifties with a spiky black ponytail and small beard stood in front of the remains of what had been a large wooden desk. "Geez, did you have to trash the office? It'll be so troublesome to clean up...." He yawned.

Five ninja stood in front of him, in various attack and defense stances. The one in the middle, however, sporting curly purple hair and gray eyes, looked quite relaxed. He had already introduced himself as Daziru.

"Shikamaru Nara, adviser of both the Seventh and Eighth Hokage. I'm sure you already know what I'm about to tell you, considering your intelligence."

The black haired man now had a hint of seriousness in his careless expression, but only a hint. "Yes, yes, the start of the Fifth Great Shinobi War, you have made allies with the other minor villages, the five great villages will fall, etcetera." He paused, and now turned so he was completely facing his enemy, his back to the broken glass windows. "This attack on the Leaf is the start, right?"

Daziru smiled darkly. "Your genius is real, eh? Well, too bad it can't help you now."

"I'd suggest you watch out. Not that it'll help though." He ducked and crouched down.

Daziru was suddenly knocked down to the floor by a heavy weight on his back. His four companions were taken out as well. Two by a chakra enhanced punch and kick, the other two by swirling blue balls of chakra that left a weird, spiralling wound on their backs.

Standing crouched on four paws on top of Daziru was a black panther with a pelt dappled with dark gray, almost invisible spots along with emerald green eyes. On its back sat Senai and Kansen. The former was completely relaxed atop the large cat, while the latter, well, not so much. Kansen was hanging on to handfuls of black fur for dear life.

Though it had only been one flying leap from the roof Hareto was currently lying unconscious on to Daziru's back, the bunching and relaxing muscles Kansen could feel beneath the glossy black fur was unsettling. Just the panther's muscle twitches could have easily sent her flying.

"Tell you what, Daziru. All that remains of your attack force is a few stragglers. Just because we recently had to make a few adjustments does not makes us weak. Got that?" Dismounting, Senai pulled out a coil of metal thread from thin air and began to bind the purple haired man. "Good luck with surviving the Intel Division. Morino may be old but he's still quite good at extracting information."

"Don't even try. I'd die first."

"Is that so? And what exactly are you going to do while Kokuni is standing on you?" Senai waved her hand in the direction of the panther.

"This," the now prisoner spat, before a burning hole appeared in his chest. "Lord Jinchi will kill you all one day."

The turquoise haired jonin leaped back in alarm. Boruto and Sarada were equally surprised by the same thing happening to their prisoners as well. The acrid scent of burning flesh filled the room. Kokuni wrinkled her nose in disgust, the odor no doubt invading her sense of smell more than she would have liked. "Well, Senai, I'll be leaving now," the black panther said in a deep, silky, but no doubt feminine voice.

When her mount disappeared in a puff of smoke, Kansen squeaked as she suddenly fell through a cloud of white haze where there had once been an animal. Senai caught her with a few seconds to spare until she reached the ground.

The corpses were now slowly disintegrating, wind carrying a visible stream of black soot through the smashed windowpanes. "They chose to die than risk have intel taken from them. So the Grass has been developing a sense of honor," the Hokage stated, looking at what was left of the five that had invaded his office.

"Well, now for the cleanup."

So a waaaay longer chapter than usual. And I made the fight scenes super short cause I didn't know quite how to write them. So who do you think Jinchi is?