The trap was fully closed. Dozens of flaming torches illuminated the rocky clearing, casting long, wavering shadows across the bloodstained dirt. The heat from the fire mixed with the heavy, humid air of the Hot Water Country. The sound of heavy boots, clanking iron armor, and the low, predatory murmurs of violent men filled the night.
A solid wall of over sixty mercenaries surrounded the small wooden cart and the newly formed Wood Dome. They stood shoulder to shoulder. They gripped their heavy battleaxes, rusted broadswords, and spiked iron maces with eager hands. Behind them stood the dark-cloaked figures of the Jashin cultists, their silver circular pendants reflecting the orange light of the torches.
Koji stood near the front of the mercenary line. He rested the heavy head of his massive battleaxe against the rocky ground. The veteran leader narrowed his eyes, squinting through the smoke and the flickering light to finally get a good look at the terrifying targets they had been hired to butcher.
He blinked once. He blinked twice. Complete confusion washed over his scarred face.
He saw a young boy with raven-black hair holding a short sword. He saw a smaller boy with long, bright blond hair standing calmly near a bisected corpse. He saw a dome made of solid wood.
That was it. There was no Anbu platoon. There were no elite jonin bodyguards.
Koji turned his head slowly to look at the dark-cloaked cultist who had guided them from the canyon. The mercenary leader let out a short, incredulous scoff. His thick shoulders shook with sudden amusement.
"Don't tell me you paid us this much just to deal with kids," Koji said. His tone was heavily irritated, but a harsh laugh quickly escaped his throat. "We sat in a miserable ditch for two days for a couple of academy dropouts?"
The laughter infected the men around him. The tense, murderous atmosphere of the mercenary circle broke into a chorus of deep, mocking chuckles.
"I brought my heavy armor for this!" a large mercenary shouted from the left flank, slapping his iron breastplate. "I could crush these two with my bare hands!"
"Hey boss, do we get double pay for babysitting?" another man yelled, pointing his rusted sword at Itachi. "I think the black-haired kid is going to cry!"
The dark-cloaked cultist completely ignored the taunts. He stepped away from Koji's side and walked purposefully toward the southern edge of the encirclement. The ranks of mercenaries parted slightly, allowing a new group to step forward.
The High Priest of Jashin had arrived. He wore a slightly more ornate cloak, and he held his three-pronged black spear loosely in his right hand.
The cultist fell to one knee in front of the High Priest, bowing his head respectfully. The High Priest simply nodded. The rest of the cultists broke their scattered positions among the mercenaries. They moved silently, grouping together behind their leader. The battlefield formation settled into a clear division. The immortal zealots held the southern block, while the sixty paid killers formed a thick, unbroken crescent around the remaining three sides.
Koji hoisted his battleaxe onto his shoulder and walked over to the High Priest. He did not like the religious fanatics, but they were holding the gold.
"Hey, Priest," Koji grunted, looking around the clearing. "Where is my second in command? Where is Goro and the men he took with him? I thought they were supposed to meet us at the rendezvous point before the assault."
The High Priest turned his head. His face was deeply unsettling. He wore a massive, genuine smile. The corners of his mouth stretched wide, and his eyes crinkled with absolute joy. It was the face of a man experiencing pure euphoria while standing on a battlefield.
"Goro has been given a different, highly important task," the High Priest lied smoothly. His voice was soft and melodic. "We received intelligence that Konoha might send border patrols to reinforce the official. Goro and his unit are currently securing our rear flanks to ensure we are not interrupted."
Koji snorted and spat on the ground. "Reinforcements? Look at what they sent. The Leaf Village clearly does not care about your runaway official. Let my boys have some fun, and we can all go home rich."
***
A few yards away, Itachi Uchiha stood near the center of the trap. He breathed in slowly through his nose, attempting to steady his racing heart.
His crimson Sharingan spun rapidly, analyzing every single detail of the surrounding army. The situation was entirely disastrous. The sheer mathematics of the battlefield offered absolutely zero chance of survival. He was surrounded by over sixty grown men carrying heavy, lethal weapons. Those men were purely physical threats. Behind them stood over a dozen cultists who possessed an unknown, unnatural immortality.
If Itachi fought perfectly, if he did not waste a single drop of chakra, he could perhaps kill twenty mercenaries. Kinoe was trapped inside the Wood Dome, forced to dedicate all his energy to maintaining the defensive structure and guarding the client. They had zero external support.
Itachi looked at the Wood Dome. It was sturdy, but it would not withstand a coordinated assault from sixty men hitting it with axes and maces. It would splinter and collapse within minutes. Hideki would be slaughtered. The mission was a total failure. Frustration and cold dread pooled in Itachi's stomach. He tightened his grip on his sword, preparing to sell his life as dearly as possible to buy the client a few more seconds.
Naruto turned his head. His bright blue eyes locked onto Itachi's spinning Sharingan.
"Don't try to protect the client," Naruto said. His voice was incredibly calm, cutting right through the noise of the laughing mercenaries. "Just protect yourself. Be extremely wary of the cultists and their blood techniques. The men with the axes are just meat shields for them."
Itachi stared at the younger boy in total shock. Naruto's expression had not changed a single fraction. He was surrounded by a literal army of killers, standing next to a decapitated body, and he looked as relaxed as someone taking a morning stroll through Konoha. There was no false bravado. There was no hidden panic. It was absolute, unwavering confidence.
***
Inside the claustrophobic darkness of the Wood Dome, Hideki was completely falling apart.
The air smelled strongly of fresh pine sap and the heavy sweat rolling off the official's forehead. Hideki sat huddled on the wooden floorboards, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He could hear the heavy boots marching outside. He could hear the harsh, booming laughter of the mercenaries. They were mocking his escorts. They were laughing because they knew it was going to be a slaughter.
Hideki squeezed his eyes shut, his entire body trembling violently. He was going to die. The Leaf Village had doomed him by sending children. Three kids could never fight off a private army. It was impossible.
A few feet away from the trembling man, Kinoe stood perfectly still with his hands locked in a steady tiger seal.
The Root operative kept his chakra flowing evenly into the wooden walls. He listened to the massive host of enemies outside. He knew the tactical disadvantage. Yet, Kinoe felt absolutely zero fear.
Deep within his mind, the spiritual connection of the silver link remained entirely stable. The link acted as a perfect mirror, reflecting the emotional state of his Lord directly into Kinoe's consciousness. If Naruto felt fear, Kinoe would feel it. If Naruto felt panic, Kinoe would know.
The link was projecting nothing but total, chilling tranquility.
Kinoe lowered his gaze and looked at the hyperventilating official.
"Calm yourself," Kinoe stated clearly. His voice carried absolute certainty. "As long as he is still standing, nothing will happen to you."
Hideki opened his eyes and stared at Kinoe. The official was completely dumbfounded. He thought the boy had lost his mind from the stress. Why was a trained Konoha shinobi putting such blind, absolute trust in a kid even younger than himself? It defied all rational logic.
*
*
*
Outside the dome, the young man with the sword-blades for arms stepped forward. The youngest sister stood beside him, twirling her solid blood whip with a wicked smile.
The young man pointed his rusted arm-blade directly at Naruto. He was practically vibrating with ecstatic energy. He had an entire army backing him now. The element of surprise belonged to his god again.
"You ruined a perfect infiltration!" the young man yelled at Naruto. "You have completely sealed your own fate. Drop your weapon right now. Fall to your knees and beg me to let you stay alive. If you beg loud enough, I might make your sacrifice quick!"
The youngest sister looked at Itachi and giggled sharply. "You too, Uchiha! Beg for mercy, and I will only take one of your pretty red eyes for my collection!"
Naruto looked at the young man holding the arm-blades. He looked at the massive circle of heavily armed mercenaries. He looked at the High Priest smiling in the torchlight.
Naruto closed his eyes for a brief second. A low sound vibrated in his chest.
He started to laugh.
It was not a hysterical, broken laugh like the cultists used. It was a deep, resonant, and genuinely amused chuckle. It was the sound of a predator finding a particularly entertaining toy. The laugh carried across the silent clearing, completely silencing the jeering mercenaries.
Koji stopped smiling instantly. The mercenary leader felt a sudden, violent chill run down his spine. The thick hair on his arms stood straight up. He had survived years of brutal warfare by trusting his instincts. Right now, his instincts were screaming at him to turn around and run away as fast as possible. The boy's laugh was fundamentally wrong. It was the absolute absence of fear.
Several veteran mercenaries in the front row nervously shifted their grip on their weapons. The atmosphere of the clearing shifted drastically. The hunters suddenly felt a creeping suspicion that they had walked directly into a cage.
Naruto stopped laughing. He opened his blue eyes, and they seemed to glow faintly in the dark.
He ignored the cultists entirely. He turned his back to the enemy army and walked slowly toward the Wood Dome. Every single eye in the clearing followed his casual movements. Total silence gripped the battlefield, broken only by the crackling of the torches.
Naruto stopped in front of the curved wooden wall. He raised his right hand and placed his palm flat against the thick timber.
He opened his internal gates, reaching into the deep reservoir of his 'Soul energy'. He pulled a dense, concentrated stream of silver chakra to the surface. He pushed the energy directly from his palm into the structure of the dome.
The reaction was instantaneous.
A brilliant, metallic silver light pulsed outward from Naruto's hand, rapidly traveling across the entire surface of the Wood Dome. The dull brown bark and thick pine needles vanished. The wood absorbed the soul energy, instantly hardening and transforming. Within three seconds, the entire dome took on a smooth, reflective silver sheen. It looked like a solid structure of impenetrable, divine metal.
Koji took a slow, involuntary step backward. The High Priest stopped smiling, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at the glowing silver structure. Itachi watched the transformation with absolute awe, his Sharingan struggling to comprehend the density of the chakra being displayed.
Naruto lowered his hand from the metallic dome. He turned around slowly to face the encirclement of sixty mercenaries and thirteen immortal zealots.
He rested his hand casually on the hilt of his Kanto blade. His eyes swept across the terrified faces of the men who had come to kill him. The massive surge of silver chakra radiated off his small body, pressing down on the clearing like a heavy physical weight.
Naruto tilted his head slightly.
"Should we start now?"
****A/N***
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