Title: Battle's Outcome Is Decided... Before It Even Starts

〚Story by: 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙮𝙅𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙧       ︱ Edited by: 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞_𝘿𝙤𝙜〛

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Now... I guess it is time to give chase to those Mist ninja..

I'm sure that Needle Swordsman thinks himself lucky to have escaped his latter comrades' fates... How foolish…

Even though they have a 10-hour head start, that is nothing to me now. This race is more like a test run for my newly acquired and evolved Sharingan. 

I activate my three-tomoed Sharingan…

[Shunshin]

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Even though I can see clear as day while performing Shunshin at night and do it with pinpoint precision, there's an imbalance in my previously perfect chakra control. 

One that prevents me from going full speed as I have to constantly make adjustments.

A foreseeable complication nonetheless.

Same as with any new skill or power, I still need to get used to it in order to use it effectively in battle. Although thanks to my nigh-perfect chakra control, it shouldn't take more than a few times...

I knew the Sharingan was good, but not this good.

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-4 hours later-

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I've been traveling at speeds unseeable to the human eye for quite a while now. Their chakra trails start to become clearer by the second... They're close... 

Even though I had to stop and track their direction a couple of times, I've finally caught up to them. 

In water that would've been a little harder, but here in the mainland I could see their lingering chakra trails with relative ease.

Now I've caught their scent too, so I am sure they are pretty close. I am officially in Mist territory now... The confrontation is imminent.

I start analyzing the field in which I will fight them. One can never be too cautious when the enemy has this level of field advantage. Or otherwise for that matter.

The Water Country island closest to the Land of Noodles is where the battlefield lies. I had prepared for the worst and this -luckily for me- is not it. 

I move deep into enemy territory...

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2 kilometers into the island, there lies the Mist military camp. I take a vantage position on top of a tree and start doing recon.

The first thing to catch my attention is a makeshift earth wall surrounding the perimeter, built with Justus. Its usefulness being only to alert them in case of a surprise attack and nothing else. A head-on attack anyway. 

They are expecting an army to come after them... I laugh at their stupidity. 

Without their inexhaustible water sources, they would've been annihilated long before, and the proof lies in front of me.

I hear chatter and even some laughter from time to time. They are resting... 

Security is nowhere near as tight as one could expect from a military camp this size and so relatively close to the enemy. Though I must say they are still on guard and haven't given up on their lives just yet... 

As I continue scouting, looking for weaknesses in the perimeter, I barely manage to see something with my Sharingan...

I see almost microscopic chakra strings around the camp... 

WTF...

...So this is how the Mist ninja always knew when I was going to attack... I didn't think that the mist ninja would be able to use chakra strings this way. 

I was too quick to discard their cognitive abilities... *Tch* I must prevent myself from underestimating my enemy again... Underestimating me was the doom of hundreds upon hundreds of poor bastards... Who is to say that I couldn't fall victim to the same mistake? 

Anyway, I get my head back in the game, looking even more carefully at the strings and... 

…

Hmph... So that's how it's gonna be huh...

Well then, time to move. These ninja won't die from inanition while I wait.

...

[Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique]

I go underground so as to not be noticed by the Mist ninja. The perimeter was breached just like that. Their defenses still mean nothing to me in theory, but I can't afford to make that assumption before actually engaging... 

I made sure to readjust my calculations for this battle accordingly, just in case.

I stealthily come out from under the ground. I obviously don't immediately go and try to kill the Needle Swordsman. After all, even with the Sharingan, I am not sure that I can take him out stealthily, and would only get myself surrounded by hundreds of ninja. Not good.

I'll do it the right way. The cold-blooded way.

I start off killing the weakest genin by the dozens and swiftly get to the chunin... 

Some minutes and dropped bodies later, I've killed 202 ninja. As expected, it was noticed by the patrolling jonin that people were being killed. 

But they still didn't know my location... I remained unseen and unheard. That body count 

kept rising despite their efforts to find me.

I'm dealing with the cannon fodder that might interfere in my fight against the Needle Swordsman. I will allow no imponderables in our duel.

I start slashing away at my enemies and killing them, using a peculiar way of concealing myself... By transforming into the most recent person I killed... Then going on to kill someone else, transform into him... And so on and so on. 

Relaying in my speed and in doing clean kills, in 20 minutes I've killed everyone except the Needle Swordsman, without ever allowing them to even know what I was doing.

As I originally expected, they never stood a chance. 

With the help of the Sharingan, I could take care of all the minuscule details. Throw in some genjutsu and like that, I'm able to kill them all no problem. 

The Swordsman seemed to be more concerned with setting up his string defense and preparing for the imminent fight against me, than with helping out his "comrades". He probably thought himself untouchable and didn't want to risk it.

I duly thank him for his cooperation. 

Now it's time to cash in my chips and take him out.

I finally reveal myself, and stand 20 meters away from him, letting my wonderful Sharingan do some intimidating for me. He tried to hide it, but he was certainly shocked to see I had it. 

After all, we've already fought and he identified me as Inuzuka... not that it matters what he thinks, to be honest. He'll be dead in a few moments.

...

We keep staring at each other... but this isn't a child's game... This is a battle between elite ninja. 

Right now the both of us are observing the other's stance, analyzing outcomes and risks... planning our next -and possibly last- move. That's what a ninja showdown is. All or nothing.

He an advantage in this terrain because he has a wire trap shield all around him by tying it around the trees and with the help of his sword he can control those wires with precision and speed. 

Terrain advantage? Now that's something new...

He must also have a greatly developed calculation ability. After all, just a wrong move and he could very well cut himself to pieces. 

But nothing I haven't taken into consideration.

I then look at all the threads and calculate a trajectory... 

This is so easy now... I take out a shuriken and slightly blow on its edge, to get it infused with a generous amount of wind chakra... Augmenting its slashing capabilities tenfold.

I throw the shuriken towards the Needle Swordsman and immediately after, I secretly throw something else, keeping it hidden inside the shadow of the shuriken... 

Then as the shuriken is cutting through some of his wires suddenly...

*Swish* 

A head flies into the air...

<Shadow Shuriken>

Oh Well... 

…

This certainly was anti-climatic...

But this is life I guess... Although the simplicity of it is not a problem for me.

Thrill and excitement don't matter. Only results. Positive results.

I had thrown the first shuriken with wind chakra to distract him, and prevent him from noticing the second shuriken (the one hidden in the shadow of the first one) which had mangled on the wires and cut his head with his own wires...

Turns out he wasn't as good at calculations as he thought he was.

Normally the chance of this happening is .01%... but with the Sharingan, I can turn most odds in my favor. With its prediction ability together with my knowledge of physics and reactions, I was able to make the probability of this scenario happening a 99.99% outcome.

Talk about overpowered bloodlines...

I take the Needle Sword... And now I have four of the seven Swords of the Mist... That's 4/4 of those I've faced. 

I also take the Swordsman's Head to claim the bounty on it...

Actually... Scratch that... 

I burn the head right there. He witnessed I had the Sharingan and that is a big no-no... One of the biggest for me right now.

After doing that I just burn down the rest of the camp and disintegrate the earth wall with a couple of wind Jutsu. It wasn't even that strong, to begin with. Nothing remains. 

I don't want or need anything from here. I especially make sure to burn the bodies so that not even a single bone gets left behind. 

No Edo Tensei corpse spilling my secrets now. 

Knowing the future is so good... I mean not only do I know the strengths and weaknesses of some of the most powerful ninja in history... I can plan along with almost 100% accuracy of my plans succeeding as well.

The only thing that might mess things up is that infamous "Butterfly Effect"... 

I don't really care about it, but that doesn't keep me from taking measures against it. A clear example is when I destroyed the Sky Village. No need to leave anyone alive... Specially the kids no need for them to come back seeking revenge 10 years later. And just to be sure I took the 0 tails as well.

Once I am done with the camp I eat some food from my storage scroll and I deactivate my Sharingan.

I didn't plan to get a Sharingan so soon but I guess this time is as good as any, and its Mangekyou ability is pretty useful to me... For now... 

I will definitely change it later though.

As I finish up my rations, I get up and then make way for Konoha's camp...

Hmmm… 

I wonder... 

What will Tsunade's reaction be when I show her four of the Seven Swords of the Mist? ...