The beast's entire body began to convulse and contract, muscles tightening and reshaping with a grotesque squelch, until it slowly shrank down and morphed back into Ni.
Now, instead of the monstrous chimera, it was Ni who lay beneath Ren, his hands still embedded in the earth above her head, claws stuck deep into the ground.
Ni's eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, and with a faint smirk she whispered, "Oh my… I didn't think we'd reach this point so fast."
Then she fainted once again.
Ren let out a sharp, awkward cough and shifted to her side, making sure he was no longer lying on top of her. A few seconds later, Utakata appeared beside him, giving Ni a quick inspection to confirm she was out cold. He immediately began placing layer after layer of sealing tags over her body, barrier seals, chakra suppression tags, and paralysis locks. Ensuring she wouldn't be getting up again.
Once she was secured, Utakata moved to Ren, gently placing a glowing green hand over his arms. The healing chakra spread through Ren's muscles as Utakata slowly began pulling out the embedded claws, one at a time. Ren winced a bit at first, but after both claws was freed, he exhaled and sat up straight, shaking off the tension.
Ren, now free, sat up straight and looked at Ni who was now wrapped in many seals ensuring that she wouldn't get up again.
At that moment, Mantis and Bee, the two ANBU members who had gone to help the missing shinobi returned, appearing beside Bear and immediately began their reports.
After hearing them out, Bear turned to Utakata. "Out of the eight members from the two squads that went missing, two from the regular squad and one from the ANBU are dead. Except for the leaders of both squads, the others are unconscious and showing no signs of waking up."
Utakata gave a nod. He would check the unconscious ones here and attempt treatment. If it didn't work, they'd need to be taken back to the village for medical attention.
Shortly after, Hitoshi and the cat-masked ANBU appeared, carrying Yugao in their arms. Her body was pale, and a jagged spearhead protruded from her stomach, one of the tips of the whips used by the large dog-beasts.
The cat ANBU gently laid her down in front of Utakata. "I've done basic treatment which should be just enough to keep her alive."
Utakata immediately began his work. Placing a hand just above Yugao's wound, he carefully began pulling the spearhead out while keeping a steady flow of healing chakra on the area. Inch by inch, the weapon slid free, and once fully removed, he sealed the wound with expert precision using advanced medical ninjutsu.
His hand glowed green once more, and Yugao slowly regained color. She blinked a few times, then smiled faintly. "Thank you, Sensei. Thanks, Neko-san."
Ren, relieved to see her okay, exhaled and asked bluntly, "What the hell happened to you?"
Before Yugao could answer, Hitoshi spoke in her place. "Just as we were about to defeat the dog we were fighting, a three-headed snake appeared. She took it out with one swing of her sword, but the dog used that opening to land an attack. Fortunately, my insects had just finished devouring the dog, so it couldn't complete the strike."
Hitoshi sat down next to Ren, both of them watching as the Cat ANBU returned to Bear to deliver her own report. Meanwhile, Utakata, having finished healing Yugao, lowered his hand and finally sat down himself. He looked tired, understandably so. He had expended large amounts of chakra during the fight with Ni and the beast, used A-rank jutsu multiple times, and had performed intensive healing on Bear and Yugao alike.
He turned to his students and said, "Good work, you three. Yugao, we will increase your training once we get back to the village."
Yugao, who looked like she was almost fully healed, turned pale again. After all, Utakata was rather tame in training the three, but whenever he said "increased training," he would surely turn into a devil.
Ren laughed at Yugao, knowing that Utakata's increased training for her would be fun to watch.
Bear, who had finished hearing reports from his subordinates, came near Utakata and said, "Your squad can return first. The ANBU will be responsible for transporting the ninja's and her" he pointed at Ni "back to the village."
Utakata nodded. "We will return after we recover enough to travel."
Bear agreed and said, "My squad will keep watch." Saying this, he and his squad members flickered out.
Utakata turned to his students and said, "Let's rest now."
~~~
When Ren woke up, he found that Utakata had already checked the unconscious ninjas. Most of them had varying degrees of brain damage due to continuous exposure to Genjutsu.
Hearing this also reminded him of the border they had seen earlier, which was filled with seals.
'I should check it out, it can help improve my Fuinjutsu mastery,' he thought. The border was one of the few advanced Fuinjutsu sealing patterns he had seen.
Utakata was able to heal two of the unconscious ones here, but the last one required dedicated medical attention which was not possible here. However, he ensured that the shinobi was out of danger.
Since Team 1 didn't have to transport either the allies or the enemy, they were free to leave without any problems.
Once they exited the border area, the world just seemed to return to normal.
Ren bent down to examine the seal, but he couldn't make much out of it with a simple look. A comprehensive study would be needed if he wanted to understand all these symbols.
Utakata, seeing Ren examine the seal, spoke, "This is the work of a level 6 Fuinjutsu master. You can't understand it for now. I will ask the Hokage to send a few sealing squads later. They will copy the seals exactly how they are. I will give you one of the copies so you can study it."
Ren nodded, surprised to hear this was the work of a level 6 Fuinjutsu master. After all, there were not many Fuinjutsu users at that level.
But it was understandable, after all, Hiruko, who was the main villain in the movie and Ni's lord, was a friend of the Sannin, and he had developed a curse seal that enabled him to contact Kakashi decades after the Third Great Ninja War. So his level must be high.
Since he would receive a copy later anyway, Ren stood up and Team 1 started moving back to the village. Yugao, who had earlier suffered a grave injury, was also moving just fine due to Utakata healing her.
Ren was very glad to have Utakata as his Sensei. The man had many talents. His ninjutsu and Taijutsu were one thing, but he was one of the high-level 5 Fuinjutsu masters who ranked just below the level 6 masters.
He also had the second-best medical ninjutsu in all of Konoha, right after Tsunade herself. But it made sense because, if Utakata was a healer of Jiraiya's squad, the most likely scenario would be that he had learned medical ninjutsu from Tsunade herself. So if his medical mastery was high, it was due to this reason.
As Ren compared the members of Team Jiraiya in his mind, his own father seemed weak in comparison. But he wouldn't make that comment lightly, after all, he was paired with Minato and trained under Jiraiya, so there must be something special about him.
There was also the fact that one-handed people in anime worlds seem to be very mysterious and powerful, so just in case his father was like that, he would keep his thoughts to himself.
~~~
Team 1 continued moving through the forest at a normal pace since they were not in a rush to reach the village. They took breaks every 12 hours and finally reached the village after a few days of travelling.
This time nothing blocked their way or put them in life-threatening situations, so all of them were fine.
Since it was almost afternoon, Utakata said, "Tomorrow, 8 AM. Meet me after you have submitted your mission reports." He said and flickered out.
Hitoshi turned to Yugao and asked, "You sure you are completely fine now?" Yugao nodded.
Ren had noticed Hitoshi checking up on Yugao many times on their return. 'He must be worried since she almost died right in front of him,' he thought and left after saying goodbye to them.
Once he reached home, just like always, he took a bath after returning from the mission and cooked some real food and ate it.
~~~
Meanwhile, Bear's squad was returning with Ni while the squad carrying the injured had already left. As they were moving through the forest, a person appeared in front of them.
He looked like a little boy with extremely white skin. He had white hair with light red eyes; however, the most noticeable thing was the symbol on his forehead, which was now glowing.
The ANBU squad stopped; however, they made no movements.
The boy muttered, "You have something that belongs to me." He moved and reached behind the Cat ANBU who was carrying Ni. However, suddenly he stopped and said, "You can come out now, my friend."
The trees behind him rustled, and a person emerged. He had extremely pale skin golden eyes with slitted pupil and purple markings around his eyes which made him look like a snake.
The man smiled, "Long time no see, Hiruko."
~~~
Right now it was night time in Konoha, and Ren was lying in bed, looking surprised at the reward he had just received.
Just like always, Ren had decided to postpone opening his reward until nighttime. He spent the rest of the day training as usual. When night rolled around, he returned to his room after having dinner with his father. Once he settled into bed, he finally opened the system reward.
[CONGRATULATIONS, USER. YOU HAVE OBTAINED A REWARD FOR MAKING A VERY MINOR CHANGE IN THE CANON.]
[REWARD: LIGHTNING AFFINITY UNLOCKED]
[NOTE: USER CAN CREATE THE STORM RELEASE KEKKAI GENKAI ONCE MASTER LEVEL MASTERY (90%) OF BOTH LIGHTNING AND WATER STYLE IS ACHIEVED.]
Ren blinked as he saw the reward. He barely paid attention to the first line where he unlocked his lightning affinity, and instead focused on the second part.
A chance to create a Kekkei Genkai.
Most people spent their entire lives trying to find ways to awaken or steal a kekkei genkai, and here he was, actually being handed a potential path to one. And not just any kekkei genkai, Storm Release, something that had proven capable of holding off three jonin-level shinobi at once during the last mission.
His excitement, however, faded quickly as he read the requirement.
Master-level mastery, meaning at least 90% in both lightning and water style.
He didn't even have that level of mastery in wind style, which was his main element. And now he needed to get lightning which he just unlocked to 90%, and water which he hadn't even unlocked yet up there too. It wasn't impossible, but it was far from a reward he could make use of anytime soon.
While it was possible to train an element without unlocking it, the progress would be painfully slow. Unlocking an affinity significantly increased the speed of mastery gain, which was why most people stuck to their natural element.
That was also why having two or more chakra natures was a basic requirement for becoming a jonin. It didn't guarantee strength, but it proved that the shinobi had the determination to work hard and grow. That was the kind of attitude the village expected from its elite.
Ren still had several mastery points saved up, but he was reserving them for rare chakra types like Yin or Yang release not something common like water release.
With a sigh, he closed the system window, slightly annoyed that this reward wouldn't help him in the short term. He turned on his side, shut his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~
{I want to write about Juichi too, but it isn't the time now. Anyway, Utakata still has one more ace up his sleeve, which would make you guys like him even more.}
{About the reward, I racked my brain about what to give him since you guys wanted it to be a canon-changing reward, so here we are. The reward may feel lackluster for now, but I would rather not give him a kekkai genkai for defeating a character like Ni. If it was Darui, I might have thought about it, but not now.}
{Anyway, it is what it is. Comment what you think about the rewards, but remember Konoha does not have Ni, so think about the changes first.}
{Writing this on April 8- I was just reading the comments and found a chronic hater, hate commenting on every little thing from the 1st chapter and it's so funny reading them. But what made it even funnier is that they later deleted them and made some normal comments but they don't know that the authors can read the deleted comments. Keep doing something like this guys it's fun for me😂😂}