In Naruto: Reborn With Talent

Chapter 426 Ch426. Ringo's Side

While Tsunade was dealing with Orochimaru and Sarutobi, Ringo faced off A and B who were clearly prepared for this attack.

'Cute. They actually spend time planning a strategy against me.' Ringo thought with an inward chuckle. 'I wonder if the musclehead joined Orochimaru only to have a go at me.'

It wasn't a coincidence that B was here, prepared to double-team Ringo with A. Kumo no longer had two bijuu, so having their biggest weapon outside of the borders of their village, much less their country, was something no Kage would allow. The second B appeared at the gates of Konoha, red alarms were instantly ringing in many heads.

Not that Ringo cared about that particular thing. But it was a nice way of provoking her enemy so...

"Tell me, Raikage, do you think your village would survive an attack with your biggest defensive tool out here?" Ringo smirked, clearly addressing B's presence.

"Heh, there is no need to worry about that." A dryly chuckled as he was standing up, his senses trained on Ringo. She totally caught him off guard with the last lighting beam attack and he just barely managed to dodge. If she hit his head with that, it would have been game over for him.

"Yeah! Bro is right, you underestimate Kumo's might! Kono-yaro, baka-yaro!" Killer B rapped before... "Wheeeee!"

Both Ringo and A looked at him with dull gazes, resisting their urges to facepalm.

With a twitching eyebrow, Ringo tried to continue as if she did not just see... that. "I have no idea where such confidence comes from." She mirthfully laughed but to A's ears, it was a cold and ruthless sound full of mockery. "With the village's defenses so weakened, some nefarious party might take advantage of the poor defenseless Kumo. Who knows if the next time you visit it will still be under your rule." She smugly stated.

A was visibly angry at that insinuation but he was doing a great job at keeping himself in line. "Empty words!" He scoffed in response. "You are just trying to rile me up, bitch. We both know Kiri does not have such resources. Especially not when their Kage is away."

Despite the insult, the smirk did not fall from Ringo's face. "Maybe I am just spouting hot air to provoke you, or maybe I am not and your village is indeed under siege as we speak. Does it even matter?" She licked her lips, knowing full well the second option was the correct answer. Not that she was obliged to tell Raikage that. "You are here to kill me. Give it your best shot."

It has to be said, Ringo did hold a grudge for her defeat at A's hands when she first fought him. It was humiliating and Rei had to save her which only increased her embarrassment. Not to mention her body was an utter wreck afterward.

And as a responsible Mizukage, she naturally had to think of her reputation and return such humiliation in full.

'Sigh. Being Kage is troublesome.' Ringo thought. 'But the occasional violence is sure making up for the dull parts!' With that, a blade appeared in her right hand, coming out of a storage seal tattooed on her wrist.

When A saw the blade, his eyes shook. "Are you mocking me?" He gritted his teeth.

The sword was a totally normal katana, not even made of chakra metal. It might as well be a wooden stick in front of someone like Raikage. Ringo intending to use it against him was clearly a very deep insult to his pride.

Ringo did not reply. She just smiled and... charged at both B and A.

After all, there was no need to give them more time to prepare by talking to them. As if Raikage really cared if she faced him with an iron katana or not. He was a ninja and in collective ninja books, anything that made the opponent easier to kill was an advantage. There was no way A would complain about the katana Ringo was using if he didn't need to stall for time.

Ringo's first slash was a wide arc aimed at both A and B since they stood quite close to each other. It was no wonder they both dodged it, but Ringo's aim was mostly to separate them, which she accomplished. A jumped back to the right while B to the left.

They didn't manage to even land and Ringo already spun on her heel before chasing after B, brandishing her sword with considerable force.

When A saw that, he inwardly cursed. Ringo clearly would not give them enough time to prepare a combo attack. She was also too strong to fight alone so he instantly leaped towards B, managing to spark his Lightning Chakra Armor back into existence from sheer desperation.

In the meantime, B whipped out one of his swords and blocked Ringo's slash... only to realize he severely underestimated the petite woman's strength as his body was sent sliding back on the ground while his entire arm vibrated from the impact.

While B was wrestling with the basics of physics, Ringo half-turned around, pointing at A who was halfway through the distance towards her and B, his face showing iron-clad determination as lightning danced around his body.

"Kirin!" Ringo intoned and lightning suddenly fell from the clear sky at invisible speeds, right on top of the charging A, stunning him into a halt.

Ringo's Kirin was so fast, even Lightning Armor wearing Raikage could not react fast enough to evade it. But for such a speed, potency had to be sacrificed. A was not hurt. His Lightning Armor tanked all of the damage, but Ringo's goal was accomplished.

Because of the clash of lightning energies right on top of his body, A was left considerably disoriented, giving her a few seconds of 'alone time' with B.

Knowing she really had just a bit of time, Ringo didn't dally and turned back towards B, who was just getting his balance back, and started waving her sword at him in slashes from various sides, forcing him to defend without break.

The difference between them was apparent from the first look.

While Kumo taught swordsmanship a lot, they seldom produced known master swordsmen. B was good but he was far from Ringo's level.

Finally, his arm could not handle the sword waving at Ringo's speeds and Ringo managed to smack the sword out of his hand... making B momentarily defenseless. Ringo's hand snapped forward...

B was about to enter the bijuu mode, Konoha be damned, since he didn't have enough time to take out another sword, but Ringo was much faster than he thought and her palm landed on his shoulder.

Before he could even register what had happened, he poofed out of existence.

It just so happened that A recovered his wits a few moments prior and witnessed the scene. "B!" He cried out.

Ringo turned towards him and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, he was just sent to a place where a special opponent is waiting for him. Have no fear. Everything is according to the plan."

With those words, A's eyes grew wide as he realized just how prepared his enemies were for this attack. It was them who were supposed to stage an ambush and deal with most threats before they could realize they were being attacked. But apparently, the entire plan was a failure from the very start!

"Now then," Ringo smirked, "we can now fully enjoy some quality one on one time, no?" She said and released her bottled-up killing intent that was accumulating for over a decade, her smirk becoming colder. "I still owe you for messing up my face with that punch all those years ago!"