{Jashin Hideout, Land of Hot Springs}

{7:12 PM, 28th May 13 Yrs ANB}

{3rd Person POV}

The Fireball Jutsu went straight toward Darui who was standing above the entrance of the cave, he easily dodged the fireball and the jutsu went straight into the sky and exploded.

'It's almost sunset so the large fireball in the sky should grab Kakashi's attention, now we just have to survive,' Ren thought as he kept retreating in the direction of Ozawa Village.

'Since we are separated Darui would likely pursue one of us, and since I'm obviously a weaker target attacking me makes more sense...' Ren calculated as he sensed Darui rapidly closing the distance, judging by his speed he was at least 2-3 grade faster than Ren which is a problem considering Ren's primary attack option was still his fast speed.

Ren sensed Darui's chakra spiking again so he turned back to face the Kumo Jonin. Darui's whole body was drenched in black lightning as a phantom panther once again detached from his body and attacked Ren.

Boar → Dog

'Earth Release: Earth Shore Return'

He channeled the accumulated jutsu and slammed his legs onto the ground, the upper layer of Earth's crust blocked them just as Ren concentrated a small amount of chakra to strengthen his leg muscles and used the Body Flicker jutsu to create more space.

The Body Flicker Technique is normally not considered a battle-focused technique because of its disadvantage of moving in a straight line, but it's still one of the most used techniques in any fight. Normally shinobi would not use it to attack unless there was a level difference between the two parties.

In a fight it is mainly used to create space and even close the distance between your target within a reasonable range, both of these applications were shown simultaneously as Ren flickered away to create space while Darui flickered above his stone wall to close the distance as his black lightning panther went around the stone wall.

Darui's eyes narrowed as he stared at Ren's position, the distance between the two of them had remained the same and if they played this game of cat and mouse then Darui would probably not have been able to catch up to Ren.

'He has mastered the basic body flicker to a higher degree than me, and his natural speed is far faster than I thought...' Darui thought as his eyes narrowed, he had seen Ren using the body flicker before but at that time his attention was focused on Kakashi so he didn't pay much attention to the brat.

Black Lightning once again covered Darui's body as he used that chakra to augment his Body Flicker, he waited and saw Ren dashing towards the tree line. While this would have been a good idea as it would nullify the advantage Darui had with his elemental body flicker he was still too late in this approach.

Darui calculated Ren's path and then dashed diagonally to cut him off before he reached the treeline.

'Gotchu...' Darui thought as he unsheathed his cleaver as soon as he arrived at the target location and got ready to cut Ren but he paused as he realized that things had not gone according to plan.

Ren dashed into the treelines a dozen meters in front of him and then he continued to use body flicker through the trees, somehow he was able to curve through the thick treelines while maintaining the body flicker.

'What was that...' Darui paused and didn't pursue, he simply watched Ren who was basically a shadow as his path followed a zig-zag of motion that curved around the treelines.

'He could freely change his direction while moving in a body flicker, that's a bit like Shunshin-no-Shisui...' Darui thought as he watched Ren disappear from his eyesight, he looked back and focused on the Jonin who had followed him, Hayate was now looking cautiously at the surroundings.

'Retaliation plan failed, the risk in continuing now exceeds the danger criteria, time to head back...' Darui thought as he flickered away toward the Land of Lightning. His mind though was still focused on the fact that the brat was somehow able to control the Body Flicker Jutsu to such a degree that he was able to control his body mid-jump.

'Konoha's getting strong again, I need to report this to Raikage-sama...'

Hayate arrived at the treeline a couple of seconds later and looked at the charred footsteps that Darui's jutsu had left and the Earth wall that was still standing straight unaffected by the fight. He followed the tracks and arrived at the place where Darui last stood and after a couple of seconds, Ren peaked from the treelines and waved at him.

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'Thank Kami-sama,' Hayate sighed as he took a deep sigh of relief, he looked around a few more times but didn't see any traces left by Darui.

Ren was panting as he kept his sensing active and looked around, his hand was hovering over his inventory ready to consume Zabuza's body at a moment's notice to level up and replenish his chakra.

Using Air gliding with the Body Flicker was overpowered but it drained his charka reserves a bit too fast. If Darui had kept chasing he would have to consume Zabuza's bounty to keep running away.

'Status...' Ren thought as he panted, his palms were burning because of the bursts of chakra he had to send through them multiple times to change his direction mid-jump.

...

[Status Window]

[Name: Ren]

[Title: Rookie of the Year]

[Level: 30 Next Level: 11,500/200,000]

[Chakra: 557/1130]

[STR: 131]

[VIT: 125]

[END: 119]

[DEX: 197]

[INT: 150]

[CHA: 113]

[Control: 70%]

[Fire: 20%, Wind: 45%, Water:0%, Earth: 20%, Lightning: 0%]

[Specialization: Chakra Sensor]

Attribute Points: 23

...

'Thankfully my chakra control has increased enough that I don't waste much chakra, though spending almost 100 chakra to create enough power while using Body Flicker is quite draining on my tiny reserves... I need to do something about my reserves otherwise I would always be at a massive disadvantage.' Ren thought as he sensed Kakashi arrive beside Hayate.

Now that it was much safer he walked out from the trees and started tree-hopping his way back. After the Wave mission, he had leveled up 3 times and reached level 30. It was then he saw the massive jump in EXP required to level up again and then he stopped using points to increase his CHA, as the EXP kept increasing the value of each stat point also increased so Ren stopped adding points to CHA stat every day like he was doing beforehand.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as his Sharingan scanned everywhere for any clues.

"Darui was hiding above the cave for a sneak attack, fortunately, we managed to escape long enough and he retreated, he just wanted to do a sneak attack probably," Hayate spoke and Kakashi nodded.

While he was explaining the rest of team #7 arrived and upon listening to the explanation Naruto started cursing, "Sneaky Bastards..."

'What's up with him, he wasn't so aggressive before...' Ren gave the blond ninja a puzzled look but he still listened to Kakashi speak.

"Did you collect everything?" Kakashi asked, upon getting two nods he continued, "Alright, I found a few traces although according to Pakun the tracks are at least 5 days old, thankfully it hasn't rained so we should be able to track them down. Ren will come with us while Hayate, you deal with the bandits we captured in the ritual cave and then block the entrance." Kakashi spoke and both Ren and Hayate agreed, giving a final nod to Ren Hayate flickered away leaving Ren with team #7.

"Let's go we need to hurry..." Kakashi spoke and all four of them hurried behind him. Ren watched as all three of them naturally took a formation, with Kakashi leading the charge Hinata in the middle of a triangle, and Naruto and Sasuke taking the left and right edge respectively.

Ren decided to start sensing and bring up the rear as that was the only place where he could fit that wouldn't disrupt Team #7's natural formation. It took a moment for Ren to realize that they were traveling at a pretty fast speed and still the three genins of Team #7 were easily able to keep up.

'It's been a while let's see how much they have improved... Observe...'

...

[Name: Uzumaki Naruto]

[Title: Konoha Genin]

[Level: 21]

[Chakra: 5160]

[STR: 53]

[VIT: 61]

[END: 56]

[DEX: 79]

[INT: 51]

[CHA: 129]

[Control: 36%]

[Titles:]

[Academy Student: +10% additional EXP gains towards quests and enemies slain (Title only effective till Level 20.)]

[Konoha Genin: Gain access to the D and C Rank section of Konoha Justu Archives. 10% discount on all shops in Konohagakure. +5% additional EXP gains towards Katon Ninjutsu.]

[Heir to the Uzumaki Clan: +25% additional EXP gains towards Fuinjutsu. Chakra Multiplier +10]

[Kyuubi Jinchuriki: Jinchuriki of ?, the Nine tails fox. -50% EXP to Chakra control exercises. Max Chakra Control capped at 80%. Chakra Multiplier +20.]

[Description: Uzumaki Naruto's background is shrouded in mystery. Currently, an academy student with aspirations to become Hokage, Naruto has a long and difficult journey ahead of him before he can even come close to reaching his dream. At the moment many consider Naruto as a shoo-in for the title of Dead Last.]

...