His new dark cloak helped him blend into the gloom of the night. Perhaps that is why no one noticed him, even if he had placed himself just below the moon. Even as he descended, the wind pushed his cloak slightly upwards, revealing the green exoskeleton that covered his legs.
Perhaps as soon as someone noticed his large crest and monstrous head they would panic.
A few seconds passed until finally his feet touched the ground. He landed in a small, dark and empty alley, near a large street that seemed to be very busy even though it was already quite late.
Taking advantage of the cover provided by the lack of light in that alley, he took a few steps towards the street and simply took his tail out of his cloak. Slowly he pulled it out and dragged it on the ground, as if it were a snake. This he did until finally an unwary man stepped on it. Immediately, Cell lifted his tail and dug the tip into his leg. Then he sucked.
In a matter of seconds, he absorbed not only his Ki, but all the organic matter that made up his body. In this way, where that man once was, only his clothes remained, lying on the ground.
The bio-android repeated this process about ten more times, until someone finally noticed the pile of clothes that had accumulated on the side of the street. What neither that person nor the android knew was that the presence of the intruder had been discovered as soon as he entered the area covered by the great barrier that surrounded the village.
However, given the unusual signal emitted by their Ki, a reconnaissance team had barely been sent to the approximate area where they believed it was.
The person was a middle-aged woman, who was a little drunk and nervously stared at what she believed to be a snake. She tried to step on it, but it immediately jumped to attack her. Out of fright, the woman tripped and fell to the ground, accidentally dodging the attack. The tip of the tail dug into the skull of another man passing by.
The man's wife was splattered with some blood and turned around instinctively. Noticing the terrifying scene she began to scream at the top of her lungs, and was soon followed by the drunken woman who had tripped.
A small smile formed on the android's face, who already knew that the best part was yet to come. He raised his tail and tucked it back into his black cloak. Then, he pulled his arm out of the dark sleeve and stretched his index finger forward. He quickly accumulated a large amount of Ki on his finger and began to fire a swift burst of green-colored lightning. These penetrated with impressive precision the hearts of at least thirty people in less than ten seconds. Panic was completely unleashed and the people who saw that and survived began to scream and run. Some fled through the alleys, while others tried to enter businesses and other buildings trying to find a safe place to hide.
Cell slowly walked forward, intending to exit toward the main path to absorb his most recent victims before they died completely. However, as soon as the light from the poles rising from the sidewalks of the road illuminated his appearance and the red clouds of his cloak, he was intercepted.
A total of seven shinobi, all wearing porcelain masks and dark-colored cloaks of their own, jumped from the nearby rooftops and trees and quickly surrounded him.
"You have to be a little... daring to invade Konoha alone." One of them said.
"We're not in the mood for jokes." Another of the ANBU continued. "Turn yourself in quickly and let's get this over with."
The android let out a small laugh. "Well, if you are in such a hurry..."
He repeated the same gesture he had made before and launched a frighteningly precise beam that pierced the ANBU's head as if it were a piece of paper. The shinobi could barely let out a sigh of surprise before falling to the ground, lifeless.
"Who's next?"
The remaining six fell back, leaping into the small walls surrounding the alley. Two of them broke away and continued to retreat, while the others took up position to start the fight.
"Report to the council!" Shouted one of the ANBU who remained there.
Cell tried to throw two more beams at those who were trying to flee, but they disappeared as if they had never been there, and so his attack missed. That surprised him a little. At least they were fast.
Then, he moved his left arm behind his back and picked up his new toy. When he revealed it to his opponents, more than one was surprised. It seemed that the sword had a good reputation. The android placed it right in front of him, proving to not exactly be a master in that art.
When the first ANBU went on the attack, Cell disappeared and reappeared right next to him. He delivered a fierce thrust with his sword that tore through his opponent's side, piercing his clothes with the thorns of his sword and tearing off pieces of the skin and absorbing the chakra in it.
The ANBU screamed in pain and soon his comrades came to his aid. One of them caused the ground beneath the android to rise at high speed into a stone pillar, though it had no major effect. The other two ran at full speed up the sides of the pillar, imbuing the soles of their feet with chakra so as not to fall. They took an immense amount of explosive seals out of their cloaks and placed them along the entire length of the pillar, and as soon as they reached the enemy, they jumped sideways and threw a myriad of explosive kunai.
What resulted was a massive detonation that took with it part of the buildings on that street, possibly even civilian casualties. The two ANBU that executed the attack barely managed to escape, though their cloaks were completely charred, revealing the armor they were wearing underneath.
The other two had already left, as one of them was seriously injured.
When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that the stone column had been completely pulverized. But right above it, now levitating above the ground, was the android, completely intact. His black cloak, of course, had been destroyed.
He smiled again before disappearing out of nowhere. To the average human eye, nothing happened besides the unusual blowing of the wind that suddenly became stronger.
The tip of the android's tail dug into the neck of one of the ANBUs, and within seconds it absorbed all of its organic matter. After a minute, the other shinobi suffered the same fate as his partner.
In a way, Cell was disappointed. Despite the respectable speed they had presented, they had really been little more than boring toys to him. Little more than a sick, old wildebeest for a pride of lionesses.
He placed his sword on his back again before disappearing into the shadows. He could end it all in one go, but that wouldn't be fun for him. He learned it after destroying about three cities in the future from which he came. It wasn't funny, and it wasn't smart. Although, in this world, there was no risk to his life.
Not that he knew.
A mysterious man stood among the many branches of one of the taller trees in the forest that surrounded the great walls of Konoha. His figure was obscured by the shadows projected by the leaves of the tree, though mostly by the black cloak that covered most of his body. The only thing that could be made out from him was the pair of glowing red eyes.
He watched intently as the mysterious creature he fought slightly over three days prior descended upon his hometown. Very patiently so. The red clouds on his own cloak, the one he had stolen from his now defunct partner, gave away his identity.
In a matter of minutes, screams finally reached his ears. He got there trying to intervene in a way that would actually be useful. To relay relevant intel about this new foe to the authorities. But now, having been faced with the fact that, somehow, the creature had gotten there first despite his own considerable head start.
Now it would be stupid to intervene. Clearly, whatever that being was, greatly surpassed his own capabilities. This left him with only one option left, in regards to Konoha. A man he was going to seek regardless due to the mission imposed on him by the Akatsuki.
After waiting for just one minute longer, his body began to disintegrate into a myriad of flying crows. These birds then flew away in the same direction, though never higher than the trees, as the leaves offered a very valuable cover.
Two ANBU spontaneously appeared, covered by a cloud of white smoke, in the office of the advisors of the now-retired Third Hokage. In the latter's absence, they were in charge of the village's leadership. The room, of course, contained the three elders that the desperate and frightened shinobi were looking for.
The three of them turned to their right side to look at the unexpected guests who had interrupted their secret meeting. Without a good reason, they could be sentenced to death for that interruption.
One of them fell to his knees, exhausted, while the other breathed so heavily that he seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack.
The one who was on his knees was the first to speak. "It's terrible! An... intruder! A beast has invaded Konoha!"
The elders exchanged glances. Then, the only female member fired off her question.
"Another invasion?"
The second ANBU continued to speak. "It wiped out the other ANBU in one attack. A strange jutsu... It was something like a beam of green light."
"Also... Before we intercepted him, he was eating people with his tail... It's crazy." The other followed, still on his knees.
Danzo got up from his seat and headed for the exit. His face was stoic, as always, although that action was interesting. It had two possible meanings, or at least two that his old companions suspected: he was going to hide in some secret bunker or he would jump into action, despite having been retired for more than twenty years due to the loss of his right arm.
"Activate the emergency protocol and inform all shinobi departments." The man ordered in a stern tone. "Homura, Koharu... We must ensure that there is a Konoha for a Fifth Hokage to rule over."
Both old men nodded their heads and stood up as well. Without wasting a single second, the ANBU disappeared in a cloud of smoke, intending to carry out the councillor's orders as soon as possible.
A pink-haired girl walked the streets of the central district of Konoha with great concern. Although Anko tasked her with keeping an eye on the honorable grandson of the Third Hokage, she had lost sight of him in an oversight and since then there was no trace of his whereabouts.
In her search she had been joined by the boy's two best friends, the boy's uncle and some friends he brought. Among them, of course, was Kakashi, who seemed to be experiencing torture after being forced to collaborate in that boring task. It seemed unbelievable for him that three jounin were being wasted on such a thing despite the scarcity of shinobi in the face of the many missions the village had to satisfy to stay afloat.
The third jounin was Ebisu, who searched even beneath the leaves, for he was well acquainted with his disciple's stealth abilities. On a couple of occasions, he even lightly hit a pair of caterpillars, convinced that it was Konohamaru using a transformation jutsu.
"Maybe he did that perverted Naruto jutsu..." He said as he looked down the street, where a popular nightclub was located. "And he hid..."
Asuma slapped him on the head, somewhat annoyed by the distractions and nonsense of the one who was supposedly the best shinobi teacher in the village. A drop of sweat fell down his head as he inhaled smoke from his cigarette.
"Focus!"
Sakura peeked out of an alley and saw nothing but a rat running through the darkness. She sighed and was inwardly grateful that Anko was away from Konoha, as she didn't know the punishment she could give her for failing in her mission.
The ginger girl who was a close friend of the lost boy finally clasped her hands together and sighed.
"I'm starting to believe that he slipped away to follow Gohan..." Moegi said, somewhat saddened by that fact.
"I'm afraid you're probably right." Said the son of the Third Hokage. "I'll have to ask for a reconnaissance team and pray that Anko found him already."
"At least with Gohan he will be safe..." The pink-haired girl said, a little calmer now that she remembered that detail. "He's very strong, after all."
The rat's screech distracted her for a moment. She noticed that, despite having left the alley on the opposite side of where she stood, it was now running in her direction. And it did it much faster than before. She looked up to see if it was running away from a cat, but instead saw an insectoid silhouette standing on the opposite side of the alley.
Her green eyes widened. She could not contain her terror for a second longer and let out a powerful scream that immediately alerted everyone.
Kakashi reacted immediately and ran towards his student. He stood in front of her and, with his hand on his black mask, looked with his single uncovered eye at the alley. He noticed the monster that was there and, almost like a reflection, uncovered his sharingan.
"Asuma, get ready." He said in a somber tone.
Sarutobi jumped to his side and understood the threat as soon as he saw the creature with his own eyes. He bit his cigarette hard. It was a demon straight out of hell, something worthy of a nightmare, not something one could see in the real world.
"Ebisu, take the children and alert all the active jounin in Konoha." Hatake added with the same gravity in his voice.
A cackle echoed through the walls of the alley. Cell had a feeling that he was about to have fun.