Chapter 7: Friends & Fiends

Yu hefted her spear, slinking away from the pile of corpses she had just made. The Rogue ninja encampment was starting to get quiet. There were bodies everywhere, vast craters gathered condensation from the ever present mist and tents blazed merrily in the crisp autumn evening. Yu was hunting for the next batch of ninja but it was proving to be quite difficult. 'Surely we haven't wiped them all out?' the enemies' numbers had been vast! The Marsh Mist Fiends had certainly done some damage and if they had finished them off it was good news but Yu was wary of not sticking to the plan. The Fiends were only supposed to be doing guerrilla strikes, but it looked like once again they'd got a bit carried away… If they overextended now and got killed by their careless bloodlust it would leave their forces in the mangroves vulnerable. Yu crouched behind a leaning tent, gathered her chakra before fusing it with the ghostly mist that had swirled around the gruesome battlefield.

She found Shozagetsu's chakra easily enough; it seemed he had just wiped out another team judging by the fading energy signatures around him. As usual his chakra presence was an ever changing enigma, cold to warm, sinister to fierce loyalty. 'The man's probably schizoid' Yu mused to herself before she pushed the chakra laden mist further through the campsite it was cold and empty. She started to worry. There were no ninja in the entire eastern half of the camp, the Marsh Mist Fiends had not killed anywhere near that number. '…Fumiaki'

Yu sprang from her crouched position, the dilapidated tents and blood churned mud blurring around her. Shozagetsu would not be happy about this; he had dibs on Fumiaki after all.

Shozagetsu yanked one of his kriss out of the still twitching body of his opponent. The ninja's eyes were starting to glaze over. Shozagetsu leaned down to him; his sharpened teeth looked feral in the dim light.

"There there dear" Shozagetsu patted him playfully on the cheek "You fought well" The ninja frowned slowly before his jaw fell slack.

Pushing a bloody lock of hair out of his eyes Shozagetsu caught a glimpse of himself in a puddle; the razor sharp smile grew larger. A true Marsh Mist Fiend, a horror to behold, his purple shirt was stained dark and his usually brilliant white hair was a dull gory red.

The surrounding area was littered with bodies, Shozagetsu sighed heavily, "not a single ninja above chuunin level" he considered aloud "Their numbers are impressive but the quality is lacking" He turned his head to the left, nodding to acknowledge the arrival of his lieutenant.

"What is it Yu? You know you're falling behind on the kill count game…"

"Shoza, Fumiaki…"

She flinched as he spun quickly, his violet eyes were furious as he figured out what she had been about to say in a heartbeat.

"The bastard's trying to get himself killed again. He knows I won't stand for that!" Shozagetsu howled. "Which fucking way!?"

Yu barely managed to point before the leader of the Marsh Mist Fiends had disappeared from sight. She stood stock still amongst the wreckage, taking a moment to realise what she had just unleashed.

'Makes for good entertainment when he's this pissed though…'

Fumiaki was tiring rapidly but his usually glum features were lit by a brilliant (if a bit bloodthirsty) smile. The pale blue coat he wore was in bloody tatters now, his hydrification ability having worn out a while ago. 'I seem to have caught their attention' he though smugly. It appeared the whole encampment was surrounding him now. His treasured axe was held loosely in his battle stained hand, a rivulet of blood was flowing down his arm and dripping off his bruised knuckles. With every movement he could feel each one of his injuries, the shallow slash down his back and the puncture wound in his axe arm were particularly painful. The water whip he'd once wielded had been discarded due to the high chakra cost, he didn't need it anyway, he wasn't expecting to get out of this.

The enemy had formed a cautious ring around him, none willing to take the lead against the squat Hozuki. Their eyes were wide, fearfully watching the man that had been killing indiscriminately for the best part of three hours now, not only that but reinforcements had slowly dwindled to halt, someone was helping him. They were the last... The rogues watched him shift his feet carefully; the ground was now littered with bodies and soaked with blood making it slick and untrustworthy, they all tensed at his slight movement. Fumiaki noticed the fearful anticipation of his attack; he threw his head back letting his booming laughter echo loudly, his heavy feature positively glowing with a wicked glee. The silver rings piercing the bridge of his nose glittered in the light of the burning tents matching the evil glow of his indigo eyes.

"Come on guys" Fumiaki panted "finish what you started" He span his axe in a couple of lazy circles then took a heavy step forward. His movements had slowed remarkably and for the first time the rogue ninja could spot openings in his defences. Yet his cheery brashness suggested that there were still some tricks up his sleeve.

"Well if you won't come to me…" Fumiaki violent coughed up some blood "I'll come to you. Aren't I a nice guy?" He took another step before staggering slightly to the left, a ninja behind him seized the opportunity leaping forward with a curved dagger in hand. Fumiaki's feet suddenly righted themselves; he danced nimbly away from the thrust before pivoting and swinging his axe violently into the assailant's skull. The ninja dropped like a broken puppet. Fumiaki took another single step to where he had originally been. His movements had been incredibly efficient; they had to be if he was going to take the bastards with him.

"I think you'll be more successful if you coordinate" He goaded in a sinister whisper, the clearing was quiet. He raised a white eyebrow; there was a hesitation in the air. Had he truly terrified them that badly? In fact it suddenly crossed his mind that no one in the encampment had been particularly experienced. 'How on earth have these guys been sacking villages? A platoon of regular jonin could deal with them in a heartbeat…' The only thing keeping the rogues in the fight was their overwhelming numbers.

The spell over the rogue ninja broke suddenly. The ring of men, about 100 strong, advanced.

Fumiaki let out a bloodcurdling wail and met them head on.

Ducking beneath a broadsword he parried a following spear thrust. Then with two rapid flicks of his axe he beheaded both attackers, abruptly spinning 360 degrees to knock away a hail of shruiken before leaping vertically and speeding through hand seals.

'Bird, monkey, dragon, horse!' "Water Style: Torrential Spite" A jet of water exploded from his mouth, ripping through the already saturated ground. The force of the water pushed him higher into the air helping him avoid another volley of shruiken. He saw the five attacking rogue ninja crumple like paper beneath the pressure of the attack, but the other assailants were already counter attacking. They were leaping from tree branches to catch him in the air.

Somehow managing to twist his stomach away from a probing spear Fumiaki started free falling back to earth. Twisting again to stabilise himself he caught sight of a boulder breaking free from the ground and start flying towards him. 'That's going to hurt…' he grimly set his guard, unable to avoid it.

The impact broke his left arm in three places. Then when he landed in a heap on the floor his femur fractured messily. Fumiaki's face remained stoic, none of the agony he was experiencing was displayed on his features; he could hear feet rushing towards him so with great willpower he managed to sit up. 'Ahh fuck! That hurts. Hope they do this quick, be best if I'm dead before boss gets here. No telling how pissed he's gonna be…' Fumiaki painfully turned his head, casually taking in the remaining rogue ninja.

'Haha we've nearly killed them all… At least I don't have to help with the clean-up!' Once again the rogues formed a ring around him, a single man stepped forward. There was a small red patch on his left shoulder that seemed to mark him as something more than a grunt. The squat Hozuki met the eye of the lead ninja, the man looked like a fucking coward. Fumiaki could tell he was unnerving his soon to be executioner, the man had lifted a katana but was trying not to look at his prey.

"Look at me." Fumiaki's voice was calm but cold, he didn't sound like a man staring death in the face. "What are you afraid of boy? Kill me" The ninja looked up at him.

"I'm not afraid Hozuki, I'm just figuring out how long I can draw this out."

"Hohohoho, phew I thought I was going to have to talk you through your first kill for a second. Well don't let me distract you anymore." Fumiaki slumped back on to the floor with a wide smile. The worst this man could hurt him would be nothing compared to what Shozagetsu did during their 'play fights', Fumiaki's smile slipped. So it was going to be a second rate death after a second rate fight?

The great and perilous Fumiaki, was to be cut down in the mud by some substandard rogues? Didn't sound like the ending he'd imagined, as much as he'd always tried to deny his boss the pleasure of killing him, the idea had a certain romance to it. Two eternal rivals finally testing their true strengths…

'Well that settles it then' Fumiaki's executioner stepped forward, making to kick him in his broken leg. The kick never connected. Instead the executioner found his foot clasped in a vice like grip, the joints in his ankle popped and grated before he was tugged from his feet. Fumiaki twisted himself off the ground then fell on top of him, his one working arm systematically breaking bones. When the man stopped screaming Fumiaki turned his dreadlocked head towards the rest of the rogues.

"I'm not quite ready to die yet…" The words were spoken with a conviction that scared the rogues. Even in the cold autumn evening those words were colder still. They were like a wintry gust that chilled the rogue ninja to the bone. Whilst the sentence had been about preserving life, it only suggested that others would end. This man was truly terrifying.

Fumiaki tried to pick up his fallen axe but his broken leg bent agonisingly, falling back to the floor he lifted his head to look at the rogue ninja. His dreadlocks were matted with thick sticky mud, his violet eyes had lost some of their vibrant colour. The very life in them seemed to be fading away despite his bold statement. But still the rogue ninja seemed hesitant to approach, the man he'd just massacred with his bare hand had been their captain, if he could do that to their leader what would this Hozuki do to them?

As the severely diminished army cautiously evaluated him, Fumiaki noticed a slight change in the air. The enemy had noticed nothing but Fumiaki knew the signs. 'More moisture. Here comes Boss...' The air indeed seemed damper; a thin layer of mist was creeping up on the remaining rogue ninja. As it slowly surrounded them Fumiaki's keen senses felt chakra being fed into it, growing thicker and thicker the mist ensnared the rogues.

The rogues were starting to notice now, but it was too late.

Shozagetsu appeared in their midst, he was in a low crouch with both kriss held in his favoured reverse grip. He was the vision on death, covered head to toe in blood, his once pristine snowy hair dishevelled and rusty red.

"You lot would be unaware but that man and I have history." Shozagetsu hissed his sibilant voice sinister in the now eerie quiet of the camp. "I'm the one who gets to kill him, anyone else who harms a hair on his head… ooooo that makes me angry."

Shozagetsu seemed to lean forward slightly; it was an unsteady movement that made it impossible to predict where he was going next. That was the last time the rogues laid eyes on him.

He disappeared and bodies started to drop.

Yu watched from the mist, it was a sight to behold. The captain rarely pushed himself, he normally enjoyed killing too much to do it quickly but when he lost his temper… Even to Yu's trained eyes he was nothing but a blur, zigzagging between the enemies. Before the first body had hit the floor three more were dead, it was almost sickening. She switched her gaze to Fumiaki, he looked bad. A lot of blood was gathering around him and she could see the off white of bone poking out of his thigh.

She cast her eyes back to the carnage; one rogue that had tried to run away had been gracefully hamstringed then left to bleed out, his moans melded with screams of his comrades, a twisted symphony orchestrated by a sadist. 'Shoza sure can be cruel… ' The remaining ninja, a paltry 6, tried to rally into a defensive position but it was fruitless. There was a flash of bloody steel and six headless carcasses fell to the floor.

Shozagetsu appeared again in a similar low crouch to before, it was almost like he'd never moved. Beneath the knotted dirty hair Yu could see his violet eyes glittering with malice. 'Pervert, I bet his trousers are pretty tight right now…' Shozagetsu rose from his haunches spitting onto a nearby body.

"My kill prick." He motioned for Yu to join him in the bloodbath "Yu can you patch Fumiaki up?"

"Dunno Shoza that leg is beyond me. I can stop the bleeding but we need to get him back to some real medics"

Fumiaki was looking at the two blearily "Stop talking like I'm not here" he grunted exasperatedly "Let's get out of here!" His two team mate strolled over, his bloodied state apparently not fazing them. Shozagetsu cocked his head before booting Fumiaki's broken arm.

"What did I say about you trying to get yourself killed?"

"grrhhh! Don't do it"

"Because it seems like you forgot that."

"Fuck you"

"Nah f…."

All three ninja flinched suddenly, Shozagetsu and Yu raising their weapons towards a new figure that'd just landed. A giant of a man with a great sword strapped to his shoulders, a moss green cloak swirled from the momentum of his movements and his face was stern but noble. He stood ignoring the bloodshed surrounding him, eyeing the trio before him prudently.

It wasn't like the Fiends to get caught unawares. Judging from his stance and the way he moved… 'this man must have some skill' Yu observed 'More skill than anyone in this camp…' The giant stepped forward into the light made by the burning campsite with his hands raised in a placating manner. He sized up the team carefully.

"You killed them all." It was a blunt statement made in a deep voice, the voice was not warm but neither was it devoid of emotion. "I don't mean any harm; I'm not part of the army. I just thought you might find the information I have valuable."

Two hours earlier

Iax watched the camp from the cover of the treeline; three ninja had attacked the encampment; two were using ambush methods whilst one appeared to be luring the majority of their enemies' forces to him. Iax watched a particularly clean kill by the axe wielder, noting the skill and efficiency of his movements.

'These guys are good. I was expecting more from this army however… they don't appear to be any stronger than chuunin.' Iax circled the camp surveying the widespread destruction. The numbers were starting to add up against the axe wielder 'I don't know about him but that would really hurt my ego, going down to second rate ninja'

After circling the camp Iax came to rest were he could watch the man with twin kriss, he was on another level to the axe wielder. His motions were fluid, instinctual; he was like poetry in motion. The kriss wielder rolled beneath a naginata sprang to his feet parried six shruiken with the pommel of his kriss and then cut down two men in a single strike. The action nearly had Iax yelling in excitement. 'I would love to fight him…'

Iax was broken from his reverie by the sounds of stealthy creeping to his left. Eyeing the forest in that direction, he surreptitiously slid a hand to the concealed pocket in his cloak. When he'd arrived at the camp he'd made all the necessary checks, the army had all been with in the defences of the camp no sentries had been patrolling the outer perimeter.

Moving along the bough of the oak he was on and climbing up the adjacent ash Iax gained some height. Taking care not to disturb the yellowing leaves he leapt silently into the next tree. Looking down from his leafy vantage point he spotted the origin of the noise. A group of three ninja, dressed in the same attire as the ninja being massacred in the encampment. They were convening in hushed whispers.

"Goro listen to me!" hissed a brown haired ninja "If we don't act quick we're going to lose this whole division!"

"Yugoro you fail to understand. Look at those ninja, if we joined in we'd just join the pile of bodies. One division of chuunin is no big sacrifice. Matsu return to headquarters and inform them of these developments. Yugoro and I will keep watch."

Matsu, a rangy looking ninja, nodded once before using shunshin. Iax frowned 'so this isn't the entirety of the army…' Iax weighed his options. 'I don't know that trio down there… they're likable though, it takes balls to attack like they do... They might have additional information on the army too. That settles it.'

Stepping from his viewpoint Iax appeared amongst the two army ninja. A kunai appeared from his cloak and was whipped across Goro's throat before he could react. Yugoro was next to feel the daggers steel. Iax pushed the bodies to the forest floor. It appeared the fight below was finishing up; the kriss wielder was cutting down the opponents who'd injured his friend in frenzy like manner. 'I'll let him clean up. Don't want to get caught in that…'

"… So ultimately I would advise getting out of here." Iax finished relaying his Intel. The team before him didn't show any signs of worry or fear. 'Proper professionals these guys' Iax grinned. The lady named Yu turned to the kriss wielder, who was using the point of his weapon to get some stubborn grit out from under his nail.

"Captain if this man is telling the truth we do need to get out of here." Her voice was business like.

"I know Yu dear, but if… sorry your name?"

Iax locked eyes with the bloodied captain "Iax... yours?"

"Shozagetsu, remember it, well anyway if this is all true I don't see us getting Fumiaki out alive" Fumiaki, who had been leaned against a tree trunk, shrugged nonchalantly.

"ehh what you gonna do?" His bass tones calm as ever, his cloudy indigo eyes staring off into the distance. Iax evaluated the squat man; he really didn't seem to mind. Shozagetsu on the other hand looked pissed off.

"Fumiaki dear, don't give up yet. I'll find a way." The sweet words were not sincere being hissed through shark like teeth. Iax watched awkwardly as the team of three exchanged glances, they seemed close. It was going to be difficult leaving a team mate behind.

"Look Boss, I'm done. I can feel it, I'm sorry. But you need to get back to villages, remember the spiel about protecting the ninja world's future?" The injured Hozuki grumbled away, he wasn't looking at his captain, he seemed more interested in the thigh bone protruding from his thigh.

"Shut up!" Shozagetsu snapped viciously "Don't do the heroic sacrifice shit; it really doesn't suit a prick like you."

"mmmm whatever boss" Fumiaki grumbled tiredly "I'll keep the reinforcements busy here. I'll make the ultimate sacrifice…" He finished with a sardonic smirk. Shozagetsu spluttered, hands twitching on his kriss. Yu however strode over and knelt tenderly next to her friend.

"Fumiaki, how do you intend to do that?" It was a question Iax had been asking himself.

"You know Yu. I still got my trump card" He reached up with his working arm, placing it heavily on her shoulder. "I'll miss you the most"

"You know I don't do pity fucks Fumiaki. How many times does a girl have to say no?" Fumiaki chuckled, bloody teeth flashing in the burning camps light.

"Just one more time Yu" She took his hand from her shoulder.

"Not now Fumiaki. Take care and leave some for us."

"I'll see how I feel about that." Fumiaki muttered before raising a hand in the seal of confrontation. Iax felt his chakra spike, great waves of energy started flowing off the stocky ninja.

"What's he doing?" Iax asked cautiously, he turned to face the other two Hozuki but they were already running. "Hey!"

"You coming or what big guy?" Yu yelled over her shoulder as she and Shozagetsu fled for the tree line. Both were travelling at break neck speed, Iax lunged after them building up momentum until he was flying along next to them, leaping from branch to branch the trees nothing but green shapes.

"What's your team mate doing? He can't fight in that state." Iax questioned Yu, feeling she was the level headed member of the team.

"Steaming Danger Tyranny." The response was deadly serious.

Iax took note of her expression "Some kind of jutsu…?"

"It was the second Mizukage's ultimate jutsu. An oil and water based clone that is invulnerable to damage and capable of moving at incredible speeds. It moves around striking opponents the oil growing hotter until the water evaporates causing it to explode… In a nutshell" Iax shrugged indifferently.

"I've heard of worse. It's basically the exploding clone jutsu…"

"You don't understand though, when the steam from the explosion rises it turns to hail which cools the clone causing it to reform. The jutsu is also known as the infinite explosion technique." Yu cut him off.

"Arrrgggghhh!" Shozagetsu howled, landing on a branch and halting suddenly. The other two stopped as well, caught off-guard by the outburst. The captain was slamming a bloody fist into the trunk of a tree, causing the bark to shatter; he turned to the other two. "I wanted to kill him" He whined irritatingly. Yu shook her head in disbelief before turning to Iax.

"Iax, we're returning to our village now. You will accompany us; we need more Intel on this 'army'." Her tone was, once again, business like. "I'll warn you now, attempting anything that will harm the village or its inhabitants will result in your death."

Iax smiled sadistically, the woods grew cold as Yu and Shozagetsu's killing intent was unleashed. "Yeah I didn't have any intention of causing trouble. I did think you'd be informing me about the army to be honest." He rubbed the back of his neck in an petulant fashion. "Oh well whatever, I'm sure we'll find out more when the rest of the army reveals itself."

Yu nodded quickly, her white fringe falling gently over her face. As she brushed her snowy hair away from her eyes Iax noticed them welling with a mixture of emotions. She was obviously trying to hide those feelings so he didn't acknowledge them. 'I'm guessing losing that teammate isn't sitting to well with her'

In the distance there was a huge explosion followed by a faint trickling noise of falling hail. The three ninja turned westerly, there was a pause of about three minutes then another explosion rocked the forest. Fumiaki's final fight had begun.

"It's just not fair." Shozagetsu muttered huskily, his hand still buried in the tree trunk. His tangled hair was shielding his violet eyes.