Chapter 10: Chris' Squad vs. Ligtigh
Jack, Jill, and Keith faced Ligtigh in the battlefield.
"You really think we can beat this guy without sensei?" Jill asked. "I mean, look what happened to Margo, Charles, and especially Kim."
"Yeah, well, this guy looks like a taijutsu type so if we use ninjutsu he should be helpless, right?" Jack suggested.
"Good thinking, Jack," Jill said.
"Oh, er… thanks," Jack said turning a little red.
"Quit conspiring and let's get this over with," Ligtigh said. Jack, Jill, and Keith took on fighting stances. Ligtigh grabbed the handle of his broad sword and charged at the Genin. When he reached them, he pulled the sword off his back and swung it at the young shinobi. All three of them jumped back and above the long blades reach. Ligtigh dropped the sword and grabbed a rusty dagger which he threw at Jill. Jack threw a shuriken and it hit the dagger in midair adverting it from Jill who pulled out her notebook. She flipped it open and performed some hand signs.
"Living Drawing Jutsu!" she shouted and a gorilla appeared in a poof of smoke. The gorilla charged at Ligtigh on all fours. Ligtigh pulled out a jewel encrusted dagger from its sheath and threw it at the gorilla. The gorilla knocked it aside with a swipe of its hand. Ligtigh grabbed his sword off the ground and slashed at the gorilla which dodged the attack and punched Ligtigh in the stomach causing him to fly across the field. They're not coming at me head on, Ligtigh thought. They fear my taijutsu because of this sword but it is not helping me with this gorilla. I have to kill the stupid thing. Ligtigh charged at the gorilla and swung his sword. The gorilla jumped and grabbed the non-sharp end of the sword. The gorilla then proceeded to bend the end of the sword into a hook. Ligtigh pulled out a kunai instead of one of his precious knives and threw it into the gorilla's head. The gorilla vanished in a poof of smoke. Ligtigh dropped his deformed sword and ran at the Genin. That girl is going to die! She ruined my sword! Ligtigh thought violently. He reached down and pulled a knife off his leg and threw it at Jack. Jack simply pulled out a kunai to block the attack, but the knife stuck to his kunai and then started to wrap around it.
"Throw it away!" Keith yelled. Jack hurled the entwined knives at Ligtigh. Ligtigh caught the kunai and ripped the other knife off of it. The knife returned to its normal shape and was slammed back into its sheath by Ligtigh. My sword is useless! Ligtigh thought. How am I supposed to fight these punks without it? No. Wait. Not useless. Just… different. Ligtigh picked up his now hooked sword and renewed his assault on the Genin. He reached out with the sword and caught it around Jack's leg. Keith did some hand signs.
"Acid Spitting Jutsu!" he shouted and spit acid at the sword. Ligtigh pulled the sword towards himself which pulled Jack with it making the acid now headed for Jack's other leg. Jill took action and ran in front of Jack doing hand signs.
"Flower Protection!" she shouted pulling a flower from her hair and throwing it at the acid. The flower's head grew extremely large and blocked the acid.
"Uh… thanks, Jill," Jack said.
"Any time," Ligtigh pulled the sword further towards him and tripped Jack. Then he pulled out the knife that had the strange marking on it and stabbed Jill with it just missing her heart. Jill shook uncontrollably as purple light spurted from the wound. She was lifted into the air and slammed into the ground making her spit up blood.
"That'll teach you, silly girl," Ligtigh said smirking.
"What did you do to her!?" Jack shouted as Jill started jerking in strange ways.
"Oh, I just stabbed her with a cursed knife and ruined the rest of her now short life," Ligtigh replied simply inspecting his nails. Jill had started jerking so uncontrollably that Keith had run up and was attempting to hold her down.
"Keith… kill me," Jill said.
"You, you, you… argh!" Jack screamed and kicked at Ligtigh's legs. Ligtigh fell over and Jack jumped on top of him. He began pounding Ligtigh's face with all the force he could muster breaking Ligtigh's nose and causing blood to come forth. Finally Jack pulled out a kunai and lunged at Ligtigh to strike him dead. Suddenly Jack's arm stopped. Ikstaka had run onto the battlefield and grabbed Jack's arm to protect Ligtigh.
"You won't take another one of my men! Not a chance!" Ikstaka shouted and threw Jack at a tree. Realizing that this battle had come to an end, Keith grabbed Jill and ran for Ashley. Ikstaka did as many medical jutsus on Ligtigh as he could before Chris came out and punched him hard enough to make him skip across the surface of the lake. As Ligtigh got up Jack got up and ran at him. The two engaged each other in battle as Keith ran into the enclosement. Ashley's squad was fighting Castrah.
"Ashley!" Keith called and leaned Jill against a wall. Ashley ran over to Jill and kneeled down. "Is there anything you can do?" Her hands glowed green and she probed Jill's body with them.
"Maybe. This will be extremely risky but seeing as she is going to die anyway…" Ashley trailed off and began working. Keith got up and began to leave. "No. Don't leave. I need someone to protect me while I work." Keith stood with his back to Ashley and watched the fight in front of him unfold. Donn, Courtney, and Logan had managed to surround Castrah. Logan and Donn ran at Castrah. Donn punched, Logan kicked, but Castrah jumped. Logan's and Donn's attacks came within inches of each other. They looked up to see Castrah hanging from the ceiling. Castrah dropped down and put her hands in the neutral pose. All her bracelets unlinked and connected to each other forming a long chain of bracelets. The bracelets wrapped tightly around Donn's neck twice and the considerable length left wrapped around her wrist leaving Donn suspended a few inches above the ground on a two foot leash. Logan grabbed his knife and slashed at the bracelet chain. His knife hit the chain and bounced off, not even leaving a scratch. Castrah punched Logan sending him flying into the wall of the enclosement. He collapsed and a Logan sized indent was visible in the wall. Courtney did some hand signs.
"Clone Jutsu!" she shouted. Castrah thought she saw about a hundred clones surround but there really were no clones at all. Castrah looked at Donn and saw he had fallen unconscious from lack of oxygen and the bracelet slipped off his neck like a snake letting him fall to the ground. Two down, one to go, Castrah thought as the entire bracelet chain wrapped around her right arm. Unfortunately the one is the hundred. Some "clones" charged at Castrah from behind so she turned around. The real Courtney came up from behind her and stabbed her with a kunai and then ran away. Castrah grabbed the kunai from her back and yanked it out.
"Oh crap! An exploding tag!" she shouted and pulled her arm back in preparation to throw it. It was too late. Courtney activated the tag and it exploded. As the smoke from the explosion began to clear, Courtney walked back to wear Castrah was. Did… did I kill her? Courtney asked herself. Suddenly she felt pressure on her ankle and looked down to see Castrah's bracelet chain around her ankle. The chain tripped Courtney as Castrah emerged from the smoke with the top two layers of skin missing halfway up her right arm. Castrah did some hand signs. Her hand glowed white and she touched Courtney's forehead causing her to faint. What have they been doing in the Leaf Village all this time? Castrah thought.
"Ice Style!" Castrah turned around in time to see ice flying at her legs and freeze them to the ground. Castrah looked around and saw Margo and Charles had picked up the fight. Castrah pulled out a kunai and pointed it at Donn.
"Don't move or I kill the boy!" she said.
"Where have I seen this before?" Charles asked sarcastically. "Wait. What's that over there?" He pointed behind Castrah.
"What?" Castrah asked and turned around as much as possible to see behind her. Charles threw a shurikan at Castrah's kunai and knocked it out of her hand.
"Ha! I didn't even think that would work!" Charles yelled in triumph. Castrah pulled out another kunai and stabbed it as hard as possible into the ice surrounding her legs. BOOM! An exploding tag had been attached to the kunai and exploded. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, they could see Castrah standing free of the ice but with the first layer of skin scraped off the bottom of her legs. "Are you insane!?" Charles asked incredulously.
"Maybe."
"Well at least she is in no condition to fight now," Margo pointed out.
"Nor are you," Castrah said barely standing up. "You were both injured and are almost out of chakra. I, however, have a fresh batch." So we have to end this quick, if that is even possible, Charles thought.
"Margo, can you do that portal thing again?" Charles asked.
"Probably not," Margo replied. "Too much chakra." Margo smiled. "However… ok. When I do the jutsu get Castrah and yourself in."
"O…k…"
"Charge!" Charles and Margo ran at Castrah. Margo did his hand signs slowly and finished them a few feet away from Castrah.
"Dimensional Portal Jutsu!" Margo shouted. The vortex appeared behind Castrah. Charles punched her stomach and pushed her through the vortex. He then jumped in himself and was followed by Margo. They landed in an unending plain of purple and black floating everywhere. Nothing seemed to be subtle in this place and Charles became lightheaded.
"I feel… weird," Charles said holding his head.
"You get used to it," Margo said.
"What is this place?" Castrah asked looking around.
"The fourth dimension. Strange, eh?" Margo said and turned to Charles. "The terrain is whatever you want it to be. You can create anything you want here."
"Really?"
"Would I lie to you?" Margo asked. He turned away from Charles and raised his voice. "The terrain here is always changing and you never know what might be behind, in front of, above, beside, or below you. Should make things more interesting, I think," Margo winked at Charles.
"Yes. It should," Castrah said. A small bag appeared next to Margo, and he picked it up. He opened it and pulled out two small black spheres. He popped one in his mouth and tossed the other to Charles.
"What is it?" Charles asked.
"Don't you know? Food pills. Increase your chakra. Eat it," Margo whispered.
"How did that happen?" Castrah asked.
"This place is always changing. Didn't I tell you that?" Margo asked smiling. "Anything can happen here and often does." He pointed behind her. "Like that thing." A purple blob came out of the ground behind her. It took on a humanoid appearance and walked slowly towards Castrah. Castrah jumped back next to Margo.
"Well how do you kill it?" she asked him.
"Aren't we fighting each other?" Charles asked.
"Not if this thing will attack all of us. Will it?"
"Perhaps." Margo ran up to the blob. The blob's right arm turned into a spike and it lunged at Margo's stomach. Margo moved to the side and sliced at the blob with a kunai. The blob's left arm came off but it simply grew back. Margo jumped back before the blob could attack again. "Truce?"
"Truce," Castrah agreed and shook Margo's hand.
"Ok. We need to get an exploding tag in it," Margo said.
"Well that can't be so hard," Castrah said. She pulled out a kunai and wrapped an exploding tag around it.
"Yes it can," Margo said. Castrah seemed to ignore Margo and threw the kunai.
Where the kunai would have hit the blob, a hole formed, and the kunai passed right through. Then a second arm came out the side of the blob followed by a leg. A torso came after that and soon an entire new humanoid blob had formed. Castrah ran at one, grabbed an exploding tag from her pouch and plunged her arm into the blob. She tried to pull her arm out but couldn't. The blob advanced on her and a gaping hole appeared on the head.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Charles asked..
"No. This is all going according to my plan," Margo said. Charles looked at him to see he was smiling evilly. The blob enveloped her in its itself and inserted her head into its mouth-like hole in its head. Only one way to live now… BOOM! Castrah had activated her exploding tag. The substance the blob was made of splattered everywhere. Castrah stood in the center of it all. Her left hand had been blown off and naught remained but a bloody stump.
"She is insane," Charles concluded. Margo ran forward at the remaining blob. He raised his arm and a wall came up from below splitting the blob in two. Then two more walls came up and the crushed the two halves of the blob on the middle wall. The walls sank back into the ground.
"Our fight continues," Castrah said ripping off part of her shirt and wrapping it over her stump.
"Shouldn't you just surrender?" Margo asked.
"No. My sensei taught me to always keep going," Castrah said. "No matter the cost I must achieve my objective." Margo ran at her doing hand signs. Two clones appeared next to him and they surrounded Castrah.
"You can't win," he said. "We're on my battlefield now." One of Margo threw some shuriken. Castrah side stepped to dodge some and her bracelet came alive and caught the rest. It then lashed out at one of the clones, which disappeared in a cloud of smoke and threw one of the shuriken into another clone who also disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The bracelet chain changed direction quickly and went for the remaining Margo's ankle. Margo jumped up to dodge the attack, but the bracelet changed direction again and grabbed him anyway. It lowered him to the ground and hung him upside down. Castrah faced Charles who threw a boomerang shurikan at her. She jumped to dodge the shurikan. The shurikan hit her in the back.
"What the heck? A boomerang?" she thought aloud. Charles did some hand signs.
"Piercing Darkness!" he shouted and pointed his finger at the bracelet. A small, needle-like shadow came from his finger and hit the bracelet chain cutting it in half. Margo fell and handspringed into the upright position. He jumped and brought his heel down on Castrah's head. Her face was slammed into the ground. Margo slammed his palm on the middle of Castrah's back snapping her backbone.
"AHHHH! AHHHH! OW! OW! AHHHH!" Castrah screamed in pain for about a minute before finally succumbing to a grimace. Margo squatted down next to her and turned her over. She was crying. "Good job."
"Your congratulating your enemy?" Margo asked.
"Well you aren't my enemy," Castrah said.
"We have just been fighting for who knows how long," Margo reasoned.
"You are my brother," Castrah said. "And I'm a Leaf Village ninja."
"And I am the Sixth Hokage," Margo said.
"Not funny, Margo."
"Wait. How do you know my name?"
"I knew who you were the moment I saw you," Castrah said. "You look so much like Mom." Margo turned red.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do. Anyways… I've been spying on Ikstaka for the Leaf Village for a few years now. Four years to be exact."
"Er… why?"
"He only killed one of the Leaf Village's best Chunin!"
"Who was that?" Margo asked even more confused.
"Julie! The only good ninja the Driebergen clan produced! And one of the best! Do you know nothing of your village's history? You're lucky I can't move otherwise I would smack you!" Castrah said.
"Well… I… uh… really don't hit the books too often…" Margo said anticipating the blow.
"WHY NOT!? You need to…" Castrah started, but she fell into a coughing fit which took her a while to lessen. "Margo…inside… Hokage… Sixth… Hokage…find…"
"No. No! Nooooo!" Margo screamed and cried over his long lost sister he had never known.
"Margo…" Charles whispered. "We should probably get back. The others might wonder where we are."
"All… alright," Margo said wiping a tear from his eyes. He grabbed Castrah's body and slung it over his shoulder. Then he did a series of hand signs. The portal appeared in front of them and they stepped through it into the enclosement.
"Well it looks like we have one less enemy to worry about," Keith said walking up to them. Margo walked past him and laid Castrah's body down next to where Houtacki's had been put. He carefully closed her eyelids and composed himself before standing.
"She wasn't our enemy," Margo said. "She was a Leaf Village spy… and my sister. And… I… I killed her!"
"Margo… you shouldn't blame yourself," Charles said. "You didn't know." Margo stood in silence looking at his sister's dead body. "How's Jill?" Charles asked turning to Keith.
"Well Ashley's still working. She said the curse on that knife is pretty significant and may take some time to get rid of," Keith said and began to walk away.
"Wait… where are you going?" Charles called after him.
"Jack is gonna need some help," Keith replied.
Author's note: Well there you have it. The battle between Jack, Jill, Keith and Ligtigh or should I say Charles, Margo and Castrah? If you think about it Castrah lost a lot of blood. She lost the skin layer on her legs and right arm plus got her left hand blown off. That girl is prone to injury.
