A/N: EDITED! That makes one more chapter done! Three more to go, then I can put more focus on writing up to a certain part of the story before uploading more chapters! I hope you all enjoy! :)
The soft sound of feet stepping on sand coupled with the ominous howling of the wind filled the air as Senshoku slowly paced around the center of town, his predator eyes slowly skimming his surroundings. He had been chasing Tsuyo for some time now, and was rather annoyed by the fact that he had lost two of his clones to Ketsui. The one that was about to finish off the Hoshigaki girl was destroyed after Ketsui intervined and saved the genin. The other, which Senshoku left to deal with Ketsui alone, was dispatched with ease after The Man of Five had learned of a way to defeat it. The mere thought of it made Senshoku growl slightly.
He was in his glass form, his left arm morphed into a long, deathly sharp glass blade. It was very dark in this section of town, the only light being from the moon and a single streetlight which was dim and flickering. He was glaring in every single direction as he circled the small location, knowing that Tsuyo was somewhere close. Occasionally, the Glass Man would shoot a shard into a random direction, or slice a stand in half as he searched. His hopes were to get a single sound out of the boy, for that would be all Senshoku needed to locate him.
"Come on, child. Do you honestly expect to keep on hiding from me like this? You know that if you make the slightest move, it will be the end for you. I WILL know where you are when it happens, and you can't stay silent forever. You are only delaying the inevitable..."
Senshoku stopped in front of a stand and roughly cut it in half with his blade arm, the loud sound disturbing the quiet ambience of night. "COME OUT, I SAID!"
Tsuyo was smart enough to not hide behind a stand, yet was too terrified to make any attempt to escape. He quivered inside of a shack as he hid behind a counter, hugging his knees and keeping his eyes shut.
Just relax. Just relax. Just relax. Just relax. Just relax.
These were the only thoughts running through his mind as he attempted to drown out Senshoku's threats as well as the sudden sounds of crushing and smashing, both of which seemed to get closer and closer as time went on. Oh, how he wished Tenshi was there to help him out. She would know just what to say, like always. She would be brave enough to confront the cold-hearted bastard which threatened Tsuyo with his life. She would be smart enough to figure out a way to escape. She...would just make Tsuyo feel better. A small tear rolled down Tsuyo's face as he thought about her, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't begin to sob. He missed her, he missed his house, he missed his books. He could go on and on about the things he missed. Heck, he even missed Mendona. He absolutely hated the jinchuuriki, but he would much rather put up with him than Senshoku.
A shard of glass flew over Tsuyo's head and became embedded in the wooden wall of the shack that was in front of him, and a few small strands of his dirty blonde hair were clipped off, gently floating down in front of his face. His eyes shrank immensely as he bit down on his tounge harder, forcing himself to keep quiet. He began to taste his own blood as it leaked from it, the repulsive flavor of the crimson liquid causing him to stop biting down on it and hug his knees tighter. Taking a deep, silent breath, he closed his eyes as he tried his best to drown out his surroundings, and slip into a calmer state of mind...though it didn't help much.
Okay...okay...what should I do...the situation is that I'm pinned down and my teammates are not garunteed to find me. So, what do I do? There was a question like that on the final exam, right? Oh wait, Jiyuu helped me answer that. Well, I know that I've read some books like that, what do the heroes do to escape...hm...use an incredibly powerful jutsu that nobody knew he had? If only I could do that...what other things did they do? Traps...I can do that. I know how to make traps, yeah. Okay, traps, got it...how am I going to do that when, what did Ketsui-sensei say his name was, Senshoku? How am I going to set up a trap with Senshoku constantly looking out for me?
Tsuyo's expression changed from fear to impatience as he forgot that his life was on the line. He began thinking about the situation more like it was an event in a story rather than an actual threat. This helped him calm down even more as he began to think of multiple strategies to face Senshoku one-on-one until Ketsui would show up. However, his thoughts were scattered when five shards of glass got embedded into the shack's wall. Tsuyo twitched and sunk his head between his shoulders in fear, hearing Senshoku let out his anger on multiple objects close by.
Time's running out, I wont be able to plant a trap after all. I guess 'that' strategy will have to do...ooooooh, I just hope it works... A chilling sensation rolled all over his body as it invited a shiver to join, which made the genjutsu-user even more nervous to put his plan in motion. Taking one more deep breath, he muttered a silent prayer to himself as he lifted his hood over his head, a small part of him wondering if this would be his final moment on Earth.
Senshoku heard a noise directly in front of him, the sound of someone shuffling their feet slightly. He turned all of his attention to that one spot as he began focusing on it. He squinted his eyes slightly and let out a small huff. So you chose to die there...pitiful. He began making he way to the shack, but stopped when the genin quickly stood up from behind the counter. The genin's expression was cold, emotionless, different from what Senshoku had seen during his pursuit of the boy. The Glass Man couldn't help but grin slightly at the sight. "And there you are...just look at you, finally brave enough to confront me," Senshoku stated calmly.
Tsuyo kept his eyes locked onto Senshoku's, attempting to make his facade appear to be legitimate . Thank goodness he was standing behind a counter, he would never seem believable if the Glass Man could see how badly the genin's knees were shaking.
"I j-just needed some time to formulate a plan," Tsuyo said while adjusting his glasses, the crinkle in his brow deepening. "I'm no mindless brute, n-nor am I skilled in any real combat. However, that d-doesn't mean that I'm unable to handle you myself." Gah, why am I still stuttering?! Pull yourself together, Tsuyo!
Senshoku slowly shook his head as his glass eyelids lowered. "I don't understand what it is with these genin nowadays. They all act as if they are experienced, as if they know what it was like to fight in a war. They think themselves brave, but they never realize just how badly bravado can hurt them in the end...your Hoshigaki friend was no different..."
This small mention of Sakana made Tsuyo swallow a small lump in his throat, and a small bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head. He could feel his cool and calm demeanor crumbling as he thought about what he had just heard. What? He beat Sakana by himself? She's so brutal, though! She's so violent, so bloodthirsty, and she still lost to him? Oh man, what did I get myself into? Tsuyo cleared his throat as he attempted to keep a cool head in front of Senshoku. "S-so, that glass style you use...kekkei touta, right?"
Senshoku stared at the boy blankly, aware that he was attempting to buy time by talking. Should he just kill the boy now? Or should he humor him in order to make him believe that his plan was working, and then strike at an unexpected opportunity? Senshoku's small grin thinned into a knife-edge line, deciding to go with the latter. "Yes, it is a kekkei touta, a special trait that my clan members were born with."
"Were? What happened to your clan?"
"You seem like a smart child. Why not make an educated guess?"
"...they were wiped out?"
"Yes...yes, they were 'wiped out'."
"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that."
"I'm sure you are, child. Now, let's get to the matter at hand, shall we?"
Senshoku wasted no time as he dashed towards the genin, his bladed arm shimmering in the moonlight as it rose in preparation to strike. Tsuyo's eyes shrank as he quickly leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the deadly glass blade as it effortlessly cut through the wooden counter like it was made of paper. Senshoku snapped his attention to the side, looking right at the genin. He quickly formed a glass kunai in his right hand and flung it at boy. The genin let out a small 'eep' sound as leapt out of the shack, avoiding the kunai. While he did so, he reached into a pouch on his vest and pulled out a small iron ball with black holes all over it. He threw it at Senshoku, who caught it with his right hand easily. He opened his hand and examined it, slightly confused when he realized that he had never seen a ninja tool like this before.
Before Senshoku could think about it any more, Tsuyo made the rat sign with his hands. This caused the ball to blow up, which also caused a bunch of tiny needles to fly out from it. The explosion was small though, so the only damage it ended up causing was shattering Senshoku's hand. The small needles did nothing to his body as they simply bounced off the glass surface and fell into the sand. Senshoku stared at his right arm as the glass shards rose from the ground and began reforming his hand, and then turned to look at Tsuyo as he landed on his feet a few yards away.
Tsuyo began to look worried as he saw the hand reform, and Senshoku did note fail to take note of it.
"Hn...what's wrong, child? Did you truly think that you were dealing with some ametuer? I'm much more than meets the eye...," the Glass Man mocked.
Tsuyo began to shake slightly as he pulled out two kunai from a different pouch on his vest. "H-how come y-you're not in pieces right now? T-those needles should have shattered your body!"
Senshoku grinned slightly as he began walking to Tsuyo, his hand fully reformed. "Simple, the glass that I use in my techniques can be altered when I add extra chakra to it. Normally, glass if a very fragile material and your needles would have done the damage you predicted. However, by adding enough of my chakra into the techniques, my glass can obtain the density of steel. And just so you know, child, I tend to do that quite a lot in battle. So, what will you do about that?"
Tsuyo bit his lip and held up his two kunai in a defensive position, unable to maintain a good grip due to the sweat on his hands. "I g-guess we'll just have t-to see..." he muttered in a wavering voice.
Senshoku stopped walking and stood still, waiting for the boy to make a move. It was obvious that Tsuyo was weak, so there was no use in wasting chakra to cast ninjutsu on him. The boy threw one of his kunai at the Glass Man, who allowed it to make contact. The kunai's tip made a tiny hole as it bounced off of the man's chest, doing nothing more than prompting him to let out a quiet 'hn'. Tsuyo gulped when he realized his attack had no affect, and braced himself for close quarters combat when Senshoku charged him. Tsuyo began freaking out, swinging his kunai around and mixing random punches in with his defensive barrage. Senshoku carelessly allowed the attacks to hit him as he swung his blade around nonchalantly, the form of the child's kunai swings being too poor to damage him and the actual taijutsu being laughably ineffective. In fact, his attacks were executed so poorly that they often went off course and made contact with Senshoku's legs and arms. Tsuyo, as careful as he was trying to be, simply couldn't avoid the speedy swings from Senshoku's bladed arm, and ended up getting sliced deeply across the chest. He screamed out in pain, but was silenced by a violent kick to the mid-section from the enemy. Tsuyo flew back and crashed into a small stand, toppling it over as he hit the ground with broken planks of wood scattering in the sand around him.
Tsuyo's weakly dropped the kunai and attempted to cover up the wound with his hands in order to stop the profuse bleeding, but stopped when Senshoku slammed a foot down onto his gash. Tsuyo began whimpering, helplessly watching his victorious enemy raise a bladed arm in preparation to deal the final blow.
"It's like I said...you genin nowadays don't understand how dangerous bravado can be...think on your errors during this battle while you sit in the afterlife...farewell," Senshoku spat as he rammed the glass blade through Tsuyo's heart.
Tsuyo went limp and his expression became blank, a small trickle of blood running from his mouth as his eyes clouded over. Senshoku took a moment of silence to pray for the young boy, having no hard feelings towards him. He then slowly drew his blade and flung the blood off of it into the sand. His bladed arm morphed back to normal, and he changed from his glass form into his normal fleshy one. He turned his back to the body and began walking, hoping to join the last clone in the pursuit of Jiyuu. A gust of wind blew by, and he stopped walking. Something felt...odd. When that gust of wind blew by, he only felt the breeze make contact with his face. What was the problem with that? Simple: he wore no shirt, so he should have felt it on his chest, too. He glanced down and saw nothing out of the ordinary, causing him to furrow his brow. He poked at his chest, and felt something other than flesh. What is this...why does my skin feel like...paper?
Suddenly he heard a loud splash behind him, and he quickly spun around as he changed back into his glass form. The body was gone, replaced by water-soaked sand. The blood in the area was gone, as well. Senshoku stared at the scene for a moment, feeling his eye slightly twitch. "...a water clone...how simple of you..." he growled. He heard someone clear their throat from atop a shack, and Senshoku slowly glanced over to see Tsuyo in perfect health.
"Well, that was actually pretty exciting, I must admit. Sorry to say it's over, though," Tsuyo said in a calm voice as a grin spread across his face. He made the tiger sign as he released his genjutsu on Senshoku, revealing that the Glass Man's body was practically covered in paper bombs. Senshoku's glassy eyes widened as he realized just what had happened, and quickly looked back at the genin with a quizzical expression.
"Oh, you're wondering how, right?" Tsuyo said as he adjusted his glasses. "Quite simple, really: I used genjutsu on you this entire fight. That shuffling you heard around the beginning was intentional; I can only put people under genjutsu via sound. Knowing that you would attack after hearing the slightest noise, I decided to use myself as bait and reveal my location. I struck up a conversation with you to buy time, hiding the motions of my arms with genjutsu while I created a water clone. I then used genjutsu to swap places with my clone, knowing that I couldn't avoid combat with you for very long." Tsuyo then reached into a pouch on his vest and pulled out a paper bomb, showing it to Senshoku. "I came with loads of these; a good shinobi is a prepared shinobi, after all. Anyways, I had my clone ACT helpless on purpose just so you wouldn't bother using any real effort in close combat. That's when I, while rendering myself invisible with genjutsu still, took the liberty of pasting these on you during my clone's attack. I knew you wouldn't bother paying much attention to the horribly unprecise strikes, so you wouldn't notice the slight pressure being applied to your body as I stuck the paper bombs all over you. I even did it to your back, which I'm kind of surprised you didn't notice."
Senshoku frowned and looked over his shoulder, realizing that he did indeed have a few stuck to his back. He turned his attention to Tsuyo once more and gritted his teeth. "Tch...so then you purposely let me finish off your clone, using genjutsu to make it seem like I actually killed you. You're poorly portrayed bravado was all an act from the beginning just so I would underestimate your talents...how crafty of you..." he growled, clearly vehement with anger at his own carelessness.
Tsuyo made the rat sign with his hands and bowed his head, still smiling wide as he maintained eye contact with Senshoku. "Rule one of being a shinobi: never underestimate the skills of your opponent. Think on your errors during this battle while you sit in the afterlife...farewell," he mocked. He detonated the paper bombs, completely shattering Senshoku into billions of tiny shards of glass which flew everywhere.
In the distance, Ketsui was panting deeply as he continued his search for Tsuyo and Jiyuu. It had been years since he used a secret jutsu like that on an enemy of any kind, so he was not exactly used to losing so much chakra in such a short amount of time. He was tired, low on energy, and could barely focus as he dashed along rooftops, his strained vision making most things appear to be large blurs of color. Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out to his left, which instantly grabbed his attention. He stopped on a dime and saw a cloud of smoke rising in that direction, knowing exactly what was going on. He promptly began running in that direction, hoping that it wasn't too late.
Tsuyo stood still as the bombs detonated, the force of the blast blowing the hood off of his head. Small glass shards covered the sandy ground, the moon's light bouncing off of them as if they were the surface of one large pond. Tsuyo couldn't help himself, he jumped down from the shack and let out a gleeful cheer.
"I DID IT, I ACTUALLY DID IT! I'M ALIVE, HA HAAAA!" he shouted while he practically hopped up and down, fists pumping into the air in celebration. All those times people told him to be brave, it had finally gotten to him! He finally listened, and it payed off! Oh, he could not wait to get back to the Hidden Mist and tell Tenshi about this moment! He stopped celebrating for a moment as he realized that the mission wasn't over. He quickly stopped his small victory antics and cleared his throat, fixing his crooked glasses as he regained his composure.
"Hm...I wonder where Ketsui-sensei is," he thought out loud as he held his chin. "I know Sakana's probably hurt since Senshoku said something about her being too overconfident in herself..." He couldn't help but grin again, realizing that he not only defeated an S-ranked shinobi by himself, but he did it when Sakana couldn't. He giggled again, but stopped instantly when a large glass blade rested itself on his shoulder. His eyes shrank and he slowly looked over his shoulder, genuine fear taking over his body as he began shaking uncontrollably from the unfathomable waves of killer intent he was being slammed with.
Senshoku's legs, waist, head and arm were pieced together, the small shards in the sand being drawn to his incomplete body as it slowly reformed. The arm, which was morphed into the blade on Tsuyo's shoulder, was shaking badly, as if Senshoku was resisting the urge to chop down the ignorant genin right away. Before Tsuyo could say anything, he was kicked in the back by Senshoku, and flew right into a broken shack's wall. Tsuyo began to scramble as he attempted to stand, but froze in place when he heard Senshoku speak.
"SECRET TECHNIQUE: TRANSPARENT PRISON WALLS," the Glass Man shouted in anger as his arm turned normal. He thrusted his palm onto the sandy ground, and a large glass box formed around both him and Tsuyo. The genin panicked as he began banging on the glass wall closest to him, unable to think straight and use any of his ninja tools. Senshoku's body finally completed itself, and he took a single step towards Tsuyo, clearly very annoyed. Tsuyo saw this and backed up, now sitting in a corner as he watched the Glass Man in horror.
"So, you thought that it was going to be easy? Only a FOOL would think that considering WHO I AM!" Senshoku's blade arm turned normal, and then both of his arms turned into something that looked much more menacing. The arms slowly grew jagged, sharp-looking glass shards all over, looking like they could shred anything that he punched. He wasn't going to kill Tsuyo, he was going to torture him...make him suffer...make him beg for death, and then finally put him out of his misery. He now stood a foot away from Tsuyo, and raised an arm as he prepared for the first of many strikes...but stopped when he noticed something strange...Tsuyo's pants seemed to be getting darker.
He squinted as he observed the quivering boy. Tears were rolling down Tsuyo's face and his eyes were shut tight, a small puddle beginning to form around him. At that moment, Senshoku realized why the genin's pants were getting darker, and couldn't help but let out a cruel chuckle. "Really? You're going to wet yourself during your final moments? How pathetic..."
Tsuyo slowly bowed his head as he attempted to hide his embarrassment, but it made no difference. He was scared, felt hopeless, wanted Tenshi...he just wanted to go home now.
I can't believe it...just when I thought that I had done something good for once, this has to happen. I really am going to die, after all...I'm worthless, I'm a failure...I'm better off de-
His constant depressing thoughts ended when the very top of the glass box was shattered.
"Freezing Release: Congealing Breeze!"
It was Ketsui, and the sudden sound of rushing wind combined with the incredibly chilly air made Tsuyo raise his head. Senshoku was completely frozen solid, his angry face staring right at Ketsui. The sensei was panting heavily as his arms dropped to his sides, having just finished weaving hand signs. Ketsui kicked the frozen Senshoku in the leg, causing the now-brittle enemy to shatter where he was hit. This caused the Glass Man to topple over completely and shatter on the ground, his glass turning into fine specs of chilled, glass dust.
Ketsui shut his eyes as he tried to control his breathing, a hand instinctively moving up to feel his rapidly-beating heart. "There...now he won't reform..." He suddenly coughed up blood and fell to his knees, the hand over his heart moving to his stomach as he began trembling.
"KETSUI-SENSEI!" shouted Tsuyo as he quickly forgot about himself and moved over to his sensei.
Ketsui held up a hand as he stayed in his current position, gasping. Steeling himself, he weakly stood up on his own and looked down at Tsuyo, wiping the blood away from his mouth while trying his best to force a grin. "You alright?"
"F-f-forget about me, what about y-you? What was that y-you just did? Freezing R-Release? Why is it hurting you?" the worried boy inquired, his eyes and voice filled to the brim with panic.
Ketsui shook his head slightly as he straightened himself, placing a hand on his lower back as a soft crack was emitted from it. "We'll talk 'bout that later...for now, let's just say it's somethin' that I haven't used in a long time." He rolled his head around and placed a hand behind his neck, rubbing it wearily as he moaned. The fatigue he was feeling couldn't be more obvious if he had written the word 'tired' all over his forehead; the once cheerful jounin looked like he hadn't slept in days, though it was clear he had gotten decent rest not too long ago. His arms and legs were trembling with the slightest movement, as if his muscles were straining under tremendous pressure. And that smile...that smile was quivering, and it was a poor attempt to hide the pain and fear he was feeling at the moment for his genin...for his son. Tsuyo was about to speak up on the matter, but suddenly being under Ketsui's attention silenced him. "Can you still fight," the jounin asked.
There was a slight pause before the genin responded. "...n-no, I used up all my chakra on a g-genjutsu fighting Senshoku...," Tsuyo replied nervously as he glanced away from his sensei. The truth was that he had plenty of chakra left, but was too scared to encounter Senshoku again. Any chance he had to avoid conflict, he would take it.
Ketui rose an eyebrow as he examined the genjutsu-user, reading him like a book and easily deducting what the truth most likely was.
...poor kid...he means well, but this guy's too much for him...can't really say I blame him, though. He's just a genin who expected a normal mission, not this...
"Alright then, listen up. There's a medical area not too far from here, you should be able to get there in 'bout seven minutes. Sakana's bein' treated, and I want you to stay with her. Make sure she doesn't do anythin' rash when she's fully treated, got it?"
Tsuyo looked away from his sensei, guilt and depression practically flowing through his veins...but it wasn't enough for him to change his mind about heading into more danger. He felt that he would be just another burden for his sensei to shoulder, not able to do anything of use. He nodded slowly, swallowing a lump in his throat as he considered his personal opinion about himself to be fact. "Alright..." he said quietly. To his surprise, Ketsui put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to face the man.
Ketsui strained himself to give a wider grin to his student. "I understand how it must have felt, Tsuyo. Your first mission and you already had to face an S-rank criminal by yourself. Nobody'll blame you for feelin' scared. And don't think that a shinobi's gotta be fearless, because that's just a flat-out lie. Fear is somethin' you can't get rid of, we're all able to feel it no matter how many close calls we've had."
Tsuyo's eyes teared up slightly as he bit his lip. "...you're scared, sensei?"
"...yeah...I'm scared. I know that this guy's serious. He almost killed Sakana, he's pushin' me to my limits, he almost did who-knows-what to you, and he's chasin' Jiyuu around somewhere. I've got every reason to be scared, Tsuyo...'cause it's not just me who's in danger. I promise you, we'll get outta this alive...and when we get back home, it'll be your first tale to tell as a shinobi...how you survived crossing paths with Senshoku Hari of the Stained Glass..."
Ketsui smiled wider, but was surprised at what happened next. Tsuyo hugged him and cried into vest, thankful for the comforting words.
Ketsui looked down at the boy and hugged him back, just as he would with his own child. "Hey, hey...try and calm down, alright? I've gotta find Jiyuu, so go and keep Sakana company for me."
Tsuyo backed off and wiped his tears away. "Okay s-sensei...thank you..." he managed to say through sniffs as he tried to control his sobs. Ketsui gave him a friendly nod before vanishing into thin air. After standing still for a few more minutes within the glass cube, the genjutsu-user took a deep breath to steady his crying before suppressing it altogether. Silently asking Kami to let everything go as planned, he then left the scene of his battle as he headed towards the medical area. Him and Sakana would wait for Ketsui and Jiyuu's return together.
Jiyuu had made his way out of the town as he ran from Senshoku. The Glass Man had been in pursuit ever since Jiyuu left the bath house, and hasn't let the young Hyuuga out of his sight since. To his surprise, though...Jiyuu wasn't running away. The genin stopped when they were a good distance from the village and turned around, facing Senshoku with his fists balled up. They were in the middle of a flat, sandy area, the moonlight illuminating their soon-to-be field of battle. The Glass Man stopped in his tracks and stared at the genin with curiosity, watching as the child before him rose those readied fists into a muay thai fighting stance.
"Okay, this should be far enough. Nobody's gonna get in the way now, it's just you and me," Jiyuu said in a surprisingly serious tone. He knew that Ketsui would come to back him up at some point, he just didn't know when. Until his father arrived, he would have no choice but to keep Senshoku busy.
The Glass Man squinted his eyes at the boy, making a small huff. "Honestly, what causes you children to be so stubborn..."
"What do you mean...?"
"What do you think I mean, child? I've created three clones and left them behind to deal with the rest of your team. That Hoshigaki girl as well as the genjutsu user would both be dead if your sensei didn't have a talent for showing up at the very last moment. A true pity, it has been a long time since I've been granted such an easy time defeating an opponent, and I would have simply enjoyed finishing them off."
Jiyuu's expression suddenly became one of worry as he averted his eyes. His teammates would be dead if Ketsui wasn't around? With Tsuyo's genjutsu prowess and Sakana's ferocity, he thought for sure that they wouldn't have any problems. To hear that they were almost killed, and without this guy even trying, certainly didn't strike any confidence in Jiyuu. "What're you gonna do now, huh? Try and kill me?" asked the young Hyuuga as he attempted to act unfazed by Senshoku's words.
Senshoku grinned, which sent a shiver down Jiyuu's spine. "Kill you? Don't be ridiculous, boy. I have other plans for you, plans involving those rather curious eyes of yours..."
Jiyuu glared at the man after hearing that. "Why the hell does everyone care so much about my eyes? They're no different from any normal Byakugan!"
"On the contrary, your Byakugan is black as opposed to the normal white. I will even go as far as to say that your eyes are unique, no other pair of eyes quite like them in this world. Your eyes alone are worth around 5,000,000 ryo, considering that it's a unique doujutsu," Senshoku stated.
Jiyuu's eyes widened upon hearing the price. "W-what? 5,000,000!?"
"That's right," Senshoku said as his body slowly became glass. "That's why I won't be killing you. I'll knock you unconscious and take you elsewhere, then I will surgically remove your eyes, and THEN kill you," he explained with a malicious grin, putting plenty of emphasis on the last part.
Jiyuu activated his Byakugan as he took a step back. "The only way you're gonna get these eyes is if you pry them from my cold, dead body!"
"That can be arranged..." the stoic man stated calmly as he began walking towards the genin.
Jiyuu found himself walking backwards to stay at a distance from the Glass Man, feeling both cautious as well as scared. What he saw with his Byakugan was a bit of a surprise: he couldn't see Senshoku's chakra network. His entire body just seemed to be chakra, probably because he was in his glass form.
Alright, well that makes sence. I bet that glass body technique takes up some serious chakra to pull off, so whatever. How am I gonna take him down, though? He's got some serious strength in his taijutsu, my gut knows that for a fact. He also can make glass weapons plus that glass dragon, meaning he's got range. My only strength is taijutsu, and the only ninjutsu technique I know is for knocking away projectiles. I won't last long, but I should be able to hold out until Pa gets here.
Jiyuu rushed at Senshoku with his fists ready. He began throwing a series of punches, each one incredibly fast and aimed at random locations. Senshoku, however, managed to easily avoid the punches with little effort. He threw a quick punch at Jiyuu's face, but was surprised when the genin put up both hands and caught his fist. Jiyuu quickly pulled the Glass Man's arm downwards, causing him to lean inwards. He then brought his knee up, successfully connecting it with Senshoku's face. A small crack formed on the Glass Man's face as he stumbled back after the hit, but the genin's attack wasn't finished. Jiyuu jumped towards Senshoku and kicked him twice in the chest, the second kick being used to jump off of his enemy as he did a backflip in the air. He then reached into a pouch and pulled out three kunai. Jiyuu threw them at Senshoku, who allowed the kunai to make contact and go through his body. He hadn't made his glass that durable for this fight, mostly because he was beginning to run low on chakra due to his last three fights. He healed up his fractures and frowned before he charged Jiyuu, his arms both becoming covered in glass shards as he got in close. He began his own assault of punches, causing Jiyuu to flat-out avoid everything. However, Jiyuu was not as fast as he thought, and ended up getting cut badly on his sides as he dodged. He clenched his teeth from the pain and attempted to get some distance from Senshoku by hopping back, but it did nothing but present the man with an opening. Senshoku launched a quick front kick to Jiyuu's chest, knocking the boy back a good distance as he rolled in the sand. Jiyuu held his chest as he stood up, seeing the Glass Man standing still and observing him with an attentive eye. Jiyuu could feel his blood beginning to soak the sides of his jacket, and became somewhat worried about his well-being. Of course he didn't show it, though; he kept a cool demeanor and slowly stood up straight as he glared at the enemy. Senshoku rose an arm and did the 'come on' gesture with his hand, angering the genin as he began weaving hand signs.
"Wind Release: Mighty Gale," Jiyuu shouted as he launched his father's jutsu towards the enemy.
Senshoku's eyelids lowered, already having experienced the jutsu and knew it's purpose. He formed long glass spikes on the bottom of his feet, which ran deep into the sand. When the jutsu hit him, he didn't even flinch as the glass spikes kept him supported. Sand flew everywhere as Jiyuu's jutsu roared, but the genin only frowned when he realized that his opponent was unfazed. He put more chakra into his jutsu, causing it to roar even louder as more sand began flying in the air. Senshoku, growing tired of Jiyuu's pointless effort, thrusted his arm into the sand.
"Glass Graveyard," he said as giant shards of glass erupted from around Jiyuu. The genin quickly noticed them rising and canceled his jutsu as he leapt skywards to avoid the attack. Senshoku grinned when he saw this. "Poor move, child," he uttered to himself as he formed a large bed of glass shards where Jiyuu was supposed to land.
Jiyuu's eyes shrank as he realized his mistake, and launched another Mighty Gale at a downwards angle. The air pressure moved him through the air, giving him a clear landing. However, as he began falling again, more glass shards formed where he was going to land.
Oh man, this isn't good at all. I've just gotten myself into a real bad mess. No matter which direction I move in, he's gonna just form more shards...unless...
Jiyuu grinned as he weaved more hand signs. He fired a Mighty Gale and launched himself towards Senshoku. When he began falling, he turned and stared right at his opponent, pulling back his right arm as he awaited a chance to deliver a blow. He was coming in fast, and was going to land right on top of the rogue ninja.
The Glass Man simply shook his head and brought his arm out of the ground, making it turn normal. His other arm turned into a long, skinny glass blade as he lifted it up. Jiyuu saw this and bit his lip, knowing what Senshoku was planning: he was going to let Jiyuu impale himself on the blade. Without thinking, the genin held out his left arm defensively, the blade piercing his hand. Senshoku's eyes widened when Jiyuu used his pieced hand to grab onto the blade and move it to the side as he threw his right fist forward. The momentum from his fall coupled with the force of his punch resulted in Senshoku's face shattering into pieces. The two fell and rolled in the sand, stopping shortly afterwards with Jiyuu pinning Senshoku on the ground. Jiyuu then quickly threw a right punch at the bladed arm that pierced his left hand. His attack was aimed at the section underneath his palm between Jiyuu's hand and the rest of Senshoku's arm. His attack connected, shattering the arm and freeing himself as he leapt away from the enemy. He panted slightly and had his eye shut, the pain being more intense than he thought it would be. He looked down at his left hand, the long blade still in it. Jiyuu grabbed the glass construct carefully, took a deep breath, and quickly pulled the blade out. He made a pain-filled noise as his left hand began shaking heavily, the warm blood leaking rapidly and staining the sand below. He reached into a pouch with his good hand and pulled out some bandages as he began wrapping up his wound.
Senshoku stood up slowly, the glass in the sand flowing to him as it repaired his face. "Impressive, yet your actions mean naught. I said that I would be leaving here with you, and I intend to do just that," he stated in a calm tone. So calm, in fact, that it made Jiyuu feel uneasy.
Jiyuu began focusing on the Senshoku's chakra, and realized that the amount of chakra that the man was sporting before was significantly less than what he had now: he was running short. Jiyuu grinned and shook his head. "You should've come after me first instead of messin' with my team. You got no chakra left. In fact, I'm gonna assume that you've only got enough to keep that glass form going, right?"
Senshoku's eyelids lowered. "...so you figured it out, hm..."
Jiyuu pointed at his eye. "I don't need to figure it out, I can see that you're runnin' low," he deadpanned with a grin. His grin quickly faded though, because Senshoku began chuckling quietly.
Senshoku's glass form receded as he turned back to normal. He shook his head slightly at Jiyuu in disappointment. "I use that glass form for two reasons: the first is when I know that the enemy is very powerful, very destructive, and I'd die without it. The second is when I need to gauge the enemy's strength and determine whether or not I should keep it active. If I have the chakra to spare, I will keep it active throughout the entire battle, but you already know that I lack the chakra to do so. However, I was also being very nonchalant in my attack..."
Jiyuu's eyelids lowered, beginning to care less and less. "Yeah right, you have barely enough chakra to keep yourself conscious. I can see it, don't bother trying to intimidate me."
Senshoku couldn't help but grin wider at the remark. "Oh, is that what you think? You genin truly do love to underestimate your oppone-"
His reply was interrupted when Ketsui appeared from behind him and rammed a kunai through his back. Senshoku's pupils shrank as he looked over his shoulder slowly, seeing that Ketsui was covered in sweat, panting deeply as if he had ran across the entire desert to reach him and his son.
"Gotcha," Ketsui spat as he pulled the kunai out of the Glass Man's back. Senshoku's body went limp as it fell into the sand, an ominous wind slowly starting to kick up afterwards. The Man of Five put the kunai away and looked at Jiyuu, a grin now forming on his face. "Are you okay?"
Jiyuu looked at his left hand and the bloodied bandages as he moved his fingers, wincing slightly from the still-present pain. "Yeah Pa, I'm alright. What happened with the others?"
Ketsui crinkled his brow in confusion for a moment, like he heard Jiyuu say something odd.
The Young Hyuuga now looked up at his father as his Byakugan deactivated, checking if the man's attention was focused on him. "Pa?"
"Hm? O-oh, the others. Yeah, the other's are fine."
"...Senshoku said that they got roughed up pretty bad."
"It's nothin' they can't handle. C'mon, let's go back and regroup with them," Ketsui said as he put his hand on Jiyuu's shoulder. Jiyuu gave him grin and nodded...but his blood ran cold once he heard a voice in the distance...
"Jiyuu!"
The boy's eyes shrank slightly once he realized who's voice it was; it was Ketsui's. He slowly turned his gaze towards the direction of the sound, seeing a bloodied and weak Ketsui running towards him. The jounin looked to be on his last set of legs, and it didn't take the Byakugan to tell that the Man of Five had almost no chakra left.
"Jiyuu, GET AWAY FROM HIM, HE'S USING A TRANSFORMATION JUTSU," shouted Ketsui in a panicked tone.
Jiyuu didn't even get the chance to move as the fake Ketsui quickly punched him across the face, knocking him out instantly. The fake Ketsui changed back into Senshoku, and then dropped Jiyuu onto the ground. He opened a palm and aimed it at the genin, ignoring the fact that Ketsui was getting closer by the second.
"Glass Shell," he whispered as glass surrounded Jiyuu's body until it completely encased him. Senshoku picked up the hollow shell of glass with Jiyuu inside and hoisted it over his shoulder, turning to face Ketsui.
Ketsui finally got close enough to see the two, but his eyes shrank when he realized that he was too late. His irises began to shake when he saw Jiyuu inside the glass shell. He glared at Senshoku and clutched his body. "You bastard...you BASTARD...WHAT'D YOU DO TO HIM," Ketsui shouted as his eyes glowed white.
Senshoku shook his head slowly at the jounin, relaxed knowing that he had the upper hand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You clearly have no chakra left, so trying anything new might just kill you. Besides, even if you were able to use some sort of jutsu, I have insurance," he said as he shrugged the shoulder carrying Jiyuu in the glass shell.
"Hiding behind a boy? I thought you were a man..."
"Oh, I'm not hiding, Man of the Five. I'm standing right here, I'm completely prepared to attack if you come for me...but I can't garuntee the safety of your child if you do," Senshoku said as a small grin stretched across his face.
Ketsui almost stopped breathing for a moment when he heard the Glass Man say those words. "W-what are you-"
"Oh, he did not hesitate to call me 'Pa' when he saw me. How unfortunate for you, now you can't feign ignorance on the subject. Now, be a good shinobi and stay put...we wouldn't want any 'accidents' happening, would we..." Senshoku deadpanned as he took a step away and made a one-handed sign. A large glass mirror the size of a doorway rose from the sand right next to Senshoku, and he turned to look at it. At that instant, Ketsui charged him at blinding speed, yelling as he aimed a fist at Senshoku's chest. The man of Stained Glass frowned and used his free hand to catch the punch, which surprised Ketsui. He then pulled in the jounin's fist past his chest, and proceeded to elbow him in the nose, breaking it. Ketsui fell right onto his back, the hit coupled with his low chakra being enough to nearly knock him out.
Senshoku gazed down at the worn-out shinobi with a cold, stoic expression. "Carelessly putting your own child on a team of genin, and then you allow him to fight someone like me alone. You shinobi are all alike: you act first and think later. You never realize what you have until it's gone...farewell." Senshoku took a step into the mirror, the reflective surface acting as some sort of portal. Before he could go in completely, he heard Ketsui cough, and looked at him.
"Why...are you sparing me...kill me...but leave my boy alone..." Ketsui sputtered while trying to stay conscious, attempting to get up but barely able to even move his arms.
Senshoku just stared at the man, no grin or any other form of emotion on his face.
"Well, it's quite simple. Someone will need to retrieve the body when I'm done with him. Now, as I said before, farewell."
He then stepped through the mirror completely, which then turned into plain glass and shattered. Ketsui watched as the shards fell, one-by-one they would penetrate the desert ground as the wind blew sand over them, forever hiding any trace of their existence from the world. Ketsui couldn't help but think of Jiyuu when he saw this, and finally blacked out.