Chapter 13: The Original Shadow
"Would you quit yapping about 'your hatred' and 'how you must avenge her' and other crap? It's annoying," Ikstaka said. There was a short moment of silence.
"No," Chris replied. He smiled and then dashed forward at Ikstaka. He punched at Ikstaka who tried to move but couldn't. Ikstaka looked down to see Chris' shadow had a hold of his legs. He looked back up and was met by Chris' fist. Chris then kicked Ikstaka in his chest. Ikstaka grabbed Chris' leg and pulled out a kunai, intending to stab Chris' leg. Chris' shadow came further up Ikstaka to hold his arm where it was. Ikstaka sighed, bowed his head, and shook it. "Problem?"
"I can only move my left arm."
"So? Itachi Uchiha fought with one of his arms in his coat. Orochimaru had both his arms disabled and fought the other two Sanin with only his legs. Heck, I had a friend who could be beat me when I was young, and he was in a wheelchair!"
"How could he beat you in a wheelchair?"
"He used chakra to move his wheel the way he wanted. He was pretty fast and a master of ninjutsu. Last I heard, he was teaching kids with disabled limbs how to fight, but I digress. And I just wasted chakra." The shadows slipped off Ikstaka as Chris punched Ikstaka in the forehead. Ikstaka was sent flying back and rolled out onto a knee. He quickly performed a lengthy series of hand signs.
"Water Dragon Jutsu!" he shouted. The water behind him rose up into the shape of an armless, wingless dragon. It lunged at Chris with its dripping jaws open wide. Chris performed a few hand signs.
"Fire Style: Heat Wave!" A wave of flames came out of him and hit the water dragon. The flames were doused and the dragon evaporated. Ikstaka performed another series of hand signs. Watery spikes came out of the water below Chris who jumped up. The spikes continued to follow him so he put his hands in the neutral pose. A circle of chakra appeared beneath him, and the rheumy spikes hit it unable to go through. Chris quickly jumped off the chakra circle onto the water, and it dissipated. Chris put his hands back in the neutral pose, and balls of water came out of the lake. They flew at Ikstaka at an incredible velocity. Nonetheless, Ikstaka dodged the attack, flipping, turning, jumping, and ducking. Chris began doing hand signs. "Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" he shouted. The water in front of him sprang forward, taking on the shape of a shark. The shark hit Ikstaka head on and knocked him into the cliff the waterfall was coming off. Chris threw a couple shuriken, and they hit around Ikstaka, pinning him to the rock face.
"So will you use it to finish me?" Ikstaka asked.
"Use what?"
"The technique. The one you were working on three years ago."
Julie kicked at Ikstaka, but he grabbed her foot and flung her into a tree. Chris punched at Ikstaka from behind and hit him in the back of the head. Ikstaka turned and kicked Chris in the stomach, sending him flying. Ikstaka jumped onto the branch Julie was on and did some hand signs.
"Organ Ripping Jutsu!" Ikstaka shouted as she got up. He plunged his hands at her hips. The went right through her flesh, and he ripped out her stomach. This continued while he ripped out her lungs, her liver, her pancreas, her gall bladder, her spleen, her brain, and, lastly, her heart. This all happened in less than eight seconds. When Chris saw this he yelled.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!" He jumped from tree to tree towards Ikstaka and Julie's bloody and mangled body. He took three kunai to the chest, but made it to Ikstaka anyway. He punched Ikstaka into the branch repeatedly until Ikstaka was bleeding severely from his nose and mouth. Finally he stopped and did a few hand signs. "Shadow Ball Jutsu!" He held out his hand, and a purple ball appeared in it. He thrust his hand at Ikstaka's chest, but the ball disappeared as he did. His palm slammed into Ikstaka's chest causing him to spit blood up. "Come on!" Kunai flew out of nowhere hitting Chris in the back. He turned around to see a dozen Sound Village ninja standing in the trees. He took one last look at Ikstaka, scooped up Julies organs, slung her across his shoulder, and fled with Ashley and Matt.
"That technique. That is a good idea." Chris did but four hand signs. Shadows all around were drawn to his hand and a dark purple ball appeared there. He ran straight at Ikstaka and jabbed at his stomach. Somehow Ikstaka broke free of the shuriken holding him down and flipped up the cliff. Chris' attack hit the cliff face and the rock began to shatter. Ikstaka jumped down at Chris and punched him in the top of the head. Chris took a step back and applied his knee to Ikstaka's face. Ikstaka crashed into the water below and sunk beneath the surface. Shuriken flew up from below at Chris. One got him in the shin, but he managed to avoid the rest. He did a couple hand signs. "Shadow Shuriken!" He spun around and manifold shuriken made of dark purple flew out of him in all directions. From below a flash of light spurt through the water. Chris put his hand over the water. After a few seconds, Ikstaka rose out, impaled by a few of the shadowy shuriken. Chris pulled out the shuriken in his shin and threw it into Ikstaka. "Pitiful. Just pitiful."
"Well you've gotten a lot better and have a lot more jutsus than you did before!" Ikstaka reasoned.
"And you haven't." Suddenly a fist came from below and hit Chris in the chin, knocking him over. The Ikstaka with the shuriken in him disappeared in smoke, and the real Ikstaka leapt on top of Chris. He began punching and pulled out kunai and shuriken, stabbing them into Chris violently. Chris tried to block, but the attack had been executed too quickly. By the time he had gotten Ikstaka off him, four kunai and two shuriken stuck out of him. Chris pulled one of the kunai out and let the blood flow freely. He then slathered his hand in it and performed a few hand signs. His breathing became heavy and his eyes turned red with blood lust. He ran at Ikstaka and punched at hum. Ikstaka grabbed the fist but was sent flying back anyway. That was… such a powerful blow. What did he do? Ikstaka wondered. Chris ran forward and punched again. Ikstaka moved to the left of Chris' punch. When Chris' punch connected with the cliff face, it began to crack. Ikstaka jumped and threw two kunai into Chris. When they hit Chris, Ikstaka noticed a thin red aura surrounded Chris. Chris yelled and jumped at Ikstaka. He brought his leg down on Ikstaka's head, sending him spiraling downwards into the water. After Chris landed, Ikstaka came up behind him and kicked him square in the back. Hmm… his senses have dulled, but the more damage I do the stronger he seems to get… Chris back flipped from his position behind Ikstaka, grabbed Ikstaka's head, and slammed it into his knee. Blood spurted from Ikstaka's nose and mouth. He took out Chris' legs and got up, taking a few steps back. Ikstaka wiped some blood off his face and performed a series of hand signs.
"Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted and put his palm over the water. There was a giant poof of smoke, and after it cleared, Chris saw a dog. However, it wasn't a normal dog. It was covered in scales and had gills on its neck. The dog jumped at Chris who swatted it away into the cliff as if it were a small rock.
"The dog is weak," Chris grunted. Ikstaka looked at his amphibious dog which had so easily slaughtered. That didn't work, he thought. While Ikstaka was turned, Chris punched him in the chin sending him up into the air. Then he jumped up behind and his arms tightly around Ikstaka's chest. "Primary Lotus!" Chris yelled as they began spinning downwards. This would have been an extremely effective move had they been fighting on land, but as it was, they were over water so they just crashed into the water and went about ten feet below the surface. Chris kicked off Ikstaka, propelling him upwards and Ikstaka downwards. Ikstaka hurriedly swam upwards and gasped for air when he reached the surface. Unfortunately for him, Chris grabbed his throat almost as soon as he got above the surface and then kicked him into the cliff. The cliff, having take quite a bit of punishment already, began to fall down (again). Chris jumped, grabbed a falling boulder, and threw it at Ikstaka. Ikstaka jumped out of the way and threw three shuriken into Chris' arms. The aura around Chris became brighter and more distinct. Ikstaka did a series of hand signs as he jumped back down to the water.
"Water Style: Assault Jutsu!" Ikstaka shouted. The water around Chris began jumping up and hitting him with incredible force. Each time he was hit though, his aura grew brighter and brighter until it shone as if he was enveloped in flame. Once it shone this bright, the water began simply bouncing off the aura, and the kunai and shuriken fell out of him. Chris slowly walked towards Ikstaka. Ikstaka punched at Chris, but the attack hit the aura and bounced off. Chris put one finger on Ikstaka's forehead and flicked. Ikstaka was sent flying backwards into the cliff. Chris did a couple of hand signs and the aura disappeared. Then he performed a few more hand signs.
"Shadow Hold Jutsu!" he shouted. Shadowy arms shot out of the cliff face and grabbed Ikstaka's limbs, also wrapping around his waist and neck. Chris performed a final few hand signs. "Shadow Ball!" Shadows from all around came to his hand and formed a dark purple ball.
"I guess this is it for me," Ikstaka said.
"You bet."
"Well, good fight then."
"Yeah. This is the most fun I've had in a long time." Chris ran forward and slammed the Shadow Ball into Ikstaka's chest. "Goodbye, old friend."
"Goodbye, old friend." The ball was absorbed into Ikstaka's body and shot out of the end of his limbs. The shadowy arms went back into the cliff, and Chris caught Ikstaka's body before it fell into the water. He took off Ikstaka's half mask and then dropped his body into the lake.