The Fruits of Shikari's Training
The situation Shikari found himself in was not the best, for Ayane Hotaru, Haruhi's enemy, was being brutally beaten by her enemy; if it weren't for Shikari's intervention, she'd be dead by now. Ryosei growled, having lost a perfect opportunity to kill Ayane.
"You little runt!" He growled maliciously.
"It's inpolite to raise a hand to a girl, y'know." Shikari said, making his way to Ayane, who was crouched to the ground in pain. "You okay?" Ayane kept her pride in full flow and looked away.
"Why are you here, Nara? I had this fight perfectly in control." Ayane said.
"Yeah, getting beat half to death is quite a good way of asking for help. Hardly matters now, I'm here, I'm good to go and I can handle this punk for you." Shikari said.
"What about your Uchiha, did you handle him?" Ayane asked.
"Of course." This caught Ryosei's ears as he gave a chuckle.
"Judging by your appearance here, your must have fought Shiganori, am I right?" He laughed. "Not a reliable one when getting to Yamishin-sama's tower, is he?"
"Who is this Yamishin?" Asked Shikari.
"All in due time, boy. Worry about me." Ryosei replied, and retreated to the nearest mirror, as it shocked Shikari when he slid through it.
"He can travel through mirrors?" Asked Shikari, helping Ayane up.
"Better still, he can come out of any one and attack." Ayane explained. "But that's not the worst. It's easy to counter-attack his plans, so he'll use extra precautions to ensnare you."
"Ensnare?" Shikari asked.
"If you get caught into his mirrorland, your as good as dead." Ayane replied.
"Well, looks as though he won't get that chance!" Shikari said and formed a few hand seals. "Wind-Style - Wind Cannon!" He punched the air that summoned a Wind blast that shot for one mirror. It shattered completely. Ayane's eyes widened.
"They're...destructible?" She said in awe
"Of course they are." Shikari said. "Figuring out an opponent's strategy is half the battle won, making your own counter-strategy seals the deal. If he can travel through mirrors, it means he's leaving the other mirrors vulnerable. And the big question is: what happens if you destroy all the mirrors?"
"His plan falls apart..." Ayane identified.
"I love the Leaf Shinobi." Ryosei hissed in delight as he showed himself through another mirror. "You really know how to put on a performance."
"Judging by those words, we have you figured out." Shikari grinned.
"You think so, do you?" Ryosei grinned equally. He stepped back into his mirror. "Now the fun really begins." Suddenly, from a mirror shot a Kunai. It was easy for Shikari to see it coming, but when it was meaning to deflect, it dispersed into smoke.
"What?" Shikari gasped. Then, two more hurtled towards him; he was defenseless. But, Ayane darted between the attack, deflected one and got hit in the shoulder by the other. She gave a scream as it made contact. "Ayane!"
"Don't lose focus!" They heard Ryosei laugh from behind the mirror. Then, all the mirrors shot a barrage of Kunai that shot towards them. Shikari took Ayane and jumped upwards, dodging the array of Kunai. "Whoever said I can't use all the mirrors at once? Especially when I can do this!" Ryosei sped out of his mirror and met up to Shikari in mid-flight and kicked him away, causing him and Ayane to land painfully on the ground.
"Your tougher than that last guy." Shikari grunted as he recovered himself. But Ryosei was already on the move. He darted for Ayane, causing Shikari by instinct to intervene, but when he came for the two, he too dispersed into smoke. Then, Shikari received a painful slash to the arm, without knowing the cause. He cursed at this, stopping the blood from seeping out. "How did that happen?" Then, both Ayane and Shikari were bombarded with cuts and wounds, that they had no idea how.
"As long as I'm in my mirror..." Began Ryosei. "I can travel between mirrors faster than the speed of sound. There's no way you can catch up with my speed!" Ayane and Shikari were both weakened greatly from Ryosei's attacks.
"What do we do now?" Ayane cursed.
"I have an idea..." Shikari said. Ayane gasped at this. "But...it requires you to hold off this guy until I get the job done." Shikari then took the long scroll that was backpacked to his back and unrolled it to reveal a complicated Sealing Jutsu.
"What is that?" Ayane asked.
"You'll find out." Shikari said.
"How long do you need?" Asked Ayane.
"Fifteen seconds." Shikari said. Ayane growled.
"The time of penultimate attacks marks a time of great catastrophe..." Ayane said. "Your such a pain, Nara." She stepped forward. "Uchiha!"
"You called?" Mocked Ryosei as he peeked out of a mirror.
"Why don't you stop hiding behind your mirrors and fight me one-on-one?" Ayane challenged.
"Ohh? And why should I do that?" Ryosei smirked. "If I continue to do so, and hit some vital areas, this battle will be over before you can say 'sayonara pipsqueaks'!"
"The thing is, Uchiha, my Sensei isn't too fond of cowardly attacks, and brought us up to fight by the right way." Ayane explained. The evil Uchiha chuckled.
"Then it is your Sensei who has failed you!" He laughed. "Don't you see? It doesn't matter if your opponent hides in the shadows or is a valiant ninja, as long as you do the job and kill your enemies, what does it matter?" Ayane clutched her hands in anger.
"Careful where you tread, Uchiha." Ayane growled. "My patience has limits. And mocking my Sensei certainly greatly upsets my patience!" Chakra burst forth from Ayane and wrapped around her like a shell. "Ninja Art - Controlling Puppet!"
"Ohh? Keeping an ace up your sleeve, eh?" Ryosei said, watching the amazing Ayane burn with anger.
"This is my greatest Jutsu!" Ayane said behind the Chakra. "Now are we gonna fight one-on-one or not?"
"Alright then! It doesn't matter anyway! You couldn't hit me the first time, you certainly won't hit me again!" Ryosei mocked and charged for Ayane. She purposefully took a direct punch to the face without so much as a counter-attack or attempt to dodge. "Hahaha! You're pathetic!" But despite the gush of blood pouring from Ayane's mouth, she smiled.
"Your the one who's pathetic, Uchiha." Ayane said. And her luck finally came, as the spot Ryosei punched Ayane with, mainly his left knuckle, was tattoo'd with the mark of the Hotaru, and the evil Uchiha couldn't move his entire left hand.
"You little wench! What did you do?" Ryosei grunted, trying to gain control of his hand.
"My usual attacks meant if my hand even touches a single body part, I can gain control of that body part, and if I manage to take control of a high part in your body, like your shoulder, I can take possession of your entire arm. But, see this Chakra glow around me? I can forward that power to my entire body!" Ryosei's eyes widened. "This is the ultimate defensive power from physical assaults. If you even touch me, you'll be selling your body parts one by one until they're all mine!" Ryosei sighed, took out a Kunai using his right hand and did the unexpected: tore his left hand off with the Kunai. Ayane gave a cry of fright at this. But then, Ryosei dug his hand into the nearest mirror available and took it out to reveal his hand had completely regenerated and the disembodied hand rotted away into dust.
"You seen the mirror's power to manipulate space, time and heighten my speed to sound-levels and even the power to destroy any who enter my mirror. But there is one last power is possesses: the power to restore my limbs should any get cut." Ryosei laughed. "Now that I know your abilities, little girl, you should be no trouble at all." Ryosei then threw a Kunai, loaded with a paper bomb, but not to Ayane, but to Shikari.
"Crap!" Shikari said, he was still halfway to completing his seal, but he couldn't move, or it'd disrupt it.
"No!" Ayane shot for the Kunai and took it's hit as it exploded in front of her. She gave a scream in pain and her Chakra glow faded as she lay defenceless. Ryosei wasn't finished with her, and yanked her hair up, making her scream in more pain.
"That shot wasn't for you, little girl. If you didn't do that, you wouldn't be in this much pain!" He used his other hand to pull her hand towards him. "What say we call it even? You cut off my hand, I cut off yours." Ayane tried to wriggle free from this torment, but he was too strong. "This may hurt just a bit, little girl."
"No...this will hurt a lot!" Ryosei turned in fear as a large Wind Chakra blast hit him directly and sent him flying away from Ayane. The weakened Hotaru looked with all her might to see Shikari's secret weapon, and that was literal, because Shikari did have a weapon: he held in his hand a long, white-polished scythe that had wind gusts forming on the curve, and on the end of the scythe's handle was a long white sash that danced in the scythe's wind.
"N-Nara..." Ayane said weakly.
"It was a drag making you go up against him, Ayane. But this victory is now certain to fall in our favour once more." Shikari said. "You take five, you deserve it." Ayane, for once, smiled in comfort.
"Alright, slimeball, where are you?" Shikari called.
"Just fixing myself." Ryosei called in his mirror. "Your weapon really is powerful, it would have killed me if I hadn't crashed in a mirror."
"Course it's powerful. Why else was it in a scroll that had five seals inside it?" Shikari said. "This scythe, also like to be called the Tatsumaki Tansen, was the one of the Wind Country's most strongest weapons. But the bad thing is, very few are able to control it. It belonged to my mother, who was the only person in the Sand Village able to control it. I asked if I could borrow it so I could master it with my Sensei, but neither of us could even get around to even holding it without it going AWOL. Then that's when me, my dad and mom went to train to master the Tatsumaki Tansen, it took almost three weeks of non-stop training until I eventually began to wield it as you see here. It sure was a drag though." Ryosei heard the last of his speech and smiled.
"Nice story, kid!" Ryosei said and finally emerged. "Impressive blade, but it won't beat my speed!" He re-entered the mirror and using it's transportation between mirrors, shot for Shikari with fast undetectable speed. But Shikari used the giant scythe to block an incoming punch. "What?"
"You've gotten, a little slower..." Shikari said almost calmly. He counter-attacked and slashed Ryosei's shoulder, making him jump back in pain, but Shikari didn't wait and surprising both Ryosei and Ayane, he appeared to have vanished and reappeared behind Ryosei to give another painful slash.
"How did you..." Ryosei said, covering the wounds he received.
"The Tatsumaki Tansen gives me the power of the wind! Speed." Shikari said, and demonstrating his speed, he appeared behind Ryosei but didn't attack, he reacted by trying to punch him, but Shikari swiftly avoided. "And power." He appeared behind Ryosei again and punched him in the jaw to send him flying to the other side of the room, crashing into a few mirrors in the process.
"I-Incredible..." Ayane said in awe. Ryosei recovered slightly.
"You want speed and power? I'll give you plenty of both!" Ryosei yelled in anger, entering another mirror and using it's inter-mirror speed shot for Shikari attempting to attack. Shikari dodged and went on the offensive in an array of speed attacks. Their attacks were so agile and fast, Ayane was finding it hard to keep up with the two.
"Was this what Shikari's been doing while he was away?" Ayane said. She remembered how Shikari was graciously beaten by the ninja during his first C-rank mission. He couldn't stand a chance, especially with just his Shadow Jutsu. Ayane compared the two in such a short time space. "He's amazing..." Shikari and Ryosei continued the high speed battle, with Ryosei now putting up a fight. He finally got lucky and kicked Shikari in the cheek, not causing much damage. Shikari didn't wait for Ryosei to get comfortable, and during his recoil of the attack, fired a highly dense Wind Chakra attack at Ryosei which made direct hit.
"This kid...is he really a Genin?" Ryosei thought, getting back on his feet. Shikari approached slowly. "I didn't want to use this Jutsu...but this kid's no pushover..." He combined a few hand seals and the mirrors began glowing.
"What's going on now?" Shikari groaned.
"Come forth! Creatures from the mirror!" Ryosei commanded in a high voice. Then from the mirror came a horde of demon gargoyle-like creatures, each human-sized, bearing wings, fangs and claws, each were coloured a bright purple and they each came from one mirror each.
"What the hell is this?" Shikari gasped in surprise. The demons sided with Ryosei as he gave a menacing smile.
"It's obvious the mirrors that I have grown to use as a weapon are gateways to another dimension. It would be uncanny to suggest no creatures reside in this dimension." Ryosei explained. "Now, have a taste of the mirror's creatures!" The demon gargoyles used their wings to fly across the room in Shikari's direction.
"It would be uncanny. So it would be to call them strong." Shikari said in high spirits as he used his weapon to slash three at once, making them dissolve into tiny particles. They were indeed strong, as one slashed Shikari's arm, ripping his tender skin. "Why you!" He fired his Wind blast to destroy the gargoyle and kept on the offensive, speeding away whenever there was a possibility of the monsters surrounding him. Every time Shikari destroyed one, the gargoyles became harder and harder to destroy, either by their more elaborate movements and more stealthy tactics of attacking.
"Be warned, wind master..." Ryosei laughed. "The more you destroy them, the smarter they become in destroying you!" Shikari fought tooth and nail to fend off the evil gargoyles until only one remained. Shikari tried attacking with his scythe, but the monster grabbed it with it's bare hands and yanked Shikari back with it, and on the other side of the gargoyle was it's razor sharp claw that was racing towards him. Then, PIERCE. Shikari was stabbed by the gargoyle's claw.
"Shikari!" Ayane screamed in shock. But to Ryosei's dismay, the Shikari that was stabbed turned into a giant gust on wind that blew the gargoyle off-guard.
"Substitution!" Ryosei growled. And using his supreme speed, Shikari got behind the gargoyle and beheaded it. Ryosei gave a loud sigh and entered the fray once more; he entered the mirror but not to gain his speed form, but to appear in an unlikely spot. "Don't move, wind master..." Shikari turned to where Ayane was a few moments ago to see that Ayane had been taken hostage by Ryosei, he held her at Kunai point directly next to a mirror. "Make one move and I'll drag this girl to my dimension. We wouldn't want that, would we?" Ayane struggled to break free, but she was still to weakened.
"You coward! Fight me with dignity, damn it!" Shikari growled.
"I applaud you for fighting on par with me, but let's face matters, I don't want you to pass to Yamishin-sama, and to do that is to take this girl hostage." Ryosei said calmly.
"There's got to be a way around it..." Shikari fought, using his father's descended smarts to figure out a strategy to win. Until Ayane spoke.
"Kill me..." Ayane spoke. Shikari was taken aback by this. "You can fire one of your Wind Jutsu to kill us both..."
"Don't talk nonsense, Ayane, I'm not gonna do that." Shikari snapped seriously.
"It's the only way!" Ayane cried. "Someone needs to defeat this punk to get to the central tower...it doesn't matter if one is killed..." Shikari gripped his scythe with anguish. "Do it..." Ayane now had a tear trickling down her eye. "And if you see Haruhi again, tell her...to make her father proud..." Shikari couldn't stand any more, and did the unexpected: he threw his scythe into the air, and the blade stabbed itself into the ground.
"You made a wise move." Ryosei said in victory. "Now to..."
However, the victory was assured for the two Leaf ninja. Ryosei grunted and looked down at the scythe: it was stabbed on the Uchiha's shadow.
"You rat! What have you done?" Ryosei groaned.
"I like using the Wind powers my mom taught me, but secretly, I have a passion for Shadow Possession Jutsu. I concentrated a high dosage of my Shadow Jutsu Chakra into my blade and had it connect to your shadow. As long as I did as you wanted and disarmed myself, I knew you wouldn't get suspicious..." He approached and took the Kunai from Ryosei, freeing Ayane. "Ayane, I need your help once more." He whispered something to Ayane and she grew a devilish smile.
"With pleasure, Nara!" She said. Focussing her Chakra into another one of her Body Possession Jutsu, she touched both his shoulders and the top part of his legs. "His body's main limbs are now under my control."
"Why you..." Ryosei grunted. Shikari wretched the scythe away from the ground to see Ayane had complete control over Ryosei.
"Why couldn't I take control of his head? Then we'd have ourselves an Uchiha slave." Ayane said devilishly.
"And risk him escaping his fate and take you hostage again? This idea's better." Shikari said.
"Fine." Ayane pouted and using Ryosei's legs, forced him into one of his mirrors.
"What do you have planned?" Ryosei shouted. But Shikari was already on it. he was spinning his scythe into the air as fast as he could, creating a propeller out of the scythe.
"This Jutsu's gonna cost me quite a lot of Chakra...but it's guaranteed victory over you..." Shikari said. "Killing you's against my nature, so I'll do the next big thing: seal you into your mirror dimension forever!"
"N-No! Without the mirrors I'll be locked in there forever!" Ryosei begged.
"That's the idea!" Shikari said. He floated in mid-air with his scythe still spinning frantically. Wind was generating from the outside, creating a violent storm, that was powering Shikari's Jutsu even further. The wind's force was starting to increase, starting to knock Ayane off-balance, but none like the force that would come next. "Wind-Style - Eye of the Storm!" He shot downwards and the entire room was blasted with a great surge of Wind Chakra that destroyed every mirror starting with the ones closest to Shikari's epicentre, until it reached the end of the room, forcing Ayane to avoid it by standing on the roof with her Chakra. All that could be heard was Ryosei giving a scream in panic, unable to do anything with his limbs under Ayane's control, watched as all the mirrors were smashed to pieces, putting an end to him, and his Uchiha ways. Ayane looked at the scene once the dust settled: the room was completely bare with Shikari standing in the middle. "There were one hundred mirrors in this room, and I destroyed them all...that's seven hundred years bad luck..." He gave a laugh, before collapsing with Chakra exhaustion. Ayane managed to catch him.
"Are you alright?" Ayane screamed in panic.
"Hehehe...yeah, just a little tired." Shikari said weakly. "Looks like the infamous Ayane Hotaru has a heart, after all..." Ayane couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm still the cold-blooded Kunoichi that hates your friend, y'know!" Ayane said and lowered Shikari down to rest. Then she lay down to rest too. The two were extremely exhausted after battling a fierce opponent, but glad they were able to overcome him, and ever so curious as to how their comrades were faring against their foes.