Chapter 50

"Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen could I please have you attention!" said Munro, holding up his hands. "We have a special display about to start for your entertainment!"

Some of the townspeople paid attention to him, but many chose to ignore him. They continued to shop, ignoring the man and the young woman who stood beside him. He smiled to himself. Ayumu didn't move behind him, even though she thought she heard a familiar voice.

"How very rude" commented Munro. Only he and the girl knew of the various length fuses that had been used to detonate after a set time. Munro had experimented with many different materials to find the perfect one. And he knew how long it would be for each to finish.

Tomo tried calling out to Osaka but the girl didn't appear to hear her. At least that was what Tomo hoped was the case- Osaka ignoring her would be very annoying. She started to move forwards when Kimura grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We don't know if that's the real Osaka, or someone using a transformation technique" replied Kimura. "And there's something about that man…"

"Ladies and gentlemen!" said Munro loudly as the trio of ninja slowly made their way forwards. "I have great news for you! For today I bring you a special treat- a cascade of explosive power!"

"What's he talking about?" asked Tomo, watching the man raise an arm. He pointed to a building which suddenly exploded, vaporising into fragments in seconds. "Holy crap!" she yelled out, ducking down slightly.

The townspeople were caught by surprise. Munro swirled around gleefully, before stopping and pointing dramatically to a building on his other side, his back now to the people. A split second later that building also vaporised into chunks of wood, glass and stone. He grumbled to himself about being slightly out of time. By now the townspeople had realized what was happening and were starting to panic.

"This isn't good" said Kimura. "We shall fall back for a moment."

"Get out of there!" yelled out Tomo, both at the unmoved Osaka and the civilians, some of whom were now bleeding.

"Tomo" said Sakaki, having marched back with Kimura.

"Why are we going back?" called out Tomo. "We need to help!"

"We're surrounded by buildings!" yelled back Kimura over the noise. "We could get hit by shrapnel!" He reached down passed his collar and pulled his mask up over his mouth. Time to get serious.

Tomo glanced around, noticing the sharp hunks of wood spread out across the ground shortly in front of her. Some were mere splinters of wood, others looked large enough to take off her head if given enough force. She gulped slightly and sprinted back to join her teacher. She looked back at the man.

"Double or nothing!" yelled out Munro, pointing to the two buildings behind him, either side of Iroto's factory. They too exploded brightly.

Tomo watched in horror- the buildings were too close to the man and Osaka- she was certain they'd be hit. But the two stood unfazed. Shrapnel bounced away, just before hitting Osaka. Using purely the power of wind she was stopping herself from being injured. Tomo didn't notice this, and wondered if they had some strange invisible wall. She could see them talk, but couldn't make out the words.

"Are we destroying the factory?" asked Ayumu in a detached tone.

"Not yet my dear" said Munro. "That's gonna be the big finale!"

"What the heck is going on?" asked Tomo loudly. Only a short distance from her stood Osaka, but they were seemingly no closer to being reunited. In fact…

"They seem to be cooperating" said Sakaki. "The man seems to like Osaka."

"Yeah what's that all about? Maybe they found love or something?" said Tomo.

"I don't know. But I don't like it" replied Kimura. This didn't seem like Osaka at all. This was ruthless destruction, with potential deadly consequences for innocent people. And standing there he was certain he could feel a powerful chakra aura. Osaka seemed stronger. But how?

"Is that actually Osaka?" asked Sakaki.

"What are you talking about? Of course it is!" said Tomo, who seemed anxious to join the silent girl. She knew it was Osaka, but they couldn't do anything just standing here. She was stuck over there with the enemy. Tomo turned slightly as Sakaki started to speak again.

"But it's all-different. Before I could never really feel anything, but now I feel some sort of aura. It's a bit like something powerful that I once felt" said Sakaki.

"Don't you feel it Tomo?" asked Kimura.

"I guess…I'm not really paying attention to sensations and stuff when there's a guy across from me blowing things up!"

Tomo turned away from her teacher and watched the other man stepping over splintered wood and a bloodied civilian with a grin on his face like a child receiving a birthday present. He leant down quickly, shoving a particular large splinter into the back of the civilian. While Sakaki let out a shocked noise behind her, Tomo noticed that Osaka moved slightly as the person screamed in pain before dying.

"Seems that I have your attention now" said Munro. He stared right at Tomo who shivered slightly. "Yet only a few stay to witness the occasion. You must be the ones Ayumu used to be with."

"Ayumu?" said Tomo in a confused tone.

"Osaka's real name is Ayumu Kasuga" said Sakaki. "You gave her the nickname of Osaka once and everyone started to use it."

"Ha, oh yeah I'd forgotten about that!"

"I don't think now is the time to be taking a nostalgic trip" said Kimura in a stern tone.

"Hey but we- oh wait" said Tomo, remembering that just across from her was seemingly a psychopath.

"Answer me please!" said Munro. "Are you not all ninja? Where you not sent here to investigate my former employer?"

"Maybe, maybe not" said Tomo.

"Tomo, Sakaki and Kimura am I not correct?" asked Munro. Tomo's eyes slowly moved away from his eyes to the bloodied knife he held in one hand. She hadn't seen it before; it must have been concealed, or only just taken out. It looked vicious.

"Yes that's correct" said Kimura. Stealth was no longer necessary. It seemed that a conflict would be occurring very shortly. He doubted the mission would last much longer beyond this point. Perhaps soon he might be able to return to the village. The conflicts had been constant recently…

"But what about keeping undercover?" stated Sakaki.

"Battle time right?" asked Tomo. She was eager to get to Osaka, get her away from the creepy explosion obsessed guy. Sakaki glanced across at her friend, then back at her teacher who nodded faintly.

"It seems we have to fight again" said Kimura. He was just thankful this would involve brute force and fighting as opposed to various jutsu and other trickery. After being wounded in the village attack he was looking forward to proving himself…to himself more then other people. He had been injured badly by someone who was in turn defeated by one of his own students.

"Lets get Osaka back" said Tomo as she withdrew a blade from her weapon pouch. She nodded at Sakaki. The tall girl seemed unsure but she still held a blade in her hand.

"Ah it seems like the teeny weeny ninjas are preparing for battle" said Munro. "I'm right here. Come and get me!"

Tomo went to step forwards, but Sakaki put her hand on the girls shoulder. Tomo glanced back at her. She was frustrated- how could Sakaki be trying to stop her?!

"I-it could be a trap" explained Sakaki, who shrunk back slightly when she saw the annoyed look Tomo had.

"No, no trap. I'm standing right here and I'm waiting for you. The final explosion will be the big finale. Apart from that there are no others so please…try me."

Tomo led the way, walking quickly towards Munro, not quite a run. Sakaki followed behind her with Kimura taken by surprise. He had been expecting at least Sakaki to ask for permission, but it appeared battle had begun.

"Go and get Osaka, I'll take care of the creep" said Tomo as they got closer.

"I'll take care of this guy" said Kimura sternly, "And you try to rescue Osaka. But remember- she might not want to be rescued."

"Of course she will!" said Tomo.

The trio came to a stop just a short distance from Munro who hadn't moved at all. He had merely stood, observing them while humming to himself. Behind him Ayumu stepped forwards.

"Two versus two" she said coldly.

"What?" asked a confused Tomo.

Ayumu held up an arm and then pointed to Kimura. A shocked look crossed his face and he didn't have time to respond before he suddenly flew backwards. Ayumu had generated a strong directional focused gust of wind which smashed Kimura into the remains of a devastated building.

"What are you doing Osaka?" asked a shocked Tomo.

"My name is not Osaka" said Ayumu, a faint sign of emotion crossing into her voice.

Sakaki held up her kunai blade to block an attack from Munro. He had targeted Tomo, but instead met steel. He gave a toothy smile and quickly pulled the knife away before slashing into Sakaki's arm. The girl cried out ever so faintly.

"Osaka why are you doing this?" asked Tomo. She wanted to help Sakaki, but couldn't risk turning her back on her friend. "One of your friends is being hurt!"

"My name isn't Osaka!" yelled out the girl. The ground beneath her feet started to rumble. Sakaki glanced around as pain streaked across her arm.

"This is interesting" said Munro. Sakaki turned her head slightly and watched as a piece of wood began to rise from the ground by itself.

Author's note:

With the publication of this chapter this story is now the longest I have ever had on - both in terms of word count and now chapter count. It's been going on for quite a while now. There was a period at the start of this year where having been at University I had gone over three months without updating the story. Then I regained my interest and started writing chapters again. I've had fun times, and some bad times and though I secretly hoped it, I was never certain I'd be able to reach this landmark!