Forest Of Death-9:03 AM-July 6With Team 7
After disengaging from the close and quick exchange, Shiore rushed forward, positioning her upper body forward more in conjunction with firing off multiple strikes at Satsuki, who was quickly evading each strike while blocking a few that came a little too close. A few seconds into the exchange, the last female Uchiha found herself bored at staying on defense and so she knocked away the hand attempting to strike her ribs and she pulled her leg to her chest and struck his chest. As he was soaring in the air she sped forward and delivered a right hook to the man's face before striking him in the chest downward, resulting in him sliding on the ground on his back. However, Shiore placed his hands behind his head with them on the ground and heaved himself into the air, he threw five shuriken and quickly making hand signs before saying, "Shuriken Shadow Clone!"
The five shurikens quickly became twenty-five, Satsuki reached behind her and grabbed her chokuto and slashed away four shurikens then jumping forwards and landing in a crouch to escape an array of ten shurikens. She spun, slicing through eight shurikens that were conveniently in an oval formation, she then ducked under the last three shuriken before channeling lightning chakra into her blade and slicing forward. She watched as an arc of lightning flowed toward Shiore and saw a look of surprise on the man's face before he had tried to dodge the incoming attack.
Tried was a keyword as he was unable to save his foot from being severed from the leg, thus securing his defeat. Satsuki watched as her opponent yelled out in pain, she walked up to the man and put an end to his misery by cutting off the head and watching as it landed into one of the battle-created craters. After searching the man's bag and finding a Heaven scroll for their Earth, she then remembered her eaten teammate before speeding off in the direction where she sensed both of her teammates.
Had she paid attention to the body and head for a few more seconds, she would have noticed them change into mud.
"Interesting indeed kukukuku~"
Satsuki sensed both of her teammates up ahead, she was in no hurry though since she knew the snake that ate Naruko would most likely already be dead. Looking down she saw that to be true, the snake's corpse had a large hole cut in the middle while the head had the right side with the eye cut off, also the left eye had a hole in it.
Her landing on the ground was soft with the only noise being the rustles of the few leaves on the ground, she watched as Naruko was ridding her body and clothes of the serpents saliva with a water jutsu before using her wind chakra affinity to get rid of the droplets. Clean and dry, Naruko joined her team and watched as Satsuki pulled out a Heaven scroll this allowing for them to go further on into the exams. The trio leaped into the tree's, bounding for the tower ahead.
Forest Of Death-11:35 AMWith Team 11
Dodging a multitude of stabs from kunai that were wielded by a Grass team, Kitsuke used his sword to cut through the kunai and slash horizontally but his strike was blocked by sword his opponent pulled out, they clashed with their strength with neither side breaking until Kitsuke jumped off a leg, kicked away the shinobi's sword and kicked him the face sending him back. While his opponent was trying to regain his vision, Kitsuke dashed in front of his opponent and ducked low and slashed the other teenager's upper body diagonally in half with it falling to the ground a few feet away. Sai and Yami had already finished their respective opponent, this group was a bit difficult to deal with considering their tactics but other than that nothing important, they regrouped and checked the scroll only to reveal a Heaven Scroll. The three breathed a sigh of relief, they had to find three teams since the last two hadn't possessed the scroll they needed but at least they got some team out of the competition. After further thought, it was decided to head to the tower as they would not want to get rid of too many scrolls and possibly remove someone they didn't want to be eliminated.
Although, they were in for one more fight.
As the three were traveling across the trees, a large snake burst from the ground, intent on devouring the humans in front of it. Yami summoned the Blades to his hands, wormed around the snake as it attempted to engulf him in one bite, he landed on the ground as his teammates were still in the trees out of the snake's grasp. The serpent moved across from him, slithering around in order to face him, they both eyed one another with Yami grasping onto the Blades of Chaos a bit loosely, the large snake then charged towards him but he felt no fear only that the Blades were getting hotter. As the animal got close enough, Yami tossed the Blades to behind him and caught the chains, then he threw the right blade forward and commanded the chain to spin the blade. The snake not being able to stop due to its haste to eat found itself being cut in half but it had not stopped there, Yami then commanded the blade to slam into the ground, incinerating the middle of the body and separating it in half, he then threw the other blade and repeated the action and finally ripping the other blade from the ground and swinging them both behind him, he slammed it into the last of the snake's tail, burning it away into ash.
Considering he sensed a chakra signature from the snake, he knew exactly who summoned it, activating his Byakugan, Yami saw a chakra signature hiding within a tree. With his dojutsu deactivated and the blades gone, Yami focused on the chained blades to raise the heat in them and once they were glowing orange he fired at the tree and reduced the part he was aiming at to ash and cinders. Unfortunately, the person he was aiming for jumped out a moment before it hit and was able to jump to another tree. Immediately Sai and Kitsuke jumped to the assailant's location, the moment they arrived the mn was able to grab Kitsuke's sword hand that was going for a decapitating strike and block two of Sai's strikes. He then yanked Kitsuke by his arm enough for it to come out of his socket and slammed him into his pale teammate before tagging them both with an explosive tag each and kicking them off the tree, causing the Uchiha to widen his eyes.
Activating his Rinne-Sharingan the moment the tags started sparking, Yami's formed blurred before reappearing next to the man and kicking him in the ribs before jumping down and ripping off the tags on his teammates before disintegrating them into nothing. Then he deactivated his eyes and landed with his teammates on either side of him, keeping eye contact with his opponent the entire time. Leaving his teammates in safe hands, Yami dashed into the air, meeting his opponent in the middle, ducking under the kick to the head, Yami had given one of his own to the man's chin resulting in him having to stick onto the tree he almost crashed into. But he was given no reprieve as Yami joined him quickly, being relentless in his assault by delivering three quick but brutal strikes to the ribs, abdomen, and face before having to duck under a forearm swipe. He retaliated by burying his left fist deep into the man's gut before spin kicking the man in the face into a higher area of the tree as Yami watched with aggressive eyes.
"So how does it feel getting beat up by someone much younger than you Orochimaru or is because your pedophilic nature is getting in the way of training like your teammates and their own vices." taunted Yami.
After being exposed to the sunlight, it revealed Shiore with a surprised and slightly annoyed face.
"Don't act so surprised, a giant snake with a chakra signature, and you with Sannin level reserves. It was obvious to anyone who knew you or of you." he explained.
Tearing off his average face, it revealed the pale face with golden slitted eyes with purple markings around the eyes and his hair was more straight than before in his disguise.
"So you could sense me, you must be a sensor." it was more of a declaration than a question.
"Yeah, I guess that would be pretty obvious." admitted the Uchiha, it wasn't much of a problem as the Snake lord already deduced that little fact, besides it wouldn't do him any good as he was going to beat the hell out of the pale man. After all, no one nearly kills his team and gets away unscathed, a fact he proved when he ran towards Orochimaru, blocking his left punch and countering with a punch to the rib. Ducking under the kick to the head and grabbing the right leg going for his ribs, he slammed the man into the bark of the tree before tossing him into the air and firing off three pin-like chakra arrows-after forming them from between each of his fingers-at Orochimaru.
Doing his best to dodge the tracking projectiles while mid-air, he was able to evade two of them while knocking them into trees but he was tagged in the shoulder by one of them. Immediately Orochimaru felt his entire nervous system going haywire before landing on the ground with a hard thud. Looking back at the wound, he only found the impalement but not the cause, doing this action made him unprepared for the nearly neck-snapping kick. Instead, he was sent skidding along the ground before slamming through the body of a tree before settling in the tree itself.
Walking towards the area calmly, Yami watched as Orochimaru emerged from the hole in the tree, anger written on his face. In a disgusting show, he opened his mouth and out came the Kusanagi sword he was looking for, the man grabbed it and looked at him was such hatred he was started to gain power from the feel of it.
Orochimaru was growling in anger at how easily he was being beaten, he was not able to react as face the genin before him, he was forced to use Regeneration Replacement due to the damage on his body and so he had access to more than half of his chakra reserves. He would fight the boy more, but that would be in the way of the sword, he would have to test the teens kenjutsu and see what a suitable vessel he would be. Licking his lips at the thought, he readied the Grasscutter sword.
Mentally throwing up in his mouth, Yami summons Yamato within it's sheath and after grabbing both the sheathe and the hilt of Yamato he flashed blue before appearing in front of the Snake Lord in a flash of blue. Orochimaru nearly faltered under the weight of the attack, due to the surprise as well but he held firm until Yami bounced off his feet into the air over the pale pedo, once he landed he slashed and an arc of blue energy shot towards the Snake man. Unable to dodge due to the speed, he took the hit and was rewarded with a gash that stretched arm to arm and it was quite deep. Gritting his teeth in pain, he tried to activate his Regeneration Replacement technique but had to use a ton of effort to leap over a bisect slash from his current interest. Knowing that it was unlikely that he was gonna have the chance to escape he had only one choice.
Orochimaru dipped his thumbs in the blood from his wound, he landed on the ground and executed a combination of hand signs before placing his hands on the ground as Yami was right upon him his sword above his head poised to strike Orochimaru when he yelled, "Summoning Jutsu!"
When he summoned Manda, the summoning allowed for both of them to end up on top of the purple snakes head. Thanks to the snake moving as he was summoned, it allowed for Yami to lose his footing and the sword missed his head and instead pierced the head of Manda but it didn't kill him.
"Orochimaru, for this you owe me a thousand sacrifices!" yelled the snake boss summon.
"Yes, nothing but the best for you Manda but I need your help with this!"
That was all he was able to say before being forced to dodge and parry a few strikes before staying in a deadlock, but this time the Snake king had help. Knocking both of them into the air with his head, Manda looked upon Yami and attempted to devour him in one bite if it wasn't for Yami moving to the side mid-air, shoving Yamato into the neck, as he was falling the Uchiha was leaving a nice gash along the snake's neck. Disengaging he rolled onto the ground, and immediately look towards both of his opponents and had to roll back from a jet of venom from the snake summon. Slashing a few judgement cuts towards the snake had paralyzed in pain from the multiple cuts around his head, attempting to end him, Yami moved forward with haste. Unfortunately, Orochimaru appeared in front of him and so he had to parry away a strike before jumping over another strike with his legs tucked, he kicked the pale man in the face with both legs sending him rolling in the ground.
Once more dodging the giant snake, he jumped on top of the snake and ran on the top of it before jumping up and slashing multiple blue arcs at the snake, it was only causing small cuts and so he decided to up the power for it. Landing on the ground, he channeled more power to Yamato and saw the Boss summon already upon him and so he increased the limit of his speed and was able to slice off the outer right horn of Manda leaving blood gushing from the open wound. He then had to dodge two slashes from Orochimaru, parrying another of his strikes, he went for a feint disguised as an overhead strike. The man went for a block by placing his sword horizontally but Yami ducked low and attempted to slice his legs out from under him, instead, it seemed he expected that and placed his swords blade quick enough to intercept Yamato. Having enough of this, Yami spun in the other direction and knocked the man's feet from under him, and cutting off his arm and then legs, he then fired off another two Judgement cuts at Manda, further worsening his wound and angering him.
The Uchiha had gotten the aggro he wanted and now had to dodge the snake as it made repeated lunges for him, he could see the blood begin to deteriorate the snake's vision and decided to use that to his advantage. Running up a tree, he led a coiling Manda up the tree and towards the top, he could hear the snake hissing as he was gaining on the shinobi, little did he know that is exactly what Yami wanted as he kept eye-contact with the snake. As they got closer, the number of branches got shorter, as well as available space until they reach the top with Yami balancing on one foot, watching with fearful eyes as Manda got closer.
With his eyes wide, the giant serpent was going to enjoy hearing the dying screams of his prey and as he lunged for the brat, he only felt pain until even that faded away and then nothing. Orochimaru watched with apprehensive eyes as Manda chomped down a particularly sharp and long branch with the sharp end poking out of his head, as he watched, he saw the light fade from the boss summons eyes and knew he had to leave. With the Uchiha appearing right in front of him, that was the best option and so he fled as fast as he could and saw to hair nor hide of Yami and believed he got away. He was right in this, because of the fact that Yami had managed to pilfer the Kusanagi while Orochimaru ran off, besides he still had a use for the snake later on in the exams. Right now though, he would head to the tower with his teammates, after sealing the godly weapon in a scroll, Yami leaped onto a tree and leaped away with his teammates, leaving behind a giant snake corpse and battle-torn area.
Thanks to Sai creating Ink birds earlier, they knew exactly where the tower was from their current location, all it would take is a distance to pass. But the Uchiha didn't like the silence that surrounded their team, while the two didn't truly know of his power, it was a bit unsettling to learn that the teammate you knew as a friend also had the power to force Orochimaru of the Sannin to retreat and kill his boss summon. Yami knew that the silence would end once they had a stable environment, then he would have to explain things, obviously not too much but enough to keep them informed of the abilities revealed.
"Well this will be interesting."spoke up the recently silent Kaguya.
'Care to explain? Also, I haven't been hearing from you, you usually pop up for a conversation, what change"?"
"In order, I wonder what you will say to your teammates, and for your second question, I have been letting you have your focus during the exams."Humming at her explanation, the Uchiha began mentally planning for the future conversation, his eyes bore witness to the tower within the Forest of Death, he landed in front of the two doors with his teammates on either side of him. He looked into their eyes and saw the inquisitive look on their faces and knew he was right. Entering, they looked around and spotted a riddle at the top of the entrance, they figured out that opening the scrolls would be the smart thing to do after reading it.
Once opening the scrolls, all it revealed was a summoning array and then smoke started pouring out of it, letting go of the scrolls, they watched as smoke formed a large cloud and as the crowd dissipated, it revealed Yamato, their sensei.
"Team 11, congratulations on surviving the exam, however since there are still many genins within the Forest you will have to stay within the tower's confines." announced Yamato.
A part of Yami ached at words, he knew why and expected it but it did NOT mean it was lessened at all, a side-effect-but not unwelcome-of his and Nihila's joining was that extended periods of time without each usually resulted in the feeling of missing the presence of the other. Also, it caused them to act more passionate once reunited, like a day ago.
"I'll take you to the room area and you can choose where you stay for the next few days." after saying his piece, he walked to a door with his subordinates following.
Arriving, they bade Yamato farewell and opened the door to the place the would be calling home for a while, noticing Sai laying out his equipment, and bringing out Ninja tool-specific cleaning supplies. In the open area of their room, Kitsuke got into a stance and began his Kata's in order to shake off the sore feeling in his limbs.
Sitting down at the end of his bed, he spoke aloud to his teammates, "So, what do you want to know?"
Kitsuke spoke first, "I knew you were powerful but we didn't know you were able to do that. You were manhandling him and his summon, you haven't given me a reason not to trust you. But..."
Sai stopping cleaning his tanto and stood up, placing his weapon and equipment down, walking over to Yami, he looked him in the eye, staring at him with an emotionless face. His words were simple but the meaning was there, "You are our friend right, and this power of yours, you use it for the right reasons, the ones we fight for as well?
He looked him in the eye and replied, "Yes, I am your friend, and I fight for some good reasons, but I do not fight for your reasons too. As I mentioned before I fight for those I care for, nothing more. Not that I have to really since they can fight with the best of them and come out on top.
Sai then did his 'smile' again, "Then we have nothing to worry about." He went back to tending to his weapon as Kitsuke faltered a bit in his current stance before sighing and continuing. Looking at them, he wonders when the day will come for them to finally be bound to kill him, after all he and the others wouldn't stay in Konoha forever. With the invasion happening, it would be a good cover but not before taking a few extra members with them.
Looking around the room, Yami figured he would be here for a while and so he got up and started walking to their door, with an explanation prepared, "I'm gonna take a walk, I'll be back later."
Stepping out the door, he extended his sensor network looking for the highest, 'Bingo!' sensing his blond mate's chakra signature almost immediately with it being in the tower. Seems she was currently in the showers with her own team, with that plan out the window, the Uchiha figured he would go inside his mind for a bit.
'Kaguya, you're in control while I look around inside the seal that S made for me, again."
Receiving a nod from the Otsutsuki princess, Yami felt the process of him retreating into his inner world as Kaguya exited that world and now commanded his body.
Yami's Mindscape
Upon entering his mindscape, Yami found himself looking at his islands that represented each of Yami's most important aspects. Jumping from the main island, he floated towards the Soul island at a slow pace before he finally landed on the island, he crouched onto one knee before grabbing the ground with one hand. A pulse shot out of it, two pedestals began to be uprooted out of the ground, with both being connected by a handlebar. Ever since learning about this seal being unbroken along with it coinciding with the powerful headache he had, Yami could 'feel' it within his mindscape. He found that he could access the information in any way possible, unfortunately, he was only able to access a particular scene and had not possessed the knowledge of the language spoken between two people. Thankfully, the seal also supplied him with the knowledge of the language and so he sought to learn more when he had the time, placing both of his hands against the 'metal' he had them for a few seconds. He was prepared for a flash of information going through his head at a moderate pace, when an aura enveloped the bar and wrapped around both of his hands keeping them connected to the handbar.
He then felt the red aura begin to spread, this hadn't happened before and he wasn't able to let go of the bar anymore, he could still feel the aura spreading around his forearms before arriving at his head. Then as it traversed his head, his vision changed to darkness, he began to hear the same voices he was trying to understand before but since he hadn't accessed that memory, in favor of learning the language, he didn't know he could already understand what was being said between the two.
"The Planet cannot be saved, only by sending Aegeus could we bring peace to this war-obsessed species." proclaimed a low voice with a serious tone.
"No, we will not force peace upon them. Send your eldest to finish this mess." countered a deep smooth voice.
"And have the chaos of them infused into him, out of the question."
"This is why you should have listened to me and gotten rid of that weakness of his long ago and now it has grown too much of an influence over him to simply be eliminated."
"It is that... 'weakness' that makes him who he is."
"And yet it prevents him from doing what he is supposed to do, cleanse the corruption before it takes hold, by taking it within himself. Instead, you have him only draining the corruption but not simply absorbing it, allowing it to fester while it is unattended to due to the innumerable corruptions of just THIS Universe."
The other figure said nothing, only listening.
The speaker shook his head and started walking away but not before one parting piece, "Be warned, one day this will bite us all in the back and all of the evils that are contained within him will reach the breaking point You allowed. After all, by allowing him to keep his soul, you have allowed him to be corrupted by the evils he will harbor. And in the end, they will bring ruin to you."
All that followed was silence until the Uchiha felt his hands be removed from their previous positions of against his will and he found himself staring at his hands except they were obviously released from the red aura. Grabbing the handlebar once more, he expected some type of reaction, though it seemed that was all it had to show him. Mentally signaling to Kaguya that it was time to switch, Yami jumped between the islands before arriving at the main before dispersing into blue particles.
Forest Tower-12:27 PM
After switching, Kaguya informed Yami that a few more teams had arrived, some of them were all together were missing one or two members or gone entirely. However, his mind wasn't on any of that, he was focused on the conversation he overheard, he didn't know how it was important to figure out what was behind this 'Ultimate Renegade' business. Thankfully, he has time to figure it out with the exams. With a Shadow Clone poofing into existence beside him, Yami went to the bathroom door on his right, before his hand touches the knob it was shrouded in a pink aura, one of his Rinne-Sharingan's abilities, Space manipulation. Yes, it sounds pretentious, anyway, he was currently connecting two doors together while it was draining on his chakra, opening the door, he was greeted the sight of an office with two windows that were delivering scare lighting throughout the office. The walls were lavender with the carpet floor consisting of an orange color, there was a desk in the middle of the room, as well as a perfect 360 degrees spinning chair, that could also double as a sleeping chair. How he knew was because this was his chair and his office, in Konoha his life was pretty one way, be a shinobi, resurrect the clan and bring power and glory to the village.
But thanks to his bounty hunting, it helped him get resources outside of the village, at the age of fifteen, knowing that he had no other resources besides the Uchiha wealth to sustain him when he would them most if he planned to successfully rid his group of Konoha. He started by gathering a spy network by sending a small team of clones to gather information about the outside world so he could learn about the villages apart from Konoha's influence. A few months later, the clones managed to gain information about crime lords that resided in Fire country, the location of the bounty station in the Land Of Fire which included a multitude of bounties waiting to be collected, as well as the information he specifically asked for. At the time, having access to the Uchiha wealth would be beneficial, but one could never be too sure of how much wealth one needed, so he crafted the bounty hunter Black Death, it would serve to have a wild card outside of any villages control while putting down any bounties and gaining many of the Elemental nation's attention. He quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished bounty hunter, he was able to stay out of their attention for some time but of course, all it took was time for his accomplishments to start to stack up and separate him from the rest.
It pointed him on people's radar, and one person went to seek him out. Too bad he couldn't remember much of what happened in that fight.
Two Years Ago
At the time he was searching after a couple of bounties that resided in a bandit camp in River country, the best way to deal with the situation was easy. Currently, he was wearing a black long-sleeved armored shirt with black pants that were also armored and had a red, secondary color scheme that ran along either side of the pants. He possessed black greaves on either arm with soft gloves of the same color, finally, he also wore boots instead of sandals so do not have anything injure his feet through the open area's, there was also a holster on his back. The last to complete his attire was the black helmet with the visor attached to it
Parrying a kunai away, Yami stuck the blade into the man's neck, keeping him away with his katana. The blade was a brilliant silver, straight, with a crimson handle while having a smooth surface, the sword also possessed no guard. He then swiped the blade out of the right side of the man's neck and ducking under a beheading slash before slashing off the assailant's legs, then he beheaded both of the bandits. Hearing lumbering footsteps behind him, he was forced to roll to the side to avoid a double-sided war hammer smashing against the ground. Channeling chakra through his sword, he swung it at his target but a rock pillar stopped the chakra slash.
One of Yami's two targets, Hiro Mutachi was a hulk of a man, he possessed no hair had visible muscles on his arms, and abs, he was wearing a shirt and had on black pants, however, he was also as agile as he was strong, it was something the black-eyed teen hadn't expected from a man of his physique. The man was from Iwa and had a powerful affinity to the earth, so powerful in fact that he was able to manipulate the very ground they stood upon without the use of chakra, it was accounted that Hiro had some kind of drawback from his ability but obviously it wouldn't be known and so he would have to figure it out in this fight. But his opponent would allow for him to have another moment of respite as he found the man already smashing through the pillar. Ducking under a swing, Yami attempted to pierce Hiro's chest but he had moved out of the way in time and kicked him in the chest sending back but not before launching a few shurikens towards the Mutachi.
Rolling on the ground, Yami leaped into action once he rose up, he ran towards his opponent while clenching his sword. Once within distance, Hiro swung, intent on killing this nuisance who had thought he could collect on his bounty, ducking again, Yami slashed at the man's ankle and moved his head away from the kick he almost received. Advancing, Hiro swung for the legs to immobilize the bounty hunter, since he was inclined back Yami jumped off his feet and tucked in his legs, allowing for the head of the hammer to sail past them, before landing on the ground with a noticeable distance between the two
This time it was Hiro that charged, he had his Warhammer grasped tightly in his right hand while he bounded across the distance Yami futilely made, he slammed it into the ground where the Black Death had been. However, he was still evading since he to dodge rock spikes erupting from the ground, slashing through the spikes was easy but since there were still bandits around he had to deal with them too. He learned something though, while the man had been relentlessly sensing rock spike after rock spike, the bounty hunter noticed that he hadn't moved from his position.
Blocking a wakizashi, the Black Death locked blades with his opponent, forcing the blade to one side as the bandit visibly sweated with effort until the ebony-armored man cleaved him diagonally. He then bounded for the brute, once he was nearly upon him, Hiro recovered from his earlier position quickly and moved to block an overhead strike, it confirmed the bounty hunters beliefs on Hiro's ability. He forced himself into his opponent's guard before kneeing him in the face after relenting a bit of pressure and noticing an opening. When the man fell back the Uchiha was close to striking but he was forced to back away from dozens of needle-like projectiles that were thrown where he was last standing.
Looking to his left, Yami watched as a lanky man with water surrounding his arms lower his arm, it was obvious who the attacker was and now he had two bounties in the same place, must be a lucky day for him. The newcomer's name was Kato Hasaki, there wasn't much information on him besides that he was very proficient at water jutsu and that he was a Rogue shinobi, and considering what he was looking for he was right about the water proficiency. Able to change water into Ice was a clan bloodline from the Yuki family in Kirigakure, well for some but for others it is really just a combination of two elemental natures.
"Looks like you caught yourself in a bind Hiro, you were always too reckless with your hammer against sword wielders." said Kato with a condescending tone. After looking between his opponents, he was forced to block multiple shurikens being thrown at him and then had to grab the head of Hiro's hammer. Pulling the weapon back, he shoved it forward, watching as the hammer wielder's arm got pulled out of it's socket. He spun on his heel to cut through four ice spikes, he ran forward while slashing aside any other ice spikes that were thrown at him. Upon reaching the water wielding rogue-nin, he went for an upper right diagonal cut, but upon contact, he noticed it didn't hit his target, instead, Kato shifted the end of the water tendril on his left arm into a blade form and it froze before the sword was able to slice clean through the water.
Allowing himself to be shoved back, he grabbed three small black knives from a knife holster-which could hold up to five total small knives-on his right thigh, then proceeded to throw them at Kato. Across from him, Kato batted aside all three knives before thrusting the water tendril forward, forming the end of the tendril into many sharp points, in order to impale his enemy. After grabbing a bandit's incoming fist, Yami twisted the arm behind the man's back before hurling him in front of the sharp water tendrils fast approaching him. The body was impaled and Yami was currently finishing off the last of the bandits.
Yami parried a katana before clashing once more, he parried a low diagonal strike before switching his to a reverse grip and then bisecting a huge cut into the man's stomach. After parrying two strikes from the water-wielding nin's ice spikes on his water tendrils he spun the sword into a normal grip, then he dodged a horizontal slash but he watched as the tip of the "blade" elongated, so he was forced ducked and witnessed it slicing clean through two of the tree's around. He had no time to rest as he had to repeatedly block multiple strikes from Kato's weaponized water until he parried one of his strikes and was able to get a small cut on his right rib cage area. He winced as the cut was deep enough to cut into his ribs and it cost him as the bounty hunter spun to roundhouse kick him away, as he was in the air he sent a wave of ice needles towards the katana wielder.
Spinning the sword in his hand so fast it appeared as a blur, the Black Death watched as it shattered all the needles that came his way, however it was unable to dice up all of them as he felt a few breach his left arm greave as well as one breaching the abdomen of his long-sleeved armored shirt. With the ice slashed to pieces, he sped forward but stopped short as Hiro had seemed to recover and was ready to swing at him once more. Backing up from the first swing, Yami parried the second strike with strength a bit greater than the war hammer wielder as the weapon itself was visibly knocked away, seemingly without resistance. He dove forward, and bisected the man in half and watched as he fell in two.
Although he was unable to focus on the corpse further as Kato appeared a few feet away, the man formed a large water tendril and sent it forward, presumably to impale his chest. He executed five hand signs, then fired a jet of water in front of him before it split side to side a foot away to block the entirety of the tendril by canceling the water formation. It worked, once the tendril hit the dense wave it merely joined the liquid, once his main weapon had been disposed of temporarily he worked to manipulate the entire wave. Before he could execute said plan, he was hit by a jet of water courtesy of the sword wielder manipulating water back into the jet of water it started out as, except bigger and stronger. Cutting off the technique he ran forward and saw Kato supporting himself with his hand on a rock, once he was noticed, the bandit hastily formed a wall of water to block the bounty hunters incoming strike.
The sword ran clean through the upwards wave-like water shield Kato had created, the aforementioned rogue-nin looked down to see the katana's blade piercing into the right of his lower abdomen. Gritting his teeth due to the pain, he looked down and saw the entire area around them coated in water and attempted to make use of it. Only for the sword still in his body to be ripped out of his side painfully, causing him to yell out in pain. Before the Black Death could deliver the final strike, he was forced to grab an incoming fist to his head with a shockwave being caused due to the force of the punch. The attacker was an alive Hiro, although it is contrary to himself bisecting the Warhammer wielder a few minutes ago.
'A clone.' since he wasn't given the chance to focus on the corpse because of the Kiri rogue-nin interrupting him, it would make sense that it would have been a clone technique. However, with Kato being injured, it would be determined how much help he would be to the Mutachi by his endurance to injuries such as this. After pushing the man away with one arm, he couldn't help but notice that the earth user didn't have his Warhammer on him, so to keep it interesting he sheathed his katana onto his back. He hoped this fight would be a bit more interesting, or he would have to end it quickly.
The Black Death ran forward with Hiro following a half a second after, once close enough, the ebony armored man spun to the side and let off a kick to the man's side. He was caught off guard by the move and thus was sent flying until he grounded his feet down against the earth and kept running forward. Once close, the bounty hunter attempted a right hook only for it to be blocked, the earth user brought up his knee to shove into his opponent's gut, but his knee only met a hand that kept the limb at a distance. After feeling a bit of resistance from both limbs in his possession, he hit the man in the chest with the palm of his hand, staggering him. He punched his abdomen before delivering to jabs to his face before the Black Death had to block a punch that pushed him back a little before having to deflect two repeated strikes. The two were currently blocking or deflecting punches and/or kicks without taking any.
Meanwhile, Kato was watching the display of his colleague facing off against one of the most renowned bounty hunters, he was also healing his wounded side. His abilities in water were more than just Ninjutsu, he was able to use water to accelerate his healing with the assistance of chakra. However, it took time, hopefully, enough time to help the Mutachi kill this man in order to not be killed themselves.
Back to the fight, the Black Death was able to get in two rib hits before having to duck under Hiro's already swung arm, he countered with a kick but the limb was caught and then he was pulled high into the air before he was about to be slammed into the ground. His arms were out to stop most of the impact, which worked, afterward, he pulled the man closer to him by the grip he had on his leg before he shoved his legs out. However, the Warhammer-wielder anticipated this move and was able to maneuver his head out of the way and then he threw his quarry away from him and ran toward him while he was recovering from being thrown like a ragdoll. Once he reached him, the behemoth of a man aimed to tackle the bounty hunter to the ground, instead, his hands were grabbed by the Black Death's gloved hands.
The two pushed against one another, they were equal in the strength they were revealing but all it was doing was causing deeper indents and cracks into the ground. Hearing multiple whistling sounds approaching from behind, the Black Death yanked Hiro by his arms and was able to place him between the half a dozen ice senbon and himself. The damage wasn't fatal but he could hear the man groaning in pain, however, he had to focus on the advancing rogue nin. He dodged a swing and blocked his right leg from kicking his side before having to turn to evade a water tendril, then he threw a kunai with an explosive tag connected to it at Kato, who shrouded the paper with a wave. The tag still exploded, showering water over Kato and the surrounding area, but the Black Death was able to evade a majority of the spray of water by backing up as soon as he had thrown the kunai.
But he wasn't done yet, after channeling chakra to his left hand, a crackling noise filled the area. In his gloved palm was a jagged sphere of blue lightning streaks forming around a white orb that also had lightning streaks except they were streaking outward. He chucked it at the water specialist and watched as the streaks formed a tail trailing behind as the lightning sphere flew towards Kato.
Acting quickly, Kato jumped up and out of the way of the attack, when suddenly the lightning sphere changed it's the trajectory and headed straight for his new position. He utilized what water that was still on his form and he formed it into a shield to block the attack. The lightning sphere blasted through the make-shift shield, dodging the incoming sphere was on his mind once he saw his defense obliterated so easily, he moved to the right but the sphere passed over the side of his right hand and he felt an intense burning sensation over the area.
As he was currently falling he grabbed onto a tree with his left hand and looked his hand over once sufficiently stable on the tree, his saw that the injured area of the skin was black and there were small arc-like scars across the back of his hand. His observation was cut short when he spotted the sphere was still heading for him overhead top left, but thanks to how far it was he had more time to react. As such, he commanded two streams of water to collide, he froze the water as fast as he could to form an obstacle between both himself and the bounty hunters attack. The plan worked as the ice was destroyed with stray bolts being blasted away from the sphere's detonation, however, he lost sight of the Black Death.
Until he had to turn to his left to block a kick to the head at the last second, he pushed it away before going for two jabs, both being blocked, the Black Death had a hard cross ready to counter and leaving him a bit disoriented. Using this to his advantage, the bounty hunter swept forward, sending his fists forward and hitting the man three times before letting up, only to spin to the left and kick the water-user in the face and sending him sprawling across the now swampy area. Walking forward, he was only able to get a few feet before being sent into the air by an earth pillar slamming into his chest, he attempted to slam his feet into the ground but his concentration was off due to the hit and so he ended up skidding off his feet but using the momentum he waited until he was facing the ground to stab his hand into the earth, stopping his movement. Cradling his chest with an arm, he looked up in time to witness a charging Hiro, sensing rumbling in the ground, he jumped back just in time to dodge another pillar erupting from the ground, the Black Death looked to his opponent before sprinted towards the earth user once his feet touched the ground. Once close, the disguised Uchiha moved a punch away to the left before slamming his right fist into the man's face swiftly, he backed his head away from a left hook and slammed down his left hand to knock away the man's incoming right fist to his abdomen before uppercutting him and punching him back.
As he was advancing on the Mutachi, Yami had to keep aware of any vibrations that would come from the ground as that is currently the only way he can combat the man's ability besides destroying the earth as it shifted. As such, it wasn't a surprise when a pillar came from the ground in between both himself and Hiro before it shifted for an attempt to ram into the bounty hunter. Bouncing on his feet, he twisted to the left before jumping off his right forefoot in order to dash toward the backing away earth bender. Once close he went for a punch but instead kicked the buff man in the gut with his right leg and the ebony-clothed man watched as he was sent wedging a divide in the ground, once stopped he threw up blood onto the ground and clutched his gut in pain from the kick. Clearly without a guard, the Black Death ended the man swiftly with his kitana.
Water tendrils attempted to bind him but he dashed away before they could grab hold of him, he spotted the man responsible perched on a branch of a tree, far away from him. With his Byakugan active he could see that the man was clearly exerting pressure due to how far away he was but his use for the eyes were more to confirm that he wasn't using chakra and it seemed that any rumors about that the ability were true. Running towards the tree he was perched on, the Black Death channeled chakra into the blade of his katana and sliced forward multiple times at the water-nin. He watched as he jumped, afraid to face his chakra attacks head-on and as he closed on his bounty with swift speed he saw how it would all go with his red eyes. Within range, he parried away the man's ice blades before crouching beneath a right low swing, he tripped the man with his sword due to how close he was with his crouch, rendering the water user down on the ground sideways. He wasn't able to get up as a pitch black kitana was sent through his body sideways, but before he would die, he looked directly into the bloodlust-filled eyes of the Black Death. His suffering was ended by the Uchiha slamming his red-flammed fist onto his head, caving the skull in and turning the brain to mush.
Standing upright once more, the bounty hunter shook his right hand, attempting to rid the hand of any bodily matter, although the flames on his hand disintegrating the brain matter and flesh into nothing helped the effort immensely and once finished it dissipated, sheathing his blade the bounty hunter took a breath to calm the energies within him.
"The Black Death, we meet at last."
Turning in the direction of the voice, he saw a man clad in a black cloak with red clouds standing on a branch, most likely watching the fight. He watched as the man jumped to the ground and once illuminated, he saw a tanned-skinned man with a grey hood with a black mask covering the lower half of his face. He also possessed a forehead protector with a symbol he recognized from Takigakure, but he already knew who the man was.
"Kakuzu, the Zombie Shinobi." Finally, a member of the Akatsuki was right in front of him, this group would bring ruin to the world if they succeeded in their goal according to Kaguya. Taking the initiative, the Black Death reached behind to grab his katana when a red aura enveloped him along with two rings intersecting across his body. Pain enveloped his chest amd suddenly his ability to breathe was taken away.
Stumbing to the ground, Yami crouched onto one knee while leaning onto his left arm heavily. He could breathe, he could feel it, but it was strained and no matter how much he tried he could draw in no more air. The aura was gone, he could no longer see it on his clothing, his body felt weak as well. Attempting to get up, he was unprepared for a kick to the face, launching him to his back due to the weak feeling in his body.
"I don't know what is going with you, but I came here to end the only threat to my profit in bounty hunting. (Walking towards the downed bounty hunter, Kakuzu grabbed him by the neck and raised him eye to eye) I came here with the belief of a difficult fight and yet I am received by this disgrace of a shinobi. Where is your pride, your dig-" He was interrupted by a punch to the face causing the zombie to go sailing before leveling his body with the ground cradling his chin as he definitely felt that pain.
"Do you ever shut up?" he sarcastically said while panting. He looked at the man, wanting to continue this fight but due to this unknown ailment, he had to withdraw or possibly die. But doing so would allow him to be free and allow him to continue to hunt the jinchuuriki, all because of whatever was causing him to lose his ability to draw in a great amount of breath.
Are you running?A voice, one he knew well, but it wasn't well received as evidenced by the roughing sounding of his tone, "No."
Then why aren't you fighting?A red aura enveloped the Black Death once more but he was no longer responding only hunched over, Kakuzu watched this with interest, perhaps the Leader would like to know of this development but only depending if it was useful. Enough distractions then, it was time to see if the Black Death would defend himself. Stepping forward he ran forward, but something stopped him, a dark presence intruded upon his being he looked forward only to be face to face with only a dark expanse of space.
Begone insect, before I release my hold on himEyes widening at the insult, Kakuzu was about roar a malicious reply before a more impactful message hit him.
Enough resistanceHis eyes went blank and he was back into the real world, he looked to the form of Yami and ran as fast as he could, once a suitable distance away, the mask-wearing man unzipped the Akatsuki cloak and threw it high into the air where a gust blew away. As he walked down a road his once dual-colored eyes changed into an emotionless black abyss that would encompass all who dared stared into them for too long. He had a job to do but one that didn't involve money or the Akatsuki.
Do you want to lose this chance to save your love?"(Grits teeth)NO!" The red aura over him seemed to brighten before it focused in on his chest causing him to clutch it in pain, as well as losing his breath his ability to breathe. He was clutching his throat when he felt it.
Look at you, unable to even move, unable to change a thing. You even let the mercenary get away.Looking in front of with great effort, he saw it was true, the man was gone along with what chance he had to kill him. That was when he could let in a breath once more, he was on the ground attempting to raise himself but always failing.
You failed, just like that night.Memories flashed threw his head, his right hand clutched the ground in the aftermath of the images
How long until this failure reaches you those you care for most now.A red aura flowed over his body once more, he felt the air begin to gradually fill his lungs, a few moments more and the red aura focused on his chest once again. This time, Yami did not clutch at the red aura forming on his chest as if it was a wound, he slammed his left fist into the ground and started to rise.
Will you allow you this weakness to fester, or will further yourself to reach greater heights?As he was rising the aura focusing on his chest, was turning from red to white before shrouding the bounty hunter once more and staying a crimson color, this time air filled his lungs but now he was not in complete control of his actions. Once on two feet, his crimson eyes roamed the now swampy area and looked beyond to a sight only he could see, once he chose his destination, the light that was showing through the forest seemed to lessen, as if the leaves on the trees were getting bigger, before the darkness of the murky area seemed to swallow him into the ground. A moment later light returned, and all that remained were two corpses both deaths unknown to all except two people
Until those around you become no match for the power you wield.Present Time
Shaking his head from the memories, he though back to that name.
"Aegeus..." A scowl formed on his lips, and once he noticed it in the mirror it disappeared. There was so much mystery surrounding him that he was finding way more questions than answers, how long until it tore his mind apart?
I'm back at typing again, but I don't want you to keep your hopes up so don't expect anything. I hope all of you are safe during these times. See you next timePosted 6-04-2020