Before various responses, a single important note for those of you readers without significant Naruto exposure: bunshin no jutsu refers to the jutsu that creates an illusory self. Kawarmi no jutsu replaces the user with an object.
In regard to Team 7: Strangely enough, Shino's team was never intended as a parody of Team 7. As soon as I read my original manuscript, I recognized the obvious resemblance, but there was little I could do. Kayaki is necessary to the plot (in actuality he is almost nothing like Sasuke, but this story does not extend far enough for you to discover that), and Ruana and Watashi exist for the sake of contrast. Watashi breaks this rule, as my initial concept of him was, quite simply, as follows: Naruto without work ethic or demon fox.
Note, however, that other teams seem to follow this matter as well. Consider Orochimaru (Sasuke), Jairya (Naruto) and Tsunde (Sakura). Kakashi's team also bears elements of this manner of triune. This is meant solely to be a random observation.
A certain reviewer criticized my language as being too clinical. There are a number of responses I could make to this, from critiques of Masashi's works to disapprovals of literary trends to logical defenses. I believe that I will do none of these, and merely accept such words as legitimate criticism. We'll see what you think of this chapter.
I realize the lack of a watch is a plot hole, and I have realized such from my initial sketch of the story concept. However, it seemed to me the most direct means to an end. My somewhat lame reasoning is that without the three Missing-nin recruited in the last chapter, it would have been completely impossible for the thugs following Hinata to reach them in one night. Thus they determined it would be more important to fully rest. Weak, but (in my mind) passable.
There was a call for more action, I believe. This you shall receive [i]en masse.[/i] Also, this chapter and the one following it contain proper ninja battles, not the skirmishes that have so far taken place. I hope that you find it enjoyable.
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Chapter 4: Shino's Protege
The clearing was filled with tension so thick it seemed tangible. Though the sky was beginning to become light and morning approached, the sun was completely hidden. Limited light did little to disrupt the eyesight of the shinobi in the clearing, as they continued to lock eyes. Neither group moved, ready to act at the slightest provocation.
Tinoch had charged and the Genins had evaded his attacks, just as he intended. Not only did he now know how much speed they were capable of, they thought they knew his. Beneath the cloths covering his mouth, Tinoch smiled; they were quite wrong. To think that three Genin could equal a Missing-nin of his ability... foolish.
Across from him, the small team was even more tense. One of the Missing-nin had left and the other was busy with Shino's summon, but even one might be enough to finish them. Watashi glared daggers at his opponent and Ruana had managed to get a grip on her fear and dodge. Kayaki's eyes were narrowed... if they could waste enough time Shino would return...
Tinoch charged, thinking much the same thing. He had to finish off these brats before the more serious warriors returned. Watashi and Ruana both leapt away when they saw him coming. It had been his plan to hurl kunai at them, but things were somewhat different. The third boy wasn't dodging... what sort of fool was he?
But it would be better to certainly kill him than just wound the two others. Tinoch didn't like the look of this boy, either, better to have him out of the way. A kunai was already in Tinoch's hand, and he struck down. The idiot wasn't anywhere near fast enough to block...
Abruptly Kayaki's arms swept up, kunai slashing at Tinoch's face. At the last second the Missing-nin wove back, and the kunai just sliced a few of his bandages. The brat had been hiding his speed before...
While Tinoch wove back, Kayaki struck forward, leg sweeping to strike his head. Recovering from his imbalance, Tinoch caught the leg. Feh... some chakra, but not enough to be serious. Using Tinoch's arm as leverage, Kayaki swung his other leg at his stomach. Barely realizing the attack in time, Tinoch managed to catch it with a palm.
Breaking free from Tinoch's grips, Kayaki flipped to his feet as he fell to the ground. Before he had even landed, he struck the ground with a hand seal. Instantly a shock wave burst through the ground, knocking Tinoch flying into the air. The brat actually had some jutsu as well... and now he was going to attack with a kunai.
[i]Now is the time![/i] All of Watashi's senses screamed at him at once. Kayaki was going to follow up his attack, and his blow would probably at least draw blood from the Missing-nin. If this went on too long, Kayaki would steal all the glory.
Watashi was not about to let that happen. Unless he was able to defeat such opponents, he could never become the Hokage. He had to use this Missing-nin as a stepping stone to his future position. It was his right to defeat him!
Diving in from the side, he struck at Tinoch with a kunai. The blow was far too slow, and the Missing-nin easily caught it. Just before he could smash a fist into Watashi's stomach, Tinoch was distracted by several shuriken thrown by Ruana.
Catching these easily, Tinoch slipped them between his fingers and then took a swipe at Watashi, who was still dangling by one hand. The Genin boy managed to twist out of the way of the blades, but Tinoch quickly reversed his arm's momentum, his elbow smashing into the boy. Going with the attack, Tinoch took Watashi all the way to the ground, blood flying from the boy's mouth as he struck.
Leaving the defeated Genin, Tinoch turned to Ruana, who was gasping in shock. She was too afraid to even attack... not worth his time. Thrusting out a hand, Tinoch sent a wave of chakra out that knocked her back and into a nearby tree. She fell to the ground and did not rise. Now, just to take care of the last boy...
...he was nowhere to be seen. Narrowing his eyes, Tinoch glanced around the clearing carefully. Surely he knew it was pointless to run away, his friends would just die. That meant he would shortly be attacking from wherever he had hidden himself. These Genin were always so predictable.
A split second later Kayaki dove from behind, leg sweeping toward Tinoch's head. Sensing the attack, Tinoch whirled and drove a kunai into the boy's chest... which promptly dispersed in a shower of mist. Bunshin? He couldn't actually be that clever... another attack hurtled in his direction, and Tinoch dispersed it as well. Idiot... such a simplistic jutsu. Then again, what had he expected from a Genin?
The next attack coming toward him began to bore Tinoch. He could feel the chakra in the illusion and didn't bother to block... why did the boy bother? A worthless effort.
Unfortunately for Tinoch, this attack was not bunshin no jutsu, it was kawarmi no jutsu... and the illusion had been made from a rather large tree trunk. It struck Tinoch and he barely stumbled before breaking the log in half. An attack like that couldn't hurt him very much...
Kayaki's chakra-filled foot slamming into the back of his head could. Hurtling forward, Tinoch managed to land on his feet and skid across the clearing. So the boy could pack a bit more of a punch than he'd originally imagined. If all three of them had been like this, it might have been a bit more of a problem. One would not be any manner of obstacle.
"You're a sharp kid," Tinoch commented, rising to his feet and flipping two kunai into his hands. "What's your name?"
"Kayaki, of the Uraki clan," Kayaki answered, even while shifting left to stay opposite Tinoch. They continued circling, eyes watching the other with extreme care.
"You're not bad, for a kid. It'd be a shame to kill you, really. Why not become a Missing-nin? What do you have to lose?"
"Too much," Kayaki answered levelly. "I am Shino's protege, and I wish to remain that way."
"Feh. Idiot. There's no time, I guess I'll just kill you." Charging forward, Tinoch noticed at the last second the thin trip wire stretched across the camp. So this kid had managed to set up a trap while he had been distracted with the other two. Not good enough. Tinoch slowed to a stop just before the string... just as Kayaki hurled a shuriken and sliced it himself.
Immediately forcing his chakra into his feet and shooting into the air, Tinoch narrowly avoided several blades that sliced across the space where he had been. Flipping back, Tinoch barely touched off a tree behind himself and leapt forward toward Kayaki. The boy stepped to the left, pulling on another trip wire with his leg. Immediately the tree behind him snapped downward, flying toward Tinoch.
Barely catching his arms on the ground, Tinoch flipped and kicked directly up, breaking the trunk in half. He landed on his feet, just in time to block another strike from Kayaki. The boy leapt back, his hands already moving in a seal. Tinoch didn't bother to attack, curious about what pathetic jutsu a Genin of his age might have mastered.
Seconds later water exploded from the ground, reservoirs from the deep blasting to surface level. Having sensed the attack, Tinoch was long jumping away, and then landed across from Kayaki. A powerful jutsu, but a basically useless one... all that had changed was that their fighting area was covered in water.
About to make a biting comment about the futility of such a slow jutsu, Tinoch realized that Kayaki was already making more hand signs. What was he planning? He was using hand seals no Genin should have learned... what was going on?
[i]Mist Cage![/i] The soaked area around Tinoch suddenly sprang to life, the water flying into the air and forming a hollow sphere of water around him. So it was a capturing jutsu... very interesting. Then his first attack had been no more than a set up. But it was still futile; such a weak prison could not hold him.
Concentrating chakra in one hand, Tinoch smashed it into one of the sides of the sphere surrounding him. Instantly it fell apart, the jutsu crumbling and the water falling to the ground. Good, but not good enough; the boy didn't have enough power to make the cage indestructible.
For a split second Tinoch saw Kayaki in the air before him, and then the boy's fist struck his face, sending him falling backward. Though the attack hurt, Tinoch recovered himself almost immediately and turned his fall into a flip, kicking his opponent with both legs. Kayaki fell backward in a shower of blood, but quickly flipped to his feet. Before Tinoch could recover enough to attack, the boy had already made several more hand seals.
A fierce wind blew the water toward Tinoch, sending a nearly solid wall of mist flooding over him. Bracing himself, Tinoch defended against the attack, and it barely forced him back at all. Another weak and worthless jutsu... unless of course he was trying the same thing as before: a simple distraction. No trick would work on him twice.
Sensing Kayaki hurtling from the right, Tinoch whirled and smashed a fist into his stomach. The boy gaped in pain, and as he fell to the ground Tinoch punted him across the clearing. He skidding for some distance through the water, then slowly began to rise to his feet. Eyes blazing, Tinoch turned to him, licking blood away from his mouth. Soon the boy would pay for his blow...
[i]Water Pillar![/i] Tinoch's jutsu blasted up from under Kayaki sending him high into the air. As the boy fell, Tinoch rushed upon him, smashing a fist down into his stomach and sending him to the ground. Whipping out a kunai, Tinoch attacked again, slashing the boy across the chest and sending him hurtling across the clearing.
He was somewhat surprised when Kayaki rose to his feet unsteadily the next second. Surely he should be beaten by now... that kid was determined. Again Tinoch attacked, sending a veritable storm of shuriken toward his opponent. Though the dark haired boy tried to dodge the weapons, most of them imbedded themselves into the Genin. Amazingly, he kept on his feet.
"Why keep fighting?" Tinoch asked, folding his arms in triumph. "You cannot possibly defeat me!"
In response Kayaki ran toward him, each step causing him to bleed further. Still he picked up speed, darting toward Tinoch with a kunai in hand. When he got close enough, Tinoch whirled, smashing a boot into the boy's head, sending him flying across the arena again. There, now he was finished.
But no... again he rose. Angry now, Tinoch began to make hand seals of his own. It was time to finish the boy off once and for all. No one could survive this attack, and in his state he couldn't possibly dodge it. The stupid boy had been more annoying than he had imagined possible, but he was finished now.
[i]Absolute Crush![/i] Tinoch moved both his hands into the air on either side of him, and two gigantic pillars of rock broke out of the ground on either side of the barely standing Kayaki. Smashing his hands together, Tinoch made the pillars do the same, crushing the boy between them. There was no space between the pillars, and a red trickle made its way from the crack, working down the cold stone. Breathing heavily, Tinoch dispersed the rock and watched the boy fall to the ground, most of his limbs broken and his ribs crushed.
And again he rose. Jaw dropping, Tinoch frantically glanced about the area, trying to figure out what was going on. No one could survive that, no one. Something was wrong... abruptly Tinoch realized that he was encased within some manner of genjutsu. So that was what was the truth of the situation.
[i]Kai![/i] The jutsu resisted his efforts to dispel it, but Tinoch knocked it aside. All these attacks had drained his chakra... he needed to finish off whatever really remained of the boy. Around him mist faded away, mist he hadn't realized was there, letting him see again.
Kayaki stood on the opposite side of the clearing, his hands still in the seal they had been before. The piles of rock from the pillars lay elsewhere, and the damage from his water pillar elsewhere as well. Neither of the attacks had touched Kayaki, who now glanced up at Tinoch with hard eyes.
"D*****!" Tinoch roared. Then he had wasted his time and squandered his chakra. Pulling a large shuriken from the pack on his back, he rushed forward, aiming to slice the small boy to ribbons. There were no illusions now, he made sure of it. Against his full speed, there was no way the boy could avoid his inevitable death...
[i]Ice Coffin![/i] Water exploded into the air as Kayaki made another hand seal. It struck Tinoch's arm but he rushed through, ignoring the minuscule pain... a completely worthless jutsu, even compared to the boy's other techniques. A mere water balloon in a battle of explosives.
Just as he reached the boy, Tinoch suddenly screamed in pain. The water still on his arm had frozen completely solid, trapping his arm motionless in striking position. His skin burned from the freezing temperature, and he barely stopped his screams. Concentrating all his remaining chakra, Tinoch forced it into his arm. It wasn't going to be enough to break the ice...
No... it couldn't end this way... this was the boy's final jutsu; now he was panting and drained. It was a good one, but not enough to defeat a ninja superior to him. If this last tactic failed, the Genin would be finished. Tinoch couldn't let it finish him. He would not be defeated by a mere Genin. His mind began to go back to the village, to the reason he had become a Missing-nin, to his quest for power. It would not end here. [i]It will not![/i]
Screaming in rage, Tinoch shattered the ice around his arm. The force of the chakra around him sent the water nearby exploding away. Instantly he brought his blade into a battle position, ready to finish off that idiot...
Kayaki was in the air before him, one hand forming a seal and the thumb and index finger of the other above and below his mouth. His cheeks were bulging as if they contained something. Tinoch's strike continued down, aiming directly to sever the boy's neck completely...
[i]Ice Breath![/i] A deadly wind blew from Kayaki's lips, freezing everything before him. The ground nearby was coated in a layer of frost, the leaves on the ground were instantly crystalized, moisture in the air became visible. Tinoch was encased entirely in ice, frozen forever.
For a moment Kayaki remained standing, then he fell forward. He was unconscious before he struck the ground.
A shadow fell on the boy sleeping from exhaustion, a tall and long shadow. Into the drying clearing walked Manatchi, his face hardened into a vicious expression. His clothing was a bit ripped, but he himself appeared completely unharmed. Reaching the clearing, he tossed aside the bloody body of the insect creature that had fought him.
Idiot kids... all three of them appeared to be unconscious now. Tinoch was encased in ice, obviously long dead. He wouldn't have expected that the little brats had it within them to actually take down one of his Missing-nin. But ah well. Nothing would change, he could still slaughter them now, then chase down Shino. Most likely he'd been able to get Hinata back... Manatchi decided he'd have to change that.
But first... wrap up these loose ends. Manatchi flicked a kunai to his hand, then hurled it toward the fallen Kayaki. The blade was knocked away by another thrown in from the side, and both fell off into the bushes.
Growling in anger, Manatchi glanced up to find the source of the attack. Shino stood in the shadows, one arm extended having thrown the kunai, the other supporting Hinata at his side.
"So you're finally back," Manatchi hissed. "I thought you had ran away."
"Your friend is dead," Shino answered him darkly. He instantly took in the field, seeing his three Genins beaten but alive, and the other Missing-nin not so lucky. Apparently Kayaki had succeeded.
"I care not. I killed your summon," Manatchi continued, undisturbed by the death of either of the other Missing-nin. "It was a weak and foolhardy creature."
"I care not," Shino echoed. "It was a rebellious and evil servant, and I knew that you would kill it. I summoned it only to stall for time."
"Time? Time for what? Now I'm going to slaughter you like the idiot you are, then take that b**** anyway! What do you say to that?"
Gently setting down Hinata, Shino briefly turned his back to Manatchi. Being ignored made the leader of the group of Missing-nin growl, his blood beginning to boil. Such arrogance... then Shino turned back. His dark sunglasses glinted ominously in the first rays of sunlight that were coming over the horizon, masking his eyes completely. Slowly he moved into a fighting stance, then beckoned for Manatchi to come.
"Let's finish this."