Notice: I do not own Naruto, and make no claims of copyright on the
characters who are not my property. Original characters, however, are mine.
Author's Notes: And let the action begin! That's the big focus of this chapter, battle with Hidden Waterfall. I should note, this chapter justifies the PG-13 rating I originally gave this piece. The reason is basically: Dragon Jutsus+Human targets=big mess. Anyway, I hope this goes over well, I got to create a number of new jutsus for the waterfall ninja, which I think work quite well. The battle in this chapter alternates between Xi's fight and Neji's at intervals, much as multiple fights have proceeded in the anime and manga. I hope that goes over well. I have switched over to putting spaces between every paragraph since Fanfiction.net has apparently decided to stop honoring my indents. Eventually I'll go back and change the others too.
Thanks to those who took the time to review!
Sunder and Claw
Morning, a dark and overcast morning that calls the ninja awake at dawn in spite of itself. Cold creeps over the land this day, for it is now fall. In the tree branches the two dragon ninja awaken in silence. There is little light yet, and it is difficult to see. They are cold, having slept battle ready. The cold dew clings to them, and seems to tug the mind back toward sleep.
Xi is instantly upright, his form jerking into sudden motion. In seconds he has stuffed his bedroll away and dropped to the forest floor. He assessed the danger silently, and finding nothing, relaxed. Without saying anything, or even bothering to look at the branch Neji occupies Xi began a series of morning exercises to loosen his stiffened limbs and work the blood back through his body.
It took Neji somewhat more time to accomplish this. He came awake quickly, and moved slowly into the motions of breaking his likewise simple camp. This takes a few moments. I thought I was quick at this, Neji thought reflecting on the strenuous survival training Gai often put the team through. Xi moves like he never wakes up any other way. Perhaps he doesn't, Neji considered. The Dragon Ninja had never mentioned living anywhere specific in Konoha. Has he camped continuously for the past eight years? It was a troubling question, another of the many mysteries surrounding Draci Xi that seemed without answer.
The two ninja silently went through the procedures of the morning, and when they were loose and ready paused to eat a cold breakfast, purchased at a nameless village early yesterday. It was only during the meal that Xi spoke to Neji. "Reasonably quick in the morning, but you must become faster. If an attack comes at night you must move quickly enough to preserve your gear and escape, if you are driven off without it you've already lost any lengthy pursuit."
Such a harsh mentality, mindful of every detail and possibility. "Where does such a thing matter?" Neji asked, somewhat contemptuous of Xi's zealousness for such a simple thing.
The answer was a single word. "War."
Neji fell silent again.
Breakfast, being cold and tasteless, was a quick affair. Neji and Xi then departed, walking back to the battle site. "There's more light now." Xi told him. "Examine this, and see what you can see."
It was a simple enough thing to do. Neji walked around the area a few times, marking out suriken damage, blood spots, and the marks of jutsu impacts. Examining them he began to catch some of things Xi had mentioned. There were indeed two different styles of attacks evident from the shuriken marks. He could also mark out that some strange jutsu had been used to inflict a horrid wound. It was something. Neji decided. I will need to do this for every battle from now on, he told himself. So that I master this technique.
"Alright, let's go." Xi ordered. "We'll proceed generally northwest, toward the Waterfall border. Stick to the trees and stay within sight of me. Look for any marks that indicate a ninja presence. Don't concern yourself with stealth, if the enemy finds us that's fine, as long as there's warning." Xi jumped into the trees, and Neji followed. "I will moderate my pace to match yours while searching." He said. "Once we contact the enemy, however, I will launch ahead of you. There may be no warning beyond that, so follow as best you can."
The next few hours were spent in searching for signs of the Waterfall ninja. The team was quite elusive, and Xi said as much after a time, when the pair had proceeded northwest a great distance. There were few marks to indicate anyone had been through this area, and nothing definitive. They went back and forth, rapidly covering a tremendous amount of ground, taking only occasional breaks to prevent depleting their stamina. Xi pushed hard, and Neji found it difficult to keep up with the older ninja at times. He had trouble searching while moving at such a quick pace, but was confident that if there were anything to see he would catch it. My eyes are sharp enough.
It was just before noon when Xi spotted the signal he needed. There! He stopped abruptly, forcing Neji to stop hard enough to feel a good deal of pain from the impact to avoid flying past the older ninja. "See that tree Neji." Xi pointed to a large one off to the left.
Neji looked at it carefully, wondering what Xi had seen. There's something strange about the bark, he noticed immediately. It's been scored somehow, as if it were blasted off with some great force. "What happened to it?" He asked.
"A Water jutsu of some kind was used on the bark, rubbing it off like sandpaper." Xi responded, "And from the north side."
Looking again, Neji saw how it was, the marks of water damage to the bark, as if a firehose had been used on it. There was no decay to it. "It must have been done recently." Neji supplied.
Xi nodded. "With a day almost certainly, decay sets in fast in this moist forest. I believe our quarry is north of us. If this was done yesterday they are probably not far from here, but are scouting this area. There is a small village nearby. They may be examining it. We'll head that way." Xi determined.
"How close do you estimate?" Neji asked very seriously. "Within a few miles?"
"Why should that matter?" Xi said irritably, then his head spun toward Neji and he bored into him. "Byakugan?" It was not a question.
"Ah." Neji answered.
"Do it."
Neji focused in, though the move was essentially automatic by now, using the Byakugan this way was slightly different from other methods. "Byakugan." He spoke the word quietly. His vision telescoped, seeing everything for a great distance, though with so many trees it would be difficult to sort out anything beyond clear movement. He knew he shouldn't have any problems in this area, but his detection abilities were less than perfect. Damn cursed seal! This was one area Neji knew it had affected his powers. Still, have to see. He looked, focusing till his eyes burned with the pain, but not catching anything as he swept the perspective to the north. Maybe there isn't anything...wait! I saw something. Then it passed in front of his vision once more, a streak of motion above the ground. Too large for a bird. It must be a ninja! "There to the north." Neji said, the words coming out roughly. He let the Byakugan go, and his eyes felt instantly better. He pointed the direction, and saw Xi follow his hand.
"Not the direction I expected." The other ninja muttered. "Well, fine, we'll head the way, and confirm it later. Keep your senses sharp to hear anything or sense nearby chakra." He dashed forward through the trees.
The land blitzed past with incredible velocity under the two ninja. This was pursuit speed, and tremendous at that. Neji had only moved this fast once before, when chasing after the Sound ninja and Sasuke. And with that he could easily tell that Xi could have gone much faster. The dragon ninja continued to impress him.
Time dilated for the two as they moved, with the ground nothing but a blur beneath them. They were fully extending their senses, minds working on two levels, one the blistering speed through the trees, and the second the hunt for the foe. Where are the Waterfall ninja? In this haste Neji forgot all fear of the battle to come, and got lost for a moment in the chase.
"There!" Xi called suddenly, picking up something Neji couldn't hear. Then a moment later he noticed it too. The sound of a shuriken slicing apart leaves. They are within a few hundred yards of us! Neji discovered suddenly. Battle begins!
There was no pause in Xi's motion, no obvious shift. His speed simply went from the extremely fast pursuing speed to a careening motion that Neji's eyes could barely track for the second it took him to leave view. He harnessed his chakra and launched himself after the dragon ninja, doing his best to chase the man, but it was clear Xi would be alone with the enemy for several seconds. Neji could only remember the other ninja's instructions. Strike quickly and to kill. I shall, he steadied himself and gathered his chakra, feeling the image of blades of chakra in his mind. I shall do this.
Xi left Neji behind with hardly a thought. He will catch me in a few seconds, he knew. The dragon ninja moved with blistering speed, so fast now that he could barely see far enough ahead to guide him movements. This was the absolute limit of any ninja's treewalking motion, any faster and you simply could not tell where you were going. It was an incredibly dangerous thing to move even this fast, but Xi had estimated the distance, and he was coming in to kill.
The forest opened abruptly, and Xi was already shedding some of his speed. A single glance indicated the four ninja, two in the trees, and two on the ground. Can't get down at this speed, he knew. Xi picked the closer of the two and came at him.
The other ninjas barely had any time to react at all. The eyes of Xi's target went wide beneath his forehead protector. They had heard something, but not expected any attack at this velocity. The man dodged desperately aside.
Foolish, Xi thought. He expected a shuriken attack. The waterfall chuunin had reasoned that few ninja would attack at this speed, since it left them highly open to counterattack. That was somewhat true, but Xi wasn't going to give his opponent a counterattack. The chuunin dodged to the right.
One branch remaining between him and his target and Xi stretched out his hands. He grasped the branch with his chakra, enough force to rip the bark right off, and flipped himself in the correct direction, flying feet first at his opponent.
The Waterfall ninja screamed.
Xi's feet connected with the unfortunate man's body and walked up his chest. As they did Xi released chakra into his legs, forming them similarly to rend. But these were not blades. They were sharp spikes, two at the toes and two at the heels, and long enough to go through a man. "Back rake!" Xi shouted out the move's name as he executed it, leaving a bloody ruin of the chuunin's chest, as if he had been stabbed with a hundred kunai.
The Waterfall ninja gurgled once and then fell to the ground with a limp thud.
Xi landed on the branch beyond, coming to a half-upright posture.
The other ninja were not fools. The two on the ground had pulled shuriken, though they had not yet launched them, but the other in the trees was faster. Even as Xi landed he had sent a trio of shuriken and a kunai at him. They flew like black arrows, and the ninja lept into the air behind them, moving toward Xi.
The dragon ninja was ready. His hands flew to his thighs, and came up wearing nekode. He knocked away the shuriken easily, and leapt into the air as well. That one is the jounin. Xi decided of the ninja who had thrown at him.
The pair collided like thunderbolts, lightning quick blows passed between them, kunai striking nekode, but neither found an opening. They came to rest on opposite branches. Xi turned and stared at the foe with a grim expression.
The Waterfall jounin reacted quickly. "Idiots!" He shouted at the two chuunin below. "Do something!" He and Xi stared at each other for a silent moment.
The Jounin looked at Xi's forehead protector and his eyes widened. "Lightning? The killer!"
Hmm...I've made something of a reputation it seems. Xi noted. What are you going to do jounin?
The man was apparently waiting for the chuunin to act to help him, but Neji chose that moment to appear.
Where Xi had been a streak of blue, Neji was a burst of gray. He led his attack with shuriken, driving the pair apart. The two chuunin looked very similar to chuunin everywhere, non-descript ninja whose only difference was their hair and the placement of bandages. They wore a different uniform than Konoha, a flak jacket that was brown and had larger pockets. And their colors were brown and blue, a rocky pattern. They wore the forehead protectors of Waterfall, marked by twin downward chop marks. One dodged right and the other left. Neji saw their motions with his eyes. The one on the left will throw a kunai, the one to the right intends to fall back and use jutsu.
Normally Neji would have gone after the jutsu user, but he recalled Xi's words. With the Byakugan kunai were no threat to him, so he charged at that man.
A kunai flew, and Neji knocked it away easily, bringing the nekode into his hands. The waterfall ninja tried to dodge, but Neji was too quick, and anticipated his movements with ease. He brought both arms up.
Neji's chakra control was less than perfect at such speeds, and the chuunin was fast enough to spin left, intending to block the attack with his left arm. So Neji could not hit the torso of the man, still the attack struck all the same.
"Rend!" The cry split the clearing, and was followed by a terrible scream of agony. Neji's hands knew those chakra blades well now, and they came down in the crossing pattern of rend, and then back up.
Sharper than any steel these blades of chakra, and they impacted the unfortunate chuunins left arm and kept going. Down through his arm once, crossed, and then back up again. The damage was extreme. Blood splashed everywhere, coating both Neji and the chuunin, and all but ripping the arm straight off.
The chuunin screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, the limb destroyed and useless. Neji's eyes went wide with shock. Oh, god! He thought as he saw the effect of using the jutsu Xi had taught him. Blood was everywhere, and he had to relax the Byakugan for an instant to blink it away. When he looked again he saw the ruined remnants of the other ninja's arm, and gashes that stretched into his torso. I...I...I did this? It was horrifying. Neji had killed before, but the Jyouken style was essentially bloodless, leaving internal wounds that could not be seen. Here though, here he ruined a man, if not killed him slowly. His mind blanked for a moment.
Thankfully for Neji his Byakugan did not fail, and he caught the flashing motion of the other chuunin going through hand seals. "Waterfall style, Crashing Spray no jutsu!" The other ninja called out. Neji jolted aside as a fierce blast of water and air like that of a great wave meeting the shore burst from the chuunin's mouth, blowing a tremendous gouge into the ground where he had been standing. He was brought instantly back into focus by the attack, even as the other ninja continued to scream on the ground. This battle is just beginning. The other chuunin stood some distance away, and seemed to be ready to attack again.
Above the struggle on the ground Xi and the waterfall jounin faced each other. They had both seen what had happened below. Xi noted Neji's reaction. Damn, well, using Rend is never pleasant. Still, he'd better remain focused. He didn't kill that one yet, and the other looks dangerous. Crashing Spray is a powerful technique, and if he can use it with no obvious water then he's got some talent. Then Xi had to put aside his concern for Neji and deal with his own opponent. Well, it's your move. He thought.
The jounin grimaced at Xi. He was tall, with long limbs, and short spiked hair. He wore a band of cloth between his mouth and eyes, covering the nose. "So, you have a friend. I thought the lightning killer worked alone." He spat. "Never mind, that boy's from Konoha, so you're working for them. I suppose I'll just break you both." He flipped up and backwards, launching into the air.
The jounin went through a series of hands seals, and then brought his right hand forward in a clenched fist. "Sunder!"
Xi leaped aside at the last second. The branch he had been standing on exploded in a watery blast. The water appeared from within the branch itself.
So that's Sunder, huh? The Waterfall within. Xi upgraded his assessment of the jounin. The technique was one of the most feared of Waterfall's, it broke the bonds between water and earth within an object, causing the water to burst out. It could not be used upon living things, but if the ninja sundered something you were standing on the shrapnel would likely result in death. This man can use it with great speed too. Xi noted. I wonder just how much speed?
The dragon ninja dodged aside rapidly, moving in a zigzag pattern, to charge in against his opponent. The man flashed through the hand seals again, and Xi leapt aside as another branch blew apart. Bits of wood impacted against his legs, but didn't penetrate the skin. Too close. Xi thought.
"Ha!" The jounin shouted. "You can't get close to me that way! I can Sunder just as quickly as you can approach. If you tried to attack any faster you'd leave yourself far too open." He laughed.
I know that already you fool! Xi sneered. He leapt up, and flashed his hands through a pattern of seals all his own. The other jounin copied repeated his Sunder motions. Doesn't matter! Xi thought silently, there's nothing you can blow up to block this. Chakra ran down his fingers, gathering at the edge of his fingertips, so much concentrated it brought in intense pain. He circled that chakra into little knots within his body; knots that were unstable and would break once his will stopped holding them. They he shoved the knots out his tenkentsu. "Dragon Wind!" The blast of air shot forth, as knots of chakra broke apart, the power of the dragon's flight to drive an enemy into the ground and break them from the impact. The burst of air flashed at the jounin. Over the shrieking of the air Xi heard the jounin cry out. "Sunder!" The man shouted into the storm.
That shouldn't help you! Xi thought as he descended, looking at where the jounin had stood. For a moment a cloud of dust obscured his position, and then Xi saw the man standing there still, apparently unharmed. What!
"Ha!" He laughed at the dragon ninja. "I can sunder the very air itself! That attack won't work on me!"
Xi gritted his teeth, but then he smiled. So that's it? Time to die then.
"Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"
The blast of water surged toward Neji, and there was no way to dodge this time. Well, fine. "Kaiten!" Water impacted the spin and blasted off into forest. "Useless." Neji told his opponent.
The chuunin wiped a look of surprise off his face. Neji knew the chuunin was in a tight spot. He can't approach close, he saw what I did to his companion, and I can block his jutsu. What will he do now?
The ninja bolted away, and Neji followed. He hurled several shuriken, which Neji blocked easily. Neji caught up to the chuunin with a leap. The angle wasn't good enough to use rend, but he could easily target the man's tenkentsus.
The chuunin took a viscous blow to the shoulder, and he coughed with the pain, but rolled away and came upright. His hands ready to begin the pattern of seals again. "What good will that do?" Neji muttered aloud. "You can't break through."
There was no response beyond "Crashing Spray no jutsu!"
"Kaiten!" The attack was deflected as before. Why? It seems so pointless. Neji wondered, and then he saw behind him.
I made a mistake again. He realized. The vision of the Byakugan revealed that the other chuunin had stood up. Bandages covered with blood blanketed his left arm, but he held a kunai with a deathgrip in his right hand.
"Can't break through?" The chuunin in front of him sneered. "Maybe not, but you'll have to use that spin to block me, and then he catches you when its done. You're done, boy." His hands flashed through hand seals.
Neji had only instants to consider his options. I can't dodge. Kaiten won't work. I might attack him before he gets the spray off, but I'd get struck. For a single instant he hesitated, almost making the same tactical mistakes that had hurt him before. Then he realized it. It doesn't mater if I get struck, I can see the kunai, it'll hit, but nowhere important. I've got to stop this attack.
He charged toward the chuunin.
"Crashing Spray no Jutsu!" The terrible blast of water and air was more powerful than before, a great storm fueled by floodwaters this attack, ready to crush Neji.
"Kaiten!"
The spin and the spray impacted. Water and air and chakra surged and spun, and a kunai left a hand with the desperate strength of the dying.
Draci Xi faced the jounin in the treetops above, and put his nekode back in their holders at his side. He drew forth two kunai from the holster on his left leg. The jounin mocked him. "What are you going to do with those killer? It's useless. I wonder why you're so fearsome, you don't seem that capable to me." He readied Sunder once more. "I'll finish you this time."
Too late. Xi knew. You've already showed me the capabilities of that move. Now I can get around it. A smart ninja never uses the same move twice against one enemy. He placed his right leg forward, raising the kunai in his left hand high and down pointing, and bringing the right hand one level with his hip pointing up.
Xi charged in at full speed. The Sundering blast impacted behind him. "Hidden Cloud style, Thunder and Lightning Strike!"
The dragon ninja moved with incredible rapidity, ahead of the first sunder, and the second that followed him. Too slow.
The jounin's eyes widened as Xi seemed to shift at full speed, appearing above and right, and then to the left. Where is he? I can't follow the movement. It's too fast. Then he caught it, the dragon ninja was coming down from directly above.
"Sunder!" The air exploded above the Waterfall jounin's head.
The Kunai Xi held in his left hand impacted not toward the jounin, but into the air that had been sundered. A tremendous force impacted, and a bursting thunderclap exploded among those trees, canceling it out.
What? He attacked my defense? Why? The Jounin's face became puzzled.
The kunai in Xi's right hand came in with sparking fury, the lightning swift impact taking the jounin in the heart.
The man fell to the ground, a blank look upon his dying face, as his hands grasped fruitlessly at the kunai. "Thunder and Lightning Strike," Xi explained. "A lethal two-pronged attack that functions by impacting the primary attack against the opponent's defense, destroying it. Then, before any new defense can be raised the second attack comes in to kill."
Neji, below, heard the explanation.
The spin had ended with Neji positioned exactly as he wished. The kunai came in and took him in the left arm, a minor wound. Neji spun around, grabbing it with his right hand and sending it back at the dying chuunin. That man, lacking the strength to dodge, took the hit and collapsed, a lung punctured.
There was no hesitation after that. Neji had covered the necessary distance with the other chuunin, and now he attacked. "Gentle Fist!"
The man was quick, and raised his arms to block, only to feel them crumple as blood vessels and muscle was ripped apart within. Neji followed the attack with strikes to the chest, bursting against organs and dropping the man to his knees.
"Gaah!" The chuunin coughed blood. "He managed to move his hands and push chakra past the blocks in his tenkentsu. "Spray shower no jutsu." He croaked out.
A blast of water swirled about them. It did not hurt, but blocked Neji's sight. This was not genjutsu, but actual water, and its whirling chaotic motion made it impossible to track his target, even with the Byakugan. The chuunin had escaped.
Taking a deep breath Neji realized he had won. He looked up to see Xi's attack kill the Jounin above, and heard Xi calmly explain what he had done. For my benefit I'm sure. Neji knew. What a move. He thought of the Thunder and Lightning Strike, an incredible taijutsu move to do that.
Xi descended to stand next to Neji, who felt emotion simply drain out of him with the end of the battle. The dragon ninja said nothing, but walked over to the fallen chuunin who had been struck with Rend.
"Already dead." He said quietly, and bent down to close the eyes. "Not a pleasant way to die." He muttered. "But so are battles between ninja."
Neji nodded silently, and avoided looking at the horribly damaged body, it made him somewhat sick to realize he had done that to another person. That is the work of Dragon Jutsus, he realized fully for the first time.
"Your wound is not serious?" Xi asked.
"No, nothing really." Neji replied honestly, for the wound had only graze him as he spun away from it, what he had achieved by planning to take it.
"Good." Xi said quietly. "One got away. That's fine. You hurt him. We'll track him back to the border, but there should be no need for further engagement." Xi's voice went down a tone. "Patch up that wound of yours. I'll take care of the final task."
"What final task?" Neji asked.
"Disposing of the dead." Xi answered. "Burying them is not something we have the time for, as a Hunter-nin I know what to do, and that is enough for any ninja. If you wish to help then gather brush and branches, we will need them."
It took some time to gather together what Xi needed. He mounted branches brush and dry leaves atop all the bodies after dragging the three ninja together. Xi laid the forehead protector of each man over his closed eyes. He did take scrolls out of the jounin's jacket and placed them in his own, but that was the only thing taken from the Waterfall ninja. "Best not to let such things go up in smoke." He told Neji quietly. The whole process took less than a half hour, and then they were ready.
Xi motioned for Neji to stand back. He said nothing over the bodies. Ninja should be left to silence was the creed. The dragon ninja's hands flashed through a long series of seals at blistering speed, though Neji recognized the ones used in rend repeated several times. Then he raised both hands to his face, thumbs touching, and paired fingers touching as well, forming a sort of channel around his mouth. "Dragon breath no jutsu!" The words came out in a terrifying voice not Xi's own, the voice of a dragon. They were followed by a terrible storm of lightning. It arched and burst and shattered, blinding the eyes and paralyzing the senses. Neji felt every hair on his body stand up and his skin pinching taught just from being nearby.
The blast of electrical power smote the pile of brush mercilessly, and it exploded into flames with cackling popping leaps, as the hungry fires sought to devour the dead. The two dragon ninja watched in silence for a few moments, making sure the flames did not touch the rest of the forest.
It was quick, and in minutes little more than smoldering ashes remained. "Time to go Neji." Xi said coldly, jolting the young genin out of his revere. "We will track the other ninja toward the border. You will take the lead." He did not pause after giving the command. "Be cautious, there may be others in this region, and it would not do to be ambushed."
Neji nodded. Trying to focus past the blood he kept seeing behind his eyes. He leapt into the trees, and seeing signs of a ninja's frantic movement, began to chase again.
Author's Notes: And let the action begin! That's the big focus of this chapter, battle with Hidden Waterfall. I should note, this chapter justifies the PG-13 rating I originally gave this piece. The reason is basically: Dragon Jutsus+Human targets=big mess. Anyway, I hope this goes over well, I got to create a number of new jutsus for the waterfall ninja, which I think work quite well. The battle in this chapter alternates between Xi's fight and Neji's at intervals, much as multiple fights have proceeded in the anime and manga. I hope that goes over well. I have switched over to putting spaces between every paragraph since Fanfiction.net has apparently decided to stop honoring my indents. Eventually I'll go back and change the others too.
Thanks to those who took the time to review!
Sunder and Claw
Morning, a dark and overcast morning that calls the ninja awake at dawn in spite of itself. Cold creeps over the land this day, for it is now fall. In the tree branches the two dragon ninja awaken in silence. There is little light yet, and it is difficult to see. They are cold, having slept battle ready. The cold dew clings to them, and seems to tug the mind back toward sleep.
Xi is instantly upright, his form jerking into sudden motion. In seconds he has stuffed his bedroll away and dropped to the forest floor. He assessed the danger silently, and finding nothing, relaxed. Without saying anything, or even bothering to look at the branch Neji occupies Xi began a series of morning exercises to loosen his stiffened limbs and work the blood back through his body.
It took Neji somewhat more time to accomplish this. He came awake quickly, and moved slowly into the motions of breaking his likewise simple camp. This takes a few moments. I thought I was quick at this, Neji thought reflecting on the strenuous survival training Gai often put the team through. Xi moves like he never wakes up any other way. Perhaps he doesn't, Neji considered. The Dragon Ninja had never mentioned living anywhere specific in Konoha. Has he camped continuously for the past eight years? It was a troubling question, another of the many mysteries surrounding Draci Xi that seemed without answer.
The two ninja silently went through the procedures of the morning, and when they were loose and ready paused to eat a cold breakfast, purchased at a nameless village early yesterday. It was only during the meal that Xi spoke to Neji. "Reasonably quick in the morning, but you must become faster. If an attack comes at night you must move quickly enough to preserve your gear and escape, if you are driven off without it you've already lost any lengthy pursuit."
Such a harsh mentality, mindful of every detail and possibility. "Where does such a thing matter?" Neji asked, somewhat contemptuous of Xi's zealousness for such a simple thing.
The answer was a single word. "War."
Neji fell silent again.
Breakfast, being cold and tasteless, was a quick affair. Neji and Xi then departed, walking back to the battle site. "There's more light now." Xi told him. "Examine this, and see what you can see."
It was a simple enough thing to do. Neji walked around the area a few times, marking out suriken damage, blood spots, and the marks of jutsu impacts. Examining them he began to catch some of things Xi had mentioned. There were indeed two different styles of attacks evident from the shuriken marks. He could also mark out that some strange jutsu had been used to inflict a horrid wound. It was something. Neji decided. I will need to do this for every battle from now on, he told himself. So that I master this technique.
"Alright, let's go." Xi ordered. "We'll proceed generally northwest, toward the Waterfall border. Stick to the trees and stay within sight of me. Look for any marks that indicate a ninja presence. Don't concern yourself with stealth, if the enemy finds us that's fine, as long as there's warning." Xi jumped into the trees, and Neji followed. "I will moderate my pace to match yours while searching." He said. "Once we contact the enemy, however, I will launch ahead of you. There may be no warning beyond that, so follow as best you can."
The next few hours were spent in searching for signs of the Waterfall ninja. The team was quite elusive, and Xi said as much after a time, when the pair had proceeded northwest a great distance. There were few marks to indicate anyone had been through this area, and nothing definitive. They went back and forth, rapidly covering a tremendous amount of ground, taking only occasional breaks to prevent depleting their stamina. Xi pushed hard, and Neji found it difficult to keep up with the older ninja at times. He had trouble searching while moving at such a quick pace, but was confident that if there were anything to see he would catch it. My eyes are sharp enough.
It was just before noon when Xi spotted the signal he needed. There! He stopped abruptly, forcing Neji to stop hard enough to feel a good deal of pain from the impact to avoid flying past the older ninja. "See that tree Neji." Xi pointed to a large one off to the left.
Neji looked at it carefully, wondering what Xi had seen. There's something strange about the bark, he noticed immediately. It's been scored somehow, as if it were blasted off with some great force. "What happened to it?" He asked.
"A Water jutsu of some kind was used on the bark, rubbing it off like sandpaper." Xi responded, "And from the north side."
Looking again, Neji saw how it was, the marks of water damage to the bark, as if a firehose had been used on it. There was no decay to it. "It must have been done recently." Neji supplied.
Xi nodded. "With a day almost certainly, decay sets in fast in this moist forest. I believe our quarry is north of us. If this was done yesterday they are probably not far from here, but are scouting this area. There is a small village nearby. They may be examining it. We'll head that way." Xi determined.
"How close do you estimate?" Neji asked very seriously. "Within a few miles?"
"Why should that matter?" Xi said irritably, then his head spun toward Neji and he bored into him. "Byakugan?" It was not a question.
"Ah." Neji answered.
"Do it."
Neji focused in, though the move was essentially automatic by now, using the Byakugan this way was slightly different from other methods. "Byakugan." He spoke the word quietly. His vision telescoped, seeing everything for a great distance, though with so many trees it would be difficult to sort out anything beyond clear movement. He knew he shouldn't have any problems in this area, but his detection abilities were less than perfect. Damn cursed seal! This was one area Neji knew it had affected his powers. Still, have to see. He looked, focusing till his eyes burned with the pain, but not catching anything as he swept the perspective to the north. Maybe there isn't anything...wait! I saw something. Then it passed in front of his vision once more, a streak of motion above the ground. Too large for a bird. It must be a ninja! "There to the north." Neji said, the words coming out roughly. He let the Byakugan go, and his eyes felt instantly better. He pointed the direction, and saw Xi follow his hand.
"Not the direction I expected." The other ninja muttered. "Well, fine, we'll head the way, and confirm it later. Keep your senses sharp to hear anything or sense nearby chakra." He dashed forward through the trees.
The land blitzed past with incredible velocity under the two ninja. This was pursuit speed, and tremendous at that. Neji had only moved this fast once before, when chasing after the Sound ninja and Sasuke. And with that he could easily tell that Xi could have gone much faster. The dragon ninja continued to impress him.
Time dilated for the two as they moved, with the ground nothing but a blur beneath them. They were fully extending their senses, minds working on two levels, one the blistering speed through the trees, and the second the hunt for the foe. Where are the Waterfall ninja? In this haste Neji forgot all fear of the battle to come, and got lost for a moment in the chase.
"There!" Xi called suddenly, picking up something Neji couldn't hear. Then a moment later he noticed it too. The sound of a shuriken slicing apart leaves. They are within a few hundred yards of us! Neji discovered suddenly. Battle begins!
There was no pause in Xi's motion, no obvious shift. His speed simply went from the extremely fast pursuing speed to a careening motion that Neji's eyes could barely track for the second it took him to leave view. He harnessed his chakra and launched himself after the dragon ninja, doing his best to chase the man, but it was clear Xi would be alone with the enemy for several seconds. Neji could only remember the other ninja's instructions. Strike quickly and to kill. I shall, he steadied himself and gathered his chakra, feeling the image of blades of chakra in his mind. I shall do this.
Xi left Neji behind with hardly a thought. He will catch me in a few seconds, he knew. The dragon ninja moved with blistering speed, so fast now that he could barely see far enough ahead to guide him movements. This was the absolute limit of any ninja's treewalking motion, any faster and you simply could not tell where you were going. It was an incredibly dangerous thing to move even this fast, but Xi had estimated the distance, and he was coming in to kill.
The forest opened abruptly, and Xi was already shedding some of his speed. A single glance indicated the four ninja, two in the trees, and two on the ground. Can't get down at this speed, he knew. Xi picked the closer of the two and came at him.
The other ninjas barely had any time to react at all. The eyes of Xi's target went wide beneath his forehead protector. They had heard something, but not expected any attack at this velocity. The man dodged desperately aside.
Foolish, Xi thought. He expected a shuriken attack. The waterfall chuunin had reasoned that few ninja would attack at this speed, since it left them highly open to counterattack. That was somewhat true, but Xi wasn't going to give his opponent a counterattack. The chuunin dodged to the right.
One branch remaining between him and his target and Xi stretched out his hands. He grasped the branch with his chakra, enough force to rip the bark right off, and flipped himself in the correct direction, flying feet first at his opponent.
The Waterfall ninja screamed.
Xi's feet connected with the unfortunate man's body and walked up his chest. As they did Xi released chakra into his legs, forming them similarly to rend. But these were not blades. They were sharp spikes, two at the toes and two at the heels, and long enough to go through a man. "Back rake!" Xi shouted out the move's name as he executed it, leaving a bloody ruin of the chuunin's chest, as if he had been stabbed with a hundred kunai.
The Waterfall ninja gurgled once and then fell to the ground with a limp thud.
Xi landed on the branch beyond, coming to a half-upright posture.
The other ninja were not fools. The two on the ground had pulled shuriken, though they had not yet launched them, but the other in the trees was faster. Even as Xi landed he had sent a trio of shuriken and a kunai at him. They flew like black arrows, and the ninja lept into the air behind them, moving toward Xi.
The dragon ninja was ready. His hands flew to his thighs, and came up wearing nekode. He knocked away the shuriken easily, and leapt into the air as well. That one is the jounin. Xi decided of the ninja who had thrown at him.
The pair collided like thunderbolts, lightning quick blows passed between them, kunai striking nekode, but neither found an opening. They came to rest on opposite branches. Xi turned and stared at the foe with a grim expression.
The Waterfall jounin reacted quickly. "Idiots!" He shouted at the two chuunin below. "Do something!" He and Xi stared at each other for a silent moment.
The Jounin looked at Xi's forehead protector and his eyes widened. "Lightning? The killer!"
Hmm...I've made something of a reputation it seems. Xi noted. What are you going to do jounin?
The man was apparently waiting for the chuunin to act to help him, but Neji chose that moment to appear.
Where Xi had been a streak of blue, Neji was a burst of gray. He led his attack with shuriken, driving the pair apart. The two chuunin looked very similar to chuunin everywhere, non-descript ninja whose only difference was their hair and the placement of bandages. They wore a different uniform than Konoha, a flak jacket that was brown and had larger pockets. And their colors were brown and blue, a rocky pattern. They wore the forehead protectors of Waterfall, marked by twin downward chop marks. One dodged right and the other left. Neji saw their motions with his eyes. The one on the left will throw a kunai, the one to the right intends to fall back and use jutsu.
Normally Neji would have gone after the jutsu user, but he recalled Xi's words. With the Byakugan kunai were no threat to him, so he charged at that man.
A kunai flew, and Neji knocked it away easily, bringing the nekode into his hands. The waterfall ninja tried to dodge, but Neji was too quick, and anticipated his movements with ease. He brought both arms up.
Neji's chakra control was less than perfect at such speeds, and the chuunin was fast enough to spin left, intending to block the attack with his left arm. So Neji could not hit the torso of the man, still the attack struck all the same.
"Rend!" The cry split the clearing, and was followed by a terrible scream of agony. Neji's hands knew those chakra blades well now, and they came down in the crossing pattern of rend, and then back up.
Sharper than any steel these blades of chakra, and they impacted the unfortunate chuunins left arm and kept going. Down through his arm once, crossed, and then back up again. The damage was extreme. Blood splashed everywhere, coating both Neji and the chuunin, and all but ripping the arm straight off.
The chuunin screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, the limb destroyed and useless. Neji's eyes went wide with shock. Oh, god! He thought as he saw the effect of using the jutsu Xi had taught him. Blood was everywhere, and he had to relax the Byakugan for an instant to blink it away. When he looked again he saw the ruined remnants of the other ninja's arm, and gashes that stretched into his torso. I...I...I did this? It was horrifying. Neji had killed before, but the Jyouken style was essentially bloodless, leaving internal wounds that could not be seen. Here though, here he ruined a man, if not killed him slowly. His mind blanked for a moment.
Thankfully for Neji his Byakugan did not fail, and he caught the flashing motion of the other chuunin going through hand seals. "Waterfall style, Crashing Spray no jutsu!" The other ninja called out. Neji jolted aside as a fierce blast of water and air like that of a great wave meeting the shore burst from the chuunin's mouth, blowing a tremendous gouge into the ground where he had been standing. He was brought instantly back into focus by the attack, even as the other ninja continued to scream on the ground. This battle is just beginning. The other chuunin stood some distance away, and seemed to be ready to attack again.
Above the struggle on the ground Xi and the waterfall jounin faced each other. They had both seen what had happened below. Xi noted Neji's reaction. Damn, well, using Rend is never pleasant. Still, he'd better remain focused. He didn't kill that one yet, and the other looks dangerous. Crashing Spray is a powerful technique, and if he can use it with no obvious water then he's got some talent. Then Xi had to put aside his concern for Neji and deal with his own opponent. Well, it's your move. He thought.
The jounin grimaced at Xi. He was tall, with long limbs, and short spiked hair. He wore a band of cloth between his mouth and eyes, covering the nose. "So, you have a friend. I thought the lightning killer worked alone." He spat. "Never mind, that boy's from Konoha, so you're working for them. I suppose I'll just break you both." He flipped up and backwards, launching into the air.
The jounin went through a series of hands seals, and then brought his right hand forward in a clenched fist. "Sunder!"
Xi leaped aside at the last second. The branch he had been standing on exploded in a watery blast. The water appeared from within the branch itself.
So that's Sunder, huh? The Waterfall within. Xi upgraded his assessment of the jounin. The technique was one of the most feared of Waterfall's, it broke the bonds between water and earth within an object, causing the water to burst out. It could not be used upon living things, but if the ninja sundered something you were standing on the shrapnel would likely result in death. This man can use it with great speed too. Xi noted. I wonder just how much speed?
The dragon ninja dodged aside rapidly, moving in a zigzag pattern, to charge in against his opponent. The man flashed through the hand seals again, and Xi leapt aside as another branch blew apart. Bits of wood impacted against his legs, but didn't penetrate the skin. Too close. Xi thought.
"Ha!" The jounin shouted. "You can't get close to me that way! I can Sunder just as quickly as you can approach. If you tried to attack any faster you'd leave yourself far too open." He laughed.
I know that already you fool! Xi sneered. He leapt up, and flashed his hands through a pattern of seals all his own. The other jounin copied repeated his Sunder motions. Doesn't matter! Xi thought silently, there's nothing you can blow up to block this. Chakra ran down his fingers, gathering at the edge of his fingertips, so much concentrated it brought in intense pain. He circled that chakra into little knots within his body; knots that were unstable and would break once his will stopped holding them. They he shoved the knots out his tenkentsu. "Dragon Wind!" The blast of air shot forth, as knots of chakra broke apart, the power of the dragon's flight to drive an enemy into the ground and break them from the impact. The burst of air flashed at the jounin. Over the shrieking of the air Xi heard the jounin cry out. "Sunder!" The man shouted into the storm.
That shouldn't help you! Xi thought as he descended, looking at where the jounin had stood. For a moment a cloud of dust obscured his position, and then Xi saw the man standing there still, apparently unharmed. What!
"Ha!" He laughed at the dragon ninja. "I can sunder the very air itself! That attack won't work on me!"
Xi gritted his teeth, but then he smiled. So that's it? Time to die then.
"Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"
The blast of water surged toward Neji, and there was no way to dodge this time. Well, fine. "Kaiten!" Water impacted the spin and blasted off into forest. "Useless." Neji told his opponent.
The chuunin wiped a look of surprise off his face. Neji knew the chuunin was in a tight spot. He can't approach close, he saw what I did to his companion, and I can block his jutsu. What will he do now?
The ninja bolted away, and Neji followed. He hurled several shuriken, which Neji blocked easily. Neji caught up to the chuunin with a leap. The angle wasn't good enough to use rend, but he could easily target the man's tenkentsus.
The chuunin took a viscous blow to the shoulder, and he coughed with the pain, but rolled away and came upright. His hands ready to begin the pattern of seals again. "What good will that do?" Neji muttered aloud. "You can't break through."
There was no response beyond "Crashing Spray no jutsu!"
"Kaiten!" The attack was deflected as before. Why? It seems so pointless. Neji wondered, and then he saw behind him.
I made a mistake again. He realized. The vision of the Byakugan revealed that the other chuunin had stood up. Bandages covered with blood blanketed his left arm, but he held a kunai with a deathgrip in his right hand.
"Can't break through?" The chuunin in front of him sneered. "Maybe not, but you'll have to use that spin to block me, and then he catches you when its done. You're done, boy." His hands flashed through hand seals.
Neji had only instants to consider his options. I can't dodge. Kaiten won't work. I might attack him before he gets the spray off, but I'd get struck. For a single instant he hesitated, almost making the same tactical mistakes that had hurt him before. Then he realized it. It doesn't mater if I get struck, I can see the kunai, it'll hit, but nowhere important. I've got to stop this attack.
He charged toward the chuunin.
"Crashing Spray no Jutsu!" The terrible blast of water and air was more powerful than before, a great storm fueled by floodwaters this attack, ready to crush Neji.
"Kaiten!"
The spin and the spray impacted. Water and air and chakra surged and spun, and a kunai left a hand with the desperate strength of the dying.
Draci Xi faced the jounin in the treetops above, and put his nekode back in their holders at his side. He drew forth two kunai from the holster on his left leg. The jounin mocked him. "What are you going to do with those killer? It's useless. I wonder why you're so fearsome, you don't seem that capable to me." He readied Sunder once more. "I'll finish you this time."
Too late. Xi knew. You've already showed me the capabilities of that move. Now I can get around it. A smart ninja never uses the same move twice against one enemy. He placed his right leg forward, raising the kunai in his left hand high and down pointing, and bringing the right hand one level with his hip pointing up.
Xi charged in at full speed. The Sundering blast impacted behind him. "Hidden Cloud style, Thunder and Lightning Strike!"
The dragon ninja moved with incredible rapidity, ahead of the first sunder, and the second that followed him. Too slow.
The jounin's eyes widened as Xi seemed to shift at full speed, appearing above and right, and then to the left. Where is he? I can't follow the movement. It's too fast. Then he caught it, the dragon ninja was coming down from directly above.
"Sunder!" The air exploded above the Waterfall jounin's head.
The Kunai Xi held in his left hand impacted not toward the jounin, but into the air that had been sundered. A tremendous force impacted, and a bursting thunderclap exploded among those trees, canceling it out.
What? He attacked my defense? Why? The Jounin's face became puzzled.
The kunai in Xi's right hand came in with sparking fury, the lightning swift impact taking the jounin in the heart.
The man fell to the ground, a blank look upon his dying face, as his hands grasped fruitlessly at the kunai. "Thunder and Lightning Strike," Xi explained. "A lethal two-pronged attack that functions by impacting the primary attack against the opponent's defense, destroying it. Then, before any new defense can be raised the second attack comes in to kill."
Neji, below, heard the explanation.
The spin had ended with Neji positioned exactly as he wished. The kunai came in and took him in the left arm, a minor wound. Neji spun around, grabbing it with his right hand and sending it back at the dying chuunin. That man, lacking the strength to dodge, took the hit and collapsed, a lung punctured.
There was no hesitation after that. Neji had covered the necessary distance with the other chuunin, and now he attacked. "Gentle Fist!"
The man was quick, and raised his arms to block, only to feel them crumple as blood vessels and muscle was ripped apart within. Neji followed the attack with strikes to the chest, bursting against organs and dropping the man to his knees.
"Gaah!" The chuunin coughed blood. "He managed to move his hands and push chakra past the blocks in his tenkentsu. "Spray shower no jutsu." He croaked out.
A blast of water swirled about them. It did not hurt, but blocked Neji's sight. This was not genjutsu, but actual water, and its whirling chaotic motion made it impossible to track his target, even with the Byakugan. The chuunin had escaped.
Taking a deep breath Neji realized he had won. He looked up to see Xi's attack kill the Jounin above, and heard Xi calmly explain what he had done. For my benefit I'm sure. Neji knew. What a move. He thought of the Thunder and Lightning Strike, an incredible taijutsu move to do that.
Xi descended to stand next to Neji, who felt emotion simply drain out of him with the end of the battle. The dragon ninja said nothing, but walked over to the fallen chuunin who had been struck with Rend.
"Already dead." He said quietly, and bent down to close the eyes. "Not a pleasant way to die." He muttered. "But so are battles between ninja."
Neji nodded silently, and avoided looking at the horribly damaged body, it made him somewhat sick to realize he had done that to another person. That is the work of Dragon Jutsus, he realized fully for the first time.
"Your wound is not serious?" Xi asked.
"No, nothing really." Neji replied honestly, for the wound had only graze him as he spun away from it, what he had achieved by planning to take it.
"Good." Xi said quietly. "One got away. That's fine. You hurt him. We'll track him back to the border, but there should be no need for further engagement." Xi's voice went down a tone. "Patch up that wound of yours. I'll take care of the final task."
"What final task?" Neji asked.
"Disposing of the dead." Xi answered. "Burying them is not something we have the time for, as a Hunter-nin I know what to do, and that is enough for any ninja. If you wish to help then gather brush and branches, we will need them."
It took some time to gather together what Xi needed. He mounted branches brush and dry leaves atop all the bodies after dragging the three ninja together. Xi laid the forehead protector of each man over his closed eyes. He did take scrolls out of the jounin's jacket and placed them in his own, but that was the only thing taken from the Waterfall ninja. "Best not to let such things go up in smoke." He told Neji quietly. The whole process took less than a half hour, and then they were ready.
Xi motioned for Neji to stand back. He said nothing over the bodies. Ninja should be left to silence was the creed. The dragon ninja's hands flashed through a long series of seals at blistering speed, though Neji recognized the ones used in rend repeated several times. Then he raised both hands to his face, thumbs touching, and paired fingers touching as well, forming a sort of channel around his mouth. "Dragon breath no jutsu!" The words came out in a terrifying voice not Xi's own, the voice of a dragon. They were followed by a terrible storm of lightning. It arched and burst and shattered, blinding the eyes and paralyzing the senses. Neji felt every hair on his body stand up and his skin pinching taught just from being nearby.
The blast of electrical power smote the pile of brush mercilessly, and it exploded into flames with cackling popping leaps, as the hungry fires sought to devour the dead. The two dragon ninja watched in silence for a few moments, making sure the flames did not touch the rest of the forest.
It was quick, and in minutes little more than smoldering ashes remained. "Time to go Neji." Xi said coldly, jolting the young genin out of his revere. "We will track the other ninja toward the border. You will take the lead." He did not pause after giving the command. "Be cautious, there may be others in this region, and it would not do to be ambushed."
Neji nodded. Trying to focus past the blood he kept seeing behind his eyes. He leapt into the trees, and seeing signs of a ninja's frantic movement, began to chase again.