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 more action, my first major one on one battle for Neji, and it turned out far better than I originally hoped it would, considering the jutsus I came up with. Hope they are appreciated. Again, some serious violence here, but that's an aspect of this story, coping with what you have to do. Thanks to those who review, and I'll throw in some response comments:
orlha: I wouldn't say this story is that different from the rest of Naruto, though its intended to be. I'm just dealing with more mature characters at a higher level of skill.
Kimirei: I'm glad you appreciate the detail. I sometimes think I go to far with it. But then, I'm a big fan of description, and Naruto to me breaks down into action contrasted with explanation. The real difference here is that Xi basically has to explain all his own techniques, since no one else is either watching or knows what he's doing.
Do As Infinity: Oh, there's much more to come, heck I'm not even really a third of the way through my basic plot outline yet, and everything will take longer once Neji acquires some teammates (about two chapters in the future or so).
Burning Mirror
The chase led north. Beneath the trees the land grew treacherous as ravines and streams became common, until all was an endless succession of river valleys. Too wide to leap, courses had to be charted through them, slowing the pursuit, but also the one who fled. The wounded ninja had the advantage of knowing the terrain, but his wounds limited motion and slowed his speed. Relentlessly, the pair from Konoha gained on him.
When night fell they were less than an hour behind. Neji considered pressing onward, but Xi ordered a halt. "He cannot go far in the darkness, not wounded." The older ninja said. "The danger of finding or running into other, rested ninja is too great. We will camp here." When Neji seemed about to question this, Xi continued in a stern voice. "The mission is not to catch this ninja, simply to insure that he flees from Leaf lands. We are near enough to the border of Waterfall already. In the morning it will be less than two hours north. Now, get your rest, you took your own wounds, even if they were minor."
That was enough for Neji. He had not really wanted to begin a night pursuit, recognizing that it was not wise, he simply did not want to camp. He wanted activity to push the images from his mind of this day. His all- seeing eyes kept displaying two shattered bodies before him, terrible visions he did not want to imagine. The young ninja could not accept yet that he and Xi had been responsible for those ruined forms they called men. An arm shredded, a chest destroyed, these images, soaked in blood, kept broaching Neji's normally supremely ordered mind. All the day he had pushed them away, first by examining the battlefield during the short burial, and then by focusing on the pursuit. Now though, he had no such recourse. He had to face the fact that he had killed a man today.
I ripped him open with rend so easily, Neji recalled. The move was so fluid it seemed a terrible counterpoint to the damage it did. With no resistance by the flesh beyond the changing of the chakra blades, the arm became a ruined mass of flesh and bone. He pushed the image away again, but the blood remained. The blood, indeed, still lingered on his clothing, though he and Xi had used the many streams to wash most of it off, but it did not all come off so easily, and their quick stops had left congealed blood from the dead chuunin lingering in Neji's hair and bandages. Now it seemed as if that caused some strange itch within him, and it made him restless. Is this my future? Neji wondered. To be soaked in blood like this? Those Waterfall ninja, they were not so villainous. We were enemies, certainly, but to destroy them like that, how can that be the right thing? Neji could not see it, could not see past those bodies in his mind. He had expected death, but not in this fashion. He had seen the dead before, but always they had been so much cleaner, not brutally ravaged like this. His Jyouken style had insulated him from the true brutality of combat, by leaving its damage invisible and out of sight from the one who delivered it. The coldly logical and ordered portion of Neji's mind knew that it did not matter in what fashion a ninja died, that the clean kill of Xi's Thunder and Lightning strike was no different from the mutilated body left behind by his Back Rake. That portion of the mind was locked into a corner now, in the dark night of the forest, with this deadly ninja Neji's only companion. The rest of him simply refused to accept what he had done fully. He had no answers; perhaps for the first time in his life Neji was cast utterly adrift.
For his part, Xi had seen the look on Neji's face at seeing what he had done. He is strong, but there is no simple way to endure this. Neji kept fighting, kept going, and has not complained. Many lesser ninja would be collapsed on the ground, or desperately trying to get the blood off, even experienced chuunin have broken down at the sight of a body that suffers dragon techniques when the battle is done. Xi, for his part, did not know what to do. When I first used rend it was during a war, and the village Naravki and I were in was destroyed. I fought and ran until I collapsed that day, with no time to think on what had happened, and there was battle the next day. Naravki never told me any comforting words, but I was older than Neji, and had already seen terrible things done to people. Compared to the bloated drowned bodies the Mist ninja had left behind the sight of Rend was not so terrible. Still, I was hesitant to use the jutsu again, Xi recalled, until I knew I had to.
That was the only guide Xi had, that Neji would overcome his reluctance by being placed in a situation where he would need the dragon jutsus. It was an unfortunate tactic, and why he had pressed the pursuit hard. I think there will be a battle tomorrow, perhaps facing the one we search for, but perhaps another. The words of Wusashu lingered in Xi's mind. He had decided to put Neji into a dangerous situation, force him to fight. It was a very risky move, and could result in Neji being seriously injured or killed. If he realizes that I planned such a thing he will likely hate me for it. Xi grimaced at that thought. I don't want him to hate me. It was a strange feeling, for Xi rarely cared about what others thought, he was used to being distant and cold, had adapted to wearing a mask for most of his ninja career, and even now, with his mask broken, he had simply replaced the mask of ceramic with the mask of his flesh. Still, beyond simply creating the greatest dragon ninja he possibly could, Xi felt some sort of duty to Neji. Even though I owe him no debt, it seems as if it should be the other way around somehow. Regardless, he must learn to accept Rend, to force his mind to look past the surface cosmetics. A hard lesson for you, Neji, since you have a sight that pierces deeper than most, but even you must learn that not everything can be seen.
The morning dawned with a vibrant fury, the sun tinged red from the light of the sea to the north. The dragon ninja were up and about under that vibrant light that bathed the forest in a glimmering red tinge. Neji gathered his gear with mechanical precision, eyes focused elsewhere, but even so he had already shaved some time off the difference between him and Xi. The trail extended northward again, and the two ninja went bounding after it, through the rough and formidable coast country. The border with Waterfall was near.
For an hour and a half they went north, approaching the borderline, a line Xi would not cross. He told Neji as much. "We cannot cross into Waterfall directly, for if we were detected it could provide an excuse for war. I would avoid notice easily enough, but you would not, and there are surely ANBU by the border."
"The dragon Wusashu said I would go to Hidden Waterfall." Neji answered, unsatisfied.
"He did, but it is not wise to take a dragon's words literally." Xi answered. "We will see when we reach the border."
Indeed, Xi's words were almost prophetic. As the two ninja crossed within two miles of the border the tail merged with other tracks. The moment he saw them Xi stopped and spun, coming around with Kunai ready.
Neji managed to stop himself by the older ninja, and brought forth the Byakugan.
Xi said nothing, but stood there breathing carefully.
"There is no one for fifty meters." Neji said quietly.
"Silence." Xi barked.
He waited at least two minutes, and then relaxed slightly from his deadly posture, putting away the kunai. Turning to Neji, Xi had a viscous grimace on his face. "Never trust just your ability boy," He said harshly. "Use every signal you have, and be thorough, there will always be something that can trick you." Bitterness crept into Xi's voice.
Unusually harsh, Neji noted. He recalls something like this.
Examining the tracks, both ninja could read what happened easily. Neji spoke them around, confirming what he saw to Xi. "Another platoon met here, and they encountered the one who fled. They went almost directly west, and carried the one I wounded with them."
"Indeed." Xi noted. "And?"
"Since they did not go north, I seems they are setting up an ambush somewhere here, and actually want to fight." Neji answered. What enemy is this, who feels confident enough to fight us? He wondered. No matter, I'll defeat them.
"Most likely." Xi commented. "They would have sent at least one north with the wounded man to insure a report. At most we face three, but one is confident enough to succeed where the jounin failed." Xi appeared to consider this for a moment. "Perhaps a platoon of jounin? We will advance cautiously."
The trail led west for a mile and a half, over rough ground, before expanding out into a canyon. It was a small gray canyon, one with a river at its base, and appeared to dead end into a hillside. Underground stream. Neji decided. There was a small pool before the hillside. Looking down the dragon ninja saw a man standing openly in that pool.
Xi leapt down to stand and face the man at the pool, but drew no weapons. Neji came in a moment afterwards. The man was obviously a ninja, wearing the same uniform that the platoon the day before had worn. Brown and blue, with the bulky brown flak jacket and bright forehead protector. Yet this man had a distinctiveness that the others had lacked. His hair was brown streaked with bright aquamarine, and his eyes burned a fiery red. Then Neji saw the center of the man's collar. There, at the base of the separated rising bands of the flak jacket's neck guard, hung a great aquamarine. The gemstone was impressive, a gleaming jewel that sparkled majestically and seemed to hold the power of the ocean sky. So this is Ryukin, Neji knew instantly. The Waterfall ninja stood on the edge of the pool, water touching the tops of his sandals. He was coolly composed, with a smirk on his face.
Neji moved to speak, but Xi preempted him. "You sent your companions north?" He asked in an emotionless voice.
"You speak!" Ryukin spoke as if astonished, but his voice had a cruel lacing. "I thought that Konoha's Killer never talked."
"I will not deny the blood on my hands," Xi answered in his same cold tones. "But you mistake me if you think Konoha controls me."
"Perhaps I do?" He laughed, a harsh and biting noise. "But if I do, what is that boy standing beside you. Not just a leaf ninja, but one of the oh-so-enlightened Hyuuga clan. Spare me your denials."
"Answer my first question." Xi demanded.
"Why?" Ryukin laughed again. "Why should I answer you anything, you killed my fellow ninja."
"They died for trespassing on Leaf land and attacking Leaf ninja. So far you are guilty only of the first. Answer my question and perhaps that can be ignored."
"I will answer your question because it amuses me, not because your threat taunts me, but because it will amuse me to thwart you." Ryukin put his hands in his pockets. "I sent them north, and they are well across the border by now."
Xi's face went unchanged. "Then I will not fight you."
Neji stifled a gasp, confused, and his eyes narrowed at Xi.
"I thought not, the Killer never deviates from his mission they say, those who have seen him and survived." Ryukin laughed again.
"I will not fight you, but that does not make you safe, Waterfall ninja." Xi turned his head to see Neji. "This is your mission, not mine. You will fight him alone."
Hearing this Neji suspected Xi of something, but that was swallowed by the bloody image of the broken bodies of the day before. Fight him? Why? It seemed so useless. Certainly the gem the man wore was impressive, but why was that such an important thing. Neji hesitated in responding.
"You? Fight me?" Ryukin laughed. "This Hyuuga boy will fight me, Ryukin the Scorching Ninja?"
The expression on Xi's face grew darker when he heard that, but he said nothing more.
I will not simply fight this man. Neji decided. I just need the gem. "That gem you wear, I am to retrieve it. That is my mission." Neji told Ryukin in his most viscous voice.
"Your words bite, little Hyuuga, but I do not care. I took this little item myself, and I have no intention of surrendering it to the likes of you. Come, try and take it from me."
"You underestimate me, I will retrieve it." Neji spoke firmly. Indeed, I will take it back and leave you watching.
Xi saw the strange look in Neji's pupil-less eyes from the corners of his own. With out facing him he spoke to the air. "This man is a dangerous opponent, Neji. Don't think to fight as anything but a dragon ninja, or you will perish. He will enjoy killing you I am sure."
Don't tell me what to do, Xi. Neji thought. I will do this my way. You are trying to force this fight on me, don't think I don't know it.
Xi stepped back, and then leaped away with a sudden motion. I hope this is the right choice. Concern flooded him, and he barely avoided an attack of indecision. No, from this point forward it must play out without my intervention.
Ryukin stood casually, looking at Neji with those red eyes. He mouth was twisted into a viscous smile. He looked almost hungry.
He will attack now. Neji realized. "Byakugan!" Neji activated the technique, his vision altering to encompass everything around him, and to see the chakra moving through the body of the Waterfall ninja.
"Humph." Ryukin mocked. His left foot slid to one side, and his hands ripped out of his pockets, hurling a swarm of kunai and shuriken at Neji. Neji raised his hands to block.
The Waterfall ninja's hands flashed through a series of seals. "Shuriken Water Mirror no jutsu!" He called. Water from the pool launched into the air; forming twin mirrors to each of the weapons he had thrown, tripling the number of targets.
It doesn't matter if there are more, Neji knew, they're just weapons. Not even as many as Tenten would use. His hands moved, and with precision he knocked every one of the attacks away. He found that with his increased chakra control it was even easier than before, his hands moving almost as fast as his vision.
The metal weapons clashed away as Neji struck them, but those made of water burst onto his hands. They did no damage, but Neji's hands were wet when the attack finished.
This is bad! Xi saw. I feared this! He uses that technique!
Neji moved to charge in for his own attack, but Ryukin raised his hands and formed a single seal. "Secret Technique. Mizuho* (*Mizuho hopefully translates into something resembling Waterfire) no Jutsu." He bored into Neji with his red eyes and laughed.
The water on Neji's hands burst into flames.
Pain seared him instantly, but Neji reacted quickly. Is this chakra construction? Then I'll cut it with my own, just like those damn spider strands. He rushed chakra out of his hands and tried to rip the chakra apart. The flames vanished for a moment, and Neji smiled.
Ryukin smiled back. The flames reappeared.
What? Shock rippled through Neji. I cut the chakra!
"Even if you can cut the chakra, Hyuuga boy," Ryukin laughed. "The water is real, and you cannot get rid of that. Your bloodline power is not so potent as mine."
Neji could already tell that the flames would not be extinguished if he smothered them, that water would burn without air. I have to get it off. Only one option! "Kaiten!"
The whirl spun with tremendous force, and flung the burning water off of Neji. It impacted everywhere around, igniting small blazes.
Ryukin grimaced as Neji looked at him triumphantly. "Not so potent as your own." He remarked. "You're not so strong."
"So that is the true power of the Hyuuga? An ultimate defense?" Ryukin appeared to consider. "It doesn't matter, I will burn you."
Holding his singed and pained hands, Neji began to sense something strange about this battle, a familiar sense to his opponent.
"Mizuho technique! Burning liquid skin!" Water from the pool flowed up over Ryukin, coating him with a shining liquid layer. Then it caught fire.
Damn! Neji thought. That's dangerous. He didn't have any more time for thought then, as his opponent charged. Fast! Neji saw.
"Kaiten!"
The two attacks impacted hard. Neji knocked Ryukin back, but water from the man's hands crashed through the whirl, clinging and burning his body before being thrown off. He clenched his teeth against the pain. Still, that has to wear us both...down.
Ryukin stood up, water burning all around him. He appeared uninjured. "Even as it attacks and burns you, the water cushions me from your counterattack. It may take time, but eventually I'll scorch enough of you that you won't be able to spin anymore.
Damn! Neji thought. Fine then, I'll attack. He dropped into a crouch, raising one hand high behind him, and the other low, two fingers extended in both places. The gaze of his Byakugan lanced into the other ninja's mind. The circle of divination appeared in the minds of both ninja. "Hakke Rokujyu Yonshou!" Neji attacked.
"Useless." Ryukin spoke. A blast of burning water surged out from him, flooding the line Neji was attacking. He dodged aside at the last moment, fire clinging to his coat. Only his newfound chakra control prevented him from being immolated.
"Your ability is inferior to mine, Waterfall's most feared technique, Mizuho, and I am the Scorching Ninja, master of it."
He charged in to attack again, and as he did Neji realized what was familiar about this battle. This man is me! He saw with terrifying shock. He was reliving the battle of the chuunin exam from Naruto's perspective. My techniques do nothing!
Still, no choices remained at the moment. "Kaiten!"
Again he blocked the attack, but suffered burning damage. The marks now rippled up and down his arms and chest, his jacket had holes ripped into it from the flames, and his hair had burned away in places.
"Please!" Ryukin mocked. "You're only prolonging your death this way." He gloated.
Is this what I was like? Neji wondered, frightened by this enemy for the first time in his life. It was not the techniques, but what this man represented. Is this what I was? He wondered. Will I die here? I am not Naruto. I have no hidden powers.
Even as he thought that, Neji knew it was a lie. He did have hidden powers. They swam in his mind even now, an image of blades. Rend. No, I will not use that. I will not do that to anyone, even this man. Not over a jewel.
"Is that all you're capable of?" Ryukin asked with mockery. "I thought Hyuuga was the Leaf's strongest clan. They must be weaker than I thought."
Hearing those words, Neji remembered what Xi had told him about the mission. The Waterfall must not be allowed to think the Leaf weak. That was why dragon ninja had gone on the mission, to convince them in the only way that was incontestable, by killing. A cold knot formed in Neji's stomach then. I am not being a dragon ninja. Fighting like this, I am undoing all we did yesterday. He saw then something just as horrible as the bloody bodies that floated behind his refracted eyes. I am making those deaths meaningless. To make that killing matter, I have to kill here.
Neji hated that thought; it burned his mind with the ice of it. He thought it despicable, to kill to give killing meaning, but he knew it was the truth. This is the destiny I have taken onto myself. With that he made the cold choice, and recalled the image of rend to the fore.
"It seems you have no other trick to try." Ryukin looked at Neji from behind his flaming glaze. "Well, then I'll simply break you down."
He came on again.
Neji tried to dodge aside, but the other ninja was faster, faster than even before, the water seemingly carrying him along. No choice, nothing I can do. "Kaiten!"
The spin barely held this time, burning had damaged many of the tenkentsu in Neji's body, and more fire came through and did additional damage. At most once more, he saw, and then it collapses. I have to strike with enough force to break through that burning skin, but how? Rend could cut through, but as long as that pool provides him a water source I can't close with him. If only there were some way to counterattack as he came in.
At that moment there were twin images in Neji's mind, the vision of Rend that he must use to strike, and the spinning potency of Kaiten, and afterimage upon the lenses of the Byakugan. In this he saw something, like he had seen before with rend, when he saw it with Hyuuga eyes truly for the first time. This time, he saw the Hyuuga jutsu with the precise eyes of the dragon ninja. The Kaiten is not solid! He realized, each chakra hole is at a slightly different level, and each forms a tiny band around me as it releases, which all forms together into the Kaiten. A moment more, and then he saw it.
As he stood panting before Ryukin's flaming form, Draci Neji dropped into a fighting crouch, and a dark smile came over his face, even as tears gathered unwilling in his eyes. It doesn't matter whose technique is superior, but whose technique kills the enemy.
Xi, on the edge of intervening to try and save Neji, stood down.
"Your strength is gone." The Scorching Ninja sneered. "Your life ends here boy."
The watery form, livid red with impossible flames, came on.
Neji stood ready, and at the precise moment summon every last bit of chakra he had remaining. He began the spin, twin images in his mind, and forming into a singular attack. "Clawing Whirlwind!" Neji shouted, and he channeled his chakra into the spin. Every chakra hole in the body released its chakra, but not simply in a blasting storm as he usually did for Kaiten. He had seen the form behind the technique, and he saw what else he could do with the technique. With tremendous focus, he shaped the emanation from every chakra hole into the brilliant edge of rend, and let them be carried around and outward by the force of his spin.
A whirling storm of razor edges exploded from Neji.
Ryukin impacted the technique and felt the cuts come through him, his watery coating did not shift and shield as before, but was ripped apart as hundreds of blades cut across its fabric. Neji spun, and those blades continued, impacting in the flesh of the Waterfall ninja.
The spin ended, and from his crater in the earth Neji saw the body of Ryukin fall. There was nothing left of the front of the ninja. He had been lathed with a knife-edge shaped sharper than the sharpest katana, and blood and slashed flesh and clothing were all that remained. Neji collapsed to the ground, in shock, pain, exhaustion, and no small horror.
Standing uphill of them both Xi sank to his knees in astonishment. His mouth was wide open. He could not reason clearly. He...he...he combined two jutsus! That much became clear in a moment. The Rend...and...and Kaiten. I cannot believe it! Xi's normally perfect composure was gone. The ultimate counterattack, an ultimate defense combined with a lethal attack. With that jutsu alone you could be almost impossible to defeat. Xi's reasoning was unable to precede much past that for a time. He had expected the Byakugan would increase the power of dragon jutsus for Neji, but not this. The youth had just created a combined technique that even a Kage level ninja might be hard pressed to counter.
It was long minutes before Xi stood up, composed his face somewhat, and walked over to Neji.
The young ninja was staring blankly through Ryukin's body, holding the gem that had been strung to the front of his flack jacket. For some strange reason, the aquamarine stone had gathered not a drop of blood on it.
Neji looked up as Xi approached. His face was a mask of pain and torment. "I knew I had to kill him." He said, holding back the urge to scream the words. "But like this?"
"Would your burned corpse please your friends more because they could see your face?" Xi bit off, not thinking and not wanting to deal with the situation.
The look that Neji shot back at Xi was filled with a terrible anger, and he seemed ready to leap at the older ninja. Then it faded, slowly, into sadness. "No, no, I suppose it would not matter. But do those like us have any friends?" It was a desperate question.
"Was this man you just fought any less cruel than you?" Xi asked, knowing Neji could see the answer. "We do what we do because we must. There are those who will understand that, and they will accept you. This man, he could not have friends." Xi said nothing beyond that.
Neji nodded his head. "Very well." He spoke the words with conviction, but they could not drive the body in front of him from the front of his mind. He looked down at the gem in his hand. This thing seems too pure to be the source of all this violence. He ripped it off the flak jacket and stuffed it into his shuriken pouch, one of the few whole pockets that remained on his jacket.
"Keep that." Xi told him. "Until you summon Wusashu again."
A slight nod came in response.
"Come." Xi requested. "We will consign this man to this pool to his end. That is fitting for a ninja of his kind. Then we will head south. Your wounds are serious, and will need treatment."
It was done in a moment, the remains of the body sinking into the pool, which turned dark and red for a moment with the taint of blood, but the stream flowing through soon washed it away. By that moment the dragon ninja were already gone.
Though he had almost forgotten it when Neji displayed his miraculous technique, as they sailed through the trees south, Xi recalled the original purpose to the fight. It appears the risk succeeded, at least for now. Still, he said nothing of it to Neji as they traveled.
Author's Notes: And more action, my first major one on one battle for Neji, and it turned out far better than I originally hoped it would, considering the jutsus I came up with. Hope they are appreciated. Again, some serious violence here, but that's an aspect of this story, coping with what you have to do. Thanks to those who review, and I'll throw in some response comments:
orlha: I wouldn't say this story is that different from the rest of Naruto, though its intended to be. I'm just dealing with more mature characters at a higher level of skill.
Kimirei: I'm glad you appreciate the detail. I sometimes think I go to far with it. But then, I'm a big fan of description, and Naruto to me breaks down into action contrasted with explanation. The real difference here is that Xi basically has to explain all his own techniques, since no one else is either watching or knows what he's doing.
Do As Infinity: Oh, there's much more to come, heck I'm not even really a third of the way through my basic plot outline yet, and everything will take longer once Neji acquires some teammates (about two chapters in the future or so).
Burning Mirror
The chase led north. Beneath the trees the land grew treacherous as ravines and streams became common, until all was an endless succession of river valleys. Too wide to leap, courses had to be charted through them, slowing the pursuit, but also the one who fled. The wounded ninja had the advantage of knowing the terrain, but his wounds limited motion and slowed his speed. Relentlessly, the pair from Konoha gained on him.
When night fell they were less than an hour behind. Neji considered pressing onward, but Xi ordered a halt. "He cannot go far in the darkness, not wounded." The older ninja said. "The danger of finding or running into other, rested ninja is too great. We will camp here." When Neji seemed about to question this, Xi continued in a stern voice. "The mission is not to catch this ninja, simply to insure that he flees from Leaf lands. We are near enough to the border of Waterfall already. In the morning it will be less than two hours north. Now, get your rest, you took your own wounds, even if they were minor."
That was enough for Neji. He had not really wanted to begin a night pursuit, recognizing that it was not wise, he simply did not want to camp. He wanted activity to push the images from his mind of this day. His all- seeing eyes kept displaying two shattered bodies before him, terrible visions he did not want to imagine. The young ninja could not accept yet that he and Xi had been responsible for those ruined forms they called men. An arm shredded, a chest destroyed, these images, soaked in blood, kept broaching Neji's normally supremely ordered mind. All the day he had pushed them away, first by examining the battlefield during the short burial, and then by focusing on the pursuit. Now though, he had no such recourse. He had to face the fact that he had killed a man today.
I ripped him open with rend so easily, Neji recalled. The move was so fluid it seemed a terrible counterpoint to the damage it did. With no resistance by the flesh beyond the changing of the chakra blades, the arm became a ruined mass of flesh and bone. He pushed the image away again, but the blood remained. The blood, indeed, still lingered on his clothing, though he and Xi had used the many streams to wash most of it off, but it did not all come off so easily, and their quick stops had left congealed blood from the dead chuunin lingering in Neji's hair and bandages. Now it seemed as if that caused some strange itch within him, and it made him restless. Is this my future? Neji wondered. To be soaked in blood like this? Those Waterfall ninja, they were not so villainous. We were enemies, certainly, but to destroy them like that, how can that be the right thing? Neji could not see it, could not see past those bodies in his mind. He had expected death, but not in this fashion. He had seen the dead before, but always they had been so much cleaner, not brutally ravaged like this. His Jyouken style had insulated him from the true brutality of combat, by leaving its damage invisible and out of sight from the one who delivered it. The coldly logical and ordered portion of Neji's mind knew that it did not matter in what fashion a ninja died, that the clean kill of Xi's Thunder and Lightning strike was no different from the mutilated body left behind by his Back Rake. That portion of the mind was locked into a corner now, in the dark night of the forest, with this deadly ninja Neji's only companion. The rest of him simply refused to accept what he had done fully. He had no answers; perhaps for the first time in his life Neji was cast utterly adrift.
For his part, Xi had seen the look on Neji's face at seeing what he had done. He is strong, but there is no simple way to endure this. Neji kept fighting, kept going, and has not complained. Many lesser ninja would be collapsed on the ground, or desperately trying to get the blood off, even experienced chuunin have broken down at the sight of a body that suffers dragon techniques when the battle is done. Xi, for his part, did not know what to do. When I first used rend it was during a war, and the village Naravki and I were in was destroyed. I fought and ran until I collapsed that day, with no time to think on what had happened, and there was battle the next day. Naravki never told me any comforting words, but I was older than Neji, and had already seen terrible things done to people. Compared to the bloated drowned bodies the Mist ninja had left behind the sight of Rend was not so terrible. Still, I was hesitant to use the jutsu again, Xi recalled, until I knew I had to.
That was the only guide Xi had, that Neji would overcome his reluctance by being placed in a situation where he would need the dragon jutsus. It was an unfortunate tactic, and why he had pressed the pursuit hard. I think there will be a battle tomorrow, perhaps facing the one we search for, but perhaps another. The words of Wusashu lingered in Xi's mind. He had decided to put Neji into a dangerous situation, force him to fight. It was a very risky move, and could result in Neji being seriously injured or killed. If he realizes that I planned such a thing he will likely hate me for it. Xi grimaced at that thought. I don't want him to hate me. It was a strange feeling, for Xi rarely cared about what others thought, he was used to being distant and cold, had adapted to wearing a mask for most of his ninja career, and even now, with his mask broken, he had simply replaced the mask of ceramic with the mask of his flesh. Still, beyond simply creating the greatest dragon ninja he possibly could, Xi felt some sort of duty to Neji. Even though I owe him no debt, it seems as if it should be the other way around somehow. Regardless, he must learn to accept Rend, to force his mind to look past the surface cosmetics. A hard lesson for you, Neji, since you have a sight that pierces deeper than most, but even you must learn that not everything can be seen.
The morning dawned with a vibrant fury, the sun tinged red from the light of the sea to the north. The dragon ninja were up and about under that vibrant light that bathed the forest in a glimmering red tinge. Neji gathered his gear with mechanical precision, eyes focused elsewhere, but even so he had already shaved some time off the difference between him and Xi. The trail extended northward again, and the two ninja went bounding after it, through the rough and formidable coast country. The border with Waterfall was near.
For an hour and a half they went north, approaching the borderline, a line Xi would not cross. He told Neji as much. "We cannot cross into Waterfall directly, for if we were detected it could provide an excuse for war. I would avoid notice easily enough, but you would not, and there are surely ANBU by the border."
"The dragon Wusashu said I would go to Hidden Waterfall." Neji answered, unsatisfied.
"He did, but it is not wise to take a dragon's words literally." Xi answered. "We will see when we reach the border."
Indeed, Xi's words were almost prophetic. As the two ninja crossed within two miles of the border the tail merged with other tracks. The moment he saw them Xi stopped and spun, coming around with Kunai ready.
Neji managed to stop himself by the older ninja, and brought forth the Byakugan.
Xi said nothing, but stood there breathing carefully.
"There is no one for fifty meters." Neji said quietly.
"Silence." Xi barked.
He waited at least two minutes, and then relaxed slightly from his deadly posture, putting away the kunai. Turning to Neji, Xi had a viscous grimace on his face. "Never trust just your ability boy," He said harshly. "Use every signal you have, and be thorough, there will always be something that can trick you." Bitterness crept into Xi's voice.
Unusually harsh, Neji noted. He recalls something like this.
Examining the tracks, both ninja could read what happened easily. Neji spoke them around, confirming what he saw to Xi. "Another platoon met here, and they encountered the one who fled. They went almost directly west, and carried the one I wounded with them."
"Indeed." Xi noted. "And?"
"Since they did not go north, I seems they are setting up an ambush somewhere here, and actually want to fight." Neji answered. What enemy is this, who feels confident enough to fight us? He wondered. No matter, I'll defeat them.
"Most likely." Xi commented. "They would have sent at least one north with the wounded man to insure a report. At most we face three, but one is confident enough to succeed where the jounin failed." Xi appeared to consider this for a moment. "Perhaps a platoon of jounin? We will advance cautiously."
The trail led west for a mile and a half, over rough ground, before expanding out into a canyon. It was a small gray canyon, one with a river at its base, and appeared to dead end into a hillside. Underground stream. Neji decided. There was a small pool before the hillside. Looking down the dragon ninja saw a man standing openly in that pool.
Xi leapt down to stand and face the man at the pool, but drew no weapons. Neji came in a moment afterwards. The man was obviously a ninja, wearing the same uniform that the platoon the day before had worn. Brown and blue, with the bulky brown flak jacket and bright forehead protector. Yet this man had a distinctiveness that the others had lacked. His hair was brown streaked with bright aquamarine, and his eyes burned a fiery red. Then Neji saw the center of the man's collar. There, at the base of the separated rising bands of the flak jacket's neck guard, hung a great aquamarine. The gemstone was impressive, a gleaming jewel that sparkled majestically and seemed to hold the power of the ocean sky. So this is Ryukin, Neji knew instantly. The Waterfall ninja stood on the edge of the pool, water touching the tops of his sandals. He was coolly composed, with a smirk on his face.
Neji moved to speak, but Xi preempted him. "You sent your companions north?" He asked in an emotionless voice.
"You speak!" Ryukin spoke as if astonished, but his voice had a cruel lacing. "I thought that Konoha's Killer never talked."
"I will not deny the blood on my hands," Xi answered in his same cold tones. "But you mistake me if you think Konoha controls me."
"Perhaps I do?" He laughed, a harsh and biting noise. "But if I do, what is that boy standing beside you. Not just a leaf ninja, but one of the oh-so-enlightened Hyuuga clan. Spare me your denials."
"Answer my first question." Xi demanded.
"Why?" Ryukin laughed again. "Why should I answer you anything, you killed my fellow ninja."
"They died for trespassing on Leaf land and attacking Leaf ninja. So far you are guilty only of the first. Answer my question and perhaps that can be ignored."
"I will answer your question because it amuses me, not because your threat taunts me, but because it will amuse me to thwart you." Ryukin put his hands in his pockets. "I sent them north, and they are well across the border by now."
Xi's face went unchanged. "Then I will not fight you."
Neji stifled a gasp, confused, and his eyes narrowed at Xi.
"I thought not, the Killer never deviates from his mission they say, those who have seen him and survived." Ryukin laughed again.
"I will not fight you, but that does not make you safe, Waterfall ninja." Xi turned his head to see Neji. "This is your mission, not mine. You will fight him alone."
Hearing this Neji suspected Xi of something, but that was swallowed by the bloody image of the broken bodies of the day before. Fight him? Why? It seemed so useless. Certainly the gem the man wore was impressive, but why was that such an important thing. Neji hesitated in responding.
"You? Fight me?" Ryukin laughed. "This Hyuuga boy will fight me, Ryukin the Scorching Ninja?"
The expression on Xi's face grew darker when he heard that, but he said nothing more.
I will not simply fight this man. Neji decided. I just need the gem. "That gem you wear, I am to retrieve it. That is my mission." Neji told Ryukin in his most viscous voice.
"Your words bite, little Hyuuga, but I do not care. I took this little item myself, and I have no intention of surrendering it to the likes of you. Come, try and take it from me."
"You underestimate me, I will retrieve it." Neji spoke firmly. Indeed, I will take it back and leave you watching.
Xi saw the strange look in Neji's pupil-less eyes from the corners of his own. With out facing him he spoke to the air. "This man is a dangerous opponent, Neji. Don't think to fight as anything but a dragon ninja, or you will perish. He will enjoy killing you I am sure."
Don't tell me what to do, Xi. Neji thought. I will do this my way. You are trying to force this fight on me, don't think I don't know it.
Xi stepped back, and then leaped away with a sudden motion. I hope this is the right choice. Concern flooded him, and he barely avoided an attack of indecision. No, from this point forward it must play out without my intervention.
Ryukin stood casually, looking at Neji with those red eyes. He mouth was twisted into a viscous smile. He looked almost hungry.
He will attack now. Neji realized. "Byakugan!" Neji activated the technique, his vision altering to encompass everything around him, and to see the chakra moving through the body of the Waterfall ninja.
"Humph." Ryukin mocked. His left foot slid to one side, and his hands ripped out of his pockets, hurling a swarm of kunai and shuriken at Neji. Neji raised his hands to block.
The Waterfall ninja's hands flashed through a series of seals. "Shuriken Water Mirror no jutsu!" He called. Water from the pool launched into the air; forming twin mirrors to each of the weapons he had thrown, tripling the number of targets.
It doesn't matter if there are more, Neji knew, they're just weapons. Not even as many as Tenten would use. His hands moved, and with precision he knocked every one of the attacks away. He found that with his increased chakra control it was even easier than before, his hands moving almost as fast as his vision.
The metal weapons clashed away as Neji struck them, but those made of water burst onto his hands. They did no damage, but Neji's hands were wet when the attack finished.
This is bad! Xi saw. I feared this! He uses that technique!
Neji moved to charge in for his own attack, but Ryukin raised his hands and formed a single seal. "Secret Technique. Mizuho* (*Mizuho hopefully translates into something resembling Waterfire) no Jutsu." He bored into Neji with his red eyes and laughed.
The water on Neji's hands burst into flames.
Pain seared him instantly, but Neji reacted quickly. Is this chakra construction? Then I'll cut it with my own, just like those damn spider strands. He rushed chakra out of his hands and tried to rip the chakra apart. The flames vanished for a moment, and Neji smiled.
Ryukin smiled back. The flames reappeared.
What? Shock rippled through Neji. I cut the chakra!
"Even if you can cut the chakra, Hyuuga boy," Ryukin laughed. "The water is real, and you cannot get rid of that. Your bloodline power is not so potent as mine."
Neji could already tell that the flames would not be extinguished if he smothered them, that water would burn without air. I have to get it off. Only one option! "Kaiten!"
The whirl spun with tremendous force, and flung the burning water off of Neji. It impacted everywhere around, igniting small blazes.
Ryukin grimaced as Neji looked at him triumphantly. "Not so potent as your own." He remarked. "You're not so strong."
"So that is the true power of the Hyuuga? An ultimate defense?" Ryukin appeared to consider. "It doesn't matter, I will burn you."
Holding his singed and pained hands, Neji began to sense something strange about this battle, a familiar sense to his opponent.
"Mizuho technique! Burning liquid skin!" Water from the pool flowed up over Ryukin, coating him with a shining liquid layer. Then it caught fire.
Damn! Neji thought. That's dangerous. He didn't have any more time for thought then, as his opponent charged. Fast! Neji saw.
"Kaiten!"
The two attacks impacted hard. Neji knocked Ryukin back, but water from the man's hands crashed through the whirl, clinging and burning his body before being thrown off. He clenched his teeth against the pain. Still, that has to wear us both...down.
Ryukin stood up, water burning all around him. He appeared uninjured. "Even as it attacks and burns you, the water cushions me from your counterattack. It may take time, but eventually I'll scorch enough of you that you won't be able to spin anymore.
Damn! Neji thought. Fine then, I'll attack. He dropped into a crouch, raising one hand high behind him, and the other low, two fingers extended in both places. The gaze of his Byakugan lanced into the other ninja's mind. The circle of divination appeared in the minds of both ninja. "Hakke Rokujyu Yonshou!" Neji attacked.
"Useless." Ryukin spoke. A blast of burning water surged out from him, flooding the line Neji was attacking. He dodged aside at the last moment, fire clinging to his coat. Only his newfound chakra control prevented him from being immolated.
"Your ability is inferior to mine, Waterfall's most feared technique, Mizuho, and I am the Scorching Ninja, master of it."
He charged in to attack again, and as he did Neji realized what was familiar about this battle. This man is me! He saw with terrifying shock. He was reliving the battle of the chuunin exam from Naruto's perspective. My techniques do nothing!
Still, no choices remained at the moment. "Kaiten!"
Again he blocked the attack, but suffered burning damage. The marks now rippled up and down his arms and chest, his jacket had holes ripped into it from the flames, and his hair had burned away in places.
"Please!" Ryukin mocked. "You're only prolonging your death this way." He gloated.
Is this what I was like? Neji wondered, frightened by this enemy for the first time in his life. It was not the techniques, but what this man represented. Is this what I was? He wondered. Will I die here? I am not Naruto. I have no hidden powers.
Even as he thought that, Neji knew it was a lie. He did have hidden powers. They swam in his mind even now, an image of blades. Rend. No, I will not use that. I will not do that to anyone, even this man. Not over a jewel.
"Is that all you're capable of?" Ryukin asked with mockery. "I thought Hyuuga was the Leaf's strongest clan. They must be weaker than I thought."
Hearing those words, Neji remembered what Xi had told him about the mission. The Waterfall must not be allowed to think the Leaf weak. That was why dragon ninja had gone on the mission, to convince them in the only way that was incontestable, by killing. A cold knot formed in Neji's stomach then. I am not being a dragon ninja. Fighting like this, I am undoing all we did yesterday. He saw then something just as horrible as the bloody bodies that floated behind his refracted eyes. I am making those deaths meaningless. To make that killing matter, I have to kill here.
Neji hated that thought; it burned his mind with the ice of it. He thought it despicable, to kill to give killing meaning, but he knew it was the truth. This is the destiny I have taken onto myself. With that he made the cold choice, and recalled the image of rend to the fore.
"It seems you have no other trick to try." Ryukin looked at Neji from behind his flaming glaze. "Well, then I'll simply break you down."
He came on again.
Neji tried to dodge aside, but the other ninja was faster, faster than even before, the water seemingly carrying him along. No choice, nothing I can do. "Kaiten!"
The spin barely held this time, burning had damaged many of the tenkentsu in Neji's body, and more fire came through and did additional damage. At most once more, he saw, and then it collapses. I have to strike with enough force to break through that burning skin, but how? Rend could cut through, but as long as that pool provides him a water source I can't close with him. If only there were some way to counterattack as he came in.
At that moment there were twin images in Neji's mind, the vision of Rend that he must use to strike, and the spinning potency of Kaiten, and afterimage upon the lenses of the Byakugan. In this he saw something, like he had seen before with rend, when he saw it with Hyuuga eyes truly for the first time. This time, he saw the Hyuuga jutsu with the precise eyes of the dragon ninja. The Kaiten is not solid! He realized, each chakra hole is at a slightly different level, and each forms a tiny band around me as it releases, which all forms together into the Kaiten. A moment more, and then he saw it.
As he stood panting before Ryukin's flaming form, Draci Neji dropped into a fighting crouch, and a dark smile came over his face, even as tears gathered unwilling in his eyes. It doesn't matter whose technique is superior, but whose technique kills the enemy.
Xi, on the edge of intervening to try and save Neji, stood down.
"Your strength is gone." The Scorching Ninja sneered. "Your life ends here boy."
The watery form, livid red with impossible flames, came on.
Neji stood ready, and at the precise moment summon every last bit of chakra he had remaining. He began the spin, twin images in his mind, and forming into a singular attack. "Clawing Whirlwind!" Neji shouted, and he channeled his chakra into the spin. Every chakra hole in the body released its chakra, but not simply in a blasting storm as he usually did for Kaiten. He had seen the form behind the technique, and he saw what else he could do with the technique. With tremendous focus, he shaped the emanation from every chakra hole into the brilliant edge of rend, and let them be carried around and outward by the force of his spin.
A whirling storm of razor edges exploded from Neji.
Ryukin impacted the technique and felt the cuts come through him, his watery coating did not shift and shield as before, but was ripped apart as hundreds of blades cut across its fabric. Neji spun, and those blades continued, impacting in the flesh of the Waterfall ninja.
The spin ended, and from his crater in the earth Neji saw the body of Ryukin fall. There was nothing left of the front of the ninja. He had been lathed with a knife-edge shaped sharper than the sharpest katana, and blood and slashed flesh and clothing were all that remained. Neji collapsed to the ground, in shock, pain, exhaustion, and no small horror.
Standing uphill of them both Xi sank to his knees in astonishment. His mouth was wide open. He could not reason clearly. He...he...he combined two jutsus! That much became clear in a moment. The Rend...and...and Kaiten. I cannot believe it! Xi's normally perfect composure was gone. The ultimate counterattack, an ultimate defense combined with a lethal attack. With that jutsu alone you could be almost impossible to defeat. Xi's reasoning was unable to precede much past that for a time. He had expected the Byakugan would increase the power of dragon jutsus for Neji, but not this. The youth had just created a combined technique that even a Kage level ninja might be hard pressed to counter.
It was long minutes before Xi stood up, composed his face somewhat, and walked over to Neji.
The young ninja was staring blankly through Ryukin's body, holding the gem that had been strung to the front of his flack jacket. For some strange reason, the aquamarine stone had gathered not a drop of blood on it.
Neji looked up as Xi approached. His face was a mask of pain and torment. "I knew I had to kill him." He said, holding back the urge to scream the words. "But like this?"
"Would your burned corpse please your friends more because they could see your face?" Xi bit off, not thinking and not wanting to deal with the situation.
The look that Neji shot back at Xi was filled with a terrible anger, and he seemed ready to leap at the older ninja. Then it faded, slowly, into sadness. "No, no, I suppose it would not matter. But do those like us have any friends?" It was a desperate question.
"Was this man you just fought any less cruel than you?" Xi asked, knowing Neji could see the answer. "We do what we do because we must. There are those who will understand that, and they will accept you. This man, he could not have friends." Xi said nothing beyond that.
Neji nodded his head. "Very well." He spoke the words with conviction, but they could not drive the body in front of him from the front of his mind. He looked down at the gem in his hand. This thing seems too pure to be the source of all this violence. He ripped it off the flak jacket and stuffed it into his shuriken pouch, one of the few whole pockets that remained on his jacket.
"Keep that." Xi told him. "Until you summon Wusashu again."
A slight nod came in response.
"Come." Xi requested. "We will consign this man to this pool to his end. That is fitting for a ninja of his kind. Then we will head south. Your wounds are serious, and will need treatment."
It was done in a moment, the remains of the body sinking into the pool, which turned dark and red for a moment with the taint of blood, but the stream flowing through soon washed it away. By that moment the dragon ninja were already gone.
Though he had almost forgotten it when Neji displayed his miraculous technique, as they sailed through the trees south, Xi recalled the original purpose to the fight. It appears the risk succeeded, at least for now. Still, he said nothing of it to Neji as they traveled.