Author's Notes: So, another short chapter here, as we switch back to Xi's
portion of the story. Things are getting awfully close to the finale at
this point.
Storm of Vengeance
On the border of the Country of Lightning stands Draci Xi. He wears a broken hunter-nin mask over half his face, the legacy of eight years left behind. Before him stands the homeland he has been forever banished from, the one he put behind him. Yet now that command has been rescinded and all punishments have been called back. The last command of the one Lightning ninja Xi would have allowed to give him orders, the seventh Raikage, commands it. He steps forward, with but a single objective. Kill the Dark Storm, no matter the cost.
They will try to stop me. Xi knows. He knows the Dark Storm's mind, the situation that he has learned from Gosain's testimony. She cannot dare to fight him in Hidden Cloud itself; she does not have a strong enough hold on the nation yet. The genin escaped her, and killed many of her minions, defeating her plan. Many of the Jounin of Lightning live, loyal to the clans they serve, a force of power strong enough that, were it to rise against her, would be too great a threat.
Further, she cannot permit Xi to join with a resistance. There are still many, many genin in the wilds of Lightning country, and the garrisons on the southern islands and wandering ANBU remain a threat. If they gathered together they could destroy her. The Dark Storm can destroy anyone who opposes her, but she cannot rule lightning alone, Xi must not join with any other force, to create a group strong enough to match her.
All the strength she can spare will come against me. Xi acknowledges. The ninja in midnight blue, several dozen are likely. They will not be strong, weak chuunin mostly, those who are enthralled by her power. Her few jounin servants must remain in Cloud itself, to run the city, but this will be all of the others. Xi steps forward across the border.
Let them come.
From the back of his flak jacket, beneath the collar of his neck, Xi draws out a small bundle, wrapped in blue cloth. Slowly, he unwraps the cloth, revealing what it hides. One of the four artifacts of the dragon ninja. Xi recalls, looking on these that he has carried for eight years. The cloth holds a pair of nekode, brilliant blue steel that shines without a single marring mark, and tines as sharp as the chakra blades of Rend. The Dragon's Claws.
Carefully Xi takes out those nekode. He does not attach them to the holsters on his legs, but simply places his hands into them. The Dragon's Claws fit his hands perfectly, and then he feels a burning itch, and watches as the metal slowly sinks into his skin, so that he is no longer holding the weapons at all, but that they have become one with his hands.
Holding the weapons up to catch a bit of moonlight, Xi sees their sharpness, and he knows the capabilities of these. Like Dar's crystalline blade, they will cut through any weapon that comes against them. Now, to deal with the fools who think to stop me.
They are waiting ahead, Xi can practically feel it. The Dark Storm has already learned that Gosain reached Konoha; she knows he is coming, and has reacted. Xi's senses are keen, he moves forward slowly, silent, searching for the signs of another ninja.
One by one, I will pick them off. Xi determines.
A branch snaps in the distance, and Xi hears the sound. His hands move through seals as he leaps toward this target. "Dragon's Eye!" He whispers, calling the brutal red vision toward his eyes. A single strike, and fear will reveal them all to me!
There is a ninja in midnight blue standing on the branches, looking out toward the border; he never sees the dragon ninja come at him from above.
Nekode slash down, ripping through flesh and bone, swift strokes, once and again, and the light leaves the ninja's eyes and the body falls to the ground. Xi does not catch it, but lets it fall, waiting for the reaction.
A soft thump, body hitting the floor.
Birds leave their roosts at the disturbance, and forty ninja surge into motion.
A tendril of fear creeps forward in the darkness, and Xi is suddenly there. He slashes through the kunai with one arm and rips four bloody lines through the throat with the other.
This ninja gurgles and screams as he falls, and kunai and shuriken scream through the night, to converge on the site, but they strike only the dying man, for it is Xi who is falling through the dark to the ground, only to come up between three ninja.
He spins in perfect motions, nekode moving up and down as his momentum carries them through flesh, and then ripping up.
The trio is left bleeding and dying as Xi jumps high once more and moves on.
"Where is he?" The cry splits the night, as one ninja tries to rally his forces.
"Rend!" The ninja's body falls to the ground as Xi reveals his position for the first time.
Seven different blasts of lightning submerge the tree in a cascade of power.
Shuriken strike each of seven ninja, and all the weapons are lethally poisoned. Xi vanishes again, though they hunt for him.
A female ninja dies as the weapons of her comrade, seeking Xi, strike her in the back of the head.
That ninja has time to cry out in horror, an instant before the dragon ninja slices him open.
So it proceeds, time after time ninja converge, only to find they have the wrong target, that Xi has ambushed them, or that they are simply to few to counter that raw and all-destructive force that stands before them.
Ninja cry out as a face wearing half a mask emerges before them in the darkness, slices apart their weapons with hands that have become lethal claws, and then strikes them down.
He is gone an instant later, lost in the darkness, this ruthless hunter that emerges only to kill.
One ninja has had enough, he hears the screams of his comrades dying around him and decides to run, to flee this madness that is claiming them all, a terrifying destruction they are not equipped to counter. He fears the Dark Storm's reprisals, but for now he fears the terror of the dragon ninja far more. She isn't human, but neither is he!
So, it has come to the last. Xi watches from a treetop as this one runs. He is a distance ahead, but it will not be enough.
The clawed hands flash through seals, and Xi leaps skyward. "Skywalk no Jutsu!"
The midnight blue ninja dares for a moment to believe he has escaped, and then he looks up.
In front of the moon is a figure, one leg extended, descending faster than a falcon's dive.
Xi's foot connects with the head of the ninja with the terminal force of his fall, smashing it as they meet the ground. The lethal falling attack of Skywalk no Jutsu.
The dragon ninja steps over the body and walks forward. Thirty-nine ninja lie dead at his hands, he is completely uninjured, though every part of his body save his white hunter-nin mask is stained with blood. Xi wipes the Dragon's Claws clean on the body of the ninja he has just struck down, but does not remove them.
There were forty of them, he knows. One has been allowed to escape. Go and tell the Dark Storm I am coming. Let us end this forever.
There had been no mistakes made, Xi's attack was flawless, he had confidence now in his abilities, honed all those cold days in stone, he recognized his strength, the powers that he had only barely unlocked against Neji, the viscous killing strength that had remained long dormant, focused on this one clash.
Recalling Neji Xi almost wishes the young ninja was there, he even finds himself missing Shiren and Dar, but he pushes that away. I have to do this myself. Even with all these dead the Dark Storm remains. I have drawn her out at the cost of these traitor's blood, but I cannot know if it will be enough. There are three days travels to Hidden Cloud, it must be finished soon. Neji, I hope you succeed against Kizen, for I will not be able to help you. This is where this ends. Still, Xi was satisfied within. I am glad I could pass on the way of the dragon ninja before my time was up. Xi the teacher and Xi the wanderer are gone, that eight years has evaporated in the dragon ninja, and only the hunter-nin, the one he has always truly been, remains.
Thus Xi turns his back on the last few months, and further upon the last eight years, deciding that is was all preparation for this one thing that was meant to be done long ago. The fallen's faces stir in his mind and drive him forward, and the Dark Storm knows he is coming.
High upon the Raikage's Hall in the heart of Hidden Cloud she hears the words of the one who escaped Xi, and she laughs. "I should have known no puny fools could stop the man who has not slept in the same place twice for eight years just to trouble me. Just like eight years ago I will be forced to deal with these worthless relics called dragon ninja myself." She laughs again, and Xi dreams he can hear that laughter far away. "Will he be as much amusement as his master was?"
Storm of Vengeance
On the border of the Country of Lightning stands Draci Xi. He wears a broken hunter-nin mask over half his face, the legacy of eight years left behind. Before him stands the homeland he has been forever banished from, the one he put behind him. Yet now that command has been rescinded and all punishments have been called back. The last command of the one Lightning ninja Xi would have allowed to give him orders, the seventh Raikage, commands it. He steps forward, with but a single objective. Kill the Dark Storm, no matter the cost.
They will try to stop me. Xi knows. He knows the Dark Storm's mind, the situation that he has learned from Gosain's testimony. She cannot dare to fight him in Hidden Cloud itself; she does not have a strong enough hold on the nation yet. The genin escaped her, and killed many of her minions, defeating her plan. Many of the Jounin of Lightning live, loyal to the clans they serve, a force of power strong enough that, were it to rise against her, would be too great a threat.
Further, she cannot permit Xi to join with a resistance. There are still many, many genin in the wilds of Lightning country, and the garrisons on the southern islands and wandering ANBU remain a threat. If they gathered together they could destroy her. The Dark Storm can destroy anyone who opposes her, but she cannot rule lightning alone, Xi must not join with any other force, to create a group strong enough to match her.
All the strength she can spare will come against me. Xi acknowledges. The ninja in midnight blue, several dozen are likely. They will not be strong, weak chuunin mostly, those who are enthralled by her power. Her few jounin servants must remain in Cloud itself, to run the city, but this will be all of the others. Xi steps forward across the border.
Let them come.
From the back of his flak jacket, beneath the collar of his neck, Xi draws out a small bundle, wrapped in blue cloth. Slowly, he unwraps the cloth, revealing what it hides. One of the four artifacts of the dragon ninja. Xi recalls, looking on these that he has carried for eight years. The cloth holds a pair of nekode, brilliant blue steel that shines without a single marring mark, and tines as sharp as the chakra blades of Rend. The Dragon's Claws.
Carefully Xi takes out those nekode. He does not attach them to the holsters on his legs, but simply places his hands into them. The Dragon's Claws fit his hands perfectly, and then he feels a burning itch, and watches as the metal slowly sinks into his skin, so that he is no longer holding the weapons at all, but that they have become one with his hands.
Holding the weapons up to catch a bit of moonlight, Xi sees their sharpness, and he knows the capabilities of these. Like Dar's crystalline blade, they will cut through any weapon that comes against them. Now, to deal with the fools who think to stop me.
They are waiting ahead, Xi can practically feel it. The Dark Storm has already learned that Gosain reached Konoha; she knows he is coming, and has reacted. Xi's senses are keen, he moves forward slowly, silent, searching for the signs of another ninja.
One by one, I will pick them off. Xi determines.
A branch snaps in the distance, and Xi hears the sound. His hands move through seals as he leaps toward this target. "Dragon's Eye!" He whispers, calling the brutal red vision toward his eyes. A single strike, and fear will reveal them all to me!
There is a ninja in midnight blue standing on the branches, looking out toward the border; he never sees the dragon ninja come at him from above.
Nekode slash down, ripping through flesh and bone, swift strokes, once and again, and the light leaves the ninja's eyes and the body falls to the ground. Xi does not catch it, but lets it fall, waiting for the reaction.
A soft thump, body hitting the floor.
Birds leave their roosts at the disturbance, and forty ninja surge into motion.
A tendril of fear creeps forward in the darkness, and Xi is suddenly there. He slashes through the kunai with one arm and rips four bloody lines through the throat with the other.
This ninja gurgles and screams as he falls, and kunai and shuriken scream through the night, to converge on the site, but they strike only the dying man, for it is Xi who is falling through the dark to the ground, only to come up between three ninja.
He spins in perfect motions, nekode moving up and down as his momentum carries them through flesh, and then ripping up.
The trio is left bleeding and dying as Xi jumps high once more and moves on.
"Where is he?" The cry splits the night, as one ninja tries to rally his forces.
"Rend!" The ninja's body falls to the ground as Xi reveals his position for the first time.
Seven different blasts of lightning submerge the tree in a cascade of power.
Shuriken strike each of seven ninja, and all the weapons are lethally poisoned. Xi vanishes again, though they hunt for him.
A female ninja dies as the weapons of her comrade, seeking Xi, strike her in the back of the head.
That ninja has time to cry out in horror, an instant before the dragon ninja slices him open.
So it proceeds, time after time ninja converge, only to find they have the wrong target, that Xi has ambushed them, or that they are simply to few to counter that raw and all-destructive force that stands before them.
Ninja cry out as a face wearing half a mask emerges before them in the darkness, slices apart their weapons with hands that have become lethal claws, and then strikes them down.
He is gone an instant later, lost in the darkness, this ruthless hunter that emerges only to kill.
One ninja has had enough, he hears the screams of his comrades dying around him and decides to run, to flee this madness that is claiming them all, a terrifying destruction they are not equipped to counter. He fears the Dark Storm's reprisals, but for now he fears the terror of the dragon ninja far more. She isn't human, but neither is he!
So, it has come to the last. Xi watches from a treetop as this one runs. He is a distance ahead, but it will not be enough.
The clawed hands flash through seals, and Xi leaps skyward. "Skywalk no Jutsu!"
The midnight blue ninja dares for a moment to believe he has escaped, and then he looks up.
In front of the moon is a figure, one leg extended, descending faster than a falcon's dive.
Xi's foot connects with the head of the ninja with the terminal force of his fall, smashing it as they meet the ground. The lethal falling attack of Skywalk no Jutsu.
The dragon ninja steps over the body and walks forward. Thirty-nine ninja lie dead at his hands, he is completely uninjured, though every part of his body save his white hunter-nin mask is stained with blood. Xi wipes the Dragon's Claws clean on the body of the ninja he has just struck down, but does not remove them.
There were forty of them, he knows. One has been allowed to escape. Go and tell the Dark Storm I am coming. Let us end this forever.
There had been no mistakes made, Xi's attack was flawless, he had confidence now in his abilities, honed all those cold days in stone, he recognized his strength, the powers that he had only barely unlocked against Neji, the viscous killing strength that had remained long dormant, focused on this one clash.
Recalling Neji Xi almost wishes the young ninja was there, he even finds himself missing Shiren and Dar, but he pushes that away. I have to do this myself. Even with all these dead the Dark Storm remains. I have drawn her out at the cost of these traitor's blood, but I cannot know if it will be enough. There are three days travels to Hidden Cloud, it must be finished soon. Neji, I hope you succeed against Kizen, for I will not be able to help you. This is where this ends. Still, Xi was satisfied within. I am glad I could pass on the way of the dragon ninja before my time was up. Xi the teacher and Xi the wanderer are gone, that eight years has evaporated in the dragon ninja, and only the hunter-nin, the one he has always truly been, remains.
Thus Xi turns his back on the last few months, and further upon the last eight years, deciding that is was all preparation for this one thing that was meant to be done long ago. The fallen's faces stir in his mind and drive him forward, and the Dark Storm knows he is coming.
High upon the Raikage's Hall in the heart of Hidden Cloud she hears the words of the one who escaped Xi, and she laughs. "I should have known no puny fools could stop the man who has not slept in the same place twice for eight years just to trouble me. Just like eight years ago I will be forced to deal with these worthless relics called dragon ninja myself." She laughs again, and Xi dreams he can hear that laughter far away. "Will he be as much amusement as his master was?"