Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.

Wings of the White Angel

Chapter 17: Embodiment of Rage

"You asked me about what my last words would be…" Yurei's muscles tightened. "It would be that you pray for forgiveness."

"Pray?" Pride opened his mouth to ask what the hell the boy was talking about, but Yurei was already moving.

Yurei snapped Shadow Goddess up into the air, holding it with both hands. ("I understand grandfather…I understand and plan on using that knowledge right now!") "Kage Mangetsu!" As the weapon fell, it shimmered in the night. And then the world burned, sending a giant wave of white energy to swallow up Pride.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed Yurei pressing his new blade roughly against both katana that Pride was holding. And he was pushing the Sin away slowly. His eyes resolved with a focus that bordered on impossible.

"What's this?" Pride spoke through clenched teeth, struggling to not get sent flying away. "That was the Shadow Full Moon technique…when did you become a user of the Shadow Moon style?"

"I guess I'm a quick learner…" Yurei shoved again, and nearly forced Pride to the ground.

"That's not it…no one can use that move if they've never seen it or been trained in the style before…I can't believe it…but you might be more than I thought." Pride pushed back, but Yurei didn't budge.

"Thanks a lot, but it's over!" Yurei roared and Shadow Goddess started to glow a strange black color. "Kage Mangestu!" Then both ninjas disappeared in an explosive cloud of black smoke.

Ayumi stared at the cloud in awe. ("Yurei was hiding that kind of power? If that is true…then…") She looked at the unconscious Aiko. ("Is he even stronger than Aiko-sama?")

Yurei stepped back out of the smoke cloud and rested Kage Megumi on his shoulder. "You're beaten, you know it."

"You might be right…but then again…" The smoke cloud was blown away by a sudden explosion of chakra. "Eighth seal open!" Pride brushed off his shoulder and then looked up at the now staring Yurei. "You didn't know I could do that? Such a shame…" Grasping his reformed katana, he disappeared and appeared in the same place. "On that note…playtime just ended." Shadow Goddess' blade split in half down the middle, both halves falling away and leaving Yurei with just a hilt.

Ayumi paled until she looked like there was no blood left in her face. ("He…he…he…cut the sword apart?")

Yurei stood there, speechless. ("I…I…I failed? Just like that…he beat Shadow Goddess…") His eyes hardened. "Then I'll beat you with my hands!"

"That won't be necessary!" A voice from above both of them yelled out. "You had your chance, Yurei. Now let me have my turn."

Pride and Yurei both looked up in time to see Kai land between them. "I'm tired of watching you hog all of the fun. I intend to beat this guy right now." Cracking his knuckles, Kai glanced back at his teammate. "Please move."

Frowning, Yurei walked over towards Ayumi and crouched down next to her. "Don't die."

"I won't." Kai smirked slightly at Pride. "So we meet again, murderer."

"Yeah, we do. Not that it matters, because I somehow doubt a little child like you could possibly do much more than be a minor annoyance to me." Pride tapped his katana against the ground. "Did you come back so soon just to die?"

"I came back to kill you and avenge my father. But no more talk…" Kai slid into a fighting stance and charged.

"Kage Tsuki no mai." Six clones of Pride appeared all around Kai. "Die, brat." They all struck at once.

Kai smiled slightly and dropped into a handstand, his feet snapping up and catching two of the clones in the mouth. Then he pushed off the ground with that hand, and snapped a single shuriken through the eye of each remaining clone right before he landed on the ground again. "I've improved, so you can't brush me aside that easily." The six clones vanished.

Pride smiled slightly. ("Those were level eight copies…and yet he just easily defeated all of them. Perhaps he might worth the effort after all.") Snapping up his sword, he got ready to test Kai's skills with something else. "Try and keep up!"

Kai gasped as someone tripped him, but as he fell his hands snapped out and pushed him up into the air. As he straightened his aerial spin out, he was face to face with Pride. The Sin's boot caught him right in the chin, and sent him shooting towards the ground. Just before he crashed his hand snapped out again and he straightened himself out once more.

Pride was already behind him, sword dropping the blade of a guillotine.

"Kai!" Both Ayumi and Yurei yelled.

Kai smiled slightly and disappeared.

Pride stared in amazement at the space where he had been. ("So fast…so…")

"Now…you try and keep up." Kai whispered into Pride's ear calmly. Then he kicked the Sin right in the side of the head, sending him skull-first through a brick wall.

Both Ayumi and Yurei had gone silent. ("He moves like…but…")

"He's a quick learner," Kin whispered to both of them. After grinning at scared reactions because he had snuck up on them, a slight smile crossed his lips at a memory. "He came to me about a method to increase his speed."

"But…is there such a way for him to move…like you do?" Yurei was definitely intrigued now.

"It's how I managed to increase my chakra capacity by so much in the course of two weeks. They're called Soul Weights." Kin had to smile just a little more as Pride went shooting by, his eyes still registering surprise. "When someone releases heavy amounts of chakra, the weights get heavier. It's used by members of the Watanabe clan who want to improve upon their speed skills, because they'll be fighting against their whole chakra supply. He wore them for a week, unable to move at all…then he finally got one step forward…" Kin laughed quietly as Pride shot by going the other way, a new bruise on his chin. "By the end of the second week, he could make five whole steps."

"Just five…and this is the result? He moves like you do…" Yurei wished he had known about this training method earlier. He would have used it.

"Another step would have killed him…" Kin frowned. "Remember, my body isn't like that of any other human's. Things that could kill most people in the form of pressure won't affect me, hence why I run like I do. What Kai is showing is simply increased foot speed with a little chakra boosting it, that's all."

Pride tried to stop, but was dealt a dizzying blow to the ear and continued in a wild spin until he slammed into a wall.

Kai stabbed a kunai into his opponent's neck, not surprised at all when Pride dissipated into black smoke. ("A replication.") He disappeared again. Seconds later there was a loud crack and Pride came flying out of an alley, Kai's foot imprinted solidly onto his mouth.

Ayumi winced slightly. "Jeez, he's going all out…"

"He's burning himself too much…" Kin shook his head. "I told him not to push his body…"

Kai clotheslined Pride into the dirt and then stomped on his head, not surprised to have that Pride disappear in a burst of black smoke too. ("Son of a…")

Pride appeared on top of a nearby house. "You're very intent on killing me, huh? Well let me remind you of something, little insignificant gnat. Your speed is better than mine, but your blows barely tickle."

Kai's right eye began to twitch. "Let me see what you think when I've done this!" Suddenly he was standing next to Pride. Landing a kick on the Sin's side, he sent Pride down to the ground. Then he was moving around the fallen Sin in a huge circle, creating a spinning black blur. "Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Fire consumed the inside of the blur, and Pride as well.

Pride appeared standing right next to Kin, Yurei, Ayumi and Aiko. "He's very determined to try and kill me, huh?"

Kin grimaced. ("I barely sensed that movement…")

Kai appeared in front of Pride, fist cocked back. "Pride!"

"Yes?" Pride snapped the handle of his katana up and knocked Kai's fist aside. Then he kneed the boy right in the gut and appeared standing twenty feet away from all of them, towards the center of the street. "It's sad to think you all believe that you have the same genius ability I do. Don't you understand that my true power isn't even here yet?"

Kai leapt to his feet. "I'll kill him with my final technique…"

Kin slapped his teammate in the back of the head. "That would kill you too, so don't be stupid."

Aiko coughed once, and her eyes cracked open. "You boys…you seem much closer…"

Kin and Kai both smiled a strangely similar smile. "You could say that…"

Yurei stood up, and closed his eyes. A few moments later the blade of Shadow Goddess was back to normal. "Unfortunately, there is no way that we can defeat this foe. He is too powerful…"

"Really?" Kin cracked his knuckles. "Team-work…it's the name of the game. Yurei, can you fire off that attack you used before again?"

"The Shadow Full Moon?" Yurei rubbed his chin. "Well yes…I can."

"Good. You'll know where and when in a moment." Kin began to form seals with his hands. "Kai, don't mess up on the timing or I'm a dead man. Fuuton; Shirakaze Tenshi no Jutsu!" White wisps of silk appeared around his body, and he disappeared.

Pride growled as a whirlwind exploded to life, with him at the center of it. ("So you want to try and entrap me? It won't work…")

Kai stood at the edge of the whirlwind. "Let's see how you deal with this…Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Taking a huge breath, he exhaled a wave of fire into the whirlwind, changing it from simply wind to blazing flame and wind.

Pride threw up his arms to protect his face from the burning heat. ("What is this? Some kind of combo attack?")

Kin appeared right in front of him, right leg stretched out. "You're about to see whether or not you can stand against some real attack power!" His leg snapped up and caught the Sin on the chin, sending him to the top of the whirlwind, where fire surrounded him like a living blanket.

Pride snarled and tried to break free, but the heat was too much for him. ("What is this?")

Kin appeared above him, his leg out for a drop-kick. "Combo Attack; Honoo Oro-ashi Rendan!" Dropping his foot at full speed, he connected with Pride's neck and then both of them were trapped within the burning air drill of flame.

Yurei saw his opening. ("I see…interesting idea…") The blade of Shadow Goddess started to glow. And so did his eyes. ("And I see the target as clear as day.") Lifting the blade high into the air above him, he snarled from deep within his throat and charged towards the whirlwind, ignoring the burning flames that scorched his clothing. ("Father…this blow represents my rage…it represents the end of an era. It represents the end of him…the end of the first Sin! I will achieve your will!")

Pride crashed into the ground, his sword dissipating and pain spiking up his arm. "ARGH!"

Kin went flying off of him, glad to hear the pained sound. ("That means we can still win. Do it Yurei…strike the final blow and stop him from reaching his full power.")

Pride was in mid-bounce from the crash, his face distorted in pain and discomfort from the heat. ("Those little bastards…I'll kill them all…")

Yurei leapt through the burning winds, his eyes locked on Pride. "Shadow Mangetsu!" Then the world disappeared for Kin, Kai, Yurei and Pride as everything went up in white fire.

Pride growled as the flames burned into his skin roughly. ("I won't fall to you so easily...") "Ninth Seal open!"

And then Kai, Kin, and Yurei were all flying away, each getting a taste of single kick from a nearly full-power Pride.

Pride brushed himself off, the flames and damage from their attacks gone. "Such an annoyance…" Drawing a sword out of nowhere, he appeared next to Aiko and Ayumi. "Now then…let's kill the stupid handicapped ninja first and put her out of her misery."

Ayumi gasped, her fear evident at the fact she was facing someone far stronger than her.

"You'll be last then, alright?" Pride stabbed the sword down, and at the same time kicked Kai in the face to stop him from trying to heroically tackle the Sin.

Aiko gasped in pain as the sword pierced her chest…but it didn't cut in that deep at all.

Pride grimaced and withdrew his sword from Kin. "That annoying speed of yours…oh well…" Kicking the boy aside, he slashed the blade quickly across Kin's neck and then turned to block Yurei's sword strike with his own. "As for you…"

Kai tried to stab him in the back with a kunai, but was back-handed and sent about fifty feet away.

"…you die next." Pride slashed through Shadow Goddess and then into Yurei's arm deeply. Ignoring the blood spray, he formed another katana and slashed it behind him to stop Kin from attacking. "You heal quickly…" Letting go of the sword in Yurei, he formed another one and then spun around to stab it right through Kin's heart. Without skipping a beat he stabbed the next one into Kin's stomach. Forming another, he started to stab sword after sword into Kin until the boy looked so beaten up that there was no way he could possibly heal it all, even with the demon's influence.

"Kage…" Yurei screamed as Pride head-butted him, sending him spinning along the ground crazily.

"Almost done…" Pride formed another sword. "Next up would be Kai…"

Kai charged as fast as he could, using his speed to its fullest.

Pride casually tripped him and slashed across his side. Then he flat-palmed Kai in the ribs and sent him spinning along the dirt insanely. "It's pointless to continue fighting…"

Kin's right hand twitched.

"And for any of you to think that…" Pride was silenced by a ferocious right hook that sent him sliding into a far-off wall.

Kin's body was standing…and as its head tilted up a pair of molten red eyes glimmered in the night. "Oh really? Well, I personally would prefer not to be used by a bunch of stupid humans…so I think it's time to shut you up personally." The demon, through Kin's body, began to form a set of seals. "Kurohakai Sabaku!" An explosive black aura sprang up around him. "Now then…what does your blood taste like?"

To be continued…