I had this chapter ready to upload, then somehow managed to forget to do this. I'm sorry about that. All I can say is that it has been a bad week.
It feels as though it has been a long time since I uploaded the previous chapter, though standard calenders indicate it has only been the standard two weeks. I need to apologize to everyone, however: you won't get to see Hinata and Neji fight in this chapter. No, first there is another little diversion that will please many of you...
Chapter Twenty Three: Dreams
The rocky tundra was empty, only the slight wind disturbing it. Fairly little dust was blown across it, giving it an endlessly desolate feeling. All that broke the monotony was a city in the distance, a fairly isolated forest with mushrooms growing through and around it and the occasional rocky outcropping. The rocky tundra was empty...
And then heavy boots smashed into it, leaving footsteps in the rock. Two warriors raced across the barren landscape, heading directly for the city. Both of them looked very similar, though one had lightly green skin and the other lightly red. Similar expressions were on their faces, a slightly unnatural grin, and they glanced at one another at the same instant.
"The armies have arrived," one hissed, eyes focusing on the city.
"The shinobi have not," the other added. "Should we shift our targets?"
"Agreed," the first affirmed, gaze flickering to the forest. "It seems that the wounded shinobi have not been eliminated. Should we finish them off and then shift to the primary battle?"
"Agreed," the second echoed. At the same instant both of them shifted, creating obtuse angles of footprints in their wake as they instead ran toward the trees. The distance to the forest was closing rapidly, and it appeared that nothing was going to stop them.
Something blurred from the side with unnatural speed, getting directly in their path before slowing and becoming more resolute. It was a man, but from that distance neither warrior could determine a great deal. The unknown figure did not appear to be gathering any chakra, however, so the two quickly determined the unknown individual was not a threat. Before he could begin a jutsu he'd be sliced into thirds.
Before the two warriors could reach the lone man, he smashed a foot into the stone before him. The impact exploded into the ground, and a massive wall of stone shot into the air. Both of the warriors were forced to run directly up the surface to avoid smashing into it. They flipped backward and landed in mirror fighting positions even as the wall crumbled.
Standing in the falling dust, the man glanced up at them through black locks of hair. The two warriors glanced at him, then at one another. He was wearing a midnight black jump suit, and his hands were bound in black bandages. There was no village insignia or forehead protector to be seen on him, but abruptly one of the two recognized him.
"Rock Lee," it hissed. "What brings you here?"
"I'm not interested in small talk," was his dark reply. "You are attempting to attack warriors unable to defend themselves... I cannot allow that."
"Oh, really?" the other chuckled, voice buzzing slightly. "Are you going to stop us and try to make us play fair? Give us a speech about the rules of warfare? Challenge us to honorable one on one combat?"
"When I said I would not allow that," Lee answered, eyes never wavering, "I meant that I will kill you both."
"Fool! We have records on you, we know that you refuse to use anything but taijutsu. Do you truly believe that will be enough to stop us?" A fist embedded itself in his face the next instant, and he flew backward. Lee paused, glancing over his shoulder at the green skinned warrior just beside him.
"Any other questions?"
"Most effective," the warrior nodded. "But you are not facing the type of opponents you must be used to battling. Indeed, we are not even mere men." Some distance away, the red skinned warrior rose to his feet, licking blood away from his lip. "All of Ragnarok Incorporated's genetic research culminated in the two of us. Do you know what the significance of there being two is? There wasn't enough power to be contained in one individual."
"Apparently it also means you talk too much."
"Die!" the warrior cried, a fist flying for Lee's head. With almost instantaneous speed Lee counterattacked, other arm flying up to backhand his opponent into the air. Leaping after him, Lee kicked at his opponent's torso. The genetically created warrior caught his attack, and he sent hurtling backward by Lee's secondary kick.
The Leaf Jounin landed a moment later, smashing the green skinned warrior in the stomach as he attempted to attack from behind. Lee jerked his arm up, punching the warrior away from him. By this point the red skinned warrior was attacking from Lee's right, but he merely deflected the blows easily with one hand. Moments later his other hand moved into the fray, clamping over his opponent's wrist.
With a swift spin Lee tossed the first warrior into the second, sending them both crashing to the ground. As they struggled to their feet, he dropped back into a fighting position.
"Reports indicated your power accurately, then," the red skinned warrior rasped.
"But what you have spent years achieving through back breaking work, we have attained through mere genetic manipulation," the other mocked. "Our powers go far beyond what yours ever could, limited by your own body." At that moment he reached down to his leg and, in one violent motion, ripped off a portion of skin. Wincing in pain as Lee watched in shock, he reached into his own leg and pulled out something silver.
The weapon spun across the air, blood trailing from it, while its twin found a place in the green warrior's hand. In an instant both of them wielded long but thin metal blades, their edges gleaming dangerously in the low light. Blurring out of existence, Lee appeared directly between them, kicking to either side of himself, but both warriors blocked the strikes with their blades.
As they skidded apart, Lee landed between them calmly. They struck as one, slashing at him. With lightning-like speed, Lee deflected their blows with no more than his bare hands, dancing between them with unnatural grace. Neither swordsman managed to touch him as the three of them continued their dance of death, silver continuing to pursue the dark body that continued to evade each and every strike.
Swinging wildly, the red skinned warrior was momentarily off balance. His eye widened in shock as he abruptly found himself facing black cloth. Arms wrapped around his torso, and suddenly he was rocketing into the air. Almost before he could comprehend what was happened they shot back down again, hammering his head into and through the rock.
"You were going to use a clone, weren't you?" Lee asked, still holding his opponent immobile. "I'm used to that, and I compensate."
"So that..." the warrior groaned from within the rock, "was the Initial Lotus. Very effective... but you don't know what you're dealing with." His left arm, which had formerly been lying limply on the ground, began to shake violently. With the sound of ripping flesh it exploded into a mass of whipping purple tentacles. These snapped around a startled Rock Lee, binding him in place.
Already the green skinned monster was striking, his blade swiping down to decapitate the immobile Lee. Pulling his head free of the tentacles, Lee bit down on the blade before it could strike him, jerking it from his opponent's grasp.
His eyes widened the next instant as both of the green skinned warrior's arms split down the middle, silver glinting within them. Both arms were swung, something erupted in a shower of red and suddenly there were blades that severed through the tentacles to slice their target in pieces. Lee barely managed to push himself free, but they still drew lines of blood across his chest.
The red skinned warrior had somewhat emerged from the ground, though the tentacles that had formerly been his arm still bound Lee in place. A short distance away, the green skinned warrior was grinning savagely. From the elbows down his arms were no more, only long cylindrical blades extending from his bones.
"You're monsters..."
"Monsters?" The red skinned warrior laughed. "We are hardly monsters! We are the next level of man, the next link in human evolution! Do you fear us merely because we had the strength to undergo operations you can scarcely begin to think about?"
"Fear?" Lee asked, eyes flashing. His hands tightened around the tentacles at his neck, and he pulled his opponent into the air, forcing him down at the green skinned warrior. The monster evaded the attack, leaving its sibling to smash into the ground, but Lee had already vaulted off the ground and smashed a kick into its face.
Both of the monsters sailed in different directions, and Lee dropped to the ground. They returned to their feet, hissing in anger. Between them, Lee analyzed the extent the wound on his chest, then whipped his head up, long black hair flying around it, eyes blazing dangerously.
Swiftly he turned toward the red skinned warrior, simultaneously smashing his foot into the ground. A shockwave sped through the rock, barely missing the green fighter, even as Lee charged the other monster. Startled by his speed, the red skinned monster could only lash out, trying to catch Lee directly with one of the purple appendages.
With raw speed Lee continued forward, flickering in and out of the way of the tentacles. All too quickly he was directly before his opponent, clamping his arms around the warrior's stomach even as he shoulder rammed it. Both flew into the air, and as they hurtled horizontally they began to spin. They moved in a straight line until their path abruptly ended in a massive rocky column.
Letting go of his opponent, half embedded in the rock, Lee turned to the other as he shook off the pain in his muscles. Before he could attack the green skinned warrior, however, purple tentacles slipped around his neck from behind and hurled him into the rock.
Lee demolished the column, flying backward and skidding across the rocky ground. Midway through his skid he flipped back to his feet, eyes narrow and looking at his opponent. The green skinned warrior was beside the former rock pillar, extending a hand to its partner. With a broad grin, the red skinned warrior rose to his feet, head covered in blood.
"That form of the Lotus is quite the damaging technique," it grinned. "But it is more effective when one is even capable of feeling pain!"
Deadened pain sensors? Lee narrowed his eyes and dropped back into his fighting stance. So that was how it had counter attacked so quickly. From the rest of the battle, however, he didn't think the other warrior was likewise immune to pain.
"Of course, a lack of pain isn't an end in itself," the warrior continued. It extended a hand to its partner, who pulled another blade from its leg and handed over. "It allows for unheard-of abilities. You're the first person that's ever forced me to use such techniques." Without warning the red skinned warrior drew the blade across its own chest, sending blood into the air. Dropping the blade, it formed a hand seal.
Midway to the ground the blood sprang to life, flying through the air toward Lee. He managed to evade the first wave, but it curled overhead. Above him, the blood formed a dagger and slashed down at him. Utilizing his full speed, Lee back stepped the attack, which shattered against the soil. As the warrior continued shifting through hand signs, the blood found another form, slipping around his opponent's wrist and holding him like steel.
Gasping, Lee tried to pull away as the green skinned warrior struck at him, blade arms flashing dangerously. Just before the blades struck him he vanished before them with unearthly speed, appearing behind the red skinned warrior; all he managed to do was put a hand on his back before the blood was slashing after him. It barely nicked a line of blood on Lee's neck, but he mostly evaded, vaulting forward and hand-springing off his opponent's shoulders.
Just as the green skinned warrior was getting to his feet Lee collided with him feet first. He was sent flying back across the rock, while Lee barely evaded another slash of the animated blood. One of the red skinned warrior's tentacles picked the blade off the ground, drawing another line across him. More blood leapt into the air, forming a gigantic set of teeth that slashed down, only barely missing Lee.
The red skinned warrior was beginning to laugh, harshly and loudly. He had never felt this much power before, surging through his veins like nothing he had ever felt. It was true he had never let this much blood before, but he had never imagined it would make him so powerful. Energy rushing throughout his body addictive waves... he continued to make his blood lash after his opponent, who now could do little more than retreat.
Again Lee passed him, but only managed to touch his leg and couldn't get off an attack. Laughing even louder, the monster sent tendrils of blood snaking into the air. They ripped large columns of rock from the earth and hurled them toward each other with Rock Lee directly between them. The resulting explosion sent rock scattering in every direction.
"Done yet?" Lee asked, standing directly behind his opponent, a hand on his back.
"You can't psyche me with just talk," the red warrior laughed. "You are barely able to defend yourself, much less damage me. I can keep this up until I run out of chakra, and I have ten times more than I thought I ever possessed!"
"Of course you do," came the cold response. "Have you ever heard of the Gates? Each opens immense power within a person, yet causes incredible damage to their body. A healthy and trained warrior can open perhaps the first four safely... I'm willing to bet that having three Gates open will kill you."
"You..." the warriors eyes widened in shock, "you can't... can't actually mean..."
"I'm quite serious," Lee told him, chakra surging down his hand. Abruptly the red skinned warrior felt something snap within it. Power surged around him, and its muscles bulged with incredible force that it had never previously felt. It was awash in a wave of ecstasy... and then there was a profound pain before an endless nothing.
As the red skinned warrior's body crashed to the ground, Lee calmly turned to his remaining opponent, who had been sneaking up behind him. The green skinned warrior froze, and Lee took the moment to wipe a bit of blood off his face and toss it to the rock. Abruptly the other warrior began to laugh, eyes rolling in its head.
"You... killed him," it hissed between laughs. "You... killed... you're going to die!" With an inhuman roar it charged, blades swiping at Lee in swift succession. The first he easily backed away from and the second he brushed aside with a hand. One of his opponent's legs was flying up at him, and he calmly blocked it.
The green skinned warrior changed directions entirely, its other leg arcing through the air toward Lee's head. Raising his other arm, Lee easily blocked it. Idly he noticed that it was his opponent's unopened leg - immediately he threw himself away from his opponent with every iota of speed he could muster.
He was not an instant too late. The green tinted leg exploded in rotating razor blades, all spinning around a thin metal bone. No longer supported by Lee or its momentum, the remaining monster crashed to the ground. Three of its limbs were mostly shredded, and it did not rise. Having barely evaded the last attack, Lee was standing over it.
Just before Lee could drive his foot down on his opponent, he saw a new eyelid contract over his opponent's eye. It was oriented the wrong way, closing to a vertical slit. Acting solely on instinct, Lee pushed away from the ground, just as chakra exploded around his opponent.
When he landed some distance away, only a crater remained where his opponent had once been. Had it been a suicide attack? Narrowing his eyes, Lee remained where he was, tensing his muscles in preparation for movement. There was still a chakra... it was active, pulsing, churning and terribly malevolent. Inside the crater something was definitely alive, and its power was building, no, being unleashed.
Pure chakra emerged from the crater, gripping the side in the form of a massive claw. Another chakra claw grabbed the edge, rock crumbling before it. The monster within pulled itself up, a gigantic lizard of glowing chakra. At its head hung the remains of the green skinned warrior, which were laughing softly and staring blankly in Lee's direction.
"Can't... win," it rumbled. Though the original warrior's mouth moved, it scarcely seemed it was speaking with its own lungs. "A great spirit was bound within me. A mere man cannot stand against it!"
With that roar it attacked, chakra flying out in a raw form. There was no jutsu, no energy, nothing but raw power aiming to annihilate its opponent. Lee flashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the howl of power that carved ridges in the ground. In anger the creature's gigantic chakra eyes fixed upon him, then it trembled.
In that movement a dome of chakra began expanding from it, breaking through the ground at a startling rate and flashing toward Lee. He activated one of his own Gates, then seemed to vanish before the shockwave. Moments later he burst from the earth just before the massive spirit. His heel bashed the green skinned warrior down and into the ground.
This time the roar came not from the warrior, but from the mouth of the spirit itself. A wave of chakra hit Lee head on, blasting him backward. He managed to land and dig his feet in, but the chakra was roaring down on him, the solid wave beating him back and threatening to destroy him every instant. It took another Gate merely to prevent himself from being blown away.
For a moment they remained locked in invisible combat, Lee's chakra being eaten away by the seemingly endless barrage. He gave a loud cry, and another Gate opened. Chakra exploded from him, and the next instant he was no longer in the path of the spirit's attack.
"My time draws short," it rumbled, voice having completely changed. "The soul of this pathetic being is dying. But I swear that you will die with me!" Still in mid jump, Lee felt the air tighten around him. He plummeted, hitting the ground heavily. The lizard was breaking up, but its energy infused the green skinned warrior, whose eyes opened once more. Two voices screamed in the same instant, and the warrior's hand exploded in a chakra claw...
The massive claws pierced Lee through the chest and stomach, pinning him to the ground. While the spirit gave a satisfied grunt the green skinned warrior began laughing slightly madly. Life was fading from its eyes, but it did not stop laughing.
"Not even a shinobi can heal that wound," it cackled. "You and I are finished!"
"Too bad." Lee's lips parted in a bloody smile. The next second his body trembled slightly, then dissolved into a pile of rocks that fell to the ground.
Jaw dropping, the green skinned warrior used his remaining strength to look up. Lee was standing a short distance from him, not at all impaled by the chakra claw that was now fizzling away. The wind was blowing his hair in the way of his eyes.
"How?" it demanded, voice losing power steadily. "Your dream was to become a great shinobi without ninjutsu... your clone makes a mockery of that!"
"You are correct," Lee answered softly, eyes on the ground. "My dream was to become a great shinobi without using anything but taijutsu." He glanced up. "But there isn't any harm in branching out a bit, once one has already become a great shinobi."
The monster made a gagging noise, then its head rolled back and it lay still. For a moment Lee remained alone in the wasteland, holding his injuries slightly, hair flying about him, and then he blurred out of sight. The rocky tundra was empty.
Next time I promise you really will get to see Neji and Hinata fight the Ragnarok Clan. There will be plenty of other events as well, as the 24th chapter is the largest in this entire story. I hope you will enjoy it as this story comes to a close.
LadyPearlDragon: Two weeks is time enough for schedules to change. If you still wish to discuss your comments in more depth, I could use your e-mail address again. Listing your e-mail service provider helps somewhat.