Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow

by Tatanka4Life

On the fateful night of the Uchiha Massacre, a girl of Uchiha and Nara blood is spared and left with no memories of her past. Now she must walk on the path left by her family to help her build a new future for herself. Her path will be hard, full of struggles and pain, but as long as she has her friends and family at her side she will keep forging ahead, even if it was a drag.

151. Chapter 150: An Era of Light

Chapter 150

An Era of Light: To You I Entrust…

Rain was pouring over Katabami Gold Mine.

On this somber winter evening, within the oppressively dense grey realm, sharp, jagged talons tore through the overcast curtain pulled across the sky, briefly illuminating the dim world as its violent nails of white light speared the earth.

Every strike was followed by Mother Nature's furious, chest-tightening roars, her lullaby disturbed and distorted by her overflowing cascade of tears and grief. Wailing gales whipped and lashed relentlessly.

Once more her children were at war.

Rock Lee stood amid the downpour, pelted by the heavy raindrops pecking sharply at the top of his head and body, hyperaware of every individual stream formed by the rain flowing down his face, his neck, and even those beneath his lucky jumpsuit.

He furrowed his brow in a severe expression. Determination, certainly, but he could not deny the tension he felt beneath Raiga Kurosuki's cutting gaze.

The former Swordsman possessed quite the foreboding presence. The strange hunch, his height, nor his visibly burned face were responsible, truly, for the restlessness Lee felt in his muscle fibers.

Raiga radiated power. He could feel it making his hairs stand on end, like an invisible electrical current traveling through the raindrops, through the puddles forming upon the stone terrace, and into his skin. Into his very heart.

Alongside it he felt killing intent. It bombarded him harshly, harsher than the tumultuous storm they stood within.

This will be a most dangerous foe, Rock Lee noted calmly. To think he was able to pin down Haruhi, who stands as a trusted member of the Fifth Mizukage's inner circle.

He didn't dare take his eyes off Raiga, but in his mind's eye he could see Haruhi's position on the battlefield perfectly, how utterly motionless she lay on the wet stone directly behind him.

He could see the Kiba Blade impaled through her right shoulder. He could see the blood soaking into her white dress, now frayed and no longer immaculate, and the ribbons of smoke rising off her among the falling rain. He could hear the crackle of lightning sparking around the kunoichi, paralyzing her whole body.

I cannot remove the blade, he thought. Although it remains a danger to Haruhi, and is likely responsible for her current paralysis, should I remove the blade while Mimi is somewhere else, Haruhi may bleed out.

Leaving a blade inside the body was one of the first lessons Mimi taught him about treating stab wounds. Since he did not know Medical Ninjutsu, pulling a blade free could rupture a greater amount of blood vessels, leading to an ally bleeding out before a medic could treat them. Thus it was better to treat them in other ways. Unfortunately, those options were unavailable to him while Raiga was on the battlefield.

For now, I cannot do anything to free Haruhi. All I can do is keep Raiga busy until Mimi arrives.

A dangerous task. But one he accepted nonetheless.

Raiga only has one of his swords right now. Rock Lee analyzed his opponent from head to toe, just as his mentor taught him. And it appears he does not possess a Sharingan or Byakugan.

However, even though he only has one of the Kiba Blades, it is still considered the sharpest blade in existence. Which means I must avoid being struck at all costs, in addition to evading his Lightning Style ninjutsu.

Lee was grateful for the preparations he'd taken before this battle.

First, he had removed his leg weights in order to attain the advantage of speed; so far his decision had proven itself worthwhile twice over, granting him the speed and agility to ambush Raiga and reach Haruhi before anyone else could. Had he taken longer, Lee was certain his newest comrade would now be dead.

Second, with the removal of his weights, and the removal of his ninja tools, he had discarded nearly every piece of metal capable of conducting lightning. The only metal on his body now was his forehead protector; he could not bring himself to part with it, even if it enhanced the peril he faced.

Should I start with the Eight Gates Release Formation? Lee considered it for a moment. Then mentally shook his head. No. Not yet. To use the Primary Lotus now, or activate the other Gates, would be too reckless. Raiga still possesses the power to summon natural lightning, and were he to activate his Thunder Armor while I performed the Primary Lotus…

Nothing except death awaited him down that path. He could see it play out clearly. Then, once he was finished off, Haruhi would be next. Such an end was unacceptable. Unforgivable. It would shame himself and his mentor. No. He refused to allow such an end to come to pass.

"I'm going to blaze a new trail," he recalled Amaririsu's words. "I'll blaze it straight to a future where people of any Nation or Clan can understand each other and smile and laugh as friends."

A harsh gust lashed rain across his back. Lee did not acknowledge it; he kept his gaze locked on the mountainous silhouette of Raiga.

Amid the rain he saw—imagined—her walking ahead of him. His eternal rival. She was moving forward, shadowed by shades of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura walking only one or two steps behind her. Her fellow rookies, who the word 'rookie' no longer felt appropriate for, were falling in behind the kunoichi, one by one, on the path she had chosen. Even his own teammates were there.

Towards the future she charged, bearing the steadfast determination and passionate Will he had come to admire his eternal rival for.

Amaririsu, since we first met you have done nothing except inspire me to improve myself, Lee thought. Whether it was by securing a victory over my whole team, or our battle and defeat together against the Sound shinobi in the Forest of Death, your passionate spirit has pushed me to become even stronger than I was.

It was because you continued to rise again and again against the Sound shinobi that I, too, could rise. And you did not stop there. Your battle against Hisashi in the preliminary rounds of the Chūnin Exams was yet another moment where your true Will was shown to us all. Although you were poisoned and wounded, you forged ahead through the agony and secured your spot in the Finals.

I, however, was unable to follow you into the Final rounds. I was defeated. I was forced to watch all of you from the sidelines. Naruto went on to defeat Neji—a genius I have never been able to defeat. You were able to fight Mimi and Aoko at full strength and very nearly won.

Again and again you have risen to face what some would call impossible odds. You have fought those odds with all of your heart to protect what you held precious. No matter what it is ahead of you, you always stand by your ninja way. You fight to fulfill the sacred promises you swore to Ryu, to your family, and to each and every one of us.

And along the way you have reached the hearts of shinobi from other Nations. You have helped secure an alliance with the Land of Snow's Princess, stopped a corrupt, tyrannical family from strangling the Land of Tea, prepared an entire generation of Heroes from another world, risen to the rank of Chūnin, and now even stand as the Head of the Uchiha Clan.

You are already blazing your trail, Lee thought, staring at the back of his rival. You haven't stopped charging ahead towards the future, even when your injury has kept you sidelined, just as mine did. You have never given up on yourself or your dream. You truly are amazing, Amaririsu. I am proud to call you my rival.

So, on this mission where it is you who must watch from the sidelines, I will keep my promise to you.

After their strategy meeting, as they all prepared to depart, Amaririsu was there to see them off. They could all see she wished to join them, even in the event there would be no battle at all.

He empathized. He couldn't think of a worse feeling than uselessness. To be static while the rest of the world moved on around him was difficult. Frustrating. For so long he'd had to watch his teammates and his comrades leave on missions, into certain danger, all while he was chained to a hospital bed or a crutch.

So Lee performed the one act he could: He made a vow he would uphold even here, against the impossible odds of fighting a Seven Swordsman on his own.

"Amaririsu," he had said, "there is nothing for you to fear. Although you may not be able to stand beside us in person, we will take your Will into our fists, we will take your passionate flames into our hearts, and together Leaf and Mist will…"

Lee charged ahead far too fast to be tracked by the natural eye. Past the vision conjured by his imagination of his eternal rival and comrades. Straight ahead. Straight towards…

His sandals splashed against the wet stone, making it appear as though a restless spirit was sprinting through the rain.

By the time Raiga and his other half were able to process the sight of the splashes, by the time Swordsman's ears heard the rapid, wet clap-clap-clap of his sandals, the Leaf shinobi was already upon him, fist burying into his enemy's abdomen.

Together Leaf and Mist will blaze a trail straight to the future!

As Raiga stumbled back one step, groaning and growling, Lee darted off, running a half circle into position behind the Swordsman before he could blink, thrusting the flat of his foot into his enemy's lower back.

His solid blow created a shockwave, a pulse of air that burst the falling raindrops caught in it.

Lee darted off again. He left behind but a flickering image of himself in the haze, an image which appeared and vanished so quickly he appeared to alter his tangible existence with the ease of flicking a light on and off.

"Right side!" a strange voice that was not Raiga's called out. "No, wait—"

Two shockwaves pulsed. Two fists struck fast as lightning into Raiga's left side. He recoiled away from the blow, grunting, eyes wide at the inhuman speed and strength of such a young boy.

Three more shockwaves followed consecutively. First it struck his lower back again. Then his abdomen. A cyclone of air whipped around Raiga. Sandals clapped wetly against the stone. As they did Raiga's other half, consumed by helplessness and despair, tried desperately to read the enemy movements.

"He's— no, he will— I can't—"

As Raiga bent forward, the result of the second blow, he saw the flicker of Rock Lee emerge among the rain, then felt his bandaged fist catch him square in the jaw.

"I can't read his movements!"

"It's okay," Raiga grunted. "Stay calm and focus."

Lee was unrelenting in his assault.

He attacked the Swordsman from all sides, the only tell-tale signs of his attacks being the small shockwaves and Raiga's physical reaction to them. He attacked with no discernible pattern to his movements. No pattern Raiga could counter with his Lightning.

For instance, were he to run a circle formation around the Swordsman, no matter how fast he was, Raiga would merely need to attack a single point on the circle repeatedly and, eventually, he would strike Lee himself. The same could be said for any distinguishable shape or pattern.

In order to maintain this offensive maneuver, he had to be as unpredictable as a stray bolt of lightning, and move at two times—no, three times the speed!

"Jump!"

Raiga hopped over Lee's sweeping kick and whipped around. The Leaf shinobi was already gone. His sandals clapped against the puddles of rain, then he halted suddenly to lunge in at his enemy's blindside.

"Your right!"

The command was all Raiga needed. He whirled and swept his blade through the rain in a horizontal slash. The voice, Lee realized in that moment, was coming from the hunch on his back, and though it couldn't read his movements perfectly, it was reading them.

Halting abruptly again, Lee bent his knees to a ninety degree angle and dropped his body to lay perfectly flat, as though performing hot-blooded limbo. The steel passed by such a narrow margin he could see his determined expression reflected against it.

He saw raindrops burst, split apart by the sharp edge. Felt the tingle of powerful lightning pass over his whole body and how it raised his wet hair to stand on end.

One clean cut, that was all it would take for Raiga to kill them. He had known it before, he had not doubted the Mist shinobi's Intel on the Kiba Blades. But it was only as the blade passed over his body, feeling its power, feeling the strength of Raiga's swing, that Lee truly understood how dangerous his opponent was.

The blade passed. Lee was already reacting.

Palm slamming against the hard and wet stone, Lee buckled Raiga's closest leg with a swift kick to the back of the knee. The large man caught himself on the same knee, and simultaneously pierced his sword into the earth. Lee anticipated and reacted.

A spiderweb of Lightning streamed out from Raiga, surging through the puddles, creating a wide field of lightning none could have run across. Fortunately, Lee hadn't tried to run.

Lee, tucked in a ball, was somersaulting over Raiga's blindside at the velocity of baseball launched from a pitching machine.

"Right! Block!" the voice commanded.

Lee extended his leg. Raiga threw his right arm up.

The resounding collision of flesh unleashed an even greater shockwave. Beneath him, Raiga felt his planted foot and knee sink, imprinting craters into the earth. The corners of his lips tugged into a crazed smile on their own accord.

Gripping the Kiba Blade in his left hand, he yanked it free of the earth and thrust its lightning-coated tip at the Leaf shinobi.

It penetrated air and nothing else. He then felt an unusual weight on his head.

"What the hell?" he growled.

Lee, balancing in a one-handed handstand on top of his enemy's head, bent rapidly at the waist like a hinge and swung his legs for his enemy, slamming both of his feet into Raiga's left shoulder. The result was exactly as he hoped.

Raiga crashed and slid along the terrace on his right shoulder, Lee landed two feet away from their initial position, now utterly absent of Lightning.

From what I can tell, Lee theorized as he pursued his enemy, refusing to allow him a single moment to summon his Lightning Style again, it is obvious Raiga does not possess a Byakugan or a Sharingan himself. In fact, I believe it is not a split personality that Raiga is suffering from, as Amaririsu once considered.

The other half of his soul is actually another person he carries on his back! And that person must possess an unknown dōjutsu like the Byakugan or the Sharingan. That would explain the voice I keep hearing, Raiga's apparent sensory abilities, and the strange blindspot in Neji's Byakugan.

Lee appeared behind Raiga, gliding low across the slick stone. The Swordsman, even before the other half of his soul called out his position, sensed his appearance and turned his head over his left shoulder; there was a deranged gleam sparkling in his blue eye, as deranged as the smile on his face.

Raiga was beginning to like the youngster.

Rising and rotating, Lee prepared to strike with a spinning back fist. But before he did, he flickered away, appearing to vanish again, before materializing in front of Raiga mid-spin.

His spinning back fist smashed into the Swordsman's turned head. His feet were uprooted from the earth, briefly, spinning two whole revolutions while upright before landing and spinning on the wet surface half of another revolution.

Lee charged again, the wet clap-clap-clap of his sandals racing across the puddles among the downpour.

As he attacked again from Raiga's blindside, he felt his breath catch as the Kiba Blade swung at him unannounced.

Flesh connected against flesh harshly. Bone crashed against bone.

Holding his arms up, Lee struggled against the surprising physical power of the Swordsman bearing against his narrow block, which held his sword arm at the wrist and kept the weapon just outside of his right shoulder.

"Impressive. Very impressive," Raiga chuckled. The Swordsman spat blood off to the side, then turned his head slowly to look at Lee. His crazed and damaged eyes, along with his wide smile, was nearly as off-putting as his killing intent. "I haven't seen taijutsu like yours in many, many years. Such speed. Such strength. Actually, you're beginning to remind me of someone I once knew. He was a Leaf shinobi as well. He had similar eyebrows. He wore an obnoxiously loud jumpsuit, too."

Raiga struck again.

Again Lee barely managed to block the weapon arm before it could harm him.

"And he killed the Heartless Pair, the old Helmet Splitter and Mangetsu's predecessor," he declared. "Four of the Seven Swordsman fell to that one Leaf shinobi. Had that strange technique of his not killed him, it is likely all seven of us would have died. I have not seen such ferocious taijutsu since. Not until you suddenly appeared."

A Leaf shinobi with similar eyebrows and attire as me? Lee grunted. It cannot be Guy-sensei. He is still alive, of course. So…could he mean Guy-sensei's father? Wait! The young shinobi was struck by a sudden, astounding thought. Did Guy-sensei's father use the Eighth Gate of the Eight Gates Formation—the Gate of Death? And he was able to kill four of the Seven Swordsman on his own before his time ran out?

Incredible! Guy-sensei's father is just as amazing as Guy-sensei himself!

"I won't compare you to him," Raiga continued. "No, I had no good memories of that Leaf shinobi. Only fear. Fear which claws at your insides while you weep for how pathetic and sad your existence truly is! When all those you considered comrades leave you to die, and you realize how truly alone you are, and how meaningless your existence is, that is the feeling I have when I remember that man. But you!"

Lee ducked a swipe and countered with a straight kick, building distance.

Raiga's wild grin did not falter.

"You're beginning to endear yourself to me, young man!"

Flickering away, Lee dashed around the rogue shinobi, took two strides towards his enemy and leapt off the third, rotating his body as he did to strike with a flying spin kick.

"I cannot say the same for you!" Lee declared as his leg struck Raiga's shoulder.

Abruptly the solid mass vanished. Lee's eyes went wide as the body collapsed into water before him.

A Water Clone?

At that moment, a stray bolt of lightning flashed white light through the grey gloom. For a flickering second Raiga's large shadow stretched over him, his sword arm visibly drawn back over his shoulder.

He landed, maintaining the momentum of his spin, and ducked, scrambling on hands and toes out from beneath the striking weapon.

When he heard the tip of the blade grind against the stone, he leapt up and, to the surprise of his enemy, towards Raiga, rolling evasively and offensively through the air with the same velocity of a Fang over Fang.

Beneath him, blue lightning flickered, arced and surged through the gathering puddles of water, which were beginning to pour off the terraces like a drizzling waterfall.

There was no time for Raiga to counter. Lee's leap took him above Raiga's head, his whirlwind motion added to his offensive power, so when he threw his kick, it struck against the back of his neck and shoulders with savagery that shuddered through both of their bodies.

A shockwave of power pulsed outwards and acted akin to an invisible umbrella, preventing the rain from pelting the two shinobi for an entire second.

Raiga slouched forward beneath the power. Yet his legs did not buckle. Before the rain began to fall upon them again, another flash of lightning streaked through the sky, illuminating the corners of his wild grin for Lee to see.

Pain suddenly erupted across Lee's face. Before he could fully grasp what had happened, how Raiga whirled around and smashed the pommel of his sword into his cheek, he felt himself crashing, then skipping like a stone against the terrace.

Recovering, he sprang off one hand, twisting his body so his feet were beneath him, and glided backwards; his sandals created a small wake. No sooner did he recover did he see Raiga point the tip of the Kiba Blade at him.

On instinct, Lee leapt aside, but no Lightning exploded across the battlefield. Instead, Raiga lunged after him.

It was a feint?

Lee realized it too late. His feet had yet to touch the terrace again, but inches beneath his sandals, suspending his speed and ability to evade entirely. Raiga sped through the curtains of rain, undeterred.

He used my own apprehension about his Lightning Nature to control my next move.

With a powerful leap, Raiga closed the remaining distance in an instant, raising the Kiba Blade coated in Lightning above his head. He laughed a cruel laugh.

Amid the rain he could see the flash of steel and the lightning sheathed around it clearly. The thrumming blade would amputate his right arm from the shoulder. He was certain of it. One cut was all it would take.

The blade neared. Closer. Closer. He could feel the electric tingle of lightning on the air

Lee felt solid earth for the briefest of seconds and reacted desperately, spinning a hasty half turn whilst leaning his body out of the range of the sword.

Again he witnessed steel pass by a hairs margin, and in its reflection was his wide eyed expression.

Raiga landed heavily, then struck again, cutting a horizontal strike at the off-kilter Leaf shinobi. Desperate, Lee sprang straight up, bending his body like a bow, as though trying to grasp his ankles with his hands behind his back. The sword passed below him.

He clapped his hands onto Raiga's shoulders, dug his fingers into his rain cloak and swung his legs in. They collided against the Swordsman's forearm, held up in a guard.

Utilizing the foothold, Lee pushed himself up into a handstand and over the Swordsman, nearly tugging the cloak off him in the process. If not for how wet his fingers and the cloak were, he would not have lost his grip. He may have even revealed his confident theory that there was another person beneath the cloak.

But it was not to be. That was okay. He had survived another exchange, a feat few could stake claim to, and in the process he had seen Mimi springing up onto the terrace near Haruhi.

Overall, his distraction was working. He need only survive until his comrades could join him, then he could risk the Primary Lotus against this profoundly powerful adversary. Should that fail, he would step past the threshold and enter Eight Gates Formation.

Lee landed behind the Swordsman. Together, the two shinobi whipped around, and the wet slap of a fist against a palm and the resounding collision flesh and bone crashing against one another pulsed over the battlefield.

"So, you're truly willing to die to protect Haruhi," Raiga stated rather than asked, clutching the smaller fist beneath his large hand.

He did not need to ask. He could tell by how fiercely the Leaf shinobi fought. He could see it in his eyes.

Lee held the sword arm of the Mist shinobi at bay. His cheek ached and he noticed a stream of red among the raindrops streaming off his face.

"Have you already forgotten what I swore?" Lee grunted. "I promised I would not allow you to harm Haruhi again!"

"That's right. You did, didn't you?" Raiga sounded pleased.

"My Sensei once told me that a man who struts around like a peacock, acting like Mr. Big Shot, should always keep his promises. Even if it kills him! Yahhhh!"

With a beast-like cry, and greater experience in taijutsu, Lee freed his slick fist from the powerful grasps of Raiga, who's physical strength could not hope to match the hot-blooded power of his teacher.

Freed, he bashed the Swordsman's unarmed limb away and, in a fluid motion, struck the Kiba Blade at its pommel with all of his might. To his joy, which was seemingly mirrored by Raiga, the sword slipped out of his hand and flew into the air.

The Leaf shinobi stepped up onto his enemy's thigh, then sprang after the blade to kick it further away and, with luck, have it be lost among the curtains of rain and stone. Without his weapon Raiga's power would be diminished. Would it be significant enough to achieve victory on his own, though? Lee intended to find out.

Before he could followthrough, a heavy hand snatched him by the ankle.

"I like your spirit!"

Solid stone greeted his back. The air in his lungs ejected instantly. He gasped and choked, only capable of watching Raiga snatch his blade out of the air and begin the motions to turn and cut his supine body.

Rolling backwards onto his feet, Lee did not feel the blade actually cut his skin; in fact, it passed within inches by his triceps and upper back. All the same the fabric of his jumpsuit split, as did his flesh.

The wounds were thin, surface level, and they did not hurt. No, besides the warm thrum of pain localized around the wounds, the actual cuts themselves were numb.

Raiga gripped his sword with both hands and raised his sword to cut again. Lee flashed ahead and blocked both arms, holding them above his body.

"Tell me, why would you, a Leaf shinobi who holds no allegiances to the Mist, go so far to protect Haruhi? She is your enemy. She is a rival shinobi from a rival Nation."

"You're wrong," Lee grunted in struggle. His strength is nothing compared to Guy-sensei's, but he is still incredibly strong! "Haruhi is not my enemy. We may come from different Nations. We have lived very different lives, I cannot deny that. However…"

"However?" Raiga pressed excitedly, exerting more pressure against his block.

His arms were beginning to tremble.

"The separation you see—the distinction of Leaf shinobi and Mist shinobi—holds no meaning to us. We are one team. One squad united in its purpose. "

"And is that purpose to eradicate my Family?"

"No," Lee struggled out through grit teeth. "Of course we sought to stop your funerals. That was what we were hired to do. However, Amaririsu, in her heart of hearts, never wanted us to fight or hurt each other. She saw another path. A path where you and your Family could join the Fifth Mizukage in rebuilding your home Village and Nation. She wanted to help you. She wanted to reach her hand out to you. Just like the Fifth Mizukage does!"

Raiga inhaled sharply, eyes going wide. His strength faltered. Lee capitalized.

Pushing away his sword with a cry, he followed up with two fast and harsh punches, then quickly lowered himself into a sweeping kick, which Raiga hopped over.

Lee anticipated the counter before it had occurred, pressed both hands into the earth and sprang feet first at the Swordsman. His feet crashed against a sturdy forearm block.

Lightning crackled again, but not in the sky. It crackled and flashed around Raiga. The origin of all storms.

Lee sucked in a breath, then felt the pain of Lightning Nature chakra coursing through his body. He shot off the Swordsman and crashed into the earth again, flopping and skipping before sliding to a halt on his stomach.

Stiff and almost numb, the Leaf shinobi rose to his hands and knees. Slowly despite trying to rise quickly. Trembling despite his attempt to remain sturdy.

I am…not through yet!

He made it onto trembling and stiff legs, wet hair stuck to his forehead, jumpsuit suctioned to his skin, and streaks of crimson spilling among the tears of Mother Nature pouring over them, pattering nosily against the stone.

"This Amaririsu you speak of," Raiga spoke over the storm, "I've never heard of her before. You obviously think quite highly of her. Tell me, is she somewhere here in Katabami Gold Mine? Is it that Inuzuka Clan member behind me? I'd like to see what kind of eyes she has. If they're heartfelt and sincere like Mei's, and yours, of course. Or if they're eyes of a liar, like Karashi's."

"Amaririsu is not here," Lee declared. He steadied himself, widening his stance, placing one arm behind his back and the other out in front of him. "Her eyes are a reflection of her heart, a heart which reaches out to everyone, no matter their circumstances. Her dream is…"

"I'm going to blaze a new trail. I'll blaze it straight to a future where people of any Nation or Clan can understand each other and smile and laugh as friends."

"Her dream is," Lee continued, finding his strength once more, "to blaze a trail to a future where people of any Nation or Clan can understand each other. That dream is shared by Lady Mizukage. It is shared by my comrades, which includes Haruhi and Chōjūrō.

"Amaririsu cannot be here to reveal her Will to you herself, but I swore to carry her Will in my fists, and her passionate flames in my heart. So starting now," Lee hardened his gaze, "you are not fighting me alone!"

Even amid the downpour he could see Raiga grin.

"This kid… All right, show me her Will, young man!"

---

Panic was a shinobi's greatest enemy.

Even though she was pinned to the terrace, Haruhi did not yield to panic. Even as she was viciously assailed by heavy raindrops, paralyzed by the Lightning Chakra Raiga infused into the Kiba Blade, she ignored hysteria's call.

Panic was a dense, impenetrable fog the mind conjured, even greater in its ability to obscure rational thought than the mountains of mist which concealed the location of Mist Village. Being seized by panic would not have allowed her to escape the Gallows, and it would not allow her to escape this prison of Lightning.

Mimi Inuzuka also recognized the inefficiency of hysteria. She discarded it as she crouched within arms reach of Haruhi, carefully and meticulously analyzing the precarious situation before her. Her ninja hound, Aoko, nested on top of her head, murmuring in discomfort.

When the Inuzuka cautiously reached her hand towards the hilt of the Kiba Blade, a whitish-blue viper retaliated, leaping off the sword to bite the invader. The gloved hand snapped into her chest. Mimi herself recoiled back, buttocks splashing against the wet stone; she cradled her hand, gritting her teeth.

The Kiba Blade is flowing with Raiga's Lightning Chakra, Haruhi observed calmly. In its present state, she cannot touch me without the current flowing through her body, nor can she remove the blade so long as this prison of Lightning is active.

Haruhi could scarcely breathe. Her burning heart hammered against her tight breast. Her muscles spasmed without her consent, harshly.

"Hang tight, Haruhi. I'll get you of out of there," Mimi Inuzuka reassured.

Giving yourself to panic required no effort. It was natural. Humans were hardwired to fight or fly when threatened. Therefore, when you could neither fight or fly, when all control was wrested from your ironclad grip, panic was the natural conclusion.

Haruhi did not grant panic its foothold.

This body is only a shell. My spirit is undamaged. This shell is imprisoned. My spirit is free. She repeated the words as a mantra, centering her mind far from this flooded battlefield. As long as I am alive, as long as my spirit is free, I can free this shell and complete my mission.

Her mission… The mission Lady Mei entrusted to her and Chōjūrō… The mission which led them to meeting Amaririsu Yūhi and her comrades, and now presented them an opportunity to take a powerful leap closer to Lady Mei's dream.

"The separation you see—the distinction of Leaf shinobi and Mist shinobi—holds no meaning to us. We are one team. One squad united in its purpose."

One team. One squad united in its purpose…

Indeed, that was an apt description of their present circumstances. Their purpose was united. On the soil of a foreign Nation, the walls of water separating the Leaf and Mist had finally parted after many long years of war, strife and attempted subterfuge.

Through this new passageway—this bridge constructed by Amaririsu and Haku's bond—Lady Mei's dream to one day unite their Villages could become reality.

"Let's change this world. Together."

Haruhi blinked. Her face was tingling, numb from the relentless assault of rain. Her eyes stung, pecked by one too many raindrops. Her heart was pounding. Burning.

Yet she was calm. More than that, she felt unwavering resolve.

I cannot fall now. My mission is not yet complete.

Haruhi thought nothing of how the rain battered her. She thought nothing of the numbness and pins and needles pricking her shell. For that was all it was—a shell. It could withstand it. That was its purpose, after all; it served as a barrier, a protective layer of armor worn over the soul.

This condition was temporary. A trifle, truly, the soul needn't worry itself over.

Instead, she focused on the current flowing through her, the Lightning Chakra which made her limbs spasm, her muscles contract, and her breast burn.

In order to protect Lady Mei's dream, in order to protect the future she and Amaririsu seek to build, I cannot allow Chōjūrō or a single Leaf shinobi to fall in this battle.

I must escape this prison…

She sank into herself. Deep into the shell. Deeper still beyond physical reality, sinking deeper, deeper, and deeper, sinking in the silent depths of an ocean until she reached the place where all currents—time, tide and chakra—converged.

I must seize this power. I must reclaim control over my body.

I must protect my comrades.

---

Mimi went wide eyed as the Kiba Blade began to move on its own.

Guided by an invisible hand, the sword slowly began to pull itself free from Haruhi's right shoulder. Blood and water mixed, soaking into the kunoichi's white dress, pooling in dark puddles beneath her as it drifted towards the edge of the terrace.

"Is Raiga controlling his sword at this distance?" Aoko wondered, worried.

Mimi said nothing. She watched the blade's slow ascension, anxious muscles tensing in preparation to spring away if it targeted her, or lunge ahead and stop it from a final fatal plunge into the Mist kunoichi.

Glancing down, Haruhi's blank expression revealed nothing. No hints of whether it was her or Raiga moving the blade. Not even the slightest hint it hurt. She merely lay in the rain, jaw tensed shut, totally unbothered by the sharpest blade in existence leaving her shoulder.

I wonder if the Lightning Chakra has rendered her entire arm numb. If not, her pain tolerance is next level, Mimi thought. She's not even flinching. Except for those forced spasms, anyway.

The tip of the sword finally emerged, the blood dripping off its tip diluted by water.

Suddenly bolts of lightning arced off Haruhi's body and struck the blade; the air cracked and thrummed ominously.

From hilt to tip, the lightning coating the Kiba Blade gleamed with dark divinity, taking on the form of a bluish-white sun within the storm.

Without a sound, Haruhi stretched her left hand out and snatched the floating blade by its hilt. Then the light ceased, instantly. Snuffed out like a blown-out candle, returning them to the haze of grey and cacophony of pouring rain.

Haruhi sat up without so much as a grimace. Her right arm, however, hung limply at her side. The fingers did not flex or flinch. The muscles beneath her mesh long sleeve did not contract or tense with her movements. It merely hung from her shoulder, as flimsy and as malleable as a broken rubber band.

Mimi knelt behind the Mist kunoichi, applying Medical Ninjutsu to her right shoulder first; the green hue of Medical Ninjutsu was as bright as a jar of fireflies. Her wound was far less pleasant.

Based on this stab wound, Haruhi was already lying down when he thrust the Kiba Blade through her shoulder, Mimi analyzed. She wasn't moving at all. If she was, the hole wouldn't be so damn perfect. So surgically precise. The blade didn't even meet resistance from her humerus. It passed straight through the bone effortlessly.

She was certain she could slip a senbon straight through. Haruhi wouldn't even feel it. Probably.

A guy like Raiga could've hit the subclavian artery, the brachial artery, the axillary artery. Hell, he didn't even need to target an artery. He could've just plunged his blade straight through her heart or her head and called it done.

He hadn't. He missed the arteries. He didn't aim for the abdomen, which guaranteed striking and tearing apart an organ with the sharpest blade in existence, or the spine, which would have severed beneath the sharpened tip of the Kiba Blade easier than snapping apart a wishbone.

He didn't aim for the head or the heart—guaranteed kills. Haruhi was at his mercy before he plunged the blade into her shoulder, it was clear by the precision of the wound.

Had Raiga purposefully aimed to avoid a lethal blow? Why? To gloat? To talk a little longer with Haruhi before delivering the final blow?

"Another life, Sunshine."

"Please, leave Miss Mikki to me."

Mimi frowned. They were all trying to kill each other…and yet…

"Is it fatal?" Haruhi's calm voice broke her from her thoughts.

"No," the Inuzuka shook her head slightly. "This injury isn't flowers and rainbows, but you're not gonna bleed out. Not while I'm here, anyway."

"Then I am grateful," Haruhi said in her usual emotionless voice.

"How'd you even manage to do that?"

"The Kiba Blades, like the other Mystical Blades, are no ordinary weapons. They were crafted from special materials long ago; whether that knowledge was lost or is classified at the highest levels, I cannot say. These special materials led to each of the seven blades possessing unique properties and abilities, each different from the other. And each strange by conventional standards.

"What you witnessed was one such ability the Kiba Blades possesses. Controlling a weapon remotely is generally seen with Wind Chakra."

"But the Kiba Blades are special."

"Precisely," Haruhi nodded once. "You would not have been able to free me by normal means without hurting yourself. I had to claim control over the sword. It was the most efficient means to accomplish our mission. In order to do that, I began to flow my Lightning Chakra into the blade, in essence battling Raiga's Chakra Flow with my own."

"And once you had control, you used its special properties to free yourself." Mimi smirked. "Gonna have to start calling you Lady Iron. Need a Will of iron to pull all that off."

"Steel is stronger than iron," Haruhi replied flatly.

"Yeah, but people might think you're a thief if they hear Lady Steel. And it doesn't roll of the tongue as nicely as Lady Iron."

"My name is Haruhi."

"Good, you know your name. Guess I don't need to do a concussion check, Lady Iron," she quipped.

"You are teasing me."

"I am. It's what comrades do."

"Mm. That must be why Natsumi likes teasing, then."

"I've never met someone so emotionally and socially stunted," Aoko rumbled from atop her head, bemused.

You and me both, Aoko. Even Shino isn't this bad. It's strange, funny, and sad. And kind of adorable, too, actually.

"Chōjūrō sends his apologies," Mimi said as she healed the kunoichi. "Something about being late again."

"He is not to blame for this," said Haruhi. "I will remind him of that when we regroup."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I was the one who made rescuing Karashi apart of our mission."

"You owe us no apologies. There are only two people at fault here: Karashi and Raiga. The former is obsessed with power, the latter could not relinquish his darkness. Truthfully, it is difficult to say Raiga could have joined us in the Mist; he is too unstable, too attached to these funerals of his. It is unfortunate."

Unfortunate, huh? Mimi sensed there was more Haruhi felt. She either did not know how to express it or preferred to keep those feelings close to the chest.

"Please, hurry," Haruhi said. "We must aid your teammate."

Lee was giving it his all. He flew through the rain, attacking Raiga, defending himself, and doing everything in his power to evade the Kiba Blade the rogue shinobi wielded. All to buy her time to heal Haruhi.

She couldn't even track him in all this rain.

"Lee will be all right," she reassured, more for herself than Haruhi. "He doesn't have those ridiculous leg weights he wears on, so there's little chance for Raiga to follow his movements. Even if he did possess a Byakugan or a Sharingan, his reaction time is slower."

"It is precisely because of his speed that your comrade still lives. Without it, Raiga would have killed him already," Haruhi stated with such confidence it unnerved and bristled Mimi at the same time.

"Don't underestimate Lee."

"I am not. I can see he is a capable shinobi. However, Amaririsu's theory was wrong. The other half of his soul is not a reference to a split personality or a psychological break. It is another person Raiga carries on his back. And that person wields a dangerous kekkei genkai native to the Land of Water."

"Another person?" Aoko felt the same shock as Mimi. "So the hunch on Raiga's back isn't a deformity, then? Which means the blindspot Neji saw was actively hiding itself!"

"Neji tried to see beneath Raiga's cloak earlier," Mimi said. "But there was a blindspot over it. Something was actively blocking his Byakugan."

"Then it truly is the power I originally concluded."

"What kind of kekkei genkai is it?"

"A dōjutsu. You comprehend the powers of the Sharingan and Byakugan native to the Uchiha Clan and Hyūga Clan, correct?"

"Yeah."

"This dōjutsu is akin to a mutated offspring of both the Sharingan and Byakugan," Haruhi explained, sharp gaze fixated upon Raiga. "According to historical documentation, this dōjutsu possesses the immense range and depth of the Byakugan's visual prowess, the tracking abilities of both, and the capability of casting genjutsu just as the Sharingan does.

"Yet that is not all it does. Those same documents suggest those who wield it could stand on a hill miles from a building, peer through its walls with their dōjutsu, and hear any ongoing conversations between its occupants as though they were standing right beside them. It is said they can even see a person's innermost thoughts."

"And I'd bet the people of the Land of Water really didn't like a single Clan wielding power like that," replied Mimi, staunching the flow of blood.

"You are not wrong. The Clan and the kekkei genkai were wiped out long ago. Some documents suggest it was the first kekkei genkai to be purged in the Land of Water before the rampant purges began. Even their names were erased. For the fear of these 'devils' drove those without such power to perform heinous acts of madness, as they eventually would against all those who possessed kekkei genkai."

"Seems at least one survived the purges."

"Yes. It seems so."

"I wonder if this person, and the treatment they faced, is what drove Raiga to finally abandon the Mist. To form this Family he's trying to protect."

"Perhaps." Haruhi shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "It does not matter. They will kill us and many others if we do not remove them."

"Right," Mimi agreed, despite how unfortunate it all was. "Anything else I need to know?"

"They sensed my life-force on two occasions. According to rumors they can even transfer their own to another person. Should that be true, if we kill Raiga while they are attached, I am certain this person will revive him, and we will then be forced to battle him all over again."

"Remove this mysterious person, then finish off Raiga. Sounds like a plan."

"There is something I must ask of you." Haruhi dropped her gaze to her right shoulder. "Once you finish tending to my injuries, I will need you to tie my right arm to my body as tightly as you can. It will be a liability in battle; I cannot feel it or move it in any capacity, which will make it an easy target for Raiga. I will be inefficient."

"Heh," Mimi chuckled, "fighting with one arm tied to your body against a Swordsman? Now you're sounding a lot like Amari."

"She sounds like both of you. Except she didn't intentionally maim herself," Aoko retorted.

"Can't argue with that," she chuckled again. "All right, I'll do it."

"Thank you."

Normally I'd think she was insane for even suggesting the idea. But honestly, she glanced up at Raiga, we're gonna need all the help we can get.

---

The young Leaf shinobi—Rock Lee, he recalled—was truly a man who fought to keep his promises.

Although he matched a snow leopards speed, outrunning and overcoming his other half's visual prowess, dashing and sprinting around them to attack from every conceivable angle, Raiga could see it. He could see it so clearly.

I can see her eyes.

The shade of the young girl—Amaririsu Yūhi was her name—trailed the young man. At times Raiga felt he could see the young girl's silhouette vividly, far better than he could see the young man attacking him with his undamaged eye.

Indeed, sight wasn't at all necessary to see her silhouette. It transmitted to him through the young man's fists, which his sturdy body absorbed when he failed to evade or block, driven by curiosity to understand these peculiar youngsters.

He was grateful for his strange, if not impulsive, curiosity. For he had seen the hearts of Rock Lee and the young girl named Amaririsu Yūhi displayed among pouring rain.

Her eyes are like Mei's.

They were sincere eyes. Heartfelt and passionate. Eyes which, as the young man said, reflected her soul.

Amaririsu Yūhi had good eyes. So did Rock Lee.

A fist rough as stone caught Raiga in the left side. Before he could recoil, he felt the thrum of pain as a series of four rolling fists battered his chest then abdomen; the young man's fierce taijutsu was enough to steal a breath from him.

You move so quickly our eyes cannot track your movements. Yet you do not sacrifice form or physical strength to achieve it. Quite impressive. You are a gifted youngster. However, it doesn't matter how fast you are. There are other ways to track you.

Raiga absorbed the blow of a straight kick to his lower back and a follow-up kick to his abdomen. He held his ground. And listened.

Rain assaulted the terrace. Thunder roared and trembled the earth. Wind howled and shrieked so unpleasantly in his ears.

Every sound blended together in an indiscernible choir of utter chaos. Any average shinobi would be hard pressed to track a target in these conditions. For Raiga, it transformed tracking the young man into a fun game of hide-and-seek.

Storms had a very specific choir. One he cherished. One that relaxed him. People once said he was born from the storm itself, a wailing tempest which flattened an entire town, leaving behind nothing except the wreckages of homes and businesses. And death. All save one wailing child, who was said to have survived the storm by some miracle.

Later it was said the child was the cause of it. Thus the Thunder God of the Mist was born.

Unsubstantiated rumors, of course. Though it made for quite the terrifying tale.

Regardless, he was attuned to the storm. He recognized the disturbances in the choir, like a group of baritones raising their voices when the sopranos were supposed to sing.

Waterlogged sandals clapped wetly against the terrace, squelching with every step, splashing the rain gathering beneath their feet. Bitter wind lashed Mother Nature's tears across the fabric of their outfits, pelting their flesh, muscle and bones.

Patterns formed. The disturbances in the storm's lullaby were all too apparent to Raiga.

The Swordsman exhaled an abrupt chuckle.

"Are you having fun, Raiga?" his other half asked.

"Fun? Hm. I suppose I am."

"Will you be all right? He keeps hitting you."

"Don't worry. He may hit hard, but my body is stronger. Think of it like a kitten compared to a lion. The kitten can scratch the lion, and those wounds may sting, but there will never come a time when it can kill the lion. Its nails are too short, its mouth too small, and its body too weak."

"Be careful. Haruhi escaped. She is currently being healed by that Leaf kunoichi."

"Has she now?" Raiga couldn't deny his surprise or his excitement at the news. She continued to surpass his expectations. "What a gifted young lady."

"There are also two other Leaf shinobi; there is a kunoichi helping Chōjūrō fight Mikki and a boy who wields the Byakugan coming this way. That one is joined by those birds I saw before."

"What about the rest of our Family?"

"They're hurt. Or dead. The boy and the birds ambushed them as they were coming to help."

"I see." Raiga exhaled a long, sorrowful breath. He couldn't allow himself anything more than that. The battlefield was no place to grieve. Grieving would have to come later.

"I'm to blame for this tragedy," he declared, claiming responsibility. "I let my curiosity get in the way. Somehow this always happens. I always let my impulsive nature get the best of me. And now members of our Family are dead."

"Raiga…"

"We'll hold a funeral for all of our fallen brothers and sisters when this is over. Anyway, there is one other person to blame for this."

"I'm sorry, Raiga. It's my fault, too. I was too focused on this boy—"

"No, enough. It isn't you or Mikki or any of our true brothers and sisters, so please, don't blame yourself, Ranmaru. It isn't the fault of these Leaf and Mist shinobi, either. I can tell in their hearts they did not seek this conflict with our Family. They aren't pleased to stain their hands with our blood, nor am I pleased to stain mine with theirs. Mikki likely feels the same way.

"Unfortunately, we've all forced each other's hands now. Or, rather, our hands were forced by another. My impulsiveness was used against us all. Not by the Leaf and Mist, though. Even up until that final moment, Haruhi and Chōjūrō tried to negotiate a peaceful conclusion. Someone else used me."

"You mean—"

"Yes," he hissed. "It was him. He forced us into this conflict. He is the reason our Family has been struck by such tragedy. I'll avenge them all…"

With a sharp pivot, Raiga evaded Rock Lee's flying kick. Despite the rain, despite his damaged vision, he could see the young man's surprised expression as clear as a sunny day.

Conversely, Rock Lee could see his face, which was as harsh and dark as the writhing storm they were caught inside of. Lightning crackled around his weaponless arm.

"By erasing Karashi from this world!"

Thrusting his free hand ahead, Raiga unleashed his attack—a concussive blast of lightning resembling a low-yield explosion. There was no smoke or fire, however, only arcing talons of whitish-blue lightning.

Thunder roared and echoed across the terraces, drowning out the cry of the Leaf shinobi caught in the blast. Propelled by the force, Rock Lee tumbled and rolled across the stone like a steaming corpse.

"Where is he, Ranmaru?" he asked the other half of his soul. "Where is Karashi? There's no other way now. He must be erased. It's the only way to avenge the tragedy and agony he has caused all of us."

"They Sealed him into a scroll. The Leaf kunoichi—the one with the marks on her face— has it."

"A scroll, huh?"

Raiga turned to face the two kunoichi, oppressive malevolence burning in his veins. He couldn't make out much in the rain, not with his vision the way it was, but he could see the vague silhouettes of Haruhi and the Inuzuka kunoichi.

The green hue of Medical Ninjutsu was gone. The Inuzuka was doing something to Haruhi, though Raiga couldn't perceive what.

Taking a step towards the kunoichis, he began to approach through the curtains of rain. One malevolent stride at a time.

"Then all I have to do is destroy it," Raiga said. "I don't know if it's true or not, but I'd like to think once it's destroyed he will be forever trapped in a place beyond reach. Like an inescapable purgatory, unable to rest in peace for all eternity."

His strides grew longer. Quicker.

"Careful. Rock Lee has already risen."

"Admirable young man. However, I'm weary of this battle. I'll end this all now."

When lightning struck Katabami Gold Mine, searing the grey away in blinding, blazing white light, Raiga was at a full sprint.

He was upon the two kunoichi in no time at all. Haruhi sat at his feet, the Inuzuka kunoichi knelt behind her, tying a knot of some sort it appeared. It didn't matter. They were all just unfortunate casualties in a battle that Karashi's lies and manipulations provoked.

I'll avenge your deaths as well, Raiga thought, sword raised to pierce through the pair in a single strike, eyes reflecting a distant flash of lightning. I'll do it by erasing Karashi entirely!

"Done!" the Inuzuka suddenly shouted.

Haruhi's eyes, he noticed, narrowed.

A violent shriek echoed across Katabami Gold Mine.

Beneath him, the Kiba Blade's, who's sole purpose was to work together, grappled each other.

Along the Kiba Blades existed two upward blade prongs. On one side, residing closer to the tip of the blades, was the highest prong; the other was positioned near the base, reflected on the opposite side of the double-edged sword.

It was the base prong on Haruhi's blade which caught the upper prong of Raiga's. She caught the weapon in a deadlock, halting its lightning-coated tip mere inches from her breastbone.

"Why do this?" he growled. "Why do you continue to fight? Why must you force me to hurt you—"

"Raiga, the birds! They're on your left. Rock Lee, too! Behind you!"

He saw the swooping black flock in his peripheral. He heard the wet claps of Rock Lee's sandals staggering rapidly towards him.

"I'll avenge you all," he declared. "Now—"

"Front!" his other half warned.

When he lifted his gaze, startled by the sudden third command, it was too late to counter. The Inuzuka kunoichi's head was already drawn back, her chakra molded and her attack set to be unleashed.

He still tried to counter, of course. He tried to pull his sword back to counter, but the blade did not budge. Haruhi made sure of that. Molding his chakra took too much time in that moment.

Pressurized water jetted from her mouth in a powerful wave. It struck his chest like a brick wall, uprooting him from the earth, barreling the Swordsman across the battlefield, past Rock Lee, past the birds, towards the opposing wall.

"Raiga!" his other half cried in worry.

"Don't worry," he yelled over the roaring torrent of rain and pressurized water. Lightning sheathed the Kiba Blade and his weaponless arm. "This is nothing!"

At that moment, he channeled his stronger Lightning Nature into the water, unleashing another thundering shockwave of Lightning and raw power.

The blast created separation between Raiga's body and the water, breathing room he utilized to gather his feet beneath him and slide to a halt along the rain-covered stone.

Simultaneously, the shockwave of lightning flowed rapidly upstream at the Inuzuka kunoichi.

I'll eliminate the medical ninja and Karashi in a single blow, he reasoned.

Haruhi suddenly dove shoulder first into the Inuzuka's side, shoving her out of the way and onto the ground, forcing her to disengage her Water Style. In a quick, graceful motion, she thrust her Kiba Blade ahead of her.

Lightning leapt off the blade and collided against his attack.

The flash of light that resulted from their collision of Lightning could be seen from the Curry of Life. The roar that cracked the terrace and collapsed another tunnel trembled the walls of the curry shop.

When the world finally settled, Raiga could only look across the battlefield at the unharmed form of Haruhi and the Leaf shinobi, now gathered together in a team of four with the Mist shinobi.

With every exchange, Haruhi evolves, the Swordsman analyzed. Every second she holds that blade brings about a deeper understanding of its properties. Even I didn't grasp its powers so quickly. Yet this girl…

From the gathering rain around him, white wisps of mist began to rise at his command. It didn't take long for the four shinobi to vanish amid the thick clouds of white.

"My Hidden Mist Jutsu has taken hold. Ranmaru, it's time for us to end this. You will be my eyes."

"Of course, Raiga. I will use all of my power to protect you and our Family."

---

"So, this is the famous Hidden Mist Jutsu. It is aptly named. I cannot see a thing," Rock Lee observed calmly. "Neji, are you able to see Raiga?"

"I can. This Hidden Mist Jutsu may be thick, but it is nothing the Byakugan cannot penetrate. He appears to have Cloned himself. We're surrounded."

"No, we are not," Haruhi contradicted. "You cannot trust the Byakugan in this Mist."

"Excuse me?"

"I have trained for many years to track shinobi through thick mists without my sight. There is no one inside this mist except us now," she explained. "The human forms your Byakugan is tracking are apart of a powerful genjutsu. We are in grave danger."

Raiga was finished humoring their individual struggles. He sought to remove them now.

Haruhi shut her eyes. She flexed and stretched her fingers on the Kiba Blade's hilt, foreseeing what manner of attack Raiga would use next.

Lightning. He will strike us down with a single, powerful attack while we are distracted by the other's kekkei genkai.

I must counter it. And quickly. We must then coordinate a combination attack to remove the person he carries. Once that is done we can focus our efforts on eliminating Raiga.

I cannot do it alone. I could not before with both arms, I am even less efficient with only one now.

They would need to work seamlessly as a team. They would need to be, as Rock Lee said, one unit united in its purpose.

"The Byakugan—"

"Neji, trust her," Mimi Inuzuka interrupted firmly. "We're up against an all but extinct dōjutsu native to the Land of Water. If Haruhi says our enhanced senses are being used against us, then that's that. No arguments."

"An extinct dōjutsu?" he repeated, taken aback by her information.

"Nearly extinct. The blindspot on Raiga you saw, it's a survivor of the Clan that once wielded its power."

"She's right," Rock Lee confirmed. "I do not know about this Clan or kekkei genkai, but there is a person on Raiga's back. They were able to read my movements."

"I'll explain more later," Mimi interceded before anyone else could speak. "Our main priority is to remove that person from Raiga before we finish him off, otherwise they will revive him. Don't know about you two, but going two rounds with a Seven Swordsman isn't my idea of a good time. If we're gonna pull this off, and survive to tell the tale, we'll need to launch a coordinated attack."

Mimi Inuzuka understood the grave danger they faced, as well as the necessity of teamwork to overcome the immense power, experience and talent of their enemy. Of course. The Leaf would not have promoted her to Chūnin otherwise.

A coordinated attack was necessary. In order to do perform such an offensive maneuver, however, they would first need to counter his coming attack before it could be unleashed.

The enemy has revealed many techniques to you. You have witnessed their personality, their strength, and their weaknesses. This is all that is necessary to anticipate his next move.

Anticipation could be a weapon, too. It could be used to predict an enemy's movements, thus countering a devastating attack, staggering the enemy and opening them for a death blow.

A vigilant shinobi could predict a known enemy's location. Even when blind.

Haruhi considered all she learned. Vividly, she imagined their battlefield, the positions of her allies, the potential positions from which Raiga could strike.

She was then struck by a lesson Raiga had taught her.

"Did you think if you stole the Kiba Blades my connection to them would be severed?"

Haruhi opened her eyes. She lowered her gaze to the blade in her hand, sheathed in her Lightning Chakra.

"You're a clever girl. With any ordinary blade you may have been right. However, I have spent years channeling my Lightning chakra into these blades. They are an extension of me now. They're like additional limbs. Or lightning rods for my chakra."

"I see," Haruhi said. "Before I was naïve to that technique. Now I understand how to wield it."

"Care to share?" Mimi Inuzuka asked.

"No. I must strike now." Haruhi walked ahead, past the three Leaf shinobi, stopping at the head of their formation. "Once I do, Neji Hyūga, your Clan's technique can disperse the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Use it. Then join me for a coordinated assault. Together we will remove his darkness from this world."

These swords are akin to lightning rods for our chakra. I have not channeled mine into these blades for as many years as you have. However, I have channeled my chakra into both blades. I have felt the power of each in my hands.

If they have become an extension of you, then I will make them an extension of myself.

For these hands cannot build a bridge or heal wounds. They are the hands of a weapon.

That is why I am capable of understanding this power.

That is why I understand you.

That is why we are kindred spirits.

---

From his position at the edge of the mining pits bench, looking down upon the mist he'd conjured, Raiga was finally prepared to eliminate the four shinobi lost inside the Hidden Mist Jutsu.

Ranmaru, the other half of his soul, had ensnared them within a genjutsu; the Hyūga Clan boy and the Inuzuka kunoichi and her ninken had no chances of tracking them now. Their enhanced senses were their ultimate weakness against his other half's genjutsu.

They were also without those nosy birds, too. Their last act was to transport the Hyūga boy here, to this battlefield that would serve as his final resting place, before vanishing altogether.

In this storm, beneath this torrential rain, your wings have been rendered useless, Raiga knew. You will be back, of course. As soon as your wings dry, or as soon as this storm ends, you will return. But we will be gone long before that. You will not find us aga—

When the spear of lightning struck, it was not the flash of white which signaled its arrival to Raiga, nor was it the ear-splitting crack that caused his ears to ring in the aftermath; it was not the sudden absence of earth beneath his feet or the shattering stone he could not hear.

He sensed it from somewhere deeper. Somewhere primitive. Deep in his core, the bolt of lightning was heralded by his hairs standing on end, by the prickling tingle of lightning across his body, and a familiar, intangible call from the blade in his hand.

Before he could process it, the javelin of lightning speared out of the Hidden Mist Jutsu, striking the terrace edge beneath his feet, shattering the sturdy earth he stood upon into useless chunks.

His ears rang a high-pitched, despairing note. He could not hear Ranmaru's frightened cries, nor the pleasant sound of the pouring rain. His vision blurred, black blots appearing along its edges.

The only sensation which did not fail him was the sensation of falling. He could see that much. He could feel the bitter air whip past him as he fell like the rain. Could feel the sensation of falling in his gut, a feeling he would recognize without any of his other senses.

Adjusting his body, he thrust his legs back against the vertical wall, connecting to the surface now pouring rainwater onto the fractured and debris littered bench below.

Just then, as he glided to a halt, his eye was drawn to a flicker of movement. From the mist a shapeless shadow dashed free of its confines, then flashed through the air. Raiga raised his sword into a guard.

The banshees, who had gone silent for so long, tore the veil asunder once more, shrieking a bitter, terrifying song he could only hear faintly.

Bewildered, Raiga stared wide eyed at the kunoichi on the other side of his sword. There was no mistaking that fierce orange gaze, burning amid dark skies like two suns.

Haruhi!

She didn't relent after her initial attack. With her right arm tied to her body, as though resting her hand and forearm across her upper abdomen, Haruhi struck a bold offensive, taking advantage of his state of confusion to force him back.

Lightning arced off the Kiba Blades along the vertical wall, mirroring their combating Wills.

His ringing ears disoriented him. His damaged vision cautioned and tempered his impulsive retaliations; his depth perception was worse than ever, especially in this rain. He needed Ranmaru to be his eyes, but he could not hear the other half of his soul.

He was only a fractured half of a whole now. It was worse than he ever imagined.

Parrying Haruhi's blade, Raiga pushed the kunoichi away with a heavy kick, doubling as a means to shove himself off the wall away from his opponent and farther from the mist trapping the Leaf shinobi.

As he fell towards the earth Haruhi glided back on the rainwater waterfall pouring off the terrace.

He needed time to recover. He needed—

Raiga sucked in a sharp breath.

Haruhi was already within arms reach, emotionless expression vivid. So vivid. He could see how strands of her short chestnut hair stuck wetly to the metal of her headband; he could see streams of rain pouring down her cheeks and neck like tears, but he knew they were not her tears.

She did not know how to cry.

She propelled herself with chakra, Raiga realized in that moment. Although she cannot move her right arm, although she knows she will die if she continues to fight me, she keeps coming back. She keeps pushing herself ahead. Even though she knows it's useless, Haruhi keeps fighting.

Their blades collided and shrieked. Tendrils of blue light sprayed upwards in a fountain of lightning. He forced the kunoichi aside with his greater physical strength, turning himself as he did to see where she would land and what she would do.

Haruhi whirled through a corkscrew, landed in a low crouch and slid backwards on her heels, creating a wake with her sandals. Then Raiga felt the prickle of electricity dancing on his skin.

When Lightning Chakra speared off of the Kiba Blade in Haruhi's possession it was met and countered by an opposing javelin of lightning, sourced by Raiga. The two bolts cracked and thundered against the stone, uprooting rainwater into a rolling wave that crashed on the terrace below.

You're driven by something greater. Nothing as petty as power or prestige or glory; you do not kill out of bloodlust. You're nothing like Karashi or the previous Seven Swordsmen.

You're driven by a Will, a dream, not at all unlike my own.

Raiga flowed more chakra into his weapon and commanded two more bolts of lightning to leap from the mystical blade towards Haruhi.

Rather than evade and retreat backwards, Haruhi darted ahead, leaping side to side to evade the bolts of lightning as they struck the earth and shattered stone.

Forward. Ever forward. Driven ahead by grit, determination and by Mei's dream.

No, Raiga realized when he blocked her strike upon landing. It isn't just Mei's dream you carry.

He advanced on her, their blades shrieking in a ceaseless duel, crying out to the heavens like two siblings forced to fight to the death.

In every strike, in every exchange, he saw deeper into Haruhi's soul. As he had with Rock Lee, Raiga began to see shades moving in step with the Mist kunoichi.

The first to take form was tall, womanly, and unmistakably Mei Terumī. He would recognize her beautiful visage and her passionate Will even were he stripped of all his senses.

The second was small and girlish. She, too, he would now recognize the bearing and passionate eyes of in the coldest and darkest of rains.

It's her as well. That girl, Amaririsu Yūhi, her Will is within your heart. Just as my Family is within mine!

Haruhi was quicker than he was. She blocked his downward slash, catching his blade with their upper prongs.

With finesse, she sidestepped, turned his strength against him and forced his strike to fall wide of its mark, pinning the blade to the earth. He countered in the form of a fist, his free hand zeroing in on her exposed face.

At the last moment, Haruhi leaned her head out of the way so only the elbow of his arm nicked her cheekbone. Electricity prickled both of their flesh.

Simultaneously, suddenly, their palms pressed against the pommels of their swords, piercing them into the sturdy earth and thus gaining a point of leverage.

Both of their bodies came off the ground. Beneath them, arcs of Lightning Chakra surged through the puddles, illuminating her white dress and his black cloak in shimmering blue light and domineering shadows.

Haruhi was quicker. That was sewn into the threads of destiny. So Raiga was not surprised when her feet struck his abdomen first.

Hands clutching around hilts, their swords came free of each other and unsheathed themselves from the earth, never leaving their hands as the kick pushed the two shinobi in opposing directions.

Raiga landed on the bench of the mining pit. Haruhi landed feet first on the vertical wall enclosing them, then launched herself ahead into another shrieking clash of steel.

We are the same, Raiga thought. You and I are two sides of the same coin. We were both forged as weapons. We are weapons. But we are also more. We fight to protect that thing we found. The other half of our soul.

The part that made us human again.

Between clashing steel, between falling rain and flashes of lightning, Raiga witnessed a faint blue light formed within the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Then it grew brighter, bolder, glowing and thrumming bright as moonlight amid the haze of grey and white.

For me, it was Ranmaru and Mikki. Then it became this Family of mine.

For you, it was Mei and then Chōjūrō. Mei's dream for the future, Chōjūrō's companionship, they drive you forward. You are determined to protect them, just as I am determined to protect what is left of my Family.

That is why neither of us will stop. We're kindred spirits, you and I. And though it pains us deep in our hearts for this conflict to take place, for a peaceful conclusion is all we ever wanted, you and I are still weapons. We can sacrifice our hearts to endure such agony.

Even if that means we must become our Demons, we will. That is how far we are willing to go protect the precious parts of our souls!

Raiga blocked then overpowered Haruhi's blade; it was his turn to pin it to the earth. But he did not stop there. He stepped in, buckled her knee and struck her in the head with his fist, knocking her flat on her back.

That is what we will sacrifice for the sake of their future!

The Hidden Mist Jutsu dispersed suddenly. At its center were the Leaf shinobi, their heads snapping over to the two Mist shinobi. Raiga did not see them. He only saw Haruhi, teeth grit in a grimace, sclera of her left eye flushed crimson. She was willing to continue.

That, too, was sewn into the threads of destiny.

Ears ringing, Raiga raised his blade to deliver the final blow, expression severe, rain pouring down his face in an imitation of tears. He could not cry now. The battlefield was no place to grieve.

A flicker of green appeared in his peripherals. Then he was struck by a familiar pain in his chest. It was not heartache.

Rock Lee's foot passed through his defenses, batting him away from Haruhi. The young man's mouth moved, but Raiga could not hear him. He did, however, feel Ranmaru shifting in the carrier on his back. His elbows were beginning to strike his back; it was a bad sign.

He's trying to get my attention. Something must be wrong with Mikki. Raiga created a one-handed hand sign and formed two Water Clone's out of the water around him. I need to end this. Right now!

Together, the three Raiga's charged Rock Lee and Haruhi; the latter was rising again behind the former, who stood as her stalwart defender. He wasn't surprised.

Rock Lee had sworn a vow. He wasn't the kind to break something so sacred.

Before he reached the pair, the Hyūga boy slid into view in front of his comrades and the Water Clones, who led the charge. He ducked beneath the wide slash of the first Clone, then lunged in, palm crashing against its chest; it collapsed into a puddle instantly.

He evaded the second Clone as it struck, moving with such fluidity it was almost like he was dancing around the Water Clone. He struck with both palms to its back.

Raiga was upon the Hyūga boy, sword already drawn and on its path to cleave him in two.

The strike was perfect. Yet it did not land.

Instead the Senior Swordsman was greeted by the shriek of the Kiba Blades as Haruhi lunged between him and his target, blocking his strike.

Ranmaru's elbows were growing more frantic. He was beginning to faintly make out the sounds of his voice.

From his exposed and defenseless side, two silhouettes flashed into view. Raiga had only enough time to see the Inuzuka kunoichi and Rock Lee lunging at him. Then their feet collided with all of their combined strength, knocking him away from the Hyūga and Haruhi.

He slid on his heels to a halt at the edge of the terrace.

They're coordinating well as a team. Is this the kind of future you are building, Mei? Leaf and Mist fighting side by side, shoulder to shoulder, defending each other as comrades?

As friends?

"Raiga, please!" Ranmaru's voice cried out, breaking through the lingering ringing in his ears. "Mikki needs you!"

"Mikki," he gasped, whirling to scan the terrace below where he'd last seen her.

When his eyes fell upon the battlefield below, and the condition of his loyal second-in-command and dear friend, he felt the breath leave his body and his heart stop.

Then he found his voice and did the only thing he could do.

"Mikki!" he bellowed her name in horror.

---

Mikki was seriously tough.

Of the strongest enemies Tenten had ever seen or personally battled in recent memory, the first two to come to mind were Gaara and Tayuya. But both had a dark power beneath the surface, a trump card that took them from powerful shinobi to a level beyond the realm of mere shinobi.

Gaara possessed the power of the Shukaku—a Tailed-Beast he contained and utilized the power of. He survived Lee's Eight Gates Formation in the Preliminary Rounds of the Chūnin Exams. During the Invasion he pushed Amaririsu, Mimi, Sasuke and Hikari to their limits, and still had plenty more fight in him afterwards.

Likewise, Tayuya possessed her own dark power—a Curse Mark. She had those freaky summoning puppets she controlled at a distance with her flute, the power to cast sound-based genjutsu and, once in her Second State Curse Mark, speed and strength they'd struggled to overcome after narrowly surviving her summoning creatures.

Mikki didn't have any of those special traits. She was as ordinary as Tenten and Chōjūrō, possessing only the power and technique she had cultivated over years of training. And surviving.

Despite lacking the power of a Tailed-Beast and a Curse Mark, Tenten was confident in naming Mikki in the top three toughest enemies she'd ever faced. Because somehow, despite facing a Swordsman, despite battling two against one, she was the one on the offensive.

Shielding himself behind his sword, Chōjūrō bulleted past Tenten at the mercy of an incredible gale of wind. No sooner did he pass her did Mikki's large figure loom over the kunoichi, iron club already on a path to cave her skull in.

She pushed off her front foot in a quick, short hop; a block would've been a fatal error with that cutlass readied in her left hand.

Tenten lowered herself and spun, sweeping her jūmonji yari's blade in an effort to build distance. Mikki merely leapt over the blade directly towards the kunoichi.

She moves with the agility of someone half her size, Tenten thought, preparing to hop back again. Not to mention her mastery over the cutlass and chigiriki she wields. She has to be Jōnin level.

As her feet left the earth, she heard a chain unravel. The iron weight at the end of the chigiriki fell loose from its iron staff, revealing the foot long chain it was attached by.

That's what made the chigiriki more versatile than a usual club. In its natural state it could be used to bludgeon with its head or to parry and block, similar to a normal war club. The additional chain added versatility and range, allowing it to be wielded like a flail; it could entangle, even capture and incapacitate a person's limb or their weapon, which Mikki had every intention of doing.

With perfect technique the Pirate Queen wrapped the iron chain and head around the wooden staff. Tenten felt the weapon nearly tear from her fingertips, and her shoulders nearly pop from their sockets, as her evasion was halted entirely.

Shattering wood overcame the cacophony of pouring rain. Tenten stumbled backwards, eyes going wide, as she was thrown off balance by the Wind enhanced cutlass severing her pole-arm into two distinct halves.

The chain retracted. Fluidly, Mikki stepped forward into her next decisive blow on the kunoichi.

Not good!

Movement zipped by her peripherals on her left, from the vertical wall beside her leading up to the terrace where Mimi and the others were. Then buzzsaws roared over the terrace, followed by the distinct sound of metal shattering.

It was Mikki's turn for her eyes to go wide. Between them now stood Chōjūrō, having darted in along the wall to not only block the Wind-enhanced cutlass, but to sever straight through it.

What surprise Mikki and Tenten felt was swept away on the bitter breeze. Mikki prepared to swing her chigiriki. Tenten spun the broken wooden staff in her hands, catching her balance before lunging forward.

She made it just in time. She blocked the chigiriki at its staff with the wooden sections of her broken Jūmonji yari.

When iron and wood collided, vibrations shook through both of Tenten's arms, and she instantly felt the difference of physical strength between them. She grit her teeth. She didn't need to hold Mikki back for long, just long enough for her comrade to recover.

It didn't take more than a second. Chōjūrō adjusted and swung Hiramekarei for the exposed abdomen of their enemy.

Yet their ears were greeted by buzzing chainsaws.

Mikki's broken cutlass, sheathed in Wind chakra at its full length, caught Hiramekarei, matching its new sharpness.

With a devilish smile Mikki inhaled a large breath and exhaled, not so much as blasting the pair, but using the pressure of air to propel herself away while immobilizing them beneath a powerful but dull gale. It was nothing like the sharpened winds she utilized before.

Weapon mastery, powerful ninjutsu, footwork, agility, reasoning, Mikki really is incredible, Tenten thought. She clutched her broken pole-arm tightly. If it weren't for Chōjūrō I would've been done for there.

Looking at this objectively, I'm the weakest and least experience person in this battle. The distance of my pole-arm allowed me opportunities to attack without getting into Mikki's striking range, while Chōjūrō could attack head-on and match her strike for strike. Mikki just removed my advantage, however.

In close-quarters, with normal weapons, it would be different. But as long as she has that Wind Sword, my weapons will snap and shatter like toothpicks if I so much as try to block her. I can't engage her head-on, not without risking a critical injury. Or death.

Think, Tenten, think, she tightened her jaw. What can I do to best support Chōjūrō. Even though it's frustrating to admit, I don't have a chance of overpowering or outmaneuvering Mikki on my own. I can't get in close. Only Chōjūrō can. Only he has the ability to beat her, so how do I give him that opening?

The gale died out. The rain poured. A flash of lightning glimmered off the shattered fragment of Mikki's sword.

As thunder crashed and rolled through Katabami Gold Mine like a knocked over rack of bowling balls, inspiration struck Tenten.

She had a plan.

---

We need to finish this, Chōjūrō thought. I can't keep expending chakra and stamina against Miss Mikki. This has to end. Right here. Right now.

He felt his hands tighten around the slick hilts of Hiramekarei.

I wish…

"Chōjūrō." He didn't dare take his eyes off of Mikki. Neither did Tenten, he sensed. "Whatever you do, try not to move your head too much."

"Don't…move my head?" he repeated, baffled.

"I can't say more than that. Please, just trust me on this."

Considering her specialities, he fought the nervous instinct to call a time-out, pull Tenten aside and quietly demand details, starting with the most obvious question of all: Why exactly shouldn't he move his head? Because his dark imagination had already painted several disturbing images for him.

There was no time to hesitate. He had to trust her.

"I'll do my best," he replied.

Without another word, he charged ahead. Mikki did the same. Although he couldn't hear it, Chōjūrō was certain Tenten had followed directly behind him, shadowing his every step.

Mikki was four strides away when a cylindric missile suddenly whistled past his right ear. He barely recognized it as the broken and blade-less shaft of Tenten's pole-arm, although he did recognize his heart jumping and lodging itself into his throat.

His surprise was matched by Mikki's. The Pirate Queen barely saw the staff through the curtains of rain. Narrowly, she pivoted and leaned her head and upper body out of the path of its shattered end, breaking her charge briefly.

If I moved my head, that would've impaled me! Chōjūrō swallowed his nerves. But now I understand your plan. You'll use your incredible accuracy and throw the pieces of your pole-arm as projectiles. Since it's hard to see, it will be difficult for Miss Mikki to evade in time, especially if they're flying narrow margins by my head. That should give us an opening to end this.

Chōjūrō lowered his sword and drew it back so its chakra sheathed tip was pointed toward the ground. He took two more strides, drove the chakra into the earth and then finished the third stride by slashing a quick upward strike.

An arc of water ascended among the rain, joined in its ascension by fragments of stone debris that obscured their vision equally.

Another missile whistled by, now hissing past his left ear. The flash of lightning above caused the steel blade of the jūmonji yari to glint, reflecting his determined and conflicted expression.

It passed through the arc of water undisturbed. Chōjūrō followed hardly a second behind the blade.

Clang!

He heard the chigiriki bat away the pole-arm. He saw it spinning end over end slowly as he closed in, preparing against his heart's true wishes to drive Hiramekarei through Mikki's center, and Mikki saw him as well, instinctively preparing to cut him down with her broken cutlass and its blade of wind.

I wish…

The third whistle passed too quickly for either of them to process. Even in the pouring rain, though, he heard the impact. To his ears it was a sound he at first associated with someone throwing an axe into the trunk of a tree. There was even a sort of dull thunk when it struck.

Only Mikki saw Tenten's rain-soaked silhouette, arm outstretched at the end of another perfect throw.

When Mikki's eyes went wide, and they both finally registered the broken half of her sword jutting out of her breastbone, Chōjūrō felt his breath hitch, but his body didn't hesitate.

Shinobi couldn't hesitate on a battlefield.

Hiramekarei pierced through Mikki's abdomen with all the ease of a bee's stinger into flesh.

Immediately, Chōjūrō felt her body stiffen and her breath leave her body. Then he felt her body sag against the blade protruding out her back, coated in blood; the blue hue was shifting towards an ominous purple.

I wish this world was different.

Metal clanged noisily against stone as the cutlass and chigiriki struck the terrace.

"Clever…girl." Mikki's attempt at a chuckle transformed into a dying wheeze.

Chōjūrō could only grit his teeth, hands shaking even though he didn't really feel the bitter chill.

"Sunshine," Mikki grunted her pet name. When he forced himself to meet her gaze, he could see the light already fading from then. Even still, she smiled her scarred and free smile at him. "Don't…go dying…now. Got a…world…to fix, don't…you?"

Chōjūrō choked on his breath. His eyes stung with tears.

"Miss Mikki…"

With the last of her strength, Mikki brought her trembling hand to his cheek. "Don't…stop…fightin'…Sunshine. Never…give up…these…kind…"

The hand fell limply to her side. Mikki's forehead crashed against his collarbone.

Chest tight and eyes burning, Chōjūrō stared with all of his sorrow at the unscarred half of the Pirate Queen's face, who's lips were frozen in a kind and warm smile.

"I'll…do my best…Miss Mikki," he promised, throat tight and voice straining to make a sound.

"Mikki!"

The distinct boom of Master Raiga's agony consumed and horrified voice rattled Chōjūrō and sent his senses into high alert. He felt something else, too.

Anger. It scraped against his raw nerves and burned in his chest, boiling and bubbling like Lady Mei's Lava Style with an unbearable heat. His body felt warm—too warm. Even in the cold rain he felt the indignant rage burning him up from the inside.

He felt his lips trembling. His jaw and vocal cords tightened, stiffened, and strained harshly.

This pointless fight… This pointless death… This pointless sorrow and anguish they'd inflicted…

"Don't…stop…fightin'…Sunshine."

Something about those final words struck a cord in his heart. He felt his hands and lips suddenly go still. His tight jaw and vocal cords relaxed, and after exhaling a soft breath, the anger flickered out.

Gently, as kindly as he could, he lowered Mikki to the terrace. He shut her eyes and pulled the shattered cutlass blade from her chest, tossing it aside to clatter against the wet stones.

Finally, he pulled the purple hued Hiramekarei free of her body and, with a mournful expression, stared at the peaceful smile on her scarred face one last time, observing how the blood—appearing black in the dark environment—pooled beneath her.

Goodbye, Miss Mikki. In another life… In the next life I hope we can meet as friends.

Chōjūrō turned away and set his gaze onto Raiga, looming at the edge of the terrace.

My fight isn't over yet.

Tears joined the rain steaming down the two Swordsmen's faces. No one could see it through the grey curtains. Neither could stop to grieve, however.

The battlefield was no place for it.

A flicker of green in the haze tore the rain cloak and the large hump from Raiga's back. It startled Raiga awake, turning away from Chōjūrō to cry out,

"Ranmaru!"

And the conflict crescendoed to the point of no return.

---

Heart palpitating, Raiga tried to track his cloak and the carrier he hid beneath it through the pouring rain as Rock Lee tossed it to the Hyūga boy, who then retreated farther away.

They'd separated him from the other half of his soul. They'd already taken Mikki from them. Now they were taking away the half of his soul that had finally made him whole.

"Ranmaru!"

Panic, rage, sorrow twisted his sobbing soul into a devastating tornado. He couldn't contain it. His control was slipping.

How was he supposed to live as only half of a soul?

How had this all gone so wrong?

"Karashi must be given a funeral," his own voice echoed in his head, and he felt his palpitating heart pulse faster. Harder. Painfully hard.

"We cannot allow you to kill him."

"Is the life of a liar worth so much to you?"

"He means nothing to me. He is a spineless fool—a liar who is quick to insult others. I do not like him. However, I will not condone his pointless murder. Such barbarity opposes everything Lady Mei stands for."

All he wanted to do was protect his Family. That was all he wanted. And yet…

"This compulsion of yours is a parasite of the Dark Times. It has attached itself to your heart. However, this tumor is one you possess the power to remove. Simply expel him and abandon these 'funerals' you hold for the living."

He'd had ample opportunities. They'd given him the chance to ignore Karashi, expel him and protect his family. Yet that damned parasite—Karashi and the compulsion, as Haruhi called it—twisted his heart's desires.

All he wanted was to secure his Family's safety and their future. Instead, in a single act of compulsive selfishness, he had doomed them all. Over Karashi of all people.

It was at that moment Raiga Kurosuki understood he could never escape the Dark Times or its sway over his heart. The damage was done. He was who he was.

These children, nor Mei, could change him. They all had a future, a dream to strive towards. They had hope.

He was hopeless.

Mikki, I'm so sorry. I doomed you and our Family. Now all I have left is Ranmaru.

It was at that moment Raiga Kurosuki felt something inside of him snap.

They've taken the other half of my soul. I can't live without Ranmaru. That means…

He barely noticed Haruhi lunging at him. She was prepared to fulfill her promise.

Raiga took a step forward, eyes wide and fixated on Ranmaru's carrier in the possession of the Hyūga boy.

That means I'll have to kill them all!

When Haruhi struck, Raiga's blade flickered into motion, and the shriek was so quick it was barely heard; the Kiba Blade flew from Haruhi's hand.

Lightning surged off the Swordsman, coursing through the water and into the kunoichi's body, and for the first time in the battle he heard her scream. But he found no pleasure in it. There was no pleasure in this unfortunate and awful circumstance he caused.

Haruhi collapsed in a heap of smoke. Raiga kept walking forward, unable to break his possessed gaze from Ranmaru.

Rock Lee was next to try his hand at stopping the Swordsman. He flickered in so quickly. So bravely.

Raiga pivoted out of the way of his fist before it could strike. He snatched the young man by his wrist, whirled around and threw him like a missile straight at the Hyūga boy.

Spinning end over end, Rock Lee collided into the Hyūga child, plowing over him like a a raging bull goring whatever nuisance had entered its territory, but not before the Hyūga could toss Ranmaru's carrier towards the Inuzuka kunoichi.

As Raiga took another step forward, yanking the disarmed Kiba Blade from the earth, lightning arced across the water between the Inuzuka kunoichi and Ranmaru, forcing her to leap back lest she be caught in its current.

Ranmaru was forced to crash unpleasantly against the earth. It would hurt, he knew. He wished he could've been there to catch him. But the fall would not hurt nearly as much as it would hurt them to be separated.

"I'll be at your side soon, Ranmaru," he promised, lightning beginning to crackle and arc off his body. "We'll be whole again. And fractured. Because Mikki is gone. Our Family has been torn apart. But first…"

The sky flashed with lightning and he flickered forward. Then he was looming over the Inuzuka kunoichi with his possessed gaze. She and her ninken stared up at him, sapphire and dark eyes wide. Hearts utterly still.

They were the first to realize the truth. He was no longer Raiga of the Kurosuki Family.

He was Raiga Kurosuki, the Seven Swordsman.

He was the Thunder God of the Mist.

They were first to witness the lightning-formed Demon shadowing him, its hair defying gravity and its menacing expression as fierce as it was aggressive.

"First I will erase Karashi. And then I will kill all of you!" he declared.

Thrusting both swords—one for the girl, the other for the ninja hound—a flicker of ominous purple flashed before his eyes.

Over the lullaby of rain there was the distinct sound of metal grating against metal. Caught on the upper prongs of the Kiba Blade was none other than Hiramekarei.

Chōjūrō's expression was no longer kind or soft. He'd changed, just as Raiga had changed. The Swordsman beneath was finally shining through in the blood-soaked glow of Hiramekarei.

"That's enough, Master Raiga," he commanded. His voice didn't waver.

This was the Swordsman—the vengeful demon—who cut down the Hound.

"Enough? Who are you to tell me that!" Raiga demanded.

Their swords separated. As he prepared to strike again the distinct sound of rattling metal reached his ears. He listened to how the weapon disrupted the lullaby of rain. It was the other kunoichi. She was above, her weapon some manner of unraveling chain.

With one Kiba Blade he caught Hiramekarei in a block. Spinning the other blade into reverse grip, he whipped a half turn and pierced it straight between the links of the chain, pinning it to the earth.

Blue lightning raced up the chain to the girl responsible. Her sudden cry was all he needed to know he'd hit his target, as was the Inuzuka's cry of,

"Tenten!"

She raced by, leapt into the air and caught the falling kunoichi before she could crash against the stone.

Yanking his sword free of the chain, Raiga turned his possessed attention to Chōjūrō and attempted to drive his blade around his guard and into his heart.

The Junior Swordsman was prepared, hopping back and then, at the sensation of prickling skin, raised the blade as a shield over his body.

Lightning struck the weapon and sprayed around its sides, tearing up the earth but leaving his adversary unharmed.

As expected of Hiramekarei, Raiga thought. Of the Seven Mystical Blades, this one is the worst match for me. Each of the Seven are crafted from special materials which grant them unique abilities. Some were even crafted to work in specific pairs. However, although it's not common knowledge, they were also crafted to counteract each other.

It wouldn't do the Mist Village good for Swordsmen to go rogue, they would be unstoppable against average shinobi, which make up the general rank and file of any Nation. There had to be a means to counter the Mystical Blades. What better way to do that than with another Mystical Blade.

Mei, you're as cunning as ever. Through the Fourth's gross corruption six of the seven Mystical Blades were lost. But you brought Mangetsu's successor into your inner circle. You've nurtured him. Now the Mist will never lose possession of the one blade capable of countering all Seven.

Hiramekarei.

Somehow it always winds up in the hand of a pure soul.

As the lightning faded, Chōjūrō slid to a halt and separated the two blades of Hiramekarei, wielding one in each hand to mirror Raiga. His expression hadn't changed. The purple chakra sheathing his blades, formed by the feasting of Mikki's blood, cast its ominous hue over the boy and the earth.

Chōjūrō charged him. Once he was three strides away, he spun a full revolution without leaving the ground, skating on the water with his legs in a wide and firm stance. One half of Hiramekarei became a projectile, spinning like a ceiling fan blade at its highest setting.

With a powerful leap, tucking his large knees into his chest, Raiga cleared the blade. Chōjūrō took one stride, two. He gripped his half of Hiramekarei in both hands and grit his teeth.

But the lullaby was disturbed. The notes were interrupted by an offbeat clap, and there was no chorus of clanging metal against stone. Instead, it slapped against a wet palm.

Instinct guided the Thunder God. He twisted his hips on his descent, spun the blade in his left hand into reverse grip, and landed half turned from Chōjūrō. Then felt the force of Hiramekarei catching in the Kiba Blades upper and lower prongs thunder up into his shoulders.

On his left, caught by the lower prong thanks to his unpalatable reverse grip, was Haruhi. Hiramekarei seemed comfortable in her grip, even with only one hand wrapped around its longer hilt. Her countenance was no longer merely fierce.

She had the face of a wrathful demoness. The red sclera of her left eye made her remorseless gaze burn hotter.

"You keep getting up," he growled. "No matter what I do, you rise again and again. Over and over and over again!"

"I rise because it is necessary," she replied coldly. "I will acclimatize to any pain. Even if it breaks apart this shell, even if it is damaged beyond repair, I will not stop until my mission is complete. These hands cannot build a bridge, but they can remove threats."

"As can mine, Haruhi of the Mist. Because of Karashi, you and your comrades have destroyed my Family. All I have left now is Ranmaru. Now you threaten our future. Now I must eliminate all of you! Starting with Karashi. I will erase him first!"

"Miss Mikki didn't want this fight," Chōjūrō growled. "But she fought anyway because she believed in you. She believed in what you and your Family stood for. She was willing to fight and die to protect it. Regardless of the sins your Family committed! She was willing to follow you to world's end, Master Raiga. Yet you didn't stop to consider her feelings when you decided Karashi and then Haruhi and I had to be given a funeral!"

Those words stung, poisoned by an infallible truth.

"Karashi may be a spineless, lying, traitorous idiot. We may not be righteous, either. But you're just as responsible for all this pointless death and sorrow!" Chōjūrō yelled.

And those words, too, stung with truth. Worst still was hearing the crack of sorrow in the young man's voice.

The Thunder God did not acknowledge or hear it, however. All that mattered was removing all which stood between him and the other half of his soul.

"Don't speak of Mikki to me, murderer," Raiga dismissed. "I'll have to kill you all. Anyone who stands between me and Ranmaru must die. He is all I have left. He is all that matters."

Haruhi's searing gaze burned hotter. "I will not allow anyone to threaten the life of my friend or my comrades. I will not allow you to endanger Lady Mei's and Amaririsu Yūhi's dreams. You must die."

"Who the hell do you two think you are talking to?" Raiga demanded. "I am Raiga Kurosuki! I am the Thunder God of the Mist!"

He forced their blades and their bodies aside.

"Now you will witness that power firsthand."

He stretched his arms out and raised his head to the sky. Haruhi moved to dart in. Chōjūrō cut her off, hooking an arm around her waist and leaping away.

"Come, Lightning!"

At his command lightning struck Raiga directly, but it did not pierce him. It did not hurt him.

Even as the earth around him cratered and shattered, as wild bolts of lightning struck Katabami Gold Mine along its peaks, across its terraces, setting loose a rockslide and igniting a forest at the top of the mining pit, he felt nothing except the thrum of power coursing through his body.

From head to toe he became sheathed in pale blue lightning; his body and his features became almost entirely indistinguishable, the light cast off him as bright as a flash of lightning but continuous, pulsing, shimmering.

His long green hair defied gravity, turning his physical visage into a mirror image of the Lightning Demon witnessed by Mimi Inuzuka.

This was the nearly impenetrable Thunder Armor. An armor forged by lightning, which not only protected the user's body from physical damage and ninjutsu, but also increased the wielder's speed and strength.

Possessed eye fixated onto the two Swordsmen, Raiga didn't waste his time on pointless words or gestures. Multiple streams of lightning suddenly ripped through the earth, raging straight towards all of his enemies. And towards Ranmaru.

They appeared to burst from the earth itself as opposed to falling from the sky. They rose like fountains of water, rising as tall as he stood, similar, he supposed, to runaway trains of lightning.

The Mist shinobi dodged the streams but did not recklessly charge him. They recognized the futility of such a pointless act; Hiramekarei could not cut through the Thunder Armor, for any physical attack they attempted would electrify them with lightning as well.

All four of the Leaf shinobi narrowly evaded the snaking trails of lightning; they were hardly a threat to him. Mere children when compared to the gathered Swordsmen.

The final trail of lightning curled around Ranmaru's carrier, neither touching him nor harming him, but wrapping protectively around his form so no one could try to take him away again. The walls of lightning did not fade. He willed them to stay at the expense of chakra.

Drawing his swords together, the cloak of Lightning surrounding his body expanded into a towering silhouette the color of a blue iris flower. Again he spread his arms out but then began to rapidly rotate in place.

Wind and lightning swelled together into a whirling tornado. Two distinct red orbs formed within the tornado first, then the grayish-blue head and horns of a dragon took shape. Its massive maw opened and a roar of thunder cascaded over the terrace, sending tremors through the earth and rattling the bones of his enemies.

Ninja Art: Thunder Dragon Tornado!

"Chōjūrō, catch!" the Inuzuka kunoichi yelled over the rain and wind.

Chōjūrō caught the scroll she threw, unrolled it and unsealed its contents without hesitation.

Raiga initially sniffed dismissively at the act. There was no weapon the Leaf shinobi possessed that could counter his jutsu, nor cut through his armor.

As he pointed one of the Kiba Blades at the Inuzuka kunoichi, he first witnessed the Hyūga boy sliding in front of her, but that wouldn't save either of them. His Lightning would pierce them both.

Then a veritable waterfall of water exploded from the scroll. At the same moment, Lightning arced off his sword for the two Leaf shinobi.

It parted across a rapidly whirling blue sphere of chakra.

That was the technique that dispersed the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Is that pure chakra?

He had no time to consider. His Thunder Dragon Tornado, a combination of Wind and Lightning together, was charging towards Chōjūrō and Haruhi.

A tremendous whirling vortex formed from the waterfall. As it ascended into the air, matching his Thunder Dragon Tornado in size and rotation, the head of a gold-eyed dragon formed.

Chōjūrō and Haruhi were combining their ninjutsu.

One of them is using Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu. The other is using Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu, Raiga looked on, amazed. They've combined their ninjutsu seamlessly. Such flawless execution. These two kids…

In the center of the gap separating them, the two whirling dragons snaked around each other, rising higher into the sky, before clashing head to head.

Bolts of lightning and literal waterfalls sprayed onto the earth below.

The scene nearly brought a tear to his eye.

---

"Mimi, take your team and retreat," Chōjūrō commanded. "Leave Master Raiga to us."

"Yeah, not gonna happen. Told you before, shoulder to shoulder is the only way we'll change this world."

"I know, but…"

"We're out of our league? Yeah. Trust me, this is nothing new. I've got a plan to take that armor out. Think you can put some pressure on him for a bit?"

"We can," Haruhi answered.

"Then let's finish this."

---

Beneath the stray bolts of lightning and waterfalls pouring off the clashing dragons they met again in a duel.

The three Swordsmen had raced there, the quickest and strongest now no longer in question.

Raiga never bothered to chide them for their futile attempts. It didn't matter. He was no more their teacher than they were his students; they were adversaries, enemies, locked in a conflict like the dragons above.

Leaping over a horizontal slash, the Thunder God twisted and spun through the air to land a powerful kick to Haruhi, which, despite using Hiramekarei to block, sent her flying away. Feet beneath him, he whirled through and struck once, twice and then a third time in a rapid combination that put Chōjūrō on his back foot.

Driving his right sword for his enemy, the upper prong caught the chakra sharpened edge of Hiramekarei. He controlled the blade effortlessly, with superior strength, technique and speed, and forced Chōjūrō to kneel; the edge of Hiramekarei was but inches from his nose.

He didn't see Haruhi flicker in at his side, but he sensed it. Unfortunately there was no time to properly counter; the cunning kunoichi attacked from his right side. Thus a massive chakra hammer smashed into his body.

Yet Raiga felt nothing, nor did his Thunder Armor shatter. He merely landed on his feet after a moment of flight, slid back on his heels and looked at the two young shinobi.

They were desperate. Against him it was natural. But their teamwork and coordination made up for the distinct difference of power and experience.

Heat licked his skin, suddenly. Then a Dragon Bomb engulfed Raiga. He neither saw nor sensed it, as it had cleverly come from his blindside.

All the same, the flames broke across his armor and, when they flickered away, he stood in the same position. Turning his head, he locked his unamused and unimpressed gaze onto the other kunoichi, the one with her hair tied in buns holding an unrolled scroll out in front of her.

Opening his mouth to dismiss the effort, Raiga caught himself. Rock Lee and that kunoichi were together, Chōjūrō and Haruhi were together, but…

Where did the Inuzuka and Hyūga go?

He scanned his horizons and listened to the lullaby of rain. It was difficult to hear over the clashing dragons.

And then he heard it.

Eyes flicking up, a rapidly rotating blue torpedo was upon him.

Raiga evaded with a single hop back, expecting it to strike the earth and little else. From what he had observed, the Hyūga boy had to be completely stationary to rotate at high speeds, and his observation proved accurate.

The blue torpedo struck the earth. Then it bounced and redirected itself, spearing straight for him.

Raiga went wide eyed. "What the—"

The blue torpedo drilled straight into his Thunder Armor. He felt it shudder.

That Inuzuka girl, she combined her Clan's taijutsu with the Hyūga's boy's chakra. Blue light and sparks of lightning radiated at the point of impact. He could feel his armor close to shattering. They're using the pure chakra to shatter my Thunder Armor. What is with these youngsters? These kids…

Is this part of the bright future you see, Mei? Raiga wondered.

No, the Thunder God growled. I can't die now. Ranmaru is all that matters. I won't…

I won't die so easily!

"Rraggghhhhhh!"

Lightning crashed upon them. From the smoke, the Inuzuka kunoichi, her ninken and Hyūga boy flew, crashed and skipped across the ground to a still halt. Neither rose again. The other kunoichi rushed to their sides, yelling,

"Mimi, Aoko, Neji!"

Raiga picked himself off his knee, sheathed in his Thunder Armor.

"I won't…" he growled. "I won't be killed by the likes of you. I'm going…to erase all of you!" Raiga declared madly. "This is the only way I can avenge my Family and protect Ranmaru!"

---

Lee sank into a crouch, forearms crossed over each other and hands held in front of his face.

"Lee, if this attack fails, the only one left who has a hope in hell of shattering that armor is you," Mimi's voice came to him.

"Me?"

"Yeah. I'm hoping we break it, but this guy is a tough bastard. He's not gonna go down easily. Every time we've gotten him on the ropes, he bounces back. Then again, I guess he'd say the same about us.

"Anyway, should Neji and I fail to shatter his armor, it'll be up to you. You may only get one punch, so—"

"One punch is all I will need," he remembered his firm vow. "Do not fear, Mimi. My fist will not strike alone. They are heavy with the Wills of those I consider precious, so if I must cross the threshold and put my life on the line, I will not do so alone. And together we will shatter that armor of his!"

Lee mentally imagined the Eight Gates within his body. The First and Second Gates, the Gates of Opening and Rest, in his left and right hemisphere opened first, valves slamming open to allow unmitigated chakra to pour through.

In order to protect my precious comrades, to keep my vow to Amaririsu, and most of all, to stay true to my ninja way, I must go now, Guy-sensei.

Next he imagined the Third and Fourth Gates, the Gates of Life and Pain, located on his spinal cord. Their valves slammed open.

Blue chakra raced a circle around his feet then began to gush and swirl uncontrollably around him in a double helix. Air gusted upwards on every side of his body, causing his hair to defy gravity and creating a buffer between himself and the rain and wind. His complexion suddenly darkened, shifting red. Veins began to bulge along his skin and a green aura took shape around him.

Mimi, Neji, Aoko, you put your lives on the line to break Raiga's armor. Now it is my turn.

"The Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain… Open!"

Lee threw his arms back and stood upright. A crater formed beneath his feet, sinking him several feet down; pieces of stone rose against gravity all around him, blue chakra flooded the crater at his feet and transformed from a double helix to a halo around him, but he did not falter.

He locked his eyes, now absent of pupils, onto Raiga.

I will blaze a trail straight to the future!

---

Déjà vu struck Raiga at the sight of Rock Lee's transformation. A terrifying chill shot down his spine.

He knows how to use that power, too?

Rocks ascended around Rock Lee. Rain batted off the halo of chakra and explosive power rising off of him. His red skin, his pupiless eyes, his grit teeth and bushy eyebrows, they brought forth a terrible, haunting memory he had tried so hard to forget.

Despite his own power, Raiga's hands trembled ever so slightly.

Suddenly Rock Lee moved. No one, perhaps not even those with dōjutsu, could have tracked him. All that could be seen was the earth itself tearing apart, slabs of stone folding in on themselves, shattered beneath his powerful steps. All that could be seen was the rain suddenly parting.

Then Raiga felt his Thunder Armor shatter. Followed by pain unlike any other pain today, and yet so familiar, it nearly sent him tumbling into that old terrifying memory.

A massive explosion appeared to detonate over Raiga. Blue light, dirt, debris and air rushed outwards, causing everyone from the only Leaf kunoichi still standing to Chōjūrō and Haruhi to cover their faces or shelter behind their swords in a desperate and futile attempt to escape the sudden straight-line wind.

Beneath the explosion of power the two dragons began to collapse.

When the wind died down to its harsh whipping and the dust and debris cleared, those still standing cast their eyes onto the scene of the battle.

On one side was Rock Lee, seated by chance amid the stone debris he fractured. On the other, Raiga lay on his back, grimacing at the dark sky.

Without my armor, that punch would've killed me.

It was just as frightening as he remembered it.

"Ranmaru," he groaned, rising to his feet, using his blades as support.

Possessed by that single desire, he rose. He rose and turned to face his enemies. Just in time to see Haruhi and Chōjūrō upon him.

Two slashes. It was all it took to take their heads off. And as he watched their heads fall, he realized his mistake.

For Chōjūrō's sprayed water instead of blood, and Haruhi's dispersed into an electrical charge.

Lightning electrified and paralyzed the Thunder God, briefly. But that brief moment was all they needed.

In those final, helpless moments, Raiga watched the two Swordsmen appear in front of him, their faces fierce and determined, but also, he finally noticed, full of conflict and grief respectively.

They hadn't wanted any of this. From the start they'd made that known. Yet he'd forced them to do this all the same.

Just as he had forced Mikki and his Family into this situation.

Their blades plunged into his chest and abdomen, piercing straight through, and as the blades feasted on the Thunder God's soul, the chakra turned crimson red.

The Kiba Blades fell from Raiga's hands as he hunched forward into their blades.

Despite everything, he felt himself smile.

"An era…is ending," he murmured. "The Dark…Times…will be…replaced by an Era of Light. Isn't that…right…Mei. But…there will…be…many conflicts ahead…of you…youngsters. Many…challenges… And…more…blood will…be spilled. I'm sorry…I couldn't…be the man…you hoped to find."

"Master Raiga…"

"I wish…I could've…seen…it. Could've brought…my Family to a place…of peace. But this is…the end. Take heart…youngsters. Do not…falter now. I…"

Words were hard to form. Darkness was creeping into his vision. And the lullaby was growing quieter.

"I leave…the future to…each of you. Build it. Even you…Haruhi. You can build…it…as I built…this Family. We…are more…than weapons, after all."

"…Of course."

With the last of his strength, Raiga came to rest his hands on both of the youngsters heads. He smiled weakly but sincerely.

"To you, Haruhi…I entrust the Kiba Blades. You will…be my…successor. You will…be better than I…could be. And let those who threaten…your precious ones…learn to fear the name…Haruhi of the Mist…The Mother of Lightning."

He rubbed their heads a little. "And you…Chōjūrō…all I can entrust to you is this…piece of wisdom. Trust your heart. In your heart…you know…what the right…path…is. So follow it. No matter what adversity you face."

"I…I will, Master Raiga."

"Good. Please…take care of…Ran—"

Raiga Kurosuki body fell limp.

Although the Leaf and Mist shinobi stood victorious on that cold, rainy evening, no one truly felt like celebrating.

On that cold, rainy evening the Thunder God of the Mist and the Kurosuki Family fell in a tragic battle neither they nor those who felled them truly desired.

On that cold, rainy evening Mikki and Raiga Kurosuki died entrusting the future to the youngsters who gave them hope. They died with smiles on their faces.

For an Era of Light was finally upon the world. Their battles were over.

And peace awaited at world's end.

---

Review Response to Guest: It wasn't so much pandering I gathered from your comment. It's just the concept of forgetting about checklists and writing good characters I was hoping to impart. As for communities as a whole, to me, whatever makes someone feel whole is really all that matters. Whether its religion, sexuality, even politics or gender, media fandoms or music, or anything else, if its a huge part of their identity, whether I believe it should be or not doesn't really matter. It's their life. It's their search for meaning and belonging that brought them there. And if it brings them peace and a feeling of community that's all that really matters. I don't see the sense of getting annoyed or frustrated over such minor things. On our death beds, will it really matter how others identified themselves? Will atheists really care that others believed in religion or vice versa? Will those who oppose the LGBT community think of the growing acceptance in the western world of their existence, or will the LGBT community wonder why those people oppose them? Will their lives and how they lived them matter to those outside of their lives? Or will the lives of those we loved, those we leave behind, and the world we leave behind for them, be what we think of, alongside any regrets we may hold?

I'm sorry to hear you lost your friend.

Although the anime maybe nothing like the manga, looking at it is a separate entity and treating it as just a rom com could make it enjoyable. But, then, I'm not much of purist for anything. I try to have an open mind, even if it ends up mediocre. Although I've actually never seen any form of harem, now that I think about it. Just never crossed my radar.

The succubus part is messed up, fertility short lived or not.

I'm not sure what to tell you on how to make it feel natural and not forced. Emotions can evolve over time between people. Friends can have a spark of attraction or a chemistry with circumstance coming between the pursuit of that relationship, whether that pursuits intention is short-term sexual or long-term partners. Sexual based relationships can evolve into one person, or both, wanting a more long-term commitment. Love is like the color spectrum, it exists in different intensities, different passions, and isn't a one size fits all.

Honestly, for writing, I sort of let the characters guide me. They drive the story. Sometimes I don't even know how things will evolve, like Yukiko and Amari wasn't originally planned. At all. That evolved as I wrote the My Hero arc. It sort of just happened. The editing process allowed me to make it seem like it was all apart of a grand plan, but it wasn't.

So the best advice I can give is don't rush them to the destination. There's enough poorly written smut in the world of fanfic that happens out of absolute nowhere without any chemistry. Build on the bond between the characters, trust in the characters and the source material for their personalities, and if the relationship didn't/wouldn't happen in the actual universe, then just keep them as in character as possible. Let the characters guide the way when you aren't sure because they'll know how to get where you're trying to go, and then use the editing process to make it seem like you knew what you were doing.

I think its an interesting theory. I think more detail was initially meant to go into the Byakugan, because I recall Kakashi saying once in the first part of Naruto, during the Exams, that the Byakugan was related to the Sharingan or something of that sort. The idea that the Byakugan can also copy isn't farfetched given that Neji learned Rotation just by watching it done.

Glad you enjoyed the fight. Ranmaru's eyes were definitely interesting, though I think the genjutsu was explained as a red dust/particles his eyes conjured that blocked the Byakugan's sight.

Had no problems reading your message. No worries.

Thank you for the review and hope you enjoyed the chapter!