"Earth Release: Gormandizing Grime Gap!" Jimi's foot taps the ground; the surface deteriorates into a bubbling viscid mass, swallowing the headless abominations in seconds.
Jim stumbles upon two silhouettes hunching in a shadowy corner, biting and tearing into a motionless figure. He makes two sharp clicks through his lips, drawing their attention. A metal pipe impales both mutant's skulls pinning them to a brick wall, yet they continue reaching for him with a fanatic desire to consume his flesh. He inspects the burnt corpse sprawling in a puddle of blood and broken glass. Bite wounds are everywhere, an arm is missing, and the internal organs are mangled and exposed.
Jim scoffs, "what a happy meal," the carcass appears female; her charred attire consists of a steel-grey flak jacket, black pants, and boot-like sandals. Though damaged, the animal-style porcelain mask is unmistakable, 'what!? I trapped them in the sewers! I watched those things pile on top of them!' Jim surmises the kunoichi is from the Elemental Nations, 'Anbu can mean a handful of hidden villages. Even fewer can project military influence across an ocean. All of them, bad news.' He sighs, 'getting rid of ninjas will be troublesome (a random Nara sneezes), but surviving's my main priority, at least for now.'
Jim grasps the dead kunoichi's neck; the anatomical features sink. Her skin pales as she shrivels like a raisin, 'there's not much left to absorb, but it's enough to mitigate the beginning stages of chakra exhaust...' The kunoichi's bloodshot eyes open, stunning him. She clutches his throat, pulling him closer, "gasp!? Awk! Gak!" Jim chokes, struggling to escape the kunoichi's death grip.
He yanks a piece of rebar protruding from a concrete wall, then shoves it through her shoulder to free himself. She shrieks in pain; Jim escapes using teleportation jutsu (Body Flicker Technique). The two abominations break free from the brick wall; they, along with a nearby group of mutants, dogpile the kunoichi, cursing at him in Japanese.
Jim's heart races with adrenalin, yet he breathes soft, in full sprint. Silent and agile, Jim stalks the alleyways avoiding the mutants if possible. If necessary, he immobilizes them from behind or above before disappearing into the shadows. After an interval of surreptitious progression, Jim pivots before taking a few steps up a wall and backflips onto a fire escape platform.
Storm clouds gather in the crimson sky consuming the blood moons; lightning rips through the clouds giving life to a brewing storm. Thunder returns the lightning's call rattling a dim hallway's windowpanes; a mutant shuffles in front of an open window dragging its foot/tentacle behind. Lightning flashes across the heavens; Jim appears in the window and yanks the abomination through the opening like a ragdoll. Thunder rumbles in the distance suppressing its boisterous impact into a wall. The mutant face plants on the platform's railing before tumbling into the gloomy abyss. He climbs into the skyscraper, then closes the window.
Fluorescent lights flicker in the corridors revealing the shedding paint along the grimy walls. Water and steam leak from the pipes; the air smells like dampness and death. A dark figure appears down the halls. Jim draws a kunai but realizes it's his reflection in a cracked mirror—It's the mirror across the window causing his blood to run cold. In the mirror, a silhouette with glowing eyes stares through the glass. Jim's hands shake as he eases them toward his inventory, praying the ravenous cannibal remains unaware.
He ties conductive wire to the kunai before wedging it below the window's metal frame above his head. He fastens the other end of the wire to a shuriken, then flicks it into a power socket. A current surges through the metal, binding the mutant to the frame; the stench of burning flesh permeates the air. Jim pries the red-hot kunai upward with his boot dislodging the window. The shuriken flies from the outlet hitting the mutant's forehead before the abomination tumbles off the skyscraper.
Jim creeps through the dim hallway approaching an intersection with a kunai ready. Around the juncture, the mutants gather near a bookshelf obstructing his path. He climbs atop the shelves, then crawls toward the archive's main office. A glance below leads to a full-on double-take that he regrets. Small oriental eyes streaming with tears burn into Jim's soul. To his horror, the eyes follow him, 'Oh god, no—that kid's still alive.'
Though incapable of screaming, the small boy is alone, helpless, and gasping in agony. More mutants converge upon the young Anbu, but Jim uses the opportunity to reach his objective. He checks his surroundings before entering a pitch-black room. Jim may not have a dōjutsu (eye techniques) or a useable bloodline limit but has other ways of navigating the darkness.
Jim tiptoes past an infestation of stray cats with a kunai and flashlight. After petting a few felines, he makes his way to the primary office with a few curious new friends following him. Jim searches the desks and file cabinets, finding a box of rifle ammunition. He uncovers a functioning computer terminal in a corner, then a locker he opens via console command.
Two cats lunge at him, intending to use his face as a scratching post, but Jim's training kicks in, and he ducks. The first cat slams into a wall; the other crashes through a window, yowling as it falls several stories to its death. Dozens of blood-soaked inhuman extremities smash through the walls.
"Stupid-ass fuckin' kitty!" Jim shouts. The cat hisses before lunging at him again, but a tentacle yanks the feline through the wall. He grabs a binder, a bolt action rifle, and a suppressor from the locker, then leaps out the broken window. Jim swings from a flagpole onto a wall and uses his chakra to cling to its surface. An abrupt symphony of stray cats screaming bloody murder soon addresses his hypothesis for why the vile abominations are not in pursuit.
(Anbu 13 Alpha – A few minutes ago)
The Anbu barge into their safe house, fatiguing and low on chakra. Surviving becomes their prime objective with diminishing morales and most of their squad dead or MIA (Missing In Action).
"Hawk, Parrot—secure the windows! Everyone else, barricade the entrances and grab any available supplies," the Anbu captain orders. "Command? Command this is Alpha Squad—Respond!" she calls through her transceiver.
"Anything, Raven?" Parrot asks, igniting a dim flair to alleviate the stark lightlessness.
Raven adjusts the frequency and volume on her transceiver, "no, nothing. We're on our own," she deadpans.
Hawk raises his index and middle finger at eye level, curling the rest into his palm. The veins near Hawk's eyes and temples bulge, "Byakugan (All Seeing White Eye)!" Focusing his telescopic vision, he scans a large concentration of mutants gathering in the streets, "those… things are inbound towards our rendezvous point with Delta Squad."
"Those damn zombies must've spotted them," Pelican suggests.
"Negative, they're pursuing someone," Hawk replies, catching everyone's attention.
"If it's that bitch that trapped us in the sewers, I get first dibs!" Hyena rants chaining the door handles, "I'll use that Syndi-whore's intestines as a noose after disemboweling her alive!"
Hawk deactivates his Byakugan, "you may not have that opportunity if Mantis's squad apprehends Malkhaz first-"
An enormous fireball engulfs the fuel depot; flames erupt onto the streets, incinerating everything. The explosion brightens the night sky; shockwaves rattle, then shatter the windows. The Anbu stands silent as the chaos unfolds.
"Fuckin' hell, man!" Pelican stammers. The mutants pound on the barricades as the 2x4 in the door handles fragment, almost breaking the chains. Mangled, bloodied limbs/tentacles reach through the opening and burst through the walls. Slug, Pelican, and Raven reinforce the double steel doors with a sofa, "how do they keep fucking finding us!?" Pelican yelps trying to hide the fear in his voice.
"The hell if I know," Slug huffs, struggling to keep the mutants from rushing in, "regardless, our safe house is compromised—we can't stay here any longer."
"There's an alley three blocks down we can probably retreat through and cut Malkhaz off at the pass-"
FLASHBACK NO-JUTSU
At his wit's end, he severs the torso's hand and pries its smoldering fingers from his ankle, yet the hand continues grabbing at him. Jim chucks it off in the distance.
END FLASHBACK
A black blur speeds through the air outside.
Hyena rushes toward the window, "and she'll take it in the ass! Now let's get the fuck out of-"
"Hyena, watch out!" Hawk warns but to no avail. The window shatters; darkness engulfs Hyena's vision as slimy rotting flesh latches onto her mask.
"Aaahhhrrgh!" Hyena flails and convulses on the floor, "get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" A severed hand squeezes her mask, fragmenting it; the shards dig into Hyena's skin.
Parrot rushes over to Hyena, "hold still, damn it!" He breaks the severed hand's thumb before throwing and impaling it against a wall with a kunai, "the damn thing's still twitching, you know!"
"Try not to think about it! We must leave while we can!" Hawk advises. The mutants breach the floor and ceiling, forcing the Anbu to escape through the windows. Hawk, a combat engineer, leaves behind a timed fuel-air explosive. An explosive charge bursts open the soda-can-sized container dispersing a fuel cloud that mixes with the atmospheric oxygen. A second charge detonates the cloud creating a massive pressure wave obliterating the mutants. He lands near his comrades as smoldering remains plummet around them.
Hawk uses his Byakugan with an HKL-14 A3 (Handheld Kunai Launcher) to fend off the endless waves of aggressors. He maims and dismembers the mutants with an expert marksman's skill and precision. However, the severed body parts retain mobility, sometimes mutating or joining into hideous flesh and bone abominations. Hawk's flight/fight response increases his heart rate flooding him with adrenaline, "shit, shit, shit!" He struggles to remain calm and steady his hand while replacing the ammunition scroll (magazine) for his Autogun.
Raven tries again, establishing radio contact with the ASF (Allied Shinobi Forces), "command, this is Alpha Squad! The situation's far worse than imagined, and we request an immediate EVAC!"
Hyena throws a handful of explosives at the mutants advancing from a petrol station, then ducks behind a concrete traffic barrier. The explosion demolishes the building, and the mutants caught in the blast radius, "command, you need to evacuate us ASAP! Get us out of here—Argh!" A charred mutant grabs her; she smashes the mutant's skull with her weapon's shoulder stock before decapitating it with a bayonet. Yet, the mutant continues shuffling after her, "fuck you!" she roars before further dismembering the abomination.
"We can't hold out much longer; they're going to overrun us! Command, if you're even listening, we need an extraction immediately!"
Struggling through the oncoming hoards, the Anbu secure a strong signal and hear an enigmatic transmission in their receivers. A cryptic voice speaks in a cold, ominous tone, "Alpha Squad. Come in—over."
"Alpha Squad, reporting—what's left of us," Raven answers.
"Your request for extraction is acknowledged; however, the barrier ninjutsu impeding our armies still must be disabled. Therefore, the mission parameters remain unchanged! You are to eliminate the target by any means necessary, secure a DNA sample and deliver it to me at the-" static interference interrupts the signal. Raven adjusts the frequency of her transceiver. Still, the transmission is choppy at best, breaking up between sentences, "Will, corpse, barrier, Malkhaz's, deactivate, reanimated, the," (not in that particular order).
The signal dies before Raven can decipher the broken message. Again, the Anbu are left without contact from the outside world and fending for themselves. The mutants persist in their unrelenting assault closing in from all angles.
"Captain, did Tobirama just tell us to go fuck ourselves?" Hyena inquires.
Raven sighs, "pretty much."
With the Anbu's ammunition and supplies depleting, they use ninjutsu and kinjutsu (forbidden techniques) with enough destructive force to level a city block. The devastation slows the mutants down, allowing the Anbu to retreat before the abominations emerge from the burning rubble. They escape via the vast network of tunnels and alleyways throughout the city but stumble across a traumatic spectacle that renders them aghast with vacant stares. The vile abominations bite and tear into the Delta Squad captain's entrails as she cries and gasps for air.
The veins near Hawk's eyes bulge; he charges forward, Byakugan blaring, "they're in range—Gentile Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Hawk lands behind the mutants unleashing his Gentile Fist technique, "Eight trigrams, Two palms!" he decapitates a few with his initial strikes, "Four Palms!" He clears an opening, "Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms!" blood and limbs erupt in a gory fountain around him with not a spec of it staining his uniform, "Thirty-Two Palms! Sixty-Four Palms!"
The sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking cease as the last mutant falls at Hawk's feet; however, the dismembered mutants lunge at him as he expects, "Eight trigrams! Palm Rotation!" The mutants explode in a whirlwind of blood and gore like tomatoes in a blender. At last, the whirling chakra barrier diminishes, and the carnage subsides.
Raven and Slug aid Mantis as best they can. Tears stream down Mantis's face as she gurgles blood. Slug is unsure if she is screaming in agony or trying to communicate. Regardless Mantis falls into gracious unconsciousness before he can clear her airways. Though Slug is a hardened war veteran, it bewilders him how someone with missing limbs and intestines hanging outside their body is even alive. The rebar rammed through her shoulder is no help either. Despite his vast medical knowledge, he can't make heads or tails of the situation.
"Can anything be done to ease her suffering?" Raven asks.
Slug's eyebrows raise. His mind wonders at the possibility of several worst-case scenarios, 'is this the result of Project: Red Falcon!?' He contemplates, lost in thought.
