He blinked, finding himself conscious but not remembering where or when he'd fallen asleep, nor did he recall waking up...He was just here. The air was cool with everything shrouded in thick layers of snow in each direction.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs and exhaling a fine mist until he'd gotten into a rhythm where his mind had become clear enough to analyze his surroundings. Then it came back to him.

Around two feet of snow had fallen since this mornings trek up the mountain and he must've zoned out harder than usual during the journey. His only recollection of the days events this far was waking up and leaving the shelter of his family's shrine.

He'd been walking for several hours but wasn't tired in the least bit, his muscles felt warmed up and ready for anything, the trip back included. Walking through the thigh deep snow wasn't a hindrance for him as most people would consider it. This was no miracle for him, he was from the Ashikaga clan which blessed him with water manipulation to such a degree that it was unconscious for simple tasks. The snow parted for him no matter the direction he chose without an effort.

A Feeling of Deja vu came over him. He'd obviously been here before, many times actually, but this time felt like a lucid dream. He knew it was real, or was real at one point but he also felt unable to separate himself from reliving this experience.

He felt a slight tremor through his bandaged feet. Simultaneously, several ice shards fell from the sturdy trees sitting on the cliff side to his left. They tumbled down and out of sight, no doubt a painful drop for any living creature unlucky enough to tumble down it.

He continued up the slope, expecting to see a bonfire worth several trees considering how much smoke he'd seen coming from the little settlement earlier. It had gotten through the snowfall initially so it was pretty impressive.

The mountains had been colder than usual as it was the winter season after all so it made sense. Still, his left hand found its way to the blue hilt of a sword strapped to his right side. He shouldn't need it, he rarely did even in the case of wild animals squaring up with him... although today had a different feel to it.

He pulled up his mask when the wind blew flurries into his face and about the same time, he picked up a new scent in the air...It reeked of death. Had he stumbled upon an open burial ground from a recent massacre of every animal on this frozen turf, he wouldn't be surprised, the smell gave everything away.

He stopped, a shiver in his spine telling him this wasn't a good idea. The air was putrid and his hands started shaking but had nothing to do with the chill air.

He glared ahead and used conscious energy to move his feet forward.

The people in this island didn't need protecting. They were missing Shinobi and clans people from all over the islands. These people were more than capable of taking care of themselves and he shouldn't feel the responsibility of watching after their well-being...But one way or another, they were all outcasts who looked after each other because they had no one else.

Sure, he was the exception. His entire clan was back home on the mainland, they only sent him away to protect him. They didn't forget about him, it's just taking a while for them to resolve the conflicts back at the village. Conflict across the mainland wasn't anything new with the constant civil warring.

He reached the next clearing, not sure what to expect but knew it wouldn't be good. They were good last time he checked just a few days ago...yet he saw dark smoke rising from the town and a few more minutes of walking and he noticed the fire.

The cabins, shops, and storage units were all aflame, nothing was untouched amongst the once valid civilization. The residents... well, they were everywhere. Someone - something had scattered them about the main street leading to the center of town but there was no sign of who or what did it.

A fierce battle had taken place but there weren't any hostile forces as far as he could see...and the wounds weren't natural between Shinobi fighting amongst themselves. If he had to guess, a pack of wild fire breathing animals ravaged the place and killed everyone.

The smell of charred meat had him grateful to have a mask but even then it wasn't doing enough to block it out. His good luck would be useful right about now, if there was someone else alive amongst this mess then he needed to find them and get answers.

He glanced up and down the street, keeping his eyes away from the massacre as much as his morbid curiosity allowed...But where were the people who did this? Over a hundred people lived here and the wounds of the dead were all similar...They were shredded as if attacked by a chakra welding bear that simultaneously spat fire until everything was aflame.

That just couldn't be.

The flames from the homes licked at him as he passed by, his eyes wide as he took in as much of the once familiar surroundings as possible.

Ajay neared the last row of the main street and it was dead silent. Like the air was warning him a predator was still around but there weren't any signs of it besides chunks of the ground being torn up and...and these holes were deep enough to swallow him if he miss stepped.

"Do-don't go over there." A small voice warned and he snapped to the left.

A girl was there, hiding inside a crate that wasn't on fire. She also wasn't talking lowly, the flames around were drowning out her voice while she called out to him.

He glanced around one last time and not seeing anybody to be wary of, went to approach her but she stopped him again.

"If you move, it'll know where we are." She pleaded.

His eyes narrowed at the blanks his mind drew. He didn't like the implications of what it could be.

"What will know?" He shot back.

Her eyes scanned the ground as if it's come alive and swallow her if she so much as spoke about it. But before she could respond, a support beam from a burning cabin collapsed towards her and he reacted with a curse.

The girl made a surprised sound as he grabbed her and skid to a stop some feet away a second before the beam hit the ground with a muffled crash. However, the last thing he expected was a massive arm to rise from the ground and crush the beam in two before submerging once more.

The burning town fell silent, as if the energy from the flames no longer held merit to the situation. The greater predator had silenced the atmosphere with it's mere presence and the weight of the situation made the added pressure of his new companion insignificant to his body.

He stared at the offending spot with wide eyes and felt the girl clinging to him. She wouldn't allow her feet to touch the ground.

Adrenaline ran through his veins as a tremor moved towards him. It remembered his movement and had the energy to spare in coming after him. He dashed backwards as stone and dirt erupted from the ground as a scaled arm the size of his body reached up from below in an attempt to grab and crush him in one motion. Instead, the rubble in it's grasp smoldered and melted within moments of being gripped. The dark purple scales on its arms seemed to absorb all the light that reached it and he felt his ears burning from the sudden rush of adrenaline pumping through his body.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, feeling it drop into the pit of his stomach as he took a tentative step backwards meanwhile keeping his eyes trained on the appendage. But despite the lightness of his movement, the arm seized a moment before jerking back underground through the hole it had created.

The girl stilled and may as well have been a statue if it wasn't for her rapid heart beating against his side reminding him she was very much a living soul. Perhaps the last of the civilization that once existed here.

Silence lingered after the arm disappeared. The flurries from the heavens seemed to fall slower but in thicker flakes than before. It was picking up again and would soon obstruct his vision...Not that it mattered, the creature was hiding underground on a hillside meaning it won't be seen by him unless it wanted to be.

He awaited it's next move. Several seconds passed of nothingness and he figured he needed to be in motion for it to track him at all, even the slightest movement gave away his location and it still needed time to travel from each location from where it last surfaced...

Picking up vibrations through the snow, dirt and stone was an unfair advantage. But the snow had to be hampering it's sensitivity somewhat, and if it was the source of all the flames then he was it's antithesis.

He exhaled, contemplating his next move when he heard the unnatural rumbling from below. A shiver ran through his back as he jumped out of the way as a barrage of needs ejected from the ground in an upward arc. Had he been a moment too slow it would've skewered them both. He continued to dodge, skip, and roll through the melting snow around the burning cabins as each time the needles traced his location with perfection with a relentless pursuit to add them to the list of deceased.

Burning structures collapsed around them as he made attempts at taking cover until he formed a kunai made of ice and leapt into the air to dodge another barrage. He threw the knife into the ground a few meters away and as expected, the needles changed direction and attacked the spot. He landed in a crouch, having amassed chakra to his right hand and slammed it onto the ground, pouring his energy into the rapidly melting snow around him. There wasn't much time to prepare as he rushed the technique, draining an unnecessarily large portion of his energy reserves in the process to get it done.

"Water style: Violent Rushing Vortex Jutsu." He commanded.

The snow around him flash melted and joined with the already growing body of water and began to swirl around him to form a vortex with pressure great enough to tear up the ground around them. It pulled up the dirt and stone, adding to its lethality as the remaining structures on his side of the street went out with the flood he'd created.

The technique worked on scattering the creature's natural defense because in the next moment glowing white eyes burning with fury appeared across from Ajay in the rushing water defense. It didn't seem affected by the rapid water he expected to shred some of its scaled armor; rather, the eyes were getting brighter as it closed in on them.

The girl he'd rescued whimpered in his ear as she attempted to disappear from the situation. A growl escaped him as he held his ground and increased the feed of chakra to the Jutsu, barely managing to slow it's advance. It shoved it's scaled forearm through the last few feet of his defense, making a grab for them

A growl escaped him as he held his ground and increased the feed of chakra to his Jutsu, but it didn't stop nor slow the creature's advance. It shoved its armored forearm through the last of his defense, making an attempt to reach his head and likely crush his skull or drag him out of the circle he'd created.

It's pointless.

"Freeze."

Just as the snow had turned to water in an instant, the water solidified into a layered vortex of ice, trapping the creatures arm within the now frozen defense. He moved with a dancers grace as he slid under the arm, unsheathing his blade while simultaneously channeling chakra into it and slashed off the arm at the unprotected joint in one fluid motion. He paid no attention to the dismembered limb as hit crashed into the stone underneath.

The creature's cry was like two ton abomination of a donkey falling off a cliff. He must've reminded it of its mortality because the screech knocked the concentration out of him while nearly rupturing his eardrums in the process. He dropped his sword, trying to cover his ears with one hand while his female passenger did the same, their cries being drowned out by the greater disturbance.

He realized his ice had shattered when shards came crumbling past his feet. Even as an indirect attack it managed to shatter his ice when it shouldn't have broken so easily when infused with his chakra.

Its cry turned into a growl upon seeing the two of them defenseless and covering their ears on the ground. It moved, just as he snatched his sword and the girl, rolling out of the way as the cliff shook from the creature slamming its body onto their previous position and sending debris in every direction.

With little time to recover, they moved again as it lunged at them with its gaping maw aiming to shred them in one move. Their small frames gave them the slightest advantage as it crashed by them, sliding on the newly formed gravel field on its remaining three limbs.

From behind, the beast's tail looked about ten feet long, half as thick as a tree trunk and covered with needle like spikes that traveled up its mane to the top of its head. Its back was wide. Enough to carry at group of grown men impaled by its spikes with ease and probably wouldn't even way it down. Even with the left forearm cut off, it could crush them both from the density alone. It wasn't any better that the legs were the same size but with bulging muscles visible under the layer over protective scales adorning its entire body. Considering how quick it was despite weighing several fully grown horses, he reasoned its legs were more detrimental to their survival than its arms.

"I'm gonna need you to run somewhere safe." He stated.

He got to his feet, putting the girl behind him in the process and keeping his eyes trained on the creature.

Steaming saliva pooled onto the decimated ridge from its open maw as it took a step forward, crushing stone beneath it.

"Yo-you want me to leave you here alone?" She said with a trembling voice.

He brought his sword into his right hand and widened his stance, very much aware the cliffs edge was a handful of meters behind them. The options for her to escape were limited, but he'd find a way to create an opening.

"I want you to have more options. Getting eaten by this thing shouldn't be one of them."

From its missing arm, dark purple blood dripped from it and sizzled against the ground like acid. It tried to use its missing arm as it crept forward, only to realize the arm wasn't there as if already having forgotten of the injury.

He didn't plan on giving it a chance to grow accustomed to the missing limb. It clearly wasn't sentient enoug-

A new chill rushed through him when the ground rumbled in the distance. This time having nothing to do with the creature standing before him. He looked up to the left to see chunks of snow and ice descending from the higher elevation at an alarming rate...

An avalanche.

Of course it was, he should've expected this fighting on a mountains cliffside.

This location wasn't meant to fight on, it was high enough to avoid most predators around here, but against an enemy of all natural life was asking for more trouble than the mountain could handle.

The creature, showing a sign of intelligence, glanced to the oncoming mass of rubble before returning it's fury to him.

No way. The bastard still wanted to kill them. He knew as well as it, even through a basic survival instinct, they'd both die if hit by that as it was only a couple hundred meters away and approaching faster than his breathing.

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, taking control of his hammering heart and doing his best to synchronize it with the rest of his body. His chakra flowed through his body with each inhale and exhale until his skin tingled with energy threatening to burst from his veins. The color drained from his vision and his ears decreased in sensitivity while his body cooled down dramatically.

"Absolute focus."

He channeled chakra through his blade, causing it to double in size and weight.

The flurries fell slower through his eyes. He felt the girls presence standing a few feet behind him as the beast widened it's mouth and breathed out a wall of flames towards them.

Shit.

His eyes flashed blue as he swung the enlarged blade in a downward arc straight into the ground, smashing chunks of stone forward. Simultaneously, a wave of water released from the blade, cutting through the wall of flames before crashing into the creature with a distinctive splash.

The natural reaction of heating water caused steam to billow past them. He fastestened his feet to the ground using chakra and grabbed onto the girl behind him as she shrieked from nearly being thrown off the cliff side behind them.

Now was their chance to escape and he took it without hesitation. Manipulating water chakra around his feet, he glided along the ground, covering several meters per second while taking a path dangerous close to the edge where he wouldn't risk running into the creature or a structure if any remained by this point.

The creature howled, still very much alive. It's shockwave blew the steam away from the center of the town where he intended to leave their battle unfinished for the time, of only for the sake of ensuring this girl made it away from both the avalanche and predator.

Speaking of such, the rumbling was stronger than ever, no doubt less than a minute away and counting down faster than he could run even with the side of the most versatile element in his arsenal.

The howls closed in as well, the creature absolutely relentless. It's thunderous footsteps indistinguishable from nature tumbling towards them.

They burst down the trail he'd strolled up just ten or so minutes ago, eyes focused and mind clear of any obstructions besides moving as quick as humanely possible. Yet, over the wind he felt the need to ask since the doubt in his mind was growing. Chunks of ice were flying past them and it wasn't looking good.

"What's your name?" He yelled over the wind before pulling his mask up.

"Aino!" She shouted. He spared a glance and saw she was grinning. "And you're Ajay, I've seen you before!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled, a grin of his own hidden under the mask. "You're crazy for enjoying this!" He shouted back.

"We're not gonna make it!"

"Oh yea?! Watch me!" He exclaimed, pumping more chakra into his water as they blurred past the trees and other wildlife.