Symone: A Naruto Side-Story - "The Heart Of Rain"
Chapter Fifteen: Showdown! Renji & Bankoku/ Vision Of The Bird! Symone!

A scream is heard within the woodlands as the diminishing light from the fireworks in the sky above dies out completely, leaving the night pitch black as Renji is seen screaming towards Bankoku. Bankoku stands there with his arms crossed, smirking as he watches the approaching Renji with ferocity deep within the crystalline color of his bright majestic eyes. Renji then approaches as his scream echoes deeper. "BANGAI! BANGAI! YOU KILLED BANGAI!" yelled Renji as he confronts Bankoku, sending a punch directly to the side of his face. Bankoku gets knocked back a few inches, still standing as he wobbles a bit. Renji continues his assault, repeatedly beating Bankoku in the face with his fists, still screaming out in aggression. Bankoku keeps getting pushed back as he takes the assault openly. Blood spurts out from his lips as they get busted open. Suddenly, Bankoku gets fed up as he had noticed the blood with the corner of his eyes and grabs the fists of Renji. "BASTARD!" yelled Renji as he sent a kick in to the abdomen of Bankoku as he reacts with a slight wink of the eye. Bankoku laughs for a quick second as Renji's eyes widen. Quickly, Bankoku slams his vigurous knee into the stomach of Renji. Saliva is thrown from out of his mouth as he plants himself down on his knee's as Bankoku still holds him by the fists. Renji then screams out in a furious pain, head butting Bankoku as he is then released from his grasp. Renji jumps back a bit, spitting to the side as he holds his head down, tilting his eyes upwards at the tall Bankoku. Bankoku stands a few feet from Renji as he tilts his head to the side. "If only you could of saved him! How disappointing!" said Bankoku, terribly infuriating Renji as he begins screaming, running at Bankoku again. "Ha!" yelled Renji after charging his hand back for an insanely astonishing fist to Bankoku's temple as he is then knocked across the dirt and leaves of the woodlands, spewing up blood across the ground, slamming into a tree as Renji runs forward, jumping up in to the air, flipping downwards into a high speed spiral, landing down with his feet tightly clenched together into the chest of Bankoku. the impact shakes the tree a bit as Bankoku's eyes widen, screaming out in pain. "CAN YOU FEEL IT? THE BEGINNING OF THE PAIN YOU FORCED UPON BANGAI AND MY PEOPLE! I'LL HAVE YOU FEEL IT A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!" screamed Renji as he jumps back from off of the body of Bankoku. Bankoku gets up, shaking off the pain and the leaves that had been stuck to his body. Bankoku holds out his right hand, holding it in a cupping motion as he does his trademark smirk. "Air Breaker!" yelled Bankoku as a swirling wind of blue chakra circles around his hand. Renji holds his foot back, preparing for what's to come as he watches the power circulate in the palm of his foe. "Take it!" yelled Bankoku, marching forward with his hand out towards Renji as Bankoku had then pushed Renji with his chakra infested palm, swirling upside down and back several feet, knocking him through two tree's on the way as he then rolls roughly across the leaves on the ground as his head lands in a lake. Renji stays with his head in the water of the lake as he had been terribly dazed. A few seconds had passed as he finally lifted his head up from the mucky lake. His hair drenched as the water had been seen rolling down his face, along the corner of his eyes, making it seem as if Renji had cried tears beneath the dirty water that had parched his emotional face. Bankoku suddenly appears up in a tree, stalking his foe as he watches Renji wobble to his feet, wiping the disgusting water off of his face, sliding the drenched hair that had been laid over his eyes to the side of his head, getting it out of the way. Renji walks forward a little, holding his chest where he got hit with Bankoku's Air Breaker as he holds himself up against the back of the nearest tree. "What a... jutsu" spoke Renji to himself with shock as he closes his eyes, laying his head back against the tree in a moments rest, trying to get himself together until suddenly, thuds were heard impacting the tree to his other side as he quickly realized they were kunai that were targeting him. Renji runs away as fast as he can, trying to listen to the movements of the woodlands for Bankoku's position as the rustling of leaves and branches was heard slightly from above. Renji stops, throwing himself into a pile of bushes as he discards a shuriken. Renji then throws a shuriken up in the air, alarming Bankoku as he jumps over to another tree, losing sight of Renji. Renji then realizes from the falling of the leaves of a certain tree where Bankoku was. Renji then performs a seal. "Sabaku Suna Kaze Arashi!(Desert Sand Windstorm!)" spoke Renji as sand emits from the bottle he had attached to his side as sand revolves around him. Bankoku looks down, noticing an odd formation of what he thought was dirt swarming in mid-air. Renji then holds his hand forward, increasing the speed of the swarming sand forward as it rips and cuts straight through the woodlands, dissecting tree's and collapsing everything in the sands path. Bankoku had realized the jutsu just in time as he started jumping along the tree's, getting distance from the attack. "What the hell is this?" thought Bankoku in shock as the sand slowed down, returning back to Renji's hidden location in the bushes as Bankoku flips down from the tree's, back onto the ground. "Shit! I almost had him!" thought Renji as he rolls himself further into another set of bushes hidden between two enormous stumps left from the sliced woodlands. Bankoku twiddles his thumbs, thinking for a moment, unsure about what he should do now as Renji then decides for him, spotting him as he launches the sand with his forearm forward straight at Bankoku. The sand swarms forward, directly at Bankoku as he notices it at the last second, throwing himself onto the ground, slightly being slashed by the dense sand as it then retracts back to Renji. Bankoku tries to follow the quick movements of where the sand had returned to find Renji's location, but he couldn't pull it off as the sand had moved too fast for his eyes. Renji then rolls forward again into another set of bushes along with his revolving sand. Bankoku then runs forward as fast as he can, hoping that he will end up spotting Renji before the sand came out again. Now in shock, Renji launches the sand in two different directions. Quickly, Bankoku performs a seal as he witnesses the sand approaching at a high velocity. "Kumo Baria!(Cloud Barrier!)" yelled Bankoku as with much speed, a barrier of moisture from the air had formed a shield, dropping the sand to the ground by an even more powerful density than that of the sand itself. Bankoku smirks as suddenly, from behind him, the swarm of sand that split direction with the one Bankoku had just blocked collides into his back, knocking him through the pressure of his own barrier, slicing his back and chest up as he rolls on the ground, flipping himself up with much speed as he discards a kunai, cutting the sand that had now been following him, but it came to no use as the sand kept slapping back and forth against Bankoku. "Hmm... The sand is moving at a much slower pace than before. It's as if it's controlled by a weaker force of chakra" thought Bankoku, dodging side-to-side away from the shooting sand. Bankoku then decides to start running further from the distance of Renji as the sand chases after him slower and slower... losing it's speed. "Ah! I see!" spoke Bankoku to himself, apparently figuring something out. The sand then retracts back to Renji's location with much speed again as Bankoku runs forward, attempting to follow it as Renji's eyes widen at his sharp approach. "Fuck!" yelled Renji, launching his hand forward again, throwing the sand forward as Bankoku had performed a seal yet again. "Kumo Baria!" yelled Bankoku, readmitting the dense condensated air into a shield again. Renji quickly notices the jutsu and tries to retract his sand back as fast as he can, but unfortunately half of what was left of his already diminished sand had been cut down by the pressure of the jutsu. Bankoku then takes this opportunity to bring himself forward even more as he tries to find Renji's location, progressing further than the last few times he had ran forward. "Damnit! He's gonna find me now! I can't waste any more of my sand! He's figured out that my jutsu works with chakra that I can only emanate to a certain point. He knows the chakra I expel within the sand isn't infinite and there's an end. Shit!" thought Renji as he hops out from the bushes, awaiting the running Bankoku. Bankoku then had seen Renji standing out in the middle of the cut down woodlands as he slows himself to a stop about 30 yards away from Renji. "What's the matter? Have you come to the conclusion that you've been defeated?" Bankoku spoke in question in an intimidating way. "You must be fucking kidding me. You dare talk to me like some gutter trash after the stunt you and your goons have pulled off in my village? After what you did to my best friend BANGAI? You're delusional! I will fucking gut you until your insides are filled with nothing but PAIN!" replied Renji to Bankoku's sarcastic tone. "My, my... how interesting" said Bankoku, tilting his head towards the side as him and Renji discard kunai's.

"Shit!" yelled Mikomi as he is seen being pushed back by the ninja Shouten and his discarded kunai within the dark, ninja invaded Tsunzaku. "What's wrong? Waste too much chakra by using your ridiculously boring Kage Bunshin No Jutsu? Why not use some Ninjutsu rather than your mediocre Taijutsu?" repeatedly had questioned Shouten to Mikomi with such an arrogant and smug look upon his face. "I don't think you want me to use any of my Ninjutsu just yet... because then I wouldn't be able to take you down later when I wear you out!" yelled Mikomi as he smiled insidiously towards the now serious expression of Shouten. With both of them shouting, they charge one another yet again for battle, intimidated by each other's statements.

The glow of chakra circulates very lightly on a ninja's hand as he is seen away from Mikomi's location inside Tsunzaku, running forward at Symone who had been close by. Symone see's the oncoming attack and runs at the ninja. Her hair waving back roughly in the breeze of her motion as she twists her ankle out towards the side, spinning around and sending a devastating palm thrust into the chest of the ninja, knocking him back a few feet as the chakra that seemed to have been glowing in his hand disperses. "Not a chance!" she thought as she smirked tightly with her firm lips. The ninja gets up as nine other ninja jump down from there former positions, siding with the ninja that had just gotten up after Symone's attack. Symone stared them down as she wipes what was apparently the blood of ninja's she had fought earlier from off of her cute, young face. "Now... the odds are ours!" yelled a ninja to the right as one to the left had said, "That's right... little kunoichi! You won't beat any of us again!". "So... these are just ninja I've already defeated? There's so many... and they just keep coming. This is ridiculous! What am I... what... am I supposed to do?" thinks Symone as her eyes are seen widened, glowing a glorious blue color in the finally revealed moon of the night sky as it appears from behind the clouds Shouten had help create earlier. "How... will I ever stop them?" thinks Symone as she recalls a moment with Mikomi about a year earlier...

Mikomi and Symone are seen within the woodlands of their country as they hear the cries of what seemed to sound like birds. As Mikomi and Symone pass a thick tree to their right, they see a nest hanging slightly in the tree with baby birds inside of them. As they look to the side of the nest, two adult birds are seen fighting each other, pecking at one another with their beaks. Symone's expression becomes saddened as she witnesses the fight between the birds as Mikomi notices, looking down at Symone as he smirks. "She can't even bare witness to the brutality of mere animals... yet she is striving so hard to become a ninja. She's just a lonely girl as pure as the rain" thought Mikomi as Symone begins to run towards the birds. Quickly, Symone is stopped as Mikomi had grabbed her by the back collar of her clothing. "Sensei! ...but those birds need help!" pleaded Symone as Mikomi responded, "No. Just watch. This is a fight between them. Not you. This bird is fighting the other for not just it's own life... but for the life of it's children... because if it dies, these birds will be homeless, and will never be able to survive out here. Let this Mother bird fight and watch what happens". Symone blinks, looking to Mikomi as she then turns her head back over to the birds as she watches. The Mother bird takes a bite out of the other as it falls over, bleeding. Symone's eyes get shocked as she lets out a gasp. Mikomi places his hand over her right shoulder for comfort. Quickly, the Mother bird starts pecking at the fallen bird's stomach... killing it as it's body slowly twitches it's final movements. The Mother bird then flaps over in pain to it's children and her nest, pecking at their heads gently with affection. "W-...Why?" silently spoke Symone, wondering why her Sensei had made her watch such a thing. Mikomi takes his hand, placing it on Symone's other shoulder as he turns her around, staring at her wide, watered eyes as he had said, "What were you gonna do, Symone? Seperate them? That dead bird only would of came back, or terrorized another when we weren't around. The Mother knew if she didn't fight to kill, not only will she die, but so will her children. You see... in the life of a ninja, we all tend to be placed in a situation where being forced to kill is your only option, as avoidable as it can even seem. This was the only and ultimate answer. It's a fact, not just for this Mother bird and her children, but for the way of the ninja as well. Becoming a ninja means you are a tool of death... even if your intent is for the better of mankind. It's just... what you're gonna have to expect, and always remember these words Symone... because they are much more meaningful than just a fight between two animals. You will be this Mother bird..."

"I... will be that Mother bird?" thought Symone as she appears to be looking over at the ninja of ten. Suddenly, Symone lifts her head up high with her eyes becoming filled with intensity. She looks around, noticing a few village men about eighty yards from her position fighting off ninja's with pitchforks and daggers, being thrown down and slaughtered. Symone's eyes become shocked as she witnessed one of the distant ninja's slay a man that had been begging for his life in front of his home... along with his children. "NO!" yelled Symone as she attempted to run over to the ninja's from the further distance, ignoring the ten ninja that had appeared before her just moments ago. "Where... do you think... YOU'RE GOING?" yelled one of the ten ninja as a shuriken is thrown right passed the head of Symone, stopping her as she falls back on the ground, dodging the blades of the weapon. Quickly enough, all ten ninja appear all around Symone, laughing and smiling beneath their black masked faces. "Aww... what's the matter, little girl?" asked one of the ninja's with sarcasm in his voice, as suddenly a female ninja had said, "She's sad because she won't be able to get to the people she's trying to protect. The poor girl can't seem to take that men and their families are being slaughtered by the Kumogun, ain't that right... sweety?" as her voice seemed just as sarcastic as the last. "Can I really kill? Can I really let that happen again?" thinks Symone. Quickly, a sharp image of her Mother appears in her head smiling alongside her Father... as quickly, the image of them turns to their corpses as she remembers burying them, throwing dirt over her Mother and Fathers faces with a shovel as they laid deep in the ground. Symone closes her eyes tightly, holding her hands to the sides of her head as she screams in pain from the memories. "No! I... I don't want to do this! I don't want to be a ninja! I won't kill! I won't!... I WON'T! I WON'T! I WON'T!" fiercely though Symone as her breathing becomes heavy. Symone begins panting a little, trembling as her thoughts become infuriating to bare.

Mikomi is then seen hurling a shadow windmill shuriken over at Shouten, slicing at the side of his clothing near his upper chest as Shouten had dodged Mikomi's intent to kill. Shouten then hurls a throwing knife directly at the head of Mikomi, but he easily slaps it down with his bloodline limit's chakra control. Shouten looks to him curious as to how he did that as Mikomi is seen cracking his neck, smirking as he then quickly thought, "I hope Symone knows how to handle herself okay. Without a doubt, she will eventually be forced to kill... and I just hope she doesn't let her good heart overpower her decision and end up losing her life over it. I'll never forgive myself! If... If I could just get passed this guy! If I can just use up some of my bloodline limit, i'll probably be able to get through this quickly! I need to help her!". Shouten then charges forward at Mikomi as he notices his approach, breaking his thoughts.

"Shit! I only have a quarter of my sand left!" thought Renji as the sand had retracted back into the bottle to his side as he is seen within the dark woodlands with Bankoku staring him down with a devious smile.

Battles are raging! No winners have yet been declared! The fight between Bankoku and Renji continues as Symone battles her inner demons to kill or not to kill. Meanwhile, Shouten and Mikomi come to terms, giving up all of their efforts in their battle in the next chapter of "The Heart Of Rain"!