Arc Two, Chapter Five: Frost
Hayato stood still as the steady breeze that signaled night's approach flew in. The boy in front of Hayato matched his steady pose. The boy was extremely fast, and if not for Kaito throwing the kunai, Hayato might not have spotted him in time to stop whatever he was planning.
Hayato felt a sting on the side of his hand, but showed no emotion in front of the enemy.
The genin had short black mildly spiky hair that was faded on the sides of his head, pronouncing the dark streak of hair that Hayato presumed to be a mohawk; a tangled strand of hair from said mohawk laying on his forehead. He had somewhat fair skin, dark-brown eyes, and had a slender frame. He donned a dark blue robe with white trimmings, short-sleeved mesh armor underneath, long dark blue shorts, yellow sandals, and a pinstripe arm warmer on his left arm. Hayato's eyes wandered to the three senbon clenched tightly between his fingers.
A senbon user, Hayato assumed. Just like that other ninja...
"Not going to say anything?" The boy mused.
Hayato said nothing and continued to observe his opponent. Soon the boy's relaxed features were tense with anger.
"Hey, bastard, I told you to say something!"
Hayato chuckled inwardly. It was clear he had horrible patience. Now that was something that could be used as an advantage.
"Suiren, get your ass out here!"
Hayato glanced towards the lake and saw the blue-haired girl that attacked them earlier land lightly on its surface. Her umbrella was gone, and she glared at Hayato evilly as she slowly walked towards the boy that called her.
"Hikaru, I think he wanted your name. Idiot."
"Well you just told it, didn't you? What's yours?"
Hayato looked at the boy name Hikaru, and the girl named Suiren. Hikaru, he guessed, was strong; Suiren was willing to run away because she was outmatched, outnumbered, or both, so why would she come back just because her ally came?
Hayato didn't take the chance to look back, but instead looked at the reflection in his kunai to see Aoi and Kaito. They were on the ground, stunned, but they had followed his request in staying back.
It seemed not responding increased his rage tenfold, because the boy was on Hayato again, hacking and slashing with his senbon like a crazed woodsman. Hayato drew a deep breath and ducked under the boy's overthrown arm. Hayato made rapid hand seals and held his hand over his mouth.
"Black Pine Style: Pinecone Torrent!" Black liquid flew out of his mouth and slammed into Hikaru's stomach, the swirling mass of darkness sending the boy flying into a tree. He stopped the technique as the girl named Suiren ran towards him. He brought a kunai out and poured chakra of the same nature as his previous techniques on it. The blade became crystalized in the black substance, the item cool to the touch as if winter had blown its frigid breath lightly on the piece of metal.
Suiren made fluid handseals and called out, "Water Style: Sprinkler Havoc!"
Water swarmed around her feet and tossed her into the air. A large bubble began forming, and as she flew higher into the air, Hayato realized she wanted to land on it. Hayato chucked the kunai at the bubble. The black projectile, sharp and swift, yet hard and heavy, stabbed the front of the bubble. The bubble burst from the back and a large amount of concentrated water shot out, the pressure so intense that it easily cut through three giant trees and continued to push onward. Suiren, still twisting in the air, hadn't noticed that the thing she planned to land on had already burst. Hayato knew full well this was an opportunity he could not pass on.
Hayato took three mighty steps before leaping into the air. He tilted his body so that his foot could land square in the girl's stomach. Then, abruptly, he was thrown back onto the ground as quickly as he had gotten in the air. Looking up incredulously, Hayato saw Hikaru grab Suiren and land smoothly on the ground. Hikaru ran his hand through his sleek black hair and made a taunting gesture with his hand. As Aoi and Kaito began to rise again, Hayato turned to glare at them when Aoi stopped him.
"Wait wait wait," She rose her hand to protest before Hayato even uttered a word, "I know you want to fight them alone, but at least let us get the girl."
"Oh?" She rose to her feet, raising her hand near her head to flip her blue hair over her shoulder, "That sounds tempting."
Hayato shook his head and made a special hand seal. "Black Pine Dome!"
He made his fingers straightly pointed and slammed his fingertips in the ground. He began to twist his hand clockwise and stopped where the clock would reach 6. Crystalized pillars of the black substance constructed a dome around his teammates and Yoshio. Shockingly, instead of Aoi lashing out, Kaito sprung up like a mushroom.
"YOU JACKASS!" He screamed through the dome-and Hayato was sure it was made soundproof-and pounded at the thing like a barbarian. "I GET AOI IN HERE, BUT I SUPPORTED YOU, ASSHOLE!"
Hayato forced himself to make a blank face and pointed at Yoshio. He turned back towards his enemies and got into a fighting stance.
"WHAT THE HELL DOES POINTING AT HIM DO? Ooooohhhh. I get it." Kaito nodded as if Hayato had given him a huge clue.
Amused, Hayato glanced his way. Hayato watched as Kaito grabbed Yoshio's unconscious body by the collar. He rose his hand and made a thumbs up at Hayato before slamming Yoshio's face in the clear rock-like material, rubbing it as if the barrier would magically disappear. Hayato sweatdropped and gave up on Kaito, focusing fully on the two individuals in front of him.
. . .
Aoi facepalmed herself so hard she thought she heard her brain rattle. She watched dumbfounded as the white-haired boy in front of her rubbed a face against the dome.
"We'll be out of here at any minute!" He muttered, grinning widely as if his plan were genius.
"You know, Kaito, I think he meant that as long as we have Yoshio, they won't be able to run away."
Kaito stopped, turned to Aoi and made a blank face equivalent to the one Hayato had given. "That's the stupidest suggestion I've ever heard."
Aoi's mouth dropped wide open as he continued. "He obviously used Yoshio's DNA to make this thing, so only Yoshio's DNA can get us out!"
Aoi stuttered to the find words for the situation. Finally, giving up, she sat in the corner and continued to watch Kaito grind the boys face against the black dome.
. . .
Ren was absolutely fed up with fighting these people. Never once have they had trouble fighting a single kid, and as soon as they got him, another one shows up? He was filled to the brim with rage, his insides boiling with anger and his fists shaking with enmity that he knew could consume him during the battle. He tried to calm down but the painful throbbing sensation in his ankle was not helping, and the baleful look plastered across his face was doing no good in hiding his intentions.
A controlled bird's head turned their way and its wings snapped open. As if its wings had rung a bell only the animals could hear, they all turned their attention specifically on Ren. 'Great', he thought, 'She's targeting me first. When I get my hands on that bitch...'
Ren was no longer looking at things in a strategic way. He wanted to find the girl controlling the animals and stop her. His hand spasmed, and the soft breeze traveling along the forest rushed faster.
The bird pushed off the tree and dived directly for the green-haired shinobi. Takehiro was already there, punching the poor creature to the ground. As it hit the ground with a hard thud, Ren saw his teammate hesitate. Emi dragged Takehiro out the way as four more birds shot from the sky like missiles.
"Don't hesitate," she yelled as she rolled over, "Hesitation is for dead idiots."
Ren shook his head. This new Emi was right. He shouldn't hesitate on mere creatures. He took a sidelong glance at the four birds whose heads were buried in a gushing amount of black sand. They were probably dead.
Which meant that they shouldn't need to hesitate. She's using defenseless animals to attack, so this is self-protection, right? This Emi was different, but different isn't always a bad thing...
He clapped his hands together and again wind went off of his body, and he felt lighter. Ren was proud of this technique he created, was even prouder of the way he was about to use it. He quickly remembered the movements to the technique his father had taught him. "Wind Style, Vaccum Gust." He sucked in a quick breath and blew wind out of his mouth as if he were whistling.
Two controlled tigers pounced on him, and he spun quickly in order to hit each of them. The wind slashed at their bellies and a muffled cry could be heard as they flew away. Almost instantly Ren felt a pang of sympathy.
"Tsk, ouch!" He blurted out as he felt a sharp sting on his palm. He looked down to his left hand and saw that his own wind had cut him. Memories came flooding back.
'Be focused when you cast this technique,' His father had scolded him the first time he tried to use it. Ren had almost hit his father and while trying to move the technique, he severely injured his left arm. 'You must be ready to cut down any target in front of you once you start this technique. If you can't handle the burden or can't control it, never use this.'
And so, the father-and-son training had stopped. Ren's father believed that if he couldn't use this, he wouldn't be able to use other wind-style techniques.
He saw Emi kick a grizzly bear high into the air, flash right above it and slam it into a herd of deer. Ren was sure she could hear the audible crack produced by the heavy beast landing on the poor animals, but Ren also saw that she didn't care, her pursuit of animals continuing. How could she be capable of this? Ren had hesitated a bit too long.
Suddenly a large salamander was on him. It swung its large tail to the left, and then Ren felt like a freight train slammed into his side. He went flying. He tried to throw his feet beneath him but the force of the blow was too great.
He managed to tap the ground with his right foot, but that only made it worse; he tripped and the world flipped, his head, his arms, his back, everything getting damaged as he rolled across the ground.
As bewildered as Ren was, he became even more rattled when he saw a gigantic snake slither its way towards him. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him until it opened its enormous mouth, its forked tongue darting out to fetch him. He rolled out the way and jumped and dodged like a rat fleeing from a hungry cat, until finally he got his bearings and jumped to a higher location.
Ren looked around and spotted the giant salamander that had flung him effortlessly across the forest floor. It had its back to Ren, and it looked like it was struggling to do something. Finally it rose its heads and Ren saw two legs sticking from its mouth. In one giant gulp, the body was gone.
Jin appeared next to Hibiki and sighed, Kaori appearing right behind him. Hibiki didn't even turn their way when he spoke, "You didn't find her?"
Jin stood straight and stretched out, letting a long yawn out. "Nope, no dice. You didn't find a place where we could rest, I'm guessing."
Hibiki still didn't look towards them, but instead let out a peaceful sigh. "Yeah, but it's mostly because some strange things have been happening in the forest."
"Ah," Jin brought out an apple he had gotten from the forest, rubbed it off on his shirt, and nibbled off of the plump round fruit, "Please tell us Scout-san, what happened?"
Kaori flopped on her bottom and began to play with the small hidden in her hood. The dog spotted Hibiki and leaped in his lap. Hibiki smiled and began to pet the dog, its tail wagging happily as Hibiki continued.
"There was some mist that was created by chakra. As quickly as it came it vanished. Then I saw an animal covered in white cloth. There was something strange about its movements. You'd think they'd be restricted, but guess what?"
Jin looked up after taking a chunk out of the apple.
"They blew up?"
Hibiki sweatdropped and muttered, "No, and as many times as you guess 'it blew up', I'm shocked you haven't realized that it will never be that something blew up."
Jin shrugged and took one last bite of the apple before tossing it over his shoulder. "One of these days I bet you it'll be it. Just you wait. But answering your question the boring way, I'm guessing it could still move?"
"Bingo."
"So what's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that someone here can control the animals by wrapping them up in some strange cloth." Hibiki glanced off into the distance, where Jin assumed he had saw the animal. "Which means that we might see this person controlling them."
Kaori took this chance to enter the conversation.
"And that means we'll be fighting them?" Kaori's voice rose with anticipation.
Hibiki turned to his teammates and blinked. "Well of course," he said, as if it were obvious, "It's only inevitable."
Takehiro cursed. Shikamaru had warned them about the exams, but what the bleeding fuck was this? He pulled out his tantÅ and parried furiously against a wave of sharp-beaked suicidal birds. He scanned the forest tirelessly for Emi but his efforts were to no avail. Each time he tried to turn his attention to look for the blond, a bird or an armadillo came close to him and he had to deflect the animal with the blade. She was somewhere lost in this carnage, and he hadn't heard anything from the girl. It was probably less of her not speaking and more of the stomping of animals that blurred out all other sounds.
Takehiro felt a cold breeze pass across his shoulder. Almost immediately he turned and saw Ren launch of a tree. His eyes were blank with what seemed to be rage and urgency. He flipped, raising his foot high before slamming it on the back of a large salamander. The controlled forest animals stirred, then they all launched themselves on the genin. His foot was stuck inside its back, so he lay defenseless against the raw force of the creatures.
Lemurs threw armadillos like balls, birds with unnaturally sharp beaks flew in like homing missiles, squirrels dashed along the wide body of the salamander in an attempt to reach the genin before the other animals tore him apart. In point blank range, Takehiro witnessed Emi appearing in a blink of the eye, shoving Ren off and shielding herself.
Emi disappeared in a mass of white, a small shriek cut off by the animals' hisses of clashing with each other.
Anger hammered in his chest like a hot spike. He unfold a paper bomb and wrapped it around his kunai. With precision aiming, he threw it three feet in front of the ball of cloth and, timing it correctly, made it explode. Animals flew in all directions. Takehiro dashed in the fresh smoke, his eyes adjusting clearly on the blond. He jumped and wrapped his arms around her, rolling on his back and jumping to a safer location. He laid her gently on the ground before turning back to the animals.
He became confused for a moment; some were still fully covered in the white cloth. But others? One part of a squirrel's cloth was torn off, revealing it's hairy brown leg, and it scurried away from the field. Animal's who's cloth was torn to reveal part of its body were magically free of the enchantment placed on them. By the time the other animals were free, about 1/4 of the animals were still around than the beginning amount.
A feminine giggle echoed in the forest.
"I got what I wanted," The girl said, "Be lucky I left you alive. Well, at least two of you." She giggled again, and then the animals departed.
Hayato was mystified by the speed of Hikaru. He clapped his hands again, kneeled and slammed them on the surface of the grass.
"Black Pine Style: Ascending Pillar!"
A black crystallized pillar jutted from the ground where Hikaru was standing-Or previously standing for that matter. Already he had moved out the way, standing a few feet from the column. Hikaru feigned amusement, lightly tapping his chin with his hand while nodding his head critically. Rather than anger, Hayato felt confusion. That speed was of a jonin's level. How was this possible? How many years has this boy been a genin? Hayato became intent on catching the raven-haired boy with the jutsu. He summoned another rising pillar, and another, each time HIkaru moving effortlessly from its range.
"Don't you think this has gone on long enough, kid?" Hikaru mocked arrogantly, "Anything you do I'll be out of the way in seconds."
Hayato rose an eyebrow at "kid" but continued to summon more. The way he used the technique consumed less chakra. He combined the soil and dirt and rocks with the pillar, the material making it easier to form the pillars without exhausting himself. Had they been fighting in the air, well, Hayato might've had a slight problem.
Hikaru, growing tired of dodging, decided to attack and charged at Hayato. He was fast, Hayato noticed, even coming at the boy. He summoned a pillar directly in front of himself.
"You've got to do better than that!" Hikaru yelled, side-stepping the pillar and swinging his foot at Hayato. Just as Hayato had wanted. He ducked beneath the kick and watched as his foot sunk in the pillar.
"What..?" Hikaru gasped. Hayato grinned and shoved the boy further in his technique, leaving only his face and leg poking out. He had purposefully made the pillar soft yet sticky, collecting on the spongiest and most viscous minerals he could gather in that short period.
Hayato rose to his feet and stared at the boy with detached amusement.
"Asshole," Hikaru spat, "Don't get cocky. You really should be paying attention to what's behind you."
Before Hayato could even turn around, something hard slapped is back and threw him forward. Mid-flip, he thrust his hand out and slammed it on the ground, stopping his roll and skidding to a halt.
Suiren had gotten Hikaru out by using a large amount of water, the pillar sinking to the ground and oozing outwards like slime on a wall. Hikaru didn't take the time to cleanse his clothes from the liquid, charging at Hayato again with a fierce look in his eyes like a tiger after its prey.
Hayato was secretly glad that his enemy was so irritable. It made his job a lot easier. He crossed his fingers together and clasped them, the ground trembling slightly as he called out, "Black Pine Style: Octo-Pillar!"
A large pillar rose, thick and large, made completely from his special technique. He separated his fingers and clapped his hands together, signaling for the technique to commence. Pillars half its size shot out of the mother pillar. Hikaru jumped onto the first one, running along its length. Another one shot out far to the left, then turned abruptly and launched itself at Hikaru. He jumped off the first to dodge the second, the Kiri-nin curving to run towards Hayato.
Hikaru came within ten feet of Hayato and the genin brought out his senbon with malicious intent. Hayato, deciding against dying, shot the last six spears out, each hitting Hikaru in point blank range.
Hayato remembered the other Kiri-nin was still there when he heard her gasp. He turned his head and saw her struggle to move.
He smiled when he realized that she stood in the liquid too long, the sticky substance keeping her stuck to the ground.
Hayato made the Ram handseal.
"Earth Style: Antwave Tremor." A wave of consuming earth made its way towards Suiren. She struggled and tried to throw herself out of the way, but she had no success. She cursed barbarously as the tide approached her.
Then, in an instant, everything got cold.
The wave was frozen, fresh mist seething from the area where Suiren was. The wave and mist obstructed Hayato's view. He stood completely bewildered as he watched the wave crumbled, the mist slowly rolling away to reveal a shape.
Hayato squinted his eyes to try and peer past the fog to see what had happened and was shocked what he saw.
As the fog dispersed, he saw Hikaru standing in front of a startled Suiren with his head down and his right arm pointed out. Frost was around their feet and his fist was covered in fresh fog. Hayato had to stop and think for a moment to realize the boy had just used ice.