Kumogakure Ninja
Posted: 17-08-2010
Updated 12-03-11
CH10: The Akumu Shokō
Naruto looked down at Takezo and examined his wounds. "It doesn't look good, but you're not dying."
Takezo was lying down with his bare chest exposed and his hands were bound by rope. The swordsman merely nodded. "Why are you helping me?" Takezo asked the youth. "You already have my sword, there is no need for-"
"I'm not doing this for you," Naruto said immediately. "I'm doing it for the villagers. They deserve to see the man responsible for their pain brought to justice."
"You're very much attuned to misery, aren't you boy?" Takezo asked him. "Not many shinobi would go through the same lengths you are."
"Shut up?"
"And then what, boy? What will you do when we get there?" Takezo coughed a little more blood.
"I'm no medic but I'm guessing if we don't stop the internal bleeding today, you'll probably die," Naruto changed the subject. The genin stood up at looked Takezo in the eye. "If we can patch you up, then you're coming with us to Kumo. You're going to face the consequences for attacking Kumo's allies."
Takezo chuckled and coughed. "That's fine by me... I've nothing else left to do in my life... I will face judgment for my sins as a warrior."
"Get up, we're going back to the village," Naruto said, shoving the Tsuchi Kuma in Takezo's arms. "Let's go."
"Why are you giving me back the sword? What is to stop me from killing you when I get the chance?" Takezo asked him as he got up and followed the genin, clumsily sheathing the blade with his rope bound hands. "I can still use it, even if you bind my hands."
Naruto instantly turned around and looked him in dead in the eye. "I'm giving you back your sword because I have no need for it and a part of me is hoping you'll try something stupid because If you do attack me, I'm going to kill you. And before I do, I'm going to make you wish you were never born... Now walk," the genin added by pushing Takezo in front of him.
Takezo did as the boy said. The anger radiating from the young man was not be trifled with. Takezo simply nodded and began leading the way as Naruto walked behind him with a kunai to his back.
-ooo-
Kirabi eyed the Akumu Shokō from the distance as they climbed down the submarine and stood on the dock. Seiichi, the older brother, held the two legendary swords in his hands. The younger brother, Shinji, had his hood down stood behind his brother with a disturbing smile.
From what Kirabi could see, Seiichi's wielded the Hiryū Shikon in his right hand. The hilt was pure white and intricately designed with dragon patterns. On the hilt there was a large fang of sorts. The blade's metal was pure white and seemed to be covered in scabs of ice crystals that made it glint in the sun light. The sword in Seiichi's left hand was thick and had a crude cleaver design. The hilt was dark, muddy brown with vague patterns of a woman on it. The hilt was dark purple and brown and the scabs of brown metal adorned the blade's metal.
These were the legendary blades of Takeshi Yama-Ken and Tōshirō no Shiroi, the Keikōku Kizamu and Hiryū Shikon, the legendary blades that together had created the Fishermen Islands.
"Yugito, stay frosty," Kirabi told her. "Seems like they got what they came looking for. From what the stories say, those two blades got a helluva lot power in them."
"My guard is up, sensei," Yugito replied, "So how are we going to do this?"
Kirabi grinned at her, "We gonna go up der and take dem fools out ya know? It's gonna be like, the Killa Bee is gonna-" Kirabi stopped and reached into his pouch and retrieved his notebook. "I gotta check dis," Kirabi mumbled to himself, dipping his finger in his mouth and covering the tip of his finger with ink. "I'm the Killer Bee...," Kirabi nodded to himself and start making those inexplicable sounds with his mouth again. "I'm the Killa Bee an' I'm gonna trash ya, y'all little faggots ain't got nuffin on the masta!" Kirabi made sure to shout the last bit loudly at the Akumu Shokō.
"Sensei!" Yugito hissed at the jōnin. "What are you doing? Now is no time for your ridiculous antics! We're facing A rank shinobi!"
"Pff!" Kirabi waved off her objects. "They got nuffin' on moi!"
"Moi?" Yugito repeated, "Never mind. Can we just do what we came here to do?"
"Fine, fine. I'll take care of it. You stay here," Kirabi said. The jōnin began to approach the Akumu Shokō with a friendly wave, blatantly ignoring Yugito's calls.
"For fuck's sake," Yugito said under her breath. Luckily her sensei was too far to hear her. Yugito rarely swore.
Kirabi grinned and waved as he approached the Akumu Shokō. The jōnin stopped at the dock, roughly ten feet from the infamous Nightmare Lords. "Yo!" Kirabi greeted with enthusiasm. "You the Akumu Shokō?"
Shinji stepped forward with a huge smile plastered on his face. "That's us! I'm Shinji, the younger but cuter brother! What's your name?"
"I'm Kirabi! Yotsuki Kirabi," Kirabi introduced himself.
Seiichi snarled at the jōnin. "Shinji, this man knows who we are just as well we know who he is." The elder brother stepped forward. "I know all about you, Kirabi. And I know how strong you are."
"Good," Kirabi said, his smile not faltering. "Then you know you've got two choices."
"And those are?" Shinji asked excitedly as if it were a game show.
"You can either hand over the swords and leave, or you can try to fight me and die." Kirabi still spoke with a friendly tone, but the threat was powerful nonetheless. "So what do you say, huh?"
"Well, I-" Shinji began.
"I say you die!" Seiichi shouted waving the pure white blade in his right hand at Kirabi. Instantly an ice dragon emerged from the river and crashed towards Kirabi.
Before the dragon got close enough to attack it was struck by a fat bolt of lightning that struck it down but did not completely destroy it.
"Then I guess I'll have to kill you," Kirabi said, the smile finally gone. "Raikō Jōshō!" Kirabi shouted as the lightning wrapped around him. The jōnin literally flew past the brothers and landed a powerful fist in the ice dragon, completely destroying it and sending chunks of ice everywhere.
Kirabi disappeared instantly with a Shunshin and reappeared next to Yugito.
The battle had begun.
-ooo-
Satoru walked slowly through the woods accompanied by ice tigers crafted with his blade, Nisui as he looked for his prey. Satoru held up his blade and looked at the hilt of it. The kanji for Nisui met his eye. Nisui no Shiroi was the previous owner of his blade, many generations ago.
Nisui no Shiroi was regarded as the most corrupted battle monk the Shiroi clan had ever produced. He was said to be the exact opposite of what his clan stood for. He was ruthless and violent and was said to be incredibly powerful. Only Tōshirō no Shiroi, the wielder of the legendary Hiryū Shikon, was said to have defeated him. Traditionally, the Shiroi clan did not wield blades, instead opting for staffs and naginata and swords were regarded as crude weapons. Only two aside from Satoru used swords.
The first one was Tōshirō no Shiroi. He was the clan leader of the Shiroi clan at the time of his death. He wielded the Hiryū Shikon with grace and power. The other sword wielding monk, Nisui no Shiroi envied him for his skill with the blade. One day Nisui decided to take the Hiryū Shikon and use its power for himself. The Shiroi clan leader faced him in battle, against the clan elder's wishes, and defeated Nisui. Many years after Tōshirō's death, Nisui passed away and the blade he had wielded was imparted with a piece of his soul. The clan elders had noticed and attempted to hide Nisui's blade in their sacred shrine were only the elders were allowed to enter.
At eighteen, curious and with a deep thirst for power Satoru broke into the shrine and took the blade of Nisui. Once confronted, his clan elders gave him two options; either return the blade or face exile. Satoru had chosen the blade over his people. The blade had a mysterious power that had drawn him to it. At night, when the moon was full, Satoru was able to communicate with his sword. Something that was unheard of. His blade contained a bigger portion of Nisui's soul than many thought possible. Nisui's spirit whispered tales of the legendary Hiryū Shikon and its power. Upon his exile, Satoru had traveled the world in search of the blade. And then he stumbled upon the Akumu Shokō who claimed they knew what he was after. Ever since their meeting, Satoru had served the Nightmare Lords. Satoru swore to himself he would kill them once he found the Hiryū Shikon.
A rustle of leaves caught Satoru's attention. Quickly he waved his sword and sprayed a gust of ice needles to penetrate through the tree and skewer however was behind it.
"I found you, shinobi-san," Satoru declared as he approached the tree only to find a Darui scarecrow. "Cursed shinobi!"
"Ranton! Kyokujitsu no Jutsu!"
The blinding light forced Satoru to recall his four tigers to make a protective shield around him. "Shimobashira!" Satoru shouted, blindly sending a barrage of ice needles in the direction of the voice while covering his eyes with his left arm. 'Blasted shinobi and their dirty tricks!'
"Ranton! Reizā Sākasu no Jutsu!"
A barrage of beams slipped through the trees and destroyed three of his tigers. By the shortness of the attack, Satoru came to the conclusion his Yari was still deeply logged in the shinobi's shoulder and was obstructing his jutsu. By now his arm should have be starting to cramp up and become immobile. "Hatsugoori!"
Three beams collided with the gust of ice, sending chips of ice everywhere. Satoru stood up, blinking his eyes and adjusting to the light. "You're dead, shinobi-san!" Satoru shouted. "It's only a matter of time before your arm becomes immobile and you won't be able to use jutsu anymore."
…
Darui send a last barrage of beams and began retreating further into the woods. His left arm had become heavier and the blood flow had nearly stopped. Darui whipped the sweat of his forehead. Ranton jutsu took quite a lot out of him. A minute later Darui could hear ice feline closing in on him. The jōnin saw a small river stream to his right and formed a few hand seals. "Suiton! Suijinheki!"
The ice tigers bounced of the water wall but were quick on their feet and attacked again. Darui kicked one in the chin and threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it at the other. Darui cursed under his breath. Satoru must not be far behind and this was getting tiring. Darui closed his eyes and allowed himself a short burst of Raikō Jōshō to travel a third of mile further by forward jumps. The Lightning Climb wasn't designed for this, but it was useful when you couldn't find the time or knew where you were going to pull off a Shunshin. Naturally, because it was a D rank jutsu used for climbing, Darui had to jump forward to use it effectively.
"This should do it," Darui said to himself leaning against a tree as he sat on a branch and began concentrating on his secondary element, water. The spear lodged in his arm began to dampen slowly. Darui closed his eyes to focus his concentration.
He sat there for a minute when a sudden spear of ice made Darui react and fall down the tree as he dodged and hit a couple of branches on the way down. Darui regained his bearings and stuck himself to tree. The jōnin jumped out of tree to avoid some more ice needles.
"You've got nowhere to run, shinobi-san," Satoru declared as he appeared in front of the jōnin. "I have enjoyed myself, but it's about time you die!" Satoru held up his left arm that had an ice tiger around it. "Kenshiko!"
A giant sabre tooth tiger constructed from ice sprang from the blade. It was roughly six feet tall and three feet wide with large fangs the size of Darui's forearm. Satoru simply pointed his blade at Darui and the tiger pounced on him. Darui attempted a weak, ill prepared barrage of Reizā Sākasu but it didn't so much as break a chip of its nose.
"Katon! Endan no Jutsu!" Hari shouted as he jumped out of the tree and spat a huge ball of fire roughly twice the size of the tiger.
The ball of fire collided with the ice tiger and rendered it to a hunk of melting ice. Only the hind legs remained intact but it was more than enough to disable it.
"What are you doing here?" Darui asked with a relieved smile as Shi landed next to him.
"The kid had a bad feeling and turned around so I just followed," Shi shrugged. "Looks like he was right. You were getting your ass handed to you." Shi spotted the Yari. "What the hell is that?"
Darui briefly explained what happened and told him about its regenerative nature and what he had done to stop the ice poison from spreading.
"Let me help you out with that," Shi said to him with a nod. "I'm not as good as the kid but I know a katon jutsu or two. This is gonna hurt."
Hari went through another string of seals while Shi blew a small ball of fire on a grunting Darui's shoulder.
"Katon! Karyūdan no Jutsu!" the genin shouted breathing a small dragon that charged at Satoru.
"So you're back," Satoru merely raised his sword and erected an ice wall which the dragon collided against harmlessly. "You just saved me the effort of hunting you down. Shimobashira!"
Hari rolled on his shoulders and dodged the barrage of needles. "Shi!" Hari shouted to the blond. He was no fool; he could only keep Satoru distracted for so long. Hari went through a last string of seals. He hadn't given it much practice, but now was as good as ever. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Hari scorched his mouth at the third fireball but kept up the jutsu for twelve more blasts. Hari spat some blood and threw a barrage of his last senbon at Satoru.
Satoru tapped the tiger face on his left arm with the butt of his sword and it changed into a thick arrow. "You sure are persistent pest," Satoru shot the broad arrow at Hari.
Hari quickly dodged but Satoru shot another so fast Hari barely got off with a gash in his arm. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Hari created five clones and rushed at Satoru. Being on defense wouldn't keep him alive. He wasn't anywhere near Naruto's league when it came to clone tactics but he figured Satoru could only shoot one arrow at a time and if he and his clones ran at him while shifting in positions the risk of getting hit and dying were considerably less. Hari grinned with satisfaction as Satoru impaled the clone to his far right. He was getting close, nearly close enough to attack. As Hari got closer he and his two remaining clones jumped into the air. Hari channeled chakra into fist, fully intent on doing some damage.
Just as Hari was about to attack, Satoru mimicked his grin. A split second later, Hari felt a searing pain in his arm and fell to the ground and landed in a heap at Satoru's feet.
"You foolish little boy," Satoru mocked. "I must say you Kumo shinobi are quite arrogant little creatures. Had you not even thought of observing your friend's wound before you decided to be the diversion act?" Satoru raised his sword and twirled it above Hari. "Now, you pay for your arrogance!"
"Shit!" Hari thought holding his arms up in weak attempt of defense; despite knowing it wouldn't help at all.
Satoru grinned wickedly and made a move to impale Hari to the ground but was forced to dodge a streak of lightning from Darui's free hand. The spear on his now burned shoulder had nearly disappeared completely.
Hari sighed in relief as he stood back up and reached for another kunai. It took a brief moment of concentration for it Hari to light it up in flames. "Eat this!" Hari chucked the flaming kunai at Satoru who merely deflected it and set a rush of ice in return. Hari spat a small Endan to meet the ice and jumped back, immediately regretting this rash decision. He was running low on chakra and perspiration ran down his cheek. The Karyūdan, as small as it was, was still costly and on top of that he had used the Hōsenka and the Endan twice. If it weren't for Darui, he would have been dead by now.
"Shit!" Hari pulled a quick Kawarimi to replace himself with a rock in order to avoid a rush of ice. Academy jutsu or not, the Replacement Technique just saved his life. Hari reached into his pouch and retrieved a soldier pill. Hari's face pulled into a grimace as he swallowed the disgusting pill. He instantly felt his chakra reservoir fill up again. "Katon! Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Hari spat only three balls of fire to cut down on chakra taxation.
Satoru deflected the three balls of fire and smirked. "I grow tired of you cowards. It is time to end this foolishness," Satoru's smirk turned into a twisted grin as his chakra spiked tremendously for a moment. "Kenshiko!" Satoru shouted at the top of his lungs and a giant sabre tooth tiger appeared. It was at least fifteen feet tall and seven feet wide. Its fangs were large and thick and long spikes of ice ran down its spine.
"What the fuck is that?" Hari shouted. He had to get out there. Hari quickly jumped tree to tree in an attempt to lead the tiger away from Darui and Shi. If the former could finally use his arm again he could use one of his destructive lightning jutsu to take of the tiger. Meanwhile, till Darui had fully regained use of his arm, Hari would have to keep it busy. Satoru seemed content letting it play with its food for now.
Hari jumped from a branch and turned upside down and hurled six fire coated kunai at the beast. They all bounced of its icy skin without inflicting so much as a scratch. Hari swore loudly and made a single hand seal, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four more Hari's appeared and climbed higher up the trees in the woods as they jumped from branch to branch. The tiger wasn't as intelligent as a real one, so Hari figured he couldn't notice the lack of footsteps or odour coming from the clones. Hari went through another string of hand seals for another Hōsenka barrage. "Hōsenka!" Hari and his clones all spat fifteen balls of fire each. Only fifteen of seventy-five were real but the sabre tooth couldn't tell and so it attempted to dodge all of them. While it did so, Hari took the opportunity to increase his lead on it.
Hari stopped on a thick branch and turned around as he reached into his pouch and took out three more soldier pills. This wasn't a smart move but it sure as hell beat dying. Hari went through forty-four hand seals in quick session. As Hari felt his chakra spike he took a deep breath. He was a Kumo shinobi and he would protect his comrades or die trying. "KATON! KARYŪDAN NO JUTSU!" Hari pumped all of his chakra into the jutsu and spat an enormous dragon. The dragon was so large it took Hari a full minute to produce the flames necessary. Hari couldn't see it, but down below Darui, Shi and Satoru all looked wide-eyed as the dragon roared loudly and charged down at the sabre tooth.
The sabre tooth didn't stand a chance as Hari's dragon smashed through its right shoulder and charged at Satoru. Hari refused to allow his feet buckle under the pressure.
Alarmed, Satoru quickly spun on his heels and called forth his chakra and shouted, "Hanagoori!" A dome of ice adorned with flower patterns erected itself around Satoru as the dragon got closer.
The dome proved to be useless as Hari's dragon smashed against it and met only resistance for a second or two before shattering it and enveloping Satoru in a hot torrent of flames.
Hari allowed himself a brief smile before leaning forward and plummeting to the earth from the sixty metre high tree. Before Hari met the earth a Darui coated in Raikō Jōshō appeared and caught the genin. The jōnin appeared next to Shi and handed the boy over to him.
"It's not over yet is it?" Darui asked charging his hand with lightning and burning the gash on Hari's arm. "He's still alive, isn't he?"
Shi didn't take his eyes of the burning crater in front of him. "Yes, I can still sense him and he's probably pissed."
"Good, so am I." Darui's face was void of his usual laziness. He was livid. "Make sure to keep the little powerhouse safe. That jutsu took it out of him."
Shi nodded as Darui began to walk to the crater. "Yeah. Scares ya shitless, doesn't it? The kid's probably not even thirteen yet and already he's able to use a dragon jutsu and make on as big as that."
Darui didn't reply and continued his stride. "Come out, Satoru. I know you're alive!" Darui shouted loudly to the pillar of smoke emanating from the crater. Darui activated his Raikō Jōshō allowed the lightning chakra flow over his entire body like an electric cloak. "This ends now."
"Indeed it does!" Satoru emerged from the crater with a psychotic look on his face. His ice armour had cracked and completely melted on several area of his body. "I'm going to kill him!" Satoru's voice was high pitched and full of glee. "I'm going to kill all of you!"
Darui's face hardened. "No, you're not. I'm going to kill you." Darui sprang forward, his speed enhanced greatly by the Raikō Jōshō he seemed but a blur. Earth under his feet cracked as he blasted of and attacked Satoru, landing a square punch in his face.
The blow made Satoru arch his back so far his head was nearly at his knees, but the swordsman refused to fall. "Eirō!" Satoru screamed in his now high pitched voice. "Shimobashira! Hatsugoori! Yari! Shimobashira!" Satoru shouted crazily throwing his ice attacks all over the place.
Darui dodged all of the techniques effortlessly. Satoru had gone mad with rage. Most of his attacks were carried out with sloppy waves of his sword and ended up either faltering before impact or completely missing. His Shimobashira were now more like water needles.
"Raiken!" Darui deliver a powerful lightning fist to Satoru's abdomen, forcing him lurch over and drop his sword. Darui kicked Satoru in the chin and sent him flying into the air. Darui followed him and head butted Satoru in the spine as he flew through the use of his Raikō Jōshō. "This ends now," Darui grunted as he sent Satoru plummeting to the earth with a knee in the stomach.
Satoru landed on the ground face first next to his sword and barely conscious.
Darui landed in a crouch next to him. "Now to finish this," Darui said raising his lightning fist again. "Raiken!"
"GRAWL!"
Darui was tackled and thrown into and through a couple of trees by Satoru's revived sabre tooth. It raised its head and carried Satoru and his sword with him. The tiger turned and retreated into the woods.
"Darui, you okay?" Shi shouted at his partner. "Darui!"
A moment later Darui's reply came, "Fuck!"
"He got away!" Shi said as Darui came stumbling out of the woods. "His damn tiger started working again."
Blood ran down the side of Darui's face. "We have to go after it. We can't let him get away."
Shi nodded. "Let's go!"
The jōnin turned on their Raikō Jōshō and sped after the sabre tooth tiger and Satoru.
-ooo-
Satoru writhed in pain as his sabre tooth tiger ran through the forest. Those vermin! Those filthy creatures had wounded him badly. Satoru swore he would kill every one of them once he had nursed his wounds as he cradled his broken arm. Especially that brown haired brat.
Satoru cursed himself for letting his guard down. That little bastard had broken through his shield with ease. Even his hard-as-metal ice armour had been destroyed. Satoru touched his armour with the tip of his sword and began repairing it.
The tiger carried him for ten more minutes when he heard shouting behind him. "Blast!" Satoru raised his sword and cast a rain of Shimobashira behind him. Now that he had time to calm down, his techniques were working again.
"Faster!" Satoru hissed to his creature. It complied with its wishes when Satoru stabbed it to repair its broken shoulder.
Darui and Shi quickly appeared behind Satoru. The second was carrying the child over his shoulder while dodging ice needles.
"Hatsugoori!" Satoru stood on his tigers back and aimed for the trees as the feline bounded quickly over the ground. "Shimobashira!"
As expected, the shinobi took evasive action. Darui sent a quick barrage of energy beams but his tiger dodged them with finesse. Satoru looked forward and saw a clearing and a river bed. "Yes," Satoru said in relief under his breath. Now he could escape over the water. Satoru tapped the mould on his left arm and changed its tiger face to a dolphin's.
Suddenly, just as Satoru's sabre tooth ran to the lake, a huge wall of earth erected in front of it. The tiger crashed into the wall and Satoru was sent flying over it and landed in a heap. The tiger ran to their attackers but a voice shouted, "Akkai Genshuku!"
Satoru's tiger howled as a powerful blast hit it in its face, breaking its fangs and chunks of ice from its nose. Satoru looked up to see Takezo leaning on his sword and Naruto next to him with an outstretched palm.
"Hey, I think it's the kid's teammate," Shi shouted as he and Darui stopped behind the tiger. "Hey, kid, you part of Kirabi's team? We're your back up!"
Naruto raised a hand in recognition and jumped. "Finally!" Naruto shouted with a big grin on his face, "About fucking time!"
The sabre tooth still had some fight in it and attempted to attack Naruto but Darui used a Raitoppa on it while Shi jumped over to Satoru. "Night, night!" Shi said before he kicked Satoru in the face and knocked him out. The ice tiger immediately faltered and began to fall apart.
Naruto turned to Takezo. "Why did you stop that guy? I thought you were on the same team?"
"If I'm going down, then that son of a bitch is going down with me," the swordsman grunted, clumsily sheathing his blade in his sheath.
Naruto looked at the swordsman for a moment before nodding and turning to Shi. "What happened to Hari?"
"Chakra exhaustion," Shi replied, "The kid sure did a number on that Satoru guy. I've never seen such a big dragon before."
Naruto grinned in relief while Darui bound Satoru's arms. "I hope Kirabi-sensei and Yugito took care of those bastards already. I'm getting sick of this place."
Yugito rolled under a swipe by Shinji's strange metallic claw attached to his hands. The genin did a series of backwards hand flips to avoid the next three swipes the Akumu Shokō made at her.
Yugito swore under her breath. Her opponent was sticking to taijutsu in order to prevent her from using her lightning jutsu for which she would need time to prepare. Time he wouldn't allow her. Yugito ducked under another claw swipe and back flip kicked at Shinji. To her surprise she hit him square in the chin and sent him flying.
"Raikyū!" Yugito didn't hesitate to capitalize on the momentum and charged at Shinji and slammed the ball of lightning in his chest. The lightning ball impaled Shinji's chest and burned his chest to a black, crispy residue of skin. Shinji fell on his back unconscious.
Yugito knew something was wrong. It was impossible for her to have defeated an Akumu Shokō so easily. Yugito's instinct snapped and she made a hand seal and shouted, "Kai!" Her vision became wavy and then it turned to normal; the genjutsu had been cancelled. It was a moment too late for Yugito to avoid a claw slash over her right arm.
"Oooh, what a clever girlie!" Shinji praised as if he were talking to an infant. "So quick on her feet!"
Yugito threw a barrage of shuriken at Shinji who made quick work of them by literally cutting them up into shreds of metal with his claws. Yugito shivered at the thought of Shinji actually cutting her arms up like that. Quickly, while the initiative was still hers, Yugito charged forward with a Raikyū and attempted to smash it in Shinji's face.
Shinji made a hand seal and suddenly twenty Shinji's appeared and formed a circle formation around Yugito. A snarl graced Yugito's otherwise beautiful face as she plunged her jutsu into an illusion.
"Oops! Try again!" the illusionary Shinji mocked while her hands was through his chest.
Yugito ducked under several claw swipes, not entirely sure which ones were real and which weren't. "Fine, I'll take care of this my way," Yugito declared making a hand seal and creating nine shadow clones. "Raikyū! Nibai!" Yugito and her clones shouted simultaneously, all of them carrying two Raikyū's and smashing them into twenty Shinji's. Naruto wasn't the only one who could modify a technique on the spot.
Yugito swore again. She realized this was just a set up illusion. Shinji had counted on her trying something like this and foolishly drain her chakra reservoirs. With a grim smile Yugito reckoned he hadn't counted on Kirabi's student being a jinchūriki as well.
Yugito feigned falling on her knees in faux fatigue. "Bastard," Yugito shouted, "Show yourself!"
Shinji appeared in front of her with a broad smile. "Seems like little girlie wasn't smart enough! Used up all of her chakra!" Shinji taunted leaning over Yugito with a stupid smile.
The look on his face when Yugito suddenly raised a Raikyū to his chest was priceless.
"Argh! You bitch! You tricked me!" Shinji fell back and threw of his blood stained cloak as he tended to his burning chest wound. Being on the receiving end of Yugito's Raikyū would do that to you.
"And now to take care of you once and for all," Yugito shouted going through a string of seals. Using this jutsu more than once a day was wrecking for her chakra coils, even with the Nibi's influence, but she wouldn't stand for this bastard's taunts anymore. "Raiton! Banrai no Jutsu!"
The lightning jutsu was colossal.
Yugito screamed loudly as a huge ball of lightning formed over her hands, instantly beginning to wear away her thick rubber gloves.
The Heavy Thunder lived up its name.
A huge wave of lightning, three times the size of Darui's Raitoppa, shot at Shinji whose eyes were wide in shock.
Yugito screamed in pain as she dropped to her knees and looked at her red, swollen hands that were burned so furiously the wounds were already welded close as the Heavy Thunder's roar died down. The rubber gloves had already molten and dripped of her hands. Yugito was in pain but she was sure Shinji was dead.
A minute passed when a voice said, "That... was a close one."
Yugito's eyes bulged as she looked at Shinji's approaching form with wide eyes. "Impossible!" Yugito shouted. "Impossible!"
"Oh, it's possible," Shinji held his chest. "It's very possible little girl and I'm very pissed."
Yugito stood on shaking legs, withdrawing a kunai from her holster with her right and three shuriken with her left. "How?" Yugito demanded. "How could you have possibly survived my jutsu?"
Shinji's grin was twisted and his eyes were set in a psychotic stare. Blood ran down his head and his right eye seemed permanently closed. Shinji's clothes were in tatters and his shirt hung onto his chest by rags. Shinji's right arm was blackened and bleeding. "I underestimated you, girl and you took full advantage of that," Shinji's voice was husky and filled with barely contained rage. "But now I'm going to enjoy killing you."
Yugito hurled her handful of shuriken at him to buy some time. Her body was still feeling the effects of a second Banrai. Shinji's claw cut the metal stars to ribbons as he continued his slow approach. Yugito decided to bring the fight to him and charged at him. Shinji ducked under her stab and viciously slash at her exposed stomach and drew blood.
Yugito jumped back and held her stomach in a crouch. The genin hurled her kunai thinly coated in lightning chakra at Shinji. The genjutsu user attempted to cut her projectile to ribbons but was unpleasantly surprised when her kunai pierced through his claw and left a shallow cut on his bicep.
Yugito nodded; there was her way of fighting him. Yugito got to her feet and took two kunai from her holster and held them in reversed grip as she coated them with her lightning chakra. The genin ran at Shinji and began a barrage of swipes and stabs. Shinji was hard pressed in his defense and his claws quickly began to crumble and fall apart every time he was forced to use a claw to block.
Opting for getting some distance, Shinji ducked under another swipe, jumped back and went through a string of hand seals. "Kyōkō Bakamono!" Shinji shouted loudly and a humongous monster appeared behind him.
It was tall, very tall. The most behind him was at least twenty feet tall with horns, red eyes and a large set of fangs. Its skin was green scales. The beast's head resembled somewhat that of a human, but Yugito wasn't sure.
'It's only an illusion,'Yugito repeated the mantra repeatedly. 'Illusions are mere fabrications of our mind.'
The monstrous figure roared, slime dripping down its mouth as it approached her.
"Kai!" Yugito shouted but nothing happened. "Kai!" she repeated, but again not happened.
"My genjutsu is one of the reason why we're referred to as the Akumu Shokō, girl!" Shinji's laughter was an insane cackle. "There's no way out once you are trapped!"
"Kai!" Yugito gave it one more shot knowing it wouldn't work. "Raikyū!" Yugito shouted jumping over the giant fist that smashed into the ground where she had just been. Yugito reminded herself it was all an illusion and nothing could happen to her as he ran up the monster's arm and slammed the Raikyū in its eye. Yugito wasn't very certain.
…
Meanwhile Kirabi was facing Seiichi, the older brother of the Akumu Shokō. Seiichi wielded the Shinken with apparent ease as he fought Kirabi. The Kumo jōnin had been forced to dodge a number of ice dragons and earth boars already.
"Raiken!" Kirabi stomped an earth boar in the nose and completely rendered it to rubble. "Raikō Jōshō!" Kirabi's Lightning Climb aided him in jumping over ice dragon that crashed into his position. He really should move away from the river. Dodging boars was one thing, but humongous ice dragons crashing in on him were something else.
The jōnin landed gracefully on his feet and withdrew a scroll from his one shoulder strap flak jacket. "Kai!" With a poof! Kirabi's seven blades appeared attached to their appropriate sword sheaths on his body. "We're gonna rock it now, chump!"
"Die!" Seiichi continued to wave the swords at Kirabi and creating more boars and ice dragons to attack him. Seiichi was infamously known for his monstrous chakra reservoir. The blades in his hands still felt strange. He still needed time to get used to them. "Why won't you die!"
Kirabi tackled an earth boar head on, despite being twice his size, lifted up and threw into the ice dragon. The chunk of earth smashed straight through the ice. "You ain' got nuffin' on me punk!"
A loud thunder sound distracted both fighters.
Kirabi locked to his left and saw that Yugito had already taken care of the younger brother with another shot of her new jutsu. Kirabi swelled up with pride, she sure as hell was going to be a kick ass ninja one day. Kirabi looked at Seiichi for any sign of concern for his brother. There was none. Instead, Seiichi's lips quirked into a knowing smile.
Not good. Kirabi hoped Yugito wouldn't let her guard down.
Seiichi began advancing further on the shinobi, finally moving away from the dock but staying close enough to the lake to use the ice blade. Seiichi threw of his cloak for more mobility and began to rely on the Keikōku Kizamu to cause piston to form in the ground and spit scalding hot water at the shinobi. The battleground became an actual minefield.
Kirabi back flipped several times to avoid a series of earth pistons. Once he landed on his feet, Kirabi aimed a hand at Seiichi and shot a zap of lightning. It was a slightly advanced elemental manipulation but it came in handy. The lightning zap hit its intended target, the Hiryū Shikon, and the blade's metal acted as a conduct to transfer the voltage to Seiichi. The Akumu Shokō screamed and fell to his knee. Kirabi immediately took this opportunity to jump forward by the means of Raikō Jōshō which made increase his jumps. Once he closed in on the older brother, Kirabi held out his arm and shouted, "Lariat!" The powerful blow sent Seiichi bouncing painfully over the ground and eventually crash into the lake. Kirabi had him right where he wanted. He was just about to zap the lake with lightning when he heard Yugito's blood curling scream.
"Yugito!" Kirabi turned to see Yugito on the ground and some kind of huge monster towering over her as she held her arm in pain.
-ooo-
(Minutes Earlier)
Yugito slammed the lightning ball into the monster's eye causing it to howl in anger and attempted to punch her with its other hand that wasn't lodged into the earth. Yugito gracefully jumped over the incoming strike allowing the monster to hit itself in the eye and increase its howling.
Something was wrong with this. Yugito knew this wasn't a normal genjutsu. She had little time to contemplate when she was forced to doge another powerful fist that sank into the earth behind her. "Raiton! Shuurai no Jutsu!" The lightning smashed into the ogre's chest and left a black mark on its chest but the monster's howl wasn't as loud as he had expected. Apparently its scales were strongest on its chest and weakest on its face.
Now Yugito knew something was definitely wrong. This was no illusion, but if so, then why didn't Kirabi hear the monster? He was busy keeping his eyes on his opponent but surely this thing couldn't have expected his notice.
Yugito threw a barrage of Shinji who rode the monster's shoulder in laughter. The monster moved its gigantic hand, roughly the size of Yugito herself to protect its master.
"Okay, this definitely isn't a genjutsu! That- that thing is a summon, isn't it?" Yugito scowled at Shinji. "You put on a sound proof seal somewhere, didn't you? That's why my sensei can't notice this monster!"
Shinji nodded and as if on cue four seals plastered to the earth forming a large square around them appeared. "You're a smart girl," Shinji stated. "But you're going to die."
"No chance in hell, Raigan!" Yugito trust her right index and middle finger at the summon's eye and shot a lightning bullet into the monster howled Yugito ran for of the seals on the ground and began pulling at it to disrupt the soundproof field.
Shinji grinned sinisterly. His surreptitiously placed genjutsu had the foolish girl picking at grass rather than the real seal. There were no physical seals used for this silence barrier. As his monstrous summon raised his arm Yugito abandoned her attempt to pick the seal but it was already too late. Shinji caught her in another genjutu the second she looked away from the seal and at them.
"Ibitsu Jikan Kanchi!"
Suddenly Yugito stood still and the world seemed to paused. No, it was going so slow it seemed to be standing still. Yugito closed her eyes. She knew this was a genjutsu. She knew what was happening wasn't real. She knew what-
"AAAAAAHHH!"
It hit her.
…
Kirabi stood facing the monster while Yugito lay behind him crying and nursing her broken and dislocated arm. That bastard Shinji had put up a silence barrier and when he saw his brother was about to be fried, he released the jutsu to distract Kirabi.
While Yugito cried, Kirabi had to adjust to the sight of seeing Yugito in tears. It filled him with rage.
"You've just dug your own grave," Kirabi growled at Shinji while Seiichi raised himself out of the water on a ice platform. "Both of you have."
Kirabi unsheathed his seven blades and threw them in the air while the Akumu Shokō gave him astonished looks as the blades landed in both his elbow joints, one at his left armpit, one in his mouth, one in his right neck joint, one between his stomach and one at his right leg.
"Brother, what is he doing?" Shinji asked briefly out of his psychotic rage. "What's he doing?"
"I don't know!" Seiichi said now standing on top of a earth platform.
Shinji jumped onto platform next to him while the summoned beast moved towards Kirabi. "Look at his blades, Nii-sama!"
Kirabi's blades were covered in lightning chakra. Kirabi waited for the monstrous creature to come closer before he launched himself at it in a cartwheel. Kirabi launched at such a high velocity, he cut flew past the creature and landed calmly on his only support leg while the monster's arm fell to ground with an earth moving shock. Kirabi had moved so fast and his lightning chakra was so hot the wound had already stopped bleeding as it was already cauterized.
"Brother!" Shinji hissed in concern. "I think we can take him, you go first and I blindside him with a genjutsu. Then you kill him!"
Kirabi had spun again and this time completely ripped open their summon's chest. The chest with blown open and its organ were visible as blood spurted out. The monster was so close to dying even a genin could have finished the job by now.
Seiichi nodded as he stood on the platform. "I see, I'll attack him from the right and- hiya!" Seiichi spun on his heel and impaled his younger brother with both blades. "You fool! You thought you could deceive me?" Seiichi spat venomously, viciously ripping out the blades from his brother's chest as Kirabi started at them.
Shinji's dagger fell off the earth platform Seiichi had created and his body fell before his brother's feet. Seiichi kicked the dying corpse and then suddenly felt a fierce pain in his back.
"No!" Seiichi growled as he dropped to his knees. The body in front of him disappeared. "A genjutsu... when?" Seiichi spat more blood as the blades fell out of his hands.
"Brother, you did not really think I would just let you take the blades for yourself?" Shinji said coldly as he reappeared. "You did not really think you could just pass one to the Kumo council and keep the other for yourself?" Shinji was shouting now as he picked up the Hiryū Shikon and Keikōku Kizami. "I was the one that discovered the whereabouts! I was the one who planned everything! These swords belong to ME!" Shinji shouted psychotically as he raised the blades. "Now, you die for your betrayal!"
A swift chop completely decapitated Seiichi's kneeling body. Shinji sparred it one more glance of rage and kicked it down the platform. Seiichi plummeted down the three stories high platform face first and sprawled over the floor.
Kirabi looked up at Shinji's face who murderously looked at the brother he had just murdered. "Your fate will be the same," Kirabi said. "You'll follow your brother to hell and you'll receive the ass kicking a brother is supposed to give to his younger brother."
"Brothers are over rated," Shinji stated flatly. Once again his sudden rage had disappeared. "I'm better off alone, Kirabi-san," Shinji said as he inspected the blades in his hand. Like his brother before him he wielded the Hiryū Shikon in his right and Keikōku Kizamu in his left.
Kirabi launched himself one more time into the dying monster, ripping through its skull and landing on his left leg behind it as it fell to its death. Kirabi turned around to Shinji and spat a volume of ink. It was a mere diversion. While Shinji swiftly erected a earth shield against it, Kirabi appeared behind him and ripped through the platform. It instantly began to collapse but Shinji was quick on his feet and erected another one.
"I'm not like my brother," Shinji said, "I have more knowledge and control over these blades than he ever had!" To demonstrate, Shinji went through a complex looking dance over sword waves.
The earth began to rumble and dozens of pistons began to form under Kirabi who simply dodged them. Kirabi knew he had fallen for Shinji's trap as a enormous earth dragon, roughly four stories high, emerged from the ground behind him and spat its high pressure mud canon at Kirabi. The jōnin, supporting himself on only one foot couldn't dodge on time and was blown over the land, painfully bouncing over the ground as he came to a stop with only the blade in his right hand left.
The creature made of rock spat another mud canon but Kirabi dodge it and stabbed with his sword, launching a phantom blade of lightning into the dragon. It was a direct hit and the lightning easily pulverized the dragon's head and caused it collapse.
Shinji waved the Keikōku Kizami and the earth platform became mobile and started moving toward the river. Kirabi followed suit after retrieving all of his swords and sheathing them. He quickly made a clone to take Yugito to safety.
"Time for you to die, Kirabi-san!" Shinji shouted loudly. "It ends here with the ultimate technique of Tōshirō no Shiroi," Shinji paused dramatically. "How fitting."
Kirabi felt the sudden chakra spike in Shinji as he began to scream. The jōnin knew whatever was coming next; Shinji was putting all of his chakra into it. That couldn't be good. Kirabi looked over his shoulder as saw Yugito had been carried away by his clone.
Shinji guided the earth platform to the ground and stood by the by the lake and began shouting, as he stuck the Hiryū Shikon in the lake, "Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū!"
An enormous explosion came from the lake as the biggest ice dragon Kirabi had ever seen appeared. It was at least eleven stories high. Its ice blue body glinted in the sunlight and its enormous eyes glowed yellow. The dragon was simply humongous.
"Holy shit!" Kirabi shouted too preoccupied with the enormous dragon too see Shinji visibly strain under the chakra taxation.
Shinji's eyes were bulged, his nose was starting to bleed and veins popped all over his face. "Die!"
Upon his command, the ice dragon roared and charged towards Kirabi, who seemed to be the equivalent of an ant to it.
'Okay, this is getting out of control. This things has to go!'Kirabi held up his fists in a horn sign as he began to shout, "Oh yeah! Time to let out the big bad OXTOPUS!" Kirabi's chakra spiked uncountable times as he shouted. "Henka! Nii Han!"
The Hachibi's chakra began to constrict around Kirabi. The information took less than five seconds. By the end of the transformation, Kirabi was replaced a black ox carrying a skeleton over its back. In his second version transformation, Kirabi stood hunch backed and roared. "Time to destroy!"
Kirabi opened his mouth and began to gather chakra in his mouth and roared. A dark orb of chakra appeared before his mouth and grew to the size of a melon. Once the released Hiryū Shikon came close enough Kirabi released the energy.
A huge beam of the Hachibi's chakra flew from Kirabi's mouth as he shouted. The dragon and the chakra beam collided head on. The stalemate could be heard all over Ritoru Haaku. After a minute of stalemate, Shinji's chakra began to falter and the ice dragon was blown to huge chunks of ice. The ice chunks appeared like a meteor storm as huge chunks of ice landed in the lake lodged themselves into the ground.
"No!" Shinji screamed, "No! The Hiryū Shikon! NO!" Shinji looked down upon the cracked blade with disbelieve as he continued to scream at it.
Kirabi reverted to his normal form with a sign. "It's over," Kirabi said as he approached Shinji.
"No, it's not over till I say it is!" Shinji shouted in a high pitched voice as he abandoned the ice Shinken and charged at Kirabi with the Keikōku Kizami.
Kirabi simply jabbed Shinji in the throat and instantly covered himself with his jinchūriki cloak. "Lariat!" Kirabi shouted as he ploughed Shinji over the ground. The attack was aimed for the blade and it instantly cracked as left Shinji's grasp and fell to the ground. It's cracked till it completely became dust and blew away into the wind, only its hilt remaining. The same happened to the Hiryū Shikon not a second later as Kirabi spotted ice crystal in the air.
"It's over."
Author's Notes
The final chapter of the Fishermen Islands Arc! This chapter practically wrote itself after all the wonderful and inquisitive reviews I received from you guys. A final chapter dedicated to ass kicking of the bad guys till the next arc begins that I hope to be even better!
See you next time – in the meanwhile, drop me a line or two and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
…
Jutsu Used:
(Jutsu: Suiton! Suijinheki - Water Encampment Wall!) - C rank, defensive, close range. The Water Encampment Wall Technique is a basic defensive technique that utilizes the water element. This technique requires a source of water or chakra converted to water to be executed.
(Jutsu: Kenshiko - Sabre Toothed Tiger!) - ? rank, offensive, ? range. A simple stab of Satoru's sword can create any animal he desires. Satoru carries a mould on his left hand that is in the form of the animal he is going to create. Usually, Satoru sticks to sabre toothed tiger.
(Jutsu: Raiken - Lightning Fist!) - B rank, offensive, short range. A technique passed down from teacher to student in Kumogakure. This technique requires a chakra coating around the hand before expelling lightning chakra on top of it. It's piercing power is quite destructive and it is powerful enough to go through boulders with ease. Derived jutsu: Raikyū no Jutsu (Lightning Ball).
(Jutsu: Raiton! Raikyū no Jutsu - Lightning Ball Technique!) – B rank, offensive, short range. Yugito's second original technique, in which she uses the concept of the lightning fist, but expels the chakra out of her hand and forms it into a shell.. Parent jutsu: Raiken (Lightning Fist). Derived jutsu: Raikyū Nibai (Lighting Ball Twofold).
(Jutsu: Ibitsu Jikan Kanchi - Warped Time Perception!) B rank, supplementary, short range. This jutsu will cause the opponent's mind to have warped perceptions of the world, as though time is slowing down. Inexperienced shinobi will often suffer serious injury or death at the hands of this technique as they cannot defend while stuck in this genjutsu.
(Jutsu: Bachi no Hiryū! Kagidzume no Hiryū - Divine Punishment of the Ice Dragon! Claw of the Ice Dragon!) - ? rank, offensive, long range. Tōshirō no Shiroi's strongest technique, which could only be used in conjunction with the legendary blade Hiryū no Shikon. During the feuds in the land of Sun, Tōshirō no Shiroi often used this technique to end a battle quickly. Not many techniques can counter this move and not many have lived to tell about it. The chakra taxation on this technique is extremely high and can cause instant death should it be used by one with low reserves.
(Jutsu: Henka! Nii Han - Transformation! Second Version!) ? rank, ? type, ? range. Kirabi unleashes the Hachibi's power and wraps it around him to form a miniature ox without actually releasing the Hachibi. In this version Kirabi had access to all of the Hachibi's power but the Hachibi itself is not released. While in this transformation, Kirabi carriers the skeleton of an ox on his back.
(Jutsu: Banrai – Heavy Thunder!) - A rank, offensive, long range. By gathering an enormous amount of chakra in her hands, Yugito is able to fire of a giant wave of thunder. The thunder clap that follows shortly after is the reason why Yugito named it the Banrai. Currently not much is known about this jutsu other than its destructive nature. It is close to completion at the moment.