NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
Value of Teamwork
Blades clashed loudly as Asuma made the first move, charging straight at Ryoko head-long and attacking her with a series of slashes, stabs and punches, using his custom made trench knives and his specialty behind it. His blades glowed with an aura of blue chakra, extending his blades indefinitely, and the sight of them causing Ryoko to take a more serious stance against this opponent. The red-haired woman gritted her teeth and backed away, swinging her sword and meeting Asuma's strikes blow for blue, sparks flying as the two of them exchanged blows.
After blocking a series of combinations, the two became locked in a grapple, between the other three Jonins watching for an opening to move into, Ryoko glaring directly into the eyes of Asuma and seeing the effort he was putting into this battle. However, it was this stalemate that left her open to attack from behind, and the next thing she knew was glancing behind her, and seeing the silver-haired Jonin of Team 7 flying straight at her, kunai drawn back and ready to strike. With a growl of effort, she pushed Asuma's blades off of hers and spun around, meeting Kakashi's blade with her own. The new clash of blades sent sparks flying, and after a couple of swipes and parries, Ryoko slipped her blade across Kakashi's and batted the kunai out of his hand, before sending a side-kick into his stomach and sending him hurling through the air across the lake. The blow winded Kakashi significantly, and took him a bit longer to recover while he was in mid-flight.
A hissing sound brought Ryoko's attention to her right, where she saw four snakes shooting through the air towards her, mouths agape and fangs bore. She focused her attention on them, propping her sword in her grip into a state of readiness.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Snake Hands!" Anko shouted, her attacks just inches from her opponent. However, acting quickly, Ryoko leapt upwards into the air, retreating as the four snake shadows struck the water she was standing before. Once airborne, the swordswoman put her hands together into a quick series of hand-signs, and when she landed, formed a final hand-sign, a burst of chakra radiating from her with the initiation of her jutsu.
"Water Style…
…Great Waterfall Technique!"
"What!" Ryoko's eyes widened as a huge jet of water shot up around her, and as it was shooting straight for Anko, a second jet of water shot out of nowhere and struck her's head on. The shower of water violently pulsated at the center where the two attacks met, and when it was over, the water fell back into the lake, splashing water over everyone surrounding. The red-haired swordswoman gritted her teeth and glared to her left, where she saw Kakashi Hatake standing about a hundred yards out, hands formed into the same hand sign as hers. Glancing into his eyes, she saw his Sharingan blazing furiously in its socket.
She grinned menacingly at the Jonin. "Sharingan, huh?"
"Don't get too comfortable!" a woman's yell sounded, drawing Ryoko's attention skyward, where she saw Mitarashi Anko flying directly down at her. Performing a single-hand sign in mid-fall, Anko then redirected momentum and span in mid-fall, throwing her arm across and outwards. With a loud hissing and whooshing sound, a long boa unexpectedly shot out of her sleeve and straight down at the woman. "Ninja Art: Snake Whip!"
Ryoko grinned, forming a blur of hand-signs, and in a flash, intercepted the skyward, snake strike with her own water whip, the clash of attacks causing both attacks to explode on contact in their own ways, allowing the swordswoman to leap out of other attacks from the descending elite Jonin. Performing another blur of hand-seals, Ryoko gritted her teeth and focused her next attack on the now, landing Anko.
"You first! Water Style: Water Dragon Technique!"
A roar of water and waves shot up from behind the swordswoman, and directing her attack expertly, a huge, water shaped dragon with glowing blue eyes suddenly shot out from behind her, whipped through the air at low altitude, and charged down Anko, who had just landed on the water. The purple-haired woman was unable to do anything in her state, and just as she was about to form her own hand-seals to parry the dragon, it was already upon her.
However, seemingly out of nowhere, a kunai shot straight into the dragon, and on contact, exploded. The force equalized against the technique, destroying the dragon, and setting clouds of steam, and water flying everywhere. Ryoko cursed, and glared through the thickness of the raining mists to see who had intercepted her technique. But before she could do anything, she suddenly got a strange, heavy-weight feeling, and her arms become stiff.
Glancing behind her, Ryoko saw that a tree had shot out of the water and with wet vines and branches, entangled around her and restrained her against the base. The tree quickly took shape and hardened, keeping the swordswoman in place.
"Genjutsu?" the swordswoman grumbled.
"That's right!" Kurenai exclaimed, the raven-haired woman emerging from the same tree just inches above Ryoko. The woman grinned as she glared down at her, kunai drawn and ready to strike. "Now, it's all over for you!" Huffing, Kurenai thrust her blade straight down at the swordswoman, aiming directly for her heart. She struck, impaling the girl with her weapon. The red-head coughed up blood the moment the blade made contact, and she glared hazily back up at the Jonin responsible.
"You know… this is becoming a real pain," Ryoko choked out, grinning a second later.
Kurenai's eyes widened in shock when, unexpectedly, the red-haired woman dematerialized into water, falling back into the lake on which they were fighting. Deactivating the illusion, Kurenai found herself staring at an empty space, with Anko on her knee several meters in front of her, and Kakashi and Asuma standing separately in defensive positions, having watched the attack take place from a distance.
"A water clone?" Kakashi mouthed, looking around from side-to-side, before laying his eyes on a particular area of the lake just a few meters out. Directing attention from the other Jonin, they watched as a shape suddenly began to form from the water, and within seconds, the subjugation took on color and defining edges, and soon enough, Ryoko reappeared, sword on her shoulder and a smirk on her face.
Asuma clenched his teeth and, taking up blades, charged at her. "Enough tricks!" he shouted, launching himself full-pelt at her, taking a strike. The swordswoman was prepared, twirling her sword in her grip and swiping out at Asuma's strike in a counter, knocking his attack back, and moving into attack mode herself. Soon, both of them were exchanging blows, lashing out with their weapons at each other and skipping across the water. Asuma was forced to back down at the ferocity in which this woman attacked him, soon to be joined by Kakashi.
The two Jonin then engaged Ryoko, attacking her from left to right, attempting to drive her into a corner. But the woman turned out t be a slippery opponent, and managed to break out of the engagement. Parrying their last blows, she crouched low and leapt high. Gaining height, she then directed her descent a few seconds later towards Kurenai. Spinning her sword around, she shot down at her in an attempt to land a killing strike, as the raven-haired woman prepared herself with her kunai.
Suddenly, a flash of orange caught Ryoko's attention. From left and right she glanced, where she saw two massive spheres of fire shooting at her from both sides. Kakashi and Anko had taken initiative, intent on frying her. Changing tactics, the woman brought her blade around, and spinning around in mid-air, summoned jets of water from the lake below, which spun around her, and enveloped her. In a blink of an eye, when the balls of fire struck the shield of water formed into a protective shield around the target, they exploded on contact, sending clouds of smoke and cinders everywhere. Kakashi, Anko, and everyone within range shielded their eyes at the blast waves rupturing from the epicenter of the explosion. When the fiery smoke cleared, eyes returned to the battlefield, looking up to see what had happened. Amidst the mist and fog of what had formed from the attack, the Jonin, and the audience standing on the sidelines furrowed their brows and scratched their heads in puzzlement when they saw no signs of the red headed swordswoman.
Ino shrugged. "Is that it?"
"Could be," Shikamaru mumbled.
"Where'd she go?" Choji shouted, putting his hand to her brow and looking over the lake.
"She could have been disintegrated in the explosion," Kiba stated, sniffing the air. "Hm! Her scent's still here…"
"No ninja with that kind of power could have been defeated like that," Shino murmured. "She managed to produce a shield before the Fire Ball Techniques hit her…"
"Plus, there would be remains of her all over the place," Sasuke added. "Even two Fire Ball techniques would have left traces of her physical being on the lake's surface…"
Haru curled up next to Ino, hugging her leg as she looked out onto the lake. "I-I'm scared…" Ino looked down at the girl, seeing the terrified expression on her face, and knelt down to comfort her. She patted the girl on the shoulders, soothing her softly.
"It's okay…I'm sure it's over…"
Asuma hardened his glare on the area the explosion took place, trying to pick up any trails that would indicate the woman had managed to evade the attack. However, just before any of the Jonin could figure out what had happened, the trench-knife wielding Jonin suddenly picked up the sound of water rippling behind him, and he spun around, leaping back just in time to avoid the huge blade swinging through the air. The blade grazed the knuckles of his right hand, drawing blood, with Asuma retreating to a safer distance.
Now that she had revealed herself, all Jonin refocused attention on the swordswoman. When they did, they saw that Ryoko was slouched over a little, in a staggered attempt at holding her sword up in her right hand only. On closer inspection of the young woman, the Jonin got a bit of a surprise when they saw that a lot of the left side of her body was burnt and scarred, especially her left arm. She was glaring at them hatefully, seeing them eyeing her weakened state.
After a few more seconds of inspecting their opponent, the Jonin breathed a sigh of relief, with Kakashi opening up with a mid-battle comment.
"You're beat now, youngster…" he stated, holding up his kunai a bit more. "We'll give you one last chance to surrender…"
"Please," Kurenai continued on, also brandishing a kunai threateningly. "We don't want to have to kill you…"
Ryoko huffed and puffed, catching her breath for a few more seconds, before responding to the Jonin's statements with a chuckle and a grin. "Ha… for your sake, you'd better be prepared to hold your breath…"
Asuma grinned. "I'd hold my breath if I were you, kid," he exclaimed, holding up his trench-knives defensively. However, just as he did, he suddenly felt his right hand tremble violently, before losing all feeling in it and fall to his side. The Jonin shouted in agony as his arm fell limp, and dropped his trench-knife. All the other Jonin looked over at him in surprise, as the man staggered back as his arm hung limply at his side.
"What's wrong, Asuma!" Anko shouted.
"Are you alright!" Kakashi yelled.
"M-My arm!" Asuma growled, trying to regain feeling in it. "I…I… what's happening to it?"
Ryoko grinned at him, brandishing her sword across her in a threatening manner. "Take a better look…"
In response to this, Asuma ripped the sleeve of his shirt off on his right arm with his left, and got a shocked look when he saw that his arm, once muscular and lively, was now shriveled up and dry, as if all the fluid in his arm had just vanished, leaving nothing but a shriveled up husk. He trembled as he gripped it, trying to poke and prod any feeling back into it. The Genin watching from a distance stared on in shock at what was happening.
"A-Asuma-sensei!" Choji shouted.
"What's happened to his arm!?" Kiba also yelled in shock.
"Ah… that's not good!" Sasuke commented.
"What did you do to his arm, you bitch?" Kurenai yelled, raising her kunai to her side, readying to strike, or throw it at her from a distance.
Ryoko chuckled, as she tapped the defensive side of her sword against her left side, agitating the group with her cocky attitude, in spite of her own injuries, and the seriousness of her predicament.
"My sword, Aries, doesn't just cut my opponents, or slice through objects, but also has the definitive ability to drain people of their bodily fluids on contact, for a temporary period of time till their body is re-acquainted with water. Your arm will be useless for the next hour or so till it can start functioning properly," Ryoko exclaimed, much to the shock of the other Jonin. "There is also an added catch. I can reimburse whatever fluid and essence the sword is able to draw from its target, and replenish my own body with it, including healing wounds, and boosting my chakra level!"
"What!" Anko shouted.
Right there and there, the red haired enemy ninja swished her sword through the air, and sheathed it onto her back. Within seconds upon doing this, and extending her arms outward, the groups watching, saw to their shock and dismay, as the young warrior's wounds began to heal. The burn marks crinkled and disappeared, as if the skin were introduced to a new source of life, healing and returning to their normal, untouched textures. Her skin soon became flawless, and the young swordswoman looked as though she was as good as new.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the woman grinned back down at the four Jonin and smirked.
"Ahh… that's better!" Ryoko exclaimed, reaching up to her sword's handle again. "So… where were we?"
Just as the Four Jonin were assuming fighting stances again, tremors in the water in front of each of them caught their attention, and before any of them could do anything, jet-streams of water shot out and curled around each of them like tentacles, before dragging each of them under, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Anko. Ryoko grinned badly, hands formed into a bird hand seal and chakra pulsating out from her. She knelt down and placed her hands on the water, looking up to watch the show.
"Secret Ninja Art: Water Hurricane Technique!" she yelled.
In an instant, the water of the lake stretching at a radius of three-hundred meters suddenly began to rotate and spin, like it was going down a drain in a clock-wise direction. Within seconds, that circle of water spinning on the surface, and clearly below water, suddenly shot straight into the air at the edges it was cut, into a gigantic water-spout. The Genin on the shoreline backed away in terror, as they looked upon the massive water tornado like technique, spinning at intense speeds and whipping through the air wildly, while stretching high into the clouds. The very techniques caused winds to whip violently across the land for a kilometer in every direction, nearly knocking the group on the shore over.
The water spout continued whipping and spinning for a minute or so, before suddenly dissipating, the water immediately falling back into the lake. From it, it spat out the four Jonin, throwing them back onto the land violently. Each of the Jonin landed in separate places. Kakashi was thrown violently into the tree Ryoko was hiding in, literally breaking through thick branches before crashing into the ground. Anko bounced across the lake's surface repeatedly like a thrown stone and came to a crashed face-plant into the sandy shoreline. Asuma just fell from the sky and landed painfully, forming a person shaped, shallow crater in the ground on the far left side of the Genin group's position, and Kurenai skidded along the ground, tumbling and rolling before coming to a stop in front of Sasuke, Shino and everybody else.
When the wall of water finally returned to the lake completely, the Genin teams could get a clear view of Ryoko, the rogue swordswoman, now glaring at them with a big smile on her face. Seeing her path cleared, and the Jonin thrown out of her way, either knocked out or staggered in a way, she brushed her arms down, and then began to walk across the lake towards the group casually. The Genin backed away in fear, taking up defensive stances.
"No need to fret, I just want the mistress…" Ryoko said, pointing towards the carriage. "Hand her over!"
In that instant, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino and Ino leapt in front of the carriage, dropped into an opposing, defensive line, each assumed into their own unique fighting stances. Ryoko immediately stopped strolling across the lake, just meters away from the shoreline as she watched the Genin take up defense of the carriage, save for little Haru, hiding behind the Jiao itself.
The red haired swordswoman grinned and reached up for her sword's handle on her back, an eerie breeze blowing between her and the Genin, each of them glaring her down furiously and nervously. They were unable to hold in the heads of sweat forming on their faces, as they had just witnessed this woman bring down four Jonin with a single move, and from the looks of it, permanently.
"Heh… are you sure you kids want to ride this train?"
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" a loud calling of a technique called from Shikamaru, standing on the far right of the group. Immediately, the shadow at his feet morphed and took shape, a stream of black shooting across the ground and straight towards the swordswoman. Ryoko shot the attack approaching her, a look, furrowing her brow as it gained ground on her.
Bringing her sword around, she swiped it through the air before bringing it around, ready to strike.
"Too easy…"
It was then Ryoko suddenly heard a whooshing sound, and she looked back towards the Genin amassed near the Jiao, where she saw a barrage of kunai flying in her direction. Gritting her teeth, the woman changed stances and, with a quick weight distribution changed, swung her blade through the air, swiftly knocking aside the barrage of kunai and shuriken flying at her. Cursing, she skipped back across the water to avoid the tentacle shadow extending towards her across the lake.
"You brats!" she growled, stopping some further distance away, just as Shikamaru's shadow reached its distance limit, and stopped. "Don't make this harder then it already is!"
She took another stance, but then looked up sharply, to see a Fuuma Shuriken hooking through the air above her, before shooting straight down at her, really fast. Ryoko grinned and side-stepped, avoiding the shuriken as it hooked down, and flew right past her from in front. However, the moment she stepped to avoid the massive, spinning weapon, her eyes caught the sight of a paper tag attached to one of the blades. Just as she was turning to jump away, the weapon exploded in a fiery, smoky cloud, engulfing the woman in a burning, blinding sensation.
Kiba grinned and threw a fist in the air. "Boo-yeah! Take that, bitch!" he shouted.
"That should have gotten her," Choji exclaimed.
The smoke cleared soon thereafter, and the Genin held their breath as they watched the cloud dissipate, only to discover to their dismay, Ryoko standing within the thin mists, hands held together in a recognizable hand seal, and the water around her rippling violently, indicating she had used a Water Wall Technique the moment before the explosion engulfed her. The red-haired woman gritted her teeth angrily as she glared directly at the Genin standing around her 'prize'.
"That's it! I've had it!" she growled, drawing her sword with a heavy swipe. "You're mincemeat you brats!" With a roar, she charged, sprinting across the lake straight towards them.
The moment her feet touched the soil, the Genin immediately took action. Sasuke ran forward to meet the woman half-way, kunai drawn. Running across open ground, he engaged her, the swordswoman striking out first, the raven haired Genin striking back, his blade meeting hers with a loud clang. Using the opposing force of his blade against hers, he cart wheeled over her sword as it slashed through the air, landing behind her and lashing out. Ryoko pivoted, meeting his next strike with a parry, and a couple more strikes she avoided from left to right, before kicking the Genin away. All the while, Sasuke tried to avoid making direct contact with her sword, knowing its abilities.
Winded, Sasuke skidded along the ground, digging the kunai he held in his right hand into the earth to slow his skid. He gripped his stomach and hissed, biting back the pain from the blow. Meanwhile, Kiba engaged the woman, coming in from her right. Sprinting low, the canine bearing by was really fast, thanks to his style of fighting taught to him, and when he was within range, twisted his body in mid-sprint, before exploding into a furry of movement, forming a visible drill as he hurled himself at his opponent. Ryoko gritted her teeth when she saw the horizontal moving tornado flying at her, and she brought her blade around to defend herself.
"Piercing Fang Technique!" Kiba roared, kipping up dust as he shot straight at the woman.
Yelling, Ryoko swiped out at her attacker, her blade making contact, sparks flying as Kiba's claws and technique fought back. However, with the woman's strength outmatching his own, and the blade cutting into his own technique, Kiba was thrown off, and the whirling drill was sent flying skywards, the red-haired swordswoman watching with a snarl.
"Ha! Take tha…"
"Duel Piercing Fang Technique!" Kiba shouted, while airborne, adjusting his position. Just as he did so, a second Kiba shot out from behind him, and both of them shot straight down at Ryoko, both spinning at a high velocity, forming two drill-tornado formations. The swordswoman, caught off guard, leapt back, just as the two Genin copies flew straight down at her, carving fine lines into the solid ground. She skidded to a halt, just meters away from where the two drills crossed paths, and surely would have decimated her.
Growling, the woman looked up, just in time to see a barrage of shuriken thrown by one, Ino Yamanaka flying at her. "Oh, come on!" she shouted, swinging her sword around and blocking each individual projectile, spinning on the spot, and swiping a cluster of them in mid-fall after blocking them. "These attacks are only prolonging the inevitable!" Ryoko yelled, immediately throwing the shuriken back at the blonde.
Ino took up a kunai, and blocked the barrage, only to get scarred by one or two she misplaced in her line of sights. Just as Ryoko was relaxing from her post-shuriken thrown stance, a shadow appeared around her and grew in size, causing the woman to look up. She saw to her shock, a green ball covering in kunai spinning towards her from above. The attacker was none other than Choji, having seen the opportunity to attack the moment she stepped onto land. The woman frowned and was about to move aside to avoid, only to find that she couldn't. Gritting her teeth, she looked down at her feet, tugging at her legs to get them to move, only to find that movement was not in her body's idea.
"Shit!" she cursed, looking up slightly to see a line of shadow attached to her own. She followed it up to a boy, kneeling beside the blonde haired girl that had attacked her earlier, hands locked into a hand sign. She gritted her teeth, struggling to move against the boy's Shadow Possession Technique. But before the swordswoman could take any action, Choji was already upon her, and in an earth shattering bang, was crushed beneath the spinning death-ball, crushing her into the ground, hurling up dust, debris and earth.
"Bulls-eye!" Shikamaru said with a grin.
Ino gave the peace-sign, watching as Choji buried the woman into the ground and rip her to shreds with his technique. "Ino-Shika-Cho Trio, successful, baby!"
"Nice!" Kiba shouted from the far right, still assumed into a fighting stance after just recovering from his missed shot at attacking Ryoko with the Duel Piercing Fang technique.
When the dust cleared, Choji could be seen sitting in the attack-made crater, sitting on his behind and panting from the effort of the technique. He wiped his forehead protector, looking up at the sky. "Man! That took a lot out of me from having to move that fast!"
"Good one Choji!" Shikamaru shouted.
Just as Choji was looking back to give his friends the thumbs up, a hand suddenly shot out of the ground, latching around his neck, followed by the body that then held him above the ground. Much to the surprise and disbelief at everybody standing around the scene, they watched as the red-haired enemy reappeared, dirty covered, clothes shredded, bruised, but ultimately still alive, and fighting fit. Shocked, the orange haired boy let out a startled, strangled yelp, as the now pissed-off Ryoko held him above the ground and glared, grip tightening around the boy's neck.
Choji gripped her wrist, kicking and pounding at her to let him go, but to no avail. She just throttled him, gritting her teeth angrily as she looked upon the boy's frightened face.
"That's it! No more games! I'm killing all of you, starting with…oof!" Ryoko began to yell, but just as she was about to finish, as well as perform a finishing move on Choji, she was suddenly blind-sighted by the kick sent to the side of her face from one, Sasuke Uchiha. The blow caused her to see stars for a moment, and she was thrown to the side, causing her to drop the boy she held by the wind-pipe.
Stumbling out of the crater, the woman took a stance, and watched as Sasuke came to the defense of his comrade.
"Damn it!" Ryoko hissed, blood suddenly starting to leak out of the corner of her lips. "These troublesome brats, that last technique took a lot of chakra out of me. I only have enough to last me ten more minutes! I have to finish this quick!"
Just as she was about to attack again, a blur caught her attention, and she leaned back in time to avoid a kunai. Just then, she caught the sound of loud buzzing noise, and looked to her right to see a cloud of bugs flying towards her. The cloud took shape, and formed into a giant, bat like creature, and it swooped down at her. The swordswoman slashed out with her sword, but seeing it cut through the swarm of insects without much effect, leapt back to avoid it charging at her. Amidst the Genin defending the Jiao, Shino could be seen commanding the insects expertly, hands outstretched, and little beetles crawling along his arms and face.
The cloud of insects moved again, spreading out to cover their range, swarming the young woman. Ryoko, retreating to the edge of the lake, sheathed her sword and quickly formed a series of hand seals. The insects charged her down, intent on catching her before she finished. But the swordswoman was too fast.
"Water Release: Water Encampment Wall Technique!" Ryoko shouted, and jets of water rose up and surrounded her.
The kikaichu bugs, their route blocked, branched out and retreated, not wanting to get wet. However, with the water wall in place, and protecting the swordswoman, gave Sasuke the opportunity to form his next attack. Performing a series of hand signs, Sasuke readied himself, and just as he was about to finish, he felt a hand placed on his back, and he looked behind him. There, he saw Naruto standing, bruised, bleeding from various wounds, especially the corners of his lips, and standing limply. As bad a shape he was win, Sasuke was shocked he was able to stay on his feet.
The blonde grinned at him. "Go for it!"
Nodding in understanding, Sasuke glared ahead of him, and formed the last hand seal.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke shouted, and with a great exhale of air, a humungous ball of fire shot out, one far greater then the Uchiha himself could create on his own. With Naruto adding his own element to Sasuke's technique, increased its potency a many times over. So much so, that it cut a huge channel in the soil and lake as it sped towards its target.
Ryoko's water defense technique dissipated just as Sasuke fired his own technique directly at her, and the red-haired swordswoman got quite a start when she saw the wall of fire charging her down. Startled, she reacted quickly, forming another series of hand seals, and defended against the Wind enhanced fire ball technique.
"Secret Ninja Art: Water Hurricane Technique!" Ryoko shouted, clasping her hands together into a hand-sign. That instant, with her eyesight and focus guiding the trajectory of her technique, the water in the path of the Grand Fireball Technique splashed and lashed around violently, before a massive waterspout shot out of the lake, meeting Sasuke's technique head on. The two techniques clashed in a violent storm of fiery orange heat, steam and clashing waves, as the two techniques both canceled each other out. Within seconds, both attacks began to dissipate.
While focusing on blocking out the fireball technique, Ryoko failed to notice the shadow approaching her from behind. That was until she saw the reflection in the water at her feet, and the young swordswoman looked up behind her in surprise. She saw the pink haired Genin that had attacked her before, descending from the skies above, fist cranked back, and glowing with blue chakra. Cursing, knowing that she was too caught up in canceling her technique, while defending against the fireball attack, had to move in order to block Sakura's incoming punch.
The young Genin let out a roar, and threw her fist forward, hoping to hit her target in the head. However, all she did was hit the side of Ryoko's sheathed sword on her back, the attack resounding with a loud clang, throwing both combatants flying. Ryoko spun and stumbled across the water, knocked off balance, whereas Sakura was hurled across the lake, surprised at the equalized forced her punch met. At that moment, both the Hurricane Technique, and the Grand Fireball Technique canceled out, leaving a very weary Sasuke standing on the shorelines.
Ryoko regained her balance, and made a grab for her sword. Her vision blurred, and she felt a little light-headed, and she figured it was either from the horse-kick like blow she received in the back, or the lack of chakra. Whatever the case, she was on her last legs.
"Darn you!" she shouted, unable to finish her statement, when another blur shot out from the water and steam falling back into the lake from her used up technique. Her attention changed, and she barely managed to avoid the lightning fast strikes of her attacker, which turned out to be a renewed Hinata. The young Hyuuga lashed out with a fury Ryoko was not prepared for, and the red-haired swordswoman had a lot of trouble blocking the blows before she was able to retreat safely.
Blocking Hinata's last palm strike with the edge of her sword, Ryoko hopped back across the water, now in defense mode, and unable to return any of these new attacks with her ninjutsu. She growled and shook her head, attempting to maintain consciousness.
"When I get my hands on you, you're all dead!"
"I'd like to see that!" Another shout sounded from behind her, and Ryoko looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened when she saw the spiky haired blonde from before flying at her from just a few feet out, right arm outstretched and holding what looked like a blue ball of pure energy, pulsating and spinning with unbelievable energy. The clone that was helping to give the technique spin vanished the moment it was completed, and when it was, the swordswoman saw that it was the size of a basketball. Ryoko gritted her teeth, and brought her sword around to attack. "Hope you're ready!"
"No!" Ryoko growled slicing out at the descending boy with her blade. However, with a change in direction, Naruto ducked underneath it, and landed on the lake. This put him right inside of the woman's defenses and striking range, but she had left herself completely open with that last strike. He pulled back, ready to attack.
However, he stopped himself, the very moment he looked into Ryoko's eyes.
What he saw, he saw not only shock, awe and disbelief, but he also saw fear; the same fear he had experienced many times over when he was younger, when attacked by someone intent on harm. That segment of a second gave him a clear view of what his opponent had experienced in her own past life, reflected in her eyes. He didn't know how to explain it at first, but he knew he just couldn't bring himself to kill her, not yet. Killing wasn't foreign to him, but in this case, he opted for a different approach.
At the last second, Naruto changed the flow of chakra to his arm. The blue sphere that was easily recognizable as the Rasengan suddenly shattered like glass, chakra shards flying out of his palm, and disintegrating into what looked like flakes of snow that began to whirl around a disfigured version of the Rasengan. This version was much smaller than his Odama Rasengan and resembled a small whirlpool or tornado in his very palm.
"Wind Release: Broken Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, thrusting the attack into Ryoko's stomach. The attack was designed to reduce the effects of damage, and as soon as it made contact with the swordswoman, it erupted with a force that looked like it could kill. The young warrior let out a cry of agony, as cutting winds erupted around her, and within seconds, threw her off her feet, sending her spinning at a high velocity across the lake.
The Genin watching gaped in shock, especially Sasuke, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino, who had never seen this technique before. Even Kakashi and Kurenai, who had begun to regain their senses and were back on their feet, watched in shock. From behind the Jiao, Haru could see everything, and she was in awe at the true power displayed. The attack made excellent distance, cutting a nice channel into the lake as the enemy ninja was sent packing. After the first few seconds of flight, Ryoko was sent all the way to the other side of the lake. She skipped across the lake like a stone, before crashing into the cliff-face next to the waterfall on the far end. The impact was tremendous, dust, debris and earth flying everywhere.
As the rubble caved in around the impact spot, everyone knew that it was over…
TO BE CONTINUED…