Chapter 7: Mirror Opponent!
"Well I guess I'll leave you guys to it, bye now!"
Shoryu turned with a look of panic to see his idol sensei bounce away in a flash before the bladed edge of one of his own shuriken caught his attention. He swerved and managed barely to avoid the attack as his twisted clone advanced. The pair engaged in a trade of blows, each drawing both swords and matching one another with three consecutive attacks.
A brief glance to his right showed the boy that Ayako and Kazuya were busy fighting their own clones, but a glance was all he was permitted as the malevolent Shoryu leapt into a spinning strike of both weapons. The boy rolled away just in time to avoid a skewering and strung together a sequence of hand signs, noticing that the clone mirrored him a second later.
"Wind Style! Galeforce Jutsu!"
The twin's voice echoed against his own; and before the boy could re-establish control of his miniature tornado the two combined into an even larger one, sweeping up the successive shuriken they simultaneously threw in its vortex.
"Wind Style! Shuriken Sway Jutsu!"
Huh? Shoryu heard his own voice cry out as his clone employed a tactic he hadn't yet thought of. From out of the raging cyclone a windmill shuriken veered away and curved on a wide trajectory towards him.
Shoryu readied both blades and swung with all his might in an attempt to deflect the shuriken, though with its weight and rapidly spinning edges he only barely succeeded, finishing his block with a trio of cuts running across his face, arm and leg, splashing fresh to stain his sky blue outfit. Before he had time to check the damage though, the psychotic version of his own being came running through the already dimming Galeforce jutsu and launched himself towards the boy.
It was only then that Shoryu realised that his clone didn't just have the same moves; he employed the exact same style and moves he did, moving and acting just like the boy himself did in combat, meaning that as he approached, Shoryu noticed his right shoulder drop, leaving him wide open for an attack. It was a quirk he'd noticed before in his own style and had tried to fix in vain, but nevertheless it was something he could exploit from the situation.
He swerved to the side and aimed his leading blade towards the clone's right arm, breathing heavily as he prepared to tempt superstition by smashing a mirror. It was only in the last second however that he noticed something else: the clone was making for his own right arm.
Damn it! He cursed, realising the opening too late to correct it and ungracefully throwing himself out of the way, just in time to avoid the both of them cutting one another at the exact same spot.
"Air Slash Jutsu!" He cried. He let off his signature arc of bladed wind and forcing the second Shoryu to retreat to a suitable range in his dodge. The boy backed up six paces, and without delay he fanned out another windmill shuriken and hurled it on a path to his foe. Thanks to impeccable marksmanship the shuriken hit its target after swerving along an obscure current, but not before Shoryu's clone held up his own two swords in defence, receiving similar cuts that Shoryu had endured before.
This is no use. Shoryu deduced. I only notice my his flaws just as he exploits them. If this carries on we're both gonna end up cutting each other to ribbons. There has to be some way to stop him, but how? If he moves and thinks like I do then there's nothing I can come up with that he won't think of as well!
After ducking past another series of attacks Shoryu blasted off another Air Slash to keep his foe at bay. He breathed deeply and tried with all his might to think of some way out of this mess. After all, he reminded himself, he was never going to be the most athletic or physically capable of ninja – his strength lay in his mind.
Reizo had hinted before that they could pass this test expending very little chakra if they were smart, but what could he mean by that? There was no way he'd get out of this situation without expending every last drop of energy he had in him. Shoryu pondered this, and in his absent-mindedness he was almost impaled by an incoming shuriken as the clone attacked again.
Think Shoryu, you can't look bad again – you have to ace this! There has to be some kind of trick to this test; there's more than meets the eye here. What was it that sensei said again?
Shoryu thought back to what Reizo had told him just a minute ago before disappearing and leaving them on their own. The three of them were now locked in duels against themselves, oblivious to the fact that he actually watched from the trees above, waiting to see who'd figure out the secret to the test first.
'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.'
That's what he said. Pondered Shoryu, blasting out another Galeforce jutsu to keep the enemy at bay. But that's just a generic teamwork phrase, what does that have to do with anything here? How are we supposed to work together when we're just fighting ourselves?
It was only then that Shoryu's moment of eureka struck. A smile widened across his face in realising that he'd figured it out relatively quickly: He realised that Reizo had laid out no ground rules for the test - the three of them had just assumed that they were supposed to fight alone. After looking around for the surrounding white marks Shoryu slowly retreated to the line, waiting patiently for his opponent to follow him.
Eventually he did; the nightmarish clone of Shoryu himself charged at full speed with swords drawn towards the real thing, determined to engage him once again in a flurry of attacks that would no doubt end in a stalemate. Once he was within five paces however, Shoryu merely stepped backwards and over the line, prompting the clone to suddenly stop and merely glare at him in silence.
So that's it. He mused. These lines are their parameters, and once someone enters them the clones appear. Each zone can probably only generate one of them, that's why Reizo segregated us into separate areas. He wanted us to think that these are our arenas – lines that we're not supposed to cross, but he never specified anything. That means there's nothing stopping me from stepping in to Ayako's or Kazuya's zone in order to help them out.
Ayako pivoted swiftly away from an incoming bolt of blue only to fire her own back and watch a mirror dodge take place. The two simultaneously launched streaming fireworks of red towards one another, both of which were blocked by a shield of yellow. Like her, the clone seemed to suffer from a lack of chakra and incredible fatigue thanks to her previous matches.
"Red!" The girl flashed a triad of crimson firecrackers towards her foe only to see with little surprise that the clone fired the same amount back. The distorted, twisted version of the colourful girl blocked the first with the yellow before sidestepping the second and finally being struck in the leg by the third red. Half a second later the clone's attacks closed in, and it was only too late that Ayako realised that she was initiating the exact same style of defence. She watched as if in slow-motion as the third blast of coloured chakra loomed closer and closer, threatening to singe her left knee with an explosive burst before she had time to dodge.
As she squinted her eyes and braced for the pain however, the distinct sound of sprinting footsteps padded to her left, prompting her to open them just in time to get taken out at high speeds by an incoming Shoryu. She hit the ground hard - he'd tackled her out of the line of fire, though despite her gratitude Ayako looked concerned.
"Hey." Shoryu spoke plainly as he pushed himself back up to his feet. "Thought you could use some help."
Ayako shook herself out of her momentary daze as her expression warped into a scowl. "You idiot! What're you doing? Get back in your own area before Reizo-sensei catches you!"
"Relax, this is what we're supposed to do." He assured her.
"Huh?" Ayako appeared confused once again. "We're supposed to defeat our own opponents by ourselves aren't we?"
Shoryu shook his head. "Think about it: How are we supposed to defeat our own clones that have exactly the same capabilities and styles as us? It just doesn't make any sense. Reizo-sensei used those first matches to divide us and make us think we were competing against each other." The boy suddenly rolled away from a blast as the evil Ayako's blue forced him to move, with the real one tailing him as he strafed sideways away from an incoming shower of colours.
"But he never said that the same applied here." Shoryu added. "He never told us we had to stay in our areas; we just assumed it because we thought we were competing. You remember what he said before? It's a teamwork analogy – there's no way to get through this unless we work together, we're a squad after all."
"Uhh. ." Ayako began to formulate an answer as she attempted to take in all that Shoryu had said between the chaos. In her distraction a supercharged red blitzed in between the two of them, forcing her to leap back in shock whilst he rolled to safety. She put up a wall of solid yellow in order to repel a series of blues before turning to Shoryu with an expression of worry, biting her lower lip in apprehension.
"You sure about this?" She checked.
Confidently Shoryu nodded; it was a look of self-belief that she hadn't seen up until now, meaning that the boy believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was right. Ayako knew that if Shoryu was to be her teammate she had to get used to trusting him fast, and starting right away would be the best way to guarantee a healthy camaraderie. Even if he was wrong, she had to take his word for it.
"Just get me as big an opening as you can." Shoryu called. He drew swords dropped into a stance, remembering that the girl was strong at long range combat. "I'll handle the rest."
Made determined by the boy's own courage, Ayako nodded and immediately shaded a mass of colour in her hands. She clapped her hands to spark up the red and blasted away at the distorted clone. Once the mirror image sidestepped the blast she fired another consecutive blue before following up again with another red; she expended chakra as rapidly as she could to give the clone no chance to attack or defend, and its focus was dedicated so much to dodging the attacks that the swiftly approaching Shoryu went unnoticed until he was within range.
Ayako stopped her rapid shading to prevent Shoryu being caught in the crossfire, and now that he'd gotten the clone in his comfort zone she could simply watch as he lunged into a brutal slash with his first sword that shattered the yellow barrier before spinning into a flourish that finished her off with the second. Defeated, the clone vanished in a puff of smoke and allowed Ayako to breathe a sigh of relief now that the ugly, twisted version of herself had gone for good.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing!" She called over, once again making sure of the boy's certainty.
"Don't worry; let's just take care of my clone before we move onto Kazuya. Be careful though, my evil twin can be particularly vicious." He joked. "If I keep him distracted can you finish him off?"
Ayako nodded. "I think so yeah – I'm not sure how much chakra I have left though; that last one really took it out of me."
"I'll try and make it as easy as I can for you – if you can just get it with one clean shot in the back then we should be fine. Just make sure you don't miss and end up killing me."
"Hey, I'm a good shot." She laughed.
With that, Shoryu took a deep breath and calmly walked back over the white line of his original zone where the feral beast of his clone still watched him with a hungry gleam in its eye. Tackling this guy wasn't something he wanted to do again, but if it meant clearing the mission and the approval of Reizo-sensei he deemed it was the only way.
He surveyed the environment of the forest's undergrowth; it was a harsh arena to battle with – footing could be lost at any moment with the dense thickets populating the ground and the roots from several of the wide-girthed trees just waiting to snag on a trouser leg or an ankle. Whilst he was over the line he felt it smart to plan out the next few moves and know exactly where to be to give him the best advantage possible.
Eventually a ravenous, beast-like roar from the perverse looking clone prompted Shoryu to leap back over the white line with a momentum that carried through his combination of horizontal swipes. Once his blitz had finished though, the clone went back on the offensive, making Shoryu duck and weave away from several of his own attacks, watching the drop of guard in his right shoulder as he plotted his footwork back onto higher ground. He struck back with almost identical moves to his predecessor as the clone dodged with equally similar manoeuvres.
An all-out duel broke out between the two as Shoryu forgot himself and gave in to the adrenaline of the battle, something which the clone seemed to have utilised to give it the edge right from the start. He spun away from a series of low attacks before hammering back with a combination of strikes containing more strength than he knew he had. His training had paid off at least, though with the results of it beginning to show the boy lamented that he had no sparring partner to practice such techniques with and experience this rush on a daily basis.
Out of the corner of his eye Shoryu eventually spied Ayako, crouching down on the ground and shading a circle on the ground with a large amount of blue dye. After seeing her battle with Kazuya he knew what she was planning immediately, and with his strategic side back in operation he flipped backwards and let loose one of his treasured shuriken to secure distance between them. He dashed left as fast as his legs would carry him, prompting the clone to launch a pair of his Air Slash Jutsu to wound the ground uncomfortably close to his heels.
Come on, follow me! He willed. Shoryu growled in frustration once again as an incoming Galeforce Jutsu forced him to dive away from the vortex and out of the influence of its pull. Briefly he scanned around for the clone, noticing the familiar circle of blue just behind him moments before the pattering of footsteps alerted him to the mirror image incoming fast on his blindside. Swords clashed with Shoryu pivoting into a dangerously close block and re-engaging his clone with a series of blows. He jerked his knee away from a low hack of his enemy's shortsword and slowly begun to step backwards; a ruse to make his enemy think it had the upper hand.
One glance down told Shoryu that he'd crossed into the circle of blue, and once the clone followed him within its perimeters he flung himself backwards, firing his last shuriken as he did so. Just as he'd expected the clone held its position as it prepared to deflect the last of the four-bladed stars, never realising that it had walked right into a trap until the moment Ayako clapped her hands together.
"Shading Jutsu: Blue Execution!"
Upon the girl's command the circular perimeter surrounding Shoryu's clone suddenly hissed to life before branching up in the form of countless, inward facing spikes. Impaled from all sides, the twin Shoryu erupted in a puff of smoke that seeped out from his cobalt prison, leaving the real thing with a satisfied smile as he turned to Ayako.
"Nice job!" He called over.
Ayako nodded weakly and tried to force a smile back, yet before she even moved Shoryu could tell something was wrong. Suddenly she dropped to one knee, using her right hand to support her and left to clutch her chest in an attempt to stop her heavy breathing. She was out of chakra; completely drained by that last attack and unable to properly stand, as she'd accidentally dipped into her own vital life force. Shoryu ran to her side despite knowing there was little he could do to help.
"Sorry Shoryu." She gasped, steadying herself finally. "Guess that took everything out of me – I don't think I'll be able to help with Kazuya."
"It's alright." He assured. Silently he was unsure whether he'd be able to attack Kazuya's clone without backup, but he couldn't ask her to do much when she was so worn out. Even with the breaks, she'd still had two battles in a row before coming here, and both times she'd had to expend next to all of her chakra.
"You just stay here." He continued. "I've gotta make up for losing twice. I don't have much left either, but if I can just get the drop on his clone I might be able to create an opening for Kazuya." He doubted his own words after remembering how easily Kazuya had finished him before, but this time he'd be the one with the surprise.
With the double bladed sword in hand, Kazuya let fly attack after attack against his clone, only to find that in the clash's aftermath the thing retaliated with a different combination that he was all too familiar with. He'd underestimated this ninja abomination, and as such he'd received more cuts and bruises than he'd liked after taking his identical self so lightly.
Early on the two of them had found themselves at long range and had used the time to execute fifteen hand signs in order to activate their signature dojutsu. Spiral pattern eyes had blinked onto the playing field within seconds of each other, and moments later the two found themselves battling again. Since they'd thrown in the same number of hand signs, to Kazuya they fought on even terms just as before, but since the world had slowed down from the outside he knew that Shoryu and Ayako must've been watching the battle at a much quicker pace.
As Shoryu watched, the faster movements that he'd only glimpsed before reminded him heavily of Reizo's once he activated the Daimyo Raikyogan. He knew the science was very different though: Reizo sped up the reactions of his internal molecules to make himself faster, whereas Kazuya slowed down time for the outside world to make him appear faster. In the end the same effect was achieved, and Shoryu doubted he could ever keep up with these kinds of movements as he watched from outside the barrier. But he didn't have to for now - for now he just had to watch for some kind of opening.
Kazuya attacked again, whirling his bladed weapon by the handle and bringing it up with the third flourish. As he expected, the clone deftly sidestepped the move, putting Kazuya in a position to go on the offensive. He rained blow after blow upon the guard of his mirror image, clashing with four well timed attacks before hopping up and landing a powerful kick to his clone's chest.
He lunged forwards to prepare the final blow, yet before he could do so the clone sprung backwards and retreated to a medium range, at the same time firing off blasts of concentrated ice that Kazuya could only repel with those of his own making. The two took it in turns to sidestep half a dozen Cryo Blast jutsu until eventually the clone made a dash towards him; a dash Kazuya was only too happy to match. The two raced towards each other as fast as their legs would carry them, preparing for another duel at close range.
"Wind Style: Air Slash Jutsu!"
Shoryu's technique rang out in a comically deep and slowed down fashion to Kazuya's ears, but all the same a bladed arc of wind suddenly burst out from his palm by the sidelines to slash his clone deeply in the leg. As he expected, the clone lost balance and hit the ground hard. The spiral pattern of Kazuya's dojutsu faded from the clone's eyes, and once those plain green pupils looked up they met the sharpened edge of the boy's sword. Funnily enough though, Kazuya made no move to finish the imposter off.
"Finish him Kazuya! What are you playing at?"
In response Kazuya only stepped away from the downed form of his opponent and released his own dojutsu, if only to be on equal terms once again. "Stay out of this!" He ordered. "This is my fight – I'm taking him on by myself, like we're supposed to do."
"Kazuya we're supposed to work together! This is a teamwork exercise!" Shoryu insisted.
"And how is it that you know this?"
"Think about it – how else are we supposed to defeat opponents with the exact same moves and styles as us? Think back to what Reizo-sensei said before: 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts' - that's what he was talking about!"
Kazuya huffed as he allowed his clone to get back to its feet. "Even if that's the case, I don't believe in two against one. And I doubt you could handle my clone anyway, so stay out of this if you know what's good for you."
Shoryu snarled in irritation before the clone suddenly turned on him with a set of slashes made hard to follow thanks to the unorthodox weapon he used. If his dojutsu had still been active Shoryu knew he would've been history by now, but even so he was still pushed back by the more capable warrior. His shoto blade was sent flying from his left hand when an incoming kick knocked it away, leaving him at the clone's mercy once a finishing blow came swooping in.
Shoryu closed his eyes instinctively out of fright, though when his death never came he was forced to open them once more. The real Kazuya had come between them, holding up his own double-bladed sword in order to halt the attack.
"You're my opponent. . ." He muttered to the clone. "You'll fight me."
With his wishes made clear, Kazuya suddenly brought up his right leg, and before Shoryu could comprehend his motives he was kicked hard in the gut, forcing him to stagger back several paces; right over the white line and out of the zone.
Shoryu clenched his fists in frustration, cursing what an insufferable jerk Kazuya was as the two began fighting in front of him once again. He knew that the boy had no hope of actually defeating the clone, and he suspected that Kazuya knew it too; the idiot was just too stubborn to accept help thanks to those stupid ideals.
The two engaged each other once again with their signature weapons reverberating off each other at impressive speeds even without the dojutsu to accelerate them. The pair had begun to run out of chakra, and as such activating that energy-consuming ability would only drain them faster. They didn't need it to have an intense battle though; Kazuya spun in a butterfly kick to avoid the sweeping blade of his clone before whirling back into the fray and matching a mirror image of his own sword.
The clone deflected the attack with a flourish and stepped back several paces in order to fire off another four blasts of the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, making Kazuya seriously exert himself in order to survive. He matched the clone's blasts with two of his own, and with another pair incoming he sidestepped the first and vaulted from his sword into the air. In midflight however, Kazuya found himself being intercepted by the imposter, who forced him to bring up his guard quickly in order to avoid impalement.
Still lashing out at one another to no avail, the pair tumbled to the ground, and upon landing sprung to their feet to continue the exchange of blows. After another violent clash Kazuya found their blades locked together; now was his chance. If he could just overpower this twisted version of himself he could win – all he needed to do was to pour every last ounce of strength into his sword.
He did so, straining as his opponent's struggles of effort mirrored his own. Despite all his power the swords never budged an inch, refusing to move even as his arms felt about to explode with the pain. Just as he felt his strength begin to weaken however, his opponent's did too. The double edged swords still never moved from their locked position, and so in his frustration Kazuya brought up his right knee in order to break it.
At the same time though, the clone mirrored him, resulting in both smashing knees together before extending them into kicks. Kazuya felt his own foot slam into the clone's chest in the very instant that his own was hammered flat. The two recoiled; breaking the lock and staggering another five steps away from one another. Again Kazuya readied his sword to attack as his opponent mirrored, though as he moved to charge he witnessed a single blade skewer through his enemy's chest.
An unfamiliar noise to Kazuya echoed through the forest as his clone exploded in a puff of rapidly vanishing smoke. Hesitantly he checked behind him to see if the same was about to occur, only to find nothing. When he looked back however, the cause of the battle's end became apparent: Shoryu stood beyond the fleeting mist with his main sword drawn, having snuck up behind the clone and stabbed him from behind: Since he refused help, Shoryu had given it to him by force.
"You moron!" Kazuya cried, readying the double-edged sword and making for Shoryu. "I told you to stay out of it!"
Shoryu truly feared for his life upon seeing his newest teammate threateningly stalking towards him with that deadly weapon in hand. He drew his second bladed into his left hand and braced himself for defence, though with Kazuya's fifth step a shadow was suddenly cast over the boy, instinctively making him look up.
Reizo suddenly dropped down from above, grabbing Kazuya by the collar of his jacket as he landed and using the momentum to slam him to the floor. Still he kept hold of the boy's coat as he used it to pin the young samurai down, preventing him from making a move against Shoryu.
"Kazuya that has to be one of the most reckless and arrogant things I've ever seen, now what did I tell you earlier?"
Kazuya only growled in frustration as his new sensei proceeded to give him a lecture.
"How are your teammates supposed to trust you if you won't even let them be your teammates. Use your head: How did you really plan on beating an opponent with the exact same techniques, strategies and equipment as you? What, you thought if you just gave it everything you had and ignored everything else then things would turn out alright?"
"Well I guess we'll never know now will we?" Kazuya insisted, still adamant that he could've beaten the clone. "I was about to win before he showed up!"
"No Kazuya, you weren't – there's no way you could've won alone. With this attitude I'm beginning to wonder whether recruiting you was such a great idea; I'm still not sure if you're going to be a priceless asset or a useless, fatal liability to this squad, but making a threat against your team members isn't a way to get in my good books. Lose your temper against Shoryu or Ayako like that again for no reason and I'll send you right back to the academy. Are we clear?"
Several moments of awkward silence were allowed as Kazuya said nothing in reply.
"I said are we clear?" Reizo's hand was going nowhere – he wouldn't let him up until he submitted, and so Kazuya finally sighed in cooling his temper.
"Fine." He grumbled.
"Good enough." Reizo immediately released his grip on Kazuya's jacket and stood up to full height. He then turned towards Ayako's direction as the other two awkwardly followed him. "Oh and Shoryu." He added.
Shoryu looked up after sheathing both blades.
"Nice work kid – I'm surprised you figured it out so quickly."
The boy almost jumped for joy; his heart raced upon hearing such high praise from his only living icon. He'd spent the entire time since he'd acted with a fear in the back of his mind that he'd gone against the rules and had made a mistake, but now it seemed he'd worked it out correctly after all. His worries of being sent back to the academy were silenced instantly, and the whole affair only made him look forward to the next mission, knowing now that he at least was an asset to the team.
"Thank you Reizo-sensei!" He cried.
Reizo only smiled in response as the three reached Ayako, who could now just about stand after taking a short rest; previously she was able to only watch the confrontation from afar in her weakened state.
"How are you holding up?" Asked the Jonin.
"I'll be okay Reizo-sensei! This won't happen again I promise!" Assured the girl.
Shoryu contained a look of surprise; apparently this girl was just as eager to impress as he was.
"Don't worry about it – it's my fault this happened." Said Reizo. "I should've set these challenges a day apart so you had the chance to recover properly. Apparently I've still got much to learn about being your teacher, now get up on my back, I'm carrying you back to the village."
"That's really not necessary Reizo-sensei!" Insisted Ayako. "I can still walk."
"For now yeah, but you look paler than usual and I'm not letting you trek two miles uphill after exhausting all your chakra."
"But-"
"I won't take no for an answer Ayako. I'm a member of this squad too so you'll have to start trusting me too. We've all got our roles to play. Besides, I could use the exercise." Said Reizo.
.
Author's Notes: Heya guys I'm back! And not just for some occasional chapter bullshit either - I'm back for good with a brand new laptop, so expect updates regularly again.
Honestly I wasn't all that happy with this chapter purely because I'm out of practice and in my eyes it's not up to the usual standards, but it should get better in the next one and at least the preliminary missions are over and we can get into some meaty plot for the following chapters.
Speaking of which, I've made a decision about the story that'll be in the next chapter that may seem a little weird and implausible in the universe of Naruto, but I can justify it completely and it's nothing really major that will affect the plot or the integrity of this story (I hope.)
So yeah, look forward to seeing my controversial decision as well as a drawing of Kazuya two weeks from now. See you then!