Chapter 10: Mission Complete!
Joining Shoryu on the ground, both Ayako and Kazuya both dropped to the floor as a hemispherical dome suddenly sprouted up from the earth itself and encased the trio in a solid wall of metre-thick rock. As total darkness quickly found the teens, Shoryu and Kazuya were oblivious to the quick series of hand signs Ayako swiftly pulled off until a vivid shade of red found her palms.
The girl painted the floor at their centre with a circle of maroon before clapping her hands to light up the slow-burning firework – the same technique she'd used to fool Kazuya.
"Sensei!" Shoryu's fist hit the solid wall. Pressing his ear up against it, the boy could faintly hear the distant clash of steel as Reizo fought outside. "Sensei!"
"Save your energy," muttered Ayako. "He put us inside here to protect us from whatever is out there. We're inexperienced Genin so there isn't much we can do."
"That doesn't mean we can just sit around here and do nothing – we have to help him out!" insisted Shoryu. As much as his every instinct told him to stay put and let Reizo handle everything he still felt compelled to assist his teacher.
Kazuya nodded and drew his sword. "For once I agree," he said.
With just a simple flick of his wrist Reizo's extendable spear had been drawn and flared out to full size in order to match the oncoming slash of an enemy ninja leaping from the trees at full speed. Gracefully he spun the knife from the hands of his foe and pivoted into a lunge as both his eyes the markings on his arms warped to an electric blue surge. Reizo drove the full length of his spear through the ninja's heart, coating his metallic pole in a crimson finish of blood before the being exploded in a puff of smoke.
Shadow Clones? He wondered to himself. But clones don't bleed like that – I could've sworn he was a real person. The Jonin's thoughts were then interrupted by a second ninja, this one leaner and fairer of hair, rushing him for a sneak attack from behind. Turning to meet his foe with a fistful of electricity, Reizo blasted the man with over a thousand volts, frying him to a crisp before he too erupted in a burst of smoke.
He was a clone too?
Having finally acquired a moment, Reizo used his time to scan the area and count the amount of enemies. Whilst he'd been dealing with the first two, another dozen had poured out onto the road before him. They made no move to attack him immediately, so Reizo stopped to memorise their faces and body types to see what exactly was going on. Though most of their faces were obscured by scarves and masks, he could tell in a heartbeat that each of them were different people. The most interesting feature however was the headbands each of them wore: the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Stone.
So are these all clones as well? If so then there must be a whole squadron lurking in the forest; but then again it's improbable that a whole group would know a technique like Shadow Clones. Just what's going on here? Am I under genjutsu? No – I would've felt it.
One of the ninja stepped forward, a larger man garbed in a full set of body armour. "Reizo of the Zawa clan; Jonin of the Village Hidden in the Clouds," he presumed.
"Well if you're after an autograph then this is a pretty poor way to ask me," joked the man.
"Hn." The enemy leader grinned. "Funny. But you are outnumbered here; just give us what we came for and you may leave with your life and the lives of your students. We wish to avoid any more fatalities – just give us the egg and you may go free."
What? Reizo managed to hide a look of shock thanks to his wildly jolting eyes preventing any display of emotion. They're after that old thing? But this mission is a joke isn't it? Could that thing actually be real? Whether it is or not, they at least seem to think it is. But what did he mean by fatalities? I only took out a pair of clones.
"That's an interesting proposition, I'll admit," Reizo finally answered, twirling around the spear absently with his fingers. "But allow me to make a counter." With that, the Jonin suddenly raised his free hand, mimicking the shape of a gun using his thumb and first finger. Concentrated lightning flowed to the very tip of his finger, and after cracking for a few seconds Reizo let off a deadly variant of his Lightning Javelin technique.
As fast as any bullet, Reizo's jet of thunder bridged the gap between the two instantly, piercing a perfect hole right between the eyes of the leading ninja. If he'd been a real person he would've felt the instant shock of an electric chair race through his nervous system in the moment before he died, but since he simply blew into a puff of smoke, Reizo doubted that he did.
That settles it – they all must be clones. He told himself. For a few moments the squadron stared blankly at the spot where their leader had fallen before suddenly rushing in to attack the man, who stood poised and ready to take on a whole force by himself. Swiftly Reizo spun from his right foot at the sight of a rogue ninja sprinting towards him. He met the clone with only the haft of his spear, connecting straight with the man's forehead to make him flip backwards to the floor. Reizo then ducked from an incoming blast of wind and flurried his spear, both to bat away a pair of incoming shuriken and lead his attack into a violent lunge for a second incoming ninja's gut.
"Earth Style! Quake Jutsu!" cried a voice.
Knowing that the implications of such a technique were hardly pleasant, Reizo quickly fell backwards into a series of handsprings and jumps as the ground where he'd stood cracked like a pane of broken glass before separating into a hectic labyrinth of ravines in the earth. Retreating further down the road to avoid it, the Jonin fell back into stance and executed another five hand signs after deflecting a wave of projectiles.
"Earth Style! Stone Grid Jutsu!"
Just as before, Reizo struck the ground hard with a single fist to finalise his technique, prompting a wall to rise up from the earth before him, containing tiny, eye-sized holes in its surface that he could peer through. It provided the perfect cover, and at the same time he could observe the enemies' location and make enough time to create a suitable strategy.
Reizo resisted the urge to flinch as a jet of water from the enemy squadron blasted into the wall just a few inches left of his peephole. He'd learned long ago that a good ninja had to constantly be aware of his surroundings, and so he took a few seconds to get a good look. The road south stretched out beyond his jutsu, broken by the countless gaps from the Quake Jutsu that had ravaged it. Five ninja rapidly traversed the ten metres of perilous road, whereas the remaining five stood waiting at the other side, where his Rock Dome Jutsu safely encased the three students; for now at least.
He knew there was no guarantee they wouldn't try and attack Shoryu, Kazuya and Ayako, yet it was in working out exactly how to get back across that Reizo noticed something. Unlike the first two clones he'd taken out, the second two remained intact. He'd whacked one of them as hard as he could with the pole of his Raikyogan-enhanced spear; the other had been stabbed by it through the stomach. Why hadn't they disappeared?
So are they clones or not? Reizo asked himself. Shadow Clones go down if you hit them with a decent amount of power, so why haven't they vanished yet? They just look like injured men. Did they mix in Shadow Clones with regular ninja? The first two vanished, but I hit both of them with a killing blow. . . Unless. . .
From the safe cover of his six foot wall Reizo suddenly popped out and aimed a handful of controlled lightning at his first victim – the man he'd knocked out with just a single hit to the head.
"Lightning Javelin!" he cried out. He stayed out of cover long enough to see his attack hit; he had to know exactly what was going on. The body of the unconscious man was suddenly ravaged by Reizo's high-voltage javelin searing into his flesh and overloading his body's nervous system, an attack that would be fatal. Much to Reizo's confusion though, instead of burning to a crisp, the ninja vanished in an explosion of smoke.
What's this? It's like I thought – they're all Shadow Clones, but they're different; I have to actually kill them to get them out of the way, but how? I've never heard of anything like that before - that kind of technique would be an A or even an S-Rank jutsu; how could fourteen different people learn it?
It was only thanks to Reizo's wild hypothesising that he didn't notice one of the ninja had crossed the entirety of the quake-ravaged path, and with four hand signs executed the rogue launched a jutsu his way.
"Water Style! Hydro Cannon Jutsu!" he cried.
As fast as Reizo tried to get back behind his makeshift wall of cover, he simply didn't notice the enemy fast enough to dodge. A vast torrent of water streamed from the palms of the Hidden Stone ninja, knocking the Jonin right off his feet and propelling him fast into a great elm tree just off the road.
Uttering a low groan of pain, Reizo opened his eyes again just in time to roll hard to his right and back to his feet as a kunai knife suddenly skewered the tree he'd been slumped against. His back had sustained a number of cuts from the tree and his sternum ached from the high velocity shot of the waterfall that had been sent his way. Of course, scrapes and bruises were the least of his concerns now.
He knew that it was no coincidence that a water style user had led the assault; these beings, whatever they were, had known Reizo's name, rank and clan when they appeared. As such, it was equally plausible that they knew exactly what techniques would cripple him: Water.
As he'd preached to Zakari just a few months prior, Raikyogan users would only harm themselves if they tried to use their Kekkei Genkai during aquatic combat or in the rain. That little jutsu had drenched him to the bone; if he tried to manifest his bioelectricity in such a condition he'd shock himself with every single volt of his attack. But of course he'd also taught Zakari that due to such a weakness, relying too heavily on the Raikyogan was a fatal mistake.
From the tree to his left another Hidden Stone ninja suddenly dropped down, knife in hand and ready to strike. Yet before he'd even attacked Reizo had noticed him. He turned his palms to the sky, with his swift five hand signs granting him with a fierce white flame that cooked both the ninja and the tree from which he'd leapt.
"Fire Style: White Blaze Stream!"
The tiny little flicker he'd used to light the fire expanded into an enormous flamethrower that Reizo was thankful he'd never been on the receiving end of. After he'd torched the first ninja though, he kept the stream going and he jerked to the left just in time to catch another in the blaze. Leaving behind just two puffs of smoke, Reizo made his way back towards the road, hoping desperately that he could reach his endangered students in time as he repelled more attackers.
After a third attempt at smashing down Reizo's technique only wasted more chakra, Shoryu instead took to pressing his ear up against it to see what exactly he could hear. He heard the cries of various different styles of jutsu being called out and the clash of steel on steel, though after listening for just a few seconds the connotations of one such technique spelled trouble.
"Earth Style: Burrowing Justu!" he heard through the stone. He wasn't sure whether the following sound of rumbling and the sensation of movement under his feet was real or just paranoia. Regardless, his indecision still didn't stop him from alerting the others.
"Ayako! Kazuya!" he cried. "I think we've got comp-"
The crash as a Hidden Stone ninja sprang up from the ground interrupted Shoryu's warning, his form casting a dark shadow across the boy from obstructing Ayako's roman candle. Kazuya drew his weapon without the faintest trace of hesitation, though the enemy ninja's target was the first person he'd seen: Ayako.
In a frantic rush the burrower ninja dashed straight for the frightened girl, determined to eliminate the one he perceived as the weakest first. Shoryu, however, already had everything covered. Seeing the girl in danger suddenly forced him to cast aside all fear and hesitation, as without even considering his options the boy's hand retreated behind his back and flared out one of his windmill shuriken.
Using all the power he could muster Shoryu threw it right as the enemy ninja conjured up a strange jutsu; his right hand, ready to throw a single punch at the girl, was suddenly covered in a thick glove of solid rock. He swung down with an attack that had the potential to kill the poor girl, though Shoryu's shuriken reached him first. The four-pointed star dug into the back of the man's leg in a shower of red haze, crippling his movement and forcing him down onto one knee.
"Kazuya!" Shoryu cried.
"I'm on it!" Kazuya, knowing exactly what Shoryu had planned, raced over to their foe and slammed a vicious kick straight into his expression of agony. As the ninja doubled backwards his hands found a pouch for his tools and in the blink of an eye three shuriken had been sent Kazuya's way. With a bounce backwards and a single spin of his sword the persistent samurai batted them as if they were no more than pesky gnats. Satisfied that his opponent could see his face, Kazuya sheathed his weapon, eased into a trio of hand signs and pointed his left hand right at the Hidden Stone ninja.
"Ice Style: Cryo Blast Jutsu!" he announced. That same shattering, scraping noise of ice that Shoryu hated suddenly echoed around the dome as Kazuya's attack blasted away, freezing his opponent in a solid block of ice. Ayako then shaded a small quantity of blue from the scroll behind her left leg. She'd seen the bravery of the two boys and was determined to be a part of it.
A clap of her hands was all it took to ignite the primary colour, and after placing her hand flat on the man's frozen prison the ice immediately shattered as she impaled the man through the skull with one of her javelins. Taking the life of another human being was not something she'd intended to do, but in her fear her aim faltered; even so, it was kill or be killed.
Despite knowing this, Ayako couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when the scattered fragments of ice gave way to an explosion of smoke. But where she was relieved, Shoryu only looked confused.
"Thank god," said Ayako. "It's just a Shadow Clone."
Shoryu walked over to the site of the clone's demise and inspected the ground. Blood that had been smeared across the road beneath them had not vanished, and all that remained of him was Shoryu's shuriken that clattered to the floor. He picked it up, wiped off the blood and reattached it to his belt. "That doesn't make sense," he said at last.
Ayako looked confused. "Huh? What doesn't make sense?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, I was led to believe that your Shadow Clones will vanish with just one powerful shot," Kazuya offered.
Shoryu nodded. "Right. This one sustained my shuriken to his leg, and even after that he still remained present after you kicked him and froze him."
"You're saying this wasn't a regular clone," presumed the samurai.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying – whoever our real enemy is, they've found some way to give Shadow Clones more power. They're no weakling, that's for sure."
Ayako took a few moments to scold herself for being so dense. Had she not been fearing for her life she knew that it wouldn't be difficult to spot what Shoryu had, though her survival instincts had taken over; for those brief few seconds she'd cared only about living and taken nothing else into account. Apparently cowering in fear had been the best way to accomplish that. At any rate, once again she felt eager to fit in.
"If that's the case then we can't stick around here for much longer," she said. "We're vulnerable in here; if one of the clones can burrow under the ground then it's safe to assume that they all can – in here we're trapped and cornered."
Kazuya spoke. "That sounds good in theory, but everything we've tried so far hasn't worked against this wall."
"Actually, I have an idea. If you'd hear it," said Shoryu. He looked to Kazuya, who he was certain would reject any plan he could come up with. Surprisingly, the young samurai nodded as a signal for him to continue, so he did. "Everything we tried so far has been individual – we've just tried to blow apart different sections of this wall by ourselves. But we worked pretty well as a team in taking down that ninja, so I say we try the same thing here."
"What do you propose?" asked Kazuya, clear impatience in his tone.
"This wall is made of stone right? So Kazuya, if you start by freezing one part of it, then it should blow up fairly if Ayako blasts one of her reds at it. After that I'll use the Wind Slash to loosen the rocks even further and chip away at all the leftover stones. It might take us a few repetitions to get all the way through, but it should work if we stick at it."
The moment Reizo landed back on his dome's side of the road he checked his surroundings. Seeing one his opponents trying to cross back across the mismatched sequence of ravines created by his teammates was too good an opportunity to resist. Reizo lobbed a single kunai knife as hard as he could, striking the man straight in the chest and forcing him right off the labyrinth of breaks in the earth. He fell down one of the bottomless pits, with only a vent of smoke to signify his demise.
Hearing a noise behind him, the Jonin ducked and spun into low block from the sword of another opponent, and after a flurry of attacks Reizo drove the jagged end of his spear right into right into the neck of the Stone ninja.
"Fire Style: Heat Seeker Jutsu!" cried a second voice.
A graceful backflip from Reizo allowed him to evade the streaming ball of fire that scorched the ground where he'd once stood. But he'd seen this particular jutsu before – it wasn't over yet. As the fireball changed course and raced back towards him, Reizo made for the trees. Jumping from branch to branch and ascending higher was normally a good way to lose this kind of technique. Around here though, the branches were so thin and dead that instead of halting its attack, the Heat Seeker Jutsu simply ploughed through its obstacles and sent flaming bundles of wood spinning to the ground.
The hiss of flaming bark whizzed past his side as Reizo doubled back on himself and ran in a straight line down the entire length of the tree. With the fireball singeing his heels the feeling of vertigo was enhanced. He ran at full speed towards the ground, casting a new sequence of hand signs in an order he'd not used in years. After leaping off the tree the Jonin altered his centre of gravity, hitting the ground on both feet and carrying on his run towards the Heat Seeker's original owner.
The Hidden Stone ninja prepared to dodge from the flight path of his own jutsu with Reizo speeding towards him, though with the Jonin's final hand sign and a flash of yellow light his body suddenly stiffened into a concrete board.
"Lighting Style:" cried Reizo. "Paralysis!"
True to its word, the jutsu totally cut off all conscious access to his nervous system. He froze, unable to twitch or even blink in his state of stillness. Crooning his neck to get a better look below him as Reizo skidded smoothly between his legs was impossible, as was raising his arms to shield himself from the blast as his own fireball met his body.
"Wind Style: Air Slash Stream!"
Along with the heated explosion and a puff of smoke from the clone, to Reizo's horror he also heard Shoryu's voice echo from the Rock Dome as the trio blew their way out of his jutsu. He got back to his feet opened his mouth to shout for them, though the only sound that escaped was a sudden bark of pain.
A single kunai had struck his left heel, digging sharply into the tendons behind his foot and distracting him from the fact that its thrower had leapt out of the forest towards him. Two more dagger slashes across his both sides of his chest forced his attention back to his front, where the enemy ninja had not actually intended to wound him, only to cut the straps from the bag slung over his shoulders.
Before the Jonin even had time to throw a punch the slinky ninja had ducked around to his blindside and snatched the bag away. Like a coward he ran, though he wouldn't get very far. Fighting past the pain Reizo strung together a sequence of hand signs before realising that he wouldn't need to finish; his students already had it covered. In his folly the Hidden Stone ninja had ran from Reizo and straight into the path of the three academy graduates.
"Cryo Blast Jutsu!"
"Red!"
Shoryu was the only one who didn't fire off an attack; he'd emerged first from their cavernous prison, and as such he'd been the only one who'd seen what the rogue ninja had stolen: Reizo's pack contained the egg. He pushed past both comrades as their attacks streamed by him.
The enemy swerved to avoid a freezing from Kazuya's attack, though Ayako's simple firecracker struck him hard in the chest. He toppled backwards, the force of the explosion making him lose his grip on his precious cargo as he fell to his back. Almost thirty feet through the air the bag soared in spinning free fall whilst Shoryu bombed as fast as his legs would carry him towards it. Realising quickly that he wouldn't reach it in time meant that Shoryu had push his mind to the limits, thinking fast to come up with a way of softening the bag's impact. Five hand signs later and he had his answer.
"Wind Style: Galeforce Jutsu!"
Unlike the boy himself, Shoryu's miniature tornado was hardly restricted by the confines of normal human speed. It zipped across the broken road under his control, travelling at speeds he'd never pushed it to before. As the bag began to fall faster he upped its speed yet again, until finally he had the small cyclone spinning right underneath the plummeting bag, reaching it just in time to trap the satchel within its vortex and prevent it from hitting the ground.
The bag spun harmlessly, riding atop the whirlwind until Shoryu approached and plucked it away. As he disengaged the chakra-draining technique the boy opened the pack and retrieved the egg from its main pocket. Thankfully it had not sustained a single crack, though Shoryu figured the situation would be different had he not acted.
"We're all good sensei; the egg is fine!" he called over.
"Right! Come back here though, there's still one m-" Halfway through a sentence Reizo suddenly paused. He flourished his spear into the pose of a javelin, and without a single word of warning he threw the mighty weapon using all his strength towards Shoryu. The boy watched, stricken with fear as the spear headed towards him, though when he was sure his death was imminent the spear instead sailed right by him, soaring over his shoulder to impale a rouge ninja who'd emerged from the trees, preparing to get the drop on Shoryu. The boy hadn't seen any flicker or heard any whisper of him approaching, but Reizo had.
"One more," he finished.
As the four regrouped Reizo ordered them to keep their guard up whilst he got to interrogation. One of these strange clones was still left alive – the one he'd speared through the gut who now lay squirming on the ground coughing up blood. If he didn't know any better the Jonin would've guessed he'd never seen combat before in his life. He grabbed the ninja's collar, and using two fingers he pushed deep into the wound he'd given the man, gaining a cry.
"Who are you? What is this jutsu you all possess and why do you want this egg? Speak quickly Stone ninja; you've risked war already by attacking us within our own jurisdiction. If you value peace then I suggest you come up with a suitable explanation fast."
Even as he spoke Reizo knew his words would do no good. The clone's original creator would no doubt be receiving this information – if he didn't want to answer anything the ninja need only disengage the jutsu to make the clone vanish in smoke. Curiously though, he didn't.
"I'm under orders," answered the clone.
"Orders from who? The Tsuchikage?" Reizo demanded.
"Who else would it be?"
"The tenth Tsuchikage is a man of peace and honour; I've met him before, so I find it hard to believe that he would order such an unwarranted assassination on our squad without provocation. I hate to break it to you but that egg is a joke, and if the Tsuchikage wanted it for something all he need do is ask."
"Believe what you want," spat the man. "But for now it's time for me to go." To the toolkit strapped to his belt the clone shakily lowered a hand. He took a last look around the forest, as though they were the last moments of his life, until something caught his eye. His gaze fell to Shoryu, who merely regarded him with a look of barely collected apprehension. For a while his eyes lingered as the group turned to him, though it was only after a few moments that the boy realised the ninja was not staring at him, but rather his jacket. Specifically, the sigil stitched to its chest pocket.
He looked down at the brand and then back to the man, who merely grinned and drew a single kunai. Before Reizo could stop him the man took the knife to his own throat, spilling out a river of blood before dissipating into smoke. Close to a minute passed before any spoke a word, and thankfully it was the group's leader.
"I won't pretend I know what the hell just happened," he said. Hardly reassuring, Shoryu thought. "But keep your guard up – those were clones; if I didn't know any better I'd say their creators were somewhere nearby. . . But there's no trace of them."
"I'm no Jonin, and I've never been the expert on clones," answered Shoryu. "But even I know that it seems unlikely that more than a dozen ninja would possess a technique so powerful that their clones defy nature in such a way. It doesn't make sense."
Reizo considered, and then said, "None of this does: the clones are just one part of it but there's more; why would the Tsuchikage order an attack on us, especially for something so ridiculous in the first place? I know the man, why would he risk open war?"
"Just because you know him it doesn't mean we can clear him of suspicion. They were his men after all," answered Kazuya bluntly. He had a point after all, but they were still far from answering the most puzzling question.
Reizo sighed. "Of course, you're right Kazuya," he admitted. "But even so, these clones disturb me. How could fourteen Hidden Stone Chunin master a technique I've never even heard of?"
"Maybe they all came from the same person," offered Shoryu. He was pale now, sweating from his arduous trials of the still-young day and speaking through heavy breaths. Even so, he was determined to make his point before he passed out and forgot it. "I know that clones normally take on the form of their creator – they're clones after all – but with a technique so powerful it doesn't seem like a stretch to imagine that their creator could alter their appearance to however he wanted."
Reizo nodded as Ayako fumbled for the right words. They'd all seen it, but putting it into a speech was difficult to manage without sounding ridiculous. "And did you see them?" she began. "I know it sounds crazy, but those clones seemed. . . Sentient – human even; they didn't act like puppeteers seeing through the eyes of their clones, they seemed like real people. That last one seemed genuinely scared of his suicide, which even in itself makes no sense: why would a clone take a knife to its neck when its user could just disengage the jutsu?"
"Exactly," said Reizo. "And I did enough research on the history of that egg to know it's a fake. Regardless, it's safe to assume that they didn't know that, and that it was a high priority for them. . . Which means we should pull out; this mission is too dangerous for you Genin-"
Reizo's words were suddenly stumped by the sound of a body hitting the floor; Shoryu's in fact. The boy had walked for miles carrying both heavy loads and the scars of Kazuya's 'training', after which he'd been forced to repeat a jutsu that worked him to dangerously low levels of chakra and then push it further again by rescuing the egg. As much as his conscious mind forced him to put on a brave face and slug through whatever tasks were thrown at him, his body was something beyond his control.
Sustaining another bruise to his side, Shoryu collapsed in the middle of the road, completely unconscious and oblivious to the outside world as he eased into a well-deserved slumber.
Time and space passed as a blur for the boy. Oftentimes his eyes blinked open for a second and he caught a glimpse of cautious boots treading over stone ground before he fell to sleep again. Exactly how long he'd been out Shoryu had no idea. By his own count he must've slipped in and out of consciousness at least five times, and on each occasion the ground's texture and lighting from the sun differed. His head remained an achy blur that prevented him from forming any coherent thought as the stars of his mind swirled.
He heard voices a few times; Ayako and Reizo's. They seemed faraway, as if just a few metres behind them. It was in finally recognising this that Shoryu's brain clicked back into place as he realised just what was happening. He was slung over someone's shoulder and being hauled across country like a sack of meat. The boots he'd seen from before, hypnotising him with their rhythmic thuds, they belonged to Kazuya.
"Bet you get a kick out of this don't you. . ." Eventually he managed to form words.
Kazuya groaned. "You've just woken up and you're already annoying me."
Shoryu ignored him and continued, staring intently at the samurai's boots as they swayed like a pendulum beneath him. "What is this, some kind of apology? You feeling guilty or something?"
"Oh shut up," Kazuya said. Weariness and irritation were in his tone, though surprisingly there was little malice. "You're too heavy for Ayako and she's supporting Reizo-sensei anyway. If I had it my way we would've left you on that road."
"Well you don't need to be troubled any further, you can let me down now – I can walk," answered Shoryu.
"Are you sure?" Kazuya checked.
"Ooh, did I sense sympathy there?"
Shoryu's answer for his taunt was a sudden lurch as Kazuya dropped him to the ground without warning. Fortunately he was prepared for such a violent reply and so managed to land on all fours. Fumbling wildly in his pockets, the boy finally found his water bottle. He clung tightly to it as he guzzled its entirety. To him it tasted of liquid gold; of heaven's fountains that knew no limits to its sweetness. Never had any drink tasted so good, and water most of all was hardly ever considered divine.
"Hey, you're finally awake," said Reizo.
Shoryu didn't answer right away. He let the water from his flask fill up his gut. Feeling the water swill around inside his stomach made the boy queasy, though it was a small price to pay for the heaven that greeted his mouth, previously dry as the Kazekage's sandal. Squeezing out the last few drops, Shoryu eventually turned his look to Reizo. As Kazuya had said, one of his arms was over Ayako's shoulders to support his walk without a crutch. He'd taken a kunai knife to his Achilles heel during the battle, meaning his walking would be stunted for the next few days.
"Feeling much better now Reizo-sensei!" Shoryu cried.
"Good," he replied, before turning to Ayako. "It's alright now, I think I can manage from here by myself," he said. With that, the man removed his arm from around the girl's shoulder and slowly put pressure on his ankle before walking an odd limp to the head of the pack.
As Shoryu dropped back his pace to the girl he finally took note of his surroundings. He'd collapsed on a dirt road in the middle of a forest, though now he was somewhere else entirely. Fields of boulders and jagged canyons spanned out for as far as he could see, marred only by the sight of a simple town some two miles behind them. Ravens nestled in the basins of the craggy planes and a whole manner of lizards and amphibians that thrived in this area's frequent rain could be seen if he looked hard enough. Thankfully there was no rain today, only the summer glow of the bright orange sunset spilling its light across the cliffs.
He was certain he'd never been here before; another location to add to his list of places he'd visited. Though he wondered where exactly he was. It didn't make sense; he thought they were going back to the Village, why then did a town he suspected was Hilan appear behind them?
"Ayako," he began, falling in step beside her. "I may be a little hazy on this, but before I blacked out I distinctly remember Reizo saying something about this mission being too dangerous for us and that we should turn back. We're still going north aren't we?"
Ayako giggled to herself. "Yeah. Kazuya and I managed to convince him to keep going."
"Really?" Shoryu cocked an eyebrow. "How'd you manage that? He seemed really insistent on heading back to the Village."
She laughed again; Shoryu took note of how sweet she looked when she did. "You should have seen it Shoryu, it was hilarious: we sat there for about twenty minutes trying to convince him to carry on but he wouldn't have it. Then we reminded him about his perfect record and how it would be ruined forever if he failed this mission."
Shoryu shared her laugh. It was a sneaky idea; there were few things Reizo cared more for than his record. He could see the look of terror on his sensei's face within his mind's eye already. "That's genius."
"Mhm." She grinned devilishly. "I may have also implied that his chances of becoming the Raikage might be lowered."
"Heh, that's just cruel. But thanks. Anyway what about those clones?"
"Well Reizo told us to stay close and be on alert at all times, but it's not exactly easy to ambush us out here in the open like this. At any rate they're after the egg, not us, and we'll reach the drop point in about an hour so, so if anything happens to it after that then it's not on us – the mission was just to transport it."
"Yeah I guess you're right," said Shoryu.
After his euphoric drink of water and a light snack as they walked, Shoryu's strength was replenished completely. Within just a few minutes he felt good enough to take back his virtual tonne of supplies from Reizo.
He learned from Ayako as they walked that he'd been out cold for about six hours and that there was still no sign of another clone squadron. They'd also bypassed the village of Hilan completely for fear of being ambushed again and continued north across the Land of Lightning towards the designated location.
Shoryu couldn't help but feel a wave of pity towards his superior. Reizo walked with a forced limp, his damaged Achilles heel preventing him from lying his foot down flat with every step he took. It was only then that he realised the enormous difference in strength between the ranks of the ninja. The three Genin had managed to take down just one of the clones through teamwork, though Reizo had tackled thirteen more single-handedly.
Even with his wound taking up his concentration, the Jonin still stopped and checked his surroundings at the slightest noise. He clearly felt guilty for endangering his students more than he had to, and to make up for it he'd protect them with his life. Every hooting of an owl or the scuttling of a lost reptile was enough to set him back on edge.
Finally though, the group reached the drop point. They'd seen the beacon, a blinking red light from far away, though it was only upon reaching it that the Genin realised where it was. Before them a sharp, vertical cliff of beige obstructed their path. Thirty metres up the climb a deep alcove was punched through the solid wall, where the flashing light remained at the entrance of the small cave. Here lay the problem.
"When I last came here, my group's leader was the one who went up there," Reizo said.
"But you can't exactly walk up there with that ankle," presumed Kazuya. "So one of us has to climb up there."
"Exactly. . . Damn it, I knew I should have taught you how to climb trees before the stream technique."
Shoryu looked up at the cliff like weighing up a challenger. It was steeper and there were fewer footholds than his usual hideout, but it was still nothing he couldn't handle. The low lighting here that cloaked the cliff in shadow would do him no favours. On the other hand, he knew he'd climbed worse at darker hours. After filling himself with confidence the boy volunteered.
"I'll do it," he said.
"Shoryu no," Ayako insisted. "It's way too steep and you're not fully recovered yet."
"I'm fine!" Shoryu swung his arms in a circle to show his fitness and mobility, ignoring the stabbing pain from one of his shoulder bruises. "Sensei, you've seen that place above my home right? I can climb this thing no problem at all, and I need to make up for lost time. Kazuya's been carrying me for the last six hours and Ayako's been supporting you. I know I can do this!"
"Hmm," Reizo considered thoughtfully. For a few moments he seriously debated whether or not to go up there himself before the wound in his heel bit into him from another misstep. "Shoryu does seem the most qualified. . . Alright then." The Jonin removed the pack and handed it to the boy. "Just be careful; if it's too difficult then come straight back down."
Shoryu lied. "Sure thing!" No matter how hard it would be Shoryu refused to be beaten by some stupid stone wall, not after the embarrassment of collapsing still hung over him. Slinging the pack over both shoulders, the boy placed a solid grip on the first rock and began to climb.
In spite of his stubbornness though, Shoryu was still cautious. He took every step into consideration as he swung from rock to rock. He could feel three pairs of eyes, boring into his back and watching with intent worry as he climbed; two of them anyway. Being covered in a thin layer of sandy dust meant that these rocks were far more slippery than his den back home; three times he grabbed a rock with his free hand only to realise that it using it for support was a bad idea and then moving on to a different stone.
The aches in his wrists, chest and shoulders did their worst to him as he supported his weight; this would've been far easier if he hadn't been beaten to a pulp the previous night and collapsed out of exhaustion earlier, but still he persevered, telling himself that a ninja must endure no matter the hardship.
Seeing the opening not far above him spurred Shoryu on. He grabbed for an outcropping rock and made a swing from it for the nearest foothold, though it was only in his moment of triumph that disaster struck. The rock he'd reached for cracked under his weight, pitching him into a gut-wrenching sudden free fall at twenty five metres.
The boy began to plummet along with his confidence, desperately running his hands against the rocks as a cry from Ayako sounded beneath him. Wildly he groped for an opening, but after the sudden fall such a treat was denied in favour of bloodied fingers until finally the cliff showed him mercy. His right hand found a solid rock that he clung to for dear life as he lurched in whiplash, his shoulder nearly pulling free of its socket. A stray shuriken fell from his belt and clattered to the ground and he watched after it with a heart-pounding sigh, knowing it could've easily been him.
"Shoryu come down! It's not safe!" He heard Ayako cry.
"It's alright! Just a little slip!" he replied, though the damage had already been done. He'd fallen the height of a bungalow in that 'little slip' and his hands had paid the price. His fingertips were a bloody mess that had painted ten lines of red across the cliff. He'd effectively cheese-grated them along the wall in trying to catch a rock. They'd take longer to heal than Kazuya's bruises; maybe a couple of months or even more, but the real trouble was in the climbing.
Every rock he grasped was now torture. The sharp edges dug further into his wounds and the sand served as painful as disinfectant without any of the remedial uses. This is nothing, he told himself, continuing to climb with complete disregard for his own safety. After another minute he'd ascended past the pattern of blood he'd left on the wall, cautiously watching for those loose rocks as he climbed higher and higher, until finally he pushed himself into the opening.
Shoryu took a few moments to lie down and catch his breath before surveying his injuries, hissing and wincing in pain as he noticed that he'd lost four fingernails to his accident.
"Alright! Take as much time as you need up there!" Reizo called up to him. "Just drop off the egg and then we're home free!"
Weakly Shoryu nodded as he finally took in his surroundings. The alcove was deeper than he'd first perceived, extending at least fifteen paces into the heart of the cliff on a downhill slope. The place was the same shade of beige as everything else in this forsaken canyon, though two objects stuck out to him. The first was the beacon, a simple pillar of flashing red right that had guided them to this location. The second was a cushion at the cave's end, velvet coated and purple with little golden tassels dangling from each corner.
It seemed fairly obvious that he was supposed to place the egg on this pillow, and so Shoryu fumbled around inside his back for it before making his way over. He gave the thing one last look to check for damage before placing it ever so gently on the purple cushion, satisfied that his work was done.
"You were more trouble than you're worth," he muttered to himself.
And with that, he turned and headed back for the cliff's opening.
After only a few steps though, something caught his attention. A sound reverberated from the walls of the hollow cavern; a snapping sound as though he'd stepped on slate. He looked down to see nothing underfoot, and to his confusion the noise continued, cracking and splintering its way around the cave, followed by a sticky sound; a noise that sounded like extracting tree sap.
A second or two later the cogs of his mind turned into place. Slowly as he dared Shoryu turned back to the egg, only to see that cracks had spread like circuitry across the shell and its tip had been removed completely with a discharge of embryotic fluid. He could do nothing but watch in horrified fascination as a small, upright reptilian pushed itself free, yawning in a pitched cry that sounded like no animal he'd encountered before.
He was a stout little being, standing at just barely a foot in height and comprised of light blue scales with the exception of a soft yellow underbelly. Innocent, dark eyes blinked across the room in curiosity, leading down to an elongated mouth made up of tiny, razor sharp teeth. Three short claws grew from each limb, two straight horns extended from the back of his skull, and as he turned around Shoryu glimpsed a pair of tiny wings that only reached halfway down to its spiny tail.
The creature bowed down onto all fours, and after a series of choking gasps he coughed up a small jet of flame, barely enough to light a pipe. Finally those newborn, curious eyes turned to Shoryu. He stood back up and let out a noise.
"Wharrk!"
In all this time Shoryu hadn't spoken, moved or breathed. He steeled himself for an attack as the slime-covered creature plodded over to him, though it only stopped at his feet, looking up past his knees and letting out another high pitched cry.
"Chaga! . . Rrwar! . . Cheg-" he stopped again suddenly to cough up another smoky exhale of fire before looking up affectionately at the boy once again.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Shoryu.
.
Author's Notes: Hey guys. Just wanted to start off by saying that a drawing of Ayako is up on my profile, so check it out if you get a minute - it's probably the best of the three so far. I've never actually drawn a girl before so it was pretty challenging, especially when most of the stuff I did previously was of Dragon Ball Z, where the characters have physiques so enormously huge.
That was the longest chapter yet I believe. On second thoughts I should've split it into two but I did promise you guys that little twist at the end (Well, it wasn't that much of a twist, how many of you didn't see THAT coming). Anyway it's probably better this way. So yeah, there is now a baby dragon in Legacies. Who doesn't love dragons? I still haven't thought up of a name for him yet, but there's something I'd just like to ask you guys so here goes:
Alright, so many of the creatures in Naruto are capable of human speech. Since the dragon is a baby at this point he's not going to be reading Shakespeare and quoting Franklin any time soon, but what I want to know is whether or not you think that he should one day be capable of speech. Some of you guys might remember that chapter one also started with 'Volume One', meaning that there will most likely be timeskips to seperate the volumes (There's gonna be two or three volumes, I'm not entirely sure yet).
So anyway, should the dragon learn to say a few words in Volume one and then be pretty much fluent when Volume two rolls around? OR should he just be a incapable for the entire thing; like, he can understand humans and commands and such but he can't actually talk. I'll put a poll up on my account so you decide.