Chapter 22: The Third Stage – The Outcast
When the red-hot geyser of magma went shooting up into the air Shoryu's heart sank. He heard the hiss of steam as Kazuya's meek little water pistol hit nothing but the wall and knew that he would receive no assistance. He was on his own in this fight entirely – left to his own devices to fight the little prodigy of his old clan. The Hell's Fountain Jutsu was clearly a force to be reckoned with, something beyond either of their skill to break through.
So much for Plan A, he thought with a sulk. Their plan had been to splash him with Kazuya's admittedly poor water style technique so that the Raikyogan became unusable.
Then he turned to Kouta, and his heart drowned. The Zawa had equipped a set of nasty looking weapons to his fists, knuckledusters of his own creation. They stretched over the tops of his fingers and knuckles, and they were spiked like the back of a metal hedgehog with blades so sharp that grabbing them mid-combat became impossible. Shoryu looked down at his own gloves and sighed.
He'd expected Kouta to carry a metallic weapon or two like most Zawa; they used swords, staffs and clubs made of pure metal to channel through the electricity of the Raikyogan. Zakari had used a sword, Reizo used a spear, and Kouta was no exception. But Shoryu had never anticipated weapons like these before.
So much for Plan B.
As deflated as he was, Shoryu remembered to keep his head. Kazuya had spoken the truth earlier; he had to go at this with everything he had no matter what. With his two plans completely ruined, there was nothing left to do but pull out every trick he had and pray that something in his arsenal worked against the boy. Kouta might have been an arrogant jerk, but his confidence wasn't misplaced – Shoryu had seen him fight before, back when he was a member of the clan – he knew the boy's power all too well.
Hesitantly, Shoryu pulled out the two swords that hung from his waist and back before shuffling into the stance Kazuya had taught him. This earned him a laugh of mockery from Kouta.
"You really mean to fight me in close combat?" he jeered.
Shoryu grimaced; he was right, it was a stupid idea, but he had to start somewhere.
"Well alright then . . ." Kouta intertwined his fingers and cracked them loudly. He then held up his fists in a boxing pose and let his eyes fill them power. "Raikyogan!"
Sparks of lightning bounced off the spiky, bladed fists of Kouta's weapons as the boy channelled his own internal bioelectricity, amplifying it and sending it to wherever he wanted. His eyes lit up in a straight cross of blue, thunderous energy. Through them, Shoryu knew that he could see the makeup of his own bioelectric field; it told him exactly where to strike in order to overload his body and kill him in an instant. Of course, if he hit Shoryu just anywhere it would still hurt like hell.
As Shoryu expected, Kouta made the first move. The boy was eager to end him after the scolding he'd no doubt received from the clan leader Saito. Shoryu prepared himself and braced for impact.
Under the overbearing weight of haymakers and jabs Shoryu's swords felt like flimsy little sticks being battered by a sledgehammer. He thought they would break initially, but as the fight went on he began to trust in them a little more. Although he started on the defensive, Shoryu's speedy reactions and well-timed steps and parries filled him with the confidence to be a little bolder.
It wasn't long before the two matched each other rather well; Shoryu's swords would bounce in deflection from the metal fists of his opponents, and every time they clashed blue and yellow sparks fled their weapons as the Raikyogan did its thing. Shoryu would duck under an incoming swipe or block it with the offhand shortsword before lunging forward in a practiced swipe at Kouta's shoulder.
Already out of breath, the two continued their duel. As he wove under a barrage of blows and smacked a few away Shoryu used quick footwork in order to get himself around his opponent. From there he went on the advance, thrusting precise shots aimed at Kouta's abdomen. By using a constant stabbing motion he forced the young Zawa to keep moving back, toward the stream of lava that flowed forth from the earth.
Unfortunately Kouta realised Shoryu's exact plan before it could come to any sort of fruition. He noticed the hiss of the volcano sizzling behind him, and with a quick shuffle worked his way in a circle around Shoryu to put them on equal footing once again. It was here, after Kouta launched into a fearsome uppercut before following with a right straight, that the two young ninja collided with simultaneous attacks.
The crossguard of Shoryu's leading sword caught between the second and third knuckles of Kouta's armoured fist, providing a brief test of strength to see who could overpower the other. If it came down to an arm-wrestle Shoryu knew without a doubt that he'd beat his distant cousin in an instant, but since Kouta had the full use of his arms rather than pressuring a sword he kept the two on par.
Eventually both decided at the exact same time to kick the other out of the hold. The soles of their feet collided with a whiplash that rattled Shoryu's leg; they retreated briefly to a safer distance, avoiding any more unnecessary damage. As he stared down his opponent Shoryu told himself that he'd done well. He'd managed a good few minutes against Kouta in close combat.
He'd received training from the best of course though; he knew without a doubt that he had Kazuya to thank for correcting his technique and making all the subtle adjustments to his form that could change the outcome of a battle. Kouta might have possessed amplified lightning to speed up his reactions, but Shoryu had trained with a samurai.
"Better than I'd expected, I'll give you that," remarked Kouta. He studied Shoryu's stance and nodded in approval after judging it poorly not so long ago.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Shoryu replied.
"Really?" Kouta grinned and cocked up an eyebrow; he was hiding something, Shoryu knew it. "I'll admit that I didn't expect you to be able to keep up with me, but it doesn't matter much anyway. If this keeps up you won't be able to hold a sword for much longer."
Upon the Zawa's remark Shoryu noticed a sudden flaw in his guard, scolding himself for not realising sooner what their exchange had done to his attack. Whilst the fabric of his sword's handle might have protected him from the Raikyogan's onslaught, it failed to do the same for the lightning rods of his two blades. Electricity cackled and gushed up and down each sword – it wasn't much, but it was enough to make them tremble, shuddering as if scared of the next attack.
They wobbled at a steady pace, loosening his grip and threatening to betray him whenever he made a crucial move to block. Shoryu found himself being glad that he'd noticed it sooner rather than later; if he'd reengaged Kouta at close range he could've easily found himself eating a fistful of those metal blades after another few dozen blocks.
Damn it! Looks like I can't match him up close after all. Guess I'll just have to hope that he relies too heavily on the Raikyogan. Reizo told me before that a lot of them do that – I know Zakari did. If that's the case then he'll be useless if I keep my distance.
With that thought Shoryu sheathed his weapons and threw up a single hand sign, extending his first two fingers and aligning his thumbs for the sign of the bird that his wind jutsu required. "Air Slash Jutsu!" From the seal, his signature arc of sharpened wind curved into existence and blasted its way towards Kouta, cutting the air and crossing the distance between them in moments.
Kouta brought up his armoured fist, still sizzling with energy, and punched it away before it could do any damage. The metal encasing his hands absorbed the impact and their density ensured they weren't cut apart by the wind, leaving only a small scratch as evidence of the jutsu's hit. Before Shoryu swore aloud though, he held it back upon noticing something else that could've given him the advantage.
The electricity bursting off the knuckledusters every few seconds had suddenly stopped. They then snapped off another spark seemingly against Kouta's will, for he studied the weapons with confusion for a few moments until the circuitry fizzed back to regularity. Of course; why hadn't he seen it sooner? Shoryu knew the elemental cycle well enough to recognise that the wind style was lightning's bane.
His jutsu had confused the Raikyogan momentarily, befuddling the current of electricity that Kouta manipulated if only for a few seconds. He couldn't hope to stop it completely – how could he? His attacks were paltry D and C-rank jutsu compared to the incredible power of the Raikyogan, but at least it was something. He silently cursed his lack of power; if he had the ability to shroud his weapons with elemental chakra like the more advanced ninja did then he'd be able to meet Kouta head on, with the Raikyogan rendered useless.
"Clever," said Kouta, finally recognising what had caused the small glitch in his system. "But you'll need more than that."
As Shoryu pondered a strategy – using the tiny window created by his jutsu to rush his opponent – Kouta fished around in his pouch of tools. The boy flung out five lengths of wire, with each rolling to a stop at different parts at the very edges of the arena before Shoryu could raise a hand to stop him. He kept hold of one end with all five and tied the loose ropes to his belt, allowing the boy to inspect his dastardly plan.
Two steps to Shoryu right and three steps to his left a perilous strip of thin wire had been placed. Another three stretched out from Kouta not so far away from him too, and those combined with the steady flow of lava rising from the earth meant that Shoryu's footing would have to be careful indeed if he wanted to survive. To show off his ploy Kouta lightly grazed one of the cables strapped to his belt, and instantly that same one glowed blue and violently flashed with lightning to Shoryu's left.
He'd turned their small arena into a circuit board; one false step and Shoryu would feel incredible voltage surge up his foot and paralyse him with all the shock of a Raikyogan's attack. The wires were those made for climbing and swinging manoeuvres too – they were made of metal – he couldn't cut them with an Air Slash as he could with a rope or a web.
After that sudden spark alarmed him and Kouta's devilish sneer disheartened him Shoryu remembered to stay focused. Kouta still couldn't attack him from this distance, so if he just stayed still and watched his step he would be alright. He told himself this, and yet at the same time realised to his horror that Kouta had begun to form hand signs.
Remembering his first fight with Kazuya, Shoryu promised not to let him finish whatever jutsu he wanted to conjure and fanned out a windmill shuriken. He hurled it with all his might on a simple trajectory and his aim was true, though Kouta swerved to avoid it. As the boy whirled around the cables attached to his belt spun with him, forcing Shoryu into a panicky game of jump-rope to avoid being tripped by two crackling wires.
By the time Shoryu stopped his skipping session Kouta's jutsu was complete. He formed his final hand sign as Shoryu prepared himself for the worst.
"Lightning Style: Dark Cloud!" he yelled.
For a while Shoryu saw nothing. He waited for the attack to come, watching Kouta for any sign of an attack. The boy's grin told him that something had happened, yet nothing came until he began to consider the implications of the technique he'd called out. Dark Cloud. . . He wondered to himself.
Then Shoryu saw it. He looked up to find that, hovering above him and jolting with energy, the small nimbus of a storm cloud had formed not ten feet above his head. It was a pathetic little thing – hardly the kind of jutsu suitable for the Chunin exams, but he still treated it with caution. He figured it would release a tiny bolt of electricity at any moment, so in thinking it better to be safe than sorry he formed his seal and blasted it away.
"Air Slash Jutsu!"
As he expected, the tiny cloud was cleaved perfectly in two by his own technique before scattering and dissipating harmlessly into nothingness, though in the opening of his move Kouta had gone and drawn six shuriken. He hurled them toward his mark without a moment's notice, and in seeing them at only the last second Shoryu dove out of the way without thought for his landing.
He landed belly-down on the salted earth of the arena, one arm by his side and the other over his head. That same arm just happened to fall over one of Kouta's cables. The Zawa touched the corresponding wire with a charge of the Raikyogan, igniting it with a flood of electricity and flowing straight into Shoryu's forearm where his exposed skin touched it.
A burning sensation coupled with the incredible seizing of his muscles was suddenly brought about by a feeling like a thousand volts taking residence inside his body. His whole being went into spasm, flailing in an instant reaction away from the wire and contracting his every muscle from toe to neck. His sight blurred and his ears rang with the high-bitched blaring of his nerves being fried, and when they died down the only noise he could hear was the triumphant laughter of Kouta over the jeering crowd.
"Get up Shoryu!" called a voice. It was female, that much Shoryu knew. Whether it belonged to his mother or Ayako he couldn't say, but he obeyed it without question. His hands still trembled and his knees shook, banging together occasionally with a painful knock. Fighting past the horrific sensation Shoryu managed to hold himself steady; he shook his head and analysed the situation.
He's overconfident, he noticed. If he had any sense Kouta would've ended it then whilst he had the chance – he probably could've made it over here before I recovered. Still, if I get hit by the Raikyogan a second time I might be done for. Drawing a second shuriken, Shoryu continued his pondering. I just have to hope he doesn't find out what I'm up to.
Shoryu threw his broad windmill shuriken as hard as he could allow, though with seemingly disastrous results. To the untrained eye he'd bungled the shot completely, as the projectile never even started on the right course. It veered off in the wrong direction and buried itself in the ground some five metres away from where Kouta stood. The Zawa prodigy relaxed his guard, shook his shoulders and laughed. As did the crowd, for his failure was embarrassing.
"Did I really shake you up that much that you can't throw a shuriken?" mocked the boy. "And here I was hoping to have a little more fun with you!"
"Air Slash Jutsu!"
The moment Kouta's fists batted aside the blade of wind Shoryu was rushing him with swords drawn, hacking and swinging away with far more ferocity than he had before. Kouta ducked and blocked as the energy in his bladed fists neutralised, and the two began their complex exchange once again.
This time it was made even more difficult for Shoryu; he could only move forwards and backwards. Never could he strafe sideways for fear of the wires. And if Kouta decided to spin away from an attack – which he did often – Shoryu would have to stage a jump over several of the fizzing cables to make sure his legs weren't caught in the ninja's trap. The young ninja timed everything perfectly, from the steps in his footwork to the swings of his swords.
Shoryu moved on the offensive, lashing out three times in a combination of strung-together slashes that Kazuya had taught him. He darted right past Kouta's guard and cut him across the arm in a shallow slash, but it was enough to annoy the young Zawa. As the prodigy seethed in anger and charged forward Shoryu let him lead the fight.
He went on the defensive once more; Shoryu deftly back-stepped away from any uppercut and brought up his swords whenever he needed to block a move. Kouta thundered after him, swinging seemingly at random and forgetting half of his most basic lessons. In fact in his blind frustration Shoryu again managed a slight gash to his wide open thigh.
Shoryu grinned to himself; he was winning. If he could just keep this new tactic going – working from the back foot and attacking whenever he saw a flaw – he might just steal the win. He knew that if Kouta continued to stampede like an elephant throwing wild hooks left right and centre he'd tire within minutes. Then Shoryu would make his move and go all out to finish him off.
That plan would've granted him the victory if his already dismal luck hadn't taken a turn for the worse. He continued to duck and weave away from Kouta's swings until the unthinkable happened – his heel met the arena's border. Shoryu cursed; he hadn't taken it into consideration, and now Kouta had him backed into a corner, wide open and just in time for his Raikyogan to reactivate.
With his fists sparking off another jolt of electricity the Zawa bore down his right-handed haymaker using all the strength that his new rage had given him. Shoryu crossed both swords before him to defend himself as the metal gloves struck his guard like a rocket, breaking it immediately. He dropped his shorter sword from the impact and his leading katana trembled from the current, acting as Kouta's cue to follow up with his left hand.
He drove it straight into Shoryu's chest, its spiky blades cracking his ribcage and digging into him like a lethal sea urchin. The boy twisted in pain when the attack struck, yet the worst was still to come. The wound was actually rather shallow – it didn't hit any vital organs, but it didn't have to.
Shoryu was electrocuted with another high-voltage blast as if he'd been touched by some god of thunder. His body went into shock, pistons firing on all his muscles to squeeze some like a persistent sponge and shake others into a fit. He blacked out as momentarily just as his ears began to bleed from that same high-pitched ringing that screamed from all directions.
His lack of consciousness was short lived however as the side of his head kissed the ground. Instantly he began to seize up again in shock as the Raikyogan's effects began to lessen with an agonising slowness that never seemed to end. No one called out this time; his hearing returned to him slowly but none ordered him to get up. It seemed even his mother and Ayako didn't see the point in prolonging this fight – it would be cruel – if he continued then he'd surely die.
And yet despite knowing this Shoryu slammed down his gloved fist; he clenched it tightly until he knew that the contraction of muscles was of his own doing. He pushed down on it steadily, forcing himself back to all fours, then to his knees and finally to his feet. Kouta had backed off to his original position and stood addressing the proctor.
"Call the fight! He's finished!" ordered the boy.
Shoryu couldn't help but smile to himself; it seemed that Kouta didn't yet have the stones to kill him. Humiliating him would have to suffice.
The referee actually looked about to do as Kouta said before he noticed Shoryu back on his feet. As the Zawa snarled in annoyance the proctor cast Shoryu a look of worry. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice projected through the giant monitor that displayed the battle. "Do you want to continue?"
Without the energy to speak Shoryu only nodded his head weakly. Chaos followed as the cheers of the audience cried out in support, deafening him and drowning out the slow bleeping of his nervous system until it vanished completely. They were on his side; for the unwavering resolve he'd displayed twice now it seemed that many of them wanted him to win.
"You don't know when to give up do you?" Kouta insisted.
Shoryu smiled again. He'd gotten to his feet automatically – without even thinking. Training with Kazuya had done that to him. It appeared that for all the improved fitness and technique there were still some detriments to training with a samurai. Surrender wasn't a word in their vocabulary, and it seemed that those values had been instilled into Shoryu through training – he'd been conditioned to take punishment without a word of complaint. Most ninja in their right mind would probably look down on such a foolish value.
Encouraging cheers quickly turned to laughter again though: Shoryu pulled out another shuriken, drew it back and lobbed it. His throw this time was so pathetic that the four-bladed star sailed only a few yards through the air before careering into the ground. The crowd roared laughing at the hilarity of such a slip-up. Kouta joined them in chuckling to himself, but what confused him was that Shoryu himself decided to join in.
He giggled – seemingly at his own failure, apparently not realising that the audience were laughing at him rather than with him. When he saw this Kouta stopped and gave a stare of confusion, just in time for Shoryu to suddenly slap his hands together and pull out three hand signs before he could react.
"Wind Style: Tri-Shuriken Sway!"
Kouta realised too late that Shoryu hadn't missed his mark at all – in fact the boy had never missed a single shot the entire match. He had evaded the first shuriken, though now it seemed that Shoryu had actually let him dodge the move. The second had been a blundered throw that he sent spinning off to the left, and the third had landed poorly just a few paces away.
Now Kouta realised that these weren't mistakes; he'd positioned the shuriken meticulously, and now that he stood at the centre of their subsection of the arena Kouta had placed himself right in the middle of the convenient triangle all three windmill shuriken had formed.
They freed themselves from the ground and began to spin faster than any throw as they magnetised towards the centre of the triangle – towards Kouta. The boy acted as quickly as his Raikyogan-enhanced reflexes would allow him, but even they weren't enough to save him completely. With both his left and right armoured hand he blocked a shuriken using the metal encasing of each.
Lacking three arms though meant that the final one hit its mark, embedding itself deep into Kouta's side in a shower of blood and delivering a wound that drove a scream from his lungs. He dropped to his knees in agony and bought up his shaking hands to the projectile as the crowd cheered for their new champion – the dark horse of the competition, Shoryu Aizawa.
With a stifled screech Kouta pulled out the blade and kept one hand closed around the wound as he turned back to his opponent as mad as a threatened bear. Shoryu too had a hand clasped over his own wound and breathed in desperate pants, seemingly at his mercy for an attack.
With hectic veins of bloodshot zigzags spreading over his lighting-bolted eyes Kouta's temper had reached its limit. He swore violently as he lifted his hand from his wound and began rapidly forming hand signs. Shoryu readied himself for the Dark Cloud Jutsu again before quickly noticing that the order and amount of seals was something much different than before – this must've been Kouta's ace in the hole. The Zawa finally attacked with a technique Shoryu could never have anticipated, even if it posed little threat to him anymore.
"Ninja Art: House of Devil's Truth!" cried Kouta.
"Release!" With a flourish of his sword Shoryu replied accordingly. The moment the genjutsu hit him the outcast had slowed down his chakra to a complete standstill and expelled it in one giant burst, instantly freeing himself of the jutsu to the unexpected horror of Kouta. The last time he'd seen that technique it had almost cost him his life.
"You've been taking lessons from Zakari," said Shoryu. It wasn't a question; he knew where that attack came from. Zakari had no doubt informed Kouta of how badly the jutsu affected Shoryu at graduation and taught him the basics. "Not bad," he went on, "that's a pretty low move, but did you really expect me to get trapped in something like that again? That's just pathetic."
A feral snarl formed across Kouta's lips as he seized all five of the metal cables and crossed them in a violent flourish, pouring all the electricity he could muster into them. The wires soared up into the air at different heights and made their way towards Shoryu on both sides; three came from his right and two from his left. They'd all lash across him and whip him each with a sudden spark of electricity.
Nimbly Shoryu leapt into the air as they approached. Seeing everything, the boy twisted and rolled in flight to make himself as flat and parallel with the ground as possible, and thanks to his impeccable timing he passed right through the tiny gap between the upper two wires. He saw one sail over his head, lightning dancing an inch from his eyes as the other weaved perilously close beneath him. He brushed it away with a simple stroke of his only remaining sword.
As the wires carried on their separate paths away from him Shoryu flipped again and landed firmly on his feet, spinning and sheathing his sword before showing a single hand sign.
This is going nowhere, he decided. If this carries on we'll just keep damaging each other until one of us dies. Guess there's no choice – I'll have to go back to plan B no matter how much it costs.
With his brainstorming over, Shoryu watched as Kouta barrelled towards him like a charging ram. He waited until the last conceivable window until he acted. "Air Slash Jutsu!"
Kouta punched the jutsu away, uncaring that it disabled his Raikyogan, and continued on the warpath towards his foe. The two engaged with a metallic clash of orange sparks and once again began their furious exchange. With his shorter sword out of the way Shoryu was forced to fight with only his leading blade; it was a totally different style to what he was used to, but in Kouta's blind rage he managed to repel the boy for a full ten seconds until he saw the kamikaze opening.
Kouta reined back his right fist and threw a straight punch. Here Shoryu dropped his weapon. Biting down hard on his lower lip the boy brought up his hand, catching the cruel, bladed knuckleduster. Kouta's expression was one of confusion; the spines in his weapon stabbed all the way through his foe's left hand and shredded his glove to tatters, but why had it seemed so deliberate? Who would opt to endure such pain willingly?
Shoryu held back a cry and grunted a drawn-out groan as more than a dozen blades slashed open his palm. His own blood splashed across his face when the blades came out of the other side. He waited a few slow seconds for the electric blue sparks to reappear; the Raikyogan was coming out again – one more jolt would kill him.
"You've just signed over this match!" jeered Kouta.
With one swift movement Shoryu freed his bloodied left and switched hands in an instant, clamping down his right on the same armoured fist. He made sure to hold it secure, whilst still making his grip loose enough so that the blades never pierced his glove. Then Kouta acted – it was over in an instant.
The boy charged thunder and lightning from his own body into his hand and channelled it to the metal encasing his fist, hoping to bolt it through Shoryu one last time to end the battle for good. Instead his attack backfired.
Kouta suddenly began to seize up as his whole body vibrated, struck suddenly with all the electricity he'd poured into his hand. Tiny bolts danced around his head and arm, and instantly the blue cross of thunder faded from his eyes. He wrenched himself free just in time for Shoryu to pick up his sword and deliver an incredible slash, the blade cutting deep across the boy's torso and exiting in a fabulous spray of fountaining blood.
The heat from Raikyogan's blast had burned away the material of Shoryu's padded right-hand glove, revealing that underneath it was not bare skin, but another set of gloves. These were simple kitchen gloves made of rubber, a substance completely invulnerable to electricity. Kouta had attempted to pour his lightning into Shoryu, but the rubber had blocked it completely, and with nowhere else to go but backwards the bioelectric current had predictably flowed back into its master.
The crowd roared in excitement when the barely conscious Zawa prodigy fell to his back shaking and bleeding. Then they cried even louder – even got to their feet – when the same clan's outcast pounced forward and pinned his enemy to the ground with a single blade pressed up against Kouta's throat. Beneath him Kouta's chaotic fit eventually came to a close, and upon returning to the real world he found to his horror the sword at his neck.
"You had better yield or so help me I'll do it. . ." warned Shoryu, his voice low.
"Yield! Yield!" Kouta screamed.
"And would you look at that!" the voice of the announcer suddenly bellowed around the arena. "In a shocking turnaround, Shoryu Aizawa has managed to beat his opponent into submission!"
Shoryu took a deep breath and dropped the sword. He drew himself back up to full height and finally relaxed his shoulders, savouring the praise of his audience and sighing as if a thousand problems had just been lifted from his wounded chest. One hundred thousand people had followed these exams; they knew his story and how much rested upon this one fight – and how much of an underdog he'd been. They'd seen and heard every gory detail of the battle. And they loved him for it.
For half a minute Shoryu stood absolutely still, perfectly relaxed in absorbing the applause of his peers. He'd forgotten about the battle entirely until he realised with a start that it wasn't yet over. He noticed something which in his pessimism he regarded as a disaster, and he wasn't wrong either.
For the entire duration of the battle the rumble and the intense heat from Norio's volcanic wall had been so constant that he'd forgotten about it quickly. Now it had stopped, and he realised too late what that spelled for him.
Shoryu turned around straight to the sight of the charging ninja. With magma in his hands and resolve in his eyes Norio raised a fist and prepared to strike him; at this range and with his lack of remaining energy Shoryu knew he could do little to stop his own demise. He was exhausted and unarmed, his reactions slow after such a draining battle.
Feebly he tried to raise his arms to defend himself. He managed to get them to about his ribs before Norio was stopped in his tracks, as from his flank a blade suddenly skewered his shoulder. The Mist ninja looked down at his mangled clavicle screaming and cursing before the blade twisted brutally and retracted, sending him down to his knees and revealing the attacker.
It was Kazuya – of course it was Kazuya; no other would jump to his aid in this fight. As bad as Shoryu knew his condition was, Kazuya's was decidedly worse. A hole had been punched through his gut and three other kunai plunged a few inches into his body. These wounds were far more serious than Shoryu's – his life was in danger if he didn't get aid within the hour.
Norio yielded when the samurai pointed the blade at him again, and with that, Kazuya collapsed to the ground to instantly fall out of consciousness. Shoryu understood in a heartbeat what had happened: since Kazuya's dojutsu allowed him to fight at inhuman speeds, his battle had been over long before Shoryu's. Wounded and near-death, the samurai had waited around for as long as it took for Norio to attack.
"WINNER: CLOUD TEAM THIRTEEN!"
Again the crowd leapt to their feet and cheered louder than ever upon the proctor's announcement. Shoryu was hardly listening though. Instead he rushed over to his friend's side – splashing him with blood from his chest and hand as he did so – and shook the boy's head in his arms, at the same time yelling for the medical ninja at the sidelines to come as quick as they could.
"Kage these days, just who do they think they are? If it's a war they want it's a war they'll get!" Kira grumbled.
Only a few hours had passed after the final recess and the Kage Summit Conference had come to an end. Kikuchiyo had demanded that they come to a consensus – well they'd reached one just fine. As the terms got slowly worse the five eventually decided that if even one more clone squadron raided their respective villages then there would be all out war, no exceptions.
Peparo Raan and Teruo Shijo had almost come to fists until the good Taisho came between them. Reizo admitted that it was a battle he would be eager to see, even if he knew he'd side with the witty Kazekage. Kikuchiyo had dragged Peparo away spitting and flailing while Hiromasa subdued the Mizukage, who kicked and cursed until his savage Jonin advisors finally settled him down. It had been an eventful conference to say the least, and probably one of the most heated in the memory of most alive. It seemed there was little they could do to stop a war now. Reizo only wondered just how they could stop it and dreaded the day that it began.
Reizo and Hatori walked gloomily after their leader as the Kage muttered to himself in a far worse mood than he'd been in on the way over. Soon they'd passed the Three Wolves and ended up on the rebuilt, ancient stone bridge that had been damaged sometime before the fourth war. Reizo glanced around at the new environment; the ice had been too slippery and the passage too narrow for him to make a confrontation before, but this place seemed ideal.
As he walked the Raikage scribbled down the contents of the meeting on a scroll. He then summoned a hawk, attached his message to the bird and let it fly into the wind, presumably to relay it to the elder council back at the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
"Someone is deceiving all of us I tell you! We're being played like fools, all for the amusement of some master puppeteer," he said. Unfortunately Reizo didn't believe a word – he'd heard enough.
"Someone . . ." he said. The Jonin stopped suddenly in his tracks at the foot of the bridge, causing Kira to turn back to him in confusion. "You mean someone like you?" Reizo suddenly drew his spear, the small extendable baton with its spiked tip, and held it up before brandishing it out to its full length. He stood poised and ready for battle as the Raikage met his deadly stare with only a perplexed expression.
"Reizo? What's come over you?" he asked, looking genuinely frightened. "This isn't like you."
Reizo held his glare. "Don't play dumb any longer. You're the Kage behind it all. I didn't want to believe it, but Hatori double checked. You should've reconsidered bringing a sensory ninja along for the conference."
"What madness is this? Come to your senses Reizo! Hatori! You too!"
Hatori wavered and turned his gaze away when the harsh, accusing stare of Kira Asakura looked at him with such disappointment. Despite his lack of resolve though, the ninja stayed put next to Reizo, refusing to join the side of his traitorous Kage. He said nothing and looked to the floor in shame.
"I understand your confusion, and it's only right that you should suspect me!" protested the Raikage. "You've done well Hatori – I hold nothing against you, but there's a perfectly reasonable expl-"
"Daimyo Raikyogan!" cried Reizo. He cared nothing for whatever convoluted excuse Kira could have for betraying his own nation. Instead he lit up the supercharged thunder in his eyes and sent waves of spluttering lightning down his drawn spear.
The Raikage held his look of anxious, helpless confusion for a few more moments until his expression changed completely, as though he'd been replaced by another being. Where once the terrified face of a feeble old man was formed, a malicious, evil sneer now spread across his wrinkles. His pupils instantly dilated into beady little eyes as he dropped into a daring combat stance.
"Oh well," he said, his voice shifting into a noticeably different accent. "Guess there's no sense hiding it now."
Reizo fought the urge to recoil at the sudden change the Raikage underwent. His stance, his expression and his entire demeanour seemed to have relaxed into its natural state of evil; it was as if the entire time he'd been living Kira had been putting on a show to conceal his true nature.
"Yes. It was I who sent the clones to attack their respective villages – I who instigated this war – I who pulled the wool over the eyes of the entire village!" he said in excitement, boastfully proclaiming his deeds in an attempt to somehow make the two ninja appreciate his elaborate plan. "But that doesn't matter anymore. You two will be dead before you can tell any about this, and what's more, there's nothing you can do to stop this war!"
"What did you say?" Reizo's tone faltered, his stomach churning in sickness.
"That's right. Remember that bird I just sent off? Inside that scroll are the orders for each of the five nations to be struck by another assault of the clones!" screamed the Kage. With his real feelings exposed Kira seemed to be getting some sick thrill from knowing the deaths of countless ninja were on his hands. It disgusted the two Jonin.
At this Reizo twisted his mouth into a smile. "Well then I guess it's a good thing we've caught you red handed. We might not be able to stop a war, but at least our village will rest safely in the knowledge that we caught the bastard responsible. You won't be able to play Kage any longer."
"What?"
From the deep pockets of his flak jacket Hatori suddenly produced a handheld tape recording device. From the reels turning within, Kira could see that it had absorbed their entire conversation and was ready to play back the incriminating evidence at any time. The Raikage smiled a dastardly grin and flashed his eyes in excitement.
"You'll never deliver that recorder in one piece!" he said.
"Hatori! RUN!" ordered Reizo.
At the command of his junior Hatori suddenly burst into a sprint across the wooden bridge. Kira chased after him, as spry as a young man now that his hunched over, slow moving posture had been proved to be just an act. As quick as the Raikage was, Reizo was faster. He intercepted the old man using a quick burst of his electrical prowess and blocked a water-wreathed fist with the shaft of his spear.
Reizo's intervention allowed Hatori to keep running along the bridge. He quickly reached the end without ever looking back – Reizo doubted that he would until he reached the village. He was fine with this though; this wasn't a case of abandoning comrades. Both were prepared to die for the Cloud here today, and if he returned to help Reizo it would be an insult to the sacrifice he was prepared to make.
"Looks like I've got my hands full here!" Kira exclaimed. "I'll just have to hunt him down once I'm finished killing you!"
Reizo brought up a kick to break the hold as the Raikage smacked it away with a punch. The clash sent both warriors skidding back ten paces in opposite directions across the bridge, but where Kira remained untouched, Reizo on the other hand had been damaged more than he knew. The sizzling of a slow fuse diverted his attention back to his foot.
He cursed; when Kira struck him he'd planted a paper bomb on the bottom of his shoe. It stuck to his sole like a pesky piece of toilet paper until it detonated, hurling him into the air already with burns covering his leg.
He landed and skidded, and then the ground beneath him disappeared. He found himself looking down over a fifty foot drop and flailing madly to grab onto something. His hands quickly found the edge of the bridge he'd fallen off and he clung to it for dear life as the elderly Kage marched over to it. He tried to swing himself back onto the bridge, but Kira stamped on his arm to prevent him from doing so.
Reizo looked up into the face of his old leader, twisted and leering over him with every intention of destroying him. The obvious question came before he could stop himself from asking it.
"Why?" he said. "Why do this? Why betray your country? Why start a war?"
Kira threw back his head and laughed; the pointed hat of the Raikage clattered to the ground as he did so. "Why? Oh come now Reizo, don't speak to me as if I'm your Kage. Kira Asakura has been gone a long time. I doubt you were even a teenager when the real Kira disappeared."
Reizo narrowed his eyes in confusion. He couldn't have been an impostor using the transformation jutsu – someone would've noticed long ago if his chakra flow was off and his daily patterns irregular. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What did you do with Kira Asakura?"
The Raikage ignored his question and continued boasting. "Oh don't get me wrong – this is Kira's body. I'm simply borrowing it, like I'm doing so many others. Didn't you think it was strange how all these years the Raikage never stepped down? How he could continue to still be alive and even lead a country when over a hundred years old? How his body can now move with the agility of his prime at this age? I'm the one sustaining him."
"Genjutsu," guessed Reizo. Powerful Genjutsu at that; the control it must take to hold sway over a being as powerful as a Kage must've been astronomical. It all fell into place – what he'd said was all true, there was no other explanation for Kira's age and apparent health. Then he recalled something else the impostor said – 'like so many others'.
"If you're this powerful with Genjutsu . . ." Reizo went on, taking into account the Kage's previous words and his evil scheme. "Then you must be the one controlling the clones - they're under Genjutsu too."
"Oh! Very good!" Kira began to clap sarcastically.
Reizo growled, "Are you the one who created them too?"
"Oh no, not me. The one who made them, he's much older and wiser than I am."
Damn it, Reizo clenched his teeth. So even if we ever find this guy in the flesh there's another, even more powerful foe.
"But enough talk – I know you're just stalling for time here to let little Hatori escape. Show me what you can really do, and let's see if it matches the full power of the Tenth Raikage!"
A full ten minutes elapsed as the judges made their respective decisions on who to pass and who to fail. During that time Shoryu allowed the medical ninja to inspect his wounds as he stood at the centre of the arena, shaking both from the adrenaline of the fight and the two blasts of the Raikyogan he'd suffered. As he began to get woozy the ninja finished bandaging his chest and got started on stitching up his wounded hand – that hurt most of all.
Nearby, Kouta's injuries were also being tended to, though Kazuya and Norio's were so severe that they had to be taken inside immediately. Suzume meanwhile remained frozen solid in a block of ice – none risked moving her. Whether she was dead or not was impossible to determine, but since the pillar had just begun to drip water he knew they'd find out soon enough.
Around him the crowd had quieted down from its previous frenzy; they seemed as eager as he was to receive the results of the battle, even if Shoryu's expectations were decidedly lower than their own. He'd done everything right and beaten an opponent that would normally outmatch him, though he wondered whether that even mattered with Saito Yukizawa as the main judge.
After what felt like an eternity Saito emerged. Up high on that raised platform he almost eclipsed the sun. Shoryu put up his free hand to shield himself from the light as he looked directly up, and even then he thought he saw a contented grin on his distant uncle's face. He seized the microphone he'd used to announce the match and began to work the crowd just as before, his voice booming around the entire coliseum.
"Sorry to keep you waiting folks, but this proved to be one of the hardest battles to judge! The results are in now, if you'd care to hear the verdict."
Cries from the audience confirmed that they did. Shoryu held his breath and remained perfectly still.
"First up is Mixed Squad One," continued the clan leader. "Kouta Renazawa, for failing to defeat a weaker opponent and making wasteful use of his abilities, fails the final stage."
Kouta stirred uncomfortably on the ground as the people clapped as a show of their condolences. Shoryu laughed to himself – in all the generations that had passed, every Zawa had cleared the Chunin exams on their first attempt. Saito's wrath at Kouta's failure to defeat Shoryu must've been so great that he decided to break that rule and fail him.
"Next, Norio Oyama. Despite his show of great skill and mastery of a Kekkei Genkai, for taking too little part in the battle he too fails the final stage."
More claps followed, but Norio was in the infirmary and thus not around to appreciate them.
"Suzume Oyama, for her great endurance and show of tact, passes the final round and advances to the level of Chunin!"
Shoryu's eyes wandered over to the solid block of ice at the centre of the arena. Cheers this time rang out for her and Shoryu couldn't help but clap along in respect, not knowing what had transpired beyond the wall of lava. To cause Kazuya such injuries meant she must've been a fearsome opponent indeed, even in spite of his attitude towards her as a person. Saito's announcement also confirmed that she was alive; with the Raikyogan he could see the current of bioelectricity still flowing within the ice.
"And now for Cloud Squad Thirteen!" he went on.
Shoryu steeled himself – this was the moment he'd been waiting for.
"For his resourcefulness and tenacity, Kazuya Takashi passes the final round and also advances to the rank of Chunin!"
Shoryu smiled widely (particularly at the word 'resourcefulness') and cheered along with the crowd, adding in a loud whistle at hearing the results Kazuya had earned. He was happy for his friend; as long as Kazuya passed they wouldn't be separated forever, and his village could receive the funds necessary to prosper again.
"Shoryu Aizawa. . ."
The boy's breath escaped him – this was it. He looked up past the glare of the sun and locked eyes with Saito Yukizawa, though to his dismay the cheerful snigger the clan leader exhibited gave him a bad feeling about the result.
"Despite displaying heart and intuition, took too long to defeat his opponent, sustained too much damage during the battle and made reckless decisions that compromised his own safety. For this, he too fails the third round."
Shoryu nodded bitterly, pretending to humbly accept the Saito's decision. He actually suspected that Saito had bribed the other judges to side with him - it seemed the only explanation for such a lack of fairness. This is it, he thought to himself, inspecting the ravaged scars of his left hand. All this for nothing. Things won't ever change as long as people like him are around. Can't believe I actually allowed myself to think he'd pass me – Reizo isn't here this time either, and I'm pretty sure no one else is willing to stick their neck out for me like that.
The outcast continued to nod, expecting the congratulatory claps from the audience that his opponents had gotten for competing. Instead he heard nothing; only a prolonged silence came over the arena, followed closely by perplexed muttering amongst the common people.
Then someone shouted.
"BOO!"
"Get off the stage, what'cha playing at?"
"Give him the pass you stickler!"
An apple sailed from the crowd up to the elevated platform upon which Saito stood. It must've been thrown by an elite ninja, because it soared fifty feet through the air before smacking his face and perfectly bursting upon his forehead. The crowd was united in jeering protest; even they could see clearly the unfairness of this decision. Shoryu was right; Reizo wasn't around to have his back now, but when his victory had been clearly visible to so many people he didn't need him.
"He was the last man standing! Are you blind?"
"Nice judging asshole!"
"SILENCE!" Saito roared, although his command had little effect.
If Saito had made one mistake then it was flaunting Shoryu's past. He'd updated the title screen to show that he was an outcast in hoping to make everyone see how weak he was. What he'd actually done was put more people on his side by creating an underdog, whilst at the same time exposing his own prejudice. That – coupled with the entertaining show that Shoryu had put on – turned the masses against the clan leader. As more fruits and vegetables met the platform people began to point out his bias.
"You just cheated him out of a pass because you don't like him!"
"You're discriminating against him!"
"I don't have a Kekkei Genkai! Wanna fail me?"
Before long the booing and the bombardment of food forced Saito back indoors. Even whilst he escaped the attack the crowd still called out insults – they knew he could hear them. Shoryu's heart began to flutter; all these people, strangers and fellow ninja alike, had stuck up for him. If this continued he knew a full-scale riot would be at hand with the commoners demanding penance for this sham.
Saito knew this, so after a minute or so he re-emerged and took another hold of the microphone, still dodging the wave of thrown food. He looked enraged and panicked; terrified in the knowledge that one hundred thousand people would get up and leave such an event. He looked down upon Shoryu this time with such hatred that the boy suspected he might just activate the Raikyogan and dive down to attack him.
"The panel has reconsidered its decision!" he announced, though the tirade never stopped until he gave the order they required.
"We have decided instead to give Shoryu Aizawa a pass for the final stage, granting him the rank of Chunin."
The crowd screamed in collective excitement as Shoryu began to go numb. He'd done it – he'd passed, and it was all thanks to the insistence of all those people he didn't know. He saw Ayako in the crowd smiling and clapping along. A few seats along sat his mother doing the same. With his mind so overwhelmed and his body so exhausted, Shoryu passed out suddenly into a deep sleep, tumbling into gratified bliss.
.
Author's Notes: Hiatus? What's a hiatus? I'm afraid I don't register that word :P Just taken a little time off is all, and yes this wasn't out for the New Year but the sheer unexpected length of this third stage made that impossible.
So a lot happened in these chapters as I'm sure you know. Suzume turned out to be Kazuya's cousin, who also had his Dojutsu, who then told him that his father is dead and then went on to implicate Shoryu in his murder (which makes little sense because he would've been five years old at the time). Kazuya's also got a grandfather who created the Jikogan – what's up with that?
Reizo on the other hand discovered that their own personal Raikage has – for over a decade in fact – been possessed by a master of Genjutsu, the same one that controls the clones. They're also having their fight on the same bridge that they passed on the way - the one where Naruto and the rest of Team Seven had their little reunion.
Aaand Shoryu had the showdown of his life before his ridiculous fail was overturned by screaming fans. Yeah I know that might've been a little corny but there was no way he would've passed otherwise, and it's probably good for him to witness something like that since he's usually super cynical.
Also the first S-Rank Jutsu got unveiled today (along with about 5 other jutsu) so I had to update the chart. Big shock: it's the Jikogan – if Kazuya's fight didn't make it clear then there's more to it than what we've seen already.
Next chapter is a big finale - the exam's aftermath and Reizo's fight with the Raikage. Are you as excited as I am? :D