Chapter 39: Desperate Assault
Out in the open Shoryu pulled down his black tee and drew his one remaining sword. Most ninja in the clearing were already alert, glancing around to try and discern the water's source; those that weren't quickly followed suit as the two Cloud ninja prepared for battle before their eyes. Free joined in too, having leapt up from his little alcove in the tree the second he heard the current.
Around the three of them the rookie Leaf ninja muttered fear and paranoia to each other. Young and merry from booze, they made finding their target a chore. With excitable whispers at every angle Shoryu had difficulty focusing.
"Quiet!" He showed a hand and put on his most commanding voice – the one he used when ordering troops. That seemed to work. In a heartbeat the Leaf's sentries were more scared of him than the foreign sound, and with near-silence Shoryu found himself edging towards the west. He laid flat on his stomach and pressed an ear to the earth.
"Shoryu I really don't think that's going to-"
"Shh!" Before Ayako could finish her sentence Shoryu hissed and put a finger to his lips to quiet her. Judging from her appalled look he figured he'd pay for it in some way later down the road, but for now her safety was more important.
Shoryu listened, keeping still as possible. Far beneath them he heard the movement of water, a sucking sound like an old boot submerged in a bog, yet to the west a flowing tide still lingered. From low down Shoryu could hear it better than before. It rushed closer and closer with every passing moment, until its volume indicated its true and terrible size.
The Jonin sprang back to his feet. "To the trees!" he cried, moments before flecks of rolling water started to appear beyond the firelight.
At Shoryu's command the small handful of ninja jumped to the supple branches above the camp. Those not spry enough to reach simply dashed to the nearest tree and ran up its spine, sending chakra to their soles. In a half-second only two remained on the wooded surface, daring to take on the jutsu alone.
"Move!" Shoryu called to them.
The Leaf ninja stayed, no doubt regretting their decision once a fifteen-foot vanguard of thundering water dragons crashed through the trees like a charging stampede. Their plan was an understandable folly: by running at the wave the two ninja thought to use the water-walking technique to best it. Instead they ended up sprinting on an incline like fat students on a treadmill for whole two seconds before a liquid dragon pounced from the waves and wiped them both out.
As the water consumed the campfire the pallid glare of moonlight became their only light source. The two ninja tumbled beneath the tide, quickly swept out of view; but Shoryu could still hear the sound of their bones breaking on the trees they passed. Nothing short of pot luck would save a man from death in that technique. The moment it swept someone away they were trapped in its stream.
"Don't try to walk on it!" Shoryu ordered. "That's not normal water!"
From the hanging treetops around him there was no reply; Shoryu could only pray that they heard him. Like a swinging monkey Free clambered down from the branches above them, dangling level with Shoryu and Ayako. Beside them a ninja screamed as the force of the waves uprooted his tree. He couldn't have been older than thirteen – an admirer of Hotaru judging by his hair. Shoryu cursed as the sea consumed him.
"Yasu Honami I take it?" he grumbled to Free.
"That would be the logical conclusion, yes," said the Clone.
Silence fell once more as the waves trundled into the night. Shoryu was the first to jump back into the clearing. Ayako followed shortly after, and within a few more seconds he heard four more footfalls as the ninja fell in. With a six-man cell the ninja formed a circle about their old fire, backs to each other as every pair of eyes watched the dark for any sign of the enemy.
"This is ridiculous!" said Ayako. "Shading Jutsu: Crimson Candle!"
Throwing up her arm the kunoichi released a cluster of glowing chakra spheres to the sky. Like a fountain they spread out in separate directions, sticking to the trees where they made contact. From there a clap of Ayako's hands was all it took to give them light. Catherine wheels spitting heat and red sparks flared up in the treetops, each a slow-burning flameless candle.
In an instant the sinister corners of the woods became illuminated bushes and harmless patches of nettle. There was nowhere else for Yasu to hide, and yet there was no sign of her anywhere. Shoryu thought of using the Raikyogan – but so early? He could find her with it easily, but Water was its only weakness. If he revealed his dojutsu before even finding her the battle would be a short one.
A racing shadow in Shoryu's periphery made him turn and draw as a ninja streamed from the trees. Ayako and Free were scared too; his movements were so fast they couldn't register his face until he stopped two feet away. Hotaru fell into formation beside them to provoke looks of relief from his followers. His arrival renewed their spirit, but not Shoryu's.
"Hey guys! What did I miss?" Hotaru asked.
"Are you kidding me? We're fighting water!" said Shoryu. "You're the 'Flame's Phoenix' - you're going to be more useless here than even me here!"
"I can hold my own!" insisted the boy.
"Water Style: White Rapids Jutsu!"
As if to test them a woman's voice called from the shadows as the crash of running water began anew. From the north a column of sharp white foam bolted from a gap in the trees, tearing apart twigs and hedges where it rushed through the forest. As a foaming cannon of liquid death the jutsu bore down on their formation, only Hotaru leapt in the way, his final tiger seal snapping shut to wreathe his arm in holy fire.
"Fire Style:-"
"Don't!" cried Shoryu.
"-Suzaken!" Burning orange and blazing out to a colossal fist, Hotaru's punch met the water with far more power than his size should have allowed. The result – as Shoryu predicted – was a muffled explosion as cloud after cloud of scalding steam fled the site of impact. Shoryu and the others found themselves gasping to the floor, chests burning after inhaling a lungful of boiling hot vapour.
Ninja left and right coughed for breath in the mist. The swirling fog only turned the campsite into a confusing labyrinth of scattered units, so thick that Shoryu could barely see Ayako three feet away – everyone else was consumed by it. Amidst the spluttering of various ninja one was suddenly cut off – his voice ended mid-cough, married to the sound of a sharpened blade running across flesh.
"Free!" Shoryu called out, suddenly reaching an idea. "Free!"
I'm here Shoryu.
The Jonin paused for a moment, getting used to the clone's telepathy again. It was useful if nothing else; even when he was out of sight Free could still contact him when necessary.
"Take the Chunin," Shoryu ordered, "find Hoshi. You two go around the camps and get as many people as you can the edge of the trees. If you come across Yuudai then send him here, but containing this battle is our first priority!"
Understood.
Just as the clone was about to set off the group noticed a figure through the meandering fog. Shoryu's sword was hardly raised before Yasu Honami was upon him, a rain of kicks and crazed punches forcing the ninja onto his back foot. A nonstop brine gushed about her feet, repelling the fireworks Ayako blasted her way so she could focus her attention on the leader.
After finding his back against a tree Shoryu went on the offensive. Using both hands he adopted a one-sword pose and shifted to a parry, swatting her hand away before thrusting his arms into a stab. The result was a disaster; Shoryu ended up putting too much weight on his left leg and tripping forward as he hopped to keep his balance. Yasu's elbow slammed hard into his back to keep him down.
"You're Shoichi's son aren't you?" she said to him. "It's not exactly hard to miss."
Shoryu knew what she meant. All the Senmatsu on his father's side seemed to share commonalities. In fact Yasu herself was the spitting image of her daughter Kamiko, with chestnut brown hair a shade lighter than Shoryu's own and the same sparkling green eyes, vibrant and unstable.
"I expected better from my own nephew," she said.
Springing back to his feet, Shoryu took up his sword and tried again. This time Ayako backed him up, shading green to mould her claws before swiping out thrice with the emerald blades. Yasu weaved away from all three, finishing with a graceful spin from Shoryu's clumsily obvious lunge. A heel to the back of his knee put the Jonin down once again.
"How are you this crap all of a sudden!?" cried Ayako.
"I can't fight with one sword!"
Yasu's attention fell to the girl before Hotaru plunged through the mist behind her. Twin trench-knives wheeled in savage circles as the Leaf's Jonin channelled fire chakra for the Flying Swallow technique. Tongues of flame licked the edge of his steel, attacks redirected or dodged by the Senmatsu prodigy.
Turning her back to Ayako was Yasu's first mistake though. Her splashing barrier might have been enough to repel the standard flares, but the advanced colours of the Shading Jutsu were another matter entirely.
"Violet!" With a clap of her hands and a helping of extra chakra Ayako's beam managed to punch through the waves, the residual impact being enough to knock Yasu off balance. Hotaru seized the chance; in a blink his daggers made a smouldering cross-cut across the brown flak jacket of the Senmatsu. With a flick of her wrist she doused it in retreat. Gasping for air, Yasu tore off the buttons and discarded her body armour.
"See! Told you!" insisted Hotaru.
As he struggled to his feet Shoryu paid little mind to his partner's boasts; Yasu's fingers were a blur of hand signs. In less than a second he counted a dozen, and he knew that with her Alpha Gene any technique was likely to be devastating. His fingers snaked around the loop of his shuriken before a voice echoed around his mind.
Ninja Art: Pulse Jutsu!
Free was back again, his jutsu tearing through the fog in a lilac wave of distorted air. From forming seals Yasu was hurled off her feet, interrupting whatever terrifying jutsu she had in store for them. Together Shoryu and Hotaru pounced after her through the veil of steam, only to find her missing once they arrived.
"Come on dad, any time now," Shoryu grumbled. "We need backup. Free, I told you to find Yuudai. We can hold her off but I don't know for how long."
Turning to the clone, Hotaru agreed. "Get Kazuya too. Let's see how she likes it when we freeze her jutsu."
"No, that won't be necessary." Shoryu shook his head as Ayako threw him a sideways glance, chewing her lip. He didn't want to involve Kazuya; not after what he'd been through today. Trying to get that across to the others proved difficult though. For once Shoryu found himself at a loss for words - should he tell them? Free and Hotaru looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Why not? The guy's our best bet!"
Commander, strategically speaking Kazuya's abilities would be the most advantageous against this kind of opponent.
"I said no," Shoryu snapped at last. "We can handle this for now, we just need to sit tight and make sure we don't die."
Very well then, I'll return once our ninja are safe. Another wave of the clone's kinetic jutsu cleared a path through the steam. With a gesture he got the attention of Hotaru's two Chunin and ordered them to follow as he bounded once more to the treetops. The boy had barely left the battlefield when Yasu decided to continue.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
Around them Hotaru's steam thickened into cloud. Swirling between the trio, the mist became such a hindrance that Shoryu could only feel Ayako's back pressed to his own; turning to look showed him only a few locks of her blonde hair.
Shifting in the cloud, shadows began to dance against the white backdrop, ghostly apparitions of Yasu. More than once Shoryu almost broke rank and dove after one without thinking, but that was no doubt the whole point of her technique. She was trying to divide them; separately she could dispatch the three much quicker than taking them on alone. Behind him Shoryu heard the chink of steel as Hotaru's knives repelled a shuriken. Bringing up his own, the Jonin quickly felt something hard and sharp rattle off the edge. When none of them took the bait Yasu changed her tactics.
From out of the mist a handful of figures streamed into view, fists raised in attack. Shoryu turned and arched himself as low as possible, spinning around to evade the move and swinging his sword at the same time, drawing it up the sternum of his attacker as he felt the steel cut through water. Slashed in two, for a moment the clone hung in a static death-frame, carved down the shoulder by a shower of clear liquid before it lost its shape and fell to a puddle on the ground.
"Water Clones!" Shoryu called through the fog, knowing Ayako and Hotaru had no doubt discovered it already.
A swing of his sword and a chakra injection loosed the Air Slash. Shoryu's arc of sharpened wind blasted through five feet of fog, slashing two clones across the torso in a spraying fountain of water. The Jonin hurled a hopeful shuriken straight after it, grinning in delight as he heard it cut through another clone.
With his battle over Shoryu backpedalled until he found Ayako and Hotaru again.
"Damn mist, we can't see a thing!" cursed Ayako.
"I've got this," Shoryu offered. Five hand signs followed until his jutsu ripped into existence. "Wind Style: Galeforce Jutsu!"
As an eight foot tornado Shroyu's technique spiralled from his fingertips, set off like a spinning top to rage on a random course before them. It ate up the cloud like a titan after cotton candy, sweeping up clumps of the fluffy haze as it went, vacuuming them to its swirling core. Unfortunately Yasu's jutsu seemed to self-sustain itself; just a few moments after clearing space the mist would stretch and fill any gaps he created.
"Nice going," said Hotaru.
"Yeah well at least I tried! By all means, go ahead and use Fire Style again – it worked so well last time!"
"Don't make me come back there," said Ayako. "just focus. We only need to find the real one. Shoryu, I believe you have a thing for that?"
"You want me to transform?"
Ayako finally turned around to face him, dumbstruck at how childlike her boyfriend could be at the worst possible situations. "'Transform'? Really?"
"I won't settle for calling it anything less! No point having a super badass ninja transformation if you can't call it one!"
"Yeah he's got a point there." said Hotaru.
"You two are such idiots, just use it already!"
"Fine!" Taking two steps forward, Shoryu cleared the space around him and sent chakra in a slow build-up to his eyes. "Kanzen Raikyogan!"
The effect began immediately, a glowing blue filling the mystic designs etched into Shoryu's torso. Through the black fabric of his shirt the light shone as symmetrical markings made a pattern behind his outfit. As the glow reached his eyes Shoryu glanced down at the strange new look and smiled. He turned to the others.
"Just out of interest which looks better? Shirt on or off?"
"Water Style: Surface Slicer!"
Before he could get an answer Yasu's attack forced Shoryu to dodge. From the ground by his feet the rocks parted, split in two by a jet of water shooting in a crescent up to him. A burst of energy to his legs let him avoid the backsplash, but Yasu made the effort to intercept. Geysers burst from potholes in the floor at every direction like a fleet of armed missiles, too hot to even approach without feeling the sting.
To make matters worse half a dozen water clones joined in the fight, liquidized from the excess water bursting from the ground. Shoryu quickly found himself hopping around to avoid the jutsu like the floor was on fire, avoiding the clones with every movement; slaying them with shuriken and Air Slashes where he could. Getting too close to them would be a mistake; upon death they went up like a water balloon, and it only took a splash to make his Raikyogan backfire.
Fortunately backup arrived as one of Yasu's Surface Slicers gushing to Shoryu's right was suddenly blocked by a pale shield of yellow chakra. Ayako streamed back through the mist, tearing up a clone with a single hack of her emerald claws before spearing a second through a tree by clapping her hands. She turned, her clothes and hair dripping wet – Shoryu couldn't stop himself staring.
"FIND HER!" said Ayako.
"Right! Right." Shoryu looked around. Yasu was far away enough to avoid his sixth sense, but by scanning every corner with his eyes he knew he could locate her; nothing hid from the Raikyogan. It took him a matter of seconds. The bioelectricity in her body showed him a blue exoskeleton in the distance that stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Got her!" As a lightning blue comet Shoryu ran at her location. She hid in a bush away from the battle, casting more and more jutsu as he neared. Soon the Jonin was dashing left and right off each foot, with sideways arcs and vertical pillars of water ravaging the forest floor to block his path. With every step he made progress – even more so once Hotaru generated steam behind him to throw off Yasu's aim.
When Shoryu saw her through the trees he found himself at a loss as to what to do. Getting in close was ideal, but she still strung together hand signs and tore up the surface around him like paper – it could've been a trap.
I can't use Wind Style and the Raikyogan in conjunction again – not until I've mastered it. Shoryu wondered how his sensei would've used the Raikyogan, and on that thought an idea came to mind. He summoned bio-electricity, running it down the length of his left arm and firing it in a bolt at a nervous cluster in her stomach.
"Lightning Javelin!"
Yasu leapt up to the first branch of the tree, the spear glancing her foot as she streamed ahead. A yelp leapt out of her, but the rubber and plastic in her sandals kept the damage at a minimum.
"Air Slash Jutsu!"
From his single edge Shoryu released a curving current of wind. It severed the limb of the tree as Yasu bounced higher. The Jonin flipped open a shuriken and took aim, yet a tug at his psychic consciousness forced his attention elsewhere.
Shoryu swept his body into limbo as two clones rushed in from behind. A knife passed over his torso before he wheeled back and shocked it to steam with electric heat. After a flash of a throw the second one took his shuriken square between the eyes.
In the wake of his attack Yasu used the moment to fire another geyser at his feet. The rumbling beneath him gave Shoryu warning though; he hopped away before taking any damage, satisfied that he'd managed to avoid being drenched.
Yasu's next move only served to complicate things more. She descended back down to the surface, keeping her fingers fixed on a single seal. It was too good an opportunity to miss; she was practically inviting him to come and take a swing.
Shoryu set off as fast as the Raikyogan would let him, disappearing in a blue haze of bioelectric power as he made a beeline for his crazed aunt with sword raised and arm swathed in thunder. As he reached the ten-yard mark he suspected something was amiss; it was too easy. Surely she didn't think she could challenge him at close range combat? Shoryu skidded to a halt, but the Raikyogan guaranteed he was already travelling too fast to stop himself fully.
As his sandals grinded across the pines Shoryu saw the attack before it happened. The knowledge didn't make it hurt any less.
A small puddle, unsuspecting and easy to dismiss as unimportant, was positioned right in front of Yasu. Shoryu arched his arm and brought down the sword, but as his foot skidded into the puddle he found himself falling. It was a clever illusion; she'd simply fired a hole in the ground and filled it. The small pool consumed his whole right leg – the Raikyogan backfired.
Before he could even finish his swing Shoryu found his leg seizing in a sharp, agonising jolt. From his glowing, thunderous arm the electricity spread downward, engulfing his right side in a strip of pain like nothing he'd ever felt.
Shoryu dropped before he knew what was happening. His chin bounced off the earth as he grew faint from the crippling lightning. Before him his vision blinked in grey and blue, speckles and cracks filling it in an instant. A high-pitched sound screamed in his ears like amplified feedback from a microphone. With his head spinning Shoryu held out a hand to steady himself, but the movement itself only brought him more agony, tensing the muscles he'd shocked into seizure.
"Shoryu!" Ayako's voice called through the mist, distant and muffled.
"I. . ." Shoryu glanced around, hardly aware of his situation. It took him a while to remember where he was. "Wait, Ayako. . ?" He mumbled. Light faded from his palms as the Raikyogan switched itself off.
When he finally came around Yasu was stood over him, curved dagger in hand as she prepared to end it. Shoryu's half-hearted lunge for his sword was thwarted by her kicking it away. She grabbed a clump of his hair, yanking back his head and exposing his neck for her blade.
"Red!"
Still squinting through a drunken haze, Shoryu vaguely made out a firecracker streaming his way. The chakra sailed past his neck and struck Yasu across the shoulder. She recoiled a half-step; a storm of them followed. Deciding it would be wisest Shoryu dropped flat on his stomach as a dozen flares whirred overhead. In seeing the chance Hotaru ran in with blades ablaze. Even Yasu didn't want another steam shower; she backed off, drawing hand signs and watching on as the Leaf's Jonin slung Shoryu over his shoulder.
"Shoryu! Hey! Snap out of it! Come on man don't quit just yet!"
Hotaru was right – this was no place to get caught out. With a violent shake of his head Shoryu tried to shock himself back into reality. It worked in a way; he was more alert at least, but soon the world span around him in nauseating motions and he found himself only more aware of the agony raging up his side.
"Water Style: Storm Upheaval!"
Jumping in fright made another round of excruciating pain lance up Shoryu's arm. He and Hotaru glanced left to right, locking eyes with a bewildered stare as no jutsu came their way. Yasu sniggered in delight.
"Guys! Above!"
The sudden takeoff nearly gave Shoryu whiplash. Quick as a cat Hotaru launched them both out harm's way, with one powerful kick of his legs enough to propel them ten strides further into the forest. In a flash-flood water tumbled from an opening in the sky, a volume of waves so massive it would've crushed them beneath its weight had the boy not acted.
Like a freak storm the water kept coming and coming. Chest-high waves leapt from the centre and spread out into the woods, tearing apart more than half the trees on its arrival. Being smart enough to avoid walking on it, Hotaru darted to the thickest spruce he could see with Shoryu over his shoulder. He parked the Cloud ninja down in the crook of two branches once he figured they were high enough.
Soon the pool rose to the height of a house from the forest floor. Yasu stood on the twisting waves, smiling as they consumed footholds by the second. Only she could stand up here; Shoryu only needed to look at the water to see her chakra at work. Tiny, easy to miss whirlpools on the surface seeped a dark froth as they battled each other. The current would fight against the water-walking technique, sucking in any ninja brave enough to step foot on the surface.
Satisfied that Shoryu and Hotaru were out of the way, Yasu finally turned her attention to Ayako, stood atop an opposing tree across the river from them. The kunoichi shaded colour and steadied her hands, ready to clap into battle at the slightest movement.
She never needed to.
A vague shuffle of water from afar was the only precursor to Yuudai's entrance. The boy surfed on the foreign waters, arriving in speed with a jumping right hook from behind. The punch laid out Yasu immediately; with a single shot the Cloud's favourite water expert sent the Senmatsu plummeting cheek-first into her unnatural ocean and out sight.
"WOO!" Yuudai never stopped moving, not even for a second. He only glided around the surface of the water using his signature jutsu. Even after four years Shoryu had no idea how he did it; with his feet perfectly still the boy generated a current beneath him, making it look as though he was constantly being pulled along by some invisible jet-ski.
"I heard you were having a party without me!" he called to the others.
Before Shoryu could answer back a noise beside him caught his attention. His father had arrived, making his way to their tree whilst their attention was elsewhere.
"Sorry I'm late," he grinned, motioning to the kid sailing around the forest. "I thought it might be a good idea to fetch your resident water user. Can't use it myself, but I'm going to need it to defeat her. You don't mind if I take all the glory this time do you?"
"Can't-. . ." Sickness married the confusion as Shoryu's head started to spin like he'd downed a whole bottle of sake. His every muscle tingled in numbness, launching into unbearable pain if he moved. "Knock yourself out," he mumbled at last.
"With pleasure." By the time he finished speaking Shoichi's fifth hand-sign was struck. The ninja slapped the bark at his feet; circles of oil draw fingers across the air and smoke bloomed over the rapids. "Summoning Jutsu!"
From the quilt of mist a monster emerged, long and lean and scaled from nose to tail in a deep bronze hue. Yellow eyes complete with thin, reptilian slits blinked open as the beast menaced Yasu with a glare. Like Yuudai, the three-metre crocodile could sit atop her chakra-infused water without problem, too heavy to be pulled in by its current.
From the rafters of the tree Shoichi leapt aboard, finding himself a sturdy crook at the nape of the creature's neck. He kneeled tickled its shoulders, petting the predator like one would a household pet.
"Ready for a fight Syrak?"
A growl from the gator's throat assured Shoichi he was. Beneath him Syrak shuddered with excitement, the bass from his snarl rumbling the ground at the ninja's feet.
"You think you can beat me brother?"
Growing bored of the build-up Yasu emerged once again. Like a sea-spirit her head rose first from the jutsu, gliding up and into stance as the dark water flowed off her to re-join the unnatural current. Her expression showed a rage unfitting of her appearance; a scowl hiding everything that once made her pretty. She threw back her hair and guffawed, as if the very idea of challenging her was ludicrous.
"You're way in over your head if you think you can beat me on this plain."
"You know I disagree," said Shoichi, taking a seat at the crown of the crocodile as he delved into his theory. "I think you rushed in here without thinking. Sure, you've got your jutsu, but to maximise your Alpha Gene's efficiency you need to be by a body of water. You could've hidden, then killed anyone you liked as they bathed - that would've been the smart move. Instead you charged a camp containing maybe half a dozen of the most powerful ninja of this generation. This is more than you can handle. Hell, these guys don't need me to beat you. I'm just trying to earn my keep."
Laughing even more, Yasu shook her head. "Teijo was right about you. You're spineless; weak. You've been off the grid for over a decade, and only now do you come back in defence of the woman who murdered my daughter."
"Hey wait! That's not right at all!" said Ayako, suddenly shouting from the tops of the distant tree. "I didn't murder anyone! Your daughter was being controlled!"
A momentary flinch was the only sign of doubt on Yasu's face. After that she reverted to her frown. "Liar," she said.
"You knew about this," Shoichi judged, deducing much from the split-second gap in her pokerface. "Or you at least suspected as much. You knew Kamiko better than any – she didn't want any part of this war. And you also know Teijo, better even than me; he's not the kind of man to let an asset so valuable go to waste. You're in denial!"
"Enough!" A sudden shockwave of water brought their battle of words to an end. It wasn't even a jutsu; the water at her feet seemed to almost react to her anger. Raising his arms, Shoichi shielded himself as the five-foot wave splashed him to his senses. Only by directing chakra to his feet did he stay atop Syrak.
This was bad; Shoichi knew he couldn't talk sense into her if she'd stopped thinking. Yasu blinded herself from the truth of things and decided on blind loyalty to the family. His only course of action was simple: he would force her eyes open to reason.
"You can sit there and talk poison about my brother until the sun comes up or you can fight me," said Yasu. "It's your call Shoichi, but know that if you get in my way I'll destroy you."
"Yeah. . ." Shoichi sighed; he'd hoped to avoid a confrontation. His sister's arrogance made him weary. Slowly and deliberately the ninja got back to his feet, avoiding eye contact until finally addressing her directly. "I'm sorry sister, but that's just not going to happen."
.
Author's Notes: Hey guys! Long time no see.
Again this chapter was mostly about Shoryu and Shoichi. Part of it was seeing just how vulnerable Shoryu is in his current condition. He's still wounded and has only one sword so the Raikyogan was his only trump-card, one that gets completely nullified by Yasu's Water Style. Think we've only seen the Raikyogan overload once or twice before, but yeah I imagine it's like taking a few seconds in a high-voltage electric chair - not much of a pleasant experience. It's not really something you could carry on fighting with after it happens.
Shoichi meanwhile is being clever. His primary goal in going back to the Land of Lightning was to fight Yasu, but by doing it in front of Shoryu and company he's trying to earn their trust as an ally. It's funny that Shoryu sent away Free to get Yuudai, then Shoichi turned up with him five minutes later after having the exact same idea. I imagine Free is running around the forest at this point wondering where the hell he is.
On a final note, I realised the other day that this Volume totally conforms to Shonen manga tradition - by total accident no less. You know there's that trope where the characters fight their battles in order of power with the protagonist going last? Well first we had Ayako vs. Kamiko, then Kazuya vs. Madoka, then Shoichi vs. Teijo. If you think about it Shoryu - despite being in at least half a dozen fights - hasn't actually had a one-on-one fight at all since the timeskip. Bit of food for thought there :D