Wow, I actually managed to write something before this year ended! I so rock! And I'm so modest. I'm really happy that so many of you enjoyed the previous chapter! I hope that your Christmas was good and that you all found lots of presents under your Christmas Tree.
As usual I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Glad you enjoyed it. Since many of you wanted to know how Hizoku vs. Yamazaru fight will go, all you need to do is read this chapter to find out. Also, some of you asked about Kai's match… well, I have it already planned and basically I know around which chapter it should take place. Since the question got repeated, I'll do this: I hate to be a spoiler, so those of you who prefer NOT to know anything, should skip the rest of this paragraph and for all those who want to know regardless – SPOILER WARNING (don't read, if you prefer to find out on your own): Kai's fight will be the 24th match of the eliminations and it should take place somewhere around the 80 chapter of the fic SPOILER ENDS!
And now, before I get onto the show, just a reminded that I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS I'LL BE SATISFIED WITH THE NUMBER OF REVIEWS, SO IF YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: REVIEW!
Chapter #63: Battle Rage
Title Page: Kai is sitting on a large crate with 'danger' sign on it and is looking inside a hippopotamus mouth, holding a huge toothbrush on his shoulder
"Hey, I didn't gave you the starting signal yet!" Lee yelled as Yamazaru charged straight at Hizoku with his huge mace ready to smash the grass-nin's head. The redhead instantly jumped back, thus avoiding the mace that came from above and smashed hard into the floor where he stood only a fraction of a second ago.
Immediately Hizoku reached for his spear and dropped it down on Yamazaru's mace, thus forcing it even harder into the floor. As the huge gennin tried to lift his weapon up, he found it impossible to do. Just then the redhead used his weapon and jumped forward, still pushing his opponent's mace into the ground.
In a flash Hizoku launched a kick into the snow-nin's stomach and once the attack connected, Yamazaru bended slightly due to the impact. It was then that the grass-nin delivered another kick, this time with his other leg, into his opponent's head and landed safely on the floor, still holding the huge mace on the floor by using his spear.
Hizoku's eyes widen however as he realized his second kick didn't make the effect he wanted it to. Yamazaru seemed to be unmoved by the redhead's last assault. He just glared at him from the eye-holes of his wooden helmet and, still unable to lift his mace up, he launched a punch into the grass-nin's face. Only thanks to his reflex was the spearman able to place his weapon in the snow-nin's fist way, but still the impact made him slide slightly back, thus allowing the helmet-wearing gennin to lift up his mace and once more charge at his opponent with it in his hand.
"Damn, that helmet guy's good…" Hizoku thought to himself as he kept on dodging furious attacks of his opponent, backing out. "His physical strength is really something and even though he seems like a doodle brain, with brute force alone he may corner me… blocking his attacks won't give me a thing, the only option is a counter…"
"That helmet guy is just charging in blindly!" noticed Tsume, slightly annoyed, with Uramaru barking loudly as if an agreement. "Then you have something in common…" joked Senkou with a tiny smile appearing behind his mask. The dog kunoichi instantly snapped at this and if glare could kill, Hokage's son would be laying on the platform dead at this point. Kokoro didn't paid a lot of attention to the whole argument that took places seconds later. He just kept on observing the huge snow-nin, sweating slightly.
"Kokoro-kun, are you feeling alright?" Mikka repeated her question with even more concern in her voice. The blonde didn't even turned towards his teammate, but at least this time he decided to reply: "That helmet guy… this whole Yamazaru… he acts on instinct… he's not analyzing the situation nor is he thinking ahead, he just charges in, controlled completely by his rage… that sort of opponent… he won't stop unless you'll force him to…"
"It's more then that…" Kato cut in, gaining the two's attention, along with Kai's, who suddenly got interested. "Yamazaru is not a typical shinobi… he lives to fight, so even if he were to die, he'll keep charging forward… I don't know how good that Grass guy is, but one thing's for sure: he couldn't have got the worst opponent… isn't that right, Yari?" and with that he turned to the spearman, who stood right next to him, with a wide smile on his face. The other boy only lowered his head, yet said nothing.
"You shouldn't worry about that…" Taka announced calmly with his arms crossed. "No matter who his opponent will be, Hizoku won't lose…" and with that he narrowed his eyes, setting them on his redhead teammate, before adding in his mind: "Especially since he has THAT thing to take care of…"
Hizoku bended his knees, thus lowering his body at the same moment Yamazaru swung his huge mace at his head. As the massive weapon went right over his head, the redhead counterattacked and cut the snow-nin's torso shallowly, only to realize his opponent made nothing of it and was already dropping his mace down in the attempt to crush the spearman under it.
Without wasting a second Hizoku jumped flat to his forward right, making the huge mace hit the floor once again. The redhead rolled on the floor and at the very same moment he came to a stop, he found himself standing with his back turned towards his opponent's back. In a flash he spun on his foot and cut Yamazaru's back, this time deeper then before, yet also now the helmet-wearing gennin didn't seem to be effected by the attack at all as he also spun around and swung his mace at the spearman.
Hizoku instinctually jumped back, avoiding the attack, and narrowed his eyes: "Nothing seems to work on him… that first time I held back, but the cut I left him on the back should have at least some effect… can he block his nerves in order to stop pain?"
As his feet touched the floor, he saw Yamazaru's huge mace coming at him from above yet again. In an instant Hizoku jumped back, making the large weapon crush into the floor once more. The redhead acted immediately and breaking his flight by sticking his spear into the ground, he jumped forward and landing on the snow-nin's mace, he cut from above in an attempt to split his opponent's head in two.
However that plan completely backfired as Yamazaru only charged forward and rammed the defenseless Hizoku with his elbow, thus sending him flying back few meters. The redhead flipped in mid-air in order to land safely on his feet, yet the snow-nin was already running straight at him, again with his mace ready.
As the huge weapon came down again, Hizoku jumped to his left and flew parallel to the floor, spinning wildly in the process. As he landed on his feet, he went into a fighting position with the blade of his spear aimed at his opponent. His eyes narrowed as the helmet-wearing gennin turned towards him, breathing a little heavily, yet shaking from excitement.
Hamaru (A/N: it's Nezumi's rat, which you most likely forgotten) began running around Nezumi's body, searching for a hideout. Finally it found its way into her jacket and then under her shirt. The kunoichi could feel it trembling. Hanamaru, who was standing right next to the grass-nin, glanced at the girl curiously and then asked out loud: "What's wrong with him?"
"Well, Hamaru is capable of sensing people intensions…" Nezumi began explaining calmly as she stared at the place her pet hidden itself. "Whenever someone has an urge to kill or do something low, he is able to sense it in time and gets a little nervous… though I have never seen him this terrified before…"
"It's no wonder though…" Kusari cut in, without even looking at the kunoichi, as his grip on the rail tightened: "That snow-nin is really scary… it's almost as if we didn't care if he lives or die, as long as his opponent will get defeated… just like that other Yuki guy said…"
"I've heard about people like that from my father, but I always thought that they were just a fairy tale…" Ibuki announced, gaining everybody's attention. "In every fairy tale there's a grain of truth…" Akira cut in simply, but the weapon mistress didn't paid much attention to his comment and in stead, she just continued: "People who gets carried away by their rage alone, without seeing the difference between allies and enemies… such people were called berserkers…"
"Berserkers?" Kumiko repeated, slightly confused. "This isn't some stupid, fantasy story! There's no way such people exist in real world!" but the moment she said so, Aisu chuckled: "You're right, Yamazaru isn't anything like that… since he's not even human to begin with…" and as she announced that, Kai turned his gaze at her, his eyes widen:
"He… isn't human?" he repeated in his mind as he turned his eyes back to the arena bellow, where Hizoku was still doing his best to avoid Yamazaru's furious attacks. "What's that suppose to mean?"
Meanwhile the huge snow-nin swung his mace yet again, making Hizoku bend his knees slightly to avoid the assault. As the large weapon flew right above his head, the redhead spun on his foot and attacked his opponent's legs, in hope to make him lose balance. As the Kusa gennin's attack connected, Yamazaru let out a wild cry, which didn't seem to contain any pain in it, and felt to his knees loudly.
Seeing this as a rare opportunity, Hizoku kept on spinning on his foot and tried to chop the snow-nin's head off, only to realize the helmet-wearing gennin already lifted his mace up and just as fast brought it down. He huge boy missed the redhead by inches, but still the impact was so great that the air wave created in the moment when the mace hit the floor blasted the Kusa shinobi away and made him hit the wall with his back.
"Hizoku-kun!" Tobane only managed to yell with worry as she saw her teammate landing on his feet, yet holding his back with his free hand. Tokame only narrowed his eyes under his hood before glancing at Yamazaru, who was now slowly getting back to his feet.
"Without even landing a blow on his opponent, that snow-nin still managed to inflict some damage on that redhead…" Karei thought to herself with her eyes narrowed as she observed Yamazaru charging at Hizoku, who was still slightly shocked by the impact.
As the snow-nin swung his mace from his right down, the redhead bended over to his left, thus making the huge weapon got merely inches above his body. But this time Yamazaru acted immediately and once his first attack failed, he changed the route of his mace and made it come at the redhead again, this time aimed at the grass-nin's right side.
Hizoku, still a little dazed after hitting the wall, wasn't fast enough to react and received a powerful blow into his right side, which send him flying. Instantly he clenched his teeth to keep a cry of pain that was gathering in his mouth from coming out. "With a single attack… how many of my ribs just broke?" the redhead thought to himself as he flipped in mid-air and landed safely on the ground, making pain shoot from his side.
"And so it ends…" Kyuu thought to himself with a tiny smirk appearing on his face.
"I told you that redhead had no chances at defeating Yamazaru…" concluded Kato, crossing his arms as the helmet-wearing gennin charged at his opponent yet again. Naruto only narrowed his eyes, which were set on the grass-nin, while Takaru did the same: "It'd seem that this is it…" stated the son of Tsunade calmly,
Kai only clenched his teeth as he glanced over at the rest of the Kusa team. None of the grass-nins seemed to had the will to cheer for their teammate anymore. The blonde turned his attention back to the arena and with anger building up in him, he yelled from the bottom of his lungs: "Hizoku, for crying out loud, what are you doing?! Didn't you promise just a while ago that you won't hold back during the exams?! Finish this already!"
The redhead only glanced at the blonde for a split second and then smiled under his nose: "Yeah, you're definitely Chitose-san's son, Kai…" he thought to himself as the snow-nin came closer. "And you're right, I did say that… I hate to be a liar…" and with that he bended his knees slightly, prepared to dodge the incoming attack.
Yamazaru swung his mace parallel to the ground in the attempt to break few of Hizoku's ribs, yet the redhead simply jumped over the weapon with one, smooth motion and landed safely on top of the snow-nin's mace. The helmet-wearing gennin was so surprised he didn't manage to react in time.
In an instant Hizoku swung his spear at his opponent, aiming to cut him open. As Yamazaru noticed the redhead's weapon coming from above, he instinctually jumped back, for the first time trying to avoid the assault, yet he wasn't fast enough. While the grass-nin's blade hit the floor, ending the attack, the Yuki shinobi breathed heavily with a big cut going from the top to the bottom of his helmet.
"I cut too shallowly…" Hizoku realized as his eyes narrowed. For some, strange reason he felt slightly relieved: even though that snow-nin was his enemy, he didn't want to kill him. But it was then that a loud crack was heard and as the redhead set his eyes on Yamazaru, as well as everyone else gathered in the room, the wooden helmet the huge Yuki gennin wore broke in two and fell to the floor, thus revealing his face.
In an instant Hizoku took a single step back, shocked at what he saw. Galu's eyes only widen in surprise as Taki's grip on the rail tightened. Kai only swallowed his saliva loudly, realizing what was hidden behind the helmet: "That snow-nin… what the hell?"
---the mask is off… and behind it…---
And so this chapter ends (I know, I'm evil to end it like that). Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done. As usual, before I'm finished, here's the list of all the gennin that are still left on the battlefield:
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha: Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2: Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
Kusa: Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame: Kasano Youji, Nokogiri Karei, Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Azarashi Kawa, Tora Miaka, Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki:Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Kihako Tasuki
Hane: Ono Reiji, Sentou
Yuki: Nadare Aisu, Sarumaru Yari, Urufu Kato, Yamazaru
Kumori: Kyuu
And this is really it. Hope you enjoyed it. Also, since Xmas done, I can still wish you to have a GREAT NEW YEAR'S PARTY and that the incoming year will be your best one so far!
Take care and until next time, hopefully.