Wow, it's been a while since I've updated, hasn't it? I have a lot of reasons for that and no point in actually boring you guys by exposing them all. Let's just say this last month was quite a crazy one for me. And besides, I'm a little disappointed in the number of reviews for last time, so the motivation to keep writing was much lower than usual.
On a bit more positive note, the wait was not entirely in vain as now I can present to you a rather unexpected, multiple update. With this the battle between Kai and Takai finally comes to an end and all of you can learn the result of it. I hope it'll turn out to be worth the wait.
Also I wish to thank everyone who DID review the previous chapter. It truly means a lot and I sure hope I'll hear from you this time around as well. And keep in mind that THE MORE REVIEWS I GET, THE GREATER THE MOTIVATION TO KEEP GOING I'LL GET AND THUS AN UPDATE WILL COME SOONER.
Word from our beta: It has been a long time, to be perfectly honest.
I, too, haven't had much time in updating my fic, Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid. I do, however, have a pilot chapter out that you may enjoy, entitled Limit Breaker: Fūjin no Ōdachi (translation: Great Sword of the Wind God). If you all have a chance and/or time, then be sure to check it out.
I think that's all on my part. Take it away, Shang!
And now, without further ado, let me invite you to read the newest installment of NNG. Hope you'll enjoy it.
Chapter #120: The Key
Title Page: festival (Day of the Dead): Kai, dressed as a skeleton, is lifting his mask up, winking to the 'audience', a little further Kumiko is dancing with Kusari, while in the background Takaru plays the guitar, Ibuki – flute, Kogane – bongos and Galu – drums, all wearing sombreros. One could also spot Rei lying under the wall, the giant hat covering her face, indicating she's sleeping… like usual.
The stadium went completely silent, while the two fighters froze. An expression of shock took over Kai's face as his hand stopped, raised to the sky, the chakra blade fading into the air. The skeleton was gone, but not because he cracked the skull. Instead, several drops of crimson liquid fell to the ground, while a wide and deep slash appeared on Takai's back, who now stood with his back turned towards his opponent, his arms wrapped around the calcium head tightly.
None of the two moved, even when the newly inflicted wound began closing itself. Finally the artificial shinobi gazed over his shoulder, settling his eyes on the blond and then turned around, slowly putting the skull back in his backpack.
"He struck that scythe of his into the ground and pushed against it. Thanks to that the inflicted pressure would blast him across the arena," Hizoku analyzed in his mind, his eyes set on Takai. "Interesting maneuver, but what's really intriguing is the sheer reaction. Earlier, Kai destroyed many of his skulls and yet he didn't seem to care; however, this time he shielded it with his own body… makes you wonder what's so special about this skull…"
In a flash, the artificial shinobi clenched his fists, making sharp bones shoot out of his body, creating an armor of spikes that covered every last inch of it. Without a second to waste, the sand-nin charged forward, swinging his fist at the blond, his arm now filled with calcium blades.
Acting on instinct, Kai jumped to his left, avoiding the blow, yet as the fist cut through the air, the bone of Takai's right shoulder suddenly stretched, going straight at the Leaf genin's soaring form. Instantly, Naruto's pupil performed a quick hand seal, initiating a gust of wind that blew him sideways; however the spike still managed to cut his left side, ripping the shirt.
At top speed, the sand-nin ran to the spot his opponent came to land, ramming the blond with the bone growing from his elbow even before Kai's feet touched the ground. The impact sent the Leaf genin flying back and bouncing a few times off the surface, before stopping on a tree with his back… hard.
Pain shot through his chest as its left side began to be stained with crimson. Kai's breath became faster as he found himself gasping for it, yet Takai was not planning to stop, already charging at him once more with both hands ready to trust through his stomach. In fraction of a second, the blond jumped into the air, making the bones sink into the tree trunk, while the clone user reached for his kunai, aiming to unleash a rain of blades upon his adversary.
However, the artificial shinobi quickly retreated the bones on his arms back to his body, freeing himself from the tree's grip, while the calcium spikes on his back shot up, going for the blond, yet again. Left with no, other option, Kai unleashed his knives, making them all get deflected by the incoming blades. As kunai began falling to the ground harmlessly, a sizzling sound reached Takai's ears. And as he took a closer look at the projectiles, he spotted something burning on them.
"Explosive tags!" he instantly realized, jumping back instinctually as the notes went off, lifting tons of dust into the sky. Thanks to his sudden movement, the bones aimed to pierce the Leaf genin changed course, going through the air inches before Kai's face, who was already in the process of forming more hand seals.
"Fuuton: Kaze no Kei!" the blond called out as steams of wind began circling around him, shooting at Takai a moment later. Acting on instinct, the artificial shinobi started dodging the air whips, making them scourge the ground with every missed swing. As the Leaf genin's feet finally landed on the ground, he unleashed the last two blows, which only went below his opponent as he jumped up, somersaulting in the process.
With his head facing the ground, more chakra shot out from his body, shaping itself into a pair of grotesque wings. A shocked expression crossed Kai's face, making his body freeze for just a moment. But even that proved to be too long as Takai instantly dived and, soaring inches above the surface, went for the blond at top speed, inflicting a myriad of new cuts to his adversary, forcing a yell of pain from the boy.
As the leaf-nin dropped to his knees, the artificial shinobi flew up, hanging in the sky with his bat-like wings flapping slowly in order to keep him flying. Kai quickly recovered and as he was getting back to his feet, he gazed at the spot his enemy now was, narrowing his eyes: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out, performing his standard technique, creating multitudes of clones that surrounded him, all gathering below Takai.
"Fuuton: Tatsumaki Hakka no Jutsu!" In the arena as the bunshin all executed the trick, blasting themselves to the sky by using wind. Before long, the sand-nin found himself surrounded with the copies of the blond, each with a kunai ready in their hands.
In a flash, Takai's bones extended once more, while the boy himself went into a spin, widening the range of his attack. Instantly the clones began disappearing, creating a cloud of smoke in the sky as a puffing sound filled the air. Some of the blonds managed to bounce off the backs of their comrades, jumping even higher and then came falling at the immortal with a wild battle cry.
Hearing that, the artificial shinobi froze in his tracks and threw his hands up, again making the bones extend from his arms, each aimed to pierce its own clone. But as the spikes came close, the blonds again performed Kage Bunshin, summoning even more copies. This had proven futile as the bones that came only grew new spikes that extended from the old, all going for their own target.
In a desperate maneuver, one Kai used Tornado Ignition once more, blasting himself out of harm's way and grabbing the nearest bone, slid down on it at top speed, reaching Takai before the boy managed to react. In a fraction of a second, the blond wrapped his arms around the sand-nin, immobilizing his wings and making the two begin their descent to the ground, head first.
Not giving in to panic, the artificial shinobi simply made the bones grow from his body again, piercing the clone and allowing him to flip just in time to land safely on all fours on the ground. Naturally, this made the bones in his arms and legs shatter, but in less than a blink of an eye, he just pushed more chakra into them, putting together the fractured pieces.
He instantly raised his head, anger showing on his face as his limbs began burning, only to see the real Kai charging at him with a kunai engulfed in wind-element chakra at hand. As the swing came, aiming at his head, Takai immediately shot up, jumping back, making the slash go across his chest, only several inches short of cutting his body in half.
"Such a deep slash and he's still moving," Ibuki thought to herself, seeing the sand-nin flip back a few times. "That attack just went through his heart and he's still alive. If Kai managed to cut him in half, perhaps he'd have won, but that aside, surviving such an assault… is it really impossible to bring that scythe guy down?"
Takai finally came to a stop, the wound on his chest already healing, but the blond was not done as he kept running straight at the artificial shinobi, the knife still ready in his hand. Acting on instinct, the sand-nin rose his arms, making bones shoot out of his finger tips and fly at the incoming Leaf genin.
"He can even throw them like that Honemaru guy?" Kusari's eyes widened from shock of the sight, while below Kai dodged to his left, making the bullet fly pass him. It did not take long for another barrage of bones to get shot at the blonde, this time forcing him to jump over the assault.
Landing on the ground, the leaf-nin rolled forward, making another round of calcium spikes fly inches above his head. With the distance between the fighters much shorter, he charged again, oblivious to bones that came at him at point blank range. But, to most people's surprise, the projectiles just sunk into Kai's body, without causing any harm, while the boy himself swung his wind blade from below, in the attempt to cut off Takai's hand, barely missing as the Sand genin strafed left.
"Of course!" Kumiko instantly understood, a smile appearing on her face at her teammate's realization. "He said himself that all his bones are just materialized chakra with the skull as the basis. By blasting the bones out of his body, the bullets lose the connection with the skull and become nothing more than harmless energy with no actual form. It's basically the same as simple bunshin: phantoms can't cause real damage!"
With fury taking over, Takai threw a punch at his adversary, again extending bones from his arm, piercing the blond's chest as the fist connected and sent the leaf-nin flying back. But as the Konoha genin went rolling on the ground, a small figure jumped from the artificial shinobi's back, landing on the shoulder and striking its blades on both sides of the boy's neck.
Takai let out a scream that could only be considered something in between pain and frown as Gamashi's daggers pierced his skin, causing a burning sensation to fill his neck. With a quick hand seal, another bone shot out of his body, hitting the tiny toad dead-center in the stomach, blasting it to the sky.
"Gamashi!" Kai only called out, seeing his summon disappear in a puff of white smoke. Slowly his anger took over, making his gaze settle back on his adversary, while the air began circling just above his palm with a loud whistle: "Sorry, Naruto-sensei… I know that this is supposed to be 'last resort'… but I'm out of options…"
And with that thought, he spoke up as an orb of spinning wind gathered in his hand: "Let's finish this!"
"Rasengan?" Kakashi's visible eye widened at the sight, only to return to normal a moment later as he took a closer look: "No, it's somehow different from what it should be, but it does seem quite similar to the latter. Naruto, is this your doing?"
"Let's finish this?" Takai repeated with amusement in his voice, his bone armor still surrounding him. "Then what have we been trying to do up till now? I'm willing to do that ever since we stepped into this arena. If this is your final try, then come," he responded, extending his hands towards the blond.
Meanwhile, Hinata observed the two closely as a worried expression crossed her face: "That sphere of wind seems to be pretty unstable and just by looking, one can tell it takes a lot from Kai to keep it in check. On the other hand, reforming his own skeleton into that armor put a great strain on the sand-nin's body. It's still too early to decide; however there's one thing certain: their next encounter… will be the final…"
And as those words echoed in her mind, the Leaf genin charged at the artificial shinobi with a wild cry.
--the final encounter… and the outcome? --
Normally, this would be a perfect cliffhanger, but as stated, this is a multiple update, so all you need to do is push the 'review' button, write a short comment and move forward to the next chapter that should already be on the site.
As for me, before wrapping this chappie up, a quick translation of the technique used in this installment and just as a reminder a list of genin, along with the Final Exam match order:
Fuuton: Kaze no Kei (Wind Element: Wind Whip)
KONOHA: Kumiko Murasakki, Ibuki Tanken, Takaru Gekido, Kusari Hagane, Kai Haisha
KONOHA: Mikka Igaku, Tsume Inuzuka, Kokoro Benda, Senkou Hatake, Galu Kobushi
KONOHA: Rei Konpaku, Kogane Rikoteki, Toku Amagasa, Kitsune Debano, Hanamaru Gusoku
KONOHA: Taki Hamano, Hitomi Hyuuga, Akira Manako, Funbo Tanken, Horohoro
SUNA: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Takai, Tarakudo
SUNA: Hari, Sabaku no Sabure, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
KUSA: Tobane Hokku, Nezumi Kanraku, Taka Kuchibashi, Tokame Kyohaku, Hizoku Wanabi
AME: Youji Kasano, Karei Nokogiri, Ryo Eshaku, Tsuino Furikuzu, Nazaa Hebereke
BAKUFU/TAKI: Kawa Azarashi, Miaka Tora, Tetsu Abura, Shita Makko
TSUKI: Teela Juusei, Tenka, Kumo Chishio, Nobu Chishio, Tasuki Kihako
KANE: Naginata, Reiji Ono, Futatsu, Hogosha
Fight 1: Haisha Kai (1) vs. Takai (2)
Fight 2: Ono Reiji (3) vs. Wanabi Hizoku (4)
Fight 3: Abura Tetsu (5) vs. Tanken Funbo (6)
Fight 4: Honemaru (7) vs. Gekido Takaru (8)
Fight 5: Benda Kokoro (9)vs. Horamaru (10)
Fight 6: Furikuzu Tsuino (11) vs. Tarakudo (12)
Fight 7: Manako Akira (13) vs. Dekai (14)
Fight 8: Hyuuga Hitomi (15) vs. Tenka (16)
Fight 9: Hokku Tobane (17) vs. Sabaku no Sabure (18)
Fight 10: Murasakki Kumiko (19) vs. Debano Kitsune (20)
Fight 11: Junsei Teela (21) vs. Kanraku Nezumi (22)
Fight 12: Horohoro (23) vs. Hagane Kusari (24)
Fight 13: Aoru (25) vs. Hamano Taki (26)
Fight 14: Torune (27) vs. Hari (28)
Fight 15: Amagasa Toku (29) vs. Kyohaku Tokame (30)
Fight 16: Kobushi Galu (31) vs. Karame (32)
And that's it for the time being, but hold on to your seats, coz the next chapter is already on the way!