The storm above them darkened as Azuko stood before his fallen team mate. Seven enemy Shinobi still stood, but his father had put him through hell and high water for just this occasion. For the first time in his life, Azuko was actually thankful to the heartless bastard he called his father.
One of the Night Nin stepped forth. "Do you really think you can take us all on?" He asked his voice arrogant.
Azuko popped his neck side to side, a fait crack breaking the silence. "The real question," Azuko said his voice just barely audible over the falling rain. "Is can you take me on?"
The seven ninja just laughed at him.
No more words passed between the seven of them. None needed to, none could. Azuko struck first, clearing the gap between him and the Yoru Nin with one leap.
He was shocked by Azuko's speed and jumped back. Azuko pursued him relentlessly; he straightened his fingers and brought his hands up, keeping them close to his body, flooding them both with Chakra.
The Night ninja saw what he was doing and dived to the side as Azuko thrust his hands out, one above the other.
The Chakra in his hands easily allowed both of them to bite deeply into the wood of the large tree Azuko had backed his opponent against.
"Ji o bankatsu rekkō!"
Azuko forced the Chakra in his hands out into the tree with as much force as he could. He pulled his hands free and the Chakra from his hands ripped the tree apart from the inside, sending the titanic tree scattering back and out as Azuko's Chakra tore it asunder.
The seven enemy Nin froze, while Hina and Makabi watched in awe at the sheer level of destruction Azuko had caused.
He turned back to the enemy and drew out his kama. There was a horrible moment of stillness as everyone but Azuko trembled at the blood bath they knew was to come.
Eventually Azuko got tired of waiting and attacked. He moved to the Ame Nin closest to him bringing his kama down one her.
She jumped back just tin time to avoid a lethal blow; the blades of Azuko's kama caught on her armoured chest plate and ripped it off as the Kunoichi jumped back. The others moved in, but Azuko prioritised his targets, the Ame Nin was vulnerable now and his main priority was thinning the numbers. He gave chase and sent an elbow into the girl's stomach. She gasped in pain as Azuko's blow connected but didn't have any time to dwell on her pain and Azuko send a heavy kick to the girls temple. As she staggered under his blow he grabbed her collar and spun on his heel. He sent a kick into her stomach, throwing her into the oncoming Nin.
The girl collected two of them on her way back and Azuko charged in her wake. The small opening created in the enemies' front line was small, but Azuko used it well. The Yoru Nin parted letting the other four deal with the girl while they took out Azuko.
The boy suddenly stood between them and swung for their necks. One was too slow and the blow glanced his neck. He was bleeding badly, but it was not something that couldn't be dealt with easily.
Before he could follow up on either of them one of the Kusa Nin came in, landing powerful blow on Azuko's gut. The punch sent him hurtling back past the tree he'd destroyed, landing harshly in the mess of wooden splinters it had left.
He cried out as several of the splinters bit into his arms and legs, but he forced the scream down just as soon as it had come.
This isn't the time for pain! He shouted to himself as he got back to his feet pulling out most of the splinters.
He just barely managed to side step his attacker as he came in again, the same powerful fist shattering some of the larger splinters it came into contact with. Azuko spun on his heal and brought his leg against the back of their skull with a round house kick.
The attack hit and the Kusa Shinobi went limp as they blacked out. Even so Azuko had no time to breath as the other two Kusa Nin attacked. He bent over backwards to avoid the blade they aimed for his gut. He sent a weak kick into their backs, breaking their balance more than anything else.
As they turned back for round two Azuko readied his kama, bringing them down on each of them.
They raised their katana to block and Azuko used his superior strength and momentum to drag their guards down, scoring a deep gash along on of the Kusa Nin's arm.
The other used Azuko's advantage as his own as he spun around fully, bringing his sword up again thrusting it at Azuko's ribs.
Azuko rolled with the blow as best he could, using his kama to divert the thrust up and over his body.
With one final twist Azuko sent the blade into the wounded Kusa Nin's shoulder. The man screamed in pain as the blade passed cleanly through his shoulder, lodging fast in the mix of cartilage and bone.
The Kusa Nin tried to pull it free but he would have been better letting it go. Azuko came to his feet proper and sent his kama into the Kusa Nin's exposed side.
The man coughed up blood as the blade tore through his intestines, a moment later he was dead.
"kataon: Gokakyū no jutsu."
Azuko dived forward, a fire ball hot on his heels.
He used his earth nature chakra to push himself through the mud, away from the jutsu. He came to a sitting position and on instinct threw a hand full of shuriken at the direction the attack had come from.
It saved his life.
The uncut Yoru Nin came in brandishing his obsidian combat blade, scarcely two feet behind him.
The barrage of Shuriken made the young man jump to the side while Azuko used the moment to retreat from his enemy, pushing himself in the opposite direction.
He swept his eyes wide over the battle filed as managed to get all of them in his field of vision.
"Doton: Meikai no Doronuma no jutsu!" He slapped his hands down against the mud he was sitting in and the enemy shinobi lurched as their feet began to sink into the ground.
He poured even more Chakra into the jutsu and managed to sink them to their waist.
"He's done it!" Hina cried.
Makabi shook his head. "Unfortunately not." He said sadly.
Hina looked confused, but Makabi's eyes stayed solely on the remaining Kusa Nin.
"Doton: Suchi Idaina Hashira no jutsu!"
The ground began to tremble and the next thing Azuko knew, the enemy ninja were lifted out of the mire he'd made by thick pillars of stone.
Azuko growled under his breath as he looked up at the remaining Kusa Nin.
He's an earth style ninja then. So he was probably using a Doton jutsu earlier. He'll be a problem. He looked at the remaining Ame Nin, the girl looked a little worse for ware and was probably nursing a few broke bones and a concussion but seemed to still be able to fight, her team mate stood next to her, healing Chakra in his hand.
So he's a medic then, great. Azuko spat out a small dribble of blood that had collected in his mouth and looked at the Mae medic. He could be like Taki and have Genjutsu abilities as well. Seeing as he's been staying back from the fighting I'll guess he's a sensory Shinobi, so he'll be able to pin down my location and relay it to the others at all times. He's got to be first then. Azuko decided as they stared each other. That leaves them. He thought to himself as he looked at the two Yoru Nin. The one he had injured seemed to be a distance fighter, considering the range he had on that fireball technique.
The other one was bigger built in the shoulders and looked to be a close combat type.
Azuko got to his feet gently, letting the heavy rain wash away the mud all over his legs and hands.
He looked up at them and then to the sky above. Dark clouds rolled above him, the occasional crack and flash of lightning illuminating the dark woods.
He smiled.
This is going to be interesting. He thought to himself.
He stamped his foot against the ground forcing a curtain of mud to shield him from sight. As one the five remaining Shinobi sent a volley of kunai and shuriken at the mud wall. Azuko jumped up and over the wall, clearing the volley of Shuriken and sending out his own in return.
The enemy scattered and Azuko moved in on the hulking Ninja from the Land of Night.
The man brought up his big muscled arm and brought it down on Azuko sharply. Azuko side stepped the blow and swung his kama for the man's neck. He dodged it easily as he brought his blade up for a second attack. Azuko had little time to bother with the man as the Kusa and Ame Shinobi closed in. he flipped over the back of them and brought a closed fist into their shoulders, trying to cut up with his kama.
Both of them rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp blades as they swung back at him. Azuko dodged the Kusa Nin's fist and moved for the Ame girl. He flicked his writs sheathing both his kama as he gripped the girls arm with both hands. He pulled her forward and brought his head to hers.
Sun spots filled her vision as the Ame Nin tried to retreat. He pulled her arm again and puled the girl over his shoulder, using his leg to block her own.
In a text book prefect throw, Azuko sent the Ame Nin strait at the Kusa Nin.
The man jumped over her with one hand as he brought his free arm up to deliver a fatal blow.
Azuko saw the Yoru Nin coming in on both sides and the other Ame nin covering the rear.
He gritted his teeth and dived forward.
The Kusa nin wasn't expecting such a tactic and was caught off guard by Azuko's sudden attack.
He grabbed the Kusa Nin's wrist with his left hand and pulled the man's arm across his body. He saw what Azuko was planning on and tried to stop him, but he realised too late to do anything about it.
Azuko yanked the man's wrist back as he slammed his forearm into his elbow.
The blow shattered the Ninja's elbow as Azuko brought his forearm in the opposite direction. He screamed in pain as his bones shattered but Azuko left him no time to lament as he threw him back into the others.
They avoided the crippled shinobi and moved in on Azuko. He grunted in frustration as he ran through another series of hand signs.
"Hadō hada!"
The mud at his feet turned to hard stone and Azuko smirked. The hulking Yoru Nin came in first and Azuko dropped to a knee.
"Doton: Ishi bakudan!" He brought his arm down sharply, chopping against the hard ground. The stone's exploded up and out throwing the Yoru Nin back.
Azuko had no time to think about it as the Ame girl came in. she threw a hand full kuai at him and Azuko rolled back, catching a few to his arms and legs in the process.
Better than the chest. He thought dryly as the Ame nin came in with another kunai. Azuko blocked it with a kama but could do nothing for the kick she sent into his jaw.
Azuko's head snapped back as he's body was lifted off the ground.
The Ame girl smiled and plunged her kunai into Azuko's heart. Smiling viciously at her victory. It was a short lived victory as no sooner had she 'killed' the boy than his body vanished with a puff of smoke.
"A binshin!" She gasped as she looked about for the real one. The others immediately began to fan out as well looking for where the real Azuko had gone.
As he had planned, the sensory was the first to go. He just seemed to leap up out of the mud, kama in and. The lightning cracked overhead and for a brief horrifying moment the Ame Nin saw Azuko's shadow looming over and engulfing his own, kama in hand, raised high, thrown across the ground like the grim reapers scythe.
The flash of lightning died away and Azuko buried the blade of his kama into the Nin's head
The Ame girl screamed in anger and pain and her team mate was killed, the heavy 'boom' of thunder drowning out the sound of her pain.
Azuko tried to free his blade but it had lodged fast in the boys head. Azuko grunted in frustration and let it go. He'd make due with one of need be.
He made to attack the screaming Ame Nin but the bigger Yoru Nin intervened. "Suiton: Eki dangan!" He spat out a dozen or so head sized balls of water. Azuko tried to shield himself from the blast with a mud wall but the hastily erected jutsu only staved off the first two projectiles. He raised his arms over his body, attempting to weather the attack, but he immediately regretted the idea.
The water bullets took him off his feet and sent him slamming against the tree, the rest slamming against him in rapid succession. Azuko tried to scream, gasp for air, but the heavy torrent of water slamming into him stopped him from being able to.
He slumped against the tree in a daze as the water bullets finally relented.
His head was spinning so madly that he didn't noticed the Yoru Nin before it was too late. The hulking Nin stepped in and brought his blade into Azuko's shoulder.
Azuko screamed in pain as the blow shattered his collar bone and bit deeply into the flesh of his shoulder.
The Yoru Nin smiled gleefully as he began twisting the blade in Azuko's shoulder drawing out more screams from the young Shinobi.
"We have to help him!" Hina shouted.
Makabi gave no argument as they both moved to aid him.
"Stay back!" Azuko shouted, his voice drowning out the distant boom of the storm. "I told you to keep guard over Taki; your only duty is to see her safe, so both of you stay put!"
Makabi and Hina looked at the boy in shock, but the burning determination in his eye told them he was serious.
"But you'll die!" Hina shouted.
"So be it!" Azuko retorted as he supressed screams of pain. "You protect her! She has something to live for, something to go back to! So her life takes precedence!"
The Yoru Nin standing over him laughed as his statement. "You're hardly in a position to be denying help, you might actually live." Azuko supressed another scream of pain and the blade bit deeper into his arm and smiled at him. Blood ran down his lips and despite the icy rain that fell all around them he was running a high fever.
"More than I can say for you." He grunted.
Before the other man could ask what he was talking about Azuko thrust a hand into the man's gut.
The Yoru Nin let out a faint whimper as Azuko's hand entered his stomach, brimming with Chakra.
"Ji o bankatsu rekkō!"
The blast wasn't as immense as the one that destroyed the tree, but it was defiantly worse. As the Chakra burst out of Azuko's hand violently and the Yoru Nin's stomach cavity was ripped apart, a moment later his back just exploded in a wave of red as blood and organs flew out of him.
His corps coughed up a mouth full of blood before it slumped against the tree, falling to the ground a few seconds later.
The others all watched with a mixture of shock and horror at the gruesome death that played out before them.
Hina turned away to throw up.
The remaining Yoru Nin just stood where he was, unable to believe what he had just seen.
Azuko stood up and began walking, kama in hand. He was slow; taking each step was an effort at this point. His skin was pale and his clothes were covered in blood. His own and his enemies.
The last Yoru Nin gave a titanic scream of pure rage as he charged Azuko. Even though Azuko had never felt so weak, or exhausted in his life the scream of the Yorugakure Nin set his blood boiling. The Yoru Nin charged in, all thought of strategy and tact had left his mind as he let his anger consume him.
His speed was impressive and his power was more than Azuko could take if a blow actually connected, but the man's path of attack was too linier, too direct.
He'd never land a hit on Azuko with those moved. Regardless of how badly injured he was. He sighed to himself as he side stepped the heavy punch.
The Yoru Nin tried to recover but before he'd even take a step, Azuko buried the kama into the back of his neck.
The Shinobi's eyes glazed over in pain as his body tried to cope with the shock, but it couldn't, so it just gave up.
Azuko pulled the blade free as he began walking back. He walked past the Kusa Nin whose arm he had broken. He was the last of his team; the others had either bled to death or were claimed by the mire. They looked at each other only briefly, but for the two of them it seemed like an eternity.
He saw nothing in those eyes worth his time. He had won and this man was going to be no more of a threat to him than the rain.
The Ame girl was standing over the body of her fallen team mates.
Crying.
He sighed and knelt down next to her, pulling his kama free of the boys' skull. Like with the Kusa Nin no words passed between the two, but it was clear their battle was done. Surprisingly, the Ame kunoichi reached into her pocked and pulled out a Death scroll, handing it to Azuko. The boy said nothing as he took it from her, leaving her to her sorrows.
He walked back to the others, just barely on his feet by that point and slumped against a tree, smearing it with blood.
Hina gasped at the state of him and ran to his side, her hand glowing with medical Ninjutsu.
"Taki," Azuko muttered weakly.
"She's fine." Makabi assured him as Hina set about the delicate task of removing the blade from his shoulder without killing him.
Azuko smiled before he finally passed out. Taki's headband falling from his brow and landing next to the girl.
The rain finally stopped falling as Hina managed to stop the bleeding.
The sound of a branch breaking caught the Night Nin's attention as they spun to see the remaining Kusa Nin. He held up his un-broken arm, his teams Earth scroll in hand. he didn't say anything, he just left it there and walked away.
Sup friendlies?
Thanks to all three of you who voted - you know who you are.
Jutsu used were.
"The fissure that splits the earth."
"Mire of the underworld."
"Earths great pillars."
"Hard skin."
"Stone bomb."
"Water bullet."
Until next time I wish you all the best.Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.