Alright, Here we go! Also thanks to those who complimented the story be it characters or otherwise, that really made me feel good about myself and the story as a whole.
It was dusk. Yuji had spent the rest of his school day doing the usual: Training, talking with Asuka and his fellow shinobi, talking with Taro and Daisuke and making sure that he had everything he needed for the raid on Gessen. It was the day after they'd had the initial meeting and when Kagura and Naraku appeared, Kiriya saying that the students should be allowed to relax in some way before undertaking an important mission like this. Yuji was thankful, being able to talk with his friends and family before going out to fight. Getting to Gessen wouldn't be difficult as Kiriya had managed to provide them the location. Gessen Academy was a school for good shinobi just like Hanzo Academy and so each knew the location of the other if they ever needed to head there for whatever reason.
Checking his things, Yuji made sure he had enough spare ammo for his gun (Which did thanks to Kat picking some up from Ayame), his sword was properly maintained and he'd had a decent dinner thanks to his mom(Who after making him promise several times to return) and he was at 100%.
"Kuya...you and the others ready?" Yuji whispered
"We are at your disposal Little Master, we await your call." Kuya replied equally as quiet, she had been doing this ever since Kagura revealed herself, clearly still frightened by the woman having appeared in front of them.
Walking outside, Yuji made his way to Hanzo Academy, he and the others were to convene there before heading out to Gessen. He made his way through the silent streets, taking the chance practice some more stealth, avoiding those who were on their way home or meeting up with friends for a night on the town. He'd gotten faster he'd noticed, because before he realized it, he was already at the entrance to Hanzo Academy. The school was practically deserted by this time, so he didn't bother hiding himself as he walked towards the building where he and the other ninja of Hanzo would routinely meet one another.
The other five elites were standing around, idly talking as Yuji walked up and joined them.
"Well well, if it isn't the man of the hour!" Katsuragi said with a wide grin "You shouldn't keep Asuka waiting you know!"
Deciding not to play along with Kat's joke, Yuji just nodded "Sorry the delay, just double and triple checking things. How about you all?"
"We're good to go." Yagyu nodded
Ikaruga was the next to speak. "Yes, let's put an end to this. We will protect our school!"
Sounds of affirmation resounded from the others and soon they all leapt into the air, jumping along the rooftops as they made their way to the Gessen Girl's Academy.
Unbeknownst to them though was that they were being followed. Naraku had learned about what they were about to do and as Kagura had ordered, she was going to keep an eye on Yuji. She wasn't going to interfere in their fight at all, she was doing as told, making sure if there had been any sign of yoma activity from Yuji. She didn't want to jump to into action so suddenly, as she knew it'd bring her into conflict with Asuka and the others. Kagura would hate that and Naraku wouldn't be able to look her or her friends in the eye again if she acted rashly.
Just follow...only observe. Naraku thought to herself, it was all she could do for now. Hopefully Asuka and the others could pull through.
-000-
The six shinobi stood outside the gates that lead to Gessen Academy. It was near a mountain and because of this, the area was covered in snow. It was weird though, as prior to this there hadn't been any snow on the ground at all. Yuji could only think that it had something to do with the school being a ninja academy, maybe to obscure themselves from enemies? Whatever the case, Yuji scanned the area some more, there were three separate buildings, all of them being connected in the middle by a rock garden, with several lamps dotted around the area. Overall, Gessen had a sort of octagonal shape going for it. The largest building had large set of stone steps leading up to it and what Yuji could make out as being a torii gate at the very top of it.
"There's three buildings...where do we go first?" Yuji said "We'll be here all night if we search each one."
"Well I mean, these girls have to be the Gessen Elite right? Let's just head for the biggest building, they're sure to be there!" Katsuragi said with a smug grin "I mean, if it were me, I'd want to be in the biggest building, show off my status a bit you know?"
"We technically do that, being in the 'gifted' program." Ikaruga sighed "Regardless, Katsuragi is right, that may be a good place to start, let's move!"
The group began making their way towards to the building that sat atop the stairs, their feet crunching through the snow. As soon as they reached the top, two large wolves appeared almost as if from nowhere, the two of them snarling at the group.
"Careful Little Master, these are not normal beasts." Kuya whispered into his ear
"Looks like this place has a problem with wild animals." Katsuragi said with a grin "Literal guard dogs is all they have? We'll be fine."
"You'd do well to not underestimate them." Came a voice from...everywhere it felt like. It was quiet outside and the snow on the ground was absorbing the sound of nearly everything, allowing the voice to carry far further than normal. Instantly, Yuji and the others formed up, each putting their back to the other to make sure they didn't suffer any sneak attacks.
"Show yourself!" Asuka shouted "Come out and face us!"
There was a full minute of tense silence, everyone staying on their toes for any surprises that would jump at them. The two wolves didn't move, but they were locked onto them, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. It was when a young girl in a gray uniform stepped forward that all eyes went to her.
"A pleasure to meet you all Hanzo shinobi….and a special pleasure to you as well Ikaruga." The girl said with a deep voice
Yuji didn't pay attention as his eyes began to rove over entire body, she had some tights on, that matched surprisingly well with her gray uniform. Her side ponytail was cute as was the ribbon holding it together. She wore a terrifying hanya mask, that really made her stick out, so much so that Yuji wasn't sure how they'd not noticed her earlier. Yuji's eyes then found probably the most important thing about the girl...
Or rather the two most important things.
"What the hell is in the water in this town?!" Yuji thought as his eyes focused on the girl's breasts
"Is she to your liking Little Master? If you want, we can subdue her so you can claim her." Kuya said
"Ew, no. Master you can do better than some shinobi. Find yourself a decent yoma woman instead!" Ami chirped up
"What? N-no, I am not going to assault a girl because she has boobs I want to rest my head on!" Yuji whispered
The problem was that Yuji had said this out loud. And he was currently close to his fellow Hanzo shinobi. Who were all women...and who were all glaring at him currently. Even Hibari was managing a pretty mean stink eye.
"Uh...this isn't-"
"Keep your perverse fantasies to yourself Yuji, we're in a serious situation!" Ikaruga snarled
"It isn't what you think, it was Kuya and-"
"HEY MASK GIRL, MY CUTE KOUHAI WANTS TO REST HIS HEAD ON YOUR BOOBS!" Katsuragi shouted at her, her voice echoing for miles.
"K-K-Kat?!" Yuji stammered "What are you doing?!"
"He wants to what?!" she shouted in a higher pitch than her normally deep tone
"Can we please stop this…" Yagyu sighed "You there, what is your name?"
"M-Murakumo. That aside...I do not care about the rest of you. I seek only to defeat you Ikaruga."
"I'd figured as much." Ikaruga said stepping forward and brandishing her sword at Murakumo "We'll settle the score between us for good this time. Everyone, go on ahead."
"Are you sure Ikaruga?" Hibari whispered to her "We can help you!"
"No...it's better this way, we can't afford to waste all of our energy on a single opponent. Besides, we've dealt with them before, we can do so again. Now go!"
It took a minute before anyone moved, but Asuka was the first to run ahead, Yagyu then followed, then Hibari after her, Katsuragi, and then Yuji. As they all ran past Murakumo, she made no attempt to to stop them and in Yuji's case she actually moved just a bit further to the side, which didn't go unnoticed by the boy.
"Great...she thinks I'm a creep." Yuji sighed inwardly
"Do not fret Little Master, she is weak-willed if she feels embarrassment from you ogling her. A stronger woman would be proud of her bust. Like Katsuragi."
Yuji ignored her as he and the others hurried on ahead into the main building.
-000-
Ikaruga watched as her friends went on ahead. She half expected Murakumo to attack them from behind, but she didn't, not even her wolves made a move to lunge at them. Ikaruga couldn't stop a small sigh of relief from escaping her lips as she trained her eyes on Murakumo.
"Let's get on with it. Activate your shinobi barrier." Ikaruga said
"There's no need for that. There's no one here to interfere with us. This is between me and you." Murakumo replied taking out her transformation scroll.
"That can't be all, there has to be another reason."
"Well...you're not wrong." Murakumo sighed "One my friends decided that going all out without a barrier would be useful for inflicting as much property damage as possible."
"Why on earth would anyone want that?"
"Can't come to school if the place is leveled or looks like a hurricane came through."
That explanation caused Ikaruga to falter for a moment. She hadn't been expecting that the real reason that her enemy wasn't using a shinobi barrier was because they were hoping to cause enough property damage to have a few days off school.
"You...you aren't serious are you?" Ikaruga spluttered still in disbelief
The silence Murakumo gave in return was all the confirmation she needed.
"Enough talk. Tonight, I'll defeat you Ikaruga! Shinobi Tenshin!"
A bright light enveloped Murakumo's body. When it was finished, she was wearing a dress that was reminiscent of a Sengoku period warlord, clad in armor and red flower trimmed haori. The most horrifying part about her entire outfit though wouldn't be the hanya mask that adorned her face, but rather the spear she held in her left hand, along with the giant cleaver in her right. At first glance, it would appear that such a combo would be unwieldy, but Ikaruga had gone against Murakumo before...and she knew for a fact that her skills were anything but clumsy.
"Shinobi Tenshin!" Ikaruga shouted, as she took out her own transformation scroll and became enveloped in light until she was no longer wearing her school uniform, but instead she had on a white gold-trimmed jacket with about six buttons and a few golden tassels strewn across them. On her left arm was a Hanzō armband that signified her status as the class representative. Her skirt was also gold-trimmed with her boots having she same color as her jacket all accentuated by black tights underneath.
Brandishing her family's heirloom weapon, the nodachi named Hien Ikaruga stared Murakumo down.
The two took on fighting stances. Each sizing the other up...and what felt like an instant their weapons had clashed with one another, Ikaruga blocking Murakumo's cleaver, before dodging backwards to avoid a blow from her spear.
"Kotarō!" she exclaimed pointing her finger towards Ikaruga, causing the white wolf that had been hanging back to dash forward, moving at a blinding speed, it came at her in a zig-zag pattern, causing Ikaruga to do her best to either dodge or block its attacks. She was only mildly successful, as while she managed to do evade or block some of the attacks, others had hit her, causing several rips and tears in her outfit.
"Dammit, I completely forgot about the wolves. I'm effectively fighting 3 on 1!" she thought to herself "Still...I can't give up so easily, I'll definitely win for the sake of my school and my friends!"
Murakumo was coming in for another attack, this time with her cleaver, raising it up high to so she could bring it down on Ikaruga's neck. Seeing this, Ikaruga began to wrap Hien in blue flames before bringing her sword up to block Murakumo's attack and then forcing her (and Kotarō) back, the flames licking at their body and causing several small burns on Murakumo's outfit, while Kotarō let out a small whine at the hit he'd taken. Pressing the advantage, Ikaruga continued slashing at Murakumo, attempting to get any hits in on whatever openings or blind spots she could see, forcing the Gessen elite back as much as as she could.
Using her spear and cleaver to block or deflect as many slashes as she could, Murakumo could feel herself getting frustrated at the fact that she was being pushed back by Ikaruga's attacks. "I'm so close...I won't let you win Ikaruga! Kagerō, go!"
The black wolf that had been silently hanging back this entire time leapt into action, dashing through all of Ikaruga's attacks with ease before slamming itself into Ikaruga's stomach headfirst causing the shinobi to be caught off guard by the force of the attack, coughing up a bit of blood before regaining her balance and shakily slashing at Kagerō to force him away.
"You won't win, not after all the pain you caused me!" Murakumo snarled
"What are you talking about? You keep saying that, but I've never fought you until you ambushed me a few days ago!"
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
Before she could say anything else, Murakumo again attacked with her cleaver, her anger causing her to move faster and with far more aggression than she had before. Gone was the deep stoic sounding voice and instead, Ikaruga was now fighting someone who was raging. She swung her cleaver down from over top of Ikaruga's head and the Hanzo elite blocked it once more, however, she wasn't aware of how much force Murakumo had put into the attack and so her guard was broken when the ground cracked beneath her leaving a small crater. Sensing that Ikaruga was on the back foot Murakumo made a sweeping motion with her spear, attempting to knock Ikaruga on her back. Ikaruga just barely dodged this, seeing the attack coming and making a small hop to avoid the sweeping attack before rolling away. She was still on the back foot though and Murakumo knew it, once again moving in to attack her.
Just as Ikaruga wanted. She held Hien out to her side channeling as much power as she could, the sword beginning to glow a faint blue.
"Secret Ninja Art! Oukaensen!"
Swinging Hien in front of her, Ikaruga sent forth a bright blue phoenix made of flames towards Murakumo, who had a shocked look on her face as the attack hit her head on. It was all she could do to bring up her cleaver to protect her body, but even then, the attack was still doing damage to her, bits and pieces of her clothing were being torn away and sheer force of the attack was pushing her back. It was taking all that she had to try and keep her footing, but it was no good, the attack overtook Murakumo and knocked her off her feet, destroying a good bit of her shinobi garb along with it.
The pain was something that Murakumo had never felt before. She could definitely feel the literal heat from the attack on some of her body and as she staggered to her feet she realized that the top half of her armor had been almost completely destroyed, leaving her breasts nearly spilling out completely, Kotarō and Kagerō rushed to their master's side lapping lightly at her wounds, only for her to wave them off
"I'm fine you too. I can keep fighting." she said rising to her feet slowly, she winced at some of the pain she felt, but it brushed it off getting into another stance ready to attack.
"You should give up." Ikaruga said noting how damaged Murakumo's outfit and badly she looked from the attack, taking special note of her chest and being glad that Yuji wasn't here to ogle her. Not that she thought her underclassman was a pervert but well...he was a young man and she noticed that his eyes did tend to wander…
"I'm not giving up, I won't. Not even if I die." Murakumo snarled
"I admire the tenacity at the very least. Very well then, do your worst!"
Getting into another stance, Ikaruga waited to see what Murakumo would do next, however, what occurred next was something she didn't expect. Kotarō and Kagerō both raised their heads and began to howl into the sky, the sound of the two echoing throughout the entire area. It was silent for a singular tense moment before a large white wolf the size of a horse appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, letting out a loud howl of its own as it stared down at Ikaruga.
"Thank you for coming Daigorō. With this Ikaruga the tides will now turn! You won't be able to defeat our combined power!"
Ikaruga couldn't even debate her on that. There was a good chance that she may be screwed given that now there were four enemies for her fight and this time it seemed like they were going to all come at her at once. Murakumo tossed her spear in the air, Daigorō catching it in his mouth as Murakumo jumped onto the wolf's back.
"I hope you're ready Ikaruga." Murakumo said with a voice filled with tranquil fury
Ikaruga didn't really have much of a choice…
With that same blinding speed that had struck her before, Murakumo attacked Ikaruga. It was all she could do to just dodge, but even then, Daigorō, Murakumo, Kagerō, and Kotarō were all flying around the room, slashing wildly with their weapons or nipping and biting at her while slashes were ripping her clothing to shreds. The attacks kept coming and Ikaruga could feel that the enemy's attacks were leaving cuts all over her body causing her to bleed.
Leaping backwards and putting as much distance between her and her foes as she could, Ikaruga snarled. She could still fight, but she was quickly reaching her limit. There had to be someway to overcome such a vicious assault! She just had to stop...calm down, focus and think. There had to be some weakness.
More slashes came towards her and Ikaruga once again deflected and dodged as best as she could. Even then she was merely mitigating the amount of damage she was taking and the hits she received were causing pain to shoot throughout her body. Several areas of hers were cut and bleeding and the cold air stung each of them causing her to flinch involuntarily. Ikaruga couldn't see any way to overcome Murakumo...save for one particular way. Ikaruga had always considered herself a proper shinobi. She was calm no matter what, and that reflected in her fighting style. Calm, precise strikes with just a bit of flair she added as a personal touch. However, one thing she'd learned ever since coming to Hanzo Academy and training with Katsuragi, as well as the others was that sometimes the best way to beat an enemy was to simply overpower them. Throw everything you have into your attacks so that your enemy can't possibly respond in any meaningful way.
It was looking like the one gamble she had and Ikaruga was willing to go for it. Thankfully, she had just the attack for such an occasion.
Focusing, Ikaruga began to call on the power of her shinobi animal. She seldom used her animal's power to this degree, mostly because of how destructive it could be. However, in this particular case that's exactly what she wanted. As power began to flow through her body, a bird cry could be heard echoing throughout the area as a blue phoenix flew towards Ikaruga, landing on her arm.
"I hope you're ready Murakumo, let me show you the difference in our shinobi animals." Ikaruga said coldly as she let her Phoenix fly into the air. The creature let out another cry before dive bombing directly into Hien, infusing it with power, the sword glowing a bright blue. The very air around Ikaruga began to become warmer to the point that even the snow that lay at her feet was melting away.
"What the hell is that…?" Murakumo whispered in alarm "Kotarō, Kagerō, Daigorō, get ready! We're attacking!"
The three wolves let out barks of approval as the four of them began charging towards Ikaruga. The Hanzo shinobi was still charging her power, but it was nearly at its limit. Even as Murakumo drew closer and closer to her she didn't stop and let it loose too early. No, she waited until Murakumo was just close enough so that she couldn't retreat even if she wanted to.
"Die Ikaruga!" Murakumo roared as she got close, bringing her cleave down towards Ikaruga's head.
Ikaruga said nothing as she hunkered down into a stance and began slashing rapidly at Murakumo and her wolves "Zekka Hōōsen!"
The slashes, each one imbued with blue flames tore and cut and Murakumo and her wolves, the force of them pushing them back. They couldn't dodge, they couldn't block, they'd gotten too close to properly attempt either and the result was them eating each flame-infused slash. The slashes kept coming until Ikaruga brought her sword above her head, she brought the blade down as a wave of fire flew towards Murakumo. Behind her mask the girls eyes went wide as the last thing she saw was her vision being obscured by blue flames.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Ikaruga couldn't help but close her eyes as the adrenaline left her body. The entire area was lightly burning, the snow melting as smoke rose into the air. There were wrecked parts of the ground all over and some of Ikaruga's and Murakumo's attacks had stuck the other buildings and taken some small chunks out of their walls. Letting out a deep breathe, Ikaruga looked over at Murakumo who lay flat on her stomach, her shinobi garb all but destroyed. Several lacerations could be seen on her (and the wolves') body as well as some burn marks here and there as well. The most notable thing though was the mask that had been covering her face was completely destroyed from the attack. As Ikaruga took in the damage around her, only one thing came to her mind.
"Well, they won't have to come to school for a few days at least…"
With that, feeling her strength leave her, Ikaruga fell to the ground as she was completely drained. For now, all she could do was hope that the others pulled through in their battles.
-000-
Naraku had watched Ikaruga's battle from one of the roofs overlooking the main area. Though she wanted to go forward, to keep up with Yuji and the others she couldn't help but want to watch Ikaruga's fight and she was quite glad she did. It was reassuring to know that the girl hadn't slacked in her training at all and had even become stronger after what had happened in Kyoto. She'd need such skills to face any Yoma that appeared in the future. Though she could tell that Ikaruga still had much training to do so that she didn't burn through her stamina so quickly. Regardless, that was enough idle thinking on her part. She quietly slipped away, hoping to catch up with the others and see how they were faring. As she began following after the others she couldn't help but think it was probably a bit cruel of her to hope that the students of Hanzo Academy completely dominated their opponents. But with how Ikaruga's fight went, she wasn't sure it'd be so easy.
I hope you all didn't mind this chapter. I'll admit that I kind of dislike chapters that are in essence just one big fight scene, but in this particular case, I feel like there's not much I can do. Also it was only now while writing this chapter that I realized...Murakumo's special attacks are kind of lackluster. She summons one of her wolves for level 1, then the other for level 2(which they do the same attack I believe) and then the actual notable one is left for ultimate. It's kind of a let down really. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!