Like in a dimension straight out of a seashell the foaming and turning waves continuously rinsed the rocky beach of the Land of the Waves. A large crowd had gathered to witness the arrival of Yamanaka Inomame – a famous and powerful persona even in the farthest away reaches of the great ocean. It would've been rare for any one man who spent most of their lives shrouded and hidden in secrecy to be so well known past not only Kirigakure but the entire Archipelago.
The crowd was layered, almost like filtered and lined in the row of their importance as various criminal minds gathered themselves and their crews as far in front as their influence allowed them for they truly ran this island. The poor and the ruined stood at the end even if their despair demanded entertainment and cheerfulness of a high class wedding the most. The more the crowd went on the more influential, rich and powerful the people were and one did not get luxury and influence in the Land of Waves without stepping over someone's corpse.
At the end of it all, leading the celebratory fray stood the Imarizu four. The three that carried injuries still stood there with their black as night bodysuits torn and damaged, their masks half broken revealing the dark skin underneath. While people of such dark shades of skin were very common in the warmest circles of the northern part of the continent all the way in Kumogakure, here they were standing out and quite exotic. The darkness in their skin, while not surpassing that in their hearts, was a full spectrum darker even than Mana's, who already looked quite exotic amongst her native peers.
The foreigners standing at the end of the line stood out greatly. Even as their torn bodysuits showed off the athletic perfection to which their bodies were brought and peak shape they upheld at any given time, there were those who got riled up. A tall and bulky man, one whose body was built for managing sails and fishnets or hurling boulders, not combat approached the four.
"You four look mighty shad…" the man opened his mouth before his eyes shot wide open in painful surprise. Blood began spouting from deep in his throat and as the man wandered back through the crowd the caved in cavity made anyone the giant staggered to step back in fear of being covered in the man's grisly and overly showy demise.
"Do not assume you have the right to speak to us, pale-skin…" the Imarizu wearing a sheathed Audra blade on his back spoke having crushed the man's throat faster than anyone in the audience could see it happen. The speed at which the giant's fate was sealed could've transpired hundreds of thousands of times slower and still would've been completely unseen by any given islander.
After a good pair of minutes of coughing and drowning in his own blood the giant collapsed, likely choking from inability to draw breath than bleeding out. Strangely enough the grisly sight of murder did not affect the wedding's cheer in any way for the islanders up to the most snotty-nosed and dirty-faced orphan were used to such sights.
After casually killing a man for daring to speak to them while wearing the wrong colored skin, one they were not accustomed to in the faraway corners of Kumogakure the Imarizu continued to stand calmly. Standing by them was a blond haired girl wearing just a flimsy and torn brown dress that reminded more of rags that a child from a war-torn country would wear. Despite their distaste for pale skinned people the girl was not touched and had not a single sign of beating or injury on her body – she was an important part of the Imarizu's plan so their strict and historical dislike of pale skinned people had to be swallowed most bitterly.
At long last a glorious ship appeared in the horizon, the brightest and most angelic, smooth as a marshmallow cloud wood encrusted with only the finest gold worked in the mines of Iwagakure long ago. Such a ship could've only belonged to a man powerful enough to buy it and extravagant enough to flaunt his power with it – Yamanaka Inomame. The Imarizu's strict and unwavering eyes did not falter. The few eyes visible through the broken masks did not grow excited for their ultimate goal coming closer, their convictions did not waver. Nor did they feel any pain from their bandaged thighs, their lips did not pale and their eyebrows did not betray their pain. These were men whose minds were honed and sharpened like the finest blade.
A platform slammed down from the colossal juggernaut letting down a party of equally extravagant smaller boats. On one of them stood a miracle incarnated in a man – beautiful, long and flowing golden hair and firmly symmetrical facial features. Long, unbent and unbroken even once nose and thin as they were long glossy lips. While Inomame may have appeared effeminate to many, no one could've denied in their right minds that the man was absolutely flawless in his looks. His black and white, diamond incrusted cloak of his sleeveless coat flipped and flattered behind him as the boats were quickly being worked to the shore.
Accompanying him were a bunch of similarly dressed men – armored bodysuits of black chainmail covering their faces. Their eyes whited out as they were honed to absolute darkness yet altered by cutting edge medical advancements to work in the light as well. Faces covered by their bodysuits up to the noses and eyes and what little was being caressed by the light of day was covered in pale skin tissue as it was clear these men have all gone through hell and back to accompany this highly influential and enigmatic man. The Kirigakure Demon corps that were supposed to be disassembled, probably were rebranded but functioned under some capacity still, apparently, even more, they stood in front of the Imarizu elite, outnumbering the Kumogakure ninja a dozen to one.
"You've brought men with you?" the Audra blade carrying Imarizu affirmed of the sight he was being exposed to.
"I see no men here, only Demons…" Inomame snarled before changing his strict face drastically to allow himself the luxury of snickering to his own joke. "Surely you didn't expect me to come to such an event, to claim my bride brought to me by an order of Kumogakure criminals without an army to back me up? Granted, the Demons have been long since disassembled so training new ones is a pain in the ass, especially with the secrecy needed. Though what they lack in skill, these youngsters make up for with their wish to match their legendary predecessors…"
"Do not test our patience if you don't mean us to test the durability of your nose." one of the battle worn Imarizu growled. Kumogakure was a village that was walled off of the surrounding world by the vast and frigid wastelands of the Snow Country, they had not yet gotten used to seeing different skinned people, those who have been dealing with the more diplomatic side of their work may have gotten more used to the sight of different looking people but the Imarizu didn't appear to want to change their old ways.
"Oh, yes, threat of physical violence… To be honest, I am as surprised to see my lovely bride intact and unharmed as I was to hear that the highly shushity-shush Imarizu of the Cloud decided to help me out to obtain said bride…" Imarizu bowed in front of Kiyomi who just rolled her eyes.
"She did not offer much resistance once she woke up. Despite our most honest wish to hurt her she gave us no reason to." The Imarizu holding Kiyomi spoke up slightly nudging her farther on to be shown off in her full beauty.
"Hey, I'm not against getting married, I figured seeing where this thing goes, seeing if the groom is alright… Just mostly curious…" Kiyomi shrugged.
"Oh my, no one smacked her, I am so honestly shocked!" Inomame snickered to himself. "Have the terrible Imarizu finally gotten over their outdated racist ways?"
The implication was met with complete silence.
"Oh well, can we get on with the wedding then my part of the bargain shall come afterwards." the show-off Yamanaka shrugged taking a couple of steps back.
It all transpired in a fraction of a moment, one microsecond the Imarizu was standing as he was and another he was behind Inomame, aiming his knuckle duster at the back of the Yamanaka's neck. None of the Demons were fast enough to interfere, they were all moving in to intercept the strike but none of them were fast enough to prevent the attack, all of them were hitting just to kill the Imarizu member post-factum. As the frozen moment in time resolved each of the violent combatants found themselves completely frozen in movement.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Sugemi chanted out from the crowd as his hood slipped off. Seeing how they were forced to expose themselves already, Mana and Yanagi removed theirs as well. Upon seeing that a big battle was about to dye the shores blood red the crowd began to flee, it wasn't the first time that a promised festivity broke out in a deadly confrontation so the eyes of even the fleeing poor children were more disappointed that they won't get to see a wedding than afraid for their lives. Even these poor young ones knew that if they were killed in the fallout they wouldn't lose much, only as much as life in such a dump was worth…
"Mana!" Kiyomi shouted out, glad not that her friend came after her but to see that she was alive.
"See? Just as I told you…" the Audra blade wielding Imarizu reached for his sword hanging on his back and took a combat stance just to see if he could move. Upon finding out that Sugemi's technique didn't branch out all the way up to him he prepared to make sure that he wasn't captured.
"You said she was only half-pale so you only half-killed her! I had no idea what that even meant, you creep!" Kiyomi pouted crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Let's go, Kiyomi, you're not getting married…" Mana calmly stated approaching Kiyomi slowly as the Audra wielding leader of Imarizu stood in front of the Yamanaka heiress to protect her for the groom.
"That's mean!" Kiyomi shouted out.
"That's what I told her…" Yanagi smiled with an innocent shrug before tapping Sugemi's shoulder. The young Nara was glowing in translucent air pressure emanating from him as his skin dyed red and blood vessels shot out on his forehead and his muscles. The Nara had to use the weaker instant version of his First Gate just to keep the group captured and immobilized.
"I hate using this jutsu… I'd much more rather kick their ass, shadows are for punching people, not holding them in place!" Sugemi yelled out as holding so many strong ninja was stressing him greatly.
"Walk away…" the Imarizu protecting Kiyomi warned Mana, he appeared to feel somewhat softer about killing her as the magician's race was a bit more exotic in a way that was more recognizable for the tradition led organization.
"I can't do that. You have my friend whom I will not allow to get married to a man who wanted to kill her recently, you have a sword of my friend which you use for killing people, disgracing his legacy, and you're apparently trying to kill Yamanaka Inomame. While I do not have a personal affection for this man, I cannot allow him to die." Mana calmly explained as she continued to walk onwards towards her friend.
The Imarizu moved like a black lightning bolt, piercing through the air and covering the distance between Mana and him almost instantly, the athletic and well trained arm of the killer tensed up as it drew the shining glade sheathed behind his back and striking at the magician with the same swoop, fully utilizing the force behind his drawing strike beheading the magician almost in an instant. The Imarizu's blade only cut through thin air as what appeared to be the magician at first dissolved into a storm of cherry blossom petals scattered by the wind.
"Flower Petal Sanctuary" Mana calmly chanted as she continued to walk onwards towards her friend.
"What kind of ninjutsu is that!?" the Imarizu shouted in surprise before chasing Mana again. The blindingly fast assassin skewered the magician's shape with lightning fast stabs from his Audra blade but the skewered and misshapen shape of the magician only dissolved into flower petals again.
"Ninjutsu?" Mana's voice ringed in the man's ears before the magician reformed farther away from nothing but a wind carried stream of petals.
"It must be! Our mind is honed like the finest edge of a blade, we are immune to mental trifling like that of the Yamanaka, we cannot be attacked by illusions. Our minds are iron!" he grunted gripping his blade as the man's shape faded away and continued to slash at thin air, his body moved so fast that it was almost invisible. Only dark purple flash of the dancing Audra blade betrayed that the man even existed.
"I do not care about your immunities, I do not care about your strengths. As long as you have a functional mind, I can trick it. That is the ancient way of illusions." Mana's voice again rang in the man's ears who continued to slice and disperse each reforming shape of the magician.
It was a psychological attack, if anything. It cost Mana some chakra to keep the genjutsu loop resetting every time her illusionary self was hit. She concealed her true shape, replaced it with the illusionary self, allowing the Imarizu to only hit an illusionary trick, the entity that dissolved into petals every time it was hit. Even if it cost chakra every time it was hit, it was an effective psychological trick to make the Imarizu look vulnerable, confused.
She had figured out what she was missing before. She hit the nail in the head when Mana realized she could substitute illusions, she only couldn't fully realize that she needed to substitute the real deal with something. That meant that she had to create a harmless illusion – a genjutsu with no real effect that could be cast faster than an instant for it had no effect to it, then she formulated the real deal in her mind and with a single careless hand seal substituted the two illusions, transferring the harmless one to her own mind while she placed the ones brewed in her own brain right into any surrounding functional brain carrying a harmless and almost costless illusion. In a way this genjutsu technique was an actual spiritual successor of the Substitution Jutsu just as she had intended it to be.
And to think that a panel of My Battle Bikini Goddess helped her figure it all out, an undressing chess game played by one of its characters, of all things…
Sugemi grunted out. Mana's eyes turned at him and she saw a wide bloody gash on the young man's back. The angered Imarizu decided to attack Sugemi instead of continuously resetting Mana's loop, Yanagi tried to interfere but his mental link with his insects was too slow for the immensely fast and powerful opponent. The insects only gathered to the Nara's aid once the Imarizu raised his sword to finish the Nara off blocking his blade and forcing the angered assassin back.
"What's going on here?" Kiyomi wondered looking absolutely baffled as she could barely understand how the genjutsu used by Mana was still visible to her and everyone around her. She also couldn't understand why the Imarizu would attack the man she was about to marry.
"The Imarizu were never planning just getting you to marry Inomame. They were always working for the Raikage, looking to kill Inomame and preventing him from acquiring the power and influence." Mana explained, this had only became apparent to the magician once she saw the Imarizu attack Inomame. They must've been still loyal to their village which meant that they were in to reduce the Yamanaka's influence and kill Inomame the whole time.
"The Raikage would've never approved of so much killing… But yes, our aim is killing Inomame. You've impressed me, child. You can still walk away, fighting on two fronts is pretty troublesome, you know." The Imarizu with Shimo's sword sheathed his blade as Inomame's Demons prepared to protect their master from the Imarizu.
"I can't do that. I won't let anyone die. Too many people have already died for this affair." Mana angrily declared as she looked at Sugemi and Yanagi who nodded in support of her decision.
Kiyomi shrugged, "Meh, that Inomame guy was a bit of a sissy anyways…" before taking a fighting stance besides her friend.
"Can I finally hit someone!?" Sugemi shouted out in frustration. Having just stood back up and clearly spent a great deal of chakra to survive the strike to his exposed back.
Mana sighed before nodding.
This was a problematic battle, a bunch of newly formed Kirigakure Demons who were always more skilled than their rank. Also the Imarizu on top of that. Granted they weren't all fighting the Konohagakure team directly but they were each a considerable force on the battlefield. These Demons looked pretty young, their bodies were more fit than athletic and buffed, they couldn't have been much stronger than the Demon Mana, Shimo and Sugemi faced early in their career. The magician had improved leaps and bounds compared to that level of skill. Still, she spent a fair deal of chakra on that psychological trick she pulled before abusing a single technique again and again.
That was when all hell broke loose! The Imarizu, Yanagi's insects and Sugemi's shadows, the Kirigakure Demons all charged at each other. Just like Yamanaka Inomame, Kiyomi and Mana stood behind the main fray. Ready to support the exploding and rumbling mess of explosions, fists, insects, blades and ninjutsu techniques firing left or right from behind and aiming to control the fight to their own ends. That wasn't to say that the two kunoichi were completely out of the battle, many looked to engage the two in battle as they took the two girls for a weak prey that wanted nothing to do with the three-way battle in the beach.
Mana swiftly avoided all attacks coming her way while countering with swift palm strikes at the openings that displaced and broke the attacking limbs at their joints. An efficient combination of the fighting style taught to her by Meiko, Kouta and the old man in the Sun Disc arena. Kiyomi was handling her own side of things with a much more brutal and hands on approach as while she would've been battered and broken by two Demons attacking her simultaneously she managed to keep one in between of the other while she took care of them both, one after the other with swift strikes to their faces and abdomen.
By the time the weakened Demons rose up they were overwhelmed by the ever-moving and hectic battlefield, that whirling madness of fists and feet that drowned the weak and injured leaving them broken and crushed.
While not at all a traditional wedding, it was not out of ordinary ways public events in Land of the Waves went…
