"What did you do? What was that, why didn't he liquefy!?" Gungetsu began losing it over the grisly end of his ally he had just witnessed. Despite the fact that the Blood Lagoon's numbers advantage grew one step up the ladder further, none of the Blood Lagoon looked too amused by the disturbing end that their would-be executioner had met.
"He must not have been able to…" the female Hozuki growled. She did not appear too worked up over the death of Bogetsu although the terrifying technique that was shown off to them did bother her a fair amount, judging from her tone and unsure stance. "Until we understand what that technique is, we need to stay on our toes and not let that… Thing get close to us."
"Trouble is that we're both close-distance fighters," Gungetsu noted the obvious.
"Enough. This fight is already over." The gruesome, winged monstrosity morphed somewhere halfway to the ninja it once was and the malformed winged mammalian that it had become after undergoing the transformation. It was more than likely just so the winged swordsman could speak properly and not spray slobber through his shredder of teeth of a mouth. "I could not tell what exactly you are facing here and just kill you all."
"Yes… You could, in fact, why don't you do just that, right now?" the Chitsu thundered out, his voice boomed and echoed as it passed through the iron plates, tubes and channels.
"Because we need to be better than them. If we just kill them all, the number of fatalities here today will be the same as if they had just eradicated us but those deaths will be on our hands instead. That, not my stained sword is the real blood curse." The winged swordsman replied. He did not make the same mistake that Gungetsu had made earlier and did not move his eyes away from the enemy for a single moment.
"Blood curse…" the fox-masked kunoichi mumbled to herself. The woman's sight focused on the blood still dripping from the hand of the Blood Lagoon ninja who had cut it with the edgy handle of his own outlandish sword right before attacking. The ridges that comprised the complicated patterns all across the turquoise-colored wonder were now all sinking in blood and dripping the excess onto the ground.
"That's right, you're an inch short of figuring me out." The winged swordsman turned back at the kunoichi. "My blood is terribly deadly to anyone but me. It carries some strange, unidentified bacteria that infects the blood of anyone it enters and kills them in a matter of hours. Its intensity is aggravated by my transformation, it turns even more aggressive and deadly, in that form it claims victims in mere seconds. Well… I suppose, in my case, it is more of a blood infection rather than a curse."
"Tsk. How are we supposed to fight something like that? Even if we liquefy, the bacteria will remain inside us." Gungetsu grumbled.
"That's right. That is why you must withdraw and end this pointless chase." The swordsman pleaded with his enemy.
The masked kunoichi looked down and continued to sulk that way for quite a handful of moments. Her ornate accessory moved upward, following the rising look of the woman's eyes. "No. There is a way to beat it. For now, just don't get hit. Liquefy before the infection can be passed instead of trying to do it after."
"But… It might still enter our system through our liquid forms. This is madness!" Gungetsu tried to reason with his ally, just about ready to accept the offer for peace that his enemy extended toward him.
"In that case, you better figure out a way to get it out of there. Your enemy has revealed his ability to you, if you cannot figure out a way to adapt and defeat it after this blunder, you deserve the death that comes your way." The masked Hozuki scolded her squadmate and charged at the winged swordsman. Whirling, watery vortexes appeared from the long sleeves of her kimono in the shape of drilling with water pressure claws but that was not the entirety of the woman's attack.
While the body of the transforming Blood Lagoon swordsman undergone the same transformation it did earlier, completing it just before his sword strike and once again drowning his sword in his own blood, as his muscles twitched and tensed up all throughout the jerky and violent transformation process, the body of the fox-masked kunoichi undergone a similar morph. The colors that comprised the Hozuki woman drowned out in an instant before the entire body of the woman turned blobby and weightless, becoming water itself but also taking a certain shape to the chaotic liquid mass.
Whereas the Blood Lagoon ninja rose as a winged, infernal abomination of six eyes and unstable and highly bushy hair patches, the woman rose as a canine of a sharp and protruded watery snout and similar, horn-like ear-protrusions that extended all the way back her side. The watery claws that the woman used before, morphing solely her arms and nothing else, now grew even longer and more ferocious in their size and effectiveness to better match her opponent. The two clashed yet again that day. The winged swordsman was now capable of matching the speed of his greatly enlarged opponent and whereas the transformation of the Hozuki woman turned her clumsier yet stronger, the transformation of the Blood Lagoon ninja made him only more agile although solely in aerial attacks.
The canine shape opened up in a few places where the infected sword of the blood plague carrier managed to tag the majestic looking, aquatic animal, however, shortly after landing these few opening shots, the body of the transformed swordsman began acting up. Blood shot out from various lacerations on his chest, his shoulders and his side. The speed of the winged Blood Lagoon fighter dropped greatly and with one of these moments of dazing and confusion being exploited by his enemy, the plague carrier found himself smacked aside by the full brunt of the aquatic fox's swipe.
The shredded into four distinctive chunks of flesh by the drilling qualities of the woman's claws ninja turned to a pool of goopy blood before the puddle of red carefully navigated farther away from the location of their clash and reformed. The sickly abomination of hair and diseased skin was still clutching at his wounds although they were too numerous for the transformed horror show to cover even with his hairy and massive hands.
"I guess his dreadful infection is nothing impressive if he can't even land a single cut," Gungetsu smirked, somewhat eased up over the initial dread of witnessing the terrifying ability of the Blood Lagoon swordsman.
"You're the architect of your own end. You should have used that infection from the get-go instead of hunkering down in your formation." The masked Hozuki kunoichi taunted her opponent.
"I bet he never intended to kill us in the first place!" Gungetsu's satisfied smirk turned into a full-on smug mockery of the weakened swordsman who now found himself struggling to move as efficiently as he could have at the beginning of the fight. "Tagging yourself in to save your comrades when they're in trouble, putting your body in harm's way instead of theirs… That's what nonsense like that will get you."
"This infection is as much a curse as it is my power." The winged swordsman straightened his back out, his wounds pulsed with red, gory goop that expanded and reached out to cover entire lacerations and cuts. Like a gorier version of the natural body clotting process. It did not appear to completely stop the man's bleeding but it at the very least slowed it down to a pitiful crawl. The masses of bloody gel turned soaked in the leaking sanguine fluid but only let some out after it was exposed to pressure.
"Knowing the grisly end that it can bring makes you reevaluate the necessity to resort to such measures. Ending lives this way brings me no pleasure, seeing every worthy protector of their own life die this gruesome way makes every fight into a session of torture."
"What utter nonsense…" the fox-masked lady spoke from inside her watery, canine shape.
"I wonder where this bullshit hails from, both the Uchiha and Hozuki are ruthless killers, unmatched in their skill." Gungetsu spat to his right side.
"It's just proof that two good things do not necessarily make a better thing when put together." The female Hozuki agreed with her ally before turning to the other Hozuki. "Now do you see why you folk are just a failed experiment that needs to be terminated? How about you show a hint of your Hozuki pride and just let go of your miserable lives."
"Your quest seeking submission in those two is a vain one." The winged swordsman interjected before his allies could even open up their mouths. While his malformed, bat-like shape had faltered after the sum of his injuries began weighing heavy upon his body, the man then resumed it just in time to finish his train of thought in a more animalistic and unnatural, howling and thundering at the same time voice that spat blood and something foul and different entirely, filtered through the myriad of shredding chompers and shredders lined up in rows and littered all throughout the lower part of the misshapen head of the daunt figure he had become.
"Of all of us, I would have been the most likely to willingly allow myself to be murdered just so I never have to fight this way again."
Chitsu leaped forward, propelled by the naturally-formed pistons at the heels of his reformed armor, charging in to the head of the watery canine creature that the Hozuki kunoichi had formed with a wind-up right hook that had its own propelling piston all ready to shake the planet with the shockwave from this crushing blow.
The aquatic construct exploded from the pent up force of impact that hit it straight in the jaw, creating a supernova of chilling water that showered the pleading for a mercy kill valley with a drizzle before drowning it in a downpour. Chitsu roared out in pain as a flicker of the Hozuki woman's form crossed his location a pair of times, cutting and stabbing with her transformed limbs at the exposed, softer crimson coating areas that laid under the massive, more infernal blood-armor pieces.
Chitsu crashed in a weightless and lifeless plummet before slowly and painfully picking himself back up and trying to determine where the blood that was streaming from under his armor and spraying through its irony obstructions like a fountain was coming from. After a few moments of clutching it and covering it up, the gelatinous clots covered up Chitsu's wounds as well.
"Don't think that you can just shit-talk my clan without having your pretty teeth shoved down your throat!" Chitsu growled in scorn that hailed both from the infuriating words said in regards to his bloodline as well as the fact that for the limited win he had achieved by obliterating the aquatic animal transformation was paid in streams of his own blood and the damaged pride of having to pick himself back up again after eating so much dirt. His armor crumbled in pieces and fell off of the fleshy tissue that was supposed to hold it intact due to the sum of his injuries and required a complete regrowth of the entire set.
"Do you actually believe that you were the one to destroy my advanced Hydrification Jutsu form?" the Hozuki woman taunted her boisterous opponent. "I blew it up on purpose to blind you and make you pay much more dearly than the oversized water fox could have ever made you do."
"Wait… Did you say "your clan"? What bullshit is that? What clan would that be? After seeing Hozuki send us to cut you out like a tumorous growth that you are, do you still consider yourselves part of our clan?" Gungetsu had to physically hold his own abdomen to keep himself from collapsing after the tons of laugh that this sentiment invited within the chest of the physical titan.
The right arm of the cloaked Blood Lagoon ninja twitched and rustled in the howling valley winds. The man punched the air without much more warning than those early signs allowing his supersized, liquid arm with claws of crystallized blood iron infused with chakra appear and lunge at the bothersome brute. The liquid limb coiled and rocketed like a lunging snake but it did a very poor job of showing off the crystallized thorn that formed in the center of the arm and was meant for Gungetsu's heart.
"As if we'd ever return to you after your betrayal!" the cloaked ninja cried out into the gloom of the rusty, iron mist. With previously unseen ferocity, the arm and the exposed spike drove right into Gungetsu's chest, temporarily stunning the massive man and forcing him to spit out blood. It did not appear to stop the giant for long, however, as he then ripped the spike right out from his chest and grinned with whited out from pain eyes, realizing he held an elongated limb of his enemy in his clutch.
"You fool! Liquefy right no…" the fox kunoichi of the Hozuki clan yelled out. It was in vain, however, as her dazed in bloodlust and battle stupor ally was completely absorbed by the idea of crushing his defiant opponent, too much so to prevent the following outcome of a star of crystalized blood-iron spikes bursting through from his body, leaving the giant skewered in iron spikes, twitching and gasping for air. He did not have to gurgle in his own blood for long, however, as the giant's body soon collapsed into water and reformed farther away, leaving just a roughly star-shaped, man-sized accessory of hardened and infused with chakra blood-iron that erupted from inside his body.
The man was sweating profusely and had to wipe the overflowing sweat with his wrist. Still, the excitement of a heated battle did not leave his face. Even if this time it did manifest itself in the shape of bemused disgruntlement rather than a satisfied smirk.
"We are no longer Hozuki nor are we Uchiha. Nor shall we let ourselves be defined by the name our two fathering branches gave us, we are our own clan. We are the Chinoike." The cloaked Chinoike member declared while his bloody limb retracted back into the shredded sleeve and took the form of a moderately fit, exposed male arm.
Continuous streams of pent up heated gas erupted from multiple holes and craters underground, sinking the battlefield in an even more intense atmosphere and kicking it up to the melting point. Nobody on the battlefield could avoid the skyrocketing temperatures driving them to the point of profusely sweating, while it may have been nothing new to Gungetsu as his immense musculature was already heating him up plenty, this intensified heat made him huff and pant and drew him ever closer to collapsing on the ground.
"This... Vapor… Where is it coming from?" Gungetsu looked around as the escalating temperatures. "It's scorching the place!"
"Haven't you noticed yet? The hidden rat has been awfully quiet, I would not be surprised at all if this was the rat's doing." The Hozuki female replied to her clanmate.
"Heh, if this is the best that grave worm managed to come up with, we've got nothing to worry about!" Gungetsu declared. Despite his false bravado, the panting giant charged at all of his enemies at noticeably dropped speed compared to before. His skin was barely any paler than as if his own flesh and blood were exposed. And yet… A cornered animal was not at all less dangerous – Gungetsu's physical bulk appeared to grow further past his limits to the point where the strain and exhaustion of his body had pushed it to. His unfiltered fury and bloodlust directed entirely at the newly self-declared Chinoike were also unlike anything the giant could put out normally, even in a good day.
Not about to allow Gungetsu make any foolish mistakes, the fox-masked kunoichi blitzed in and out of perception with her uncanny speed not too far behind her teammate, while her own agility dwarfed that of her much larger opponent, she purposefully stayed behind him, using it instead to make herself tougher to spot, not to mention - tag.
The Chinoike winged swordsman closed his eyes. He did so not out of acceptance of his impending doom but instead because of a stone-cold realization he had come to. The hidden asset to the Chinoike has been helping them for a while now and he or she has spoken to the Blood Lagoon in their own unique way. While the swordsman could not see the ninja that built the foundation for their victory with this final strategy, he understood them about as well as if the ninja was standing behind him and whispering in his ear, holding their hand on his shoulder and encouraging him to move forward, do what had to be done.
The Chinoike swordsman disappeared. He did not leave the plane of existence he was in, however, the speed at which the transformed monstrosity moved forward to meet his enemy was remarkable enough to fool one into thinking that the swordsman was indeed no more. History knew of ninja that had moved fast enough to delete themselves, disappear out of the governance of laws of the current reality and make history by transcending the universe they were a part of. The Chinoike was not yet such a speedster, however, to the uninitiated to the world of absolute speed, he may have seemed quite close.
Gungetsu exploded into a mighty roar of washing waters, the rushing waves spread equally in every direction, however not even a single drop of them soaked the leather boots of the Blood Lagoon swordsman. The light tap of the Chinoike swordsman's feet touching the valley floor finally caught up with the vision of the tall and pale man landing behind both Gungetsu and his female ally. The transformation that changed the tall and somber gentleman into something much more chaotic and devilish had faded away, leaving nothing but a worn out and bleeding man after it.
The female Hozuki, who appeared to have avoided the horizontal crescent slash of the Chinoike's sword now blitzed to wreak havoc upon the exposed back of the worn out enemy. The fox-masked enigma slid through the valley rocks as if she was a strider riding the surface of the water, however, just when she reached her intended purpose, the woman used her own speedy movement to fade away from everyone's vision, evading a strike aimed at her back out of sheer fighting instinct. It was just that the woman had been in enough fights to know when the enemy would have done anything in their power to attack her from behind, she knew the chances and the openings she provided to the enemy with each movement she made because many times they've been exploited before and about as many times she was punished for them.
Coiling, bloody limb extended, intended to clutch the fox-masked Hozuki in its crystalized clutches or inject its own tainted blood into her stream so that she could be skewered like Gungetsu very nearly was before. It was only barely that the cloaked Chinoike managed to repurpose the movement of his limb into something meant to push his squadmate away from harm's way, even if he very nearly caused that same harm himself.
Up in the air, Chitsu clashed a pair of times with the female Hozuki, the watery drills appearing not only from under the woman's sleeves but from under her kimono as well, tearing the elegant lower bits of the sophisticated clock as well and exposing the Hozuki kunoichi from the knees down, even if the only thing to expose were her morphed into fluid, aquatic shapes lower legs.
Dripping and streaming with leaks of blood left in between his armor pieces, in soft spots where the more fleshy tissue protected him from outside harm and not the hardened by chakra crystalized blood armor. Due to the fact that a little bit of his own blood was used every time that the armor had to take shape, Chitsu found it difficult to stay on his feet and was forced by the unfavorable circumstances to collapse to his knees.
With a slightly slowed down coup de grace, the kunoichi charged forward, observing an exposed weak point that she managed to slightly widen by giving up a pair of stronger, more direct shots. An investment into a potential kill shot was so beautiful that it almost taunted her, however, the fox-lady took her sweet time. Finishing moves had to be graceful but they also had to be careful, most of all, it was, after all, during the finishing touches that one's guard was at its lowest and the tide of the entire battle could have turned on itself.
"I'll kill him!" a louder than usual for the cloaked Chinoike tone rumbled through the wastelands around. Due to its volume, it did catch the Hozuki kunoichi's glance as well – the cloaked phantom held his gurgling, gooey limb with its spike right up on Gungetsu's eye, while the foolish giant laid seemingly unconscious and sprawled out on the floor.
The damned fool just had to go and collapse from dehydration right now… When the odds were about to turn even!
