Yorukō Shinden II

by AncientSensei

[Rated T for now] Sequel to Yorukō Shinden: Wandering Ninja. This story will most likely fall in line with a proper AU/OC story as opposed to the first one. This story also takes place in the "Shippuden" timeline, or Part 2 Naruto. Not much I can say here, but hopefully you guys enjoy this read.

10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Loss is the greatest motivator.

---

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

---

"To master this form, Yorukō, you need to know its basics." Sayuri explained to her son as she stood opposite of him. Yorukō for his part observed and listened intently as his mother began to mold chakra without forming any hand seals. Within minutes, the reanimated woman's chakra levels began to spike as the air began to be permeated with thick and oppressive chakra.

"This much chakra is unreal." Yorukō said to his mother as he shivered slightly: "Is it in part to your reanimation?"

"I've always had a large amount of chakra." Sayuri answered: "However, it's easier to use while in this state, so I'd guess that there are benefits of being dead." She continued to mold more and more chakra until her appearance drastically began to change. Her hair began to flow freely against the wind while her body was wrapped in a smoke-like visage. The air around the entire field drastically began to get colder around them as it even began to affect the three girls who weren't remotely close to them.

Yorukō looked on in awe as he saw his mother use the same form he once held before, but could not help but feel uneasy towards his mother for having an extremely calm demeanor despite the large amount of chakra being emanated from her being. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before making a hand seal and summoned his katanas.

"I haven't seen those katanas in a while…since you impaled me with one of them of course." Sayuri said with a chuckle while pointing at one of them.

"You told me to do it!" Yorukō said in protest.

"The fact that you did it without hesitation proves you are willing to cut anyone down." Sayuri shot back as she shook her head, her smile quickly fading: "It's clear that your father raised you to be a machine rather than being human."

"Not like you did anything to stop it." Yorukō said under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Sayuri heard it rather clearly as she gave her son a solemn look.

"In the short time I had with actually meeting you, I've never thought something so bitter would ever leave your mouth." The teen's mother said towards him. "I told you that it was out of my control when it happened to you, but you choose to hold on to such a past." She allowed a tear to run down her cheek as she continued: "Never have a sentence hurt as much as what you just said to me."

"Something doesn't feel right." Kori said, catching Aya's and Yuina's attention.

"What do you mean?" Yuina asked.

"At first when Sayuri-san began to build her chakra, it felt thick and oppressive." Kori examined: "Now it feels…even darker than how it was."

"Now that you mention it, the air itself is gradually getting colder." Yuina commented: "This much chakra she's putting out might get us noticed by other ninja."

"Is Yorukō-sensei going to be okay?" Aya asked while pointing at the pair separate from them: "Sayuri-san looks real upset."

"I didn't even see that." Yuina said to the young girl: "Sayuri-san does look less than pleased."

"I think if we can both make a barrier, then we may not have to worry about any outside interference." Kori proposed.

"Sounds like an idea. Let's make one as fast we can." Yuina agreed.

Both girls molded their chakra as they flashed through similar hand seals together. Several seconds passed before both Yuina and Kori slammed their right on the ground as a black seal formed in its wake.

"Frost Barrier Jutsu!" Kori and Yuina both yelled. Almost immediately after activating the jutsu, the training field began to be surrounded with a light blue field, the cool feeling only adding onto Sayuri's already oppressively cold chakra. Satisfied, both Yuina and Kori grinned at each other as Aya looked on in awe.

"That's so cool! Can I learn that jutsu? Can I?" the young girl eagerly asked.

"One day, sure." Yuina answered with a smile as she affectionately patted Aya's head as her grin widened in response.

"They decided to place a barrier around this area." Yorukō observed before folding his arms, a smile gracing his lips: "Those two are something special, aren't they?"

"While I won't disagree with you, your focus shouldn't be on them." Sayuri said to her son before immediately closing the distance between her and her son: "It should be on me." The older woman delivered a lightning-fast blow towards Yorukō's head who barely managed to get his arms up in time to defend himself. However, due to the force and power behind her punch, Yorukō ended up being launched into a nearby tree as a massive cloud of dust formed in his wake.

"Yorukō-kun!" Both Kori and Yuina screamed.

"Just now…" Yorukō started as he slowly got back to his feet from the attack and dusted his gear off as he looked towards his mother: "…you fully intended on killing me with that attack, weren't you?"

"A little bit, yeah." His mother honestly answered.

"Interesting." Yorukō simply replied: "I'm assuming you want to draw the same mode out of me while 'reprimanding' me for my comments?"

"Hit the nail on the head with that one." Sayuri answered once more, a coy smile now forming on her face.

"If that's the case, then I'll respond in kind." Yorukō said before picking up his katanas and placing one in each hand. Without another second wasted, he dashed at his mother while keeping both katanas close to his hip. As he closed the distance, the teen performed a majestic flip over his mother's head and aimed a katana directly towards her lower back before noticing the blade began to freeze up as it got closer. Sayuri turned around and pushed the katana away before kicking her son square in the chest, sending him away a couple of feet once more.

"You should know by now that this mode counters any and all attacks aimed towards the user." Sayuri informed her son before using a smokeless shunshin to reappear by her son while he remained in the air. She flashed through various hand seals when she fired a moderately sized water ball point blank at Yorukō which sent the teen straight into a large rock. Looking at the large cloud of debris, the older woman shook her head as she continued: "You've failed to launch a single counterattack since we began. I'd advise you to not take this lightly."

"If I'm being honest, you're coming at me with the intent to kill while I only truly intended on simply sparring with my mother." Yorukō said from within the cloud: "I wasn't really taking it seriously, but now…I will!" The teen burst from the cloud at a high speed towards his mother with one katana instead of his usual two. His reanimated mother did not fully take the time to register this as she instinctively or directly blocked and parried each of her son's slashes that were aimed at her. During these exchanges, she forgot that due to her reanimation, she was actually immune to slashes as she would just 'regenerate' from the damage. It was her instinct that she honed while being alive that kicked in as she continued to weave, sidestep, and dodge her son's attacks.

"You want to reprimand me for my comments as a shinobi?" Yorukō asked as he attempted another slash: "Fine! Try it!" While his mother continued to play defense, Yorukō began to steer her in another direction by changing the trajectory of his slashes towards the remaining cloud. Sayuri slowly began attacking her son once more, effectively neutralizing her son's pressing offense and began to make it more even between the two. Still, Yorukō continued to press on with his attack while managing to continue push his mother towards the debris.

As the older woman continued to be pressed by his attacks, she managed to find a small window of opportunity as she ducked another one of his slashes. Using a free hand, she managed to draw a kunai from her pouch and clashed against her son's katana. The two began to parry the other's offense for several more minutes, the teen continuing to try and push her back with various slashes which she would clash against with her kunai. Sayuri started to notice the direction that Yorukō was pushing her towards as she ducked one of his slashes and used her free hand to deliver a blow to his abdomen, crashing his momentum to a halt and forcing her son to double over in pain.

"Let me clue you in on a secret, my son." Sayuri started while watching her son trying to regain his breath. She drove her heel into his back before he could fully recover, an evil glint now in her eyes. She ignored his rather pained scream as she continued: "Despite the shady circumstances of my death, there is one thing that even your father can admit."

"What…would that be?" Her son asked from beneath her foot.

"That I'm stronger than him in many ways." The reanimated woman admitted. She removed her heel from her son's back and helped him back to his feet as she continued: "Mastering this technique had an extreme gap between myself and your father."

"You say that…yet it's funny how you ended up dying…" Yorukō said with a chuckle while blood began seeping from his forehead:

At this moment a switch flipped inside Sayuri's mind. Without wasting a single second, she grabbed her son once more by the collar and landed a mighty blow to his head using her free hand. While holding him, Sayuri infused her hand with chakra and threw him back several feet once more. Managing to recover this time around, Yorukō retaliated by quickly substituting himself with a wooden log before reappearing behind his mother and landed a blow of his own and staggered her in the process.

"He finally got a hit!" Yuina happily exclaimed.

"…Did she lose focus?" Kori asked out loud.

"Who cares?" Yuina retorted: "At least it isn't completely one-sided anymore!"

"I guess you're right." Kori reluctantly agreed. "If you don't keep full concentration, is it possible for that form to not be as effective as it should be?"

The girls were interrupted by Yorukō letting out a mighty yell towards his mother as the teen once again came into possession into his katana. With a more fervent aggression this time around, he added more power and speed into his slashes, managing to bypass his mother's defenses and cleanly slice her left arm off.

"How did you-?" Sayuri asked in disbelief. However, she did not get a chance to ask or analyze further as Yorukō delivered a square kick to her chest which served to further stagger the reanimated woman. He continued pushing her towards his intended direction while his mother continued to resist with her remaining arm. Yorukō noted how a paper-like substance began forming around the area where her arm used to be, similar to what happened the last time they met and he impaled her to a tree. Realizing that her reanimation is kicking in, he put more power into his slashes and managed to finally push her to his destination where a shadow clone lay in wait with his other katana. The shadow clone charged at Sayuri with the katana in hand while she continued clashing with the original. She didn't have enough time to block both as clone Yorukō impaled his mother with his katana before the original Yorukō impaled her as well. Despite being a reanimation, the teen made sure to avoid what he perceived as a vital area on his mother.

"You know that this won't do anything to me, right?" Sayuri asked before attempting to attack her son when she noticed that she was unable to move. She looked downwards and was shocked to see a series of seals underneath her feet, most of them creeping up towards her knees. She looked towards her son as she asked: "What is this?"

"It…took me a while." The original Yorukō began to explain: "I wanted to lure you towards my shadow clone as so that I could paralyze you with a seal that I placed on the katana once I recovered."

"Given that it was near impossible to land a hit without breaking your focus, boss here had me create the seals for the sealing jutsu you're now in." Clone Yorukō added: "We had to get you to lose focus, else it wouldn't have worked."

"I realized that while fighting you in that form, it is completely possible to catch you off guard if you lose concentration." Yorukō added: "I figured that if I goad you enough, you'd use some form of emotion in your attacks."

"And then you'd exploit that to make your own opening." Sayuri finished.

Yorukō nodded. "Exactly. Goading people on in a fight isn't something I normally would do, but in this case…I have to do what needs to be done." The teen began to quickly run through various hand seals as Sayuri's arm is now fully restored. Undeterred, Yorukō continued to perform his seals while his clone now replicated most seals. Within seconds, both Yorukō's finished their seals and slammed their right hands on his mother, the original slamming it on her chest while the clone slammed it on her back. Instantly, two identical seals appeared in both areas where the two Yorukō's marked.

"I didn't know you mastered sealing jutsu." Sayuri praised her son as she noticed the new seals wrap around her body even more than the first mark.

"I wouldn't say I've mastered it." Yorukō humbly replied: "I just know enough of it. However, I must say…" Both Yorukō and his clone jumped back a considerable amount and simultaneously performed the ram seal. Within seconds, both katanas and the seals embedded in Sayuri began to glow golden as large amounts of lightning began to electrocute her, as evident from her bloodcurdling screams which followed soon after. This persisted for several seconds before the lightning around her transferred towards the teen's katanas before transforming into two large and identical dragons made of golden lightning, towering over the reanimated woman. He added: "…if this is what I'm to expect from mastering this technique, then I'm not impressed."

"Cocky now, are we?" Sayuri asked with a chuckle after she regained her breath, but received no response.

"Woah!" Aya screamed in awe from the distance, stars forming in her eyes: "That's so cool!"

"Yorukō-kun still had this much chakra to pull something like this off?" Yuina asked.

"From just looking at it, I can tell it's a large amount of chakra being put into it." Kori commented: "For just 'training', he's putting his all into it for some reason." Before either girl made another comment, their focus was shifted towards Yorukō, each feeling a jolt in his chakra.

"Take this!" Sayuri heard both Yorukō yell: "Lightning Style: Twin Lightning Dragon's Bite!" Yorukō's shadow clone dispelled itself within seconds of his original's statement as Yorukō clasped his hands together. Soon, both dragons that emerged from his katanas immediately attacked Sayuri with seemingly more force after being consumed by lightning once. Both dragons viciously attacked at the reanimated woman as they charred at her already decaying flesh and dismembered the older woman into various parts. She tried to scream but felt that she was unable to, leaving only silent screams of agony and untold horror. Yuina and Kori immediately placed a hand over each of Aya's eyes to prevent the girl from seeing this – in their own words – brutal execution-style attack take place. Kori looked on with extra horror than her cousin as she began to feel nauseated at the sight. This would continue for several more seconds until Yorukō performed a hand seal and canceled the jutsu.

"That…took more out of me…than I imagined." The teen commented to himself before dropping to a knee and began gasping for air. The teen looked up to observe his work as he saw bits and pieces of his mother's body that remained scattered around the scorched earth brought on from his devastating jutsu. It took the boy several more seconds before he realized what he had done, but it was what he remembered that really cause him to freeze in fear, albeit momentarily: "Wait, did I just waste all that chakra…while forgetting the fact she's a reanimation?"

"Precisely." Yorukō and the others heard a voice say towards him. The teen immediately got back to his feet and observed many like paper-like appendices form around him in a slow manner. Yuina and Kori removed their hands from Aya's eyes as they looked on in a mix of awe and shock; neither of the two girls seeing a reanimated shinobi reconstruct themselves before.

"I must say that output was extremely impressive, Yorukō-kun." Sayuri said with a low smile as she gently picked up her son's katanas before throwing them at his feet: "Had I actually have been alive, I would no doubt have died to that jutsu."

"I want to thank you for the compliment…but something tells me this isn't going to end well for me now, is it?" Yorukō asked before picking his katanas up to sheath them on his back, slight nervousness beginning to be inflected in his voice.

"Whatever do you mean?" Sayuri asked, her smile unchanged. As the older woman's body finished reconstructing, Yorukō felt a familiar feeling of dread that he hasn't felt since his days 'training' with his father. He looked at his mother's reconstructed body as he readied himself with a fighting stance.

"Given that this is supposed to be 'training', I'm stupid for forgetting that she isn't technically alive. I basically attempted to kill my mother while I'm supposed to be getting used to her form. What the hell are you thinking, Yorukō?" Yorukō thought as he felt beside himself for going too far. He had no time to think any further as Sayuri dashed at him at a blinding speed while attempting to deliver a kick towards his abdomen. Unlike the first time, he managed to put up a sufficient defense against her incoming blow, the teen placing both arms at his abdomen. However, Sayuri instinctively and instantly shifted her body and spun around using her free leg and torso while her son blocked her initial strike. She molded chakra into her right fist as her body returned and landed a square shot in Yorukō's face which served to both send him back several feet and subsequently breaking his nose.

"She got a clean hit on Yorukō!" Kori exclaimed.

"Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious." Yorukō sarcastically thought to himself before recovering from the impact behind his mother's blow. He immediately fixed his composure as he fired a large fireball without weaving any signs toward her. The reanimated woman wove a single one-handed seal in response, her icy visage returning. Extending her right hand, she formed a mirror of ice that collided with Yorukō's fireball and instantly melted it.

"What the?" the teen asked in disbelief.

"I think it's time to stop playing around." Sayuri told her son: "While this 'training' is to help you get stronger and master this technique…I think it's time someone taught you some much-needed humility."

"Teach me humility?" Yorukō asked with a slight sneer: "Who needs humility on the battlefield?"

Yorukō made a familiar hand seal and summoned a shadow clone. Both Yorukō's quickly wove various hand seals for a few seconds when a slight hue covered both of their right hands. Sayuri opted to look on in intrigue as she watched her son complete the last seal.

"Try this on for size!" Yorukō shouted: "Wind Style: Dual Burst!"

Both Yorukō and his clone fired two separate yet massive bursts of wind towards his reanimated woman who stood there. As both jutsu rapidly approached her, the original Yorukō wove a single seal which led to both bursts combining together with an increase in its velocity. The reanimated matriarch allowed a phantom's sliver of a smile to grace her lips before weaving another hand seal.

"An impressive jutsu indeed, my son." Sayuri said in praise as she finished her last seal: "Too bad it won't work."

Suddenly, a large shield construct of ice formed between the reanimated woman and her son's jutsu. The two techniques immediately collided with each other as the wind completely obliterated the woman's shield construct, millions of tiny ice shards violently flowing in the air. Kori and Yuina immediately created a barrier around themselves to shield Aya from the danger of any shard while intently watching the fight.

"So, fire and wind jutsu are ineffective against this kind of jutsu…" Yorukō said to himself as he thought about what had occurred: "…I won't even bother using my earth techniques, meaning the only two I can use before my Ice being lightning and water. Maybe I can short-circuit her."

"Done talking to yourself, son?" Sayuri asked from a distance, hands on her hips in a mocking stance: "It'd be easier on my conscience if we wrap this up soon."

"You're confusing me." Yorukō countered: "How can you expect me to fight with the intent of killing you, yet it hurts for you to continue with this? Then, what's the point in doing any of this?"

"As a ninja, I want you to be strong." Sayuri began explaining as she walked towards Yorukō: "I want you to be strong enough to beat your dad…despite our wishes of not wanting you to go through this."

"I'm sensing a big 'but' coming." Yorukō interjected.

Sayuri nodded. "As a parent, as a mother no less, I've failed you. As a father, Reiki-kun definitely failed you. Being dead for all this time…" the reanimated woman paused with a sad smile: "…made me miss out on the critical years of development you could've had to become compassionate yet ridiculously strong."

The two shinobi faced each other once again as Yorukō continued to listen to his mother's words, some of them slowly searing into his arguably blackened heart. Yuina, Kori, and Aya all continued to look on in a mix of fear and awe, the latter with stars in her eyes after watching the magnificent jutsu clash between the two seasoned shinobi.

"However, where you gained impressive and spectacular strength, you also gained a hint of arrogance, sadistic tendencies, and a serious lack of empathy, sympathy, and most of all, humility." Sayuri said as she continued the analysis of her son. Yorukō kept silent as he listened to his mother finish, opting only to listen.

"Again, I ask: who needs humility on the battlefield?" Yorukō countered after some time and thought: "Empathy? Sympathy? Who's going to give me that when I get killed? Who's going to be sympathetic to me? Who, outside of you guys, are going to understand my pain, my angst? Showing those values in a battle denotes weakness, and showing weakness is akin to suicide in a fight."

"I can show you that you're wrong." Sayuri told her son: "You're wrong about all of that. It is possible to show empathy, humility, and to show sympathy in a fight without being perceived as 'weak'."

"Show me, then." Yorukō told his mother as his chakra levels suddenly spiked: "Teach me those things."

"I will." Sayuri replied before her chakra levels spiked, her ice form returning: "Count on it."

"Woah!" Aya exclaimed: "Do you guys feel that?"

"I never knew Yorukō-kun had this much chakra." Kori observed: "Even after taking such a beating, he can still put out this much…"

Yuina nodded, opting not to say anything but to instead keep watch of the fight.

The two shinobi almost immediately engaged in taijutsu combat once more at breakneck speed, with neither of the two gaining an advantage over the other. Yorukō attempted a feint attack, the teen throwing a quick left overhead kick which his mother easily ducked but was greeted by Yorukō's right knee to her face, staggering the woman temporarily. Yorukō didn't have enough time to continue his offensive as Sayuri immediately regained her composure and closed the distance between herself and her son and gave him a massive gut check in return. The force and impact behind Sayuri's blow forced Yorukō to immediately double over and spit up considerable amounts of blood.

"Fast reaction and recovery…must be a reanimation perk, huh?" Yorukō asked with a pained breath.

"Could be." His mother simply replied as she brought Yorukō to face value and delivered three phantom punches to the teen's sternum before sending him away with a mighty roundhouse kick. Before Yorukō's body hit the ground, the teen managed to substitute himself with a log as he now became out of sight.

"Now, where did you go…?" Sayuri asked out loud: "There!" Sayuri made a quick jump in the air as she noticed the ground beneath her began to crack open and revealed Yorukō who tried to launch a counterattack at his reanimated mother. He attempted to fire another fire based jutsu at his mother before the jutsu instantly dissipated.

"I'm beginning to see the benefits of this technique." Yorukō noted as he made some distance before his mother made any further attack.

"I'm glad you are." Sayuri told her son with a nod: "Although, I wasn't expecting you to use an earth jutsu. I thought that one was your weakest affinity."

"It is." Yorukō admitted: "Although, it's not as weak to where I can't use it."

"I see." Sayuri told her son. Before she said anything else, the reanimated woman performed an icy shunshin and appeared next to Yorukō: "Why don't we begin to wrap this up?"

Yorukō was slightly taken aback by his mother's high speed before regaining his composure and slight distance: "I…I think we should."

"Good. Just so you know, I won't be going easy on you anymore." Sayuri told Yorukō.

His mother's last comment caused a nerve to tick in the teen's head as his chakra began to spike once more, surprising everyone around him once more. Sayuri looked at her son with mild interest, her rather sharp words seemingly bringing out the worst in him.

"His chakra spiked once again." Yuina noted, concern evident in her voice: "Surely this will attract some people outside from this area."

"That may be true, but did you hear what Sayuri-san just said?" Kori noted with Yuina looking intently at her: "She said she'd been going 'easy' on Yorukō-kun this entire time. Which means…"

"…Yorukō-kun isn't going to win this fight in the slightest." Yuina finished as she sighed: "Question is, how much longer will he have before he realizes that?"

"Sensei…" Aya said with concern.

"You're something else, aren't you?" Yorukō told his mother with praise. He dropped into a fighting stance as he continued: "However, I don't plan on losing!"

"That's the spirit, son!" Sayuri said: "Just remember that we're training at the end of the day."

Yorukō wasted no breath with his next attack, the teen charging at his mother while summoning a shadow clone. The original continued his charge as the shadow clone began to mold its chakra. Yorukō appeared in front of his mother and attempted a large overhead kick which was easily blocked by the woman's enhanced reflexes. Undeterred, Yorukō performed a backflip to create distance and to grab an array of shuriken from his pouch. Continuing his charge, the teen began throwing shuriken blades at his mother who effortlessly and majestically dodged each one. Yorukō performed various hand seals while he continued to throw shuriken which suddenly produced mass amounts.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Sayuri thought to herself while continuing to dodge the blades: "How does he know this jutsu? I thought it belonged to the Leaf!"

With the reanimated woman's focus on her original son, she failed to notice the large ball of water aimed at her. Looking to her right, she noticed his shadow clone performing hand seals and firing jutsu towards her. She narrowly managed to avoid being hit by the water ball but failed to dodge all the shuriken blades as some made direct contact with her. Instantly and instinctively, the older woman substituted herself with an ice clone.

"This would've been easier if I hadn't sent a shadow clone out to that hideout for the scrolls. My chakra wouldn't have been halved, and I could've fought at my full potential." Yorukō thought to himself while he watched his mother reappear in front of him: "So, you counter and evade attacks much quicker in this with this jutsu."

"Pretty much." Sayuri confirmed: "However, my jutsu output is much stronger."

"Stronger?" Yorukō asked, slightly confused.

"Watch." Sayuri said before taking a deep breath: "Ice Release: Reflected Mirror Domain."

Suddenly, at least three dozen large mirrors of ice surrounded Sayuri and her son, completely blocking the others' view of the fight. Yorukō looked around his surroundings and took note on the sudden drop in temperature, a slight shiver befalling the teen. Yorukō's shadow clone soon dissipated as the original slightly lost focus on the fight; instead opting to unsheathe both katanas and prepare himself for the attack as he watched his mother jump into a mirror.

"This jutsu is a stronger version of the Yuki Clan's hidden technique, the Demonic Ice Mirrors jutsu." Sayuri explained from seemingly all mirrors: "Normally, there'd be about a dozen mirrors, but in this mode, I can make way more than just a dozen. I didn't want to make it any larger, so three dozen mirrors for someone of your caliber is good."

"The more I see your techniques and the mastery and accuracy behind them, the more I don't understand how you were able to be killed, much less 'committed suicide'." Yorukō told his mother: "You're possibly the strongest I've faced to this point."

"Even stronger than your father?" Sayuri asked, her voice reflecting from the mirror which gave her somewhat of a divine undertone.

"Could be because you're reanimated, but yes." He answered.

"I'll take it as a compliment. Prepare yourself." Sayuri said as she ceased conversations with her son and began to jump around each mirror.

"This jutsu reminds me of my Strangledome jutsu I used a year ago in Tempest, but something about it feels…off." Yorukō observed: "May be a dumb move, but I need to reduce these mirrors." Driving his right katana into the ground, the teen jōnin rapidly made various one-handed seals before firing a large fireball which immediately collided with one set of mirrors, instantly melting them. However, these mirrors would not only reform at lightning speed, but Yorukō noticed his fireball being reflected back towards him between the mirrors he shattered, as if it was mocking him.

"That won't work." Sayuri informed her son: "This jutsu absorbs elemental jutsu and returns it twofold. I'll offer you this much, there is a way to break this jutsu before I fire them all back at you – it'll be your task to break it in time."

"And if I don't?" Yorukō asked.

"Then, this happens." Sayuri answered as she performed a quick ram seal. Instantly, one fireball that was replicated in the mirror fired towards Yorukō at a fast pace, the jutsu almost giving the boy no chance to dodge but managed to nonetheless. He looked around and noticed the fireball no longer being stored in the mirror. He then looked around the construct as he heard her continue: "I will fire these techniques back at you from all angles. This could also be what is needed for you to tap into that forbidden jutsu."

"A bit sadistic, no?" Yorukō asked his mother, a faint smile gracing his lips.

"I guess you could say that." Sayuri replied: "However, I'll fire them at you if you take too long to figure it out."

"Breaking the jutsu, huh?" Yorukō thought to himself: "I'm faintly familiar with the jutsu that the Yuki clan uses, but if I were to guess…there has to be a singular point of breaking this construct entirely."

Yorukō was suddenly snapped from his thoughts when he noticed another fireball fired towards him from the left side. Managing to evade the second one, the teen noticed his fireball being replicated to the other mirrors within the jutsu. Silently analyzing the situation, Sayuri decided to not fire another fireball at her son, giving him time to retrieve his other katana from the ground and placed it in his hand.

"Fire doesn't work, and she absorbs all elemental jutsu within the technique, which means that using Ice Release would be pointless as well." Yorukō deduced: "Still, using different elemental jutsu to find that one point may help in the long run. Using this large space between myself and the mirrors might help."

Using the time Sayuri gave him to collect his katana, Yorukō also managed to survey his surroundings fully and noticed his fireball being held inside at least twelve mirrors. He noted how Sayuri was equally nowhere to be found inside any of the mirrors she constructed.

"Are you ready to continue?" Sayuri asked from seemingly nowhere.

The teen nodded. "Yeah."

Before Sayuri said anything else, the reanimated woman appeared once more in one mirror and performed a similar ram seal and fired three more fireballs at her son. Better prepared than last time, the teen jōnin's quick reflexes kicked in as he sliced each fireball in half using his blades which caused all three to dissipate before making contact. Smiling to herself, Sayuri fired two more towards Yorukō who once again broke each fireball with ease. She fired one more at him which he didn't cut down as he made a leap in the air, allowing the fireball to collide into the ground. Looking up, he noticed how Sayuri instantly vanished and reappeared in a different mirror. A faint smile graced the teen's lips as he landed back on the ground.

"I may have found the one weakness of this jutsu." Yorukō informed his mother.

"Entertain me. What is it?" she asked.

"You have to appear in a mirror to fire a jutsu at me." Yorukō explained: "Hiding in the mirrors give you added invincibility and intangibility, but the moment you appear, that becomes the point of singularity that can be exploited."

"I'm impressed." Sayuri said, clapping her hands together. This continued for several seconds until she ceased her applause, her expression once again becoming serious: "Won't mean much if you can't hit me though."

"We'll see about that." Yorukō informed his mother while readying his stance. He tightly gripped the handles of both katanas, small veins protruding from his hands.

---

"I'm worried about sensei." Aya said out loud, catching both Kori and Yuina's attention.

"We are too, but everything will be okay soon." Yuina said, assuring the young girl.

"This is just training, Aya-chan." Kori added in: "Sayuri-san is only doing this to help Yorukō-kun get stronger."

"Then…why do I feel this ominous chakra coming from Yorukō-sensei?" Aya asked.

"You can sense chakra natures?" Yuina asked.

Aya nodded: "Yep!"

"Be that as it may…we can only watch from here. Trying to intervene in this wouldn't end well…for any of us." Kori advised both Aya and Yuina. Everyone was interrupted by the sounds of steel crashing against steel. They couldn't see it, but Yorukō returned on the defensive.

---

Inside the construct, Sayuri decided to replicate different senbon needles, shuriken, and kunai inside each mirror and launched them in sporadic fashion towards her son from all angles. Due in part to the large space permitted to him, the teen was able to evade and parry most attacks; however, some he couldn't escape began to leave small to slightly moderate cuts all over his exposed skin where he was hit. Several more minutes pass when Yorukō dropped on one knee and used one katana for holding himself up, blood beginning to seep from his body. Sayuri made another hand seal, seemingly halting the onslaught for now.

"Just…how much…more of this will you do?" Yorukō asked, his ragged breath getting more noticeable. He noticed his mother appear in a mirror directly above him, her apathetic look only intensified at the sight of her son.

"Until you use that jutsu or break my jutsu." Sayuri simply answered.

"Thought as much." Yorukō said with a slight sneer. Regaining some stamina, he rose once again. This time, he observed the hand seal she made before immersing herself in the mirror once again, being sure to take note of it. "I have a way to shatter her jutsu completely if I can catch her right as she reappears, but I have to be quick."

"I think it's time to up the ante." Sayuri told Yorukō, much to his surprise. Sayuri began flashing through different hand seals before settling on the ram seal, her voice now echoing throughout the construct: "Ice Style: Thousand Reflected Needles!" Within moments, many senbon needles fired from each mirror around Yorukō who immediately got on the defensive using his blades. Fortunately for him, he noted how the needles, although fast, wasn't too fast for him not to block. He performed a one-handed seal on the hilt of his right katana when the blade began to solidify with ice chakra; Yorukō did this once more with a different seal on his left katana, where lightning chakra coated its blade.

"I tried refraining from using any Ice jutsu in this fight, but I should be able to better defend myself with my ice and break each needle with the lightning." Yorukō said to himself as he continued to fend his mother's needles. He spun around several times to defend himself from his mother's onslaught, the latter of which kept moving between mirrors to better keep an eye on her son. Unable to find a reprieve, Yorukō was unable to find the chance of shattering her mirror to free himself from her grasp. Without many options, Yorukō performed the Hidden Mist Jutsu and attempt to throw his mother off for the time being, opting to go through various hand seals.

"Now, I wonder if he knows I can still sense his chakra from within his cloud. High-level sensory ninjas know that his chakra protrudes from all ends of such a technique." Sayuri thought to herself before shaking her head: "No matter. I'll play along for now." The reanimated woman performed a single seal which slowed her needles' advance.

"I know this won't last long…but she did the one thing I needed her to do." Yorukō said to himself as he finished the final seal, both blades and his lower legs being completely coated with lightning: "Take this!"

"You won't hit me from that distance!" The reanimated matriarch yelled. She prepared to move mirrors when she quickly noticed Yorukō directly facing her, the teen moving at a lightning-fast speed towards her. She quickly opted to use a different seal which Yorukō almost saw.

"Oh yeah?!" Yorukō asked his mother: "Then you shouldn't be able to block this! Lightning Sword Jutsu: Flash Thrust!" Yorukō positioned his blades and managed to pierce his mother's mirror using both katanas, the sudden surge of lightning catching her off guard and began to leave moderate cracks within her mirror. Sayuri found herself unable to move as the lightning rippled through her reanimated body. However, right before he could break it entirely, the teen jōnin suddenly felt a sharp pain run through his right shoulder. Looking over, he noticed a rather large icicle protruding from one mirror and impaled his shoulder which severed an important artery.

"I'll admit you put something together rather quickly to try and break this technique." Sayuri admitted: "However, you weren't fast enough to break it completely."

Yorukō hissed his teeth as he felt his arm got more and more numb from the pain. He dropped his right katana onto the ground as he fell down onto his back. Sayuri looked down at her son and noticed his chakra level fading at a fast rate. The reanimated woman wove several hand seals and exited from her mirrors to appear by him for the first time since she activated her jutsu.

"Well, isn't this funny…" Yorukō thought to himself as he felt himself going in and out of consciousness: "This is the same shoulder that Reiki impaled a few years ago when we 'trained'. This can't be the extent of my power, can it? How can I hope to face him if I can't access that damned jutsu at will?!"

"Yorukō…it's okay for you to not be able to use that technique right now." Sayuri said as she looked down at her son's prone form. She observed the massive hole in his shoulder, a sympathetic smile forming on her face as she continued, Yorukō remaining in his thoughts: "Maybe you need more training before you can beat your father. You're strong now, but it simply won't be enough."

"Not enough?" Yorukō asked himself in disbelief at his mother's words: "How…how can you be sure of that? Do you not believe in me?" Suddenly, the jōnin felt a massive surge of hatred overwhelm him while also feeling his blood beginning to run cold. Sayuri jumped back as she began to notice a similar smoky visage protrude from Yorukō's body and his chakra levels massively surging. She instantly wove a single seal which allowed her to return to her mirrors as she watched him slowly rise once more.

"I'll show you…I'll show him…" Yorukō thought, his arm suddenly feeling better: "JUST HOW STRONG I REALLY AM!" With a mighty roar, Yorukō's body became completely covered in ice, his chakra levels now so high that Yuina, Kori, and Aya all felt it in large amounts from their distance.

"I know I've asked this before, but is sensei going to be alright?" Aya asked.

"I…I…I don't know." Kori answered. Yuina remained silent as she continued to look on.

At the Hokage Tower…

"Lady Tsunade, do you feel that?" Shizune asked.

"I most definitely did." Tsunade answered with a nod. She bit her lower lip as she went deep in thought: "Yorukō…just how much chakra do you have?"

At a non-disclosed location in the Leaf…

"Yorukō Hasegawa… this level of strength is unheard of for a regular jōnin." Danzō said to himself after feeling the chakra surge: "It may be worth it keeping you here in the Leaf under some heavier eyes to make sure you do not act in any interests that could see the village suffer in any capacity."

At the training ground…

"This chakra output is magnificent!" Sayuri said to herself in awe while watching the massive ice construct that Yorukō encased himself in. Several moments passed before the reanimated woman noticed there were cracks within the constructed ice. Suddenly, Yorukō's ice shattered completely, which revealed certain areas of his body covered in ice. Sayuri noted how there was an upwards horn made of ice protruding from near his right ear, his right shoulder completely covered with a thin-like layer of ice, both his pupils vanishing. She took notice of these changes surrounding her son, mild worry washing over her: "Let's see this mode in action, shall we?" Weaving several hand seals, she released the remaining fireballs stored in her mirrors towards Yorukō. He instinctively jumped in the air before any of the fireballs made contact with him. Weaving a single hand seal, Yorukō fired three massive spheres of ice in three different directions, serving to shatter most mirrors.

"Did you forget that these mirrors reconstruct themselves?" Sayuri asked within her mirrors but gained no response from her son before he suddenly vanished. She attempted to weave another hand sign when she noticed him reappear before her and somehow managing to shatter her mirror before she completed her seal and ultimately breaking the technique. As a result of breaking the construct, millions of tiny shards burst into an omnidirectional pattern, leaving scratches on many items near them. Yuina and Kori managed to shield themselves and the young girl before they would've been hit from these shards.

The transformed Yorukō seemed to look down at his hands for a brief moment before running his left hand over the wound his mother made to his shoulder before slightly wincing at the contact. He ran his hand once more to feel the horn before grabbing and breaking it completely. He quickly discarded it by throwing it onto the side when he turned his attention to the three girls, looking directly at them.

"Guys…" Kori started: "Is it just me, or is he looking directly at us?"

"You don't think he's going to attack…right?" Yuina asked. Aya remained silent, the young girl slowly getting paralyzed with fear.

The transformed Yorukō suddenly vanished before reappearing directly in front of the three girls. Before he could make even a single move, Sayuri reappeared behind her son and delivered a mighty kick to his lower spine, sending him flying by several meters. "Are you girls alright?!" She asked, grave concern in her voice.

"Y-Yeah." Kori and Yuina both answered with Aya merely nodding. Satisfied, Sayuri nodded before dashing towards her son to resume combat, leaving them alone once more. Kori and Yuina looked at each other once the pair gained some distance from them before letting out a slight sigh. Before either kunoichi could say anything, they noticed Aya beginning to tremble which opted both of them to kneel to her level to try and comfort her.

"It's just like that time when Shū, Zankoku, and I fought him when he left the village the first time." Kori pointed out: "Compared to then, the only difference between him using it this time is that he's fighting someone with a better control over that mode."

"Sensei…his chakra feels…so wicked." Aya said between shaky breaths: "Like someone…who really wants to hurt you."

"Wicked…" Yuina pondered: "…that's the exact word I'd use to describe this feeling."

"Will this be something I'll have to deal with when I tell him about Nozomi?" Kori thought to herself as she continued to look on.

With Yorukō and Sayuri…

"I'm surprised that kick didn't faze you too much." Sayuri told Yorukō who almost immediately recovered from the impact of her kick. He stood opposite from the reanimated woman silently, words either hard to form or choosing not to say anything. The air around the two powerful shinobi dropped several degrees as Sayuri wove a hand seal and redid her version of the jutsu once more. The transformed Yorukō had a brief moment where he cocked his head in curiosity when he noticed Sayuri no longer in position. Yorukō immediately felt a shift in the air, prompting the teen to jump. He looked down to see his mother reappear in what looks like a sweep attempt. Sayuri looked at her son for a moment before vanishing once more to appear above him to land an overhead kick. Yorukō raised his arms in time to block the full impact of her kick before gracefully landing on the ground. Sayuri took the opportunity to reappear at a decent distance away from him.

Yorukō for his part began to mount a counterattack against his mother by using the same shunshin jutsu and appear behind the reanimated woman and started his assault with a flurry of kicks and punches. Being a more seasoned and experienced shinobi than her son, Sayuri instantly shifted her body to face him head on, ducking and dodging each of his attacks. She wove a one-handed seal while continuing to dodge before firing a large gust of wind at Yorukō which served to separate the two once again.

"I'm impressed at this amount of chakra, I really am." Sayuri told her son: "However, from looking at your current state, you almost have zero control over it." Almost immediately, Sayuri fired a massive sphere of water from her mouth without weaving any hand signs which moved at an alarming speed towards her son. However, before it could even hit him, Yorukō extended his right hand towards the sphere, ice chakra coating it completely. He froze the water before it could even touch him when he grabbed it, spun around and threw it towards his mother. She managed to dodge the ice with minimal effort before noticing another spike in his chakra. Turning to her right, the reanimation noticed her son finishing a certain hand seal before raising his right hand in the air with the ram seal.

"Divine Ice Jutsu: 1000 Divine Ice Fists." Yorukō finally said, thinly veiled contempt in his voice. Within moments, both he and Sayuri were encroached by cold air which also extended towards Kori, Yuina, and Aya, despite being extremely far from the fight. The three girls winced at the drop in temperature but remained focused on both Sayuri and Yorukō. The sky around them began to considerably darken, Yuina being the first to notice the several dozen amounts of ice fists slowly peering atop everyone. Within moments, everyone noticed the dozen turning into hundreds before an exact thousand fists surrounded the entire battlefield, some even extending outside of their training ground.

"This isn't good." Sayuri said to herself: "If he launches that jutsu now, I may not be able to protect them all in time."

"Can you stop this while protecting everyone?" Yorukō asked with venom leaking in his voice which served to distort it somewhat. He lowered his right hand to his chest with his seal remaining intact. The teen shifted his seal once and launched a fist at his mother who managed to dodge in time before it collided with her body. She gazed over her shoulder and noticed a massive crater that formed from the impact. She looked at her son once again, his contemptuous aura unmoving; noting how his ice aura slowly became darker and darker.

"Something's not right. Even if he's not accustomed to using the technique, there hasn't been any case where the aura and chakra is so…dark." The reanimation thought, worried for her son. She observed how he remained still since firing his technique for the first time before beginning to devise a plan to end his mode. "I'll have to use one of the Tachibana clan's forbidden Kekkei Genkai techniques if I hope to stop him before he does something rash." She was broken out of her thoughts when Yorukō caught her attention once again.

"Let's see you try to deflect all of these." Yorukō said once again before clasping his hands together, his aura further getting dark: "Fire!" One by one, more fists began to fire towards the reanimation in a fast manner. She dodged and evaded each one while she began forming hand signs of her own in preparation for a technique. However, she failed to notice a fist coming at her from behind which made full contact with her which forced her to fall to her face. A malicious grin formed on her son's face as he watched more fists collide with the reanimation which left more craters upon each collision. After about a minute, he released his seal which halted further fists from firing. The training ground began to resemble more of a warzone, massive craters scarring the land around them. He walked towards his mother's remains when he noticed the woman's appendices beginning to reform once again.

"Kill the girls." Yorukō suddenly heard a voice in his head tell him. "Embrace this hatred."

"What the hell?" Yorukō asked inwardly. He quickly entered his mind's landscape to find a hazy vision of someone sitting near a muddled pond.

"You heard me, kill the girls." The person said: "Do you not want to kill your father?"

"This is a training exercise!" Yorukō angrily retorted: "And why would I even consider attacking them?! They're precious to me! They have nothing to do with this!"

"They have EVERYTHING to do with this!" The voice retorted as it stood up and began walking over towards Yorukō: "Weakness is NOT tolerated here, and you know this!"

"What are you doing?" Yorukō asked, taking a step back.

"The hatred you so desperately want to release on your father…let me give everyone a taste of it." The voice answered as it now stood directly in front of Yorukō. He looked in a mix of confusion and horror as he noticed the person standing in front of him was himself with dark red irises: "Because if there's anyone who knows your unfiltered hatred better than anyone else…it's me. Your own hatred."

Suddenly, Yuina, Kori, and Aya began to notice how Yorukō began to violently convulse before dropping to a knee. Once she fully reformed, Sayuri stood and noticed her son's sudden shift while being confused. Within seconds, she looked in horror as he began to violently clutch his head while letting out a bloodcurdling scream, blood beginning to seep from his mouth and nostrils.

"Yorukō?!" Sayuri screamed.

"Get…out…of my…HEAD!" The reanimation heard her son scream. She looked on and noticed how the side of his body with the punctured arm became covered with ice with half of his face concealed by the translucent blue color it produced. The teen slowly stood up and began to stumble around the scarred battlefield while continuing to clutch his head in excruciating pain. Sayuri felt an unfamiliar chakra suddenly surface within him when he finally stopped with his hands now clasped in a seal.

"He's weak. Unwilling to let me out." Yorukō's 'counterpart' commented. He looked past the reanimation to the three girls away from the fight when an evil grin formed on his face: "I wonder how he'd react if I kill them. Maybe he'll realize that they weren't strong enough." Suddenly, the remaining ice fists converged and mended with each other to form a massive sword made of ice. Kori, Yuina, and Aya looked up at the newly made construct with a collective fear reverberating through their bodies. It is unclear if the counterpart noticed or cared that this massive amount of chakra and the large construct caught the attention of everyone within the leaf. He decided to turn his attention away from his mother and towards the three girls.

"Do you honestly plan on firing that at them?!" Sayuri asked her son in disbelief: "You're not like this! Snap out of it!"

Meanwhile, back in the Leaf, Tsunade's office…

"What the hell?" Tsunade asked out loud as she looked at the massive construct formed in the sky: "Just what am I looking at here?"

"Is that supposed to be a jutsu?" Shizune asked: "Moreover, it feels like this chakra belongs to…Yorukō. But it doesn't at the same time."

"Lady Tsunade!" One ANBU operative wearing a dog mask burst through the door in a slight panic: "We have a major problem! Look outside, it's snowing!"

"What?!" Tsunade screamed as she rushed to look outside a window. Surely enough, she saw snow beginning to encroach the different areas of the Leaf village, as many buildings slowly but surely becoming covered by it. Her attention was shifted when she noticed Danzō's presence in the room: "Just what do you want now?"

"Only the best interest of ensuring the Leaf's safety." The elder smoothly replied: "I believe that this is probable cause to restrain Yorukō before he puts civilians at risk."

"We'll be doing it my way. Understand? I don't need your 'assistance'." Tsunade instructed.

"This is no time to be arguing, Tsunade-hime." Danzō simply replied: "But I'll follow your orders…for now. At least allow Chikara to be on your detail."

"Fine – just GO!" Tsunade yelled as she pointed towards the door, earning a subtle nod from the elder before making his exit. As he walked out the door, he looked to his right where Chikara was leaning on the wall.

"This will probably be a good opportunity to capture him." Danzo informed his subordinate with a hushed voice.

"I understand, Lord Danzō." Chikara replied with a nod before leaning off the wall and began walking inside the Hokage's office and awaited her order. "For your sake, I hope that I don't actually have to capture you, Yorukō. I've just now gotten to like you."

The Foundation operative observed on as he noticed Tsunade press a button on her desk and summoned five shinobi in particular: Hatake Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, Yamanaka Ino, and Haruno Sakura. Each of them realized immediately what they have been summoned as they awaited their order from their leader. Chikara joined into this group and stood beside Sakura as he now too awaited the order.

"I need you to find Yorukō and detain him ASAP. Each of you – barring Kakashi – have some form of history with him, and each of your strengths will be vital in stopping him." The Hokage explained, earning nods from each shinobi. Suddenly, they each felt a sudden change in the air and the teen's chakra. It now felt even darker to the shinobi present in the room, the air getting so palpable that a collective shiver reverberated across the room, the younger kunoichi feeling it first.

"It feels even worse now, Lady Tsunade." Shizune commented as the Hokage bit her lower lip. "Should you enter the battlefield?"

"No, these guys should be more than enough. I hope." Tsunade answered.

"By what we're currently experiencing, it is safe to classify this matter as an S-Class issue." Tsunade continued to the group present: "Take Yorukō down and neutralize him before any potential casualties or hazards truly happen, understand?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade!" Everyone answered.

"If there are anyone else in the area, evacuate them first before you deal with Yorukō himself!" She added: "Leave at once, with great haste!"

Everyone simply nodded once more before all five shinobi used the body flicker technique to leave the Hokage's office, determined to fulfill their task. Shizune watched as she saw all five shinobi move at lightning-fast speed across each rooftop.

"I don't want to give Danzō any ammunition, but at the rate you're going…we may have to take measures against you, Yorukō." Tsunade said out loud. Shizune only nodded.

Back at the training ground…

"Do you honestly plan on firing that at them?!" Sayuri asked her son in disbelief: "You're not like this! Snap out of it!"

'Yorukō' began to laugh rather maniacally as he ignored Sayuri's question and straight at the three girls away from him. The teen began to raise his clasped seal to his chest, lowering the massive sword some. Yuina, Kori, and Aya were all paralyzed at the sight of the construct, each unable to move one muscle in an attempt to evade. However, even if they did manage to escape, unless they ran directly to the Leaf in record time, the radius covered by the sword is so great that it would most definitely inflict a mortal wound on all three of them and causing massive damage to the surrounding area. Between the fear and slightly forgetting, both Kori's and Yuina's barrier jutsu came undone due to the lack of needed concentration, much to no one's surprise.

"Oh, but you're mistaken, mother…" 'Yorukō' corrected after a pause and returning his attention, adding extra sarcasm and emphasis on the last word: "I've always been like this. Your son kept me down for years, allowing me to fester and build strength. The one thing I'd always give him was the ability to compartmentalize me, keep me suppressed, deny US the pleasure of ripping loose and actually getting revenge on those who hurt us. People like you."

"Me?" Sayuri asked, faltering in her resolve somewhat.

"Even after we've given reasons on why we want our father dead; you still opposed us with your 'reasons' which shut down our hopes of having someone in our corner." 'Yorukō' began explaining before the ground slightly cracked beneath his feet as a result of added chakra being put into the massive sword construct. At this point, everyone sensed some shinobi from the Leaf, which served to further fuel the flames that is Yorukō's hatred. He took a breath as he continued: "Even now, people cannot seem to understand our reasons but opt to oppose us whenever and however possible."

"I won't tell you how to feel, but think about everyone who loves you! Aya, Yuina, and Kori!" Sayuri countered: "How do you think they feel seeing you like this?!"

"Irrelevant." 'Yorukō' snapped. The teen gathered more chakra into his jutsu as he shifted his focus once again from his mother to the three girls who remained paralyzed in fear. At this point, all six Konoha shinobi arrived at the scene when they were all hit with the insane chakra pressure that Yorukō emanated. Chikara, Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi slightly winced at the impact but remained steady due to their experience but Sakura and Ino had a much harder time standing at the massive chakra, finding themselves unable to stand for a couple moments. Ino looked at the teen's form with fear rising within her body while Sakura opted to not say a single word.

"That's Yorukō?" Kakashi asked after a brief pause.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Sayuri asked.

"I'm sorry Sayuri-san, but we're under orders from Tsunade-sama to detain Yorukō." Asuma explained.

"I have this under control. There's no need to detain him!" Sayuri argued.

"If you 'had it under control' then we wouldn't be here." Kurenai countered.

"We cannot stop you physically, Sayuri-san," Kakashi interjected, "but Yorukō must be stopped. He nearly caused the village to go asunder with snow."

"Oh look, more fodder for the flame." 'Yorukō' quipped, shifting his focus to the newly arrived shinobi: "I do appreciate you guys coming though, now I have a reason to use this jutsu." Suddenly, the ground beneath the jōnin-level shinobi glowed a bright blue at a wide radius when they all noticed an ice chain began to sprout. They all managed to jump in time to avoid the chains, each jōnin alongside Chikara and Sayuri managing to somehow gain distance from the teen's range which landed them beside the others, Kori, Yuina, and Aya. However, neither Sayuri, Chikara, Kakashi, Asuma, or Kurenai realized in time that both Sakura and Ino were unable to avoid the chains in time which rendered them at the malignant teen's mercy.

"Are you guys okay?" Kurenai asked, earning nods from them.

"Seems you guys forgot two more." 'Yorukō' sneered before nudging his head towards the two's direction. Everyone looked in shock as both Sakura and Ino were completely bound by ice chains with the blade of the massive ice sword now pointed directly at them: "This just won't do, you know. Weaklings like these are barely a warmup for us."

"You've been holding that seal this entire time, Sayuri-san." Kakashi pointed out to Sayuri who looked down at her right hand, noticing the unmoved seal. "If you have something up your sleeve, I recommend you use it before they die."

"I just need an opening. Can you guys protect the girls? I'll snap Yorukō out of this technique, then I'll be willing to let you guys detain him." Sayuri explained.

"Fine." Kurenai answered.

"Like I'm going to give you guys any openings." 'Yorukō' shouted from his range. He removed his previous seal but still managed to keep his massive sword steady as he formed a different seal, his ice aura darkening even more as a result. Moments passed before the sword's ice began to break in small pieces and form smaller swords in its wake. This process repeated before there were at around a hundred small swords varying of different shapes of ice formed but still left the massively original copy in its place. He smiled malignantly as he continued: "This should give you an idea of what I mean. Divine Ice Jutsu: Variance of Her Swords - Hundredfold!" Without a second wasted, Yorukō launched the swords at the group at a fast rate. Sayuri decided to press forward towards the teen and left the others behind to protect the girls from his onslaught. Some of the blades attempted to make contact with the reanimated woman who seamlessly dodged and weaved each one thanks to her jutsu being active as they made contact with the ground and hurt the earth beneath them by making deep incisions on the ground before sealing itself off with ice.

"There's something off with these swords. If they make any kind of contact, the affected area immediately turn into ice?" Sayuri thought to herself before shouting at the others while pressing on: "Make sure they don't make any kind of contact with you!"

"Understood!" Asuma shouted back when he saw swords heading in their direction. He, Chikara and Kakashi spread out from the group, leaving Kurenai to defend the three girls. She looked at them for a moment when she placed her hands on both of their shoulders, gaining their attention and snapping them out of their stupor.

"Right now, Yorukō isn't Yorukō." Kurenai told both girls. She knelt down to pat Aya on her shoulder before returning her focus on the Tokubetsu Jōnins: "Everyone else is fending him off to protect you three, so we also have to do our part to make sure nothing happens to us. Understood?"

"Right!" They all shouted.

"Such swords are dangerous looking, Yorukō…" Chikara said with a bit of concern in his voice. He dodged several swords being fired at him without breaking a sweat when he noticed the same result Sayuri mentioned where the swords scarred the earth upon making its impact. He sensed more swords being aimed at him when he funneled chakra into his legs to make a massive leap. He flashed through several hand seals within seconds, a smile gracing his lips as he formed his last seal: "Using this particular jutsu again makes me feel nostalgic. Fire Style: Fire Dragon Emperor!" The ANBU operative fired a similarly massive fire dragon to Yuina's from his mouth when it made contact with the ice swords, melting them instantly. Chikara gracefully landed on the ground when he noticed no further swords aimed in his direction when he smiled at his work once again.

"The Fire Dragon Emperor jutsu?" Yuina asked incredulously when she sensed some incoming swords: "How does he know that jutsu? I thought Yorukō-kun knew that technique. What's more, his control over it is just…like his." She instantly grabbed Aya and moved out of harm's way when she noticed the deep incision it made when it drove itself into the ground.

"No idea, but I think that's the least of our concerns at the moment." Kori answered as she appeared beside her cousin, she too managing to avoid impact with the swords. She noticed Kurenai as well appear within seconds after evading as she continued: "I don't suppose that you know any fire jutsu, Kurenai?"

Kurenai shook her head: "None, I'm afraid. I'm a genjutsu specialist."

"Great." Kori said before turning to her cousin: "You up for firing another fire-based jutsu?"

"The Fire Dragon Emperor took a lot out of me, I'm afraid." Yuina answered as she shook her head.

"Fantastic." Kori remarked with a sigh. She turned her attention towards Sayuri as she continued running towards Yorukō as both Kakashi and Asuma managed to fend off the teen jōnin's onslaught. For Asuma, he launched his Ash Pile Burning jutsu as he created further distance by spreading out when he spewed a massive cloud of gunpowder from his mouth before igniting it in a huge explosion. This had the adverse effect of destroying a large number of swords before any could make contact with him. Kakashi flashed through different hand seals before releasing a massive fireball from behind his mask, serving to also obliterate the remaining number of swords, effectively destroying Yorukō's new jutsu. Both Yuina and Kori wondered how the older man was able to perform such a jutsu without burning his mask. Before she could think further on it, all three men returned to the girls.

"Is everyone okay?" Asuma asked first.

"Yes, but we need to try and rescue Ino and Sakura." Kurenai pointed out.

"Going there is risky." Kakashi told her. "If Sayuri-san can't stop his jutsu, we have at best three seconds to try and rescue them, assuming the ice can be broken."

"We can't just leave them!" Kori interjected with a frown on her face.

"You guys can." Chikara interrupted: "Go back to the Leaf. We can handle the rest here."

"Are you mad?" Kori asked indignantly: "You think we're going to just leave Yorukō-kun?! What makes you-"

"-You guys have to protect the little girl, do you not?" Chikara asked as he pointed towards Aya, cutting her off. "Not leaving while we have him distracted is a dumb move. You know this."

"But-" Kori waned.

It was Kurenai's turn to once again place her hand on Kori's shoulder. She smiled as she looked at both Kori and Yuina before continuing: "We'll make sure he comes back. It would destroy him if he did anything to you."

"I…I understand." Kori said after a pause.

Yuina only nodded before grabbing Aya and placing the young girl over her right shoulder. Both Yuina and Aya looked back at the battlefield before exiting first, Kori following suit soon after. Once they were no longer in sight, Kurenai, Asuma, Chikara, and Kakashi returned their attention towards Yorukō and his massive construct.

Within Yorukō's mindscape…

"What do you think of our real potential?" Yorukō's malice asked. "Such great power, isn't it?"

"This is madness!" Yorukō answered: "This was supposed to be training! Why are you attacking them in this manner?"

"Because you need to learn that you cannot simply use our power in such a restrained way and NOT expect this to happen eventually." The construct answered, pointing an accusatory finger. "You know, I'd think you actually have a strong enough will to reject my surfacing. I think part of you WANTS this to happen."

"While you may be true, these guys aren't the ones to take my hatred out on…especially my mother, who's been there for us!" Yorukō countered.

"I've grown bored of this. How about you sit back and allow me to take over…" The construct proposed with a pause: "…unless you think you can stop me?"

"That may not be such a bad idea." Yorukō agreed before lunging at its form which caused them both to tumble onto the ground.

"What are you doing?!" It asked as it attempted to free itself from its originator: "Get off me!"

Outside his mindscape…

Chikara, Asuma, and Kakashi began firing various ranged fire jutsus at Yorukō after they confirmed that the girls got to a safe distance from the area. Thanks to the awareness the form gave him, he repeatedly broke more ice and launched it towards them, not caring what it connects with on immediate impact. This would cause both parties to be locked in a stalemate for several seconds as steamy clouds formed upon each fire jutsu colliding with Yorukō's ice. Sayuri, nearing her son, had finally found the opening she needed to use her technique. Just as she was about to launch it, she and everyone else noticed how Yorukō began stumbling back as if he was second guessing his next move. Seeing the opportunity, the reanimation began to glow in a translucent bluish color. Right as she was ready, she watched as her son regained his composure, the ice now beginning to spread across his body as the surrounding temperature dropping significantly.

"Get out of my head!" Sayuri heard Yorukō yell, noticing how the ice halted its progress.

"He's rejecting his own hatred?" Sayuri asked.

"You and I are the same!" 'Yorukō' yelled back, the ice continuing to spread.

"You're merely part of me!" Yorukō screamed to himself, the internal struggle intensifying between himself and his hatred: "A construct that isn't aimed at them!"

"Let me show you then!" The construct yelled once again as the ice surrounding him began to glow: "What you really could be doing with this massive power! DIVINE ICE STYLE: DIVINE SWORD OF THE ICE QUEEN!"

In a swift motion, Yorukō fired the massive construct he restrained towards everyone. Everyone noticed the temperature dropping several degrees once more, the sky significantly darkening – the crackling sound of lightning which heralded the impending contact the sword would surely make. Sayuri took a brief moment to observe the sword, noting how the lightning freely struck on each side, the translucent blue color providing a window to see both angles of lightning before continuing to press on. Chikara, Kakashi, and Asuma began to notice the trees around them violently shake, with the ROOT member letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You really are something, aren't you?" He asked to no one in particular.

"What are we going to do?" Asuma asked. "That's too large for us to break!"

"Not to mention, if we 'break' it, we'll all die from the massive amount of ice that'll fall on us." Kakashi added.

The three men were interrupted by Sayuri's shout towards them: "That massive sword's still firing smaller ones!"

Almost immediately, they all broke their attention to try and break the smaller swords from impact. All three fired different fire based jutsus to melt or destroy the blades. However, unlike the first time, they all noticed how more swords kept falling and falling. Both Kakashi and Chikara increased their output while Asuma quickly formed a specific set of hand seals before settling on the Tiger.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" Asuma shouted. The Sarutobi began firing multiple fire dragons which targeted swords and turned them into ash upon impact. Despite fending off the smaller swords, the massive swords continued to further descent onto the group. Noticing this, Chikara ceased his jutsu and jumped back from his teammates, much to their confusion.

"Hold off the smaller swords!" Chikara yelled: "I have something to stall the larger one, if only for a little!" Asuma and Kakashi both grunted in agreement, continuing their barrage against the barrage of ice swords their way.

"This may out me afterwards, but this is for the sake of the Leaf." Chikara said to himself before molding chakra as he wove different hand signs. Several seconds passed before the ground beneath him began to freeze completely as his entire body had formed a hazy blue aura, similar to that of Sayuri and Yorukō; the ROOT operative clapping both hands together as he gathered more chakra. Suddenly, large bits of white-looking ice began to shoot up into the clouds, each piece beginning to merge with each other. Soon, two massive hands of ice towered over the ROOT ninja, the faintest trace of a smile now gracing his lips.

"Sorry it took me so long. I'll hold off the monstrous sword while you guys fend the smaller ones." Chikara announced before he yelled: "Ice Release: Hands of the Enlightened Monk!"

Chikara launched the two hands directly towards Yorukō's swords by having them extended outwards. Once both hands were on both sides of the blade, Chikara made a swift motion and used both hands to catch the blade from making any further advances. Massive beads of sweat began forming on his forehead while he continued to withhold its advance. After some time passed, Kakashi and Asuma slowly began to tire from resisting the smaller swords before the advances stopped, much to their confusion. They both headed towards Chikara while recovering their stamina.

"You know Ice jutsu?" Kurenai asked Chikara as she reappeared by the group. "You mean there's other users outside the Yuki clan and those two?"

"This is news to me." Asuma added.

"Can't…focus on…anything else!" Chikara shouted between ragged breaths while everyone noticed how his hands were seriously beginning to tremble: "This…sword is…heavy!"

The three jōnins looked at the hands Chikara used to restrain the massive sword and noticed how the sword was still moving albeit at a much slower pace. They looked forward towards Yorukō who was adding more force to his sword, making it harder for Chikara to restrain it.

"I won't even question how you know Ice jutsu, but you can't hold onto my sword for long!" The teen mocked. "What will you do if I add more force to it?!" As if to further mock the resistance, Yorukō did just that. He added more weight and force to his sword, forcing it to progress even further. Despite this, Chikara still maintained a solid resistance to the blade; however, he began to bleed from his nose.

"Chikara!" the other jōnin collectively yelled.

"I'm fine!" he shouted, maintaining his control while his hands massively began to hurt.

"Just how much longer can you hold on?" he sneered. "Seconds? Minutes? Do you honestly think you'd be able to resist me in that condition?"

"Yorukō! Stop this!" Sayuri yelled.

"Make me!" Yorukō shouted back, increasing the weight of the sword once more which caused Chikara to scream in pain. "He'll die in vain knowing he couldn't stop me, then it's you next-"

"Ghost Jutsu: Ethereal Form!" Sayuri shouted in time as her reanimated body dropped dead onto the ground (no pun intended) as her spiritual self suddenly appeared atop the decomposed body. She levitated for a second before immediately dashing at her son and making immediate impact, her new state merging with his body. She traveled into his mindscape where she noticed her son fighting his construct when she appeared between the two, startling them. Due to the interruption, Yorukō lost control of the situation when he was violently pushed off by his construct when it lunged after Sayuri. She effortlessly dodged the attack and extended her right palm out and completely encasing it from the neck down in ice, her eyes downtrodden.

"Here, you're vulnerable. You'll do nothing, because you can't do anything." Sayuri venomously spat, not wasting another breath on the construct. She turned her attention to Yorukō when she began walking over to him. Yorukō noticed the rather distinct changes on his mother, the lack of decaying skin, her eyes appearing normal like his.

"Mom?" Yorukō asked, reaching for a hug. "You…"

"Surprised to see me?" She asked with a warm smile.

"Yes!" He answered: "Especially in this state! You look alive!"

"Well, I used one of our clan's Kekkei Genkai techniques to enter your mindscape to see what was going on." Sayuri answered.

"What's this Kekkei Genkai?" Yorukō asked.

"Ghost Release. There were jutsus derived from it, but there's so much more to it I can show you." Sayuri explained.

"However," Sayuri continued: "This hate you're holding onto; it isn't healthy. Just look at it. You're hurting others, but most of all – yourself."

"I…I know, but…" He slowly answered.

"We have your back. No matter what." Sayuri reaffirmed before breaking away from the hug to point at the ice she formed: "This fight is over."

"You can't stop me forever!" Hateful Yorukō sneered towards her: "The next moment he's weak like this, I'll break free from this ice and regain control, much stronger than before!"

"And when you do, we'll all be there to stop you." Sayuri countered: "Yuina, Kori, Aya, myself…and Yorukō." She walked towards him and placed a finger on its temple when ice covered its head, silencing it completely. She pushed it over when the statue shattered, both Yorukō and Sayuri watching as the malignant chakra dispersed across his mindscape, reducing its effect to nothing.

"So, how about we end this and go back home?" Sayuri asked, turning towards Yorukō.

"Yeah." He answered with a nod: "For once, I can actually admit that I lost this battle." Sayuri extended her right hand towards her son, confusing him somewhat.

"I'll end my jutsu here. Holding my hand also dispels your ice mode; after all, you're in the process of killing four shinobi, you know." She said with a giggle.

Outside Yorukō's mindscape…

While Sayuri conducted her conversation with her son from within, Chikara remained locked in a stalemate with the large sword. He muscles further constricted as he put more force into holding Yorukō's sword steady, his entire body going numb from the pain of keeping his jutsu up. Blood largely began to seep from his mouth, droplets forming a small yet noticeable puddle beneath him. The others could only look on, unable to help him. They heard him let out a mighty yell as his chakra began to swell, his hands now increasing in size and weight. Chikara slammed his foot into the ground to reinforce himself more against the impact, the operative's knees slowly giving out. Despite all this, the sword suddenly spiked in size one more time as it got so big that the range also doubled, much to everyone's horror. The lightning's effects also doubled as it streamed across the ground which luckily didn't hit anyone. Chikara couldn't hold it back any longer as he couldn't keep his hands steady to maintain the jutsu.

"I'm sorry…everyone." Chikara said with a pained voice: "I couldn't…stop…it…in time." With those words, the ROOT operative passed out as he fell to the ground into a pool of his own blood. Kakashi, Ino, Asuma, and Kurenai looked at the face of death in the form of a sword heading directly at them. As it finally closed in, the group prepared for impact when they felt a shift in the air, the sword's advance halting. They looked up to see major cracks forming around it, the surrounding lightning coming to a screeching halt. Within seconds, the sky went blue once again as the sword completely shattered into millions of tiny pieces which left them with a beautiful arrangement of ice, each bit of ice glistening with the sun's rays as it melted completely. Both chains that bound Sakura and Ino suddenly snapped when they looked in Yorukō's direction, noticing how the ice no longer covered him completely. He looked down at both chūnin-level shinobi when he gave an apologetic smile and falling onto the ground, completely passed out. Both teens slowly stood up, their guard up and ready just in case. When they noticed he wasn't moving, they both let out a collective sigh of relief before sensing Chikara's chakra levels fading at a fast rate. Nodding to each other, they both dashed to the others and immediately began applying healing ninjutsu to their ROOT comrade.

Sayuri herself returned to her reanimated corpse when she stood up and dusted herself off. She walked in Yorukō's direction and noticed the position he was in. Sighing to herself, she smiled a bit as she remembered his words.

"Yes, son. You lost this battle."

---

A/N: Chapter's finally over. There's so much I want to say on why it took so long, but I won't make any excuses. Enjoy the new chapter of the new year and here's to many, many more consistent chapters.