"I'm just a piece of trash...But there are things I learned. The hole in your heart is something other people can fill. If you reject your friends' feelings and this world...Just because something didn't go as you wished, no one will ever come to you. And so that hole won't be filled either, if you just run away without doing anything people won't do anything for you either...As long as you don't give up, you can still be saved!"
Kakashi Hatake
Akari shot like an arrow. Her powerful legs propelled her lean body at tremendous speeds, and without stopping she snapped one hand in front of her. Steel clapped as loud as thunder, throbbed against her palm, and it finally welted and gave. Her feet ripped into the ground, her teeth ground, and she heaved. The massive door groaned against her, and it slammed into the earth with a great thud. With a quick glance around to ensure her targets were all there, she blended, blurring, whirling shifting.
The damiyo's estate was the only place unharmed, until now. The foreigners weren't able to break out from just four miles from the docks. The Inuzuka and Akimichi weren't even considering coming in this direction either. They were in the frenzy of battle and blood, and for Chouboyou and Gentarou-this is what they lived on. This what gave them sustenance.
However, the fortifications of the estate were everything they had been expecting, just like with the ships. The soldiers were filed out in their armor, ready to kill. Her force met them head on without any hesitation. They bashed and crashed through the estate. Others circled around the entire building, jumping up through the windows and landing on the balconies. They blocked off every exit. True, they were grossly outnumbered. Their strategy made up for that. Numbers would only go so far. Numbers weren't always an advantage.
What they had going in their favor was organization. They moved as a single unit, the docks were effectively quartered and the main foes who would pose problems were already routed. Atsushi made a beeline for Souji like a giant, angry starving bear. Gentarou went after Yumi, snarling and howling. Chouboyou charged through the woods, going after everyone in sight.
Every single person not wearing their uniform, was also an enemy. This was the mutual thought everyone shared whenever it came to battle. Izuna chose bright colors, obnoxious even-his lime green haori was a testament to that. But, in the heat of battle, the colors were easy to identify. In this very moment of movement, so fast she couldn't even blink, Akira moved with deftness she never moved with before.
"Don't let them contain you downstairs, press ahead!"
Akira deduced the damiyo was on the fourteenth floor, given how the rooms were situated. It was also common sense he'd be on the highest level. In battle, the one who held the high ground often won, and if they were desperate, could flee with relative ease. The damiyo was just several stories higher. She needed to be there in order to kill him.
Anyone who got in her way was going to suffer the same fate. She was going to pulverize them, the same way she'd pound the damiyo into a lump of pulpy gore. For they had their hand in this horrible atrocity, and so they too should suffer the consequences. They were protecting him, so she'd respect them. She'd give them the death they desired. Death in serving a foolish and glib noble.
It's not like the nobles truly cared about their men who served them. They could always recruit and train more. They had wealth, a title, and power, and so they'd get to skate by free without anything happening to them. Her targets were simple. The damiyo first and foremost. Everyone else who attacked was a second, and fifth priority.
She did use a genjutsu to cover up her presence in order to slide her shuriken across a throat and stab her kunai through a kidney. Even then a few of the guards who were too fearful were sent running until they fell out of the estate and splattered on the ground. Akira emerged from the darkness on the fourteenth floor. Her body extended, before her arms opened with, like a bird. Her feet touched down last, and her body righted to its full height.
A quick check of her surroundings and she concluded that others had yet to get here. Evidently-where the damiyo was, remained hidden. She knew she was high up in the estate. She couldn't see outside, but from sensing the signatures around her-all moving, she deduced she was indeed on the fourteenth floor.
Hundreds rooms and hundreds of people later Akira eliminated all of the soldiers she encountered, clearing out the halls like someone would clean out the men's barracks. She slew through them with swift ferocity, and took out any generals she could along the way. She didn't give them the chance to scream, nor did she give them the chance to raise their weapon before their end came.
But, the shrieks of pain were all too familiar.
She cut them down with a hasty measure. The shrieks were hurting her ears. However, she didn't kill them all through brute force, or with the sharp point of her blades. Some she merely poisoned by spitting a fine mist into their face or lathering her kunai with a snake's or spider's venom. Others she simply subjected to her genjutsu and made them kill themselves.
It'd be one thing if people tried to say that someone ruthlessly mowed through all of these people and guards, but when they seen that some died because of their own doing with a sword or dagger protruding through them they wouldn't know what to think. They'd probably burn what bodies they could after this, putting them in the remains of the boats, with the rest who have fallen in battle, and let them drift out at sea while burning to ash. But, that was going to be pungent in the air.
If only the Kurama were executing this wide scale genjutsu, she'd be concerned. The strain would be far too much. However, the Yuhi and Uchiha were backing up her kinsmen. She didn't want to push the limit. Genjutsu was different in a lot of ways to the other arts, and could even be considered esoteric like fuinjutsu. The strain was there, but different.
A door separated her from the damiyo, and it was a mere step that brought her right to him. Two arcs and the guards heads were sent thudding to the floor. One wife was about to shriek in fear, but she silenced her with a punch to the throat, ending her life with another chopping strike. Akira shoved the woman's head through the bed. There wasn't a single guard that failed to notice her. When they attacked, they got their necks snapped to pieces before they even knew what was happening.
The few that did mount an offense she quickly and brutally ended them.
The damiyo was sound asleep as she hovered over his bed. It'd be good to just stab him through now, run her blade right through the man's spine, but she knew what he wanted would only come through not ending the man's life swiftly.
"A-Akari, what are you doing here-!?" The damiyo's voice was shaky and hoarse, trembling like the branches outside in the fierce winter winds.
"You bitch! Guards!"
"It doesn't matter how loud you scream, no one can hear you."
"How-"
"Genjutsu." Akari bit out fiercely. "Die, you lofty fool."
She punched the noble in the throat, not waiting another second before slashing him across the same spot with her shuriken. The shuriken flew from her grasp, drenched in blood, and shot through the nearby all. Gore and bone spilled out. With a quick burst of chakra her fist smashed clean through the noble's skull, and squished his torso into the bed, before it finally caved in on itself.
She slowly stood to her feet, stepping through the spreading ooze. It was dark in the room, and she lit it with a flare of chakra.
"Attacking a damiyo, that's pretty bold for a Kurama."
A surge of power nearly blew him right out of her sandals. Akira steadied herself, pushed off of the wall, altering her path enough that she slammed into a wooden pillar instead of stumbling down a hole a few feet away. It put her right in the spot she wanted to be. She struck the Akimichi between his fingers-splitting his hand in two.
She drove the tip of her blade into the Akimichi's chest, and instead of thrusting back out, she drove it deeper, and pushed forward. He could feel his blade starting to give, made of chakra steel, and imbued with chakra, the Akimichi were a lumbering bunch and they had no equal physically. And, they could sense this, and so more tried to latch onto her.
Due to the small room, only a few could get through to attack. Two managed to grab her, and her heart raced as she thrashed violently. She turned, shouting, turning their weight against them. She angled her body, slamming her feet onto their own, and pushed. The Akimichi tumbled forward, taking Akari along for the ride.
"Ahhh!"
Akari flailed her arms, her nails clawed, but could never secure their grip on anything. It had been a mistake breaking their foot.
The one that remained unaffected ran towards her, knocking his lumbering comrades aside. He was unbelievably fast, and terrifyingly powerful. He brushed aside his fellow Akimichi like they were flies.
"SHIT!"
Akari just barely got out of the way from the massive fist that crashed through the wall-a blast of smoke, of pure force, and malicious intent rushed beyond the impact point, forcing the wood to crackle like thunder. Debris and smoke spewed out in every direction for all that were able, to see. Akari could hardly contemplate the damage done to the estate. The Akimichi had nearly brought down the entire floor!
She brought her blade down, cleaving down his side.
"Aaaagghh!"
Akari grabbed him by the arm, driving her blade deep into his chest. She yanked it out, puncturing through flesh again and again. The fifth time she ripped through his bowels. She didn't have time for finesse-more Akimichi got through the opening created by their comrade-there was less than five feet separating them. She could end them, granted they surrounded her, but taking them head on would prove time costly. She was already feeling fatigue coming on.
Her foe stumbled, and she stabbed him four more times, shoving him against a wooden pillar before ending his life.
A roar rung her ears.
It took Akari by surprise.
One particular massive Akimichi charged right for her, feeling like he was shaking the entire building. Akari knew for sure she wouldn't brace against him. Retreat wasn't an option, and any chance of getting distance would turn into attrition. Akari bolted for him, taking five steps, flicked her blade in one precise arc. The massive man screamed, hand going for the wound-splitting flesh and chipped bone.
Unfazed by the attack, or driven into a fury from the agonizing pain-her foe smashed into her, one hand grabbing her by the throat. Akari seen white, and the black. She came to. She fell through the floor. She swung forward with an elbow, aware of her position-chakras were swarming all around her, and the screams of those battling shook him. Her elbow was blocked, as he'd expected, and with just a second to spare, she rammed palm forward.
"Damn you! You stupid little bitch!" Her foe thrashed, temporarily blinded as his nose gushed with blood. "Wait until I get my hands on you!"
Akari ended his life.
"Don't retreat!"
"I'll kill the bitch!"
Akari leveled her shuriken, thrusting forward, feet slamming ahead as she pressed her attack. She could pick them off as long as she used the space around her well enough. Even if they did manage to swarm her, she'd manage to fell them with swift shurikenjutsu. If more began to pile on her, before he blades could skew and rip, that would lead to a problem.
Akari had a second to see her surroundings.
Bodies.
Rooms
People clamoring and screaming.
The colors that flourished were like peacocks.
She lifted her arms, driving her shuriken down.
"Fool!"
The Akimichi's voice was a shout of thunder.
"Do you think that can kill me!?"
Power blasted the floor below him, and power blasted from the Akimichi's massive hand, and Akari didn't have time to comprehend what his foe was rumbling on about. Even her foe no longer had the time to rumble on like he had been. Akari had just enough time to slip back into a tight stance, and angle her blade to catch the charging burly man across the neck.
Akari snarled, felling more Akimichi until blood dripped to his wrists and his hair was sweat slicked and stuck to his forehead. Her shuriken always threatened to escape her grasp, and she had to clutch it as hard as she could. Blood squished out from her grasp. She sprinted through an empty hallway, clattering echoes of her footsteps, and those battling around her making it sound like a stampede. The doors of a room were violently swinging in and back out.
Akari managed to spot the person responsible for it.
Hina Domou.
Covered in blood Hina was sweeping through her foes.
Akari blinked, noting that if Hina hadn't paused her movement-which she had when she managed to spot her, she wouldn't have been able to get an actual trace of her movements. Candles, lanterns, and darkness all fought. Blotches of black and fire swept through the madness, growing fiercer from the clash like coals thrown into a furnace.
Akari charged in without a moment's reprieve; as soon as she was close enough to fell a foe, she did, she slipped through his weak guard and cut off his head. She fell an Akimichi and Inuzuka in unison, drawing her sword out in a long, precise arc. Whipping her bloodied shuriken off to her left-where it struck a man in the shoulder, driving him back.
Hina stood several feet away, shoulders back, her blade pointed up at her foes' necks.
Akari was impressed the young woman wasn't losing any composure. Hina's eyes were as set and resolved as she had ever seen. Not the glinting madness of bloodlust, but the icy resolution...
The propensity to kill.
"Where's the damiyo?" Hina shouted.
"He wasn't where I thought he'd be!"
"I bet he's hiding in the basement!"
Hina's vision was consumed with with red.
Foes.
Targets.
"Got you now-!"
The last thing the Inuzuka felt was the point of a blade against the soft flesh beneath his chin; the last thing he heard as the blade chewed upward through his mouth and burst from the top of his skull and took away his life, was crisp pop of bones.
Hina removed her blade from the Inuzuka with a stagger, eyes burning with blood and sweat, gaze flinty despite her eyes nearly being swollen shut. She turned, thrusting and was met with little resistance. She shoved her foe down, bringing her blade down brutally and painting the floor. There was no finesse or technique behind it, only brute force. Blood bubbled from the next attacker's mouth, he strained staggering back, Hina pressed ahead, and cut him across the stomach.
Hina had little time to do anything other than spin, straining through the whole movement. Akari phased beside, jamming her weight forward when her blade met flesh. Her foe flipped down the nearby flight of stairs uncontrollably. Her left foot slipped, but she caught it. Her right foot jammed forward. She stopped her fall, but her back was open.
"The others should get here soon!"
"Just go, Akari!"
Akari nodded, blending back into the shadows.
She searched.
She found it.
There wouldn't be escape this time.
Yuko could feel herself being submerged. Riding along a current of power. Gliding through a haze of madness and blood thirst. The oppressive weight of hatred bore down on her.
She screamed.
Her foe was completely taken off guard. It appeared to him that Yuko had just lost her mind. The woman was covered in blood, drenched to the bone, with each step leaving swaths and swaths behind. Perhaps she had lost her mind.
Fear struck him as sharp as the blade itself. Yuko was in full control of herself-her emotions, was another story, but she had the deftness to strike. His cheek sputtered, flapping in a sickly manner. Blood oozed out, flying in a broken pattern as the cheek skin tried to even out. Yuko could see the bone of the cheek itself. She brought her blade back and jabbed right into the wound, and struck the bone.
Her foe didn't scream, he didn't even groan. His body convulsed, rattling until it dropped to the floor.
"Fire the cannons!"
A glow followed Yuko's face, glaring crimson. A foreigner was already priming it, and she charged right for him. He was down one arm, cut across the face, but hestill grasped onto his hatred to fire one last shot. A battle stricken hallway was the only thing separating her from her target, and the second she took a step, her foes would swarm around her. The Akimichi were growing weary and wary of her-it seemed the more blood that got on her, the more distant they became.
The Inuzuka continued their charge, however.
The Akimichi were being paralyzed by fear.
The attack was anticipated, moving just the barest inch she scythed through her first attacker's chest. It struck through his sternum, but not the rest of the chest mass. Yuko growled, straining, and turned sharply. Her foe's body still stuck to her blade, but some of it peeled off with the turn, and with the last rotation the rest of the corpse hit the floor.
"Die!"
The shout was enough, but she already had the man's moves scouted. She seen his moves well in advance before they even happened, before he made the conscious effort to execute them.
"Ahhhh!"
Her blade rang, arcing diagonally-cutting her next foe clean in two just below the ribs.
His organs sprayed, some hanging out, other parts hit the floor.
A long trail of gore splattered right on her feet.
She stepped away to the side, narrowly avoiding the harsh strike of an Akimichi, and kicked the gore into his face. He floundered. He crushed her fallen foes that hadn't been able to get a swift death. She shifted ahead, cutting into her fleeing foe's back. He let out a loud, strangled croak.
"Fire the cannons!"
Yuko snarled, head on fire, eyes wild as she rocketed towards the foreigner. She snapped her hand out, shoving the cannon aside as if it weighed nothing-it screeched as it broke into the floor and began to shred through it. In the same motion, she ran her blade through the foreigner-just above his heart-her blade pointed horizontally. Like flame to butter, her blade cleared through the man.
"You fool! The cannon is going to misfire-!"
"Then we all die!"
"You're going to kill our generals!"
"Stop!"
The smell of gunpowder made her jump-the ear piercing thunderous explosion, even with chakra cushioning the entirety of her ears, made her dash in mid air, blurring into a violent form of color and movement. She seen the flash fire of the explosion-how far it'd spread out, how the wood would separate and disperse into smaller pieces, some burning, some disintegrating.
She flared her chakra, and her aura shined. She propelled herself ahead of the explosion. Fire swarmed her form, for a second, before she speared through it, leaving a rift in the wall of fire. The damage had been done, and a part of the nearby ship, in addition to this one, had been blown apart. Bodies of her foes, and even some of her comrades, lay spread along the ship.
The foreigner was priming the cannon to fire once more. Yuko rammed his foot down on the cold steel-forcing it to go through the floor and vertical, before kicking it again. The force of her kick launched it upward-the heavy piece of weaponry left the floor and struck the man's body. There was no way he could move or evade, and gore splattered everywhere.
She speared away, her vision shifting upside down, right side up, and then turning in every possible direction for a second. Her attack was just enough to fell the next wave, giving her a seconds' opening. Almost ten feet away-she was already beaming for them-foreigners were primed to fire their cannons. She banked, taking a sharp turn in mid air, and as she wound around, fire and noise burst from the black, foreboding holes whipping and howling.
She wasn't surprised in the least by the reckless attack. He'd sensed the foreigners' fear eclipse, just as the cannons surely fired, and struck a great distance away, or close by. She seen the violent, fearful jerks of their fingers and arms.
She brought her foot down on the first cannon, sending a torrent of wood and steel flying. She carved a deep gash along the foreigner's left foreleg. When he reared back to bellow in pain, she sliced another deep groove in his belly, and another across his neck. Her next foes weren't any smarter, but some of them didn't fall right away. Instead the pain drove them into a rage. They flailed about with their hands and firearms, spinning, snapping, slashing, and firing at everything around them.
It happened in about three seconds.
When she felled the last man-the cannon which was still vertical, was launched into the other ones.
Yuko twisted and dodged, leaping over one explosion, dropping to the ground to roll through another, lunging herself clear over one, and dodged cunning enemies trying to take her head in that moment. She moved so fast she would have been nothing but a blur had her foes not blinded by rage and pain.
And with each evasion, she struck another blow, chopping away at their numbers. She dashed and spun, bending, twisting, and contorting, moving so erratically some began to vomit. Her foes floundered, lumbering and stumbling, thrashing and snarling. In contrast, Yuko was swift and flexible. Her spine bent and twisted. With each passing second her opponents slowed, their strength ebbing away.
At last, with a forlorn groan, hundreds toppled forward-eyes wide as the cuts on their throats still bled. Others rolled weakly, clutching at the gashes or holes in their chests. Yuko pulled her arms up, and the point of her blade punctured flesh. She brought it up again, lashing down with no technique, only brute force, and she stabbed again, and again, until her sleeves were drenched and he felt blood soaking near his back. Until blood began to pinch her palms.
She pressed all of her weight onto the ball of his front foot, arms extending in a stab, as quickly as her foe lashed out, he fell. Yuko heaved a breath, bringing her blade down harshly. It was enough to get the Inuzuka back-the man snarled, eyes squinted. He tried to charge again. Yuko gave him ground, and stepped around his lashing hand.
Cold air hit. It wafted the blood away from her nostrils, and slowly, the red haze receded just slightly. And, Yuko realized with a start-she could now see outside of the ship. Her foe had blown a hole right through the side-no thanks to the addition of cannons misfiring.
Another snarl erupted from Yuko's center. She never understood why the Akimichi always found it fit to meddle at the wrong times. Why they had to always have to get involved. She wondered why the foreigners were attacking all out, despite knowing defeat was inevitable. The damiyo's army, the Akimichi, the Inuzuka, and themselves were all closing in around them while battling. Things had begun to spread out over a long distance, and she could see explosions rattling off in the sky. She had to wonder why the damiyo's army continued to fight so hard, despite knowing they'd all be cut down.
The docks were pure chaos. There were screams and shouts. The clangs of steel. The thunder of cannons and firearms. The helpers-who had no training, did everything they could to escape, but those who had managed to escape were cut down and were lost in the melee, covering themselves in what they could and hoping they'd survive. They were torn to shreds, ran through a dozen times, and worse.
The foreigners threw all caution to the wind-they were swinging their swords, firing their firearms and cannons, trying to thrust their spiked muzzles through anyone that wasn't their own. They screamed curses and insults.
Yuko skidded to a stop, nearly flying into the bloody, frigid water. Two Inuzuka pressed, and she almost fell again. Anger boiled through her veins her. Her blade swiped through the first Inuzuka at the chest. She glided past the man, already transitioning into another thrust. The second Inuzuka tried to meet the attack, but failed. He thrashed and snarled, trying to sink his teeth and claws into flesh. She brought her blade down again-and it met its mark, but also broke.
"Fuck!"
With an angry snarl, Yuko kicked the body away.
They didn't impede her.
None of them.
Her blade was still sharp, despite being broken.
She could use it.
She didn't want to part with it.
Because as far as her eye could see, on the vast deck of boats, sides were spitting arms, legs, and heads, bodies, and chunks of torso went flying overhead, exploding in gore. There was lightning clashing, but this lightning was the color of clashing swords. Of firing cannons. Of firearms igniting before they were unleashed. Fans and sheets of color, and a crimson flame.
It was chaos, and it took everything she had not to get lost in the melee.
She put on another burst of speed. The fires of ignition faded and winked out, the lightning was growing more erratic. She had to squint, because the light began to shine so bright. Her ears rang as thunder pounded them. Screams agonized them. The air howled as she slammed her foot into the ground, caving it in, and part of it onto its side, flying through shearing clouds of turbulence. She snapped both of her legs down, and with a start...She stopped. The floor was slick with the moisture from rain and snow, from the sleet, blood was mixing in-making it even more slick.
Bodies were lumps of snow-constantly melting and rebuilding.
Her skid was more than exaggerated, and looked like she was sliding instead of stopping. Still, ungraceful as it had been, Yuko managed to pivot around. A blast of lightning and pure power hit the pillar holding up cannons, only a few feet away from her, and its white burst flared, flash-blinding her. She screamed, heart racing. The shockwave that followed carried her away, slamming her against a wooden door that housed a bed.
Yuko rubbed her eyes viciously. Her vision focused once more, bringing into focus a jumble of bodies on the deck. Bodies in armor and strange clothes. Arms and fingers lay. Heads and torsos-parts of them were spread around in gore. Some were hanging off the holes blasted into the ship. A torso that was just a quarter left hung to the wayside. Men were hunched up against parts of the blown off side, screaming, writhing. Those who had the mental capacity, struggled to stop the bleeding. Their deaths would come soon.
She scanned the area once more.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Yuko sped to the side, and not a second too late. An Akimichi burst through the wall, battered and lacerated. He rained down his fists. Yuko met the Akimichi head on, slamming her blade into his forearm. It cut through like butter, stopping before it got halfway through. She grabbed him by the neck, squeezing, straining, tears burning her eyes. She brought her blade back, and rammed it down.
Blood sprayed on her-it felt like an eternity, even though it was only a few seconds.
The Akimichi fell back, body separating.
Yuko swiped what remained of her sword to the side, and sheathed it.
She looked ahead.
Her feet bled.
The darkness tried to consume her like the crimson, but it also staved itself off.
"Die..." Yuko murmured, gazing at her next wave of foes.
Maybe the foreigners were still a bit flash blind. They hadn't prepped their weapons correctly, and the ignition was near point blank. They also literally fired on each other, and in the heat of this battle, the hostility had grown. Some of their own were turning against each other over the foolish mistakes being made.
The woman they'd been ready to kill seemed to be fading in and out of existence, swallowed by a thickening black haze in which danced a crimson sphere that rapidly rotated. The first several foreigners were gutsy, and pressed back the darkness with a relentless straight-ahead march; their own blades, glowed white, that distinctive thin and narrow blade, made its appearance known for just a second.
They tried to pierce into the crimson.
They dropped. Gore and blood spread across everything in sight. Others dropped in the blink of an eye screaming in terror. Their screams were cut short-their mouth gaped until their jaws broke, and finally, their skulls exploded. This foreigner didn't take his chances. He loaded his gun and prepped to fire it. Yuko was in a sphere of darkness, spouting with crimson.
But, she couldn't be seen.
Bullets and Yuko collided, crashing together with bursts of fire, weaving nets of destruction through the air. Yuko advanced, and with glee she watched half of the bullet snap back to its owner, ripping through his skull with ease. She pressed ahead towards the chakra signatures. There were no sounds of battle this time. No screaming. After a full minute he arrived to his destination.
He spotted movement, near a bypass.
Yuko bolted.
The long muzzle of the firearm nearly smashed her in the face. Its blade, longer than it first appeared, came soon after. Yuko was sure it would have fell anybody else, unless they had the reflexes to dodge. She had the reflexes, and the Sharingan to do so. She could do more. She shifted her right foot back, and her left followed. The blade came down.
She slammed her foot on muzzle. The blade gouged into the floor. There was satisfaction in feeling the little trinket give. She advanced, and grabbed the man around the neck with both hands. This foreigner was strong though, and clenched onto the sleeve of her bloody haori.
Yuko clenched harder, curling the top of her fingers so that they pressed onto the bones that made up the throat.
Yet, she didn't end the man's life.
"I have a question..."
The man blinked, teeth gritting. "Eat shit."
Yuko put all of her strength into her hands.
The man let out a long, painful gasp.
This was a wave of battle that expanded into every foot of their surroundings. Every nook and cranny. Every tree. Every platform. Even on the water, and beneath it. This was war at its finest. There were trunks and boles that fell, wooden pillars that collapsed, flagpoles that bent and shattered, nor shred of wood and bark that was disintegrated in the melee. There was still only the cycle of battle, the endless wave, crashing and bashing like the explosions and might have gone on forever. It very well could, but steps and measures were taken so it didn't go on forever.
Yuko didn't want it to end.
The fighting was effortless for her now. She let her body handle it without the intervention of her mind. All of her training came to the forefront, honed to kill, designed to kill, and designed to tear apart. She did just that. While her hands squeezed and ripped while her feet slid and her weight shifted and her body turned in precise curves of its own direction, her mind slid along circuits power, tracing it back to its limitless source.
She found a knot.
Her eyes began rotating, fast at first, before it became so fast it looked like rings were expanding.
She chose the largest fracture.
She followed it.
It led him...
Astonishingly, to exactly two hundred Inuzuka standing in the destroyed doorway.
Foreigners were with them, all armed, but fear was evident on their features.
"I have a question..." Yuko murmured, despite the rotation-her vision was clear and hyper focused.
The darkness wasn't darkness at this point-everything appeared as it would during the day. There was little light coming from the room they were all housed in. The Inuzuka had their noses. The foreigners had their guns. She had her bare hands. No doubt more were crammed in the room. They'd grab her, throw her in, and then rip her apart.
The black cloud ebbed, and Yuko seemingly stepped out of it-almost shifting through it as if she were ethereal and not physical.
"I'll answer, before I kill you." The Inuzuka said.
"Wh..."
Yuko trailed off, biting her tongue, and bottom lip. There was no reason to enslave people. These men could use religion, or anything else as an excuse. They could use fuzzy logic and ridiculous reasoning.
No, she didn't need to know why they did or why they thought they could.
Knowing was useless.
Yuko's eyes were swallowed by black, and the black expanded all around her. It consumed the wall, and their flesh. It traveled into the room and consumed all within sight. The wood was ferociously chewed by the darkness, the bodies consumed convulsed, ravaged like they were being taken by a shark. Yuko stepped forward, the darkness parted away from her, forming a path.
Her footsteps bled.
"Halt! Demon!"
Yuko tilted her head.
"BURN!"
Kagami knew the damiyo would vanish once the battle started. He was a noble, and of course, he had protection. He had contingencies in place should something like this ever happen. Nobles weren't often attacked, but there were times that they were. Plans and precautions had to be put into place in order to deal with the unlikely scenario. Once the genjutsu was lifted their sensory would return to its full scope. For his foes, that meant the genjutsu had to remain in place. For now they held the advantage.
Considering the tide of this battle, he won't be on the top floor...They damiyo will either be outside, a good distance away by now, or he's in the basement, or lowest level of this estate.
Kagami frowned, realizing something and with careful steps made his way to his hunch, his destination. He tensed, blade cutting the air in front of him. His eyes flashed bright red. He let his kunai fly from his hand, the projectile streaked through the air, screaming straight into the man's throat, his body dropped with a loud thud.
He didn't spare another glance and pressed onward, his senses flaring his vision only intensified by the his Sharingan. He passed the bathrooms. He passed the storage area. He passed devestated rooms full of bodies and debris-some were spilling out with a mix of both.
It's got to be around here somewhere...
He narrowed his eyes, sprinting forward and banked sharply just avoiding the sword that was flying towards him.
Here it is!
He grasped the sword in his hands tightly, and struck his attacker in the gut-he was shorter than the grown foreigner, but as the larger man fell, he ran his blade through the man's chin. Kagami went stock rigid. He exhaled harshly, brisk, and stood to his feet-straining. He kicked the door down leading to the lowest level.
Pairs of anger hate filled eyes flashed onto him.
"The brat's an Uchiha! Kill the son of a bitch and gouge his eyes out from his skull!"
They all snapped and lunged for Kagami. The young boy sped away from the wild grab, turning just in time to block a kick. He struck out swiftly, blade and fist moving and weaving in intricate patterns. It looked like he'd maim himself, but at the very last second, his attacks flowed into each other. An Akimichi clutched his entire body in his massive hand, and slammed him into the wall.
Cement shattered, and wood cracked. Kagami growled, entire body powering against the Akimichi. He remembered seeing some Uchiha getting crushed by the Akimichi in battle-they'd grab them like ragdolls, and squeeze. Blood oozed out, along with organs. The Akimichi literally crushed them, and then spilled what was inside of their foes onto the ground.
Kagami's eyes glowed, shearing through the Akimichi.
Kill!
Kagami gasped, blood flying from his mouth as his back smashed straight into the wall. He ignored the pain, using the brief pause to slash one man across the neck.
I'm in a bad spot!
Kagami's mind reeled and he dashed towards the door, he couldn't let them close him in!
He turned on instinct, blade moving in a tight arc in front of him, blood splattering from the foot long gash he tore into his attacker's arm. He jumped, and ripped through his neck with the tip of his sword. He nearly fell face first, legs giving out. He pressed and pressed, speeding and weaving around their attacks. He flipped away from one attack, launching a kunai. It struck dead center into a man's neck.
Kagami whipped around, feet flashing off the wall. He flipped, feet striking another wall, and then another. He upped his speed, pivoting and twisting. He had developed aerial awareness during his short time training with the Domou. While his foes couldn't keep up with him-couldn't even touch him, couldn't even trace him, he was slicing and slashing through them.
He tucked, and his body whipped up into a spiral.
"You're not half bad kid!" the Akimichi's voice boomed all around him, followed by a loud slam from above.
"You weren't strong enough, however! I am a might Akimichi! How dare you underestimate me!"
He smirked at the slight shock in Kagami's expression, burying his fist into the young one's face.
Kagami clenched his teeth, charging head first into his next wave of attacks, taking them all down to the ground. He raised his arm blade glinting in bloodthirsty madness, a man grabbed his arm before he could deliver the blow hauling him up and twisting his arm. Kagami bit back the cry of pain that wanted to escape so badly.
He swung his head back. The Akimichi's head was like a boulder, and Kagami regretted making the decision to utilize that technique. However. It was enough to let make his foe let him go. But, Kagami punched him right between the legs, and his foe dropped. Just like that.
Kagami scrambled, scything his kunai into his next attacker's face. Again, he went stock rigid, but he pushed and pushed, until the man fell. Facial hair and blood mixed flying all over the place.
"You're tenacious. But, nobody is here to help you."
Another series of first slammed his fist into Kagami's jaw the impact was jarring and knocked him off of his feet.
"Now hurry up and get those eyes!"
Kagami was already on the move before they could get near him.
No way was he going to get his eyes gouged out.
They couldn't even get close enough to take his eyes.
They are far too powerful.
He gasped audibly arms darting for his stomach, but they were snatched a second later. He clenched his teeth, grimacing as an Inuzuka's fingers pushed right against his eye.
"What is that?"
Incessant cracking. Pounding. it sounded like it was getting closer.
"Take care of it!"
Kagami strained elbowing the Akimichi right in the face, and scrambled back as fast as he could as debris and wreckage slammed into the exact spot where he had been. His bones jarred from the impact, and his scream was deafened by the shockwave. The entire room shook to its foundation. And, Kagami shook with it. He spotted dozens of projectiles dispersing from the wreckage.
He ducked and watched with fear as the little chips of wood dashed through the door itself.
He coughed, moving his hand over his mouth and nose. The dust and little bits of wood and concrete was rising in the air like a thin carpet. He dared, dared to glance up, eyes gaping at what appeared to be a hole in the ceiling, if he was seeing it right. There was a hole in the ceiling, andas he observed-the hole lead up several levels.
"Kagami."
Akari appeared, stretching out of a nearby shadow.
She stepped into Kagami's line of vision giving him a hard look for a long moment.
Kagami stood to his feet, wiping a small streak of blood that was on his chin with his hand.
"Did you cause that?"
Akari shook her head, glaring at the massive hole. "No, I think that may have been Daisuke and Saito."
Kagami eyes narrowed, and when he looked at Akari-he noticed the small shift of her body. "The damiyo wasn't here. They laid a trap for me. I fell for it."
"Same here." Akari hissed.
Pompous little noble-they always scurried away like cockroaches.
"I thought he'd be here."
"Someone must have warned him." Kagami said bluntly, and part of him, didn't like that fact. Someone interfered in their business. "They would have put him on the highest floor, or the lowest. Leaving the estate, and the village itself...
More to the point, if the damiyo actually fled his own village-that meant the people would wake up, and...
Things would fall apart. They'd kill each other, or shinobi would slaughter them all for sport.
Kagami shook his head-it was an idle though, he wanted to consider it an idle thought, but...
It wasn't.
He trusted his instincts.
The damiyo fled.
And, with that now they had to take this entire village of people with them.
The unexpected happened.
"I can't sense him..." Akari's tone dropped, and her eyes darkened. "No...I've got something!"
Kagami focused for a second, and his own form swirled into nothingness.
The unexpected, had happened.
"Damn it!"
"Die you fucker!"
"The fuck off me!"
"Madara!"
"No matter!"
"Fire!"
"Shoot him!
"Do it now!"
Madara leapt into the air. He evaded spears, cannon fire, shuriken, kunai, and everything else except for the squat toilet. It wasn't far fetched to say he walked through a hailstorm of projectiles, his superb defense allowing him to trudge right through it. Some skimmed close. They cut his sleeve, struck and cut his skin, and the shafts were even used to ram him.
Madara flared his chakra, and his gunbai and sickle whipped around him, seemingly pulling his body along. He landed in the warm splatter of blood, scything his sickle forward and pierced into a shoulder. Like a hook, the sickle sunk through the flesh, and Madara pulled. He shifted slamming him into the three remaining men watching them fly across the length of the room, one going completely through a wall as if it weren't even there.
His last foe bounced painfully, grunting as his head slammed into a bank of wood splitting the back of it open, he raised his arm letting out a hiss of agony while blood oozed from the gaping wound in his shoulder, drenching his shirt in the sticky red liquid.
Madara approached him.
"You're bloodthirsty!" The Akimichi snarled, teeth clenched. "You're a demon and your wife is a witch! The whole lot of you-"
"We had the element of surprise, your forces are crumbling." Madara said bluntly, taking slow steps towards him his sickle gleaming through the darkness as poisonous as his glowing red eyes, the sharply curved blade still covered and dripping with blood from before, there were visible cracks near the outside on the dull side of the blade having blocked a berserk attack from Aoi that forced him back.
Madara hovered over the man, raising his gunbai.
"A demon you say?" His tone was low, his gunbai was swiping.
The Akimichi clenched his teeth moving forward in one last suicide attack, his face exploding in blood and bits of bones as the gunbai collided straight on. Madara pulled it back, and brought it down again, and again, and again...
And again...
He glanced at his blood drenched gunbai, scowling once and darted to the side homing in on Izuna's chakra signature.
He could feel it clearly now.
His eyes widened. The tip of his sickle was cut off!
"Where-!?"
"Die!"
"Die Uchiha scum!"
He grunted, jamming his broken tip into his foe's neck. It pierced through the collarbone, going into the chest, and finally exiting out in the middle of the ribs. The man gasped, and Madara jerked, putting him out of his misery. He watched his body hit the ground with a loud and wet thud.
"Looks like their numbers are thinning." Madara observed, looking at the bodies cluttering the ground around him. "The strategy worked, but I get the feeling the damiyo managed to escape."
Madara spotted Mikito sprinting up a ship's stairs-Hitoshi and Hiroji were all over her.
"Mikito!"
He was bleeding, hurting... The stench of blood curdled in his stomach tasting like vile on the back of his throat and on his tongue. Every movement was painful, his body screamed but he ignored the scream, stabbing his blade into the ground he heaved himself up onto one knee. A sharp hiss of breath escaping him, Hitoshi turned his focus around him.
The boat.
What was left of it anyway.
Was covered in streaks and puddles of blood the substance literally etched into the shredded floor and walls around him, there was pieces of skin large and small some pieces having entire sections of facial hair lying on the ground spotting the eerie red place. Hands, fingers, legs, arms, and feet littered the floor around him and outside, bodies were in the mix some severed nearly in two others barely recognizable.
There was also several hundred heads scattered about and bone fragments marring the floors and he spotted four within a sidelong glance, the image forcing a snarl to boom from the back of his throat.
But, Atsushi survived, and we still have our second in command... Hitoshi smirked at that. These fools can't stop the change that is coming...
"It's over..." Mikito's voice tore him out of his thoughts.
Hitoshi narrowed his eyes to slits, clenching his blood stained teeth, and heaved with all of his strength forcing himself to stay in a standing position. Horror, terror, and rage all coursed through him. Mikito was nothing but a bloody mess-Hiroji hung from her head, and the man-dying, continued to claw and strike her. Mikito couldn't be immune to the pain, but yet, she continued forward.
"You're a witch!" Hitoshi raised his right arm, muscles and veins bulging, and swiped it.
Mikito raised his wrist, halting the attack.
Hitoshi stumbled back, fear starting to take a grip. He hadn't been able to see Mikito, but she just blocked his attack with ease...She was like an iron wall.
What horrified him was the fact Hiroji hung from Mikito's mouth-her teeth were lodged in his throat, and as he looked closer...
Hiroji's teeth pulling on her cheek.
She bit.
Hiroji's body convulsed before going still.
His mouth relinquished its grip on her face.
"It's over. Like I said before." Mikito let the man's body fall and advanced, blood gushing, the crunches of bones echoing.
"Is that what you think?" Hitoshi snarled.
"It's a fact. Your entire force has been decimated, not a single man is alive and if they are they will be dealt with very soon. The Inuzuka are almost finished, and you are about to die."
"Arrogant bitch! Do you think you can stop these villages from forming? Do you think you can stop the Water damiyo and those clans? This era will end! You can't stop the Era of Warring States from ending! The tides of change have already raged, and only grow worse. You can't shun the Akimichi if we join Konoha!"
"If that is all you have to say then shut your mouth."
Hitoshi flared what little chakra he had left, charging towards her, bearing his sword down.
Mikito sidestepped the wild attack, tearing her hand straight through Hitoshi's torso. Her fingers had been the first thing to pierce through his flesh, and the rest of her arm followed with ease. It exited out from Hitoshi's back, and his head bobbed back-his mouth poured with blood. Mikito pulled her fist back, and Hitoshi scowled, spitting all of the blood that was pouring into his mouth out onto her.
She was covered in it anyways.
It didn't make a difference.
He screamed in pain-Mikito's fingers jammed into a wound on his shoulder.
"What is Konoha?" Mikito asked.
fist rattling off of the Akimichi's skull.
This next time...
She was going to pop it like a melon.
"A village...Hashirama founded recently..."
Hitoshi's voice began to fade.
"I am for joining it, after this...After seeing your power for myself...But...I doubt Atsushi will...Concede..."
Her worst fear-what she anticipated happened...
Konohagakure...
Kumogakure...
The other villages would be formed, eventually.
And, she couldn't stop it.
Mikito clenched her fist, and brought it down.
All she could see was Hashirama.
She watched his skull split open. His hair parted, and blood began to form a sort of ooze on it. She hammered him over and over. His skull crunched before caving in, blood gushed, and everything that the skull once housed was poured and thrown out. Yet, Mikito continued to strike. She struck viciously, eyes wide and wild, she snarled and howled.
She turned towards the estate-the frigid cold made her numb.
"The damiyo...seems to have deserted. I see, that means we have to take these villagers with us as well. Maybe I'll take the entire landmass."
"Mikito!"
She turned towards the source of the voice, pausing in her strikes.
Madara screeched to a halt, entire body bristling.
Mikito was...
"Mikito..."
Izuna walked passed Madara, but still kept his distance. He was bloody himself, but Mikito was just covered in it-every inch of her...
"Mikito. Where's Yuko."
"There..."
Izuna darted his eyes around, finally spotting Yuko.
She looked just like...
Izuna turned to look at Mikito.
He whipped his head back to Yuko-and jumped towards her.
"Yuko!"
Madara took another step towards Mikito-all of his senses were telling him to stay back. He applauded Izuna for going after Yuko-the woman was in no better condition than Mikito. As, he couldn't find it in himself to approach Mikito. He kept his distance, and she kept her own.
"Where are the slaves?"
"It is complicated to say since so many started to fight."
Madara scoffed.
Mikito nodded in agreement.
"The damiyo fled. With his desertion..."
"You're going to take everyone from this village?" Madara asked, voice dropping.
"They have no choice in the matter. In this world-the strong rule, and the weak are killed. They will be wiped out before a fortnight in the Elemental Nations-so many people moving at once would stir certain shinobi clans. They'd kill them out of joy, and there's always rogue and ronin lurking about."
Madara wasn't going to object-he just wanted to clarify what her intentions were.
These people were in for a rude awakening, and the former slaves were enduring theirs at the moment.
But, in the end...
They achieved checkmate, and this was only the beginning..
"Let's detain who we can, and kill who we can't."
Mikito jumped from her perch, going on a tear.
Madara shifted his sickle in his hand.
"I still have some steps left."
Haji's blade cut through the air, whipped through a skull, and exited from the hip. The samurai fell back, gasping, before he passed on. The tea damiyo tried to run, and Haji bolted after him. Yokuna ran her blade through the noble's side-severing his spine, and Haji rammed his blade through his torso. He watched the man in robes fall-what many considered to be a fine noble. Someone that was more than human, but in reality was still human.
His blood oozed onto the ground.
Red.
Like everyone else's.
"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Todou asked while cleaning the blood from his blade.
He sheathed it once he was finished.
Haji nodded, looking at the trail of bodies they left behind. The tea damiyo had more than fifty samurai guards in addition to his own. They had been well out of the Domou's range. Even if Madara sped over here, it'd take a few hours to reach this point. They were near the coast of the Fire country, to be exact. They were probably going to use a boat, tucked off somewhere, and then navigate around until they find a safe point.
Clever.
"Now the exit for them is clear. With this, we now have checkmate. Things can proceed swiftly from this point on."
Todou shifted the barest of an inch. "We're doing that now?"
Haji nodded, eyes on the horizon.
"It'll take some time, not right away...However...What we're about to face...We need them all at our sides, and they know that they need us...A shit storm is coming, and none of us are going to be able to escape or run away."
"The Water damiyo and those clans are all about to attack...Even we can't avoid that." Yokuna admitted.
Todou grunted in agreement-the thought of vying with those clans sickened him. Some, like the Kaguya would kill each other, and battle to the point they were pulling out all of their bones. It was grotesque. There were also other creatures that wandered through those mist and fog filled islands-the Mist country and Fog country were neighbors to the Water country.
"Well, I have no arguments."
Haji nodded, signaling for them to depart.
Only one person does...And, perhaps a small few...