Scarlet Justice - ep. 56
"Hard Road"
[Sasuke Recovery Mission: Duel]
Okay. It's time to begin the next phase.
"Looks like the scarlet bitch is scared of me," Sasuke sneers. "We'll go, Sakura. We've got somewhere to be."
"Yes."
"I'm taking the dinosaur here," I say to my team. "Lee will stay here with me. Hina, how far along are you with the treatment?"
"All of the bone fragments have been removed, there are none lurking any deeper," she calls back. "His muscles have been torn apart and damaged due to the use of the Inner Gates. There are also fractures in his right arm and leg bones. Otherwise...he's stable, and will be fine for now. I've replaced his bandage and disinfected his wounds."
"Good work. Please join Shikamaru and Shino," I order.
"Yes, understood."
"Team, fall in." They do so at once.
"We're stalling until you get there, right?" Shikamaru asks.
"Right. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't get any dumb ideas, you fucking slacker."
"Don't know what you're talking about."
I grab him by the collar of his jacket and pull him close. "Don't you bullshit me. I know what's going through your head. Everyone here needs you, so I'll repeat myself: don't do anything stupid."
"The Boss is right," Shino says. "And we've agreed from the start that I would be the decoy if anything got too rough."
"And I will defend you after that," Hina says. "Shikamaru, you're the only one who could take on those two by yourself and hold your own in an emergency. You are the most valuable member of our team right now."
"You guys...you're seriously a pain."
"Shut up. Tch, I can't go and bait you with something dirty, since I have no interest in men..."
He smirks. "Yeah, right. Wasn't it you who said you could bother me despite all that?"
I roll my eyes. "I can't control you properly like that, so...I'll ask you as a friend, then. Shikamaru...please. Make sure you come back to me," I say softly.
"I promise, Lili. I won't...do anything too reckless."
"You'd better not." I release him gently. "I'll be there soon. Do your best."
"Yeah. Shino, Hinata. We're going." Sasuke glares at me for a moment before taking off with Sakura, my team following. I glance at Lee, safely resting against a tree in the distance. Since everyone has done their jobs...he should be safe where he is. This dinosaur guy also seems to have a sense of honour, if what I heard before he attacked Lee the last time was correct.
A duel, then. I can easily work with this.
I take a quick step and position myself so that I'm in front of him, a fair distance away. There's a strange mark on his chest, just under the collarbone...that seems to be the form of his cursed seal, then. Is that the 'Gaia' that was mentioned earlier? Kabuto mentioned the Sound Four, but this one makes five, doesn't he? Was this one of the things he was withdrawing? No...whoever this is wasn't in the village, for whatever reason. Was he ill? Unsuited to the mission? It doesn't really seem like it...there's an odd waver in his chakra that I can't decipher the meaning of. But he did mutter about 'not having much time'.
Whoever he is, he's an obstacle that I need to erase. All of the other questions don't matter right now. Getting through him and towards Sasuke is priority one. I felt the increase in Sasuke's chakra levels from the last time we met each other, and it's concerning. None of my comrades could stack up on their own, but together they have a good chance at taking him down. But...if that ritual was for increasing Sasuke's power...
"You're here to retrieve Sasuke, I'm guessing," the ace says plainly, interrupting my thoughts.
"Yes, I am. And you?"
"Sasuke is part of Lord Orochimaru's ambition, his dream. I was at one point as well, but this is all that I can do now. I will bring him to the Sound."
"Orochimaru is dead, if you haven't heard. And Kabuto is in our custody right now, being fed three square meals a day. Feel free to try and bust him out if you want."
"I know that it's not over...there is a way to bring Lord Orochimaru back into this world. I can feel him living on, inside of me. Inside of this curse that I draw power from. Calling to me in my dreams."
"Ah. That's pretty creepy." And delusional. I don't know what he's babbling about, and don't want to know. This one is clearly brainwashed. Just a puppet with no other purpose. With his master dead, he's dead set on following the program to the letter, even if it makes no sense to do so. "Could you just die, please?"
"I will not. This body will never tire until Lord Orochimaru's dream is fulfilled."
"That's annoying," I say. "You know, I have strange dreams sometimes. Lewd ones."
"Why are you telling me about this?"
"Mm? I'm going to kill you and I want to vent, so it won't matter what I say right now. But yes, I wonder about my place in society. About liking girls and thinking about them so often, especially in the way that I do."
"So you're a deviant."
"That's an interesting way of putting it." I pause and realize something. The two markings on his forehead...red dots. I remember this from my studies. "You're a member of the Kaguya clan, right? That power...it's called Dead Bone Pulse."
"So you know of my clan. I am the last scion."
"Mm-hm. Warmongers who got themselves killed by being bloodthirsty idiots. Interesting that you'd remark about deviancy...I'm sure you're familiar enough with it on your end. You know, brothers and sisters and cousins all fucking each other endlessly to keep the bloodline pure, just so you could go out and kill some more later. For the sake of the clan, of course."
"..."
"And Orochimaru found you all alone. He gave you purpose. He saw your potential and nurtured it. Do you know about the Uchiha?" I ask, putting a hand on my hip.
"Yes. I have heard the stories."
"They were wiped out as well. Do you relate to Sasuke on that end?"
"Somewhat."
"Mm. Interesting. But yes, I'm supposedly a menace to society. Or will be soon enough. I wonder if it would be wise to try and build a harem. Or maybe I should just pick out a girl with exotic flavour and run off to the mountains with her. That sounds nice. Or a platoon of maids that I could have fun with, like my stepmother does. She's terribly raunchy, that woman. Has quite a few kinky videos out for sale, more than she admitted to me the other day."
"This conversation isn't very ladylike," my opponent says. "I wonder if you're trying to distract me, or conduct some sort of psychological warfare to gain an advantage."
"Not really," I say with a wave of my hand. "I just wanted to talk about that a little, like I said."
"I see. Naturally, your teammates would not be receptive to such a thing."
"Hm? No, that's not the reason. I tell them about other lewd things all the time. I just felt like sharing that one with you today."
He narrows his eyes. "You're clearly unhinged."
"Ah. I see now." I let out a breath and flex my hands. "You know, it's been a while since I could bully someone freely like this."
"Bully?" he asks, confused.
"Yes. The other one...I forgot his name already. The scrub loser who tried to couch everything in terms of games and shot webs like a spider. Boring for the most part. One track mind. Let's see...Hina killed the fat sack of trash, Shikamaru took care of the pretty boy with two heads, and Shino must have stuffed his bugs down the throat of that trashy, filthy mouthed little bitch. Then there's you. Lee did quite well against you, seeing as you're practically a human cheat code."
"..."
"But that's what a few extra years of growth and experience will do for you. Leaves a sizable gap, especially with your shitty master and his enhancements."
"I suggest you not talk about Lord Orochimaru that way."
For someone who was so confident about his composure, it sure was easy to find a way in. I exhale audibly and split my legs easily to stretch them, sliding all the way down to the grass.
"Lord Orochimaru," I reply lazily. "Very interesting specimen. My sister and I helped do him in, you know. The Third Hokage delivered a magnificent death blow. Using things like the Edo Tensei...a man like that truly is trash. It's no wonder garbage like you and Sasuke cling to him and his memory so much."
"Lord Orochimaru is not trash," he says firmly.
"I wonder what you think you are?" I ask as I look up at him. "You said that this was all that you could do...mm. With that ability, and the original plans for Sasuke...ah, I see. You were the original choice for his new vessel. But you must be sick, or deficient in some way, correct? He must have kept you alive for your genetic material. For your powers...for your jutsu. Once you could no longer serve your original purpose, you were discarded, put into a box until the next time he wanted to play with you. You never meant anything to that man."
"Be quiet..."
"You're just another tool," I say as I lean forward and continue stretching. "Another means to an end. And Sasuke is like that too, now. Do you enjoy your brainwashing, Mister Kaguya?"
"Shut up..."
"You're unable to believe that you're worth anything unless your Lord Orochimaru wills it. That's why you cling so desperately to his final orders," I say as I stand up again.
"Shut up! What would you know-"
"Everything," I interrupt. "Everything. I know what loneliness is. Even if the person is despicable...even if we say we hate them...we cling to them as our hope. As our anchor. That's how I know. It doesn't matter if the person is good or bad. Loneliness isn't something you can defeat on your own."
"You're wrong. You're wrong," he protests. "Lord Orochimaru wished nothing but the best for me. He still does. I know that he lives inside of me still, and I will help return him to his full glory. Even if it costs me my life. The first step to all of that is retrieving his legacy...Sasuke Uchiha."
"So you carry on Orochimaru's will."
"Yes. I see that you're not as much of a dim whore as I thought."
"Whore. That one has seen use already today. I guess the vocabulary in the Hidden Sound is limited, then? Unfortunate. So you say that you carry another will inside of you...well."
"?"
"What's two wills against seven, then?" I ask him.
"Seven?"
"All of my friends. Not just the ones that have come with me, but the ones back home. Ino and Naruto. Lee and Hina. Shikamaru and Shino. And me. All of us together, backed by the faith of our Hokage and an entire village."
"Foolishness. My will and that of Lord Orochimaru together is stronger than anything you can name. Enough talk." He changes back into his Level 2 state, shifting into a stance. Large, thick bones grow up and out from his back, and his skin turns dark grey. He has a long tail that's topped with spiky bones, and strange markings under his eyes.
His chakra is gigantic in size, but it's also wavering even more than before, becoming increasingly unstable. This...is his health declining? It might be what he kept alluding to earlier. There's the possibility that he's dying as we speak. But if that's the case, it makes him even more dangerous. He doesn't have a reason to hold back against me. Now that I've wound him up, I need to take advantage of the opening and finish this quickly. This development makes me even more worried about what Sasuke might do.
"Once I end this...I'll send Rock Lee off peacefully, as thanks for his valiant effort in battle earlier. And after that, I will join Sasuke in slaughtering the rest of your friends. You will all pay for trying to destroy Lord Orochimaru's dream."
"I'm feeling good about taking your head right here. I already shredded another monster a while back, during our little tournament back in the Leaf. A so called beast...but in the end, he was just trash before me. Just like your worthless master."
"You...!" He charges me and I blow by him to the other side, leaving him to swipe through an afterimage. So he's not as fast in this form as I assumed...interesting.
"You should understand by now, boy. Trash multiplied by garbage equals rubbish. Do the math. You're fucking through. I won't allow you the pleasure of riding off into the sunset and dying once you've completed your holy orders. No...I'm going to tear you into chunks and swallow your essence."
"You're sick," he growls.
"Fuck you. You worship a creepy asshole who's spent his life kidnapping children and experimenting on them just for fun. A man who constantly lusted after pre-pubescent bodies, who stalked little boys and girls and exploited them when they had nowhere to go. A worthless, despicable fucking predator who deserved to die for the things he did. You talk about my deviancy, but you...you're lower than scum. I'm sorry that I even have to fight you. And I'm even more sorry that I have to run after that walking dustbin called Sasuke."
"Why, then?"
"Because I love that boy more than I hate Sasuke," I say plainly. "And I promised him that Sasuke would come home."
"That boy?"
"Why do you suddenly care about what I have to say? You're going to die anyways."
"Tch. Introductions are long overdue, but...I am Kimimaro Kaguya, loyal servant of Lord Orochimaru and the leader of the Sound Five."
"Lilith Kobayashi, number one deviant whore of the Hidden Leaf," I shoot back. "Oh...and I can also use jutsu, if you were curious."
"Cute." Kimimaro sprouts bones from his palms and takes a stance, his heavy tail thumping against the ground. "I'll try and give you a merciful death."
"Disappointing," I say with a smug smirk. "I really like it rough."
"I can accommodate you, little wench." He body flickers forward, but I can easily see him coming. My feet quickly take me backwards as I immediately make handseals.
"Water Shark Bullet."
The moisture from the air around me is pulled into the shape of a shark quickly, shooting forward towards Kimimaro. He runs forward and barrels through the attack without so much as flinching, then jumps into the air and starts spinning like a wheel. I flicker to one side as he lands, charging me again. I plant my feet and make the snake seal.
"False Darkness."
The arrow of lightning erupts from my mouth. He pushes off the ground and dodges the attack swiftly, whipping his hands forward. I toss a shuriken to deflect the incoming projectile and watch as his fingertips pull themselves together after being split. It looks like he has the same idea that I do. He's sizing me up and using ranged attacks to counter my own.
I'm figuring things out as he keeps me at a distance, firing pieces of bone from his fingers and toes rapidly. I move to dodge and draw a kunai to deflect as many shots as I can, running along the grassy plain. It's evident why Lee had so much trouble earlier. From what I can see, he's likely to be much swifter in his normal state...but his movements are still fluid, and as much as I hate to admit it, beautiful as well. I only wish my taijutsu looked as fabulous. Based on all of that, and the fact that I'm not as good as Lee in that sort of combat, I'm in big trouble if he closes in on me too quickly. I have to leverage my two clear advantages - my speed and sensing ability.
He stops, resets, and moves to charge me again. I body flicker out of the way and throw a lightning charged set of shuriken to buy more time. He shoots out more bone from his fingers to deflect them, and I take the opportunity to space myself again. I don't know if False Darkness can rip through his skin and bone, but he's wary of it as demonstrated earlier. That gives me confidence with Mobius. Water Release is only useful for stalling, unless I find some means of drowning him.
I watch as a bone extends itself from his upper back, breaking through his skin. This sort of bloodline limit is something...little wonder Orochimaru coveted it, with his need to jump into fresh young bodies every so often.
"Dance of the Clematis: Vine!"
In an instant, he pulls his spine from his body and fashions it into a whip. He flicks his wrist and launches the tip at me, forcing me to jump as it goes towards my legs.
"Fall!"
"Have to..." My jump is purposely low, and the first part of the whip sails beneath me. I tighten up and quickly twist my body over to do a hand plant, lowering myself towards the grass as the whip flies overhead. I then rebound into the air and backflip to avoid the next part of the whip as it sails by, then draw my kunai again to spin and parry another attack as I'm floating upwards.
"Tch...!"
He's not slowing up. The whip stretches out and I slash at the segments as they try to tear into me while I fall to earth again. I flip over another segment as it goes beneath me and split my legs to avoid one more, tuck and spin, then untuck and arch my back to avoid one last set of spines before landing in a crouch safely on the grass. I take a quick breath and bounce backwards out of the whip's range, sizing up Kimimaro again.
What a troublesome enemy I've drawn today.
"Your taijutsu is sloppy, but I have to admit that your body control is incredible," Kimimaro says.
"And you worship a pedophile, but your taijutsu is close to immaculate," I reply.
"So it seems that you have a sense of honour and decorum after all."
"We're both surprised on that end. I didn't think I would have anything nice to say to you."
"Unfortunate...in a better world, we could have worked side by side to realize a wonderful dream. But in this world, your life ends today, Lilith Kobayashi."
"An interesting choice of words. But I told your subordinate with the missing stomach once before...your dream is dead, Kimimaro Kaguya."
I note his chakra shifting and his fingertips starting to split apart once more. It seems he's going to try and bring me back within his range. But as he takes off, his body changes and his skin lightens. There are now just the jagged black lines running all over him from his Level 1 state.
But I can see his plan already. His speed has gone up after leaving that heavier, more powerful form. No sense in taking too many risks, then...I'll push him to the limit with the chakra mode.
"Let's kick it up a bit...with some real speed."
I flick the shroud on and watch for his whip, accelerating through it as he attacks and hopping through the new space created. My hand goes to the holster on my leg and I draw my kunai once more, surging lightning chakra through it. My turn to move.
"Wh-"
He stops his new attack midway and quickly dashes to my left, escaping with just a deep cut in his neck. It's already started healing by the time I face him again. I flick my tongue along the edge of my kunai.
"..." The same as before. He's been pumped full of drugs too, so I don't want any parts of his filthy blood. Kimimaro launches his whip at me again, and I parry the front of it before accelerating again past the rest. My hand rises upwards and he sprouts bones from his neck to defend in anticipation; I quickly move and slash away at his chest instead, drawing blood and making him stumble backwards. He recovers and has sharp spines of bone shoot out from his elbows and knees before going into a rolling attack. It's a fluid transition...he really is good.
I want to test the gap between us, and now is the best time. He misses with his first move and I shoot forward in the space he leaves me, ramming my kunai into the right side of his chest. Bone surges outward and manages a few shallow cuts on my arm before I can retreat. Thankfully, the chakra mode has done its job and provided some protection.
As I back away again, Kimimaro has changed back into his Level 2 form and has the now charred and crumbling bone on his chest break apart. He starts with his bone bullets again and I rush forward to meet him, slashing through his ranged attacks outright with the help of the chakra mode. He's slower to react and I slash at him rapidly, but his skin is incredibly hard to get through now, even with the help of lightning chakra.
I need something stronger, more concentrated. If I can force him to properly regenerate, it will take away some of his chakra, and thus the 'time' he has remaining in this fight.
"I'll try it," I say to myself. Mobius is already charging in my right hand, and Kimimaro doesn't hesitate, launching his whip at me while I idle.
"I've got you!"
The whip's movement...perfect. "Mobius!" I fire my attack right through multiple points of the whip, tearing it apart while blowing out his chest. Lightning bursts outwards from the impact and he's thrown back a fair distance, smoke rising from his body as he stands up. I watch as something crumbles away from his body...entirely too similar to that Kidomaru's gold armour from the last fight. But I can feel that his chakra level has decreased...
"Ah. Using bone to reinforce himself as the attack hit. He must have felt something coming and prepared, or guessed at the least," I say with realization. "But it's just like the other times. Our speeds were close in our normal forms...once I started to use the chakra mode, I pulled away from him. All it takes is a small edge at this level of combat, and you'll be on your back foot very quickly."
"That kind of Lightning Release...so that was what you were hiding all along. And that technique is similar to his..."
He's talking about Chidori. Hm. Now that I've made sure to carefully plan my movements, there's nothing he can really do to me. His attacks are strong, and his style of taijutsu is just about flawless. But now, I'm in a space that he can't control. Not with his whip, or his finger bone bullets, or anything in that arsenal of his that I can think of. The improved rate of 2.5 seconds for Mobius forced him to make a desperate effort to defend, and in his steel-hard Level 2 form at that.
"..." He's not liking his odds as much anymore, is he. And I doubt that he will change back to his normal state or even that first level of the curse, because I've revealed such a dangerous jutsu. But there are solutions to such problems, surely.
"What do I do now, I wonder..." I gather chakra again, taking a full three seconds this time just to be sure. Kimimaro body flickers towards me, and I jump easily over his head. He spins and tosses more of the bullets at me, and I do an extra flip in the air to float over them before landing. As I turn, I see that he was just buying time to pull bone from his shoulders, formed into sharp swords. He sprouts more bone from his chest and limbs as he charges me again, confident in his ability.
"That technique is useless against me!" he yells as I charge back at him. With his reinforcement, it would be trivially easy for him to absorb the incoming damage and destroy my arm in a trade by skewering it with his ribcage, or something to that effect.
"Sorry to say, but this technique isn't outdated yet. When the day comes that my jutsu isn't as strong as it should be, I'm going to spend time torturing people inside Intelligence." Well, I could also become one of those madams instead, keeping troubled girls off the streets in exchange for...relevant services towards the male populace. Yes, that seems to fit my image better. "As far as you know, there's still more."
"Then come, show me your pitiful technique!"
"Mm..."
It's a silly thing. A technique that doesn't obey normal procedure, and transforms one type of thing into another. A technique that doesn't pierce; nothing like Chidori at all, or even what Mobius is supposed to be. In fact, it's bad at the thing that Mobius is meant to excel in.
But it does its one function extremely well. It cuts like something out of a dream.
Normal high speed attacks have bothersome tunnel vision, but it doesn't apply here, not to me. My natural speed, reflexes, and the boost in perception from my chakra mode maximize my ability and efficiency in close. It gives this technique the boost it truly needs as a split-second, last moment attack. The type of attack that fits perfectly in the hands of a long range shooting artist like me.
I accelerate towards Kimimaro and recall the training I did weeks earlier. The movements of those elite athletes burned into my mind, recreated through hours and hours of repetition until they became as easy as walking. This move, called the crossover step...by mastering it, I can step around my opponent with ease and punish their mistakes. I make the change of pace cut as Kimimaro's rib bones shoot outward, cutting lightly into my cheek as I rush through and underneath his right side. I swing my arm upwards, and at the last moment, I fire, just as I always do.
"Mobius Type 3..."
Ultra-high speed severing technique. The jutsu fires and solidifies into a short, rapidly vibrating blade of lightning that extends from my two fingers. Kimimaro moves out of the way.
"Epyon."
I put as much force as possible into my arm, timing it with my firing and aiming for his neck as he moves past me. I slide to a stop and immediately turn, seeing that he's escaped his fate with a deep gash on the side of his neck. My technique disappeared moments after coming into existence, already having served its purpose.
"It's a miss, then."
My tongue reaches out to lick some of the blood on my cheek. It's mine this time...of course, that means it has a pleasant taste.
"But the test was successful. I can use this in the future, definitely," I say with a smile.
"So even this form is weak to it," Kimimaro mutters. His chakra drops again as his bones start to extend from his right shoulder, muscle and tissue forming around them. I walk forward and pick up his severed arm, looking at it curiously for a moment before throwing it over my shoulder.
"I wonder how you're feeling right now," I say to him. "Surely you realize that your odds are dropping by the second...so it would be nice if you just gave up and let me run after Sasuke."
"..." He focuses and bones grow around his left arm, wrapping themselves into a spiral shape that is formed like a drill. The same technique he meant to kill Lee with, then. If he combines that slow sort of attack with the 'vine' from earlier, it would be easier to land a strike...but otherwise, it's pointless. What is he thinking?
"This is my strongest technique...but it won't be just that. I'll make sure that you suffer and die, right here and now. This...is my final dance." He kneels down and punches the ground with his restored right hand.
"?"
"Dance of the Seedling Fern."
Chakra coming from...below. From the earth? Things quickly become clear as a wave of bones erupts from the ground and rumbles towards me. What the hell is this kind of technique? This is a bone power, too? Details don't matter, I'm as good as dead if it hits me. Coming from ahead, jumping up from the sides...he's going to turn every inch of this place into a field of piercing bones, and I unfortunately can't grow wings and fly.
"!"
Lee. He's going to get hit, too...attacking Kimimaro to try and end the technique is completely out. Time to move!
"Sorry, you bone blasting booster. I'm not dying in this place."
I force chakra through my body and activate the chakra mode's second stage, moving as fast as I can and heading for the tree line where Lee is. The bones are rumbling behind me, forming what looks like a forest in itself. I grab Lee and jump high into a tree, bouncing upwards on branch after branch to avoid the bones that are extending to try and reach me. I get high enough that they can't get to us, and eventually the movement of chakra stops, the bones ceasing to appear and grow.
"Shit...that was close," I say as I shut off the chakra mode and take in air.
"Then let me get closer!"
"Bastard-!" The trunk explodes beneath me, sending the upper half of the tree falling towards the sharp bones below. It crashes down as I jump off, quickly making a seal with my hands and firing False Darkness to shatter the bones in my landing area. "No good...where is he..."
"I've never been brainwashed...these things are what I think! They all come from my own reasoning!"
"!" I throw Lee from my arms.
"You don't know anything, you bitch!"
"Ugh...!"
He thrusts the bone spear through my chest.
"What?"
I gasp and disappear in a cloud of smoke, transforming into something familiar.
"My...arm?"
Three seconds have already passed. I stand sideways on one of the bone blades behind him, finger pointed towards his head.
"You were right. It is the end."
I fire, ripping cleanly through his skull with a focused shot. He sways for a moment before falling out of his perch and to the ground, reverting to his normal form as his healing struggles to work.
"You obviously love him so much...so you can go ahead and greet your shitty master in hell, Kimimaro Kaguya. Rest in pieces."
I stand over him and fire another blast of chakra, obliterating his skull for good this time.
"Sorry, Lee. That was cruel of me, even if it was to save you one last time." I make sure there's no activity coming from Kimimaro before placing Lee against one of the bone structures. He's sleeping pretty deeply right now...oh, never mind.
"Ah...Captain?"
"Yes, it's me." I watch as he slowly stirs, opening his eyes.
"Did you...defeat that enemy?"
"I did. I have to go to where Sasuke is. You should be safe here." Even if I need my equipment, Lee needs it much more. I take as many tools as I can out of my bag, and leave myself with a handful of soldier pills so that he can have the rest. "Those will be of use to you."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. The four of us will be back soon, okay?"
"Yes, I understand. Good luck."
"Thank you."
This is it. This is where everything will come to an end. I start my run through the forest of bones and get into the open field again, accelerating towards the border and the final valley that separates the two sides. The place called the Valley of the End, where the two titans Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha fought their very last duel. The valley was created by their battle...something that hasn't been replicated since by any shinobi in this world.
I can feel everyone's chakra...and things are not good at all. Shino's in some sort of trouble, and Shikamaru doesn't seem well...Hinata is the only one in any condition to fight-
"...!"
What's happened...? Why is her...?
"Hina...?" I push chakra through my system and run as fast as I can towards her position. No. No, this can't be happening...Hina! She's not gone, she can't be!
"Chief!"
I run past Shikamaru and Shino. And I can see it...
"Hina!" I scream.
She's falling from the top of the cliff, lightning trailing her. Not moving.
I won't...let it happen!
"Make it in time! Chaotic Movement!"
"At your will! FLOW!"
I jump with everything I have and reach forward, Crim extending his body as far as it can go. Please...make it in time! Make it in time!
"Secure!" Crim yells.
"To me!" I scream out frantically. And she comes, pulled back by Crim's strong jaws, slamming into me roughly and sending us both to the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Lili...ugh..."
I can't stop crying. All I can do is hold her close to me, trembling. I can't...go on like this. I can't.
I will end everything today. I...will never...forgive him...