Hey there everyone, hope you're ready for another chapter! I think I did pretty good with this one. Also, it appears that the email problem that was going on with the site is FINALLY fixed(Thank god). It was extremely irritating to try and keep up with my stories, since I was never sure if they updated or not. That aside, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. We're nearing the end of this arc(Can it actually be called that?) so I hope you all are ready!
Yuji, Asuka, and Katsuragi had continued on after leaving Hibari behind. The trio were all hoping that Hibari would be able to handle her opponent well enough, but they couldn't dwell on such things now. Instead they focused on the remaining two members of Gessen's Elite Shinobi. They'd entered yet another building this time as they continued on. The place wasn't too different in comparison to a regular school, but that was clearly intentional. If Yuji had to guess, it was probably Gessen doing the same as Hanzo Academy: Essentially hiding their shinobi students in plain sight so to speak. Having a regular school to hide the shinobi more easily. Running down the halls, Katsuragi stopped when they came to some stairs leading upstairs.
"What's the matter Kat?" Yuji asked
"We're headin' up." She replied looking at him and Asuka
"Up? But why? We don't know where the enemy could be." Asuka said with a raised eyebrow "We could be stumbling into an ambush or something."
"Nah, I got a good feeling about this." Katsuragi said with a smile "Think about it, where do you have an epic showdown? They've got two people left...so of course the leader of these shinobi would be at the top of the building."
"I think it I get it…" Yuji said rubbing his chin "Like a video game right? The final boss is always at the top of the castle or tower or whatever."
"Got it in one Yuji! That's my kouhai!"
"This isn't a game you two!" Asuka sighed "That kind of logic doesn't make any sense!"
"Spoken like someone who needs to play more video games." Yuji said with a shake of his head
"Yeah Asuka, you've got some studying to do when this is all over." Kat said nodding in agreement
Asuka for her part just sighed loudly as Kat and Yuji began to ascend the staircase with her following behind them. The trio made their way through the staircase, heading up to the 2nd floor then the 3rd and after that the 4th. It was around the 5th floor that had to stop for a moment to catch their breath.
"H-how many floors does this school have?!" Yuji panted "What floor are we on?!"
"F-fifth…" Asuka said between breathes pointing at a sign
"We...we should have packed some drinks." Katsuragi panted
After spending another 15 minutes catching their breath, the three shinobi began to make their way up again, this time at a much more leisurely pace than they had previously done. It was once they hit the 8th floor that they realized that they were finally at the final floor with only one more set of stairs leading directly up to the roof. However, as they began to walk towards the exit, they were blocked by a girl with short blue hair with a sort of bowl shaped haircut, wearing the same gray uniform that the other Gessen students had worn.
"You all took your sweet time." She said, her eyes trained on the group, keeping track of each of their movements.
"Well we didn't know there would be 8 floors we'd have to go up!" Yuji exclaimed in an annoyed tone "That'll take some time for anyone!"
At this the girl raised an eyebrow "...You know you could have just taken the elevator?"
The three of them looked at her with incredulous faces as she pointed a finger to an elevator door that was directly behind them.
There was a long silence among the four of them before Katsuragi coughed at that revelation before speaking again.
"Right! Well, anyway, we're here to kick your ass and fondle your boobs! See Asuka, I told you they'd be at the top!"
"I'm going to ignore that second part you just said. But Kat is right, we're going to put an end to this!" Asuka said readying her weapons, only for the blue haired girl to put her hand up.
"Hold on, now that just isn't fair. Three against one? I know I'd lose that. No...I'll take on you." she said pointing at Katsuragi "Besides, I'd like to show you how a proper shinobi fights with their hands."
Katsuragi rolled her eyes, but returned the girl's stare with a smirk "That's fine with me! What was your name again…? Yozakura right? Don't worry, I'll go easy on you~!"
Yozakura rolled her eyes at Kat's banter as she moved to the side, allowing Yuji and Asuka to run by her. She made no move to stop them, letting them go on their way, which caused Katsuragi to chuckle again.
"You sure that was a good idea? They're my kouhais, but they're both pretty good you know!"
"Hmph, I've no doubt Yumi will make quick work of them. But enough talk, it's time we move to a more proper area for our fight."
Bringing a finger to lips, Yozakura channeled energy into it before speaking
"Shinobi Barrier!"
The entire area around her and Katsuragi changed. The entire area twisted and morphed, Kat's vision getting a bit blurry before it finally straightened out. No longer were the two girls in the school and on the stairway. Instead the two were now in what was a sparring area in a dojo. There wasn't anything else of note about it, which suited Katsuragi just fine.
"Hehe, I like this, nice and direct." Katsuragi chuckled
"As it should be. That being the case, I won't bother with meaningless small talk or banter, I will show you what a true shinobi fights like!"
Without saying another word, Yozakura pulled out her transformation scroll, tossed it into the air and then slammed it between her fists. The glow engulfed her body and when it was done, she was now clad in a kimono like outfit that left her midriff exposed with flower patterns all over it with regular wooden sandals. However, what really stood out were the massive gauntlets she wore that pistons coming out of the back of them.
Katsuragi let out a whistle as she looked at Yozakura's outfit. "Okay, your boobs are great!"
"Thank...you?" Yozakura said, too taken aback by Katsuragi's words to give a proper reply.
"They aren't better than mine though!" Katsuragi exclaimed as she took her transformation scroll and raised it to the sky.
"Transform!"
Like Yozakura, Katsuragi was engulfed in a bright light, after it dimmed she was now adorned in her shinobi attire.
"...That's it?" Yozakura said in disbelief
"What do you mean 'that's it'? My boobs are awesome!" Katsuragi said with a huff that made her chest jiggle slightly
"I meant your Shinobi outfit, that's just your regular school uniform!"
At a glance, Yozakura was right on the money. Kat's outfit consisted of her usual white uniform shirt, however it was completely unbuttoned, allowing one a clear view of her torso with an almost clear view of her breasts. The smallest blow of wind would easily expose her chest to the entire world, she had her usual blue headband with ribbons on the side. A blue plaid skirt, which was the only difference from her usual blue school skirt. However, the biggest thing of note were the two large black and gold boots that she wore which were weapons of choice.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter what kind of outfit you wear, it's all about how good you are at fighting!" Katsuragi shouted before kicking off with a burst of wind from her feet to close the gap between her and Yozakura.
Yozakura didn't bother saying anything, instead meeting Kat head on and throwing her fist forward to block the attack from Katsuragi. She didn't stop though, quickly dropping to the floor and sliding her foot under Yozakura's leg, causing the blue-haired girl to fall on her said as Kat got back to her feet and raised her leg high before bringing it down on towards Yozakura's head, who quickly rolled out of the way and jumped to her feet. Bringing her fist towards Kat again, the blonde smirked as she blocked it. That smirk disappeared though when Yozakura smirked herself, the piston in her gauntlet sinking lower, making a sound similar to a gun being loaded before it quickly went back to its regular position as force of pure power sent Kat flying back into a wall.
"Gah, crap, what the hell is that?!"
"Just something I use to add a little bit of extra 'kick' to my attacks." Yozakura said with a sneer on her face, internally laughing at her own pun.
Kat scraped herself off the wall, shaking off some of the dust that'd landed on her body. Not saying anything else, she kicked off with the burst of wind again, closing that distance between her and Yozakura until she was close up again. Realizing that she was far more of a threat than anticipated, Katsuragi delivered a much more harder kick this time, Yozakura actually being pushed back by it a little bit. Yozakura went for another punch, this time attempting to uppercut Kat, but the blonde jumped over his fist, landed on the floor hands first managed to catch Yozakura in her side with another kick, causing her to flinch from the pain.
That opening was all Katsuragi needed to to twist her body just enough so that she could launch herself from the ground kick Yozakura square in the face, causing her to stumble back before Kat followed it up with a wind empowered kick straight to her gut, causing her to hit the wall and leave a dent in it just as Katsuragi had done before.
"Tch, you and those dirty kicks." Yozakura huffed, pulling herself off of the wall.
"Cry me a river, don't pick fights if you can't take the punishment." Kat retorted
Yozakura didn't bother replying to her, instead just going on the attack again. The problem was that thanks to her wind element usage, Katsuragi was making her faster than usual. Yozakura noted that she wasn't as fast as say Minori or Shiki, but she was still able to make herself faster than Yozakura, which annoyed the Gessen elite. Doing the best she could, Yozakura blocked the blows coming from Katsuragi's boots. The hits were far more harder than they actually appeared and if Yozakura let up for even a second, then she'd be feeling it like she had before. Blocking another kick, Yozakura decided to take advantage of that gaping opening that was Katsuragi's shirt. When the next kick came, she didn't block it, but instead managed to catch it, which caught Katsuragi completely off guard.
"Got you!" Yozakura snarled as she, in a show of strength lifted Kat into the air and then slammed her back into the ground. She didn't stop there though, lifting her back up and slamming her on her back again and then a third time, At the fourth time, Yozakura instead of lifting her back up decided to toss Kat up into the air before delivering a sickening piston empowered uppercut to Katsuragi's stomach, which hit the Hanzo elite hard enough that not only did her outfit become frayed in several places, but she also coughed up a bit of blood as well as she hit the ceiling and then fell back to the ground.
Katsuragi coughed a bit before shakily getting to her feet and coughing lightly.
"Man...you Gessen girls really don't mess around, don't think I've been hit that hard since I went up against Hikage."
"We're the Gessen elite, we're the best of the best!" Yozakura said with a confidence voice
"Almost! Kat replied with a grin "You were the best of the best...but then you met us. Now get ready!" Shaking off whatever tiredness or pain she'd felt from that previous attack, Kat called forth an even stronger amount of wind into her boots before flying towards her at an even faster speed than before.
"Secret Ninja Art! Cross Panzer!" Kat shouted as she darted all around Yozakura hitting her with a barrage of kicks that the blue-haired girl couldn't hope to dodge, instead focusing on her body and trying her hardest to endure the pain that was hitting her from several different areas all at once.
Yozakura's outfit became ripped and torn in several areas from the onslaught of the attack. To the point that the top of her Kimono was all but destroyed, a few small scraps of clothing were all that were left that kept her nipples from being completely exposed.
Katsuragi let out another whistle after her attack was done as she took in Yozakura's battered appearance. "Damn, I know I said it before, but your boobs really are great. You sure I can't just take a moment to squeeze em?" She said making a grabbing motion with her hands
"No. I don't even swing that way!"
"I mean it's just a little skinship…"
"IT ISN'T, THAT'S MOLESTATION!"
"Tomato, tomahto. I bet I could find your weak spot."
Yozakura growled "Is Hanzo academy just filled with crazy lesbians like you?!"
Katsuragi made a look of fake disgust at that "Hey, that's not true! I like men and women equally. If my cute underclassmen weren't dating Asuka I'd have made a move already!"
"Oh whatever!" Yozakura growled hunkering down, Yozakura took a stance as one of the pistons in her gauntlet activating again. "Now take this! Secret Ninja Art! 1,000 Palm Fists of Paradise!"
Yozakura threw a punch at the air that seemingly did nothing at first, until a orb of condensed energy shot out towards Katsuragi at a fast pace. However, Kat was faster, using her wind power to dodge out of the way.
"Hah, you missed!" Kat jeered
Only for Yozakura to smirk at her as the orb broke apart into several smaller orbs that all zeroed in on Katsuragi and hit her directly into the back and knocked her forward. The attack was quick, but still just as painful and the result was Katsuragi's top being all but destroyed.
"D-dammit that stings." She said getting to her feet as she took in the ruined shirt of her shinobi garb, with a shrug, Katsuragi tossed it aside, not caring that her chest was completely bare and out in the open.
"Don't you have any shame?!" Yozakura sighed facepalming
"What do I have to be ashamed of?" Now I ain't done fighting, and neither are you!"
Katsuragi once again moved in delivering a flurry of kicks towards Yozakura. Despite her bravado from just a moment ago, Katsuragi was actually really reeling from that attack. She was delivering her attacks fine, but Yozakura was able to block more of them this time only a handful of her attacks getting through.
Because of this, Yozakura was able to parry Kat's next attack, turning it against her and delivering slower, but far heavier hitting attacks. Yozakura managed to land a solid hit on her stomach, causing her to kneel forward, only to be met by an uppercut that had sent her flying upwards. Yozakura then leapt into the air, bringing both her armored hands down on Katsuragi's head, causing her to land face first into the ground, even more of her outfit breaking apart. Now it was her skirt just barely holding together as she felt her head leaking blood.
"D-dammit." Kat grunted "I've got to turn this around!"
Shaking off the pain from the attack she'd just suffered, Kat got back in the thick of it, bringing her armored foot up high and landing a kick directly to Yozakura's head. The attack came fast enough that Yozakura couldn't dodge it causing to fall over. However, as she was about to hit the floor, Kat beat her there, getting into a crouched position and doing what could only be described as a break dance of sorts as she caught Yozakura with her legs, twirling the blue-haired girl around before tossing her away and causing her to land on the floor. The attack having destroyed a good portion of her outfit. Now both girls were almost entirely naked.
"You and the dirty kicking moves."
"Don't like it? Learn some new moves." Katsuragi said with a cocky grin
"I could say the same to you and learning how to throw a punch!"
The two girls clashed again, each one kicking and punching the other. Any finesse had long since left them and now they were just focused on trying to hit the other the hardest they possibly could. Kat tripped Yozakura, Yozakura threw a lazy but powerful haymaker towards Katsuragi, the ultimate result was that the two of them were a complete and total bloody mess.
"W-why won't you just fall already?!" Yozakura grunted
Katsuragi spit some blood from her mouth "I'm a Hanzo Academy elite shinobi, we don't fall down from stuff like this."
"Tch, then I'll just have to kill you." Yozakura said taking on another stance
"Go ahead. We walk that shit off." Kat replied getting into another position as well.
Though the two were tired and panting, they ran to meet one another again, gauntlet clanging against boots as they tried their best to find an opening to hit one another, but despite the beating they'd both taken, neither was giving the other an inch. For every hit Katsuragi made, Yozakura managed to get one as well and any time Kat got a block in, Yozakura would either block one of her attacks or even worse parry one of hers to make an opening and hit the deck the blonde as hard as she could. Their blows clash as literal sparks fly from their weapons connecting with one another. They disengage for a moment, both of them panting heavily. Neither of them come out and say it, but they know that the other is on her last legs and at this point all it would take is one final good hit to knock the other out completely and claim victory. With one final breath on both sides, Katsuragi and Yozakura charge one another once again. As they drew closer each raised their weapon to meet the other, Yozakura's eyes went wide as Kat's gauntlet got closer to her head.
BAM
Kat's attack had landed true! She smirked for a moment, thinking things had gone her way...only to realize that Yozakura's fist was still coming towards her.*
BANG
The last thing Kat could remember seeing as her consciousness faded was Yozakura hitting the floor just a second before she did.
-000-
Naraku had finally caught up with the others after that strange rock paper scissors battle between Hibari and the other Gessen child. Getting to what had to have been the main building, Naraku looked around a bit before finding an elevator. Stepping inside, she hit the 8th floor button and raised an eyebrow. "8 floors...I can't imagine someone walking up all those stairs normally. I bet this thing sees a lot of use."
It was a few minutes before Naraku reached the top and as she did, she felt it: The sensation of a shinobi barrier.
"Someone's fighting…!" Naraku exclaimed as the elevator door opened, she quickly exited and looking around she couldn't see anything.
"Tch, not good. That could be the boy fighting…" Naraku muttered to herself "Guess I have no choice but to use that technique Kagura-sama showed me…"
Taking a deep breath, Naraku closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of the shinobi barrier. This technique Kagura showed her, allowing one to peer into a shinobi barrier and see what was going on inside. Stronger forms of this skill allowed one to outright break through and enter a barrier, but that was something Naraku wasn't strong enough to attempt yet. Her vision became blurry, before it refocused, showing Katsuragi and another Gessen elite fighting. The two were pretty beaten up. Katsuragi's chest was completely exposed and her skirt was barely holding on. The blue-haired Gessen girl was just as bad, her top being all but destroyed as well.
Naraku watched as the two fought. They were both physical fighters and so this was a match of pure strength. Each hit she saw connect caused her to wince just a bit. Katsuragi had not been foregoing her training and Naraku had to admit it: Katsuragi was stronger than she had been at Kyoto and it hadn't even been all that long ago that that entire event had occurred.
That said, despite how strong Katsuragi was, it was clear that the girl from Gessen was giving her all she had. She was meeting her blow for blow, hitting, blocking, and parrying attacks as best she could. The fighting was brutal as neither girl would back down taking blow after blow and bloodying themselves more and more. A part of Naraku wanted to jump in. To somehow break into the shinobi barrier and save her friend. But she just wasn't strong enough to use the advanced variations of the Barrier Spying technique.
She watched as the fight dragged on. Kat and her enemy actually moving more slowly than they had before. No doubt they were both tiring themselves out and sooner or later one of them would fall and the match would be decided. Naraku watched as the two tired shinobi charged each other again and what she saw surprised her. Katsuragi had indeed knocked out her opponent...but the blue-haired girl had done the same, both girls crumpling to the floor completely still and not moving a muscle. The shinobi barrier broke, cracking as if it were glass and dissipating into nothing. Now there were just two girls that were hurt and probably dying in front of Naraku.
Looking at the two, Naraku sighed "Asuka would hate me if I left you here." Naraku muttered as she moved towards Katsuragi, taking out some rudimentary first aid supplies she carried on her person. She wrapped a bandage on Kat's head covered several cuts the girl had obtained with band-aids, which was the best she could do. She moved Kat, sitting her against the wall, the most Naraku could do was let her rest for now. As she got up to leave, Naraku stared at the Gessen girl for a moment. She tried to take a step forward, but seeing her in such a poor state, Naraku couldn't stop herself.
A sigh escaped her lips as she moved to administer what first-aid she could. "Really...when did I become so soft?" Naraku muttered to herself "Asuka, you and your friends really are a bad influence...you know that?"
Despite her words, Naraku couldn't help but find herself smiling, happy at the good deed she'd done. With that out of the way, it was time for her to move on. There had been four battles so far and Naraku was certain that she would play witness to the finale of this entire ordeal. Hopefully the boy, Yuji, would not be what Kagura thought he was. The last thing she wanted to do was ending up killing the boy, he seemed nice enough from what she'd seen of him...and she couldn't help but shake the feeling that Asuka would be extremely unhappy if she tried to hurt him in any way.
"Kagura-sama...give me strength." Naraku muttered as she slowly began to head towards the roof of the school, her heart pounding at what revelations would be made clear to her. She just hoped that whatever it was, it would ultimately be not as bad as she was dreading it to be.
So originally, I was actually going to have Katsuragi win this fight. However, what I realized is that if I had either of these girls win, it'd...skew things. Basically, it'd just end with either school losing and the result of that is the school getting burned to the ground. That...huh, does that count as a spoiler for the next chapter? Eeeeeh, it's fine I guess. I like to think I did this fight pretty well, tell me what you think! I'm looking forward to the next chapter, as that is the chapter I've been looking forward to writing for you all the most. See you next time!