A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Guardian of the tailed beasts. The final fights are now starting up, so we have quite a bit of action to go through. Also, concerning the review by on last chapter's omake, please bear with the little rebuke in the following little editor's note. Nothing serious, but you know….still. Anyways, let's get on to the chapter without further ado.
E/N: before we start… ! I will NOT HAVE IT! I stand accused by this scoundrel (heavy pun intended), of imbibing in swill and herbal intoxicants for the purpose of writing the previous chapter's omake! YOU DARE to think such abominations would be needed to write such comedy?! I REBUKE THEE!...(snigger) I can't do that with a straight face. Okay, starters I'm not mad just amused. It was pretty out there and I don't blame him for presuming such substances were involved. I also have no problem with alcohol or marijuana even if I don't personally use it. I could try alcohol at any time. There is a bottle of whiskey in my house sitting on a table downstairs and the city I live in just recently (as in within the last year) got a store that exclusively sells marijuana edibles, so I could try it at any time. Nah, the only thing that the omake could have been written on was sleep deprivation, sugar, caffeine, or some combination of the above up to and including all three at once.
CHAPTER 33: ARRIVAL OF THE SPRING (part-1)The chaos of the coup had masked a presence from all observers.
Those from Snow would be hard pressed to notice this presence in the best of circumstances.
After all, her power was the reason behind the origin of the name 'Land of Snow' and 'Land of Winter' before that one.
She appeared human, but she had walked the earth long before humanity did. Though her physical body had died long ago, her spirit refused to rest until she was certain the land that was hers to protect was safe.
She wore soft blue and white robes, which when paired with her pale skin and jet-black hair, gave an ethereal feel to her even when she was trying to pretend to be human.
Her human guise fell apart on close inspection, mostly due to how the individual had thrown the guise together to be as close to her natural appearance to be less draining of her limited reserves and to fool observers from a distance.
Up close, her body looked as though it was made from snow and ice.
Many of her problems could be solved by simply reincarnating, creating a new permanent body unlike her and her kin's murderers who reincarnated by forcing a seal on others that gradually overwrote the host into being merely a copy of the bastard that placed the seal, now with their host body's power and capabilities added to their own.
However, the process would expose the icy woman to the Ennui, the boredom with living in general, resulting from having lived such a long existence. Her few meetings with the Goddess of Time had shown that even immortals could go into nihilistic despair from living far too long, though that was a special case due to her duties requiring her to be isolated for unreasonably large amounts of time.
It seemed that Otsutsukis (at least from before the clan had become planet leeching parasites) and humans weren't that different, social creatures that required social interaction regularly to preserve their mind.
The icy woman left behind that thought and turned her sight to the battle below. Her awakening had been prompted by sensing three members of her bloodline within Snow, made perceivable by usage of true Ice Release. Humans blessed with not only the power to create, control, and manipulate ice, but to tap into powers that defied reason like the ancient herself did through the ice and snow their powers created.
She had believed that the death of the last Yuki-Onna 50 years ago, combined with the persecutions and purges of those with powerful bloodline borne abilities that have always existed in some capacity (Yagura was merely a systematized intensification of what had always occurred, someone who took advantage of the illness to take the symptoms from bad to worse), had ensured that her bloodline and by extension true Ice Release would die out.
And then three usages of Ice Release from three separate individuals within Snow had caught her attention.
It gave the icy woman hope that her gift to man wouldn't die out, that her descendants would survive and thrive.
Her hopes were increased upon sensing the reincarnation of Asura, as well as the hosts of Kurama and Saiken.
Her hopes made her look outside of Snow, and she found two more with Ice Release born of her blood.
The future was uncertain even if things were favourable right now. Especially as she sensed her siblings rousing from their own slumbers brought on by refusal to pass on until the world and their former dominions were safe from the Otsutsuki Clan, with Umihebi (sea snake, how creative when he looked like big aquatic serpentine dragon and went around proclaiming himself the Sea Lord Leviathan. And that was from someone who originally looked like a snowfield she-wolf and called herself Hyoumi which was just Ice Wolf until the first humans had intrigued her enough to abandon her original form for a body that could walk among them without having everyone shit themselves with either fear or reverence) having created a contract to allow himself to take a supportive role despite being little more than a spirit that refused to die.
'Hmm…Kurama…If you are willing to fight for humanity now, then maybe things have begun to change for the better…show me how far you are willing to fight for this new future.'
-x-
The Hotaru-Koyuki rescue squad watched as the gigantic airship came crashing down and exploded into flames.
However, with Kahyo's cautionary words they were prepared to face off their enemies, having little doubt that due to their special armours, many would have survived the crash.
And soon enough their suspicions came true when sharp tendrils of ice burst through the wreckage and burst a way open. Several soldiers emerged from it. Many had wounds on them but they were alive and in fighting condition.
And then emerged the two tall middle-aged adults.
Koyuki trembled upon seeing them.
"My dear niece." One of those adults spoke with a devilish grin which began pissing Naruto off. "You are making me upset with the slights you visit upon me by running away from my hospitality. This is your home, you have absolutely no need to go anywhere." The man said in an almost conversationally pleasant tone that managed to stoke rage with how uncaring of how his actions affected others.
"Doto…you bastard." Koyuki snarled.
"My my, such rage. It seems that my hospitality wasn't enough to…subdue…that anger out of you and make you…less of an inconvenience." The man now identified as Doto spoke again before his gaze turned to Utakata.
"And you must have some guts for having dared sneaking into my country and castle. You failed your deal, yet you struggle to overturn the certainty for such a failure. Don't worry, I'll keep you alive until I have this little girl sold off. Haha." The daimyo of Snow laughed smugly.
"You really seem confident about your victory, aren't you?" Kahyo asked in a chilly tone.
"Ho, the same could be said for you, this is only a handful of my forces…I have at least fifty men here, hundreds more will follow, how long are you expecting to hold out against this level of disparity in manpower?" Doto taunted.
This didn't faze the squad at all, rather their looks hardened and they all took battle stances.
"It seems you still want to resist. Get them!" Doto shouted, any façade of civility vanished, and his soldiers rushed forward. Only for several of them to be frozen (figuratively and literally) in their tracks as Kahyo stepped forward with eyes hardened and trails of ice lurching out from the spot she stepped on.
Doto and Nadare raised their eyebrows at the skill of ice release being displayed before them. "Is that a Yuki?" Nadare questioned to himself in a low tone.
If that was true, then their ice release was never going to match hers. The Ice Release, or rather Ice Style, utilized by Yukigakure Ninja lacked the unique abilities that Ice Release, the real bloodline limit, possessed. And an encounter with a presumed Yuki assassin a few years ago had the Yukigakure Ninjas realize this weakness, when their own ice constructs were hijacked away to kill a useful pawn of Doto's.
(It should also be noted that 'Style' and 'Release' were interchangeable terms when it came to elemental techniques. However, inquisitive minds regarding the nature of elemental manipulations have begun to campaign for style being used for novice manipulation of one of the five element or learned affinity for an advanced element that requires a bloodline to tap into the full potential of. Any usage of a Bloodline Selection was exempt from this labelling as successfully learning any technique belonging to a Bloodline Selection was a feat of raw skill.)
It took months to find a name to the assassin, Rahyo, but it was a hollow victory as the assassin vanished again.
Perhaps their only hope was to subdue her with sheer numbers, but that hope proved hollow as she tore her way through the forces of Yukigakure with little trouble.
The cannon fodder did marginally better against the Aburame and Inazuka, to the point that several Yukigakure commanders shook their heads in disappointment.
It is worth mentioning that Kiba was utilizing a new addition to his Inazuma Hiden skillset, Earth Release. Weak mitigating factor, as the soldiers were still getting their collective asses kicked by a group comprised primarily of twelve-to-thirteen-year-old children.
And that was without the whole group fighting.
Naruto, Hinata, Shino and Utakata were standing guard before Hotaru and Koyuki.
Seeing that their soldiers were not making any headway, Nadare stepped forward and went through some hand signs. "Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm!"
From the snowy mountain that the skirmish was taking place on emerged a huge cluster of ice needles with sharp wings and those began attacking the group. Hinata defended herself and her comrades with the vacuum palm as much as she could, but all of them took hits and were bloodied.
The attack also stole away momentum from Kiba and Akamaru's continuous fang over fang assaults on the Snow forces.
"It's pity that the insufferable Hatake Kakashi isn't here. It would have been such a pleasure to kill him with my own hands." Nadare spoke in a mocking tone.
"You really think that you can take on Kakashi-sensei and win!? Don't make us laugh!" Naruto challenged.
"Sensei huh? Oh well. It seems that Kakashi's students made their way here. Perhaps if I take you hostage, he might come running to rescue you. If he is a man that is, not the coward that ran away from me and our fight." Nadare mocked again.
No one bothered trying to correct Nadare's taunt. Everyone was tired of having to give the 'ninja are about the mission rather than x' lecture.
"I guess he can only speak big." Naruto added and Hinata even nodded to that.
"You insolent brat…seems Kakashi passed on that wit if nothing else. Let's see how well you stack up!" Nadare shouted and went through hand-signs again. "Ice release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger!" Doto's general slammed his hand on the ground and then a tiger made up of ice emerged from it and rushed towards the group.
"Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto made at least fifty copies of himself and the clones all went through different hand-signs.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" yelled half of the clones.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball jutsu!" yelled the original and the remaining half of the clones, which resulted in a massive wind enhanced fireball descended upon Nadare's ice tiger. The two techniques collided and filled the area with thick steam that obscured the area due to conditions, which was obviously not a problem for Hinata's eyes.
"To our 7 o'clock!" She warned her boyfriend and the couple took position in time to intercept Nadare who was trying to kick Naruto. Naruto jumped back and gave a quick round-house kick in return, while Hinata jumped up and delivered a quick set of jyuuken strikes on the armour, aimed precisely at the weak spots which led to cracks forming on the armour.
Once the steam had dissipated and condensed due to the ambient temperatures, Naruto didn't waste any time in activating three of the inner gates, while Hinata stood with a firm jyuuken stance.
"You brats really think you can defeat me!?" The yukigakure general yelled in frustration.
"You should have figured out that your armour is useless against taijutsu y'know." Naruto said with a foxy grin.
"Let's do this Hime." He said turning to his lavender eyed girlfriend, who nodded with a small smirk of hers.
"Ready when you are, dear."
And the two dashed forward immediately.
These two had been dealing with one Jonin class threat after another for the last month. Kisame, Kakuzu, Raiga, Sogeki.
What was Nadare Roga compared to that? Answer, a guy way too reliant on the capabilities of chakra armour and the Yukigakure Ice Style, with little training in Taijutsu.
The lovely couple didn't even have to resort to the Rasengan to start gaining the upper hand.
"I can't even begin to guess how this old idiot thought he could kill Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned with an inquisitive look.
"Hai, he is quite overconfident." Hinata said in agreement.
And they didn't like overconfidence.
Meanwhile, after a coordinated assault of goken and jyuuken, Nadare's armour had mostly shattered to pieces as he had fallen to the ground.
Panting, he got up with some struggle.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata had readied the combo attack they had worked when they had faced Sogeki, the Spiralling Lightning Drill.
The two rushed forward immediately and slammed the attack right into Nadare's chest pushing him backwards.
Surprisingly though, the tattered armour still held together.
"Ha ha…this armour. Even Kakashi's lightning cutter couldn't cut through it!" Nadare taunted as he began going through some hand seals.
"Really? Then how about this?" Naruto asked before seemingly vanishing and appearing behind Nadare, and proceeded to spin and deliver a low kick.
Nadare was forced to block it, but that was only a distraction for the high kick that followed which hit him straight in his jaw, breaking it completely.
During their travel to the Snow before getting on the boat, Gai had been training Naruto the leaf whirlwind and leaf great whirlwind, while he had also trained Hinata in the basics of the inner gates. Hinata hadn't advanced to a point to being able to open gates on command but thanks to that training, the midnight blue-haired girl had already become quite fast in her own right.
Naruto with the 'leaf whirlwind' had thrown Nadare straight towards Hinata, who didn't waste a second in jumping forward.
"8 trigrams 32 palms!" She delivered another series of precise hits at each of the visible weak points of the chakra armour, which cracked it even more. Hinata ended her attack by slamming a Rasengan which she formed at the end of the 32 palms combo.
The Rasengan was aimed at the weakest point in the armour and was a direct hit.
That shattered the armour and tossed Nadare towards Naruto who was ready and jumped up and spun vertically. He slammed his foot onto Nadare's head, accurately performing the 'tree leaf drop' attack with enough force to shatter his opponent's skull.
An instant kill.
*THUD*
And Nadare's lifeless body hit the ground just as Naruto had landed, Hinata rushed to him immediately to check if he was alright or not.
She found him to be totally spaced out, looking at the lifeless body of his opponent.
"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" She asked in concern, understanding that it might be his first kill.
To be precise, this was Naruto's second kill. He had his first blood when he killed an Oto-nin to save Choji, but that was in the middle of the invasion and he was in a rush to find Hinata and then followed after the sand siblings and had not paid attention to what had happened to that ninja, only taking a look at Choji to make sure he was okay before he rushed off.
This time he was aware of what he had done.
"I…just killed someone, Hinata-chan." The blonde said in a low tone.
'This may not be much, but the path you have chosen to take, the path to the Hokage's seat, you will have to face such situations. We are ninja and killing is a part of our profession. As you progress further, you will have face enemies whom you might have to kill, otherwise they will not hesitate in taking your life, or worse the lives of your dear ones like Hinata-chan. So, hold yourself together. You didn't make any mistake. If you hadn't killed him, he might have killed the two you are protecting. You protected the Kazahana princess and Hotaru by killing your enemy. While it is in no way something to celebrate, if your kills are for protecting someone innocent, then you are doing nothing wrong my son. So don't worry.' Minato reassured from the mindscape.
'I can understand that, Dad. But I was not even thinking about that when I crushed his skull. I just…I just did it on the go. I didn't even think while dropping that kick that it might kill him.' Naruto responded in a worried tone, well responded mentally that is.
He found his mom getting to her knees and holding him by his shoulders.
'That might be, but when you were fighting, protecting Koyuki-san and Hotaru-san was your priority right? You were fighting to protect Hinata-chan and yourself and Hinata-chan was fighting for the same reason. So, you have not done anything wrong if you are fighting to save yourself and your loved ones. Okay?' The redheaded habanero reassured.
'I…thanks Mom…Dad.'
Meanwhile outside the mindscape, Hinata clasped her boyfriend's hand.
"It wasn't just you, Naruto-kun. I was here too…I killed him, together with you. I am just as much to blame."
"But, Hime…" Naruto tried to protest but Hinata put her index finger on his lips.
"I know, this is a feeling, I haven't gone through, but know this, I am with you in every situation…Okay?" She reassured with a smile and ruffled his hair.
All these reassurances definitely helped the blonde overcome this feeling of guilt out of killing a human.
The couple turned their attention on what they should attend to next.
*Meanwhile with the team from Ame*
The three genin; Oboro, Mubi and Kagari and their leader, the defector from Konoha, Aoi Rokusho had hidden themselves and watched the fights go on. They were waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Aoi had remembered the words from his leader, not only was the girl they were supposed to pick up from Snow present in the chaos, but there were also two jinchuuriki. Aoi grit his teeth in anticipation. The entire group was engaged in one fight or another and there were seemingly more Yukigakure reinforcements on the way.
"Looks like the fox and that girl with him are exhausted. Attack them." He ordered his underlings.
Kagari went through hand-signs.
"Water Release: Black Rain!" He released a black cloud and began hovering it towards Naruto and Hinata, intent upon making the flammable oil rain upon them and then attacking them with fire jutsus.
Meanwhile, Oboro had already cast his 'Sly Mind Affect technique' to confuse the two about their sense of direction.
Unfortunately for them though, they had failed to take into account that Hinata had a very strong Byakugan and Naruto was a perfect jinchuuriki, or at least had the bond of one if not the capabilities. Such simple tricks were simply not going to work.
Hinata had already noticed Oboro's genjutsu being cast and had hence warned her boyfriend. The two had already dispelled the genjutsu long before it could even begin to take hold on them. Not only that, the Ame group was discovered.
"I definitely sense four more hostiles hidden at 8 o'clock." Naruto whispered to Hinata as the two tackled a Yuki soldier and knocked him out.
"Agreed, four hostiles. Three genin and one either chunin or jonin. I think I know who the three genin are." Hinata whispered back.
"I know right?" Naruto said intrigued. "It also seems to me that their negative emotions seem familiar somewhat, shouldn't we check them out?" He asked his girlfriend with a foxy grin.
Hinata smiled, borderline smirking. "Why not, my Dear?"
With that, the two subtly made their way through the attacking Yuki soldiers, who were being slaughtered by Kahyo, Kiba, and Shino while many more were being brutally converted into sacks of broken bones by Gai about two hundred feet away.
As soon as they were close enough, Naruto didn't waste a second.
"Wind Release: Wind Prison!" He slammed his palm on the ground having gone through the required hand-signs.
Only Aoi was able to somewhat dodge, having stepped back by two steps by mere coincidence when he was completely taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of a dome of violently swirling wind that engulfed his three students.
The three Ame genin were taken by surprise as well. And in vain tried to scratch or force their way through the dome of wind. They were only good with water and earth, which was useless in their current situation.
In a matter of minutes, the futile struggle of the three genin came to an end and they all collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
Aoi watched on dumbfounded as the two genin he had instructed his students to target emerged from behind a pile of snow.
"Hmm…these weird looking costumes and masks. I know I have seen these weirdos somewhere. Oh right, these are those idiots from Ame who tried to sneak up on us during the Chunin exams. That one definitely had a habit of calling me an idiot." Naruto stated, rubbing the back of his head, with a quizzical expression, pointing at Oboro.
"Why would they be here?" Hinata asked, confused.
Then their glance fell on Aoi who was watching the two with a dumbfounded look.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked while he and Hinata blinked their eyes quizzically.
"Bastard FOX!" Aoi screamed in rage and took the sword out from his back, making it crackle with lightning chakra.
The words 'bastard fox' definitely irked Naruto and more so Hinata, whose eyes hardened with veins around them bulging immediately. Rage on Hinata's part might have encouraged darker thinking for getting retribution.
That rage was forgotten with what came next.
The couple was startled by the yellow glowing blade with crackling lightning chakra in the hands of this Ame ninja before them.
'This looks like the legendary Raijin no Ken; Blade of the Thunder God, a sword of the Nidaime. What is this doing in the hands of an Ame ninja?' Minato questioned from the mindscape.
'What the hell!? The second Hokage's sword!' Naruto thought/said in the mindscape.
"I will make you pay, fox! See this! This is the Raijin Sword! The legendary sword of the second Hokage! I will cut off your head with this!" Aoi challenged with a devilish smirk and clear signs of being drunk on power.
Naruto and Hinata took their fighting stances. When was fighting much stronger enemies going to stop for them? It was like the universe had it out for them at this point.
The couple wondered and came up with an answer mentally. Never. The two mentally sighed.
Aoi dashed forward to attack the couple but before he could do so, a bubble floated towards him and exploded before he could cut it with the blade, pushing the Ame jonin back by a few feet and giving him some burns.
"Utakata!?" Naruto asked aloud upon seeing the Rokubi jinchuuriki walking up towards them.
The dark-haired man sighed.
"You two did save me from being captured by that mysterious ninja, so I do owe you one. And then some more for helping me save Hotaru. So, let me handle this one, besides I feel like stretching my hands a bit. So, mind watching over Hotaru and Koyuki-san for the time being?" Utakata asked with a small smile.
"Of course! We can definitely use a little break off fighting jonins!" Naruto grinned.
Utakata nodded before jumping and placing himself between our favourite couple and Aoi.
Naruto and Hinata left immediately.
Aoi glared at Utakata. This man definitely matched the description of the Rokubi jinchuuriki. He was also in the list of those the Leader wanted captured. But he looked like a whole different beast, compared to the two tired genin standing before him until moments ago. The traitor from Konoha wasn't sure if he could take on Utakata all by himself.
And the killing intent this man had started letting off made him gulp. He knew he might not escape alive he fought this man. But he also knew that if he ran, the Leader or the Angel would get angry for him returning empty handed after running away like the coward that he was.
And that would definitely get him killed or worse.
Never underestimate the creativity of punishments from someone who called himself 'Pain.'
Aoi found himself between a rock and a hard place. Perhaps if he fought this guy before him for a while and managed to keep himself alive then he could run and convince the Leader that Utakata was simply too strong for him.
Aoi gulped again but prepped himself to fight the opponent before him who stood with a calm aura having taken out a simple bubble pipe in his hand.
The two nin stood at odds.
One had everything he had built for himself on the line, the other had his future on the line.
They were quite similar in that regard even if how they had built their lives up had differed vastly.
One would stand, one would fall.
Aoi lunged and slashed at Utakata.
Hope briefly filled the Konoha Traitor.
That hope died an ugly death when Utakata managed to block the slash with his pipe.
"What the? How?" Aoi gasped as Utakata allowed him to retreat.
Utakata smirked "It's quite simple really: The Raijin Sword might be legendarily forged from lightning from a great tempest striking steel in the forging process, but it is still a sword coated in the electricity that it makes. A bubble pipe used for the bubble style is specially made to be as strong as steel, and mine was made to resist corrosion from my partner's acidic chakra."
Aoi was caught off guard as Utakata went from lecturing to tossing the traitor a fair distance away.
Utakata didn't try to close the gap, instead he began utilizing his pipe and blew out a volley of clear coloured bubbles.
Aoi sneered, ignored the bubbles, and quickly cleared the gap to go in for a combo of slashes.
Utakata parried each one with ease but he was knocked slightly off balance by the last one.
Aoi smirked: "Raijingeki!" and he stabbed forward as the Raijin glowed bright and seemed to extend in a bolt of lightning.
Utakata didn't even try to block.
Instead, he decided to do something else.
Utakata pulled back a distance from Aoi before he proceeded to blow out more bubbles, these were filled with something that made the bubbles appear almost filled with a black substance.
Aoi paid it no mind as he stabbed forward, the electricity coating the Raijin Sword lurching forward into a sharp pointed blade.
It cut through the bubbles, or rather pierced through, and the result was the black bubbles exploding violently.
The distance between Utakata and Aoi was now covered in craters where the black bubbles exploded.
Aoi was dumbfounded: "How could bubbles have that much power?"
"Impressive, isn't it? This is the final technique my sensei taught me. Water Release: Ink Bubble Explosion. A powerful technique that when used on an opponent will inflict terrible damage and ensure that there will be no need to hide a body." Utakata informed almost pleasantly.
Aoi would have been a fool to not see the venom hidden in there.
Aoi growled and prepared to rush Utakata again, but the Jinchuriki held up a hand: "Before you do that, I feel the need to ask you to look around closely."
Aoi blinked and looked at the surrounding, and noticed the clear bubbles that Utakata had blown out at the start of the fight.
"I should inform you that while Clear Bubbles have less explosive power than Ink Bubbles, but are still powerful enough to put a grown man on his back. Think carefully."
Aoi growled and disregarded the warning and slashed through a handful of bubbles.
The explosive force released was more like a sudden burst of wind than what the Ink bubbles released, but Aoi managed to keep standing in spite of the force being thrown at him.
Utakata smirked. "I think this will be over soon. Just need the proper set up."
Aoi felt a blood vessel pop out with how angry he became. This bastard wasn't taking him seriously. 'He's just like those Nara bastards in Konoha, always planning and scheming. All the plans in the world crumble before overwhelming strength. Die!'
Aoi rushed Utakata quickly and the Jinchuriki seemed a bit surprised: "Oh…this is new. Anger and desperation? It's the only explanation for this sudden improvement. And it will make my strategy all the easier to implement."
Utakata used Aoi's unrelenting momentum to trip the Konoha traitor and send him face first into the snow before blowing out additional bubbles.
Aoi got up to see Utakata had put some distance between them, which he made to clear.
Utakata made a simple hand sign: "Water Release: Bubble Explosion."
The clear bubbles turn yellow and exploded, spreading smoke everywhere.
Aoi realized what Utakata was setting up.
The perfect area for Kiri's infamous Silent Killing Technique.
He could see shapes rush through the cover.
Utakata had created clones.
Aoi focused and managed to avoid a projectile from a midrange in the smokescreen as a clone charged him.
It was very obviously a clone, Utakata fought cautiously and indirectly, at least in this instance. A sudden change in fighting style meant something was very different now.
Aoi tossed a kunai at the clone firing bubble projectiles before executing a careful slash to kill the presumed bubble clone without triggering the bubbles that made it up to explode.
Aoi felt his lungs burn as he dodged yet another bubble.
He had managed to keep up with Utakata for the most part.
But then the cold realization set in that Utakata wasn't using the full power at his disposal. No Biju nor acid release techniques.
The only reason Utakata even had trouble was because he was effectively playing down to Aoi's level.
Everything Aoi did was useless or rendered so ineffective that it might as well be useless.
Utakata was a monster, pure and simple.
"If that is all you got then you might as well save me the trouble and kill yourself." Utakata uttered darkly and out of character for him. "All I see is a pathetic weasel who thought a tool made one strong. An old adage I heard from a traveler who was downright mad but had an air of antiquity to him told me that he heard in a faraway land that: 'A sword has no strength unless the hand that wields it has courage.' Quite proper don't you think? You may be able to destroy those who can't stand for themselves, but you will never stand a chance against someone willing to actually try to fight back, coward."
Aoi knew he was pretty much done for.
His chakra was being eaten by the sword, almost making him wonder if it had a mind and it was agreeing with Utakata and trying to speed this fight along.
Utakata was barely winded.
The cold was beginning to seep into Aoi's bones even though his current gear was proper winter gear.
Utakata wore only his Yukata robe and pants, and yet showed no signs of the cold affecting him.
Utakata moved like a predator about to end the hunt.
Aoi struggled to not end up as the prey.
"No…This isn't how it will end! I sacrificed too much for this power…You Jinchuuriki have your souls sacrificed to give you the power of Biju…shouldn't other people be able to do the same without selling themselves to demons? I refuse to run here. I was given orders and I will see them achieved."
Utakata raised an eyebrow: "Interesting conviction from a man who betrayed his home."
Aoi chuckled harshly: "Yeah…perhaps. Konoha threw away too much. The Will of Fire is garbage and we threw away other useful principals for something so worthless. Madara was right. Konoha had the power to reign over all the villages of the nations…and Hashirama ruined it. I'm merely following the path laid out by the wise man who came before me."
Utakata spoke but Aoi couldn't hear it.
His vision was fading.
His hearing quieting.
He couldn't taste copper in his mouth from the blood.
Nor smell the stink of death.
Couldn't even feel the sword he threw away his life in Konoha to steal.
Aoi begged the heavens for this to not be the end.
For him to still be able to contribute to Pain's plan.
The heavens answered in a strange way.
Aoi had seen death stare him straight in the face so many times he had lost count.
He usually ran, not use the chance to really test himself.
But here and now he knew he couldn't flee without invoking someone's wrath
The only difference this time was the fact that the coward had decided to stand his ground.
Pitch black storm clouds had been stewing over the Land of Snow ever since the battle had started, but now the eye of the storm standing directly above them.
Sinister red lightning began surging between clouds.
Utakata almost ignored it and killed Aoi before the sudden storm finally grabbed his attention with a thunder crack.
"W-what?" Utakata gasped out. "How is this possible, it looked nothing like this even a few moments ago. This storm, why does it unnerve me so. I've seen thousands of storms, both natural and ones kicked up by battles of ninjutsu, so what is different about this one?"
A flash of lightning cracked and Utakata had an answer thanks to the red colour. The Raijin had begun glowing the same colour as well.
Aoi grinned as he raised his sword high, intending to slice Utakata through.
He paused for a moment at how Utakata's expression changed from confused to deathly serious in seconds, and was unable to react in the slightest as Utakata blurred from how fast he moved.
Utakata was only a perceivable image again when he was in front of Aoi.
With a kunai in hand. One that Aoi recognized as the one he tossed at Utakata's clone.
Utakata slashed three times with the blade. None of them were deep enough to cause pain.
Aoi only realized what was happening after Utakata pulled something off of him.
Aoi's flak jacket and tool pouch respectively!
A kick to Aoi's hand sent the Raijin from his grasp, ending the surging red lightning strike dancing in the clouds and the Raijin's own red glow.
Another kick sent Aoi rolling onto his back into a slimy substance.
Aoi tried to get up only to find himself restricted by the sticky slime.
"What the hell? When did this get here?" Aoi demanded in panic.
Utakata answered as he picked up the dormant Raijin sword: "The bubble clone that rushed you want laden with any of my explosive bubbles. It was trapped with Soap Bubble Slime. I removed your weapons to ensure you cannot escape the fate I have in mind for you. A coward, and not to mention a traitor, is someone deserving of only one fate: an unremarkable death."
"No one will remember you. Your death will not be spoken of in reverence or in song. Your place of death will be an unmarked grave in the middle of a snow-covered island. Your cause of death will be suffocation via death by drowning on dry land despite being a fair distance from water. I stopped your desperation attack because it seemed to be calling out to some force of nature…like an ancient thunder god. Something to give your death notability which I refuse to allow. I stripped you of your tools to ensure you will not be able to pierce the bubble and call for help or survive long enough to be rescued before you are buried by the snow. Farewell, Rokusho Aoi. Water Release: Drowning Bubble."
Aoi panicked as a water filled bubble floated down to his head and encased him.
Utakata walked away as Aoi drowned.
The Rokubi Jinchuriki had other things to do…
…and he wanted the bastard to die alone and afraid as well.
End Chapter
E/N: the move Aoi used at the start, 'Raijingeki,' should be familiar to Mega Man X fans. Most of the X games have electrical bosses and the ones that allow you to play as Zero, X's melee swordsman counterpart to his rapid-fire gunner, has him learn sword techniques by killing bosses instead if gaining new weapons. Sword techniques that when performed executed usually mimicked the element of whatever boss gave him the technique unless it was meant to upgrade Zero's overall moveset. Raijingeki is also known as the Thunder Stab, first given by defeating the boss Web Spider (electric webs, and unable to be hit with Zero's version of his weakness). Towards the end, Aoi was supposed to pull off the Raikoken technique of Sarutobi Sasuke from Samurai Deeper Kyo…which was supposed to force Utakata to fight him in version two and end the fight with a Bijudama. I was responsible for writing this fight scene and I just couldn't hack it…sorry to any of you who would have like that scene. That's all from me. RaNK?
A/N: Nothing to add here, GBA covered pretty much everything. I hope you all liked the action sequences. The following chapter will conclude the fights and then for the next two chapters, we will remain in Yukigakure as we wrap this fun little arc up and move on to the next one as we return to Konoha. That's all for today. Thank you very much for the continued love and support. And what else? See ya all in the next chapter, I guess. (Hehe). RaNK001 and GBAboy313 out.