Hinata: Byakurenden
Seven Samurai Minus One
The white lotus of the Nichiren Byakugan bloomed in the center of Hinata's pupils.
The fact that she could still use this power meant that Kali was doing her part, the shade on Hinata's back remaining completely still so she could gather the natural energy of the world, before molding it and merging that energy with Hinata's chakra.
Despite the fight that they had, Kali hadn't forsaken her duty and was willing to help Hinata in this fight. Something about that simple fact filled Hinata with comfort. She had been secretly dreading the next time she would need to use these eyes, wondering if Kali would actually help her when the time came.
It had been a pointless fear, and now Hinata felt guilty for harboring those doubts about the transmigrant. She decided that after this fight was over, once she had a calm moment to meditate, she would return to the interstate and apologize to Kali. It wasn't that she believed the path she chose was wrong, but she didn't want to keep things between them as they were.
Before that, was indeed this fight. The Gokage Summit had fallen to pieces, quite literally as Deidara and Kakuzu unleashed powerful blasts that destroyed the samurai fortress located in the valley between the Sanro.
Using the enhanced vision of her Nichiren Byakugan, Hinata followed the Samurai who had retreated into a wide underground hallway. It seemed to be an escape route of some sort, not that the Samurai had any intention of doing so. No, they had simply taken shelter down in the hall, using it as a type of bunker.
Hinata wasn't alone; Tayuya, Ei, Darui, and Shee all followed after her. They were still outnumbered six to five, but if Hinata could shatter the swords quickly, it should be easy for them to turn the tides of battle.
It was a strange thought to her; Fighting along with the Kumonin to shatter the Seven Swords.
On her third birthday, it was the people of this village that attempted to kidnap her. It was their failure that eventually led to the death of her uncle. Now they were her allies, people she had to defend and trust her back to. It wasn't just that, but their target was something she never thought she would get involved with again.
Two years ago, she had killed Samehada, permanently reducing the number of mystical swords from seven down to six. That hadn't been her intent at the time. She had just been desperate to survive the battle between two S-rank Nukenin that she and her team had gotten caught in the middle of. Now, she was tasked with breaking the other six.
Doing so, brought her face to face with one of the samurai. It was the tall man with thick eyebrows, wielding Hiramekarei. It was wrapped in bandages, just like Samehada had originally been, its shape odd, almost like that of a flounder or some other type of fish. The large man held it in front of himself, wielding it with both handles. Just behind him was one of the armored Samurai, holding Shibuki, a large sword with a scroll attached to it.
Tayuya faced the other unmasked Samurai. He was the bald man with the dragon tattoo, wielding Nuibari; A needle-like sword with a long wire attached to the end.
Ei stared down Mifune. A battle between the Raikage of Kumogakure and the Shogun of the Land of Iron. Mifune wielded Kiba, two swords charged with electricity, not entirely unlike the same energy that currently engulfed Ei's own body, looking akin to Lightning Armor.
This left Darui and Shee to stand against the remaining two armored Samurai, both of them wielding their own mystical blades. The one that came forward held Kubikiribocho, the sword in the shape of a large butcher knife. The one in the rear wielded Kabutowari, a hammer and ax linked together by a chain.
"So it's come to a battle, after all." Mifune stroked his beard, eyes shifting between the Ninja that had come after him and his Samurai. "We had been hoping that you would understand reason. Amaterasu-sama is the light that guides the world, and all should feel honored to serve as her vassals."
"There's no honor in bowing your head to false prophets!" Ei yelled, pulling off his ceremonial Raikage robes to reveal his large muscular physique. He took a step forward, but Mifune didn't even really seem to be paying attention to him. Instead, he had already shifted focus to Hinata.
"The White Lotus." He acknowledged her. "In truth, we also desired to test ourselves against you, the one that robbed us of having all seven of the mystical ninja blades. These were treasures long coveted by us Samurai, who wield swords. They never should have belonged to ninja in the first place, those who only wield poison and fight in the shadows."
"She's not the only one you're fighting here!" Tayuya held up her arm, as if creating a bar between Hinata and the Samurai. "Don't think we came here just to watch, we also have our confidence in being able to break the swords." This was the first Hinata had heard about it. Did Tayuya actually have confidence in her ability to break one of the mystical artifacts, or was it all just bluster?
"The young lady is right." Darui held up his own broadsword, the power of lightning chakra flowing through it. "Sorry to say, but it would be a rather dull fight if you were to underestimate the rest of us like that."
"Our apologies." The bald Samurai in front of Tayuya said, pointing Nuibari directly at her. "I shall strike you down first, of course. On my name as Okisuke."
"And I shall be the one to take your head, White Lotus." The tall man wielding Hiramekarei stepped forward, bowing to her slightly. "My name is Urakaku. Don't think little of me and my companion for coming at you two on one. We cannot afford to take any chances with the person that already destroyed one sword." As he spoke, the nameless Samurai who held Shibuki came to stand by his side.
"There is no need to name ourselves!" Ei interrupted any further introductions. "This isn't one of your honorable Samurai duels! This is war!" He was the first to move, transforming into a bolt of lightning almost too quickly to track with the eyes. There was a clap of thunder and a powerful boom.
That served as the signal for their battle to begin.
Despite having moved without warning and too quickly to possibly predict, Mifune had drawn the twin lightning blades even faster, using the legendary quickdraw technique of the Samurai, Iaijutsu. The lightning swords, Kiba, and Ei's vambraces colliding into one another was what had caused the loud boom, the concrete ground beneath Mifune's feet shattering. Bolts of lightning ricocheted off their clash, whipping like snapped cords at anyone dumb enough to remain near them.
The other Samurai had all jumped away, putting distance between themselves and the generated lightning. As they moved to get out of the way, the ninja all jumped to pursue them. Darui and Shee, long used to the brashness of their leader, the Raikage, had been a step ahead of Hinata and Tayuya, who weren't accustomed to his way of doing things yet.
"Raiton: Lightning Illusion Flash!" Shee held up the rear, flying through a series of hand signs before casting a genjutsu. To the Samurai wielding Kubikiribocho, it was like a flashbang went off, robbing him of his eyesight and disorienting him. In such a state, it was impossible for him to predict where the attack would come from.
Yet his battle skills, forged from years of training in the harsh environment of the Land of Iron, allowed him to react in time anyway. He held up the large blade, placing it between himself and Darui, who was swinging down his broadsword.
"Sorry, but I'll be taking the first blade for myself!" Darui proclaimed, predicting his ability to carve through the large butcher knife. And to everyone's surprise, his proclamation proved true, his nameless sword without any renown split Kubikiribocho right down the middle. It continued down, piercing the samurai's armor and only stopping halfway through the bone in his shoulder.
The man collapsed, blood gushing from the wound and staining his silver armor in a deep red. Still blind, he didn't even know what was happening, taken out from the battle in the very first move.
"Excellent work, Darui, Shee!" The Raikage laughed, pressing the advantage by continuing to slam his large vambraces into Mifune's lightning blades. The two danced around the hall, moving deeper and deeper as they traded blows, equal in both speed and strength in spite of the difference in size. "That's what you Samurai get for underestimating the ninja of Kumogakure!" He boasted.
"I wonder about that." Mifune concealed all emotion, not even commenting on the fact that they had lost another sword. The Swords that had once been seven were down to five.
Was it really that easy? Hinata felt like something was wrong here. If the swords could be cut in half by any old blade, how was it possible they had endured all these years? No, this was very much definitely not right. It couldn't possibly be that easy.
"Can you afford to be distracted?" Urakaku called, his pride as a Samurai not allowing him to attack an opponent that wasn't paying attention. She turned the vision of her Nichiren Byakugan back to him just in time, Hiramekarei covered in chakra, taking the shape of a giant mallet. He swung down, the mallet about to crush her entirely.
"Shugohakke!" Hinata waved her hands in front of herself, leaving a series of chakra streaks that spread out before her like a web. The chakra mallet and web collided, canceling one another out.
At the same time, the other armored samurai came running at her from behind, attempting to catch her off-guard. He underestimated the nearly three-hundred-sixty degree vision of the Byakugan and without even having to turn around, she dodged his wild swing.
Shibuki hit the ground where she had been standing, causing a massive explosion that would have split her into pieces. As he lifted the sword, the scroll attached to it unfurled slightly, revealing another row of explosive tags.
So that was how it was, Hinata realized. The Samurai had specifically come after her with swords that didn't need to strike at her directly. Hiramekarei could attack her with different chakra forms, and Shibuki with explosions. They likely didn't know how exactly she had killed Samehada, but they at least understood using a sword where she would have to come into contact with them directly was a bad idea.
This was going to be trickier than she originally thought.
Not to mention that it would be difficult to find an opening with two of them coming at her at once. If nothing else, it was clear that the Samurai knew exactly what they were doing, and underestimating them could prove fatal. Just because she broke one sword, didn't mean she could so easily do it to the others.
So then why? How had Darui been so easily able to cut through Kubikiribocho? She just couldn't get that thought out of her mind, the enhanced vision of her Byakugan once more going back to supposedly broken sword.
The wounded samurai's blood had pooled on the floor, some of that blood reaching the sword now. As if drinking that blood like a leech, Kubikiribocho had begun to absorb the red liquid, and as it took in more blood it began to repair itself. That meant Darui hadn't broken the sword at all, it had been designed to split that way.
Just as she thought, a simple blade of no known renown couldn't so easily shatter one of the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist, no matter how skilled the wielder. Yet Darui didn't have eyes in the back of his head, and couldn't see that the sword wasn't truly broken. Which meant he was charging right into the next samurai, emboldened by his falsely given sense of confidence.
"Please wai-" Hinata started to shout, but her words were cut off mid-sentence as Hiramekarei transformed again, turning into a long sword that easily crossed the distance between herself and Urakaku. She was forced to duck, and right after that attack passed over, the other samurai was on her with Shibuki again. There was no chance for her to pass the warning on.
And it was too late to do so anyway. Darui had reached the next Samurai, this time swinging in a horizontal chop. His broadsword met the ax of Kabutowari, the two blades halting in a stalemate.
"Seems your sword isn't as dull as the last one." Darui grunted, channeling more chakra into his blade. No matter how much chakra he poured in or how much he flexed his muscles, there was no cutting through the ax.
"Perhaps not, but yours is about to be." The samurai spoke, voice muffled through the respirator attached to his horned helmet. He swung the hammer, but not at Darui- No, he aimed at the anvil placed on the back of his own ax. With the added power of the hammer pushing the ax, a complete reversal of the last time happened.
Now it was Darui's blade that was sliced through, the ax carving it in half like it was nothing more than a thin tree trunk. The horizontal slash continued, nearly bisecting Darui at the waste. A fountain of blood burst from his guts, spraying the samurai relentlessly.
"Darui!" Shee and Ei yelled at the same time, barely able to believe their eyes.
It was unthinkable that Darui would fall in battle, his skill with the sword the top in the village. In addition to that, he had an elemental Kekkei Genkai and the Sandaime Raikage had passed down the secret of his black lightning jutsu. He was the type of man that Ei could one day see as taking the position over from him. To think he could fall here against some no name Samurai, it was unthinkable.
Yet it had happened, Darui deceived by how easily the first sword had been split. He never even thought to use his other abilities, believing his sword skills superior to those of the samurai. It wasn't arrogance, but ignorance of the true fear these swords inspired, that made the Seven Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist such a force to be reckoned with throughout history.
"Get away from him!" Ei disengaged with Mifune and crossed the gap to Darui, catching him just before he could fall. The samurai swung the ax, but Ei was already gone, bringing Darui next to Shee. "Heal him now!" He ordered, laying Darui across the floor, stomach facing up.
"At once!" Shee's hands were aglow in a green wash. He dropped to his knees, beginning to heal Darui's wound.
"I'm sorry, boss." Darui said, spitting out blood with the words. "Just leave me. You can't fight them and defend me at the same time." His voice was hoarse, threatening to fail him before he even finished speaking.
"Be quiet!" Ei reprimanded, already turning away from his subordinates to face the two samurai. "I won't let any of my comrades fall here. Not while I still have my pride as the Raikage." He stalked forward, the lightning armor increasing in size and strength.
"We would also lose our pride as Samurai if you thought you could take both of us at once." Mifune held the twin lightning blades at his sides, the samurai in armor next to him raising the ax and hammer.
In a flash, Ei was once again upon them. He struck with a wild haymaker, Mifune catching it with Kiba. At the same time, the other samurai swung the ax, and Ei was forced to block that with his other vambrace. As the samurai prepared to strike it with the hammer, he put some distance between them, but Mifune gave chase. One on one, they had been nearly equal, but now with another to aid him and Mifune had the advantage.
Hinata knew she had to hurry and turn the tides here. She had been hesitating on opening the gates and unleashing too much power while in an enclosed area for fear of interfering with the others and only causing more chaos in an already chaotic battle, but as things were going, they would only be more at a disadvantage the longer things went.
It was all up to her, as the only one who could break the swords.
"I thought you Samurai liked to fight up close?!" Tayuya dodged to the side, the needle-like sword, Nuibari, flying through the place she had just been. It was yanked back, pulled by the wire on the end.
"And expose myself to your fists again?" Okisuke caught the sword by the handle, glancing around at the numerous craters Tayuya had created just by striking the ground. "I think not." He said with a smirk.
He began spinning the sword, holding it by the wire, the needle looking more like a blurring fan. With a flick of the wrist, he lobbed the sword at Tayuya again with expert precision. She ducked low, the sword having almost skewered her through the eye.
Then it was yanked back once again, in the hands of Okisuke before Tayuya could do anything. Their fight had quickly dragged into this stalemate, a situation that was beneficial to the Samurai with their superior numbers.
"Two can play that game, asshole!" Tayuya stood tall, thrusting her chest out instead of dodging again. A single adamantine chain shot out from her torso. The chain snaked forward, colliding into the thrown needle-blade. The two became entangled in one another, the chain wrapping around the sword and binding tight.
"What are you hoping to accomplish?" Okisuke grunted, yanking at the wire to pull back Nuibari but unable to lodge it free. At the same time, Tayuya grabbed onto the chain sticking out of her abdomen and pulled back, their fight having devolved into a match of tug-of-war.
"Let's see which is more unbreakable!" Tayuya grinned with confidence. "Your stupid mystic sword or my Uzumaki adamantine chains!" She reeled the chain in, not pulling Nuibari towards her, but launching herself towards the sword.
The chakra chains were a type of sealing jutsu passed down the Uzumaki clan, only the women of the clan able to manifest them. They wouldn't break even if they were up against the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. In a way, they were a form of weapon of the same make and grade as the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist.
"You can't be serious-" Okisuke was cut off, Tayuya crossing the distance to the sword and swinging her fist. With the power of all three sealed Doki fueling her punch, she aimed not for the sword directly but her own chakra chains wrapped around it.
"Eat this!" She roared, putting all her might into the blow. The force of her punch combined with retracting the chains caused them to constrict on the sword even tighter, pulling so taunt that sparks flew from where they overlapped, a buzzsaw-like screech filling the air.
There was a moment where it seemed like nothing would happen, an unstoppable force crashing into an unmovable object. Then- there was a crack. Followed by another, then another. The straight needle-like shape of Nuibari began to bend and warp, until all at once-
It shattered.
"Impossible!" Okisuke shouted, single eye going wide. He couldn't believe it, according to their information, only the White Lotus had the ability to break the swords. Yet this girl he had never even heard of before now had just done it.
The swords really had been reduced from six to five.
"I told you not to underestimate me, didn't I!?" Tayuya pushed off the ground so hard that she left footprint sized craters behind. Okisuke still hadn't recovered from his shock by the time her fist drilled into his stomach. He flew backwards, slamming into the wall so hard that he sunk into it, his unconscious body just hanging suspended. All without ever coming to terms with what had happened.
"No way! Okisuke was beaten?" The armored samurai wielding Kabutowari shouted, breaking away from the fight between Mifune and Ei to take over. He charged right at Tayuya, raising the axe high and holding the hammer behind him in striking position.
"He lost because he didn't come at me with everything he had!" Tayuya spun on him, unleashing another chakra chain from her abdomen. The samurai dodged to the side at the last second, bringing the ax down on the chain.
"I won't make the same mistake then!" He brought the hammer down on top of it, shattering clear through Tayuya's adamantine chain.
"First Gate: Gate of Opening- Release!" Hinata couldn't wait any longer. With the number of active combatants reduced on both sides now, she could unleash the power of the gates without fear of causing too much confusion on the battlefield.
This was her one chance to take advantage of the enemy while they were also beginning to feel the pressure. With the added speed and power of a chakra gate flowing through her she dodged past both Shibuki's explosion and Hiramekarei's enhanced chakra hammer, and instead of aiming for either of them, followed the guiding line of the Nichiren Byakugan towards Kabutowari.
"When did you-" The samurai realized too late she was there, Hinata having moved too fast for him to see. He hadn't even lifted the hammer from the anvil of the ax when Hinata's finger struck. Just a single finger, hitting the natural tenketsu points on them both.
Kabutowari split into dozens of pieces, metal fragments scattering in all directions. The samurai stumbled backwards, right into Tayuya's fist. As Hinata had moved to shatter the sword, she had also jumped after him. Her punch dented his iron helmet, collapsing it in on the man's skull and killing him near instantly.
"Now then," Tayuya grinned, her and Hinata turning to Ukakaku and the samurai holding Shibuki. "Looks like it's down to just three and three." With Kabutowari shattered now too, there were only four swords left, but just the three samurai to wield them.
As they charged the two samurai in front of them, Ei continued to clash one on one with Mifune. His vambraces and the twin fangs of Kiba bounced off of one another, their combined electric waves generating roars of thunder with each clash. Again they were in a stalemate with one another.
"Hey, Shee…" Darui croaked out, his voice still hoarse.
"Raikage-sama told you to be quiet, didn't he?" Shee scolded, still focusing on his medical jutsu. Darui's external wound had already been sealed, but he wasn't out of danger yet. It had been a deep cut, nearly bisecting him. Such a wound couldn't be healed so quickly.
"Sorry, but I need you to do me a favor." Darui placed a hand on Shee's shoulder, trying and failing to hoist himself up with his own strength. "My body is feeling pretty dull, so could you help me up?"
"You'll die if I don't quit healing you!" Shee couldn't believe his ears. Was Darui actually trying to fight even after the grievous wound he received?
"Just a minute is fine, no- less than that." Darui smiled up at him, trying to force as much strength into the gesture as he could. "We can't let those Konoha Ninja steal all the glory. You think our boss could hold his head high if he just stalls his opponent long enough for them to come and finish the job for him?"
"You're nuts." Shee couldn't help but chuckle. "Yet you're not wrong. Alright, just for a moment. You better make it quick." He stopped his healing, and the pain immediately became so unbearable that Darui almost passed out. He held onto consciousness with all his might.
As Shee lifted him into a sitting position, Darui squinted through the pain. Things like clear shapes were difficult to make out, but he couldn't possibly mistake the lightning armor of his boss, the blue spark shining like a beacon.
"Show him the true strength of Kumogakure, boss." Darui slowly and deliberately formed the seals, channeling the secret technique passed down since ancient times. "Kuroi Kaminari!" He held out his hands, unleashing a bolt of jet-black lightning.
In his current condition, he couldn't possibly aim for the enemy and even if he could, his chakra wasn't stable enough to launch an attack with any real teeth. No, this attack had been aimed at the only thing he could even focus on.
Ei and Mifune both paused momentarily, the black lightning striking Ei. It didn't do any damage, but instead merged with his lightning armor, turning it from blue into black. A dreadful energy leaked off the transformed armor, the power not necessarily more powerful… but dangerous in its own right.
"Darui…" Ei's surprised expression transformed into a confident smirk. "As expected of my right hand!" He resumed the offensive, bringing his arm down in a strong chop. Mifune's Iaijutsu deflected the blow, not able to match Ei in pure strength, so instead using his speed to redirect all that power in a different direction.
"I can tell this black lightning is different." Mifune's other blade was a blur, aiming for the Raikage's vitals, but unable to pierce through the lightning armor, even with Kiba covered in a similar aura. "Foul in nature and perhaps more powerful, but all that power means nothing in the hands of a wild boar." He had nothing to worry about.
It was true that this Black Lighting was different from the Raikage's normal armor, but it changed nothing. It still couldn't shatter a mystical blade and Mifune's Iaijutsu was still faster-
"Don't be so sure about that!" Ei lunged forward with both hands forward, grabbing the twin lightning blades by the ends. Even with his normal lightning armor, he wouldn't risk taking the blades with his skin, having only struck at them with the vambraces until now. With Darui's power aiding him, he had nothing to fear.
"What are you plotting, Raikage!?" Mifune tried to pull the swords free, but there was no removing them from the massive hands of the Raikage. They should have sliced his fingers right off, yet the black lightning continued to protect him. "In that case…" Instead of trying to pull the swords free, he would just go right through.
He channeled his chakra into the swords, refining the lightning and making it sharper while pushing it into the Raikage's lightning armor. In conjuncture, Ei did the same thing, forcing the black lightning armor to try and envelop the swords.
Lightning of black and blue sparked and flew, wild tail-like bolts shredding the floor, walls, and ceiling around them. Both sought dominance over the other. Soon the encroaching, heavy weight of the black lightning began to suppress and cover the blue.
"I ask again, what are you attempting to do?" Mifune didn't see the point in this. Was he just going to extend the black lighting to Kiba too? That would only make his own attacks stronger, so why bother?
"Ninja don't just reveal their tricks, surprise is victory!" Ei growled, wincing through the pain. The blood vessels on his arms began bursting, body becoming increasingly covered in blood and wounds.
This was the curse of the black lightning. An ancient technique passed down since the days just after the Sage of the Six Paths. Only those chosen few could truly master this power, and to wield it without said mastery posed serious risks. Which was why he had to finish this quickly. If his hunch was right, however, the curse of this black lighting wouldn't just apply to humans… but tools as well.
He just had to endure long enough for that theory to prove true.
Kiba, the lightning twin blades, became completely enveloped in the black aura. The lighting around them crackled and continued to erupt violently. Blood oozed from the Raikage's chest, forehead, and arms now, the strength in his grip beginning to fail him.
Just as the fear of failure began to worm its way into the back of his brain, there was a strange hissing sound over the buzzing of electricity. Then smoke began pouring out from the gaps in the Raikage's fingers.
"T-This is…" Mifune couldn't find the words, the pristine, untainted metal of the mystical swords beginning to rust and crumble away, reduced to nothing more than a pile at their feet.
"Now there are only three swords left." Ei grinned through the pain and soreness, pushing himself forward and grabbing Mifune by the neck with both arms. He lifted the Shogun into the air, leaving his feet dangling off the ground. Before the samurai could so much as protest or utter any final words, Ei snapped his neck. Then let the corpse fall to the ground. He followed soon after, collapsing to his knees, the black lighting armor fading away.
"Even Mifune-sama-!" The Samurai with Shibuki cried out. Tayuya had already wrapped the sword in her chakra chains, but every time she did, the exploding tags detonated and knocked them loose.
"Don't lose heart! We can still win!" Urakaku grabbed the two handles of Hiramekarei and split the sword in half, ripping apart the bandages wrapped around it to reveal the true twin swords inside. The blades were awash in blue chakra.
"Tayuya-chan, can you hold them off for just a moment?" Hinata asked, already pressing the tenketsu on her head to open the next gate. "Second Gate: Gate of Healing- Release!" Chakra even greater than before erupted off her, swirling her Shrine Maiden Robes and lifting her dark-blue hair.
"Leave it to me!" Tayuya didn't even hesitate, charging forward to meet both samurai head-on. She once again released a burst of chakra chains as she ran, half of each set split between the two in front of her.
"Don't look down on us!" Urakaku swung the twin swords, releasing a barrage of chakra spikes. The other samurai slammed down Shibuki, the explosive tags detonating once again. Both attacks easily repelled her chakra chains. That was fine, for all she had needed to do was keep them distracted for that single attack. Hinata had already taken her stance, and the two samurai were within the range of her vision.
"Byakuren: Some no Mai - Yaezaki!" Hinata spun, performing the first dance of the white lotus. Her movements were too fast for the samurai to even see, a succession of eight blows striking both their swords right in the natural tenketsu points before they even realized what had happened.
And just like that, the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist were brought down to only one.
"N-No way…" Urakaku and the other Samurai fell to their knees, holding the broken remains of the swords in their hands. It seemed like all the will to live, let alone fight had been drained from them, their faces turning pale and lips quivering with wide eyes.
"Should we just put them out of their misery?" Tayuya asked, glaring down from over the samurai as if she was looking at worms. Hinata shook her head, not seeing the point. They had already lost the will to fight, both the swords gone and their leader dead. As they were, they posed no threat to them anymore and they had other things to worry about.
"For now, let's check on the others and then head above ground." Hinata said, already turning to make her way over to the three Kumonin. She had been monitoring the whole battle and had a good idea of what was going on already. With Darui's wound and the damage the Raikage had sustained from his own jutsu, it was unlikely they would be able to continue. Still, decorum dictated she at least ask.
As she began to make her way towards the Kumonin, however, she saw that the samurai Darui had previously wounded had stood back up. He held Kubikiribocho with his wounded arm, despite the fact that shouldn't have been possible with a severed shoulder bone.
"You've got guts, I'll give you that." Tayuya also noticed him now, taking up a position next to Hinata. "If you still wanna fight with that arm, we'll be your opponents." She didn't seem to think it was weird that he was standing. No, perhaps it wasn't.
The Samurai were well known throughout the world for their pride. With that alone, could this man have managed to get to his feet and hold the sword with a severed bone? No matter how impossible it seemed, that was the reality in front of them. And if he still had the will to fight, Hinata wouldn't hesitate to strike him down, for this was different from those who had already given up.
"Tayuya-chan, leave this one to me." Hinata took up the stance of the gentle fist that her clan was famous for. If this Samurai would put his pride on the line for battle, she would honor him.
"…You got it." Tayuya seemed to recognize that and took a step back. Just because they were ninja didn't mean they didn't have pride of their own. They would recognize this man's last stand. Hinata nodded in thanks before returning her attention to the standing samurai.
He was just as nondescript as all the others in armor. The samurai wore heavy, segmented silver plate armor that covered the shoulders, torso, and thighs. He also wore gauntlets, shin guards, and a helmet adorned with demon-like horns. The face mask he wore looked something like a respirator, his eyes glowing with a dull yellow light.
"If you will name yourself, now is the time." Hinata decided to grant him that final courtesy. The Raikage had cut the rest of them off earlier, but she wasn't as cold-hearted as to do that in this situation.
The nameless samurai didn't answer, instead lifting the heavy sword with only his single broken arm. In a feat that should have been impossible with his broken arm, he held the giant butcher knife over his head. Then brought the blade down, placing his helmeted head through the giant hole in the center. Before anyone else could even move, he swung the sword-
And chopped his own head clean off.
"What the fu-!?" Tayuya gasped, words failing her as the blood began to gush.
It sprayed from the samurai's head like a fountain, reaching several meters in the air before raining down around him. His silver armor was dyed a deep red, including the helmet that now laid at his feet. The head had bounced out when the helmet struck the floor, rolling out of sight.
"Seppuku?" Hinata wondered aloud. No, this didn't seem like that. She heard that the Samurai Seppuku was more of a ritual suicide meant to retain honor. What the nameless man before her had just done lacked the elegance of what she would expect such a ceremony to look like.
Before that, wasn't he losing just way too much blood? The fountain spray suggested he must have hit an artery when severing his head from his neck, but this was just ridiculous. Even now, the fountain of blood continued to pour down, raining for several long seconds, when it should have stopped after only the first. This wasn't just excessive, but beyond the scope of what a human should even possess. That was on top of having lost all that blood from the shoulder wound earlier.
Wait a moment- his shoulder… The plate armor was being repaired! In the same way as Kubikiribocho had been able to repair itself by absorbing blood, the samurai's armor was now doing the same. No, it wasn't the armor, but the sword had begun to fuse with the armor, the actual butcher knife disappearing after decapitating its wielder.
Using the x-ray vision of the Byakugan, she examined his shoulder. It hadn't healed at all, unlike the armor. Yet it had been able to hold such a heavy sword? No, that didn't make sense even with pride and will power. She realized now how foolish she had been to believe such a thing. As she examined the blood that continued to rain down, she understood what it was and where it was coming from now.
The blood was Kubikiribocho.
That was why the sword disappeared, merging with the armor and its wielder before then raining down as a fountain of blood. Finally, the blood ceased its downpour. The once silver armor was now a crimson red, the headless corpse continuing to stand in the large puddle of blood that had formed a large circle around it. As if alive, the blood began to move, retreating towards the center.
The armor absorbed the blood as if drinking it through a straw, the puddle shrinking and shrinking until it was no more. As the rim of the puddle passed the helmet, it carried it too, the helmet crawling up the armor as if it had thousands of tiny insect-like legs, before once again placing itself atop, between the armor's shoulders.
Like the rest of the armor, the helmet was a deep crimson, the previous dull yellow eyes now a pitch, abyssal black. With the horns on its head, it truly had the appearance of some kind of demon now.
The corpse moved. At first just slightly, the fingers twitching. Then it rolled the shoulders and flexed its knees. It lifted its arms, the pitch-black eyeholes staring down at clenching and unclenching fists. All the while, Hinata studied these little movements intently.
There was no sign of activity from the muscles or nerves that her Byakugan could detect. Like before, this was all being done with the blood alone. Almost like it was the blood that was alive.
"Finally…" The sentient blood spoke, voice raspy and hoarse like it wasn't used to talking much. How it did so at all was a mystery, the voice box of its host having been cut away along with his mouth and the rest of his head. "How long has it been… a thousand years, more?" It was speaking to itself, still looking down at its hands. Then it lifted its gaze, the abyss of its eyes staring at Hinata. "I have you to thank, don't I? You, who shattered the first sword, which began the chain reaction that eventually took them all."
"What are you?" Hinata asked. She felt the question was actually a little rude, not asking who, but what. Yet she wouldn't correct her choice of words. For whatever this thing was, it wasn't human. No, it gave her an all too unfamiliar sense of dread.
That's right, whatever this blood was, it was in the same league as Amaterasu.
"You're a sharp one, aren't you?" The blood seemed intrigued, its emotions not able to be transferred visually, but somehow being transmitted through nature itself. "I would like to answer, but I fear that if I do, we will not be able to part here amicably. It would be preferable to me if I don't have to kill the one that just freed me from my seal."
"Seal?" Hinata glanced around the battlefield. The pieces of Nuibari, Kabutowari, Shibuki, and Hiramekarei were scattered about. Kiba was nothing more than a pile of rust. Samehada was dead, buried deep in the foundation of Konoha. And the only sword not broken was Kubikiribocho, the blood that made up its iron having gained some kind of sentience. "Then you're…" Her eyes widened, coming to the realization.
"It's too bad." The blood hadn't taken something like a battle stance, but the air around it filled with a murderous aura. "Your intuition is correct. The Seven Swords were my prison; My body and abilities having been used to forge the mystical blades over an age ago. I, who was once known as the Demon King, found myself sealed into mere swords." He paused, the silence almost haunting.
"My name is Kijin."
Chapter End
AN: The title of this chapter brought to you by mashing two popular Japanese films together.
This is another part I've been anticipating getting to for a while. The idea of the swords being a seal for a demon was something I was originally going to do for another story. When I had Hinata kill Samehada way back many chapters ago, I decided it was an idea that would work better in this one and allow me to add consequences to that action. So it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally here.
The name "Kijin" is taken directly from the Japanese nickname for Hozuki Mangetsu, who was known as the "Second Coming of the Kijin." Or as Kijin is usually translated: Demon. So I just decided to take that literally and make the original an actual demon that was sealed in the swords. Or I guess more of a demonic blood, but that's getting ahead of things for now.
There will be more on this in a future chapter, but next time we are going to jump to one of the other battles. Please look forward to both in the future! See y'all next time.