Chapter LIII - A Blood Entailed Promise

Everything happened so suddenly and so very frantically that it was nearly impossible to believe so much was completed in just less than thirty seconds. The large computerised warning that a nuclear weapon was on its way somehow didn't even manage to take the Council by surprise. A few members like Ukyo, Jukuchi, and Gyatsō immediately rose out of their seats and made their way to an area in a corner of the room, swiftly tapping away at several white keyboards attached to the walls. The rest of the Council members followed behind them.

"Lord Yamikage, I'm preparing to launch Evacuation Protocol F," said Ukyo. Several large rusted pods covered with various letters then slid through a new opening in the wall. The masked shinobi from earlier ran over to Hikari and Suzuka and carefully picked them up again. Gyatsō turned his head to look at the two injured children as he continued to quickly press the designated keys and symbols.

"Kokyu, place those two in Pod XY. That one will take them to a safer bunker outside of the village," Gyatsō told him. Kokyu nodded at the white-haired man and dashed towards the smaller pod at the end of the metallic encasements, simply marked "XY" in white letters. As soon as the masked ninja stepped into the pod, Hikari abruptly slapped his palm over his nose. Granted, the movement forced a sharp grunt through his teeth, but the pain was worth it. The inside of the pod had an overwhelmingly acrid odour to it, making the boy question how often these things were supposed to be cleaned. On the outside, each pod looked awful - corroded, and shabby. But the inside turned out to be even worse. That dastardly smell alone was more than enough to send Hikari packing, and the forests of reeking cobwebs littering the floor and seats almost made him throw up his scanty stomach contents.

"Aren't there any better than this one?" Hikari whined. He looked over to his inert friend. Oh, how lucky he'd be to get suddenly knocked out by a piece of the falling cement or wood right now. At least Suzuka didn't have to be subjected to this wretched smell or those unappealing seats, all but mummified by the old cobwebs.

"Sorry little guy, but you'll just have to bear with it," Kokyu replied. He stuffed the two of them in the cramped chairs provided. Pulling what appeared to be a seatbelt of some sort over their bodies. Double-checking that they were properly secured because only God knew what would happen to him if Gyatsō's prized possessions were injured due to his carelessness.

"Can't go against Lord Yamikage's orders. Also, we can't waste any time right now." With that, the ninja closed a door Hikari didn't notice before and took a few steps back. The once dead lights spreading along XY in varying directions then lit up, providing an ample light source in the otherwise shadowy area. Dark smoke also began to gradually emit from the several chrome bars that were underneath the pod.

This is crazy, Hikari thought as he lifted his head to peer through the squared glass. Absolutely crazy. Mostly all he could see was only heavy amounts of dust. That is, until a pale hand suddenly pressed against it, causing the boy to immediately jerk backwards. A split second later, he was looking into one of Gyatsō's intense eyes.

"You and the girl will be safe," Hikari heard Gyatsō's muffled voice say through the glass. The words were meant to reassure and calm the boy, but they somehow achieved the opposite effect. Before he could give the man a hesitant reply, the pod was suddenly launched forward with great velocity, shooting its two passengers through a variety of hollow tubes stretching for miles long. To Hikari, the fast-paced experience was comparable to an exhilarating roller coaster. Only their vessel was now heading further underground, where its pitch black darkness only unnerved him even more. He reached his arms over and held onto Suzuka tightly, shutting his eyes tight as they journeyed through the pitch-black environment. They really had no other choice.

Gyatsō watched their pod grow smaller and smaller for a couple of moments before turning around to eye his composed underlings. In the larger pods marked as "KT," "OA," and "ES" respectively, up to four Council members were strapping themselves in each case. The Yamikage's red eyes then locked onto Kokyu, who was now standing in the middle of the room, motionless. It appeared that he had no intention of fleeing to any of the crowded pods.

"Kokyu Notatakai, you will go to Z. You and I are taking a trip to the village's arms complex," Gyatsō said. Kokyu bowed his head and quickly made his way to the last remaining pod, separated from the rest. Gyatsō turned his head to look at the 20-second warning displayed on the screen before joining him. In less than ten seconds, each of the pods emitted dark smoke before being launched in varying directions.

Hikari suddenly opened his eyes to the sound of a devastating explosion far behind their current location.

That must have been that nuclear attack we were warned of, he thought. For a few seconds, his thoughts drifted to the Hidden Dark villagers and anyone else who didn't have any form of protection against the bomb. Although it was specifically aimed for the underground bunker Gyatsō and his Council members were grouped up in, the nature of that bomb certainly must have caused some damage far above, to unsuspecting citizens. And that was excluding the radiation that would wipe everyone out regardless. Hikari gasped at this realisation.

"Was the Hidden Dark Village... just destroyed?" he whispered. He felt tears forming in his eyes the longer he thought about it. If their new home was destroyed, where in the world would he and Suzuka go? Instead of worrying about that, he decided to just wait everything out. He slowly closed his eyes, holding onto his unconscious friend closer.

A silent hour passed. Hikari, nearly asleep, found himself to be twitching as a new source of light began to shine against his face. With slight difficulty, he pulled himself up to look outside of the pod's glass window. He could see that they were approaching a large opening in a metallic building. The boy sighs with relief and lays back, placing an arm around Suzuka's neck.

"We're finally here, Suzu... wherever here is," he says gently.

The redheaded girl slowly opened her eyes, much to Hikari's shock. Using her left hand, she parted the hair in her eyes and looked up to her exasperated-looking friend.

"Suzuka!" Hikari cried. "How long have you been up for?" Suzuka smiled weakly as she also looked out of the window.

"I dunno," she replied simply. "M-my head hurts.. and I'm so tired... what happened? Where are we?" she asked, her voice sounding hoarse and weak.

"A group of ninja from the Junkyosha Clan attacked the village. Gyatsō said we're going to a safer bunker for now. We can try and get you looked at by a doctor there," Hikari told her. Suzuka nodded and slowly leaned down so that her head was placed against Hikari's chest. She yawned slightly and reached for the boy's freezing hand.

"Hikari?" she whispered. Hikari took her hand in his and smiled more. Without a doubt, he'd be able to calm down in this dire situation as long as he had his best friend at his side.

"Yeah?" he whispered back. The loud wind outside of the pod made it difficult to hear her. Suzuka nestled closer to her blonde friend, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"I love you," she said even quieter. Hikari squints at her a bit before moving his head down closer to her. To him, it sounded like she hummed for a second instead of saying anything. The wind wasn't making it any easier for him, either.

"What'd you say, Suzuka? I couldn't hear you."

"...I said, can you promise me something?" the girl asked weakly.

"Sure," was Hikari's immediate response. Suzuka yawned again and slowly fluttered her eyes closed.

"Promise me that no matter what happens... you'll never let me die..."

"Suzu, I never thought I'd have to promise you that. There's no way I'd ever let you leave m-"

"Just promise me," Suzuka interrupted, a pout forming on her face. Hikari stared at her for a couple of seconds before chuckling lightly.

"Okay, I promise. But what about you? You'll always be here to protect me, right?" Hikari asked, still smiling. "...Suzuka?"

His response was the sound of her gentle snoring. Hikari sweatdropped at the now sleeping girl, before chuckling to himself and leaning back again, quietly waiting for their pod to stop moving. Pod XY halted after about ten more minutes before it was surrounded by a swarm of people donned in black cloaks, murmuring things he couldn't understand in the slightest. When the door to their pod slowly opened, he was already fast asleep.

. . . .

"Tailed Beast Lariat!" Killer Bee shouted, snapping Hikari out of his deep recollections. The blonde-haired shinobi lifted his head to see the Raikage back in his Version 2 state, quickly rushing towards the Osore member. By the time Hikari got back to his feet, the transformed Bee was already in front of him, swinging a powerful arm towards the blonde man's stomach. Hikari was able to perform a single hand seal before being struck viciously. On impact, he widened his eyes and coughed out a large amount of blood, his body flying back from the force of the blow.

"Urgh!" the Osore member grunted as he slammed against the ground. He rolled around quickly before slamming into a large boulder. A cloud of dust soon surrounded his body. Bee remained still for a few seconds before jumping high into the air, extending his arm to prepare for another Lariat attack.

Somehow, it looks like I only damaged some ribs and a few non-vital organs with that one, Bee thought as he descended towards Hikari, lightning beginning to spark around his crimson chakra-coated arm. In less than three seconds, his entire arm was covered in raging lightning, crackling intensely as he drew closer and closer to his opponent. This one will be the killer blow.

When the Raikage was just a few feet away from Hikari, he roared and brought his arm down towards the man's neck. However, the Jinchuriki found himself to be levitating just above him, some sort of invisible barrier preventing him from getting any closer. As the dust around them settled, Hikari looked up at Bee with a smirk pursed on his lips. He then looked down to his left hand pressed against the open wound in his stomach, a faint blue aura emitting from it.

"I would've been dead had it not been for this Supido style Hogo," he said wryly, clutching his stomach tighter. Bee could see that the blue aura had enveloped his body and materialised into something as hard as steel, acting as a protective shield. Even with this last act of defence, Bee found that he was still able to injure Hikari to this extent.

So this.. ability of his reduced the damage of my Tailed Beast Lariat. Alright, fine, that stopped my attack from killing the bastard, Bee thought furiously. He then gritted his teeth and tried to move his body, but to no avail. He was stuck suspended in the air, leaving him extremely vulnerable. But that doesn't explain this sensation keeping me from moving, though!

Hikari groaned in immense pain as he slowly sat up, still coughing out heavy amounts of blood. He wiped his mouth with his bare arm before crawling away from the Raikage until they were over about two kilometres apart. The blonde shinobi then cautiously got back on his feet, chuckling weakly as he looked ahead.

"Y-you cut through the Hogo like a knife through b-butter," he said quietly, once again wiping away blood dripping down his chin. "But my Supido Mahi-ōra has won me t-this fight... I won't take long, Lord Gyatsō..."

Slowly removing his shaky left hand from his wound, the Osore member performed a few hand seals.

"H-here is your parting gift, Raikage... my glorious Nendo: Shokan!" he shouted hoarsely. A small white wall then rose out of the ground in front of him. It slowly changed in shape and size, morphing into a large bird made entirely out of detonating clay. The bird screeched loudly as it flapped its wings furiously, before taking into the sky and racing towards Bee.

"My Shokan's d-destructive power exceeds even Brother Deidara's C2 Dragon," Hikari sneered weakly, panting lightly as he rose his head again. "You haven't got a chance in hell of s-surviving... we own this world now..."

The blonde shinobi watched on as a blinding white flash suddenly engulfed the area, a catastrophic explosion going off ahead. He widened his eyes at the sight of the explosion, his mouth now suddenly agape.

. . . .

"Get down, Hikari!" Suzuka shouted, standing next to the blonde male. The two of them, clad in torn black cloaks with the Hidden Dark Nation's insignia planted on their sleeves, quickly dropped down to the ground. A split second later, an explosion went off in front of them, sending debris and shrapnel flying in all directions. Hikari gritted his teeth as he put his arms over his head to protect himself from the sharp objects raining over them.

"Is everyone alright?!" another voice frantically shouted behind them.

"I'm fine!" Suzuka immediately replied, unable to see anything due to the smoke created by that last attack. "What about you, Hikari?!"

Hikari grunted and quickly jumped to his feet, picking his two kunai knives up and returning to his defencive stance.

"I'm good, too!" he replied. He then turned his head to try and look for his comrade, but the smoke was still too thick to see anything in front of behind him.

"What the hell was that anyway?!" Hikari asked loudly. A shirtless man with long, pale green hair appeared at his side, breathing heavily. Parts of his skin was severely burnt, and a line of blood was quickly running down his forehead. Hikari widened his eyes and touched the man's shoulder.

"Koibito! You're in no shape to continue fighting!" Hikari told him urgently, concern clearly showing in his eyes. Koibito shrugged the young man's hand off his shoulder, looking ahead intently.

"D-don't worry about me, sir. Please, just focus. Our opponent is the leader of the Junkyosha Clan, Mizuto Shi Junkyosha. H-he is a fearsome shinobi, you mustn't let yourself be distracted," Koibito warned Hikari lowly. Hikari stared at Koibito for a few seconds before scoffing, looking ahead of him as well.

The smoke finally cleared, revealing a fair-skinned man with spiky, black hair. His dark hair extended to his waist, with shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face, covering most of his right eye. He took a step forward, prompting Hikari, Suzuka, and Koibito to raise their weapons.

"For the sake of your pathetic little Hidden Dark Nation," Mizuto told them with a smooth and deep voice, "I hope that you three brats aren't the only ones I have to battle. Children should be honing their skills in a Ninja Academy, not dying on a battlefield as cannon fodder," he sneered. Koibito chuckled as he performed a single hand seal, stepping in front of Hikari and Suzuka. Before either one could interject, he held his arm out towards them, wordlessly telling them not to interfere.

"We may be only fourteen years of age," Koibito started, looking back at the two of them in the corner of his eyes, "but these two right here are especially meaningful shinobi, and we of the Dark are proud of them. They are strong because they have outstanding willpower." Mizuto crossed his arms and shook his head at the green-haired man's words.

"Strength is not willpower. Strength is an occurrence, and it can only be caused by physical things," Mizuto shot back, now rapidly performing hand seals. "I'll show you a demonstration, you sad, naïve child."

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Mizuto shouted, breathing out a small fireball that shot towards Koibito and his allies. Mizuto smirked widely before throwing a kunai into the fireball, causing it to suddenly erupt into a giant fire-storm, sending widespread flames throughout the area. Koibito widened his eyes at the scale of the massive fire jutsu, performing five swift hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Wall!"

Koibito spat out a large stream of water from his mouth at the ground, which circled the three Hidden Dark ninjas, quickly rising upward to create a wall. As soon as Mizuto's fire reached the protective wall of water, Koibito saw that it wasn't nearly enough to hold back the intense flames. The fire had just begun to rapidly spread across the water wall when Hikari performed a hand sign.

"Earth Style: Mobile Cole."

Suddenly, the ground in the surrounding area quickly shook and rose upwards, completely separating from the land that had been engulfed by the fire. Now safe from the intense flames, Koibito let out a sigh of relief and turned his head to look at Hikari.

"Good thinking, sir. Forgive me for the mediocrity of my jutsu just now, I'm almost completely out of chakra," he said, still breathing heavily.

"Then I'll give you some well-deserved rest," Mizuto said wryly, now behind Koibito and his allies. "Although, it'll be a permanent fix."

Koibito quickly whipped his body around in an attempt to slash Mizuto in the face with his kunai, but the dark-haired shinobi easily dashed to the side before reappearing in front of Koibito, directing a brutal kick to his stomach. Koibito exhaled out in pain, the force of Mizuto's attack sending his body flying off the elevated platform.

He's so fast! Hikari thought as he quickly brought his arms to his chest, successfully blocking a chakra-infused punch from then jumped back and spun around, throwing his leg towards the side of Mizuto's head. The Junkyosha clan leader scoffed and blocked the attack with his forearm, before bounding forward and jabbing his elbow into Hikari's face.

"Hikari!" Suzuka yelled worriedly, gritting her teeth as she dashed towards Mizuto. Slightly disoriented from Mizuto's blow, the blonde shinobi couldn't react fast enough to avoid another swift kick to his face, which launched him off the platform and sent him tumbling to the ground below.

"Let us dance, little girl," Mizuto said under his breath, slowly turning around to face the incoming kunoichi. Suzuka threw multiple shurikens at Mizuto, only for the man to deflect them all with a kunai Koibito had dropped. He then jumped back, reaching into his ninja tools pouch and throwing a barrage of his own kunai towards her. Suzuka widened her eyes as she moved every which way to evade them, but a majority of the blades still grazed her flesh as they whizzed past her.

"N-nice try, but not good enough!" Suzuka said with a wry grin. Still descending in the air, Mizuto smiled softly at the girl. He then appeared directly in front of her, grabbing her neck roughly and lifting her high. The redhead choked violently, finding it extremely difficult to breathe. She desperately scratched at the man's hand, but it did nothing to loosen his vicelike grip.

"Not good enough? Do you honestly believe I'm trying my hardest against a child?" he asked before suddenly looking to his left. A sizable water dragon had appeared and was rushing towards him. Mizuto released Suzuka and jumped up high to dodge it. However, the water dragon immediately corrected its trajectory and raced in the same direction, slamming into the black-haired male. On impact, Mizuto's body was engulfed by a small cloud, now appearing as a log.

"A substitution jutsu," Koibito growled, obviously irritated that his sneak attack had failed. Over the sound of his water splashing against the ground, he heard quick footsteps approaching him from behind. He suddenly gasped and turned around, but it was too late. A kunai knife was now lodged deep into his chest, his blood splattering on the ground.

"I believe this belonged to you," Mizuto said. He looked down at the dying teenager with disgust, slowly releasing the kunai and letting Koibito drop down to the ground.

"You're far too inexperienced to be fighting me, boy," Mizuto told him blankly. He crouched down and looked into Koibito's half-lidded eyes. "But... since you're so young and inexperienced, I'll show you a bit of mercy." He placed his hands on either side of Koibito's head before violently wrenching them around, instantly breaking his neck.

"Supido: Geirukatto!" Hikari suddenly yelled, now behind Mizuto. He pushed his left arm forward, sending a red wave of chakra propelling towards the older shinobi. Mizuto rose an eyebrow as he turned around the face the blonde.

What is that? he thought. When the red wave touched him, his body was sent flying back at a great speed.

"Ugh!" Mizuto grunted as he continued flying back. He attempted to move his body to land on his feet, but a mysterious crimson aura that was now engulfing his body prevented him from even lifting a finger.

What the hell kind of jutsu is this?! he thought as he slammed into a tree hard, breaking through it easily.

"Earth Style: Stone Column Spears!" Hikari yelled, performing more hand signs. He was panting heavily, and his right eye was closed due to the damage it sustained from Mizuto's two strong hits. Even though he was also running low on chakra, he managed to manipulate the earth in front of him, changing it into multiple sharp spears. Then they shot towards Mizuto, aiming for his chest.

He's using the normal Earth Style now, so it seems the Supido Style may not be a kekkei genkai of some sort. Oh well, Mizuto thought. A split second before the earth spears reached him, Hikari saw that the man's visible eye had flashed a bright purple. A strange, small dome of energy formed in front of his body, which absorbed the deadly earth spears with ease. Hikari gritted his teeth and watched Mizuto carefully.

How did he... what was that? Hikari thought. Mizuto smirked at the blonde male, now walking towards him. And why isn't my Geirurukatto binding him anymore?!

"As much as I'd love to stay here and uncover the secret of this... Supido jutsu of yours," Mizuto started, throwing his fist towards Hikari's stomach, "I have more pressing matters to attend to now." Hikari jumped back to dodge the punch, no doubt doing his best to avoid engaging in taijutsu due to his limited vision and slower reflexes. Mizuto's purple eye flashed dangerously as he extended his hand. Hikari was suddenly pulled towards the shinobi, his eyes widened with shock.

"Universal Pull!" Mizuto yelled. Hikari stared into Mizuto's strange eye, noticing a ripple pattern spreading across his eyeball. When he was directly in front of the black-haired man, Mizuto grabbed his neck and slammed him into the ground hard. A burning pain seared into the blonde's neck, multiple red markings appearing and spreading across his skin. After a few seconds, the strange markings turned black.

"That should hold you nice and still," Mizuto said, crouching down next to Hikari. The blonde ninja gritted his teeth hard and looked at the man from the corner of his eye.

"How did you dispel both my Earth Style jutsu and my Supido?!" he demanded. Mizuto chuckled gently as he slowly rose back to his feet.

"I have no reason to tell you that," he replied. Hikari scoffed before closing his eye.

"Then just kill me," Hikari said bitterly. "Get it over with."

Mizuto looked to his right, seeing that Suzuka was racing towards him with two chakra-infused kunai in her hands, an angry snarl on her face. He sighed irritably before turning to the side.

"I won't be killing you, Hidden Dark child. Or at least, not yet," Mizuto replied. "No, I'm sparing your life so that you may get older and stronger. Hone that Supido Style of yours, then face me in battle again," he said. Hikari opened his eye, looking up at Mizuto wordlessly. Was he really that interested in his Supido? He just easily killed Koibito in a matter of seconds, so he didn't expect the older male to regard him with any form of respect.

"But... the girl," Mizuto started, glaring into Hikari's eye coldly, "she arouses absolutely no interest in me. She'll die here. And with her dying before your very eyes, I'll be teaching you a very important lesson." With that, he disappeared.

Suzuka! No... NO!

With great difficulty, Hikari forced his head upwards to look in front of him. He was granted with the sight of Mizuto evading Suzuka's kunai attacks with ease, before spinning around and knocking the weapons out of her hands with a single roundhouse kick. Before Suzuka could react, Mizuto swirled around to sweep her feet from under her, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Stop, you bastard! Leave her alone!" Hikari yelled at the top of his lungs, his body trembling heavily. Mizuto looked at him for a second and smirked, before picking up one of Suzuka's kunai and slashing the redheaded girl clean in the throat. He could see her blood spray in the air before pooling underneath her body. Hikari's eye narrowed as he stared at his redheaded best friend. He didn't even notice when Mizuto appeared back in front of him, fresh blood splattered across his battle-worn armour.

"Now you have a definitive reason to get stronger and pursue me," Mizuto told him, dropping the blood-stained kunai right in front of the boy's face. The knife made a light thunk as it stuck in the ground. Hikari slowly turned his head to look at Mizuto, tears streaming down his face.

"W-why did you.."

"The lesson to learn here is that there are certain faults in what we call the 'human condition.' Through this girl's blood, you can see that, can't you?"

The dark-haired shinobi crouched down again, lifting the trembling boy's chin with two fingers. Hikari's breathing became more and more erratic the longer he looked at Mizuto, who was still smiling down at him.

"As human beings, we're destined for growth, and through this growth, we overcome trauma, no matter how devastating it is," Mizuto muttered soothingly. He then grabbed Hikari's head and forced him to look at Suzuka's still body, the pool of blood having almost doubled in size now.

"Because we're simply human, there are just some things we can't overcome... you see, I never got over the many deaths of my clansmen over the years... and in your case, you will never overcome the pain that you feel from this girl's death," Mizuto whispered in his ear.

. . . .

"Hikari..."

"Promise me that no matter what happens..."

"You'll never let me die."

Hikari screamed as loud as his lungs would allow, the blonde man tearing at his hair frantically. His eyes narrowed as tears streamed down his face, and he was beginning to hyperventilate. When the light from his explosion finally went away, he knelt to the ground, still breathing heavily. He sensed the slightest bit of movement ahead and snapped his head up.

Disregarding his injuries completely, he roared and jumped back up, running forwards with a maniacal cackle. He saw that Killer Bee was dusting himself off, somehow completely unharmed by Hikari's Shokan attack. The wound in the Osore member's stomach poured out more blood as he jumped towards the Raikage, a crazed look in his eye.

"What the hell's is this guy's deal?" Bee mumbled as he rose his arms protectively. Hikari landed a frenzy of punches against the Raikage's arm, completely unfazed at the fact that he wasn't landing any significant damage. A bright yellow aura engulfed his body, prompting Bee to jump back cautiously.

I won't underestimate your jutsu this time, Bee thought as he kept dashing backwards. Hikari let out another roar as he propelled his body forward, like a missile. He barely missed Bee, who had used one of his chakra tails to latch onto a tree branch and swing away from where he'd been standing. Hikari crashed into the ground, and due to the speed at which he landed, was sent burrowing into the earth.

Bee hardly had a second to turn around before his assailant emerged from the large hole in the ground, lashing out at the Raikage with another barrage of attacks. The blonde ninja winced lightly at the burning pain now spreading through his arms. Bee's Version 2 Tailed Beast chakra was reminiscent of a flame, and touching it directly was more painful for Hikari than it was for Bee. With the Raikage's entire body coated in the searing chakra, the Osore member couldn't deal any damage without hurting himself.

"What's wrong, huh?" Bee said with a smirk. Hikari gritted his teeth and took a quick look at his burnt hands and arms, the once pale flesh now bright red, swollen, and covered with painful blisters. Hikari's let his shaky arms slowly fall to his side, finding it extremely difficult to move them otherwise. Bee's confident smirk grew even more at this.

"You shouldn't be able to use any jutsu with arms like that anymore," he said. "And with that wound in your stomach, who knows how much time you've got left before croaking?"

Hikari slowly closed his eyes and let out a calm sigh, seemingly composing himself. However, doing so made him realise the terrible state his body was in. He immediately fell to his knees again, wheezing and grunting in physical anguish. Bee took a step forward, hovering dangerously over the injured Osore member.

"Ah, looks like that time has already come. This fight's over," the Raikage said, extending his hand. Soon enough, a fierce surge of electricity engulfed it.

"Not yet... I'll decide how this ends," Hikari muttered lowly. He slowly and cautiously manoeuvred his charred fingers to perform three hand seals. Bee rose his eyebrow and looked down at the man curiously.

"And how's that?" he asked.

"Stop wasting time on him, Bee! End it already!" The Raikage heard Gyuki say annoyingly in his conscious.

"Supido: Mahi-ōra!" Hikari suddenly roared. Bee gasped lightly before swiftly bringing his hand down towards the man's head. Just before it made contact, Bee found the strange phenomenon from earlier halting his every movement once again. The Raikage noticed that immediately after Hikari cast the jutsu, a faint blue light had emitted from his eyes. The blonde shinobi was also looking deep into his own.

Damnit! This technique must use eye contact to work! Bee thought. That would explain why he suddenly stopped me before. I'm such a fool not to have noticed back then!

"I told you to finish him quickly, Bee!" Gyuki scolded him angrily.

Hikari grunted again and sat up, performing another careful hand seal. He concentrated a mass of chakra throughout the lining of his throat and spat out a glob of clay. The clay quickly morphed into two clones of himself, which immediately dashed back into the distance.

"I-is that you, Hikari?" Zuko asked weakly, staring at one of the clones blankly. Due to his Curse Mark's regenerative powers, his right eye socket had already created a new eyeball, and his left eye socket was slowly healing as well.

"Thank goodness, one of your eyes has been repaired. My plan would've been sure to backfire if we had to wait even longer to heal Lord Gyatsō," the clone said, bending down to pick up the Taisega clan member.

"B-but your original... h-he has both of my eyes already. What on earth happened over there?" Zuko asked.

Hikari's second clone threw another heavy fist through one of Zuko's chakra barriers, finally breaking through it. Inside, he found Gyatsō, breathing heavily above a large pool of blood. The clone sighed with relief and carefully picked the Osore leader up.

"Still breathing... you're as tenacious as ever, milord..." Then it vanished from sight.

"I can't b-believe how dire things have gotten for Hikari... which reminds me, where is he?" Zuko asked softly. He grunted as he pulled out his right eyeball and handed it to one of Hikari's clones. The clone quickly opened Gyatsō's now empty right eye socket and pushed the eye in. It took almost twenty seconds before a green aura appeared over the wound in the white-haired man's neck.

"He's still battling the Raikage. We had to move you two out of the area.. to ensure your survival," a clone told him. Zuko hovered his hand over his left eye, waiting for the soft organ to finish healing.

"...Ensure our survival?" the young man repeated slowly, squinting at the clone closest to him in suspicion. "What does he plan on doing?" he asked. The clone exhaled lightly and placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Very soon, the two of us clones will disappear. And that's because.. our original is going to take both the Raikage and himself out."