The crowd around Yakiniku Q restaurant stopped to curiously observe the two people who stood in front of each other, staring each other down and the two girls and a boy who stood a decent distance behind them. Bar-fights weren’t uncommon in Konohagakure however they usually didn’t happen in Yakiniku Q because it had a reputation to only appeal to the tastes of people with rather chubby bodies making them quite lazy and unlikely to brawl their differences out.
“One minute. I’ll give you one minute of free punches before I take you out” Kusagoro grinned with a deviant but still quite playful smile. It was evident that to him this brawl was just a game and by all means it should’ve been to anyone of his skill level. This was a genin picking a fight with a jounin. Such fights shouldn’t have lasted longer than the first exchange of blows.
Shimo didn’t give in to Kusagoro’s taunts, he calmly stood and waited it out. Prepared himself, his breath was calm and collected. Previously Mana made a mistake by thinking that this Shimo was somehow a return to his old self which very obviously wasn’t true. While this Shimo had the same ideals as his old self he was much more calculating and much wiser. He didn’t just leap into battle, he thought and prepared for it, only when he felt good enough about his attack plan did he initiate the brawl.
Such was the case now. Shimo’s body just blurred and disappeared. His figure appeared right in front of Kouta’s father, then another, then another and a dozen more. Shimos were popping out of thin air, all trying to hit Kusagoro with a drawing slash.
“Wow, he’s pretty fast! I never thought a genin could move fast enough to leave an afterimage, let alone fifteen of them!” Meiko whistled into the air. Judging from the blacksmith’s tone to her this fight seemed like an interesting distraction, something to feast her eyes on after a good lunch.
“No… Shimo’s a Yuki, he was always fast but no genin can be this fast. Last time I saw him his chakra was maybe half of my level and it couldn’t have been bumped up to a level where he could augment his abilities to this extent. It’s a trick…” the magician recognized it.
She had a very clear reason to think that way “ had Shimo truly moved that fast she’d have not seen him move at all as she had no chakra control so she couldn’t use her supernatural ninja perception. She couldn’t burst her chakra in excess all over her body sharpening all of her senses to the point where even supersonic and greater speeds could’ve been picked up on, where even the faintest changes of the environment or the most minor clues could’ve been picked up on. And yet even without her ninja perception Mana could see and understand Shimo’s movements. It wasn’t a physical feat, he was trying to outsmart Kusagoro.
Confirming Mana’s theory each and every single one of Shimo’s afterimages slashed at Kusagoro and disappeared doing so. It was a mirage of sorts, seeing how Shimo could manipulate ice with his Yuki bloodline ability it only made sense that he had picked up some neat and subtle ways to utilize the cold nature of his abilities. It was just a manner of playing with the air around him by manipulating his ice jutsu to incredibly weak level so that it only let out streams of cold air and then further manipulating those optical illusions with chakra. It was like genjutsu but the same effect was achieved through ninjutsu techniques.
Kusagoro’s body lit up with chakra, a loud and powerful gust dispelled all of the afterimages instantly making Mana, Meiko and everyone observing the little brawl clutch and cover up their faces from being blown back or having dust blown into their eyes.
“You’re a bother…” the man remarked once his violent expulsion of chakra settled down.
“What was that?!” Mana shouted out surprised, she had never seen such violent expulsion of chakra that placed so little strain on one’s abilities. Usually chakra was something that functioned inside one’s body, any techniques that brought manifestations of chakra outside it were usually higher level techniques and quite taxing on one’s body.
“Juugo bloodline, remember what I told you, Mana-chan? Juugo can shoot pure chakra from their bodies as if it was water they drank and are spitting out. Father formed countless microscopic openings on his body, microscopic cannons if you will from which he shot out miniscule and nearly invisible amounts of chakra. This isn’t just him bursting his chakra, this isn’t father accelerating his chakra flow. It’s a defensive technique of a quite different manner…” Kouta explained looking at the brawl with serious and troubled eyes.
“Just how potent are those “chakra cannons”?” Mana turned at the youth with a slightly worried expression.
“If I was you I’d look for ways to end this nonsense before father decides to fight. A Juugo can easily level mountains, destroying a whole village or a settlement would come easy to a skilled Juugo with a decent enough chakra level. If you truly believe that this Shimo can actually challenge my father then please beg him to stop, if father gets excited he’ll blow the village up for sure!” Kouta explained the reason for his distress.
“Wait, what?” Meiko suddenly got back into her senses and started violently shaking Kouta like a sudden twister picking up a ragdoll, “You mean this guy can blow up a whole village?”
“Well, any Juugo of advanced level can. That’s why we were hunted during the old days, that’s why the Hokage usually sends father on away missions as far away from the village as possible, that’s why most Juugo exercise restraint and peaceful lifestyles loving the nature and birds and animals and so on…” the confused and dazed boy mumbled out through his nausea from being shaken so violently by the blacksmith.
Shimo’s figure appeared right in front of Kusaguro, Mana didn’t see it move which meant this must’ve been the real Shimo, the one using his actual speed augmentation to surpass the human and even the ninja limits. A powerful punch flew right into Kusaguro’s face, a loud thud echoed, the testament of powerful force and tremendous strain placed on each of the combatants’ bodies. Kusaguro remained standing still completely unfazed by the punch. Shimo jumped into the air and kicked off his opponent’s chest backflipping some distance away from him and panting a little, taking a sword drawing fighting stance ready to defend himself in case the man decided to come at him.
“Heh, was that it? I’m sorry, I must’ve augmented my body, I really should’ve just taken it, lose a tooth and not bothered. I bet the wench you’re fighting for packs a better wallop” Kusaguro grinned with a cruel smile trying to psyche Shimo out.
Shimo’s body leaped forward, drawing his sword and thrusting it forward, placing his hand right on the other side of the hilt and driving it forward with additional force. A loud clang signaled the sword hitting its mark, a powerful blue glow emanated from where the tip of the blade met Kusagoro’s body. The faint blue light kept on shining as the Yuki kept on driving the sword forward trying to impale the jounin right in his chest. The light was glow of one chakra clashing with another since it was quite obvious that Kusagoro was augmenting his body to take Shimo’s blows while the swordsman’s blade was an Aura blade capable of contending with such barriers.
“I’m a swordsman, blocking my punch isn’t worth jack squat!” Shimo roared out as he repurposed his effort and power into a swinging motion slashing his sword to the side. A small squirt of blood shot out from Kusagoro’s body and dripped onto the dirt and by his feet, a small hole was left on the man’s jounin vest.
“Hmmm, what is that sword?” the man smiled feeling the small cut on his chest and tasting some of his own blood.
“Audra blade…” the Yuki replied angrily taking a leap back and preparing a response, a follow up attack.
“I see, it was made with someone else’s chakra, someone with much more pissing potential than you which was why my chakra augmentation wasn’t enough. To take a hit from this I’d have to augment my body to where I’d actually risk messing up my flow. It must’ve been made by a skilled chuunin…”
“A rogue ninja… B+ Rank” Shimo sheathed his blade and quickly went through a bunch of handseals. “With the unfortunate experience of having faced the Raikage when they were kids and recording her moves”
“Ice Style: Thousand Needles of Death!” Shimo chanted out placing his arms forward. Countless needles formed around his opponent, needles made of ice which was made out of humidity of air around Kusagoro. The needles lunged at the man in a blinding shower. The man just kept on standing and took the technique head-on, each needle broke off and shattered like a shard of glass hitting a brick wall. In the end there was only Kusaguro standing with some leftover water dripping from his hair and clothes as the needles were thin enough to turn back into puddles upon breaking.
“I thought I told you, your own chakra levels are insignificant to hurt me. I could just stand right here and take your attacks for days…” the man grinned, his eyes looked quite cruel, Mana was starting to get a little intimidated by just looking at them.
“No… You’re trying to psyche me out. No sane ninja, even a jounin would stand and augment their endurance to withstand blows instead of dodging. You’re wasting your chakra and you risk overdoing it. You’re trying to scare me, make me give up just from the idea that I cannot hurt you. So far you’ve wasted quite the amount of chakra just to prove one genin a coward, don’t you think? Your minute has long since passed, please come at me now, Kusaguro-san” Shimo explained.
“Stop this, you don’t know what you’re doing!” Kouta yelled out at Shimo and he turned at Mana, “Please, Mana-chan, you have to stop this! My father purposefully lets his opponents reduce his chakra level by letting himself get hit after augmenting his abilities, that’s a sign he means to enjoy a fight by bringing himself down to their level. If he lets loose now he won’t return to his normal self until he is beaten!” the boy explained.
Mana shook her head, “I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to, plus if I did stop them in some way it’d only make things worse. They’d hate me, they’d keep thinking that the other got pulled out of this by an outside factor and that they could’ve won this if it didn’t happen. They’d clash again and this time it’d be a much more ruthless clash. If Shimo is to lose, it is better that he takes it and moves past this, I trust in my friend that he will find a way not to get killed”
Meiko giggled “It’s a good thing we got our medical ninja by our side, Shimo is gonna need some healing after this…”
Kusagoro yelled out into the air and then formed several handseals faster than Mana’s eye could track them. “Earth Style: Displacing Tremors” the man shouted out by placing his hands onto the ground when a violent pulse went through the ground making it shatter below the feet of the villagers and the bystanders. Mana leaped back just barely avoiding a fissure opening up below her feet, Meiko shoved her aside and then carried her off from another one opening up “ the technique created a small pulse of tension to the ground below the feet of the opponent and the user but it functioned just like a wave, it picked up power the further on it went and when it reached the bystanders it almost consumed them.
Mana’s eyes slipped on ninja picking the villagers up from falling down and getting injured or killed inside the splitting ground, so village ninja decided to intervene then? It made sense, this scuffle has long since went past the usual bar-fight and was now quite threatening to the bystanders or the village itself. The opening fissures inflicted quite some damage to the homes around, some of them were completely brought down and the rubble was taken into the ground sinking down the fissure holes. Shimo on the other side was only shaken by the initial impact, only potent enough to make him loose his balance and footing, to make him unprepared for the following attack.
Kusagoro’s body flickered before disappearing, “That chakra!” Meiko and Kouta chanted both at the same time. For one’s chakra to be felt like that by non-sensor ninja it must’ve been impossibly strong, the man must’ve not been playing around, that punch must’ve been strong enough to kill Shimo!
“Earth Style: Titan’s Drill!” a loud chant echoed, Mana wanted to interfere, she wanted to at least yell something out, to alert her friend but her body felt like it was completely frozen. Her completely normal body was only perceptive enough to hear the last words her friend may have heard, it was only fast enough for her eyes to shake and her lips to whimper in fear for her friend’s life. What had she done? Letting Shimo take part in this…
A deafening thud made everyone cover their ears, windows burst from their sockets for entire miles around the impact zone. However instead of the man’s fist hitting the genin’s face with the force that was strong enough to drill right through any mineral or armor with enough effort to blow his body up from inside from sheer pressure of the force inside him it met an equal counterforce “ the open palm of the Fifth.
“That’ll be quite enough of this…” she casually said looking Kusagoro right in the eyes. Her fist was glowing blue “ she was using the superhuman strength of a medical ninja to block the man’s technique and she was doing it so effortlessly as if it was but a ball tossed by a toddler.
The shockwave coming from the clash of the two went out in a ring-like line that busted every building in a narrow line to the right and to the left of each of the two from the sheer pressure of the force that had nowhere to go as the Hokage’s hand didn’t fold or move back at the slightest from the impact zone.
“Could you explain to me why I am right now here, stopping some petty squabble between a jounin and a genin instead of in my office adjusting the budget of Konohagakure orphanage foundation?” Hanasaku squinted angrily looking at Kusagoro. The jounin made an apologetic stare and then tried pulling his fist away from Hokage’s grip but he couldn’t do it no matter how hard he tried “ the all cutting sword was stuck in the toughest stone in the world…
“This kid picked a fight with me” the Juugo explained after the woman let go of his fist making him almost tumble down from the effort of trying to force it out of her hand.
“And as a wise and mature adult you obviously obliged and went at him with an A-Rank technique? You’re fighting a kid here, you’re not trying to punch out a Tailed Beast for God’s sake!” Hanasaku shouted out.
“Whatever, I’m done here…” Kusagoro shrugged and started walking away.
“You most certainly are, your license is suspended for a year, if I see you brawling once more I’ll eat that plastic card in front of you myself…” Hanasaku turned her back at the man to match his own.
The Juugo turned around and started waving his fists angrily, “You can’t do that! That’s the Ninja Tribunal’s competence!”
“You really think I understand any of that bureaucracy bullshit? Consider this an executive decision…” the woman flipped the man the bird on the spot without turning around. She walked up to the captain of the squad that was responsible for saving the villagers from the destructive effects of the battle.
“We’ve managed to prevent all casualties here, we’re organizing a rescue operation for the people trapped in the destroyed buildings and will have a more detailed list of injured and casualties later, let’s hope they are minimal, Ma’am!” the man reported kneeling before the woman. Hanasaku nodded and walked up to Mana’s team.
“What in the…” she started her scolding but Mana kneeled before her and interrupted the woman before she could yell so loud that blood would’ve burst from their busted ears.
“We’ve been looking for a medical ninja for our team as per your request, we’ve found one, Ma’am…” she quickly spilled the beans and lowered her head even lower.
The woman sighed and scratched her tired forehead and rubbed her even more exhausted eyes.
“Goddamnit! Fine, I’ll fill the paperwork in and form the mission papers in the evening, get your things ready and leave today…” she let out an exhausted grunt. “I know that if someone actually died in the fallout of this battle you’ll be delivering your own worst punishment, Mana, but I am very disappointed in all of you…” she finished it up with the softest yet the most painful scolding any of them had ever had.
Mana stood up and sighed, this went all the bad ways it could’ve went. She hoped that no one died, the Fifth may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed but she was right on one thing “ if someone did die because Mana allowed this battle, because she encouraged Shimo acting on his “identity” she’ll be blaming herself for all of it despite not even being a part of the battle nor having the physical or any other kind of ability to stop it.
“Well, you heard the Hokage, let’s go home, get ready and we’ll be leaving at sunset. Gather by the gate before that…” Mana said.
“I recall you being a client in this mission…” Shimo replied trying to suggest that she was taking too much responsibility by placing herself as being in charge.
“Yeah, if I leave alone and get killed your mission will be failed so either follow me and protect me from getting myself killed or act high and mighty and fail, your choice!” the magician snapped back at the silver haired Yuki angrily, still feeling mad for what he did by asking for this fight.
What a rollicking good start for a mission…
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