At the pace of a creeping turtle the rays of the setting Sun became less and less giving, sinking the room where two swordsmen were preparing for their final standoff to resolve their battle in total darkness. The office was empty, not even a single soul was there except for the two, not that it mattered since the swordsmen were completely absorbed by their clash, waiting for some auditory tick to signal them to rush at each other but it appeared that they would have to wait for the room to completely sink in darkness. For Shimo such was a natural occurrence, ninja were accustomed to the dark and preferred it, to someone enhancing their perception using minor chakra augmentation darkness was barely an obstacle.
Finally the rays of Sun completely disappeared almost as if light itself entered the now sealed time-space transporter and evaporated into nothingness only to be reassembled at another moment in time and space. Both men kicked off the ground with just a light tap on the clay floor that in no way represented the tremendous force of their movement. They moved lightning fast, no, even faster than lightning. Their movements were barely even intelligible to each other but it didn’t matter. This was no match of skill or technique, there was no need to see opponent’s actions clearly or predict them. There was no time for that. Each of the two decided to just use their trump techniques at the same time and let fate decide who’d win.
Shimo’s body tensed up, blood vessels shot out and tore up dyeing his body in a creepy darker pink hue that was quickly calmed by the intense sensation of freezing air accumulating behind him. The young man extracted all the humidity from the air surrounding him, as little of it as there may have been chakra did the supersizing of the actual quantity. A ghoulish light blue shape of a giant wolf formed behind the young swordsman leaning over the Yuki’s shoulder and placing its gigantic paw forward, it was lucky that this apparition of pure frozen water chakra was on all fours or else it’d have demolished the three floor tall clay sphere of a building that the two resided in.
The Yuki was lucky that the clash had come to a comparison of a single technique, he was facing a swordsman of seemingly superior skill and experience, hindered merely by the lack of time. Had the battle continued without the danger of the enemy ninja coming and taking the poncho samurai in, it was likely that the young man would’ve sustained great injuries and possibly even lost. He had no right to further hinder Mana’s journey, he had no right to strain Kouta’s abilities and further deplete his limited healing potency so that once again the medical ninja would find himself with emptied resources when he was needed.
“Ice Style: Ice Wolf Rampage!” Shimo roared out as the technique strained his body and his mind to its limits. The incredibly precise requirement of the combination of chakra shape manipulation needed to form the wolf and the sheer speed and physical ability to mimic Tanshu’s Cerberus Draw technique that the Yuki saw only once but obsessed over repeating successfully. This technique was powerful and complex enough to qualify as an A-Rank technique, it was his pride and joy, his very soul as a swordsman. The embodiment of the will and the sword of his family. There was a high risk of it failing and yet Shimo’s mind was clear, failure or success, the chances of winning were slim so the technique was his one last chance.
It was a combination of his two greatest techniques, two different identities he had during his life that currently clashing. The Ice Wolf part of the drawing technique was his Ice Wolf ninjutsu technique that he relied on before the whole clash with Sugemi and departure, back when he lived by the principle of being nice to girls and punishing the strong that abused the weak. That was a very different Shimo, younger and more naïve. The second part of the drawing technique was the only thing that the old Shimo couldn’t wrap his head around “ slashing three times at the very same time just like his sensei was doing. It was a technique element that only his experience with the rogue ninja allowed him to master through need and desire to live. Only adapt or perish environment could’ve ever allowed a swordsman to break the rules that governed all others. That was why that technique would have won, not because there was no way of triumphing that A-Rank drawing ninjutsu-weaponry technique with an offensive technique, because it combined all identities of Shimo into a singular entity with a single goal “ to win.
“Wind Style: Flock of Swallows!” poncho assassin roared out with an equal amount of conviction. He drew his sword too early, initially it appeared as a mistake for Shimo but then he understood that the actual sword was not the dangerous part of the technique, it was a cause to what was to come. Once drawn the chakra infused blade created a gust of wind flowing one direction, meanwhile using his sheathe holding hand the man formed a hand seal which allowed him to create another current of wind that moved the opposite direction. The man had created a miniature typhoon inside the office room.
Even faced with such an amazing yet seemingly simplistic technique Shimo did not flinch for a moment, the young man continued to dash at his opponent with his technique. Tanshu once told him that no sword technique could have matched the triple cutting techniques he used, the vortex of cutting winds appeared quite formidable but at best it would match Shimo’s technique, not break it. Even if their swordsmanship techniques were dead even there was still the ninjutsu wolf made of ice chakra. Shimo was going to win!
A deafening howl followed by a crashing noise followed as the two clashed with their techniques. The poncho assassin’s facial cover and his poncho tore to bits, Shimo’s body tensed and blacked up in multiple spots and his arms almost blew up in a bloody mess from the sheer pressure of their swords clashing, while initially the poncho assassin was smiling, soon his smile faded from his face once he realized that Shimo’s apparently singular draw actually cut at three spots at once perfectly blocking poncho’s typhoon of swordsmanship. Then the man’s eyes quickly shifted up but couldn’t form a definitive emotion instead of running through a myriad of them before understanding that his fate was not to escape “ it was to freeze solid. Such an ironic end in the middle of a desert village…
Bang!
Shimo’s Ice Wolf avatar of chakra behind him exploded into shards of icicles and a kunai that shattered it fired from a long range dispenser fell onto the floor, the two swordsman dashed past one another with Shimo falling on his knees and thrusting his sword into the floor to keep his body from hitting the floor and passing out. That sword was the only thing that kept the young Yuki on his knees and breathing.
“There’s a second man… Outside the office…” Shimo huffed out as sweat broke out through his forehead combining with the blood already going down the boy’s forehead and the back of his head.
“What can I say?” the poncho assassin replied with a cocky expression while he sheathed his blade and looked back at the boy who was in no condition to stop him now, “While my origins are as those of a samurai of the Iron Country, the Shaphac are no samurai and do not follow the Bushido, they are actually terrorists. I am under no moral obligation to face you honourably. In my defence, my ally outside is a blind marksman. Think of it what you will…” the man replied turning away only to face a large man who appeared to blink into existence seemingly out of nowhere, dressed in a white cloak with a blue hat that had a great hieroglyph proudly stating “Wind” on its centre.
The bulky arm of the interloper swiped to the side, in mid-strike steel parts assembled a set of armour around his arm that sent the poncho assassin flying through the side wall, after the assassin burst through the wall, passing out from the combined damage taken from the intense and almost instant-fast hit and hitting the wall, the armoured hand of the interloper fired off and grabbed the man dragging him back to the hulking brute’s grasp.
“I think it’s hilarious, personally…” Akasuna Mugao grinned at the young man who just barely managed to stand back up and face the Kazekage.
It was quite convenient that Shimo was already on his knees, after all, kneeling against a person of such high stature may have been the proper manners however most foreign ninja chose to merely bow their heads to their mid abdomen level suggesting great respect but not subordination.
“There is another man outside…” Shimo huffed out to which the Kazekage just grinned.
“The men I brought with me got that covered… Now if you will excuse me, there is a package I was expecting to receive today that was too important and sensitive to handle to send my assistants to pick it up” the redhead giant unsealed the time-space transporter device back in its rightful place, “What’s this?” suddenly he stopped turning at Shimo’s bag.
The exhausted Yuki tried to pick it up but the Kazekage was simply too fast, the contents of the bag soon became public.
“What are those shards? I’ve never seen the likes of it before…” the man wondered to himself.
“It’s something I wanted to send back to Konohagakure, Kazekage-sama” Shimo replied in a more grumpy tone than he would’ve liked. While this man didn’t remind of a scumbag this was his village and he did hold a bag full of Audra ore in his hands. It was expensive beyond belief, even if the Konoha four only managed to secure a limited quantity of what laid beneath the Katabami mines.
“Hmmm, this looks like… Audra ore. The same colour as Audra alloy would have, I wonder how a full armour or a puppet made of this thing would run, might give me an edge in my next rival match with Lady Fifth, what would you say? Shall you lend this to me, young man? I might reward you with something from my arsenal, you know” the gentle giant looked right Shimo in the eyes with a look that suggested more of a curious gambler’s interest than malicious intent.
“Actually… Wait? Why did you say you need it again, Kazekage-sama?” Shimo squinted as he found the man’s reason for needing this ore quite odd. Using these shards he could’ve armed an entire unit with Audra layered weapons or made entire crates of ninja kits of Audra alloy kunai and shuriken. The Kazekage was known as an inventor beyond his time, building puppets, weapons and armours for himself and others, inventing barriers and new techniques and also technology to improve the quality of life in his village.
“You see, young man, me and Lady Fifth have this friendly competition every year after a Summit of our villages. She comes at me with an intent to kill me in a location of my choosing and I use all of my traps and puppet armies and puppet suits of armour to stop her. This package is in fact an absolute hot generator, it generates temperatures of close to one and a half quintillion degrees, this year I intend to attempt to dehydrate the Hokage, you see. This way we settle friendly differences where peace treaties demand a coin toss or some other trivial ritual, sometimes we arm wrestle but I soon learned how hopeless that was…” Mugao smiled pulling out a glowing battery cell that appeared like a miniature star held in a battery-like containment unit.
“I’m sorry, sir, I’d rather send the bag back to Konoha” Shimo replied after an uncomfortable pause of silence.
“I see, that’s too bad… I went through a lot of trouble to acquire this generator from Kumogakure and an Audra infused puppet army would’ve greatly benefited me by cutting down the chakra costs to maintain them all in active combat. At this pace Konoha will have their representatives take over the Kirigakure slum district from us as well as a couple of islands from the Archipelago that the Lady Fifth has already won. After getting trounced with my black hole dispenser last year I am running out of things to throw at her” the man scratched the back of his head
*****
“Wait, you met the Kazekage!?” Mana yelled out in disbelief as the four were talking over breakfast the next morning.
Last night they all returned having taken care of things they needed to do so late that they didn’t bother doing much more. Kouta just stitched Shimo’s chest injury with simple ninjutsu-free good old medical science and the four went to sleep. Everyone was really curious about just what kind of trouble could Shimo have run into as they didn’t appear to have that eventful of a day. Since it had gotten far too late for tales the impressive story of terrorist groups functioning inside Sunagakure and the opposition to world peace had to wait.
“Wait, so Hokage-sama has won over the right to take over the management of several Kirigakure locations, I wonder why doesn’t she actually send people there, a couple of years more and Kirigakure might just learn and regain their autonomy, we’ll run out of opportunities to stick it to them” Kouta wondered to himself eating a morning dumpling.
“It is said she receives some sort of benefits from other villages for not utilizing her right to take over the areas that belong to her authority, however the Kazekage appeared to mention that Konoha might have representatives there that would take over some areas yesterday” Shimo replied scratching his stitched wound to just Kouta just angrily objected, the disadvantages of good old way of dealing with wounds was that there was an entire healing process to it, even if ninja healed at a much accelerated rate with their insane ninja metabolisms.
“We’ve been away from Konoha for so long, so much must’ve happened while we’re gone…” Meiko looked at the sky before stretching out on the emptied table longingly.
“Well, this may just be the worst line to bring it up after but… I found a very interesting poster yesterday stuck on the walls of one of the buildings” Kouta wriggled in the chair before pulling out a torn up and worn out sheet of paper with a smiling lady on it. The young lady in the picture had the most playful of smiles and was winking at the supposed viewer of said picture, she also wore a very curious set of headgear that appeared like some sort of a headset and stood close to a table that appeared very hi-tech with a lot of glowing buttons and panels. The whole poster was black in the background but it was filled with streamers and lights that gave the poster a vibrant and artsy feel to it.
The title of the poster said, “Notasa “ Last chance to see her perform”
Mana blinked a couple of times still struggling to get the clue. “I don’t think we have time to see a singer of some sort… Especially if you check the date of it “ the concert happened last week”
“Yes, she is from the Land of Sound’s Otogakure and is apparently a musical genius” Kouta explained. Finally the whole table got interested.
“She may help us solve the puzzle of the sphere…” Shimo calmly stated what everyone was thinking.
“That’s right, from what I gathered from people in the streets, she can compose and perform complex compositions in the middle of a show, it’s what she calls “Improvosition”, she may just be to music what Mana-chan is to stage magic” Kouta explained slowly gathering hype for his idea and getting more and more excited as he went on. Mana slightly blushed and looked away after being complimented, she really missed magic and while being complimented on her entertainment skill felt great she really wished it didn’t remind her how badly she missed all of it.
“Well then, once we get a reply from the village we’ll head towards Otogakure then…” Shimo confirmed with a strong nod and finished his morning tea.
“It’s actually great because no matter what the reply is “ Otogakure is close to Fire Country, if we are denied permission no one will get suspicious because we’ll be sighted in Fire Country anyways moving towards Land of Sound” Kouta got energetic to which Mana sadly shook her head.
“Even so, normally it’d take you a couple of days to get there once we reach Fire Country but with me in your way it’ll take much more, maybe even several weeks to get there. If we are denied permission that will be it… Our adventure will be over, I don’t wish to put you guys in more trouble than you already are” Mana looked at every teammate sitting around the table.
“It’d be really great if we got the permission to extend our objective, we could use it as a safe-card against my father if he decides to mess with our mission again” Kouta dreamily looked into the sky relaxing in his seat. It appeared to be a tranquil and calm morning of warm Sun that had not yet reached the point where it was annoyingly hot.
“Still, it’d have been better if we figured it out earlier and used it in our report, an actual plan would’ve been a much better reason to grant us extension than just an abstract clue to the Box’s location” Shimo angrily complained looking away and relaxing in his chair as well.
It’s been a long time since they could just relax and enjoy their meals after sleeping in warm and soft beds. It was definitely no home of theirs but it was the closest second thing to it. The four were slowly becoming accustomed to the hot desert climate, soon it’ll seem weird to step on the ground and not have one’s foot get filled in scratchy and searing hot sand…
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +