Poncho continued to stare the three kids that decided to butt in down. He was not a prideful individual but he wished to conclude his duel with the sword wielding brat from before, the one that lead to him getting caught. It was not as much what followed the capture of Denton and Poncho Assassin that annoyed the swordsman, more that he was bested by someone of lesser skill. This brat had no right to best him back then and yet he did for the sole reason of being lucky.
“It appears that our combination attack didn’t really kill the kids” Poncho grumbled out rather quietly, the exchange of words was meant to transpire with Denton after all.
“Even better, now we get to kill them right on the edge of Agbarah instead of days walk from it. The Kazekage will have no quarrel with us” Denton smiled removing two fist sized spheres from pouches on his large manly leather belt. His smile was known only to the man himself since the mask only slightly tipped forward, not something visible to a trio of children a decent distance away from the sharpshooter.
Poncho and Shimo dashed at each other, both drew their swords on their way meanwhile Denton leaped back a great distance flinging the two spheres forward. The masked man expected the kids to attack him since he appeared to be a frailer and long range focused fighter however the female ninja and the strong punching boy disappeared from his sight altogether, just a moment later Denton realized that his gut was warning him justly. The two reappeared right in front of Denton however at that moment it was too late “ an ironic thing to consider having the flashing speed of the two younglings.
The two spheres that Denton had thrown exploded, one of them emitted black gas in wide range covering clouds, the other meanwhile burst with purplish smoke. Meiko and Kouta covered their faces, it appeared that Denton managed to outsmart them with these smoke screen bombs and leap away. Meiko felt a crushing grip grabbing her abdomen and then wind violently ripping her short hair as Kouta pulled her off of the smoke clouds jumping up and then away.
“The second bomb was poisonous, he used the pitch black smoke of the first one to cover up the purple smoke of the second one, purple smoke means poison” the medical ninja explained to Meiko who just grinned and scratched the back of her head.
“Wow, I totally forgot that, boy we’re lucky to have you around” the blacksmith carelessly giggled acting as if she didn’t just get pulled out from certain death.
“These guys aren’t toying around, they’re the real deal… And now that masked bastard slipped away too” Kouta angrily grunted out turning back to check on Shimo who was clashing his sword with the other Shaphac assassin.
The two clashed again and again, moving in almost identical speed. They outraced the sound and sparks of their own sword clashes, spun around, flipped and clashed trying to catch each other off guard but none of them gave in. Finally the two settled down in a struggle of strength as they rammed their swords against each other and tried to overpower the other with a forceful shove, even if Shimo was a teen he managed to hold his own against the rather slim Shaphac assassin in a struggle of strength.
“Your skill has greatly improved since the last time…” the Poncho Assassin commended Shimo to which the Yuki only smiled cockily, Meiko and Kouta’s bodies flashed in from two different sides in his aid, winding up their punches that were supposed to crush the Shaphac swordsman in between their two sides of assault, breaking the man’s body completely.
Suddenly Poncho let Shimo’s force to push him back, he pulled his sword and sheathed it, unsheathing it again in thousandth of a second, the man drew the blade so fast that it released a wave of compressed air that knocked the two teammates backwards on their butts while the Shaphac swordsman took a couple of quick and subtle hops backwards gaining some distance over his three opponents.
Meiko and Kouta jumped on their feet and prepared to sync up with Shimo once the Yuki decides to attack. The three were worried about Denton slipping away and getting a chance to hide from them, looking for an option to slip in a cheap shot, no doubt, however if they could quickly team up on this swordsman and take him down all three of them could have devoted all of their attention to searching for Denton.
“Let’s go!” Shimo yelled out as all three teens rushed at the direction of the single opponent they saw in their way, the Yuki grabbed the hilt of his blade preparing to draw it right when he got into range. Kouta’s skin once again shifted becoming wood-like in texture and multiple tube-like cannons opened up at the spots of the young man’s shoulders, his thighs and larger ones on his elbows. Meiko leaped up into the air pressing her boots and activating seals that fired off brief pulses of chakra, forming small jets that fired her off into the air. The three were preparing a combination to finish off anyone foolish enough to stand in their way, one they had plenty of time to perfect.
A silent metallic tap alerted Shimo, interrupting his rush, the boy’s eyes quickly located the tool that caused the sound “ a round metallic sphere that landed close to Kouta.
“Stop!” Shimo yelled but it was too late, the Juugo medical ninja dived on his knees, sliding onwards using the rough surface of his morphed skin and twisting around, the holes on his small tube-like chakra cannons lit up but didn’t have enough time to go off before Denton’s grenade interrupted the boy’s offense. Kouta’s jutsu was supposed to be a full circle covering barrage of chakra blasts however he didn’t have enough time to set it off.
The metallic grenade cracked releasing shocks of crackling lightning that covered a narrow field around Kouta. The young man yelled out as the electric shock passed through him and flipped him over, firing off a wild blast of chakra from Kouta’s cannons that blew dangerously close to Meiko’s face up in the air. Despite not being hit head on the girl wasn’t ready for that sort of misfire, Shimo wasn’t entirely sure of her condition but she was slowly falling out of the air, smoke slowly rising and curling around in black twisting curls from the girl’s burning clothes.
“Don’t get your eyes off your enemy! Wind Style: Eighth Zephyr!” Poncho’s voice made Shimo realize his mistake however by the time the Yuki realized he was being played it was too late. The poncho wearing swordsman moved faster than Shimo’s eyes could perceive which should’ve been impossible, that meant that the man moved faster than lightning, Shimo could distinctly remember training by cutting at natural lightning bolts with his sensei, back during his wandering days. Such inhuman speed should’ve been impossible.
Blood and pain interrupted any thoughts that Shimo could’ve thought at that moment, any strategies he may have considered and attributed to the poncho wearing swordsman or his pal who was firing grenades in the far off corner of the battlefield. Meiko’s body hit the ground with a deafening pound that left a small crater and lifted sand and dust into the air. Shimo’s eyes whited out as eight different cuts opened up on his body sending the Yuki down. He was cut eight times and the assassin dashed right through him before Shimo could even react! These were not opponents they could’ve fought one on one. They needed coordinated and powerful responses directed at each of them. It must’ve been a singular drawing slash that hit him, the other cuts were just projectiles of Wind Release chakra synced up to the sword strike…
Poncho Assassin sheathed his blade and turned his head halfway around checking Shimo and a small puddle of blood gathering beneath the boy’s downed body, the assassin’s face turned to the left and to the right, examining the shocked and grunting body of Kouta, the medical ninja of the team who was the most important. Without a doubt the medical ninja was the target to aim for. Poncho’s body disappeared from sight again. Imbued with pure Wind Release chakra the assassin dashed up to Kouta and slashed with a sword drawing slice aiming to cut the boy in half at his abdomen. The figure of the young teen split in two but it didn’t remain that way, it poofed and instead of it appeared a sliced up large stone, one only a powerhouse like Kouta could’ve substituted with.
“Denton!” Poncho yelled out, realizing that they’ve been played, they were being played this whole time!
Kouta’s figure appeared as it jumped to the air from underground the sand, blowing it aside as the boy leaped out from the hiding, his arms molded together into a singular cannon-like tube and several smaller tubes formed around the large one.
“Juugo Hidden Technique: Chakra Cannon!” Kouta grunted out firing a singular focused beam of chakra into a random spot in the air, Poncho looked confused, it wasn’t even flying at the general direction of his partner. If anything it was aimed at Agbarah Sheikhate. Was the young man’s goal to blow up the entire settlement? The chakra blast probably had enough power to level a settlement, even a large one but why would the medical ninja want that? Poncho Assassin just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Meiko’s loud grunt alerted the swordsman who frantically looked at the painful growl of the young teen, the girl flung a piece of her own armor, a shoulder pad if Poncho’s eyes did not lie. The shoulder pad that the blacksmith girl flung at the beam lit up with white and red beams of light, it appeared that the girl’s intention was to fling it right at the concentrated chakra beam…
“Reflective Barrier Seal!” Meiko chanted out her own technique that gave Pocho a general idea of what the three may have been scheming but by that time it was too late. The beam’s tip hit the armor and struggled to incinerate it completely almost as if it was covered with chakra, but then again it was covered with the young blacksmith’s seal. Meiko’s seal redirected the beam in a full ninety degrees angle down right where Denton was situated.
An overwhelming explosion covered the desert, loud enough to drown out Poncho’s warnings and loud enough to make blood burst from his ears in relentless torrents, powerful enough to singe off most of his clothes and blow his hat off to Hell knew where. Poncho got thrown off his feet and sent flying backwards despite not even standing close to the explosion. The reflective seal of the girl appeared to absorb a decent amount of the blast but Poncho knew that his friend was in trouble. Once the explosion settled down the swordsman rolled around on the sand writhing in pain before thrusting his trusting sword into the sand and pushing his body off the ground, using his weapon for support.
It was all calculated, the three runts deliberately got hit by Denton’s attack just so they could find out his approximate location, with a blast that could’ve leveled a settlement or a village they didn’t need to be more precise than that but they needed to at least be somewhat on point to hit Denton with enough force to take him out immediately. Shimo smiled, he knew that their combination was successful, Meiko was really upset that she once again had to bump up and leave dents on her impressive handiwork. Kouta was huffing and panting pretty heavily, the hidden clan technique that he finally managed to pull off after long training drained him of a lot of his chakra so the team may not have wanted to rely on the medical ninja too much.
“It was an impressive combination, team” Shimo smiled.
Meiko looked too worn out by the fall and too bummed out for losing her shoulder pad to care. She also got one of her favorite green tracksuits incinerated, one of several that she lost on this mission. Kouta was slowly getting back on his feet, the situation called for one more combination attack because Shimo wouldn’t be able to take his opponent out alone.
Poncho slapped his hands together forming a hand seal and then placed his palms behind him, the swordsman leaped up and jumped onto a jet of Wind Release chakra, an artificial current that he formed. The man’s clothes have also been singed, as well as his signature poncho and his hat. The man was now left bare-chested with burns all over his upper body, his wild hair flowed freely as the hat restrained and shaped them into a ponytail no longer. His sword was all that Poncho needed anyways…
“Wind Step Jutsu!” Poncho growled out through pain, he felt that the explosion may have thrown him through a couple of deceitfully underground boulders as his body was dragged through the sand by the force of the blast. The swordsman closed his distance on Shimo near instantly slashing at the young man’s chest, Shimo drew his blade swiping it to the side, attempting to counter Poncho’s assault but it was a feint. Using the current of wind Poncho slid around Shimo and slashed his back. The wind riding swordsman continued to skate his wind current and slash the Yuki swordsman again and again, Shimo could only slightly evade the slashes, also augment his body so that the Wind Release chakra imbued blade of Poncho’s didn’t cut him up to little pieces.
Shimo grunted and threw up more and more blood as the shallow cuts accumulated. The Yuki tried more and more to respond but the unusual wind riding movements of his opponent’s, also his superior speed, experience and skill made the young ex-rogue unable to land a single slash. With an elbow strike the Poncho wearing swordsman sent Shimo down on the sand. At that moment Shimo wondered if he was going to die, he almost waited for that finishing stab at him from his standing opponent but right before Poncho could skewer him a loud blast forced Shimo’s eyes open.
What greeted the young Yuki’s eyes was a small contained blast from a spherical grenade similar to those Denton used, the blast hit Poncho right in the back and forced the man to stumble forward, desperately struggling to keep his body upright. Shimo glanced to the side seeing Meiko holding and making out with a large cannon that appeared to fire these round projectiles, she must’ve dragged her tired body to Denton’s and picked his weapon up.
Judging from blood, shooting from Poncho’s mouth and the man’s loud grunts that suggested great pain, ranging all the way to agony, Shimo knew that this was his chance. The boy rolled backwards and pushed his body off the ground with his arms, throwing himself back on his feet. Shimo’s wounds bled profusely but it didn’t matter, his body was literally burning up and sweating from the immense desert heat and the damage it had sustained that day but it didn’t matter. Nothing would’ve mattered if they all fell to this Shaphac assassin here and didn’t find their friend. Shimo stood in a sword drawing stance and focused all of his chakra and concentrated on his opponent. Then the young man moved his hands closer to his chest, the man’s hands flashed right through the hand seals he had to make within portions of a second. Faster even than Mana’s used to be during the times when she could still use chakra. All the training he had with Mana, it was beneficial to both of them. That way at least one of the things that were Tanshu-sensei’s last words would’ve come true.
A powerful vortex of howling winds picked up, snow and small icicles inside of it. Shimo’s immense concentration allowed him to create this freezing blizzard even in the middle of the desert heat. The secret was to insert more chakra into his ice than usual, the more chakra focused into it the less ice properties his Ice Release bloodline of his clan had.
“Ice Style: Ice Wolf Rampage!” Shimo roared out leaping forward, a wolf shape formed behind Shimo, a pinnacle of shape manipulation that the young man managed to achieve. This time Poncho knew better than to clash his own technique against Shimo’s, the assassin leaped up into the air, aiming to avoid the technique, he once again activated his “Wind Step” technique using it to rise far above the heights he’d have normally been able to jump to. Shimo knew that if his technique missed he’d be too tired to fight, none of them were in the fit condition to combat Poncho right now. Kouta’s and Meiko’s shapes blurred out as the two appeared right up and above Poncho, slamming the swordsman down with their hands together in a combination, right back down into Shimo’s sword drawing technique.
After the moment of truth the Yuki knew that his opponent must’ve been dead. Slowly the young swordsman walked up to him and checked the pulse, then he looked up at Kouta and Meiko. The blacksmith once again set off the seals on her boots and caught Kouta in her arms to help the two land properly. Their combinations and teamwork allowed them to overcome two much more talented and experienced opponents that day.
“Is he dead?” Meiko asked, Kouta didn’t even need to know, more exactly, he already knew. Shimo closed his eyes and nodded, he took no pleasure from that death nor did he regret what happened. These men were dangerous, they also tried to intercept their Audra transportation and somehow succeeded. They tried to kill the four of them and separated Mana from the crew.
“It’s not good, that Denton guy is completely blown up, I don’t think his total chakra level was all that, he didn’t appear to augment his body” Kouta also confirmed the death of the other Shaphac terrorist.
Meiko sighed “Mana wouldn’t have liked that…” she said but no one even honored her rhetorical observation with a response.
“If we can find Mana-chan in the first place, I’d like to hear all about her discontent” Kouta looked disappointed as well. He then approached Shimo and looked at the Yuki’s wounds.
“Let’s find a place to stay in that settlement further down the road, maybe someone saw Mana-chan there” the medical ninja suggested quickly bandaging the more immediate wounds while doing a half-assed job on the others only for them to be properly treated later, when they find a more appropriate place and time.
“We kind of suck at interrogating” Meiko looked at the two corpses they leave behind disappointed.
“Couldn’t be helped, they were too strong to play around with. We were lucky all of our combinations worked out like they did” Shimo noted. The blacksmith girl and the medical ninja both helped the injured swordsman on their way to Agbarah which was only a half an hour walk down the road. Meiko leaned up and picked up the Audra shard filled bag and casually flipped it over her shoulder. Somehow that blasted thing followed them and brought them trouble everywhere they went…
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +