The seas were getting visibly more unsettling as the battle ashore kicked into a more intense gear. The foaming waves were dyed blood red as the constant aquatic washer tested and filtered the conscious and capable to fight and the beaten ones. Only the capable managed to withstand the alluring pull to the ocean’s depths further from the beach of the withdrawing waters. The rippling outbursts of chakra created massive whirlpools that roared with all the might of a divine beast expelling geysers of water and throwing some of the washed away bodies in the air. Several were actually woken up by this aquatic baptism of the bloody foams.
Mana pressed a trigger under her sleeve firing off a bunch of cards from the deck compartments in her sleeve. The magician grabbed the handful of cards so she could utilize her own strength instead of the spring mechanisms and unleashed the storm of cards at several Kirigakure Demon trainees in her sight. Two of them used Substitution Jutsu replacing themselves with some of their fallen comrades and letting them take it for the living, another three took a pair of steel edged cards etching into their backs, bending and twisting their spines in pain and opening themselves up for the Imarizu’s or Sugemi’s counterattack.
Even if Mana wasn’t fighting on the Imarizu’s side, the dark skinned agents of death from Kumogakure were certainly eager to exploit the openings given to them by Mana. The magician moved her hand into an inner pocket of her jacket only for a splinter squad of Demons to branch out and rush at her from the side. Reacting to this attack, Mana’s hand made the hand seals by itself firing off a mad air current below her and lifting the magician in the air as she rode it like a platform. Rising above the battlefield Mana unleashed a handful of steel tipped cards with chakra sealed inside of them, upon weaving a hand seal the cards released their contents exploding with the power of multiple explosive tags.
As Mana’s eyes wandered behind her shoulder they fixed on a pair of rushing attackers. The pair of Demons used steel wire trying to latch onto Mana but missing and grabbing onto a top of a palm tree which elevated them well beyond the tree level. Quickly the kunoichi’s head twisted sideways letting her hat slip off of her head and down her shoulder into her palm. The magician placed her hand onto its upper end setting off the seal and firing off a storm of various different cards sealed inside. Cards charged with Lightning Release chakra emitting a painful shock, cards with simple chakra lacking elemental nature that simply exploded or those with various ninja tools sealed inside. One of the Demons used the Substitution Jutsu to successfully evade the mess of epic proportions while the other braced for impact and plummeted back down.
These Demons were tough. Each one of these trainees was above the level of a common genin and while to an observer it may have looked like Mana and the others were fighting them all off, what was truly happening was they were merely postponing their confrontation “ annoying the Demons, leaving injuries and blasting them back but not putting them down for their chakra levels allowed for sufficient enough chakra augmentation to make a compelling opponent for one of the Konoha team “ each and every one of them.
A gut wrenching flesh piercing sound followed as Mana’s gut got pierced by a hooking mechanism attached to a chain. A Demon below yanked on it pulling the girl down for a finishing strike but the shape erupted into flower petals that gently descended upon the battlefield. As the confused Demon wandered where the real Mana may have gone while she slipped into an illusion the magician kicked the man from behind at the back of his neck, just as the old man taught her in the Sun Disc arena, sending the Demon asleep.
This was troublesome “ this trainee Demon forced her to move right into the fray of attacks, right into the middle of the messiest battlefield where fists and ninjutsu attacks were exchanged which the magician may not have been ready for. Mana uneasily looked around. And realized she’s been noticed. One of the more battle damaged Imarizu followed a Kirigakure Demon as the two combined their effort in order to bring the elusive magician down.
*****
A black shadow creeped along the battlefield “ death incarnate in the shape of the Imarizu. The muscular and battle ready leader of Imarizu carved up his deadly art on the enemy bodies desperately looking for his target “ Yamanaka Inomame. If the Yamanaka was smart he wouldn’t have moved an inch “ moving outside the battlefield would’ve exposed him, running away would’ve only revealed his back for the black viper to strike at it and sing its deadly fangs.
The Imarizu wielding the Audra blade charged at the northern edge of the battlefield slashing at the sides. Blood splattered wherever his ghastly blade danced its deadly tango, blood splattering all over the Imarizu’s face and chest but the mask protected the eldest Imarizu veteran from flinching as splattering blood usually did. He was unnerved by how resilient these Demonlings were. For trainees their degree of endurance and chakra augmentation was surprising, if nothing else…
A foot shoved forward stopping the eldest Imarizu’s charge and repurposing his force into a graceful backflip as his sword painted a crescent shape slashing at a Demonling that was pursuing him. His sword was successfully blocked, successfully meaning, obviously, that the defending chain wrapped gauntlet shattered into a million pieces. This Audra blade was something else. And to think that the Imarizu would’ve found it on a hit mission taking out a black market informant that lived in ancient Archipelago lapis lazuli mines. How on Earth could have a sword like this ended up so deep underground, like the Earth had swallowed it herself…
Suddenly, much to the surprise of the eldest Imarizu the Demon was blown back by an overwhelming shock of air pressure as a rampaging young shinobi attacked the man head on. Sugemi’s fist was blocked by the assassin’s blade effortlessly but his troublesome shadow extended from underground and punched the elder up in the air.
“Shadow Tendril!” Sugemi shouted out as the shadow materialized again attempting to wrap around the airborne Imarizu’s leg and bring him down for another, more focused uppercut.
The Imarizu struggled but couldn’t break out of the shadow’s grasp. He could only block the upcoming strike with his knee but then Sugemi’s hand seals flashed before his very eyes. The Imarizu rushed in to interrupt them, as he had interrupted the girl before. He had to hand it to the little magician, her hand seals were some of the fastest he had ever seen, almost as fast as that of adult ninjutsu specialists. Interrupting this chump’s, however, was another deal entirely.
With a triumphant smile the Imarizu lowered his blade having grabbed the young man’s hand and interrupting his hand seals. A swarm of insects blocked his blow, a deafening chirping sound made the Imarizu clutch his ears as the sound of thousands of small knives clashing with his sword was too much for the human ears to sustain without erupting in a bleeding frenzy and shrieking for an eternity to come.
With a roar that went unheard, deafened by the sounds of battle around them Sugemi rushed out, enveloped in a translucent glow of his erupting chakra and tensed up and swollen body as his open First Gate put pressure on the young man’s body. The Imarizu elder’s mask cracked as the man was sent flying back. Knowing of the nature of his blade the man stopped himself by thrusting it into the rocky beach floor, knowing that the Audra blade was eternal, broken only by pure chakra and not some pesky environmental factors or rust.
“Nara Hidden Technique: Shadow Yggdrasil!” Sugemi roared out as a straight rising pillar of shadows blew out from the murky and blood covered floor aiming to blow the elder Imarizu up in the air.
Focusing all of his hidden physical strength the Imarizu leaped up into air, aiming to rise well above the tallest point the kid’s shadows could reach. Then those pesky insects interfered again forming a sphere around him. The sunlight faded from the assassin’s view as he was enclosed in a sphere of nasty locust-like creatures and stopped right where the beaming pillar of shadows blasted him out of it.
Overwhelming physical pain. Nothing the Imarizu couldn’t survive. The shadows hit him with such intense physical force that had they been aimed downwards they’d have cracked the entire planet into two. Yet the Imarizu did not grunt or shout in pain, expression of pain was an expression of weakness. The concussive force tossed the Imarizu leader up into the sky as the pillar of shadows branched out into thousands of separate fist constructs each of which continued to rain its assault separately from the others. Absolutely overwhelming and bombarding the leader of the elite Kumogakure hitmen squad with unmatched precision and power.
Sugemi’s hands weighed down. He was breathing difficultly as this attack took some life out of him “ combined with the nasty injury he had sustained before it was really beginning to drag him down. The constant attacks by the Demonlings were also beginning to wear him out. Luckily enough for a moment or two Yanagi continued to stand by his companion back-to-back and fend off the upcoming assaults by shielding him with his insects.
*****
A young Demonling, eager to prove himself rampaged across the battlefield, attacking multiple targets. He saw a young fancy dressed magician girl fly above his head and tried to catch her with his chain attached steel clawed gauntlet, sadly he had missed his mark as one of his kin had attacked her from another angle interrupting her natural progression in the sky and making him miss his mark as the Demonling had aimed a little bit onwards. Right where the girl would’ve been had she not been interrupted and not where she was.
The young Demon shrugged and rushed onwards. He saw an exposed back of one of those dark skinned Imarizu assassins from the Cloud. Seeing how they were the only threat to their client, since the Konoha party wished nothing to do with him, they were the priority target. Rushing through the battlefield, leaping over the tripping kick of another Imarizu and then rolling below a rushing swarm of insects from aside the Demon leaped at his opponent with his iron gauntlets reattached and ready to tear chunks of flesh out of his opponent. The Demonling pressed a trigger on his wrist setting off the hidden seals inside his gauntlets.
Flaming balls of blazing suffering formed on the central part of the palm area. Ready to envelop whomever the iron claws of the gauntlet weapon pierce in hellfire, a taste of the eternity to come for them in the afterlife. The Imarizu member turned almost instantly, lifting his hand up and clenching it in a fist, smacking it back like he had anticipated an attack from behind. He was so deceitfully fast! An absolutely devastating impact crushed the Demonling’s mask, everything whited out and the young man no longer felt any pain, he just felt so weightless before his consciousness faded…
*****
Inomame stood still, at the northern edge of the battlefield in between the field and the row of boats that lead to his colossal ship. He was more intelligent than to flee and turn his back on a buzzing battlefield full of people aiming to kill him. There it was! One of those pesky Imarizu rushing at him… The Yamanaka’s hand seals went off, luckily enough one of the Demonlings engaged the Imarizu in hand to hand combat before the racist bastard could even reach him. As trusty and loyal these nameless Demon trainees were, they were no match absolutely for the dominating speed and might of the Imarizu.
“Yamanaka Hidden Technique: Art of Phalanx!” Inomame chanted out spreading his hands out wide and taking over the minds of multiple Demonlings on his side. Together the young shinobi who had surrendered their identities, their futures and their lives for their village and its glorious rebirth assaulted on the Imarizu. Inomame was well trained in all of the ninja arts: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Sealing, Genjutsu, Weaponry… He had the theoretical knowledge and only a body lacking of the ability to use some of them. That only meant that he needed pawns to control, pawns with the skill to use those abilities of which Inomame knew more than the pawn did… Luckily enough he had his hidden Yamanaka techniques that could fix such a situation.
The Imarizu member exploded in a flurry of fists. An uppercut to finish off the beaten and broken Demonling he was working on before. Sending the young one down with a crushing hook swollen like his face was festered with tumors. A combination of wild and near-invisible even to Yamanaka Inomame strikes dispatched of two more Demonlings as it crushed their chest cavities, blew up their hearts, crushed their throats and skulls all at the same time. Even having lost his deadly bladed knuckle duster the Imarizu was lethal, able to kill even an experienced ninja in five different ways and angles in a mere microsecond.
Inomame grunted in annoyance as his eyes wandered for more targets for his technique. The man worked his hand seals while the Imarizu was still busy, aiming to take control of more of his own pawns. Sadly he was beginning to run short of those… If only it wasn’t for that thing the sword wielding assassin slipped out “ that anger ridden statement to that strange magician girl from Konoha about their minds being tempered like steel to resist mental attacks. The influential man didn’t even try taking control of the Imarizu… However if only he could get access to one of those Konoha brats…
“Yamanaka Hidden Technique: Art of the Crimson Valentine!” Inomame yelled out taking control of his already beaten pawns. The men removed their explosive tags and slapped them on their chests launching themselves like human explosives at the Imarizu. Visibly distressed by the upcoming disaster the Imarizu backed up, giving each of the rushing unconscious human explosives a strong hook to the punch that sent them back exploding further away from him.
Inomame leaned aside to avoid the upcoming pawn hurled right at him. The flying trainee hit the smaller boats and exploded together with them, incinerating all of them to a crisp, up to the smallest wood chip. That was when the Imarizu finally closed in on Inomame with a powerful right hand blow that without a doubt was aimed to take the Yamanaka’s head clean off.
Slapping together just a single hand seal, fast enough to not be interrupted, Inomame replaced himself with another one of his Demonling trainees allowing every bone in the young man’s body to be turned into dust upon the Imarizu hitting him with the blunt force of his enraged blow.
Inomame, having found himself right in the middle of the battle cyclone wandered around, constantly body shielded by his Demons and protected as his eyes wandered around looking for his target. Someone he could use to more effectively get rid of any rushing Imarizu…
*****
Kiyomi was taking on one of the Demons hand-to-hand. She wasn’t sure just how potent these guys were, she saw plenty of them take quite a beating and even jump in to take a beating for their sissy master. And to think that Kiyomi ever felt curious about checking him out and seeing if he was cool to marry her. At this point the Yamanaka just wanted to punch some Demons for being Kirigakure dicks, some of the Imarizu for killing so many of her innocent clansmen and that Inomame’s ass for trying to have her killed. She may have forgiven him if he was a dreamy groom but the way things were escalating he most certainly wasn’t.
The Demon leaned out of Kiyomi’s attack, it may not have been the smartest thing to engage these guys hand to hand after all, then again, Kiyomi was hungry and thirsty, she also had no ninja tools on her so she couldn’t make a proper long distance attack without taking down one of these guys. Using her Yamanaka techniques was dangerous as she’d be leaving her body exposed for prolonged period of time in a middle of a battlefield as it was beginning to encompass her.
Even Mana, who tried to stick on the outside edges of the raging battle got enveloped into all of that mess. The Demon leaned under her right hand strike and dug his fist right into Kiyomi’s gut before kicking her back. The Yamanaka slid back holding the Demonling’s ninja pouch in her left hand, she felt her chakra rushing into the wounded spot keeping her conscious and in the fight. Now she had some weaponry on her and was able to fight back properly.
A whole bunch of Demonlings jumped out from the waging war and joined in on the attack. They hit fast and weak “ a clear attempt at taking her alive as she was a precious target of their client. The Yamanaka tried fighting off all four of them, moment from moment her eyes wandered off to see if any of her friends will help her out. That Nara guy was busy fighting the Imarizu, the bug guy was busy keeping him alive while he foolishly engaged an Imarizu all by himself. Mana was twirling around like a magical princess again… Kiyomi hated when she did that…
One of the Demons socked her right in the jaw, another one kicked her in the gut the third swept her supporting leg and the fourth vaulted over his pal and slammed the Yamanaka into the ground with an overhead kick. These guys were seriously good at working together. All four of them attacked her at the same time while she was down but Kiyomi flipped back evading the attack. She saw Mana getting blown out from the sky as well, the Aburame and the Nara were also having trouble deeper into the whole mess.
While Kiyomi was glad that Mana wasn’t condescendingly pulling her ass out, it would’ve been way better not to get cornered and picked off by a bunch of Kirigakure Demonlings right now…
The Yamanaka heiress grunted in pain as she was caught by her long hair and pulled in for a good couple of strikes to the face. Angered she pulled the handful of hair off and kicked the Demonling right in his chest. The Yamanaka then placed her hand on the ground and channeled her chakra through the hair making a hand seal.
“Chakra Hair Trap Jutsu!” she chanted as the Demon strangely jerked and stood perfectly still. The other three rushed at her looking to beat the ever-loving crap out of her but as she was getting tackled to the ground the blonde placed her palms up and pointed at the frozen still assassin.
“Art of Valentine!” she chanted taking over the man and compelling him instantly to attack the nearest ally. Blood squirted all over Kiyomi’s face as the Demonling punching her downed body while sitting on top of her got skewered by the claws of the steel gauntlet piercing his body from behind. The other Demons quickly pulled back and attacked their friend. They didn’t play around snapping the young man’s neck.
Tired, with a bleeding nose and battered bruises all over her body Kiyomi shoulder tackled the two and ran into the insanity of the battlefield to hide. She needed to regain her composure, get a decent fighting plan together and stop underestimating these Demon trainees like they were some cannon fodder. Each one of them was a valid opponent to her alone. This was a battlefield she fought in to survive… She was wise not to forget that…
“Mana!” Kiyomi screamed troubled over her friend’s questionable mean of landing she witnessed shortly before she was occupied by fighting for her life.
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