The cold winter breeze that was around to deepen the cold and send it seemingly straight into one's soul was no longer around. The nature itself appeared to favor the Silent Killing user by making everything around the battlefield completely calm, not even a single breeze blew their way to assist by dispelling the fog. Imasu however actually preferred the calmer weather – she was soaked right down to her boots in chilling icy water and every breeze only reminded her that she desperately needs to push her muscles to their limits so that the risk of losing her limbs decreased.
"Did you know that one's speed and reaction time decreases when one is freezing? Do you feel it yet? How long do you think it's gonna be until the cold sets in?" Moya taunted the Raikage, the woman tensed her entire body to make the muscles keep the bloodflow going and shouted into the cold winter air. "Shut up and fight, that you must!" Right after loudly exclaiming her anger the woman dashed forward and drew her blade cutting into the fog only to hit absolutely nothing, the only thing that she cut was the mist itself disturbing the air. A loud laughter echoed from the mist.
"This is bad, speed is Raikage-sama's forte, without it she doesn't have much, her body is rather frail for a ninja of her level so if pressed hard she might just go down…" a Kumogakure ninja grunted out preparing a blade.
"Don't" another placed a hand on the shoulder of the other. "This man seems to value his one on one fair matchup, he believes that Raikage-sama can challenge him and he even holds himself back from attacking us so that Raikage-sama focuses on fighting him. If we attack and most likely fail to find him in all that mist… There's no telling what this man will think of, he may start cutting us down, he may feel cheated and just proceed to kill all of us. Let us trust Lady Imasu and stand down until we know that her loss is certain."
The other ninja looked angry that he was calmed down but it was quite apparent that he could see the reasoning behind the man's words and agreed to stand down. The ninja who were moved out of harm's way before and saved many times during the battle against the Kirigakure military force by the Raikage herself decided to place all of their trust in their leader. They knew that she had the means to beat this gust of wind. "What are you waiting for, Raikage-sama!? You're disgracing all of us, step up your lowly swordsmanship at once!" several ninja started hurling insulting cheers but everyone knew that this was the way to inspire their leader.
"This is bad, that it is… I could blow this gust away using the Step of Sound under normal circumstances but my muscles feel stiff from the cold and I'm not sure I can even pull it off…" Imasu thought to herself, suddenly she felt pain in her side, her reaction time and movement speed slowed down, she could no longer avoid strikes while taking minimal damage by moving away when the sword breaks her skin using her Steps. This was different, Raikage drew her blade and tried to push it into the way of the Executioner's blade. While she did take another nasty wound that spilled blood from her back, it also slightly warmed up the area that her blood bathed in. For just a moment Imasu could feel the muscles in her back – this was a chance. The woman dashed forward sheathing her blade and grabbing the handle strongly.
"Quickdraw Step!"
The woman dashed to the place she imagined the Sannin to be right after the strike had concluded, she even saw his figure, his shadow shining through the white mist. Using all of her momentary speed recovery that her own warm blood granted her the woman drew her sword using all of her strength and speed trying to cut the man down. Her body blurred and it would've been impossible for the man to respond even having his own impressive speed and abilities in mind. Useless… Only mist was cut and the smoky gas passed through the woman's katana getting sliced like a piece of paper. Another painful gash, this time in the front of her body – the man's figure was manipulated by the mist. What Imasu saw was just an optical illusion and when she missed her cut the man decided to use all of his power to quickly respond. Injured and breathing heavily Imasu staggered back, the woman moaned in pain and fell onto her knees with only her sword driven into snow holding her frame from falling down.
The young woman desperately clung to the gash that spat out more blood all over her body, her vision was starting to blur but… For this moment she felt warmer than ever before, she had only a couple of seconds before her blood cooled down and started feeling just as freezing as the air around her. She had to utilize it, she had no time to bleed out down on her knees while this man cut her down. Master Haoru would have never accepted such a disgraceful end for his only student. Imasu's leg shot forward, breaking through the snow and ice in sheer force and speed of her step, the woman's brave and powerful voice cut through the mist and reached even the ninja cheering on her from the sidelines.
"Sound Step Style: Supersonic Draw!"
A powerful shockwave blasted through the fog, like a much tinier scaled planetary bubble with lightning crackling all over it as it burst. A grunting shout followed right after the sound barrier was shattered and electrified as a male figure flew out of the mist and slammed into another icy hill busting it down and equaling it to the ground, then flying through multiple other hills. The Raikage sheathed her sword and breathed out, she looked at the man and tried to determine just how far he had been tossed away, she looked back at her comrades.
"This lowly one… Needs help… That she does…" she mumbled out and then fell on her knees, then face into the snow. Multiple medical ninja rushed to the young woman and started treating the cuts on her body. She had lost a lot of blood and had quite nasty injuries.
"Wow… Those wounds aren't even… What are those other scars!? They're horrible!" a medical ninja shouted as his colleague silenced him
"Focus, we may not have much time until that man recovers! The sensor said she could still sense his chakra!" she yelled out.
"Yes, ma'am." The younger medical ninja nodded and his glow intensified. "We need to do something about her hypothermia."
"Please do not bother, that you don't" Raikage grunted out through pain, "This one channeled Lightning Release chakra into that last technique, the sheer intensity of that technique will have to keep this one going for a while, that it will. This one plans to finish it soon before the cold kicks in, that she does. Please be fast and then move away from danger, that please do!" the woman ordered, no, her tone sounded more like a request than an order. Samaya Imasu's ordering tone still needed work. Loud footsteps through cracking ice alerted the medical squad of the Sannin making his way back to the battlefield, each of them reported when they finished their work and bolted before the fight reignited again.
The woman stood up and sheathed her blade, she was far from being completely patched up, this was just the essential field medical work that was needed so that she did not die in the middle of the battle. Imasu had already started to feel her life slowly fading away after that last charge, after her training days with Haoru she had never used so many of her "Steps" in such rapid and constant succession. She was really exhausting herself here, just how much more her body had was unknown. The Raikage pressed harder a black round pill in her hand and tossed it into her mouth chewing it quickly, the bitter and pepper-like taste made her frown but she felt some of her chakra bumping up. The medical ninja used these food pills, apparently a body never used all of the chakra it potentially could, some was still left over in one's system but it was essentially useless. With a little push it could have been expelled to temporarily boost one's chakra reserves. This pill that one of the medical ninja slipped into her palm was a life saver, she could now use her "Steps" several more times and be confident that she won't pass out.
"I see, you're using emergency tactics, medical ninja and food pills…" Moya noted swinging his giant Executioner's blade around his head and placing it on his shoulder.
"You've used help of another this whole fight, this one did nothing that dishonored her, that she did not!" the woman responded by standing in an offensive battojutsu stance.
A loud almost manic laughter echoed through the icy ruined battlefield. "I see, so you've figured me out, huh? Perhaps I shouldn't hold it back in that case?"
Imasu's hand shot forward, her eyes were filled with panic fear, "You fool, stop, that you must! You'll kill everyone, that you will!" she yelled out at Moya who just laughed out.
"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid, although if you kill me you do know what'll happen, right? Even if you knock me unconscious… That thing starts acting up on its own, I swear to God…" Moya laughed out again. He seemed to enjoy the fact that the swordswoman had figured out what he had inside of his body this entire time.
"That is good for this one, that it is. After this one killed the Young Lord this one doesn't like killing all that much, that she does not. This one will just have to take the risk and knock you out, that she will!" Raikage shouted out as she charged forward. "Quickdraw Step!" she chanted out as her sword clashed with that of Moya's but her sheer speed that transferred into the katana at the point of impact made a powerful shockwave that pushed the gigantic blade back, unable to keep its weight the Sannin had to let go of it as his own body slammed into the blunt side of his Executioner's Blade.
"Light Step Style: Instant Murder!" Imasu shouted out as time itself froze for a moment. Moya had nowhere to go – his back was against his blade that was etched into ice and he was open for striking. After just a moment of frozen time the man just coughed up as seven deep gashes opened on his body, his eyes rolled back and the force of Imasu's seven light fast battojutsu slashes, that all happened in an instant while to everyone else the time appeared to have frozen still, sent the Sannin crashing through his own blade that got cut in two. As the man's body lifelessly hit the snow the steel of the blade clung together and repaired his blade.
"S-She… Killed the Sannin…" Kumogakure ninja started mumbling around as Imasu sheathed her sword. "No! Lady Raikage only kills when there is no other choice, I don't really know what they were talking about previously but she clearly didn't want to kill him, she struck all non-vital areas but she still knocked the man out…" another Kumogakure ninja replied as he kept his eyes peeled and watching the battlefield since he himself still could not believe in what was happening.
All of a sudden crimson bubbling chakra started erupting from the man's body, the man's fingers elongated and his skin started darkening, spikes started growing in random spots of his body – the Three Tails inside of him was starting to take control of the man's unconscious body!
"So you decided to come, that you did…" Imasu sighed as she prepared to attempt to fight off the awakened Jinchuuriki who was completely taken over by his beast. "The Three Tailed Turtle... Come." she finished her taunt as the man's long fingers started clawing at his own stomach tearing his leathery outfit apart and leaving the man topless. The red chakra cloak formed into the shape of a round sphere that was surrounded by tentacles, it appeared that despite using partial transformation in a midst of battle this man had not yet mastered his relationship with the beast and after his defeat the beast only awakened halfway.
"This is… An awakened Jinchuuriki!" everyone started panicking and everyone started looking for safe spots, only few remained where they stood and continued to observe the battle below – against a man carrying a Tailed Beast inside of him there was no safe place to hide oneself in. The man roared loudly into the air with a demonic and beastly voice as tight aerial shockwaves ruptured the ice and made the Raikage slide and stumble back shocked by the sheer pressure of the air around the awakened Jinchuuriki. The beast's lifeless white eyes looked at the woman in front of him and… It disappeared.
Within less than a second the Jinchuuriki reappeared right in front of Raikage's face clashing its chakra tentacle with her blade. Had the Raikage not covered her blade with thick and controlled stream of chakra with every cut her katana would've shattered without any contest. This chakra was immense! The awakened cloaked Jinchuuriki disappeared again, with a loud roar it appeared right behind the woman making a giant aerial shockwave that combined the force of its movement after instantly stopping and the force of its roar sending the woman flying. Suddenly the chakra tentacle flew right at Imasu, with a draw of her blade the woman deflected it and pushed it to the side. Then the tentacle hit again, and again, more and more of chakra appendages started erupting from the Jinchuuriki's cloak as they continued to try and break the Raikage's guard and overwhelm her with these intense blasts that started to approach the speed and intensity of an automated weapon.
The woman's hands blurred as well, she was deflecting each and every blow and doing so successfully, skipping none of them because skipping even one may have meant death. The cloaked enemy tired itself out just as suddenly as it exploded into its rampage and the barrage of chakra tentacles stopped, Raikage's body landed on the ice and her hands instantly dropped the blade and weighed her body down. The woman was breathing heavily. The beast roared loudly into the air, now the Raikage's figure completely vanished into thin air and reappeared several meters further from the Jinchuuriki. The woman sheathed her naked blade and turned around, "Light Step Style: Lightray" she chanted right at the same time as the Jinchuuriki's cloak lit up with a powerful shockwave and blood shot out from the Jinchuuriki's body and the entire body got sent down.
It took the beast a couple of moments to stand up and after it did the Raikage witnessed that the giant cut mark that she left on the man's stomach was completely healed up. The healing looked strange, it appeared like the man's injury got burned up as his skin tore off and it looked like it got healed with heat of some sort since the edges of the wound looked burnt up. The cloaked monster roared loud into the air and started thrusting its tentacles once more at the same speed as it did before, now as the tentacles passed through the ground they left awesome craters and completely demolished the icy hills that they hit, however with a flash of bright light the woman avoided each strike, it seemed like the beast was only cutting at an illusion, a figure that burst into blinding light after getting struck. Not a single tentacle once again touched the Raikage. The woman's figure appeared in the air, the beast cocked its hand backwards to crush the woman with another chakra tentacle.
"Light Step Style: Lightray Crash!" the woman's voice shouted out as her body was already behind the monster as another injury lit up and spat out more blood, the force of the impact of the blade passing through was so intense that it not only cut through the chakra cloak and opened a giant gash but also turned the body of the awakened Jinchuuriki around, the beast raised two tentacles and their chakra conjoined together forming a giant mace-like structure of crimson chakra that hit the ground, still it only crushed ice sending shards of ice around but the woman was too fast for the enraged and mindless beast to even land a blow on.
"Light Step Style: Lightray Flicker!" another sword technique came at the Jinchuuriki as the Raikage's body flashed through it flying incredibly low and almost touching the snow on the ground, the intense speed of her movement sent the snow to the sides as the woman dashed through leaving a giant wound in the back of both of the Jinchuuriki's legs. The sheer power of the fast movement also made the beast lift up into the air and spin fast in place. Imasu's body appeared right in front of it in an instant, "Quickdraw!" she chanted again by drawing her blade and crushing the Jinchuuriki's body right back into the snow. The beast only roared out a pitiful cough of pain as blood shot from its mouth and its opened wounds.
The crimson chakra cloak withdrew inside of the Jinchuuriki's body, that must've been all of the power that the Three Tails would bother to lend him in the man's weakened state. Imasu sighed and sheathed her blade collapsing on her back, "That food pill saved my life…" she thought to herself as medical ninja once again flocked around her and started healing her up.
"This one must have words with this Lady Shirona, that she does!" Imasu spoke with a painful tone, several younger ninja laughed out. The incredible strength of this woman prevented many casualties and only several ninja died while facing an entire squad of Kirigakure military. Such outcome was nothing short of miraculous and the amazing skills of this woman were to thank for this miracle!
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +