As fist of the mysterious attacked collided with Yaban’s forehead a powerful shockwave made the grass bend down and tore leaves off of the trees around, any Iwagakure ninja that were close to the vicinity of the impact were tossed backwards from the sheer force of impact. The others nearby just stood there shocked and overtaken by awe, both feeling threatened by the unexpected appearance and incredible power of this man and also shocked that the Tsuchikage was hit point blank with such an impact. This was no sword or an assassin’s knife, this hit would’ve made a small mountain crumble, it was enough to crush rocks with.
The man who threw the awesome punch just stood there and laughed at himself, his strange cocky facial expression combined with his somewhat rugged and bratty attire and haircut as well as his lazy stubble made the man look like some sort of village drunkard. As the man opened his mouth it still sort of reeked of alcohol but it felt more like an after effect which only made it smell a thousand times worse. Only after a couple of moments did the man’s coat finally catch up to his static state and the back end of it finally touched the ground. The blond haired assailant just kept staring at the Tsuchikage waiting for the man to flip over and die from getting his by his fist right at the center of his skull.
“Well…” suddenly the Tsuchikage spoke up, his tone implied that he was questioning the man’s actions, “I keep waiting for you to finish your attack but you’re just standing there and laughing like an idiot… Am I to take this is it then?” Yaban asked politely wiping the cocky smile off of the assailant’s face as he dashed backwards and cracked his knuckles.
“Darn it! I thought I had you this time…” the Kirigakure attacked smiled and wiped his nose playfully with his thumb.
“I must say your punch improved in those four years, perhaps now I can attack you without feeling bad. You look like you’ve toughened up, I’m sure you can take it…” Yaban replied straightening his body up and answering the assailant’s cocky stare with a cold one of his own.
“This will be nothing like back then during my Ninja Tribunal! This time I’ll leave you beaten up and bruised in a pool of your own slobber!” the man shouted out thrusting his fist at the Tsuchikage who did not even honor this claim with a reply.
“Am I missing something? Who is this man?” an Iwagakure ninja asked his colleague who just raised his finger up to his lips and silenced his friend whispering back his answer.
“This is Namikaze Joki, a Kirigakure Sannin, the only Sannin in the history to have a Ninja Tribunal case against him during his time as a Sannin and the only one to have spent time in prison. Tsuchikage-sama took part in his Tribunal session himself and Joki tried to escape the Tribunal by attacking the Council of Ninja that were judging him, Tsuchikage-sama brutally beat the man down and left him completely broken. Still, for someone to survive being punched and tossed around by Tsuchikage is an impressive feat.”
A black flash blurred as the Tsuchikage lunged forward at his opponent having decreased his weight to make it easier for him to move faster. The man threw a punch only for the Sannin to dodge it completely, then the Tsuchikage followed up with another blurred combination of punches and kicks, each of them packed so much force that even as they missed the air that Yaban’s attacks split hit the Sannin’s clothes and pushed him backwards, only because of his strong body did the blonde manage to stay on his feet during this attack. Joki never even tried to block a single hit, he knew better than that, must’ve been experience speaking.
“You picked up your speed as well old man… Gonna teach me how to do that?” Joki taunted his opponent as he threw another powerful and focused punch. Tsuchikage did not even try to move out of its way and let it just hit his nose. The man’s feet dug deep into the dirt as Yaban’s body got buried into the soil halfway throwing dirt and tree roots away as rubble. A slight stream of blood ran down Yaban’s nose – this man managed to somehow pass through Tsuchikage’s impenetrable body. The white haired powerhouse just grinned with half of his lips.
“It’s simple, speed increases your weight – the faster you move the more your body technically weighs, some ninja compensate this by intensifying the flow of their chakra to “armor up” their bodies and protect their bones from being crushed, I just decrease my own weight using the “Lightweight Boulder Technique”.” Tsuchikage’s legs burst out of the dirt as the man dragged himself out from the ground and landed further away. He still had that confident smile that his opponent had as well, at that early point of their meeting both combatants equally believed in their chances of success.
“Quid pro quo, could you tell me how exactly you’ve powered up this much? Last time we “fought” you were just slightly stronger than your usual Jounin and to top it off you had no ninjutsu potential whatsoever. Now you’re like a completely different person, I actually felt that punch, then again, I only barely boosted my own weight.” Tsuchikage asked. His opponent took off his cap and tossed it aside letting his shoulder-length golden hair flow freely.
“When you left me I was battered and broken, I had more bones that were grinded to dust than solid ones and that was just from one thrust of your palm. Naturally that was not a good state to be sent to prison in… You’ve no idea how much I suffered. I was beaten and kicked around many more times in there. I saw the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst and had to get my feet deep into shit to finally kick myself off and start swimming up. You ask me how I managed this? Simple. Kirigakure Correctional Facility is called “The Zone”, it has that certain tradition – inmates fight until the warden says he’s satisfied. For exchange they lose some time off of their punishments.”
Tsuchikage closed his eyes and turned away, then breathed in heavily and opened his eyes, “Don’t they seal your chakra in prisons?” he asked. Joki’s fist shot out in front of the man’s ripped black shirt.
“That’s right, they do. That’s the catch – no one can keep a streak going, the one who loses gets the years that are “shaved off” of the winner. Since no one can use chakra it’s just pure fisticuffs where only talent and skill matters.”
“In other words, not a world you would do well in…” Tsuchikage smiled.
“Yeah, that’s right, laugh it up! Then again, you’re right. I got my butt kicked over and over again, I got sent into that joint for four years and I ended up accumulating sixteen hundred years in total. I couldn’t believe it, I was a shinobi, a Sannin! And there they were, those mercenaries and bandits were constantly kicking my butt… Do you know why? Because they live like that, that’s just the way they fight in freedom as well! They’re trained to fight ninja using just their bare hands and they can take a ninja without chakra manipulation ability down easily. It’s incredible how rusty chakra makes one in hand to hand, who cares if you’re a master martial artist if your punch can bust mountains, right? Well in “The Zone” no one can punch through mountains, it took me weeks to learn how to punch a man and not break my own hand.”
Tsuchikage looked around, “That is something that your comrades here could’ve benefited from, so were you able to master it?”
Joki nodded “Yeah, after every battle I trained, studied how to fight from my cellmates in exchange for my food, when I won I lifted my weights five hundred times, when I lost I lifted them five thousand times. I became stronger than I have ever been and beat every dog in the house using my own prowess. Then the warden gave me an offer I could not refuse – fight him in exchange for complete freedom, if I lost I would’ve stayed there forever – become the “Scapegoat”. Scapegoats get half of the punishments of every loser, if a loser gets two extra years, he actually gets one while his scapegoat gets one. I would’ve been the Scapegoat not of one person but of the entire prison… It’s basically life sentence with no hope for escape. Warden was actually a ninja, a Special Jounin, he also tried to cheat by bringing weapons into the fight but I busted his face in. Left him for the other inmates to deal with like they deal with all cheaters while I walked out through the gates. I thought that I’d never get work but things changed – Shirona-sama took me in, unlocked my chakra again and made me more powerful than I’ve ever been, she also returned my position back. All just for killing you… I told her… “Lady, I’d do it for fun.”…”
After Joki finished his story and awkward silence set in. Every Iwagakure ninja looked at him with different eyes – they felt bad for the man. This young man was not a villain, he was a victim of the village that gave birth to him. A baby born in the family of killers and deceivers who was told that killing and deceiving was a way to be successful. A boy who rose through the ranks by killing those that thought similarly to him but were slightly weaker, slower, less intelligent or even a bit less lucky. A ninja who followed every dirty order he was given to the final letter and got in trouble because of it taking the arrow for his village and being the scapegoat of the tyrannical Daikon’s reputation. A Sannin who lose his entire lifetime of achievements and was continuously beaten and kicked around by everyone else. A free man who was given a chance to redeem himself and stay relevant in his shithole of a village if he agreed to fight Kaguya Yaban, one of the strongest ninja alive. Namikaze Joki was just a plaything of his superiors, always a scapegoat his entire life…
“Well, I’m glad it all worked out for you in the end… Anyways, if this is your solution you stand no chance at all, leave and become a Missing Nin or just disappear and return once I kick your Lady out of her seat and reform her village with my own bare hands. Kirigakure is crying the same bloody tears that my own village once shed, if you stand in my way I shall crush you with my full force and flush you aside, the way you are you cannot beat me…” Yaban finally spoke after the long silence and started calmly walking forward. The ground beneath his feet and the light footsteps suggested that he didn’t even bump up his weight and just decided to ignore and pass through Joki.
“DON’T IGNORE ME AGAIN, YABAAAAAN!!!” Joki shouted out like a lunatic into the sky raising his fists up and tensing his body up, his pupils completely faded and slobber started shooting out from the man’s mouth as four years of channeled rage and suffering converted into strength made its release making a powerful crater and pushing the Tsuchikage back with just the force of Joki’s chakra bursting from his body. Whoever this man standing against the Tsuchikage was it was no longer a man who listened to reason or could properly evaluate difference in strength, the man jumped forward and threw a fist right into Yaban’s face, as hard as the Tsuchikage tensed his jaw his head was still turned to the side but quickly recovered.
Joki threw a punch after another with each punch making thundering and deafening boom and sending blasts of air from the point of impact but they barely even hurt the Tsuchikage. “You were just a man who brawled your entire life, you just fought everyone all the time and increased your physical strength that way – by increasing your chakra level and becoming strong. Eventually you hit the same limit everyone else hits and you thought that was it, then your chakra was taken away and you felt again what it meant to be weak. You worked hard to regain that power and in the end your power doubled with the power of your suffering adding to that of your success… But Joki-san… MY HARD WORK EXCEEDS YOURS!” Tsuchikage shouted throwing a powerful punch right into the young man’s chest and sending him up into the sky crashing through the thick tree branches above.
Yaban released his weight and jumped up soaring through the sky, as he dashed up to his insane opponent he once again bumped up his weight at the last second before his fist collided with the man’s chest sending him further up, then he lightened himself and dashed to the man again, punch from the side sending him soaring forward through the sky. Tsuchikage kept dashing to his helpless opponent and kept punching him sending him flying beyond his vision again and again with every punch Joki screamed and spat out blood – his defenses were destroyed after the first punch thrown. After one dash up to the golden haired rebel Tsuchikage concentrated even more into his fist and dug it deep into the man’s back sending him all the way back, right to where he weightlessly dashed through the air and hit the flying by figure of the Sannin with his elbow sending him crashing down into the forest ground shattering it and sending the entire forest platform down into the abyss that ended with a river below. Just barely did the Iwagakure ninja manage to avoid this absolute destruction by dashing through the trees further away than the destruction could reach.
Yaban breathed out and descended onto the edge of the stable platform. He felt sorry for this man, he was just a puppet of all the right emotions and feelings who was used by the world’s craftiest puppet master. The Kaguya had never met this woman, this Shirona but… He already didn’t like her at all. He intended to kick her butt and demote her from her position as Mizukage, then reform her village himself. Luckily enough a Kage Summit was already called – a perfect opportunity for this decision and now he will have proof to the other Kage that this needs to be done.
Joki’s mad face appeared again in front of Yaban, a powerful fist hit the Tsuchikage into his chest when the man was unprepared busting some ribs. Luckily enough the man managed to harden up just in time for the following combination. “Kirigakure Taijutsu Style: Jailbreaker!” the man yelled out sending sixteen full powered fists right into Tsuchikage’s chest. Yaban lifted off the ground and fell onto the ground, this was the first time that his men saw their leader get knocked off his feet. Joki’s face was bleeding, it was cracked open in multiple places, his chest was torn as well, his coat was torn off and now his injured chest and arms were revealed, his jeans were ripped up from falling down and hitting the rocks as he was going down. His nails were bleeding from climbing all the way back up through solid rock. Yaban stood back on his feet and wiped the blood from his nose and his mouth.
Yaban charged up to his opponent to finish this, just stop holding back and start taking it easy on his opponent. First punch missed, Joki just leaned out of it and followed it up with a blow of his own that Yaban caught. With a confident smile Yaban crushed the man’s fist and pushed his opponent onto his knees. The loud cracking sound of the man’s knuckle and splashing blood from his bones emerging from under the skin made the ninja observing the battle clench and turn away from the cruel sight of the battle. Tsuchikage threw another punch at his kneeling opponent but Yaban jumped backwards kicking out of the Kaguya’s hold of his fist. Then the golden haired brawler dove forward trying to tackle the Tsuchikage with his shoulder and send him down, the Kaguya remained standing still, the shoulder that dug into his stomach barely even pushed him back.
“Weightless Boulder Style: Stratosphere Punch!” Kaguya yelled throwing an upwards fist, Joki responded with two handed slam that clashed with the Tsuchikage’s fist and was blown backwards from the force of impact. Tsuchikage charged up to his opponent and started punching again and again, shoving his opponent through the soil, the rocky lower layers of dirt, at some point the Kaguya punched his opponent through into the water below and continued to punch sending Joki further and deeper until he hit the bottom, even then the Kaguya continued to punch again and again digging his mad opponent even deeper into the dirt until something hot shot out at which point the Kaguya dashed madly up to his platform. At this point he had widened the ravine several tens of times over its previous state.
Joki’s arm burst through and grabbed onto the edge of the dirty platform and dragged his tired burnt up body that still had leaking masses of hot red mass on his shoulders. The man’s chakra burst tossing the heated red mass aside, after this however his defense lowered. It was evident that the man was at his last breaths. Yaban crossed his hands on his chest.
“You’ve done well to use your chakra to avoid significant injury this far, intensifying your flow to harden your body and all that but to withstand my punches takes a lot more chakra than you can spend. You’re just about to bleed dry out of it. Accept the truth, I am the strongest ninja alive, Raikage Imasu is the fastest ninja alive, Kazekage Mugao is the craftiest, Hokage Howoku is the smartest and the best diplomat. We are the Strongest Generation of Ninja and all of us are in our prime. With us training and working as hard as we can you will never catch up.”
“Shut uuuup!” Joki yelled out charging up to Yaban and punching him in the face with the punch bouncing off, the man continued to punch again and again until both of his knuckles dyed red and started pulsing with pain and spitting out blood. “Your chakra is at its lowest, your punches no longer bother me, if I hit you you’d probably explode. Surrender now, please, return and challenge me again when you grow even stronger. This is over…” the Tsuchikage repeated again. “The man who… Lifted a mountain… My ass…” Joki started spitting out some mad words in a creepy tone and ran away, for a moment there the Tsuchikage thought this was over, the man relaxed and turned back but then he saw…
Joki leaped over the divide and grabbed hold of the entire forest island that was floating on the ocean below, trying to rip it all out of the water and fling it at the Tsuchikage. The man wanted to prove to Yaban that he could lift something greater than a mountain but… The man’s nails started to bleed, the blood vessels in Joki’s eyes burst as he desperately tried to lift the island but it didn’t even budge, he just ripped chunks of rocks and dirt. It was then that the Tsuchikage realized – this man was manipulated to such extent that he would never stop! He was torturing and injuring himself trying to match to an unmatchable ideal. He wasn’t like Yaban, he didn’t just work hard, he tossed himself at the hardest challenges hoping to survive them and when he lost he kept killing himself trying to do it again. The Mizukage implanted the belief that this man could win and by doing that with such success she destined this man to suffering and death.
“Give up!” Yaban yelled out and without waiting for an answer jumped down into the abyss below. The Iwagakure shinobi continued to watch and wait, did the Tsuchikage kill himself? Did he realize that his opponent would never give up until he was dead and wanted to finish this by committing suicide? That was impossible, that was not the kind of man that Tsuchikage was…
Suddenly Joki shook in his boots, he fell onto the ground and grabbed hold to a barely intact tree. The entire island shot up into the air right in front of the unbelieving eyes of the Iwagakure ninja.
“I can lift… Any weight… I need to… To help my people… I can make any hardship weigh nothing.”
With those words the Tsuchikage hurled the island to the side having it slam into the abyss of water below upside down. It wouldn’t have taken long before the island crushed Joki to the bottom of the ocean. Yaban descended onto the ground and started walking to the Summit again. Everyone knew even someone as tenacious as Joki would never return after having an entire island thrown at them…
“Are you alright, Tsuchikage-sama?” one ninja asked rushing up closer to his leader.
“Let’s just get to the Summit, there are words I need to have with this new Mizukage…” Yaban replied.
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