Tanshu and Howoku continued to stare their opponent down, the two men had worked alongside each other before so it would’ve taken them little trouble to crush even a Kage level opponent. Then again, Shirona was someone who had faced off against Haoru and survived which was not something easily dismissed. The woman gently raised her hand into the air and swiped it back down, Tanshu’s body instinctively turned to the side. A powerful noise of rumbling greet the three as the stone structures behind the Sannin separated after being cut in two by an edge of a barrier sent by the woman, she was someone who has managed to make barriers into a tool of both perfect offense and defense.
Tanshu’s body disappeared and in a blink appeared right in front of Shirona, a powerful punch flew her way that collided with a barrier in mid-flight. The Sannin’s punch didn’t even inflict that much damage upon the woman and it could’ve been said judging from her face that blocking his blows didn’t come too hard for the Mizukage or strained her at all as she was just playfully smiling behind the barrier. “You’ll have to forgive me, it’s an old habit to dispatch of irrelevant dogs early. I suppose we’ve both underestimated each other…” the woman shrugged acting like the situation at hand was not at all troubling her. What truly transpired in the heart of the world’s most ambitious lady was a mystery as it often is with women.
“You should hurry back to your master, dog, he may need your help soon.” Shirona laughed out when Howoku dashed sideways tossing some kunai and shuriken her way when Tanshu was attacking from another side. The Hokage tried to test a theory that Shirona could only place a barrier at one place at once, something that was quickly ruined when she managed to make a bent barrier that blocked both corners. Tanshu looked at Howoku questioningly wondering what the woman may have meant, Howoku just shrugged. What transpired next took only a couple of blinks for it to be missed: a white flash flew straight at the Fourth Hokage only for the figure’s blade to collide with that of Tanshu’s. When the dust settled down the Konohagakure Sannin found himself staring at Misu of the Vapor – his brother in arms.
“I always thought you were an idiot but I’ve never taken your aim to be that far off!” Tanshu cracked a grin as he struggled to keep the hold, he couldn’t have been too forceful with his clash as his kunai when blocking Misu’s blade could’ve cracked and broken off quite easily if too much force was placed on it.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up, leave mommy and daddy to their differences alone, boys…” Shirona yawned by raising her arm that caused the ground beneath the two Sannin to shift – a barrier of solid chakra below the rocks acted like a platform that lifted the entire floor beneath the two and shot it up to the ceiling. Tanshu and Misu held their clash to the final moment, they only parted and leaped to the sides right before the rock slammed into the ceiling, something that would’ve crushed them and grinded them with the rocks above. The Red Dog and Misu landed on the opposite sides of the observer’s area.
“I’ll give you until I go for the kill to explain yourself, if you die before you prove your point it’ll be on you!” Tanshu angrily yelled out going through a couple of handseals and spitting out a bursting wave of flames at his friend. Misu went through a bunch of his own seals and spat out a dragon shaped water projectile to counteract Tanshu’s jutsu. The Red Dog’s injured and tired body burst from the smoke with a roaring fist that was just barely blocked in time with Misu’s blade, Tanshu angrily breathed in and thrust his fist forward breaking Misu’s steel and making his fist collide with the body of his friend that then burst into white vapor. Knowing full well about how his friend could use that vapor by heating it up Tanshu leaped back out of it. The fight between Howoku and Shirona below no longer mattered to those two.
“I don’t need to explain anything, I have my own views about how the world of shinobi should be and the lady is just a better leader in such a world than Howoku, it’s simple politics, he may still be my friend but he no longer has my vote.” Misu replied drawing another katana out of his set of two tied to his waist. The last one was cracked and worn down even before he confronted one of the strongest ninja alive so it was of no surprise that it cracked under pressure.
“You’ve cut down so many that your own sword was weeping to be broken, whatever vision of the world you have doesn’t interest me, I’ll just get you out of my way and go crush Shirona to rub salt onto your bleeding wounds!” Tanshu shouted out enraged as he thrust his fist forward, Misu’s body once again dissolved into vapor. Tanshu had seen the Vapor Mode used a lot during his times working with the other Sannin, he had never seen the mystery of it cracked nor has he wondered about it himself, the idea of fighting a friend had just never dawned on him. Not that it mattered or Tanshu was afraid of it.
Misu’s blade cut through the vapor that he had made, a blinding cloud of smoke-like substance that was deadly similar to the infamous “Hidden Mist Technique” of the Kirigakure ninja. The blade was caught by Tanshu’s arms and pushed to the side, as the Sannin tried to capitalize on the opening he himself made the figure of the man only faded back into the cloud of vapor around him. “Stop running and fight me!” Tanshu yelled out angrily taken by the ridiculousness of the situation of having to fight a friend he was worrying over for so long when it turned out that his friend was busy cutting down his other friends.
“Oh you’d love that huh? You made the enemy out of me so easily, perhaps Shirona’s views are also more fitting for you than Howoku’s delusions of peace amongst countries of warriors and killers?” Misu’s voice echoed from everywhere, it was almost like his voice separated and came from multiple areas inside the fog at once.
“There’s nothing complicated about me kicking your ass, you’ve sold out for the enemy, it’s as easy as that.” Tanshu shouted out again blocking swings of Misu’s blade that seemed to come from random directions. The bastard was utilizing the cloud of vapor that he was continuously emitting to deceive Tanshu and try and land a cut on him from somewhere he didn’t see it coming from. Luckily enough Tanshu’s sharpened senses allowed him to hear the blade cut through the vapor just in time for him to react, it was a superhuman feat all by itself but such was simply Tanshu’s life. He broke the conventional rules of how ninja worked to do his job properly.
“The world where one country is the enemy and another one is a friend, the ideal world where you know who your enemies are… Such a delusional world doesn’t exist, Tanshu, you’re just as naïve as you was to leave the faith of your little wet dream to a man you just met!” Misu’s voice came from various directions again. “Do you think Shirona is an enemy because she is from Kirigakure? Do you think Kirigakure is an enemy? Do you think Shirona is your enemy? False knowledge of who is an enemy and who is your friend leads to generalization which leads to death of innocents. For all the bullshit talk Howoku spouts out about peace he doesn’t know crap about it, he thinks that just pointing at one country and blaming it for the world’s problems will solve everything, he just mistakes it to be that easy and that’s why he isn’t fit to be in charge. Truth be told, he never was…”
Tanshu closed his eyes and avoided several more strikes, sharp pain and warm sensation of blood squirting onto his back alerted him that he may not have been as perfect at avoiding all of the slashes as he may have thought. The Red Dog had spent so long getting rid of his chakra and exhausting himself, charging up the chakra that his summons gave him instead, he planned to use THAT on Shirona but… He will have to dispatch of Misu with it. For that to happen he still would need some more time however, some more time when he couldn’t afford to die!
“Wait… Wet dream? Do you mean Vashia? What do you mean by that?” Tanshu caught onto a detail in all that manifesto of madness that Misu was spitting out. He was just an apologist of Shirona’s actions because those actions allowed him to be a wild animal and kill whoever he wanted to kill. Misu always was a little bit scary and ruthless, they should’ve gotten the clue when he started leaving for missions in Water Country a bit too often…
“What do you think I did? She was a Hyuuga with those cursed eyes, she saw through my Vapor Mode, she had the information about my abilities which she could sell to the enemy at any moment – I killed her!” Misu replied cold and simple as if he was describing a meal that he had yesterday. Tanshu’s teeth dug deep into his own lip making blood squirt out, his hands furiously flashed through some handseals and slammed into the platform they were standing on.
“Double Summoning Jutsu: Baby Heaven and Earth!” Tanshu chanted out as the two dogs burst with the same crimson chakra that the Red Cerberus and the Poochy before charged up for him. The two leaped inside the vapor using their incredibly sensitive noses to sniff the bastard out. The two dogs weren’t too large or powerful, they were just a duo of shepherd-like dogs with black uniforms that had two symbols on their backs reading “Heaven” and “Earth” respectively. The two dogs whined in pain telling Tanshu of the location of the man he was gunning for, without second questioning his thoughts the man burst forward with all of his speed. As the two dogs whined again in pain Tanshu felt their chakra enter his system – they were dispatched off.
The man leaped into the cloud where Misu was supposed to be and started attacking in wide swings and kicks trying desperately to hit the man. He wanted to punch him until only a stain remained, no more respect, no more kinship, no more tolerance for the life of this man remained – he killed Vashia! Truth be told he may have had his reasons, his responsibility altering reasons to justify him but to Tanshu it didn’t matter, for the death of the young woman he wanted to know, to clash blades with to understand her heart, Misu of the Vapor had to die.
Tanshu’s wide swings only hit vapor, the man felt the gas heating up around him and he leaped up sticking onto the wall and ran up to the ceiling. Tanshu leaped down with a straight kick that separated the vapor mist in two from the intensity of it, it crashed through the platform sending debris crashing below, making the Sannin backflip to land on more solid ground.
“Oh? Did that hit a nerve? I didn’t know if she was actually a sweetheart of yours, or what, you were always so silent about her and so shy, like a schoolboy, honestly.” Misu taunted once again from the cloud of vapor. “Maybe had you told me back then that you loved her, had the almighty icon of coolness “Red Dog Tanshu” acted like a man around the woman he loved, I would’ve had a clue and wouldn’t have killed her… Although not quite, you were still a criminal back then after all, what did it matter who you loved or hated?”
Tanshu roared madly into the air with a proud shout that was just supposed to let his emotions out. Wild fiery chakra shot out from his body pushing the cloud of vapor away, the fire started enveloping his entire body, Tanshu stood in a wild rotating and rampaging firestorm of wildfire and he didn’t even shake. Misu stepped back intimidated by the display of Tanshu’s fury, he questioned just what exactly this new technique was, the color of the flame reminded him of the color of chakra that burst from those dogs, could this have been the true purpose of Tanshu’s strange way of fighting using his summons as martyrs? Misu let more vapor gas shoot out from under his sleeves as he hid inside the cloud, the ongoing mad outburst of chakra and flames and Tanshu’s relative calmness made him very careful about his approach.
“Y-You should just give up, whatever you do is pointless, you’ll never even land a single hit in my mist, I guess you could say Vashia’s death wasn’t pointless, my secret was preserved and came to bite you in the ass. She is the one you should blame for your own death by my hands, it’s because she wasn’t strong enough to live and tell you my secret that you die today!” Misu tried to taunt Tanshu, the wild burst of flaming chakra formed a sphere of wild flames around Tanshu, the figure that emerged from inside those wild flames was something else. It was a combination of a man and a dog – a bipedal figure with dog’s paws and feet, body half covered with red fur with the muscles breaking through the fur and being just pale skin, the man’s face had the typical snout of a dog and Tanshu’s pupils looked like there was still some of the literal fire inside of them as they blazed around the minus shaped iris. Erect canine ears broke through from Tanshu’s wild shoulder-length locks and powerful and threatening fangs were shown when the man growled angrily, ready to tear into the man who had killed the woman wanted to meet again at some point, the man who had betrayed his friends and his country for his own desire to kill anyone he pleased at any time. Fangs piercing the throat of such a man brought no blame onto their owner!
“What the… Is that?” Misu shook lowering his blade inside the vapor mist.
“It’s the ultimate combination of a summoner and trust of his partners – the perfect coordination technique between man and animal, had you not been so happy to take life you’d have known that each life form has vastly different kinds of chakra. This is the result of training that combines the unique chakra of two vastly different beings, the symphony of trust between a beast and a man, originally aimed to crush Shirona but I guess you will have to do. My rage of loss combined with burning passion to kill you creating a technique previously unheard of - Sage Mode!” Tanshu growled out in a voice that belonged more to an animal than to a man.
*****
“What did you do, Shirona?” Howoku grunted out leaping towards the woman kicking at her only for his blow to be blocked by her. “What did you do to Misu, why is he fighting against us!?” the man lost any semblance of control. When faced with a woman who manipulated people and wasted their lives to satisfy her goals, someone who has turned one of his best friends into someone that wanted to kill him into his enemy, could he truly be blamed for loss of any remnants of composure he may have had previously. This battle was the culmination of this entire day, the most insane day of his life, he had no composure to spare for this woman.
“Ah, yes, isn’t it so easy to think that I did something to him? Sure, blame me, hate me and never for a moment wonder that perhaps you never truly knew the man you called your best friend. With all your mad barrage of peace treaties, tangling the world around you in strings you thought you were pulling but actually were tangled in yourself, have you ever consulted with your friends? Because when I first met a young Sannin walking around my village I sure did, I took my time getting to know him, without the labels of villages, we weren’t a Kirigakure ninja talking with a Konoha ninja. We were a man and a woman exchanging ideals and dreams, coincidentally enough our visions for this world were similar and while our means of achieving it were different with a little… Convincing, he decided that means did not matter, only the point they were leading to.” Shirona answered, she was no longer smiling, no longer making fun of Howoku or shoving her superiority in his face, she was looking with those angry and burning eyes that looked almost like she was blaming him.
“Shironaaaa!” Howoku yelled out madly punching and kicking, losing any semblance of cool he may have once had with the woman stopping to even use barriers, she simply leaned to the sides, ducked and leaped over his attacks. This blonde was not a physically dominating ninja but at that moment in time she was physically dominating Howoku. The woman leaped into the air and kicked off of the Hokage’s chest backflipping gracefully further away, gaining some distance.
“Oh, so we’ve moved past the “village” part, Kirigakure no longer equals evil in your eyes? You seem to now think it’s not Kirigakure that’s a “nest of tripping snakes, etching to swallow one another” but you think me to be mad? That’s an improvement, yes, Hokage, it’s not countries that are evil, or rather, different from your point of view, but people. Do not blame my village for my actions, one of us shall live, it is important that he or she does not hold any grudge towards those that were not involved.” Shirona’s eyes looked completely different, almost… Worried. Almost… Afraid. Finally the woman behind the manipulative façade appeared, or at least another mask changed its predecessor.
“I will not let you twist this world again, perversely crush the legacy of me and my predecessors! I won’t let you twist this world into war!” Howoku spoke, calmly this time as he started regaining his composure, started dealing with the situation where one of his best friends was a traitor who just tried to cut him down from behind working with the woman who stood against everything he stood for.
“It is you who twists the world, war is its natural state, it can be no other way when warriors and assassins are who inhabit it. You are just an actor with a mask, forcing same masks onto the entire world to wear.” Shirona replied sending a straight barrier at Howoku that crashed into the man shattering upon impact, the woman turned around herself and sent some more barriers his way from which Howoku rolled to the side. The man was breathing rapidly on his knees, desperately trying to regain his fighting condition which he wasted on the woman’s minions and puppets she used as means to her end.
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