4 Village hidden in the grass part 4

(Kaz)

Zosui rose with a weary sigh, clutching his menacing black Katana loosely with his left hand and cradling his bloody right arm to his side.Around them the village hidden in the grass was left demolished and the large red hospital building was in a pile of smoldering flames.One wall of the town hall still stood wreathed in bright red flames.

The flames popped, crackling merrily, the grey smoke billowing into the clear summer sky.Kaz reclined on his heels preparing to leap into action as he watched his former master pace beside Anuki's body.Kaz glared at his instructor, his short blue hair dancing in front of his eyes on the warm breeze.

"Did you know he was a wanted criminal?" Kaz asked, anger filling his voice.Zosui glanced at Anuki, who was laying face down in a expanding pool of blood.Damit, how dare that bastard Anuki die before Kaz could stick a knife in him.He took in a deep, cleansing breath, his blood pumping with nerves.

"Of course! I'm no fool! I know what a slashed headband means!" Zosui snorted angrily, waving his Katana in dismissal."Then why did you allow him to stay in the village?" Kaz snarled, gritting his teeth.At least Anuki was dead, and Kaz could scratch that promise off as fulfilled.

"He was a medic, they are extremely valuable to any village."Zosui said, pacing in front of Kaz, his feet squishing and tracking blood.

"You never cared about the village, you only cared about yourself."Kaz shouted, watching Zosui's every movement.The mans thick eyebrows scrunched together and his face darken in fury.Kaz's eyes bounced around the piles of rubble that were once houses, planning his retreat and attack.

This conversation was getting them nowhere, and it's not like it mattered. Zosui needed to die, and this was his chance to kill the monster."You are wrong.The village is all that matters.I will sacrifice anyone's life for the wellbeing of the village."Zosui snarled, his eyes steely as his sunken face contorted in anger.

" Are you saying you would give your own life for the village? Or are you saying you would sacrifice everyone else's lives for the village?!" Kaz snapped, rage welling within, feeling sweat trickle down his back.

Zosui shrugged, letting out a deep sigh."People's lives are meaningless.The village was everything, it was my purpose for living.But now that there is no village, I suppose there is no more need of useless people anymore."Zosui said snorting in regret as he glanced around the burning and broken village.disappointment and a burning rage filled Kaz at those words.

"What about all the grass ninja that gave their lives to save the villagers?! Are you saying Karin's mother's death was meaningless?" Kaz growled, taking a menacing step forwards.Rubble jostle under his feet, shifting from his movement.

"Are you still upset about that woman's death?" Zosui Asked."She was so insignificant that I can't even remember her name. She was a tool, a source of healing to be used and discarded.I would have thought after all of my training you would think the same way?" asked Zosui, cocking his head in confusion.Kaz could feel his body shaking with rage, he took deep breaths through his nose.Zosui smiled at the boy's look of outrage.

"What is the matter, pup? Did I strike a nerve? Are you mad at me for her death?" Zosui asked, grinning savagely.Kaz shook himself to loosen his tense muscles, refusing to let the anger control him.

Grinning like he held all the cards, Zosui continued."Nothing to say? I will tell you what, if you tell me Karins mother's name, I will leave the village right now and leave you with Anuki's body to collect the bounty."Zosui Asked, his pupilless grey eyes flashing with amusement.

Kaz schooled his temper, hating how his master knew him so well.With utmost Disdain, Kaz glanced at Anukis corpse watching a fat buzzing fly land on the man's bloodstained white coat."It's a good thing Anuki died. Now you won't have to feed him."Kaz said, grinning as his master flinched angrily.So Zosui really was upset at the mysterious ninja's death? Good, Kaz could use that.

"Why don't you just turn around and leave, old man? I can take Anuki's corpse and hand it in for the bounty.You don't need to worry yourself with that."Kaz said, hoping that might strike a nerve.Zosui narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth.

"There is nothing I can say that will sway you from attacking me, is there?" Zosui stated his pupil less grey eyes seeming regretful.Kaz ignored the slight pang of regret in his trainer's eyes.He shook his head.Zosui meant nothing to Kaz, the man was a sadist and a murderer.

A scorching wind washed over them both, whipping Zosui's dark black hair around his shoulders and framing his defined, sunken cheeks.

"All of my life you have treated me as a thing, as a weapon! So don't get sentimental when I decide to cut you!"Kaz said, his emerald green eyes flashing with anger.The old man's sword rose into the ready position.

"Maybe I was too lax in discipline when you were growing up?"Zosui stated, taking a step closer.Watching his student of fourteen years, Zosui could recognize the murderous intent.Right now he was weak, and the pup no doubt knew it.

"Keep telling yourself that! No matter what you did during my training, I would have made the same choice!" Kaz said, crouching and eying Zosui's Katana wearily.

Zosui knew this day would come eventually.The pup was strong, quick and talented, not to mention extremely ruthless.Now Zosui would need to kill his most talented student, and if he showed hesitation he would die.Zosui would never say it, but despite his small chakra pool the brat had already reached the level of a Jonin and would give Zosui a tough challenge even when he was in good health.

"And why were you planning on killing me?"Zosui asked, cocking his head.Kaz didn't think it matter but he answer."It's because you treat everyone around you like nothing more than things, and most of all you were responsible for Karin's mother's death."Kaz growled, his hands shaking with pent up anger.

"You already said you were upset about that.Now stop stalling and test your luck, boy!" Zosui said, his broken right arm dripping blood as he widen his stance.

Kaz blinked, and Zosui moved, crossing the ten feet between them in a blur.Kaz narrowly blocked a slash towards his neck, his hands vibrating with the force of the blow.The Black and red hilt Katana's blade glinted in the bright afternoon light as it clashed harshly with the kunai in Kaz's right hand.

Kaz raised his knee, checking a heavy kick aimed for his chest, while simultaneously giving Zousi a small gash on his chest with his second Kunai.Blurring into motion, Kaz lept on the offensive, blocking a flurry of strikes from his former teacher.

His heart beat wildly and his arms burned with the power of his strikes.With every block of his kunai his hands vibrated, stinging from the heavy blows of the Katana.Kaz used his strength and put power behind every slash, hoping the old man's left arm would break from the impact.

Despite having a longer weapon, that didn't mean Zosui could fight Kaz with his offhand and go unpunished.Kaz, who specialized in dual wield daggers, was used to the disadvantage of fighting against longer weapons and therefore knew how to counter them.

Years of training under this monster turned Kaz into a genuine threat, and he was showing Zosui that he should be worried.With every kick and slash Kaz pushed Zosui on the defensive, following his trainer relentlessly.He held none of his speed or strength back aiming to force Zosui to use his remaining chakra.

Zosui at first seemed at ease, but the rapid pace had him frantically retreating.Several small bleeding cuts crossed his trainer's chest and legs, staining his shirt and pants even more.His trainer was slowing down but Kaz didn't over commit.He knew the man wasn't beaten yet.

Kaz pressed his attack, not wanting to give Zosui the time he needed to weave signs for jutsu.Kaz punched, kicked and slashed Zosui, but no matter how much he pressed, he couldn't land a deadly blow.Using the rubble and burning buildings Kaz and Zosui fought through the village their blows creating craters with the heavy impact.

With one Kunai in each hand, their fight slowly ramped up in difficulty.Kaz caught Zosui's sword before it could sever his neck, his ears ringing from the deafening clash of steel.His honed muscles tensed, and he forced the much longer Katana away from his skin.

The summer sun combined with the sweltering heat of the village was making them feel like they were in a sauna, causing them both to sweat profusely.Combining that with the bitter fight to the death, they were both sweating buckets.

Zosui performed a back flip landing ten feet away, his body splitting into two as he summoned a shadow clone. Midair Zosui and his clone tossed their Katana up above themselves, taking a deep breath at the same time. Both Zosui and his clone weaved differed signs with one hand."Wind style great breakthrough!" "Fire style, fire ball jutsu!"Zosui said, breathing out in a gale of rushing wind, that combined with the fireball to create a deadly attack.

Taking in deep calming breaths, Kaz didn't panic.A blistering gale of wind and fire picked up dirt rock and slabs of broken buildings as it approached with deadly force.Kaz swallowed and crouched, weaving his signs.The earth wall wouldn't protect him from the combined attack of fire and wind. He needed to go underground.

He focused his chakra and slammed his hands on the gritty stone street.Earth style, mud wall! he thought.A thick wall of dirt parted the earth just before the gale of wind and crackling fire slammed into him.With another thought, he directed chakra at his feet and the earth opened up.

Kaz submerged himself in the rack and left a clone in his place.He pushed out his senses, watching as Zosui's chakra decimated his wall and the clone. Despite the several feet of stone above him, Kaz sweated from the burning heat of the attack.Zosui fell on his position from above.Kaz felt his clone die in a poof, his chakra pool diminishing at the loss.Kaz reached up, his hands part the stone like water.

Kaz grasped Zosui's legs and pulled him under the earth.Kaz substituted him self with a tree above and grinned as he looked down on his former master stuck in the dirt up to his neck.Perched on his tree branch, Kaz pulled a kunai from his tool pouch.His trainer looked like a particularly ugly turnip, buried into the earth.

His former master stare back at him undaunted.Kaz threw his Kunai and just before it hit the man's face, Zosui's clone lept from hiding and caught the attack proofing into smoke.The real Zosui stood, pulling himself from the ground as though the rock was water.

"Is that the best you got?" Zosui asked, swishing his Katana through the air.Kaz shook out his stinging hands, in actuality, Kaz was using this short time to give his hands time to relive the pain from the heavy blows.Damn his trainer was strong as hell.

"You are just being salty that you are about to die."Kaz retorted, eying the trees and rocks around them, looking for any advantage.If only Kaz had more chakra, then he could really cause his former trainer some pain.His chest heaved as he breathed deeply grasping one of the many discarded kunai from the dirt and spinning the weapon smoothly in his right hand.

This fight was going better than he could have hoped, but the damned monster wasn't dying fast enough.At At this rate, Kaz would run out of chakra and might actually loose.His only saving grace was that if he chose to run, he could.There was no way that Zosui could chase him for long with all of his injuries.

Kaz grinned as he changed his plan of attack.With a simple hand sign, a crackling white energy suffused his blade, wreathing his Kunai in white lightning.He grimaced, not liking to use lighting as it was the counter to his earth affinity.

Despite the downsides, he really needed something to amplify his cuts, and this was the only lighting technique Kaz knew.He simply just needed to wear the old man down through sheer willpower.

Sure lighting was weak to wind but Kaz needed every advantage he could get, even if that meant using his chakra intensive lighting.If he couldn't land a killing blow, he would make the man die of a thousand small cuts before finishing him off with his trump card.

Kaz felt through his tool pouch and nodded, fifteen Kunai and twenty shuriken.He was going to fight until either he or Zosui stopped breathing.He didn't really have a choice. If Zosui returned to full health, he would hunt Kaz down and then Kaz would be in a lot more trouble than he was now.

Kaz attacked, using brute strength and skill to tire out his teacher.His feet struck muscle, and he blocked blows from his trainer.Kaz had an advantage, and that was his speed and endurance.If he used that correctly, he might win.

He needed to get Zosui into a desperate position.Kaz only had chakra enough for a combination use of his strongest jutsu.All he needed to do was set it up.Kaz was feeling confident about his odds until a scythe of wind nearly took his head off.On the bright side his instructor had several sizzling cuts from where his lighting cooked the skin.

He killed Zosuis clone with a barrage of shuriken, wondering when the man created it? Kaz closed the distance and attacked, stopping Zosui's Katana with his lighting charged Kunai while flicking shuriken with his other hand.Long distance wasn't working, and so Kaz needed to fight close range.

The blows from the Katana were heavy, but Kaz could see the strain in his trainer's eyes with every jolt of lightning.Zosui's brown kimono was drenched in sweat and blood from small flesh wounds, revealing the man really was weakened.Zosui grinned as Kaz was now in melee range, offering a perfect opportunity.The flow of the fight changed as a gust of wind swirled around the glinting Katana.

Kaz retreated, frantically avoiding the weapon, receiving several small slashes for his trouble.No matter how hard he tried to block, the dammed wind blade cut through his Kunai like paper.He fought evasively, using every bit of rubble he could to avoid his trainer's wind blade.

His lightning was weak to wind and Zosui took that advantage to its fullest.It was downright overpowered in Kaz's opinion.All he could do was run until Zosui's chakra ebbed and the wind covering his Katana disappeared.

Their fight dragged on for what felt like hours, but in actuality was minutes.Kaz winced in pain and panted for breath after a brutal exchange, landing next to a crater in the rock.

Unlike training, this was a bitter fight to the death, and the stress was wearing on his nerves.That wind blade his mentor was using was terrifying.His hands burned and the shallow cuts on his body stung, but they weren't the worst pain Kaz had endured.

Zosui stumbled to one knee, and Kaz blurred, slashing a fresh cut on his trainer's forehead.Kaz leapt away, narrowly avoiding getting gutted.Kaz could sense his master's roiling chakra and crouched low, pushing his own chakra down into the earth.Like a stream, Kaz felt his chakra enter the earth and rush towards Zosui.

Before he had absorbed some of Karins mothers chakra, this ability was impossible, but now Kaz had a much larger chakra pool.With that one accidental kill, his chakra pool grew over ten times larger, making his chakra pool near the average chunin. Despite that, he could only use a weak version of the sealing technique.

Two finger thin golden chains broke from the street at Zosuis feet and wrapped tightly around Zosuis legs, gripping him in place.Kaz stumbled to his knees, the brilliant chains draining him dry of chakra.Zosui struggle, his face scrunching in confusion.He slashed at the chains with loud pings of steel on steel, but the chains squeezed, holding Zosui tightly to the earth.

Kaz felt on the ground grinning at his instructor.Zosui growled in confusion, "What the hell is this sealing jutsu?! Do you think this can actually hold me?" Kaz felt at first a trickle and then a flood of chakra fill his body, flowing into him from where he was connected to the golden chains.

"Just give it a few seconds and you will see that this is an overpowered sealing jutsu, compliments of Karins mother."Kaz said chuckling as the draining chakra finally registered on Zosui's face.Waving his Katana frantically, Zosui attempted to escape again.

The chains sparked and even cracked from the heavy blows.The finger thin chains were a mere shadow of the real deal, but they were still powerful.Kaz sighed in relief, happy he waited for the man to use his wind blade.

The overpowered chains were fast, draining the weakened mans remaining chakra in seconds.Zosui gasped, swaying, his face pale with blood and chakra loss.Kaz rose, but he couldn't move, as he was still connected to the adamantine sealing chains.

With Zosui's stolen chakra, Kaz attacked using most of his remaining chakra in one attack.This was both overkill and a way to rid his body of the foreign chakra."Earth style, earth-dragon jutsu."Kaz said, slowly weaving his hand signs.

The surrounding rock roiled and formed into earthen scales as a massive tooth filled maw opened wide.The head of a dragon formed, its long sharp rock horns glinted darkly, absorbing the sunlight.

"You brat, I was wondering how long it would take you to use that jutsu!" Zosui shouted, his teeth covered in bright red blood.The mans eyes flicked with both anger, madness and was that pride?

The earth-dragon in front of Kaz roiled, stone grinding on stone.With a deafening roar the dragon opened its maw revealing Teeth the size of his forearms and eyes as dark as midnight.The earth-dragon bubbled with power, rising well over ten feet tall.The earth-dragon roared as it barrelled like a freight train towards Zosui.

Restrained by the golden chains, Zosui couldn't move out of the way.For perhaps the first time Kaz saw fear cross his trainers eyes as the multi ton earth-dragon slammed into him with excessive force.The last sight of Zosui before he was hit was the man slashing at the incoming dragons head with his Katana and a snarl on his face.

The earth trembled and Zosui disappeared with a deafening boom of rock and dust.Excitement filled Kaz as he watched the swirling dust around the crater he just made.The dust settle and there lay a figure, dirty and covered in blood.

Kaz released his adamantine chains, and they retreated back into the earth, releasing their victim.The dust settle, revealing Zosui.He still clutched his Katana, but his left arm was now broken from where he tried to block the earth dragon's attack.

Kaz could at least respect his former trainer for the attempt.The left side of Zosui's chest was nearly torn off, but despite the heavy blow he still clutched his Katana.The blue triangle in the top right of his vision blinked and Kaz collapsed to his knees exhausted.He had really done it, Zosui was really dead!

A misty white light rose from Zosui's corpse and crossed the distance between them, slamming into Kaz with a rush of chakra.He felt it, his small chakra pool expanding as he received a portion of his victims' chakra.

[Congratulations, you have killed an S ranked jonin.You have devoured a portion of your victims chakra.You have received twenty chakra points, a new purchase option is available.Please select one of the two following abilities to add to your store.]

[Wind style, wind scythe jutsu, rarity B, difficulty rank C.Would you like to add this ability to your store? Yes, or No?]

[Wind style great breakthrough, Rarity A, Difficulty rank C. Warning because of the power and rarity of this jutsu, the wind affinity is required to use it.Would you like to add this ability to your store? Yes, or No?]

Kaz scowled, another of those weird messages.That was bullshit.Why did it even offer him abilities to buy if he couldn't use them? Letting out a deep sigh, Kaz selected the wind scythe jutsu.Sure, it wasn't as powerful as the great breakthrough jutsu, but at least he could learn it with enough chakra points.

Kaz, now slightly irritated, focused on the blue triangle in the top right of his vision.A translucent page opened up, revealing two blinking tabs.One was labeled wind affinity, and the other helpfully labeled talents.

Kaz selected the wind affinity, scowling at the twenty chakra point price of wind scythe.[You have one hundred chakra points.Would you like to purchase, wind scythe for twenty chakra points?] Kaz scowled, tabbing out of the wind affinity. He selected the talent tab.A blinking image of a flaming red eye appeared.

He selected Mind's eye of Kagura and with no hesitation hit yes, spending all one hundred of his points on the ability.With such a substantial upgrade to his senses it should be a lot easier to avoid getting stabbed in his sleep on his way to the leaf village.And even turning in his bounty to the village hidden in the clouds.