15 Chapter 14 - Naruto and Running

It was pure luck that we dodged the first attack.

I was trying to split in a hurry, but my foot caught the edge of a raised stone. My arm dragged Hinata down as I tried to regain my balance. When I felt something shear through the hairs on the back of my head, I realized that I probably would have killed myself if I did recover faster.

My specter shot out from me as I regained my posture. The buildings around us were sliding down razor thin lines that cut straight through them. Crashes of mortar and thick wood echoed in the silence brought about by destruction.

We really could have died there…

My head hurt from trying to push that thought aside as I glanced around, looking for this invisible weapon of mass destruction. We couldn't possibly run away if something was coming for our necks all the time. I found it a couple seconds later.

If I squint really hard with my physical eyes, I could just barely see the glare of light reflect off of some kind of metallic wire. It was nearly transparent, too, but that didn't matter to my specter's multiple sets of eyes and Byakugan. The wires were clear as day to that body's sight, and there was a concerning amount if Chakra running through these wires.

"Hinata, Byakugan." I called, foregoing honorifics as time was of the essence. She didn't even bother to respond, and instead activated her eyes.

She too saw the lines of death that surrounded us. I could feel her attention zoning in on me, waiting if I had further orders. In a sudden life or death fight she had apparently appointed me leader. My specter floated in the direction that Itsuki and that crazy Shinobi were fighting.

Could I watch them while relying on Hinata to navigate? Right, I trusted her, and it would be a benefit to watch them, just in case. I could never be too careful with Shinobi.

I felt my tongue dance on my chapped lips. "Do you think you can lead us out of the town?"

Hinata looked around, and I could just barely see some wires that surrounded us. Then she nodded and took the lead. Her small hand dragged my wrist as she whispered softly when I should duck or carefully step over some invisible line.

While we escaped, my specter had a front row seat to the destruction that was being caused by two Jōnin going at it. After my first run in with a Jōnin, I had thought I already knew what to expect.

If I had to compare supersonic sword guy with Itsuki or the needle-wielding Shinobi, I would say that sword guy was chump change. He would've been dead before he even had a chance to use his vaunted sword slash.

I had asked Itsuki about implanted Dōjutsu like the Byakugan, and he had said that there was a rather significant, and constant, drain in one's Chakra for even having the organ if they weren't originally of the bloodline. Sure, sword guy could have been limited in Chakra from that, but I still think that mattered little between the two monsters I was witnessing. Their skill was on another level entirely.

The needle wielder danced around the cluster battle ground with phantom like grace. He would grab hanging wires, and propel himself in odd directions that rapidly changed his tempo. When he found a position he liked, his long, silver needle would then fly out of his hands, and lance toward Itsuki like a vicious snake.

Itsuki was the opposite, he was like a stalwart knight that weathered through any storm. His axe and hammer held firmly in each of his hands, and, whenever he struck, wires that had once sliced through buildings with ease would be split like wet noodles. Whenever the needle came flying at him, he would calmly intercept it with the flat of his axe and push it away.

"You," Itsuki roared, anger burning through his movements. "Why would you do this?! Tell me, Katsura-san!"

The now named Katsura chuckled from some insane humor. He easily retrieved his flying needle with a burst of impressive speed. "I have no idea what you mean, Sensei. I'm just following orders to retrieve one of the Seven Swords of the Mist; Kabutowari would serve better in the hands of someone who is loyal to the village instead of some filthy traitor."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Katsura-san. I'm talking about all this," Itsuki growled while gesturing around them. "Why did you need to kill all these innocent people?"

"Isn't this what you taught us, Sensei? The winners are not those who have the upper hand, but those who are willing to do what the other cannot." Katsura explained with a laugh. His face was still covered by the porcelain mask, but I knew he was smiling. "You even proved that when you slaughtered those treehuggers after your own Sensei died! You promised to bring the head of Might Duy's son for what his father did to the previous Seven!"

Itsuki didn't react in a rage like I assumed he would. Katsura was egging him one with everything he had done, but I think his last comment took the sails out of his taunts.

"That was a different time…" Itsuki said. It was so soft I could've sworn that no one but me heard it. Then his face set back into stern concentration. "I don't think I will be able to dissuade you from your path, and I would like to apologize. As a Sensei, I have failed you."

"You spineless traitor! You think I would forgive you? You think that anyone would? After what you've done. After everyone you betrayed." Katsura spat, his features were so twisted in rage that I could see pieces of his face curl around the sides of his mask.

Itsuki just shook his head in denial, bringing Kabutowari up. "No, I wasn't looking for forgiveness. I was merely saying sorry, for now, I'm going to kill you."

I think I shivered from how nonchalantly Itsuki had said those words. He had always worn a smile or expression that clearly conveyed his mood. His face now was just a blank, nothing seemed to affect him.

And for some reason it seemed so very sad.

There was no further words to be said. The two trained killers moved in unison, Katsura with a ghostly grace and Itsuki with mountainous steps. Kabutowari's axehead trailed behind Itsuki, and I saw something leave the edge of the blade and enter the ground where it passed.

My specter body swooped in for a closer look as the two engaged. I found a small crack of Chakra embedded into the ground along the path that Kabutowari took.

Frowning, I took a closer look at the axe and hammer combo. Kabutowari was huge. The hammer portion of it was a large mallet of steel forged onto a handle. It was so large that I'm sure five of my heads wouldn't be able to match its size, but I'm not sure how child head to mallet ratios are here… A thought that I never expected.

Shaking my head from that image, I saw there strips of decorated leather was wrapped around the center where the head and handle met, and it looked like there were Seals inked into the leather part of it, but I had no idea what they were. Forged to the butt of the handle was a small metal ring was made on the opposite end from the hammer. A strip of flat leather connected the hammer to its axe counterpart by stringing through a similar ring along its hilt.

The axe itself was also a hefty piece of metal. A rectangular piece of solid steel was connected to the rod that served as the handle, and a blade flared out from one side of the rectangle. Its curved edge was also slightly blunted.

Though, I don't think it mattered whether the blade was blunted or not, with how fast Itsuki was swing it the momentum alone would cut through most things. The two of them traded attacks again. This time their skill with their blades were truly shown.

Katsura's attacks were thrusts of near blinding speed. He wasn't breaking any sound barriers, but my specter was have to use most of its eyes to just follow the needle's movements. Cuts began lining up and down Itsuki's extremities, small dribbles of blood leaking through the torn flesh.

In response, Itsuki took the cuts like they weren't even a problem. He cruised through the punishment, advancing through a field of razor thin wire as if he had his very own Byakugan. His own weapon was slow, and while each attack would tear through a few wires, he just wasn't landing any hits on its opponent. However, I saw that there were several times when his axe would just barely scrape the ground, and pulse another crack of Chakra into it.

I frowned at what he was doing. He was obviously being outclassed in speed, but he was just calmly taking it. Was he trying to repent for his actions by taking damage?

I was answered when he slammed Kabutowari's hammer down into the ground. The cracks of Chakra expanded rapidly and exploded in bursts of pure force. The ground cratered around the impact, sending shockwaves throughout the wounded town, and throwing chunks of dirt and stone into the air.

The once level ground that surrounded them was suddenly a wasteland of destruction as crumbled buildings were pulled down into crevasses that had traveled from the impact. Katsura was distracted by the rapid change in environment as the floor he stood on was turned into a spike of raised earth.

He barely had time to raise his needle to block the axe that threatened to cut him in two.

Instead, the force of the blow had the man tumbling head over heels, smacking into a piece of stone a second later. I heard something crunch, and Katsura stifled a hoarse scream. His left arm hung limply at an unhealthy angle.

"Aren't you happy now, Sensei?" Katsura rasped, pain trickling into his voice. I saw the fingers on his broken arm twitch into a hand sign. Wait, you can do that with one hand?! My internal yell was answered quickly, "Water Shield Jutsu(Mizu Tate no Jutsu)!"

A sheen of water, formed from Chakra, bubbled up around the his feet before shooting up above his head. The veil of water curved and twisted around his form before form a series of tentacles that extended from torso. Katsura smiled as his broken hand flashed another series of hand signs.

Itsuki hadn't hesitated as he traversed the separation, but he couldn't get there fast enough. There was too much rough ground for him to step through as well as some lines of wire that hadn't been disrupted by the ground exploding. Katsura's hands had already finished blasted through a painfully long set of signs.

"You're too late, Sensei! This is a Jutsu I had been tweaking everyday just to fight you!" I frowned at Katsura's words. Those hand signs, I had vaguely remembered them from somewhere, but that meant that they had to be somewhere within the beginnings of the original Naruto.

Then I saw the tentacles that had writhed around him become eight giant heads. Scales of pure water and gaping maws of sharp, spiralling water compressed into teeth, and lifeless holes of water for eyes. Eight dragon heads formed from the veil of water that surrounded the Shinobi, and extended at least fifteen feet in the air as they splashed dirty runoff into the cracks of the ground.

As the various crevasses filled with the water that was pooling around the field, I recognized the bodies that floated up to the surface. I had averted my eyes from them when the fight had raged, but now, seeing them again, I felt sick to my stomach.

"Water release: Water Hydra Jutsu(Suiton: Mizu Hidora no Jutsu)!" Katsura yelled over the rush of water. Three heads of water slammed into Itsuki's position with a boom of force. From how he weight of each head had to be several tons, at least.

Water and earth were sent flying in the collison. Sediment mixed with the bloodied water and the hydra heads that were sent on the attack had lost quite a bit of mass, but a rather large puddle had formed at the area that Itsuki had just been at. I goggled at how much damage that the singular attack caused. It was more a force of nature than a Jutsu.

However, Itsuki wasn't hit. A body floated to the surface of the impact site, but it wasn't Itsuki's. Instead, Kabutowari's axe came flying at Katsura's body from behind. A hydra head took the impact and burst immediately from the impact, the Chakra that sustained the inanimate beast was cut from the cracks that Kabutowari forced into it. Katsura was down one head.

Itsuki appeared right behind his student like a phantom. His body rose from the ground in a slow methodical calm. Dirt and bits of water flecked off his form. I could see a taunting smirk fit onto his emotionless face.

It seemed too fake.

Still, it worked on Katsura, and the man just screamed and controlled his hydra heads. The beings of water exploded into motion, spiralling around him in a protective vortex as he threw his needle. The long weapon flew through the air, unimpeded by the water that it moved through, and traveled to Itsuki.

Itsuki just forced the weapon away with his own with contemptuous ease. He looked at the surrounding vortex of water for a second before slamming his hammer into the ground again, only forcing up a singular pillar of earth this time.

Katsura had retrieved his needle back by pulling on a wire attached to his arm, and I found him inserting Chakra into the weapon. I marveled as it seemed to spout out more super thin, razor wire from the hilt like it was unrolling a spool of yarn.

That was all I could see before my attention was stolen by stones flying towards the vortex of water. Itsuki had somehow changed his cover from immobile object to deadly buckshot, and was currently peppering the plumes of water with it.

Rocks and dirt slowly chipped away at Katsura's defense as he moved to stop the onslaught of earth. A couple heads removed themselves from the defensive formation, and began to charge at Itsuki. The needle in his hand flew through the air every now and then, flying dangerously close to Itsuki as well as leaving a new line of wire in its path.

Kabutowari worked to free Itsuki from the slowly building prison of wire as he dodged the hydra heads gnawing at him. I could see sweat start to build up on his brow as one hydra got a lucky strike, and gored a good piece of flesh from his right side.

He didn't even flinch from the grisly wound. In the midst of the long ranged attack, he pulled out a spool of gauze and hurriedly wrapped the wound before rejoining his efforts to bring down Katsura's defense.

Itsuki would pause every once and awhile to slam another pillar of earth up for him to launch towards the vortex of water. He movements were seamless as he transferred from breaking down the pillar of stone to dodge another hydra head, flip over it in an impressive display of dexterity and then slam his hammer into the broken pieces of cover to fire them at the prone Katsura.

It was a show of pure skill that Itsuki lasted for as long as he did. He weaved in between deadly attacks while also watching out for the transparent wires that sought to slice him to ribbons. The water hydra heads were a force to be feared, and with every missed attack they lost mass and became ever faster. On top of all that, Itsuki was clearly getting tired.

With all that against him, it was no wonder that a particularly lucky throw from Katsura would pierce through his arm that held the axe part of Kabutowari. Itsuki muffled a cry of pain by biting his lips hard enough to draw blood as the needle had passed right through his elbow without any resistance. The impaled arm jittered about from either pain or messed up nerves.

Katsura laughed as the water hydras dispersed. I could finally see him completely now, and was surprised to see him even more mangled than before. His breathing was perhaps harsher than Itsuki's. The arm that had been previously broken was now disgustingly purple, and pieces of stone had nicked him here in there, causing small rivulets of blood to spill from him. One large, jagged stone had chosen his left shoulder to jam into as well, pooling more blood onto his clothes.

"See that, Sensei!" He cheered, as I sneered in contempt. "I finally beat you. I will go back to Kirigakure a hero, hoisted up on laurels by our Mizukage! But don't worry, when I'm done with you I'll hunt down those stupid brats that you were traveling with, and then you can lead them to the afterlife!"

Itsuki shared my contempt for the man as he slowly closed the fist from his impaled arm around the wire that followed the needle. Then he yanked it. The force of the pull was hard enough to spill blood from his palm, but it got the job done.

Katsura was pulled alongside the wire as several lengths of it were attached to his arm. His body flew through the air, and painfully collided with several raised pieces of ground before he was stopped by Itsuki's hammer smashing him into the ground by further shattering his broken arm. The man let a scream of pure anguish as I saw shards of white poking through bloodied, purple flesh.

That was why you should never underestimate Shinobi.

Katsura had a premium seat to watch, between pained tears, as Itsuki raised his hammer up for the finishing blow.

However, where he had resolve, I already had plans. Hinata and I were already free from the town to watch the carnage from a distance. I had to hold back the girl as she cried to go and help Itsuki, and I had to slowly tell her my ideas. She listened intently throughout the fight.

Now, though, the fight was coming to a close. Itsuki had the upper hand, Katsura was in shock as the pain clouded his mind and Kabutowari could easily smash a human to paste.

Still, I followed my creed. My specter sunk low, finding a place right next to my mentor, my eyes were keening watching every movement and when I saw Katsura start to speak I was already asking for one of Hinata's swords.

"I'm… Sorry… Sensei." He said between pained breaths, and Itsuki, a man who had betrayed one of the most vicious Shinobi villages because of his students, paused. Itsuki's resolve cracked just for a second.

That second was enough for a needle to be pulled through his heart.

Or it would have pierced straight through his chest if I hadn't materialized right next to him and pulled him out of the way. I had already knew a scene like this was coming up ever since Katsura predicted that Itsuki would fight him because he had killed so many innocents. After Katsura continued to taunt Itsuki with things that normal acquaintances would have not known my mind grew clearer. If there was anything fueling my ideas it would be all the light novels that I had read in my past life.

There was always some evil guy who would say something at some stifling moment that would interfere with the protagonist's mindset, allowing for a crippling blow that either killed someone or injured the protagonist so bad that had to healed in some side arc. After spending quite a bit of time with the man, I knew that, when it came to the final blow, Itsuki would have never been able to kill his student. That meant that it was up to me and Hinata to finish this.

Still, I wasn't perfect as the needle still carved through his left shoulder. However, that was much better than getting unwanted heart surgery. After making sure that Itsuki was twitching in pain, I hurriedly turned to my target.

"Sup' bitch." I said in a hurry to sound cool. I mean, this guy literally slaughtered an entire town just to trap Itsuki. He deserved no respect from me.

"What-" Then I stabbed the sword in my hand down into the backstabbing Shinobi on the ground before he even knew what was going on.

Water spilled instead of blood.