PIN 5
Almost at the same time, a giant shuriken flew in his direction. This attack had Aaron a bit confused, but he'd come to expect unexpected attacks from ninjas.
The shuriken was clearly Hayato in disguise. He could've ended the fight immediately, but he was curious to see what else the kid had up his sleeve.
He dodged, letting the blade whiz past him. Hayato reemerged with a poof and launched two knives with fluttering papers and sigils attached to them.
The jumble of energy attached to the papers was so intricate and mesmerizing it rooted him in place. Aaron had never seen something so alien an intricate.
Still, Aaron was not about to eat a mystery attack to the face because he was curious.
"Not bad," he said from the high branch he was currently perched on.
So far, Hayato had exceeded his expectations.
He'd almost even snuck another clone past him. He'd used the cover of the knife throw to create an opening for a clone who was moving into position.
It was a solid strategy, and it might've even worked against an opponent who was stronger than him.
Unfortunately, he was up against Aaron.
The branch underneath Aaron snapped as he rocketed forward. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the original Hayato, sailing past his energy-packed knives.
There was a flash of terror in Hayato's eyes before Aaron palmed his chest. The blow sent him flying hard into a tree. A second later, twin explosions shook the clearing.
They nearly distracted him from the second clone that struck. A lazy wave of Aaron's hand divided the double into two. It disappeared with a puff of smoke.
Hayato was still conscious and gasping desperately for breath. His legs shivered as he tried and failed to stand up.
'He's surprisingly durable.'
A hit like that would've crippled most soldiers back in the Elemental Nations.
Aaron picked up a loose kunai from the ground, observing it closely.
"Explosive kunais? Certainly a concept," he mused as he advanced on Hayato.
The kid's erratic breathing suddenly shifted, and so did his entire energy profile. He drew in oxygen and the exotic spiritual and chi blend that permeated the air in a prolonged swallow and held onto it for equally as long before breathing it out with a controlled release.
Chi and spiritual energy churned and sped up, and his heart rate spiked. Through Aaron's nascent fire senses, could feel the temperature in Hayato's body spike. Slowly, steam leaked out the side of his mouth, and he burst forward in an instant, kunai outstretched, aiming for Aaron's throat.
Aaron's eyes went wide.
"How?"
'It was just like Chi reinforcement.'
Chi reinforcement was one of the Phantom's most powerful offensive techniques and the true Mark
of a truly effective bender.
It worked by exciting and accelerating the Chi flowing within the body, burning through it at an astonishing rate. In exchange for effectively setting their insides on fire, they gain a massive spike in their bending.
A quick surge of Chi reinforcement was powerful enough to wipe out dozens of soldiers with a single bending move.
This boy's technique seemed eerily similar to it but different in several profound ways. He wondered if it had the same limitations as Chi reinforcement.
The energy crash. A bender could only burn so hot for so long.
He wondered if the ninjas had figured out a better way.
Aaron guided away the boy's thrust with a wind-cloaked hand and flipped him over his shoulder.
Hayato, surprisingly, spun around mid-air, landed, and flipped back several paces. He pulled a scroll from his pouch, bit into his thumb, and slammed his palm into the open scroll.
A Katana materialized in a puff of smoke.
'Yet another odd technique. Becoming Hayato is going to be even more complicated than I anticipated.'
As fascinating as this new development was, Aaron was more focused on whatever body-augmenting technique Hayato was using.
The boy looked to be under no great physical strain. In fact, breathing in an unorthodox pattern didn't put more pressure on his body than it should.
"So, you're not totally hopeless," Aaron said. "I suppose that is to be expected from the son of the village head."
He tugged at an obvious sore spot. Karin had told Aaron about the relationship between father and son. Hayato, apparently, wasn't born a monster. His father made him that way.
The kid didn't offer a rebuttal, far more preoccupied with maintaining his peculiar pattern of breathing.
He lunged at Aaron, moving even faster than he'd initially done, but he remained painfully slow in Aaron's perception.
The Phantom used one of the knives Hayato had attacked him with earlier to parry a downward strike that sent a spike of pain up his arm. He shoved the blade to the side almost contemptuously and swiped at him with a blade charged with wind Chi. It split his body in two.
A second later, the body was replaced by a log of wood split down the middle. He leaned back just in time to avoid a sneak attack.
A flame wreathed Katana streaked above his head, and Hayato's senses drank it in with naked curiosity, and his eyes went wide.
The fire contained Hayato's physical and spiritual energies but also contained a hint of the ambient energy suffusing the air.
In an instant, the kid just went from a nuisance to a potential treasure trove of information.
Aaron spun on his feet, coming face to face with Hayato, face contorted with a naked hunger.
"Show me more," he demanded.
Hayato shuddered but still managed to maintain his technique. He switched stances again and rushed at Aaron again, blade ablaze with fire. His blade swished upwards with a dividing strike that Aaron sidestepped. The angry ninja twisted his elbows and wrists, transitioning into a powerful downward strike.
The temperature in the gathering spiked as he carved a line of fire in the air. The arc was so potent and fast that it would've caught Aaron if he tried retreating, so he shuffled to the side with some airbending and repositioned himself behind the kid.
Aaron drew a bloody line down his back with a kunai, prompting a retaliatory strike, but Aaron was already gone.
Again and again, the cycle repeated itself. Hayato swung, using the same three techniques over and over again.
Swift beheading strike
Downward Strike
Upward Strike.
There was also a hint of a general sword style sprinkled in there. Hayato parried a certain way, punished attacks in a particular way, and had dozens of mundane strikes that were not imbued with Fire and natural energy.
Overall, Aaron thought the kid was a half-decent swordsman.
After his twelfth miss, Aaron noticed the shift. His breathing was not as smooth, his movement was sluggish, and his eyes darted around the clearing nervously.
He recognized there was no hope. No one was coming to save him. Aaron had made sure of it, snuffing out every open fire with a vacuum technique executed by one of his multiple parallel minds.
Hayato charged Aaron just as he'd done 12 times before, but instead of committing to the attack. He changed course with clever footwork and tossed a smoke bomb to cover his exit. Chakra gathered around his legs as he whooshed forward, desperate to put distance between them.
His eyes went wide with surprise when a compressed ball of wind slammed into his back, knocking the breath out of him and sending him chest-first into a tree.
He had a line of blood running down the side of his face when Aaron finally reached him. He was obviously concussed.
"Who—are--you?" Hayato demanded with deep pants. "My father—"
"—Is not here to save you, Hayato," Aaron said, squatting to the boy's level. "Honestly, I'm impressed. You're well trained and some of your strategy was decent, but it was the swordsmanship style and the breathing that stole the show. They're obviously part of a greater technique. What is it called?"
Hayato blinked at the question. "Y-You don't know?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I did," Aaron said offhandedly. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to cut it out of you?"
"Flame Breathing!" he blurted out. "It's called Flame breathing, and my family has practiced it for generations."
Aaron tilted his head, thinking out loud. "Does it have anything to do with why your flame is blue and your energy is different from other ninjas?"
He vigorously nodded. "Father says natural energy makes our fire purer. F generation of my family have practiced the style."
A small smile spread across Aaron's lips.
"I have a few more questions. And if you answer honestly, I won't have to get unpleasant."
Hayato's face hardened. "You're going to kill me anyways."
"True," Aaron said. "But it's up to you if you want to die in one piece or fifty."
Hayato scowled, but he eventually conceded.
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