The Great Escape

Gari: "Bakuton: Warhead"

Casting one of his strongest jutsu, the explosions beneath Gari's feet increased in intensity, with extra propulsion coming from his arms now as well, making him look like a naruto version of Iron Man.

With all of these extra explosions, came a large amount of chakra spent, but also an incredible increase in speed and power.

Gari extended his right arm, clenching his hand into a fist and infusing chakra into it before slamming it into the wall of flames before him, a massive explosion accompanying it.

Seeing this powerful technique, a frown began to make its way onto Mizuki's face.

After all, even if his flames were incredibly deadly, this was his first time using them in actual combat.

Even in the Chunin Exams, nobody (for the most part) was going for the kill.

Here there were no such limitations.

And if that was not bad enough, the one he was using them against was no average schmuck.

They were one of Iwagakure's elite.

One of their strongest jonin.

And, as if things could not be bad enough, they were a Kekkei Genkai user as well.

Not so much as a fraction of a second later, the two attacks clashed in the sky, producing a brilliant light show, as each attack vied for dominance over the other.

The explosion's created by Gari creating a bright orange light, which clashed against the pure white flames of Mizuki.

However, this "show" lasted for but a second, before ending abruptly.

After all, even if they were both incredibly skilled, the fact of the matter remains that the battle was not between two equals, but between a chunin and one of Iwa's most elite jonin.

Even taking into consideration that the chunin is much stronger compared to others in his class, being able to contend with some weaker jonin for limited amounts of time, he still pales in front of Gari.

A man who is known to not only be one of Iwa's strongest jonin, but one who had even been acknowledged by the Tsuchikage himself, and placed in charge of Iwa's explosion corps.

Gari's attack sliced through Mizuki's flames like a hot knife through butter, with the former energy clash between the two only slightly slowing and redirecting the attack.

Still, Mizuki's attack was not totally useless, as he was able to cause burns along Gari's arm, with the wound continuing to burn, even after Gari had already passed the flames.

However, in the end, these wounds were still minuscule compared to what Gari then returned to Mizuki.

Gari continued to rocket forward, arriving at Mizuki within a fraction of a second, before extending his right arm yet again, this time also clenching it into a fist.

Although, this time the attack hit Mizuki directly, causing the boy to double over and vomit blood at the initial impact.

Although that was not even the worst of it.

Gari: "Detonate"

Muttering the activation of his jutsu under his breath, Gari's glowing fist only increased in luminosity as the physical impact occurred, before finally discharging at it's peak, right as Mizuki was about to get launched by Gari's fist.

Upon discharging, a large explosion burst out of Gari's fist, increasing the already impressive force behind the blow, causing Mizuki's body to sail through the air like a plane at take-off.

Needless to say, the blow had left Mizuki severely injured, as his right side was blackened from burns, with pieces of flesh missing due to being blown off in the explosion.

Mizuki: {God damnit, this hurts like a bitch}

As Mizuki's body sailed through the air, like any object thrown, what comes up, must eventually come back down.

Mizuki was no exception to this rule, with his body skipping along the ground as he impacted it, like a stone in water.

And although barely noticeable, Mizuki let loose a slight abnormal twitch during the first impact, alongside his grunt and convulsion in pain.

In total, Mizuki's body skipped a total of eight times before finally sliding across the ground and slowing to a stop.

However, by some miracle, Mizuki was still alive and kicking, albeit, just barely.

Gari slowly approached Mizuki, making sure that it was not an ambush of some kind before sighing in relief and closing towards the boy, stopping around a meter away.

Gari: "Still alive kid?"

Mizuki: "Fuck You"

Hearing his response, a slight grin emerged on Gari's face.

Gari: "Still alive and kicking, huh?"

Gari: "Gotta say, I expected you to be dead by now"

Mizuki: "That makes two of us"

Gari snickered hearing his response.

Gari: "I hate to be the one to do this, but unfortunately, I have no choice."

Mizuki: "You could just pretend you never saw me and spare yourself the guilt of slaying a child."

Gari: "Ya, that excuse stops working after the "child" tries to incinerate me"

Mizuki: "Fair enough"

With that, their conversation ended, and Gari approached Mizuki, who now closed his eyes, and remained unmoving.

Gari: "Farewell, Mizuki"

Despite saying these words, Gari remained at the scene for fifteen minutes.

Something just felt off to him.

Looking around the area, Gari eliminated all possible factors that it could be.

That is, except for one.

Approaching the "corpse"

Gari took a kunai out of his pouch before stabbing it, only to see the "corpse" disperse in a puff of white smoke.

Seeing this, a look of surprise flashed through Gari's face before being replaced with one of determination.

He would catch him.

And so, Gari left the area, desperately trying to hunt down Mizuki, whos whereabouts to him were now unknown.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and soon, an interesting scene can be seen occurring at the site where Gari and Mizuki fought.

Along the area where Mizuki hit the ground and began to skid, the earth began to crack and shake ever so slightly, as an arm can be seen emerging from the ground.

Followed by the shoulder, then the torso, then the other arm, and soon, the boy was out of the earthen hole.

Mizuki let loose a sigh of relief, padding himself off of all of the dirt he had accrued whilst waiting underground before wincing slightly.

Even though he had been able to escape some of Gari's wrath, does not mean that he was able to come out of the encounter unscathed.

The initial attack and first impact on the ground still hit him.

He was just able to intelligently use Doton jutsu and shadow clones to hide and create an illusion of him escaping when in reality, he simply waited Gari out.

Mizuki: "Now, back to the group"

Saying those words to himself, Mizuki sighed slightly, before wincing yet again, feeling the wind brush up against his wound.

Unfortunately, he did not have enough chakra to heal it, as he had just spent all of his trying not to fucking die.

Mizuki: "Today is going to be a long day."

And, with those words, Mizuki began to advance towards the planned rendevous point, ignoring the pain in his side.