Chapter 12: Trouble in the Forest

AN: Hooray, another update. I know I said it might be a few days or up to a week before I might upload a new chapter, but I'm doing pretty well keeping up my pace so far so for now you guys can expect to get chapters a little bit sooner.

Chapter 12

Clink.

Clank.

Tch. Tch.

Swish. Crack.

Snap.

Thud...

Dust slowly rose into the air as a large and ferocious looking beast collapsed onto the forest floor. A pool of blood spread beneath its fallen corpse as three young and one adult shinobi landed atop the tree branches nearby. They were exactly Izaya, Haku, Kimimaro, and Yamato. They stood there whilst staring down at the demonic beast that they had just slain.

"Alright, it's your turn this time Kimimaro." Yamato said.

"Mn." Kimimaro nodded. He then jumped down to the fallen corpse and broke off the 4 giant horns from the beast as a show of proof that it had been hunted down and disposed of. I put my arms up and stretched before turning to Yamato-sensei and said, "So, are we going to set out for Konoha right after or should we head back to the town and rest for a night first?"

"Hmm...I think it'll be okay to take a break for the rest of the evening. Since we're near the border of fire country and the grasslands it'll take us at least a week and a half to two weeks to get back to Konoha, so let's head back to town first and we'll set out for Konoha in the morning." Yamato replied.

"Then we should enjoy the hot springs they have in town. It's been awhile since we just got to relax after all the missions we've been doing." Haku said.

Kimimaro took out a simple storage type sealing scroll and said, "Seal!" His chakra flowed out from the scroll and surrounded the 4 giant horns before dragging them into the scroll. Yamato nodded his head in approval and commented, "Once we turn this in that'll make 12 C-rank hunting missions of high grade complete."

I nodded my head. After we completed the Hankotsu mission Lord Third gave us in less than three days, he elected to give us more difficult C-rank missions. Team 7 has probably just finished their mission to escort Tazuna the bridge builder back to the land of waves right about now so that means it'll be about half a month before they get back to Konoha. I wonder if they fought Zabuza this time and if they did I wonder how it turned out. Yamato snapped me back out of my mental thoughts as he said, "Since Kimimaro is done let's go back to town now."

Just as we were about to leave my eyebrows twitched and I turned around. Yamato noticed my strange action and said, "What's wrong Izaya?"

At that moment I furrowed my brow and said in a serious tone, "Yamato-sensei, Haku, Kimimaro, prepare yourselves. I sense something approaching us from the south. It's moving incredibly fast and the amount of chakra it has is substantial."

Yamato also furrowed his brow and then said, "Formation A."

We automatically separated, Yamato and Haku moving together on one branch, and Kimimaro and I moving together standing on another branch opposite them 5 meters away. We focused our attention in the southern direction as the unknown entity approached closer and closer at a rapid pace. The closer it got the more alarmed I became. The chakra I sensed coming off of it became denser and more sinister the closer it got.

"Everyone, be careful! I sense a sinister chakra coming off it's body, it might be a powerful demonic beast!"

Just as I finished speaking the entity finally came into view. A large, 3 meters two-legged, winged creature with a long beak demonic face appeared. "A Tengu!" Yamato exclaimed. He then turned serious. Tengu's are powerful demonic beasts that reside deep within mountains or forests and some cultivate their strength by absorbing the blood of other demonic beasts or humans. There aren't many of them left in the world, to think that one would appear here and now of all places. It must have sensed our battle and come to reap the spoils Yamato thought.

At this moment the Tengu noticed the 4 humans standing atop the trees and hissed. It then unsheathed a long green colored katana from its waist and held it firmly in it's hand before rushing at an incredible speed at the two younger looking humans. They were precisely Kimimaro and me.

"Shit!" Yamato exclaimed. Facing a Tengu of this calibre was a B-rank mission at the very least. In the face of the Tengu's attack Kimimaro and I remained calm. Recognizing the potential life threatening situation we were put in I decided that this Tengu was worthy of me showing some true skills. I immediately took out my Flying Thunder God kunai with a reverse grip and engaged the Tengu in a frontal confrontation.

It swung downward towards my head whilst I parried upwards deflecting its blade to the left momentarily. I kicked with my right leg straight at its abdomen forcing it to flap its wings and dodge upwards. Just as it swung its blade sideways towards my neck Yamato shouted, "Wood Style Wood Palm Jutsu!" A wooden palm emerged from the branch I was standing on intercepting the blade.

Kimimaro took this opportunity to jump upwards reaching the same height level as the Tengu and said, "Taijutsu Wushu Style Southern Movement Vicious Viper!" His palm lit up with a green color as he struck out with a speed the Tengu couldn't follow and struck it straight in the chest forcing the Tengu to release it's hold on its blade and fly backwards 20 feet through the air before smashing into a tree.

"KRRRRRRUUUUUHHHH!" The Tengu let out a deafening screech and stood back up unfazed from the strike.

"Uh? It's tougher than I thought." Kimimaro narrowed his eyes in seriousness.

"Don't let it recover it's weapon!" Yamato said. I nodded in acknowledgement as I saw the wooden hand holding the green katana start to give off black smoke and deteriorate. The Tengu rushed back towards us as Yamato, Kimimaro, and Haku ran to confront it. Haku took out three senbon needles and infused his chakra in them increasing their penetrative power. He then threw out two of them, one aimed at its forehead, the other aimed at its stomach.

The Tengu dodged to its left which prompted Haku to throw out his remaining needle at that moment, piercing through its right wing joint at the bend. The Tengu instantly lost control of its right wing and dropped to the ground. With anguish it forced chakra into its claws increasing their length to a foot long and ran at Haku.

Yamato weaved his hands together for Tiger, Horse, Tiger, Snake and said, "Wood Style Great Forest Jutsu!" He then stuck out his right hand as multiple large tendrils of wood shot forth in an attempt to bind and restrain the Tengu. It merely snarled and forced its sinister chakra into its claws before slashing outwards creating black wind that smashed apart Yamato's technique.

Kimimaro weaved his hand signs and placed them on the ground before shouting, "Earth Style Bottomless Swamp Jutsu!" The Tengu noticed something amiss and jumped in the air before it could be trapped in the swamp. Haku quickly formed the sign of Ram and Tiger and said, "Water Style Syrup Trap Jutsu!" He then spewed out a large murky color water from his mouth towards the airborne Tengu.

Before it could get trapped it formed chakra in its right and left hands and thrusted forward creating a powerful enough wind that forced back Haku's technique to fall towards them instead. Yamato quickly placed his hands together and said, "Wood Style Wood Wall Jutsu!" A giant wall quickly rose from the ground blocking Haku's technique. The Tengu took this opportunity to use the wall and kicked off the top heading back for its blade.

Seeing the Tengu rushing back I silently cursed. The blade had been infused with sinister chakra making it impossible for me to touch. I took my unique kunai and threw it towards the Tengu and formed the hand signs of Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger and said, "Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" 100 kunai rained down at the Tengu forcing it to momentarily pause and once more gather chakra with both hands before thrusting them out again. The powerful wind created from the thrust disrupted the rain of kunai deflecting them towards the side. This however allowed Yamato, Kimimaro, and Haku to catch up.

Yamato then shouted towards me, "Don't let it recover its weapon, it'll become much more powerful if it does!"

I nodded and shouted back, "Buy me some time!"

Haku jumped up on one of the tree branches and said, "Don't worry big brother, we'll keep it away so focus on what you have to do!"

Yamato then formed the hand signs of Tiger, Hare, Boar, and Dog and said, "Earth Style Earth Wall Jutsu!" A giant wall appeared in front of the Tengu effectively blocking it. Haku then formed the signs of Dragon, Tiger, and Hare and said, "Water Style Raging Waves Jutsu!" A torrent of water then gushed outwards in a large arc above the Tengu. It only sneered at the pitifully weak technique and simply slashed out with its claws tearing apart the water.

Haku smirked and said, "Secret Technique Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!" The water in the surrounding area immediately transformed into thousands of sharp pointy needles and flew directly at the Tengu. Alarmed and noticing it was in a precarious situation it gathered a mass of chakra at its core and then bent its back shouting outwards as it released a massive wave of air from the mass of chakra.

"Guh!" Yamato grunted as the force of the wind not only destroyed the thousands of water needle, but pushed him, Kimimaro, and Haku backwards by 10 feet. The rock wall in front of it cracked and crumbled away. Before it could move from its spot Yamato quickly placed his hands on the ground shouting, "Wood Style Wood Vine Jutsu!" Thick branches of wood shot out from underneath the Tengu and wrapped around its ankles preventing it from moving.

Kimimaro quickly used this chance to close the distance and shouted, "Taijutsu Wushu Style Hua Fists of Striking 18 Forms Primary Strike!" The Tengu wanted to slash out with its claws but the speed and power of Kimimaro's attack was too ferocious. He quickly struck out with his fists at both armpit areas of the Tengu before proceeding to strike under both ribs and then the bicep joints, the windpipe twice before landing a strike at the Tengu's center and then repeated the cycle once more. The Tengu could only stand there as it lost strength in its limbs and body.

After Kimimaro delivered the 18th strike he shouted once more without losing momentum, "Taijutsu Wushu Style Hua Fists of Striking 18 Forms Secondary Strike!" He struck out and smashed the Tengu's head, armpits, inner thighs, inner elbow joints, hip joints, windpipe, sternum, inner ribs, and finally struck out with a series of powerful palm strikes at the center of the Tengu's chest. If before the Tengu felt the loss of strength over its physical body then at this moment it felt as if its spirit left its body. At Kimimaro's last hand thrust he had expelled all the chakra the Tengu could gather out of its body.

Kimimaro, however, didn't stop there and once more shouted, "Wushu Style Hua Fists of Striking 12 Forms Moving Road!" He gathered the momentum into his arms and performed 12 incredibly powerful slashing motions as the Tengu took the beating, swaying whichever way Kimimaro bashed it until Kimimaro's last strike in which he performed a quick spin gathering chakra and all the kinetic energy from his earlier strikes into his palm and thrust outwards with both palms aimed at the Tengu's chest.

The Tengu immediately felt its rib cage shatter and organs rupture as the force was so powerful its ankles ripped away from Yamato's Wood Vine Jutsu as it flew through the air motionlessly completely drained of strength. The light slowly faded from its eyes as it continued hitting, crashing, bumping, and falling until nothing but darkness filled its vision. Dead. It had died before it had come to a complete stop. Its dead body rolled around through the air like a pinball through the forest before finally dropping 500 meters away from its original spot.

It was at this moment that I made my way over to Yamato, Kimimaro, and Haku holding the Tengu's katana in hand. We all immediately ran over to Kimimaro as he slightly swayed and stumbled a bit. I quickly grabbed onto him to keep him stable and lowered him to the ground slowly letting him lean back on a tree. He coughed once as a little bit of blood flowed out. I furrowed my brow and focused my Sharingan through my blindfold to take a look at Kimimaro's body. I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed his internal damage wasn't too bad. It has been getting worse over the past couple months but because he hasn't been using his Kekkei Genkai his disease had slowed down considerably.

"How is he?" Yamato asked. "Just a minor internal injury from over exerting his physical body. He'll be fine after a nights rest." I replied. After all the missions and time we spent together we had already told Yamato-sensei of Kimimaro's condition so he wasn't surprised by this development. All of us could only try to ensure that Kimimaro kept his involvement in fights to a minimum, for now at least.

Haku breathed out a sigh of relief when he heard me give my diagnosis. "Here brother Maro, let me help you." Haku said as he took out a cloth and wiped off Kimimaro's blood.

Yamato noticed the green katana in my hands as I deactivated the Kunai Shadow Clone technique and picked up my original kunai. "Oh? Were you successful in sealing away its evil energy?" Yamato asked.

I nodded and said, "Yes sensei." I put my kunai away and pulled out a purple scroll which I handed both the katana and scroll to Yamato. "Sensei, I sealed away the evil energy into this scroll. As for the katana, i'm not really sure what to do with it so it's probably best that you hold onto it."

"Mn. Alright. Good job Izaya. You too Haku, Kimimaro." Yamato praised. We walked over to where the Tengu's corpse was and found nothing left of it except for its long black beak. Yamato gave out a long sigh of relief and said, "Looks like Kimimaro's attack indeed finished it off. It's body filled with evil and resentful energy corroded its physical form and caused it to crumble away. Initially I thought it was one of the old and ancient Tengu's that was left in the world but luckily this one wasn't one of them."

Haku looked up at Yamato in curiosity and said, "Sensei, are the ancient Tengu's very powerful?"

"Hmmm...Well, first off, there's really only 5 known ancient Tengu living in the world and only 3 of them boast actual power. The other two are more of scholars. Anyways, they normally just stick to their abode and don't come out at all. Other than the two scholarly Tengu's, the 3 powerful ones have a bounty on their heads and anyone who kills them can claim a hefty reward. I'm willing to bet someone has put in a request to hunt down this rogue Tengu as well. I'll hold onto the katana for now as proof of its death and report back to Lord Third on this matter. Maybe we can claim a reward."

"Okay you guys, lets head back to town. I want to make sure Kimimaro gets some rest and I want to soak in the hot springs." I said.

"Mn. Me too." Haku replied.