Chapter 225 - Breaking Into Tartarus
It was powerful, so loud that it hurt my ears even though I was still a few kilometers away from it.
I ran across the water faster than I did before, shunshining between two jumps, channeling a bit of the speed I'd had at Atago-Jinja, though yet unable to replicate it fully.
Big rocks, pointing to the sky like fangs – or the claws of a sea creature – circled the island.
In between I could see small figures whose shapes were getting clearer.
A squad of twelve soldiers in full gear was in diamond formation on a heliport.
One of them had a speaker in his hands.
I came to a screeching stop near the island, my eyes sweeping over the place.
I could feel plenty of people around but I could not see them.
Speaker guy's voice amplified was loud :
"You are infringing upon Japanese territory illegally. We are asking you not to move and wait for one of our squad to collect you. Refusal of doing so will force us to use lethal force"
On one of the sharp rocks stood a sign: "Military grounds: do not trespass".
Speaker guy, his message delivered, put it on the side and stood in front of his formation.
Locks of wet hair were whipping my forehead and jaw. I closed my left eye for a moment, rubbing it intensely for some of the salted water had made it irritated.
I had had no time to think about the way I'd enter Tartarus and did not search the layout of the place – even though I knew it was what should do any proper nin.
I'll just have to get in the hard way.
A squad of four soldiers jumped on the black sand and warily walked up to me.
Chakra gathered in my legs, and the water under roared.
The sea twirled like a small, powerful (SYNO) tornado, yet it stayed hidden under the water.
They shoot me.
I ran, shots grazing my shoulders and legs while I twisted and avoided them all.
The missed shots fell limply in the sea, breaking its surface in sharp bursts of water, leaving whitish trails behind in their wave.
I jumped and shunshined, so fast that they lost me.
I was covering in one smooth leap the distance to the shore.
Their guns were not fast enough to get me; one of them clasped his hands together.
A sand tentacle shot to wrap around my ankle while I was still in mid-air.
Lightning fell from the storm and hit the tentacle, turning it into a glass statue.
I glided on it from top to bottom, landing with a swoosh on the ground, raising a small cloud of sand.
We seized each other: the adrenaline pumping in my blood made me ecstatic.
The fights, the violence: this was what I'd been born for.
Sand guy raised his hands, and sand rose around me like an encasing prison.
I shunshined straight ahead, breaking through the sand wall, and appearing in the middle of the four.
The water vortex shot and doused us all right as my feet grazed the floor.
The smart move would've been to drag them to the sea and drown them.
But I was better than that.
The water turned to thick ice coffins that only left enough room for them to breathe through their mouth.
Water wrapped around my ankles: I looked down, confused, while the water cuffs abruptly yanked me back to the sea.
A soldier was waving her hand around, trying to push me back to – obviously – drown me.
I moved my own hands but I felt myself fighting with her for control of the sea.
New shots exploded and I crouched, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
The shore turned to ice.
From the glass tentacle to the soldier meters away, everything was covered in a thick layer of ice.
I couldn't know for sure if it would stop her and, thus, went to finish her when the ground under my feet shook.
Two large hands made of dirt snapped close on my legs like a bear trap. They squeezed harshly to crush my legs.
They weren't strong enough.
Fists closed, I hit the hands simultaneously with the might of a hammer.
The hands shattered and broke down in a shower of dirt.
Something fast flashed between the sun and I, a shadow covering my face.
I looked up, my eyes catching onto a quickly growing shape.
Blade in hand, someone was falling from the sky right on me.
Under my feet, the ground was shaking, cracks springing from between my shoes.
The soil felt lighter as if there was a growing void under my feet that would soon collapse under my weight.
My eyes locked with soil guy, and right as the tip of the blade was brushing the top of my hair, I kawarimied with him.
I appeared on true ground right as I heard a scream.
I shot a glance above my shoulder, catching the sight of the blade going down deep in soil guy's cheek, drawing blood and making flesh burst.
The twelve soldiers were in front of me.
They tensed when they heard the scream, their slow eyes trying to catch up to what was happening.
I shunshined and a yellow bolt of lightning fell from the sky and hit water girl, putting her out for good.
I appeared right in the middle of their formation, kunais in both hands.
A head snapped towards me.
The soldier ripped off his mask, and I smelt the smoke before I felt the heat.
A hot, gushing stream of fire hit me straight in the torso.
I got pushed out of the diamond, my feet screeching on the floor, leaving huge trails behind.
I stopped a few meters from them.
Soot was staining the corner of his mouth. He cleaned it with the back of his hand.
I stood up, casually brushing the dirt dust off my shoulders, smoke billowing from my clothes.
There was something insulting about seeing someone use one of your signature moves at a level far beneath yours yet expecting a positive outcome against you.
My gaze locked with the fire-spitting.
"Let me show you how it's done"
And before any of them could react, I lowered my mask, and a humongous fireball shot from my lips.
The wet air crackled like a hot pan on which you put water.
Most of the squad jumped to the side, but three – one being the fire guy – were hit head-on.
I cut the chakra supply and turned around smoothly, my leg hitting the stomach of a soldier who'd tried to take me by surprise, sending her – and her gun – rolling on the grounds for meters.
I caught a wrist and turned a hand holding a gun towards the sky.
The shot that should've hit me at a blank point made a hole in the clouds.
My hand hitched for my kunai but I resolved to headbutt the soldier to oblivion.
He fell to the ground, passed out, blood running from under his mask and down his throat.
I crouched, avoiding a roundhouse kick straight to my head, and hit the genitalia of a guy so hard he threw up.
In a matter of seconds, soldiers – seemingly appearing out of thin air - flooded me from all sides.
It turned into a large-scale battle.
I flashed around them so fast I was close to a shunshin speed, hitting quickly to incapacitate. A soldier transformed into a crocodile and tried to rip my head off whereas another's skin turned to crystal: I broke the teeth of the first with one powerful hit and repeatedly hit the second's arms until they snapped.
There were so numerous I had to use large-scale attacks to deal with them quickly: pillars of lightning fell and struck everyone around me.
The first wave of soldiers fell face first, stunned, smoke billowing from their clothes.
The next wave came.
Yellow crackling pillars fell once more from the sky.
"Everyone, duck !"
All the soldiers fell on the ground, belly against the floor, whereas one among them stood proud and powerful, hand raised.
All the lightning converged on him, lighting him up as if he were a bulb in a pitch-black night.
He grunted before lowering his gaze to mine.
"Railgun"
Lightning shot up from him to me in a straight line.
I was hit head-on by a powerful, painful, devastating electric wave that momentarily stunned me.
I clenched my teeth, pushing all of the pent-up energy to the floor to disperse it: if I'd let it go in a full blast, I'd kill them.
It's just fair, they're trying to kill you.
A hole opened between my feet: a head poked from it.
It was a soldier clad in bluish light, some energy-constructed knife in his hand.
He tried to slit my Achilles tendons; I kicked his head, knocking him out, and he tumbled down his wormhole.
I was pouring down the last bit of lightning when I felt someone behind me: I turned around, striking fast to immobilize.
Yet all I hit was a purple fog that pushed in my face and made me cough.
The fog turned solid and the soldier hit me square in the chin.
My head snapped to the side.
More and more soldiers were coming my way.
I clenched my teeth, sharingan spinning to life, a chidori on the verge of my fingers.
Fog guy tried to hit me in the throat : I grabbed his material end and broke his wrist before he turned back to gas.
He made a muffled sound and tried to kick me: I stabbed his thigh and ripped the flesh until his knee.
He wouldn't be able to move.
He turned solid and fell on the ground, whining, while I looked at the flock of soldiers.
I had a kunai in my left hand: another slid in my right.
"Fuck playing nice", I muttered, eyes narrowed.
Lightning struck again.
Electricity guy raised his hand once more, head up, but I was already on him.
I slit his ankles; he fell on his knees like a puppet whose strings were abruptly cut. I stabbed his elbows and wrists so he would be no more able to attract lightning.
I ducked and shunshined, avoiding being shot in the head.
I worked my way through the ranks of soldiers who were pouring from the bowels of the metal prison.
I hit hard and I hit fast, incapacitating them in ways that wouldn't be lethal but extremely painful.
A soldier tried to roundhouse kick me, and I ducked under before stabbing her raised knee.
Bone shattered and she faltered, howling in pain, yet I was already stabbing her standing knee.
I breezed through them with ease and barely repressed violence: I had to consciously hold myself from slitting their eyes or slashing their throats and bashing their heads on the floor until their wet brain spilled on the floor.
There were too many of them, and I was losing precious time – time that I'd need for Keigo and me to flee the country.
Chakra strengthened my arm : I hit the ground and the whole island shook.
Soldiers stopped coming at me and swayed as if they were walking on thin ropes.
Cracks spread from my fist to the iron building, crevices large enough to engulf cars fissuring the ground.
A few people fell inside.
I shunshined and appeared in front of the door.
I kicked it inside so violently it slammed into the wall behind, a shock wave spreading through the construction.
Looking at the stretching corridors felt like looking at a twirling maze built to make you feel like you'd spawned in an infinite loop. I already felt kind of nauseous.
Whoever had built this place had done a good job.
My senses stretched to find Keigo : the smartest place to put him would be-
My eyes snapped down.
They were all under me.
I cracked my neck, chakra building up in my body.
I'd have to be cautious, for I didn't know yet where was Keigo exactly – and I didn't want to free any prisoners by chance.
If they were put here, there must've been a good reason for it.
I raised my fist: someone grabbed my arm and yanked it back.
I looked back and-
"What the f-"
I was violently pushed out of the prison, flying through the air before I backflipped and landed smoothly, crouching, eyes set straight ahead.
Coming out from the door I kicked in was a man dressed differently from the other soldiers: there were a few more bands on his left shoulder which meant he was higher ranked than anyone here.
He was small – less than five feet – yet there was confidence in the way he held himself.
Half of the island separated us, yet I heard him mutter in a weirdly high-pitched voice.
"It's too hot in this"
He yanked off his mask and threw it aside.
I was so confused by the sight in front of me that I momentarily forgot what I was here for, rising from my lowered stance.
Standing in front of me with short-cropped, reddish hair, was what looked like a ten-year-old kid.
*
A/N : We'll be back on the regular upload schedule Wednesday.
Also, for those who wanted to subscribe once we were on the last chapters of the story, I can now officially tell you that there only 17 chapters left for Elite Jonin members until we finish this fic.
Last chapter should be uploaded 19th December - and then I AM FREE.
Gosh I want to cry tears of happiness but can't afford to 'cause I need the energy to pump out the last chapters.
Check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG, if you want to support us on our last run, and thanks to everyone who did throughout the year (and a quarter) since I started posting.
And as always, see you in the next update everyone !