Fateful End

A devious smile appeared on Kizito's face the following moment, applying pressure behind their blades, him and his accomplice pushed Renji who backflipped a few meters away from them. Dashing forward at him, they aimed their blades simultaneously at his neck with the aim of decapitating him.

In retaliation, Renji swung his katana at their blades. As their blades colided, they ran past each other quickly, the other two two ninjas threw several shurikens at him instantly but he evaded them by leaping backwards into the air.

As he backflipped through the air, he rotated his katana on his right foot and aimed it at one of the two ninjas. As his katana sliced through his forehead, Renji reached into his right pocket and threw two knives at the other masked ninja who dropped dead to the ground as he descended.

Dashing forward at Kizito, Renji retracted his katana from the skull of the dead ninja and sliced down at Kizito who attempted the same move. Their blades clashed once more and both shinobi's who were once known as one of the clans greatest stared each other in the eye.

"The rumors of your strength are as accurate as ever, however." Leaping backwards away from him, Kizito smiled maniacally and pointed upwards towards the roof above him.

"If you're down here fighting me, who's gonna protect them?"

The realization dawned upon Renji, he gazed upwards at the roof and found his wife bound by chains in tears with a blade pointed at her neck.

"M-Mia!" He exclaimed, Kizito had four accomplices in total, two which hunted down his wife and child who had already been killed.

"Throw her off." Kizito commanded with a wicked smirk on his face.

"R-Renji..." She sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks, without a second thought, Kizito's accomplice pushed her off the roof and she descended towards her death.

"Mia!" He proclaimed, dashing forward instantly to save the love of his life but was quickly intercepted by the right foot of Kizito to his jaw.

THWACK!

Hitting the pavement with tremendous force, her body bursted apart with pieces of flesh and blood painting a horrifying picture on the streets.

With dismay, Renji witnessed from the ground the death of his loving wife. His eyes were widened in shock as her blood splattered on his face.

"That's one down." Kizito declared with a antagonizing smile on his face.

"M-mia?" He uttered softly as he rose slowly to his feet.

"Your mine!" With Renji distracted by the death of his wife, Kizito took advantage of the current situation and dashed swiftly at his back, pointing the tip of his blade at his spine.

Just before Kizito could impale him, Renji turned around and caught the tip of his blade with just two of fingers. His expression changed, his face contorted with a fierce intensity. His eyes turned white with a cold, focused rage, while his brows were deeply furrowed creating a menacing scowl.

"How dare you? How dare you!?" He bellowed with fury.

"What!? He caught my full powered thrust with just two fingers? Impossible!" Overwhelmed by disbelief, Kizito exclaimed in his thoughts.

"Tch!" He applied pressure on his blade in an attempt to slice through Renji's fingers, however, a swift right cross from Renji sent him crashing into a wall.

"Blegh!!" He coughed up blood as the impact shook his entire body, falling to his knees, he panted softly as he was overwhelmed by Renji's frightening strength.

Kizito's accomplice who killed Renji's wife and child rushed to his aid, appearing above him, they held the hilt of their blade.

"Ninja Art..." Whispering softly, Renji held the tip of his katana tightly.

Before they could unsheath their swords, their head rolled off their necks and fell to the ground. "Severing Slice." He added as their bodies dropped to the ground, his gaze focused solely on his target, Kizito.

"W-What?" Struggling to complete his words, Kizito stared at the dead bodies of his companions who just had their head cut clean off.

"What just happened? Don't tell me-" Before he could complete his thoughts, Renji plunged forward at him with his arms held straight back and angled slightly outwards.

"Tch." Grunting slightly, Kizito reached into his pouch and drew out numerous shurikens and threw them all swiftly at Renji.

Dashing forward diagonally, Renji effortlessly evaded the shurikens and even deflected most with his katana. As he approached his target, Kirito swung his sword sideways aiming to severe his neck.

In response, Renji lowered his body below the trajectory of the blade. Stretching his right hand forward, he drove his palm into Kizito's stomach and quickly stretched out two of his fingers while his palm made contact.

"BLEGGH." Groaning in pain, Kizito's eyes expanded from the shock that went through his body and was overwhelmed by the force Renji exerted on him. His back broke through the concrete wall of a building and he crashed into it.

Fueled by rage, Renji approached the building slowly with his eyes focused at the hole in the wall not daring to blink.

"I see." A beaten up Kizito muttered, walking out the hole he crashed into, he wiped the blood that dripped from his mouth. "That was your Ninja Art wasn't it Renji? No matter how many times I've seen you use it, it always leaves me baffled." He added with a sadistic smile on his face.

Having no interest in his words, Renji dashed at him swiftly with the aim to kill.

"However, you're not the only one who mastered a deadly Ninja Art."

Aiming his blade at Kizito's chest, Renji attempted to drive his katana through his chest. However, before he could impale him, Kizito's entire body turned into a cloud of white smoke.

"Ninja Art: Infinite Perception." From within the cloud of smoke, Renji could hear his wretched voice.

Kizito appeared directly behind Renji who retaliated swiftly by swinging his blade at him, alas it turned out to be another smokescreen of Kizito.

"What is this?" He questioned his thoughts, he couldn't see Kizito so the only option left was to sense him. But that became the issue, Kizito was everywhere.

"Do you know humanity's greatest ally and foe? It's their perception Renji. The judgement you pass on and every decision you've ever taken relied solely on one thing, your perception." Renji was able hear and sense Kizito, however he was unable to see him.

"....." He became speechless as he felt blood dripping down from his mouth, Renji turned his head over his shoulder slowly and stared Kizito in the eyes.

"My Ninja Art, Infinite Perception allows me to control the five senses of anyone I choose so it doesn't matter how proefficient your Ninjutsu is Renji. At the end of the day..." Twisting his blade sideways, Kizito scrambled some of his internal organs.

"W-what?" Renji stammered, he never realized that he had already been stabbed in the heart the moment Kizito utilized his Ninja Art. He manipulated Renji's sense of touch and made it appear his bodily functions were normal.

"Your skills won't matter, you've lost this battle, Renji Storm." Withdrawing his blade from his back, Kizito chuckled with a menacing smile.

He wasn't moved a bit after killing his friend, in reality he was always jealous of Renji.

"I would have never stood a chance against you if you knew about this particular Ninja Art, but now that you're gone I can finally take my place as the Storm Clan's most powerful disciple." He added as Renji slumped to the ground, slowly losing his consciousness.

The wails of sirens became louder and louder each passing second, the commotion caused by their battle was loud enough to attract even the law enforcement agencies to the scene. As Kizito disappeared into the night, Renji became lost in a deep reflection of his life.

"Is this truly the end for me?" As his blood seeped into the cracks in the ground, he directed his gaze at the splattered body of his wife. "Is this what we get just for seeking freedom?"

Before his consciousness completely faded away, a bright smile formed on his face as he realized that as long as he was a ninja, true freedom could only be obtained in death.

"At least... We will be reunited once again." With his last thoughts, he slumped completely into the warm embrace of eternal slumber.

However.

Fate was not done with him just yet.

[System Activate.....]