Starring:
Date: January 12, 2016
Summary:
The dance of death continues as a new actor takes the stage.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"In an Accursed Rain - The Curtain Rises, Run, Nobunaga-sama, Run!"
Land of Fire - Yamachi Farming Village
Previously on NMR:
"…."
What could he really have Isura do? Once he heard the name that had only been faint memory up until now, the Sarutobi understood what truly drove the Uchiha. He could only imagine what he would do personally if it were Chiasa's life on the line. In fact, he did not need to imagine it, having fought by her side on more than one occasion. Yet, this did not keep him from trying to weigh the pros and cons. A sarutobi fought with more than just their passion, and…
Zankuro sighed heavily, inclining his head forward. After a pregnant pause, he made his way over to the blinded shinobi, helping him up, and over his shoulders. As he turned to start to walk away — assuming Isura hasn't stopped him at some point — Zankuro hesitates for a brief moment, then turns partially about to face the Uchiha. However, he cannot speak without looking off towards the north, expression grim but determined. "There's an outpost… far, but if I hurry…" He bows his head far enough that his own hood shadows his face. "… Harry them, if feel you must, but don't do anything too stupid until I return with reinforcements." He states evenly, erasing all emotion from his voice.(re)
Isura was both shocked and happy but what Zankuro said and before he left he would smirk and nods, before turning back towards the south. "Be careful Zankuro and take care of him. I will do what I can to make sure I can save who I can. I can't promise I wont do anything stupid." Isura was focus while at the same time evoked. He knew his actions where highly unacceptable but what could he do about it. Instead he sighed and took off in a poof of smoke and leaves. When he did appear he was just on the outskirts of the small farmer village and from his view point it was as he thought it would. A couple of pools of chakra held up in a small hut while the other pools sat outside in the elements oddly enough though the barrier wasn't up. Not thinking much about it he started to formulate a plan until Rengio was brought from inside out, being pulled by her hair before being tossed onto the ground below. A bigger guy stood over her and ripped her cloths leaving her nude and to the elements before pulling back on his sword. Licking his lips he looked at her as she screamed and tried to cover herself.
"I like my prey naked, wet and screaming?!" Is yelled out as he swiped down, in a flurry of motions Isura snatched her up and carried a little distance away from the attack. However due to the sure distance traveled he failed to avoid the brunt of the attack and suffered a slash across the back. AS he removed his chuunin vest and placed it over her and his under coat and placed it over the bottom half. He looked into her eyes and smiled softly as she dug into his chest crying. "Hey its going to be alright I'm here…and I swear to always protect you. I'm sorry i couldn't get here sooner, "wait a moment while I take care of this trash." Isura slowly stood up and turned towards the bigger guy. Eyes filled with so much anger and rage that he never felt this much before in his life. "I'm going to kill all of you." From his position the bigger guy laughed as the rest of the ones inside stepped out. Isure begin to notice it was nothing more than a trap. The barrier started to form around him thus erasing all escape attempts. The guy forming the barrier was fixed upon the roof of the house to far from his to reach with anything but range attacks and the larger man stood before him.
"Hmph and here I thought there where three of you." Is spoken in deep highly aggressive voice before the man creating the barrier spoke "there are however he had a special task to take care of to the north of here." Isura piece together everything as he noticed a body off to the side the same body that looked like the man that Zankuro was carrying away to the North. "OH no please don't tell me?!" is stated in a frantic voice as the very man Zankruo was helping was the third man that should be in the camp. "How did you know?!" Isura asked as he swelled with chakra and emotion his sharingan burning an intense red. The man creating the barrier chuckled. "Its simple little Uchiha boy, everything the rain touches is under my gazing eyes." Laughing Isura knew they been tricked from the start whoever these guys where they where the real deal.
And now, back to the presentation….
Twice over did life and death danced upon the high wire that was the existence of two shinobi, or at least one of them, to be more exact. The dense patches of foliage provided at least some temporary relief from the rain during Zankuro's mad dash across unfamiliar trees, but the relief always felt too fleeting for the chuunin. Far too often branches were exposed to the point that the Sarutobi had to use a combination of the tree and water walking exercise just to avoid plummeting to the ground. If not for the mud and general brush to worry about, the young man might've gone with that route over the more dangerous.
'No. Can't worry about that now. That Isura-teme is counting me actually not holding out.' He thought with a face as grim beneath the hood of his cloak as his thoughts, blissfully unaware of what was transpiring back at the farm with Isura and their adversaries.
Isura was both shocked and happy but what Zankuro said and before he left he would smirk and nods, before turning back towards the south. "Be careful Zankuro and take care of him. I will do what I can to make sure I can save who I can. I can't promise I wont do anything stupid." Isura was focus while at the same time evoked. He knew his actions where highly unacceptable but what could he do about it. Instead he sighed and took off in a poof of smoke and leaves. When he did appear he was just on the outskirts of the small farmer village and from his view point it was as he thought it would. A couple of pools of chakra held up in a small hut while the other pools sat outside in the elements oddly enough though the barrier wasn't up. Not thinking much about it he started to formulate a plan until Rengio was brought from inside out, being pulled by her hair before being tossed onto the ground below. A bigger guy stood over her and ripped her cloths leaving her nude and to the elements before pulling back on his sword. Licking his lips he looked at her as she screamed and tried to cover herself.
"I like my prey naked, wet and screaming?!" Is yelled out as he swiped down, in a flurry of motions Isura snatched her up and carried a little distance away from the attack. However due to the sure distance traveled he failed to avoid the brunt of the attack and suffered a slash across the back. AS he removed his chuunin vest and placed it over her and his under coat and placed it over the bottom half. He looked into her eyes and smiled softly as she dug into his chest crying. "Hey its going to be alright I'm here…and I swear to always protect you. I'm sorry i couldn't get here sooner, "wait a moment while I take care of this trash." Isura slowly stood up and turned towards the bigger guy. Eyes filled with so much anger and rage that he never felt this much before in his life. "I'm going to kill all of you." From his position the bigger guy laughed as the rest of the ones inside stepped out. Isure begin to notice it was nothing more than a trap. The barrier started to form around him thus erasing all escape attempts. The guy forming the barrier was fixed upon the roof of the house to far from his to reach with anything but range attacks and the larger man stood before him.
"Hmph and here I thought there where three of you." Is spoken in deep highly aggressive voice before the man creating the barrier spoke "there are however he had a special task to take care of to the north of here." Isura piece together everything as he noticed a body off to the side the same body that looked like the man that Zankuro was carrying away to the North. "OH no please don't tell me?!" is stated in a frantic voice as the very man Zankruo was helping was the third man that should be in the camp. "How did you know?!" Isura asked as he swelled with chakra and emotion his sharingan burning an intense red. The man creating the barrier chuckled. "Its simple little Uchiha boy, everything the rain touches is under my gazing eyes." Laughing Isura knew they been tricked from the start whoever these guys where they where the real deal.
A particularly unsettling surprise was in store for Nobunaga when he finally returned to duty earlier this day. He stopped by the administration building before heading to the hospital for his check up. It has been several months and his headaches were agonizing to say the least. What's more concerning is these fragmented images that come with them. Strange new faces that somehow seem familiar. And a name. A name that seizes Nobunaga's very essence at the core. Hearing about the grade of mission he and Zankuro were sent upon Nobunaga began to worry. He knows they've grown in his absence but something about this mission seemed off. He needed to be there to watch over them. Skipping out on his check-up Nobunaga got the information he needed and rushed off to Zankuro and Isura's aide. His teammates were very important to him but the only thing persisting on his mind even now was that name from somewhere in his memories. Kaido hasn't been truthful with him, Nobunaga always suspected that, but how deceitful has he been? "Who is…Amaro Daiki?" Nobunaga asked himself throughout the race to catch up to Isura and Zankuro.
The rain poured down as the pair gazed at each other from a distance, the man with the huge sword simply allowed the blood to drip from its tip before pointing it towards him. Isura without removing his gaze spoke softly to Rengio "hey whatever you do, jump in. I'll take care of this for now." Isura eyes went from the guy holding the blade to the man sitting from atop of the building before he sighed and shook his head. (Perform this guys thought everything out to the letter, they even predicted how we'll act under pressure. As it stands now there isn't any escape route cause of the barrier but if I'm able to break it then…) Before the thought could finish Isura could find himself under attack, the huge blade buzzed straight through the rain as he aim to slice his head off in one go. Isura being light on his face ducked the first strike however fell prey to his quick follow up kick to send him bouncing back. Lucky for Isura that he was able to put up some type of guard to avoid most of the damage.
Isura dashed forward and attack with a leaf whirlwind before following up with his Lion Combo. Although the attacks landed the man crawled out of the hole created from the attack with no damage however the blood from his sword was gone. Isura was unclear as to what happen he saw him land the attacks but why wasn't her hurt? Was the lack of blood on the blade a product of his attacks or could it be something more?" Tekshi simply laughs as he peers at Isura confused face before leaping up into the air.
Zankuro could find his walk back to the safe house pretty nice besides the fact his friend is being fighting for this life at the moment before the Yamanaka spoke weakly into his ear. "Zankuro-san can we please stop for a bit, I feel weak man I can't go on…perhaps you could do something for me Zankuro-san." His voice weak as he coughed up a little blood. "Zankuro-san…kill me, kill me and go join back up with Isura. Let's face it I'll never be a useful ninja nor will anything good come from me living threw this nightmare. So please kill me." Is said not once but twice as he pulled away from Zankuro and feel unto his back. "If I could cry over my fallen love ones I would but…"
Though the blinded man's words did not fall on deaf ears, Zankuro remained completely silent and unchanged in his motivation to continue racing along the trees. Only the constant droning of rain offered any respite from the tension. Although in some ways, it made it all the more worse. One would easily lose track of the time before the Sarutobi finally decided to speak up. "Is that how you want to honor your comrades? By taking the easy way out?" He paused long enough for an answer. "Where's your will of fire? At home? Back at that village? If your thinking of saying either of those places, then you're dead wrong. Now I don't got time to argue with you, so listen up. Your gonna be quiet until we get the outpost, and get patched up. If you still think your so useless after all this is over with then, well, you free to do what you want. But don't expect me to be the one to help someone who rather play the part of trash than what they are really worth." He said sternly.
As Nobunaga races forwards his eyes catch the darkening firmament in the distance. His scarf rises over half his face and he presses forward with more impatient haste. More faces flash along the way along with a staggering headache. Nobunaga stops against a tree gripping at his head at the pain. His hand then dives into his pocket to retrieve a pain reliever. It stops the headaches but the fragmented faces still haunt him on his journey. Almost half an hour he'd been traveling and still no sign of Isura or Zankuro. A bleak feeling comes over Nobunaga which causes him to only hasten. But even he didn't understand this feeling entirely. "Why can't I calm down?". His chakra is primed aiding his advance as he expends more energy. Anticipation ran through him like blood and his heart nearly stops when he catches someone in the distance up ahead. "I found them!" Nobunaga states with much relief. "Please be ok." It's raining. Though he saw hope before him he couldn't complete shake the foreboding feeling that calamity awaits.
Isura could feel and see every point of the attack from start to finish although it was swift in action his eyes where better at avoiding. He used that time to jump back out of the way of the chakra air slash. Doing this just set him up for the true attack, an attack that used the higher position and ones momentum to bring the sword crashing down onto his shoulder. Isura tried to twist and turn out of the direction of the attack however was caught once again in the back. Blood gushed onto the floor as his vision blurred in and out. Shaking his head he would return and peer at the man before the damage started to add up. "Spotlight this guy's good, and I still can't figure out how he isn't hurt after taking my attacks." Isura quickly flashed through seals before releasing a powerful fireball sent crashing towards Tekshi. While doing this he used the huge fireball to cover the sky with tiny balls of white hot fire to crash down. The man tried to take swift ever changing steps however the sharingan tracks and sees all. The man took both powerful attacks and even stood int he flames. Isura peered at the man with sharingan as he simply stood there. Licking the blood from his blade before stepping out unharmed and unchanged besides his cloths. Isura once again was confused however he was starting to get the picture.
As for Zankuro words of advice the man laughed hysterically as he twisted out from Zankuro grip with his hands over his face touching the place where his eyes once where. "Zankruo why wont you kill me?! And who cares about that I'm nothing more than a broken tool at this point?! YOU SIMPLY TOSS THE TOOL OUT NOT REPAIR IT?!" The man snapped at Zankuro before dropping down to a knee sobbing into his hands as the rain poured down on them. "Zankuro-san why can't you simply give me this mercy kill or stage give me the tool to do it myself…please Zankuro-san." The passion was replace with devastation and fear of what he become.
Nobunaga rapid approach wasn't unnoticed although it was slight it wasn't something the pair have already prepped for. Two water clones formed around him one in front and the other in back, as they pushed off their back heels one attacked high while the other attacked low trying to use whatever they can to best the skilled konoha chuunin. The clones said nothing as they simply jumped into gear. Hit or miss they would retake the front and back position of Nobunaga as one titled his head to the left the other to the right. Their faces where blank void of everything and the air around them was just as dull and lifeless at they seemed.
If not for the fact Zankuro had to travel by ground at that point, the duo would be having an entirely different kind of conversation. As things stood in the present however, the blinded shinobi is now a bit more mud covered and facing an irritable looking Sarutobi. By the end of the man's rant, Zankuro pulled down his cloak slightly, and let out a heavy sigh. When next the young man looked up, there's something different in his gaze. It is almost as if in the span of a few brief moments, the remnants of a more jovial nature was completely submerged behind a more serious and calm one.
"… I already told you my reason. But if you want more, you're gonna have to live long enough to ask me later." In a span of a few seconds, Zankuro layers one genjutsu on top of the other, binding the man invisible threads, then encapsulating him in a deep pressure that demanded submission. It is a cruel thing to do, perhaps, but he has already wasted enough time. If the man died from it all then… he would do what he must afterwards.
If successful with the illusion, real ropes, a piece of cloth to gag, and a futon are produced, ultimately resulting in the blinded shinobi being turned into a human shushi roll that is tossed unceremoniously on the Sarutobi's shoulder. WIth little more than a grunt of annoyance, the man takes off once more.
As Nobunaga rushed ahead the figures who came into vision faded and new ones appear at his side. Nobunaga's eyes look left then right before his body coats in a layer of chakra. His scarf was already laced with chakra, cycling through and empowering him like an engine. Their blows collided but they did nothing but annoy the Amaro. Nobunaga confronts his foes or rather the clones. "Water clones." He looks between them. They've got him surrounded. "Two…so half as strong as the original." He cracks his knuckles. Normally Nobunaga is all for a fight but he's in a hurry and a bit disturbed. As he looks to the lifeless faces of the clones imagines flash in his head. Images of the same face only more lively….with emotion. Nobunaga shakes his head clear of the disturbance and tries to focus on what's important now…or what should be anyway. Finding Isura and Zankuro. Nobunaga raises a leg slowly then slams his foot into the ground releasing a shockwave towards the clone behind him. He then takes off into the brush covering his escape with a flurry of fire balls. "I don't have time for this."
Isura took a nice long breath trying to simply recover for the lost stamina thus far, Isura made not of his position on the battlefield and recenter himself between Tekshi and Reingo. Isura eyes burned as he was trying to piece together what his abilities where and so far he had nothing. Tekshi pointed the tip of the blade directly at Isura before shoot him with kill aura that displayed his death by decapitacion. Isura frozen in his steps before the real attack was attempted, this attack was different and highly un-trackable by his current level of sharingan. To Isura it appears as though Tekshi attacked from both directions at once leaving with no means of escape. Isura body simply moved on its own flashed through seals before brusting into clones, the real Isura slide back putting himself right beside his frantic and scared loved. Isura would try and be strong as he looked over to her and winked "sorry its taking awhile but this guy is really good…its almost as if he was immortal or something." Isura attention never left the battlefield as he watched the two before Itaktsui spoke from his resting position "another approaches."
Tekshi pulled his attention away for a brief moment "has Fute been kill," is asked as he touched his sword to his shoulder and smirked "no, hence why I said another approaches rather then Fute died…baka" is said as Tekshi laughed it was in this moment that Isura struck. Flashing through seals he pulled back and released a powerful fireball however due to heavy chakra infused rainfall it greatly weaken the flamethrower type range attack. It was in this moment that Tekshi just appeared behind Isura putting himself right between the couple as he looked over his shoulder and licked his lips. "Your good looks lovely, going to enjoy it even more after I kill you in front of her." Isura face filled with panic while he tried his best to keep a calm air about himself. "Understudy?!"
Zankuro genjutsu hit their mark as the Yamanaka passed right out and just dropped onto the muddy ground, Zankuro tied the man up and flung him clean over the shoulder. As the two resumed their trip Zankuro could notice the sure weight difference as if the man suddenly became smaller and more weird to hold. Its doing that reshaping time the man slipped from the bindings and attempted to bite and rip flesh from the Neck of Zankuro.
Fute stood there in his real form a slender man with a frail weak body but it wasn't that, his body looked more on the lines of a blank sleet ready to be filled with something. The fresh blood ran down the side of his mouth as he grins as he slowly started to chew and swallow the flesh. The moment it slipped down his throat his form begun to change. He shrunk down to Zankuro height and even bulked up to the mans size he had the same silly face minus the blood from having a piece of your neck gone. But over all he was a complete copy of Zankuro even down to chakra nature and type. He smiled as he looked at him "its like lookin in the mirror right?" Is asked as the storm raged on.
Nobunaga on the other hand would have his hands full cause when he went onto the counter strike and his attacks sliced straight through the water clones they simply reformed into more copies. Not totally 360 degrees in cased they stood lifeless, dull void of everything before one shot a huge water blast at him thus killing itself in the process. One vibrated the very chemical make-up of his being to try and faze a punch directly through any defenses and into Nobunaga very being. They slowly drew near him trying to squeeze him in and if he isn't careful they might very well defeat him.
He could not have known the danger. Fully trustful that the illusions had done their work, the Sarutobi acted more on impulse and intuition when the bundle began to feel "off". The former of which are the only thing that spares him from the worse outcome, because after preparing himself to move the bundle on the ground and try to work out some other solution, he pulled away. Flesh is torn, but the most vital are missed in the bite.
Slapping a hand over the wound, Zankuro gaze sharply focuses on the strange figure. Man? Monster? Illusion? Whichever one it is Zankuro immediately puts some distance between them before trying to properly size him up. Then, the change began, fracturing a degree of the calm and collected mask as the being's form changed. "…" Zankuro closed his eyes and bowed his head at the copies words. "Extra… No wonder why the ladies love me so much now." A cocky grin splits his face before for a few brief moments, steam began to rise up from the Sarutobi's body wherever the rain touched him as chakra rapidly built up.
"Too bad I'm gonna have mess it up." He states, eyes snapping open as the hand at his neck fell away.
"Adept water clones." Nobunaga notices as they reform after taking the hits. "Great. Can't run at this rate." Seeking out his team at this rate would be impossible. Nobunaga would have to dig his feet in and fight. He turns to confront his attackers. Turns out there are more now. Nobunaga sees the projectile water cannon coming at the expense of the water clone. He evades it easily enough but takes note that they're moving closer…pinching him in. Maybe 9 is the limit, the Amaro things. There are eight left…so about an eighth as strong as the original. Looking at the damage from the water cannon though Nobunaga was growing more skeptical. The water clone that began to faze baffled the Amaro. "What the?" Nobunaga was preparing his body with chakra to just endure the strike and counter attack but an image replayed in his head. "That's a neat jutsu _. Almost had me. Good thing I dodged." Nobunaga blinks reconsidering his mode of defense. He dodges evading the attack. "I've…seen that jutsu before?" He mutters reluctantly. Putting that phenomenon aside Nobunaga goes on the offensive and gets serious. The tails of his scarf expand and whip around winding around him. He spins unleashing the twin tails slashing outwards with their chakra edges. Bladed now the scarf tails slices through rain, trees, and stone in a deadly, unerring course for the water clones!
To Be Continued….
Next Time on NMR:
In an Accursed Rain, the Immortals Dance & A Leaf Falls
