'The end is near.'
Days after days. I've been traveling alone by myself ever since Gin's death.
Throughout my journey, I met Minato, Jiraiya, Dai—the remarkable fellows who I came to like. Throughout my journey, I faced betrayal, various assaults, and overcame many death threats.
'The cliff...'
I felt my heart thumping in anticipation. Bulldozing across the Land of Rivers, while disposing of the enigmatic ninjas who all blocked my way, here I stood, right underneath the cliff—which I fell from years ago.
Up at the sky, the dense layer of dark clouds could be seen. How gloomy it seemed to be at a first glance, but to me, such clouds gave me nothing but a sense of familiarity.
'Yahiko, Konan, Nagato.'
I recited the names of my family as I placed my hand on the hard wall of the cliff. Feeling the hard and cold texture of the solid rock, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Erasing the joy that dwelled in my mind, I steeled my heart,
"...And who are you to impede my return?"
I snarled, with my back facing the enemies. Being filled with nothing but fatigue, I lamented the fact that one more trial lasts for me to overcome.
Behind me, four masked individuals stood. Wearing the same cloaks that the previous assaulters wore, it didn't take me a single second to identify them as the same group.
And as the enemies didn't reply, 'Yet other robotic fellows,' I thought as I flipped out my ever-familiar Ryuma,
CLANG!
before clashing my blade against the one wearing a cat mask.
"Since the assault from the Land of Fire, you've been relentlessly trying to kill me at all costs. Judging by the number that your organization lost due to me, my bounty is far from enough to compensate..." I spoke as I flipped back to dodge shurikens that were thrown at me from both sides, before attaching myself to the vertical plane of the cliff, "What drives you to chase after me? Is it a contract? A baseless contempt perhaps—"
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire!!" Then, along with the cry, multiple balls of fire shot out in my direction, before spreading themselves on the invisible wires—attached to the shurikens previously thrown at me—that surrounded me.
"Wind Release," And in that state, one cloaked man wearing a dragon mask, blew a dense wind chakra, generating a dangerous-looking wind blade that screeched wildly, "Vacuum Blade."
Subsequently, as I was still entrapped in the blazing wires, the man dashed at me with his sharp wind blade ready to slash—
Puff!
—before 'I,' the one whom those masked ninjas were focusing onto, suddenly disappeared with a puff of smoke.
Where was the real me then, you ask?
"I don't know who you are, and I don't know your ulterior motive either. But I will tell you this—I no longer care."
I, who now stood at their back, with Ryuma blazed up in an extreme blue fire, dashed through them all at once,
"Blaze Rend."
CLANG!
My attack was stopped by the dragon-masked-man holding the Wind Blade. However,
Thud.
the other three masked ninjas, having been scorched in an instant, fell to the ground as clumps of ashes. Subsequently, the man with the dragon mask was forced to release his technique and retreat, as the fire on Ryuma spread itself onto the wind blade.
And as he did so, I stood still, frozen in shock. My eyes widened, and my lips quivered.
Never before have I thought, that I will encounter the very familiar face—the face that has engraved itself in my memory since the long past—today, of all possibilities.
The dragon mask, having been burnt away along with the cloak from the effect of my technique, revealed the man with spiky black hair, similarly black-coloured eye, and x-shaped scar on his chin.
It was him.
"...Hm." The man, touching his face upon the realization that the mask was gone, grimaced.
Ba-Bump. My heart drummed. I felt my body trembling unconsciously, but I couldn't lay my eyes off of him.
"Your strength has far surpassed my expectation. And judging by your expression, you do remember me... as I expected." The man, narrowing his eyes as the atmosphere has been getting even more intense, gazed at me, who didn't reply.
Ba-Bump.
Two faces, the ones belonging to my parents, came up in my mind—once again reminding me of how my tragedy began.
Red. I saw nothing but red, gazing at my nemesis with nothing but a cold hatred. My grip on Ryuma tightened, and before I realized,
Swoosh!
I was charging at the man in silence.
Dashing backward in response, the man formed rapid series of hand seals, before,
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
blowing forth the sharp wave of wind that I blocked by raising Ryuma up. The force was enough to put me to a momentary halt, and, using that gap of time as an advantage, the man bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Summoning technique!"
POOF! Following the huge puff of smoke, a huge, elephant-like creature with tiger-like limbs revealed itself, which the man stood on top of. Roaring ferociously, it opened its fanged mouth and began to inhale, generating a crazy suction force that I found myself getting pulled toward.
With my lone eye, I noted that the man, now jumping out of the creature's top, stood at my back, as I was sent off my feet, flying toward the creature's mouth. Gritting my teeth, I formed rapid series of hand seals, before,
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire!"
blowing out the balls of fire that quickly spread all around the creature's mouth. As the creature screeched from pain and wildly thrashed its trunk around, I formed a one-hand seal,
'Body Replacement technique!' / "Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Just in time to dodge multitudes of sharp wind blasts that crushed the surroundings they landed onto. With the huge summoned creature having disappeared with the puff of smoke, I now stood on top of a tree branch behind Danzo.
"That sword... it certainly isn't normal, is it?" The man, sighing in a calm manner, then breathed out the concentrated stream of wind chakra, which circulated in a complex manner to form a sword-like shape. The man, taking the hold of the sword, shifted his gaze at me, "Come."
CLANG!
Launching from the tree branch, the man's wind blade clashed against my fire-imbued Ryuma. The man's eyes widened as Ryuma's fire spread onto the wind blade and onto his body, however,
Poof! Said man disappeared with a puff of smoke, revealing himself to be a clone, and the real one was now standing behind Akashi. Without any time to react, the man stabbed the sword forth, penetrating me through the heart—
—Poof.
"...What?" The man whispered in disbelief, before looking around his surrounding with a cold sweat. Rapidly forming a series of hand seals, he blew out the sharp blasts of wind, "Wind Release: Vaccum Sphere!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM! The wind blasts crashed onto the rocks, trees, and everything in their way, pulverizing all into specks of dust. However, no scream was heard.
"Front, back, left and right... no sight." The man whispered, before his eyes widened, "Then—"
The ground underneath him suddenly broke, before I revealed myself,
'Blaze Rend.'
Upon swinging Ryuma diagonally, an enormous wave of fire blasted at the man in point-blank range.
"Body Replacement technique!"
Though the man quickly swapped himself with the nearby trunk, there remained a searing burn on his now-exposed chest. However, he seemed to have a high pain tolerance, with him disregarding his injury and looking at me with caution.
Then, the man revealed a few pellets from his pouch and threw them on the ground.
Poof Poof Poof! The smoke burst forth and blinded the scene. Narrowing my eyes, I dashed sideways,
SWOOSH!
just to dodge one rapid shuriken that was imbued by the sharp wind chakra.
CLANG! Then, swinging Ryuma horizontally, I parried another wind-imbued shuriken, before running upward on the vertical plane of a tree trunk.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Barrage!"
BOOM! Just when I jumped atop the tree that I climbed on top of, a huge wave of wind blasted away the area just below me. Trees broke into pieces, and as the area was temporarily engulfed by the dust, I sliced my fire-infused Ryuma through the broken trunk, generating ash.
'Fire Release: Ash Clone.'
Upon generating the clone, I pushed myself off the clone downward. The clone, while holding its own copies of Ryuma, was sent high up in the air, while I, landing back on the ground as silently as possible, lowered my posture and placed my eye on my clone.
And at the next moment, another wind-infused shuriken, which traveled from upward, sliced through my clone, dispelling it in one go.
'...So that's where you are.' I immediately dashed out of the dust, and when I came in sight of the man, he seemed caught off guard, surprised by the fact that the one airborne was my clone. Then, without any resistance, my Ryuma sliced through the man's abdomen horizontally.
Poof.
"...Shadow Clone technique." The man's voice boomed from my back once again. I turned and at the man, who stood with murderous intent leaking out of his body,
"I must admit, that you are certainly stronger than those worthless parents of yours."
"Strength doesn't equate to one's worth." Growling in a low tone, I gazed at the man coldly, "And I'm sure, that there is no one more worthless than you in this world."
I had a feeling, that this battle has just started.