Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Kakumei – Arc 3: Naruto Next Generation
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Chapter 75 – A real fight
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In the middle of the Labyrinth, Team 1 of Konoha is face to face with Kawaki from Hikari. Having encountered him right after he supposedly destroyed the Jonin level bull creature that held the golden scroll, they will have to fight him to get this prize. Full of confidence, Boruto Hyuga gets closer to his opponents.
"I made the wrong choice, you say?" he tells Kawaki. "Say that again in five minutes, after I shamed you 3."
"A bit too confident…" says Mikitaka. "As expected from the son of the Hokage."
"I'm the best ever of Konoha's young ninjas." brags Boruto. "There's only one person in this generation that can beat me, and he's not participating in this exam. I'm real when I say except him, no one ever gave me a real fight."
Izuna and Inoue stare worriedly at Boruto, knowing that he is once again referring to his one-way rivalry with Takeshi Minamoto. Kawaki looks at the Konoha-nin mistrustfully, and speaks to his own two teammates standing before him.
"Iwabe, Mikitaka, do you want to do it 3vs3, or you let me take it all quick?" he asks them.
"Dude we left that bull thing to you already. Not gonna waste this chance to get a bit of action." exclaims Mikitaka.
Kawaki lightly tilts his head while looking at Boruto, as a way to provoke him, and leaves the choice of opponents to his colleagues.
"I guess you'll take the yellow head, so I'm going for the Uchiha." says Mikitaka who takes a step forward. "Iwabe, you'll have to get the leftovers."
"Leftovers?" yells Inoue, offended by this judgment. "I'll show you who's leftovers!"
"That's the spirit!" says Boruto. "I'll take the one who defeated the monster. Taking the scroll from you will serve as simple proof I could have gotten it too."
"So be it then. I'll have to teach you humility." answers Kawaki.
"Boruto, Inoue… You're being too confident." says Izuna, worried about his adversary.
"You'll blame your death on them!" shouts Mikitaka who suddenly disappears from their sight.
Boruto, with his Byakugan on, sees the mercenary suddenly appear behind them. "Behind you!" he yells to Izuna, who quickly turns around and counters the man's hand coated in a chakra scalpel with his own.
Right after warning his friend, Boruto leaps off the ground and past Iwabe to reach Kawaki who calmly raises his arms to take cover. Being sent sliding off the ground for a few meters by Boruto's first palm strike, the Hikari captain acknowledges his opponent's speed and strength and pulls out a solid staff from his back that he holds forward, ready to fight.
Mikitaka, after his first strike is blocked, keeps pushing to harm his opponent. Izuna, surprised by his adversary's quick and violent movements, activates his Sharingan to properly read through his moves and avoid them. The mercenary, not comfortable using his hands, pulls out a short sword from a scabbard attached to his belt and keeps going with this lethal weapon.
"Crap…" thinks Izuna. "This situation has me too stressed. I can't focus enough to properly control my chakra. Using Sharingan is gonna be very consuming this way. But I'm still saving for the seal…I won't be able to hold this fight too long."
Inoue and Iwabe also come across each other and begin a simple kunai fight, both motivated only by their teammates' fighting spirits. Quick enough, Inoue realizes this boy is much older and experienced in close combat than she is, and that by keeping a distance it'll be easier. Iwabe quickly strikes the kunai out of her hands and attempts to slit her chest open.
She takes a rapid leap back, nearly avoiding the kunai dash and leaving only a light cut mark on her chest but a rip in her dress and top. Once a few steps away, she quickly performs a series of hand signs, ending with the tiger seal.
Katon – Kitsunebi
Taking inspiration from her sensei's Gudodama, she makes fireballs that appear behind her in a circle conformation, and that she launches over to Iwabe one after another. The Hikari-nin easily leaps away from the projectiles to dodge all of them. After 5 misses, he sees her send the last 2 orbs he sees together, and slams his hand to the ground.
Doton – Renga
He creates a very simple earth barrier that stops both fire balls. Once safe from these two, he leaps over the wall and, to his surprise, sees one last 8th projectile come to him. This one was hidden in Inoue's back, out of his sight. In the middle of his leap, he can't dodge it and is struck by the flame that sends him back crashing into the dirt wall he made himself.
Boruto and Kawaki are fairing correctly in a hand-to-hand combat, which greatly surprises Kawaki. He didn't expect this kid to really counter all his strikes. Is he going too easy on him? He wonders. Boruto, still repelling the staff hits and trying to land gentle fists in his opponent's weak points, is distracted by a specific chakra point in his body, lying on the back of his hand.
Kawaki, tired of this easy play, leaps away and balances his staff through the air. As he does, he clones it into several smaller sticks that he sends flying all together toward Boruto. The Hyuga sees the many nearly unbreakable projectiles fly toward him and takes cover.
Hakkessho Kaiten
He spins around and spreads his chakra out to make a protective shield that blocks all the sticks. Before this revolving heaven disappears, he surprises his opponent with a kunai that he sneaks through and sends toward his face. Kawaki, seeing it coming, moves his head aside. It still reaches his ear and leaves a tiny mark on it.
"You're holding back." says Boruto as he stops spinning. "I felt another chakra earlier. Something different. I'm sure it had something to do with that chakra mark on your hand."
Kawaki widely opens his eyes and makes a slightly surprised face. He looks down to the arrow shaped red mark on the back of his left hand. So Boruto already noticed that this is a power source? He, who wanted to keep it hidden, was figured out by the first opponent he had to fight. This Boruto is indeed not anyone. For such a young person to be so full of resources is uncommon. This makes Kawaki curious about who this other ninja Boruto spoke about earlier is.
"So, How about you show me what you really got? It's getting boring." says Boruto.
Kawaki squints his eyes, a bit annoyed by this arrogant behavior. He checks his belt where the golden scroll is still attached, and looks back at Boruto with a provocative smile.
"Iwabe!" he yells to call his teammate who's just getting rid of his vest lit up by Inoue's fireball. "All out. It's okay against them."
Iwabe Yogu makes a hyped face and acquiesces. He stands up full of confidence before Inoue's confused look. Kawaki stretches his neck, raises his left arm and shows the back of his hand to Boruto, ready to partially give what he asked for.
Shojo
The red arrow mark turns white and leaves an intense chakra out that spreads through his body.
"Go all out? No. Not against a kid." says Kawaki. "I'll just show you how this power feels. But you won't get its full capacity."
"We'll see about that!" exclaims Boruto now sensing the same chakra from earlier, when he arrived at the scene.
He leaps forward and engages Kawaki again. Unexpectedly, the young man throws his staff away, considering he doesn't need it anymore, and raises his hands. Not giving too much attention to this, Boruto jumps in and attempts to land a series of palm hits that are all avoided by the target. Kawaki became way faster than before. His chakra pathway system became extremely hard to see and feel. This boost feels very similar to that given by a Sage Mode.
As Kawaki keeps easily dodging Boruto's hits, he suddenly lets one of the Hyuga's palms land in his abs. However, it seems to have little to no effect on him. He also became excessively tough with the activation of his Shojo mark. Boruto, not yet done trying, immediately tries to hit the same place a second time while Kawaki stays still.
Raiton – Jukiri (Gentle Blade)
He concentrates Lightning chakra in the tip of two fingers that he uses to strike right in the abdomen, but is stopped before landing it. Knowing that this hit is more risky than the previous one, Kawaki firmly holds on Boruto's arm with his right hand to stop it from moving.
"My turn." he says before lifting Boruto up and violently slamming him against a wall.
The shock propagates through many dozens of meters and causes a loud collision noise to spread across the maze. Inoue, Izuna and their opponents all stop for a moment when they hear this. Boruto, who seems already knocked out for a moment, lets out a little laugh and stands up quickly, to Kawaki's surprise.
"This… Is something else. This is a real fight." he says happily. "I have more. I know you too. It can't be just physical augmentation."
"You asked for it, Don't complain if I break you too much." answers Kawaki.
Boruto thinks before getting back to action. If he gets serious, he may be able to rival Kawaki's speed, but he doubts that he can equal his strength. Maybe Izuna could, but he is already busy. If it turns out he really underestimated his opponent, Boruto may have to give up on winning, but he still has to get the golden scroll.
Izuna is still fighting Mikitaka who didn't wait too long before getting back in action. Sick of dodging, Izuna goes offensive and tries to land a single hit to end the fight. But his opponent, being taller and swinging his deadly blade around, forces him to keep distances.
Still, Izuna manages to control the fight by anticipating Mikitaka's movements and eventually brings him back against a wall. Seeing the mercenary limited by his position, Izuna tries to squash his face in the wall with his fist.
Okasho
Mikitaka moves his head in time and avoids the fatal punch that lands in the wall and leaves a profound mark inside. The mercenary loudly laughs to mock the little impact this punch left, since he expected better from the son of Sakura Uchiha. Izuna doesn't fall for this provocation. He himself knows well he held back in fear he could have killed his opponent with this one hit.
Mikitaka throws his sword forward and tries to stab the young Uchiha, who sees it coming with his Dojutsu and backs off. Seeing an opening, he takes advantage and grabs Mikitaka's arm held out in front of him. By sliding his hand across the arm, he reaches the sword he holds and disarms him. The mercenary, now weaponless, takes a step back and thinks of a different approach.
Suiton – Koka Suijin
He makes a complete series of hand seals and gathers water around his hand that he shapes into a huge drill blade. However, Izuna has reacted in time and used his Sharingan to copy the signs and jutsu as they came and now has the same water weapon. The two of them collide their water drills and leap away from one another.
Unfortunately, Izuna has been using his Sharingan a bit too much. As he looks around and sees Inoue and Boruto injured by their battle, he realizes that he also has to save chakra in order to heal them later. Not having much of a choice, for the well-being of his training, he dispels his water blade and turns off his Dojutsu. He doesn't know how he'll keep up from now on, but he'll have to.
"What an idiot!" laughs Mikitaka. "You're not all that powerful… I guess the Uchiha clan was a bit over hyped to me."
"Over hyped? You met another member of my clan?" says Izuna, thinking he must be talking about his father.
"You're already not a lot in this clan, but in a few seconds they'll be even less." Mikitaka answers as he raises his drill up. "Counting you out I mean!"
Inoue, who's still keeping her distance, keeps avoiding combat by running around and dodging attacks. She goes in a circle around a single turn of the maze, waiting for Iwabe to show what hidden power Kawaki authorized him to use. Before she realizes, she gets caught in a corner too close to her opponent. In a very short range, Iwabe finally decides to show his secret ability.
He raises his finger and points the tip of it near Inoue's face. When she sees it engulfed and glowing up in blue, she makes a frightened face and hurries to find a way to get away. By leaning against the wall behind her, she gets higher and somersaults over him. But Iwabe doesn't give up here, he follows her with his finger and activates his jutsu.
Bakutai (Body Bomb)
The first phalanx of his finger blasts in a chakra explosion. Far enough, Inoue's hurt but not too much. She's repelled and crashes against another wall. As she slowly stands up, she tries to figure out this jutsu. The name, how it activates and what it does… It seems like he overloads his cells with chakra and makes them explode. This same jutsu is forbidden for it could have devastating effects if used on a whole human body.
"This is a Kinjutsu in the Shinobi Union." she says as she gets up.
"It's fine then. I'm not from the Union." answers Iwabe, before leaping back to her with the palm of his hand glowing up now.
Inoue hurries to jump away from him. She gets to stand in a corner of the ceiling and joins her hands. As she sees him stand still with just his open hand pointed toward her, not attempting to come closer, she understands that his next attack is gonna be long range. Thinking quickly, she makes a few hand seals and finds a solution that will get Izuna rid of his fight too.
Shinranshin no Jutsu
Without taking over Iwabe's mind, she only slightly controls his body to redirect his arm toward someone else.
Still fighting Mikitaka but having to spare his chakra, Izuna does his best to stay away from the mercenary's massive water drill. Unfortunately for him, he finds himself back against a wall, becoming an easy target for the blood lusted killer.
"Now take this, dipshit!" yells Mikitaka as he throws his arm drill forward to stab Izuna.
Before he reaches him, he's struck out of nowhere by a chakra repulsion that comes from where Inoue fights. Being caused by the sacrifice of Iwabe's full hand palm, it is much more powerful than the previous attack that just used one phalanx. As a result, Mikitaka is blown away through the hall and knocked unconscious.
Izuna looks over to see Inoue and nods in gratitude. He sees Iwabe, flabbergasted that he was forced to defeat his own teammate, and looks up to Inoue's smile, which brings him motivation. He gets serious and runs over to help Boruto who's having a hard time.
The Hokage's son is indeed being brought to realize the difference in power between him and his opponent who's still holding back. Spitting blood from his mouth after tanking many punches, he refuses to get down and keeps going. Seeing Kawaki once again easily dodging all his hits, he gets an idea.
Hakke Rokujuyon Sho
By attempting to use the 64 palm hits, he doubles his speed with each series of strikes, despite missing all of them. In the last series of 32, he accumulates enough quickness to outperform Kawaki and manages to touch him. To make sure they hurt right, he coats his palms and fingers in lightning and goes forth.
Kawaki, surprised by this sudden swift, blocks some of the strikes but can't avoid them all. Boruto lands one, two, five, 12 out of 62 hits before landing a 13th in Kawaki's chin, forcing him to raise his head and look up. Kawaki waits for Boruto, out of his sight, to deliver the 64's and last strike, but he doesn't feel it, as if Boruto gave up on it. Not willing to wait anymore, and admitting he underestimated him, he gets more serious.
Shojo – Kai
From the white seal on his right hand, red markings emerge and spread across his whole arm. They extend until reaching his face where a claw-like form comes across his eye. Boruto looks at the tattoo being deployed, agape, and doesn't see Kawaki make use of it.
He turns his right arm into a long and sharp blade that he hardens and plunges toward Boruto's shoulder. Too quick for him to react, the Hyuga gets stabbed and nailed to the wall by the extending skin blade. He makes a shocked face and leaves out the pain in a scream. Kawaki, after deepening the blade by lengthening it, pulls it out and leaves his opponent to fall on the ground, severely hurt.
"You're so strong…" says Boruto, out of breath with a smile. "I hope we get to fight again. Next time I'll defeat you fair and square."
Kawaki doesn't understand at first what makes Boruto suddenly think the fight is over, until he sees him raise his hand. The Konoha-nin is firmly holding the golden scroll. Rather than landing a 64th hit earlier, Boruto used Kawaki's lack of attention to his advantage, and robbed the scroll off from his belt. Kawaki prepares to take a step further to finish his opponent off and get the scroll back, but is interrupted by another contender.
On his right, Izuna comes running with his chakra gathered in his right fist that he throws powerfully toward Kawaki's face. Sensing him come closer, the Hikari captain calmly raises his hand and grabs the Uchiha's mighty fist. Izuna widely opens his eyes in surprise as this man just stopped a punch trained by the 5th Hokage with disconcerting ease.
Kawaki, out of anger that grows when he notices that Mikitaka has been defeated, shapes his fingers into claws that stab through Izuna's fist as he holds it. Izuna squints due to the pain, and now suddenly feels his chakra being sucked out from his fist and body by the enemy's skin claws.
"Oh no! Not that!" he yells, angry that the chakra that should serve his training is being drained. He activates his Sharingan again for just one moment and gathers his power and chakra in his other hand that lights up in an intense fire.
Kawaki looks down and sees the raw and dense power in that fire fist. However, he's startled by the lightning of a shuriken that Boruto just threw to his leg in order to paralyze him just long enough for Izuna to strike.
Enken
The Uchiha violently pushes his lit up fist into Kawaki's abdomen with all his strength, sending him fluttering toward a wall and breaking through it to crash into another one behind. Izuna turns off his fist and Dojutsu before hurrying to help Boruto up. Despite being seriously hurt, the Hyuga does his best to get up. Together they run to Inoue who's still fighting Iwabe. On their way, Boruto grabs Mikitaka's sword that was left on the ground by Izuna.
When they reach them, Iwabe, who was engulfing his whole fist near Inoue, turns his head to see Boruto with a lightning coated sword dashing toward him as he can't react in time. Boruto prepares to bisect the head of this man before Izuna grabs his shoulder to restrain him. Instead, the yellow haired boy just slices through Iwabe's face, leaving a severe lightning mark across it.
The Hikari-nin's hand turns back to normal and he falls to the ground, defeated out of surprise. Izuna grabs Inoue's hand and the squad hurries to get away with the golden scroll as quickly as possible.
After 2 minutes of running as fast as possible and as far as they can, Boruto slows down, hurt by his many wounds. He's covered with bruises, has many internal bleedings causing him to spit blood, and has a huge stab wound through the right shoulder. He's not the only one hurt. Inoue has a cut across the chest and bleeds from her head, while Izuna only has his hand damaged by Kawaki's claws. He is, however, way more tired than his friends.
"This was crazy!" says Boruto, regardless of his state. "He's so strong, so violent! To have such a fight with a stranger sure felt different."
"He was way too powerful for us." says Izuna. "To stop my fist so easily… Who is this guy?"
"I can't believe we made it…" says Inoue who looks at the golden scroll Boruto is holding.
"So strong… I have to surpass him. Next time, I'll beat him one to one." says the Hokage's son in a euphoric voice.
Izuna looks at his friend, worried about his violent impulses. But now is not the time for this. He has more important things to do. He quickly evaluates everyone's wounds.
"We should settle for now to get better." he says. "I'll heal you two."
"We have to get a rest afterwards." suggests Inoue. "You look very tired."
Izuna smiles at her and lightly nods again. He then cracks his fingers and gets ready to use his medical Ninjutsu.
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Meanwhile, Kawaki gets out of the wall he was sent into by Izuna. In his mind, he hears Oshio's voice teasing him.
"You got carried away." he says. "Don't let this happen again. Especially not in front of someone like Boruto Hyuga."
"I'm sorry. This boy's fighting spirit was just so contagious…" Kawaki apologizes. "They got the scroll… What should we do now?"
"They fled without taking your original scrolls." says Oshio. "I'll heal you all. Then, just take it out on other teams and gather scrolls. But do not let anyone see Shojo. These 3 have to remain an exception. Don't let any living thing that sees you use this power escape."
"Understood." says Kawaki, who's Mitsudomoe tattoo on his right shoulder suddenly lights up. His few wounds all heal quickly, except for the burning mark left by Izuna's Enken. It also heals completely but takes more time. Mikitaka and Iwabe also wake up when their tattoos, respectively on one's left cheek and the other's chest, light up as well. They fully recover as well.
"Your brother has some interesting strength." Kawaki comments to Oshio, who does not answer and stays quiet.
He goes to join Mikitaka who just shamefully avoids eye contact and Iwabe who's freaking out. The strike Boruto landed on his face with the sword was healed by Oshio, but it left a lightning shaped scar across his head, completely spoiling his face.
"That asshole!" Iwabe yells while looking at his reflection in a water puddle left on the ground by Mikitaka's jutsu. "I'll kill him! Next time I see him, I'll destroy him!"
"Calm down. Let's forget about this for now and take it out on other teams." Kawaki advises, trying to hide his own frustration.
After sitting down for a minute, thinking about where they'll go next, Mikitaka stands up and walks to where they were heading before Team 1 found them.
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Not far away, Saeko from team Atsui of Kumo roams alone lost in the maze. She is still looking for Maroi and Narui, after having been separated from them when she tried to mess with Team Shinki's landmarks. To mark her way, she is leaving stone marks on the walls that she creates with Doton. She did not cross paths with any other participant for now, only with a small wild coyote that she knocked unconscious and gently left to wake up later aside.
As she carefully walks through the endless paths of the Labyrinth, she hears a violent crashing sound behind her. Startled, she turns around and sees one of the indestructible walls being blasted through. No one was here in this hall, so this means someone just broke through from the other side. She keeps her distance and waits to see the responsible through the slowly settling mist cloud that hides her sight of the wall.
"What about hiding your abilities?" says a manly voice out of the cloud.
"I'm just taking my frustration out, as I advised, Am I not?" says another voice.
Saeko takes a shy step back, a bit frightened by what she sees. She was told no one would be able to break through these walls, so what exactly is happening right now?… As the dust settles, she now sees three men stepping through the hole to reach this hall. A white haired man dressed in black. A red haired boy with a lightning shaped scar on his face, and a tall muscular young man with a red tattoo across his left arm and face.
Kawaki looks up and sees the Kumo-nin standing there quietly, just looking at them surprisingly. Saeko stays there innocently, looking at the man's eyes. In his left eye, she recognizes a Byakugan that he kept himself from using in his previous battle. Mikitaka looks at the girl, and then at his teammates. Kawaki confusingly looks at her, and reminds himself of what Oshio just told him.
"Oh no…" he says to himself.
Saeko now makes a worried face and takes one more shy step back, too afraid to go running. Mikitaka and Iwabe step away from Kawaki and leave the situation to him. The captain looks down and sighs before looking up to Saeko, with his Shojo seal and Byakugan still activated, on full display for her to see.
"What's your name?" he asks the girl.
"Sa-Saeko…" she hesitatingly answers after a few quiet seconds, too confused to question the scene.
"How… How old are you?" Kawaki asks now.
"… I'm 15…" she answers again, getting at ease.
"Tsk… Saeko… You should have fled as soon as you could."
The Kumo kunoichi doesn't reply. She just stands still, frightened and mistrustful. Kawaki breathes in, trying to bring himself to do what he has to. His Byakugan starts to emit a red light.
"Saeko, I'm really sorry about this." he sadly says before his left eye shines brighter.
Kosengan
Saeko sees a wide flashing red chakra beam emerge from this man's eye and run at light speed through the hallway. Not even a second after this flashing image, it disappears. For a moment, she stays still, not knowing what happened.
"We can't take her scroll." says Mikitaka, not worried about the girl's presence anymore. "Else, they'll know we did it."
"We should hide the body and the scroll in two different places." suggests Iwabe, acting just like Mikitaka toward Saeko.
"Shut up!" yells Kawaki with a sorry voice, staring at Saeko sorrily.
The young Kumo-nin now feels a void in her heart, more literally than anything else. She looks down and sees a large heating hole in her chest letting her see through. Her heart, and half of her lungs, along with the ribs, muscles and skin in the way, all disappeared completely, fried out of the way by the red beam that Kawaki just fired through the hallway.
In despair, she stays quiet and confused. A single tear drops from her eye as she understands the unexpected eternal end she just met. She breathes out one last time, and ultimately lets her body fall to the ground, under her murderer's compassionate gaze.
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End of Chapter 75– Next Chapter: The Labyrinth II