The 6th Great Ninja War
Chapter XXIV: The Admiral
Roku and Izuna locked eyes, focusing intently on one sole objective: defeating the other. Liliana looked coldly at Kento and made what looked like a very subtle smile. Kento looked nervously to his right and left and then slowly reached for his kunai pouch. Izuna sighed and thickened the mist. Roku looked around. Kento frantically looked to his side. A whizzing sound suddenly came about and Roku immediately reacted, jumping to pull Kento down with his hand just as a spear made entirely of water passed right over their heads. Roku took a quick sidestep and his eyes widened. Izuna came rushing toward Roku with a punch from Roku’s left. Roku, stumbling, quickly slid down and spun actively on the ground to rebalance himself. As he performed his ground-spin-move, he lifted himself while twirling and tripped Izuna with a sweeping kick as he continued. Then, Roku thrust his leg up in a small arc and kicked Izuna into the air. The mist became thinner and Izuna, still affected by the impact of Roku’s kick, floated in the air briefly before beginning to drop. Roku prepared to strike again by standing, but the moment he did, Izuna flipped around, recovering from the previous attack, and using the momentum from the downward drop to give him extra force, he crashed his upon Roku, who immediately blocked with both hands, resulting in him being pushed down by the intense force and the ground below him shattering substantially. Roku and Izuna held their positions for a brief moment and then Roku, pushing outward with both of his arms in a thrusting motion, knocked Izuna away from him and Izuna performed an elegant back flip in midair, landing safely on the ground several meters away. The two smirked, impressed by the hand-to-hand prowess of one another. Kento was in complete shock but remained calm, making certain his emotions did not get the best of him. Liliana was quite surprised by Roku’s skill in countering Izuna’s attacks. She formed several hand seals and spit out a clump of water which, upon splashing onto the ground, produced several water serpent heads that flailed in the air. The serpent heads look uncontrolled and completely chaotic, but with one more hand seal, Liliana caused them to focus on Roku and race toward him, though some heads thrashed around while on their course to the Kiyoshi leader. Roku, calm and unfazed by the attack, put his hand out in front of him nonchalantly. When the serpent heads came within close vicinity, Roku spread out his fingers firmly, still keeping his arm outstretched, and the water serpents suddenly dissolved into the mist, leaving Liliana in utter shock. Izuna simply smiled. The mist was slowly clearing, and both sides could equally be seen through the clouded view.
Roku: I guess you didn’t inform Lily about me, Izuna.
Liliana: What? Admiral, how did he defeat my attack like that? The only person skilled enough in the use of water style to do that is you!
Izuna: ……
Liliana: Sir, please…I need to understand. I can’t stand the fact that…
Izuna: Silence yourself!!!!
Liliana: *looks down* :[
Izuna: Roku Kiyoshi was actually my rival…together, we competed for the title of Water Sage.
Liliana: O_O I always thought he was specialized in fire…
Izuna: Roku sort of gave up on furthering his water skills once they had pretty much reached their peak and went on to fire. In truth, his mastery in all the elements overall does better good than my mastery in only Water element…however, I’m plan to win this battle. You can bet on that. *smirks*
Roku: You think this fight will end in a draw like all the others, Izuna?
Izuna: Who knows…but enough talk. Let’s continue…
Izuna formed one hand seal, unleashing a torrent of water from the thick, misty air, and the torrent swirled within itself as it approached Roku and Kento. Roku began chaining hand seals together and spoke to Kento.
Roku: Kento, give me some cover!
Kento: *forms handseals* Earth Release: Displaced Cave Wall
Kento slammed his hands to the ground and a chunk of earth burst forth from underneath the ground in front of them. The clump of earth formed a wall that curved inward at the top, providing Kento and Roku cover from above. Roku put together his land hand seal, the bird seal. He waited patiently for an incoming attack, and then, the earth wall suddenly split from the base to the top by means of a condensed sword of water which Izuna was emitting from his left hand. Izuna charged through the air, preparing to deliver a powerful punch with his right hand which was surrounded by a violently rotating cascade of water. Suddenly, Izuna could not move any further, as he immediately felt a cold sensation wrap around his legs, his stomach, and his wrists. It was a series of chains all originating from one puddle on the ground behind Izuna, each link made entirely of water. Izuna struggled to break free but could not. Realizing the futility of his plight, he ceased resistance.
Roku: Suiton: Rikkidou Kusari no Jutsu (Water Release: Liquid Chains)
Izuna: I remember this jutsu all too well.
Roku: I got you this time…
Liliana: But not me!!
Liliana suddenly came rushing from the side with a tanto in hand, and she swiped it at Roku, who had not noticed her presence. Just as Liliana was about to cut Roku, Kento jumped between the two from the side and blocked Liliana’s tanto with his kunai. They clashed weapons for a few moments and then withdrew from each other. Kento sighed heavily. Roku looked back to Izuna and discontinued his hand sign, though Izuna still remained bound. He shut his eyes for a brief moment, and Izuna, confused by what he closing his eyes for, gave Roku a puzzled look. When Roku opened his eyes again, his pupils were glowing golden yellow, like small suns residing in each eye. There was also another thing. Something seemed to emanate from Roku—something untainted and pure. His Energy could be felt by Izuna, Kento, and Liliana so much Liliana and Kento stopped their clashing for a moment to marvel at this. Roku then pulled his arm back and thrust it again at Izuna, unleashing a very semi-invisible burst of energy that went out like a circular wave or pulse. Izuna was hit, as well as the liquid chains which scattered violently, and was tossed back quite a distance. Roku turned to Liliana and thrust his palm at her, knocking her back into a nearby wooden stand, causing it to collapse on her. After a minute, Izuna stood up, slightly damaged, and Liliana stood from the piles of broken wood, significantly bruised. She regained her balance and then shook off her pain.
Liliana: (What kind of chakra is this? It doesn’t feel like normal chakra…it’s so pure. How is this kind of chakra even possible?)
Izuna: So this is the famed Kiyoshi Clan’s ability…the Energy Pulse, huh? Now, I’m truly interested. And how lucky am I to get a firsthand demonstration by the creator of the clan himself.
Roku: Yes…how lucky you are. O_O *looks at Lili* You look worried…don’t be afraid. Izuna has barely used even a fraction of his power, I’m sure. You’d be surprised and terrified to know what the two of us are capable of.
Izuna: How kind of you to console my subordinate. You’re right. It’s time I reminded her why I’m The Admiral!
Izuna clapped his hands together and the wind suddenly picked up.
Izuna: Wind Release…
Kento: What?! O_O This guy can use Wind Style jutsu?
Izuna: Sky Vacuum!
The clouds in the sky thickened and darkened. Roku had a very bad feeling of what was coming. Izuna focused on the sky intently, maintaining a highly serious look on his face. Liliana’s eyes widened in awe of the sky now. The clouds were moving very quickly and soon began to circulate until a hurricane was formed. The winds became intense. Liliana’s hair fluttered in the wind as if a tornado was approaching, but there was nothing yet: just wind. Kento was growing impatient, but Roku kept him at bay. The sky was now very dark and ominous, and it gave the setting a very chaotic, primordial look. Then, the hurricane slowed its spinning and an eye formed. Izuna smirked. The eye of the storm brought forth from beyond a funnel of air that began to suck up things from every direction, including the nearby buildings. Roku remembered Ace, Goro, Caliburn, Hiruzen, and Akira. He performed a summoning and brought forth Yoshino. Yoshino was knocked over by the wind by surprise.
Yoshino: What is this?!
Roku: I don’t have time to explain!!! Just go to that Inn *points* and get Akira, Ace, Goro, Caliburn, and Hiruzen all to Mount Fang immediately!!!
Yoshino: NO!! I cannot bring those five to the sacred…
Roku: Dammit Yoshino!!! Just do it!!!!! NOW!!
Yoshino: o_o Okay…
Yoshino rushed off to take Roku’s team to safety. In the meantime, Roku focused on the twister that came from the eye of the hurricane. He held his ground firmly and also kept Kento down to keep both from being sucked in by the sky tornado which created heavenly winds. Suddenly, the wind ceased and the twister disappeared. The clouds returned to their previous, gloomy but relatively less violent, state. The hurricane disappeared. By the time everything was over, the entire town had collapsed—debris everywhere. Roku took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
Roku: I’m glad you did that. It saves me time in performing this next technique!
Izuna:
Roku: Water Release: Atmospheric War Rain!!
Several parts of the clouds above “bubbled” as if something had suddenly been packed into their spaces. Then, the clouds broke loose and extremely large droplets of water rained down on the battlefield. Each one violently splashed against the surface when they landed. Izuna and Liliana dodged them to the best of their ability, but as time passed, more and more came until there were up to a thousand droplets falling at once. Soon, the whole town was flooded with water, and Liliana had already been hit by one of the large droplets. Izuna kept dodging until he then tried to attack Roku, at which point a large droplet crashed into him, sending him deep under water. Kento did a victory swing with his right arm.
Kento: Nice shot, Roku-san!!
Roku: It’s not over yet, though.
Roku and Kento waited a few moments. After a minute, Kento was convinced that Izuna was dead, but then, the water where Izuna once stood burst outward, creating a loud splash. The water surrounded some three entities like a silhouette. As the water drained down the three entities, their nature was immediately revealed. Izuna stood in front of three large, 10-foot-tall humanoid golems made of rock.
Roku: How nostalgic. O_O They’ve grown quite a bit.
Izuna: Aren’t you quite the jokester. Go!!
Izuna’s golems obeyed and they ran toward Roku, stepping atop the water heavily but not sinking, which puzzled Kento. Liliana rose out of the water and Kento took advantage of that opportunity to attack her. Roku stood still and the golems surrounded him. With each strike, he easily dodged them considering that they had great raw power but their speed was decreased significantly. Roku jumped over one of the golems and, upon landing behind it, struck his hand on the golem’s back, surging his chakra through it as he did.
Roku: Yuuen Bakuhatsu! (Grand Explosion)
The golem’s torso suddenly exploded and the rock fragments that comprised it turned to dust. Roku quickly released Energy waves at each golem from a distance, but as chunks of rock were removed from their bodies, they still reformed. Izuna chuckled at Roku’s efforts. Roku rushed into close combat with each golem, dodging the other before it could strike him. Roku punched one golem powerfully, knocking it several meters away, but the golem reformed and stood again. Roku clenched his fists and they glowed with a white and golden aura. Roku then ran up to the other golem and kicked it down, and as he came down with his foot positioned against the golem’s face to keep it down, Roku punched through the golem’s heart, shattering it into a million pieces and causing the rock to disappear into the wind as dust. Roku turned to the other golem and got into a Tai Chi stance. Roku lifted his hand to the right, forming a pulling motion with his finger, and a dense blue Energy substance followed the movement of his hands. Roku put his fingers together and the mass of Blue Energy stretched out. Roku then made a slicing motion with hand and fingers toward the last golem and the mass of Energy sliced through the golem's hearts, turning it to dust. Izuna was impressed and he started clapping.
Izuna: Bravo, sir…bravo *smirks*
As Izuna finished clapping, a blast of water shot up underneath Roku. It engulfed him and Roku was flying through the air within a giant water dragon. Roku was holding his breath and trying to escape, but he could not. Then, Izuna formed a single hand seal and Roku, upon seeing this, frantically released several waves of Energy to break free of the water dragon. Just as he created an opening, Roku leaped out and the water dragon violently collapsed upon itself, locking a mass of condensed water in a sphere with pressure building up.
Izuna: Water Implosion!
Roku fell to the flooded battleground and in an instant, the built up pressure burst out and caused water from there sphere to explode in a radial arc that created a powerful deluge for about twenty seconds. Izuna smirked deviously as Roku coughed and panted. Unexpectedly, Liliana came rushing at Roku from the air behind him with her tanto burning with a severe flame. Roku sighed upon sensing her and reached into his pocket. He began to pull out a strange object which neither Liliana nor Izuna could make out until it was finally out. Roku held in his hands a small gold and white, circular object with twelve holes and a mouthpiece that projected forth from the body. It was not a shinobi tool at all…it was an ocarina.
Roku: You know…I grow so tired of people interfering in my fights. I figure it’s time someone learned just how cruel I can be…
END OF CHAPTER
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