Ok... next chapter is going to take quite some time. I'll be gone for the next week (I might get a page or two down before I go) and then when I come back the next chapter is going to be a special for the big war. Probably 3 to 4 parts. =/ Anywho, enjoy. ^_^
They stood there for a long while, facing each other, casually but intensely at the same time. Seconds slipped by with neither moving, both simply staring at each other with unwavering glares. They were observing one another, Riku noting that Shinru seemed much more in-shape than when they had last met, and Shinru taking note of Riku’s drastically altered demeanor and appearance. His former apprentice seemed apathetic, perhaps a level above that, even. He seemed callous. His eyes alone showed much of the change, they were darker and narrowed, as if he was angry about something, though perhaps that anger came only upon seeing his mentor. They continued the standoff for what felt like minutes.
And then, in an instant, they both met at the center of the room in a sudden, charging rush of energy.
Shinru was the first to try an attack, shooting out Odyssey in front of him, taking his right hand off of the spear and moving his left hand further back whilst thrusting it outwards. Riku danced around the spear in a quick spin, and as he finished he put his left leg, which was, after the spin, very close to the wall on his left side, and planted it on the wall. Riku picked his right leg up off of the ground and pushed himself off of the wall with his left, Soul Eater pointed out in front of him, putting him in a form that made him seem like a torpedo of some sorts.
Ducking down quickly, Shinru shot out his right hand so that it grabbed one of Riku’s legs as he passed overhead, and then in one fluent motion, stood up and slammed Riku onto the ground in front of them. As he fell, Riku managed to force his weight forward and plant one hand on the ground. Within the same moment, he instantly began to spin himself around, switching hands when the current one could twist no further to launch himself into a rapid gyrate as if he were some sort of human topspin. His legs were kicking out rapidly in sweeps so that he seemed like even more of a topspin, with whipping, kicks aimed near Shinru’s waist. In reply, Shinru immediately ducked back down the ground, crouching so that the kicks went right over his head, and then swept his leg across the floor, in an effort to hit the arm that was supporting Riku at that time. The kick missed its target, though, when Riku pushed himself up into the air with that very arm, flipping over and then landing, putting them both in the position that they had been when the battle started.
The room was very restricting. It was about four or five meters across and seven or eight horizontally, Riku examined from where he was standing. Some room in the corner was taken up by a bed and at the foot of the bed there was a dresser. They had around three meters going across, but thankfully the full seven vertically.
As if reading his mind, Shinru, on cue, stated, “Bet your wishing you could get out of here, eh? I’ll help ya out with that, I guess.”
In an instant, Shinru appeared behind Riku, and before he could react, Shinru thrusted out his palm on the young man’s back, powerfully enough to make Riku lurch forward. In the same instant, Shinru made two, quick hand seals and a deep blue blast shot out from Shinru’s hand, pushing Riku diagonally upwards, going straight through Shinru’s roof, high into the clear sky above, and then slamming on the ground, several meters away from the house.
As soon as Riku hit the ground once, he managed to gather his wits about him so that the second time he would have landed, which would have been directly on his head, he managed to put his hand out and pushed himself backwards and back onto his feet, sliding back a bit as he landed. When he looked up, Shinru was already on the roof above him.
“How’d you…” Riku started, and then changed his question into a statement, “In our last fight… you could barely even…”
Shinru chuckled, “Our last fight? You mean the one in which I didn’t even have an eighth of my full chakra, could barely move without running out of breath, and was still getting used to even moving in the first place after being in a cell for over a year? Is that the fight that you’re referring to?”
Riku hadn’t exactly thought of it like that. But if Shinru was on such low chakra reserves then… then Riku had a feeling he wouldn’t be lasting much longer. He had honestly forgotten how much better Shinru had always been, even after the training, Shinru had received the exact same training, probably for a longer amount of time, and with years after that to perfect everything, learn new things, and add his own twists to what he already knew. But Riku needed answers, and he had to at least try as hard as possible to get them. One thing was clear, Riku couldn’t afford to hold anything back.
Quickly, he brought Soul Eater up, holding it with two hands so that it was pointing vertically upwards, and then began spinning it in circles in front of him. Soon enough, he was spinning it quickly enough to the point where the sound of it literally cutting through the air could be heard even to Shinru who was quite a distance away. Wind began to extend from the blade, spiraling in a circle that grew wider and wider and stretched further and further out towards Shinru. And then, in a sudden rush, Riku retracted the blade, though the light bluish wind was still spiraling, and threw Soul Eater through that wind. The blade began to spiral as well, gradually going closer and closer to Shinru, and then quickly, it burst forward in a quick rush of energy, going at ridiculous speed. And Riku, hoping that the distraction of the blade would allow for enough cover, was following close behind with a clenched fist.
Shinru watched the process with a risen eyebrow. He was all too curious about what the end result would be to interrupt Riku. As the blade came at him though, seeming like a blue beam that was moving as quick as lightning, he reacted.
Just barely though.
Shinru watched the blade until the very last moment, right when it was coming towards him, and then cocked his head ever so slightly to the side, barely at all. Odyssey disappeared from his hand as he tilted his head, and as the blade passed by his head, so close to him that the wind around it was whistling in his ear, he reached his hand upwards quickly, grabbing the handle of the blade, though still holding it so that it was pointing backwards, as if using Soul Eater for a substitute for the spear that he had just dismissed.
Riku, with too much momentum to redirect himself and much too surprised at Shinru’s casual reaction to do the logical thing quickly enough and call his sword back to him, still came in hopefully with the punch, landing on the building that Shinru was standing on, but was halted quickly when Shinru flicked his wrist forward, bringing Soul Eater in a 180 degree vertical turn to hit Riku’s left shoulder. The blade dug into his skin, though Shinru had enough control to stop the blade before went deeply enough to do too much damage.
Shinru’s head was still slightly tilted as he spoke, his casual smile now gone and replaced with a harsh, and at the same time superior, glare, “Interesting move, though a bit too direct. Ready to call it quits?”
Riku let out a grunt as the blade came down on him and winced as well, but within the next few seconds Soul Eater was within his grasp again. Riku came down desperately with a vertical blow, much slower than it normally would be even though it was his left shoulder that was damaged, which piqued Shinru’s curiosity since it was the right one that had been cut. As the blade came down, Shinru’s now-empty hand shot out forwards, slamming Riku in the chest with his palm. The actual act shouldn’t have done much more than make him lurch backwards, but the chakra that Shinru released during that hit made it feel as though he were manipulating gravity itself, as Riku went flying backwards, off of the roof and then slamming on the ground, skipping like a pebble across water.
Riku hit the ground several times, and then caught himself, flipping over one last time and then landing on his feet, sliding back yet again. He grabbed his arm painfully. Shinru looked closely at him, particularly at what part of his arm he was grabbing. It was the arm that Shinru had hurt, but he wasn’t grabbing the same spot. Shinru had hurt him, surely, but not as badly as the pained look on his student’s face said. Riku was grabbing his forearm, somewhere in the middle of it. And that’s when it struck Shinru. The burn!
Years ago, when Akatsuki had found out where Shinru and Riku were and began frequently attacking with their odd creatures, the two of them had been fighting two of the creatures when Riku was burned by an odd lavender fire. The burn mark refused to go down on his arm, but the fire never spread anywhere else but there.
“This isn’t good…” Shinru muttered to himself as he watched Riku’s arm begin to throb. Even at the distance that they were at, it could be seen clearly.
Riku stood for a while, and then began to run forward, albeit for a very short amount of time. After only three or four steps, Riku fell down to the ground. He was holding his injured arm tightly, panting heavily and closing his eyes tightly.
Could that small wound truly push that demonic fire so far? Shinru knew what it was for, of course. It was made to create those odd and disfigured creatures that Kabuto commanded. Of course, when they were created the human would be fully engulfed by fire, and on top of that Kabuto would perform several jutsu. Shinru had witnessed the cruel act happen several times. Riku, though, had only been afflicted with a small amount, though any amount was enough to transform a man, and with the subtraction of those jutsu as well, his transformation would occur very slowly. Although… it had been quite some time ago since the burn was given to him. Perhaps…
Suddenly, as soon as Shinru thought all of this, as if the fire itself that was within Riku had read his mind, Riku let out a loud scream, that turned into a roar. Shinru watched with wide eyes as Riku’s arm began to grow in size, each pulsing throb making it larger and larger. Shinru couldn’t see the entire arm, of course, because of the Akatsuki cloak, but his hand looked as though it were turning into some sort of scaly skin, very dark gray in color. In a sudden burst, the entire sleeve was blown off, revealing a giant scaly arm. At the end, near Riku’s shoulder, there were several spikes on the arm that went out behind him. His other hand still seemed completely normal, but Riku’s eyes suddenly turned a dark, blood red, but at the same time it seemed to be glowing. From the position that Riku was standing at, still kneeling on the floor with his back bent, Shinru could see several spikes suddenly shoot up from his back, busting holes through the Akatsuki cloak.
Riku got up slowly, and then let out a roar that could have been heard over miles, spreading his arms out wide, his right arm slowly changing to resemble the completely transformed one. A giant radius was released around him as he screamed, blowing off the cloak completely, and even as it flew up into the air it seemed to shred into microscopic pieces, even seeming to burn.
Riku’s entire body was scaled now; both arms were extremely bulky and still pulsing. He was breathing in and out deeply. Even his face seemed to take on the gray color, and his mouth was now more of a large snout. His hair remained the same, though some of it was sticking to his forehead on account of all of the sweat that was dripping down his face. As he breathed heavily in and out through his mouth, Shinru caught a small glimpse of two sharp rows of teeth, which seemed strong enough to break through steel. Shinru heard a loud slam, and he could see a large tail lagging behind Riku. The boy’s legs, though, seemed unchanged for the most part; as his pants and sandals were the only articles of clothing that remained intact, albeit slightly ripped at some points, aside from some of the bottom half of his Akatsuki cloak, that now hung from his waist, opened at the bottom. The only reason why it had likely not been blown away was because of the belt that Soul Eater’s scabbard was attached to.
A drastically transformed Riku stared at a radically stunned Shinru for only a few seconds before charging in, Soul Eater now out of his grasp. His speed was unreal, at least ten times faster than he had been before, and his strength, though a boost in that was well-expected due to his increase in size, was even more heightened. He came in with a punch before Shinru could react, and then he turned slightly to the side as his large tail swept Shinru’s side, knocking him off of the building. Before he could land though, Riku was upon him, jumping forward so that when Shinru saw him again the boy was directly over him. Riku flipped over once while he was coming down on his former teacher and the heavy tail slammed down on him again.
Shinru put up his arm before the tail hit, though, managing to block the bulk of the hit but still being blasted down to the ground and then sliding back several yards, as Riku landed in front of him and slid forward for the same amount.
“Where in the world did that come from?” Shinru muttered to himself, wiping off blood from the corner of his mouth, as he watched Riku.
Riku threw back his head quickly, and then suddenly shot it forward again, his, or perhaps it’s would be the better word at this point, mouth agape, spewing out a humongous blast of fire. It made a sort of screeching noise, first it seemed sustained, going out no further than a foot or two from Riku’s mouth, and suddenly it rushed forward, growing to massive amounts as if all of the oxygen was being sucked from the air and into the deadly flames. It grew into a massive fireball, and by the time it reached Shinru, he couldn’t see anything but it.
Recalling Odyssey to his hand, Shinru quickly threw it forward, and it punctured a large hole through the fire. He jumped in after it diving right behind the spear and through the fire as if he were a torpedo. Riku continued feeding the streaming fire, not knowing that Shinru was, literally, travelling through it. Odyssey, of course, was the first to emerge from the fire, shooting deeply into Riku’s chest, though avoiding any truly vital spot, even with his scaly skin the power with which Shinru had thrown it was amazing, and going out the other side, though it was still lodged in his skin; half of the spear was out on one side and half on the other side.
When Shinru emerged soon after, the fire now deceased and allowing him to run, thankfully closer to Riku there was no fire on the ground as it didn’t begin to touch the soil until it got about half way to Shinru’s original position, and pushed his palm heavily on the spear, sending it bursting out of Riku, who gripped his chest tightly, and stabbing deeply into the ground.
Before Riku could recoil, and Shinru was quite surprised to discern that he would be able to recoil from such an attack, Shinru chopped his neck once, quickly, rendering him unconscious. As he fell forward to the ground, Shinru watched as he breathed heavily, with each breath, he slowly shrunk back to his original size, and back to his original appearance, sweat dripping on his back.
“Oh boy, as if things weren’t complicated enough…” Shinru grunted to himself, lifting up Riku and hoisting him over his shoulder.
~
Reina walked aimlessly around the Hidden Leaf Village, in deep thought. The group had left nearly a full day ago. She was still thinking about what Kakashi had said. She still couldn’t deny that he was completely right. But how could she possibly become stronger? She thought back on the fight with Tenzu.
She thought back on how pathetic she had been.
The fight had truly only consisted of Raiden, Sora, and Tenzu. She hadn’t been injured at all, and yet she couldn’t do a thing while Raiden, who had been near unconscious at the time was still fighting tooth and nail. It had been beyond pathetic. How would she ever be strong enough to take on Akatsuki? To bring back Riku?
Sure, Reina had been strong enough to take down bandits and rogue ninja; she was strong enough to take on A-ranked missions alone, but a real challenge? An Akatsuki challenge? That was far out of her reach. She could train, of course, but how far would that take her? Not far enough, and if it did it wouldn’t take her too far in enough time.
Abruptly, she was drawn out of her thoughts by loud, seemingly angry yelling, “What do you mean he’s not here!? We only sent him back less than a month ago! Where could he have possibly gotten to in such a short time!?” the voice said.
Reina walked towards the sound, it was coming from a man who was, literally, just around the corner. When she looked towards the source of the noise, standing near the Leaf Village’s gate was a well-built man with a large sword with odd inscriptions on it slung over his back, yelling at some poor, helpless ninja.
“He… uh… I… or… they… ehh…” the chuunin stammered.
The man looked at him with narrowed eyebrows, “I don’t have time for this! Don’t you know who I am!? You never heard of us Sages!?”
Reina’s eyes widened at that, and she was put back on her heels. The same Sages that trained Riku? Riku did describe a guy like this when he summarized what he did when he was with the Sages to her. She could recall his exact words: “Big… kinda scary… likes weapons… big… really scary at first… large… intimidating… massive… seriously scary when you first meet him… did I mention huge?”
He fit the mediocre description alright, but what was he doing here? Looking for Riku? It would make sense that they didn’t know yet, Reina supposed, everything had happened scarcely three weeks ago, and being isolated from civilization and all… it can keep you a bit out of the loop.
Reina walked up to him briskly, though he was still yelling, “Well then!? Are you going to just stand there or give me some answers!?”
“Um… excuse me…” she said hesitantly, almost regretting saying anything when the man looked towards her, anger in her eyes, “You wouldn’t happen to be Thane, would you?”
Thane raised an eyebrow, his glare softening slightly, “The very same. And you are…?”
“Reina,” she answered, offering a slight bow, more of a nod than anything, and then hastily added, “You’re looking for Riku, aren’t you?”
“Indeed… And would you happen to know something about where I might find him?” Thane asked, and then gave a dismissing flick of his wrist directed towards the chuunin who was still standing and staring back and forth at both of them.
“More or less. As to where he currently is, probably in the Sound Country, or he will be soon, at least.”
“The Sound Country? And what in blazes is he doing all the way over there!?”
“There’s a lot to explain,” Reina replied with a slight sigh, and suddenly a thought crossed her mind, “But before that… can I ask a favor of you?”
Premonition of War -- Part 1
They stood there for a long while, facing each other, casually but intensely at the same time. Seconds slipped by with neither moving, both simply staring at each other with unwavering glares. They were observing one another, Riku noting that Shinru seemed much more in-shape than when they had last met, and Shinru taking note of Riku’s drastically altered demeanor and appearance. His former apprentice seemed apathetic, perhaps a level above that, even. He seemed callous. His eyes alone showed much of the change, they were darker and narrowed, as if he was angry about something, though perhaps that anger came only upon seeing his mentor. They continued the standoff for what felt like minutes.
And then, in an instant, they both met at the center of the room in a sudden, charging rush of energy.
Shinru was the first to try an attack, shooting out Odyssey in front of him, taking his right hand off of the spear and moving his left hand further back whilst thrusting it outwards. Riku danced around the spear in a quick spin, and as he finished he put his left leg, which was, after the spin, very close to the wall on his left side, and planted it on the wall. Riku picked his right leg up off of the ground and pushed himself off of the wall with his left, Soul Eater pointed out in front of him, putting him in a form that made him seem like a torpedo of some sorts.
Ducking down quickly, Shinru shot out his right hand so that it grabbed one of Riku’s legs as he passed overhead, and then in one fluent motion, stood up and slammed Riku onto the ground in front of them. As he fell, Riku managed to force his weight forward and plant one hand on the ground. Within the same moment, he instantly began to spin himself around, switching hands when the current one could twist no further to launch himself into a rapid gyrate as if he were some sort of human topspin. His legs were kicking out rapidly in sweeps so that he seemed like even more of a topspin, with whipping, kicks aimed near Shinru’s waist. In reply, Shinru immediately ducked back down the ground, crouching so that the kicks went right over his head, and then swept his leg across the floor, in an effort to hit the arm that was supporting Riku at that time. The kick missed its target, though, when Riku pushed himself up into the air with that very arm, flipping over and then landing, putting them both in the position that they had been when the battle started.
The room was very restricting. It was about four or five meters across and seven or eight horizontally, Riku examined from where he was standing. Some room in the corner was taken up by a bed and at the foot of the bed there was a dresser. They had around three meters going across, but thankfully the full seven vertically.
As if reading his mind, Shinru, on cue, stated, “Bet your wishing you could get out of here, eh? I’ll help ya out with that, I guess.”
In an instant, Shinru appeared behind Riku, and before he could react, Shinru thrusted out his palm on the young man’s back, powerfully enough to make Riku lurch forward. In the same instant, Shinru made two, quick hand seals and a deep blue blast shot out from Shinru’s hand, pushing Riku diagonally upwards, going straight through Shinru’s roof, high into the clear sky above, and then slamming on the ground, several meters away from the house.
As soon as Riku hit the ground once, he managed to gather his wits about him so that the second time he would have landed, which would have been directly on his head, he managed to put his hand out and pushed himself backwards and back onto his feet, sliding back a bit as he landed. When he looked up, Shinru was already on the roof above him.
“How’d you…” Riku started, and then changed his question into a statement, “In our last fight… you could barely even…”
Shinru chuckled, “Our last fight? You mean the one in which I didn’t even have an eighth of my full chakra, could barely move without running out of breath, and was still getting used to even moving in the first place after being in a cell for over a year? Is that the fight that you’re referring to?”
Riku hadn’t exactly thought of it like that. But if Shinru was on such low chakra reserves then… then Riku had a feeling he wouldn’t be lasting much longer. He had honestly forgotten how much better Shinru had always been, even after the training, Shinru had received the exact same training, probably for a longer amount of time, and with years after that to perfect everything, learn new things, and add his own twists to what he already knew. But Riku needed answers, and he had to at least try as hard as possible to get them. One thing was clear, Riku couldn’t afford to hold anything back.
Quickly, he brought Soul Eater up, holding it with two hands so that it was pointing vertically upwards, and then began spinning it in circles in front of him. Soon enough, he was spinning it quickly enough to the point where the sound of it literally cutting through the air could be heard even to Shinru who was quite a distance away. Wind began to extend from the blade, spiraling in a circle that grew wider and wider and stretched further and further out towards Shinru. And then, in a sudden rush, Riku retracted the blade, though the light bluish wind was still spiraling, and threw Soul Eater through that wind. The blade began to spiral as well, gradually going closer and closer to Shinru, and then quickly, it burst forward in a quick rush of energy, going at ridiculous speed. And Riku, hoping that the distraction of the blade would allow for enough cover, was following close behind with a clenched fist.
Shinru watched the process with a risen eyebrow. He was all too curious about what the end result would be to interrupt Riku. As the blade came at him though, seeming like a blue beam that was moving as quick as lightning, he reacted.
Just barely though.
Shinru watched the blade until the very last moment, right when it was coming towards him, and then cocked his head ever so slightly to the side, barely at all. Odyssey disappeared from his hand as he tilted his head, and as the blade passed by his head, so close to him that the wind around it was whistling in his ear, he reached his hand upwards quickly, grabbing the handle of the blade, though still holding it so that it was pointing backwards, as if using Soul Eater for a substitute for the spear that he had just dismissed.
Riku, with too much momentum to redirect himself and much too surprised at Shinru’s casual reaction to do the logical thing quickly enough and call his sword back to him, still came in hopefully with the punch, landing on the building that Shinru was standing on, but was halted quickly when Shinru flicked his wrist forward, bringing Soul Eater in a 180 degree vertical turn to hit Riku’s left shoulder. The blade dug into his skin, though Shinru had enough control to stop the blade before went deeply enough to do too much damage.
Shinru’s head was still slightly tilted as he spoke, his casual smile now gone and replaced with a harsh, and at the same time superior, glare, “Interesting move, though a bit too direct. Ready to call it quits?”
Riku let out a grunt as the blade came down on him and winced as well, but within the next few seconds Soul Eater was within his grasp again. Riku came down desperately with a vertical blow, much slower than it normally would be even though it was his left shoulder that was damaged, which piqued Shinru’s curiosity since it was the right one that had been cut. As the blade came down, Shinru’s now-empty hand shot out forwards, slamming Riku in the chest with his palm. The actual act shouldn’t have done much more than make him lurch backwards, but the chakra that Shinru released during that hit made it feel as though he were manipulating gravity itself, as Riku went flying backwards, off of the roof and then slamming on the ground, skipping like a pebble across water.
Riku hit the ground several times, and then caught himself, flipping over one last time and then landing on his feet, sliding back yet again. He grabbed his arm painfully. Shinru looked closely at him, particularly at what part of his arm he was grabbing. It was the arm that Shinru had hurt, but he wasn’t grabbing the same spot. Shinru had hurt him, surely, but not as badly as the pained look on his student’s face said. Riku was grabbing his forearm, somewhere in the middle of it. And that’s when it struck Shinru. The burn!
Years ago, when Akatsuki had found out where Shinru and Riku were and began frequently attacking with their odd creatures, the two of them had been fighting two of the creatures when Riku was burned by an odd lavender fire. The burn mark refused to go down on his arm, but the fire never spread anywhere else but there.
“This isn’t good…” Shinru muttered to himself as he watched Riku’s arm begin to throb. Even at the distance that they were at, it could be seen clearly.
Riku stood for a while, and then began to run forward, albeit for a very short amount of time. After only three or four steps, Riku fell down to the ground. He was holding his injured arm tightly, panting heavily and closing his eyes tightly.
Could that small wound truly push that demonic fire so far? Shinru knew what it was for, of course. It was made to create those odd and disfigured creatures that Kabuto commanded. Of course, when they were created the human would be fully engulfed by fire, and on top of that Kabuto would perform several jutsu. Shinru had witnessed the cruel act happen several times. Riku, though, had only been afflicted with a small amount, though any amount was enough to transform a man, and with the subtraction of those jutsu as well, his transformation would occur very slowly. Although… it had been quite some time ago since the burn was given to him. Perhaps…
Suddenly, as soon as Shinru thought all of this, as if the fire itself that was within Riku had read his mind, Riku let out a loud scream, that turned into a roar. Shinru watched with wide eyes as Riku’s arm began to grow in size, each pulsing throb making it larger and larger. Shinru couldn’t see the entire arm, of course, because of the Akatsuki cloak, but his hand looked as though it were turning into some sort of scaly skin, very dark gray in color. In a sudden burst, the entire sleeve was blown off, revealing a giant scaly arm. At the end, near Riku’s shoulder, there were several spikes on the arm that went out behind him. His other hand still seemed completely normal, but Riku’s eyes suddenly turned a dark, blood red, but at the same time it seemed to be glowing. From the position that Riku was standing at, still kneeling on the floor with his back bent, Shinru could see several spikes suddenly shoot up from his back, busting holes through the Akatsuki cloak.
Riku got up slowly, and then let out a roar that could have been heard over miles, spreading his arms out wide, his right arm slowly changing to resemble the completely transformed one. A giant radius was released around him as he screamed, blowing off the cloak completely, and even as it flew up into the air it seemed to shred into microscopic pieces, even seeming to burn.
Riku’s entire body was scaled now; both arms were extremely bulky and still pulsing. He was breathing in and out deeply. Even his face seemed to take on the gray color, and his mouth was now more of a large snout. His hair remained the same, though some of it was sticking to his forehead on account of all of the sweat that was dripping down his face. As he breathed heavily in and out through his mouth, Shinru caught a small glimpse of two sharp rows of teeth, which seemed strong enough to break through steel. Shinru heard a loud slam, and he could see a large tail lagging behind Riku. The boy’s legs, though, seemed unchanged for the most part; as his pants and sandals were the only articles of clothing that remained intact, albeit slightly ripped at some points, aside from some of the bottom half of his Akatsuki cloak, that now hung from his waist, opened at the bottom. The only reason why it had likely not been blown away was because of the belt that Soul Eater’s scabbard was attached to.
A drastically transformed Riku stared at a radically stunned Shinru for only a few seconds before charging in, Soul Eater now out of his grasp. His speed was unreal, at least ten times faster than he had been before, and his strength, though a boost in that was well-expected due to his increase in size, was even more heightened. He came in with a punch before Shinru could react, and then he turned slightly to the side as his large tail swept Shinru’s side, knocking him off of the building. Before he could land though, Riku was upon him, jumping forward so that when Shinru saw him again the boy was directly over him. Riku flipped over once while he was coming down on his former teacher and the heavy tail slammed down on him again.
Shinru put up his arm before the tail hit, though, managing to block the bulk of the hit but still being blasted down to the ground and then sliding back several yards, as Riku landed in front of him and slid forward for the same amount.
“Where in the world did that come from?” Shinru muttered to himself, wiping off blood from the corner of his mouth, as he watched Riku.
Riku threw back his head quickly, and then suddenly shot it forward again, his, or perhaps it’s would be the better word at this point, mouth agape, spewing out a humongous blast of fire. It made a sort of screeching noise, first it seemed sustained, going out no further than a foot or two from Riku’s mouth, and suddenly it rushed forward, growing to massive amounts as if all of the oxygen was being sucked from the air and into the deadly flames. It grew into a massive fireball, and by the time it reached Shinru, he couldn’t see anything but it.
Recalling Odyssey to his hand, Shinru quickly threw it forward, and it punctured a large hole through the fire. He jumped in after it diving right behind the spear and through the fire as if he were a torpedo. Riku continued feeding the streaming fire, not knowing that Shinru was, literally, travelling through it. Odyssey, of course, was the first to emerge from the fire, shooting deeply into Riku’s chest, though avoiding any truly vital spot, even with his scaly skin the power with which Shinru had thrown it was amazing, and going out the other side, though it was still lodged in his skin; half of the spear was out on one side and half on the other side.
When Shinru emerged soon after, the fire now deceased and allowing him to run, thankfully closer to Riku there was no fire on the ground as it didn’t begin to touch the soil until it got about half way to Shinru’s original position, and pushed his palm heavily on the spear, sending it bursting out of Riku, who gripped his chest tightly, and stabbing deeply into the ground.
Before Riku could recoil, and Shinru was quite surprised to discern that he would be able to recoil from such an attack, Shinru chopped his neck once, quickly, rendering him unconscious. As he fell forward to the ground, Shinru watched as he breathed heavily, with each breath, he slowly shrunk back to his original size, and back to his original appearance, sweat dripping on his back.
“Oh boy, as if things weren’t complicated enough…” Shinru grunted to himself, lifting up Riku and hoisting him over his shoulder.
~
Reina walked aimlessly around the Hidden Leaf Village, in deep thought. The group had left nearly a full day ago. She was still thinking about what Kakashi had said. She still couldn’t deny that he was completely right. But how could she possibly become stronger? She thought back on the fight with Tenzu.
She thought back on how pathetic she had been.
The fight had truly only consisted of Raiden, Sora, and Tenzu. She hadn’t been injured at all, and yet she couldn’t do a thing while Raiden, who had been near unconscious at the time was still fighting tooth and nail. It had been beyond pathetic. How would she ever be strong enough to take on Akatsuki? To bring back Riku?
Sure, Reina had been strong enough to take down bandits and rogue ninja; she was strong enough to take on A-ranked missions alone, but a real challenge? An Akatsuki challenge? That was far out of her reach. She could train, of course, but how far would that take her? Not far enough, and if it did it wouldn’t take her too far in enough time.
Abruptly, she was drawn out of her thoughts by loud, seemingly angry yelling, “What do you mean he’s not here!? We only sent him back less than a month ago! Where could he have possibly gotten to in such a short time!?” the voice said.
Reina walked towards the sound, it was coming from a man who was, literally, just around the corner. When she looked towards the source of the noise, standing near the Leaf Village’s gate was a well-built man with a large sword with odd inscriptions on it slung over his back, yelling at some poor, helpless ninja.
“He… uh… I… or… they… ehh…” the chuunin stammered.
The man looked at him with narrowed eyebrows, “I don’t have time for this! Don’t you know who I am!? You never heard of us Sages!?”
Reina’s eyes widened at that, and she was put back on her heels. The same Sages that trained Riku? Riku did describe a guy like this when he summarized what he did when he was with the Sages to her. She could recall his exact words: “Big… kinda scary… likes weapons… big… really scary at first… large… intimidating… massive… seriously scary when you first meet him… did I mention huge?”
He fit the mediocre description alright, but what was he doing here? Looking for Riku? It would make sense that they didn’t know yet, Reina supposed, everything had happened scarcely three weeks ago, and being isolated from civilization and all… it can keep you a bit out of the loop.
Reina walked up to him briskly, though he was still yelling, “Well then!? Are you going to just stand there or give me some answers!?”
“Um… excuse me…” she said hesitantly, almost regretting saying anything when the man looked towards her, anger in her eyes, “You wouldn’t happen to be Thane, would you?”
Thane raised an eyebrow, his glare softening slightly, “The very same. And you are…?”
“Reina,” she answered, offering a slight bow, more of a nod than anything, and then hastily added, “You’re looking for Riku, aren’t you?”
“Indeed… And would you happen to know something about where I might find him?” Thane asked, and then gave a dismissing flick of his wrist directed towards the chuunin who was still standing and staring back and forth at both of them.
“More or less. As to where he currently is, probably in the Sound Country, or he will be soon, at least.”
“The Sound Country? And what in blazes is he doing all the way over there!?”
“There’s a lot to explain,” Reina replied with a slight sigh, and suddenly a thought crossed her mind, “But before that… can I ask a favor of you?”
