Twentieth chapter! 
Btw, the Ryuu-Ryo thing made this chapter so confusing. O_O So you'll have to pay attention lol. I tried not to use their names together too much.
Ryuu walked through the forest, covered in weapons everywhere. Unlike most other Akatsuki members, he chose not to wear his hood and didn?t mind others seeing his face. His brown hair was spiked upwards. Anyone who passed him could mark him as a warrior almost immediately. He was built more than almost all ninjas would ever be, every muscle in his body toned to perfection for battle, and his height would be an intimidating factor to any opponent of his. Besides that, the way he walked alone showed that he was more of a warrior than a ninja, and likely didn?t fit in well with the subtleties and sneakiness of most Akatsuki members due to his more direct approach at life.
The kill first and skip the questions approach.
Ryuu was outfitted in weapons on every part of him, many were concealed of course, but even more were out in the open. Oddly, though, none of these weapons had ever slowed him down in battle, and he had at least ten weapons on him at all times. The noticeable ones were the two humongous claymores strapped onto his back, their length only a bit smaller than Ryuu himself and their width about half his body span, both were gray in color, looking so identical that, even as large as they were, they could only be dual-weapons. He had two thinner swords at his waist, one at each side. The swords were about as long as his arms but very thin, seeming like swords that a samurai would carry, both of which were in scabbards on a belt that tied his Akatsuki cloak onto his waist. Farther up the belt, closer to the front of his legs, were throwing knives, instead of the customary kunai pouch. Each knife had its own holster, five knives near his left leg, and another five near his right. As bland as it was that he was a warrior, his facial appearance was slightly unexpected, but it made him all the fiercer. He had a grim look on his face with his dark brown eyes narrowed at almost all times and seeming always to be fixed forward, though still able to see more out of his peripheral vision than many could while turning their heads, but the unexpected part was the lack of scars and bruises on his face, in fact, there was only one that went across half of his face diagonally, starting from under his eye, and going down across his nose to his cheek. The lack of scars marked him as a warrior who rarely lost and, most often, defeated, and likely killed, an opponent before they could even get a hit off.
Ryuu stopped walking, placing one of his hands on the tree that he stopped by, looking towards his target skeptically. The man was sitting in the middle of the forest, seeming to meditate. Ryuu watched him for a moment. Ironically, when he was given the mission, he was told that the guy he was hunting was named Ryo. The man looked about forty, his hair darker than Ryuu?s and much smaller in stature, though most people were. He was an average height for his age, and his hair went down slightly on his neck.
Ryuu, after he was done examining his target, decided to move right into the battle. He reached across with his right hand to his left scabbard, and quickly brought the blade back around to his right side, effortlessly and cleanly cutting through the tree starting from the front to the back, making it fall forward as it did onto the older man.
~
Ryo immediately sensed the disturbance, having had been meditating, literally, with the forest itself. He could feel exactly what tree had been cut down, where the one who cut it was, and now he could feel that it was coming down on him. Master Ryo still in his meditative trance melded in with the tree as it fell down on him, and then quickly come back up on top of the tree, now standing on top of it casually, looking towards Ryuu.
Ryuu nodded, not expecting anything different to happen, ?Impressive, it seems as though you truly are a master.?
Ryo squinted towards him, ?Akatsuki... Raiden told me they were back,? he blew out a sigh, ?Well, let?s get on with it then.
Ryuu?s lips curled up in a grin, ?Let?s,? he snarled.
Suddenly Ryuu rushed towards the master, coming with a slash across his own body using the same thin sword that had cut through the tree. Ryuu jumped as he neared his opponent, jumping on top of the tree, which was wider than Ryuu had first thought, as he swung his sword.
Ryo simply ducked, dodging the attack, but as Ryuu gained his footing on the tree, next to Ryo so it was as though they were on a line facing each other, he spun on the ball of his foot, turning back around to come with a series of stabs towards Ryo?s stomach as he got back up. Quickly, though, the older man pushed himself backwards, and then rose both of his hands upwards, controlling the wood that they were both standing on so that it rose up and wrapped around his opponent?s legs.
?You seem to forget that the forest is the domain of a wood user,? Ryo said, tightening his grip so that the wood wrapped more tightly around Ryuu?s legs, ?In other words, I have home court advantage.?
?It?s you who seems to forget,? Ryuu replied with another grin, ?In the event that a blade meets a tree... the blade will eventually cut it down.?
Just as he said it, as if making his point, he reached back with his free hand to one of the large claymores strapped on his back by the light brown straps across his chest, and then stabbed the sword into the tree. For a moment, nothing happened, but as soon as Ryuu finished his comment, the tree exploded in a burst of slicing wind. The wind blasted the tree to bits, hitting master Ryo as well, blasting him back, as Ryuu seemed to descend silently and smoothly back to the ground, pushing wind under his cloak to slow his descent. As soon as he was on the ground, however, he quickly moved to Ryo, who was still on the ground, the very same wind that slowed his descent now quickened his run to speeds that very few would be capable of keeping up with.
Ryo, in a desperate attempt to save himself, rose up the earth in the form of a wall in front of him, seeing that Ryuu had now dropped his small sword and was withdrawing the other claymore as he ran towards the helpless man. The wall did absolutely nothing to even slow the huge swordsman down, slashing his first claymore across, shattering the wall to pieces, and then jumping into the air, moving himself horizontally while there to perform a spin over Ryo, he landed behind his opponent, slicing hitting him forward with the other claymore, and then kicking his foot out and upwards as Ryo began to fly back, stopping him short and taking the air out of his lungs, forcing him to cough up more blood then he could afford.
Ryo fell forward, the only thing holding him up were his arms as his legs were practically collapsing under him, and panted heavily.
?Well this wasn?t quite as fun as I expected,? Ryuu said, adding a sigh that truly seemed disappointed, and then he shrugged, ?Ah well,? he said, and then he slammed the claymore one more time on Ryo?s back, purposely hitting him so that he fell to the ground but could still feel the awful pain as he was pushed to the ground, unable to fall unconscious as he deeply wished he could.
~
Raiden stopped, coming to obvious signs of a fight. He ended his tree jumping as he landed on one last tree, but unlike the others, this one was lying on its side, cut down most likely. He looked around more to see patches of blood scattered around one specific area, first he only saw small spots of it, as if it had been coughed up in the form of saliva. But then, suddenly, he saw a giant amount of it the amount that you?d see from a fatal hit, though all of the blood was already dried in the grass. And the fact that it was already dried meant...
Raiden looked back over his shoulders, seeing the two ninja who had accompanied him land, and then Reina and Riku stop soon after.
He shook his head immediately, ?We were too late,? he said simply.
Riku looked towards Reina, seeing her holding back an amount of sadness and anger. Raiden, meanwhile, slammed his fist on the felled tree behind him. Then he looked back towards Riku.
?Who would have hunted him?? Raiden asked himself as much as those around him, truly
confused.
?Akatsuki...? Riku said, his voice trailing off, ?It?s the only explanation.?
Raiden looked down for a long moment, as the other two ninja that were with him walked around the area, looking for even the most subtle clues. Whoever did this had to pay, and if Akatsuki was it, then that?s who would suffer. They had to pay for what they did, whether they killed his old master or just captured him, they had to pay. He looked back up towards Riku, then Reina, then Riku again.
Raiden looked towards Riku, then Reina, and then back towards Riku again, ?Riku... you?re... going after Akatsuki, right? Room for one more on that trip??
Reina cleared her throat, ?Two.?
Raiden immediately answered, ?No. You can?t, it?s too dangerous-?
Reina interrupted, ?So was half of my life.?
Raiden shook his head, ?That?s not the point-?
?The point is you?re being overprotective. You and Master Ryo both trained me for stuff exactly like this.?
?That was only if you ever needed to.?
?And now I do, because my master is in trouble, and so is my brother, and so is my best friend. No matter what you say, I?m coming. Whether you let me or not,? she finalized, her tone ending the matter.
Raiden looked towards her for a moment, an almost fatherly look of concern in his eyes and as he was preparing to counter her argument, he thought for a moment and realized she was right. She trained for a little over four years for an event exactly like this, and though the danger didn?t incur her directly, it wasn?t directly to Raiden either, he couldn?t deny, and the same reason that she was ready to come was the same reason he was.
Raiden looked back towards Riku, ?Two, then.?
Riku looked at both of them, first his eyes were wide, and then his look slowly morphed from surprised to happy, and then enthusiastic, practically shaking at the sudden turn in events. Even at a time like this, with the capture, and possible death, of someone who had been so important to his friends and therefore equally as important to him, this made him more happy than he had been in a long, long time.
?There?s plenty of room,? Riku finally answered, his wide smile now taking to his ears.
Btw, the Ryuu-Ryo thing made this chapter so confusing. O_O So you'll have to pay attention lol. I tried not to use their names together too much.The Lumberjack
Ryuu walked through the forest, covered in weapons everywhere. Unlike most other Akatsuki members, he chose not to wear his hood and didn?t mind others seeing his face. His brown hair was spiked upwards. Anyone who passed him could mark him as a warrior almost immediately. He was built more than almost all ninjas would ever be, every muscle in his body toned to perfection for battle, and his height would be an intimidating factor to any opponent of his. Besides that, the way he walked alone showed that he was more of a warrior than a ninja, and likely didn?t fit in well with the subtleties and sneakiness of most Akatsuki members due to his more direct approach at life.
The kill first and skip the questions approach.
Ryuu was outfitted in weapons on every part of him, many were concealed of course, but even more were out in the open. Oddly, though, none of these weapons had ever slowed him down in battle, and he had at least ten weapons on him at all times. The noticeable ones were the two humongous claymores strapped onto his back, their length only a bit smaller than Ryuu himself and their width about half his body span, both were gray in color, looking so identical that, even as large as they were, they could only be dual-weapons. He had two thinner swords at his waist, one at each side. The swords were about as long as his arms but very thin, seeming like swords that a samurai would carry, both of which were in scabbards on a belt that tied his Akatsuki cloak onto his waist. Farther up the belt, closer to the front of his legs, were throwing knives, instead of the customary kunai pouch. Each knife had its own holster, five knives near his left leg, and another five near his right. As bland as it was that he was a warrior, his facial appearance was slightly unexpected, but it made him all the fiercer. He had a grim look on his face with his dark brown eyes narrowed at almost all times and seeming always to be fixed forward, though still able to see more out of his peripheral vision than many could while turning their heads, but the unexpected part was the lack of scars and bruises on his face, in fact, there was only one that went across half of his face diagonally, starting from under his eye, and going down across his nose to his cheek. The lack of scars marked him as a warrior who rarely lost and, most often, defeated, and likely killed, an opponent before they could even get a hit off.
Ryuu stopped walking, placing one of his hands on the tree that he stopped by, looking towards his target skeptically. The man was sitting in the middle of the forest, seeming to meditate. Ryuu watched him for a moment. Ironically, when he was given the mission, he was told that the guy he was hunting was named Ryo. The man looked about forty, his hair darker than Ryuu?s and much smaller in stature, though most people were. He was an average height for his age, and his hair went down slightly on his neck.
Ryuu, after he was done examining his target, decided to move right into the battle. He reached across with his right hand to his left scabbard, and quickly brought the blade back around to his right side, effortlessly and cleanly cutting through the tree starting from the front to the back, making it fall forward as it did onto the older man.
~
Ryo immediately sensed the disturbance, having had been meditating, literally, with the forest itself. He could feel exactly what tree had been cut down, where the one who cut it was, and now he could feel that it was coming down on him. Master Ryo still in his meditative trance melded in with the tree as it fell down on him, and then quickly come back up on top of the tree, now standing on top of it casually, looking towards Ryuu.
Ryuu nodded, not expecting anything different to happen, ?Impressive, it seems as though you truly are a master.?
Ryo squinted towards him, ?Akatsuki... Raiden told me they were back,? he blew out a sigh, ?Well, let?s get on with it then.
Ryuu?s lips curled up in a grin, ?Let?s,? he snarled.
Suddenly Ryuu rushed towards the master, coming with a slash across his own body using the same thin sword that had cut through the tree. Ryuu jumped as he neared his opponent, jumping on top of the tree, which was wider than Ryuu had first thought, as he swung his sword.
Ryo simply ducked, dodging the attack, but as Ryuu gained his footing on the tree, next to Ryo so it was as though they were on a line facing each other, he spun on the ball of his foot, turning back around to come with a series of stabs towards Ryo?s stomach as he got back up. Quickly, though, the older man pushed himself backwards, and then rose both of his hands upwards, controlling the wood that they were both standing on so that it rose up and wrapped around his opponent?s legs.
?You seem to forget that the forest is the domain of a wood user,? Ryo said, tightening his grip so that the wood wrapped more tightly around Ryuu?s legs, ?In other words, I have home court advantage.?
?It?s you who seems to forget,? Ryuu replied with another grin, ?In the event that a blade meets a tree... the blade will eventually cut it down.?
Just as he said it, as if making his point, he reached back with his free hand to one of the large claymores strapped on his back by the light brown straps across his chest, and then stabbed the sword into the tree. For a moment, nothing happened, but as soon as Ryuu finished his comment, the tree exploded in a burst of slicing wind. The wind blasted the tree to bits, hitting master Ryo as well, blasting him back, as Ryuu seemed to descend silently and smoothly back to the ground, pushing wind under his cloak to slow his descent. As soon as he was on the ground, however, he quickly moved to Ryo, who was still on the ground, the very same wind that slowed his descent now quickened his run to speeds that very few would be capable of keeping up with.
Ryo, in a desperate attempt to save himself, rose up the earth in the form of a wall in front of him, seeing that Ryuu had now dropped his small sword and was withdrawing the other claymore as he ran towards the helpless man. The wall did absolutely nothing to even slow the huge swordsman down, slashing his first claymore across, shattering the wall to pieces, and then jumping into the air, moving himself horizontally while there to perform a spin over Ryo, he landed behind his opponent, slicing hitting him forward with the other claymore, and then kicking his foot out and upwards as Ryo began to fly back, stopping him short and taking the air out of his lungs, forcing him to cough up more blood then he could afford.
Ryo fell forward, the only thing holding him up were his arms as his legs were practically collapsing under him, and panted heavily.
?Well this wasn?t quite as fun as I expected,? Ryuu said, adding a sigh that truly seemed disappointed, and then he shrugged, ?Ah well,? he said, and then he slammed the claymore one more time on Ryo?s back, purposely hitting him so that he fell to the ground but could still feel the awful pain as he was pushed to the ground, unable to fall unconscious as he deeply wished he could.
~
Raiden stopped, coming to obvious signs of a fight. He ended his tree jumping as he landed on one last tree, but unlike the others, this one was lying on its side, cut down most likely. He looked around more to see patches of blood scattered around one specific area, first he only saw small spots of it, as if it had been coughed up in the form of saliva. But then, suddenly, he saw a giant amount of it the amount that you?d see from a fatal hit, though all of the blood was already dried in the grass. And the fact that it was already dried meant...
Raiden looked back over his shoulders, seeing the two ninja who had accompanied him land, and then Reina and Riku stop soon after.
He shook his head immediately, ?We were too late,? he said simply.
Riku looked towards Reina, seeing her holding back an amount of sadness and anger. Raiden, meanwhile, slammed his fist on the felled tree behind him. Then he looked back towards Riku.
?Who would have hunted him?? Raiden asked himself as much as those around him, truly
confused.
?Akatsuki...? Riku said, his voice trailing off, ?It?s the only explanation.?
Raiden looked down for a long moment, as the other two ninja that were with him walked around the area, looking for even the most subtle clues. Whoever did this had to pay, and if Akatsuki was it, then that?s who would suffer. They had to pay for what they did, whether they killed his old master or just captured him, they had to pay. He looked back up towards Riku, then Reina, then Riku again.
Raiden looked towards Riku, then Reina, and then back towards Riku again, ?Riku... you?re... going after Akatsuki, right? Room for one more on that trip??
Reina cleared her throat, ?Two.?
Raiden immediately answered, ?No. You can?t, it?s too dangerous-?
Reina interrupted, ?So was half of my life.?
Raiden shook his head, ?That?s not the point-?
?The point is you?re being overprotective. You and Master Ryo both trained me for stuff exactly like this.?
?That was only if you ever needed to.?
?And now I do, because my master is in trouble, and so is my brother, and so is my best friend. No matter what you say, I?m coming. Whether you let me or not,? she finalized, her tone ending the matter.
Raiden looked towards her for a moment, an almost fatherly look of concern in his eyes and as he was preparing to counter her argument, he thought for a moment and realized she was right. She trained for a little over four years for an event exactly like this, and though the danger didn?t incur her directly, it wasn?t directly to Raiden either, he couldn?t deny, and the same reason that she was ready to come was the same reason he was.
Raiden looked back towards Riku, ?Two, then.?
Riku looked at both of them, first his eyes were wide, and then his look slowly morphed from surprised to happy, and then enthusiastic, practically shaking at the sudden turn in events. Even at a time like this, with the capture, and possible death, of someone who had been so important to his friends and therefore equally as important to him, this made him more happy than he had been in a long, long time.
?There?s plenty of room,? Riku finally answered, his wide smile now taking to his ears.
