Manzo was starting to enjoy the solo missions. It gave him time to relax his mind as his body worked out his muscles, well for some of the missions anyway. At least part of the time involved running through the woods getting to your location, and anytime you run through the woods it is a great time to let your instincts take over and do some moving meditation.
Today, he was running through the woods in the Forest of Death. It was a simple mission, at least at face value. But then most missions were simple when you read the mission briefing. Once the things started to go sidewise, well that became a different story altogether.
Today's mission was simply cull some of the creatures that were in the forest. It was a task that needed to be done every once in awhile. To many students thought they were bigger than their britches and would wind up in the forest. Left unchecked the creatures would run amuck and injury to many unprepared students.
As he approacted the area he was supposed to patrol, he brought his consciousness to forefront. It didn’t matter how powerful or weak someone was, all it took was one lapse of judgement to end up in Kohona’s Byoin being tended to by the medics.
It wasn’t long after he began patrolling that he started to feel a now familiar presence. One he had been feeling all over the village like it was stalking him, but every time he got close whoever it was coming from it would vanish. If nothing else it was starting to frustrate Manzo. How was it that someone could move that much faster than him?
Deciding to take a different tactic this time he kept on patrolling, but varying his speed in order to keep the ghost guessing. He was tired of chasing after this ghost. This time he wanted this ghost to come to him.
As he kept up this tactic and got deeper into the forest he could feel the presence continue to follow him. Manzo briefly wondered why it was still following him this time, was it because he was alone or just the fact he didn’t go after the presence. Either way this was already shaping up to end differently than every other time he had pursued this ghost of a presence.
Careful not to turn around Manzo slowly started to slow his pace. The pace was slowing down just enough that it would take someone paying a lot of attention to notice and if this ghost was just concentrating on keeping the distance he would subconsciously slow down as well. He kept this up for several minutes before he saw what he was looking for in the distance. He quickly put on a burst of speed, forcing the ghost to do the same if it wanted to keep up then he used a Quicksilver Step to vanish into a good hiding spot.
It did not take long before a figure in a black cloak with the hood pulled up went running past, looking around furiously, obviouslly looking for Manzo. His trick had worked. As the ghosts face swept past Manzo, he could see that the figure had on a mask that looked like an Oni
Not wasting any time, and tired of chasing after this ghost, Manzo quickly flashes the appropriate hand signs to manipulate the gravity around the ghost, displacing the ground and burying ghost in ground that been displaced with Chibaku Tensei. It was an effective bind though sometimes Manzo thought it was a bit harsh, today was not one of those days.
It is time to see if you are real or not Manzo thought to himself.
Careful to keep a calm demeanor, Manzo stepped out of his hiding spot to face this ghost. ”And why pray tell have you been following me?”
The voice that responded was gravely and deep ”That is simple young Tarantsu, to find out if you are worthy of the name”
It should not be surprising that this demon faced ghost knew Manzo’s family name, after all there was no telling how long he had been followed or what he had learned. Despite that it was a little jarring. Manzo briefly wondered how much more this demon faced ghost knew.
” Now that you have finally caught me and passed your test cousin, thought it did take you long enough, would you mind letting me go?”
Manzo had been adopted at a young age. Old enough to remember his parents but only just so, he didn’t even know their names. He yearned for a connection to his original family. It didn’t matter how much he adopted parents loved him, and he loved them. It was still the original family he strived to know more about. Hearing the word cousin sparked that yearning but was he talking about his originally family or his Tarantsu family?
Either way Manzo released the jutsu. If this ghost had wanted to harm him there would have been plenty of opportunities to go about that. This ghost had been stalking him for far too long after all.
”So what should I call you?”
”My name is Tarantsu Atsushi” Manzo found it interesting this was from his Tarantsu family, it wasn’t like he was close to many of them anyway. Which would explain why he had never noticed him before.
”I have been watching you off and on for a while now. I had heard that a new Taranstu that had entered the academy so I had to see for myself. After all there is not many of us left that have the blood strong enough to become a shinobi. Most of our clan that were strong enough to become shinobi have died off, leaving only the peasant class left”
As he said that Manzo could see Atsushi’s eyes light up behind the mask. What was even more surprising was it lit up with the Sharingan. Manzo was carefull to keep his face neutral, despite the fact that his adopted parents were farmers he did not like hear them being called peasants.
”I thought only the Uchia clan had the Sharingan? But you claim to be a Tarantsu.”
”That pompous clan is not the only ones that have the Sharingan. In fact all true Tarantsu have some kind of eye doujutsu. It is unclear how our clan managed to pass down a variety of them but it is a trait that has set us apart from others. So what kind of doujutsu have you developed? I was never able to figure that out.”
Manzo almost felt ashamed by this speech. He never knew that he was part of a clan with such history. Perhaps much had been lost of his clan when many had fled the village. His lack of historical knowlege had placed him in a situation that he could either tell Atsushi that his eyes were normal and be looked down upon for not being a true Tarantsu or tell him that he was adopted and be looked down upon for not being a true Tarantsu.
The irony of calling another clan pompous while using the word “true” to describe members of your clan did not seem to register with Manzo, nor did it seem to take any hold into Atsushi’s mind.
Taking a breath Manzo replied ” it would seem that my blood did not give my eyes anything special. he was not ready to divulge the details of what it did give him and what he could and couldn’t do just yet. Manzo still wasn’t sure if his cousin was trustworthy enough for such knowledge. If he hadn’t figure it out on his own Manzo wasn’t going to tell him.
”oh I see” Atsushi’s voice seemed to be a bit crestfallen ” I was hoping to find another true Tarantsu, there are so few of us left, but all is not lost”. With that last sentence his voice seemed to smile
”I am not sure I understand, is there some way to unlock a blood line? To give what wasn’t there before?” Manzo asked shocked at even the thought of something like that existed.
”No, well not really. Since the mark of a true Tarantsu is their eyes we have perfected techniques to give the less fortunate of the Tarantsu clan eyes from another. Allowing them to gain the Sharingan or in some cases the Byakugan. But to be honest while we do have some of those you really don’t want that, the Sharingan is far superior. Those with the transplanted eyes can never rise as high in the clan but it is better than nothing.” The smug in Atsushi’s voice was palpable he was very proud in himself that he away to give a clan member eyes from someone else.
”Where do you get these eyes from?” Manzo asked, hoping to hear an answer other than what he feared.
”We harvest them.”
”From volunteers?”
”Sure, we volunteer them”
”So you harvest the eyes from, let's call them what they are, your victims. I am going to assume they are not just older shinobi. You most likely harvest from younger shinobi, ones that don't fight back as hard because they haven't learned to use their abilities as much and less likely to have damaged eyes?” Manzo was being very careful to keep his voice neutral
”See I knew you had potential. Some of the others were against me approaching you, but you saw all the problems and immediately saw the solutions. You will be a fine be a fine member of the true Tarantsu clan, as soon as we rectify your shortcomings.”
Manzo had heard enough. If this was his family, then Manzo wasn’t sure he wanted to be apart of it. As much as he wanted to debate Atsushi he decided this was no longer a time for words. This man was a criminal guilty of stealing peoples eyes. He most likely killed the victims so they could not report anything. So all the victims would simply be classified as missing, or runaways which there was alway enough of in the village to hide the number. Manzo was sure no one had thought to check the blood lines of those children that went missing.
Without much of a thought his hands lashed out with a blade made of lighting. Lighting was the first element that Manzo had mastered and despite being primarily a taijutsu user it was still his favorite element. The Chidori Control jutsu sliced straight into Atsushi’s heart, instantly killing him. Or it would have except that in the instant the blade of lightning pierced Atsushi’s chest smoke filled the air only to show that the blade of lighting was sticking out of a log.
”You really are a disappointment. I was giving you a chance to rise up from your shortcomings and worthless beginnings. But now you will have to die. There is no way for you to beat me. My eyes see everything you are about to and now it is my duty to cleanse the clan of a traitor” The words were barely in the air before a fireball was sent straight towards Manzo.
Jumping back he paced his left arm up to guard his face from the heat. He could feel the heat melting his clothes on his left arm. This was not the way he wanted to start off a fight. But it did not matter, the fight was on and first “blood” had gone to the criminal Tarantsu Atsushi.
Placing the side of his right fist into his left hand he quickly drew them apart to reveal a sword in his right hand. The sword for anyone that looked at it gave a sense of wrongness, as if it should never been in this reality.
He then started to dart around the area, moving so fast that afterimages of himself appeared. He wasn’t clear what capabilities Atsushi had so the more targets that were presented the less likely that Manzo would be hit again.
”That will not help you. My eyes can see through everything.” Atsushi said as he attacked out from behind a tree, using a kunai against Manzo’s sword. He was fast, unbelievably fast.
”It doesn't matter I will not let you hurt anyone else.” Now that Atsushi had been found, Manzo started to unleash his attacks. He was no longer able to maintain unarmed taijutsu but that gave way to the ability to use the stronger sword taijutsu. It wasn’t long before Atsushi was being pushed back, that was until Atsushi delivered a round kick to Mazno’s burned left arm. It caused him to grunt in pain and disrupted his concentration. Atsushi used this opportunity to to jump back releasing a stream of shurikens at Manzo.
Manzo was able to dodge most of them but one slipped through cutting his cheek. Blood flying past him with the path of the shuriken. Despite the momentary distraction Manzo charged forward attacking once again. Despite the superior speed that Manzo had he still couldn’t land a serious blow. It was almost as if Atsushi could predict his movements.
As the fight drew on, Manzo realized he was slowing down. It only took him a moment to realize that it wasn't because he was tired from fighting, he had been in fights longer and moresrenuous than this without feeling these effects, he must have been poisoned.
Almost as soon he realize it Atsushi commented, ”Yes you don't have much longer to live now, I will enjoy this” there was a smile in voice like he really was enjoying the thought of killing someone.
”That may be but I am not going to make this..” He was interrupted by a side kick to his middle. The sound of ribs breaking was audible. Blood came out of Manzo’s mouth with a cough. He briefly wondered if one of his lungs was punctured.
Manzo’s next strike was almost haphazardly blocked and followed up with another kick that left Manzo’s left arm hanging uselessly at his side. Manzo stood hunched over trying to catch his breath. His breathing was labored as he listened to Atsushi start to pontificate. ” You thought you would stop me? This is what you peons don’t understand. The strong take from the weak, thereby making them even stronger. This is the truth that true Tarantsu understand. It is criminal to fight back against one of us. A crime that you are about to pay for in full.“
Atsushi started to walk away, obviously thinking that Manzo was no longer worth any thought. ”It is a shame that you turned down our offer. I had a new target that could have been yours. Instead I will likely have to sell their eyes to the highest bidder. Perhaps I will name the auction after you, Manzo’s foley. He said with a chuckle.
The thought of being left for dead before he we even on the ground infuriated Manzo. But that wasn’t the worst part. Manzo was not good enough and because of that some poor child was going to lose his life. He had always strove to bring honor to the village. Protecting it, even taking a demotion to join the ANBU ranks and here he was going to die in the middle of the forest, just a nameless forgotten shinobi that had failed the village.
Manzo’s breathing started to become quicker, almost like it was becoming a growl, his eyes began to gloss over. The more he thought about his failure and how it was going to keep costing children their lives, the angrier he got until he something inside him broke open.
Chakra flooded his body, filling his muscles with energy. He it was hard to decribe but it felt like he was stronger than ever. Manzo opened his right hand letting his sword fall, disappearing from existence. His blood that had been pouring down his body started to a red steam from the heat his body was producing. Manzo took a step forward using Quicksilver Step and was instantly beside Atsushi punching him in the back as Atsushi walked away. Manzo didn’t think it would it would hit as hard as it did but Atsushi went flying face first into a tree, causing the tree to crack. Before Atsushi could even turn around Manzo was on him again, his unarmed attacks being delivered with speed and ferocity that even if Atsushi could predict them, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Then Atsushi found himself flying upwards in the air from an front kick delivered to his mouth, breaking his jaw ”YOU”. Manzo delivered an uppercut into Atsushi’s chest that sent him even higher into the air ”WON’T”. Another punch sent Atsushi even higher TOUCH it was then that Atsushi found he had reached the zenith of his flight only now Manzo had wrapped him in a hug from behind THEM. Manzo performed a technique that he had not done in years. Very little of his training had been with unarmed techniques, since he discovered the ability to create a sword out of reality. But for this the Primary Lotus seemed appropriate. The two combatants spiraled towards the ground in a death spiral. Manzo no longer caring if he walked away from this fight, he had given up hope of that long ago. Now his only goal was to ensure that Atsushi did not either.
They hit the ground with enough impact to shake the ground. Manzo staggered away, he had used Atsushi to break his fall. Atsushi lay on the ground coughing up blood in weak spasm. The blood oozed out from behind his broken mask. He looked at Manzo with hate in his eyes. It sounded like he tried to say something but that only caused another bloody coughing fit.
Manzo staggered towards Atsushi, each step getting stronger. It was time for the coup de grace. Before he could get there, reality seemed to create a swirl around Atsushi, creating a funnel that sucked him in. Manzo had performed enough space time jutsu to recognize one when he saw it. Atsushi had gotten away and he had no way to track him.
Manzo was nearly dead on his feet, he only had two options. Try the futile process of hunting Atsushi down and hope that this surge of adrenaline and chakra would sustain him through the second round of the fight, or try and use what remained of this to get to the hospital and carry on the fight for another day.
In an instant Manzo was moving as fast as he could towards the hospital. He only hoped he could get close enough before his body gave out on him.
[WC:3236]
[Topic entered/ Topic left]
[MFT]
Today, he was running through the woods in the Forest of Death. It was a simple mission, at least at face value. But then most missions were simple when you read the mission briefing. Once the things started to go sidewise, well that became a different story altogether.
Today's mission was simply cull some of the creatures that were in the forest. It was a task that needed to be done every once in awhile. To many students thought they were bigger than their britches and would wind up in the forest. Left unchecked the creatures would run amuck and injury to many unprepared students.
As he approacted the area he was supposed to patrol, he brought his consciousness to forefront. It didn’t matter how powerful or weak someone was, all it took was one lapse of judgement to end up in Kohona’s Byoin being tended to by the medics.
It wasn’t long after he began patrolling that he started to feel a now familiar presence. One he had been feeling all over the village like it was stalking him, but every time he got close whoever it was coming from it would vanish. If nothing else it was starting to frustrate Manzo. How was it that someone could move that much faster than him?
Deciding to take a different tactic this time he kept on patrolling, but varying his speed in order to keep the ghost guessing. He was tired of chasing after this ghost. This time he wanted this ghost to come to him.
As he kept up this tactic and got deeper into the forest he could feel the presence continue to follow him. Manzo briefly wondered why it was still following him this time, was it because he was alone or just the fact he didn’t go after the presence. Either way this was already shaping up to end differently than every other time he had pursued this ghost of a presence.
Careful not to turn around Manzo slowly started to slow his pace. The pace was slowing down just enough that it would take someone paying a lot of attention to notice and if this ghost was just concentrating on keeping the distance he would subconsciously slow down as well. He kept this up for several minutes before he saw what he was looking for in the distance. He quickly put on a burst of speed, forcing the ghost to do the same if it wanted to keep up then he used a Quicksilver Step to vanish into a good hiding spot.
It did not take long before a figure in a black cloak with the hood pulled up went running past, looking around furiously, obviouslly looking for Manzo. His trick had worked. As the ghosts face swept past Manzo, he could see that the figure had on a mask that looked like an Oni
Not wasting any time, and tired of chasing after this ghost, Manzo quickly flashes the appropriate hand signs to manipulate the gravity around the ghost, displacing the ground and burying ghost in ground that been displaced with Chibaku Tensei. It was an effective bind though sometimes Manzo thought it was a bit harsh, today was not one of those days.
It is time to see if you are real or not Manzo thought to himself.
Careful to keep a calm demeanor, Manzo stepped out of his hiding spot to face this ghost. ”And why pray tell have you been following me?”
The voice that responded was gravely and deep ”That is simple young Tarantsu, to find out if you are worthy of the name”
It should not be surprising that this demon faced ghost knew Manzo’s family name, after all there was no telling how long he had been followed or what he had learned. Despite that it was a little jarring. Manzo briefly wondered how much more this demon faced ghost knew.
” Now that you have finally caught me and passed your test cousin, thought it did take you long enough, would you mind letting me go?”
Manzo had been adopted at a young age. Old enough to remember his parents but only just so, he didn’t even know their names. He yearned for a connection to his original family. It didn’t matter how much he adopted parents loved him, and he loved them. It was still the original family he strived to know more about. Hearing the word cousin sparked that yearning but was he talking about his originally family or his Tarantsu family?
Either way Manzo released the jutsu. If this ghost had wanted to harm him there would have been plenty of opportunities to go about that. This ghost had been stalking him for far too long after all.
”So what should I call you?”
”My name is Tarantsu Atsushi” Manzo found it interesting this was from his Tarantsu family, it wasn’t like he was close to many of them anyway. Which would explain why he had never noticed him before.
”I have been watching you off and on for a while now. I had heard that a new Taranstu that had entered the academy so I had to see for myself. After all there is not many of us left that have the blood strong enough to become a shinobi. Most of our clan that were strong enough to become shinobi have died off, leaving only the peasant class left”
As he said that Manzo could see Atsushi’s eyes light up behind the mask. What was even more surprising was it lit up with the Sharingan. Manzo was carefull to keep his face neutral, despite the fact that his adopted parents were farmers he did not like hear them being called peasants.
”I thought only the Uchia clan had the Sharingan? But you claim to be a Tarantsu.”
”That pompous clan is not the only ones that have the Sharingan. In fact all true Tarantsu have some kind of eye doujutsu. It is unclear how our clan managed to pass down a variety of them but it is a trait that has set us apart from others. So what kind of doujutsu have you developed? I was never able to figure that out.”
Manzo almost felt ashamed by this speech. He never knew that he was part of a clan with such history. Perhaps much had been lost of his clan when many had fled the village. His lack of historical knowlege had placed him in a situation that he could either tell Atsushi that his eyes were normal and be looked down upon for not being a true Tarantsu or tell him that he was adopted and be looked down upon for not being a true Tarantsu.
The irony of calling another clan pompous while using the word “true” to describe members of your clan did not seem to register with Manzo, nor did it seem to take any hold into Atsushi’s mind.
Taking a breath Manzo replied ” it would seem that my blood did not give my eyes anything special. he was not ready to divulge the details of what it did give him and what he could and couldn’t do just yet. Manzo still wasn’t sure if his cousin was trustworthy enough for such knowledge. If he hadn’t figure it out on his own Manzo wasn’t going to tell him.
”oh I see” Atsushi’s voice seemed to be a bit crestfallen ” I was hoping to find another true Tarantsu, there are so few of us left, but all is not lost”. With that last sentence his voice seemed to smile
”I am not sure I understand, is there some way to unlock a blood line? To give what wasn’t there before?” Manzo asked shocked at even the thought of something like that existed.
”No, well not really. Since the mark of a true Tarantsu is their eyes we have perfected techniques to give the less fortunate of the Tarantsu clan eyes from another. Allowing them to gain the Sharingan or in some cases the Byakugan. But to be honest while we do have some of those you really don’t want that, the Sharingan is far superior. Those with the transplanted eyes can never rise as high in the clan but it is better than nothing.” The smug in Atsushi’s voice was palpable he was very proud in himself that he away to give a clan member eyes from someone else.
”Where do you get these eyes from?” Manzo asked, hoping to hear an answer other than what he feared.
”We harvest them.”
”From volunteers?”
”Sure, we volunteer them”
”So you harvest the eyes from, let's call them what they are, your victims. I am going to assume they are not just older shinobi. You most likely harvest from younger shinobi, ones that don't fight back as hard because they haven't learned to use their abilities as much and less likely to have damaged eyes?” Manzo was being very careful to keep his voice neutral
”See I knew you had potential. Some of the others were against me approaching you, but you saw all the problems and immediately saw the solutions. You will be a fine be a fine member of the true Tarantsu clan, as soon as we rectify your shortcomings.”
Manzo had heard enough. If this was his family, then Manzo wasn’t sure he wanted to be apart of it. As much as he wanted to debate Atsushi he decided this was no longer a time for words. This man was a criminal guilty of stealing peoples eyes. He most likely killed the victims so they could not report anything. So all the victims would simply be classified as missing, or runaways which there was alway enough of in the village to hide the number. Manzo was sure no one had thought to check the blood lines of those children that went missing.
Without much of a thought his hands lashed out with a blade made of lighting. Lighting was the first element that Manzo had mastered and despite being primarily a taijutsu user it was still his favorite element. The Chidori Control jutsu sliced straight into Atsushi’s heart, instantly killing him. Or it would have except that in the instant the blade of lightning pierced Atsushi’s chest smoke filled the air only to show that the blade of lighting was sticking out of a log.
”You really are a disappointment. I was giving you a chance to rise up from your shortcomings and worthless beginnings. But now you will have to die. There is no way for you to beat me. My eyes see everything you are about to and now it is my duty to cleanse the clan of a traitor” The words were barely in the air before a fireball was sent straight towards Manzo.
Jumping back he paced his left arm up to guard his face from the heat. He could feel the heat melting his clothes on his left arm. This was not the way he wanted to start off a fight. But it did not matter, the fight was on and first “blood” had gone to the criminal Tarantsu Atsushi.
Placing the side of his right fist into his left hand he quickly drew them apart to reveal a sword in his right hand. The sword for anyone that looked at it gave a sense of wrongness, as if it should never been in this reality.
He then started to dart around the area, moving so fast that afterimages of himself appeared. He wasn’t clear what capabilities Atsushi had so the more targets that were presented the less likely that Manzo would be hit again.
”That will not help you. My eyes can see through everything.” Atsushi said as he attacked out from behind a tree, using a kunai against Manzo’s sword. He was fast, unbelievably fast.
”It doesn't matter I will not let you hurt anyone else.” Now that Atsushi had been found, Manzo started to unleash his attacks. He was no longer able to maintain unarmed taijutsu but that gave way to the ability to use the stronger sword taijutsu. It wasn’t long before Atsushi was being pushed back, that was until Atsushi delivered a round kick to Mazno’s burned left arm. It caused him to grunt in pain and disrupted his concentration. Atsushi used this opportunity to to jump back releasing a stream of shurikens at Manzo.
Manzo was able to dodge most of them but one slipped through cutting his cheek. Blood flying past him with the path of the shuriken. Despite the momentary distraction Manzo charged forward attacking once again. Despite the superior speed that Manzo had he still couldn’t land a serious blow. It was almost as if Atsushi could predict his movements.
As the fight drew on, Manzo realized he was slowing down. It only took him a moment to realize that it wasn't because he was tired from fighting, he had been in fights longer and moresrenuous than this without feeling these effects, he must have been poisoned.
Almost as soon he realize it Atsushi commented, ”Yes you don't have much longer to live now, I will enjoy this” there was a smile in voice like he really was enjoying the thought of killing someone.
”That may be but I am not going to make this..” He was interrupted by a side kick to his middle. The sound of ribs breaking was audible. Blood came out of Manzo’s mouth with a cough. He briefly wondered if one of his lungs was punctured.
Manzo’s next strike was almost haphazardly blocked and followed up with another kick that left Manzo’s left arm hanging uselessly at his side. Manzo stood hunched over trying to catch his breath. His breathing was labored as he listened to Atsushi start to pontificate. ” You thought you would stop me? This is what you peons don’t understand. The strong take from the weak, thereby making them even stronger. This is the truth that true Tarantsu understand. It is criminal to fight back against one of us. A crime that you are about to pay for in full.“
Atsushi started to walk away, obviously thinking that Manzo was no longer worth any thought. ”It is a shame that you turned down our offer. I had a new target that could have been yours. Instead I will likely have to sell their eyes to the highest bidder. Perhaps I will name the auction after you, Manzo’s foley. He said with a chuckle.
The thought of being left for dead before he we even on the ground infuriated Manzo. But that wasn’t the worst part. Manzo was not good enough and because of that some poor child was going to lose his life. He had always strove to bring honor to the village. Protecting it, even taking a demotion to join the ANBU ranks and here he was going to die in the middle of the forest, just a nameless forgotten shinobi that had failed the village.
Manzo’s breathing started to become quicker, almost like it was becoming a growl, his eyes began to gloss over. The more he thought about his failure and how it was going to keep costing children their lives, the angrier he got until he something inside him broke open.
Chakra flooded his body, filling his muscles with energy. He it was hard to decribe but it felt like he was stronger than ever. Manzo opened his right hand letting his sword fall, disappearing from existence. His blood that had been pouring down his body started to a red steam from the heat his body was producing. Manzo took a step forward using Quicksilver Step and was instantly beside Atsushi punching him in the back as Atsushi walked away. Manzo didn’t think it would it would hit as hard as it did but Atsushi went flying face first into a tree, causing the tree to crack. Before Atsushi could even turn around Manzo was on him again, his unarmed attacks being delivered with speed and ferocity that even if Atsushi could predict them, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Then Atsushi found himself flying upwards in the air from an front kick delivered to his mouth, breaking his jaw ”YOU”. Manzo delivered an uppercut into Atsushi’s chest that sent him even higher into the air ”WON’T”. Another punch sent Atsushi even higher TOUCH it was then that Atsushi found he had reached the zenith of his flight only now Manzo had wrapped him in a hug from behind THEM. Manzo performed a technique that he had not done in years. Very little of his training had been with unarmed techniques, since he discovered the ability to create a sword out of reality. But for this the Primary Lotus seemed appropriate. The two combatants spiraled towards the ground in a death spiral. Manzo no longer caring if he walked away from this fight, he had given up hope of that long ago. Now his only goal was to ensure that Atsushi did not either.
They hit the ground with enough impact to shake the ground. Manzo staggered away, he had used Atsushi to break his fall. Atsushi lay on the ground coughing up blood in weak spasm. The blood oozed out from behind his broken mask. He looked at Manzo with hate in his eyes. It sounded like he tried to say something but that only caused another bloody coughing fit.
Manzo staggered towards Atsushi, each step getting stronger. It was time for the coup de grace. Before he could get there, reality seemed to create a swirl around Atsushi, creating a funnel that sucked him in. Manzo had performed enough space time jutsu to recognize one when he saw it. Atsushi had gotten away and he had no way to track him.
Manzo was nearly dead on his feet, he only had two options. Try the futile process of hunting Atsushi down and hope that this surge of adrenaline and chakra would sustain him through the second round of the fight, or try and use what remained of this to get to the hospital and carry on the fight for another day.
In an instant Manzo was moving as fast as he could towards the hospital. He only hoped he could get close enough before his body gave out on him.
[WC:3236]
[Topic entered/ Topic left]
[MFT]