Chapter 109 – Mangekyō
Even with my Sharingan active, seeing through the mist was difficult, not to mention the lack of light, since it was already nighttime and raining. They waited for the perfect moment, when the Sharingan would be least useful, huh?
"The fourth is moving!" Shinrai said suddenly, his thoughts transferred into my mind through Sayuri's link. "Wait! The one with the cleaver is moving too, both of them going toward Fugaku-sama!"
"Chief!" I yelled out, but Fugaku was already in motion, and I could only pick up his dark silhouette, clashing against the two swordsmen, who were aiming to kill him and strike back at us for what happened to their village.
"They are taking Fugaku-sama northbound, breaking him off from us!" Shinrai yelled, but sadly, I could do nothing about it, nor could I really pay attention to what was happening in the other fights, as my eyes were locked onto the threat before us.
"Let them." Arai hissed, also gazing at the same man who was yet to make a move, just watching us.
"Chief can handle himself." I agreed, staring at the figure, almost as if I were willing the mist to part and keep him in my sight. I was afraid that if it ever swallowed him, I would lose sight of him.
"HAHAHAHA!" With loud laughter, an explosion rang out somewhere in the distance, its light illuminating the darkness and the mist like a rising sun, followed by the rushing sound of wind and probably paper slips... as for whether it was from his sword or Konan, I couldn't tell.
"Behind you!" Shinrai's thought hit my skull like a slap, but I vanished without thinking, blinking away while a blade sliced through the space my neck had occupied just a millisecond earlier.
The moment I was distracted by the explosion, the bastard made his move, and the wrapped shape of his sword was gone, replaced by blue chakra. It swelled outward from the strange, fish-shaped weapon into a broad cleaver nearly as wide as his body, and seeing it work for real was a bit different than seeing it in the show.
"You could have said hello..." I taunted, wanting him to keep his focus on me and trying to get under his skin, because I remembered Jiraiya telling us he was a patient fighter and killer. If I could anger him enough...
As if answering me, the bastardly chakra cleaver came down on my head the next moment, while I threw myself sideways, watching the ground explode from the pure force behind his strike. In response, I threw three kunai at him: two normal ones and one marked. I wasn't surprised when he refused to entertain my test, and the chakra around his sword expanded sideways into something like a rectangular hammer, swatting them all away.
Stupid.
I appeared beside the marked one while it was still spinning in the air, appearing on the left of him, with a Minor Supernova already in my palm.
"I said, start with introductions. Like this: Hi!"
I drove forward without hesitation, hitting the transforming Hiramekarei in his hands as it took the shape of a kite shield. My attack tore it apart as the chakra shield warped, got burned through, and then exploded like it was made of porcelain. Without hesitation, I blinked away, holstering my still-spinning kunai before I did, because I can't just waste them like this.
"He stores chakra in the weapon, then changes its shape... That sword is a pain in the ass..." Arai hissed as I reappeared between the group.
"Exactly..." I exhaled, watching my fire die down, knowing that alone wouldn't have dealt with the fucker. "I'll keep battering the bastard while you watch and find any chance to attack him. Try to hit a vital point. If you are unsure, stay put, don't risk it." It was no time to argue or play the solo hero. This was our best option. "Can you see the chakra before it changes?" I asked.
"..." Shinrai's Byakugan flinched as the veins on his face tightened, but he answered a moment later. "Some. A fraction of a second at best."
"Listen to Shinrai then, before you commit to any moves." I nodded. "I will create the chances; take the one you feel comfortable about."
"Right." They all nodded, gulping, and I could tell they were both afraid yet excited.
However, as if reading our minds, when the fucker made his next move, he wasn't coming at me, but began attacking Arai. Luckily, Arai saw it too and jumped at the right moment... but that shapeshifting blade suddenly shot upward. Fuck! I flashed to him at the last moment, caught the back of his vest, and pulled him back down while the rest scattered. Damn it, that was close.
"Renji!" Sayuri yelled, but I could already feel him coming.
Kōsuke hadn't been aiming for Arai; he was just bait, and I took it as Hiramekarei coming down from above. Without thinking, my Ember Mantle exploded into view as I crossed my arms and wrapped myself in fire just as the sword struck. In the coming explosion, my vision went white as my jutsu took the brunt of it, while I was driven knee-deep into the mud. However, I survived as Kōsuke's blade stopped a hair's breadth away from my neck. I pushed my chakra through my veins, keeping the flames burning, pushing against the weapon and keeping him from finishing me off.
"Curious."
Huh... First word, eh? His voice was quiet and flat... Still, at least he is capable of reacting, hm? As he said it, the fucker twisted Hiramekarei, turning it into a cleaver, but I had already vanished. Still, its edge nicked my shoulder, but I wasn't even paying attention to it. I was already behind him, holding another jutsu in my hand, condensing it until it was small but burned a brilliant white.
"Catch!" I snorted as I threw it at him.
Once again, as he spun around, Hiramekarei flattened like a paddle as my White Dwarf smashed into his chakra, creating another explosion that threw him away, rolling in the mud before he landed on his feet and used the sword to slow himself down.
"He is changing his chakra output!" Shinrai said suddenly, "By a lot! Something big is coming!"
Hiramekarei began glowing at once, taking the shape of a massive two-handed chakra blade that extended nearly three meters. The fuck?! Worse... he was going straight toward Sayuri! Oh, you motherfucker... I flashed without hesitation, appearing beside her, grabbing her waist, and moving us both. He didn't even react; he just switched targets to Shinrai.
"MOVE!" I yelled as I reappeared, but luckily he was quick enough to duck, only to get kicked in the chest and sent flying into a nearby house. Well... Better than being beheaded.
"SHINRAI!" Arai yelled as he was already moving, throwing wired shurikens to distract our opponent. I was genuinely amazed because the moment he paid attention to Arai's attack, Shinrai reappeared, and even though he was hurt, he didn't show it as two fingers struck the distracted Kōsuke's wrist, who thought Shinrai was out of the fight.
Even if he was a blade master and managed to shift his grip on his weapon and his arm's position, Shinrai's attack still hit him. He may have missed his tenketsu, but Kōsuke's chakra blade flickered nonetheless, giving Arai enough time to breathe a massive fireball at him. He was about to jump out of the way when Sayuri's jutsu hit him too, disorienting his mind, stopping him from moving, and forcing him to eat the fireball head-on. Fuck yeah!
I didn't wait and jumped in too, cutting through Arai's fire without hesitation, wielding a proper Super Nova and hitting the fucker. Or his sword, I couldn't really tell, but I didn't wait to find out. I blinked away at once, watching the explosion from beside Arai, as the swirling ball of fire created a proper crater, pushing the falling rain away from all of us.
"Did we get him?" Arai asked, panting, while I was also breathing a bit harder than before.
"I can still sense him!" Shinrai warned us, and I was also sure this wasn't going to be enough to kill or incapacitate someone like him.
As he said it, the fire collapsed inward, and rain rushed into the crater, hissing against the dying flames, filling the air with steam. For a moment, I couldn't see anything inside, but then a shadow stepped forward...
"Of course..." I muttered. "Still breathing."
After Kōsuke stepped out of the flames, we watched as his clothes fell away on one side, the skin underneath red and blistered. At least I was sure he was hurting and wouldn't be as fast as before. Hiramekarei wasn't looking much better either, held in his unburnt arm, the one Shinrai hit, as the chakra around it flickered unevenly, parts of the formed blade collapsing and rebuilding as he walked forward. The only issue was, he didn't look angry... so that meant he was still confident.
"Stay ready," I warned them, "He is planning something!"
"Already am," Arai answered, collecting his chakra, ready for another round.
"His chakra is concentrating again," Shinrai added, and before he finished speaking, Kōsuke was already moving, coming straight toward me.
Finally, it wasn't a bluff, so I raised my kunai and met him halfway between us as I clashed against his weakened Hiramekarei. My entire arm vibrated from the crash... tsk! He was still strong. I let the rebounding force guide my movement, slipping under the transformed blade as my other hand formed another White Dwarf, but this time, he stepped away before I could drive it into him. Expecting it would be something like this, I followed suit, dispelling it and turning my movement into a kick with an exploding curtain of fire, but he blocked that too.
Then I vanished and reappeared behind him... I could have kissed Arai, because he was smart enough to move there, knowing I could blink to the kunai he had in his holster. But this sword-wielding fucker expected that too and turned before my foot could connect with his back. Damn! He was predicting all my patterns. Good thing I had plenty, so I threw another kunai, and this time he ignored it... So I blinked to it... Why wasn't I surprised about how his sword was already there?
"Tsk!"
Dodging, as I somewhat expected, the edge grazed my vest, slashing it open while I protected my skin with my Mantle, flaring it just where I needed it. He was starting another attack while I was still mid-air, pulling back and turning the sword into a rapier-like thing... Uh-oh... That looked bad! However, Sayuri infiltrated his mind. She stopped his thrust long enough before being expelled from his head that I could land and dodge without issues.
"Renji!" She gasped, clearly in pain, because the fucker was much more experienced than Sayuri, giving her a headache just by connecting with a mind like his.
"I'm fine! And thanks!"
Arai and Shinrai were already going in for their second combo by then, but the bastard was too good and wasn't falling for it this time. Before the two of them got seriously hurt or killed, I spurred my chakra, turned my Ember Mantle back on full display, and jumped forward in sync with their combo. I blinked over to Arai first, then switched to Shinrai, ducked under another swing, and drove my elbow into his injured side. Still, he blocked with his forearm, but I saw the pain on his face. Good... We are getting you tonight; say goodbye to being a swordsman!
I think he felt it too, because suddenly, he retreated. One step... Two... Then... He looked past me. Oh, fuck you! I vanished before he could move, appearing in front of Sayuri and blocking his Hiramekarei. As we met, before any of the others realized what was happening, my arm began to groan and my bones to crack... But I held.
"You really like this trick, don't you?" I hissed at him, but he avoided my eyes... Tsk... I was hoping to put him under a genjutsu or something. I was just thinking about that when...
Something changed. To my shock, the vast amount of chakra around Hiramekarei vanished, then compressed into a narrow form... like a spear. And then it shot past my kunai that was blocking him, going past my face, everything... My eyes widened, because I knew what... I knew who was behind me. My stomach dropped when I heard that wet sound... I didn't want to look, but I still turned, watching Sayuri with wide eyes as Hiramekarei's chakra blade stuck through her face, right in the middle... it was a painless, instant kill.
I don't really remember what I was thinking in that moment. It was a bit of a blank moment; I can't lie. Was I even thinking? I don't think so... I just knew that my Sharingan spun like crazy, watching her body fall backward in slow motion, the blood coming from between her brows, spraying into the air as that bastard weapon got pulled back out...
I could almost feel how my three tomoe got stretched as my eyes spun faster and faster, twisting them in their sockets. Then, they quickly curved inward, turning them into black spirals, like a vortex, heading into my pupils... They kept spinning faster and faster, but in different directions... One clockwise, one anti-clockwise. Suddenly, my consciousness trembled and snapped at me, and as I blinked, only my left eye- the spinning stopped, along with the world. For a moment, everything froze in time, including me... Then... I felt my Sharingan start rotating again, backward to its original direction as the rain flew upward, while Sayuri's blood began returning into her skull.
I didn't really get what the fuck was happening, but... everything was going backward. I watched Kōsuke's arm reverse, my own body moving backward, unable to influence it, until everything returned to how it was only a few moments before... maybe what... five seconds? A bit less? More? I was too shocked to gauge it properly. Time was still in place as I kept staring at Kōsuke... then my left eye stung, like never before, and with a blink that was forced out of me, time resumed, and I was back in the present, watching as Arai and Shinrai attacked, me in the middle of appearing between them.
THE FUCK WAS HAPPENING?!
I didn't have time or the mental capacity to wonder about that right now, because the fucker was doing exactly what he was doing before, only... I wasn't there to block him, given how confused I was. Did I come back only to watch it happen again?! FUCK NO! If I can't change this moment, how could I change the future?! For one instant, right after that thought, it was my right eye's time to burn so badly I thought it exploded in its socket. However, it locked onto Sayuri, and the world twisted, differently from how Hiraishin made me feel when using it.
Then... I was where Sayuri was... And I mean, we exchanged places. I saw her standing where I had been, and now I faced the coming blade instead of her. The sudden switch surprised not only me but also Kōsuke, whose eyes widened a lot... and now he was looking into mine. I saw my own reflection staring back at me from his eyes, showing me the changed shape of my Sharingan... And I realized what happened.
However, all my questions can wait. It was THE opportunity, and I can't let the future I just lived through come to pass! So, I used my eyes to invade his mind, putting him into the strongest genjutsu I could muster. Then I slipped past his attack and sliced the hand holding his sword with a kunai, right where Shinrai had already softened it, freeing that bastardly sword from his grip. As I did that, my other hand was already holding a Super Nova, which I slammed into his chest. As the explosion expanded, I got a hold of Hiramekarei's handle and flashed away to Sayuri and the rest, with an eruption of orange-red fire consuming the fucker...
This time, for good.
Fuck you... and your future... Whatever I saw or experienced won't happen... not on my watch!