Third-Person POV

The fight between Hisao and Zutsumi had begun to slow down as Zutsumi was starting to run out of chakra, and Hisao, not intent on killing him, was reducing his flurry of attacks but still moving at a faster rate than him.

"Amazing," Zutsumi huffed. "To think that you're still able to move! You are quite the monster!"

Hisao, however, wasn't even paying attention to him. His thoughts were centred on Iroko, Asami and Hotaru in the distance.

They've been there for a good deal of time now, Hisao thought. Iroko, Asami, Princess Hotaru, please be alright!

His attention was brought back to Zutsumi when the latter had delivered a sweeping kick to his face, of which Hisao had blocked.

"Are you worried about your students?" Zutsumi said. "Then allow me to put your thoughts to rest when I tell you that they will die!"

Hisao gritted his teeth. "What are you going on about?"

"If they had any sense they would not push him over the border. He wields a power that could challenge even the highest level Jonin. Hm-hm-hm. At this point, I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should have been the one facing them. I pity you, Hisao. You have, unfortunately, led your students and the Princess to their deaths and you will be left with nothing but grief and regret."

Hisao had heard enough. He scanned Zutsumi from top to bottom for vital weak spots.

"I think it's time we end this, wouldn't you agree?" said Zutsumi. "We'll settle this with a single strike from the other.

Hisao had finished scanning. "I agree. One strike to finish this."

Zutsumi performed a series of hand seals and from his right hand, a silvery ball-like substance appeared.

I'm putting every last drop of chakra I have into this jutsu, Zutsumi thought.

As for Hisao, all he had ready with him was a kunai.

Zutsumi stared at him with slight disbelief. "Am I a joke to you?"

Hisao's answer was only: "No, this is simply all I need to defeat you. Are you ready?"

"How dare you look down upon me?!" Zutsumi growled, chakra emanating from the silver ball. "Me, Zutsumi of the Ginchiyo clan. I will show you true strength!!"

The two opponents flashed past each other with incomprehensible speed and just like that the fight was concluded within the next second.

One moment both Zutsumi and Hisao were standing upright. The next moment, Zutsumi fell onto one knee, then the other, and then he finally collapsed completely onto the ground.

"H-How..." Zutsumi breathed, "How did you--" He vehemently coughed up blood. In his hand the silvery ball he had created but never used disappeared.

"Simple, really," Hisao answered wiping the blood off of his kunai. "I aimed for your weak spot. A vital region near the end of your neck that would leave you immobile for several hours. I thank you for presenting me with the perfect opportunity to strike at it. I could not find an opening the entire time we were fighting. Afterwards, it was really only a matter of speed, making sure I struck first before you could comprehend what was happening."

Zutsumi could feel the burning pain that was emitting from the exact spot Hisao had just mentioned, not to mention all the nerves in his body were now numb so he was completely limp.

"Damn you...!" He hissed under his breath. "You'll pay for this!!"

But even Zutsumi's cries of defeat could not conceal from Hisao a wicked smile that played upon his lips.

Realizing what was about to happen, Hisao spun round to see another Zutsumi about to strike with the same jutsu.

Not good!! Hisao thought. Can I evade it this time?!

Then, just at the turn of the tides, the clone of Zutsumi was struck down almost immediately by a powerful Water-Styled Jutsu.

"Who--?" Hisao started in wonder.

"Oh, that was a close one!" came Shibuki's voice. "It's a good thing I saw that in time!!"

Zutsumi cried in anguish by Hisao's feet. "DAMMIT, NOOO!!!"

Soon, a swarm of the Waterfall Ninja had surrounded the two of them, holding Zutsumi at kunai-point.

"Are you all right?" Shibuki said to Hisao.

Hisao nodded, affirmatively. "Are you ninja from the Waterfall Village?"

"That's right. We were sent by your student."

"Hisao-sensei!!"

"Yuura!" Hisao turned to see Yuura running towards him.

"You're alright!" he cried in relief. He looked at Zutsumi who was being incarcerated by the ninja. "And you beat him?"

"My victory wouldn't have lasted long if it wasn't for your friend here," Hisao pointed out.

"Oh, this is Lord Shibuki," said Yuura. "He's the leader of the Waterfall."

Hisao inwardly gasped then bowed before Shibuki. "A thousand apologies!! I hadn't the faintest idea you were the leader!"

Shibuki waved his hands about. "It's no problem, really and please, just call me Shibuki!"

"Lord Shibuki!" the kunoichi ran up to the Leader. "We've safely apprehended the missing-nin, what are your orders now?!"

"Fan the area for any other missing-nin and the rest of this boy's teammates!! If what he says is true, the Princess of the Tsuchigumo Village is also with them, and that makes the situation even dire!"

"Yes, my Lord!" The kunoichi bowed and returned to her team.

Yuura gasped with a sense of horrible realization. "Iroko, Asami and Princess Hotaru! Don't tell me.. could they still be in danger?!"

🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃Twenty minutes earlier🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

Iroko POV

The attack began. Ryuun swung his blade with bone-shattering force, sending crescent-shaped slashes here and there in every which direction. Even though we were able to dodge them it was in the way of our real plan.

"It looks like that sword can negate ninjutsu!" Asami called out to me and Hotaru. "So our only hope to beat him is with close-quarter combat, but--" she paused her sentenced to dodge a huge crescent slash "--he's not giving us a chance!!"

"In that case," I grinned, "I'll make an opening! Just cover me!"

Asami nodded.

Ryuun then proceeded with an all-encompassing crescent slash. Hotaru rushed a series of hand seals and created a Water-Styled wall. The crescent-slash completely nullified it but was slowed down, giving us a chance to dodge it.

"All right, my turn!" I said, creating a Shadow Clone and having it fling me straight to Ryuun, gripping a kunai. The Mist Swordsman-wanna-be held up his blade to warmly receive me but Asami was quick to send hurling his way a massive shuriken.

"You brats and all your team-up attacks!" Ryuun hissed. He once again spun around and created a spiralling tornado, deflecting the giant shuriken and sending me and Asami hurling back from the pressure.

As soon as he began to slow down he winced in pain and looked down at the kunai I had flung into his arm joint just after Asami had thrown his shuriken but before he began his attack.

"Alright! Hell yeah! It could've been lower but it'll work!" I grinned. "Now at some point, your right arm will get tired and you'll have to drop your sword, so even if you manage to retrieve it sword you won't be able to use it!"

But then Ryuun maliciously smiled and said: "Who said all I needed was my right hand?"

I froze in fear. Damn, it didn't even occur to me that--!!

Asami said the words right out of my mouth. "He's ambidextrous, wonderful."

I sighed and slouched my shoulders. "Great, well, that plan's out of the window."

As Ryuun swapped blades with his hands looked at Asami and me strangely.

"You know, take it from the guy who was raised among haters and killers, but I know bad blood when I see it, and when I saw you two bickering amongst yourselves for the majority of the escort it was all too clear to me," he said. "Yet, when you fight together it's almost as though you've known each other for years and almost seem to be able to predict each other's moves."

Yeah, I had wondered about that, too, I thought, sideglancing at her. Even now I still get the feeling that there's something about her that feels nostalgic. It's been driving me nuts. But what exactly is he getting at?

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, you both seem to care about each other and I'd like to put that to the test. To see just how much you do care about each other!"

Third-Person POV

As soon as he said that, Ryuun made a single hand seal like before and flung his sword into the air and called out: "ZANKO: GYAKUSATSU KEI!!"

What fell back down from the air was not his sword but rather a myriad of them blazing in purple flames and nearly hundreds of them at that, too.

Iroko was dumbstruck. "What the hell kinda justu is that?!"

Oh no, Hotaru thought in panic, I won't be able to make a Water shield in time and even if I did, would it hold? There seems to be an endless amount of them!!

Iroko spun round to try and reach Hotaru but then he saw that the rain of swords began pouring onto the ground right in front of Hotaru rather than on her.

Hotaru gasped in confusion. Wait, what?

Is he aiming for me and Asami only? Iroko realized. Why?!

The rain of swords then reached Iroko and Asami at which point the two solely had to rely on their acrobatic prowess to avoid getting impaled, but even for Asami this proved difficult and straining.

The words he said earlier, on top of - deliberately, I'm sure - missing Hotaru with this onslaught, what is he trying--?!...

Asami POV

I can't say how I knew but this was a genjutsu.

In the second that one of the blades I couldn't see coming nearly pierced my face I became aware as it passed through my whole head and struck the ground as a real sword would. How this Ryuun person was capable of such a powerful genjutsu was beyond me at the time. But what quickly became known to me was the reason why he cast it.

It seemed to me that I was the only one aware of this being a genjutsu; Hotaru was only watching in horror and Iroko was dodging here and there for dear life. Then I saw it.

Unbeknownst to Iroko, Ryuun was behind him, wielding his real sword and reeling it back, preparing to end that brickhead's life and it was then that his goal became clear to me.

Somehow, Ryuun had in mind that I specifically would be able to break free or at least realize this was a genjutsu instead of Iroko. In his head, he had it figured that one of us, no matter what, would fall to his blade, and the reason being was because of bonds.

I could empathize with him. When you grow up, not being exposed to the true love of family and friends but rather the opposite you begin to believe it yourself that its nothing more than a burden, a shackle, a false reality. In my case, bonds mean nothing.

But not to Iroko.

To him bonds are everything. They're his pillars, they're what drive him to victory. They're his greatest trump card, so when he's about to lose them, he'll fight with all his power to hold unto them. That's how, unknown to Ryuun, I know he'll win this fight.

Iroko POV

It all happened in one moment. I first heard a shanking sound behind me, and as I turned around, my brain was forced to take in the image of Asami being stabbed right through the stomach as she defended me from Ryuun. The Mist Swordsman himself even smiled at the situation at hand.

After that, the hailstorm of swords I had been trying so desperately to dodge was gone in the blink of an eye and Asami laid there in my arms bleeding all over. I couldn't even take it all in for long as Ryuun immediately made a dash for Hotaru when my guard was dropped.

Because of Asami, I couldn't even move so all I could was shout as he inched closer and closer to her. The Princess prepared herself for the worst but even she looked mortally frightened.

"IT'S GAME OVER!!" he cried in elation, bringing the blade down on Hotaru before she could even move an inch.

But the blade never reached. Ryuun exclaimed in anger as he found himself completely frozen in place.

"He's frozen!!" I voiced my shock.

"What? What the hell is this?!" he screamed. "What did you do to me?!?!"

"Venom... poison," Asami breathed, clutching a kunai in her hand that was tipped with a purple liquid at the top. "I o.. only had a dro..p of i...t left from before.. the mission.. began. Figured... this was... the time to use it." She then started coughing up blood.

"Hey, hey, try not to talk, alright?!" I said, doing my best to suppress the wound. Seriously though...

"Asami!!!" Hotaru came running up to us, passing by the furious Ryuun. "Don't worry, I'm also skilled in the medical ninjutsu so I'll do what I can, but I don't have much chakra left!"

Why...

Hotaru placed her hands upon the wound and almost immediately a green light started emanating from them.

Why would you...

"This is more serious than I thought...!" Hotaru breathed. "I don't know how much I can do, but if we don't get her to a professional medic she--"

"Why would you do that?" I finally asked out loud, my vision starting to blur. "Why'd you take the fall for me? You could've left me to get hit and then you could've taken him out. I mean we barely even know each other so why would you sacrifice this much?!"

She struggled to get the words out. "Because... you're you."

My breath hitched at what she said. "Huh?"

"I'm... not like you. In the past I.. never would've.. batted an eye to some..one in trouble. I was... never raised that.. way. I never believed... in all lives matter..ing. In.. fact, I still comple..tely don't.

But... every time I saw you... fighting, helping.. protecting people you o..owed nothing to and.. getting back up... even after.. all.. that, it made... it made me realize: You're.. stronger than me."

Hotaru looked just as confused as me.

"Why," I spoke, "why I are you saying all of this? What are you even talking about?"

Asami coughed out even more blood. "I honestly... have no idea. Maybe it's.. because I'm dying?"

One phrase in her sentences that suddenly kept repeating itself in my head, But... every time I saw you, coupled with the now ever-waking nostalgic feeling I would get just from looking at her, made my head swarm like crazy until the question I truly wanted to ask forced it's way through my brain and onto my tongue.

"Asami. Do we kn--"

In a spurring jolt, I heard Ryuun cry out as he finally broke free from his frozen state.

"Oh no, I think that venom wore out!" Hotaru said.

"Heh. All I wanted," Ryuun said, as he steadied himself, "was to kill that b!%@h in peace and then go on my merry freaking way. But no, two goddamn brats just haaad to get in my way. All this talk of bonds being special and the source of power and whatnot makes me sick. You're so blinded by that hopeless ideal that you can't even see," he pointed the tip of his blade to Asami, "IT'S THE SOURCE OF YOUR DEMISE!!"

"ALL IT DOES IS DRIVE PEOPLE WHO CARE FOR EACH OTHER APART AND THOSE THAT WERE NEVER OH, SO LUCKY TO HAVE IT END UP AS SORRY SACKS OF FAILURE LEFT ON THE STREETS TO DIE!!!"

He recomposed himself, a hand on his face. "I guess it doesn't matter. When all three of you are on the ground, rotting, maybe then you'll realize that this world had no place for you 'aspiring angels'".

His sword glowed a fierce purple once more.

Hotaru mumbled. "What do we do now?"

I looked at Asami. With one eye open, she looked at me and said: "Do it."

I nodded affirmatively, stood up and then walked in front of the two of them.

"Princess Hotaru, please continue to heal Asami as best as you can," I said.

"Okay, but wh-what are you going to do?" she asked.

I couldn't answer her as my attention had shifted to Ryuun.

"I get it, Ryuun. You were raised in a cruel family so you grew up never knowing what bonds were like. But don't you have something like that in the group you're in now? Haven't you gotten closer with the people there?"

"What the hell? You trying to make chit-chat with me or something? You stalling again?" Ryuun questioned.

I shook my head. "No, no stalling. I just wanna know."

Ryuun did not look impressed. "In the group that I come from, we didn't gather together to make friends. We only have one goal in mind. Bonds? Nobody there has any time for that. My kinda clique."

His words made my heart freeze. Someone like this guy is way too dangerous to be your everyday missing-nin. Whatever it is he and his group wish to achieve feels like a really big deal.

"I see. Sorry, but I refuse to believe that," I said, forming the Shadow Clone seal, "If you spend enough time with people that accept you for who you are, share the same dreams as you or even walk on the same path as you to achieve something then there will be bonds there. Regardless, what it is you and your 'clique' stand for is something that gets in the way of other people's happiness so I have to take you down, right here, right now."

Third-Person POV

In a blaze of smoke, twenty clones appeared beside Iroko.

Ryuun twirled his blades between his swords then lunged at the blue-streaked kid saying: "Don't be sorry, I'm trying to kill you, too, remember?!"

The clones rushed at him, speeding themselves with the Flash Jutsu. Ryuun reeled back his blade then swung it with such force that the crescent-slash completely wiped out every clone there.

As the dust cleared, Ryuun found that Iroko was no longer there. He searched wildly for him but it was all in vain when he heard the ground beneath crumble and Iroko shot out from under with a vicious uppercut.

Right now, with Asami out and Princess Hotaru trying to heal her, I'm our best chance at survival. I CAN'T ALLOW MYSELF TO FAIL.

Suddenly, Ryuun, almost immediately, recomposed himself, grabbed Iroko by the head and drove him down into the ground.

"DIE!!!!" he shrieked, shoving his sword down at Iroko's head.

The young ninja dodged it just in the nick of time, then kicking Ryuun in the stomach and neck and in the face, propelling himself away from him. He rolled himself back upright and, without a need to catch his breath, ran straight at Ryuun while he was still dazed from his flurry of kicks.

But was not so dazed that he still couldn't throw crescent attacks. Iroko darted back and forth, left to right, dodging them as he tried to reach Ryuun. But one attack he evaded by a hair left a deep slash in his lower abdomen.

Keep pushing!

Ryuun let out a battle-cry as he released a giant slash that encompassed the whole area.

Damn!! If I don't take that...!

He looked back at Asami and Hotaru for a second then proceeded to let the slash him whole, throwing him back over his feet.

Asami and Hotaru looked on in anticipated anxiety.

Ryuun grinned in satisfaction. "Now--what the--?!"

But Iroko had gotten back up and started sprinting at him again.

"What the hell? How are you still standing?!"

Iroko leapt at him with two kunai in hand, one of them he threw at him with Chakra Flow to which Ryuun dodged.

The two exchanged blows with their weapons for a moment but ultimately Ryuun's skills overpowered Iroko and the Swordsman drop kicked him after disarming him.

But still, Iroko got back up and continued to engage Ryuun in close combat, even still with enough energy to avoid his slashes.

"You little s$#t!!" Ryuun shouted in anger ."What's keeping you going, huh?! If it's that crap about bonds--"

"It's more than that!! I made a promise to myself! A promise I intend to keep no matter what!!!"

"A promise, yeah?! And what's that?!"

"I guess you could call it my ninja way!!" Iroko replied, delivering a sweeping kick--

That Ryuun dodged and in that moment, brought his sword straight through Iroko, too tired to dodge it.

Asami's eyes widened. Hotaru screamed: "IROKO, NO!!!!"

"A ninja way?" Ryuun smirked, sinking the blade deeper into him. "Heh. Just another false ideal."

However, Iroko's now apparent corpse had exploded into smoke and vanished.

"No, it's not," a voice echoed.

Everyone was dumbstruck.

"A shadow clone?!?!" Ryuun muttered. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!! NO SHADOW CLONE CAN TAKE THAT MANY HITS AND LAST FOR THAT LONG!!!"

"That's cos I put almost all the chakra I had into it!!" came the voice again.

"DAMN YOU!!!!" Ryuun roared, his sword bursting at the seams with purple energy in every which direction.

Hotaru quickly picked up Asami and bolted away from them.

And from the thickness of the smoke, without making a sound, emerged Iroko and a clone, his right fist was glowing with teal-coloured chakra, turning his hand almost golden in colour.

"I promised myself that I would never give up, no matter what..."

The clone sped forth with the Flash Jutsu at such speed that it was difficult to track with the eye...

"... because if I do give up, then I'll miss the moment..."

...and at point-blank range flung the real Iroko at Ryuun, taking all the momentum with him, the clone disappearing.

"...WHEN I FINALLY WIN!!!!"

Ryuun only saw Iroko the moment he devastatingly landed the chakra-filled punch into his face.

"THAT'S MY NINJA WAY!!!!!"