Crater City, it had been a long time since Manzo had walked down the streets of this part of the village. It was not the most pleasant place to be, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t spend time walking its streets.
There was a time in his life when he spent quite a bit of time here, hunting down the criminals that were his clan. Sure there were a few good amongst the clan but they were the exception to the rule and mostly non shinobi. The shinobi of his clan had developed a self importance and entitlement. They were the elite and all others should have to die before them. It disgusted Manzo. It disgusted him so much that he had not identified with the Taranatsu clan in many years. It disgusted him so much he had made it his personal mission to hunt down and eradicate the criminals.
When he was an ANBU Captain he had personally added many of their names and faces to the bingo book, not caring if he brought them to justice or if others did.
He smiled as he looked around the streets. It may not be the best area but it did have personality. He had been invited to stay with his Sennin but he really needed to find a place of his own. Perhaps he would be better off staying down here, though the commute would be.
Before he could finish his thought he was engulfed in a fireball. Without thinking his body reacted jumping back out of the fire as his nerve ending screamed at him. Though despite jumping out of the fire his pain addled brain was slowly realizing that the flames were still on him and, much to his horror, they were black
Crap, someone means business
He scanned the scene as he compartmelized the pain, he had to find his attacker. As he looked a poof of smoke appeared next to him and his friend Sluggy appeared. Sluggy was a three foot tall slug that dressed like a samurai and always seemed to have drool coming out of his mouth.
”Manzo what happened I could feel your pain … oh. It is going to be one of those days, let me heal you.” He had not done a proper summon of Sluggy so there was a limited amount of time that he could stay but fortunately Sluggy was an accomplished healer.
As Sluggy laid his hands on Manzo, Manzo himself started to glow with the healing chakra, extinguishing the flames. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that people were running away. A fight between shinobi was not unheard of and no one wanted to be caught in the middle. After all no one knew how much destruction was about to befall.
As soon as the healing jutsu finished, Sluggy vanished into a cloud of smoke.
”Traitor” the voice sounded as if it were a whisper, yet came from all around him. He suspected that it was some kind of genjutsu, or perhaps a sound jutsu but took caution as the better part of valor he used cancel on himself. Strangely he noticed that his nerve endings were no longer on fire. As if the black flames were not enough of a give away, he was dealing with a skilled Sharingan user.
”Oh, and what is my crime?“ He asked the disembodied voice, stalling for time. He needed to be still while he prepared.
”He offered you a place in the clan’s business, and you took upon yourself to burn that business to the ground. You are the great killer of our once mighty clan. You turned your back on your clan and for that you will burn.” A figure stepped out from the shadows. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were dirty. She looked like a vagabond off the street.
”I HAD IT ALL” she shrieked ”NOW LOOK at me”. Her eyes burned with anger behind the unmistakable Mangekyou Sharingan.
It seemed that looking at her was not what she really wanted because as she said that her hands flashed and a huge ball of white hot flames came streaking down at Manzo.
He started at the ball for a second unable to do anything. He was too far gone into his own defense to turn back now. He could only hope that he was able to transform before the white hot fireball hit.
As he watched, red lines began to draw themselves over his face and exposed skin, they overlapped forming complex knotwork. Horns began to grow out of his head. He had been drawing upon his connection to the Youkai as he entered sage mode, thinking he needed the cursed chakra more than the holy chakra for this fight.
As he felt his chakra pool becoming polluted with the cursed energy he smiled and looked away from the incoming doom. Looking at the vagabond that must be a member of the Taranstu clan, he smiled at her as he seemed to seem to drain the power out of the fireball and absorb it.
”I am no traitor. My loyalties lie with that of my village and my home as they always have. Not to a bunch of criminals. My cousin Atsushi scared me for life“ he waved his hand over the left side of his body, indicating his burn scars. ”And left me for dead. But I did not hold that against him. I did not seek vengeance against him for that. I hunted him down like the dog that he is because he, and you, are the traitors. You are the criminals that hunted down children and harvested their eyes for profit and power. You are the criminals that fought against your village.“ As he spoke his hands flashed in hand signs. Monologuing was fine but never stopped casting jutsus in a fight.
A cloud of smoke appeared next to Manzo and as it dissipated Hannya appeared next to him. She took in the scene before them and smiled ”How sweet of you Manzo, you asked me to come have fun with you.”
His Sharingan wielding opponent gave a wicked smile as she saw Hannya appear. ”So you like two on one odds? Very well Traitor we shall play it your way.” Her pupils spinned as she looked at Hannya. Then she simply said ”Well attack”. And with that Hannya turned, pulled off her whip and began to attach Manzo.
How could he have been so stupid? Had it been so long that he had grown complacent. He had seen the black flames and knew that she had the power of the sun and had just assumed that she did not have any other powers but he had fought enough of his kin to know that they sought after the Eternal Sharrigan. She had the power of the moon as well, and Manzo had just given her another weapon to use against him.
As he attempted to dodge the attacks from Hannya and the scorch jutsu from his real opponent he could feel the Genjustu taking hold upon him. He could do nothing against them at the moment. If they were what he thought they were he would not be able to cancel them out of hand. Hannya was a powerful Genjutsu user and he was sure Tarantsu Vagabond was as well.
As he got his bearrnings he drew upon his connection to the Youkai and brought forth a cloud of miasma to cloak him. It would help protect him against the things that were coming. With a glance he performed a Body Bind Jutsu on Hannya. He needed her out of the way while he dealt with his attacker. He could have done worse to her but he did not want to injure her and this was far quicker. He could only assume that the control she had over Hannya was only temporary. Any other thought was just too horrible for him to contemplate.
With Hannya bound, albeit temporarily, he focused his attention on his true attacker. Quickly he looked around, his attention was split for the moment as he took in his surroundings. He could see his Sharingan wielding opponent was doing a good job of destroying buildings and the civilians were getting out of the area quickly. That was good but until everyone was gone he could not fully unload on his opponent. Quickly he tried to bind her by changing a crystal jutsu into wood but it was deftly avoided.
Judging that enough people were gone his hands flashed into hand signs and a small ball appeared in the air over his head. It was so dark that light seemed to be absorbed into it, but other than that he did not seem to do anything.
With that taken care of he drew his sword and attacked. He was out of practice with the sword but until all the villagers were gone he could not waste his charka. Most of his jutsus that he specializes in did horrible things to the area around them.
Despite him being out of practice he was not a novice with the sword and he pressed the attack. But at this point in the game it was a stalemate, neither could gain the upper hand.
As Manzo saw the last of the villagers get away he smiled, the black ball in the background had steadily been getting larger, being fed by every attack made. It was then he started to enact his plan in errenst. He was a Jounin of the village and his job was to keep the villagers safe, even from himself.
Quickly he brought a giant sphere of water around them with the Supreme Aqua Realm this should keep his attacks contained. It wasn’t his favorite jutsu to contain an area but there was far too many fire jutsus being flung around to do anything else. The biggest downside was the time limit he had with it, only being able to keep it up for twenty second. He then switched his offensive to Acid jutsu, it should complement the water arena after all. He was relentless with his attacks, not letting up on them nor giving his attacker any chance to do anything else.
Then just as his arena jutsu was about to fail he jumped back to the edge of the barrier and released his sage mode with a smile on his face.
Normally when his Supreme Aqua Realm ended it would simply release the pressure causing all of the water to flow out but this time it was as if a bomb went off inside of it. The water density of the water causes excellent feedback for the shockwave inside. The dome of water could not contain the pressure and exploded outward causing all of the surrounding area to be doused in rain.
Manzo looked around at the aftermath. Hannya was gone, returning back to her realm, the immediate surroundings had been power washed clean and his attacker lay on the ground unmoving. This was not a jutsu that he like to preform, and it was one that as far as he knew only he could, but looking around he could not deny that his Gaia’s Vengeance was something of a conversation stopper. With most of the work not even done by him. Perhaps it was the Kami’s will that all the chakra from the jutsus be thrown back at his attacker.
He bent down and checked for a pulse. Not finding one he shook his head. It was a shame he had hopped to be able to get more information but for now it seemed he would just have to be more vigilant. This was a chapter of his life that he thought he had completed before he even came back to the village. That was the biggest surprise to him, not that he was attacked but that there was still remnants of his clan. He tilted his face up into the rain that he had caused and slightly wondered if his clan would ever be buried.
There was a time in his life when he spent quite a bit of time here, hunting down the criminals that were his clan. Sure there were a few good amongst the clan but they were the exception to the rule and mostly non shinobi. The shinobi of his clan had developed a self importance and entitlement. They were the elite and all others should have to die before them. It disgusted Manzo. It disgusted him so much that he had not identified with the Taranatsu clan in many years. It disgusted him so much he had made it his personal mission to hunt down and eradicate the criminals.
When he was an ANBU Captain he had personally added many of their names and faces to the bingo book, not caring if he brought them to justice or if others did.
He smiled as he looked around the streets. It may not be the best area but it did have personality. He had been invited to stay with his Sennin but he really needed to find a place of his own. Perhaps he would be better off staying down here, though the commute would be.
Before he could finish his thought he was engulfed in a fireball. Without thinking his body reacted jumping back out of the fire as his nerve ending screamed at him. Though despite jumping out of the fire his pain addled brain was slowly realizing that the flames were still on him and, much to his horror, they were black
Crap, someone means business
He scanned the scene as he compartmelized the pain, he had to find his attacker. As he looked a poof of smoke appeared next to him and his friend Sluggy appeared. Sluggy was a three foot tall slug that dressed like a samurai and always seemed to have drool coming out of his mouth.
”Manzo what happened I could feel your pain … oh. It is going to be one of those days, let me heal you.” He had not done a proper summon of Sluggy so there was a limited amount of time that he could stay but fortunately Sluggy was an accomplished healer.
As Sluggy laid his hands on Manzo, Manzo himself started to glow with the healing chakra, extinguishing the flames. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that people were running away. A fight between shinobi was not unheard of and no one wanted to be caught in the middle. After all no one knew how much destruction was about to befall.
As soon as the healing jutsu finished, Sluggy vanished into a cloud of smoke.
”Traitor” the voice sounded as if it were a whisper, yet came from all around him. He suspected that it was some kind of genjutsu, or perhaps a sound jutsu but took caution as the better part of valor he used cancel on himself. Strangely he noticed that his nerve endings were no longer on fire. As if the black flames were not enough of a give away, he was dealing with a skilled Sharingan user.
”Oh, and what is my crime?“ He asked the disembodied voice, stalling for time. He needed to be still while he prepared.
”He offered you a place in the clan’s business, and you took upon yourself to burn that business to the ground. You are the great killer of our once mighty clan. You turned your back on your clan and for that you will burn.” A figure stepped out from the shadows. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were dirty. She looked like a vagabond off the street.
”I HAD IT ALL” she shrieked ”NOW LOOK at me”. Her eyes burned with anger behind the unmistakable Mangekyou Sharingan.
It seemed that looking at her was not what she really wanted because as she said that her hands flashed and a huge ball of white hot flames came streaking down at Manzo.
He started at the ball for a second unable to do anything. He was too far gone into his own defense to turn back now. He could only hope that he was able to transform before the white hot fireball hit.
As he watched, red lines began to draw themselves over his face and exposed skin, they overlapped forming complex knotwork. Horns began to grow out of his head. He had been drawing upon his connection to the Youkai as he entered sage mode, thinking he needed the cursed chakra more than the holy chakra for this fight.
As he felt his chakra pool becoming polluted with the cursed energy he smiled and looked away from the incoming doom. Looking at the vagabond that must be a member of the Taranstu clan, he smiled at her as he seemed to seem to drain the power out of the fireball and absorb it.
”I am no traitor. My loyalties lie with that of my village and my home as they always have. Not to a bunch of criminals. My cousin Atsushi scared me for life“ he waved his hand over the left side of his body, indicating his burn scars. ”And left me for dead. But I did not hold that against him. I did not seek vengeance against him for that. I hunted him down like the dog that he is because he, and you, are the traitors. You are the criminals that hunted down children and harvested their eyes for profit and power. You are the criminals that fought against your village.“ As he spoke his hands flashed in hand signs. Monologuing was fine but never stopped casting jutsus in a fight.
A cloud of smoke appeared next to Manzo and as it dissipated Hannya appeared next to him. She took in the scene before them and smiled ”How sweet of you Manzo, you asked me to come have fun with you.”
His Sharingan wielding opponent gave a wicked smile as she saw Hannya appear. ”So you like two on one odds? Very well Traitor we shall play it your way.” Her pupils spinned as she looked at Hannya. Then she simply said ”Well attack”. And with that Hannya turned, pulled off her whip and began to attach Manzo.
How could he have been so stupid? Had it been so long that he had grown complacent. He had seen the black flames and knew that she had the power of the sun and had just assumed that she did not have any other powers but he had fought enough of his kin to know that they sought after the Eternal Sharrigan. She had the power of the moon as well, and Manzo had just given her another weapon to use against him.
As he attempted to dodge the attacks from Hannya and the scorch jutsu from his real opponent he could feel the Genjustu taking hold upon him. He could do nothing against them at the moment. If they were what he thought they were he would not be able to cancel them out of hand. Hannya was a powerful Genjutsu user and he was sure Tarantsu Vagabond was as well.
As he got his bearrnings he drew upon his connection to the Youkai and brought forth a cloud of miasma to cloak him. It would help protect him against the things that were coming. With a glance he performed a Body Bind Jutsu on Hannya. He needed her out of the way while he dealt with his attacker. He could have done worse to her but he did not want to injure her and this was far quicker. He could only assume that the control she had over Hannya was only temporary. Any other thought was just too horrible for him to contemplate.
With Hannya bound, albeit temporarily, he focused his attention on his true attacker. Quickly he looked around, his attention was split for the moment as he took in his surroundings. He could see his Sharingan wielding opponent was doing a good job of destroying buildings and the civilians were getting out of the area quickly. That was good but until everyone was gone he could not fully unload on his opponent. Quickly he tried to bind her by changing a crystal jutsu into wood but it was deftly avoided.
Judging that enough people were gone his hands flashed into hand signs and a small ball appeared in the air over his head. It was so dark that light seemed to be absorbed into it, but other than that he did not seem to do anything.
With that taken care of he drew his sword and attacked. He was out of practice with the sword but until all the villagers were gone he could not waste his charka. Most of his jutsus that he specializes in did horrible things to the area around them.
Despite him being out of practice he was not a novice with the sword and he pressed the attack. But at this point in the game it was a stalemate, neither could gain the upper hand.
As Manzo saw the last of the villagers get away he smiled, the black ball in the background had steadily been getting larger, being fed by every attack made. It was then he started to enact his plan in errenst. He was a Jounin of the village and his job was to keep the villagers safe, even from himself.
Quickly he brought a giant sphere of water around them with the Supreme Aqua Realm this should keep his attacks contained. It wasn’t his favorite jutsu to contain an area but there was far too many fire jutsus being flung around to do anything else. The biggest downside was the time limit he had with it, only being able to keep it up for twenty second. He then switched his offensive to Acid jutsu, it should complement the water arena after all. He was relentless with his attacks, not letting up on them nor giving his attacker any chance to do anything else.
Then just as his arena jutsu was about to fail he jumped back to the edge of the barrier and released his sage mode with a smile on his face.
Normally when his Supreme Aqua Realm ended it would simply release the pressure causing all of the water to flow out but this time it was as if a bomb went off inside of it. The water density of the water causes excellent feedback for the shockwave inside. The dome of water could not contain the pressure and exploded outward causing all of the surrounding area to be doused in rain.
Manzo looked around at the aftermath. Hannya was gone, returning back to her realm, the immediate surroundings had been power washed clean and his attacker lay on the ground unmoving. This was not a jutsu that he like to preform, and it was one that as far as he knew only he could, but looking around he could not deny that his Gaia’s Vengeance was something of a conversation stopper. With most of the work not even done by him. Perhaps it was the Kami’s will that all the chakra from the jutsus be thrown back at his attacker.
He bent down and checked for a pulse. Not finding one he shook his head. It was a shame he had hopped to be able to get more information but for now it seemed he would just have to be more vigilant. This was a chapter of his life that he thought he had completed before he even came back to the village. That was the biggest surprise to him, not that he was attacked but that there was still remnants of his clan. He tilted his face up into the rain that he had caused and slightly wondered if his clan would ever be buried.
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