A figure rose from the water running in a small ditch alongside the walkway of the courtyard. It took on a human form, seeming to hesitate for a moment as it turned a featureless face towards Senmitsu and the young girl. Then, quite like she was walking out of a doorway, the cut of a young woman appeared wearing casual civilian clothing. Her skin was a dark brown color, with a prominent nose and white hair. Despite how she had approached, she was bone dry. She brushed off her sleeve from a few lingering water droplets and then walked to stand between the Flame and the girl.
"I didn’t think I’d see the Water Lord’s personal weaponsmith in Kirigakure after he bungled that blockade so bad." Esumi leveled a cold gaze at the Flame before nodding away the girl and her dog. "Do you have authorization to be in the village, or are you just as lost as the girl?"
“Authorization?” Senmitsu turned away from the intruder as his eyes turned towards the horizon. Briefly, his eyes fell on the woman’s MLEA badge on her shinobi vest. Then he ignored it. “I know you inbred backwater Kirigakure drunkards have a hard time understanding chain of command, but...”
“If you said that to any Swordsman but me, you’d be about a head shorter right now.” His finger idly flicked against the hilt of his sword. Tiny sparks came out each time the steel grated against the sheath. "You are lucky that the Water Lord prefers that we not slaughter his dogs when possible.” He stopped flicking, listened, and shrugged.
“I don’t care what your current mission is. I, Konkaji Senmitsu, the Flame of the Seven Swordsman, am ordering you to go home.” His grip tightened and his pupils, very briefly, focused on the unwanted woman .
“Or refuse. It doesn’t matter. Fuel for the fire either way.”
"Who are you calling a dog?" Esumi tilted her head back and sniffed at him. Nothing about her gave the impression of fear. "Aren't you a traitor to your own land, snapping your little fang at the behest of a bigger man?"
No immediate verbal or physical response came from Senmitsu. Rather, if there was any emotion that crossed his face, it was one of annoyed confusion.
“Consider this your only warning.” With one quick twist of his wrist, a single bright spark shot out from Senmitsu’s sword as he drew it out only a fraction of an inch. The spark zipped right towards the woman like an angry wasp.
“Disobey and I’ll burn this whole place down.”
Stage Six Blade of the Life Spark
Spark Strength- As the blade drags along the ground now, the bright sparks created are enough to burn through materials like a welding torch.
Esumi snatched the spark out of the air with one hand. It sizzled as her fist wrapped around it, and then her hand caught alight.
The voice that came out from behind the fist didn’t sound feminine at all. It sounded like the voice from a recovering alcoholic.
"Damn."
There was a poof of smoke as the veil came undone, and Gushiken Ren stood before Senmitsu, lightly patting his bandaged hand against his hip to smush out the smoldering flame brought on by the spark.
Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)
Requirements: Control 3, Intelligence 2
Description: Using this technique, a shinobi is able to alter their appearance to look like another person. This jutsu creates a kind of chakra shell around the user, which warps light to create a semi-solid illusion. Henge allows a shinobi solely to appear like other people and mimic their voice, but nothing else. The chakra shell holding the illusion together is fragile and immediately dissipates if the user enters combat.
"Was kinda enjoying that one," He admitted. "So much for keeping you distracted long enough to figure out how to kill you."
His one bloodshot eye peered down at the blackened gauze around his palm. The spark of life still sizzled at his feet. He was clad in a large coat cut in a naval officer's design, over a patient's robe, over what appeared to be scalp to toe bandages and casts. One arm was still tucked into his chest, tightly bound. The other didn't look much better.
"So what is it, huh? I'm on bed leave. An' I don't have your little toy, either." He lowered the tilt of his head to eye Senmitsu dead on. "But I ain't letting you use me as no excuse to go rampaging, either."
Genuine surprise crossed Senmitsu’s unshaven face. Not quite a smile, no, but something more sincere than the passive indifference he’d been wearing.
“I know the ‘toy’ isn’t here. I’m the one who made it.” As if he viewed Ren as no threat at all, he took both his hands off his sword to delicately crack his knuckles through the heavy metal gauntlets that covered his fingers. “That’s the only way I found you- I felt my child come here. A true Konkaji blacksmith never forgets their creations. I can’t abandon my offspring.”
Senmitsu began to move and circle Ren. Not like an assassin looking for an opening, but more like someone taking a casual stroll. “When you and I fought, when my creation touched you, I felt...” He inhaled, as if taking in some scent. “A memory came back to me. As if-”
“-as if it wasn’t the first time you met my sword.” In one fluid motion he drew his jet-black blade, though he stood too far away to make any attack with it. Instead, using his gauntlet, he gave it a single, sparkless flick. “I no longer care about the Water Lord’s squabbles. Once I finish my business, I intend to leave this backwards, rural country. You’ve given me a new appreciation for life, Gushiken Ren.”
“Because when you hurt me, I remembered how you sent me to hell.”
He held the razor edge of his Void up at eye level, as if peering across it at his target’s face would reveal something he couldn’t otherwise see. “That’s funny, isn’t it? You’re obviously weaker than me. Slower. Dumber. But I can’t quell this terror in my heart. Like letting you live is akin to slitting my own wrists. I can’t bear it. It's burning me up inside.”
His circling came to a stop, as did his speech. Senmitsu’s face remained still, but his eyes stayed distant, as if he was straining to recall a half forgotten dream.
“Well aren’t we just a cute pair,” Ren wheezed through his bandaged face wrapping. “I can’t seem to get you outta my head, either. Ever since then I’ve only known two things.”
He held up the blackened bandaged hand with one raised finger. “One, I gotta clean up my life. That’s a work in progress.”
With effort, he shrugged to gesture at his body. Then he raised a second finger. “Two, if I don’t beat you fair ‘n’ square...somethin’ bad will happen.”
He shook his head and then let out a rattled sigh. “But you’re right. I ain’t as strong as you, ain’t as clever. Hell, I ain’t even as passionate as you. You got muscles I didn’t even know people put muscles, and I’ve gutted my fair share to check.”
Ren rested his free hand atop his rigidly casted one. “So is this it? You wanna cut me down now?”
Underneath his wrappings, he was most certainly smiling.
The fire in Senmitsu's eyes simmered as he watched Ren stand his ground. His steel gauntlets bit around the edges of his sword and squeezed as he gripped the blade by the hilt.
“My apologies if I fail to kill you in one strike and cause any undue suffering. I am a bit tired.” Slowly he raked his gauntlet across his weapon. As it did so deeply colored flame erupted from one side like a firework. Every inch of blade that sliced across the metal armor emerged bright enough to light up the night as it spat out a myriad of chaotic orange sparks. “I haven't slept a wink since we last fought. As long as you breathe, I'm convinced I won't wake up alive if I let my guard down for even a second.”
Yousetsutou (Welder's Knife)
Jutsu Requirements: Power=10, Reserves=10, Tactics=8
Jutsu Description: A chosen weapon begins to glow red hot, and becomes capable of causing significant burns to the flesh it touches. Any source of mundane metal which remains in contact with the weapon for one post also melts, and becomes absorbed into the original weapon. The user may vaporize any weapon in their own inventory and cause the sparks to fuse with the chosen active weapon, granting their next attack with that weapon 1 Level of Strength.
The black metal of his blade, when fully lit, spat and sizzled with heat like the bright end of a cigarette. He held it briefly to his side, again his eyes lost in a struggle to recall some untouchable memory. He shook his head, and readied his weapon.
There was a swift change in the direction of the breeze. With one incredible charge forward, Senmitsu struck. He swung his blade in a low arc, catching the ground below with its flatted tip as he sliced through the earth and left an orange flaming trail in his wake. When he pulled the blade up towards Ren, the sparks sprayed out from the sharpened edge in a wide cloud, almost like the spiral arm of a galaxy. There was no finesse in this move- true to his word, Senmitsu seemed intent on simply cleaving Ren with one powerful blow.
“Aw, shit!”
Ren had hoped, somehow, that he had cowed Senmitsu into delaying their battle to the death. He slumped backwards, tripping on his medical gown, and fell with a solid thump against the courtyard just as the spiraling blaze of sparks tore straight up his torso. His eye flashed as he realized the sparks cut his cast away, rendering his arm free. He flipped his wrists and palms up against the ground near his head, pushed off the ground with a springing handstand, and flipped back to his feet.
His wrist, arm, and shoulder of his damaged side felt tight and hot from the effort, but they had stayed in one piece.
After he finished the last hand seal, he jerked both bandaged hands across each other, his right hand pointed to the left and left hand pointed to the right. Six fuuma shuriken – three on each side of the courtyard – erupted from the ditches with a clumsy splash. As they soared through the air, Ren flinched from pain, and they lost most of their shape, but maintained course.
Name: Suiton: Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu (Water Element: Water Shuriken Technique)
Requirements: Power 6, Control 6, Intelligence 4
Description: Multiple small projectiles are created from any water source in eyesight of the user. These projectiles launch themselves towards one or multiple targets. Upon collision, these projectiles revert to water. Any projectile in a shinobi kit may be created and launched. A number of projectiles equal to twice the number of Stage known in this list may be formed per usage.
The first attack launched by Senmitsu failed to decisively end the battle, which seemed to slightly agitate him. If the Jellyfish was anything, he was slippery! Rather than pursue Senmitsu flung his blade into the ground at his feet as if throwing a tantrum. The water projectiles soared towards his position on every flank, apart from one.
Senmitsu set the sole of his foot upon his sword, then leapt into the air. The shuriken soared under him as he rose up to a ridiculous height, as if he weighed only a fraction of his sizable bulk. At the apex of this climb he threw his hands up and with a bright flash of light his sword dematerialized, reappearing in his hand in an instant.
Seisei-ken (Summon Blade)
Jutsu Requirements: Reserves=3, Willpower=2
Jutsu Description: This is the ability to return the Konken to its owner. Whereever the weapon currently is it seems to turn a bright white then phases out of existence and phases back in the owner's hands. The Konkaji can use their attunement to weapon design to form an immediate link with any weapon that isn’t currently in the possession of another target. After forming the hand seals, they may summon any weapon (1 point or higher) that is within eyesight to their hands, so long as that weapon is out of arm's reach of any hostile target. This grants the weapon the recall modifier for that post. The weapon will also temporarily glow prior to being summoned.
He glanced down like a hawk picking out his prey. Again his sword began to glow, this time with enough shine to blot him out entirely in the night sky as if he held a burning sun. With one thrust he released his weapon and it plummeted down back to earth as if it were a cataclysmic meteor.
The immense thundering sound of the blast immediately woke up anyone in the area, and accompanied with the light show it was almost as if the dawn had come early.
Stage Five
Gougoukai (Thunderous Release)
Jutsu Requirements: Power=17, Reserves=16, Control=16, Willpower=15, Seisei-ken
Jutsu Description: The weapon is pointed, and then explodes off in the direction pointed with a noise resembling cannon fire in volume. The weapon then travels up to 90 meters with the force of a blow with strength equal to the 35 strength and penetrates Stage 5 defensive ninjutsu and below. The force of the landing has been known to leave small craters for stronger ninjutsu users and the attack is said to travel at a speed rivaling even the greatest projectile specialist's throws.
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The glowing sword of Senmitsu gave Ren only seconds to react. But there it was...that technique!
Ren grimaced as he started to leap backwards out of reflex more than anything. But he could feel the thunder in his bones as chakra surged around the Flame and his weapon. This terrible technique before, back out on that open sea, nearly evaporated him through several dozen feet of water. Now, he could see it one on one, Senmitsu’s powerful body soaring through the air like he was flying, the careful arm of his technique as he drew back to thrust...!
The feint ability Ren relied on to slip away from most confrontations couldn’t be used without a proper sword. His bones still ached too much and his stitches were too fresh to rely on any of the ninjutsu that put such heavy strain on his body. There were too few options and none of them seemed to end in anything other than him as a smoldering pile of slag.
He’d have to risk clashing jutsu with the Falem. Just before the blade collided with him, Ren’s hands molded the chakra necessary. Senmitsu’s blade collided with the walkway in the courtyard, and sent tiles and broken debris shuttering and shattering into the air like a ripple on water, tremendous power coursing through the earth as easily as a liquid. A spiral of earth with the steady undulating imprints of waves of energy cascaded out in every direction, bordered by a near perfect circle of the accumulated walkway tiles. One of the closer buildings flickered with the surge of energy, lights all going full bright for a moment before exploding.
The heat faded, but the dust from the explosion lingered in the air. Not quite a hidden mist, but enough of a cloak to prevent the Senmitsu from seeing below him as he fell down from the apex of his jump. The tattoos around his body glowed as his gauntlet snapped, and he resummoned his sword back to this hand.
As soon as the blade reformed in his palm, a bolt of lightning erupted from its razor edge. Ren exploded up into the air after Senmitsu’s falling form, already forming a second set of seals.
“Thanks for the ride!”
Raiton: Denki no Henkan (Lightning Release: Electrical Transformation)
Requirements: Power 10, Control 10, Intelligence 8
Denki no Henkan allows the user to momentarily abandon their physical form to become electricity. They can move along conductive surfaces at a rate equal to their speed, even when such a route would not normally attract electricity, making light sparks and emitting a smell of ozone that can tip off that something is off. The user remains aware of the area around them within five feet, even while transformed and can leap to any metal object they can sense and have a clear shot too. Some shinobi have been known to use this as a method to trace power lines or move secretly by affixing themselves to a metal object in order to avoid suspicion. They can be forced out by violence or by being drenched in water.
The only thing that survived the Konkaji Gougoukai was, of course, the blade launched to initiate it. Even while Ren fell, a massive cut where the sword stabbed him before exploding still smoked with residual heat. There had been no escape from the blast so instead Ren leapt INTO the sword, intercepting it before it could impact, and merging within it using his raiton. The risk was immense- when two ninjutsu interacted, there was no telling who would come out on top. This time Ren’s ability managed to hold him inside the conductive metal of the blade and protect him, at considerable cost.
His next set of hand seals were even shakier than the first. As the chakra disappeared in to the air, he clutched left hand, and around it formed a liquid blade. It wasn’t much to look at, being almost entirely formed from his own nasty internal moisture and being mixed with not a small amount of his blood, but it was enough to try and pull a fast one on Senmitsu.
Name: Mizu no Yaiba (Water Sword)
Requirements: Power 8, Control 8, Reserves 6
Description: Creates a weapon with no modifiers costing no more than 3 points out of water. The weapon is translucent and possesses the Obscured modifier. The weapon can be used for a single basic attack or defense before falling apart, but can be reformed without needing hand seals in the next post if another usage is consumed.
Unfortunately the strain of molding chakra meant his illusion trick would be delayed slightly- but surely Senmitsu couldn’t fire off two of those enormous explosions one after the other!
Still falling, Senmitsu rotated his sword around to meet Gushiken Ren’s. The Void, his konken, didn’t stay blackened for long as he drew it again against his gauntlets and shed copious amounts of blinding sparks around his body. Not only that, but as he did so, his body seemed to fall even faster- as though he suddenly weighed significantly more.
At the last possible moment as he accelerated towards the earth he swung his sword in one massive arc. Despite his claimed fear, Senmitsu seemed imminently confident in his ability to outmatch Ren one and one. And why wouldn’t he? What fool would challenge a Swordsman with such a flimsy liquid blade?
Like two birds diving past each other, Senmitsu and Ren exchanged exactly one moment together as their paths crossed. The sparks of Senmitsu’s blade exploded outward and rained down like a fountain as he landed on the soft earth with a thunderous thud. His added weight shuddered through the earth as he bent his knees and his mind caught up to what his body felt.
The sweltering heat of his attack sizzled on the wet grass. If any of Ren’s blood ended up on his sword, it wouldn’t have been visible anyway owing to the boiling temperature it still hummed with. Senmitsu couldn’t be sure of much except one thing.
His bandana fell down in two halves. Across his forehead he felt not warm beads of sweat, but the pulsating heat that only came from inside. Blood was running down his face. Ren had cut the Flame.
...but not killed him.
Ren’s blade disappeared from between his hands as a sudden steamy vapor and a splash of water. He stood with his back to the Flame, both fists still near his hip at the end of his swipe.
Without a real sword...
He gagged and choked as blood erupted from his torso, the fine line where the enemy blade had slashed right through his gown and bandages, biting into his already scarred flesh. The blood splattered out all at once, like it had been held in via sheer willpower alone. Ren wretched and sucked in air through tired lungs.
Then he started to lean back with a cackling, broken laugh, punctuated by shocks of pain. He continued to lean back until his spine was fully curved and he was looking at Senmitsu’s back, albeit upside down, with his one blood-shot eye. His own blood was splattered all over his bandages on his face, but he was laughing.
He raised one arm to point accusingly at Senmitsu, legs spread wide to keep him from toppling over onto his back.
“Without even a real sword- -”
His body shook, either in pain or mocking joy,
“Without even a real sword, I cut you. An’ even with all that brute strength...”
He finally started to fall back -
“You can’t keep me dead, ahahaha!”
Stage Three
Requirements: 10 Willpower, 10 Tactics, 8 Speed
Stage Bonus: +3 Speed
Now with experience of their own using the feint ability, as well as more training in the ways of genjutsu, the person in question can alter their location and the location of their weapon (still must be in hand), by eight inches.
With one open palm he wiped the blood down his face, as he didn’t trust his own eyes. After rubbing it between his fingers he stood up straight and held his palm out to let the liquid drip from his hand. He wore the smile of a lottery winner. His feint, executed at the last possible moment, caused Senmitsu to miss...technically. Another massive wound joined his others across his chest, and it was taking all his drugged up strength to remain standing on two legs. Another altercation would one hundred percent kill him. Failing to end Senmitsu there should have been a moment of absolute despair.
Yet Ren smiled. He smiled, because the feeling was familiar to him. In the same way, Senmitsu’s face grew sour as he too began to recall the experience.
“I remember this. I remember it.” Senmitsu put his bloodied hand on the hilt of his sword again, and turned towards the contorted Ren. “I shouldn’t remember it, because it never happened. This isn’t a genjutsu. I know it happened. You did kill me. It was definitely you.” His last proclamation was punctuated by his feet tearing up the soil behind him. His sword once again scraped and sparked against the earth as he charged towards his target, eyes gleaming with the certainty and confidence of an expert swordsman. His red hot blade distorted the air around him as he swung it, in a wide arc, at the target he so desperately wanted dead.
“But I refuse to let it happen again!”
There was a loud clang and another shower of sparks. This time, though, rather than throwing off a million burning suns like a dying galaxy, Senmitsu’s strike fizzled and hissed as a large amount of moisture quenched the flames. His cold sword slammed down not onto Ren’s vulnerable flesh, but onto a cheap looking sword held by a rather crispy looking gentleman wrapped in the same bandages as Ren.
”So,” a wizened voice croaked out from under the wrappings. Between the gauze could be seen tufts of burnt and frazzled gray hair, the results of an unpleasant and recent electrocution. ”You’re the scoundrel who threatened my granddaughter? What confidence you have for somebody armed with little more than a fancy firework!”
Senmitsu kept pressing down with his blade, which bit into the metal of man’s sword. Even as he threatened to destroy the weapon entirely he could feel the strength behind the weapon growing stronger. “Oh, it’s you.” Senmitsu pushed back hard enough to drive the man’s heels into the earth. “The one they used to call Razorfin Dazai. Didn’t the Jellyfish put you down for good?”
”I was supposed to kill that man behind me if he tried to escape.” Dazai looked up and gave a furrowed scowl as his veins popped and steam began to rise off his body. ”But I won’t abide monsters in my sight! Prepare yourself!”
It only took a bit more effort from Senmitsu to drive his Void across Dazai’s flimsy blade. In one swift motion he cut the flimsy katana in two. The action caused a shower of sparks to erupt and Senmitsu withdrew his glowing sword quickly in order to just as rapidly plunge it into the chest of the equally as weak looking Dazai.
But as before, when his glowing sword swung forward, a swirl of jaw-shaped water erupted around the hands of his target. Weathered wrinkled hands snapped around the steel Senmitsu’s Soul Forged weapon and like a candle snuffing out a flame the water around Dazai’s hands extinguished the Flame’s sparks. Not only that but the man’s grip with his bare fingers was incredible- more like the locked jaw of a beast than the delicate squeeze of a man.
Name: Jaws of Death: Samegawa (Sharkskin)
Description: Water is drawn across the surface of the body and the weapon, soaking both. While coated in this literal wet suit, the user can move as easily through water as if it weren’t there, granting them immense mobility. The suit also acts as a breathing unit to filter oxygen through the air. Any technique requiring water can be used from the suit without requiring any additional usages to generate the needed amount, which does not affect the suit. Being hit by any ninjutsu attack dispels this technique, or being hit with any attack of Stage Five or greater. The suit provides no defenses when struck by weaker attacks, but does stay intact.
”What’s the matter, you big showoff?” Dazai bared his teeth as he used both his bare hands to claw Senmitsu’s sword upwards. ”Upset because Kirigakure’s Jaws of Death is a perfect counter to your little sparkler sword? Don’t underestimate Mist shinobi!”
If it bothered Senmitsu his bleeding face didn’t show it. Instead he simply let go of his sword, which Dazai immediately tossed aside. Another snap of Senmitsu’s fingers brought the sword back to his fingertips but just as quickly Dazai was atop him, his raking claws and burning eyes swiping at the man with the fury of an enraged animal. In the span of a few short seconds the few clashed dozens of times. Senmitsu’s blade would parry and flare into life, and Dazai’s fists would throw waves of shark-shaped water to suffocate the heat before it could consume anything. Then, with one final attempt, Senmitsu drew too close to Dazai and the man caught the swordsman in both his hands; one on his throat, and the other on the hilt of the Void.
”Impressive you can still keep your Gates open that long, old man.” Senmitsu’s attitude seemed unchanged, almost like he was uninterested in this fight to the death.
”I needed a good end to my career.” Dazai’s words came out as shouts, unintentionally. So much chakra pulsed through his chest he didn’t seem capable of operating on anything but full volume. “I think I’ll keep your sword near my hearth, though a book of matches would be far more useful.”
”Do you know how much a human body is worth?”
”Eh? Babbling nonsense because you lost?”
”It’s worth nothing. Zero. Even a simple dagger has more value.”
”If those are your last words, then so be it-”
Like the dropping of an anchor, Dazai collapsed into the ground. He couldn’t even reply as an invisible, massive foot seemed to stomp on him from below. No sound, no blue aura of chakra, no hint at all where the force that smashed him came from. The only clue anything happened at all was from the sickening cracking of Dazai’s bones as Senmitsu stared down with disinterest. ”You hit my sword, hm, maybe a hundred times. Your bones are artificial, aren’t they? Abused the Gates too much in your youth, as shinobi typically do. It was a lot of weight to carry, old man. Seems like I carried it better than you.”
Konken: Void
An oddity amongst the soulblades of the Konkaji, the Void is a straightforward razorblade without a tip. It's a rectangle of blackened metal with a sharpened, bright silver edge welded to a handle (four feet from end to end), and although its overall simplicity and lack of design makes it look mundane, one would find out several interesting facts about it after seeing it in action:
1) The sword is surprisingly heavy and carries a decent amount of weight to it.
2) When any item comes into contact with the Void, the Void "absorbs" a third of its weight.
3) The Void can shed its excess weight (as decided by Senmitsu) gained into the next non-animal it comes into contact with.
Dazai’s arms ripped up off the ground as he tried to lunge at Senmitsu’s ankles, but as he did so the weight simply tore the limbs apart mere inches off the ground. There was no flash of sparks this time as Senmitsu simply whipped his blade forward and removed any chance the retired shinobi had to a counter attack. In less than a second Senmitsu plunged his sword right into the pounding heart of Dazai, tore it free from the man’s chest, and sent the now doomed body soaring with one swift kick. His shoulders then relaxed and he took a deep exhale as the weight collected over the course of the fight by his Konken finally left his shoulders.
”Now where were we?”
The delay cost Senmitsu more than he expected. Though the fight with Dazai took only moments, enough time passed that the window of opportunity suddenly slammed shut. Shouting came up from the attendant’s office, not just from one person but many. It wasn’t the panicked shouting of a resident suddenly discovering a crime scene- it was the commanding voice of a soldier recognizing an enemy.
”Create a perimeter! The culprit is still nearby, protect the patients-”
”Damn it.” Senmitsu hissed as suddenly dark poofs of smoke across the clinic’s rooftops announced the arrival of flak-jacketed shinobi. Since his sword’s fire was still dampened by the water Dazai threw around, he didn’t immediately stand out, but it would surely be seconds before the truth became revealed. ”You’ll be mine soon, Gushiken Ren. A craftsman doesn’t make the same mistake twice.” A moment later Senmitsu was gone, his tremendous speed sending him flying off into the night’s darkness with nary but a splash of water to signal his departure.
The arrival of the other Kirigakure shinobi brought numerous now very wide awake patients to their doors. The first few minutes were absolute chaos- everyone telling different stories, asking different questions, nobody really sure what had happened or who could have caused such a massacre- the distant bodies still laying out in the wet grass, for the moment, stayed undiscovered.
Ren, meanwhile, couldn’t stop smiling. “You already failed twice!”
With spit and blood Ren screamed out in the air above him, before breaking into a coughing fit as spasms took him. He yanked at the bandages on his face until he could breathe freely, regretting the cigar earlier. Every time his chest expanded to breathing in cool air the damage done to his torso and chest felt like it wanted to jump out of him, like he was swimming in broken glass. Ren squirmed in his pain, feeling obligated to experience it, as he kept sucking at air.
He couldn’t help but be conscious of Dazai’s ruined corpse a few feet away. He could smell the blood and salt, and the weird smell left behind by Senmitsu’s techniques. Was it sulfur or...something else Ren had smelt a dozen times before, in the forges of blacksmiths. Iron and the chemicals used to alloy steel. He pawed at his chest a bit, as if trying to pluck away the pain, and finally fell totally back, too exhausted to try and curl into a position that best helped him shrink away from the pain.
“Oy, Dazai...” His eye stared out through the broken soil up towards the sky, quickly clouding over with the regular mist. “That grandkid … an’ your son.”
Someone shouted to the rest, and the crowd started to converge on the pair of bodies strewn in the carnage, the wake of Flame’s rage.
“I’ll...look out for ‘em. Rite of blood. I’ll take your burdens as my own. I swear it.”