The shortened breathing from Endo was clearer than ever now, and the sound of air passing through his nostrils almost reached a wheezing pitch as he kept his eyes trained on the lackadaisical Swordsman perched high above. “I’ve prepared for this eventuality, obviously. I even invented a special tool just to take him down, but I left it back in Kirigakure because...it felt unfair to use it here, yeah. The Konkaji stands no chance against me anyway, but since you’re here, what you can do is- OH FUCK!”
Without warning Senmitsu leapt off the platform. Dangling loose in his grip hung a simple blackened sword, which wasn’t in any kind of recognizable battle stance at all. Senmitsu wielded the blade more like a rolled up newspaper than an actual weapon. Endo beat a hasty retreat backwards but found there wasn’t much room on the scattered ruins of the platform to move, and hissed at the inconvenience. His gloved fingers came together and he quickly began forming a number of hand seals. “Don’t let him touch me! I need time to-”
As soon as Senmitsu landed, the rebar beneath his feet cracked and shattered as if struck by something many times his own weight. The water underneath exploded upwards in a geyser and sprayed outwards across the entire destroyed rig in a sudden deluge. It was as if a meteor landed right in the ocean, complete with steamy roils of mist blasting out at the sight of impact.
Endo coughed and sputtered as the air became dense with moisture. “The damned Iwagakure reject! Thinking he can make mist better than a Kirigakure shinobi- insulting!”. Before the airborne splash of water landed Senmitsu was up again. The floating moisture sizzled from the edge of his black blade as he swung it with an almost carefree posture, making his lack of effort clear and unmistakable. Senmitsu was not taking Endo seriously in the slightest. As the edge of the weapon cut through the air it quickly shifted colors, going from coal black to a red-orange from the heat now pulsating through it. It plunged towards Ren with an almost apathetic attitude, as if the shinobi wielding the blade expected its target to perish on the spot.
Stage Three Soul Forge
Yousetsutou (Welder's knife)
Jutsu Requirements: Power=10, Reserves=10, Tactics=8
Jutsu Description: This jutsu turns the users Konken into an exact item of destruction. The weapon begins to glow bright orange with heat, and unlike usual is actually becoming extremely hot in the user's hands. The surface becomes hot enough to cut through metals with some resistance, and things like stone or trees are easily seared through. Usually this is more useful for gaining entry into locked places, like a safe or a vault, but can be used to punish an opponent with strong burns if they manage to be struck.
“This will be over in a flash!”
Ren flipped his own massive sword to the side, holding it up like an impromptu shield – then, at least to the perspective of Senmitsu, it exploded with all the brilliant light of the high noon sun. This effect was compounded by the sheer size of Ren’s sword – enough searing light escaped to completely blind a man.
Special Technique: Blind the Devil
Description:The user holds his sword in front of him so that the side of it, not the blade, is facing the opponent, and then shouts "Flash!" At that moment, a very bright light will seem to emit from the sword, blinding the target and allowing the user to attack. For this to work, the target must be able to see the sword, although they do not have to be directly looking at it. Can only affect one target at a time.
Trigger: Vision/Sound - Sword/Shout
Duration: Immediate
That was just enough of an opening for Ren to dive to the side to avoid the man’s lunging attack, rolling on the water as if it was simply a soft gym floor. Again the buoyant web of chakra kept him skirting on the water, but rolling around on the ocean’s surface did soak his uniform. He slid the sword out in front of him once again and traced the Swordsman’s movements through the mist until he disappeared. It was a double-edged sword, this gaseous cover.
This is my home turf, no dumbass foreign shinobi is going to beat me on the water!
Ren shouldered his blade, and then slipped it back onto his back, where it clicked into place on its specially crafted holster made specifically for oversized weapons like his own. His fingers began to weave chakra into his own seals and blue light trickled between his fingers. With a slight electric cackle, five shadows coalesced out of the mist. A second later the animated smoke that made up their form took a definite shape and each matched Ren’s profile, sword and all. Shinobi bunshin, or ‘clones’ as they were sometimes called, were known mostly for their ability to distract. No professional ninja would fall for it- but Senmitsu’s clear underestimation of his opponents mean he might be particularly weak to tactics typically used by rookies!
Raiton: Dengeki Bushin (Lightning Release: Electric Shock Clone)
Requirements: Willpower 3, Reserve 3
The Lightning Clone is a weak incarnation of lightning that resembles its creation only in silhouette. It is an ethereal, insubstantial thing that glows and sparks. It is incredibly weak and incapable of surviving even the lightest of blows- but it moves at one fourth the user's speed (including bonuses) and on contact with an enemy it will disperse in a flash of electricity, quite painful. It is however useful only as a distraction and irritant.
Stage Three: 5 Clones
With a single point, Ren issued his order to the barely held together copycat images of himself. “Kill ‘em, boys!”
Both of Senmitsu’s heels dug into the water as he stopped on a dime. He twisted his head so his vision could follow Ren’s movement through the obscuring cloud of mist. His eyes looked unfocused, though, as though he really didn’t care which direction his target had fled to. It was as if he was trying to read a book but couldn’t get his eyes to focus on a page.
Senmitsu’s steaming blade ripped across the water and slammed into several pieces of rebar still sticking up out of the ground. As the razor edge raked across the iron, a swarm of blinding sparks erupted from the steel. A screech of shrieking metal on metal accompanied the wave of these incandescent particles as he swung at seemingly nothing. The swing dispatched the sparks from his blade and sent them careening vaguely in the direction Ren leapt in. Each burning spark ripped through the fog with their intense heat and the roiling wave of melted metal washed over every one of Ren’s clone like a handful of thrown sand, dispelling each one with an electric pop. The vaporized fog cut a wide angle as well, letting his dead eyes rest instantly on the chuunin. The chakra surging through his weapon was now of unmistakably higher caliber- this was no minor feat of ninja trickery. In a single strike, almost as an afterthought, Senmitsu blew through more chakra then Ren could have mustered given an entire day of preparation.
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.
However, in dispelling the bunshin all at once, their combined current surged out far stronger than each individual would have been capable of. With his feet still soaked the stinging electricity crackled and snapped around his ankles, causing him to grimace in pain and immediately jump back rather than pursue Ren further. He landed gracefully with one foot atop a crooked looking piece of bamboo, almost as if he weighed nothing. “Interesting. Pathetic, but interesting.”
“Ow! What the- don’t shock me too, dammit!” Endo screamed from somewhere out of sight, as apparently he too had been within the shocking range of the technique. Senmitsu glanced for a moment towards the fog where Endo had retreated, but seemed to regard the other jounin with little interest as he turned back to Ren. He held his blade to his side while water continued to drip off his gauntlets. It seemed as though he was waiting for something.
Hot air cut through the mist in a perfect slash, like a sunbeam cutting through a dense forest, sparks flying through like sizzling faeries. Ren’s eyes narrowed in the blast of air, and he heard his hair sizzle and flash-dry from the heat alone. He lowered his hands from the cross formation – the only paltry defense he had time to perform – and looked through the clear air between him and Senmitsu.
There was a pause. Endo was shouting, but it sounded so far away it didn’t matter – the pounding of Ren’s heart in his chest was so loud he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hear his own shouting. The last of the “faeries” sizzled out and the mist quickly swirled back to a continuous volumetric fog.
This guy’s a fucking monster. Of course, of course he was. Konkanji Senmitsu was one of the Water Lord’s Seven Swordsmen, an elite group formed specifically to reign in misbehaving Kirigakure shinobi. It was unreasonable to expect Gushiken Ren, a man so trivial as to have earned the name derogatory nickname ‘Jellyfish’ for the way he floated through life, to compare to such a beast. Konkaji Senmitsu had a history, a legacy, a reputation wider and deeper than Ren...
...well, this Ren, anyway. Staring at the man Ren saw something else, a flash of a memory of a forgotten dream. The Flame Konkaji Senmitsu, his burning sword eclipsed by...something. The man wasn’t an immortal legend. He was flesh and blood just like Ren.
And Ren had killed the Flame in some other life. He could feel it.
He just apparently couldn’t repeat what had happened in that dream.
Panicking, Ren flew through another set of hand seals and reached down to the surface of the ocean. The surface boiled, for a moment, then slowed down to a stop – practically frozen, like a perfectly flat piece of ice. Ren then took a few steps back and released his water walking technique, slipping under the water nearly silently.
The plane of water he had manipulated finalized his position, and reflected the mist and night sky.
Name: Mizukaisou Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Reflection Clone Technique)
Requirements: Power 9, Control 9, Intelligence 7
Description: A body of water is first transformed into a mirror. As soon as the mirror reflects another person, it transforms into a clone of that reflection. The clone possesses Chakra, Mental, and Physical stats equivalent to 1/3 the user's (not the reflections) stats, rounded up and including taijutsu bonuses. The Water Reflection Clone will sound and act likes the reflection unless the user commands otherwise. In addition the Water Reflection Clone possesses a small genjutsu component, allowing it to speak to the insecurities of the one it copies (up to the target to decide if this happens or not). All clones are destroyed by one solid hit.
Once under the water, Ren produced the breathing apparatus from his bag – a fairly sleek little gas-mask design, and strapped it to his face. He blew out hard the air he had left in his lungs and mouth to purge out the sea water, then gasped in a bit of air. He coughed, hard, as he breathed in a bit of water, and purged again and again until his breathing felt normal. He relaxed, and tried to calm his pounding heart. Under water, he’d have the advantage...or the Flame would get bored and turn his rampage to Endo.
Either way worked for Ren.
The sluggish form of Senmitsu emerged from the mirror, complete with the blackened sword. It drew more attention from him than he would have liked to admit. Its blank look of apathy gazed back just as dull.
“You’re getting old, boss.” It spoke with a dulcet tone very unlike the Senmitsu’s usual tedious tone. “Letting these youngsters run around you like this, what would your master think?”
“Hrm.” Senmitsu snorted. “When I see him in hell, I’ll ask-” His eyes shot open a bit more as the sound of splashing footsteps behind him. He spun around and whipped his arm out as he saw Endo’s white coat fly towards his face to block his view. At the same time Ren’s reflection clone darted forward, blade aimed right for Senmitsu’s throat.
Neither blow landed. With a snap of both his arms, one of Senmitsu’s gauntlets caught the clone by the face as he twisted to avoid its sword. The other arm, the one with an actual sword, struck out far faster than its target could respond to. The white coat of the man he impaled immediately stained red with the blood released from Senmitsu’s blade, which tore a lethal blow right into its chest cavity. Even so the body immediately began to flail and writhe like a caught worm. “Oh, ugh.” Various unsightly juices soaked through the white coat and tumbled into the ocean below as Senmitsu recognized what happened. The body wasn’t Endo at all. “A corpse, huh?”
Any explosives the doctor might have laden his puppet with didn’t get the chance to go off before Senmitsu shook it free from his weapon. With alarming speed it plummeted down into the water, sinking as fast as if it were made of lead. Something unseen transferred to the squirming corpse, causing it to weigh far more than expected. The blood dripping from the black blade splashed with significantly added force as well, as each fleck of fluid possessed more mass than seemingly possible. This too wasn’t any shinobi trick. Konkaji Senmitsu’s Flame wasn’t really what made him dangerous. It was his Konken.
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.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Wasted your weight there, old man.” The clone’s mocking tone was silenced as Senmitsu hurled the clone upwards, right into the unsuspecting Endo that was plummeting from above.
“What- AGH!” The jounin’s surprise attack was met with his own exclamation of surprise as he swung his drawn nodachi to intercept the flung clone. Of course, the skilled jounin had no trouble, no trouble at all dispatching it- but his goal hadn’t exactly been to waste his one opening on disposing of a throw-away bunshin from a chuunin!
Senmitsu easily brought his own weapon up to cross paths with Endo. Unable to attack and forced to defend, Endo could do little but watch as the Swordsman effortlessly blunted his leaping attack while only using a single arm. A shower of sparks erupted from the edge where both their weapons clashed.
Endo’s sword creaked and bent under the force. A perceptible look of panic crossed his pale face.
“That’s all, eh?” Senmitsu spoke mostly to himself as another, chakra-generated shower of sparks began cackling and sizzling from his free gauntlet. He balled it into a fist, then swung at the now defenseless Endo.
There was a shower of sparks.
The faerie-like ember glows of the Konkaji’s soul forge...and the trickling, arcing tendrils of Raiton.
It all happened faster than a thought – one moment, Senmitsu’s fist was ready to come down on Endo’s face. In the next, that same hand was pressing onto the hilt of his sword, driving it into the kidney of Gushiken Ren, behind him. Ren emerged from under the water and reversed the grip on his own sword in one smooth motion, and brought the sword back like a stabbing pick. He put all the weight of his right arm onto the pommel. Senmitsu’s strength was monstrous, positively legendary – and despite Ren’s chuunin vest being more than enough to stop a few thrown darts or knives, it didn’t have any hope for the full force of a Swordsman’s thrust.
Senmitsu’s blade was an oddity, even among the eclectic history of unique swords of the Seven Swordsmen. Despite its hungering curse, it also lacked any form of a tip. It was uniquely unsuited for thrusting, piercing attacks, and had more in common with a razor blade or a cleaver than a tool for swordsplay. Ren groaned as it thrust into the padding of his chuunin vest, splitting through the fabric and underlying chain, and split through the muscle as clean as a surgeon’s tool. Blood splattered from his mouth and his eyes lost focus. Senmitsu was simply too strong to need the leverage.
“You didn’t hear me…?” He choked. “I’m the man who’s gonna...”
Another misdirection, though not the one Senmitsu predicted. Senmitsu’s face shifted from mundane apathy to one of disgruntled pain as something bit into his back. Ren had leapt in front of the legendary Swordsman’s sword, an insane thing to do in any context, but his goal hadn’t been to counterattack at all.
Rather, a single simple kunai, thrown upwards, had descended and landed right on Senmitsu. Ren had been the bait the whole time.
Requirements: Power 4, Control 4
Collecting electricity along the edge of a weapon, whether bladed or blunt, which can be the user's own hands, and cause it to rise from the weapon in sharp, serrated edges that tear into flesh as any real ones would. They're electricity in the end, however, and when they come into contact with someone they're zapped by it, made slightly numb by the escaping charge of the weapon.
Stage Two: The electricity shoots through weapons and armor even while blocked, numbing body parts indirectly touching the weapon.
Residual electric chakra sizzled as the kunai sunk into Senmitsu’s shirtless torso, and likewise little pops and cracks of sparks rippled across Ren’s body as he tried to resist Senmitsu’s attempt to just split him open right then and there. Ren pushed further, but the effort caused him to choke up more blood. Senmitsu’s blade twisted, expertly, and then swept out in a perfect plane. Ren felt his entire left side go numb.
“Destiny said I’m gonna...be the man who’s gonna -” Ren twisted his own blade, felt the warm purchase of blood, and tried to reach up with his left arm to find leverage – but the arm didn’t want to move.
The last sparks of his raiton puttered out, and all Ren could really feel was cold. His stance was broken – and he could see Senmitsu’s blade singing in the air with all the brutal efficiency of a butcher, curling its arc like a figure eight before using all that momentum to stab back at him again.
He swore, before consciousness left him, that he could hear Endo’s mocking tone – but above all else, a screaming ringing in his ears. The smell of cheap cigarettes, the hot-wax seals of a purity ritual, a skeleton in a box…
And then nothing.
The grip of death took Ren. Claws from the abyssal hell below reached out and snatched at him like a greedy miser. He belonged with the dead now, and sank into the ocean to join the ranks of the corpses below.
In a literal sense, that is.
Senmitsu’s black blade swung through the air as it somehow missed dealing the deathblow to Ren. A vile force of darkness had reached out to snatch the chuunin’s life- or rather, his ankles, and the man was at once tugged away from harm like a cat toy being yanked away at the last moment.
“Heartwarming, isn’t it?” Endo wheezed as Senmitsu stared down at the opaque water below his feet where a couple of reanimated corpses dragged Ren to safety. The distraction gave Endo just enough time to scamper backwards, though his avenues of escape were limited to the broken pieces of the platform that were still holding together. “It’s like all his friends came back from the dead to help.”
Kinjutsu: Shikon Ichi - Forbidden Technique: Dead Soul One (Shiyrote)
Requirements: Intelligence 9, Willpower 9, Power 7
Description: The medic runs chakra into a corpse, causing it to come 'alive'. The corpse isn’t actually alive but will animate like a sluggish living person. The corpse has Physical Levels equal to the highest Stage the user knows in this list and operates independently of the medic. Corpses can be given mental instructions via touch, but have to receive vocal instructions by the medic afterwards to change their commands. A corpse can only be reanimated by this technique once, and any normally lethal blow destroys the corpse from being reanimated again. Animated corpses can last indefinitely, however they drop to Level 1 in all Physical stats if their master is more than a mile away from them.
After a short silence, Senmitsu curled his nose up and faced Endo again. “Those MLEA agents wouldn’t appreciate you using their bodies as anchors, doctor.” Senmitsu grimaced as he felt Ren’s kunai biting into him, but he kept it in place as he swept his sword towards the jounin. “Doesn’t seem like you to save a pawn like him. I know you like to swap body parts, did you finally learn how to transplant a conscience?”
That comment more than the others seemed to tick Endo off, who discarded his blade entirely to keep his hands free. “I’ll have you know every inch of my body is 100% my own. And, anyway, you’re the dumbass here, dumbass.” With his free hand he flicked the stethoscope around his neck. “You’re after the detonator, aren’t you? Well, notice anything about me, you dog?”
Another brief silence passed with only the sound of the waves lapping against the still standing antenna. “You’re...really short.”
That earned an eye squint from Endo, but he forced a smirk anyway. “The detonator was in my pocket. Of my lab coat.” He held his arms out. “That I’m not wearing.”
The pieces fell in place at once and Senmitsu again looked down at the water at his feet. Endo, not disguising any of his pleasure, continued to brag. “That’s right! The jacket you send to the bottom of the sea with your dumb gravity sword!” Endo let out a cackling laugh as Senmitsu’s expression turned to frustration. “Ren’s gonna escape with it now, and the Water Lord’s whole plan will be foiled! Hey, hey, look at me.” Endo stomped a little to try and draw attention. “Do you want to know how I knew to come to this random spot in the ocean to look for the detonator? Do you? It’s a great answer. You’ll love it.”
“A couple of snot-nosed brats found a map! With all the Water Lord’s little bombs on it! His whole plan to hold the village hostage, undone because some rotten little crotch goblins stumbled onto it by complete accident! Isn’t that just the best?”
After the longest silence yet, what could only be described as a shrug of utter indifference passed over Senmitsu’s shoulders. “What a drag. Fine”
“Fine?! Your boss is going to-”
Senmitsu raised his sword up and gripped the blade with his gauntlet. As if he was drawing blood, he raked the length of his weapon across the armor, summoning an enormous quantity of blinding yellow sparks. The heat alone was blinding and distorted the air, and Endo had to look away out of pure self preservation.
“Fine. It’s not as fun to do it this way, but I’ll just kill you both at once, then.”
He fell to one knee, and thrust his sword into the sea. Steam ripped off its edge in such volumes and with such speed that for the second time that day, the entire area was saturated with a blast of enormous force.
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.
Ren’s head lulled to the side, and through the darkness and the grime of the sea water, he thought he saw a corpse staring back at him. He would have been startled at that revelation, but he was already fairly certain he was sinking down into the depths of Hell, anyway. He purged his breathing apparatus and bit down on the breathing tube. He sucked in air and felt the slick, oily water cling to the filter for a moment before he could scrub out enough air to breathe. An other corpse gripped it’s hand around his chest, pushing him ever downward into - -
Ah, hell, I can’t even die right...his thoughts swirled, murkier than the turbulent sea itself, as he realized he wouldn’t be sucking air through a filter or sinking under the ocean if he was passing on to the spiritual plane. Probably, anyway – that’s certainly not how it worked the last time he was in Hell. He sucked another gulp of air and tried to take stock of his situation. That was definitely a gaggle of corpses actively pushing him down deeper into the water, but he had already seen Endo’s sickening necromancy. He was too used to corpses and the other side of death, lately, to be particularly shocked by the situation. Their limbs were weakening and their force on him was purely directional – he wasn’t being clawed to death.
But it was still unsettling, seeing dead bodies move and try to drown you. He purged his mask again and a few bubbles dribbled out of the filter. His left side was still numb, and he could vaguely sense that part of the grime in the water was his own blood, leaking freely from his ruptured torso. He reached down to the wound and felt balls of cloth, sodden and thick with blood and water, but pressed into his wound, limiting his bloodloss. If he had done it out of reflex or if Endo had sent a nurse in the form of a zombie, Ren wasn’t sure.
His back recoiled as he gently scraped into the sea floor. Up above, he couldn’t see anything – and he could only just barely tell that the corpses around him had ceased to animate as he felt them bloat and start to float back to the surface. This was weird – he couldn’t work out why Endo would have bothered to rescue him. He was pretty relaxed with the fate of his own men. Ren reached up to his head and pulled his slick hair away from his face.
And then the water around him simply disappeared. It happened so quickly he only realized he was looking up at the night sky after the sting of fresh air rushed into his wounds. His feet found purchase with the ground and he forced himself up into a standing stance – just in time to be blown backwards by sheer heat, hot wind like opening an oven. It washed over him and he heard his hair rapidly dry and frizz from the rush of heat.
Endo seemed to have been getting it worse than himself, a thought that brought Ren a bit of levity given his literal brush with death. His eyes raced around as quickly as possible, blurry and weak from the salt water – the grime and oil – the blood – the heat (take your pick!) but then he saw what he was looking for. The Flame was skating down the circular waterfall he had created, the sheer force of his technique having blown back a deep depression in the ocean all the way to the sea floor. One hand lashed up to his head-chopping cleaver’s handle, but then a different idea rushed through his brain – thanks to the screaming of “The detonator, Jelloshot! Die on your own time, not when you’re eating away at my clinic hours!” – so he looked around – and there it was, practically stonelike it was so flat against the ground. What was that coat made out of, some sheer steel armor?
Ren slid over to the coat and started to look through the pockets until he found the device – and pried it free from the overwhelmingly heavy cloth – and then looked back up at the oncoming Swordsman.
“Next time!” Ren shouted.
He put the detonator in his mouth – and couldn’t help but notice it tasted like blood and brine. Pushing aside the intrusive thought to swallow it, his hands instead already began flashing through hand signs. Then, where there had been Ren, there was a sizzling flash of steam, and a rolling mass of water that joined in with the cascading sea wall – disappearing entirely, indistinguishable by the naked eye from the salt water it was slipping through.
In the Mizutamari form, Ren couldn’t really see or understand anything but what reflected off of his body – and being in the form of liquid did wonders at completely distracting you from any grievous wounds. In fact, his brain seemed to barely function at all – he just rushed forward with the last command he was urging through his body when he had shifted. Away – away from the rig, away from his target, away from Endo’s screaming.
Name: Mizutamari no Jutsu (Water Puddle Technique)
Requirements: Intelligence 5, Tactics 4, Willpower 4
Description: The user melts into a goo-like puddle of water roughly the same size as their body. From the outside the puddle looks just like water. While in this form the user can only see what images are reflected in the puddle's surface. If someone steps into the puddle, the user may suddenly 'boil' up to life, splashing hot water and causing small burns. If the puddle is attacked the user reverts back to normal and takes the full damage of the attack. The puddle may move at Level 1 Speed on dry land, or at normal Speed levels in larger bodies of water. This technique cannot be used to travel through any gaps the user normally couldn't squeeze though.
Eventually, Ren’s jutsu ran out and he came back to reality in a sizzling boil. He gagged on his breathing apparatus and tried to purge, suck in air – and came to the realization his filter was hanging around his neck, and that damned detonator was in his mouth. He couldn’t tell which way was which – but he didn’t have to. He urged chakra to his feet, increasing his buoyancy by many factors, and went rushing to the surface like a cork. He splashed up to fresh air and rolled over onto his hands, which also glowed softly with his water-walking technique. He vomited, clutching at the detonator as it was launched from his mouth. He tried to ignore the sensation of slick vomit sliding over his hand, refusing to let the prize go. He retched again and felt his side seize and tear open. Slowly, memories and the human experience returned to him – he was no longer a puddle of water – and he slid over onto his back. The night sky was overhead and the sea was relatively calm.
He got away? What about Endo? He rolled the tool around in his hand and fought the urge to empty his stomach again– or to just bleed out and die. He held up his thumb to the stars and made a guess at the time and his location. At least a mile, maybe more from the shores of Kirigakure. He rolled over onto his knees, and then up to a stiff walk, collapsing a few times in the process. There’s no way he could swim anymore with his torn torso, and no interest in being a puddle of water and getting lost – so he started a slumping walk back towards the village.
Miles away, and in much worse shape, a sputtering and gasping Endo resurfaced. His arms clawed at the water for a bit, as if he didn’t know how to swim, before he once again sank. Then after a moment of almost silence, he rose again. Rather, something pulled him out of the water, since the man could seemingly do nothing on his own.
From below him some poor, unfortunate corpse buoyed Endo upwards, like his personal steed. The bloated cadaver seemed to have had its mouth sealed shut, as if it had been specifically designed to act as a floatation device for just such an occasion. Endo let out a few heaving breaths then snatched up his stethoscope that he saw floating nearby. The corpse began to doggy paddle away while the jounin clung to it like a piece of loose toilet paper.
After enough time passed that it seemed the Swordsman wasn’t following him, Endo could shift gears. His expression went from paranoid to enraged, and he shook the corpse he held onto violently to try and blow off some steam. His detonator! That dumb asshole Jelloshot had it! And, no doubt, that chuunin could make it back to shore faster than Endo, especially with his flagship completely sunk at the hands of Senmitsu. All that lost equipment! All his precious loot, sunk to the bottom of the sea! All the corpses of his underlings he couldn’t retrieve now! The cascade of unhappy thoughts threatened to drown him more than the actual ocean.
No, no, that was the wrong way to think of it. Gushiken Ren was too grievously wounded for self care. He would have to check into a clinic or hospital somewhere, and that would be Endo’s chance. Senmitsu would realize that, too- he’d failed his own mission and would likely try to recover the device before reporting back to the Water Lord. There was still a window!
Which, of course, was exactly as planned. Endo slapped his zombie to try and to get it to move faster, but spent most of his time and chakra regenerating himself. A jounin couldn’t dwell on the past! Nobody had emerged from the fight victorious, and after the explosion the rest of the rig had sank to join Endo’s Explorer on the seafloor. Only Senmitsu, Gushiken Ren, and himself knew what had transpired.
And only one of the three had the Mizukage’s ear. As the corpse slowly towed Endo back towards the village, he had plenty of time to think up a plan. Nobody put Kakatsyuki Endo in a corner.
But first he needed to make sure he was properly dressed. He’d die if he was seen without his lab coat!