1

Yuuki's shadow became like steel, piercing through Gorou's shadow and restricting his movements before the punch could land. The criminal was in instant shock, trying to move his claustrophobic body from the shadows' constraints, but he couldn't manage to escape. He was utterly debilitated.

"Gorou, this is the Shadow Possession Jutsu. It's like a rite of passage for the Nara clan," Yuuki explained, refusing to soften his hand seal's grip. "Once a user of this jutsu merges their shadow with a target's, the target cannot move on their own other than to talk, making this technique an excellent weapon in a shinobi's arsenal."

"You talk way too much." Gorou disparaged.

"This jutsu has it's drawbacks, though. It requires a great deal of chakra to maintain, so using it for long periods of time is a burden."

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is..." Yuuki put more strength into his shadow as it crawled along Gorou's body. The hand-shaped shadow hovering around the criminal's neck latched on to his Adam's apple, causing him to cry out in anguish. The shadow's fingertips tightened their grip as electricity flowed through it. "You're a pain in my ass."

Gorou completely tanked the attack and managed his wrestle his way out of the shadow's grasp. Not even a scratch or wrinkle on his skin. "Even with cutting power like that, your jutsu won't even come close to damaging me."

"As I expected; His skin isn't a normal earth-release jutsu. That must be some sort of bloodline limit." Yuuki pulled out the kunai sheathed at his waist, set his sights on the other man's throat, and swung. He created several lightning-infused shadow clones to assist him. Gorou perforated the clones, completely invulnerable to the subsequent electrocutions.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Those attacks won't work on me!" Gorou muttered with distaste, retracting stone blades from his elbows. He punched the ground, causing a landslide to sweep his opponents off their feet.

Yuuki caught hold of a tree branch and threw dozens of kunai. It was no use, however, because they simply rebounded off of Gorou's dense skin. "Just give up already, will you?"

"Nah, don't think so. I have you right where I want you." Yuuki created five shadow clones and assaulted his opponent callously. Gorou's large physique became a detriment when dealing with the chuunin's formidable speed.

"You should've surrendered when you had the chance!" Gorou caught hold of the prodigy's leg, throwing him into a nearby tree. Despite the aching in his muscles, Yuuki managed to reclaim his stance.

"I'm starting to get the picture here," Yuuki watched as his opponent charged toward him. "Still, this isn't gonna be a cakewalk".

Barely evading his opponent, Yuuki placed an explosive tag on Gorou's back. The detonation didn't make a single dent on the criminal's impenetrable skin, but the consequent smoke blinded his vision for a moment.

"In any good strategy, the first step is always a fake-out. The tactic is to score on the second move." Yuuki's shadow formed a long rope, snatching Osame and swinging her through the forest into a meticulous attack position. At the same time, the remaining shadow clones held Gorou in place with the shadow possession jutsu. It was the ultimate shadowy set-up.

"Water Release: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" Osame spit a great volume of water from her mouth. This water source took the shape of a shark and crashed into the criminal with undetectable speed. The fallout turned the forest into a small lake.

Still not even a scratch...

"Aargh." Mamoru erected a large iron gate to shield Asami from the water. She was just starting to wake up.

Osame ran across the newly formed lake, flourishing her broadsword, but the blade shattered when colliding with Gorou's skin. Disconcerted by her opponent's durability, Osame jolted backward and thought of her next move.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Osame summoned a shark and mounted it, riding through the water toward the criminal. Gorou wrestled the shark, punching it in the eye and cutting it's brain with his elbow-blades. Osame swallowed the water surrounding them, exhaling it as a powerful torrent while Yuuki infused it with lightning.

"Please, I'm barely even trying!" Gorou challenged the ninjutsu, pushing through it and sluggishly making his way toward the chuunin. He uppercut Osame in the jaw, sending her flying through the air and eventually crashing into a boulder.

Yuuki was desperate, but he knew there was nowhere to run. "I can tell you're not from here. I should know, my father isn't from here either."

"What's the deal with you talking during a battle?!" Gorou was irritated. "Can't you see you're about to die?!"

"I don't mind." Yuuki insisted on having a conversation. After all, he was trying to buy some time. "Anyway, what's the source of your hardened skin?"

"None of your business."

"Ah, come on. What's the purpose of an all-powerful jutsu like that if nobody knows what it is?"

"It's not a jutsu." Gorou was unnerved. "I was born with this skin."

"Born with it, ehh? So I guess I was right about it being a bloodline limit? In that case, there must be soooo many people in your family with skin like that."

"I'm the only descendant in two hundred years to possess this genetic trait. This skin is the reason I'm the sole survivor of my village's destruction."

"Natural disaster, am I correct?"

"Yeah. You're correct."

"Then I guess I got you all figured out." Yuuki smiled. The ground underneath his shoes absorbed so much water it became a deep mud. "Mamoru, let's switch positions."

"Not a problem." Mamoru braced the grand seal of the water monastery on his back. He took a graceful stance and coated his body in a Buddha statue of pure chakra, prepared to brawl with his niece's kidnapper once more. "Sacred Art: Enlightenment of the Buddha."

"You're a nuisance." Gorou complained.

"I'm not just a nuisance," Mamoru's eyes started to swell and tear up. "I'm an uncle. And I will never forsake family."

Gorou finally felt something, remembering the faces of his family before their deaths, and that one moment that crushed his entire future... but those days were far too beneathe him. "I respect you... Deep inside, I understand the feeling of loving family and wanting to protect them; but life isn't a fairytale fantasy. Sometimes there is no redemption, and this world's only principle is survival. It's not a gift, it's not a curse, it's the purpose of life..."

"... That's why the real fight starts now."

2

The wind, which would normally be vibrant with the sounds of a hundred diverse critters, carried nothing but silence for a few painful moments. The two combatants, Gorou and Mamoru, stared into each other's eyes in genuine contempt. The latter was the first to launch an attack. Gorou expanded the blades on his forearms composed of his own skin, and counter-attacked, but Mamoru nimbly evaded him. He was considerably agile for his old age.

The monk unfolded the long scroll, unsealing a multitude of shuriken and kunai in rapid succession, but nothing pierced through criminal's skin. Out of the blue, the thrown weapons were manipulated by wire string attached to the thousand armed kannon's fingers, but didn't even manage to scrape Gorou's skin. This really proved to be a challenge...

"That technique of yours. I've already knocked it down before." Gorou was confident, chasing Mamoru through the trees. The Sacred Art: Enlightenment of the Buddha technique was summoned to defend the technique's user and attack enemies, but could be overwhelmed by someone significantly stronger than the monk performing said technique.

"You're right. Under normal conditions, I wouldn't be strong enough to survive multiple hits from a fighter like you, even with this technique's defense, but I have a few things up my sleeve." Mamoru sidestepped his opponent like a bullfighter, erecting an iron gate for his opponent to crash into, and Gorou could only see the color red. The elder monk placed the scroll in front of him, biting his scrawny fingers and smearing blood onto the paper. "Yuuki, lend me a hand."

The prodigy knew exactly what was expected of him. He woke his partner, Osame, and whispered directions into her ear. The chuunin circulated chakra into Mamoru, providing enough to complete the summoning jutsu. The elder monk pressed his hand onto the sticky dirt, channeling chakra into the ground, and successfully summoned five large creatures: the Five Animals of Priest Daruma.

Daruma was the founder of the water monastery and the first head monk, devoting his life to the ninja creed. He invented the Sacred Art: Enlightenment of the Buddha technique to ward off any invaders or mercenary shinobi during the Warring States Period and crafted the Staff of Daruma, both passed down through the subsequent generations of head monks. His five animals possessed massive amounts of chakra and wisdom.

The tiger offered the power to shake the earth and to be the authoritative king of its lair, often attacking with brute force and lethal claws. The leopard was nature's master of precision and prowess utilizing sharp, efficient, and lightning-fast movements. The crane was graceful and danced with accuracy and control, offering weightlessness to rise above crises. The snake had extreme chakra and was down to earth, often targeting vital points in the body with fatal accuracy. Finally, the dragon was filled with ancient wisdom and folklore, incorporating traits of the other four animals.

Needless to say, these creatures scared Gorou shitless.

Grasping the Staff of Daruma within his feeble hands, the chakra provided by these five animals gave Mamoru enough caliber to triumph. He refused to die a week geezer, and his tenacity motivated the observing chuunin.

"Goroooouuuu!" Mamoru screeched his opponent's names and sprinted toward the criminal, moving so fast he appeared to be teleporting, and smacked Gorou with a barrage of swings from the sacred staff. The stone-man's skin started to crack, although at a slow pace. For the chuunin, this was truly the sight of something marvelous. The elder monk leaped backward, and the hands of his thousand armed kannon delivered an abundance of powerful blows into the criminal. "Sacred Art: Grand Karma of Angelic Renewal!"

The final punch from the thousand armed kannon hammered Gorou into the ground, creating a stupendous crater and immense chain reaction that woke Asami and knocked back the chuunin, but the criminal's skin still wasn't shattered.

"That's it. You've actually pissed me off!" Gorou yelled, concentrating chakra throughout his body as his skin transformed into stone scales. His sclera became golden with vertical slit pupils. A muscular neck ran down from his head, and four large teeth poked out from the side of his mouth to reveal only a fraction of the terror hiding inside. Delicate wings sprouted from his back, and his lengthy tail ended in a sharp, arrowhead-shaped tip covered in the same stone-like scales as its body. "Fear the authority of my Stone Dragon King Transformation!"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Mamoru and the dragon king clashed fists, shaking the entire forest. This wasn't the power of some bullshit eye ability that hacks space-time reality. This was the might of the most powerful living monk colliding with one of the most feared criminals in the world. The size of Gorou's fists even frightened Mamoru. As the two combatants traded blows, the trees around them downright collapsed.

"Dance of the Dragon King: Dragon's Breath!" Gorou produced a strange flame from his mouth, feeding on the chakra of his opponent. The flames burned a bright blue and almost nearly melted through the monk's thousand-armed kannon, exciting a cloud of smoke. Mamoru's chakra began to deplete, and he thought this was troublesome.

Mamoru created a few shadow clones to assault his opponent, but the dragon king easily bisected them with his wings and took flight. "Sacred Art: Eightfold Noble Path of Nirvana!" The elder monk conjured an intangible bow and repeatedly fired arrows toward Gorou to shoot him out of the sky, but to no avail.

"Dance of the Dragon King: Dragon's Mirror!" Gorou's body absorbed one of the elder monk's arrows and discharged it from his mouth. The arrow pierced through Mamoru's chest, causing him to cough blood. His niece screamed his name, practically drowning in her own tears while Yuuki and Osame held her back. Even the efforts of the most powerful monk was no match for the dragon king...

"Asami... This scroll belongs to you. I never want you to feel hopeless..." Barely able to stand, Mamoru manifested his chakra into extremely durable chains, physically restraining Gorou's body while he struggled. "Sacred Art: Convergence of Heaven and Earth." He sucked every ounce of the dragon king's chakra out of his body, effectively killing him, and sealed it inside the grand scroll of the water monastery.

Then, the elder monk passed away. The five animals of Daruma stared at Asami with looks of endorsement before vanishing, returning to their dwelling. The young girl spilled tears on her uncle's body, holding the grand scroll of the water monastery in her trembling hands.

This scroll truly did belong to her...

3

Silent branches embraced a couple of trees, and a range of flowers, which were found in the most quiet places, clashed with the otherwise brown and green backdrop. A hodgepodge of beastly noises, belonging mostly to insects, brightened up the trees, and were strangely synchronized with the sounds of a fight over dominance between larger animals.

"Don't intervene, Luciel. Even if I don't make it out alive. This is my fight." Yoshiro ordered.

Momiji's golden eyes painted her cutthroat resolve as brilliant cerulean lightning illuminated from her fingers. The discharge took the shape of a lacerating whip, slicing through trees as she ran. "Lightning Release: Scorpion Whip!" She almost caught Yoshiro, but the jounin managed to evade at the last second.

"I can see your whole history in your eyes!" Momiji cracked her lightning whip again.

"Earth Release: Mud Wall!" Yoshiro adroitly slammed his palm on the ground, erecting a defensive wall of earth before jumping high into the air. The lightning whip bisected the wall but barely missed the jounin.

Luciel was paralyzed with fear as the lightning whip soared toward him like a predatory bird, but Yoshiro snatched the chuunin in gallant fashion. The scorpion's stinger lashed his back and the jounin winced in searing pain as Momiji let out a homicidal laugh. Yoshiro threw five kunai at once, but his opponent dodged them all. The combatants engaged in hand to hand combat for a moment, knocking each other backward a few feet.

"Momiji," Yoshiro salvaged his composure and glared at his opponent, provoking an unusual silence in her throat. "You were formerly a hunter ninja, right? Momiji the Deathstalker? You earned that nickname for setting a record on the most missing ninja killed by a single hunter."

Yoshiro was correct. Momiji's name was recognized across the entire Land of Water.

"It's a shame you switched teams," Yoshiro performed a few hand seals, preparing his next move. The wind ruffled his fragile azure hair, and a single strand flew away like a stray leaf. "Blue Flame Art: Flame Bombs!"

The jounin exhaled a massive sapphire flame hot enough to melt through steel and evaporate entire rivers, but with enough control to sway it's direction and safely prevent the incineration of allies. This was the scorching technique of the Kurogane clan that led to it's notability in the water country.

Momiji had spider-like reflexes, avoiding the flame as soon as her hair became sensitive and stood straight up. Her lightning whip flogged Yoshiro, but the jounin substituted himself for a shadow clone and dropped from a nearby tree.

"How many missing ninja have I killed?" Momiji withdrew a chokuto, the straight one-edged sword, and pointed it at Yoshiro. The amount was common knowledge for not only shinobi, but even normal civilians in the mist village. "Tell me, how many missing ninja succumbed to this blade?"

"Two hundred forty-six." Yoshiro was confident in his answer.

"You're lucky. It'll be an honor to die by my hands!" Momiji's face remained unchanged. She charged at her opponent, parrying several strikes, and threw two kunai laced with explosive tags at the jounin's feet. Yoshiro back-flipped to avoid the explosions, not expecting the criminal to follow up with a swift kick to the stomach.

"Earth Release: Mud Dragon Jutsu!" Yoshiro released mud in the shape of a dragon from his mouth. Momiji concentrated a uniquely crimson lightning in her hands, piercing through the opponent's jutsu before it could reach her. Yoshiro channeled a current of lightning from every direction in his body, challenging his opponent's similar technique.

The combatants danced around each other, racing to land the first hit. "Blue Flame Art: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Yoshiro spit a volley of blue fireballs, but Momiji evaded them all as her lightning took the shape of a whip. She swung the whip acrobatically, but the jounin succeeded in dodging and maneuvered behind her with his kunai in hand.

Momiji quickly rotated her body, kicking her opponent before the kunai could penetrate her skin. Her chokuto sliced the jounin's cheek, dropping blood onto the blade, and the criminal caught her breath. She concentrated more lightning into her hand and sprinted toward Yoshiro, so the jounin repeated his jutsu and did the same. The lightning clashed, and both combatants found their chests impaled by the other's jutsu.

"Do you remember me, Momiji?" Yoshiro's eyes were flooded by tears as the two coughed blood.

"Of course I do, brat. That day I abandoned the village, you were ordered to kill me," Momiji burst into laughter recounting the event. "Your teammate, the girl with the ponytail, was the first shinobi from my own village to die at the hands of my blade. I pummeled you into the ground, and you cried and cried and cried. You had once chance to prove yourself to your sensei, and you blew it. Even with that ridiculous beard, you still have the same exact face."

The two collapsed backward, falling to their knees. "I finally did it. I killed you." Despite his tears, Yoshiro had a vivid smile on his face while staring into the hole in the criminal's chest.

"This sword of mine," Momiji braced her chokuto as glowing symbols appeared across the long blade. The gap in her chest slowly regenerated, leaving only a small scar. "It absorbs chakra from those it cuts."

After the battle with Gorou, Yuuki and the others arrived too late. Asami immediately tended to Yoshiro's injuries, channeling chakra into the severe wound. She managed to heal the jounin pretty quickly with the assistance of the five animal's chakra radiating from the grand scroll of the water monastery.

"Where's Mamoru?" Luciel asked, noticing the large scroll on Asami's back. He didn't want to assume the inevitable, but deep down he knew the answer.

"He didn't make it." Yuuki said with a heavy throat, struggling to hold back tears. Osame was too despondent to make eye contact and instead stared at the ground with a mournful expression. The elder monk truly did pass away as a hero...

Asami was willing to carry her uncle's legacy.

"Momiji," Aizen seemingly teleported next to his fellow executive. "The Shiryoku is holding an emergency meeting following your partner's death. You're expected to report to the hideout immediately."

"Aw man, I didn't even get to finish him off." Momiji genuinely didn't care about her partner's death. Gorou was a significant asset to the organization, but she frequently found him annoying and difficult to work with.

Aizen startled Luciel, instantaneously moving right in front of him with his mouth to the chuunin's ear. "I believe your name was Luciel, right? It's funny, my cursed seal still tingles when I'm near you. Someone tainted with the genes of an outsider doesn't deserve the blood of the Igarashi clan flowing within their veins. I could stop the flow from your heart right now, but it wouldn't be fun if it was too easy. When you're prepared, face me in the islands you don't have the right to walk on. I'm itching to kill you."

"Aaargh!" Asami took a kunai from Yuuki's pouch and attempted to kill Aizen with it, but the mysterious boy anticipated the strike and clutched the young girl's throat with a tight grip.

"This is pathetic. I thought the daughter of the head monk would be much more capable than this."

"Don't you dare talk about my father!" Asami struggled to speak. "His death was felt a hundred times more than your death ever will."

"Your father isn't dead." Aizen dropped his grip, leaving Asami on the floor gasping for air. The two criminals just walked off, and the shinobi were too weak to do anything...

4

The death of Gorou sparked an emergency meeting at the Shiryoku hideout, not too far from the forest he was killed. The executives sat in their respective thrones, but one was still empty. Because of the dire situation, they spoke very little for a while to fully comprehend what just happened. The stone-man was definitely not the most popular executive, but losing him was a gigantic blow to the organization.

"Sorry for calling you out so suddenly," Aizen sighed. "But a situation occurred that requires our immediate attention. Some of you probably are already aware but, one of our executives have been killed in battle."

"I believe he was your partner, Momiji," Saburou was critical. He was the second-in-command, behind Shizuka Yuto himself, and his competence in battle validated it.

"I'll pardon her on that," Yuto asserted, which was a saving grace for Momiji. The leader of the Shiryoku was possibly the strongest shinobi in the Land of Water. His depth of knowledge and level of skill in ninjutsu was greater than any other shinobi in the country. "She was unable to protect her partner because of the instructions given to her. Please be a bit more cautious with your accusations, Saburou."

"Let's not lose our composure." Ryouta reassured. Noe was silent as usual.

"He's right. Even with this heavy loss, Kirigakure will pose a minor threat to the organization by the time Mototsune is inaugurated. Dozens of powerful runaway ninja from all over the world are recruited every week." Yuto assented.

"Whose gonna fulfill Gorou's duties now that he's gone?" Momiji asked.

"He governed over a substantial portion of the Shiryoku." Ryouta added.

"His share should be equally distributed among the remaining executives." Saburou insisted.

"I am in agreement with Saburou." Yuto ratified. The other executives didn't have any objections, as the positives outweighed the negatives. More influence over the organization as a whole, at the cost of slightly more responsibility. Without further ado, they adjourned the meeting and vanished from the hideout in puffs of smoke.

x--------------x

Right before the funeral mourning the loss of Mamoru, the temple's monks gathered in the courtyard as a hearse carried by a muscular white horse undertook the monastery. Asami followed the horse through the entrance hall, accompanied by her new shinobi friends. Most people in her situation would scorn the shinobi who were incapable of protecting her uncle, but instead she was mature in the situation. The missing ninja that murdered her uncle was dead, and the old man could rest in peace.

Although she accepted the unwanted passing, Asami was still overwhelmed by sorrow regardless and experienced every stage of grief at once. Her skin was still numb from the shock. Vengeance crossed her mind a couple thousand times, to the extent she wanted every member of the Shiryoku dead. She believed it was partly her fault, as she was too powerless to prevent her own kidnapping; if she was never abducted, Mamoru wouldn't have sacrificed his life rescuing her. Finally, she acknowledged an ultimatum...

She had to be strong...

There were two large candles on wooden pillars against each side of the casket. Monks sung hymns about chakra purification and eternal bliss, wishing him pleasure in the pure land. Proverbs about the afterlife, written by Daruma himself, were chanted as the service's climax. Even after the service, the temple was stricken with silence and gloom. No death would be mourned more than that of Mamoru.

The shinobi were still shaken up from the confrontation with the Shiryoku. The threat of civil war was no longer a fear, but rather certainty. Luciel was stressed, facing a pending deathmatch with the shinobi untouchable by his entire team even without trying. Despite his young age, Aizen was more frightening than anything else.

Nobody was more distressed than Yoshiro. The team's sensei could still feel his wounds, even after the hole in his chest was healed by Asami. The challenge faced by his pupil was straight suicidal, and Yoshiro wanted to protect him at all costs. That is why he never expected critical words to escape Luciel's mouth:

"Sensei, I think I'm gonna leave the village for a while. I have things to take care of."

"L-L-Luciel..."

"Thank you for teaching me how to perform lightning release, even if it's just the basics. That'll come in handy when fighting someone like Aizen."

"A fight like that is dangerous to take on alone."

"There's no other way," Luciel stifled his sensei, whose eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "If I'm really a descendant of the Igarashi clan, this fight should be between me and him. I'll spend some time devising a jutsu capable of killing even the untouchable. Then, and I promise this, I'll return to the village and we can make up for lost time."

The young chuunin gave Yoshiro a tight hug, both of them spilling tears onto the other's shoulder. By the time midnight rolled around, Luciel had already said his farewells to his teammates and departed from the monastery. He walked down the cobblestone steps outside the entrance hall into a stone pathway leading to the Shinrinyoku forest, already wary of the footsteps behind him.

"It's the middle of the night," Luciel said. "Why're you hanging around here?"

He turned around to see Asami and her wretched countenance. Her typically long, brown hair was cut down to her shoulders, and the grand scroll of the water monastery embellished her back. "This is the only route out of the monastery..."

"So why're you following me?" He came off as rude and irritated, but he was genuinely confounded.

"I want to come with you," Asami broke into tears. "I want to get stronger too. In order to find my father, and protect those I care about, I have to be strong..."

"I admire your willpower. You'd make an amazing shinobi, that's for sure. Let's get stronger, together." Luciel was lighthearted, despite the immense pressure he was obviously enduring. He welcomed her presence as they walked off into the night, leaving only traces of footprints behind them.

As Luciel and his new companion departed from everything they knew, and the mist village plunged into civil war, a new chapter was beginning to unfold for all those involved...