Going as fast as he could without shunshin, the clone shot across the square like a rocket.

Nomus fell from the skyscrapers like rain.

Some, mid-jump, spread their wings and shot off in all directions, squawking like vultures.

Civilians looked up, pale and numb, a few mouths wide open, a raised finger following the flying creatures.

The clone ran through the crowd, weaving between civilians, a gust of wind in his wake.

To his left, a small girl of no more than five or six sat on the ground, crying loudly, her face raised to the sky.

Without slowing down, the clone ducked down just as a Nomu swooped overhead.

The tip of a transparent wing brushed his hair.

The creature closed its mouth on the girl's throat and swooped skyward, snatching her away.

The clone, jaws clenched, kept running, eyes focused on the Nomus-free zone between two buildings.

He couldn't afford to waste what little energy the original had given him on somebody as inconsequential as a child.

Really, he was doing the right thing : killing All for One would save more lives in the long run than rescuing a poor little girl.

Besides, children were all cruel and self-centered, so one less on earth-

"Hotaru !"

A wrinkled old man in a plaid shirt and torn shorts hurried past the clone without seeing him, his frightened gaze turned to the sky.

He ran in all directions, barefoot, sometimes turning left, slowing down, then running in the opposite direction again, trying to follow the Nomu who had picked up the girl from the ground, arms raised in the hope of catching her if she fell.

Under Shoto's stunned gaze, the old man trampled on glass shards : he bled instantly, leaving bloody footprints.

Under Shoto's aghast gaze, the desperate old man kept rushing in every direction, his eyes locked on the sky.

He passed a woman lying on her back, her belly ripped open by claws, her intestines spilling out : he kept running, arms outstretched, deaf to the rest of the world, yet unable to do anything but run.

Up above, the Nomu shook the girl by the throat as if she were a toy.

Shoto slammed on the brakes, raising a cloud of dust.

Sharingan came to life as he spun, eyes darting from right to left at lightning speed.

A flying nomu swooped down a few meters to his right : Shoto charged through the crowd, feet barely touching the ground.

The disemboweled woman screamed hysterically, her eyes frozen on the Nomu leaning over her body, greedily devouring her organs.

Shoto leaped over her, one foot outstretched.

The Nomu, its gums smeared with flesh, lifted its snout as if to sniff something, unable to see the genjutsu cloaked clone.

This time Shoto hit purposefully.

His head, ripped from his shoulders, shot across the square at supersonic speed.

Shoto landed softly behind him as his beheaded body collided with the woman's.

She fainted.

Shoto set them both on fire with a flick of his wrist.

For the rest of the world, the Nomu was decapitated by an invisible force before he and his victim were brutally immolated.

Shoto ran and caught up with the flying Nomu as he lowered himself enough to reach civilians.

Vines sprouting from under his fingernails curled around his wrists and up his forearms, climbing up his body as if they were alive.

Suddenly, something heavy landed on his back, capsizing him.

The Nomu, on the verge of grabbing a fewx civilians, veered to the side, plummeting until he was dangerously close to the ground.

He leapt skyward, rearing up like a bull at a slaughterhouse, trying to shake the thing off his back.

Shoto, standing on the Nomu's back, tugged at the vines as he would a horse's reins.

The thorns scratched the thin layer of ice on his palms.

The Nomu arched itself, soaring through the lowest clouds : the accumulated moisture soaked them both to the bone.

Shoto tightened his grip on the vines.

In return the Nomu shifted to the right until he flew upside down, trying to make him fall off.

A thin layer of chakra covered Shoto's soles. He remained firmly in place as the nomu spun wildly and erratically in the sky.

Ground and sky merged until they were but a blur, skyline spinning on itself like a crazy clock.

The Nomu with the little girl was barely a few meters lower.

Shoto, light puke behind his lips, snapped sharply the vines.

The Nomu refused his order and soared higher, flying through cloud after cloud.

Shoto, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, hit wet fog after wet fog, each new cloud he encountered like a face slap.

He looked down : the ground was receding and the angry Nomu was still flying higher.

Thunder rumbled so hard he felt he heard it right in his own ears : the Nomu and the little girl were whirling a dozen meters below, making '8' loops.

Shoto pulled at the reins, trying to push the Nomu to the left.

The beast, furious, defied the command and rose even higher.

Shoto, frustrated, stared angrily at the little girl, now a blur in the dark night.

An ice blade surged into his palm : he didn't bother to make the hilt.

He thrust it into the Nomu's skull with an obscene satisfaction.

Blood spilled onto his fingers.

The Nomu breathed out a sigh and fell, eyes rolling.

The wind whipped Shoto's skin, pushing his hair skyward and ruffling his clothes.

He tightened his hold on the Nomu's shoulder, then struck six brutal blows in quick succession, eyes shining sickly.

They plummeted through clouds like a fallen comet.

Shoto's gaze swept over the area, sharingan spinning lazily in his eyes.

The Nomu, the little girl still tightly clasped between his teeth, whirled around to complete the loop of his '8'.

Only a meter above them, Shoto leaped obliquely, a spark erupting from the rear of his foot.

The Nomu's body burst ablaze, lighting up the sky like a falling sun, momentarily drawing everyone's attention.

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The Nomu below raised his head, the child dangling limply between his teeth.

Shoto, looking glum, landed on his back like a cannonball, knocking his breath out of him.

The Nomu buckled, as if he would break.

Shoto heard his bones crack.

Two thin knives appeared in his hands.

Crouching down, he thrust both blades into the corners of the Nomu's lips, tearing the flesh from his cheeks to his ears.

The Nomu let out a muffled groan, jaw hanging limply from his face.

The girl fell like a shattered doll, arms hanging down her body, black pigtails flowing around her face.

Shoto stood motionless for a moment, knives an inch from the Nomu's eardrums, a trickle of blood running down his hands, gaze locked on the running old man.

His eyes widened when he saw the little girl fall ; he stumbled over a corpse, picked himself up without looking down, then ran faster, arms raised to the sky.

Beneath Shoto, the Nomu reared up like a devil.

Annoyed, Shoto twisted the knives to mute his grunts.

He grind his ears, warm blood running down his palms.

The little girl landed in the arms of the old man, who dropped to the ground, relieved.

Without taking his eyes off them, Shoto drove obliquely his blades through the Nomu's ears, pulverizing his brain to a pulp.

The Nomu let out a howl of terrible pain. Shoto incinerated him in a river of blue fire to shut him forever, himself ablaze like a torch.

His eyes briefly met those of the original standing at the top of the steps.

Headless bodies burning like logs, trails of blood, broken trees and obliterated steps traced his path to the second Torii.

Below, the old man buried his head in the child's hair, holding her gently to his chest.

His lips moved ; Shoto could only read the words, the cries of the burning Nomu and the spattering rain, now vapor, filling his ears.

It was a lullaby.

She'd died the second Nomu had grabbed her by the throat.

It was never about saving her - or anyone else.

Shoto used the knives as handlebars and pulled hard to the right, forcing the falling Nomu to turn around.

The Nomu's wings flapped feebly, flames licking the membrane but going no further.

The Nomu glided for a few moments then fell sideways like an airplane without engine.

Shoto tried to steady himself, mentally preparing for the impact.

The body under his fingers was nothing but scorched skin and charred flesh.

Shoto looked up at the roof of the building.

All the Nomus had thrown themselves into the fray ; there was no one left above.

A few feet from the ground, Shoto flexed his muscles : the fire devoured the translucent wings until ash.

Shoto jumped up, thus pushing the Nomu down.

Landing in a roll on the roof of a skyscraper, below the burn corpse shattered glass.

Wasting no time, Shoto picked himself up and dashed across the city, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

He crossed the untouched districts in a matter of seconds.

Then came the kilometer of void.

Shoto landed on the roof of the last building overlooking his masterpiece.

One of Minato's most densely populated districts had been completely obliterated.

There were no ruined buildings, no debris, nor life of any kind, merely a perfect circle of destruction where yellow dust lay like sand in a crater the size of ten football stadiums.

It looked as if a meteorite had leveled the area, leaving only the imprint of its passage through a twenty-meter deep hole.

Shoto solemnly etched in his mind the extent of the devastation he had wrought.

He chillingly realized the kind of power he possessed and the impact such a threat would have on the world.

They would all loathe him.

It didn't really matter.

His eyes settled on the two dark silhouettes in the middle of his crater.

All for One lay on the ground, arms and legs missing, blood trickling from the stumps of his limbs and spilling into the stagnant pool of blood beneath his body.

There was a gaping hole in his torso, as if a bear had sunk its claws into his chest and dug through his flesh all the way to his pelvis.

His intestines, glistening, were exposed.

His breath was wet and wheezy as though his throat was clogged.

Shoto's eyes narrowed.

His flesh wasn't swarming - his regeneration wasn't taking over.

He didn't waste a second.

He disappeared in a shunshin, tanto in hand.

Black Mist didn't even have time to turn his head before a sword pierced his metal torso from front to back.

Black Mist spun, hands outstretched ; a black portal sprang from his fingertips, growing like a vortex.

Shoto, leaning forward, ran underneath, unconcerned.

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and struck Black Mist.

He groaned and fell to the ground, momentarily stunned by the strike.

All for One raised his head, chin barely touching his chest, unable to move.

The skin on his face had burned away : he had no eyebrows, no eyelids, no cheeks.

All that remained were shreds of bloody flesh hanging from bare bones.

His red eyes, two beams of light, took a moment to focus on the moving figure running at him.

He erupted in laughter as Shoto ran up to him, eyes shining hysterically.

"Go ahead, kill me !"

Black Mist, terrified, knees on the ground, looked up at All for One and Shoto's recoiling back.

"Master !"

Lightning crackled across Shoto's skin, raising the hairs on the back of his neck.

For a hundred meters around, the ground turned into a misty black portal.

Shoto had expected this.

He hurled himself at All for One, arms wide open, and closed them around him as if in a hug while they both fell through the portal.

He exploded in a blast of lightning.

*

A/N : If you like the story and want to read ahead of schedule, go check its P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

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