II

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Arc II Chapter 3

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In the middle of the room, stood her captured mother. Her empty eyes stared into the horizon without emotion.

 

Akihiro smiled with a certain sense of satisfaction. Genjutsu. Contrary to popular belief, genjutsu had indeed some use, albeit only from time to time.

 

The girl dropped her guard. Cheerful, she rushed for her mother, prepared to hug her with her open arms.

 

“Okaa-san! Okaa-san!” The ignorant girl beamed, but all her hopes were crushed with merciless brutality. The girl froze. Her entire body turned to ice.

 

A single strike, a single well placed strike from Hagane ended everything. His sword ended her mother's life. Hagane's blade skewered her heart, taking her life. Her mother's plummeted forwards like a lifeless puppet whose strings were cut. Her life had ended.

 

Her dead mother was lying now in front of a girl, who was unable to comprehend what had transpired.

 

Akihiro spoke, “Hagane, Ibuki, let's grab her and get out of here. We have already wasted enough time ...”

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Asami clenched her fists. Inside her heart, she felt confusion, pain, sadness, and undiluted hatred. Okaa-san died. They took her, stole her, killed her. Her heart demanded revenge, vengeance, justice.

 

Her hand reached for her kunai and a set of explosive tags.

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Four consecutive explosions shook the room. The blast forced everyone to take cover, Akihiro included. Years of experience, good instincts, and luck saved him. Akihiro threw himself onto the ground, thus avoiding being blown apart. The kunai and the tag sailed past him.

 

Yet it didn't end there. Where there was one kunai, there were more kunai. He didn't like what he saw. He didn't like it, absolutely. The initial clould of dust settled and a hailstorm of murderous kunai welcomed greeted him. They were fast.

 

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight kunai, and more. They saturated the air and every kunai had a little present attached to them, a lovely explosive tag.

 

Akihiro's eyes went wide. Shit! There was no escape. This was meant to be his end.

 

He didn't have much time. He had to act fast. Driven by adrenaline, he chose the most sensible choice, running and hoping to not get toasted. Powered by the forces of desperation, Akihiro ran for his life. He took cover behind the first sturdy stone wall he reached.

 

Against all expectations, he survived. Akihiro survived the following series of detonations. He survived the inferno of fireballs and shrapnel like wooden splinters that filled the air.

 

Her assault subsided. No more kunai, no more tags. It only cost him a few burns and a few ugly cuts. But he still lived, and that was what mattered.

 

The remaining dust cleared and Akihiro peeked around the corner. He spotted his team mates. Ibuki and Hagane got lucky. They didn't suffer any major injuries.

 

In the middle of the room, stood the girl, her predatory eyes fixed on them. They wouldn't escape her. The girl wasn't the same as before. Her aura had changed. All happiness, joy, and hope had left her, only to be replaced by undiluted bloodlust. A desire for revenge filled her heart, and an ominous shade of red darkened her eyes. Powered by her raw emotions, powered by her hatred, the girl's chakra oscillated. Her chakra was cold, uncaring, corrosive, powerful. It thirsted for blood, their blood.

 

Akihiro's hands trembled. Fear gripped him. Who was this girl? What was she?

 

The girl drew her sword, pointed her polished blade in their direction. “I thought we could solve this situation peacefully, but I was wrong.”

 

Her murderous stare bored into their souls. Her voice promised inevitable death, destruction, and pain. “You killed Okaa-san right before my eyes. I ask you why, why did you kill her? Why did she need to die?”

 

The girl losed the distance in an instant. She ran her sword through a stunned Ibuki, but Hagane intervened just in time. He deflected her attack

 

Hagane blocked the thrust and Asami disengaged immediately, retreating. She didn't waste any time and attacked again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

 

Swords clashed. Hagane parried her blows, but they got heavier and heavier. Hagane was losing ground.

 

The girl discarded all finesse and resorted to brute to crack his defence.  The girl and her sword hit like a sledgehammer. Her sword craved blood.

 

The girl terrified them. She didn't show any weakness, no sign of faltering, no sign of fatigue, no sign of exhaustion. Her eyes had already fully transformed. Two black tomoe surrounded by a luminescent red and a touch of glowing purple stared down at them.

 

Hagane groaned under the weight of her blows. He needed help, and he needed it soon. “Ibuki, Akihiro, get your asses moving. Do you want me to die here, or what?”

 

Hagane freed them both from their stupor. They joined the fight, and together they forced the girl back with a pair of kunai.

 

They kept theirs eyes on her. They had underestimated the girl before. They wouldn't make the same error twice. The only issue was that they had bigger issues to worry about ... Their cover was blown ...

 

“Hagane, Akihiro, we must retreat immediately”, Ibuki advised. “Our target is far stronger than expected. Extracting her alive will be difficult. Our mission is compromised ...”

 

“Agree.” Hagane nodded. “Time to retreat ...”

 

The girl, however, disagreed, her lips distorted with blazing hatred. “Do you really think you can escape my wrath?” And yet she was powerless.

 

“... ... ... Yes.” Hagane grinned. A smokebomb was their answer as they disappeared into the night, now running for their lives.

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Asami wandered across the battlefield. Eventually, she found what she was searching. She clenched her fists, smashing her arms against the ground in rage, below her was lying Kurano's corpse. Her body remained unscathed, spared by all the fighting. As if Okaa-san was just sleeping. She was even smiling.

 

Her hand grazed her cheek. It had grown cold, yet it was still so soft and tender. “Okaa-san ...” Tears fell poured down Asami's eyes, tears of indescribable grief. Her limbs grew heavy from exhaustion. 

 

She had given everything, but everything wasn't enough. In the end, she had failed to protect Okaa-san.

 

Asami's breathing intensified, her panting filled with nothing but hate and a vindictive thirst for vengeance.  A dark veil of purple chakra surrounded her, its mistress. The air was laden with anger and hatred. Her chakra sensed her emotions, only waiting for her command to unleash its cataclysmic power. Rage, unending rage, unending all consuming rage devoured her heart and mind.

 

“AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!” A cry of desperation, of frustration pierced the air and with it an explosion. Her chakra expanded, and a shock wave burst its way in all directions, turning the entire area into a sea of unrelenting primordial purple fire.

 

These cowards ... These bastards ... They have done it ... They have truly done it ... They ran ... They escaped ...

 

But one day, she will serve justice. One day, they will pay the price. One day, they will know despair. They will know the darkest abyss ... ... ...

 

Asami collapsed, hugging Kurano's dead body in her arms. Even unconscious, she hugged Kurano, she hugged Okaa-san, she hugged the person she loved with all her heart.

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