Saruto | The Celestial War (Part 2)

Chapter 29: The Lost Son

"Hmm..." Kaushiki spoke out of curiosity, "you smell just like the Isshiki halfling."

I grimaced at his words, no doubt he had crossed paths with Kyurei, and was talking about Isshiki. I was surprised that she was on the battlefield after giving birth to Kido only a few weeks ago. I guess it figures, she has my stubborn will. I still had the resonance of Isshiki after Boruto and I eradicated his code all those years ago. Kyurei had told me that Kaushiki was Isshiki and Momoshiki's younger brother. The Otsutsuki are an annoying plague on this world.

He then drops Lord Seventh and Hima to the ground, sensing that he had drained their chakra from his subduing hold he had on them. He began to talk more to me but I blocked out his words not caring for his useless and meaningless words. From the corner of my eye I could see Lord Seventh and Hima getting up to their feet, Lord Seventh using himself as a crutch for Hima. I could sense their depleted chakra pool had left them weak.

Narrowing my eyes at Kaushiki, I immediately darted towards him at inhumane speeds. Colliding, Kaushiki and I begin fighting, My left eye then glows into the Dharma eye. Kaushiki tilts his head at this.

"My brothers eye," he smirks, "pesky thing. The ability to manipulate size, matter, gravity, and life."

Not wanting to indulge in his conversation making, Kaushiki and I exchange physical blows, before Kaushiki begins shooting white chakra bursts from his hands. Blocking the first shots with my right arm microscopic ninja tool, the impact of the white chakra dissipates the arm completely. Shedding the husk of it, I narrowly avoid being poisoned by the white chakra. I then proceed to dodge the overs, evading them swiftly. I then attack him with manifested bits of weaponry from my body. We continue dealing blows to one another, none of them doing lasting damage. Hima and Lord Seventh watch helpless to my aid.

Suddenly one of Kaushiki's attacks knocks me down and I notice Hima trying to intervene, but Lord Seventh stops her, protecting her from Kaushiki's counterattack. He was right to do that, she would just get in my way. Activating my Dharma eye, I summon cubes in the sky and slam them into the ground, hoping to land a blow on him. Catching one of Kaushiki's arms in the berate of Isshiki's cubes, it instantly destroys.

Kaushiki winces as he pulls the rest of his arm out and it reforms into a new one through white chakra light. Kaushiki shows himself to be stunned by my traces of his older brother's power and begins to chaotically shoot white chakra bullets at me. Instantly using my eye, I disrupt the gravity around and divert it back at him. Jumping out of the Kaushiki continues to continue shooting, either missing me or having me manipulate the white chakra back at him. Powering up my Dhurma from the white chakra bullets, I scrape away a little of the white chakra to imbue into my cubes and then push the shrunken ones into the sky. As I held them I looked at Kaushiki with a smirk and he looked at me with a little sign of fear.

There it is. The fear of death. As I give him a smug look, I wave my hand down, sending one cube down towards him. As the blow shakes the ground, there is silence. Still sensing his chakra beneath the cube, I deduce that he isn't dead. Just weakened and incapacitated.

As I turn to walk over to Hima and Lord Seventh, I flinch at the sense of a stronger power in the ground of the crater. Something...

"Big Brother!" Hima yells as she runs over to me in a weakened manner.

Meeting my stature, I look down at her in a calming manner. She looks up to me and softly smiles. Smiling back, she acknowledges this and hugs me. Catching me off guard, I contemplate as to whether I deserved this. Feeling her grasp become tighter, I give in, hugging her back.

"I missed you too," I responded in kind.

From behind her, I look to see Lord Seventh walking over with a stern look on his face, I immediately turn away not wanting to show myself to him after all that I have done to let him down. I was a failure. I was his lost son. Before Lord Seventh could speak, there was a sudden crash in the distance.

Immediately my attention turns towards the at direction and Hima pulls away from me to look into the direction as well, a serious look on her face.

"It's Uncle Sasuke, Sarada, and Saruto," Hima confirms.

Activating her Byakugan she analyzes the chakra signatures of the dust clouds that form over the peak of the crater.

As we all stood in silence assessing the situation, I saw that they wanted to investigate and help them. Looking at them, I frown at our failed reunion.

"Go to them," I acknowledge calling their attention to me.

As we stared at one another, they nodded their heads and Hima was quick to disappear towards the origin of the crash. Lord Seventh then stopped in his tracks and looked to me. I was scared of what he was going to say next.

"What are you going to do?" Lord Seventh questioned.

"I have to find my daughter."

He looked at me proud. I didn't understand why but I knew I didn't deserve to know why. We then exchange nods and immediately he disappears after Hima.

Turning my gaze back towards the epicenter of the crater that Kaushiki was crushed under. The chakra that was building up was disturbing. The chakra was off the charts. The signatures were quite familiar to me.

I dreaded what came next.