Devil Ninja

Ragnarok Begins

Explosions rocked the training area in the backyard of the mansion that the Gremory Peerage lived in. The training ground, which was just a large space of nothing but sand and rocks and boulders, shook as fire plowed into the ground. Sand turned red, bubbled, and melted, becoming liquid like magma. Steam hissed all around the field as the superheated sand emitted powerful heat waves that distorted the atmosphere.

A small figure darted between the balls of fire.

The figure was Koneko. She wove between the fire, which ranged from tiny spheres that exploded as they hit the ground to large cones that were so hot the ground melted. Meanwhile, high above her, flying on wings made of fire, Ravel continued launching attack after attack.

"How have you gotten so fast?" Ravel asked in a loud shout that rang out over the explosions. "I thought you were a Rook!"

Koneko didn't respond with words; she kept darting past each attack that came her way. Sweat poured from her brow. There was a frown on her face. While these attacks all came really close to hitting her, so close that fire and heat washed over her like an avalanche, none of them were actually close to landing a true hit. Most would have assumed this was all her doing. Koneko knew better.

Ravel is missing me on purpose.

Thanks to her ability to use nature chakra, Koneko could sense the intentions of others, to some degree at least. She wasn't as good at it as Naruto was. Still, it was enough to let her know that these near misses were intentional. The only question Koneko could ask now was: What was Ravel planning?

She soon found out when cracks appeared along the ground. The area around her caved in and lava gushed out from the cracks, forcing Koneko into the air. She used her wings to fly. However, Koneko was a cat, not a bird. Even if her wings theoretically allowed her to fly, she did not have the predisposition for it.

Ravel took advantage of that, slamming into her like a fiery projectile. Koneko was smacked back as Ravel headbutted her stomach. She flipped end over end. Sadly, she couldn't recover either because her opponent launched another attack, a fire blast that soared toward her like a spear.

The attack was powerful, certainly, but Koneko didn't let that bother her as she readied her fist, straightened her flight, channeled nature chakra into her punch, and literally demolished the flaming attack with not but her fist. The attack was still powerful, however, and Koneko was pushed backward by the destructive force. She landed on the ground.

Ravel was still in the air.

She and Ravel looked at each other, one floating high over the other. Despite this being a spar, both of them were treating it as though they were in a real life or death battle. They'd thrown any number of deadly techniques, so many that even Naruto thought it looked like they were trying to kill each other.

"You're pretty strong for a kitten," Ravel said with a glare.

"You're strong for fried chicken," was Koneko's immediate.

"Don't call me that!"

Ravel created another pillar of fire underneath Koneko, though it was easily avoided. This didn't deter her and she launched more and more attacks, all with the purpose of hitting Koneko, though it didn't look like her attack were doing much. Once again, however, Ravel, was using her abilities to trap Koneko, not hit her outright. This was as much a battle of wits as it was a sparring match between friends.

It didn't matter if she trapped Koneko or not. When that happened, Koneko used her nature chakra abilities to destroy Ravel's flames. At some point, the two became completely exhausted. Naruto, who'd been watching the spar from start to finish, looked at the pair as they sat on the ground, their backs leaning against each other as they breathed heavily enough that it looked like they'd run a marathon.