Izumi's P.O.V.
I sighed heavily, staring dejectedly at the pile of bodies before me.
The premature sand tsunami had really messed up the plans.
As a result, my closest competitor was one of the inexperienced, young members of the yōsei satsugai-sha.
Sadao Sōsa, the manipulator.
He was easily defeated, simply because his powers were largely for recon and intelligence, and for torture...
But as I fought him, I came to the bitter realisation that these kids were being heavily manipulated themselves.
Born into a tradition they don't really understand, forced to stick to it for lack of knowledge of any other way to live.
It was clear he'd never really seen any real action, his fighting like that of the greenhorn genin of Kohona.
They talked a big game but these kids were lost, controlled by the ambitions of the bitter, old Ryuu.
I just couldn't let them stray into darkness further than they already had.
Sadao Sōsa and Kano Ketsueki could still be saved...
I suppressed a small smile as I watched the three of them sleeping peacefully.
Kano snored like a pig, sprawled and relaxed, just like a child.
Sadao curled into a ball, smiling peacefully in his sleep.
And eyebrows had a huge grin and a blush on his cheeks as he giggled in his dreams.
I had healed all three as best as I could with my minimal healing knowledge, my strange eyes making my healing energy glow gold instead of green.
Don't worry, I took precautions with the enemy ninja.
The were securely shackled with chakra suppressing handcuffs.
As soon as we separated I made sure to use the radio to check on all my squad members.
Lee had faced Kano.
Gaara was facing the twins last time I checked...
Aki and Hana were unresponsive...
And Kiba and Byakko were on the run from Ryuu...
Now that I had securely hid the other three, it was time for me to aid the severely outgunned Kiba and Byakko.
It was time to subdue the 'biggest threat'...
Oh how wrong I was...
Ryuu's P.O.V.
I laughed loudly, the sound echoing around the gorge.
"You can't hide forever, brats!" I boomed.
These two kids have been scurrying around hiding ever since I washed up with them in the sand tsunami and it was beginning to get annoying.
I saw through their pitiful plan before it had even begun, I could have easily stopped the red-head's sand tsunami, but I thought that letting it play out would prove entertaining.
The one I truly wanted to face...
Was the golden eyed jônin:
Izumi, the molten soldier...
My sword hummed excitedly at the thought, anticipating an entertaining fight.
"Soon, my obsidian beauty," I purred, patting the impatient weapon with affection.
My body flowed with energy, the darkness and the glow of the moon fuelling my powers.
I cringed as a flash of light blinded my eyes once again.
The light show on the horizon was impossible to miss, bright white flashes turning the night into day.
This had been going on in the clutches of the forest for a while, explosions like fireworks erupting periodically.
The fight happening in the distance was anything but inconspicuous, yet I left the Furasshu undisturbed with his formidable foe...
I smirked.
'Fools...
I always detested the techniques of the Furasshu. Too... 'Flashy', heh'
My smirk widened as I dodged the slash to my face with ease, leaning back as a large black claw of darkness skimmed my cheek.
"Attacking me with my own techniques?
Amateur.
You should know better, Byakko."
The fox summoning didn't even have time to curse as I grabbed his arm, throwing him like a rag doll into the wall of the canyon.
But it didn't stop there,
two swirling cyclones of teeth and claws approached behind simultaneously, attacking in tandem to increase their chance of a successful hit.
Fools.
The darkness converged around me like a smog, thickening to deflect the attack.
The attacker and his pet skidded along the floor with teeth bared in annoyance.
"Kuso! Not even fang over fang? What's with this guy..! He's not even drawn his weird sword..." Grumbled the dog brat.
"How do you know my name!?" Byakko growled, fur sprouting around his face as his anger took over.
"You're not worth my time," I said boredly,
"Where is your 'Sensei'?"
The fox hissed, displaying his growing fangs.
He was joined by his fellow fanged teammates as they went for another attack.
And like the snap of a delicate twig under foot, my patience broke.
"Enough!" I boomed,
"Dark style: smog!"
The same black smog billowed from me in a wave that threw them deep into the hard rock of the gorge, blood splatting across the ground from their coughs.
"Where is she!!" I bellowed, advancing to the closest brat.
"Well, dog boy, you better hope your master saves you before I snap your fragile little neck..." I breathed as I plucked him from the wreckage, holding him high into the air.
"Come out Izumi!! Or your little brat will be killed!!" I yelled.
All to be heard was silence.
I grunted my disapproval, gritting my teeth.
"So be it."
I squeezed tighter on his neck, enticing a yelp from my helpless victim.
My hand was constricting tighter and tighter, till I could feel the spine on the brink of snapping.
Then a cold, sodden hand closed around my ankle.
"Huh?"
"MUD STYLE: GEYSER!!
YA BITCH!!"
Suddenly, a torrent of high pressure mud exploded from the ground I was standing on, surrounding me completely.
It filled every crevice: my mouth, my nose, even in my eyes.
My grip was instantly lost, releasing the brat from my grasp as I assume he was carried to safety.
I gagged and choked, panic beginning to set in.
My chakra swelled as it responded to my urgency.
With what little calmness I had left, I channelled my chakra into my thighs, the mud still swirling around me.
My thighs swelled with the strain as I prepared them, but it would take a tremendous effort to escape.
And with one gigantic, chakra filled push, I exploded from the mound, my leap catapulting me to safety.
I spat the mud onto the ground, clearing my airways and allowing me to breathe.
But I was still covered head to toe in thick, viscous mud which pulled me to the earth, draining my stamina.
"Well played," I rasped, staring into glowing, golden eyes.
I was knelt on one knee, catching my breath as the famous soldier of Konoha stood before me, the glow of the moon outlining her figure.
"You dare harm my students? I will make you pay, dearly," she growled.
"You are a formidable foe, perhaps, had it been earlier today, you would have won.
But the night is my greatest ally..."
"AAAAAAAAAAIIIIII!"
Her blood-curdling scream pierced the silence as she fell to her knees.
Long, shallow cuts appeared all over her body as it seemed the darkness itself was attacking her.
Unblockable, inescapable, agonisingly painful.
Darkness.
I controlled it effortlessly, I even made it clog her airways so she couldn't breathe.
And as she choked and gagged like I had moments before, I felt sated that revenge could be dealt.
I chortled,
"The mighty molten soldier! Famous within the pages of my bingo book, on her knees before me... How pathetic..."
Then the attack abruptly stopped, Izumi began gulping air greedily as she was no longer affected by the jutsu.
'Wha-what?!'
I stared at my mud caked hand, the feeling of the chakra flowing through it so far away...
In fact, I couldn't feel any of my chakra... It wasn't responding at all!
Though Izumi was panting heavily, she smirked sadistically,
"Hope you like my special insulating mud...~ It completely disrupts the connection between you and your chakra~"
She rose to her feet once again, stalking towards me.
I growled, anything but defeated.
"You think such a small setback is all it takes...?
It annoys me to resort to this... But you leave me no choice...
Consider it a compliment."
Those words hung in the air as slowly, I drew my magnificent black blade from its scabbard, the sharp edge scraping along the sheath and filling the tense silence.
"If you're going all out, then it would be rude if I don't honour your commitment..." She purred.
And with that she bit her finger, drawing blood.
"Summoning jutsu/obsidian blade!!!"
A thick black smoke clouded my arm and sword as the power radiated from its blade.
The bond between the sword and my chakra could not be blocked by mere parlour tricks...
Meanwhile the white smoke began to clear to reveal her unique and famed companions.
Quite simply, a giant, slimy, slippery, worm.
Ridiculous.
But never, under any circumstances, to be underestimated...