“If you want to get to my grandson you will have to go through me first…uncle,” said Kazutaka as he brandished his katana. “You shall pay with your life for what you did to my family.”

Kagemaru and Asuka were startled upon hearing the words ‘nephew’ and ‘uncle’ being thrown around.

“Ah yes, the daimyo-kun and the other royals…such a boring lot,” Kagero yawned. “However that wife of his…” he made a gesture gripping her breasts. “What fun she was,” he smiled his usual smiled as he glared at Kazutaka.

The Sage snapped at the mention of his daughter in law and performed an iai to which the Kage blocked the attack with his staff.

“Not so fast now are we,” said Kagero as the steel blade scratched against his shadow staff. “Old age getting to you huh?”

Seeing that the fight had commenced the other two Asuka and Kagemaru also began their own battle. Meanwhile the assassins taken down a total of ten battle corp. ninja. Natsumi who had been scouting undercover from a flat concrete roof shot an arrow at one of the assassins who tried to move away but it pierced through the muscle between his shoulder and clavicle. He looked up and threw a kunai at Natsumi but the latter saw it coming and evaded the attack. She then fired a continuous stream of arrows which resulted in the ansatsu seeking cover from the unending torrents in the adjoining buildings.

“Where is he?” Natsumi thought.

A few seconds later she felt the cold edge of a katana on her neck. Her heart raced.

“Where is Kazuo Inazuma? If you tell me where he is I may spare your life,” said the assassin who had somehow silently made his way up to the roof top.

Natsumi inhaled and exhaled deeply as she gently placed her bow on the ground.

“Okay, I’ll tell you where he is,” she said raising up her hands in surrender.

She had one knee on the ground and with the corner of her left eye she could make an image of the assassin on the reflection of his blade on her shoulder. When she saw the blade shake and swerve backwards with the intent to kill her she immediately ducked her head. The katana only sliced through the tip of her spiky hair. Her head and neck were saved. As she observed the ansatsu’s sword pass her she noticed he was wide open. She quickly drew a tanto (short sword) from her waist and in a swift circular motion drove it into the assassin’s gut. When her opponent tried to counter with a one arm swing she blocked the attack with one hand and removed the tanto with the other before plugging it into his jugular vein. When the blade was removed the ansatsu placed a hand on his neck in an effort to stop the blood from gushing out but it was to no avail. He fell to the ground and a pool of red formed beneath him.

“So that’s why his hand was shaking, he’d already lost a lot of blood from that first arrow.”

She noticed the trail of blood the ansatsu had made getting to where she was.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” she said staring directly at his eyes which were visible through his masked uniform as they lost their light.      

Natsumi cleaned the blood from her tanto with the shadow ninja’s uniform before sheathing it. She went over to her bow and when she took it she raced on top of concrete tiled and flat roofs in search of other shadow ninja to kill. In the time Natsumi had left her initial opponent Hideo and Shin had separately met with ansatsu and were also engaged in battle. As she jumped over the roof tops she suddenly stopped when she saw another ansatsu standing next to a corpse on the ground below. When she drew near ensuring that her presence hadn’t been detected she saw that the body was Ichika. They graduated together and she had decided to join the battalion corp. The only thing on Natsumi’s mind was to avenge her old friend.

In the time Natsumi had started fighting her second opponent, the Sage and Asuka were now several minutes in their own battles with each side seeming to be evenly matched. Kagero had already broken his staff in two and using his dual wielding against Kazutaka. However the village’s prodigy Asuka realized that Kagemaru had not begun to use his projection and only stuck to defending with his spear. Feeling disrespected by this gesture she fought even harder.

“I see you’re still holding back,” she smiled. “Won’t you show me that technique of yours?”

“I do not need it,” Kagemaru finally said before raising his spear. “This will do.”

“I see,” her sweet smile turned into a menacing grin. “You force me use something I have been saving to secure my spot as the next Sage.”

Asuka touched the tip of her left ring finger with her thumb.

“Lam,” she chanted the mantra in her mind. “I am grounded.”  

“The prithvi (Sanskrit: earth goddess) mudra,” Kagemaru thought before saying, “so you are familiar with light and dark magic I see…this will be int–”

His sentence was cut short as he saw a high speed punch coming to rearrange his face. He moved to the side in the nick of time with the knuckle dusters missing his well chiseled face by a hair’s length.

“Kuso!”

Asuka didn’t give her opponent a break. She followed the punch with a high speed barrage of punches and kicks that were now faster and stronger by tenfold. Kagemaru dodged some of the attacks and made use of his spear to block others but when the last punch hit the centre of his spear it broke in two. He jumped backwards before the punch could land on his chest and created some distance between them.

“You’re using the earth mudra to amplify the strength of your dusters as well as increase your speed,” said Kagemaru. “But I’ll show you the difference in our abilities.”

Kagemaru brought the two pieces of his spear together and the broken tips became a black fluid like mass that wove and connected together. Whilst holding onto it with one hand he made a prana mudra with the other.

“Tōei!” he exclaimed before throwing his weapon at Asuka.

The lightning kunoichi moved to the side and dodged the spear in time but as she witnessed Kagemaru twisting his free hand whilst the other held onto the mudra. The spear followed suit and changed its path midair. It flew towards Asuka and followed her wherever she went. She ran to a tree and veered off to one side before impact and the spear pierced through the trunk. It got stuck off course for a few seconds as Asuka hid in some nearby bushes and Kagemaru summoned it to him.

“You can’t hide there forever,” he said as he approached her.

Kazutaka stared at his pupil’s fight and thought, “I have to end this quick.”

“I am you opponent,” Kagero reminded him as he swung his weapons. “You’ll lose an arm if you keep staring at them.”

Kazutaka held his katana tightly with both hands and managed to block the attack. Kagero kept advancing as his nephew took on the defensive. The two warriors violently clashed against each other in a battle to the death. The Kage took on the offensive and wasn’t giving the Sage a moment’s rest from the nonstop hits with his rods. Kazutaka jumped backwards and created some distance between them.

“You’re surely better than that nephew,” Kagero mocked. “You disgrace Kazuro by wielding that blade.”

“You shall not mention my father’s name in vain!” Kazutaka responded his face red with fury. “Lest you wish to keep that tongue of yours…uncle.”

“Hahaha, now we’re talking bring it all out…that rage!”

Kazutaka brandished his katana with a single hand and took in a deep breath. He proceeded to raise the other hand with four fingers save for the thumb all standing upright. When he placed his agni (Sanskrit: fire god) mudra in front of his face he exhaled.

“Kajin: Shōkyaku suru (Fire God: Incinerate)!”

At the mention of those words the sword’s blade was lit ablaze with a gentle orange yellow flame that made a crackling sound. Kazutaka pointed his sword at Kagero and glared at him with the eyes of death.