Kazutaka managed to stop the wound from bleeding and summed up much of his prana to charge at Kagero. When he was in range he drove his katana to the ground.

“Saishū maku: Jigokuhenomichi (Last Act: Way to Hell),” he said in a low raspy tone.

A ring of fire instantaneously formed around the Sage and his opponent. The orange red flames rose up from the ground and encircled them in a prison of fire.

“Now you shall not be able to run away…it ends here,” said Kazutaka.

The Sage leaped towards Kagero in a single jump and cut through his staff. He gave the shadow leader a knee to the chest which resulted in the latter falling down. Kazutaka subdued his uncle on the ground as he pressed his knee on top of him. He placed the edge of his blade near Kagero’s neck. The intensity of the flame was low enough not to instantly burn the shadow ninja to crisps but the blade however was still red hot.

“What is it that you want from my grandson?” he inquired.

Kagero was silent as a meditating monk.

“Speak now before I burn you straight to hell!”

Kagero snickered.

“I do not fear death…if you kill me now my children will have their revenge.”

Kazutaka placed the scorching side of the blade on Kagero’s cheek. The Shadow leader let out an agonizing roar. The gruesome torture continued as the Sage directed his katana at several parts of his captive’s exposed body. Kagero had burns all over his face and torso but still didn’t answer Kazutaka’s question. During that time Natsumi, Hideo and Shin together with what remained of the battalion corp. faced off a group of twenty one shadow ninja. These savages had six ansatsu and fifteen foot ninja whilst the Lightning’s battle shinobi were reduced to their thirties. At the school Kagemaru and Asuka’s fight that was going nowhere was then interrupted by a Kagero.

“Kagemaru! I know you can hear me…use that!” he shouted his body now more red than his natural skin tone from being singed. “Or I’ll do to your sister what I did to your mother.”

At those last words Asuka observed change in Kagemaru. His heart skipped a beat at the mention of his mother and his demeanor was that of sheer despair. It was like his father’s sentence had struck a nerve deep in his psyche. Asuka swiftly increased the space between her and Kagemaru when she saw an ominous black aura emanating from him. She was scared stiff by the insane level of bloodlust that permeated from his killer gaze. Before Kagemaru seemed like he had been indifferent with regards to the battle now he was out for blood. He raised a hand with his fingers outstretched and paced directly at Asuka.

“TŌEI!”

The sinister black aura grew denser as it consumed Kagemaru whose pupils had rolled up his eyelids making his eyes appear snow white. His shadow spear faded into nothingness as it enveloped his whole body. The ominous shadow was then projected straight towards Asuka who was then transferred into a world of black. Whilst in the dark void she began seeing flashes of when she was alone and an orphan in the Lightning village. Back when she had nothing and no friends to keep her company. All of a sudden a group of black vipers appeared. They climbed and tightly wrapped themselves around her body. She could barely see them but felt every single one entangled on her. When they began biting her all over her body she went into a state of shock. Her heart was racing and her body started making haphazard jerking movements. Meanwhile outside Asuka’s subconscious mind her actual body was exhibiting the very same seizures the only difference being there weren’t any real snakes. Unfortunately for Kagemaru he too was fully experiencing all that was going through Asuka’s mind. Her deepest and darkest fears were also taking a toll on his mind.

“Aaaah!” screamed Kagemaru as he fell to the ground with the same seizures Asuka was having.

“Oh no…Asuka!” exclaimed Kazutaka seeing his pupil with the corner of his eye. “What have you done to her!” he roared at Kagero.

“W–we just fucked…with her mind a little,” Kagero cackled menacingly in between coughs. “It is beyond repair now…”

Kazutaka ignored his opponent who was laying on the ground having seen better days and jumped out of the ring of fire. He raced for Asuka who was now frothing saliva from her mouth and placed two fingers on her forehead. The prana mudra having been activated by deeply inhaling in and out he was transported into his pupil’s psyche where he saw her inner self with the snakes.

“Asuka-chan can you hear me?”

There was no response.

The Sage took out his katana and singed the vipers that were on the ground before cutting down those that entangled Asuka. When she was freed from her bondage he held her with one arm and spoke again.

“Asuka-chan, none of this is real,” he told her. Tears were almost falling down his wrinkled face, “they tried to mess with your mind using a high level shadow projection technique. You’re the strongest shinobi in this village and soon enough my title will be yours. I know you can fight this! Wake up my dear.”

Some seconds later after the Sage’s words the seizures and the frothing stopped. However she was still unconscious so he urged her even further. And after some few minutes her fingers twitched.

“Yes! You can do this Asuka-cha–”

Kazutaka was abruptly brought back to reality with Kagemaru’s spear impaled on his back. The shadow ninja who lay on the ground on his belly having just recovered from quicker his shared experience with Asuka had luckily missed the Sage’s vitals. Kazutaka felt a metal taste on his tongue as he spat some blood on his hand. He removed the weapon from behind him and then cauterized the entry and exit wounds with his katana to prevent further bleeding.

“I truly am at a loss of time…I may have managed to stop the bleeding externally but that bloody cough suggests hemorrhaging,” he thought before facing Kagemaru. “I did not consider that trying to save Asuka in her mental plane would mean my body is left vulnerable outside. Something tells me that Kagero may be using some form of spell to control you.”

He then spoke to the shadow ninja, “tell me Kagemaru…what it is that you want from my grandson?”

Kazutaka stared deep into the young adult’s eyes and could see a horrified soul.

“I–I don’t k–know,” Kagemaru stammered trying to piece the words together.

He was still recovering from the previous mental scarring ordeal.

“He must have somehow put you up to this, because during your fight with Asuka you did not even have any malice until now. For that I shall spare your life because this has never been your fight to begin with…”

Kazutaka then announced, “Alas for your father…it is time he met with his ancestors.”

And with those words he walked at a steady pace to the ring of fire. His body wouldn’t let him jump for a second time due to fatigue so he made use of Kajin to create an opening for him to enter the fire prison. Inside he saw Kagero crawling at a snail’s pace in the opposite direction.

“I am already at death’s door but I shall be taking you to hell with me uncle,” said Kazutaka as he walked towards Kagero who kept crawling. “Jigoku no mon: Kasō (Hell’s Gate: Cremation)!”

The yellow orange ring of flames encircling then faded to blue and drew even closer. Kajin’s scorching blue flames which were a thousand times hotter than the orange ones burnt everything within their radius that was getting smaller and smaller by the second.