The first one came from his left, throwing a few aggressive palm strikes. Kiro simply deflected the first one thrown at his face by moving his head slightly to the left and using the back of his right wrist to deflect the boy’s left hand away. Of course, his opponent followed up by immediately throwing a palm strike with his right hand, which Kiro effortlessly dodged by sidestepping to the right. Then he sidestepped back to the left when the boy swiped with his left hand. At this point, the opponent had been leaning forward quite a bit, so he compensated for this by using the momentum for a spinning side kick. However, by putting his lead foot forward and then inverting it to facilitate the spin, the boy had essentially telegraphed the kick. Kiro stepped back outside the range of the kick, but just enough for him to grab the overextended leg. With his opponent off balance, Kiro grabbed the leg and then turned his body around to send him towards his incoming teammate who had run in to help.
As they collided and knocked each other down, Kiro had turned just in time to see their last teammate, who had a gold pendent necklace around his neck, charging towards him. He started with a similar attack to his teammate, except it was a punch instead. Kiro blocked it with a palm, causing the opponent to pull back and throw a palm strike. Of course, it was pushed away by the back of Kiro’s right forearm. Pressing forward, the Leaf ninja then attempted a knee strike. As his opponent initiated the attack, Kiro twisted his torso and brought his leg up to cross block by targeting his opponent’s inner thigh with his knee. Unfortunately, his opponent followed up quickly by launching his left hand forward like a blade. Kiro could hear what sounded like a razor as he narrowly dodged by attempting to move a bit to the left. However, Kiro didn’t manage to completely dodge it as there was a very thin line across his right cheek. It didn’t take long for what seemed like red liquid to starting flowing out the slash mark.
“Tch.”
It didn’t take long his him to feel the sharp, piercing pain that came as result from such an injury. His opponent had coated their hand in what seemed to be wind chakra, which was known for greatly increasing cutting power. Letting his discomfort be known only drew a snicker from his opponent.
“Hurt by a little cut, bitch boy? There’s more where that came from!”
After the momentary pause, his opponent leapt forward like a wild animal, ready to finish off its prey. Seeing as how the previous attack had worked, it was only logical to try it again. Kiro didn’t need a dojutsu to predict the inevitable attack.
Once again, the Leaf shinobi started off with an aggressive punch using his right hand, which Kiro countered with his left while moving slightly to the right. In an attempted to take advantage, his opponent threw his other hand forward to his Kiro in the face. However, Kiro released the grip his left hand had on the fist of his opponent and committed to sidestepping completely to the right to dodge the palm strike. With his right hand now free, the Leaf ninja tried to swipe at Kiro with it, only for him to step back to the left and avoid the attack. The Leaf ninja growled in frustration and coated his left hand in wind chakra, before stabbing forward to his right, overextending his attack in an attempt to predict Kiro’s movements.
His prediction was only half correct as Kiro did indeed move to his left, but he also did so while taking advantage of the opponent his opponent had moving in the same direction as him. Kiro had his left palm open and raised while using the back of his wrist to further move the opponent’s striking forearm down in that same direction. Meanwhile, Kiro’s right hand was pulled back and clenched into a fist. With the opponent’s left hand out of the way, Kiro was able to turn his body using the momentum going left to freely throw a right hook into the left side of his opponent’s face. Before his opponent could even recover from that, Kiro turned his left his left hand into a fist and delivered a powerful uppercut right into the chest of the Leaf ninja, knock them slightly backwards. Then with one final attack to finish the combo, Kiro brought sent a palm strike towards the same area he had just hit. However this palm strike was clearly different, as Kiro had infused some chakra into it. On impact, there was loud boom as a small explosion occurred and the boy was blasted backwards, crashing into a nearby tree.
“Damnit, I still need to work on that.”
As the smoke cleared, Kiro was seen trying to shake of the steam and discomfort emanating from his right hand. However, he wouldn’t have much time to do so as the first person that attacked him was now getting back up. For some reason he was grinning and it soon became evident why that was the case. The boy pulled out a shiny new sword and then held out in front of him in some makeshift fighting stance.
“Consider that a fluke. We’re gonna kill you now, so I hope you’re ready.”
After the Leaf genin said that, Kiro just looked at him and his partners unimpressed.
“Scrubs.”
“Get him boys!”
The one who shouted was the one who had been knocked into the tree. He was favoring his burnt chest, which was visible due to the protective gear covering that area being destroyed. Meanwhile, his teammate was now running towards Kiro like a maniac and flailing his sword around wildly. Like a fool, the genin must’ve thought simply having a weapon made him stronger. Of course, an unskilled sword user was perhaps just as dangerous as one who knew what they were doing, if not more.
Rather than camping back, Kiro flipped a kunai into the air he pulled one out before moving forward to try and disarm the ninja. The opponent swung left and right, then left and right again trying to hit the elusive Mist genin, but Kiro met each one with the kunai in hand. Eventually, Kiro had gotten close enough to where he could grab the boy’s wrist. After another careless swing, where the opponent poured too much energy into it, Kiro took advantage of their lost balance and got close enough to jam his kunai in their right arm, causing them to let go with that hand. Of course, Kiro wasn’t done as he punched the ninja in their face and then elbowed their remaining arm. This caused them to yelp in pain and lose their grip on the sword. Kiro tore the sword from their grasp and then tossed it upwards before push kicking the boy in the midsection.
As the Leaf ninja was knocked backwards, Kiro could hear his teammate running up behind him again. That would appear to be the only the boy could do in this fight as Kiro grabbed the sword in a reverse grip with his left hand when it fell and then turned only slightly to stab them right to through a major organ. Kiro could feel as the sword as the sword easily pierced through his flesh, cleanly going straight to the boy. Kiro wasn’t done, however, as he channeled lightning chakra through the blade. There were blue streaks of electricity and lightning coating the blade as an electrical hum filled the area.
“Stay down.”
With the blade penetrating the boy, that made it all the more easier for him to be completely paralyzed as the lightning had an entry into his body. At this point, he was nothing more than a vegetable.
“Y-you bastard!”
Seething with rage, his teammate shouted before charging at him once more. Kiro cursed under his breath as he was too slow to pull the blade out from the body of Leaf ninja and was forced to block attack with only one hand. He slapped the first punch to the side by moving it away with his wrist before blocking the punch from his opponent‘s right hand. The Leaf ninja cursed as Kiro forcefully turned their wrist, causing them to pull their fist back. They then pulled a kunai out and attempted to slash Kiro’s neck open. That wouldn’t as Kiro their wrist with right hand before finally managing to pull the blade out. Using the momentum the blade had as it escaped the body, Kiro turned his own body and slashed the other boy’s chest open. As the body of the second ninja collapsed, Kiro turned to face the last one as he flipped the sword into a proper grip.
What he didn’t expect was to be met with multiple blades of wind slicing through the air in his direction. Thinking on his feet, Kiro focused on increasing the vibration on the edge of the blade to increase its sharpness just enough to cut through the wind blades before they could slice him up.
“What do you think about these chakra blades? I think they’re pretty useful when I want to kill someone with wind release.”
Sure enough, in both of his hands were trench knives that were worn as brass knuckles, with a zig-zag shape to give them what seemed like teeth.
“They’re not bad. Swords are better though, as much as I’d prefer to not admit it. They’re just almost the perfect weapon for lightning release. So sharp and penetrative, which is only amplified by the other. Much better for killing I’d say.”
Kiro said with some mirth in his voice as he directed the Leaf genin with his eyes to his vegetable of a teammate bleeding out on the forest floor. Strangely, that only caused his opponent to begin chuckling before raising his fists.
“You’re funny my guy. The name’s Denji by the way. Those two were weak. They served their purpose as tools for me to advance after I kill you. After all, what else are ninja for, am I right?”
“I’m Kiro. And you’re not necessarily wrong. Here I thought the Leaf were a bunch of innocent snowflakes who didn’t know anything about the world outside those giant walls you hide behind.”
“Perhaps we were, but
that day changed everything. That’s besides the point though. No lecture is gonna convince me that sword is better that these chakra blades. Wind is strong against lightning. That’s like some Academy level bullshit.”
“I suppose I have some time to teach you a lesson or two then. For starters, it’s not about the weapon, but how you use it.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and show me then, teacher? If you can that is.”
Denji cracked his neck to the side with a grin before blitzing towards Kiro at blinding speeds. Fortunately, Kiro’s eyes has been trained enough to react to high levels of speeds with those relative to him even without his dojutsu. Of course, it was still much harder to react. With every slash Kiro was only able to dodge, there would be a sharp gash on a tree in the nearby vicinity. Even his own teammates would soon be turned into nothing but meat and bones at this rate.
Kiro swing his sword sideways at one point, seeming to aim for his side and was countered by one of the chakra blades. Denji then attempted to slash at him with a wind blade. However, Kiro was quick enough to pull away to turn his around and then send a kick into the other side of his torso. Of course, that damage wasn’t enough to bring Denji down, so he lunged forward to continue his offense. They clashed a few more times, with the chakra blade grinding down the blade of the sword of each time thanks to the sharp wind enhancements.
“It’s only a matter of time before your sword is dunzo, buddy.”
Even though Kiro knew Denji was right, he didn’t seem that concerned at all. In fact, he seemed to smirk a bit.
“Heh. I hate using this, especially against idiots like you, so consider what I’m about to show you a sign of respect.”
At first, there was an expression of surprise on his face, which soon morphed into a grin with a glint of intrigue in his brown eyes.
“So that’s how it is. Things just got very interesting. At least, I know of a dumbass our age who would be very interested to know about this. That whole damned clan even.”
Judging by his tone, Denji must’ve held some ill-will towards the group of people he was referring too. Perhaps it had something to do with
that day he mentioned earlier.
“A dumbass huh? Well, not if I kill both of you first.”
That response caused a laugh to erupt from the brown-haired Leaf shinobi. Clearly, he was confident in his victory, even with what Kiro had shown him.
“Sorry, but I know how that ability of yours works all too well. You won’t get me with that.”
“Okay buddy.”
They both jumped back for a momentary breather before lunging forward once more. This time Denji threw a wind-enhanced punch with his right hand, forcing Kiro to grab his wrist one hand, which left his other hand holding the sword to defend him from the follow up slash.
“I suppose it is true that shinobi can communicate with each other through, but I think is it. It was nice knowing you, Kiro.”
In a somewhat somber tone, Denji stated his farewell. However, the confident grin plastered over his face betrayed that he felt sentimental at all. That’s because from his angle, he was staring directly at the sword his chakra blade was grinding against. From the looks of it, the blade would fall apart at any second, allowing him to decapitate his opponent. It was good fight against a respectful opponent, but this duel was his.
—————————
The golden hue in the skies above was a sign that the sun was setting. A day was over. There in the grassy fields of Konoha was a young-brown haired boy laying down on his back, clutching a gold pendant necklace around his neck. Perhaps he just enjoyed cloud-gazing. Yet, there weren’t many clouds left in the sky. When he brought his gaze down from the heavens, into the growing darkness below the grassy hills, he could see a family walking along the sidewalk by a glistening lake, smiling and laughing with each other. People went by with a smile and the occasional hello. It seemed that fear and judgement was only a thing of the past for those wore the red and white symbol of authority in the Hidden Leaf village proudly on their back. That could be enough to get water in the eyes of a little boy who gazed back up into the sky, with an arm raised, seeming to reach for something.
“I don’t understand Mommy, Daddy. How come nobody is mad at them anymore? They’re so happy, but I can’t see you anymore because of them. It’s not fair. I wish I could you again...”
—————————
“Yeah, same here, Denji.
Same here...”
While Denji can been staring at the sword, Kiro had been looking at the clean, metallic chakra blade his opponent was countering the blade with. The perk of brand new weapons were their cleanliness, which left Kiro disheartened with the knowledge that they’d be dirtied the more they were used. In this case, the weapons were clean enough to the point where he could see his own reflection. In fact, the reflection could even be seen on another reflective surface.
Perhaps it had been planned by Kiro himself, but the weapons were slowly being angled in just the right spot to where Denji could see a reflection of Kiro’s eyes on the metal of the sword through the reflection of the metallic chakra blades. Blinking a few times, Denji inspected the blade as he just needed to keep the sword there for only a few seconds longer. Kiro could angle it how much he wanted, but wouldn’t save him. At least those were his final thoughts before his eyes were attracted to the red on the blade.
At that point, it was too late as his body was suddenly completely paralyzed. A signature genjutsu of those eyes. Even if it was for a few seconds, that was enough for a trained killer like the one before him. The last feeling Denji has was that of something sharp piercing through chin and straight through his head. Fortunately, likely as a form of mercy, Denji never felt the pain as he died almost instantly as the lightning infused sword pierced through his brain and skull before exiting the top of his head. His feet had left the ground before Kiro removed the sword just as quickly as it entered. The lifeless body of Denji then collapsed to the ground before him.
“Lessen over.”
Looking down at the body of his former opponent, Kiro remained silent for a few moments. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, this was a sight he could never forget. A sight, like many others, burnt into his eyes. Having a perfect memory was both a blessing and a curse. What made a memory even harder to forget was an object that still remained from those times. As Kiro gazed down the body, he couldn’t help but notice the gold necklace around his neck. He had seen the rather beautiful and clean object before, but now it was stained with red.
“Something like this shouldn’t be dirtied.”
Pulling the necklace off of Denji’s corpse, Kiro glanced at it for a few seconds before putting it away in a pocket and scavenging the body for an earth scroll. Unfortunately, they ended up having the same heaven scroll as him. It was quite ironic they had that whole fight while having the same thing. Kiro then went through the body of the vegetable and as luck would have it, he had the earth scroll. He was about to head out when he heard some rustling nearby. When Kiro glanced to his side, he was surprised to the last member of their squad still alive.
“Damnit. How could Denji die? Go ahead and finish me already so I could join him.”
The last boy spoke with a trembling voice. Kiro couldn’t tell if he was honorable or scared to die. Whatever the case, Kiro felt like he had already done enough. He should go before anyone else decided to vulture him again. Glancing down at the boy with his eyes, Kiro then threw the sword to the side.
“I think that’s enough killing for today. Whenever I hold a sword, someone always seems to die. Your friend didn’t seem to place much worth in you guys, but you still cared for him dearly. I can respect that. I’ll be generous then...”
With that, Kiro turned around and began walking away. The boy seemed grateful but heartbroken at the same time as he struggled to crawl forward while bleeding out. However, he became more frantic when the earth began to shake as there was a rumbling sound all around the area. It didn’t long for a gigantic snake emerge for its next meal. As the snake approached, the last survivor ended up falling unconscious. This meant he wouldn’t be awake long enough to understand what happened. Perhaps that was also thanks to Kiro. Rather than just chase after the Mist genin who was calmly walking away, the giant snake approached its meal, which consisted of a vegetable, a dead body, and a live prey.
“Hmm. I suppose I never did specify who my generosity was for.”
