"Onari," Akura said at last, clenching his charred fists. His voice was steady, though tremors ran through his burned hands. "If I join you and swear loyalty to your organization, will you at least let Maki live?"
"Unfortunately, Akura-san, that isn't mine to decide. I have no authority to make such promises." Onari's lips curled into a bitter smile, yet his eyes were hard. "But… you were never going to surrender, were you?"
Akura didn't answer. His mouth bent into a faint, weary smile, and then his feet tore into the ground. He shot forward in a blur, closing the distance with murderous intent.
But before he could swing, the earth betrayed him. Lines of ink glowed across the soil beneath his boots, seals unraveling like a web tightening around prey.
'He's grown stronger. I didn't even notice when he set this trap. He doesn't need direct contact anymore.' The thought slammed into him just as lightning burst upward. The surge crackled over his body, muscles locking as sparks danced across his skin. The pain lanced through him, sharp and biting, but the force was measured. It wasn't a killing blow. It was restraint - paralysis meant to leave him helpless.
"Akura-san…" Onari's voice trembled, his pupils dilating until his eyes were a bloodshot haze. "I'll never forgive you… for forcing me to kill you!"
The instant his words ended, Juzo moved. The rogue shinobi wasted no time, his massive blade cutting a brutal arc that cleaved the air, its edge bearing down toward Akura's neck.
Akura's mind screamed at him.
Too close.
His body was still numb from the lightning. His hands burned with pain as he forced them into motion, each sign carved with desperate precision. The sword was nearly upon him.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
A torrent of water erupted with explosive force, crashing upward and stopping the great blade in mid-descent. Spray hissed across the clearing, steam rising where lightning residue met water. The block held, but Akura already knew that he was no longer fighting a single opponent.
His senses screamed. Onari was already there.
From the side, the man approached quickly, his hands empty but far deadlier than steel. Each finger shimmered faintly with seals, strange patterns alive with chakra as he reached forward, intent to brand Akura's very body.
'If he touches me, it's over.'
Akura cancelled the jutsu, the wall collapsing into a gush of water as he leapt back. But his escape was crushed before it began. Juzo shifted like a wall of iron, planting himself in Akura's path, his massive sword dragging grooves into the dirt as he raised it again.
'Close combat won't work against two. I need distance.'
Hand signs blurred through the haze of pain. A puff of smoke burst beside him, a shadow clone charging headlong at Juzo with reckless speed. The giant blade met it instantly, cutting the clone in half and scattering it into a cloud of white smoke. But that single heartbeat of distraction was enough.
Akura sprang back, widening the gap he so desperately needed. His fingers tore through the final sequence, teeth clamping down on his thumb. Blood welled and smeared across the ground as he slammed his palm into the earth.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The ground trembled. Chakra surged outward from his seal in a violent pulse, shaking dirt and debris into the air as the battlefield seemed to pause for what was about to emerge.
"Once again you summon me when you are about to die." The deep, displeased voice rumbled first, echoing through the smoke that still cloaked Maru's massive body.
Akura had no time to argue or explain. Maru didn't know just how dire the situation truly was either. He leapt onto the eagle's back, the signal clear enough without words.
Maru's wings snapped wide and, with a thunderous flap, he shot upward, carrying Akura beyond the immediate reach of danger. The great bird didn't even scan the battlefield, his instinct was to retreat, to pull his partner away from whatever was threatening his life. But Akura's voice cut through that plan, steadier and sharper than ever.
"Maru, we must fight."
For once, Maru said nothing. For all his quirks, his complaints, and his endless commentary, he knew when to trust his old friend.
The eagle banked wide, his wings slicing through the air before folding in. He descended sharply, talons outstretched, and fixed his killing intent on Juzo.
"That other one…" Maru muttered, his head tilting ever so slightly toward Onari. "Akura, his chakra feels wrong."
Akura didn't respond. His hands were already moving, weaving signs in rapid sequence. His chakra gathered, readying a long-range jutsu to support Maru's assault.
The eagle didn't press the topic. He had already focused entirely on Juzo, who scrambled back, unwilling to meet the beast head-on. Juzo's sword arm twitched, his feet dragging him into a desperate retreat. But he had misjudged.
For all his massive size and intimidating presence, Maru never dove recklessly unless he was certain of his advantage.
This time, he wasn't.
Just before impact, Maru broke the dive. His wings snapped open, arresting his fall with terrifying force, followed with a strong flap of his giant wings. A wall of wind erupted beneath him, splitting into two roaring columns that twisted violently as they tore toward the earth like descending tornadoes.
The instant the winds struck, the ground convulsed. Dirt, stones, and broken shards of earth blasted upward in a storm until smoke and dust swallowed everything.
"Onari, help me!" Juzo roared, panic cutting into his sneer as he ripped through hand signs. He knew running from such a wide-spread assault was impossible. His hands blurred, his chakra flaring
"Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
A slab of earth thrust upward, thick and heavy, but Juzo's own eyes told him it wouldn't hold. His chest heaved from the strain.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Onari formed no hand signs. Instead, he unfurled a scroll, smearing blood across its inked surface, and channeling his chakra into it.
A powerful gust of wind roared forth, colliding with Maru's twin tornadoes. The first column of wind buckled, its trajectory bent and redirected. It spun violently toward the battlefield, veering straight into the crimson mist conjured by the Noda clan.
'Damn it… he did that on purpose?' Akura's teeth clenched as he watched the red haze distort under the weakened, but still strong tornado. 'Just how much have you grown, Onari?'
The second tornado reached its target. It slammed into Juzo's earth wall, tearing it apart in an instant. Pebbles and dirt whirled like shrapnel, the explosion of debris rattling across the battlefield. Juzo stumbled, panting heavily as cracks split his defensive jutsu to rubble.
"Water Release: Water Bullet!"
Akura spat forth a surge of water, the pressurized stream firing straight toward Juzo. The rogue shinobi barely managed to steady himself, his chest heaving with exhaustion.
Maru's eyes narrowed. "That one forced his jutsu to higher strength than he could handle. He's disoriented. I'll finish it!" His wings flexed as chakra gathered, another torrent building in his wings.
But then his body froze.
A heaviness pressed into Maru's mind, a haze that did not belong. No human was able to drag the mighty eagle into genjutsu by ordinary means, but that didn't mean the pressure alone couldn't affect his instincts. His body froze for a heartbeat before his chakra surged violently, disrupting the haze and canceling the attack. His sharp eyes scanned the battlefield until they locked on Onari.
"Akura," Maru growled, his voice betraying his wounded pride, "that human with strange chakra can use genjutsu."
But Akura's focus was elsewhere. His eyes followed the arc of his jutsu, waiting to see if it had broken through. The water bullet slammed against Juzo's blade, the clash sending the rogue shinobi skidding backward. Thin lines of blood trailed where splashes had cut into his skin, but nothing more.
The strike had failed.
"How long can you keep flying like this?" Akura asked, his tone flat with disappointment, ignoring Maru's earlier warning.
"Longer than your chakra can sustain me here," Maru shot back, his words sharp as his wings carved another wide arc.
"Mhm." Akura's confirmation was little more than a hum, but behind it his mind was trying to find the path to victory.
'The longer this drags on, the worse it becomes. Once Onari finds a way to deal with Maru, it's over.' His lips pressed into a thin line as his gaze snapped back to Juzo. The rogue's ragged breathing had already steadied. The backlash from forcing his body to channel beyond its limit was fading, strength returning. 'The only reason Onari is holding back is because he doesn't know what Maru can do. Luckily, I contracted him after leaving Kiri, he has no information. But the problem is, I don't know what Onari is capable of anymore either…'
His eyes widened.
Onari's hand reached inside his robe and drew another scroll.
'His personality has changed as well, he seems to no longer prioritize his safety. Unless…' Akura's thoughts numbed, tension flooding his body as he read the intent in Onari's movements.
The man bit his thumb open and smeared blood across the parchment, then drove his chakra into the seals. The scroll flared, its glow violent and unstable. For a moment, Onari's legs buckled beneath him, his body staggering as if his own strength was too frail to channel what he had unleashed.
Then lightning tore outward.
It leapt from the scroll in a furious storm, arcs snapping and twisting across the clearing with power far beyond what Akura or Maru had prepared for. The air itself cracked under the force, the scent of ozone filling every breath.
"How…" Akura's voice broke into a whisper, disbelief hardening into dread as he watched the chakra storm gather. "This is… at least S-rank jutsu…"
The lightning, wild and uncontrollable only moments before, twisted into form. Its violent arcs coiled and reshaped until a dragon of pure thunder roared into existence, its body surging forward with murderous speed, aimed straight for Maru and Akura.
"Akura, this isn't his chakra," Maru's deep voice cut through the chaos, his mind already searching for an escape. "He's using those scrolls to borrow someone else's power."
"I know…" Akura muttered, his eyes wide, the sight freezing him in place. His body refused to move as the dragon closed the distance. A metallic taste spread across his tongue. Yet he couldn't remember any wound that might've caused it.
'Is this it? Is this how I'm going to die?' His thoughts hollowed as he failed to find any answer, any defense that could save him now.
"Akura, I'm canceling the summoning and taking you with me!" Maru roared, his beak clashing as the chakra binding their contract stirred.
"No!" Akura's cry tore from his throat, desperate and raw. "I won't leave her!"
Maru's instincts urged him to ignore the words, to end the summoning before the lightning dragon consumed them both. His chakra began to pull inward…
And then the battlefield split with a crimson glow.
A figure appeared before them, its form wreathed in raw, malevolent chakra. Six tails lashed outward, moving like whips of living fire.
The dragon collided with the barrier they formed. Lightning crashed, the air exploding with crackles and arcs that wrapped around the crimson figure. The beast absorbed it all, trapping the attack within itself, the sound of searing thunder grinding against living chakra.
And then silence.
The Six-Tails roared, the ground trembling beneath the weight of its voice. Six blazing tails struck the earth as its monstrous form settled between Akura, Maru, and the rogue shinobis.
"Utakata…" Akura whispered, relief breaking across his face as the echoes of the roar rolled through the battlefield.
The person from that cart had finally decided to make a move.
----------------------------------
The Next Chapter on Tuesday
----------------------------------
If you can, please support me on P@treon
pat reon.com/azureawakening
(no space)
You can read up to 20 chapters ahead on P@treon!
The link is also in the synopsis