In the middle of the village, on the square that hosts the village hall, the three Uchiha stood surrounded by hunters holding bows and other weapons. The hunters and the shinobi had accompanied Sochua as he tested dozens of the villagers. When Sochua learned that there was a fourth shinobi, he ordered the hunters to keep the other three away as he went to personally test the shinobi.
"You three may be tempted to do something rash should the result of your fourth companion turn out to be… Unfortunate. You will stay here while I verify his identity." Sochua had stated.
So Keina, Atsuo and Teruo stood under the afternoon Spring sun and waited, surrounded by less-than-happy hunters. They did not want to be left out if- or when Sochua found the monster. But they waited, watching the three shinobi. Their weapons were not held ready, but remained drawn. The sound of wood being hammered could be heard echoing throughout the village as families barricaded themselves inside their homes, at least until the monster was found and removed.
"I swear, if Kotetsu does something stupid I'll tie him to a rope and dangle him off a cliff…" Atsuo said to Teruo.
Keina kept her thoughts to herself on the subject.
"Maybe he is a monster. With the way he trains, I'm pretty sure he's not human at least." Teruo jokingly said.
—
"He… He's the monster?" One of the hunters said, astounded. All of the hunters had slacked their bows slightly. Kotetsu felt his body tremble as the man's finger closed over the trigger of the crossbow, which was currently aimed right for Kotetsu's forehead. Kotetsu was shaken from his fright at a sharp command given to him by old man Ozaki.
"Run, boy! Go!"
Kotetsu reacted, a surge of adrenaline carrying his body down near the ground. He felt something whoosh through his hair, and a sound like a hammer blow cracked from behind him. Moving since his life now depended on it, he grasped the handles of the cart to his other side, pulling him up and over the cart's contents.
"KILL HIM!" The scream from the cloaked man ripped through the air.
Kotetsu spun through the air, balancing on the cart, reaching down and barely gripping the sheath of his blade and pulling it up to his chest. Then, he had to move again as the hunter's arrows whipped by his head and around his body, scraping his skin and leaving deep scratches. Kotetsu jumped for the roof of a nearby building, but his foot caught the end of the cart and his body flipped through the air. He heard various expletives as he barely got his feet under him, making a rough landing but still able to move.
Kotetsu turned for a split second to view the scene. The cloaked man had moved the arm holding the rod back into his cloak, and pulled it out again to reveal- of all things, a buckler shield. The rounded wooden shield was covered in strips of black leather, and on the inside of the shield were bolts held in place by unseen grooves. The cloaked man pulled the shield over his crossbow, skillfully replacing the spent bolt with a click before furiously moving the hand crank to coil the crossbow. The man held a disturbing smile as he looked at Kotetsu. That smile spoke of hunger.
Kotetsu sprinted as fast as possible away from the crazy man and the hunters, following the flat stone road in toward the village. Kotetsu's only thought was to find his friends. They could help clear this up. They had to. From behind, Sochua allowed himself to indulge the hunt as he began to follow Kotetsu.
Ozaki and his two sons, Choujo and Reito took no hesitation in attacking the hunters, holding all but one of them down. This hunter followed Sochua at the monster hunter's command, leaving his downed companions behind.
Kotetsu was forced to dodge and weave as he ran down the road, evading bolts and arrows. His heart thundered in his ears as the chase continued for what felt like several minutes. After a corner that Kotetsu recognised, a beautiful and worrisome sight filled his vision. Keina, Atsuo and Teruo stood surrounded by hunters. Kotetsu could only hope that the hunters did not have orders to attack his friends.
Kotetsu took a deep, calming breath as he rushed in their direction. "I require assistance, fellow shinobi!" Is what his mind wanted to say.
"TERUO! ATSUO! KEINA! THIS GUY IS CRAZY! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!" Is what actually came out of Kotetsu's mouth.
A bolt from behind finally struck true. Kotetsu felt a blooming pain erupt from his shoulder, causing him to stumble. The feeling of cold fire spread up his neck and down his arm, forcing the limb to fall limp. The pain was so intense that Kotetsu could not stop himself from rolling to the ground. Before Kotetsu could fully process the pain of the first bolt, a second bolt struck one of his legs in the calf. A silent scream was all that Kotetsu could manage as his mouth was left gaping open from the rush of mind-numbing pain.
"Hunters, this boy is the monster! Those shinobi were aiding the beast. Keep them in their place!" Sochua shouted from behind.
Suddenly, the three Uchiha found their captors turning angry scowls and cruel words onto them, pulling weapons and preparing to shoot. Atsuo and Keina activated their Sharingan in anticipation for the coming fight. Teruo stood dumbfounded, frozen into shock from the turn of events.
"Why are they shooting at Kotetsu?!" Teruo shouted.
Without responding, Keina reached over and pulled Teruo out of the way as one of the hunters released an arrow in their direction. It passed right through where Teruo had been standing.
"Get a grip, Teruo!" Keina shook Teruo's shoulders. Teruo was left staring up into Keina's fully matured Sharingan. Teruo realised he had never seen her Sharingan, as she barely sparred with the younger Uchiha.
Atsuo ducked, jumped, and caught arrows in quick succession, spinning to keep every hunter in his spatial awareness.
"We're not your enemy!" He growled at the closest hunter.
"You're with the monster, so that makes you our enemy!" The hunter spat back, attempting to poke his spear at Atsuo. Atsuo casually dodged the outstretched weapon, grasped the end, and ripped the weapon from the hunter's grip. The hunter stumbled forward a step as Atsuo threw the spear over the hunter's head and into a distant field. Using the hunter's momentum, Atsuo knocked the man unconscious with a single strike to the temple. Then, Atsuo suddenly found his arms filled with Teruo as Keina shoved the boy into his chest.
"Keep him from getting hurt." Keina barked.
Atsuo was quick to figure out what Keina was doing. Keeping a solid grip on Teruo, he asked an important question.
"How are you going to help Kotetsu?"
Keina turned her head back as she marched toward her fallen teammate.
"However I can."
Shortly after falling to the ground, Kotetsu regained a semblance of control over his body, and began to crawl toward the abrupt combat where his friends were. The numbing scalding pain in his shoulder and leg were almost unbearable, so much that he considered trying to dig the bolts out of his body. But he needed to keep moving. So, carefully placing his good arm in front of the other, he pulled himself along slowly.
Sochua loaded another bolt after allowing himself to enjoy the sight of the now helpless boy. Slowing down to a stalk, he approached the shinobi. He had missed the first bolt, intended to hit the boy's heart, but his aim was too far left and instead got the boy's shoulder. He pulled the crossbow up to his line of sight and aimed. This next shot would strike true. It did not.
The bolt flew out of the crossbow and hit with a thump. The wall of solid stone responsible for catching the bolt rumbled up just behind Kotetsu, slowing to a stop as it reached about head height. Sochua felt anger as the rush of the kill was denied to him. The spot where the bolt penetrated the wall of stone began to sag and crumble apart, the bolt tumbling to the ground shortly after.
Kotetsu craned his head around to see the looming wall just behind his feet, astonished at the large stone barrier. He turned back forward to see Keina sprinting toward him, but she was much too far away to do anything more than shout- and cast Ninjutsu apparently. Heavy footsteps to one side of the wall brought Kotetsu to turn with dread to find the cloaked man once again, his crossbow completing the turn with him. Kotetsu found his vision overtaken by sudden darkness.
From the front, Keina placed her hands together in another string of hand signs. She needed to keep her team safe first and foremost, then she could bring her wrath down on Sochua. A dome of earth rose to encapsulate Kotetsu, shutting him off completely from the deadly hunter. Sochua did not fire a bolt into the dome as Keina expected, instead turning the crossbow onto her. Her Sharingan allowed her to predict the trajectory, and she prepared to move- until an arrow grazed by her head, forcing her to reflexively jerk to one side. Her foot exploded in prickling agony as the unseen bolt pierced straight through her ankle, lodging itself in bone. Keina's run devolved into a shuffle as all she could think about was getting within punching range of that bastard. The earlier arrow had come from a hunter standing slightly behind Sochua, and she could see that he would fire again soon enough.
Even with her hobbled foot, Keina managed to dodge another arrow, as well as the second and third bolt. When she got within twenty feet, her luck ran out. The two hunters timed their shots again, firing both arrow and bolt simultaneously. Keina kept her eyes locked on both men, attempting to map the trajectory as they aimed. The arrow attempted to hit her head, which she brought low to the ground. The bolt slammed into her shoulder when she attempted to shuffle sideways, but fell short from the agonising throb of her foot. Her luck had not entirely run out, however. She glanced up, having kept count of the bolts on Sochua's shield, and smiled to herself. He was out.
Sochua tossed the crossbow to the side as he understood it had served its purpose. From within his cloak, he drew a short black blade- curved in the manner of a carving knife. The edge was rough, and the blade held the appearance of being carved from stone. Sochua gave a ruthless smile as Keina got within combat distance. That smile was quickly wiped from his face as Keina showed him the difference between normal people and shinobi.
Stepping forward, Sochua brought the knife down in a large arc right for Keina's head. His hand, arm, shoulder and body hit a living brick wall. With her working arm, Keina reached up and took hold of Sochua's wrist with steel fingers, halting his downward swing. Before Sochua could recoil, she twisted until a sickening snap echoed through the air, and the curved knife dropped from his outstretched hand. A short yell escaped his lips as Keina released the now unnaturally bent wrist. With his other arm, Sochua attempted to bash his shield into Keina. Moving to catch the shield, Keina quickly juts her arm out faster than Sochua could see, digging her fingers into the burning black leather of the wooden buckler. Then, she ripped the shield off of the fingers Sochua had kept wrapped around the shield's grip. The shield was tossed behind her as Sochua stupidly looked down at his now broken fingers.
Keina knew it was time to finish this. Lurching forward on her good foot, she sent her good arm out once again, fist clenched, straight for Sochua's oily face. An arm came up from within the cloak, blocking the punch. Keina did not register something strange, until she noticed the hand was no longer broken. She distinctly remembered both of Sochua's hands having been broken. She glanced down in confusion as the arm snapped from the force of her punch. There were now three arms coming out of the cloak. She recognised the new arm as the same one that Sochua used to test himself, with its burn mark from where he held the rod against it.
Before Keina could fully process what just happened, a repulsive sound like meat tearing came from within the cloak, and the third arm fell to the ground with a soggy thump. The end that should have been connected to the body was wet with black blood, left ragged as if it had been chewed on. Sochua took several steps back as Keina couldn't stop staring down at the bloody arm.
"Oh well. It appears I have been forced to play my hand."
The almost humorous voice brought Keina's eyes up to look at Sochua, who was now chuckling with undisguised mirth. Stepping to his side toward the hunter who had followed him, Sochua opened his cloak wide using his broken arms. A long tentacle-like thing about as wide as an arm, red and covered in a clear oozing substance, ending in long black thorns, shot from Sochua's stomach. It reached up and coiled around the startled hunter's neck, pulling the man's head down in one smooth motion. The man didn't even get to scream. Keina was left motionless as a deafening crunch filled the air, followed by sounds of gnawing. The hunter's body fell a few seconds later, jerking and twitching for a few seconds as Keina laid terrified eyes on the now almost headless body.
Sochua slowly turned his body back to face Keina, his wrist and fingers twisting and cracking back into position. Keina stared in awe and sudden terror at the display. Most terrifying was the gaping hole in the man's chest, vaguely shaped like a mouth and filled with teeth. It made a hideous chewing noise. Keina could not look away. The mouth opened, and the long red tentacle- which Keina now associated as a tongue, slowly snaked out of the cavity and near the ground. Keina was caught off guard as the tongue suddenly whipped forward, raking across her chest with the strange finger-like thorns. Keina fell backward from the unexpectedly fast motion, her chest bursting with sudden burning pain.
The tongue whip pulled back after reaching out over six feet to hit Keina. Sochua managed to take a single step toward Keina, before a voice from his side brought him to see an inferno rocketing right for him.
"Keina, GET DOWN!"
Atsuo shouted his warning as he got close enough to use his fireball. Whipping his hands into form, he exhaled the deep breath he held, forming it into a wide bubble of flames which shot forward at the monster in wolf's clothing. The ball of fire exploded over Sochua, taking several seconds to calm before anyone could see the aftermath.
The flames began to recede, and Atsuo was left speechless. Sochua stood relatively unharmed, his cloak pulled slightly over his head. The cloak was untouched, as if the fire couldn't reach it. The top of Sochua's head burned with puffs of smoke however, leaving tendrils of smoke and small flames sitting where his hair was. Sochua stumbled away from Atsuo. Keina turned to see what state the hunters were left in. They were left alive, but unconscious. At least they wouldn't get in the way now, Keina thought. Teruo was following closely behind Atsuo, his Sharingan finally activated.
Sochua almost stumbled to the ground as he backed away from Atsuo. His hands fell on to the dome that protected Kotetsu, and Atsuo stood away a distance he determined to be out of his reach. The tongue snaked out of the mouth once again.
"I would like to surrender, fierce shinobi."
Sochua brought both his hands and the tongue up into the air in a strange gesture of yielding. Atsuo would not let himself be fooled. He kept his distance as he spoke.
"There is no surrendering for a monster. We are going to make sure you die a painful death."
"That's nice. I would like to make a final request, since I am awfully hungry. You wouldn't deny a poor man his last meal?" Sochua replied. Then, with a frightful speed, he brought the tongue down onto the stone dome protecting Kotetsu.
The dome cracked open like an egg as the tongue broke through and began to snake past the shattered remnants. Atsuo rushed forward with all of his speed, but stopped himself at an eye-searing light.
A geyser of flames flew out of the sudden breach and ripped across Sochua with enough violent force to send his body rocking back. Unlike Atsuo's fireball, these flames were openly invited into Sochua's spread cloak, coating everything inside with white-hot tendrils. Sochua was flung back as the fire spewed forward with enough strength to lift the man. The flames died down, and Kotetsu began to pull himself out of the broken dome, having removed the bolts from his body. Atsuo took one look at Sochua, then glanced at Keina. His choice was made as he rushed to Keina's side.
The burning form of Sochua made no noise as he was pushed against a barricaded window leading into a building. The gurgling and snarling form of Sochua stood hunched against the barricade for only a moment. Then, the snake tongue revealed itself again and bashed through the boards nailed to the window frame, latching onto something within and hoisting the entire connected body inside. Teruo arrived next to Kotetsu in time to help him escape the broken dome. The two stared between the broken boards and into the dark interior.
That's when the screaming began.
Frozen from fear and shock, Teruo and Kotetsu were forced to spectate the horrific scene unfolding within the locked building. The front door also appeared to be barricaded, as it shook with tremulous force from those attempting to escape the nightmare house.
Teruo could not stop his hand from coming up in a reflex as his breakfast came up. The cries for help from within tore at his sanity, but he knew that if he or Kotetsu had followed that thing through the window, they could have died just as easily. He glanced over at Kotetsu, finding a face of stone and pure anger. Teruo felt ashamed of his mess. He felt ashamed for not doing anything. He felt ashamed that he was useless.
"Teruo. That guy- er, thing is gonna have to come out eventually." Kotetsu's voice broke through Teruo's self pity. He looked back up to find Kotetsu stepping toward the house, hands coming up in the familiar hand signs.
"We're gonna need to hold it back, or take it out ourselves. I'll cover the window. You cover the door."
Kotetsu's analytical tone broke the spell holding Teruo down. Or at least, gave him the strength to push his feelings of disgust and worry to the back of his head. His mind stilled, and he focused on the only thing that mattered right now. He prepared himself with the same hand signs as Kotetsu.
One by one, voices cut off within the building, until only silence could be heard. Teruo could hear his heart race behind his ears. Without warning, the front door slammed open, and someone came out.
"Help me, please, save me!"
A blond haired man drenched in blood shouted, almost stumbling to the ground as he raced out from the door frame. Teruo almost jumped forward to pull the man away, but changed his mind at the last second. He had to ensure no opportunity for the enemy to attack.
Before Teruo could say something, Kotetsu leapt forward to assist the fallen man. Teruo was too late to cut Kotetsu off.
"Teruo, what are you doing? We need to get this guy away fro-"
"Get down, you idiot!" Teruo shouted as he gave up and jumped, reaching out and pushing Kotetsu down to the ground. The man had gotten to his feet and began stumbling toward the pair.
"Please… Help! It's inside…" The man pleaded.
Teruo unleashed the breath he had been holding, combining it with the burst of flames he had channeled moments earlier. The fire washed over the pleading man to Kotetsu's utter horror. The horror shifted into terror as the ball of fire split in half, a long red tongue jutting from the now headless stump of the body. The previously attached head flew up and away from the group, revealing a large mouth filled with gnashing teeth where the neck should have been. The tongue was too far away to reach the boys as it cracked down like a whip. The mouth sickeningly moved down the chest as the body's real head rolled up from the back, taking back its position atop the shoulders. Sochua took a step back as the tongue coiled around his body, reaching just inside the open door and pulling forward the black leather cloak, allowing it to lazily fall around his neck.
"You boys should be more careful with fire. It would be a shame to burn something precious."
Sochua sneered, walking a leisurely circle around the two and away from the defiled building. Teruo's earlier fireball had nearly dissipated, a few flickering flames all that remained along its short path. Teruo pushed himself off of Kotetsu to stand facing the most dangerous predator he's seen.
Earlier with his Sharingan, Teruo had seen through Sochua's macabre disguise. The crucial flaw was his complete lack of Chakra. That is what saved Teruo and Kotetsu from stepping into their imminent deaths. Teruo didn't think he'd have to stop Kotetsu from doing something so stupid.
Kotetsu remained planted on the hard stone after Teruo laid him out flat. Seeing Teruo's fireball so easily dispelled had stunned Kotetsu, but that is not what has kept him from acting. The black and red tongue resonated with an unfamiliar instinct within Kotetsu. An itching feeling had crept through his skull, and Kotetsu was distracted as he attempted to pinpoint the source. He was shaken from his contemplation by the feeling of his hand gripped around something tightly. He tore his gaze from Teruo and Sochua down to his waist, where he found his right hand unsheathing his sword of its own accord. The blade shimmered and swam into Kotetsu's sight as he laid eyes on the green metal. He pushed himself to one knee.
Teruo was preoccupied with keeping the circling Sochua right in front of him and a careful distance away. He took a step back or a step forward when necessary, making sure that Kotetsu stayed behind him. Sochua planted a huge genuine smile on his bloodied face. Then, without warning, Sochua twisted and fell into a hard sprint down the road and toward the hunters left unconscious by Atsuo and Keina. He turned his head and shouted as he ran.
"How will you stop me, shinobi? How many bodies must I desecrate before you give up?!"
For the first time, Teruo understood what it meant to have your blood run cold. He felt his feet sink into the road, and he was left unable to move. A force ripped past his side and knocked him to the ground. His hands stuck out, breaking his fall, and he looked up to see Kotetsu sprinting right after Sochua, his short but quick strides slowly catching up to the taller man. Kotetsu had his right hand firmly grasping the handle of his sword, and as he approached a dangerous distance, he began to draw the blade. The sword ripped free and sang through the air, straight for Sochua's back. Kotetsu's arm remained upright as the sword flew forward, his feet planting to help carry the sword forward with his momentum.
The motion was futile. After a mere second, the tip of the sword drooped down with inevitable weight, cutting the attack short and slicing into the hard cobblestone road at Kotetsu's feet. The sword sank almost half its length into the ground, sparks flying up as the stone violently separated. Kotetsu pulled at the handle to no avail. In front of him, Sochua stopped short of a hunter knocked unconscious on the ground, mere feet away.
"No… Please…!" Kotetsu begged, pulling on the sword with both hands.
Sochua could feel the power crawling just under his skin, ready to burst. It only needed a little more. Just a tiny push, and he would be free. Free to claim this village for himself, free to hunt and devour any that came into his territory. Free to slaughter. The tongue slithered from his chest and down toward the sleeping head of the hunter. The supplications of the shinobi boy behind him were drowned out as a loud crunch came from his chest, the tongue having retrieved its meal. The digested power flushed his body, growing from a meager trickle to a pounding river. He turned to face the hapless shinobi.
Kotetsu looked up from the disobedient sword to the monster that stood before him. Before he could think to escape, the monster appeared to be covered by a thin layer of black stone that poured from its skin. Kotetsu's heart furiously beat in his chest, leaving him trembling where he stood. He remained like that for several seconds, taking shallow breaths, unable to rip his eyes from Sochua's stone-covered smiling face. A shout from behind poked into his awareness.
"Kotetsu, get the hell out of there! Retreat, you idiot! Stay back with Teruo!.."
Kotetsu recognised Atsuo's shaky voice. But Kotetsu's feet would not move. He continued to uselessly pull on the sword, failing to move it even an inch. His reaction to seeing Sochua with that monster tongue was on replay in the back of his mind. He had been driven forward off of his knees after Sochua. Grabbing the handle of his sword had awakened something, both within him and the sword. The grip hummed with energy as it willed him forward. His mind was filled with a single agonising thought, planted there by the blade. Whoever- whatever Sochua was, the sword knew. And it wanted him utterly destroyed.
Those emotions were no longer there. Whatever had prompted the reaction, the sword no longer hummed in Kotetsu's grasp. As if the sword itself had decided that Kotetsu was not worthy to listen. Atsuo continued to shout from a distance, crouched over Keina, and Teruo stood motionless where Kotetsu had left him behind. Atsuo had successfully retrieved the bolts from Keina's shoulder and foot without breaking anything important. The slash wound across her chest had grown a dark purple with black lines crawling just under her skin. The gushing blood had been reduced to a trickle thanks to Atsuo's efforts, though he couldn't do anything about the black substance, which he figured to be a venom of sorts. Keina would simply have to fight the effects. She stirred as Atsuo screamed at Kotetsu to retreat.
"...Where is he?" Keina asked, instantly going alert as she attempted to push herself upright with an elbow, wincing and almost collapsing from the pain. Atsuo turned to look down at her.
"Kotetsu? He's-"
"No. That monster, Sochua. I am going to kill him myself." Keina brusquely cut Atsuo off. Atsuo looked down at her for a second, before nodding. He offered a hand, which she accepted. Atsuo kept both hands on Keina to steady her as they stood. Her right foot left her unable to fully stand on her own.
"I'm fine." Keina spoke through gritted teeth. Atsuo refused to let go, pushing his shoulder under her arm. Keina didn't refuse, despite her glare. The two began limp-walking toward Kotetsu.
Kotetsu had fallen to his knees, forehead pressed against the pommel of his sword, both hands wrapped around the handle. Salty tears stung his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, softly falling onto his lap. He could not understand why the sword refused him. All he needed was a little more time, and-
Crack.
Something small and hard hit the ground right in front of him, crumbling apart as it struck the stone road. Then another. Slowly, tiny black shards cascaded off of the statue, and the body began to twitch as streaks of skin were exposed under the fracturing black stone. One large piece fell from its face, shattering as it hit the ground. Kotetsu's eyes wandered up to meet red and brown eyes staring down at him. The raked scar that had covered the face was completely gone, and the incoherent words previously etched there now pulsed, almost swimming across its skin. The monster loomed over Kotetsu, seeming taller than before. The monster took a step closer.
"Let me give that a try." The voice reached into Kotetsu's subconscious, bringing with it a primal fear that gave Kotetsu the uncontrollable urge to escape.
Kotetsu kicked and crab-walked away from his sword as Sochua took another step, reaching down and smothering the handle with an oversized hand. Kotetsu saw the monster's smirk shift into agony as its hand retreated from the smoking handle, its palm suddenly an angry red and bleeding profusely. It yowled in pain as it cradled the hand, and Kotetsu saw the pulsing symbols flow down the arm and toward the wounded hand, vanishing as they seemed to be absorbed by the injury. The wound began to fade after a few seconds.
Sochua could hardly believe what he found. His youthfulness had left him to regard the stories from his brethren with contempt, unable to believe that these so-called Cinders and their weapons capable of killing his kind even existed. Now, in front of him sat living proof of those stories. A blade that did not just resist his will, but seemed to be the antithesis of his being. He wondered if this was how it felt when the black stone of his weapons touched the skin of those with Chakra. This line of thought brought him to one conclusion. He needed to kill the shinobi that so carelessly drew this dangerous weapon, and quickly. Sochua stepped forward, his leather cloak falling off his back to reveal the tattered and burned remains of his shirt, and the gaping teeth-filled mouth in the center of his chest.
Kotetsu's vision closed in around him as that mouth grew larger in his vision. His ears rang as all he could do was sit there, his hands and feet having lost all feeling after shuffling away. He could vaguely see the tongue within, sat coiled and ready to strike. The sharp barbs on its end barely crept forward beyond the sharp jagged teeth. It was only a matter of time now.
"KOTETSU!!"
Teruo had first stumbled, then sprinted toward Kotetsu as he saw the man-turned-statue begin to shake itself apart. Kotetsu had stupidly chased after the monster, leaving Teruo in the awkward position of pulling him away from danger once again. He slid across the ground right next to Kotetsu, wrapping an arm around his neck and grabbing a shoulder with the other. Then, with all the might he could manage, Teruo bodily lifted Kotetsu and threw him back the way he came, away from the monster. And, Teruo realised too late, himself. A pain like frost burn blossomed up his back and out his shoulder, following the path made by Sochua's tongue as it lashed out. Teruo fell to the ground, frozen from pain and shock. Before he could fight back, clamber away, or even shout, something wet curled around his neck. His hands shot up to pull the choking force away, but his fingers failed to find any perch in the tongue's stone-hard flesh. His head and upper body jerked upward from a wretched strength.
Kotetsu had been shaken from his inaction when his face slammed into the warm stone road. His body dragged along for several feet before rolling to a stop, and he took a few seconds to catch his bearings, willing his eyes to still. His sight focused. A single moment stretched from seconds to minutes in his mind as he made eye contact with the wide, pleading eyes of Teruo.
Teruo's head was pulled almost completely within the mouth. Kotetsu had to watch. The body fell from the mouth completely limp, the strings of life having been cut. Kotetsu heard nothing. Felt nothing. The only thing he couldn't have, was to see nothing. So that's what he did.
Atsuo and Keina had stopped for only a moment. The image of those final moments were carved into their retinas forever. To the Sharingan, it was just more information to process. Atsuo had let go of Keina and began moving forward in a run.
Kotetsu stared down at the body. Slowly, sound began to filter through his ears. Distant screams and crying, the terrified yells of animals, the soft creaking of trees, the gentle breeze flowing around his body. The smell of blood, rotting flesh, and fertiliser filled his nose. A noise, like yapping, assaulted his ears. He looked up to see the face of his enemy. It was blabbering about something, making gestures around itself and at him. A concept in his mind associated itself with the image of that face.
He wanted to kill it. Kotetsu had never wanted to do anything more in his entire life than this. His body felt as if it were engulfed in a volcano, the sweltering heat exuding from his chest and filling his lungs. A gleam caught his eye, and his attention drifted down between his enemy's legs. There lay his sword, stuck in the ground. Just like that, he knew how to get what he wanted.
He moved forward, forcing his enemy to shut up.
"Finally. Let's finish this. You can meet your fellow shinobi in the afterlife." His enemy said.
The tongue lanced out from its hiding hole, right for Kotetsu's head. Kotetsu had put all of his focus on this single attack he knew was coming, and it paid off. He dodged to the right, ducking his head low and moving with all the speed he could muster, ducking and rolling beneath the widened stance of his enemy. His momentum came to an abrupt stop as he used Chakra to stick to the ground, wrapping both hands around the handle of his sword and closing his eyes. He did not think. Without hesitation, he pulled. The sword failed to move. Then, with a jerk, it silently pulled free from the ground, and Kotetsu put all of his strength into a single swing, twisting his entire body, arcing the blade with blinding speed.
His enemy had not bothered to turn around- letting the mouth move instead. It slid around his side and onto his back, where the tongue whipped out once again to strike its prey. The sword caught the tip of the tongue. It continued along as if it had struck nothing, slicing clear through the length of the flesh whip. Black blood and viscera spewed out from the savage slash, splattering Kotetsu's face and chest. The forked tongue fell limp to the ground in a heap.
While Sochua allowed his tongue to deal with the foolish boy behind him, he prepared to receive the shinobi charging him from the front. The older boy would fall easily to his strength, now that he had successfully performed his third shedding. Before the older boy got within grabbing distance, however, a pain like nothing Sochua had ever experienced- or ever thought he could experience, lanced up his spine and permeated his body. It was more than that, however. He felt as if the bolt of pain was eating away at his mind, his power, his life. Sochua fell to his knees as the shinobi approached him.
Before the shinobi got close enough, another pain bloomed in his right eye, and he lost vision there. With his left eye, he could barely make out the handle of a kunai, thrown from the shinobi girl far away. He reached up in an attempt to pull the weapon free, his healing sigils attempting to nullify and regenerate the wound. The shinobi boy got to him first. Twisting and extending one leg out, the boy kicked the kunai further into the eye socket, sending Sochua's head rocking back from the force. He heard a voice shouting from behind him, and feared another sword strike was coming. The shinobi boy crouched low in front of him. What came instead flooded him with a new kind of pain, and the smell of charred flesh filled the afternoon air.
White hot flames spiked through Sochua's back. The first few seconds of the attack were negated by his sigils, but his energy quickly drained as the fire continued to pour out from behind. The sigils from the front of his body squirmed as they attempted to shift to his back, but they were eaten up too quickly to make a difference. The shinobi boy huddled before him, pulling his arms over his head as loose flames licked around him. Sochua's body was inexorably pushed forward by the powerful flames, and the ground around his legs began to glow with molten heat. He had lost all feeling by the time the flames finished.
Running on pure instinct, Sochua's monster mouth chomped the now useless tongue and swiftly moved back around to the front. Then, he moved to fall forward on the prone form of the shinobi boy, mouth open, blackened and charred teeth ready for their next meal. The boy's head almost fell into the mouth, and he chomped down with all the force he could muster. However, the boy's arms had slipped in with his head and caught the sharp teeth. Delicious red blood seeped into the mouth, encouraging Sochua as he attempted to pull the boy's entire body into his mouth with his charred and crispy arms.
The last thing to go through Sochua's head was a spear of dense stone, rocketing up at an angle to pierce through his face uninterrupted. His body jerked for a single second, then went completely limp. Atsuo fell from the now sagging mouth as the monster's arms released his body. Dark blood poured from the neck and spilled over Atsuo. He fell backward and crawled away as the body began to disintegrate before his eyes. Skin flaked to dust, muscles and tendons melted, and organs shriveled to a fraction of their size. The blood and melted body coated the ground, turning the surrounding stone a smooth black. The same black as the tools and weapons the man- monster once employed.
After the morbid display, all that remained of the horrible monster was a frail skeleton, made of blackened bones which tumbled to the ground one by one.