In the world of Naruto, the shadow clone Jutsu was particularly inconsistent. In most fights, it was especially fragile, dissipating with a blunt force attack.
In others, it was durable enough to throw hands with kage's and gods.
Yuta had figured out the mechanics after gaining it himself.
'It ultimately all scales to chakra amount huh.'
Shadow Clones would dissipate once struck hard enough, and any deep wounds would cause the same effect.
The more chakra the clone had, the easier it was to withstand said damage. No wonder normal Jonin hardly ever used it.
Besides the drawback of having to evenly split your chakra, it couldn't even take a really good hit without strong reinforcement. 'Lucky me. I'm special.'
He watched as smoke drifted around the severed stump of his arm.
'Still, I never expected the sensation to be so life-like.'
The shadow clone was essentially a Jutsu that created copies of your physical likeness using nothing but chakra. Once the equilibrium of the technique was shaken by a strong enough intrusion, the chakra would riot and break apart in a split second.
What Yuta had done was simple.
Force that equilibrium back into place using his quirk.
'As expected. A clone's structural integrity drops sharply after major impact. Chakra density too low to regenerate the limb. I'll have to make do.'
"Well .. that sucks."
Ingenium stiffened at the familiar words.
'I've heard that before.' He remembered. The voice from the Comms when Torque warned about the infiltrator. It was the same words, with the same voice.
'It's him.'
Yuta didn't notice Tensei's reaction.
Stain's last minute strike had forced him to divert his attention from controlling the blades embedded into his body to stabilise his clone body.
Barely a second, but a second in a battle could turn the tides.
'Push!' Yuta's chakra flowed in large amounts as he willed the blades to drill in deeper. SQUELCH!
Blood spurted.
However, two hands clamped onto the weapons on Stain's upper body before they could do more damage.
"Enough?" Then pulled them out forcefully, tearing bone and flesh in the process.
Yuta's mind moved. The earlier deflected knives flew upward and shot towards him, while the blades still in Stain's thighs pierced deeper.
"Get out of my way already!"
Ignoring the pain, stain drew three throwing knives and threw them at the enemy. Two collided with Yuta's weapons and the last went straight for Yuta's chest.
"Tch."
Yuta clicked his tongue and dodged. In that moment, Stain retreated, forcefully pulling the knives out of his legs and slamming them against the ground. The blades shattered into pieces.
It was a kitchen knife after all.
The marked knives knocked away by stain course corrected back to its target. Even with his legs injured, stain leapt away.
'Seriously?'
Yuta thought, sweat accumulating on his forehead. He wanted to control more to attack, only to feel the strain increase to manipulate them.
'It seems, I'm out.' he frowned behind his mask.
Normally, this wouldn't be an issue.
Though surprisingly better, he had never expected to beat Stain easily with a clone body to begin with. He had come with the mentality of a test run to get a grasp of the hero killer's strength for the next confrontation.
Beat him if you can, gather experience if you can't.
It ultimately didn't matter whether he died here. It was just a clone disguised using his Quirk. There was just one problem.
Ingenium was still paralyzed.
CRACK!
In the distance, stain embedded his sword into the wall and stood on it. The searing pain flooding through his muscles were suppressed by his excellent muscle control and sheer mental fortitude.
'Dammit!'
The fact he could still his arms and legs after such damage was astonishing. However, willpower was ultimately willpower.
It didn't change the fact that he was bleeding out in torrents at the moment and his muscles ached beyond belief.
His speed and power had been compromised, while a lesser man would have fallen already.
"I have to hand it to you." Stain uttered with cold eyes. "You're more troublesome than I imagined."
Blood flowed from his wounds, forming a small puddle on the pavement beneath him.
'His quirk is different from what I initially anticipated. What's worse, I can't get any blood from him.'
Blood dripped steadily from as he stared down at the Masked Vigilante. His breaths came ragged, but his eyes didn't waver.
"…Tch."
He tasted iron. Too much of it.
"This body won't last much longer," he muttered to himself.
His gaze shifted to Ingenium, still frozen on the ground.
"You're alive today by circumstance," Stain said. His voice dropped into a rasp. "Not because you deserve to be."
Ingenium tried to speak but failed, only able to glare up at him.
"Count yourself lucky Ingenium. Learn from this experience, and spread the good word," Stain continued, looming over him from the wall he stood on.
"Me. The next time we cross paths, you will be culled. As for you ..."
His attention returned to Yuta.
"You're no hero, but I can see the conviction in your eyes. That alone makes you a worthy opponent."
Yuta's face frowned even more.
Before he could say anything, Stain leaped upwards, climbing the buildings with rapid speed for his injuries and landing on the roof. before sheathing his sword.
"Let's decide our fate another time. This battle is over."
Those were his last words before vanishing over the rooftops.
Yuta didn't move to stop him.
The masked man stood in the center of the alley, the scent of fresh blood thick in the air.
The stump of his right arm pulsed, the Chakra working frantically to seal the structure before the whole clone dispersed.
'Final analysis: Stain is a powerhouse of speed and pain tolerance. His primary weakness is his Quirk's prerequisite—ingesting blood.'
Yuta mentally reviewed the fight.
The kinetic energy from the Chakra punch alone would have shattered the face of a normal person, yet Stain had survived the damage and somehow had the clarity to try to counter.
'And, I'm outta chakra,' he confirmed. The energy cost had been astronomical: multiple Shunshin uses, localized self-repair, and continuous Chakra manipulation of the knives.
He only had half his regular chakra capacity, and part of it had gone to maintaining his very form since its creation.
He had enough power left for one more action, maximum.
"Let's get this over with."
He turned toward Ingenium. The hero was still down, but his fingers were twitching.
'He's alive. Good.'
Yuta dropped to one knee beside the paralyzed hero, placing his remaining hand on Tensei's shoulder.
"Stay with me," Yuta said quietly. "The paralysis will wear off in a few minutes. Just breathe."
Ingenium's breath hitched—not from pain, but realization.
"You…" His voice struggled out, rigid. "You were… in the Comms…"
'Ah. So he noticed.'
Yuta looked away. "This really isn't the time."
"Who… are you?" Tensei managed, fingers twitching faintly as the paralysis began to lose its grip. "Vigilante… hero… what?"
Yuta didn't answer, currently considering whether to take Ingenium away from the alley or leave him here.
Meanwhile, In the sky ..
WHOOSH!
The distinct, loud rush of compressed air signaled the rapid arrival of the cavalry. In the distance, a figure clad in dark blue and gray with massive, stylized wings—Watchbird, a prominent member of Team Idaten flew directly overhead, sweeping Hosu for the source of the recent alarms.
Watchbird's sharp aerial gaze immediately fixed on the alley. The sight—a hero lying prone, copious amounts of blood coating the ground, and a masked, silver-haired individual holding the Captain of the Ingenium Agency—was clear.
"This is Watchbird to Command! I have visual contact with Ingenium, and an unknown hostile—Code Red! Deploy ground teams immediately to Alley 4, south of the main train station!"
The wind from Watchbird's wings whipped through the alley as he circled once more, lowering altitude.
Yuta clicked his tongue.
"Great. Just when everything is over, they conveniently show up."
"Unknown hostile!" Watchbird barked, amplifying through her visor speakers. "Step away from Ingeni ...!"
Her words ceased as the man below stood up and began walking away.
'That settles that. Let's get outta here.'
He raised his hand to form the ram seal when,
"Freeze!"
___
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