| [May. 8th, 2014|03:49 am] |
At the last minute, Iebara lunged to the right—some preternatural danger-sense warning him of the threat. Ryouma’s sick-hued chakra struck a glancing blow against Iebara’s side, wringing a guttural grunt from their target. Iebara clamped his arm around his side as if he were protecting broken ribs. He coughed, tore the shreds of his mask off, and spat blood, but there was no decay spreading across his torso. He’d taken internal damage, but not nearly enough to take him out of the fight. His fingers twitched through seals.
Kakashi darted in, glowing kodachi aimed for the death blow. Iebara crumpled under the strike, but as his body hit the ground, it exploded in a flood of water quickly washed away by the falling rain.
Substitution jutsu. He’d swapped himself with a water clone.
Genma dove for the ground, hands a blur as he called chakra together for an earth jutsu, but Iebara, fresh kunai in hand, was faster. His tooth-edged blade bit deep into Genma’s thigh.
Lightning turned the world technicolor as twitching muscle sheared apart, sliced nearly to the bone. Iebara cast his signature jutsu again; a crimson cloud erupted from Genma’s thigh. His leg twisted inside out with pain as the alien chakra stole blood from severed vessels and coalesced it into a strangling hood.
Chakra Genma’d called up for his unfinished earth jutsu was still unreleased—he shaped new seals in a panicked frenzy and worked the same jutsu he’d used to draw the blood away from Ryouma’s mask. When the blood hood disintegrated, he found three identical ANBU in liondog masks, glowing swords raised in unison, closing in on Iebara. A fourth Kakashi grabbed Genma roughly by the shoulder and waist, and hurled him towards Ryouma.
“Ram, catch!” Kakashi shouted.
Genma tucked into the motion, drawing his arms and legs in close as he fell towards his comrade. The image of the rot-chakra limning Ryouma’s palms flashed through his head.
”Whatever you do, don't get in the way. I won't fire if there's any danger to you or Hound, but— Just stay clear.”
Lightning ripped down behind him, burning rain into plasma, filling the air with the scent of ozone, and a deafening roll of thunder.
Ryouma slammed into Genma midair, pulling him barehanded into a tight embrace. One broad hand cradled Genma’s head protectively, guarding his neck as they tumbled to a stop.
There was no reek of spoiled meat; no agonizing disintegration of flesh.
Thank the gods.
Perhaps Bishamon, armor-clad god of warfare and warriors, was on their side after all.
Ryouma found his footing first. He hauled Genma’s right arm over his shoulder, making sure Genma’s injured leg was between them, and raced for the trees. “How bad?” he shouted over the roar of the thunder.
“It’s deep,” Genma panted. Blood poured from the wound, but it was steady—Iebara’d missed the major arteries, at least. “Hurt like hell, and he got a fair amount of blood out of me, but I can close it.” He focused chakra into a wound-sealing jutsu and set his hands against his leg. Self-healing took twice the chakra healing another shinobi did, but he had no choice. Any open wound was a liability with Iebara nearby.
In the clearing, Kakashi’s trio of clones died in an eruption of smoke. Iebara lurched towards the real Kakashi, but he had one hand pressed to his injured side.
Genma didn’t see what Kakashi did next; a double hit of chakra jolted into him, flooding his senses with his own clones’ memories. “Shit! My clones are dead. Those other bastards finally decided to get in the fight.”
Ryouma swore, turning towards the oncoming flare of unshielded chakra.
Genma poured his own chakra into the healing jutsu, sacrificing accuracy and control for speed. As soon as he felt the wound close, he yanked his hands free, armed himself with a pair of kunai, and ran towards the closing Kiri ninja. Away from Kakashi and Iebara. The farther they could take the new fight from the blood ninja, the better. He just had to trust Ryouma’s slow-spreading rot had done enough damage to give Kakashi the advantage he needed. |
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