Chapter Four - The Hunt

The team separates, in hope of finding the clue their sensei had left for them. It was a mistake that they would all reject...especially Shinji.

As Orochi made his way through the dense forest of oversized roots, head level branches, paths that twisted through and around enormous light shielding trees and snow frosted boulders, Orochi began to wonder how the original explorers managed to map the forest to begin with. He had hiked through the woods for only a few minutes, and already he began to fear that he wouldn’t see another soul for several days. No matter which direction he took, he was certain that those pair of trees looked very familiar, or that he had already seen that boulder before. Didn’t he already see that tree that was split in two?

A strange feeling called fear began to creep into Orochi’s subconscious. His conscience began to ask him a flurry of questions, and the more questions that questioned his abilities, the more he began to believe them. He had traveled in what looked like the same area for a good amount of time now. That good amount of time could turn into a large amount of time, which could evolve into hours, and maybe even days. Orochi didn’t want to believe that he would be another name added to the list of those forever lost in the Ookii Forest, but he was starting to think that would happen very soon.

Orochi sighed, and sat on a rock, but not before wiping the snow off. He hugged his coat, and shivered. His skin couldn’t get any paler, but his raven colored hair was getting covered in snow thanks to his lax of not wiping it off. He was starting to look like the spirit of someone who was lost in the storm.

Orochi shivered again, and his mind began to wander to his return a year ago. It was on a cold winter’s day - which was odd, since snow was rare enough - much like this. Orochi didn’t come to his homeland weak, crawling on his legs and arms, his body so skinny one could see his bone. Instead, he went to the clan home of the Hebi in a proud stance, where he said what had transpired.

There was much sadness in his voice then, as much he had tried to hide it, and his clan gave their condolences, and comforted him. But there was no one to comfort Orochi now. He was alone, taking on a task alone that would help his team succeed in their sensei’s test. He couldn’t halt his search for the frozen cave now, not when others were depending on him.

More determined than before, although not by much, Orochi began to walk forward, in a direction he had not calculated nor thought about. It was decided randomly.

Orochi walked for a good amount of time before he realized he was not lost. Instead, he found he was now exploring new areas. Once he thought about it, the small storm had confused his vision, and made him think that when he was going straight over that small hill, he was in truth going around the hill, and back at the rock resting at the base of the split tree.

Orochi chuckled spiritedly at his good fortune. Perhaps he had a chance to be of more use beyond keeping that big headed girl in line after all.

He walked for a few more minutes, his cautious feet apprehensive not to trip over any roots. Suddenly, as he stepped on a leaf hidden under the snow, the dead skin cracking under his boot, the observant Hebi heard a very familiar and unsettling sound. It was the growls of a hungry wolf.

He drew a kunai, and turned in the direction of the growls. He was expecting the meat crazed wolf to leap at Orochi immediately, in a fool hardy attempt to pounce the snake-man. But to his surprise, no such foolish leap came from such a direction. Instead, Orochi’s kunai met only silence.

Rather, the wolf, not as starving as the wolves from before, circled around Orochi from beyond his field of vision, and leaped from the side. Orochi had presumed too much in hoping the wolf was starving to the point of insane tactics, and he barely avoided the wolf’s maw. Even then, he was scratched at the arm.

The beast lunged for Orochi, and he managed to keep the maw at bay. But as he struggled with the beast, his eye found something horrifying.

A butcher carved slice of meat was hanging from a tree.

“It’s a trap!” Orochi yelled in a horror. Sensei had laid a trap! Did she presume they would travel in a group? Or…

“The others!” Sensei had planned a trip for the other three students; of this, Orochi was certain. The wolf’s strength overpowered the pale Orochi, and it tackled him. Orochi’s kunai barely kept the drooling maw from tearing his face off.

He had to think of something quick.

*

Shinji walked through the snow frosted grounds of the nearing river. He clutched his jacket close to his chilled skin. He licked his lips to give them some warmth. He wiped some slime off of his nose.

His boots crushed into the snow as he walked through the storm. His eyes tried to keep themselves off from the ground, to keep it focused on the land above. This did not prove an easy task, however, for his thoughts were clouded with doubt.

It is not an easy thing, to in the first time in battle, to appear weak and useless. The fact that Shinji had trained so hard only made the wound sting all the more.

He creaked his neck up, to look up at the sun layered beneath the snowing clouds. It looked so bright today, despite the fact that it was snowing. It wasn’t a fierce storm; more like a frost than anything. Of course, it’s been a frost that has adding more and more snowflakes every moment for the past couple of days; thus, a few inches of snow had piled up across Disbakao. And despite this, the sun continued to shine through it all, never seeing to struggle in the least.

It was a weird thing, for Shinji to try to think of the sun as a living thing. The sun didn’t breath, think or speak; it had no emotions of any kind. What good would admiring the sun’s work do when it wasn’t even human? It was like comparing apples to oranges.

But didn’t the Gods create the sun with their own blood? Didn’t that mean that the sun was a living thing as well? Maybe it wasn’t necessarily human, but it was something else. Perhaps it was just merely human in thought. But if that was the case, then Shinji could relate to the sun.

And if the sun could go through all of this effort, of burning away at the snow, not get any progress, but still fulfilling its duty, then what excuse did Shinji had of failing just this one time?

“I am one of the users of the Fyuujin-Ru style! Only one of twenty who actually graduated! None of the others have a skill like mine. Forget what that girl said! I will succeed here. I’m not going to fail. Not now!”

Shinji continued his walk on the riverside, but now his stance was different. His shoulders were proud, not shallow. His boots stamped hard into the snowy ground; his arms didn’t waver in the wind like there was no strength in them.

Shinji continued his march for several more minutes. The more he walked, the more snow he crunched under his boot, the more determined he seemed to get.

Shinji didn’t realize thus, but portions of the river had begun to bubble, as if there was a volcanic eruption beneath the river bed. This was in fact the work of a water elemental summoning jutsu, and Shinji was about to see the handiworks of that jutsu.

The river exploded into the air, the water now taking upon the form of the elementals. Shinji stood there shocked. It was a marvelous sight to behold, and it was something he doubted he would ever see again.

The water curved itself, separated into three different streams, and slammed into the ground around Shinji. Instantly the shape of the elementals could be seen: faceless creatures, with a slim form. Their entire body lacked legs; it merged into the ground, drawing upon the massive supply of water that was caught deep in the earth.

Their speech was intelligible, more on par to someone choking on water than an alphabetical language. Their eyeless heads stared at Shinji.

Then they struck, their bodies fell to the ground, slithering at great speeds like snakes. They all slammed into Shinji, hundreds of gallons of water. One of them wrapped their liquid body around his leg, and sent him flying for the trees.

Shinji was not as poor a shinobi as people would chose to believe. Even as he was flying, his chi was flowing to his fingertips; certainly not at the amount and control that Kaname exhibited, but it was enough for him to have the chi act like glue onto a quickly approaching tree limb, allowing him to swing onto it in a quick and secure fashion.

Shinji quickly decided that he would have to attack them now. If he hesitated, he would be back on the defensive, and like before, he would be thrown around again.

But how? Shinji had scored poorly on the tactics test. It was evident he was not one to devise maneuvers and strategies on the fly like others. And as the elementals began to make their way towards him, Shinji quickly realized that he would need to devise a plan now.

A cracking of wood echoed into Shinji’s ear. Shinji looked down; the branch was cracking. It was the weight of Shinkasai! The enormous blade was too much for the branch to handle.

Shinji was about to leap for a nearby tree, but he was too slow. The branch broke beneath him, and Shinji fell to the ground. Even though they had no breath, Shinji could feel the presence of the water elementals gathering around him. He could sense that one of them was surely was raising its watery arm to smash Shinji into the ground.

Shinji turned around, onto his back, and he saw that his prediction was true. He attempted to bring out a kunai, in a feeble defense, but he was too slow, too dazed from falling to the ground. He felt the shock of the water fist slamming into his face. He went flying into the forest. The force of the strike threw Shinkasai off of Shinji’s back. It was thrown into a tree, impaling the bark.

Shinji hit the ground hard, and rolled through the snow, and he surely would not of have stopped until he hit a tree if he hadn’t dug his nails into the earth. He slowed down to a halt. He raised himself, a hard task. His head was bleeding as were some of his fingers. It was not severe, but it was troublesome.

His vision was blurred a little bit, but he could clearly see the water elementals heading towards him. He brought out his kunai and this time he was not too slow. He had his weapon to bear long before the elementals had come for their third assault.

One of them brought its form up, and raised its arm. A stream of water emerged, enough to send Shinji flying into a tree behind him. Shinji barely ducked below it: he felt the mist on his face. It was too close for comfort.

He moved beneath the stream, and made his way towards the water elementals, Shinji holding the knife as if to stab. One was already making its way towards him, its right hand prepared to smash into him. But Shinji proved the swifter, and his kunai cut into the watery flesh. He dug through the massive amount of water, and it didn’t take long for the arm to separate from the body. It eventually splattered into the earth, now nothing more than harmless water.

Shinji turned around, his sliding boots creating a cloud of dirt around him, thinking that he would see the rest of the elemental showing some sort of pain from losing its arm. Instead, he found the area where the arm once was bubbling, and the arm had regenerated.

“This can’t be happening,” was all Shinji could force out of his mouth.

If he hadn’t said those words, he would of have seen a water elemental creep behind him, and plunge his head into a portion of its arm. Shinji dropped his kunai, and wrapped his hand around his throat, trying desperately and fruitlessly to wiggle free. The water elemental sped off, dragging Shinji along the ground. Shinji felt the harshness of stone and dirt digging into his legs. The elemental quickly threw Shinji off, his lungs from the threat of suffocating, but in threat of being slammed into the tree. By the grace of luck, it was his back that faced the punishment, and it was the lower end of the tree. He was fortunate he would not have to fall to the ground.

Once again Shinji stood up, but it was a much more difficult task this time. His hands and legs were bleeding, and he was coughing up water mixed with blood. His left eye felt heavy now, and he tasted blood in his mouth. His stature was slouched, as if there was a bag full of wood strapped to his back.

As the water elementals slowly began to approach him, Shinji knew that it was over. He was cornered, outnumbered, and so beat up it was a struggle just to twitch. He was a mouse in a corner with three bloodthirsty house cats staring at him in the eye.

After all of his hard work, the sweat he had poured, the blood that has been cut from his body, Shinji could come to only a single conclusion.

He had failed.

*

Izumi’s eyes scanned the plains. It was an odd thing, for a forest to have a section to have so few trees and be so flat. It felt more like a frosted desert than an actual forest. Even the sound of his footsteps was more comparative to rocks than the earth.

He had been walking on the chartered path for quite some time. His cold, emotionless eyes showed little distraction. His entire being was focused on the task at hand. It was no surprise: he was known throughout his graduating class for being an emotionless person. Now that he decided to think about it, one could say he was heartless. He didn’t show much affection. When spring came, as the sakura trees came to bloom, he wouldn’t give as much as a smile. He never had a crush, even though some beautiful girls attended the Academy. Not once had he complained of any surprise tests.

Thus, their rumors were very well founded. Of the little the class knew of him, Izumi did have all of the traits of a cold person. But there were always the little things that no one but those with a keen eye would see that showed what Izumi really was like. It was almost a shame that no one in the Academy had such a keen eye.

Izumi continued forward. He did have a task to do after all. Even though he was doing this task – to find where the next hint was, and thus, the sensei - mainly for himself, he knew that it would be unfortunate for the Flame to lose two shinobis. He didn’t even consider Shinji. He was just baggage.

Izumi flexed his hand. It was getting sore from not moving.

He looked around, to try and see if there was anything he had missed. This place looked very familiar. In fact, he was certain he had been here before. There was the possibility of it being a genjutsu spell, what with this being a test, but Izumi had his doubts. It would be a waste to use such a high ranking spell on just a few, miserable, newly graduated Hajin.

No, something else was at work here.

Izumi would walk on the same path for another minute before his hypothesis was proven. He got on his knees, and reached into his shirt, producing a gourd filled with dirt. He poured some of the dirt onto his hand. He closed his hand, and crushed the dirt.

He opened his hand, and an eyeball made from the soul was visible. The hard eyelids blinked, staring at its master.

“Reveal the mystery.”

The eyeball hovered up to eye level with one of Izumi’s eyes. It blinked once, and then it dissolved into useless dirt.

Izumi stood up, and looked around. On a large rock was a strange creature. Its flesh was of a grayish hue, its eyes large and red. Its arms and legs were long and thin, and a large coat covered it. It didn’t have a mouth. Strapped to its back was a scythe.

It was a Dream Monster. It wandered places were few entered, much like the plains of the Ookii Forest, and ever slowly, sent its victims into a realm of dreams. The realm would be nearly identical to the real world, with minor differences; nearly unforeseeable differences.

Like a tree with a tint of blue in its bark.

Once there, the victim would ever slowly have their soul sucked out of them. They would wander the dream realm for ages, not knowing how to get out, for they believed they were in the real world.

They would wander until they died.

Izumi smirked. The monster realized that its plan had failed. It grabbed its scythe, and ran for Izumi. Its long legs gave it great strides. In mere seconds, it was upon Izumi.

He only blinked.

A wall of earth erupted, trapping the Dream Monster. The roots wrapped around the hands, the mud hardened around the neck. The creature struggled more and more to break free, but that made Izumi only tighten the grip all the more.

“I hate games,” he said. He tightened his hands into a fist. The wall crushed the monster’s neck. Blood seeped through the cracks, like water slipping through a dam. Izumi released his grip, dropping the creature to the floor.

Izumi turned from the creature. He took out a vial containing chi-infused earth from within his cloak, and spilled its contents into the ground. He opened his palm, and took out a small knife. The edge bit down into his palm. Izumi flipped his hand over, allowing the blood to drip onto the special dirt.

Izumi kneeled down. “See for me,” he commanded, barely above a whisper. The dirt collected onto itself, pebbles and earth forming into an eye. It hovered to face to face with its master. It blinked.

“Find me the cave.”

The eye fell to the ground, and merged with the earth. It moved under the earth, like a worm.

Izumi did not need to wait long for his spy to return. It told him the cave was not here.

He would not waste his energy. He sat on the ground, cross legged, and waited.

*

Orochi hates drool. He hates drool on his clothing, and he gets freaked out when he sees snoozing people drooling all over them. But most of all, he absolutely despises drool, saliva, grime, on dropping onto him. Even a drop makes his skin crawl.

The wolf’s hungry maw was dripping so much saliva, that Orochi could probably have bathed in it. Needless to say, it was taking every ounce of his will to resist dropping his kunai and wiping the stuff off of him.

Orochi stared into the eyes of the wolf; they were yellow, but the massive, black, fur made them look like deep caverns, with only a hint of light at then end. The eyes stared with great discipline at Orochi. They were hungry; the way the orbs refused to stir from Orochi told him so. This beast was starving: a mere bug was a feast. A rabbit was a banquet. A human would be heaven’s blessing.

But Orochi could not fall to a mere wolf. He had made a promise, and he had every intent to keep it. He couldn’t even imagine dieing now. Not only would it be embarrassing him falling to a simple, anonymous, wolf, but he had too much to do. Not just to keep the promise he made long ago: he still needs to lead the group to sensei. He needs to look at sensei. He needs to tell her that they beat all the odds.

But most important of all, he has to let Kaname kick the sensei’s a*s for making them go through a hell of a test. Then he would let sensei kick Kaname’s a*s, for being such a pain.

The giant beast’s massive paw had wrapped around Orochi’s left arm. Blood was oozing from the nails.

Orochi licked his lips a little. They were shivering a bit: it was very cold. His spit gave his lips some warmth.

Biting the bullet, he pushed paw off of him. The paw clawed the entire arm at the recoil. No longer pinned down, Orochi tore his kunai out of the fangs’ tight grip. The knife cut through rotted teeth and flesh. It ripped at the mouth. The wolf whimpered at the pain.

Orochi raced to his feet, his hand gripping his kunai. He ignored the pain in his left arm, and placed it firmly behind his kunai arm. It was a somewhat steady support for the shivering arm.

The wolf growled. It hated itself for allowing its prey to overcome it; it was so close to tearing at the pale boy’s delicate flesh. It could have smelled the aroma of a good meal. But, it was too distracted by what was to be, and not focused on the task at hand. Because of that, Orochi managed to slip away. Now the wolf was wounded. The tables had turned.

It stared at Orochi again with those caves for eyes. It would make up for its previous mistake. It would do whatever it takes to have Orochi for a meal.

It charged at the Hebi. It was a berserk charge, a movement of the paws fueled by its hunger. There were no longer calculations, no tactics, not even a thought of what would occur afterwards. It had abandoned that a wolf was. Now, it was just the beast, an entity that wished for only the short pleasure of food.

It had little chances of victory. Orochi easily sidestepped the lunge, and cut into its belly. The beast whined as it rolled to the ground. It was shaking. Life was quickly its grasp on the black furred monster. Blood was oozing from its wounded mouth. Stomach acid was burning its intestines from the inside.

Orochi sheathed his kunai. He took one last glance at the poor creature, and gave it his pity. Wolves were often symbolized as creatures of honor. They were born with the pack, they hunted the pack, and they died with the pack. It was ironic how even the entities of honor and selflessness could be reduced to a ravaging beast.

He turned his back to the beast. He would allow nature to do her duty.

*

The mountains of the Ookii Forest never were like mountains in the most common of terms. The mountains had much more in common with canyons, the mounds of earth splitting in dozens of directions, creating just as many pathways. Each pathway was enough for perhaps six full grown adults, mere inches apart, to step through. Any more and you would have a very tight squeeze.

It certainly wasn’t nearly as barren as the plains were. On the other hand, the mountains were full of bushes and trees. Vines emerged from nearly every crack. Moss could be seen on the floor and wall. Trees curved, creating arches in the pathway.

As Kaname made her way through the mountain pass, her thought on the matter went through several changes. At first, she was certain she got the shorter end of the stick. After all, the trek was hard, with there being rocks protruding from the earth that slowed down her progress, low hanging tree branches that slapped her in the face when she was not looking, and of course, the fact that there was snow up to her ankles. She lost count how many times her foot plunged into the snow because she was too distracted to see that it was shallow.

 

But eventually, Kaname managed to see things in a much more positive light. The rocks were mostly flat, so they provided her with a place for her to rest when she started to get tired. The branches lurked on the sides of the path. With her walking in the center, she would not find any branches hitting her face. The trees actually provided her with some shade from the heat, which had seemed to go up since she departed from the others. And once she started to follow the trail of pebbles, not once did her foot fall into the snow.

Naturally, all of these measures became second nature to her. It quickly became as simple as walking in a clean hallway. With her mind so relieved, she began to hum. It was a simple tune really, just a series of high notes followed by a few low notes. But it was relaxing, and it added to the serenity of the place. It was so quiet; no rabbits or any other animals scurried across the path. The wind gently pushed the bushes and swayed the trees. It was almost eerie; frightening even.

As she walked and hummed that ever simple tune, she looked in admiration at the atmosphere. People didn’t know it, and she would never let them because it would smear her good name, but she loved nature. This wasn’t the first time she had been Ookii Forest. She would on occasion come here to be involved with nature. Granted, she had never been this far deep into the forest, but it still seemed like a second home to her.

Kaname shivered. “It’s chilly. Should have brought an extra layer.” She licked her lips, just to keep them from becoming cold. She rubbed her legs a little bit. It didn’t help too much, but it really wasn’t so cold that she would fear for her life. “Damn sensei, you had to do this to us on such a cold day? Could of done it next week, you know?” She continued her walk, mumbling complaints as she went.

She stopped under a tree, its leaves with some frost on them. “Well, it’s not too bad I guess. Everyone else is probably struggling through the woods, especially that damn Hebi and that useless outsider. Heck, this is a piece of cake! Must be the Uzuki charm.” After she looked at the surroundings for a bit, she moved on.

From there on, the path became much more rugged and bumpier. It was now a forced effort to continue. Still, she treated it leisurely. It was a bit more effort, sure, but why worry so much about it? It’s just a bunch of rocks and hills. Nothing a good Uzuki footing couldn’t handle.

She had just climbed over a hill when her eyes gleamed. They gazed at an interesting phenomenon: a frozen lake. It was a small lake; enough that a teenager could probably swim across it in twenty minutes time. It was in the center of a circle of cliffs and hills, as if the terrain was protecting this very lake. That in itself was odd, but what was even more curios was that the lake was even frozen. It was cold, although chilly was the far more accurate term, but not cold enough for a lake to be frozen. Something (or someone) was at work here.

Cautiously, she trekked down the hill, care to place her one foot in front of the other so that the steep slope wouldn’t cause her to trip and fall. She did not want to risk the chance of her head slamming into the ice.

It took her little time to reach the frozen pond. With even greater care, she made her way across the ice, her geta sandals moving ever slowly. Although it would cause no casualty, she did not want to land on her butt.

The moment she reached the other side, and saw what the frozen rocks and frosted trees had hidden from her sight before, a wonderful emotion flew into her. She had found it! The thing the others were searching for, but could not find. She, an Uzuki, had unearthed what the other fools had failed to do. The thing that stood before her was a testimony of the superiority of the Uzuki lineage.

She had found the cave hinted in the scroll.

It would have been easy for her to leap for joy, screaming at the top of her lungs how she had found the cave. But to do so would be to waste time. Kaname was being tested of her abilities as a shinobi; surely spying tags were placed in certain places of importance. They would allow sensei to see everyone’s progress and movements; she would see if they were truly shinobi. Even if they succeeded, the manner in which they undertook the test may cost them everything.

Kaname calmed her composure. She went through her bag, searching for the items she would need to alert the others. She found a small firework: it was the size of a wrist, the perfect tool for a shinobi. Now wanting the sparks to light her bag on fire, she pushed it away.

She pushed the firework into the ground. A series of symbols were etched into it. Kaname placed her hands over the firework, and began to cumbersomely form the seal to activate the firework. The letters began to glow. Kaname ran off. The firework launched itself into the sky, a small trail of smoke following behind.

It exploded in a glorious spectacle.

“If that don’t get those boneheads’ attentions, I’m clueless as what will.”

*

The water elementals surrounded Shinji. His breathing had only worsened as they began to corner him into the tight circle. Shinji could feel the mist their corporal forms emitted.

Shinji’s body was hunched over. His body hurt too much for him to even stand up straight. His good eye saw how the water elementals examined him with their eyeless faces. They were waiting for him to make the next move. Shinji’s breathing; the way he couldn’t stand up; his eye that was so bruised he couldn’t see anything out of it. The elementals knew that Shinji was weak; so weak that just collapsing to the ground seemed like a very worthwhile proposition.

The elementals stared at Shinji once more. They stared at him with those eyeless features. They had no face, but they mocked him. They criticized his weakness: he, a shinobi of Disbakao, incapable of defeating mere elementals; thralls to their master, a mere extent of a shinobi’s power.

He, Shinji Zukachi, had declared himself shinobi. But in truth, he was only weak.

Was he to give up now? After all of his work, his shed blood and poured sweat, was he truly to give up? He had passed over many obstacles, had taken many blows, and walked on many paths, all to bring him to this moment. And now, just one final test bisected him from the road of his dram, and he was to thrown in the towel so easily? Was that the road of a shinobi?

No, it was the road of a coward. It was that of the fool, a quitter. If he gave up now, allowed the elementals to overcome him, he truly would die. But if he gave a fight, a battle worthy of a shinobi, even if he was just a newly graduated one, his name would not die in shame. He would die with honor.

Fighting the aches, Shinji stood up straight.

The elementals didn’t dare waste a moment to begin their assault. They leaped towards Shinji, but it was clumsy. They all leaped at once, and in the same exact direction. Before, it was in unison, but different directions and angles, so that they would not smash into each other. Just as elementals were an extent of their master’s power, they also shared some of their characteristics.

It would appear sensei was a very cocky individual, when she seemed to have won the battle.

Two of the elementals smashed into each other. Water splashed as the summon waved into the floor. The elementals curved into a ball of water, and they rolled until they slammed into a tree. Water splashed everywhere, but the moment the water touched the ground the elementals began to take shape once more. This was nothing more than a setback.

The third elemental was right on target. It slammed into Shinji’s chest. The pressure of the water pushed him into the ground. The water elemental altered its height, towering over Shinji. Its form had pinned down his chest and left arm. Victory was in its grasp. Its watery speech muttered a statement of defiance.

The water creature rose into the air, preparing for a mighty strike that would easily crush Shinji’s bones. But it was too headstrong: it did not see that Shinji was already managing enough chi to form kounen. Fire surrounded Shinji’s free arm. He lashed out with it.

If the water elemental was capable of intelligible speech, the noise that would have emerged out of its mouth would be a blood curling scream of pain. Once cold water turned into painful steam; steam that could never return to the elemental. When the elementals sprang their trap on Shinji, they had never expected that the boy wielding the giant blade could manipulate fire.

The elemental, like a whimpering puppy, slithered off of Shinji. Drenched, the orange haired shinobi rose to his feet. He was dazed, but far from confused, and certainly not cornered, despite the disadvantage of facing three unfamiliar enemies alone. The elementals knew that he could kill them now. Before anything he hit them with could just be returned to their bodies. But those fire hands of his; they turned their liquid bodies into cold steam. Steam turns into gas. Gas does not return to water so quickly.

The tables had turned. With that revelation in mind, Shinji smiled. He looked down at his hand. A small flame still surrounded it, but the water had cooled it somewhat. Whenever he attacked the water elementals with the Fyuujin-Ru, he would have to add more chi to keep the kounen burning. It would be wise for him to not allow the elementals to learn that side effect.

Shinji closed his hands into a tight fist. He expanded a little chi into them, igniting the spark. Like a revolving shield, the kounen fire surrounded Shinji’s hands. They were never to touch him, unless he was to lose all concentration. Many Fyuujin-Ru masters had faced a cruel and painful death due to them losing their concentration in the middle of a battle, and they ignited themselves with their own kounen. There were dozens of precautions, of course, but when in battle the word ‘prepare’ is meaningless.

Shinji breathed in. He looked at the wounded elemental. He took another deep breath. He could see the frozen air emerge from his nostrils. He tightened the warm grip of his fist.

And then, he sprinted towards them. His footing was clumsy, like a new wolf pup following its mother towards their next meal. But the speed at which he ran more than made up for it. The crackling kounen fire trailed behind him.

The water elemental saw the flaming doom that approached him. Preparing for one, final attack, it rose up. It drew as much water as it could to its arms, and unleashed a massive wave of water towards Shinji.

The Fyuujin-Ru adept didn’t have the time to move out of the way. He guarded himself with his arms in an X stance, and hopes the raging fires would be enough to stop the assault.

It wasn’t. The strength of the water was too much. It cost the elemental nearly all of its strength, but Shinji was pushed back, rolling on the ground. When he stopped, he saw the looming figure of a water elemental towering over him.

Shinji lashed out at the water elemental, but winced back. He realized that his kounen was put out by that final attack! He knew he had to move. The water elemental, seeing its chance to avenge for its wounded brother, brought its watery arm down. Shinji rolled out of the way, barely avoiding the splash.

He crawled to his feet, dashing for a tree. The water elemental that had just nearly crushed him threw a missile of water at him. Shinji hid behind a tree just as it was about to slam into his beck.

Shinji hid behind the tree. He breathed hard. He heard the splashing of multiple missiles against the tree, the elemental hoping its power would break the tree apart. Slowly, Shinji peered around the corner of the tree.

He nearly got his face ripped off by a missile.

He stayed covered behind the tree, refusing to move, despite the fact that he could tell the water elemental was moving ever closer. He knew that if he wanted to live, he had to move, but he didn’t know where. If he ran to the next tree, there was a sure chance that he would be hit by the elemental’s missile. If he stayed, the elemental would kill him anyways.

Fighting the best of his judgment, Shinji ran for the nearest tree. He heard only one missile come towards him. He dived beneath it, tasting snow and dirt on his lips. The missile splashed above him, tearing off bark. Shinji crawled behind his next cover.

But this time, he wouldn’t dare allow himself to be cornered again. He ignited his hands with as much kounen as he could muster, and he dashed towards the water elemental. He swerved between the missiles.

When he saw the most sensitive of ripples in the face of the elemental, he leaped towards it. His hands were raised, the crackling fire passing behind him. His blue eyes were focused absolutely on his target. Nothing distracted him. Nothing else mattered; not how one failure and he was dead, not how the elemental was rising, already posed to strike him and his life down.

All that mattered was this one shot, this one chance. He must be patient; he must strike at the most prime moment. The very second when he can send his fiery hands through the watery form of the elemental, and cleave it in two. He could end it with one shot.

Shinji saw that prime moment when the water elemental began to raise its hands. Its guard was done – there was nothing but the cold air that protected its fragile body. His fists went crashing down straight into the torso of the elemental. The water splashed onto his face as the body of the elemental fell apart. When he landed on the ground, he landed a swift, kounen fuming, kick to the lower torso.

The whole elemental now was just steam.

Shinji rose up, his breathing anything but steady. His eyes wandered from tree to tree. The water elemental was in sight; the remaining one must be planning an assault. The other was too weak to do anything; Shinji put that one out of the equation.

Elementals were noisy beasts. Even if they were standing still, the very elements from which they were made of caused an endless series of sounds and noises. The rippling of water; the crackling of fire. Only the earth elementals were the exclusion; if they stood still, the earth and rocks that made it up would be still with them.

From behind him, Shinji heard the sound that seemed awfully similar to that of beach. He turned around, and saw out of the corner of his eye newly melted snow. Grinning, he headed in the direction.

He dashed towards the tree, and when he rounded around its bend, indeed he did find the water elemental there. However, the moment he saw it, it sprung towards him, its long arms prepared to drown him in water.

He realized at once that it was a trap, and he had fallen for it. Despite the flames around his arms kept him warm, he could still feel the icy grip of the water as they wrapped around him. It was like a dozen needles were being poked into his skin.

Shinji screamed. He was not going to allow himself to be trapped again! His fist blasted through one of the arms. The dismembered arm splashed to the ground, melting the snow away. Shinji dashed through the opening.

When Shinji turned, he saw that the elemental was already spreading its water to give itself half an arm. The water bubbled, and the new arm sprung out. Shinji held his arms in front of him in a defensive stance, expecting the water elemental to strike at any moment.

His prediction proved true. The water elemental rushed towards him at a speed Shinji knew he couldn’t avoid. He rolled out of the way, his back sprayed by the water.

He looked to his left, and a plan quickly began to form. It would involve him balancing his chi, something he never was the greatest at. Kounen was one thing, but using chi to defy gravity? That was another story all together.

Still, if it worked, this water elemental was as good as dead. At worst, it would give him an advantage.

Shinji made his way for a nearby tree, his jog quickening into a sprint. As expected, the water elemental was close on his trail. The snow added to its body composition, giving it not only constant rejuvenation, but added power to boot.

It raised its hand, and struck into the earth, hoping to trap Shinji under the massive pressure of water. Fortunately, Shinji heard it coming, and a small leap kept him out of the deadly strike.

He soon found himself near the tree. The trick was to have his chi act like glue, gluing Shinji to the bark of the tree. It had to be enough that he would be able to defy gravity and walk up the tree, but not so much that he quite literally would be glued to the tree.

The water elemental struck again, its watery fist aimed low. It would hit him in the spine; if it didn’t break his back, the hit would definitely kill him.

Knowing this, Shinji leaped forwards, towards the tree. Already, his chi was flowing towards his feet. He had to balance it out…sometime between now and before he slammed into the tree. In total, he had about four seconds to complete the task. The fact that he had never done this before in a long time didn’t help his psyche.

He positioned his legs so that his feet would land first. Shinji closed his eyes tightly, fearful of the likely failure. The boots landed on the bark with a large thud. When he opened his eyes, and realized he was looking upwards from the tree, and down on the ground, he knew at once he had completed the task.

The water elemental was not impressed by Shinji’s accomplishments. It charged towards him. It raised its hand, and released a stream of water towards Shinji. He leaped off, using the loaded chi as a soft propulsion. The Chi Jump, as this technique was called, could enable a shinobi to make leaps between two buildings or more. It was an advanced technique, and Shinji knew he did not master it now. But, it helped him speed towards the water elemental like a speeding arrow.

He gripped his fists, kounen fire already igniting it. The fists dug through the shoulder of the water elemental. The whole arm fell, exploding into a large shower. Shinji landed behind the water elemental. Before the elemental could turn, Shinji buried a kounen torched fist into its chest.

It exploded into a mist.

Shinji heard the cumbersome sounds of the wounded water elemental struggling behind some trees in the far background. Shinji turned to face it. The water elemental knew at once that it was doomed.

Before Shinji rushed towards it to land the final blow, he raised a flaming fist in victory, and sported a wide grin on his face.

*

After he had disposed of the Dream Monster’s corpse, Izumi sat cross-legged on a flat stone. His spy had told him that the frozen cave the orange haired boy spoke of was not on the plains; thus was one of the benefits of his unique heritage. There was no point wasting his energy; he was not like the Uzuki.

So, he sat down and waited for a sign. He did not have to wait long: his peace was interrupted by the fireworks Kaname had lit into the sky. He observed them with great interest, calculating which direction they were from.

“Uzuki,” he decided. He got up, wiped some snow off of his shoulder, and made his way towards the mountains, where Kaname was surely impatiently awaiting him.

*

When Orochi had heard the explosion of the fireworks, he had been sprinting through the forest. He wanted to get to Shinji first, for he perceived him as the first that would get killed by sensei’s traps without any aid. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he, as always, had a calm look on his face.

When the fireworks did crackle in the sky, Orochi turned to look at them. He considered all possible actions he could take. It was obviously it was someone’s (with that someone being Kaname) way of saying they found the cave. It didn’t take much thought to know he should head there immediately.

But, what if Shinji was dying? His death would do nothing but harm the team’s chance of passing the test. A mere half hour walk would save hours, if not days, on the test.

A thought came to his mind: what if Shinji was alive and well, and was already on his way? Orochi would waste only time going to Shinji, when the orange haired shinobi did not need his help to begin with.

Orochi rubbed his chin.

He would place his trust in Shinji. He ran towards the fireworks.

*

Shinji’s fingers scrapped at the bark as his body slunk to the ground. In the battle with the water elementals, he had emerged as the victor. But the cost was he had drained his body of all his chi. His stamina was drained: he could barely keep himself standing without using a nearby tree as support.

His shaking hand rose, the pale fingers trying desperately to reach for the tree. But it was a failed effort: gravity forced the hand to the ground.

Shinji cursed at his misfortune. “I won. I really won, huh? Yeah, right.” Shinji’s hand dug into the ground, as he tried to crawl his way through the forest. Most times, he would find only a handful of grass. But those few times, he would actually manage the strength to move his body.

He struggled through the grass, earth, snow, and the shattered wood. His face had started to bleed again. The sheer effort his fingers had to go through was making them numb. He still couldn’t see out of his eye; half of the world was cast in darkness.

He struggled ever on.

When his fingers felt the harsh texture of a shattered bark, Shinji would use it as a stave, and plunge it into the ground, and use that as a way to push him forward. When it broke, he would use what was left until there was nothing left to use. Then, his fingers would go back to work.

There came a time when eventually all strength left him. His hand dropped to the ground, and his cheek rested on the snowy ground. He breathed heavily; his chest felt heavy. Eventually, his breath became slow and harsh. His eyes looked strained; he barely blinked, even when a snowflake would fall on his emotionless eyes.

Before him, rising from the ground, surrounded by shattered wood and life destroying snow, was a single flower. Its violent red was in total defiance of the atmosphere that surrounded it.

Shinji’s cold eyes stared at the flower, mesmerized by it. How cold a single flower be here, when admits the chaos of the battle, not even trees were safe from the destruction? It seemed so surreal to Shinji.

“Look mother, I did it. I won. I managed to do something. You were right, all this time. I’m not a failure. But, mother, I’m going to die here. I-I didn’t even become a full fledged shinobi. Just some boy who killed a bunch of water elementals.”

Shinji coughed. He raised his head as high as he could, the edge of his eyes just barely seeing the roof of leaves the forest made. “But I did something. I didn’t fail. They won’t know it. But, I still did it.”

Shinji’s hand gripped the grass. “Is it okay to give up then? I accomplished something: I can die peacefully, right mother? I can see you and father again, wouldn’t that be great?”

Shinji closed his eyes, accepting his death. He felt so cold. He welcomed it. After all of his misery, he could finally end it all. He could finally have a peaceful death.

Then, suddenly, as if the Gods had timed it themselves, the crackle of the fireworks awoke Shinji from his most wanted death. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he caught the spectacle in the middle of its grand performance.

They did it. They found the cave he had thought of. He was right all along, and they had gotten through whatever trials they had to go through to find it.

“No, I can’t give up now. I can never give up, not like this. Die on a test? That’s too embarrassing…even for me. I-I gotta get up.” He knew it was foolhardy; he knew that he couldn’t move. But he would be damned before he try anyways.

He hardly raised an inch before he fell to the ground.

“I gotta get up.” He raised and fell. “I have to get up.” Again, failure. “I need to get up.” Failure.

He would attempt to rise above the ground, putting his trust purely in his unwillingness to die, but Shinji would fall to the ground every time. He wouldn’t stop trying, though. When he felt the blood drip down his nose, he would try even more. When he felt the bride of his nose bruised, he would rise even more frequently.

He refused to die.

Shinji didn’t know how long he laid there. For him, time had lost all of its purpose. But, there came a time when he found the will and strength to stand up. It was a slouched, half dead stature. It was the type a man who had just grazed with death would barely be able to keep.

He walked a few steps before he fell on his knees. He breathed hard, gave an over confident smirk, and rose back up. It nearly killed him, but he didn’t care.

He made his way to the tree where Shinkasai was impaled. His right hand slid along the smooth surface of its hilt. He grasped the end of it with both his hands.

The blade fell out of the tree, like it was slathered in oil. Shinji caught it in his shivering arms.

Shinji let off a small groan as he planted the blade into the earth. He moved a few steps, brought it out of the ground, and thrusted it into the earth again. The blade would be the only support Shinji would have a very long time.

Shinkasai felt a little bit lighter.