Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Fan Fiction ❯ The False Apocalypse ❯ Revealed ( Chapter 21 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

 

“It's obvious that Gaara can no longer continue this fight. Are there any objections?” Hayate asked, looking over to Baki who shook his head in disbelief. Never before had he even considered that Gaara, the feared Jinchuuriki, would ever suffer a mental breakdown in the middle of a match. At this point even he could see that dragging this fight out any more would simply humiliate the boy further.

 

“Then I call the match, the winner is Uzu…” Hayate spoke as if shocked with the entire display but was interrupted before he was able to fully announce the winner.

 

“Wait.” Naruto stated as he placed his hand on Gaara's wound, noticing the boy withdraw at the new sensation. Naruto's hand glowed green as the red head watched in horror, attempting to contemplate what horrible evil the blond could be creating this time.

 

“My medical skills aren't all that great but that should hold for a bit. The medics probably won't work on you unless you brought your own so I guess that will have to do.” Naruto stood and began walking away from his fellow Jinchuuriki just barely taking notice of the shocked look on Gaara's face.

 

“If they don't they have to go though me to leave.” Hiruzen Sarutobi commented with a stern voice while nodding to Baki.

 

The confusion within his mind was evident on Gaara's face as he looked at the blond he had been so frightened of only moments earlier. It was the first time in a great many years that he had felt fear, the first time in his life that he had ever felt thankful, it perplexed him greatly. The primary question on his mind was…

 

“Why?” The simple word held so many meanings. Why did it hurt? Why did he stop? Why did he heal me? Why….why?

 

“You've experienced that hell too haven't you? Hell isn't strong enough to describe that..., the feeling of being alone in this world, what it's like carrying a monster everyone hates, being thought of as the monster incarnate. Still, there's too much hate in this world to harbor it myself. I don't want t hurt you. I just want you to understand that all this killing is pointless. They try to kill you, you kill them, they want revenge, you kill again, and it doesn't stop. There has to be a better way and if it doesn't start with us, the ones who've suffered the most then who can it start with? The ones with a perfect life? No… If we can't find peace then how will the world?” Naruto reached down towards Gaara's had as the Jinchuuriki looked up with wonder in his eyes. To him it was as if a wise sage were handing him the meaning of life, a purpose to life in an endless wasteland.

 

“Without friends, without loved ones, there is no peace. Let me help you find your own peace.

 

“Hypocrite.” Neji stated audibly, gaining Naruto's attention.

 

“That includes you Neji. I don't know why you have that stick up your butt, but even after what you did to Hinata, I'd rather save you from it than kill you. Still if it takes your death to ensure her life then so be it. That goes for everyone. If there's one thing I'd like to see it's peace, for everyone to lay down their arms and be happy. No matter what it takes I'll push for that. But if there are any hard asses that stand in my way and refuse to change so help me I will go though you. I will go though you like a kunai though paper. I don't want to hurt you Gaara, but if it comes to it I will kill you, not because I hate you but to protect my friends and any other innocent I have a chance to save. That is my path. That is my way.”

 

Neji couldn't help but shake his head at the nonsense this kid was spewing. This was a world of Ninja. There was no peace. There could be no peace. Not in a true sense. Peace was a lie. Gaara felt that too, but…there was something Naruto's speech sparked in him. It had finally sunk in that perhaps there was some way that he might become human. Maybe, just maybe the sealing procedure would be a good thing. It was something he would have to think about something…something…

 

Gaara's thoughts were soon taken by the deep sobering relief of sleep. In his life he had never truly slept. The amazing mental strain of the conflict within his mind had tired him to the point that his body could no longer maintain itself the way it had since he was born. The suna teams held their breath anticipating the dreadful escape that was sure to happen. It never came; Shukaku had lost his control over the boy if only for a time. As far as the Zate could estimate it would be at least a week before Gaara was up and ready to be sealed properly. It wasn't because of the sealed sand but because of the dramatic amount of sleep that would be needed to sort out the feelings flowing though Gaara's mind. Until they were rationalized Shukaku was in effect powerless.

 

A strange silence filled the arena as Naruto looked down upon the sleeping prison. He looked to Hayate who nodded to Naruto and had to clear his throat before motioning for the medics to take a look at Gaara and announcing the winner. “Winner Naruto Uzumaki, Next match….Rock Lee Vs Sanosuke Sagara.

 

“Hell yea it's about time.” Sano hopped down over the rails at the same time as Lee.Both flipped from hands to feet and back again until they reached the center of thearena.

 

“Yosh! You look strong;Itrust you will make a worthy opponent.”Lee stood strong while waiting for the proctor to start the match.

 

“Hell yea I will.Just watch your back, you may end up though a wall.” Sano was wearing his good old robe with the Kanji for bad on the back. Sano smashed his knuckles together pumping his muscles showing them even through his long sleeved jacket, causing a few blushes amongst the girls in the crowed.

 

“I see you are a taijutsu user as well, assuch I would like to challenge you to a purely taijutsu match.” This brought a deep grin to Sano's face as lee spoke giving an open palmed invitation for Sano to begin the match.

 

“It's about time I got to fight a real warrior. Deal fuzzy, no cheap ass tricks.”

 

“YYYYOSH! Your flames of youth shine brightly!We shall do battle until the brightness of our flames outshine the sun!”Tenten palmed her face wondering what cursed star he and her sensei must have been born under.

 

“Uh…sure….”

 

“Lee!”

 

“Gai sensei?”

 

“Oh God….”

 

“Show them you'retrue FLAMES OF YOUTH!”

 

“YOSH!” The combatants locked in their gazes as Hayate began the match.

 

Both stared at each other for what seemed like forever when both finally vanished and reappeared in the middle with knuckles connecting with a power which startled most those in the room.

 

“Sano's going to enjoy this far too much.” Rei shook her head remembering all the times he challenged her and others to fist only fights.

 

“Yea, personally I hope he gets to take off his weights. Now that would be insane.” Nazomishi commented while remembering the last time he had seen his old master. It had been so long since Sano had taught him anything so he was planning on paying extra attention to anything he may have picked up in Iwa.

 

“What's he up to now?” Tenten muttered to herself as Gai turned to the blue haired boy.

 

“WHAT! Lee's youthful rival wears weights as well!!!?”This was glorious news, perhaps Lee had finally found a rival as great as Kakashi.

 

“Yes Gai… he does.”

 

“Lee! Your Youthfulness abounds!Unleash all your glorious youth!”

 

“Somebody shoot me…”Once again Tenten palmed her face in embarrassment.

 

“Konoha Senpuu!” Lee spun around kicking at Sano multiple times while still in mid air. The opposing Sano blocked each blow with his arms like they were nothing. As Lee landed he went into a spinning leg sweep only for Sano to jump just above the Lee's leg and fallow up with a kneeto Lee's face, throwing him some distance across the floor. Quickly,Lee used the force of the blow to spin around over and over and over again landing on the ground before kicking off and landing on the fingers of the statue in front of the largest screen.

 

“LEE!”Gai screamed in excitement, trying to gain his student's attention.

 

“Gai sensei?”

 

“Take them off!”He could see it. This was finally the mach they had been waiting for, the match in which Lee could show off all his youthfulness without restraint.

 

“But Gai Sensei I thought you said never to take them off unless my friends were in mortal danger.”

 

“I will allow it this once, NOW Show them your TRUE FLAMES OF YOUTH!” Lee grinned a powerful hellish grin that would haunt children for all of eternity. Pulling down his orange leg wormers he revealed one thousand pounds of weight per leg, letting them droop down in their packets. Lee let them drop down and as they hit the ground a massive plum of dust from the destroyed stone tiles below shocked everyone in the room. Sakura's eyes bulged out screaming “NANI!” while an exhausted Naruto looked on in shock at the enormous weight lee could carry. It was clearly double the weight he carried all together and just being just on the legs meantinsane speed.

 

“Gai don't you think that was a little much?”Kakashi commented. It had taken years for the Sharingan user to get to that level, for a child to do that was…well… inhuman.

 

“Nonsense, this is the SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!”

 

“So are you impressed, my youthful opponent?”Lee commented while jumping up and down like a boxer, throwing punches into the air.

 

“Meh it's not bad, I mean seriously that was what? 2000 pounds? I'll show you some real weight.” With that Sano began taking off his shirt and pulling up his pant legs. He pulled off a set of weights similar to Lee's from his legs. A second set just a bit smaller was tied around his arms followed by another wrapped around his stomach. Once all gathered together Sano held them up in his arms and said. “These are real weights kid. If you've ever heard of the man they call Battousai, there was a time when he was my best friend. Still his speed is so great;I've never stood a chance at beating him. But with these…I will.” Having removed the coatSano revealed body like stonewhich looked as if it could bend steel if necessary. And yet his fists were still wrapped in bandages like lee's up to his elbow.

 

Without warning, Sano seemed to vanish to most of the genin and still yet some of the Jounin, leaving only one thing to indicate that he was gone. Eight thousand pounds of weights crashing down on the ground as his fist connected with Lee's face, sending lee into the wall only ten feet from the screen which read their names. To say the audience was shocked was an understatement. Gai was crying that somebody was more youthful than himself while Kakashi simply stared at the members of the Zate who looked on with a smirk at Kenshin's thirdin command. Temari was wonderinghow the hell some of these freakswere still genin and not fullyfledged Jounin already. And let's not forget the members from sound. `What kind of monsters are these guys.'

 

Lee's body rested withinthe crater in the wall as he wiped some blood off his lip. “Your youthfulness abounds, but the lotus has yet to bloom.” Lee arched his back with enough speed to propel himself out of the crater in the wall to Sano's position back on the ground. A powerful punch which drug the air in itswake was delivered from Lee towards Sano's face. The punch grew ever closer when Sano effortlessly struck Lee's hand and diverted the green nin's punch into the ground, causing a crater nearly three feet wide from the sheer forceof the strike. Much to Sano's surprise, this was just what lee wanted. With a burst of speed Lee vanished appearing behind Sano, wrapping him up in the wrappings which once covered his arm.

 

“Oy teme what are you…”Sano struggled to get free but was surprised when he realized that the wrappings had to be reinforced with some sort of seals.

 

“I am sorry, but this is one fight I must win.” With that Lee leaped into the air spinning again and again and again; spinning faster and faster as he flipped over and began his descent back down to earth. Sano was a little wierded out by this attack, if he didn't do something fast he was going to hit the ground hard, and head first at that.

 

“What are you crazy you'll get yourself killed!”Sano screamed in concerned panic as the two of them spun at rates that would make most puke.

 

“No I WONT!” Lee screamed in his usual loudmouth nature as they careened into the ground. Luckily for Lee he let the bandages loose and leaped away just in time to keep from hitting the ground himself. The crater from the blow had obliterated nearly fifteen feet worth of battle area and left a motionless Sano in the center. Lee could be seen just touching down at the edge of the massive hole.

 

Hayate was about to raise his hand when he looked in the crater and heard something completely strange from someone who had just gotten hit that hard. “Te te te te te ITAI! You brat that hurt like hell, you know that! Seriously what are you stupid? You could have gotten yourself killed.” Sano hopped to his feet and started flailing his arm about in anger at the spandex boy who pantedwhilelooking into the crater in amazement.

 

“You, how did you … why aren't you unconscious?”Lee pushed himself to get out. Of all his techniques that was certainly the one that took the most out of him. Sure the gates were worse but at least the effect wasn't so immediate.

 

“I've got a bloodline damn it! My body's harder than steel.How else do you expect me to wear that kind of weight without my bones breaking?” And sure enough, looking over him, there was hardly a scratch. Kabuto looked on at the man who had just survived the first stage of a forbidden technique, and without a scratch to boot. These Zate freaks were defiantly people to be feared, even if they were children, their bloodlines made them formidable as hell.

 

“Gai sensei, I don't think I can win. This guy… He's too strong.”Lee stated in disappointment. It was the first time in his life anyone had gotten up completely un-phased by that attack. For the first time in his life was feeling the need to give up. Even he knew that without the gates he didn't stand a chance. If Sano had one noticeable scratch things might have been different but even for Gai this sight was completely unprecedented.

 

“Don't let your Fire of youth fade Lee! Use everything you've got!”Regardless of his astonishment Gai wasn't ready to call it quits just yet. He believed in Lee and if anyone could beat such a man it was him.

 

“Really!? You mean I can use it! THANK YOU SENSEI!”Lee knew what it meant and it excited him far more than having permission to remove his weights.

 

“Don't tell me you taught him what I think you taught him…Oh God you did. You know he could kill himself with those.”Kakashi commented with concern for the young nin. Kakashi knew a few of the gates himself and that was why it frightened him so. That level of weights was bad enough but the gates on top of it would make any Shinobi shake in their boots. The problem was it was as dangerous to the user as the opponent.

 

“Lee's a natural when it comes to the Eight gates. He's released almost as many as me, and as a genin. He is the true embodiment of the full SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!”

 

“SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!” Lee began releasing the first gate, followed closely by the second gate. Team Seven looked at Nazo with knowing eyes. They knew they were about to see the reason he wouldn't teach them this way. And if Kakashi's rant meant anything, Lee was about to do something remarkable. The three of them could see something interesting in Nazomishi's eyes. It was a frightened concern for someone's safety.Who they didn't know.

 

“Damn it Lee, I should have warned you. Sano has no choice now. I hope Tsunade's though with Hinata by now, Lee's going to need it.”

 

With his skin turning red lee vanished an unleashed a barrage of attacks matching Sanosuke's pace punch for punch. Both were reacting with speeds which had the former Jedi shocked. Even Kenshin didn't move with this kind of speed back in their world. Even Pod racers would be hard pressed to keep up with these speeds. Every punch was coming close to breaking the sound barrier and a few were succeeding but was being disrupted and dampened by the opposing forces. One force canceled out the other but the match continued on. Lee pumped things up to the fourth gate and Sano still kept on coming.

 

“Damn it, I hate using this. Who'd a thought this kid could keep up with mewith speed and power, sure he had to use the gates but I guess it must be done.”

 

As one final punch collided in what would have been just another among hundreds something snapped. Sano's right connected with Lee's and utterly crushed Lee's knuckles bringing Lee out of his concentrated state of released gates, to his knees on the ground in pain.

 

“I'm sorry I had to do that kid, but I didn't want to release the gates myself. You shouldn't use those so recklessly. One wrong move and you could loseeverything.” Lee used his other arm to drag his pain wracked body closer to Sano asking. “Wa-what did you do.”

 

“Futae no Kiwami, It's my ultimate hand to hand technique; a technique that can turn boulders to dust without chakra enhancement or overexertion. It's over Kid give up.”

 

“Never I…” Sanosuke kicked Lee in the face blasting him off into a wall and likewise, unconsciousness.

 

“He's done, let's move on.” Sano walked over and retrieved his weights, pulling a strand of straw out of his coat and sticking it in his mouth. “Oy Rei if your fight isn't next you might want to take a look at him. You're good at healing bones right?”

 

“YOU BRUIT JUST BECOUSE IM GOOD AT FIXING SHIT DOSENT MEAN YOU NEED TO GO AND BREAK PEOPLE JUST TO SEE!”

 

“Don't blame me;it was his stubbornness that got him into it.”

 

“Says the man who broke his own fist fighting Shishio.” Nazomishi said with a grin knowing it was good to have his old friends back.

 

“Shut it Nazo or your next.”

 

“Sorry but even I know your hand to hand trumps mine after that display.Maybe if I could use swords but you wouldn't really like that now would you?”

 

“Yea,stupid Kenshin trained baka.”

 

`Did he just say that man was trained by the Battousai? These Zate keep getting weirder and weirder.”

 

Once again Hayate tried to get the attention of the noisy bunch by clearing his throat. “Winner Sanosuke Sagara, Next match will be Dosu Kinuta vs Yoda Minch.”

 

Yoda and his opponent walked down the stairs, taking their precious time while several of the Zate finally recognized the old master under his impressive disguise. Yoda wasundera powerful Genjutsumasking his real appearance. Though still small he looked human, less wrinkles and more fare skinned than his normal green but still not quite as pale as the others in the room. It was more of a beach tanned color. He still wore the same traditional clothes that all quickly made out to be his own.

 

“Forgive me my appearance friends.Wish to frighten you I did not. This Illusion now I release…Kai…” Yoda made full use of every movement not wasting an ounce of energy. As the Henge dropped Dosu's eye twitched seeing the tiny green creature before him.A great many Shinobi in the room gasped at the strange appearance of the green man.

 

 

“This is a joke right. You look like some sort of alien. This is funny he even looks older than the Hokage here.” The soft smile almost constantly plastered upon Yoda's face turned to a serious frown.

 

“Much evil I sense in you.” Dosu tilted his head to his side thinking about the creature's strange speech patterns. It was very annoying.

 

“Here's the deal, if you don't say another word I won'tkill you. Got it?”

 

“A foolish proposal have you.Defeat me you cannot.”Yoda stated calmly while resting his weight on his cane.

 

“You two ready?… Hajime!”And with that Hayate began the match.

 

“You'redead!”Dosu immediately began a charge on the old master ignoring the green man's words.

 

“Dead now am I?…” Yoda inhaled and began moving his hands up as he began to exhale “hmmmmm grrrrraaaaaa….aaaaa uuuhhhh” Yoda began moving his hands (think the way he did when raising the X-wing in front of Luke.) Yoda raised his hands palms up and the tiles on the floor began shaking then lifting. One below Dosu did the same and Dosu began change his direction only to find moreof the stone tiles flying his way. They began spinning faster and faster as more started flying around one by one flying at Dosu who using the sound amplifier on his arm to shatter each block as it came too close.

 

“What kind of Jutsu is this! Nobody should be able to lift this many blocks this big with chakra.NOBODY!”

 

“How's Yoda doing that Nazo, even you couldn't control that many at once back in my dimension.”Rei asked her dear friend. Even she knew how difficult it was to maintain control of multiple objects with the force. Perhaps many caught up in one great wave of energy but for them to all have their own direction and spin was amazing.

 

“Yoda and Windu received something very special when they got their “bloodlines.” Their force powers were enhanced dramatically. Enhanced to such a point that their connection to the force is equivalent to one with a Midiclorianlevel over eighty thousand. Yoda's is the equivalent of nearly ninety thousand. Yoda is by far the strongest Jedi who has ever existed. Though he doesn't actually have those levels, his connection with them is far closer than I ever thought possible.It takes him far less concentration to maintain to utilize the force than anyone recorded in any of the great Holocrons. With more practice he may even surpass starkiller's ability when he was connected with the scepter of Ragnos”

 

“Dosu is so screwed.” In the time of the conversation Dosu had crushed at least five massive blocks while Yoda himself hadn't moved one inch. On multiple occasions Dosu had closed in on Yoda only to be smashed away by a block out of seemingly nowhere.

 

“Defeat me you cannot.”

 

“SHUT IT!” Dosu screamed in anger throwing his device forth, releasing several cores of steel from itsmakeup. As soon as his device was fully open he forced chakra into it creating a powerful blast of vibrations obliterating several blocks all at once.

 

“Done are you?”Yoda asked calmly as if he didn't really care what the bandaged child did next.

 

“You…!!!” As Dosu was about to continue blessing Yoda up the wall, the little green man raised his left hand and unleashed a lightning blast unlike anybody had seen from a single man before. Theyellowish greenblast covered nearly half the arena and radiated through the entire room causing hairs to stand on end. For nearly ten seconds Dosu was electrocuted in mid air with his device absorbing most of the shock due to some unknown property of the metal. When Yoda noticed that it wasn't going to kill him without immense pain he stopped.

 

“Tha-that….How did he do that…he didn't even use any hand seals.” Kurenai was stunned, never before had she witnessed such a powerful jutsu without any hand seals what so ever.

 

“This is impossible, he didn't even use chakra!” Neji had his Byakugan active looking at Yoda's chakra system, but there was something strange. Yoda hadn't channeled any chakra since releasing his henge. “Nothing he's done has used any chakra.”Neji stated in astonishment wondering if this was some sort of bloodline that allowed him some level of control over the elements.

 

“It's called The Force. There's no use explaining now. All will be known once these fights are over.”Master Windu stated while maintaining a close eye on the battle.

 

“What are you people?” Neji said wide-eyed and thoroughly freaked out by these people.

 

“You will simply have to wait Neji, you will simply have to wait.”

 

Dosu was getting up and made once last decisionabout what he was going to… His thoughts were cut short as a mysterious Force ripped him off the ground and slammed him into the wall, quickly followedby a green Lightsaber striking him through the heart. The first kill of the day, truly a shocking experience for those who thought things would end without any loss. However the Konoha Shinobi and the Zate all knew, this was only the first. Today six would die and the only ones who didn't know, were the ones who themselves held the black spot.

 

`That clenches it, Hiko was definitely telling the truth. His words don't do them justice for their power. Too bad they have to die.They would make good bodies if only they could be lured.'

 

“DOSU!” Kin jumped down running over to Dosu only to be stopped by the medics carrying his body away.

 

“Nearly a thousand years old am I and still kick ass I can.” Yoda stated as he retrieved his Lightsaber with the force.The reaction of those who could hear him was one of “What did he just say?” The Hokage himself was finally gaining a grasp what left Kakashi so spooked after training those three. If they were anywhere near this powerful at the start…

 

`Anakin is really doing a good job of rigging these matches. The competition's starting to get spooked. It was definitely a good choice to send him to Oto.'

 

“Next match, Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno”

 

“One moment proctor, Sano could you fix the floor, it seems a little banged up don't you think?” Rei looked over to Sano remembering he was skilled in Earth jutsu.

 

“Meh fine…” Sano formed some seals and used an earth jutsu to reform the stone blocks of the floor back to their original condition. “You happy?”Sanosuke asked with some degree of annoyance.

 

“Yes very.”Rei merely smiled, enjoying the annoyance on Sano's face.

 

“Why didn't you do that earlier?”Aoshi asked.

 

“He's lazy and I forgot he could do that…”While the conversation was going on in the balcony the small group missed something interesting while Sakura walked down the stares.

 

“Um Proctor I'd like to forfeit. I've seenSakura's super strength there's no way I could winagainst her.” “Dang it I can'tbelieve I had to say that out loud! But it'strue…One hit and it's a one way trip to the ER. If the rest of the matches are any indication I don't stand a chance.”

 

“Um ok…uh…Next match Shikamaru Nara Vs Temari please enter the arena.”

 

“Troublesome…” Shikamaru walked lazily down the stairs as Temari flew down on her fan.

 

“Hajime.”

 

“Couldn't you just forfeit, I don't really like fighting girls.”

 

“What did you just say?” Temari nearly yelled, angry because of the sexist remark.

 

“Troublesome.” Their match went much the same way as it would have in the large arena under the traditional time line only this time Shikamaru had one major advantage. In this closed arena Shikamaru'sshadow had a reach nearly as large as the room itself. Temari was set up from the start for an effortless win with a kunai to her neck.

 

“Next match….” The next few matches were rather interesting lineups Jaden Korr Vs Kyle Katarn, Kaoru Kamia Vs Choji Akamichi, and Misumi Tsurugi Vs

Rei Witok, all of which were among the shortest of all the matches. Jaden Won against Kyle, hands down with duel light sabers to his former master's neck showing that he had truly become a powerful Jedi. Well at least to those who knew what a Jedi was. The Shinobi in the audience were shocked at the impressive display of combat with what they thought were chakra blades like the Raijin itself. It actually frightened several of them that such things existed as commonly as they seemed to be used in this tournament. Apparently these Zate held some interesting knowledge unknown to the rest of the Shinobi world.

 

Kaoru's fight against Choji resulted in Kaoru beating Choji away with powerful chakra enhanced strikes of her boken. Kaoru wasted little energy whittling down choji's, especially after one blow that sent him careening into an already heavily cratered wall.

 

Out of the three matches Rei's was by far the shortest, ending with the elastic man in ashes. Misumi charged at Rei as she stood still and with a shunshin was surrounded by the strange man's infinitely flexible body.

 

“You like this position pretty?” Misumi taunted while bringing his face uncomfortably close to her's

 

“Fool…” Rei unleashed a furious wave of fire expanding from her body leaving nothing but ashes and blackened soot everywhere within ten feet of her body. As the flames died down Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe fell out of his mouth in utter shock. Few were the fire based techniques hot enough to vaporize an opponent. Fewer still could operate so close to the user's body without harming them. This truly showed him why Kakashi acted so strangely on that day. Still he could see disadvantages to such a technique. It was strictly a close range technique. As far as he could tell she probably had to place a protective barrier around her body to keep from burning herself and the bulk of the intensity was likely contained within the first foot or two of her body. Outside of that he could tell by the lack of heat he felt that the intensity dissipated quickly. Still it was a good way to take a Taijutsu user's arm with the proper goading. Trapping this woman was truly Misumi's undoing.

 

“Well…that was short. Winner Rei Witok, next match Kin Tsuchi Vs

Aoshi Shinomori” Hayate blinked, impressed with Rei's technique. Truthfully he hadn't seen a great deal of what she could do. His students tended to keep their techniques to themselves as far as training and their missions didn't really require them to use anything remotely that destructive.

 

“You're going to pay for what your green freak did to Dosu.” Kin stated with conviction as she entered the arena.

 

“…” Aoshi did not respond, taking his time to walk down the stairs.

 

“AREN'T YOU GOING TO SAY ANYTHING?!”

 

“Would you like some tea? It's most calming.” Aoshi pulled out a small canteen and summoned a cup, raising it as a visual addition to his verbal question.

 

“It's what? How can you talk about tea. It's called a fight moron.”

 

“Oh and I'm sure you want to beat me to a pulp but that simply isn't going to happen.”

 

“Yea, why not.”

 

“…” Aoshi knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy his tea and permitted his drink to vanish in a puff of smoke as Hayate began the match.

 

“Hajime!” Kin threw a set of senbon, one normal and another with a bell attached. Although instead of dodging like the norm Kin was expecting, Aoshi raised his hands and created a wall of ice to stop the senbon. The wall of ice surrounded his body and morphed into a dome. Haku watched from the shadows impressed with the instantaneous use of ice Aoshi utilized. She was very impressed.

 

“It is unwise to attack an opponent you haven't analyzed yet.” The dome became thick and impossible to see through as the ground beneath Kin's feet began to frost over. She looked down wondering what was going on and leaped away only to notice that the frost grew in every direction spreading to the entire floor with increasing speed.

 

“I am one with the ice, and within the ice there are none who can catch me.” Aoshi's voice echoed through the room, reverberating off the ice sickles which were starting to form along the walls making most everybody cling for warmth. Master Windu and a few of the more heavily dressed Zate were actually quite comfortable with a little assistance from the Force.

 

“SHOW YOURSELF!” Kin screamed as she looked around franticly searching for the man in the white trench coat.

 

“…” There was silence, an irritating silence like the calm before a storm. A stillness all Shinobi knew all too well came just before a deadly strike. And then…the real battle began.

 

Shards of ice began shooting from the frosted walls, dancing around like razor sharp snowflakes. The pain bore down into her skin as the blades cut repeatedly like a thousand razor blades in a tornado. That was when she heard the last word she would ever hear.

 

“Toudo Funbo (Frozen tomb)…” Like a bell tolling, the voice echoed through the room reverberating off the frozen walls again and again like in an endlessly frozen cavern. All the ice in the room began to lift off the walls and float in the air like a light snow. As the density picked up it seemed to concentrate on Kin who was too awe struck by the complexity of the icy vortex to even scream. By the time it cleared up and the audience could see her again she was in a frozen ball of ice as if frozen in time; a statue within a block of ice. Aoshi walked up to it and Hayate wondered what Aoshi would do with the frozen woman. He placed his open palm on the dome, closing his eyes and concentrating. When he opened them again the entire dome shattered into countless pieces and evaporated into oblivion. This was the second combatant to completely cease to exist.

 

Aoshi walked back up to the watching platform with all eyes on him. Even Yoda shook his head at the display. When he finally arrived back with his team mates Nazomishi was the first to speak up.

 

“Did you really need to use one of your strongest attacks on her?”

 

“I felt like showing off…everybody else did…” Rei sweat dropped at the uncharacteristic answer while Nazomishi just chuckled in disbelief.

 

“Hey proctor why you aren't stopping any of these fights. My entire team is dead…EXPLAIN YOURSELF!” Zaku screamed.

 

“In case you hadn't noticed things have seemed just fine until it's too late. Others…have simply been too shocking. Next match…” All looked up to the screen awaiting the next victim. “Sasuke Uchiha Vs Zaku Abumi”

 

 

“Heh, looks like I get to fight a weakling.” Zaku gave the Uchiha a cold stair as his heart filled with thoughts of revenge against the Konoha Shinobi.

 

“I'm going to kill you for what you all did to my team mates.”

 

`Grand, not only do I have orders to kill him but he wants to kill me too…I wish I had a choice here…'Sasuke sighed, slightly perturbed with the situation.

 

“Did you hear me Uchiha. I'm going to kill you just like your friends killed mine.”

 

`I'd hate to think what I would be like if I gave into my hate like him.'

 

“Hajime.” Both competitors faced off with Sasuke facing towards the screens and Zaku facing the village representatives. Sasuke moved into a combat stance with his left arm forward and his right arm back behind him while Zaku simply threw his arms forth blasting an air blast at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened seeing the blast but had reflexes fast enough to pivot around it and begin a charge.

 

“How the hell is he so fast.” In the time it took Sasuke to close the gap between the two of them Zaku was only able to half fill his wind pipes. A powerful kick connected with his jaw throwing him across the battlefield. Wiping the blood from his lip he climbed to his feet relatively quickly.

 

With a smirk plastered on his face Sasuke formed three quick hand seals all in under a second. “Raika no Jutsu (Flash of Lightning technique)” Almost instantly Sasuke's body faired brightly as if lightning had struck directly in front of him. The bright flash momentarily blinded Zaku giving Sasuke a wide-open opportunity to kick him hard in the face, unhindered by Zaku's annoying air blasts.

 

Once again Zaku was sent flying but this time he utilized his other senses to orient himself and lessen his impact in hitting the ground by firing an air blast behind himself.

 

“Don't get cocky Uchiha, you haven't seen anything yet.” Zaku placed both palms together as he landed and began charging chakra. Seeing that Zaku was about to perform a more powerful attack Sasuke charged a half hearted Chidori and struck his hands into the ground “Chidori Nagashi!” The current arched across the ground electrocuting Zaku and causing his attack to misfire. The electricity channeling into Zaku's wind pipes caused a volatile reaction with the compressed air inside igniting the oxygen inside forming a fire blast from within the wind pipes.

 

“Sasuke kun's stronger than I had imagined. Furthering shape manipulation with Kakashi's Chidori, quite impressive. Orochimaru sama will be most pleased. It's clear now that I will fight one of these Zate members. It's painfully obvious that the strongest have passed with the fire and ice users. Their attacks are strong but both wasted a great dealof chakra with their attempts to scare the competition. One thing is odd though. That third one from that team, Zansatsu. His card said he had a bloodline. What could it be. For it to be a secret it must be powerful like the other two but if it is similar then what is it?”Kabuto wondered to himself. If he had to fight any of them it could prove quite the challenge even for him. Even if he didn't they would all have to be assassinated over the coming month to prevent their plans from being ruined, especially that Yoda.

 

Zaku screamed out in pain falling to his knees as the windpipes burned his skin from the inside out. The metal was rapidly superheated from the electrical discharge but his pain was not about to end so soon. Sasuke formed a series of 4 hand seals continuing with another attack.

 

“Kairai no Jutsu (Frontal thunderstorm technique)” Sasuke took both hands and pulled both his katana into position, charging them with electrical chakra. Once in position he flicked the blades with his thumbs. The blades flew through the air perfectly straight towards Zaku. The electrically charged blades pierced Zaku at the shoulder and lower stomach, discharging the electrical equivalent of a fully charged Chidori into his stomach as pure current arching between the two blades.

 

One side effect Sasuke hadn't counted on was the sudden combustion of the windpipes that ran though the rest of Zaku's body, blasting the bloody shrapnel of the pipes throughout the stadium. Sasuke covered his face with his arm getting struck by several smaller pieces while most people remained relatively unharmed. That was at least until a mysterious body suddenly collapsed on and over the railing, dropping down to the ground below. Of all people it was the most surprising person of them all, Yoroi Akado, one of the likely next competitors. Apparently a small piece of shrapnel no larger than a senbon needle hit him right between the eyes offering up an instant death.

 

“Well uh, I guess that means winner by death, Sasuke Uchiha.” Sasuke's first kill was a somber moment. There were no cheers as one would have expected from Sakura or Ino, simply silence. Still he didn't even seem to register what he had just done. Why one may ask? The answer was simple. He was too busy hoping there was a good purpose for all this for his mind to even register what he had just done, let alone the entire part that he accidentally killed another competitor thanks to his method of dispatching his real opponent.

 

“Since one of our final four competitors is dead the next match will be the final match; whoever is not picked will automatically move on to the finals.” The screen shuffled the names and finally popped up the destined combatants. “Kabuto Yakushi Vs Nazomishi Mitsukoi. Please make your way down to the arena floor.”

 

“Orochimaru sama will find this most interesting indeed.”

 

“Your team sure killed a lot didn't they?” Kabuto commented offhandedly, as if it didn't really matter.

 

“I suppose. Perhaps you will be the next.” Nazomishi stated it as more of a hypothetical statement than a question.

 

“What do you say we up the stakes here a little bit eh?”

 

“Your terms?”

 

“Death match.”

 

“Is that all?”

 

“Too scared? After seeing your teammates I never would have thought that you of all people would back down.” Nazomishi moved his hand to his scouter to begin scanning. He seemed to completely ignore Kabuto's taunting.

 

“What is that? Some sort of …”

 

“Scanning you. Like your info cards but better. With this I can analyze your muscle make up, chakra levels, stamina and analyze your every movement and technique. With this every technique you use will be added to a database of techniques I can learn later.”

 

“Really, now that is an interesting machine. But you don't realy expect me to believe it can do all that.” The tiny screen could be seen giving out statistics and ratings in some strange unknown language (The Galactic basic characters used in star wars.)

 

“…Hmmm…” Nazomishi sighed in a slightly bored tone then came up with a way to make things interesting. He formed a few hand seals and spoke “Seal.”

 

“You Zate really are strange. What did you just do anyway? I didn't recognize the seals.” Kabuto commented with interest like a scientist seeing a new procedure.

 

“I leveled the playing field. You see all my clothing and parts of my body are sealed with weight and chakra seals. I just upped the total to a point at which my maximum natural speed will be comparable to your own. By my best estimates I would say somewhere around four thousand pounds. I am somewhat disappointed though I usually wear six but apparently I'm still a little lacking thanks to my run-in with Orochimaru.”

 

In Kabuto's mind he could feel every single beat of his heart, it was as if he was suddenly struck with a moment of true unbridled fear. “Did he just say four thousand pounds, that's half what the other guy had but still that's insane. This feeling, it's the same as before, back in the first exam. I never feel this, this feeling that my body is screaming for me to run and never look back. Come to think of it…” Kabuto looked around at all known members of the Zate. `They all send chills down my spine unlike I've ever felt before. To be so confident in their ability…Hitokiri… This is why they have such titles. This is what Hiko warned me about.' What Kabuto didn't know was that the fear he was feeling was force horror at work. It felt so similar to heavy killing intent that he couldn't tell the difference. In the end it was plain and simple fear bombarding his body.

 

“What are you waiting for Kabuto? Hayate started our match several moments ago. Do you fear me?” Nazomishi taunted like Kabuto taunted him only moments earlier.

 

`Taunting won'twork on me…' “Oh sorry I just spaced out for a moment there.”

 

“In real combat you would be dead already…oh wait this is real combat, I'm just being merciful.” Kabuto took this opportunity to fling a kunai at Nazomishi to start analyzing his skill. With a simple movement of his left hand Nazomishi swatted the kunai away with minimal effort.

 

“Interesting…”

 

“Kunai won't work on me.”

 

“Really now, why would that be?”

 

“Because…” Nazomishi glanced over to the kunai then back to Kabuto and the kunai burst into action flying towards Kabuto only to be smashed from the sky with a clang of another kunai. This now had Kabuto officially interested and wide eyed.

 

“How …”

 

“How did I do that? That's for me to know.” While stating things calmly Nazomishi held out his right hand and in a burst of light a katana with a long chain attached at the hilt materialized. The blade itself was over a foot longer than a normal Katana but still not long enough to be considered a Nodachi.

 

“You have seals imbedded into your skin, intriguing.” Kabuto took careful notice of the momentary flash of the seals imbedded in Nazomishi's skin just before the blade appeared.

 

“So you noticed, I'm mildly impressed.” Nazomishi began spinning his blade around and around whipping the chain around, ripping up dust from the ground as the chain came ever so close but never quite touching the ground. In an instant the chain made its way towards Kabuto with the ever-speedy, trajectory of a bullet. The small spike at the end of the chain crushed the stone tile where Kabuto once stood as he flipped over and around, landing a few meters from his original position.

 

“I can't say I'm that impressed with your Sentoryuu as of yet.” This brought an amused chuckle from Nazomishi as he shook his head.

 

“You don't even understand Sentoryuu. It is in essence the reason I cannot be beaten in hand to hand combat.”

 

“Rather high boasting if you ask me.”

 

“Hardly, you see in reality the essence of Sentoryuu is the fact that I am a master of every style of combat I have ever witnessed. It is not one fighting style, nor is it the use of a thousand swords. It is the ability to change to any of a thousand styles and techniques at any given moment.”

 

“But…” `That's impossible; no man can learn that many styles. The techniques alone would fill a library.'

 

“Yes, that means I have a style to counter any style of combat.” Kabuto's attention was suddenly drawn away from Nazomishi as the chain from Nazomishi's blade came bursting out from the ground in an attempt to capture his leg. Kabuto moved back just in time to avoid the chain as he charged his right hand with a chakra scalpel and attempted to chop the chain in two. The attack failed miserably as the chain soon fell limp but was still un-phased by the normally inhuman cutting effects of the scalpel.

 

“How the hell is he controlling these weapons at such a distance…and without chakra strings!”

 

Kabuto kept an eye on the chain as it suddenly faded from existence in a puff of smoke though the sword remained.

 

“I must say Kabuto, I expected a much better fight from you.”

 

“Why would you expect that? I'm only a genin.”

 

“My scouter says otherwise. Your speed and stamina are on par with Kakashi's. Your ability to avoid my chain a moment ago proves that point. You are high Jounin level.” Kabuto's eyes narrowed knowing it was all obvious but at the same time had never expected it to be stated so outright. Nazomishi held his blade with only his right hand bringing it around to his left side, as if preparing a slash with it.

 

“Tell me Kabuto, can you guess why I would wield a sword with a chain that I can summon separately?”

 

“In keeping with Sentoryuu's ability to change styles on the fly?” `He's testing me. He's too confident in his own ability, why else would he be asking such questions. He's looking for a challenge. Unlike the other's he's not trying to dominate me, he's…'

 

“Precisely…” Nazomishi's words held far more than one meaning. In truth it answered both Kabuto's spoken and unspoken thoughts.

 

“Shit, what's he…”A look of shock appeared on Kabuto's face as Nazomishi slashed his blade from over thirty feet away. However, it wasn't the slash that frightened him, it was the hair he noticed falling from the right side of his head. He watched as his hair fell to the ground until a shimmering streak along the ground as thewall caught his attention. The red glowing streak extended in a diagonal line from the ground where his blade once rested only inches above the ground. Kabuto fallowed the line along itspath, turning around to the statue just in time to hear a loud cracking sound soon followedby the Shinobi arm statue falling in two from the middle of the hands up. A simi-wide eyed Kabuto watched as the upper half of the statue slid off at a forty-five degree angle off and shattered against the ground in a frightening display of dust and debris.

 

Up in the rafters several audible gulps were heard as Sasuke questioned Kakashi about the attack.

 

“That Sasuke is Nazomishi's signature attack. The Sora Wari (Sky cutter) slices the air with such speed and power that it forms a razor sharp vortex of air. A technique he himself added to the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.”

 

“You're wrong Kakashi.” Attention was once again drawn back to Nazomishi as Kabuto noticed something very important. He couldn't hold back anymore. “That was my Aburu Sora Wari (Scorching Sky Cutter), a special technique only useable with this blade.” Kabuto took a closer look at the blade and noticed something somewhat different from a normal Katana. The blade from the forging waves to the blade itself was glowing a golden orange like the sun itself.

 

“It's a chakra blade.” Kabuto stated with some annoyance. With a blade that can cut as statue at such distances he was defiantly going to be in a tough spot.

 

“Observational as usual Kabuto. You are correct but there is something truly special about this blade. A reason that this blade is by far my favorite of all the blades I have ever made. I call it Entei (Fire Emperor) because of that searing property you just witnessed.”

 

“Please, I wouldn't excaudate the power of a chakra blade so much. They all have the same disadvantage. They waste chakra and a tremendous rate….”

 

“Aaahaha aaaaaaahahahahahahahaha… Foolish Kabuto, you didn't let me finish. You see my latest generation of chakra blades have a very special property. Their own chakra circulation system. You see in times of peace I feed small amounts of my chakra into this seal.” Nazomishi pointed at a small seal on his neck, only made visible by its sudden burst to life, being infused with some chakra. “This seal takes my chakra and stores it within its counterpart on the blade itself. I can keep this new generation of blades active for hours on a few days of casual charge. Then another seal activates the effect with a sub seal connected to my brain somewhere on my spine, which can read my will in wanting it on or off.

 

“So you a seal master as well.” `I was wrong; he's not the weakest of the three. Whatever his ability is it'sgiving him more than enough confidence to toy with me. It's painfully obvious from the way the others ended their fights they could have toyed with their opponents but they chose not to. So why is he toying with me?I need to put things back in my favor.'

 

“Don't think swordsmanship is my only skill.”Nazomishi held up his arm, his blade vanishing as a large explosion occurred only feet in front of Kabuto. Dust from the strike concealed the four eyed nin as he made his way around the stadium and charged his hands full of chakra for a strike. He move quickly across the stadium making use of every ounce of his speed in an attempt to strike the blue haired nin in the back. Nazomishi simply held his right palm open, facing Kabuto's rapidly moving body. Shock filled the spy as his body was ripped off the ground, and blasted him into a side wall of the stadium. There was no visible chakra or energy there to have warned him, it simply happened without any warning.

 

“Kabuto, Kabuto, Kabuto, You don't stand a chance against a Zate.” Nazomishi turned and motioned his hand towards himself, using the Force to yank Kabuto out of the newly formed crater in the wall. As Kabuto's body flew through the air Nazomishi motioned his right arm towards the ground. Kabuto's body immediately smashed into the ground with a deadening thump.

 

“Orochimaru should have quit while he was ahead.” Kabuto's eyes widened in shock. Somehow his cover was blown, he didn't know how but this man knew something he shouldn't. Still he had to persevere, just knowing there was a connection to Orochimaru wasn't enough to make Kabuto run. So long as knowledge of the war was intact he had to continue the fight. Nazomishi raised his left arm into the air unraveling a great length of metal-laced wrappings from around his arm with his ability to manipulate metal. It seemed to unravel completely by itself as the metal user threw his left arm towards the ground, sending the strange wrappings burrowing into the ground. His goal was soon made clear as cloth burst through the ground and further though Kabuto's chest, quickly wrapping around his body in an instant.

 

“Die.” Kabuto struggled to free himself from the strange bindings but found his efforts of little use against the strangely hard cloth. As the horrible word sounded, a wave of electricity burst from Nazomishi's arm and flowed underground through the cloth and to Kabuto's trapped body. His bones could be seen as his screams rang through the arena with every moment of electrocution that took place. When his body went limp the blue haired Genin ceased the flow of lightning and unraveled the cloth from around the body quickly retracting it to his own body.

“Did you like the show Kabuto?” Nazomishi turned flinging his arm towards a seemingly vacant wall as a volley of senbon immerged from his fingertips. Kabuto's body was revealed as a cloaking Genjutsu was dispelled as the medic avoided the senbon which exploded on contact with the wall.

 

“It was impressive how you replaced yourself with that body, the Genjutsu with the screaming was even more so. Don't think I could be fooled that easily.”

 

Kabuto stared at Nazomishi as Entei appeared once again in his left hand. “You changed styles again…” Kabuto stated with a great deal of annoyance. How was he supposed to analyze an opponent who never did the same thing twice? He knew he was losing at this point and had taken a great deal of internal damage from that mysterious force a while back. If it weren't for his healing ability Kabuto knew he would have been dead by now.

 

“Oh, very much so. I wouldn't be able to use Sentoryu if I didn't every once in a while. Now tell me Kabuto, what other advantage does this blade give me other than vastly enhancing its cutting ability?”

 

“It frees up your consciousness so you can perform other jutsu while maintaining the blade's function.” `He's treating me like a student. These questions, it's like he's trying to teach me something.'

 

“And that means I can do THIS!” Nazomishi began a charge dragging his blade along the ground melting an inch think section of stone everywhere his blade touched. Kabuto monitored Nazomishi's movement focusing all his attention on avoiding the blade so he could make a counterattack. Nazomishi picked up his pace just barely toping the speeds Kakashi used with his Raikiri, leaving small imprints in stone with every step. With his left hand he formed a half palmed seal (index and middle finger strait with other three curled in on the palm) and placed it against his blade as both became surrounded in electricity in addition to the searing fire.

 

“NAGASHI!” Sasuke screamed surprised that Nazomishi could use it without ever forming the Chidori. Kakashi had his Sharingan shown in an attempt to gain a few more jutsu but for some reason it failed. It wasn't Chidori Nagashi, it was some kind of variant. He could only figure the metal user was using his bloodline to manipulate it in some way. From what the Sharingan could tell the electricity was being manipulated by a magnetic field around his arm and being focused into a point at the tip of his fingers. The electricity leaped around Nazomishi's arm fallowing the magnetic fields in an ever circulating hurricane of energy.

 

With a powerful swing that ripped chunks of stone into the air as it passed Nazomishi's blade flew within inches of Kabuto's stomach. Kabuto had made a skillful use of Shunshin to avoid the potential deathblow, fallowing up with several back flips to gain a reasonable distance from his opponent, not aware that there was a second portion to Nazomishi's strike.

 

Nazomishi pulled his left arm in close to his body maximizing the current arching around his arm as he continued the slash with a full pivot as if making a second pass of the blade. His left arm fell behind in the spin, resting behind his back as the Entei made its second pass. An electrical aura surrounded Nazomishi's body flashing on and off repeatedly in fractions of a second. The repeated flashing of the lightning left all vision going between black and white with each flash as all the hair in the audience stood on end with the electrical charge in the air. The focal point of the electricity thrust forth in a jab much like a Juuken strike dispelling all the built up charge from the tips of Nazomishi's fingers in a thunder like bolt of electricity.

 

The electrical beam blew Nazomishi's now spiky hair backwards as the discharge left his body in a path towards the already half destroyed statue. All this happened so fast that Kabuto just barely had enough time to register the attack let alone avoid it completely. The blast closed in on Kabuto as he pumped as much chakra as he could into his feet, leaping to the side.

 

Nazomishi watched contently as the blast obliterated the remainder of the statue into rubble along with half the screens on the wall. He panted slightly after finishing up the attack, walking over to Kabuto. As he walked closer he noticed that the electric strike blasted it's way strait though the tower's walls.

 

“Perhaps I shouldn't have restricted my chakra this much. That one used more than I had originally intended. Only a minor setback, that technique fulfilled its purpose.” Nazomishi observed Kabuto struggle to stand, noticing that the blast incinerated his left arm half way up. The remainder of that arm was charred, black as soot. Several stray electrical rays had pierced Kabuto in a verity of places, causing him a great deal of pain. He wouldn't be using anymore Ninjutsu and his healing techniques were nearly eliminated all together, not to mention his Taijutsu would be severely crippled.

 

“Give it up Kabuto, you're beaten.” Nazomishi commented in a condescending voice.

 

“No…Never...” Kabuto didn't notice but the crowd's attention was instantly drawn to some new arrivals into the room. The Raikage, the leader for Takigakure (hidden waterfall village), the Tsuchikage (of Iwa/ Hidden village of stone) walked in, each with a second in command.

 

“So good for you to join us, village leaders. Just let me deal with this spy real quick then we can begin our little summit.” By now Kabuto had finally stood back up, panting heavily while trying to repair his arm, it wasn't working.

 

“How did you know…” Kabuto glared around the room, looking for an exit knowing he had to warn Orochimaru Sama. His search was useless; the only entrance to the room was blocked by the Raikage and Tsuchikage.

 

“Oh did I forget to mention that every member of the Zate is capable of reading minds to some extent? And if you haven't figured out my bloodline by now here's an example.” Nazomishi raised his free hand towards Kabuto and swords started being summoned in short bursts of light, flying out of literally out of nowhere at outrageous speeds. Kabuto was too damaged from the previous electrical attack to avoid them and was pinned to the stone wall behind him.

 

“You…” A horrible malice filled Kabuto's voice knowing this was likely his end.

 

“Are a metal manipulator.” Nazomishi finished for the vanquished spy. “I used a small amount of metal from my body to form a seal in mid air and used it to summon the swords that now pin you to that wall.”

 

“Wha…what are you!” Everything he had done up to this point had failed miserably, and now even his rapid healing was ceasing to function. What the hell was this man?

 

“What am I? Now there's a question I have had to answer far too many times. I am a simple member of the Zate. And we… are The Zate.” Nazomishi motioned to all those in the room who with a simple hand seal summoned their Zate robes. Even Kakashi, Hayate and the others who dropped out who appeared throughout the stadium now dressed in their black Zate robes in an impressive visible display.

 

Nazomishi walked closer and closer to Kabuto as his robes trailed loosely behind.

 

“We…are guardians of peace, knights of justice, and pursuers of wisdom. I knew of Orochimaru's sadistic plan long before the thought had even entered his mind. Knowing this I organized the Zate and sent them out to manipulate the nations for the singular purpose of stopping Orochimaru and his allies in one fail swoop. I am Nazomishi Mitsukoi, first division captain and founder of the Zate. In truth, I… am your worst nightmare.

 

“gueaa…” Kabuto stood stunned as a flaming hand made its way through his stomach, threatening to bend over in pain an action that could not occur due to his position on the wall. Blood dripped from his lips as another mysterious hand cupped itself over his face, griping with the thumb at the base of his jaw and the fingers lacing around his skull. The hand began to catch fire and picked him up off the ground before tossing his limp body like a rag doll into the nearest stone structure…the stadium wall. His limp body crunched in agony as his face caught fire, quickly making its way into his bloodstream setting his blood on fire. As his body flailed about the blades ripped themselves from his flesh as some clung to the wall and others were plunged deeper or ripped out completely as they struck the ground.

 

Gasps were heard around the room while many covered their mouths as they watched the horrible scene.

Kabuto's skin had entirely melted off, revealing his charred skull beneath the deadly blue flame. “When I hit him with that jutsu, I filled the iron in his bloodstream with my chakra setting it on fire. It will continue till there is nothing left.” By the time Nazomishi had finished explaining the jutsu, Kabuto's body was nothing but blackened bones falling to pieces and evaporating no later than they had broken from the whole.

 

Watching the final moments of Kabuto's existence as a recognizable organism Nazomishi raised his head to face the village leaders who now resided at the sides of the Hokage in his viewing area.

 

“Honorable village leaders I believe you are all wondering why we the Zate have called you here.” Nazomishi's serious voice instantly turned cheerful once the deed had been done as if he were completely un-phased by his terrifying actions, a strange ability of his that still frightened certain members of the Zate to this day.