Chapter 7 - The Second Face

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Hoshiko strapped the dagger to her waist, and unsheathed it

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Hoshiko strapped the dagger to her waist, and unsheathed it. She pressed the first button, which enabled her to create barriers faster and with less energy, and used it to make and jump platforms to the ground.

"Stand back for a few minutes, yeah?"

Tenten nodded. "They understand." 

Then a fist came hurling at Hoshiko. She blocked it. 

"And who are you, little girl?" It was a tall, burly man, looking about thirty years old, all height and muscle. 

"I'm your worst nightmare," she snarled right back, her right eye shining green, and her right eye darkening into an ebony black, and leaped into the air, making hand signs. She smirked slightly. "And you're about to see the face of death."

Her face suddenly started to change. Her eyes grew bigger and more almond-shaped. Her cheekbones sharpened. Her form slimmed down into hourglass curves. She was beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time. She was the Two-faced Jinchuriki, and her second face had come out to play. 

The sun had set, and hanging in the air, the moon framing her figure, she was a demon in the dead of night. She finished her series of hand signs and two black whips materialized in her hands. "Whips of death." She smiled, a horrible thing that made your stomach turn when you saw it. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but everyone heard it. She turned and twisted, the whips flying around her like a second skin. Then her arms slashed downward. 

The whips came down with them, slicing through the air and shooting straight for the four shinobi below. 

Only three got up after it. The fourth was on the ground, completely dead, blood spilling from his side. It was the one who had tried to punch her. Hoshiko hopped from platform to platform created by her dagger, and Tenten climbed them, unbeknownst to anyone. Hoshiko hopped neatly to the ground, and reassumed her position behind Neji, Kiba, and Naruto, who had continued their attacks on the remaining three enemies. Then all three jumped back on cue. And a storm of poisoned needles poured down. They watched as one of the attackers took a needle to the arm, unable to block it. It was a woman with long brown hair to her waist. She blinked, then fell to her knees, gasping for breath. The poison was deadly and efficient, probably already racing for her heart. Unable to defend herself, more and more needles pierced her, and the weaker she became. It was a vicious cycle that ended when she crumpled to the ground, dead. 

"Two down, two to go," mumbled Hoshiko. The said two remaining shinobi scowled, looking down at their fallen comrades' bodies. 

Tenten landed next to Hoshiko. "Good job," she said. "It was a smart move, the poison."

"Thanks," Tenten said, grinning.  

Hoshiko held up her hand. "Not for long." An invisible wall surrounded three sides of one of the enemies. He didn't find out until it had shrunk to barely the size of himself. "Now, Neji!"

Neji landed a series of blows to the man, sending chakra from himself to his victim. When he finished, the man was barely alive. Hoshiko threw a black orb at the man and ended it. 

"One more," she pushed. "Just one last-" she was cut off by a yell. 

"I thought I could end you pathetic losers without breaking a sweat," said the last attacker still standing. "But it seems not." He raised his hands, a self-assured smile creeping into place, and started making hand signs. "I'm going to start an earthquake so big that the entire village falls into the chasm it makes and then pour fire onto your sorry heads. Oh, I'm going to enjoy hearing you cry-" He froze in place. 

"Why- what's going on? Why can't I move?" The last attacker was frozen in place, struggling to get a look at what had caught him. A black hand slowly snaked up the man's body, latching onto his throat.

Hoshiko beamed. Shikamaru. She recalled him saying that he was waiting for the right moment. And thank goodness he had delayed his attack. She wasn't sure they could have stopped an earthquake. She looked up just in time to see the man sink to the ground next to the rest of the attackers, as lifeless as the people fallen around him.

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