Chronicles of the Leaf

"Magnum Opus" - Yuuri III

My arms hugged the silver-haired Anbu tightly whilst he piggybacked me through the Land of Fire's dense forests. He and the other Anbu were jumping from tree branch to tree branch. It was the preferred method of travel for Shinobi. We were moving so fast that I felt a strong breeze against my face even if the day was as calm as a ninja monk.

"Stop!" The other Anbu cried out after stopping on one of the tree branches. I felt the breeze coming to a stop when Osami also halted his retreat. I looked to the Anbu with dark brunette hair who spoke up, "There's wire traps everywhere. I can count about 10, no, 12."

Osami sighed and looked around. I did the same and couldn't see any wire traps at all. There was only the forest but I could tell by Osami's displeasure that their trained perception was simply far beyond my own.

CRASHH

Following the loud noise, the birds fled in fear and chirped away to sign the start of an ominous stillness in the forest. The silence was deafening. I turned my head towards the source of the crashing noise and saw a tall middle-aged man in a brown cloak, wielding an enormous double-edged sword. The two conscious Anbu had their eyes locked onto him. Osami ordered me whilst his eyes remained focused, "Ride's over, kid."

I climbed off of his back and stood on the tree branch behind him. I had no weapons and no jutsu. I couldn't be of any use against another mysterious foe, who spoke deeply, "I'm Atlas."

The second Anbu shouted out with his unconscious comrade on his back, "No one cares!"

I watched from around Osami's back and saw a cold, stoic look on the middle-aged man's face. He raised his gigantic sword of death and swung it down on the tree branch. One moment I was standing on a tree and the next I was falling through the air. I couldn't tell you how high up we were but it felt like 100000 metres in the air. My mouth opened to scream until I saw Osami grab a hold of my arm and bite his finger. He yelled out: "Summoning Jutsu!"

Then promptly a giant toad appeared beneath us, which offered a better landing spot than the grass. With a thud, we were hurt but safe. I landed on my arm and groaned in frustrating pain. Osami had landed like a true hero on his feet and looked up. I followed suit and saw that the two other Anbu had been trapped in a lightning net that knocked out the brunette Anbu. Behind the net appeared the middle-aged Kurayami ninja appeared behind and dived down towards us with the sword on his back. He made an array of hand signs whilst falling through the air. "KURAYAMI STYLE: SPIRALLING BOLT TAIJUTSU!"

In place of the falling cloaked man was a spiralling bolt of lightning that crashed down into the toad, forcing it to desummon due to the sheer pain it was experiencing. Osami immediately rushed to pick me up and he jumped to a tree, using the kunai to break our fall down to the grass. Once we reached the bottom, we were swiftly attacked by the rogue ninja who landed behind us and threw a punch. Osami ducked under it and placed me down on my feet before telling me to "RUN!"

My legs would then move on their own whilst I heard the clashing of steel behind me. I headed straight forwards into a bush without any care for the small scratches I might make. At least I was alive. Once I made it through to the other side of the bush, I turned and watched what was going on.

Shards of metal that once made up several kunai were scattered across the forest floor. I saw that Osami had a particularly worried expression and it made my heart palpitate with anxiety. He was forced to dodge the fast powerful swings of Atlas' sword since he said in his own words: "Dammit! I'm out of kunai."

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!" The veteran shinobi began to laugh maniacally like he had just lost his mind. I wondered what had changed from when we first met him with that cold expression. Perhaps it was the thrill of battle, but I hadn't seen any fun in it so far. After Osami had narrowly avoided Atlas' gigantic blade for the last time, it crashed into the dirt. He quickly tried to catch his breath, struggling from almost having his chest cut open but then something else happened. The earth beneath them began to shake and shake and shake like a violent earthquake until it exploded into the air in shards. The ground had been cracked into erupting pieces. Osami was caught in the centre of it all, being lifted from under his feet. The pieces of earth kept rising in the air whilst Atlas began jumping between them towards Osami, who quickly pointed his palms and unleashed bursts of star-shaped chakra at his enemy. It was a futile attack. Atlas had dodged them with relative ease and headed straight for the silver haired ninja, punching him in the forehead and breaking his Anbu mask into pieces. Osami fell back and saw the net holding his comrades. He reached out but the pieces of earth came crashing down to the bottom of the forest.