Journey of the Three Failures

Chapter 26: Toward the New Age, Act II

Journey of the Three Failures

Twenty-Six: Toward the New Age, Act II

Part One: The Defenders of the Leaf

Naruto ナルト

My arms were back, my naginata trailing in the grip of a right hand clasped midway down its length, and my head low as racing feet lightly repelled the dust of the ground that passed beneath them. Lord Founder broke ahead of the Nidaime as the two charged; he raised an arm and whisked it forward, and a sprout rose at his feet to come shooting toward us at his command, growing and branching with fluid and dynamic speed.

Without abandoning gliding stride, I wove left as a branch flashed past, and ducked right to pass under another; I left the earth to roll gracefully to the side, passing over a branch whilst whipping the polearm's curved blade in a tight, circular slash for the wicked obstacles. With a clap I held the weapon in a standard two-handed grip, and a pair of swift slashes diced the wooden skewers around me.

The First frowned. The ground before him swelled and cracked, and a massive, flowering column of wood burst on the attack.

Raw force, huh? I thought. The subtle slowing of my dash was the only cue Lee needed to sweep gallantly ahead, his grin glinting and a strong arm drawn back.

As this was happening, the Second dashed from behind the First, hands melded in the Tora seal as, with stunning speed, trailing pools of water expanded from his footsteps and snapped to life, rising to loop around him before going spiraling toward Kakashi.

"ACCELERATE!"

A single whip of a katana rent the crashing Mokuton branch down its length, and Lee came to stand before the First Hokage, stance low and strong, sword outstretched. At Kakashi-sensei's side, a wall of sand snapped erect; dented by the Second's missile though it was, it scattered white water from the impact and instantly lurched in retaliation, disintegrating into a thousand bullets of sand.

The First Hokage kicked out, savagely, in front of him – just as Lee opened two Inner Gates, and vanished. The Second flickered aside from Gaara's Sand Shower, and in doing so flung himself straight across the path of Lee's lunging sword slash.

His eyes widened. "So you were aiming for me all along?! Not–!"

"Quite!" I cut in, substituting with Lee and running my naginata across the Second Hokage's body.

Lee had already been mid-slash when the blade before him would have met the Suiton user; I, a heartbeat behind from fifteen yards away, had only just finished drawing back. The man had pulled a spin move to narrowly escape the range of the passing sword when I swapped to come slashing past, striking in Lee's shadow with the naginata's superior range.

"Checkmate," Shikamaru announced coldly as I substituted with Lee again, and the Second was abruptly frozen in place until the very instant the Blade of Acceleration met his side on the reverse slash, and proceeded to tear him in two.

"Earth Style Sealing: Head of the Stone Inugami!" Kakashi shouted whilst leaping toward the fallen Hokage, and slammed his hand to the ground. Seals raced along the ground from beneath his palm, and upon reaching the Nidaime's form splayed rings of markings upon the ground around it. This area crumbled, and with a roar a statue of a massive, canine head broke through the earth, fanged jaws snapping shut with the shocked Nidaime within them. The Inugami skull fell over quite unspectacularly; then, from the glowing kanji 'seal' engraved on its forehead, lines of running markings unfurled to wrap themselves about the stone prison.

A blur passed me. Snarling, I lashed my arm back whilst depositing myself in the Shodai's path.

Kakashi was able to stay at his work as, a few feet from his side, I appeared before a Hokage who leaned to dodge the sweep of my hopping backfist. Scowling in annoyance, the Founder dropped a foot back, cocked his fist, and brought about a mighty swing.