interspecies • interconnect (Naruto/Tokyo Ghoul Crossover)

Chapter 3 - Centipede

It only took a split second, but that split second seemed to be all which he needed. Lin suddenly discovered herself pinned to the ground, our jounin's hand in a tight grip around her neck.

"Lin!" Von cried out helplessly.

"Lin Shujo," the monotone voice came from the redhead's mouth, his eyes fixated on the struggling girl. Suddenly, his eyes flew to Von's. "Von Shujo," he addressed before turning to me. "Kumiko Ikeda," he threw Lin to the side, her back hitting a tree. Hard. Von ran over in assistance.

"First mission for team five," he straightened up, dead eyes glaring. "Try to survive,"

I expected him to charge at me because the twins were occupied, but I quickly realized that's exactly why he headed towards them. Also, because I chose to keep my pace a distance behind from the terror filled twins, I was now a little distance away. How quick were my legs? Well, no time for debate.

I jumped from one leg, my form low and quick to move. Von wasn't paying attention to the happenings behind him, only to his unconscious sister. I managed to intercept the jounin, but barely. He had a kunai out, ready to strike and I nearly missed the chance to block him. I had not time to open the fan I grabbed from my pouch, and instead stunned the kunai with the blade on the side of the folded up fan. The jounin frowned before bringing his other hand to attack. Since I was in an awkward side position, my two hands nearly letting the fan go, I was in no way ready for a block.

He hit my jaw with a forceful punch, much worse than one any of the sparring at the academy could deliver. My jaw took a sickening crack, and my mind quickly worked overtime to figure how long it will take to heal. Considering I haven't eaten in nearly four weeks, and on top of that I still had a human-caused hell brewing within my stomach, I had a problem. It definitely won't heal within this battle. Continuing my train thought, I realized that any injury sustained here would take longer than an hour. Luckily, my skin still put up their natural defence. Flesh wounds and cuts were unlikely, but breaking of my bones?

That, I feel, this man would somehow manage.

I just realized my fan was lost on my fall towards the grass. The jounin was also nearing in on me, meaning I have two options: go on the offensive or act on the defensive. Taking into consideration his sly smirk, I chose the latter. He brought down a mighty first towards the ground where I lay, his fist creating a breakage in the hard ground. Luckily, I used a quick momentum from rocking forward to back to flip my body onto my hands and push off them, creating a fairly safe distance between me and the man.

With a quick push of my jaw back into place, an action I probably would regret later if Ibiki had anything to say about it, I settled my body into an offensive manner with my second fan raised. This time, the fan was wide opened and showed off their sickening blades. Now let's try this again.

I jumped at him, and he clearly having the advantage, expected it. He moved to the side where I held no fan and grabbed that arm. Twisting it, he got a fairly good grip on my arm before he threw me over his shoulder. I lost the fan in the process, and I also took a few good stones to the back. Why can't I figure this man out?

"You monster!" Von cried suddenly, charging with a kunai in hand. The idiot. But still, the jounin was distracted. I quickly retrieved my fans, ignoring the pain blossoming in my body. I made a promise to myself that if I survived this, then I deserved a meal tonight. That thought brought me motivation.

Von was quickly disarmed. Typical.

I bend down into a lunge, my one leg in front of the other. Both my arms were stretched behind me, the fans open and ready within my slightly trembling hands. The fiery head had his back turned towards me, his feet stalking to Von. He must've figured that his back throw knocked me out. How wrong he was.