Shirinai: Kyoma Shows His Face

“You know Aria, I don’t exactly like this.” Ren told Aria. “It’s all right, Ren.” I assured her. I looked over at Michael who’s orange eyes had a look of confidence. “You know how your siblings can be, Gary. I can’t tell them ‘no’. They want you tested, so I’m here.” Aria told me with a huge smile. My older brother and sister had enlisted the help Wind Elemental Sage Aria and her apprentice Michael to test my growth as a ninja. “Shouldn’t you guys be saving elemental beasts? There are better things we both can be doing, Gary.” Ren pointed out. Since I had given her charge of our Bounty Hunters business she had become an amazing leader and kept everything well organized and in order unlike me. Aria gave me an open, suggestive smile and I nodded. “Then let us get this over with,” I told Aria “don’t worry Ren, if Leo and Lene want me to do this, it’ll be for a good reason. It’s not like I can say no anyways.” Ren raised her eyebrow and gave an “I guess” look then nodded in agreement. Aria clapped with excitement “Oh my gosh, this is exciting. Are we ready to get this started now?” she asked. Me and Ren both nodded and Michael smiled and said “I’m ready.” Ren lead us to the back of our business building showed us to the new training ground.

It was huge; 30 square miles bordered by the natural mountains of the Earth Territory, Ren had created a plateau then filled it with a huge 100 foot lake. Along the mountain border was huge thick bushy trees and a tall forest just north of the lake, to our west was a desert-like area of pure sand and on the east was one where metal plates were stuck in the floor. I was impressed. Michael gawked in amazement “This is so awesome! You guys have something for Wood style, Water style, and Wind Style! But what are the metal plates for?” he asked. “Lightning Style users.” Ren answered. “What about fire?” he question. “We don’t have any Fire Style users,” I answered as I surveyed the area “wow Ren, you out did yourself when you made this.” We picked an open area and decided to use the whole training field if we had to. We began warming up and Ren decided that Aria should proctor when Michael asked me “Wait, aren’t you going to fight with your dragon, Ryu?” I smiled and shook my head “No, not this time, he and Kia are out on a mission.” I answered and looked to Aria for confirmation. She smiled and didn’t say anything so I assumed it wasn’t going to be an issue. “Are you guys ready?” Ren asked. Michael and I nodded, “Start the battle.” Ren told Aria. “Okay, ready? Set, fight!”

“Earth Style! Raising Mountains!” I put my hand on the ground and rose mini mountains between me and Michael. “I know I can’t win using Earth Style so I’ll use Fire! Fire Style! Flaming Lotus!” He sucked in then blasted and spread shot of fire balls that rained down. I dodged them and Michael persisted his attack by using the mini mountains for a height advantage. When he got two mountains in, I counter attacked “Earth Style! Earth Swallow!”  The mountains swirled, turned into an earth dragon’s head and swallowed Michael. I closed the distance between us and released the jutsu. Before he could realize what was going on, I kicked him in the face. He managed to stay on his feet but I hit him with a rapid shot of kicks. Unable to stable himself from my blows, we continued a heated kick vs. block exchange. He blocked my attacks kick for kick and I didn’t get past his defenses. I tried harder and harder, making my kicks faster and faster but he managed to grab my foot, throw me off balance, and knock me on my back. I hopped up just in time to dodge a fire ball. Another fire ball came at me and I back flipped to dodge it, soon I was dodging a barrage of fire balls. His attacks changed and he used his Flaming Lotus again. I flickered and dodged it. “Earth Style! Seismic Eruption!” An eruption of huge rocks exploded from under Michael, launching him into the air. “Earth Style! Earth Dragon!” The lose rocks formed a serpentine dragon, wrapped around him, and charged toward me. I jumped up and smashed my knee into his face but he broke into a million rock pieces. “A clone.” I thought. He came out of the ground a few feet from me “Fire Style! Salamander’s Breath!” He exhaled out a spiraling breath of flames. Unable to dodge it, I endured the hit. “C’mon bro, just go down.” Michael complained. “You know it’s not that easy.” I told him and flickered next to him. He was stunned, I hit him with a solid roundhouse to the face and he was sent flying. “Megaton Slam!” I flickered again and before he caught his balance, I slammed my feet into his chest, and he was smashed into the ground. He laid there for a moment then crumbled away into dirt, another clone. “Lava Style! Hell Fire!” behind me the real Michael had spewed a gigantic wave of lava. “There’s the Lava Style.” I thought. The molten lava was covering the battlefield and a huge wave was headed straight for me. “Giant Earth Dragon Swallow!” The ground shook then rose up in the shape of massive dragon head and swallowed the lava then disappeared back down into the ground. “What the hell?! I guess I’ll have to step this up.” He said. He put his hands in the little pool of magma in front of him and infused his arms and legs with lava. “I wanna see you beat me now.” He laughed. “Ren told me you gained the ability to infuse your limbs with lava when you fought her.” I told him. He turned at looked at Ren who was standing next to Aria then looked back at me. Ren had a smirk on her face. “Let’s see if you can keep up with me.” He flickered over to me and tried to punch me but I blocked it with a kick. His taijutsu was now powerful enough that I had to block it with my kicks. He brought a flaming kick toward my face, I jumped and thrust my feet into his chest to knock him away. He came in and began a vicious flurry of blazing hot punches and kick. We exchanged taijutsu once again but this time with blinding speed. His attacks had gained an explosive amount of speed and power that actually impressed me. We struggled with each other for a minute or two, each of us trying to get the upper hand. I managed to get some space between us “Earth Dragon Bomb!” the attack connected but had no effect. “Lava Style! Hell Salamander’s Roar!” he countered by trying to blast me with a barrage of molten lava, but I burrowed underground and emerged by the plateau. He flickered to me but I caught him and threw him into the lake. There was steam as he climbed out of the lake onto the surface of the water; my plan failed. “I forgot, Lava Chakra, not lava. I thought the water might cool your arms into rock,” I admitted “but oh well. Earth Style! Quake Saber!” Earth Chakra exploded in my hand and formed the shape of a sword. He smirked and ran toward me. I jumped out onto the water to collide with him half way. He met my slashes with palm thrusts; his Lava Chakra limbs were able to protect against my Earth Chakra blade. Another match of attack and block went on as I tried to cut through his evasion and it was working. My attacks were pushing Michael back at a good rate. My attacks sped up and he began to lose balance. He noticed he was losing ground and counter attacked “Hell Salamander’s Roar!”  With nowhere to burrow, I had to stop my onslaught and dodge his attack. He was attacking faster than before; the lava was rapid firing. It became a hassle so I flickered to solid ground.”Lava Style! Eruption!” the ground below me cracked and lava spewed out. I jumped to dodge it but was hit with a fireball in mid-air. I hit the ground, rolled, then regained my posture. My eye jetted around looking for Michael then I sensed him above me. “Fire Style! Salamander’s Breath” he attacked as he descended towards me. I cut through his attack with my Quake Saber and countered “Earth Dragon!” A stone dragon erupted from the ground and swallowed him whole. It spewed him out next to me and I put my Quake Saber to his throat. “Done? Or are we going to keep going?” I asked him. His orange eyes were glistening with excitement. “Not even close to done bro,” he grabbed my Quake Saber, cut his arm, touched the blood and slapped the ground “Summoning!” There was a huge puff of smoke. I released the Quake Saber jutsu and jumped back to the plateau to create space between us. There was no telling what he had summoned and it as a better idea to gain space to access what it was. The smoke cleared and a huge brown snake-like eel erected its pose to tower Michael then slithered down to eye level with him. “It’s been a long time since you’ve summoned me, Michael,” the eel said “for what reason do you need my assistance?” it asked. Michael pointed in my direction and the eel’s eyes locked for a moment then went back to Michael. “The 7 Tailed Badger’s Avatar? I’m not going to be much help against him. I don’t think it’s even a good idea that you fight him. It's better you steer clear.” It warned him. “Don’t worry, it’s just a sparring match.” He responded confidently. It hissed then looked at me again; it was clear it didn’t really trust his statement. “They have been known to lose control and-“ the eel’s statement was interrupted and it's head snapped towards Ren. “There are two avatars here.” He growled. Aria, who was standing next to Ren, waved at the leviathan with an airy smile on her face “Hello Earth Leviathan! It’s good to see you in good health but you should probably continue battling.” she called out. “Don’t worry, it’s just a sparring match. No one will die.” Michael said laughing. I looked at Ren who put her palm on her face and Aria shook her head; he had done a horrible job reassuring the situation. “If I was going to lose control, it would’ve happened a long time ago. Now you guys attack or I will.” I said impatiently. The Leviathan’s head turned to me then Michael called him down. It put it’s head next to him then nodded. Unsure of what they had planned and what the Leviathan was capable of, I activated my Quake Saber again. The huge eel disappeared underground and Michael came rushing towards me. Not willing to wait to see what was going to happen next, I attacked with Earth Dragon Bombs but he dodged them and continued his advance. I dashed in and began swinging my sword. This time he didn’t block or counter attack, he just evaded. I missed attack after attack but he didn’t have a pattern in which he was dodging. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing and underground I could sense the Leviathan burrowing around. I released my Quake Saber and began fighting with my taijutsu assault. Faster than my sword attacks he had no choice but to block my blows. Each attack was aimed to cut through him but he managed to block them. This battle went on for what seemed like minutes until he finally backed up and spewed lava at me. “Leviathan!” he called out. The Leviathan burst from the ground and launched a Stone Ball at me then disappeared underground. I dodged both attacks successfully; they went on the offensive.  There was enough space between me and Michael that he could throw flaming kunai and the Leviathan would burst from random areas in the ground and blast Stone Balls; the attacks were coming from every direction. My dodging session didn’t last long because the Earth Leviathan and Michael reunited on the battlefield and ceased their assault. “Thank you, Leviathan.” Michael said, it hissed in response. “Hope you’re ready, Gary.” he called out to me as the leviathan slithered out of the hole and onto the ground. There was at least a good 100 feet between us and other 200 feet between me and the lake; there was no choice but to be ready. I crossed my arms and smiled at him then at the leviathan. The giant eel glared at me and his orange eyed summoner smiled back. “Lava Style! Hell on Earth!” Michael’s lava limbs when dark and his eyes glowed red, his body expanded, and he regurgitated lava into the hole in front of them. The ground rumbled and began hot, shortly after lava erupted from the mounds made by the leviathan bursting from the ground. The battle field was now covered in mini volcanoes and rivers of magma ran underground.  “So the leviathan was setting the field for an active lava field.” I said. I was impressed. “Let do this, bro!” Michael laughed before jumping into the lava filled hole. I activated my Quake Saber again and waited. There was at least 35 different mini volcanoes he could’ve came out of it was just a matter of time before he came out. I was hit with a fire ball from behind. I turned around and was hit from another angle. Michael launched himself from one volcano, hit me with a rapid fire of punches then flickered and disappeared into another volcano. He was using earth clones to assist in his onslaught. I was hit so many times I released my Quake Saber. Flickering wasn’t an option either, I was at my three time limit. Soon the leviathan joined the war by blasting Stone Balls at me. The heat was causing me to sweat and messing up my vision.  Three clones, Michael, and the Leviathan were using me for firing practice and it was working. Some of their attacks were dodged but more connected and from time to time Michael would come in close and attack with taijutsu. Random cracks in the ground caused lava to spray up at me; the lava field really did work to his advantage. I was hit head on with a barrage of Stone Balls that could’ve been dodged if the heat hadn't dry out my eyes. It was almost overwhelming but soon enough I took notice to the pattern of his close-quarters taijutsu assault. I took the next wave of attacks in anticipation for him come close to use taijutsu. It wasn’t long before he did. “Earth Dragon!” I created an Earth Dragon as he jumped to hit me but it was only a clone. “Dammit!” I thought. The Earth Dragon exploded and lava splattered everywhere. The real Michael emerged from the flames and blasted me directly with a ball of lava. My shirt caught fire; I had to rip it off and was left wearing only a garb. I put my knee on the ground and took a deep breath; the heat was taking its toll on me. Sweat dripped from my forehead and got into my eyes. The attacks had stopped and Michael stood next to a mound with a smirk on his face “Now it looks like you’re about done. You can’t stand the heat.” He stepped into the lava. Veins of lava ran up to his neck and began spreading.

 “Get ready because I’m going to turn the heat up to the max.” He said. It took a moment but his whole body from his neck down was infuses with Lava Chakra. I smirked, it was finally going to be up to pace. “Oh yeah? Good, I can stop stalling.” I replied. Michael looked at the leviathan then back at me. “Hey Ryu, you ready?” I yelled out to behind Ren.. My dragon partner came running out from behind Ren and Aria, across the battlefield, over the steams of lava and joined my side. “I thought you said Ryu was gone, can they do that?” Michael complained to Aria. Aria had an absent minded smiled on her face and remained silent; it was clear she either wasn't paying attention or didn't care. Michael shrugged helplessly and said “Alright, it doesn’t matter to me. Bring it on.”  He slammed his fists together, causing the mini volcanoes to erupt again. “I’m ready when you are.” Ryu said to me. “Takamaru Beast Fusion!” Ryu turned to pure Earth Chakra and fused with me. My nails, canines, muscles, and tail grew. I felt all of Ryu’s animalistic powers added to mine, my eyesight returned to normal, and the heat no longer bothered me. “Give me control, Gary.” Ryu thought to me. “Okay.” I answered. We sat for a moment then I released control over our body and gave it to Ryu. My dreads grew and hardened into spikes, my canines grew out of my mouth, and more spikes grew on my tail. “Let’s go!” I roared. Michael flickered and I met his punch with a tail swipe that knocked him out of the air. “Dragon Blades!” I curled into a ball and launched at Michael cutting everything in my path with my spikes. My attack missed when he jumped to dodge it. “Flaming Lotus!” he was quick to attack, but I cut through the fiery rain with my Dragon Blades and hit him. My attack smacked him out of the air and back to the ground. He stumbled and got back on his feet and we squared off before he attacked again. “Lava Style! Lava Cannon!” His hand thrust and blast a quick shot of lava. “Earth Style! Seismic Claws!” I countered by slashing waves of Earth Chakra that split the blast to pieces. Michael growled in frustration and jumped back to a volcano and disappeared into the lava. My feral eyes traced his increased heat signature as moved rapidly through the underground lava streams. I got on all fours and chased him down from above ground. He was moving fast within the lava but I was able to keep up until he slowed down, I burrowed down and pulled him out the ground. “How is the lava not burning you!?” he yelled. He used his Flaming Lotus again then flickered to me. He began an enraged tirade of superheated taijutsu with the added support of his now unavoidable Flaming Lotus rain. With reptile like reflexes I blocked every one of his flaming strikes. He turned up his body heat with ever blow, trying to burn through my defenses. His hits got so hard the ground beneath me began to crack. I used my tail to lashed out at him just as the ground cracked out and a geyser of lava separated us. “Terra Nova!” before I could locate him a huge stone boulder was slammed on me. The boulder was heavier than it should’ve been and I struggled to get it offf of me. Just when I started to get it off there was a huge explosion that sent me flying like a rag doll over the lake and into the trees. In my battle with Michael, I completely forgot about the Earth Style leviathan and that gave him enough time to charge a Terra Nova attack. I stood on the tree branch and stretched. “Alright, Ryu. Now that we are out of that lava field, we can share control again.” Ryu switched from full control to us sharing control of our fused body. My hair turned back to dreads, my canines grew to fit in my mouth, and I lost spikes on my tail. Michael came down from the tree tops “Earth Style! Quake Blast!” I spat a ball of Earth Chakra at him and he crumbled into dirt. “Ugh, clones again.” Clones began dropping down and coming in at me. Each one was destroyed with a kick, tail swipe, or a slash from my claws then I took off. I jumped from branch to branch until I got an open space and landed on the ground. The cones surrounded me. “Seismic Eruption!” The ground beneath me exploded destroying all the clones. “Earth Style! Rock Storm!” All of the loose rocks rose and shot out behind me.  I turned around to face the real Michael stumble from my attack. “You give off heat that the clones don’t.” I told him. His body flared “Lava Cannon!” He shot a two handed lava cannon with both his hands that I countered with my Quake Blast. His body flared again and he flickered over to me; I dodged his punch and hit him with hand stand kick. He tried another Lava Cannon but I dodged it. He ran in and I knocked him away with my tail. “Quake Blast!” I fired a direct hit then followed with a rapid fire of furious kicks. I overwhelmed him and all he could do was block. He managed to fire off a fire ball during my assault but I dodged it easy. His movement became sluggish and stiff; his body heat was lowering. I hit him with a powerful round house kick and backed off. He stumbled, cut his thumb on his teeth and summoned the Earth Leviathan. “Take me back to the lava field!” He told it. He grabbed a hold of the eel and they disappeared underground. I stood there motionless for a moment then said “Take control Ryu?” and gave control of our body to Ryu. Again my dreads turned to spikes, my tail grew more spikes, and my canines grew out of my mouth. I got down and on all fours and began running through the woods. As fast as I could, I ran past the trees, through the woods, onto the plateau, over the lake and launched myself onto the lava field where Michael had recharged his lava infused body. This time he stood on flat ground and faced me. “You regained your lava boost, huh.” I said. Michael smirked and his orange eyes glistened. “I hope you’re ready for me to finish this, Bro.” he said confidently. He released his summoning on the leviathan and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. “I learned this from my fight with Ren.” He said. He put his hands in the ground and began charging the lava field with chakra. A giant lava hand burst from the ground and tried to grab me; I barely managed to dodge it. Another came out of the ground tried the same thing but I knocked it back with a Quake Blast. Suddenly, three more surrounded me. I stood inspecting the 5 lava hands towering over me “Hurry up, Gary!” Ren yelled out, scolding me. “Okay, okay,” I yelled back “Earth Dragon Warrior.” I released some of the 7 Tailed Badger’s Chakra. Earth Chakra oozed from my palms and the bottom of my feet. Rock shards mixed in with the chakra and created a spiraling barrier around my limbs.  Michael had a look of frustration on his face. “Ready?” I asked smugly.  Michael smirked and readied himself. The lava hands closed in; they began trying to grab and punch me. Each one burst into flames with a single kick. Michael roared and 15 more lava hands erupted from the ground and began to convene on me. “Earth Twister!” I did a handstand and spun around into a barrage of Earth Chakra powered kicks, destroying all of the lava hands. I ended by back flipping and landing with my back to Michael. “Lava Style! Lava Golem Armor!” all the lava underground was drained, wrapped around Michael, and formed a giant lava golem body from his neck down. “Beat this!” He laughed. “Quake Blast”!” I shot a blast so fast he had no time to react it hit instantly and the lava body turned to stone. “Earth Swallow!” An enormous stone dragon head formed under Michael, opened its mouth and enclosed him. “Earth Style! Dragon Blade!”  Earth Chakra swirled in my hand. I ran across the battled field, thrust my hand through the stone prison, splitting it in half, and stopped just under Michael’s chin. “Done. You lose.” I said. “What the hell, bro? You could’ve killed me!” Michael complained. I kept the Dragon Blade under Michael’s chin and stared at Aria who realized the battle was over and announced me as the winner.

After the battle, I started to walk over to Ren but Michael stopped me. “That was a close battle, bro! I almost got you!” he laughed. “No you didn’t,” Ren said. Michael looked over at Ren “What? Yeah, I did.” He snapped. I smiled a shook my head “No, you didn’t,” I said “I ended the battle the way I started it. On purpose.” He looked at me if a raised eye brow then looked at Aria and thought for a moment.  Ren turned her back coldly to us and faced the battlefield. “Explain it to him, Gary.” Ryu said to me. “I trapped you with an Earth Swallow jutsu in the beginning, same as I did at the end. Only difference is, I decided not to use the Tailed Beast Chakra in the beginning.” I told him. He eyes got wide with realization and he smiled “Aw man!” he laughed. “You’re Lava Style is good, definitely powerful but I seen immediately you needed lava around you to maintain the lava infusion. That’s why I let you go back to the field in the woods.” I admitted. “What the heck? Really?!” he complained. “Yeah, haha. Against an ordinary ninja you’d be for than a match but I’m an Avatar, not a regular ninja. There was a few times I underestimated you but I also underplayed my power.” I said. Michael laughed and we shook hands. “Wow, Bro haha, I tried though.” He said. “Yeah, and you did a pretty good job. But I had to put on a show for Aria,” I admitted “this was an assessment for my siblings.-“ “Gary, do you sense that?” Ren interrupted. I turned and looked at her. There was ominous feeling in the air. “What is it?” Michael asked. “It’s Darki.” I answered. “The 2 Tailed Cat’s Avatar? What’s going on?” Aria asked. Ren and I remained silent; his chakra signature was headed towards us fast. “Something isn’t right, he’s fighting someone.” Ren said. “Well why is he coming here?” Aria pondered. “Because he knows we're here.” Ren said. “He must need help.” I finished. Darki’s chakra signature was getting stronger and stronger as he came closer. There was something eerily familiar about the fares of the chakra signature that was chasing him. Ren and I stood at attention trying to figure out what was going on. Darki’s Chakra signature reached the mountains that bordered our training field. “Gary, let’s go!” Ren commanded. “Right. You guys stay here.” I told Aria and Michael. I knew if they followed they would be getting in over their heads. “Maybe we can help.” Aria said. “Yeah we’ll go with you, you might need us.” Michael added. “No, listen to Gary, stay here!” Ren demanded before taking off in toward the target. “Go get Kia and Miso, you guys.” I said before Ryu and I took off after Ren. Ryu and I fused and caught up with Ren. Over the lake and into the woods, Darki came into our view. He was beaten badly and struggling to make it to us. I started to run ahead to him but Ren knocked me out of the way and blocked an attack. When I looked up, Kyoma had his sword on Ren.