Kaminari no Kuni

After a few more moments of walking Senko found his form standing upon sandy beaches, his gaze moving deeper inland as he found several mountain ranges spanning as far as he could see. Shifting around his eyes fell upon the drift wood that had washed ashore and actually traveled 30 feet onto the beach following Senko. "Amaya, it is time to wake up and continue our search, we are here, we've arrived at Kaminari no Kuni."

His arms crossed as he stood there waiting for the woman to wake up. The sun's brilliance was now shinning down upon Senko in it's full, and the radiation from the light was beginning to thoroughly irritate him. His eyes had fallen from the half moon gaze to a squint, obviously whatever had happened to him had made him unfit to deal with such sun light. "We need to get into the mountains.... and from the mountains to the clouds. I'm sure the eight tails his hiding around here somewhere."

Agree to assassinate the Mizukage and I’ll give you all the power you want…Amaya do this for your real family….When you find there is nothing for you in the village, I’ll be waiting….

Senko’s voice broke Amaya from her dreams and she gradually opened her eyes, pupils immediately stinging from the intense sunrays. A hand shielded her eyes and she groaned in protest before she suddenly remembered where she was and sat up quickly. It seemed her charka had replenished. She glanced at her hand and flexed her fingers a few times before looking at her other hand which held her flute. Sighing in relief, she glanced back at Senko. She frowned deeply—it seemed he didn’t change though.

“Yeah, alright…”

Never in her life had she thought she’d miss being called Hime. Standing from the board, she stretched her limps slightly and glanced around. She observed him for a moment, quirking a brow. He looks like a vampire under the sunlight…she thought to herself then rolled her neck before walking beside him.

“Why the mountains? Isn’t the beast in the ocean?”

She asked as she began to walk on, glancing at the mountains. It seemed like she would have to spend some time again…awkwardly talking to this strange Senko—while she could yell a mouth full, talking wasn’t her thing. She groaned, turning her eyes to the sand that gradually turned into ground and grass the further up they traveled. She had to admit, the misty feel in the clouds would make her feel more at home.

“Hah, home,” she said out loud. She thought about her dream for a moment before speaking again, this time to Senko. “I have a question...”

Senko gave a light shrug as they moved from the beach and into the mountain range. "Maybe it was in the water, but not anymore. I can feel it resonating with my existence, its here in the mountains, high above us.... waiting." As they climbed the mountain the path would fade away into the rocks, and the transition from walking to climbing would be made, each one of Senko's digits grasping rocks, some which proved to be too loose to hold onto, some proving to be more than suitable, and some which had at first appeared by be big enough, but were actually far too small to use, an optical illusion generated by the shadows, mist, and angling of the cliff.

Yet as they rose higher, Senko's form would appear to be on autopilot, completely automated. His mind was else were, somewhere near by, but else where non the less.

"You're a piece of shit, you know that right?" The dark figure looked at other who was no bound and tossed to the floor on his side.

"I'm not really sure how you're restraining me, but I am going to destroy your existence as soon as I get free." The figure looked up from the ground, gray hair falling before crimson eyes, arrogance held his face.

The dark figure cocked back his foot and then drove it forward digging his toes into the others ribs. "You'll never get free, I'm in charge now, get use to it."

Senko stopped his ascent as he then turned to look down at Amaya, "You're question is?"

As they ascended the mountain side, Maboroshi Yokobue had found its way back against her thigh, Amaya not desiring for the polished silver to be dusty or scratched by the rocks and dust kicked up from Senko and herself. Senko seemed to be in his own world, and his own mind. This made Amaya wonder if the real Senko was trapped—trapped within this mind. She brainstormed dangerously at the thought—her advanced skills in genjutsu making her wonder if there was a way that she could draw the real Senko out.

Real Senko…

What if this was the real Senko? Nonetheless, the Senko she knew probably desired freedom and even if his charka was drained, enough time had passed for it to replenished. While Amaya didn’t know that this new Senko was able to be in control of the body due to Senko’s charka depletion, she had a pretty good guess…considering this Senko only appeared after her…friend lost his energy. She remembered the concept of Jinchuuriki—once the beast took over, it was hard for the host to retain control, being trapped within their own mind. Was Senko trapped in this manner? By this impostor? Like a Jinchuuriki…he did seem to have multiple charkas and impressive charka reserves.

Amaya eyes narrowed and her countenance seemed that much more disturbed at the thought. If this be the case, unless Senko somehow regained control, he may forever be trapped—perhaps he needed an extra hand. Amaya glanced at her flute. She wasn’t that good at fighting, but genjutsu was another deal. Breaking into his mind—sending herself into his mind, wouldn’t be too difficult of a task in skill, but it would be an amazing risk. This Senko could possibly avoid the jutsu and discover her plans. In addition, even if she managed to get into his mind, she was most certain that she would have to fight this Senko there….but she hoped that she could free Senko of whatever incapacitated him before this and they could both face him together.

Was she willing to take this chance though? For Senko? She didn’t even like Senko.

Then again…I don’t like this one more.

Senko spoke to her and Amaya was thrown from her thoughts and tossed back to her prior concern. This only made her frown even more. She didn't need this many problems on her plate.

“I know…that you haven’t been in the village long. But if you had the choice to betray the Mist…and as a reward be blessed with much more strength and power than you currently had in a short amount of time…would you do it?”

This was a little obvious wasn't it?

"I mean...I'm just curious about your thoughts on power. How important it is to be stronger...no matter the cost."

Senko hoped over the edge of the cliff and took a couple steps forward, his gaze falling upon the mouth of a massive cave. "So this is where you hide.... I will consume you." His voice was flat, but there was a glimmer of something in his half moon gaze. A brief moment taken as he floated back into the depths of his subconscious.

"Well Senko... once I eat the eight tails, you will never be able to take over this body again.... and once I've eaten all of the other tailed basts, I shall become the living incarnate of the ten tails. I shall become unstoppable, all by using this amazingly adaptable body of yours. When I first infected you, I simply assumed you'd become another mindless pawn. Yet your loose genetic structure has allowed me to become one with you, soon you will be one with me though.... and eventually there will only be me."

Senko had sense found himself sat upon his knees, his body stuck in the execution position. His eyes glancing up as he looked at the shadowy figure. "I will kill both of us if I have to. I hope you know that."

The shadowy figure smiled at him before fading away.

Senko's form shifted a little as he turned his head to look at Amaya. "You must do whatever is necessary, friends, people, they are all expendable, tools to be used. Family, love, this things will eventually die and vanish on their own. There is no reason to hold loyalties. POWER, STRENGTH, these are the only things in life that you can count own. Friends will betray you, or will die. There is no use for them." Senko's form shifted again, several steps taken as he moved from the edge of the cliff and began to enter the cave.

Amaya followed him idly, assuming he knew where they were going and only waiting for his answer to her question. When he did answer, she had to admit she was more than a little disturbed. She expected a little less of a…impulsive, heartless response and it made her worry. She wondered if letting him handle the eight tailed was a wise idea in the first place—his priorities seemed a little…amiss.

Her hand reached to the Maboroshi Yokobue, withdrawing the instrument and placing it to her lips. Charka surrounding flute for just a moment. The eight tails was powerful, and would likely even ware this Senko out before the capture. However, in remembering Senko’s powerful burst when he was fighting the tailed-beasts, couldn’t anything stop him in that mode?

There wasn’t a doubt that it had to be done. This guy threatened the village and while Amaya wasn’t the most dedicated of members—at the time, she was still a part of it and had to protect its ideals. How strange…she did possess a sense of loyalty.

It was now or never. Closing her eyes, Amaya stopped walking, allowing Senko to walk ahead of her a fair distance before blowing into the flute. She didn’t make it a habit to literally break into people’s mind, but she understood how to do it.

Kokoro Suimin no Jutsu

The melodic tune was like a lullaby, charka potent tunes flowing into the depths of his ear and caressing the nerves of his brain like so many of her genjutsu did. Kokoro Suimin, also known as mind sleep, was an inhibitor that activated a mass amount of neurotransmitters in the brain that induce sleep, convincing the body that it was exhausted and worn—as if recovering from a long battle. Limps would feel heavy and energy depleted before the body would collapse and enter a genjutsu induced slumber.

This allows for a vulnerable mind, allowing the second part of the jutsu, penetration. This would place Amaya in an auto piloted state, aware of the outside world but active only within his mind. If the eight tailed showed itself, she’d be aware and able to throw herself from Senko’s mind to protect them both, but an attack too impulsive would put them both in danger.

For now though…the only danger was getting into his mind.

Senko's form suddenly stopped as his figure suddenly slumped to the ground. Sound asleep he seemed to be absolutely at rest, vulnerable to almost any attack imaginable.

When Amaya infiltrated his mind though, the serene state of his body would be match by a somewhat dark mind. Her perception of Senko's internal workings would be that of empty darkness. There was nothing, no objects, no floor, no walls, just vast empty darkness.

"Amaya, have I not been nice to you? Did I not carry you while you slept? Why.... why betray my trust?"

Before Amaya a dark figure would appear, it's physical details concealed within the darkness. A half moon gaze floating across its face. "I suppose.... that you are trying to interrupt my plans.... so I suppose......... hmm. I suppose I'll have to kill you." The half moon gaze sudden exploded to bewildered eyes, and as this happened a massive flare up of demonic chakra would rip outwards from the slumbering Senko's body.

Slowly Senko's form would push from the ground, the genjutsu broken by the explosion of demonic force. The black aura around the body so brilliant due to the amount of chakra that emitted from it that it appeared to almost be solid. Limp limbs swayed as he stood up, his form slowly twisting around to face Amaya. The once blank face replaced by bewildered rage and psychosis. Both eyes now full opened, blood vessels bulging, teeth ground together as an every widening smile shot across his face. The once blue eyes faded into black as the pupils over took the whole of the iris.

A single step would be made towards Amaya, the limp arms suddenly catch on fire as five patches of skin suddenly melted away, revealing muscle which then gave away to bone. From these exposed portions of his structure a total of ten tendrils of pure obsidian chakra would emerge, waving violently in the air. His limbs suddenly becoming rigid as his digits took on a claw like form. Foam spewed from his mouth, his form suddenly leaning forward as he darted at her. "I'LL EAT YOU FIRST BITCH!"

For a moment, Amaya was within his mind, surrounded completely by the void that represented his consciousness. There was a moment, where this evil Senko had spoken to her, seemingly hurt, and she frowned. Immediately she had been presented with what she feared, the evil Senko had found her before she could even began to guess where the real Senko was. Instead of responding, she took the longest moments she could to glance around the void for any sign of the person she so wished to save.

“Senko!” she called out in hopes for an answer. “Senko, can you hear me?!”

Then the genjutsu was broken and Amaya was stuck in an in the worse possible scenario—she had sworn that her advanced genjutsu skills would be enough to hold him longer than that, but this demonic charka proved to me much more than she hoped. Now her life was in danger. The flute never left her lips as her mind churned with thoughts—at this point her melody had been playing a new jutsu. Why would Amaya go into such a situation without a backup plan? Was she that impulsive?

Senko charged at Amaya in an infuriated rage and from his visual array, Amaya would merely appear to be dumbfounded by the attack, as if not quick enough to react to his merciless fury. However, when his attack reached, be it physical or not, Amaya would only disperse into water droplets. The drops lingered in the air and gradually seemed to multiply around him. While she could not be seen, Amaya’s voice could be heard, echoing all around the cave.

“The Senko I know wouldn’t be bound like this by such evil…only the weak allow themselves to be corrupted like this…SENKO WAKE YOUR ASS UP!”

Amaya already knew that she couldn’t win Senko in a hand-to-hand combat. Thus, her only security was to hide within her genjutsu and keep herself hidden... Shizuku Nuko, another version of the flower pedal escape, allowed this. This melody was immediately followed by Hitoame, which would be explained as time passed. Amaya only hoped to awaken the trapped Senko inside.

“Is this how you want to be remembered by the Mizukage?! On your first mission?! Are you THAT pathetic, Senko?!”

Anger was a powerful energy driver, showed apparently by this Senko’s reaction to her assault—Amaya hoped to anger the inner Senko enough to give him he drive to break out.

With the escape genjutsu, Amaya actually was running deeper in the cave, disappearing within the darkness. When a furious roar met her, Amaya heart raced more than before—Senko’s outburst was attracting the eight tailed beasts towards the entrance of the cave—now she was short on ideas AND time.

The feral entity that currently inhabited Senko's body growled, the low noise echoing from its throat and into the cave. His form slowly twisting about as hyper dilated eyes darted about tirelessly. It would only been when the eight tails growled that its attention would be drawn to the cave. "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, I'lll deal with her later." A single step would be taken, and as his foot landed upon the mountains rocky surface, his aura would launch forward.

The near solidified state of his aura was due to its high density, yet its composition wasn't pure chakra. In fact it would be more accurate to say that it was composed of more emotion than anything else. Pain, Terror, Malice, Genocidal hate, and despair where its primary compositions. AND SO! As the massive sphere of darkness launched from Senko and into the abyss of the cave any life or foliage that it passed over or through almost immediately began to suffer from necrosis. Even several mountain plants that were a few feet away and never touched the orb would instantly wither away and then liquefy into a pool of rancid decay.

Presuming that Amaya got out of the way of the attack, the massive sphere would slam into the rear of the cave and exploding sending its decadent waves radiating throughout the rest of its structure. The cave's integrate would be compromised and several loose rocks would fall from the ceiling.... the whole of the structure shaking for several moments. A loud almost yelping like sound would be the counter response of the eight tails, as its form suddenly burst through the mountain side creating an exit.

Two of the tendrils on Senko's forearms dug into the ground while the other eight launched forward latching onto the eight tails limbs preventing him from escaping. "I'LL EAT ALL NINE OF YOU!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, get up."

Senko's eyes shifted upon, his pupils almost invisible as his irises attempted to protect them from the cyan glow which pierced through the darkness. "It's a little hard to get up, when I'm bound..... Akechi Mitsuhide" Senko's glance fell upon the glowing blue figure, there were no details to notice, nothing. Just the outline of a human form filled with blue.

"I suppose it would be. Amaya is in trouble by the way."

"Oh? Well hopefully her sense of self preservation is great enough that she'll just kill me."

The figure laughed for a minute, "Obviously you lack self preservation. How about instead of us dying, we take control of our body again."

Another light would appear next to Senko, another human shaped entity, yet the blue light which composed him was much darker. "Ah Samanosuke Akechi, it is good of you to finally join us. I think it is time to liberate our heritage."

"Sorry Akechi, there were.... unfortunate circumstances holding me back." The entities left arm extended out and as it did so a katana would materialize in his hand. Senko's gaze quickly shifted over to Akechi who would be holding an identical weapon in his right hand. Suddenly, with a movement that Senko wasn't even sure he saw, both blades would be passed along his form cutting through his restraints.

Several seconds would pass before Senko decided to stand up. His fingers interlocked as he extended his arms out and then proceeded to flex his fingers causing his knuckles to pop. "Alright, time to do some damage. I'm going to fuck his world up!" Conviction saturated his voice, his gaze piercing through the darkness as his eyes moved through the void.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The feral beast had sense pulled the eight tails closer to him and had latched onto its body and began to ravage it, biting into its flesh and slashing at it with waves of deathly chakra. The number of tendrils had multiplied and wrapped around the others limbs detaining it. The eight tails released a mighty roar and as it did so a massive ball of chakra slammed into him, causing him to release the eight tails and fly to the ground. A loud thud would announce his form hitting, yet immediately he recovered onto all four. "FINE..... you can barely handle one of me, lets see how you like two." The chakra began to flare up along his form and dance about like waves in a maelstrom. Suddenly a poof of smoke would appear next to him, heralding the entrance of a shadow clone. Yet as the smoke cleared the other Senko's gaze would shift up to view the tan figure, crimson eyes, and gray hair. The feral Senko immediately readied to jump back to clear the distance between the two of them but was met by a swift fist to his face causing him to fall backwards a roll twice.

The clone which looked nothing like the other, slowly twisted to face the beast, the eight tails taking this time to escape, vanishing off into the mountain range. "I'm going to cripple you, then after I cripple you I am going to repay every kick to gave me me three times over."

A flying sphere of charka that dense and dangerous was easy to sense even within the dark cave and thus Amaya avoided it by lining her body up against the line of the cave and pressing the flute to her lips, playing Keisei no Mugon—not powerful enough to completely cancel out the terrifying demonic charka, but enough to create a sort of barrier against any that touched the louder of waves flowing within her vicinity. That done, Amaya found her way to the near exit of the cave, close enough to witness this evil Senko entrap the eight tails and horrifically began to feast and beat on its flesh.

This was most certainly not a capture.

She had to stop this. Amaya closed her eyes for a moment and continued Hitoame, the droplets within the air around Senko—though he seemed to be distracted by the eight tails—continuing to multiply around him. His cheeks would began to feel moist and the air, despite being thin at this high elevation, almost seemed to thicken with water droplets. The surrounding mists of the mountain started to thicken in density, feeling as if the usual misty air was becoming more like gel. Breathing in the air began to itch the lungs and cause spontaneous coughing.

Amaya didn’t wish to kill Senko, but given the choice between that and allowing this process to continue, Amaya found that she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Even the eight tails, susceptible to her song, had to inhale deeply after his large roar of charka and when into a spasm of uncontrolled coughing and wheezing—this, among the merciless attack of evil Senko, most certainly caused its retreat.

Then Amaya saw the second Senko appear—her Senko. With widen eyes, she took Maboroshi Yokobue from her lips and the song faded—jutsu broken and the rain droplets fading almost as soon as they arrived. However, the evil Senko would, perhaps, still be experiencing the raw, burning feeling in his throat and nose from the droplets inhaled. Amaya waited—it seemed that Senko would be having a fight within his inner self.

Amaya wasn’t sure if her buffers would work on a shadow clone, but she placed her flute to her lips anyways, the air pressure around her Senko already thinning and awaiting his movements to allow him excessive speed.

Bouncing from side to side on all four the beast suddenly lunged, two of its massive tendrils sweeping through the air towards Senko. Immediately Senko twisted into the attack moving between the tendrils, his left hand moving up as he brought his palm jutting into the beasts chin, a burst of chakra carrying the force of the attack through the whole of its head. The beast riled back onto two legs, rage consuming it, its form readying to return to the attack, only to be met by an elbow strike to its throat. The beast fell to the ground, Senko dropping to a knee letting the knee fall onto the monsters throat, crushing the windpipe. Immediately the beasts tendrils launched forward slamming into Senko's chest sending him flying into the air. One of the tendrils puncturing his left shoulder, the limb popping out the other side.

Senko landed on the ground taking a knee, his left hand slamming into the tendril forcing it from his shoulder, shadows spraying out instead of blood. Digits from his left hand then wrapped around the tendril grasping it as he jerked on it pulling the beast closer to him. Suddenly his body hyper accelerated forward as he slammed himself into the monster at near sonic speed. Both entities would be hurled in the same direction through the air, Senko's left hand releasing the tendril as he then proceeded to alternate first, sending numerous punches into the creatures face.

Fully mounted by Senko the beast landed on his back, his momentum carrying him into a backwards roll as he came to a stand. His right hand lashing out as he brought his finger tips through Senko's chest slashing through the clone like skin. Another spray of shadows would announce the damage to all who watched. Senko seemed unphased though, the level of conviction in face only increasing. The beast lurched forward bringing its maw forward to consume Senko's face. Senko's form drifting backwards his right hand lifting up as several bolts of electricity arching forward, pounding into the beasts form. The beast immediately slamming into him, Senko's head shifting to the side as the teeth grazed by his ear.

A huff of air escaped Senko's lungs as his gaze shifted to look to where they were about to land.... a moment taken as he processed the fact that the beast had knocked both of them off of a cliff. They had already fallen twenty feet and there were still forty to go. Senko shifted his wait, causing him and the beast to rotate positions. His left knee thrusting into the beast as he then drove his foot into the monsters chest and pushed off, immediately his hands coming together as he chained together sveral seals, his body suddenly exploding causing a shock wave to rocket the beasts form into the jagged rocks below.

Amaya was watched the entire epic battle, her melody that assisted in aiding Senko’s speed throughout it acting as a theme song for this intense match. Amaya only moved when they were tossed off the cliff, in which her eyes widened and she ran to the edge, leaning to the side and peering below.

Upon Senko’s separation from the other, Amaya considered saving the shadow clone, though it seemed pointless cause that was what it seemed to be…a shadow clone…that beat up its own body. Amaya lowered her flute as the battle seemed to end and she sat at the edge of the cliff merely waiting with the most irritated and defeated look upon her face. Again she had done absolutely nothing to assist in this mission.

With all the events that unfolded recently, Amaya only came to realize just how weak she was and how desperately she was in need of training. Despite, the fact that Senko seemed to be the type to just handle things on his own—and she wandered why he brought her in the first place—if Amaya was strong enough, she could have easily handled this evil Senko...captured the eight tails…made it so Senko didn’t even deplete his charka in the first place.

Sitting down, legs swung slightly at the edge of the cliff and she sighed deeply—continuing to watch the scene below her. She wasn’t sure how this would work and whether Senko would literally kill himself with this. That would be one hell of a thing to explain back home…

As the tattered body remained motionless on the ground, blood oozing from several wounds on its limbs, an intense battle ensued within the subconscious.

What had once been a dark void was now an expansive labyrinth of stone and foliage. And in the center of this maze a massive clearing where a dark figure stood. One either side of him two blue figures stood, swords drawn, before him Senko stood, hands placed behind his back.

"Fine, you've caught me, take your stupid body back..... you'll need me eventually."

Senko's head shook as he slowly made his way forward. "Nope, I'm going to purge you." Suddenly the two figures closed in on the dark, their swords waving through the air as they brought the blades towards its figure. Immediately ten tendrils shot outwards grasping onto the blades holding them back. It's arms moving out as blasts of chakra shot outwards blowing the two figures away. Senko suddenly appearing only inches away from him as he jutted his left elbow towards the beasts face. Immediately it's mouth opened releasing a blast of chakra that blew Senko several yards back. Senko's form rolled as his left hand shot out sending several bolts of lightning cascading along the ground at the beast. The beast released a massive roar the intensity of which caused the waves of electricity to bounce off in the other direction. The beasts form then twisted around just in time to see one of the swordsmen appear behind him. It's blue eyes falling upon a blade that shot into it's shoulder. As soon as the blade cut through an eruption of darkness would slam into the blue entity causing his figure to vanish.

Senko stood there for a few moments before both swordsman appeared next to him.

"I'm not sure that we'll be able to win like this.... Senko I have a technique that we can use, if you were normal this technique would take several decades off of your life.... but due to your unique situation it will only limit your eternal youth. Rather than always looking like a child, you will be able to age to adult hood."

Senko nodded, obviously this small factor was something not even worth considering. "Fine, lets do it!"

The two swordsmen suddenly faded becoming completely translucent their images moving into Senko's. Their voices echoing from his form in unison. "We are one, we give up our after life for you. You will lose some of your jutsu because of this.... but you will now hopefully at least be able to purge this beast."

Senko's fists clenched together as the other's faded away..... he didn't feel any stronger, but... he had to trust in them. The beast was now lumbering straight at him, it's dark figure releasing waves of shadow. Senko's right hand thrusting out as the beast lunged at him, his digits grasping it's neck as tendrils shot from his own arm, crimson, cyan, and dark blue danced together, wrapping around one another turning into a deep dark purple. The single tendril pushing through the darkness of the entity. Senko's hand now held onto the dark chakra, the tendril now grasping a hazy clear sphere with two blue eyes. Before him was the essence of the beast. The dark chakra was absorbed into his body and as this happened the chakra tendril turned, its color becoming that of platinum. Senko's left hand then rose up as the seal on the palm began to glow waves of life force floated out of it wrapping around the essence, a smile moving across senko's face. "Enjoy the afterlife, prick." The beasts essence suddenly shattered, crumbling like a glass pane hit by a baseball.



Some sixty yards down Senko's form began to undergo another transformation. His form twitched a little as crimson eyes opened, dark black hair became gray, and pale blue skin filled with tan life. "Jeez.... I feel like I was hit by a mountain."

When Senko opened his eyes, he would find Amaya falling down towards him, her velocity rather slowed and wisps of clouds surrounding her body. The vapors dispersed about five feet before she touched the ground gracefully. A slight pained expression washed upon her face and she shook her feet slightly—a tingling sensation running up her legs.

“Perhaps that was a little too hard…”

Glancing over at the Senko, relief washed over her when she saw the crimson within his eyes. Kneeling down beside his body, a hand lifted and she gently brushed his mangled hair from his face—the affection only shown cause she now didn’t have to hold the guilt of not being able to prevent his death. However, the moment was short lived when she grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him slightly to her, enraged.

“YOU IDIOT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE HELL YOU PUT ME THROUGH?!”

Her hand trembled against his shirt before she released him delicately and sighed deeply. “But I am glad you’re alright. You ARE alright, right?” A worried tone fostered her voice and a defeated expression was still plastered on her face. To be honest, she wasn't if she was happy that he wasn't dead because she valued him as a friend or because she didn't have to live with his death as a result of her weakness. Standing up, she reached a hand out to him.

“Can you stand?”

Senko winced a little as she shook him, pain shooting through his left shoulder and arm. There was blood coming from all of his limbs but most of those wounds were superficial cuts.... what was worrying him was the left arm. His digits clenched causing more pain to shoot through it, his visage transitioning into a frown as he found it nearly impossible to move the limb up down or to the sides. His gaze shifted up to Amaya, "I'm sorry Amaya, I didn't intend to put you through hell. " Sincerity drenched his voice as he turned his head to the side, looking away.

"I don't think I will ever be able to fully explain what happened, or why it happened, but trust me I did have the best intentions.... you aren't hurt are you?" His eyes shifted to the side as he brought his gaze back on her. His right hand shifting up as he grasped her hand and brought his figure to a stand. His knees buckled a little, not from damage so much as exhaustion. His right hand then releasing her hand as he brought his own to his left shoulder lightly touching it. Pain coursed through the limb, he could tell that his shoulder was swollen.

"I think I damaged my rotator cuff.... either that or I've shattered my joint. I might have a fracture in my left forearm. I'm not going to be able to use any jutsu." His eyes closed as he contemplated their options. A smile finally moving across his face. "Well we aren't going to be able to get back right now, so lets just keep going after the eight tails.... I'm pretty sure that with your strength we'll still be able to capture him."

After his explanation, Amaya seemed wary at the words before waving her hand in dismissal.

“We all got skeletons in our closet, Senko. Some more than others. I’m a tough girl. It’ll take more than your demons to take me down.”

She wasn’t the type to try and pry into people’s business—simply because she didn’t want them to pry into hers. She appreciated what Senko said and expected no further—especially not now. Amaya allowed her eyes to scan over the injuries of Senko’s body thoroughly, allowing them to rest for a moment longer on the most damaging injury upon his arm. Where was Rin when they needed her? Senko seemed to have an uncanny ability to cause himself destruction, maybe Rin would have been a better partner. Amaya scratched her head slightly at the situation—Senko didn’t wish to return to the village even in this state. She supposed it would be a difficult journey at this point, but facing the eight tails seemed to be much more dangerous.
Amaya glanced at Senko’s countenance, a skeptical look on her face as if she was about to protest—however upon his confident smile, even through his torn visage, made the shinobi seem that much braver and stronger. Amaya offered another defeated look, smiling hopelessly.

“You’re right, we can.”

In a display of confidence she twirled her flute through her fingers before glancing up at the top of the cliff for a moment contemplating on how to get up there again. Leaping up the rocks would be a simple task for Amaya, but Senko in his state, she wondered. She looked back at him again, sighing a third time at his appearance.

"Don't take this the wrong way," she said as she approached him and gripped some of the loose shreds of his clothing that loosely hung from his body and tore them off before using them to gently tie the wounds and prevent further bleeding. She would have used her own clothing—but considering what she was wearing, she didn’t have much to offer.

After which she kneeled down and brushed her fingers against the rocky ground below them, smiling when moisture gathered on her finger tips. Water was dense in this area due to the nearby ocean, which was beneficial. Standing again, she closed her eyes and extended her sensory array—attempting to feel for the eight tails. After a moment she opened her eyes and pressed her flute to her lips.

A thick fog suddenly appeared around them, the water becoming thick with moisture before her melody changed and the fog condensed into large Mizu Ookami. Amaya glanced up and leaped onto the mountainside of the trench, leaping again before gravity took a hold of her and repeating the process until she reached the top of the mountain where they dropped from. He wouldn't have much time to watch before the Mizu Ookami quickly swept its head through Senko’s legs, giving him a moment to hold onto the water pressure with his good arm before copying Amaya’s exact movements.

Once at the top, Amaya placed her hands behind her head and sighed. The cave that was once before them was not a tunnel, the other end of which the eight tails escaped. The Ookami had dispersed with her melody and Amaya began to walk through the tunnel for a moment before glancing back at Senko.

“You can walk, right? …..Or will I need to carry you? Maybe we should rest a moment...” Amaya looked to the sky that was starting to tint an orange color. "The sun will be setting soon."

Senko did have a knack for getting himself beat up, it wasn't that he was weak.... rather it was his inability to combo jutsu. He had very few jutsu that easily transitioned into each other, most were more of a one hit one kill type. The other half of his problem was when he deviated from his fighting style. It was designed for combos, start out with the weakest attack possible and use progressively stronger attacks as you make an opening. This usually allowed for a strong finishing jutsu to be used after several hits had been made to the opponent. Of course.... things rarely worked out that way.

Senko provided no resistance to Amaya when she tore away some of his clothing to make bandages, and while of course he had plenty of remarks just itching to be fired at her, he held back.... deciding that she did not deserve to be picked on right now. Rather he simply gave her a shrug with a, "Don't worry, I won't." As the response.

Of course a wolf made of water suddenly appearing and jamming its head between his legs did let out a small, almost yelp like sound. Surprise having gotten the best of him, and his right arm flailed violently until he found something to hold on to. Upon reaching the top his form came to a fall, landing upon both knees and good arm. A slow and strand set of motions made until he finally stood up. "Yeah, I can walk. My legs are fine.... I think."

Amaya didn’t respond at first, merely staying at him for a moment after his departure with her mizu ookami. Almost gradually, her eyes that were originally centered on his face, traveled down his form, stopping midways before a spontaneous burst of laughter broke from her lips. Immediately she covered her mouth and turned her head back forward, coughing harshly to cover the moment.

“Ahem…that’s good. I felt a slight presence of the eight tails on the other side of the mountain. You sent it running with its tail between it’s—ahem—legs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ran upon seeing us. But a trip across the mountain could take a minute…We might have to continue in the morning if we don't find it in time.”

A smile was still planted on her face as she continued towards the tunnel. What exactly was so funny though? Amaya closed her eyes as she reminisced the first time she rode her Mizu Ookami back in the academy…

-----------

Amaya stood in a circle of children, her face resembling an artificial cherry with its bright red complexion. Her cloth pants were soaked along the inner loop as a result of straddling the mizu ookami that she had ridden for the first time during early training. Of course, it didn’t look this way to the kids. They all laughed and pointed at her, some canting immaturely.

“Amaya wet herself! Amaya wet herself!”

Little Amaya flailed her arms angrily and stomped her foot several times.

“I DID NOT!!!”

Amaya ran from the circle, her eyes tearing up as she ran into the trees and sat under a willow. Lowering her head into her knees, she just cried. After her parents died, no more than a year earlier, Amaya trained hard to practice jutsu…and that was where it left her. The hidden mist was so cruel…

Then a finger tapped her shoulder and Amaya glanced up. Young Aoiro stood in front of her, his hand outreached and a pair of pants within his grasp.

“Take these.”

Amaya blinked in silence for a moment, tears streaming down her cheeks before she reached up and grasped the cloth. Instead of thanking him, she only offered a bewildered expression. Aoiro grinned.

“You know…you should probably wear leather instead of cloth…if you are gonna ride that wolf water thing.” Aoiro took a seat next to her. “Which I think is very cool by the way!”

Amaya was only silent, a few lingering sobs acting as her only noise as she stared into Aoiro’s face. Her face began to turn rather red again. Then suddenly she stood up and glared down at him.

“I DON’T NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”

And with that, little Amaya ran away, leaving a surprised and confused Aoiro behind.

------------

It was the first time she met Aoiro. Ever since then...Amaya’s clothes were always short and made out of water resistant leather. So despite always getting wet one way or another—her clothes always appeared dry. Amaya scratched the back of her head sheepishly—she'd forgotten about that. The smile on her face widened slightly as she realized she did have some cherished memories even after her parents' death. If she had not become so interested in Aorio after that, she probably would have never met Senko either.

She thought about evil Senko’s response to her question—maybe he thought he didn’t have any cherished memories either. Amaya glanced back at Senko a second time as they traveled through the tunnel.

“Senko…during, you know…your change. Can you hear or see everything that happens?”

Senko stood there for a moment as Amaya transitioned into a state of hysteria. His head slowly tilting down as he looked at his pants, they were wet around his crouch and his legs. Several more blinks given as he tried to understand what about that was so funny. His head shook a little and with little thought he simply assumed Amaya to be dealing with stress through humor. If Senko had ever wet himself as a child he didn't have any recollection of it, in fact had any child he'd ever know wet themselves, he hadn't known. His child hood memories were filled with pricking, poking, IVs, and experiments, as well as painful constant training. Found memories of the past did not exist for him. His closest thing to a found memory was when he had graduated the academy... and sadly due to the amnesia he wasn't able to remember what academy he graduated from.

Take a few steps towards the cave, his form would shift a little at Amaya's question. "No, I have no clue what he did or said. Which is unfortunate, and I'm glad that you appear to have come to no harm." His form shifted towards the cave again, he was feeling anxious to go after the eight tails.

“I see.”

Amaya sighed slightly and for one reason found it even harder to repeat the same question twice. Maybe she just needed more time to gather her own thoughts and get this mission tied up once and for all. Dropping the subject, Amaya exited the other end of the tunnel and glanced down the side of the mountain. The eight tails wasn’t a ninja, that was for sure—broken trees, caved in footprints, and scattered rocks were a clear indication that it rushed down the mountain. Not to mention the blood marks that painted some of the trees and rocks.

“Tracking it shouldn’t be hard.”

Amaya glanced up once again to the darkening sky and frowned deeply. “Hey Senko I am trying to get this over with before the moon rises, I know you’re hurt and all, but try to keep up, will you? Or one of my wolves will have to carry you around like a pup.”

With that, Amaya dashed down the hill, her hands swinging lose behind her as she leaped over the mini obstacles the eight tails presented, running for a fair amount of time before the ground started to squish under her feet and she came to a halt. Blinking several times, Amaya glanced at the landscape with more attentive eyes. The grass was transforming into moss and the once stable ground underneath them was now soft and muddy. Peering ahead, Amaya only noticed the condition intensifying further in until some large murky pools of water, layered in mossy debris, engulf the area.

“A marsh?”

Amaya continued to trudge slowly through the new environment, seeming uneasily at the mercy water ahead of them. This ground, entangled with vines, mud and puddles, would make running a pain in the ass. Not to mention she couldn’t tell how deep the pools went. She sighed and stopped again, looking back at Senko.

“Looks like the eight tails found another hiding place. And when the sun leaves, seeing is going to be…a bitch.”

Senko had followed Amaya, keeping pace with her, with a little strain. It wasn't so much that the speed of travel was too much, but rather the jarring of his body causing his left limb to bounce. Yet whatever pain he felt would stay concealed, and only an expression of determination would be visible.

"We can go faster if need..." Senko's words coming short as he slid to a stop, his gaze falling up the marsh. His eyes moved slowly along the landscape. His head shook as a sigh escaped his lips the situation wasn't all bad. In fact tracking the eight tails and spotting it wouldn't be hard at all.... or at least shouldn't have been. Senko had the perfect jutsu for this.... the problem was that his body was in too beat up of a condition and his chakra was too low to use it.

"Maybe..... if we could start a few fires maybe we could flush him out..... but with my left arm busted I can't form any hand seals, and the few jutsu I have which don't require seals are either useless for this situation, or require too much chakra. So.... Hime, if it is okay with you, I think we should set up a trap. I'm sure we can lure it out of hiding and catch it in an ambush. If I was in better shape I'd say that we should definitely pursue it..... but unless you have a better idea I think mine might work."

Amaya smiled. Who would have thought she’d be happy to hear him call her Hime again.

“A trap huh?”

Amaya looked at the marshes once again. The eight tails must have known by now that they were after it. This place was the perfect place for it to set a trap for them as well and Amaya bet that was exactly what it was doing--lurking under these pools somewhere and waiting for them to pass deep into the marsh before it ambushed them. Amaya lowered her body down to the water, placing her flute to her lips before she softly began to play the jutsu.

“Kyoushin”

The resonance jutsu could be used for other things rather than attacking; Amaya was immensely attuned with the sound waves and if she chose to, the frequency could be under the resonance of the objects it touched, bouncing off and returning to her instead to give her a sort of bat radar of the surroundings. It was a way of seeing things when there wasn't a visual array. The wave softly traveled through the water, the high frequency unheard by neither Senko nor the eight tails, it would have appeared that she was just blowing air through the instrument. Closing her eyes, she focused. Sounds waves traveled through the murky water and bounced back towards her, giving her a perfect image of what dwelled below. For a while, only the crickets and frogs produced sounds until Amaya opened her eyes, orbs twinkling with gained knowledge.

“The eight tails is definitely under the marshes and judging by its positioning…” Amaya glanced down the marshes towards an area were only a small strip of land weaved through surrounding water. “It is most definitely waiting to surprise us as well. We must make it think it has trapped us…in order to ambush it. I don’t believe setting fires to a marsh would be very efficient.” She indicated the area she addressed.

While the plan seemed easy enough to initiate, the issue of trapping was another thing. Senko knew the sealing techniques where as Amaya did not. With Senko’s hand signals inactive, this presented a problem. Amaya reflected for a moment before snapping her fingers at an idea.

“Senko I hate to ask so much of you, but if you could distract the beast long enough. I can put it to sleep with my genjutsu. Will you by fast enough? We must appear to fall into its trap.”

While Amaya was busy blowing bubbles in the water with her flute, Senko had already begun his own plan. Removing one of his make shift bandages, Senko pushed his finger into the wound. Removing it he would then crouch down on the ground and begin the long and daunting process of drawing out a seal. Normally this technique would be done with his shadow painting ability, but alas it was currently unusable. After several more pokes into the wound to finish off the massive seal, Senko would then remove both thigh pouches and his hip pouch from his body and secure them to three small trees which protruded from the water. The same seal then drawn in the center of each pouch. Senko sighed as he took a step back to look at his work.

"I think I'll be fine... anyway you should get back. After I trick it into thinking I'm trapped, I'm going to try to lure it over here. I'm guessing that none of this is going to cause it any serious damage, but I do think it'll give you the perfect opportunity to initiate your genjutsu."

Senko took a deep, somewhat labored breath, his right hand shifting up as he pulled the scarf from around his neck. As the garment broke free of his form a small surge of chakra would be sent into it resulting in the seal in it being activated. Instantly the scarf exploding into a dark gray smoke, and where the item had been in his hand, now rested the Marquis. The massive scythe of bone and muscle was normally held with both hands, holding it with just one would make things a little acquired, but he was only intending on using it for defensive purposes.

"Alright.... well here goes nothing." Senko's chakra flared up a little, not enough to produce a visual effect, but enough to make his presence know. Suddenly his form vanished and reappeared a thirty yards away, Shunshin carrying him at blinding speeds. Again he'd disappear and reappear. Each time another thirty yards away, and each time a little closer to where Amaya said the tailed beast might be. After several more repeat performances Senko suddenly fell, tumbling face first towards the ground, a small root looping above the water being the most obvious culprit. As he fell, his crimson eyes would peer through the murky water to see two glowing eyes staring back at him, and a horn suddenly shooting up from the water at him. Immediately the Marquis was brought around so that the blow would be absorbed by the weapon. Senko's form however did not weigh enough to dampen the force and go unaffected. Immediately he was launched into the air were several of the beasts tendril like tails would shoot up around him. One of them slamming into his back and swatting him back towards the water.

Senko's back bent inward from the blow, his stomach arching out as groan escaped his lips. His form suddenly vanishing as he hit the water, only to reappear a few yards were he'd hit. His form twisted to the left as he swung the scythe out towards one of the limbs of the beast, to no avail. As he swung another one of the beasts limbs emerged from the water below him wrapping around his left leg and throwing him. His form flew through the air, and while Senko thought that this action might have allowed him to escape, he was incorrect. The beasts arm suddenly shot from the water intercepting Senko's trajectory, slamming into his body and sending him flying straight up.

As he writhed in pain from the blow, Senko forced his form to twist as he brought the scythe arching out towards the limb. The shaft of the scythe expanded and the blade shifted down embedding itself in the beasts forearm. The scythe then retracted pulling Senko towards the limb, his heels facing it as he readied to land. But before he could the eight tails would full ascend from the murky depths, and with only the intention to kill, release several dozen small chakra balls at Senko.

With only one hand Senko could not hold on, and as the blasts of chakra slammed into his figure, he found his body flying through the air again, this time when he landed though it was the ground. Slowly, with great effort, Senko pushed his right hand into the ground as he brought his body up to a stand. His eyes shifting up to the beast just in time, immediately he dove to the right as the Marquis went sailing through the space which he had previous occupied. Crimson optics darted about, a smile sliding across his face. It seemed that in its rage the Eight Tails had not only freed Senko from it's effective attack range, but actually place him a few yards behind his own attack.

"Alright you ugly ass fucking sirloin, come get some!" Senko's left leg shook when suddenly both knees would buckle, his form falling hard into the grassy marsh surface. A shot of pain shoot through his body as he landed on his left arm. He found himself writhing in pain as the beast approached him. moving past the trap as it lumbered closer, Senko seeminly unaware of its actions.

“Alright, try not to fall out again.”

Amaya leaped from her given spot and landed upon the branch of a willow, hidden by the veils of vines and leaves that covered its stature. Unlike Senko, the demand of putting something as large as the eight tails to sleep would be a much more difficult task than putting the smaller Senko. However, Amaya already had experience on how to intensify her melodies and for the first time, she would be melding the tunes of a genjutsu and ninjutsu together as one. Placing the Maboroshi Yokobue to her lips, digits began to dance along the holes of the instrument.

Tsuin no Keisei…

The murky water under the tree appeared to stir with life and while a form did not take shape, if sounds were visible, one would undoubtedly see tunes coalescing with the water and condensing into a ball below her. As she played, Amaya’s emerald eyes watched the brave shinobi boldly enter directly into the trap of the eight tails and whether or not it was intentional—trip directly into the area.

Amaya’s eyes widened slightly at the battle, never seeing Senko being beat so much by someone other than himself—for which she assumed was due to his lack of usage of his left arm. However, midst performing a twin jutsu, her abilities were incredibly limited in assisting him in battle, lest the jutsu be broken and she have to start all over. She trusted him to distract the beast while she prepared and would also have to trust that he was resilient enough to take a few hits from the eight tails—though she has to admit her heart skipped a beat when he was bombarded by those charka balls.

The water underneath the tree began to vibrate with instability and Amaya knew the charka was ready—at the nick of time it seemed, as Senko appeared to have reached a limitation and was unable to move under the strain of his body. But he had succeeded in drawing the eight tailed near their trap and all he needed was in extra push.

Within the pool of water directly behind the eight tails, two large paws exited the murk, the moss covering their watery texture almost giving it the pseudo image of fur. The Ookami rose from the water, easily reaching the eight tail’s shoulders in height and making its presence known but slamming a paw into the ground and making a thunderous vibration. The entire wolf was trembling violently with the condensed sounds residing within his belly—seeming ready to rupture at any moment.

The eight tails shifted its gaze to the side before slowly turning to face the Ookami. While it back was to Senko, the beast did not forget his presence, all eight of its tails rose threatening into the air and as they did, a smaller ookami conjured and rushed from the paw of the large one, running through the legs of the eight tails and clamping onto the clothing of Senko just as the tails swung down to crush him—by the time the tails collided, Senko and the Ookami were already out of the range of the attack, standing not far off but definitely towards the side of the battlefield. Trust and believe, Senko wouldn't have wanted to be in range of Amaya's next attack.

The eight tails roared and the ookami charged, tucking its snout down to slam its ‘skull’ into the eight tails chest and send it tumbling back directly into the seal Senko so delicately painted out. Moments after it lifted its head into a high howling position.

OOKAMI SUIMIN!

The lullaby burst into the air and hit the eight tails with a gust-like force, making it crouch its body defensively. While the potent melody may have been ear deafening for someone smaller, it was the perfect volume for the large eight tails. The neurotransmitters activated and the eight tails seemed to fight off the effects at first—though hopefully whatever Senko’s seal had in store for it, hopefully make it more difficult.

Then BOOM, the eight tails collapsed to its side, glowing eyes closing and body completely limp. One might have thought the beast was dead but the large yet gentle flow of breathe indicated that the eight tails indeed within a deep slumber.

As the eight tails began to fight the hypnotic tunes, the seals on the pouches secured to the trees suddenly activated causing an explosion. All three pouches would be blown apart sending shuriken, kunai, exploding shuriken, and exploding kunai, hurling towards the beast. While a good portion of the ninja tools would miss several would hit, some of them causing more explosions upon impact. But more importantly the energy generated by all of the explosions would feed the much larger seal on the ground around the monster. Immediately the ground would glow and then liquefy into a dark sticky tar. The beasts form sinking down into.

Immediately the monster would find itself stuck, unable to move and escape from Amaya's lullaby of sleep. Senko's form slowly shifted as he moved about, his right elbow pushing into the ground as he brought the whole of the forearm along the surface. He wasn't sure how he was going to seal the Eight tails yet, it was asleep for now which meant that they had some time, but the sooner they could get it sealed the better. His mind shifted a little back to the three tails who was sealed away within the Rhine Maiden.... which couldn't be used now because of that. It wasn't that multiple items couldn't be sealed away inside of her, the problem was that after a sealing technique had been performed she couldn't be used to seal anything else for a week.

Senko finally brought himself to a stand his form stumbling over to the right before his gaze moved around a sigh escaping as he found what he was looking for. There resting only a few feet away from him was the Marquis, luckily it had not fallen into the tar pit.