I can still fight on it, thank god, but it's losing blood fast and getting more and more agonizing to put weight on by the second. I duck under a lethargic slash from one of the earth clones and juke aside from another's axe kick. If only the original were as slow as these guys.
...
Said original throws a haymaker at me which I'm forced to dodge rather than block, as a moment later I bring my tanto to bear on a mud clone wielding a kunai two-handed. I blow the kunai back with a pressure burst, spin, and bury my sword into its head. The original wastes no time getting back into my face, along with two of the other clones, and I retreat back.
The clone I stabbed in the head jerks sideways, and my tanto is torn from my grip.
I cry out in frustration, dodging around the last clone's flanking attack and kicking it in the chest hard enough to shatter the ribs of a normal human being. The clone doesn't even move. I dive and roll away from its counter, furiously running through the possible outcomes of this fight while my leg gushes blood, the clone I should have killed advances on me with my sword stuck in its head, and time ticks on for Samui and the other four genin up in the trees.
I come to the conclusion that if I don't take out my original opponent right now before he has time to make more clones, we're dead.
With that in mind I smack a punch from Blue Eyes aside and prepare to start another loop. It's going to be difficult to keep stable while I'm dancing around, and I can guarantee that I'm going to cut my throat up at least once, but if I'm very, very careful, I might be able to take advantage of the reduced speed of his clones long enough to get a Great Breakthrough off. Either way, I don't have much choice in the matter. I draw my chakra up to my throat.
Another Iwa genin comes flying out of the treetops, and what little hope I had dies in my throat along with the loop. He lands in a heavy crouch beside Blue Eyes, and now that I get a good look at him I realize he's injured. He stays in his crouch for a second, panting, and shoves a lock of black hair dampened by blood out of his eyes.
"Kenchi?" Blue Eyes asks, taking his attention off of me to crouch down next to his teammate. His clones, however, suffer no such concern. I weave through their attacks, starting my loop back up with a vengeance. Take your time, Blue Eyes. I'll take care of these clones for you.
"We need to go," Kenchi gasps, getting to his feet with Blue Eyes' help.
"Are you insane?" Blue Eyes jabs a finger at me. "We can't leave without destroying this little prick first. He killed Hibiki for fuck sake!"
"Forget him," Kenchi snaps, shaking the supporting hand from his shoulder. "We need to go, Riku, before-" Whatever he's about to say is cut short as a shadow falls over him. I sidestep a clone tackle, look up, and almost lose control of my loop.
Samui rockets through the air like a Bijuu out of hell, tanto held high above her head and trailing blood. Kenchi shoves Riku aside, running away in an entirely different direction from me and his teammate. Too little, too late, it turns out. Samui crashes down on his back, sending him to the ground, and runs her blade through his neck. He jerks once and lays still.
Riku stumbles back, shock and the slightest bit of fear playing across his face, before it's all consumed by rage. "You fucking cunt!" He roars, forming the hand seals and stamping his foot and bringing four more clones into existence. "You're dead! Dead!"
I clench my teeth, dancing between the four clones set on me and willing the half formed loop of chakra to form faster as Riku descends on my partner. Come on, come on. Samui can't kill those clones with her sword. I need to take that guy out now.
Then Samui moves forward to meet him, and I realize that maybe our situation isn't so dire after all.
It's the first time I've seen my partner fight- the first time I get to see firsthand what she can do with that sword of hers. And as she clashes with the Iwa genin and his clones I quickly come to another realization. Samui is strong. Really, really strong. She moves from one clone to another, sending mud flying with every swing of her sword. The clones don't fall, despite the cuts to their throats and the lost limbs, but they don't come close to touching her.
Where my attacks are sporadic and often thought up on the spot, she flows through her blows like she's fought this fight a hundred times already. Every motion is smooth and assured, the tanto moving like it's an extension of her body. She clashes with the real Riku and immediately puts him on the back foot, expression steady and movements assured.
A grin pulls at my lips as the loop screeches inside my throat. Maybe we're not so screwed after all.
I duck beneath a kick, jump back from a hail of shuriken, and find all four of my opponents laid out in front of me. I clap my hands together, and the loop flies up into my mouth. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
The jutsu howls out of my mouth, ripping all four clones from the earth and sending them airborne. One by one they splatter against the massive trees of the forest, becoming little more than smears of mud against the bark. The force of the jutsu sends me skidding back, and I drink in the air around me greedily when it dissipates.
Four down, five to go. Now where did my sword go?
Samui breaks off from her attack on the original Riku as the clone whose hand she severed comes barreling at her, its hand whole once more and holding a kunai. She starts up another dance, cutting necks and dismembering limbs as she whips herself into another kenjutsu frenzy. Riku jumps back from the fight, the fear warring with the anger on his face as my partner picks apart his clones.
Then one of the clones moves into the path of her blade, allowing it to cut through into its chest until it stops halfway through. Samui pulls on the tanto, but it sticks fast in the clone's earthen chest. A clone races towards her and she jumps back, leaving her weapon, but the chakra construct doesn't stop. It slams into the side of the hilt, and for a single moment is stopped cold.
The groan of shifting metal fills the air, and the tanto snaps in two.
Riku laughs. "That's what happens when you fight with garbage." He begins to form hand seals again. "Let's see how long you can hold out without your sword, you-"
"Hey."
The Iwa nin goes rigid, breaking off his chain of hand seals and reaching for his weapons pouch. I take a step forward and shove my sword into his back.
A strangled grunt pierces the sudden silence, and all four of the remaining earth clones freeze. Riku looks down at the tip of the blade poking out of his chest in shock, the kunai he just pulled out slipping out of his nerveless fingers. I place a hand against his back and give him a gentle push. He slides off my blade with a faint noise of pain and falls to the ground in a boneless heap.
The clones collapse back into mud as one, and I sigh in relief. "That… could have gone a lot better." I flick my tanto, sending the mud from the clones and the blood from the shinobi splattering against the ground, and slide it back into my sheath. I crouch down, feeling my stab wound pulsate in displeasure, and rummage through the enemy genin's pockets. Another Honor scroll.
I settle down into a sitting position with my good leg tucked under me and set to wrapping up my stabbed one. When I'm sure the bandage isn't going to fall off or get bled through, I shove the roll back in my pocket and brace myself to stand. I glance over at Riku, eyes staring up at the trees sightlessly, and hesitate.
I reach forward and slide his eyelids shut.
"So, you took down all four of those other guys, huh?" I ask, staggering to my feet. I turn away from the Iwa genin's corpse. "I think that makes us even. Six to six…" I trail off, blinking at my partner.
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