(Serpent’s Ridge)

The sand monsters clashed with every one of the true Timberwolves and met them blow for blow, neither of the opposing forces would stay down as they only continued to reform after serious damage. Every time one of the sand beasts was battered or reduced to a pile they simply reformed into their previous state, and every shattered wolf only reformed to continue attacking. In all of the mayhem along the base of the mountain there were fights between shinobi and a few resurrected members of the guilds, one of said fights was currently between the bonehead bomber- “You can’t stand against those you peasant of a bird!”

And the newly rejuvenated Kanek who used a cluster of black clouds to protect himself from the cluster of explosions headed his way. “You’ll run out of those things sometime.” The two were airborne, Kanek using his own wings while Nouka stayed aloft on his trusty bird creation. For all of Kanek’s efforts to move closer to Nouka he found himself being pushed back by the small explosives. ‘This kid really doesn’t do anything else! I guess I’ll wait to have a real challenge from that red haired brat...’ As Kanek planned for his real challenge thunder roared across the area and made the two snap to see lightning striking down at Jenki and Zeko, both of whom were either dodging or deflecting the attacks respectively. In the short lapse of his attention Nouka had to dodge an oncoming lightning bolt from Kanek but he wasn’t able to prevent his mount from being struck.

“Tch! Fine you want my bird then take it, ayeeh!” With that the young adult leapt off the bird and sent it crashing into his quickly panicking foe but Kanek’s fear turned to surprise when he found himself throwing the large clay avian away from him. He watched it fall to the ground harmlessly as Nouka got his bearings on a newly formed one. Kanek looked to the now losing its shape and quickly becoming a shapeless blob of white.

‘That would’ve killed me but it didn’t even blow... It was a dud!’ Kanek realized as a flock of much smaller clay birds flew towards him and much like the initial group of the explosive projectiles was warded off by dark clouds as they blew up, causing very little harm to their target. The gears in the griffon’s head started to turn as he saw Nouka fleeing towards the ground, and flew after him. The bomb ninja jumped off his mount and landed midway up the newly formed mountain chain. “So I’ll ask you this since I’m a smart Griffon, can your bombs be disarmed?” Nouka managed to keep his cool at the question and didn’t answer even as some more white arthropods grew to his defense.

“Even if it did you don’t know how to make it inert. This is my C-3 array!” The spiders and centipedes rushed at Kanek while he backstepped to avoid the explosions, he noted that they were much more focused on the ground then they were when they were in the skies.

‘So he doesn’t want to cause an avalanche, wait he said inert... so I can make these things useless!’ Kanek used his clouds to push any of the explosives that got too close to him as he racked his head to find out what he did that made the bird inert. The brawl only advanced as Kanek went into the air right as a centipede managed to latch itself onto his leg. “No!” He shocked it and sent it back to the ground where it began to lose its form and become a blob. “Electricity makes your bombs useless!?” Kanek fired another bolt at an oncoming spider and again the explosive creature lost its form and turned into a blob of white. Nouka threw a volley of kunai and shuriken at Kanek to distract him but they were melted by the barrage of lighting that the empowered griffin let loose to nullify every explosive in the area. “That’s so stupid... and it now makes sense.” Kanek formed a length of electricity and started walking towards Nouka who was not keeping calm at the imminent threat.

‘So my clay is useless, there’s gotta be something.’ His mind clicked as he raised his hands and put them in a unique seal, a moment later he collapsed and Kanek stopped moving. Kanek slowly raised the blade and nearly decapitated himself but a last second jerk managed to only clip most of his right wing away, the wound cauterizing instantly. The sword dissipated and Nouka got back up.

The griffin snapped back into his right mind and stifled a cry of sheer fury before locking his eyes back on the destructive artist. “And now I’m gonna deliver you to your friends in a bag!” Kanek rushed forwards with lightning cracking along his talons while Nouka weighed all of his options.

“It’s not the village so I don’t have anything stopping me.” Nouka bit his thumb and slapped his palms together as Kanek moved closer, the young adult’s skin began to turn stark white while black lines formed on his face. “Ninja art: C-Release!” Kanek stopped his rush of bloodlust and brought a layer of clouds between him and Nouka when the white bodied ninja lunged at him. The griffon was about to deliver a taunt from his cloud cover but-

*BOOM*

The force of an explosion sent him skidding away and as the smoke cleared he saw Nouka standing there with his hands overlapped. Kanek wasted no time in sending a bolt of lighting at Nouka but that didn’t impede the artist as he rushed forward again and made to grab the injured Griffon.

*BOOM*

A sand monster took the explosion that time and others quickly arrived to help deter the bombing demon as Kanek scraped himself off the ground, to Kanek’s horror he noticed that the sand beasts were being blown apart as soon as they were touched so his efforts only grew more frantic. “Gotta get-“

*BOOM*

“Just need-“

*BOOM*

“I have-“

*BOOM*

Kanek’s sense of sound was nearly gone and that silence was all he had but once he felt that nothing around him was happening, no fighting, no explosions, no vibrations were being made his heart was beating so hard that his body shook each time and as he turned around he could’ve sworn it stopped for a moment as he saw Nouka standing above him. “Get away from me you freak!” He swiped at the bomber and got a mixture of pleasure and relief when his claw managed to go right into Nouka’s chest but that feeling changed once Nouka reached out and grabbed his beak.

As soon as the hand touched him Kanek felt an indescribable pain course through his body starting at his face, and where the pain went his body swelled up after it. His eyes being forced out of his skull as his insides ballooned, his skin nearly rupturing as his organs swelled. “You can’t call me a freak. I’m normal and you’re just a mix of bad art.” Kanek gurgled in response as his senses completely shut down. “Begone.” He screamed in pain for all of a split second as his body finally got its bliss of being ruptured painfully. His organs, bones, and flesh all exploding and sending Nouka into the air gracefully, only he could ever truly appreciate that- “Art is an explosion!”

(Serpent’s plain)

“Alright you son of- Uh... son of something...” A smaller than normal Minotaur was crouched ahead of Kotetsu, the two uncaring at the lightning strikes that were happening just over the ridge. The grassland around them swaying softly at the wind’s touch. “Son of a beach- Son of a birch!”

“Bitch.”

The Minotaur grunted. “I knew that, I don’t need a teacher at my age!”

Kotetsu only smirked. “No I was calling you a bitch...” He charged forward but stopped the swing of his sword once he saw the Minotaur ignore him and reach into a pouch.

A small golden coin is all he pulled out and in that second Kotetsu went to finish his slash and was met with a hoof strike to his jaw. “If this is a one on one then you don’t have a chance against me, I’ll be done by the time I catch my bit.” He flipped the coin into the air and no sooner did he attempt to strike the Uchiha. Kotetsu blocked the attack with his sheath but as he swung his blade the Minotaur sunk straight into the ground. As Kotetsu scanned the ground to find any trace of movement he was pulled ankle deep into the earth and the Minotaur halfway burst out in front of him with a series of closed fist punches aimed straight for him.

‘He’s not as slow physically as he seemed mentally.’ Kotetsu blocked every strike as it came, a few getting too close for comfort as he noticed that the Minotaur was slamming his elbows into the dirt. ‘He’s using the ground as a spring for his strikes... he’s getting faster and faster with each punch!’ The rushing combo ended with a hard left hook that sent Kotetsu flying towards a tree but he stopped himself by rooting his blade in the ground.

As soon as the metal went into the dirt the ground began to liquefy and out popped the horned head that immediately had to dodge a sweeping kick. The momentum of the kick followed through and allowed the Uchiha to uproot his slowly sinking blade, and plant it into the tree as a foothold while a trail of rising earth came after him. “Fire style: Fireball jutsu.” A few seals and an exhale sent a large fireball at the ground but the ground reacted like water when it practically swallowed the flame as the Minotaur rushed at Kotetsu again, however he was shocked at the fact that his strikes went right through the shinobi.

“H-Huh?” He flung a rock at the shinobi only for it to pass through him entirely. “That’s cheating! How am I supposed to kill you-“ He caught the coin. “If I can’t touch you?!”

Kotetsu examined his surroundings and saw the massive form of the two tails bearing down on a giant spider that wasn’t familiar to him which only made the man more envious. “Well retard you’ll just have to wait five minutes for my ability to cool down.” He ended with a smile that would’ve disturbed anyone he was close to since it was almost friendly and contrasted his visual prowess perfectly.

Now Terrus was a number of things but a retard as Kotetsu put it wasn’t in that field, and his own smile started forming as he looked at the tree that slowly began to sink into the ground. “So what you’re saying is that I-I can’t hit you and- and you can’t hit me? If you could I’d have been hit by now...” He pulled himself out of the ground completely and looked up to Kotetsu.

“Well maybe you aren’t completely brain dead, but that doesn’t do you much good since I’m not gonna cancel my kamui.”

“Heh heh heh... But that means I can go finish off one of your friends since you don’t wanna fight.” As he said that an explosion rung out and at the peak of the blast was Nouka. “He can’t fight up close can he?! I’ll see you there loser!” He dove into the ground as Kotetsu jumped down with his sword in hand.

‘Well shit, lets see if I can run through land.” A portal opened on the ground and the young adult went right in.

Terrus was gliding through the earth like it was water, his body showing no fatigue. ‘Coming back to life made me feel better than ever, I’m faster and I don’t need to take a-‘ He stopped and looked behind himself, ears flicking. ‘So he’s copying me? That’s not gonna h-help here.’ Kotetsu was running through the ground, blade in hand as he followed the ripples in the earth around him.

‘Wait a minute!’ A sudden movement to his right threw him off and caused him to slip into an open pocket of air, he sent a chidori spear where he fell through but he missed his mark by a few inches at most as Terrus started another barrage of attacks. The two clashed again but this time the shinobi was superior and landed a hit right against the minotaur’s nose, drawing blood. “That sneak attack go how you thought? I can go get Kizura, she’s a better medic than Zeko.”

“Hng... hmm... I’m learning a lot about you, you can’t get hit when you’re not attacking b-but you can’t attack and not get hit... You can’t run through the ground if you’re attacking cause you’d g-get crushed right?” Even with blood running between his teeth Terrus didn’t break his shit-eating grin. Kotetsu’s only response was to coat his blade in lightning and try to stab the Minotaur but he only hit the dirt wall of the air pocket and took a hit to the rib for his effort.

“I’m gonna kill you again...” He struggled as Terrus burrowed into the ground again, another portal and the chase began once more. Kotetsu’s speed before almost seeming like a joke to Terrus as he noticed the shinobi was right on him with all of his swimming speed.

‘What if I slow you down a little bit?’ He swam to the surface of the ground and made Kotetsu stop as he felt the ground around him liquefy even more so. “I can only affect the ground so far away from me but I can make even stone act just like water.” He pulled some fluid together and turned it back into a boulder. “But what happens when something really heavy hits the water?” He lobbed the boulder into the air and dodged a series of slashes from Kotetsu as it came back down.

The ground splashed and sent the two barreling underneath the surface of the liquefied ground, Terrus was quick to recover and see the chokutō in front of him. He noticed a dark aura emerge from Kotetsu as a set of silver Susano’o ribs to ensure that he didn’t stay in the liquidized earth while Terrus taunted him. “What’s wrong ninja? Can’t have a-a swim? Looks like your no touch t-thing wore off, now you’re stuck in that thing down here. And look, your little sword is here with me, come get it t-tough guy.” Terrus pointed at the weapon only a few meters in front of him. As Kotetsu rolled his right arm.

“I’m not a scientist.”

Terrus was thrown off by the statement. “Huh?”

“But I know what happens to someone when something explodes in the water. Not only do sounds travel faster in the water but so does force... since the body is mostly water it’s fine in those parts but anything with air such as the lungs, sinuses, or ears... they don’t do so well.” As Kotetsu sat in safety he smirked. “I didn’t try to hit you earlier, I just needed a second to give you a gift. Genjutsu is really useful.” He pulled his sword from behind him.

“Wh-What are you-“ The last thing Terrus saw was the sword turn into three pieces of paper with markings etched on them, then an explosion sent waves through the ground around him. The power of it immediately bursting his eardrums and pushing pain to the front of his skull as his sinuses did the same. “AAAAIIIUUUUU!”

“Not sure you felt it by now but your body is pretty much dead, I told you that I’d end you for hitting me.” He brought an arm over his face and vanished into his eyes as Terrus drifted in the ground.

‘T-This is nothing!’ Vibrations above him told where Kotetsu appeared and with a final push of his body he threw himself up to grab the shinobi and drown him in the ground. “You’re mine no- AAGGH!” As soon as his arms broke the surface they were mangled by a landslide. “B-But I know that- How did I think that was him?!” He wasn’t anywhere near safe as the rocks kept coming, throwing him around like a rag doll until he came to rest out of the way. “W-Where is-“ He’d never finish his sentence as he ran out of the air he needed to speak, the damage on his body catching up to him as his oxygen starved mind realized that he hadn’t managed to inhale since the explosion.

Kotetsu appeared in a spiral of air right before him, Terrus barely having the strength to look at the Uchiha. “Of course... I’m not a scientist so that’s all up to debate.” Terrus wanted to scream since the last thing he saw would be his killer’s smile but as his eyes dulled he knew that he’d have to be silent and unfortunately compliant.

(Serpent’s Thirst)

The newly formed small desert was a hive of activity for Jenki. “Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!” On account of the Hyuga dealing with the swarm of sand beasts trying to envelop him. His outfit had taken a good deal of damage, shirt in tatters and his left pant leg not connecting below his knee anymore. Zukako floated only so far ahead, watching silently as the ridges on his back vibrated.

“Why won’t you just give up Jenki? The last time we clashed it went badly for you.”

The green haired ninja exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Last time I made the mistake of underestimating you. I should’ve taken you as seriously as I do Zeko...” His arms tensed as the sand demons reformed slowly around him. A light blue layer of chakra began to surround his arms as the sand demons approached him again. “Water style: Planetary Flooding jutsu!” Jenki slammed his hands down, causing a torrent of water to burst from where he was standing. The monsters were reduced to sludge even as water flowed outwards from the teenager, even raining down as he grabbed his hitai-ate from around his forehead. “Made me use my forbidden jutsu... Could’ve crippled my arms if I messed up. You should be proud that I got this serious.”

“Jenki we’re ready for-“ Kizura deadpanned once she saw how well toned the Hyūga was. “You can calm that down, we’re not having a contest.”

Zeko only nodded in respect while the Hyūga gave himself a once over. “What? Gotta stay in shape.” Nouka and Kotetsu arrived as well, the group eying Zukako as he let his scaled feet lightly touch the ankle high water.

“I’m ready when you are Jenki.” Zeko said as his friend went to his fighting stance and without any warning he burst forward, launching strikes at the serpent host’s body.

“Child’s play.” With a wave of the black blade he pushed Jenki back but that only turned the Hyūga into water, allowing the real one to land a strike on several tenketsū of Zukako’s Morsus arm. To no avail Zukako tried to raise the weapon but had no luck, Jenki leapt back right as a massive wave of sand broke the water surface and started for him but it didn’t get far until an equally large wave of black powder met and overpowered it. Zeko stood behind his friend, hands firmly together.

“Iron is heavier than most other minerals, as long as I’m here his sand is no good.” The black dust broke away and quickly restrained Zukako.

Nouka immediately sprang into action, bounding towards the restrained copy. “My time to shine boyos!” His skin quickly turned stark white again. “I’ll take him down right now!”

‘He could end me in one hit. None of that.’ Zukako thought as Morsus quickly pushed outward and formed into a spear that caught Nouka in the shoulder.

“Big deal, I am the greatest art-“ He wouldn’t get to finish his sentence as lightning coursed up the length of the weapon, causing Nouka to violently spasm from the current. A kunai with seals on it flew up to him and in a flash Jenki appeared with a hand coated in chakra, broke the blade, grabbed Nouka, and flung the kunai towards Kotetsu in one fell swoop.

“I’m not gonna lie, I actually thought he’d pull it off.” Kotetsu said as he looked over the catatonic artist. “He should live but another one like that and he’s done for.” He immediately sent the injured artist into his eyes.

Morsus formed a black orb around Zukako and quickly burst, freeing him from his iron prison. Zeko flickered next to Kizura as clouds began to form around his doppelgänger, the sounds of the wooden wolves and sand beasts still going on. “Kizura... I think we need to-“

“Yeah I guessed, weird how we both have what the other needs for it.” Kizura and Zeko stood just ahead of the other two shinobi, the taller of the two sticking her left arm out, fist balled. Zeko removed the blue obi from his waist, his kimono top opened and revealed the mesh shirt he had on as he stuck his right arm out and bumped Kizura’s fist in return.

Jenki looked at the two in confusion but his Byakugan allowed him to see something that didn’t make sense to him. “They’re mixing their chakra?” The fist bump changed to them forming the snake seal together. With that Jenki saw that the two were almost merging chakra, nearly becoming one person but then he saw that their abdomens, for a lack of better words, unlocked. Ram, horse, dog, bird, and rat were formed as well with each sign unlocking more and more chakra between the two. “That’s not any jutsu I’ve seen yet...”

“I don’t know why but I feel like I’m going to be jealous of whatever happens next.” Kotetsu’s eyes weren’t seeing the specifics but he could tell that there was something going on between the two.

“Everybody knows that one plus two-“ They finished on snake again and to Jenki they practically beamed from a chakra increase, Kizura turning blue while Zeko became yellow. Their outfits appearing as if they were lined with flames of their respective colors while their eyes turned heterochromic for Kizura and, to yellow stars for Zeko. “Equals me linking with you!”

Zukako only smirked at the transformation, his memory scraping up faint ideas of what just happened but nothing that was set in stone. “Maybe now it won’t be boring.”

Author's Notes:

Already said things would be crazy, next chapter will wrap this fighting up but it’ll take some time. Like or don’t comment yadda yadda see you next time