At that instant, Kazuo’s face turned red and veins formed on his temples. A violent indigo aura engulfed his entire body and it could be seen without activating the Third Eye. He drew Raijin, one of the two swords that were sheathed on his waist and made the Chinmaya mudra.

  “K–Kagero, y–you’ll fucking pay for what you did to my mother!” Kazuo pointed his chokutō towards the king. Raijin: Rakurai (Raijin: Lightning Strike)!

  “Kazuo! W–” Asuka tried to stop him but he was gone with a stream of lightning tracing his path.

  Kazuo had shortened the distance between him and the Shadows in a split-second and he was stopped by Kagemaru as he was about to cut down Kagero.

  A loud cng followed when Raijin cshed against Kajin and sparks of electricity dissipated from the lightning bde.

  “Kuso…” Kagero perspired with raised eyebrows. “Thanks son. That could’ve been me.” He wiped the sweat off his face, “Now finish him!”

  With those words, Kagemaru moved as though he was under a spell and he prepared to strike a second kata at Kazuo. His body was surrounded by a yellow aura as he made the Agni mudra.

  Kajin: Moeru (Kajin: Bze)!

  Kazuo blocked the fme attack using Raijin. The battle between fire and lightning had begun.

  Meanwhile, the other two warriors cshed. Asuka charged at Kagero with her dusters in each hand and the tter pulled out two kunai to defend himself with.

  “Kazuo!” said Asuka as she blocked an attack from Kagero. “Remember what I said!”

  Don’t worry Asuka, “I got you!” Kazuo nodded at his senior before he advanced towards Kagemaru with both hands gripped on Raijin. I won’t let these guys get to me.

  At least he seems to be holding his own against Kagemaru, thought Asuka after counterattacking her opponent. “What’s wrong Kagero? No shadow staff today?”

  “Tch…you think I need my bō against the likes of kunoichi like you, Asuka-chan?”

  “You don’t know me so don’t refer to me like that, you old perv!” said Asuka, her face as red as her hair. This is for Taka-sensei! She struck at Kagero.

  ?

  A loud bell tolled as a call to action for all the ninjas that were on patrol around the vilge and those that were still asleep. The sound filled everyone else with confusion as no strange activity had been seen or heard.

  One group of foot ninjas led by an assassin gathered near the main gate entrance and searched the area carefully. There were no signs of forced entry so they raced towards the ninja school to see what was going on.

  ?

  A few Battalion Corp ninjas had arrived on the scene and were being brought up to speed by Shin and Mikoto when they noticed Shadow ninjas begin to swarm the school. The Shadow group had a total of fifty ninjas, this including a few assassins among them.

  “Damn it,” said Natsumi when Hideo and Takumi joined them outside the school block. We’re screwed.

  The two intellectuals who had just defeated two assassins looked like they had seen better days. The group of Lightning ninjas added up to twenty without Asuka and Kazuo who were still busy with their own fights. It was suicide! They thought as they saw the legion of Shadows charge at them in full sprint.

  “Mina-san (Everyone)!” said Hideo. “Do not falter... Remember our fallen comrades, what would the Lord Sage have done in a situation like this? Would he have cowered in fear? Absolutely not! For six months we have let these people do as they please in our vilge and now it is time we showed them what we are made of! Take up your weapons and fight! Let us bring these shadows into the light!”

  The Lightning ninjas screamed out battle cries after Hideo’s message riled them up.

  “Archers!” said Natsumi, taking out three arrows from her quiver and readying to shoot.

  Five other bowmen also took aim.

  “Loose!”

  A torrent of arrows rained on the Shadow ninjas and brought their numbers down to their forties. When their enemies had gotten close enough, the Lightning ninjas advanced.

  Natsumi and the other archers kept dropping foot ninjas to the ground like flies. Mikoto used her air affinity to swiftly outmaneuver the enemy group and take them out with her tantō bde.

  As for Shin and other swordsmen, they charged with their katanas and attacked the remaining enemy ninjas. In under a few minutes, the Shadows and Lightning group were reduced to nineteen and eight respectively.

  ?

  When Kagero realised that it was now daybreak, he signaled to Kagemaru and pointed upwards.

  What is he pnning? Asuka thought.

  Kagero jumped backwards, creating some distance between him and Asuka. When his son followed suit, he threw a smoke bomb on ground to distract their opponents.

  When the white cloud dissipated, Asuka and Kazuo gave chase. The lightning duo reckoned the only way their opponents could have gone was up the stairs to the ft roof. They made their way up the flight of stairs on high alert and their hypothesis proved correct when they set foot on the roof.

  Kagero and Kagemaru readying their shadow staff and spear. The sun was hidden behind a cloudy sky and the snow was still falling gently.

  “It’s time we ended this.” Kagero removed his kasa and haori, revealing his upper body that was covered with bandages. “Kagemaru, Kurokunaru!”

  Kagemaru grabbed his father’s shoulder and the tter’s shadow manifested from where they stood. The bck fluid covered Kagero’s entire body like armour. He broke his staff in two and then charged towards Asuka at high speed.

  “Let’s see if your tekkō can punch through my shadow armour.”

  Kagero swung both staffs at his opponent who had now taken the defensive. Asuka blocked most of the relentless attacks but a few managed to connect and the pain was unbearable. She leapt backwards and threw a bomb at Kagero but the small explosion did not even dent his bck armour.

  We are now at a disadvantage, Asuka thought, holding her throbbing arm. They are skilled at middle to long range fighting and that is why they brought us up here.

  “Don’t worry Asuka-chan, I’ll put you out of your misery soon,” said Kagero as he closed the gap between the two of them.

  Kazuo and Kagemaru had also been going at it since Asuka and Kagero began their fight. Now that he was using shadow projection, Kagemaru had sheathed Kajin and used his guided spear attack. His opponent, Kazuo kept blocking and dodging the long projectile so he switched his Prana for the Adi mudra.

  Kage no yari: Hari hyaku-pon!

  (Shadow spear: One hundred needles)!

  The spear broke into several small and sharp pieces which dispersed and rained directly above the Lightning ninja at an arming rate. Kazuo dodged and blocked a few whilst some pierced at his body and wounded him. He was trying to ignore the pain as the shadow needles came flying towards him. He charged up his chokutō by channeling his life force energy.

  Raijin: Seidenki (Raijin: Static electricity)!

  An invisible spark streaked from Kazuo’s chokutō which charged the projectiles with static and stopped them midair. The pieces gravitated towards Raijin’s bde as they were guided by the electromagnetic force.

  Raijin: Kanden (Raijin: Electrocution)!

  A thick streak of white lightning appeared and struck the tiny pieces that had been floating in the air. The fragments from Kagemaru’s spear fell to the ground and he was momentarily unarmed, leaving him open to attacks. Kazuo–taking advantage of the fact, dashed towards him in a fsh. Kagemaru instinctually drew out Kajin to defend himself with the sword’s fmes.

  Kajin: Onibi (Kajin: Demon Fire)!

  An enormous orange red fme emerged from Kajin’s bde and Kagemaru charged forward to meet Kazuo halfway. Noticing the fme grow bigger as he got closer, Kazuo knew he would suffer severe burns if he failed to dodge the attack. Using Raijin to block was out of the question and in that moment–almost instinctively, he unsheathed the second sword that was on his waist and made the Varuna mudra.

  Sūijin: Nagare (Sūijin: Flow)!