Chapter 10: The Battle Begins

Those red eyes met mine, and I instinctively started focusing on my surrounding, looking for any changes. I also started circulating my chakra, preparing to abruptly disrupt my chakra flow to break free from any Genjutsu.

Moments passed, and I slowly began to notice what was wrong. Even after disrupting my chakra, it persisted.

The world stood still.

The wind was gone.

The noise and bustle of the Harbor behind me, was silent.

Looking towards my team, I widened my eyes as I noticed that... they were completely still. Anko's normal tensing and relaxing of muscles were still. Kurenai had her arms out in front of her, looking like she was preparing to launch her senbon, and yet I could see no movement. And Kakashi... he was mid leap, his Ninjato on a path upwards to deflect Juzo's blade.

"That was some excellent chakra control, twisting the arrow like that."

I grabbed an arrow from my quiver, stabbing it towards the voice behind me. However, instead of feeling my arrow sink into flesh, my arm stopped abruptly. Seeing Itachi behind me, gripping my wrist, I swung my other hand, the one holding my bow, towards him, hoping to hit him. Yet, my body froze before I could do so.

"Good determination. Quite a good shot, too. I apologize in advance for this."

Saying so, he leaned towards me, the tomoe in his eyes slowly speeding up as they spun.

"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique."

His whisper was like the devils, and the red of his eyes slowly spread, dyeing the world a deep crimson.

Looking around, I noticed that I was alone, standing ankle deep in red water. Before I could flare my chakra, hoping to break free from this obvious Genjutsu, a spike rose from the water, piercing my shoulder. Grunting, I tried to push myself off of it, only to have one erupt from the water behind me, piercing my thigh. Screaming in pain, I felt another pierce my side. Then another pierced my straight through my stomach. Blood trickled out of my mouth, and I opened my mouth, yet nothing came out. Feeling the spikes slowly exit my body, I noticed that my wound were knitting themselves shut. Before I could even register that they were gone, they appeared, piercing my flesh.

I had been stabbed, cut, beaten, poisoned. I've felt pain before; I've suffered before. Yet... that pain... that suffering... was nothing compared to this.

The spikes disappeared again, before erupting out of the water, starting the third round.

Screaming in pain, I fell to my knees. The water around me was darker, murky. In it, I could see the faces of the people I've killed; the teammates I failed to save.

They accused me, blaming me for cutting their lives short. Accusing me of living, while they died. With every round of spikes, their voices grew louder, until a cacophony of screams and shouts were all I could hear.

Or was it my screams? My shouts?

For what felt like an eternity, I kneeled there, listening to the voices, groaning every time I felt a spike pierce my flesh.

I was going to give up, surrender to the voices, tilt my body so that a spike would pierce my heart, when I noticed... a window. A short time when the spikes were absent, in between each round, there was a brief period where I could maybe, just maybe, flare my chakra, breaking free. I went through more rounds, noticing that the window was indeed there.

Grinning, I readied myself, preparing to break free.

Not yet... not yet... NOW!

Dissipating the little natural chakra in my body, I waited. The spikes... never appeared. The voices quieted down. The crimson water receded, and the sky, slowly reverted from crimson to light blue.

In the distance I could faintly hear the clashing of blades, the sound of ninjutsu going off. Looking over, I saw Anko, one arm replaced with a group of snakes, her other hand forming hand signs as she took a deep breath, releasing a fireball towards Juzo. Kurenai appeared behind him, her eyes flashing and her kunai snaking towards his chest. Juzo spun, using the hilt of his blade to stop the kunai, before his body dissipated into a splash of water, reappearing a few feet away.

To the right, I saw multiple Kakashi's using Jutsu after Jutsu, attempting to create an opening against Itachi, who would respond with a Jutsu of his own or an expertly thrown shuriken or kunai.

Shakily getting to my feet, I picked up my bow, deciding to help take down Juzo first. I can still follow his movements, whereas I was struggling to observe the flashing Kakashi and Itachi. Bringing my hands together, quickly completing hand signs, I drew my bow, an arrow made from wind chakra appearing. Aiming towards Juzo, I tracked his movements, waiting for an opening.

Finding one, I spoke. "Wind Release: Burst Arrow."

Firing, the arrow zipped through the air, before splitting into dozens of miniature arrows. Without waiting to see if they would hit, I quickly performed the tiger handing before activating the Body Flicker Technique, increasing my speed. Crouching on the side of the building, I circulated wind chakra into the soles of my feet, before springing off the wall, flying towards Juzo like an arrow shot from a bow. Mid air, quickly grabbed a senbon and placed in-between my teeth, before drawing my chokuto in my right hand. Landing a dozen or so feet from the fight, I quickly placed my bow on my back before dashing towards Juzo's side, coating my chokuto in wind chakra. Slashing towards him, he used the side of his blade to block my blade. Smirking, I spit the senbon at him, before jumping back. The senbon flew through his head, before his body yet again fell into the ground as a puddle of water.

Forming more handsigns, I released a few wind bullets towards his limbs, forcing him to either take damage on them or block and risk creating an opening for Anko and Kurenai.

Anko appeared beside me, quickly telling me her idea. Smiling broadly at her idea, I rotated to the opposite side, peppering Juzo with more wind bullets as I moved. When Anko and I stood opposite one another, we both took deep breaths, before Anko released a giant fireball while I shot out a large wind bullet, about as large as I was tall.

As the two elemental balls collided, a loud boom echoed through the plain. A large sphere of water spun where Juzo was standing, emitting a large amount of steam due to the fireball. We could hear him chuckling, before suddenly the sphere stopped spinning. Large spikes of water formed from the sphere, before launching themselves towards Anko and I.

Dashing out towards Kurenai, Juzo slashed towards her, his giant blade slicing down towards her. However, I couldn't afford to continue worrying about her, as numerous water spears were flying towards me. Dodging out of the way of them, I dashed towards the forest, climbing a tree before drawing my bow. Grabbing a few arrows, I nocked an arrow and shot it towards Juzo, who was attempting to close the distance between himself and Anko. Channeling a bit of chakra into the tag, I loosed the arrow towards Juzo before quickly loosing the next, this one with a chakra string guiding it's movements. Juzo tried to deflect the first arrow, but it exploded before he could do so, knocking his blade off balance. Grinning, I moved the arrow to bury itself into his forearm, igniting the tag.

Juzo looked down at his forearm in horror, realizing he couldn't substitute himself out, as Anko had used one of her snakes as a whip, wrapping itself around his ankle. Gritting his teeth, he quickly cut off his forearm, kicking it towards Anko. It exploded between them, damaging the snake and desummoning it, freeing his ankle. He turned, trying to run, however I shot two more arrows towards him. Kurenai appeared before him, her eyes flashing crimson again. He dodged left, avoiding her kunai, yet moving into the path of my arrows. Two 'thuds' could be heard, before the tags went off. Sadly, he substituted himself with a log before they hit, splinters flying as the log exploded. Clicking my tongue, I nocked another arrow, searching for him.

Hearing something behind me, I dropped from my branch, having upside as a blade cut through the area I used to be standing in. Priming the tag, I shot it straight into the branch, dropping onto the ground. Dashing away, I heard the boom and a string of curses. Looking back, I saw Juzo dashing towards me. His previous outfit, a loose black robe with a white undershirt, was scorched and seared, patches of it smoldering from the blast. He was glaring at me, rushing towards me. Dropping my bow, I unsheathed my chokuto before peppering him with more wind bullets, giving myself time to coat my blade in chakra.

Dodging the wind bullets, Juzo swung towards me. Parrying his blade with my own, a jolt ran through my arm. Not only was he strong, but the Kibikiribocho was heavy. Spinning, I sent a kick towards his midsection, while also grabbing a senbon and launching it towards him. He blocked the kick with the flat of his blade, and tilted his head to avoid the senbon.

"You know, I'm usually an easy going guy, but I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart!" he growled at me.

Ducking under his blade, I stabbed towards his thigh, only for him to spin, resulting in my chokuto grazing him.

A flurry of senbon covered the ground around him, forcing him to take a step back, only for him to dive to the side, a fireball scorching the ground he was in.

Appearing next to me was Anko, and I could feel Kurenai somewhere in the trees.

I grinned. "Anko, Kurenai, let's kills this bastard!"

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First, let's talk about the battle. Juzo Biwa was skilled, sure. But he was a swordsman, and there is little I can find about his Ninjutsu. So, I am making him mediocre with Ninjutsu, but damn good with a blade. That'll be shown next. I think someone like him would struggle with not only three skilled shinobi, but with the pairing this group has. Kurenai IS talented with Genjutsu, we just didn't get to see it in the Anime that often, mainly only when Itachi was in the village. And the man is a walking No Genjutsu Zone with his Sharingan. Anyways, not only does Juzo have to determine if what he is sensing is accurate, he also has to deal with snakes. Poisonous snakes. Then there's Kokoro, using long ranged attacks, forcing him to move constantly. So while the man is a S Rank powerhouse, I think the team can counter him well enough. Let me know what you think, though.

Also, 25k views and over 160 Collections! IN 10 CHAPTERS! That's awesome! Sadly, I got too much to do today, so only this chapter is planned for today. If you've enjoyed it so far, let me know!

Enjoy, and have a good day!

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