14 Gladiators
"Halt!"
The word put a cap on my surged adrenaline, sputtering, I looked past Fuguki with Samehada halfway unfurled, his grin has only grown and his focus remains on me as we stand off atop the beach waters.
Bar Beach— rocks of all sizes rise from the surface as the wave from the greater ocean washes against them and the shoreline leading into Kiri. The Funato clan arranged the event well, with celebrations reaching their peak in the village the most important individuals gathered to watch the next Mizukage rise.
I glanced at them on the stands. Several ANBU— including Owl mask who I thought would be recovering from yesterday given I still am— around a dozen Jounin excluding Mei and Ao, and a handful of Chuunin, even Rina as she sat on the main stage with her grandmother, Nana Megumi.
Lord Funato and the Daimyo were whispering things to each other after calling for us to stop, I wondered what it was and couldn't shake the feeling in my bone it meant nothing good for me.
As soon as Raiga, Juzo and Kisame approached them in bows, I snapped back at Fuguki's enlarged grin, his laughter barely restrained for the seriousness of out bout.
"You…what have you done?"
He smirked and tossed Samehada from hand to hand, "It's all within the rules, isn't it?"
"What are yo-"
"Ahem!" The Daimyo calls for attention and we turn to him together. The young man looked upon us from the beach and announced, "Some last minute changes to our contestants and the rules, it will be the last don't worry."
I noticed Harusame bowing to listen to Nana Megumi's words, the crunch of his face and Utakata's discomfort told me more than I wanted to know, than I wanted to be true.
"According to Sandaime's will this will be a battle royale amongst the most prominent candidates that volunteer to participate. Since the death conditions have been stripped I have seen favour to allow the other swordsmen of the mist participate as they should. Killing your opponent is…" he turned to Lord Funato then continued, "Yes, it is frowned upon but is not the main victory condition. Kisame, Juzo, Raiga, join your opponents in the waters."
Fuck me.
Raiga gladly leaped from stone top to land at Fuguki's side, twirling his Twin Kiba's and matching his shit eating grin. Kisame sunk through the sea, finding his abode within it like the shark he is, he circled underneath my feet for a moment before resurfacing some ways behind me. Juzo strolled across the middle, glancing at Fuguki and I as if weighing the scale against aligning with either of us. He snorts and remains in the middle.
The Daimyo's voice shrieks out with my tripled heartbeat, "The victory condition is…Last man standing! Begin!"
No one moved. Not even Fuguki. I gripped my Bo-staff dearly, my mind spiralling from how this went from manageable to fucked in all but two seconds. I remained keenly aware of Kisame behind me and quickly ranked my opponents by priority while I broke the cold tension.
"You guys see Harusame over there, don't you?" Raiga, the first to turn a side glance is the least of my problems. His lightning Release with the Kiba might be a pain but just thinking about his technique has Yagura's mind pumping out Wind Release techniques I should be capable of.
None answer me, not even Juzo who still looks like he's deciding who to aid in the start of the fight. I considered him the second threat because of Kubikiribocho, that large blade is capable of cutting through insane materials, I can't let it harm me.
"He's here for me, should the Three-Tails be set free to rampage, he'll step in and seal it right back." I pat my stomach for emphasis, "But he won't be quick enough to save anyone in its path, I doubt he will."
Fuguki snorts, his ever present grin dropping at last as he shifts, "I fear no beast. Juzo, shall I cut you down as well?"
Juzo swings Kubikiribocho to form against Fuguki and Raiga in response, "Didn't you hear? The rule is last man standing!"
He shutters forward and I don't spare a second turning on my heels and sprinting towards Kisame. Gotta take out the annoyances first!
Kisame is bobbing inside the water, shirtless already and gathering an immense amount of chakra that suffuses the water around him. I curse my luck for not having lightning release to punish him for such vulnerability and instead bring my Bo-staff down on his exposed head.
The water explodes, casting me into the air for a moment as Kisame swims within a giant water diving shark cloak. Even without having experienced him at his peak S-rank future self I can tell this is a prototype of his technique, weaker, less chakra— He won't keep up this up for long, not without Samehada!
"Water Release: Shark Bullet!" With a thrust of his arm Kisame sends the watery effigy of a shark after my falling body.
At this time all I can think of is how brilliant it would be to know the secret to my clan secret technique. Gritting my teeth and setting my Bo-staff aside I flip through Tiger-Ox-Tiger-Rat hand-signs as fast as my fingers will move and chakra kneaded in my stomach swells into a water within my mouth, "Water Release: Water Bullet!"
Our two techniques clash in a watery display and I continued plummet, turning around just in time to glance Juzo wildly dancing around Fuguki and Raiga's lightning.
My body breaks through the water and I start kicking towards where I last sensed Kisame's chakra— I considered disturbing Juzo's fight with the others but thought better of it, Kisame is less experienced and powerful than Fuguki who has the Samehada, no point getting my chakra drained so early in the battle.
Kisame seems to have the same idea because as I swam after him he responded to my approach in kind. "Kuchiyose no Justu!"
Suddenly poofs of smoke crowd around me and if I weren't holding my breath underwater I'd curse my choice of first opponent. Sharks big and small dashed after me, snapping and gnawing for a taste of my blood.
I know it's exactly what he wants but rather than let his summons make mincemeat of me I swirl water around myself similar to [Water Prison] and ejected from the shark trap.
As I thought, Kisame leaps after me, his gaze narrowed in steep concentration as he brings his katana to bear. But if he thinks he's going to put me on the defensive…
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
His eyes widen in surprise as the [Water Prison] encasing me surged out in form of an enraged water dragon. It smashed into him and releases me so I land back on the water surface, watching with reserved satisfaction as I directed the water dragon with a single half-Tiger hand sign to gnaw and blast him against one of the larger rocks.
All that practise was worth it. I breathed a heavy sigh as Kisame's body cratered against the rock, nearly shattering it from the impact of my [Water Dragon]. His summons disappears underwater but I'm still cautious so I flip through familiar hand signs and water rises to encase him in a [Water Prison] with very little space for movement. It's easily become my second favourite jutsu.
One down...three more to go.
