Bab 40: Kannabi Bridge (15)
"Come back here, you bastard!"
Yami leaped into a tree, evading Takeshi's frenzied attacks. He had no intention of getting close to a soon-to-be-dead man, as that would be foolish.
He wasn't sure if Takeshi had a self-destructive technique like Deidara's, which could take Yami with him, so he opted for caution and kept running.
Despite being poisoned, Takeshi's vitality was so strong that he seemed unaffected, relentlessly pursuing Yami.
With no spiritual energy to enter stealth mode, Yami relied on his skills to dodge Takeshi's attacks and buy time for the poison to take effect.
However, Takeshi was an elite Jonin and soon caught up.
Yami flickered back, dodging another Jutsu, only to be surprised by a flurry of shurikens as he landed.
Deflecting them, Yami saw a chunin with a broken arm as the source.
"Captain, do it now!" the chunin yelled.
"Good job, Sasaki!" Takeshi seized the moment while Yami was distracted to launch another Jutsu.
"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
The ground trembled as large slabs of earth erupted, forming a dome that trapped Yami inside. The darkness within was absolute, cutting off all light and sound from the outside.
'Dammit!'
Yami cursed himself for his carelessness. He should have been more aware of other ninjas who survived the explosion. Facing an elite Jonin took his full attention, so he wasn't exactly at fault.
'I need to get out of here before this Jutsu takes its full effect.'
From his newly absorbed memories, he recognized the Jutsu as the same one used against Naruto and his friends during their mission to retrieve Sasuke.
This technique traps victims inside a self-repairing dome of earth, capable of absorbing their chakra. However, the user's chakra wasn't evenly distributed throughout the dome. Near the back, relative to the user, the chakra was weaker, making the dome more vulnerable in certain spots.
'I don't have a Byakugan to pinpoint the weakest spot, so I'll have to guess based on the direction the elite Jonin released the Jutsu.'
Heading toward the direction he suspected to be the back of the dome, he placed his hand on the rough wall.
'My fire-style ninjutsu isn't strong enough to blow this wall in one hit, and even if it is, creating fire in such a confined space is stupid.'
Not only would the fire bounce back at him, but he would suffocate if he failed to break the dome in one go.
'If I had learned some earth-style jutsu, I wouldn't be in this trouble. I guess there's no helping it this time… I need to use that Jutsu.'
Opening his fist, chakra gathered in his hand, forming a Rasengan, but it looked pale and small compared to Minato's.
'After two months, I can only achieve this much due to my low chakra.'
Despite working at the hospital, he hadn't slacked off and let his clone practice Rasengan until he achieved a small success. But whether it was due to his talent or low chakra, his Rasengan wasn't stable.
'Whatever… hopefully this will be enough to get away from here.'
****
Outside the dome, Takeshi leaned heavily against a tree, panting. The poison was taking its toll, but he forced himself to remain standing. He needed to quickly find the medic ninja's body and see if he carried any kind of antidote.
"Captain, are you alright? What's wrong?" Sasaki staggered toward him.
"That Konoha scum poisoned me… Sasaki, I need you to look for Kazoo… if he's alive, bring him to me. If he's dead, search his body for any kind of antidote I could use." Takeshi quickly informed him, seeing Sasaki was capable of moving with just one broken arm.
"Huh?... Alright, sir, leave it to me." Surprised by the news, Sasaki quickly regained his composure and started searching for the medic ninja's body.
Seeing Sasaki not asking unnecessary questions, Takeshi nodded in satisfaction before his expression turned fierce.
Looking at the dome, he thought, 'I need to get rid of him as fast as possible and join Sasaki to find the medicine.'
Fortunately, the poison didn't seem to disturb his chakra, so he could still perform ninjutsu, but he could feel his body slowing down as weakness assaulted his muscles.
Standing beside the dome, Takeshi didn't attempt to absorb the enemy's chakra. Instead, he was determined to finish the enemy off. But before he had the chance to form hand seals, he heard a boom, the dome trembled, and huge cracks started to appear on the side.
'Huh? Does he still have a strong Jutsu capable of destroying my dome?'
Not wanting to give the enemy a chance to relaunch his Jutsu, Takeshi formed a series of hand seals before slapping his hands on the ground.
****
Inside the dome, Yami looked at the cracks that were slowly closing.
'Tsk, I failed to destroy it.' Clicking his tongue in frustration, he looked at the wall in irritation. But he knew the reason behind his failure was due to his Rasengan being weak.
'Since one isn't enough, how about two at the same time.'
Forming a seal, a puff of smoke erupted beside him, forming a shadow clone.
Looking at each other, they both understood what needed to be done.
Opening their hands, they each formed a Rasengan before slamming them into the wall.
Cobweb-like cracks spread across the dome before it exploded.
'Success.' A smile spread across his face seeing the light.
But he didn't have time to celebrate. Immediately after destroying the wall, the ground beneath him jolted, and before he could react, numerous massive earth thorns shot out, heading toward him and covering the whole dome.
'Shit!'
Seeing no hope of escape, he instinctively reinforced his legs with chakra and jumped as high as he could, but the earthen spears extended, stabbing him in various parts of his body—his arm, leg, and most seriously, his stomach. He was sent flying, disappearing among the dust.
"Sir, what happened?" Sasaki arrived in front of Takeshi, looking at the devastation. He thought the enemy had escaped from the dome and felt nervous, considering the Konoha ninja had killed most of his teammates in seconds.
"Don't worry, I have dealt with him… by the way, did you find any sign of Kazoo?" Takeshi asked, dispelling Sasaki's worries.
"I'm sorry, sir, but he didn't make it," Sasaki muttered sadly before pulling out a small bottle. "This was the only intact bottle I could find."
"I see."
Takeshi took the bottle and drank it. They were far from home, so he had no choice but to hope this medicine would at least suppress the poison until they reached camp.
As the dust settled, Takeshi and Sasaki looked forward and were surprised to see Yami standing there, blood splattered across his whole body, staining the ground beneath him. Green chakra flowed through his hand as he held it over his stomach, where a gaping wound bled.
Regaining his composure, Takeshi said, "I have to say, I'm surprised you're still standing."
Even though they were enemies, Takeshi couldn't deny his respect for Yami's resilience. But that didn't mean he would spare him. Seeing the enemy completely incapable of fighting, he spoke again out of curiosity.
"You've stopped us and rescued your teammates. What's keeping you clinging to life? Do you have a reason or do you just want to live?"
"I…" Yami tried to respond but instead coughed up a mouthful of blood. His injuries were severe, and he could barely move. His left arm hung uselessly, and blood gushed from his stomach.
What was worse, he had almost no chakra left. He had used most of it on the shadow clone and Rasengan to destroy the dome. The rest he used to keep his internal organs together and heal himself, but he knew it was futile. Whether he would be killed by the enemy, die from his injuries, or exhaust his chakra, the end was the same.
'Is this… my end.'
Yami looked at the sky and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Even though he knew this mission was dangerous, deep down he had always been confident he would survive.
Constantly surviving deadly missions made him believe that as long as he played his cards right and didn't let emotions affect him, he would always make it through.
But now, battered and barely clinging to life, he couldn't help but ridicule himself.
'I was a fool. Maybe it would have been better to let Kakashi stop this squad… or even just abandon Konoha when I was first sent on this mission…'
Many excuses and options he should have taken filled his mind, but they amounted to nothing as he was dying.
Turning around, he tried to run away, but his movements were so slow that even a walking child would surpass him.
Seeing him trying to escape, Sasaki pulled out a kunai, but Takeshi stopped him.
"Let him suffer a while longer," Takeshi said, slowly walking behind Yami.
Sasaki paused, his eyes filled with murderous intent. But listening to Takeshi's reasoning, he agreed that killing Yami quickly would be a mercy. So he chose not to and quickly caught up to Takeshi.
'How the tables have turned.'
Looking at the two Iwa ninjas leisurely following his trail, Yami couldn't help but lament how ridiculous fate was. What he had done to their teammates was now being done to him.
The current scene reminded him of when Danzo was escaping from Sasuke, with Yami now resembling Danzo in this situation.
After running or walking for a while, he tripped over something and fell onto the body of another severely injured chunin.
Landing on the body woke the chunin, who recognized Yami as the enemy who had set the trap and blown them up. His eyes widened with bloodlust, but he found himself unable to move. Except for his head, he couldn't move anything else.
Looking at the chunin who glared at him, Yami dismissed him, seeing he couldn't move. But when the chunin suddenly spat in his face, Yami's eyes twitched with anger.
Even if he was dying, he wouldn't accept being treated as scum. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind. The idea was so awful that he hesitated to attempt it. But after being spat on a third time, he had enough.
The chunin saw that Yami was severely injured and knew his end was near, but he couldn't help but spit on him, as it was the only thing he could do.
But soon, the chunin's eyes widened in horror as Yami opened his mouth, revealing bloody teeth, before biting into his neck.
"Ahhh!"
Ignoring the chunin's screams, Yami sank his teeth into his flesh, tearing his throat and ending his life.
In his soul vision, a burst of light erupted from within the chunin's body, his soul slowly leaving and heading toward the afterlife. Yami didn't let that happen.
Covering his hand with the remaining spiritual energy, he grabbed the soul before it could escape, surprisingly succeeding.
The chunin's soul screamed in horror and tried to get away, but Yami firmly grasped it and, without hesitation, shoved it into his mouth.
***
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Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
-- Power
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