Chapter 30: The Canvas and the Blade
The mist on the bridge thickened, swirling like a living entity, separating the combatants into isolated pockets of violence.
"Don't lose focus!" Kakashi barked, his hand already forming the seal for the Raikiri.
But Zabuza was already moving. "You're wide open, Kakashi!"
The massive blade cleaved through the air, forcing Kakashi to abandon his hand signs and block with a kunai. Sparks flew as the sheer weight of the Executioner's Blade drove Kakashi's knees into the concrete.
"I know how your Sharingan works now," Zabuza sneered, vanishing back into the fog. "You need to see me to copy me. But in this mist... you're blind."
Kakashi gritted his teeth, his eye darting around, tracking the faintest sound. He was engaged, and he couldn't help his students.
The Ice Mirrors
"Sasuke-kun, behind you!" Sakura screamed.
Sasuke spun, deflecting a hail of senbon needles with his kunai. He stood panting, his body already sporting several shallow cuts.
Haku stood before him, the porcelain mask betraying no emotion. "Please, do not make this harder than it needs to be. Stay down."
"Shut up," Sasuke growled. "I'm not dying in a place like this."
Haku sighed, the sound echoing strangely. "Then I apologize."
Haku performed a single-handed seal. The temperature on the bridge plummeted instantly. Water from the air crystalized, forming a dome of floating, rectangular ice mirrors around Sasuke.
"Crystal Ice Mirrors."
Haku stepped backward, merging into one of the mirrors. Instantly, his reflection appeared in all of them.
"What is this?" Sasuke spun in a circle, seeing Haku surrounding him from every angle.
"Speed that rivals light," Haku's voice echoed.
In a flash, Haku launched from the mirrors. Sasuke barely registered the movement before needles tore into his arms and legs. He cried out, dropping to one knee.
"Sasuke!" Sakura rushed forward, kunai drawn, intending to break the mirrors from the outside.
"Stay back!" Sasuke shouted, but it was too late.
Haku emerged partially from a mirror behind Sakura, kicking her hard in the ribs. She flew backward, skidding across the concrete near Tazuna.
"I will not kill you unless I must," Haku stated coldly. "But if you interfere, I will cripple you."
Sasuke glared, his eyes burning. He's fast... too fast. I can't track him!
The Artist and the Shini-Nin
Further down the bridge, away from the ice and the clashing Jonin, Naruto stood facing Yuuki.
The "tourist" snapped his black fan shut, tucking it into his sash. He didn't draw a weapon. He simply stood there, his white hair fluttering in the wind, a serene smile on his face.
"So," Naruto said, drawing his twin scimitars. "You act like a civilian, but you stand like a killer. What's your game, Yuuki?"
"Game?" Yuuki tilted his head. "I suppose life is a game to you, isn't it, Naruto-kun? But to me... it is art. And art requires suffering to be truly beautiful."
"Creepy," Naruto muttered.
He didn't waste time. "Bushōgoma!"
Naruto spun, unleashing a tornado of wind blades. The vortex screamed toward Yuuki, tearing up chunks of the bridge.
Yuuki didn't move. He didn't weave signs. Just as the wind was about to shred him, he stepped into the attack.
Naruto's eye widened.
Yuuki moved slipping between the currents of the wind. It wasn't a jutsu; it was pure, unadulterated body control. He twisted his body at impossible angles, letting the wind blades slice his white haori while his skin remained untouched.
He burst through the tornado, appearing right in front of Naruto.
"Too slow," Yuuki whispered.
He lashed out with a palm strike. Naruto raised his swords to block, but Yuuki feinted, his hand snaking around the blade to tap Naruto's forehead with two fingers.
Genjutsu? Naruto thought, flaring his chakra instantly to disrupt it.
"Phantom Substitution," Yuuki murmured.
Naruto slashed, cutting Yuuki in half—only for the body to dissolve into white petals.
An illusion? No, Kurama didn't warn me!
"Over here," Yuuki's voice came from the left.
Naruto swung, Kageoni ready to extend his reach via shadows. But Yuuki was faster. He pulled a long, thin stiletto blade from his fan, parrying Naruto's heavy scimitar with a delicate, deflecting strike.
Clang!
"You rely too much on your eyes," Yuuki said, his smile widening. "You think because you see me, I am there. But I am everywhere."
They clashed, steel ringing against steel. Naruto was strong, his swordsmanship enhanced by years of muscle memory from his past life. But Yuuki was versatile. He mixed high-level Genjutsu feints with lethal Taijutsu.
Naruto would swing at Yuuki's head, only for Yuuki to crouch and sweep Naruto's legs. Naruto would jump, and Yuuki would be in the air already, raining shuriken.
"Irooni!" Naruto shouted, looking for an opening. "White!"
He slashed at Yuuki.
Yuuki twisted mid-air, throwing his black fan to intercept the blade. The impact jarred Naruto's arm.
"Black," Yuuki countered calmly.
Naruto's eyes widened. He was wearing the black Shihakusho of a Soul Reaper under his kimono.
Yuuki kicked Naruto squarely in the chest. The force was tremendous—far stronger than his slender frame suggested. Naruto flew back, crashing into the railing of the bridge.
"Gah!" Naruto coughed, tasting blood. He figured out the rules? No... he just got lucky. Or maybe he's just that observant.
"You possess a unique rhythm," Yuuki commented, shaking out his wrist. "But your canvas is incomplete. You hide behind that eyepatch, pretending to be damaged. Let me make it a reality."
Yuuki blurred.
Naruto scrambled to his feet. "Kageoni!" He tried to sink into the shadows.
But Yuuki threw a flash bomb. Bang!
White light flooded the area, erasing all shadows for a crucial second. Naruto was forced out of the technique, stumbling.
"An artist prepares for his medium," Yuuki crooned.
He was inside Naruto's guard.
Naruto tried to dodge, tried to bring his sword up, but his depth perception wavered. Yuuki had cast a subtle Genjutsu during the flash—shifting Naruto's vision just two inches to the right.
Naruto blocked where he thought Yuuki's blade was.
He missed.
Yuuki's thin stiletto slashed upward in a cruel, elegant arc.
Shluck.
A line of red sprayed into the mist.
Naruto froze, a gasp stuck in his throat. His sword clattered to the ground. His hand flew to his face, covering his left eye—his only seeing eye.
Blood poured through his fingers, hot and sticky.
"Aaaaghh!" Naruto grit his teeth, stumbling back, his vision in his left eye going from blurry to pitch black.
"Beautiful," Yuuki whispered, stepping back and flicking the blood off his blade. "Now... the world is truly dark for you, isn't it, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto fell to one knee, the pain blinding, his world reduced to sound and smell. He was completely blind.
Kurama roared in his mind. "Naruto! Can you see?!"
"No..." Naruto rasped, blood dripping onto the bridge. "I can't see a thing."
Yuuki opened his fan, covering his mouth as he looked down at the kneeling boy with sadistic glee.
"Now," Yuuki said softly. "Let us see how you play your games in the dark."