"You get knocked down, you get up again. That's how winning is done."
— Rocky Balboa, Rocky Balboa
--
Another stone ripped through the air, aimed dead at his hand.
Kazan jerked it back, fury in his eyes. He had to stop the jutsu—or lose his last functioning hand.
The veins in his neck bulged. He trembled with rage, every muscle twitching, teeth gnashing like a beast cornered.
"I HATE YOU ALL!" Kazan roared, his voice rattling the walls.
They weren't even letting him finish a single jutsu. Every time he moved, they broke his rhythm, cut him off. It wasn't a battle—it was mockery. Cheating. The fight wasn't supposed to go like this.
Otis spat blood onto the floor. His knees trembled, his lungs burned, his body screamed for rest. And yet, his hand rose once more, clutching another stone.
A broken grin carved across his face.
"This ends here."
The fight spiraled into chaos.
Stones ricocheted from every surface, snapping at Kazan from impossible angles. Kazan's sword whirled in savage arcs, every strike parried, deflected, or cut short by stone. Sparks carved across the chamber floor with every clash.
Wires lashed tight as Sasuke and Sayuri pressed with wire-bound kunai, dragging his limbs wide. Naruto dove in again with reckless fury, forcing Kazan back step by step, while Hinata covered every opening, her palms glowing with chakra. Sasuke and Sayuri moved in tandem, wire-bound kunai tightening the noose around the monster's frame.
For a heartbeat, Otis smirked through his pain. They're growing stronger…
But Kazan was still a monster. His body, twisted and enhanced, endured wounds no normal shinobi could survive. With a feral spin, his blade ripped free—grazing Sayuri's arm, nearly splitting Naruto's side, tearing Otis's chest open in a shallow slash. Blood scattered across the floor.
They were slowing. Ragged breaths, trembling limbs. Every heartbeat pounded like a drum of exhaustion.
Still, they refused to fall back.
Everyone tightened formation. Otis stood directly before Kazan, Sasuke to his right, Hinata to his left. Naruto and Sayuri circled behind, cutting off Kazan's retreat. Sayuri's cheek bore a thin bloody cut, Naruto's face was swollen with bruises, Sasuke's arm shook from strain, and Hinata's palms glowed weak but steady.
Kazan's grin stretched wide. "You think you can kill me just because I was going easy on you? You little shits—you're ANNOYING!" His scream cracked in rage.
"NOW!" Otis shouted.
Sayuri and Sasuke hurled kunai, wires gleaming in the dim light as they coiled around Kazan's sword arm and yanked it wide. Naruto roared, driving his heel into Kazan's knee, forcing him off balance. Hinata struck high, palm slamming into his shoulder with pinpoint precision.
Otis's hand flicked.
A stone snapped through the air—then another, ricocheting off the wall at an impossible angle, then a third skimmed the floor. Kazan twisted, snarling as the shots screamed past his head, close enough to shear strands of hair.
"Pathetic—"
Then another stone left Otis's hand.
It spun wide. Too wide. Tracing the far edge of the chamber, so far off course it looked laughable.
Kazan actually smirked. "Missed—"
The stone bent.
Chakra tugged invisible strings, dragging it in a savage, curving arc through the air.
The Reaper's Curve.
Otis's fingers twitched. Thin threads of chakra stretched from his hand, unseen by most eyes—like Kankurō's puppet strings, forcing the stone to dance through the air as he wished.
Kazan's eyes widened a fraction too late.
Crack!
The stone smashed into his knee sideways, ripping it apart with a wet pop. The joint gave, cartilage tearing, ligaments snapping like paper. His grin froze. His body jolted, sword slipping from his grip and clattering across the floor.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, he started to collapse—only for Otis to flicker behind him. His arm locked around Kazan's throat, choking tight.
Kazan screamed, raw agony tearing from his lungs as Otis's grip only tightened, crushing off his breath, killing him slowly. Desperation twisted his face as his hand fumbled for a kunai. With a guttural roar, he stabbed backward, aiming straight for Otis's ribs—
—but Hinata was there first. Her palm struck his wrist, chakra flaring as she sealed the tenketsu in his arm. The kunai went limp in his useless grip, clattering to the floor.
And before Kazan could even snarl—Sayuri stepped in. Her kunai flashed once, then drove straight through his eye socket. The steel buried deep into his brain with a wet crunch.
Kazan's scream ended in silence. His body went slack.
But Otis didn't release him. His arm held firm around the corpse's neck until the last twitch faded, until there was no doubt the monster was gone. Only then did he shove the body to the floor.
Sayuri's chest heaved, her blood-soaked kunai trembling in her hand. Then her eyes widened—red bleeding into black as a single tomoe spinning in her eyes.
The chamber fell silent.
Otis released the corpse. It hit the ground with a dull thud, lifeless. His arm still extended, chest heaving. Sweat and blood dripped down his battered frame. His knees finally buckled, and he slid against the wall, only the fire in his eyes keeping him upright.
The silence pressed down on them all.
Kazan was dead.
Otis staggered, blood dripping down his chin as he pushed against the floor. His body screamed for him to stay down, but his will dragged him up. Sayuri and Hinata were at his side in an instant, tears streaking their faces.
"Otis, what are you doing?! You're barely standing—you'll die!" Hinata's voice cracked, trembling with desperation.
"Idiot," Sayuri hissed, her newly awakened tomoe spinning through tears. "You're covered in blood—you can't…"
But Otis only shook his head. His breath rattled like fire in his chest.
"There's still one last thing… I have to do."
His eyes burned forward, unyielding.
--
(A/N)
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