Gaara's expression wasn't calm anymore, he was starting to get irritated.
"You move as if you can see it." Gaara muttered.
Sora spat a mouthful of sand out and grinned. "That's because I can."
Gaara's bloodlust intensified immediately, the sandy floor rose higher, forming a massive clawed arm that loomed over him. It condensed, darkened and then slammed down with enough force to flatten a building.
Sora didn't dodge it or run away, instead choosing to full sprint toward Gaara.
The massive arm of sand crashed behind him, blasting the dune apart in an eruption of sand. Smaller tendrils shot up from the ground to attack the approaching child.
Sora's eyes flared as he tore apart the internal chakra structure of the tendrils, disrupting them one by one.
He managed to reach Gaara once again.
This time he didn't throw a heavy strike, he swept low and delivered a rapid series of body shots to his ribs, solar plexus and thigh area. All of his attacks were reinforced with a spectral golden knuckle duster on each hand.
The automatic shield blocked most of it, but Sora adjusted the rhythm each time the defense would move to protect Gaara.
His plan wasn't to try to overpower the guard, but he was trying to study it and dissect the movements and habits it had.
On the seventh blow he noticed something, he noticed that the defense prioritised lethal zones first. Like his head, heart and spine.
The lower abdomen came a little bit slower, but that was enough for him.
He feinted a high attack and the shield rose to defend.
But then he quickly pivoted sharply and drove a compact punch into Gaara's lower ribs before the sand fully sealed.
The blow landed.
Gaara staggered back a step and silence fell upon the desert.
Then, several veins became visible on Gaara's forehead as fury enveloped his very being.
The sand suddenly exploded outward in rage, a tidal wave engulfing Sora before he could retreat. He barely managed to harden the ground beneath him, but the pressure drove him knee deep into the dune. Sand wrapped around his arms, compressing tighter, attempting to crush Sora's bones.
Gaara walked forward slowly.
"You… hurt me."
The pressure intensified.
Sora's jaw tightened and he stopped trying to struggle.
Instead, he focused. He read the chakra flow binding the sand around his arms and released a thin, surgical pulse directly into the core of it. The structure destabilised for a split second and he used that opportunity to tear free.
He quickly spun and drove a heel into Gaara's shoulder before the defense had time to clock what had happened.
Gaara slid backward several feet, blood trickling faintly from the corner of his mouth.
The air grew heavier.
The sand started to rise again and condensed around Gaara in a dense shell.
His expression went blank as the man that was with him finally stepped in.
"That's enough."
The tall man's gaze flicked between the two boys instantly as Sora shifted his stance slightly. "Hey, why are you now getting involved…"
"Baki. My name is Baki."
"Yeah, Baki… why are you getting involved?" Sora murmured.
Not even giving Sora a reply, Baki vanished and Sora barely managed to register the shift in air pressure before a blade swept toward his neck. He ducked, twisting instinctively but Baki's follow up kick connected cleanly with his side and sent him skidding across the sandy floor.
That was different.
That was quite a lot different from any of the other Jōnin that Sora had fought.
Baki attacked again, a controlled wind blade forming along his hand. Sora attempted to disrupt it mid formation, but Baki adjusted instantly and altered the chakra flow to compensate.
The blade sliced across Sora's shoulder and his blood sprayed out.
He immediately retreated, breath sharpening.
Gaara's sand suddenly surged from the side, forcing Sora to split his attention. He dodged the sand, but Baki was already there again.
A palm strike slammed into his chest, wind chakra detonating on impact.
Sora was thrown backward, cratering a sand dune.
He rose slower this time as blood trickled down his arm. His breathing had gotten heavier now.
Gaara watched silently while Baki stood poised.
"Shit." Sora spat.
…
…
The prime construct's jaw snapped sideways as Shuen's soulflame coated fist collided with it. The flame didn't explode on contact but it compressed the heat into a dense shell.
Shuen then followed through, his wing flying in like a sword. The feathers along the edge hardened mid swing, each one burning gold as they carved across the construct's torso. Cracks of golden light splintered across its chest.
"You're nowhere near as strong as the REAL Oroshiki's prime," Shuen growled, driving a knee upward into its ribs. "You were never stronger than me, but this is just pathetic."
The real Oroshiki struck from behind.
Shuen didn't turn, instead, his wing folded back sharply, intercepting the palm strike laced with lightning. The electricity surged across his feathers and was swallowed. His soulflame devoured the lightning like a predator consuming prey.
Shuen twisted on his planted foot and drove an elbow into Oroshiki's throat.
The impact forced him back several meters.
The construct lunged again.
Shuen caught its wrist mid punch and slammed his forehead forward yet again. Antlers cracked against the constructs skull, splitting it open in a web of glowing golden fractures.
He didn't stop.
Letting go of the construct, he threw a punch. Then another. Fists hammered down, each one coated in his soulflame, each blow cracking more of the constructs spectral form.
Oroshiki reappeared to the side and formed a hand sign.
Lightning speared toward Shuen's exposed back.
But Shuen spun and caught the lightning in his hand.
The bolt detonated in his hand, blackening flesh, but the flames coating his skin flared brighter, consuming the voltage and converting it into fuel. He stepped through the explosion and slammed his fist into Oroshiki's face hard enough to crater the ground they stood on.
"And you… you are even weaker." Shuen spat. "You hide in borrowed bodies and forced faith."
Oroshiki wiped blood from his lip and snapped back. "Yet, you are only alive because of my blood."
"The blood you forced in my body by planting that mark on me." Shuen said, eyes bloodshot.
They collided again.
The construct regained stability and charged from the opposite angle. Shuen leapt upward, wings flaring wide and both fists came down simultaneously, one striking the real Oroshiki, the other hitting the construct.
The impact folded the air.
The desert floor compressed beneath the triple collision, forming a shallow basin instead of an explosion.
Shuen moved even faster now.
He had a strange ability to get faster the longer he fought, perhaps it was just a habit of his that showed how confident he was getting.
He punched Oroshiki's nose before his wing lashed out at the construct, he pivoted before kneeing Oroshiki then elbowing the construct. Each movement chained into the next, the white and golden flame trailing behind. The construct tried to match him, but lagged behind.
Oroshiki noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
"Are you burning out?" Oroshiki said calmly between blocking attacks. "Those flames don't look as stable."
"Good." Shuen answered, driving a shoulder into his sternum and sending him skidding. "The less stable, the stronger. If my body can't handle it, I'll just regenerate."
The construct lunged again but Shuen caught it by the throat and hurled it across the battlefield. It tore through a jagged ridge of stone before dispersing and reappearing next to Oroshiki.
For the first time, both of the Oroshiki's were on the defensive.
Shuen continued forward no matter what.
He ducked beneath a lightning blade and answered with a wing slash that severed the constructs arm at the elbow. Then he spun, backfisted the real Oroshiki across the face, then drove both palms into the construct's chest, blasting it backward with a concentrated beam of soul flame.
The air shimmered from the heat.
Oroshiki's expression sharpened. "Hm, is your hatred really making you stronger? Or just more reckless?"
Sheen blurred forward and stared directly into Oroshiki's eyes. "What's the difference?"
He slammed a flaming fist into Oroshiki's abdomen and followed with a rising kick that launched him skyward. Before Oroshiki could stabilize, Shuen was above him, driving downward with a hammering axe kick.
They both hit the ground.
The construct intercepted the follow up attack, but Shuen's wing snapped forward and impaled it. He tipped up violently, splitting the construct from hip to shoulder.
It flickered and destabilised before reforming.
Oroshiki rose from the crater slowly.
Lightning crackled around him again, slowly healing the multiple wounds and broken limbs.
But it didn't feel the same.
The air grew warmer.
The sand beneath their feet shifted and Shuen paused for a split second.
Oroshiki's chakra had changed.
Suddenly, fire sparked along his shoulders and the ground beneath him hardened unnaturally.
"Ah, so you've adapted more to that body? This will be a little trickier." Shuen muttered.
Oroshiki flexed his hand, flames dancing across his fingertips. "Be proud, it's only because you forced me to."
He stepped forward and the battlefield changed, multiple stone columns erupted upward while flames spiraled through the air, lightning threading between.
The construct did the same.
Now there were two beings with multiple elemental affinities moving in sync.
And Shuen wasn't the slightest bit afraid.
A pillar of earth erupted beneath him, he shattered it with a kick. Fire swept across his wings? His flames were stronger.
Oroshiki appeared in front of him, fist cloaked in red fire and blue lightning.
The punch connected and it was Shuen that staggered this time.
Oroshiki hurled multiple hardened spears of nature energy that each exploded on impact.
Shuen retaliated immediately, flying forward and slamming his wing across Oroshiki's jaw and igniting the impact with soul flame. Oroshiki's chin charred and reformed.
The construct joined, driving an earth reinforced knee into Shuen's spine. He coughed up blood and rolled forward to avoid a lightning spear that split the ground.
"You rewrite your DNA," Oroshiki said evenly as he slowly walked forward. "You'll borrow my heritage to stand a chance."
Oroshiki's eyes that were placed just above his eyebrows flickered faintly, Tsubaki's eyes glowing.
The air warped again and Shuen's expression froze.
The construct beside Oroshiki did not stabilize, it only felt like it was getting stronger.
Then a second silhouette appeared behind them.
"You…" Shuen said quietly.
Oroshiki grinned. "This is not my perception. This is her perception."
The second shape solidified, identical to the first one form. The exact same.
Three Oroshikis with equal strength now stood before Shuen.
"Three stones to kill one bird." Shuen said, breathing heavier now.
Oroshiki's voice layered again. "You were never just a bird."
Shuen grit his teeth.
"You are definitely strong, Shuen. But I haven't even used the Tenrigan properly yet. So don't die here." Oroshiki said, as if commenting on the weather.
The first construct raised its arm, the second mirrored it.
Golden energy formed at their palms.
Shuen inhaled slowly. His wings flared, golden markings blazing as white and gold flames rolled across the feathers.
"Very well." He replied.
The two constructs attacked.