Interlude 15

‘Go’

The words echoed around in her head. Again and again and again. The world pulled sharply into head-pounding quiet. Muffled, distant, and all together too slow.

‘Go’

Something sharp and black flashed through the air, making her eyes trail to follow. A hushed whistle of steel cutting through the air, followed by the distinct muted sound of chopping wood.

A long black sword planted itself into the charred wood of the roof beams between her feet, wobbling as it stuck fast. She had been kneeling there a moment ago. If she had still been, she would be dead. Dead.

Dead like-

Something red and hot splashed across her face and chest. It smelled like copper. Her eyes trailed to her hands and front. They were dyed inconsistent red now, red and dark.

‘Go’

Her gaze trailed up, at the cloud of black ash that covered the rooftops in front of her. A figure was in the ash, quietly screaming and clutching at their face and chest. They sounded terribly angry, but she couldn’t make out any of the words.

Chunks of red were falling around. They splashed against the roofing beams and steamed, some heavier pieces rolling and falling off to the ground below, kicking up little waves of dust.

Ah, that’s right.

‘Go’

This was a genjutsu, wasn’t it? Just like they taught in the academy. She raised her hands together and made the right handseal, sluggish as everything seemed to move at the moment. She made her chakra circulate, and made the enunciation.

“Release.”

But nothing changed. Her hands and feet felt cold, cold and numb and filled with something like sandpaper.

But her head and chest were hot, terribly, unbearably hot. Her eyes drifted down again, to the red that painted her front, to the black sword covered in something that looked too much like red oil. The angry screams grew louder and louder, and the crackles of distant fire began to return to her ears.

‘Go’

The sword. Bozo- Bo- Bobo- Ba- Baba- Baza-

Bazo. Bazo had disarmed the enemy for her. She couldn’t let him down.

‘Go to Chikako.’

Her hands surged forwards to take hold of the long black sword, straight with a short guard and a long handle, the tip of the blade embedded with a large greenish-blue gemstone. The numb and cold of her hands vanished as heat rushed through her limbs, and she strained.

A moment later she stumbled, the sword coming free from the charcoal. She turned and threw herself forwards in an unplanned leap, reaching the next rooftop and stumbling into a sprint. Her sandals made ‘crunch-crunch’ noises as she raced over the hot, burnt wood. She didn’t like this noise.

She jumped again, rolling onto the next rooftop and away- towards the other side- away from the water. A distant roar of outrage sounded out behind her- somewhere distant and yet too-close.

“Y-you- you fucking- are you running off with my fucking sword you brat?!” A harsh, wet, sputtering cough followed.

She blinked hard, face scrunched up in agitation, the dust was making her eyes water. The sound of metal whistling through the air came from behind. She ran across another section of rooftops, jumping at the end and trying to duck-

She tripped, one foot slamming into the other and sending her rolling forwards. She fell onto her face, rolling and skidding briefly, sword hugged tight against her body with both hands.

The metal whistled over her head and stopped against the next roof, thunk-thunkthunk-thunk. Shuriken impacting wood, just like the throwing training in the academy. She let out a whine as she threw herself up, stumbling into another almost-aimless run and jump across the hot rooftops.

“Y-cuah-cuoug! You b-brat! Absolutely not- You get back here w- coauhg! Cao- couword!”

‘Go’

She ran harder- stumbles smoothing out into a steady forwards gait. Her gaze roamed the distance, her own breathing drowning out the screams behind her. The crunching noise of her footsteps were replaced by the sound of something like drums. Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.

She jumped and jumped again, kicking off a section of partially-topped roofing and towards more stable grounds. She landed into a long slide as blurring white steel raced over her head.

Brown hair tied back, furious bloodshot eyes, cheeks ragged and bloody revealing bony teeth beneath, a purple coat painted in red and black. His hand was holding a white blade, painted red and the pinky torn off in a ragged mess. Her eyes locked with the stranger’s for an instant that dragged on timelessly.

She swallowed, the slide continuing as the stranger tripped with the weight of his swing and topped over the side of the roof. A stumbling, uneasy gait that moved drunkenly across the charred roofs. A roar of fury immediately followed his fall, as did the sound of snapping logs, the sounds echoing over the distant flames and rolling across the soot-stained riverbanks.

She pushed up- stumbling once as the entire building was rocked by some immense and rancorous blow, and then jumping over to the neighboring building.

There, in the distance, the movement of familiar colors and shapes over blackened, hellish rooftops. They kicked up black clouds of ash twinged with little hot cinders as they leapt, the same that she was.

‘Go’

“Mao- report, what’s going-” Chiko began with a worried shout, leaping over another set of rooftops to get closer. Mao cut her off.

“We need to go!” She shouted, desperately trying to get the words out as fast as she could. Her eyes watered- more ash. She did not stop her running pace, leaping across another ash-choked alleyway and onto the roofs adjacent to them. Crunch-crunch-crunch. “B-bazo needs us to go! We need to go right now!”

“We- what? Mao what’s going on-” Shimi began, before another boom echoed and a building began to collapse behind her- in the direction of the stranger.

“AH’LL GHUT YOU LHIKE A FISH, GHIRL!”

Soon, Chiko and Shimi were running apace with her, over rooftops and away from the riverbanks. Their expressions were panicked, and frequent glances were thrown back as they hopped over charred pillars and walls and reached the packed-earth roads again.

“W-where’s Bazo!? We need to get him!” Shimi got out through harsh breathing, arms flipping up and down rapidly as her legs pumped to carry her forwards.

‘Go’

“Mao.” Chiko got out, voice clipped and choked up as she raced along the road. “W-where’s Bazo?”

‘Go’

“H-he needs us to go!” Mao repeated, face hot and wet, clutching the immense black sword to her chest as she ran. Her sandals made ‘clop-clop-clop’ noises as they returned to the road. “H-he needs-” She had to sniff in the middle of her words- the road in front of her becoming blurry. “-He needs us to go!”

Clop-clop-clop. They did not respond for a few moments, little choked noises coming from their throats and sharp inhales of breath.

“SHTOP RHUNNING! GHIVE ME MY SWORD!”

“Mao- the sword, why do you have it?!” Chiko snapped, throwing a tense look behind them again as they raced forwards.

“Bazo disarmed him!” Mao all but wailed as she explained, face scrunched up and breathing unsteady. “He was going to kill us- and Bazo got his sword away- He’s the one who burned the rice with it!”

A boom echoed behind them, followed by the distinct sound of a rock wall being reduced to rubble. Mao flinched forwards, clutching the sword tight enough to make her palms bleed. “H-he’ll kill us if we give it to him! H-h said no survivors! We can’t let him have it!”

‘Go’

“W-we have to go!” She repeated, something hot and wet rolling down her face and dropping off her chin- angry that she couldn’t find the right words to explain. She was too stupid. Stupid. Stupid Mao.

Chiko’s fists clenched up, and her face scrunched in frustration and fear. Mao wanted to tell her that she was crying- but she couldn’t get the words out.

Chiko’s eyes closed as she choked out order. “Full retreat! Make clones- have them follow behind us- I-I’ll set the pace.”

Mao pulled her hands together, doing her best to not slip and fall, sword bouncing between her chest and her arms as she called chakra up.

Three puffs of smoke followed, and three clones appeared behind them, one of each girl. Chiko-clone immediately slowed her pace, maintaining a slower run as they raced forwards.

“Y-yoshimi- get out the explosive tags and start charging them!” Chiko ordered, ponytail swishing as she reached into her bag and started to pull out coils of ninja wire and kunai. Yoshimi glanced over, her own face twisted up with a fearful expression, before giving a sharp nod and reaching into her pouches.

In the distance behind them, the loud pop of a clone being dispelled by force sounded out. A roar of outrage echoed through the treelines, followed by two more rapid pops of clones being ripped apart like balloons. The girls flinched as the flow of chakra suddenly cut off, an elastic effect that twinged against their foreheads painfully.

“Again!” Chiko immediately ordered, holding her tools with her arms and throwing her hands together in a seal. Yoshimi and Mao soon followed.

Another trio of poofs as clones came into existence behind them and slowed their pace. Chiko followed this by leaping, turning midair to toss two kunai in short succession, and then turning again to land and keep running. The kunai planted themselves into trees on opposite sides of the road and suspended a tight length of ninja-wire between them, diagonally across the road.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We’ll do this until we get low on chakra- then leave a substitution of ourselves exhausted.” Chiko hissed, getting out another set of throwing weapons and ninja wire as they moved. “The substitution will be that bunch of explosive seals that Yoshimi is charging- we’ll trigger it the moment we hear that pop!”

“I JHUST WANT MY SWORD- I’LL EVEN LHET YOU GO!”

Mao’s face twisted as she choked out. “He’s lying! He- he’s not g-gonna! He didn’t!”

“…Team Leader.” Shimi muttered fearfully, breath coming out in short clips. “W-we’re an hour and a half away from the flare point. C-can we get there? Y-you know, b-before…”