| abstract | - Releasing his transformation, Shikaniku crept off of the wall, as the group of shinobi walked by. He scurried through the garden behind the palace of the raikage and his family, people that he was relatively acquainted with. The wife of the cloud shadow was the daughter of his master; it had been a shame that she departed so Konoha. Her mother's heart was broken, and Shikaniku had ultimately lost out on a chance to acquire a treat of such elegant taste. Nevertheless, he had found love of his own within time, and her mother had moved on. Though, it still surprised him on how well everything turned out: him acquiring a wife of his own, Sayuri learning to accept her daughter's choice, and Shigemi being accepted by the people of Kumogakure despite Konoha indirectly causing the disappearance of their previous Kage. Exiting the garden, he crept through the window of a palace bedroom, and stopped as he looked onto the bed. A figure rested under the bed sheets quietly. "Whomever decided that this was a good spot is an idiot, but shigemi, you never were that smart." Shikaniku ripped the sheets off of the figure, welcomed by a warm kick to the stomach that forced him backwards. He gazed at the person, dumbfounded. "Who are you?" The covers were suddenly pulled off of the man before he initiated a kick to the mans stomach region through the covers itself, causing him to move back a considerable distance as he gazed up at the mans face. "I should be asking you the same thing!" Yuu stated before another figure grabbed the mans shoulders from behind before pulling him back with sufficient force in an attempt to throw him out the window of the room. "Oh sh—" the Nara was interrupted by the cling of the window as he fell through it. Mid air, pulling an kunai from his pocket, Shikaniku launched it into the room, watching as the paper that encapsulated the handle flickered into life. Moments later, his back struck the ground as he rolled backwards, preparing for the flames that he hoped would consume the entire room. In a split, swift motion, the kunai flew in through the window. Noticing this, Yuu simply stepped towards the hole in the room as he tilted his head slighty to the right as the weapon zipped past him and lodged itself in the wall. All the windows within the small room shatter, with amassive bang as the place was ruined with explosive force and ruinous fire. Chunks of rather large debris rained down on the area below as well as from the walls that were affected. Up at the ledge, a flaming figure stepped, before the flames were all extinguished, revealing the shinobi Shikaniku called himself snooping on. Jumping out the window and landing on the ground, the shinobi's body appeared dark in appearance as his features were revealed by the flicking flames above and around the area. "Why are you here?" Yuu asked the man. Shikaniku spoke, "Considering you were in the room, I can only determine the reason you know why I'm here." His tone almost mocked the man before him, as if he was trying to garner a reaction. In truth he was; talking was an invaluable weapon In battle. It gave one time to think as they took in what they saw. For Shikaniku, his mind worked to try and grasp how the man before him was alive. "It's evident that he was caught in the explosion.", he analyzed, "Afterall, his clothes are charred, but he isn't. Why?" Interested, Shikaniku curled his features into amusement. Removing a smoke pellet from within his coat, he hurled it towards the ground, shrouding his being in a thick mist of smoke. Disguised, Shikaniku shared the magical energies within his body with the earth. Immediately, the earth became fluid, and loose; dived into it, and as he passed, the energies he shared dissipated returning the soil into its rigid shape, as if he had never tampered with it in the first place. Yuu could clearly see that the man didn't really want to answer his question, dodging it with another on top of creating a diverse. "This shinobi is a very intelligent one, though from a simple glance, he seems to be testing me indirectly." Yuu thought as his body returned to its normal color. Tuning his eyes, he could see through the smoke, noticing the shinobi wasn't there. "He's still here..." He added. Exerting his ability directly into the surrounding area, he placed his hands on the ground, channeling his vibratory energies into it, before changing the very molecular makeup of the ground into a slightly less solid state. Hopping back up to the ledge with a simple thrust of his legs, Yuu increased the vibrations of the top most layer of the substance, causing the sudden increase in friction to ignite it, resulting in a spontaneous ignition of flames that quickly set the immediate area ablaze while turning the very ground molten as it boiled, with gasous globs of molten rock bubbling up. Shikaniku's original plan was to return to the surface and surprise his enemy with a familiar punch to his chin. It had become quite the trademark technique of Konoha shinobi, modelled specifically after their beloved hokage who had disappeared one faithful day. However, the presence of the lava above him definitely scared him, and through reflexes alone had he barely escaped its grasp. As he approached the upcoming storm, he channeled his chakra into his own body, becoming the dark phantom that his clan had spent centuries manipulating. Removing the energies that governed his form, he passed through the surface uncaringly, and upon reaching the surface, his scurried across the melted terrain like a rapid apparition, barely illuminated by the dim moonlight above them. Then, for a brief moment, he was visible, and in that moment a barrage of shuriken found their way towards Yuu, glowing with a blue hue. Seeing the projectiles fly at him with sudden speed as they zoomed from a shadow making its way across the molten surface of the ground, Yuu formulated a familiar substance within his body as he watched the shuriken approach with sudden speed. "Such a rapid counter to my previous attack. A smart man indeed..." Yuu said as he also took note of the shadow. Without notice, he jumped into the air while a particularly powerful substance was sprayed from his mouth in a highly pressurized but thin stream as it reached the flying pronged tools. Right before it made contact with them, Yuu widened the stream as he flipped overhead and landed on top of another building. The substance quickly ate through the shuriken as it rendered most of them ineffective. "He has shadow-based abilities. Konohagakure has a clan that specializes in a hiden that uses shadows..." Yuu pondered as he formulated his next plan of action. " Intangible, and a living shadow, Shikaniku zipped through the world, without leaving a trace of any sound. In an instant he appeared on a building parallel to Yuu's own, and when his feet finally touched the red roof, his blue coat and tanned skin reflected the light radiated under the moonlight. Lazily, he scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I didn't expect to encounter such resistance when the village is being attacked by crazed, religious fiends," Shikaniki complained, as his tone did not betray his emotions, "Kumogakure had someone this troublesome in there reserves after-all." Pulling a shuriken from his robe, Shikaniku encapsulated it in a blue hue, and threw it. Then, as it passed his being, it multiplied as he uttered the incarnations into a barrage of others that, yet again, approached Yuu. Seeing his target throw the projectiles his way, decided that he didn't want to do anymore running. Pulling out his Katana while simultaneously imbuing it with Lightning Release and , Yuu dashed forwards while swinging its blade, projecting a lightning bolt towards several shuriken. Upon touching them, it caused them to become magnetized, as the lightning spread across them, essentially altering their trajectories greatly, via different magnetic fields interacting with one another. As his opponents offensive attack fell apart, Yuu spun around. "He seems quite adapt in combat. I'll study him a little more." he thought mid-spin as he deflecting several shuriken before he threw his now electrified sword directly at the shinobi, hoping to at least cut him. Shikaniku stepped to the side as the lightning imbued sword passed him, smiling in excitement as he did so. With his hand, he formed the incarnations, as the blue hue that once enveloped the shuriken that he launched had become visible around Yuu. The energies coursed through his body, and then into his shadow; his body froze. "It was inevitable that you would fall prey to this technique. You could never know that those shuriken were imbued with chakra that would magnetize you and paralyze your shadow," Shikaniku boastingly stated, bragging as he pulled three explosive kunai from his pouch. In a fluid motion, he threw them towards Yuu, having no concern, since his opponent had been imbued with a magnetic field, that they would reach their target and detonate accordingly. Hearing his opponents words, Yuu couldn't help but smile as he was caught off guard completely, paralyzed, with his own shadow as the source. The shimmering light reflected in Yuu's eyes as he took note of his sword lodging itself in the ceramic tiles of the roof behind the man. "My movements are paralyzed, but..." Yuu thought as the tags detonated. A rather large explosion ensued as the explosion engulfed the area, further damaging it. Surely such a commotion wouldn't go unnoticed by village officials, though them noticing wouldn't really matter. Smoke filled the flickering battle grounds as a plume of fire and dust was kicked up into the night sky. Seconds later, the smoke cleared enough to tell that nothing remained in the blast area, let alone of the man. Suddenly, dust from the area began to quickly gather around as it formed into a humanoid, with a glowing blob gathered on the ground below it, changing its very composition in the process. Within seconds, it took the shape of a man before the features and clothing set in. The man from before was back, having quite literally reformed himself. This time however, he was much more alert. "I applaud your fighting skills and tactical thinking, Shikaniku..." Yuu stated, as his shadow glowed, appearing almost as a bright as a the Sun on a sunny day. "I haven't been pushed this far since a battle with as old friend, let alone by a Nara. Your Magnet Release is quite the nature, using it in tandem with your shadow manipulation to induce shadowic paralyses on a target." Yuu stated as his shadow began infecting shadows within the vicinity, turning them as bright as it was. "LEt's continue this fight!" You stated he threw several smoke balls into the surrounding area to obsure his opponents vision and mask his movements as his bright shadow took over his body. "Don't expect your last move to work this time" Yuu thought as he disappeared into the bright shadows of the surrounding area as it kept spreading, along with the smoke. Shikaniku clicked his tongue in annoyance as he watched his entire assault....fail? He was still unsure what had just happened; his enemy had been blown to literal dust, but had reformed somehow? Even more than that, he was almost pleased that Shikaniku was able to do such a thing to him. "Why do my family always have to get the weird ones" the Nara thought, remembering his father telling him of an encounter with an immortal man who enjoyed inflicting pain on himself more than anything. Allowing his eyes to flicker from one side to another to prevent being caught off guard in the cloud of smoke, Shikaniku grabbed hold of the power within himself, weaving his energy into form as he uttered the incarnation. Holding his palm parallel to the ground, and perpendicular to his chin, he unleashed the built up magical energies that took the form of a gust of wind that sent the cloud of smoke, and anything that stood in Shikaniku's way, speeding away. The mighty gust of wind blew away the smoke , blasting the area in the process. As the smoke dissipated, nothing but light could be seen all around the place in areas while shadow was supposed to be, while Yuu was nowhere in sight. "Don't get me wrong, my fellow shinobi, I seek to enjoy this battle, but I don't seek to kill you..." an omnious voice sounded from all around the immediate area as seemingly every shadow in sight, was simply gone, nothing more but a glow, save for his opponent's own. Emerging from one of the light of the glow from a tree located a good distance from the mans twelve-o'clock, was a ball was seemingly tossed from it into the air. Upon quickly reaching about fifteen feet into the air, the compound activated, causing its pyrotechnic metal oxidant mix of magnesium and potassium nitrate to react, producing a rather loud bang as well as a blinding bright flash. This alone would spontaneously activate all photo-receptor cells within his opponents eyes, leaving him absolutely blind for approximately five seconds. As the band went off, Yuu engulfed himself in his light as he emerged slowly from the glow of the tree. The power of observation was sometimes....well, not so powerful. Shikaniku, skeptical of the ball, refused to take his eyes off of it, and when it ultimately released its flaring light, his eyes felt the effects. He dropped down to his knees on the roof, grasping at his eyes as they remained temporarily charred. "Why doesn't he want to kill me?" He could do no less than ponder that question as he cringed in pain. "Did he say that to lower my guard?" He could feel his organs being relieved of the strain, and when they slid open, he was overcome with an uncomfort he had known several times: his shadow was gone. "That was his aim. To extend my shadow using the flashbang, causing it to touch his own, and glow." Shikaniku sighed as he rubbed his eyes, continuing his thought, "That's a really smart attack." Standing to his feet, Shikaniku looked towards his blazing enemy, ultimately shielding his eyes from his glow. "You're stronger than I could have ever imagined," his compliment was almost sincere, but he had never been known to compliment an opponent's skill over his own. There was always a hidden agenda. Pulling smoke pellets from his coat, Shikaniku hurled them towards the ground, enshrouding his being in a puff of smoke. Though, it was only momentarily to disguise his flicker to the inside of the building. The darkness masked his presence, rendering him effectively invisible to the naked eye. He sighed in relief as he felt his companion return. "If I get away from his shadow, he can't make it glow, and it'll come back. Thank heavens," he thought, hiding silently in the corner of the room. "Smoke again huh?" Yuu stated Accessing the DNA of the bat from within his body. Emitting sound waves to high for the human ear to pickup and discern, Yuu emitted the waves three-hundred-sixty degrees all around himself in quick attempt at finding his foe, despite harboring much more effective and effecient methods of remote enemy location. Bouncing back to him shortly after, Yuu located his foe, whom was hiding within a building nearby. Boosting his extrasensory perception, which allowed him to locate the accurately locate individuals according to their life force, Yuu homed in on the closest one to him as he simultaneously shaped his left hand into a bow while secreting liquid carbon while arranging its atomic lattice into that similar to diamond, shaping it into an arrow before drawing it back as it glowed. "Why are you here, Skikaniku?" Yuu stated before increasing the pullback weight of the arrow autonomously unleashing it. The arrow sliced through the air as it traveled almost like a bullet. Encountering the concrete of the house, its diamond hard structure pierced it as it penetrated the wall and emerged from the other side as it was lodged into the other wall. "Shikaniku, tell me why you are here, or else I'll be forced to apprehend you." Yuu state as he then merged with the ground. A blast of pressurized air struck the side of his face as the arrow penetrated the wall only inches from his being. "Such accuracy," Shikaniku processed, looking through the shredded as Yuu addressed him. He was impressed; more than impressed actually. Yuu had peaked his interest, and basically forced him to retreat. Though, what the Nara was truly surprised about was how he couldn't grasp his ability, even still. "You're an impressive shinobi," he spoke, his voice radiating a confidence that he hadn't shown in the early stages of the battle. Leaping out of the building, he assumed his position at the crown of the roof, tickling the hilt of his blades. "You've shown me abilities I've never encountered within a person. For a minute, I thought you were almost impossible to defeat." Shikaniku's left eye shut, and simultaneously he pulled his two blades from their respective sheathes. "I can say, I never expected that my journey to acquire the eight tails would be this difficult, but it won't be for much longer. I'll end it with my next technique." His eyelid seemingly tightened as he closed his eye harder. "Let's finish this with our swords!" Shikaniku spared no time between that and his statement, leaping to the next rooftop with his katana in hand. In a sudden eruption, a geyser of earth began and continued to erupt from the ground in several areas of the section of the village the two were fighting in. From the feel of it, it was raining down grains of normal sand as it littered the rooftops with the material. Rising up to the surface of the earth itself, Yuu's body appeared as a featureless, shining silhouette. Without even forming a hand sign, but at the will of Yuu's very will the normal sand spontaneously took on the appearance and properties of iron sand as they began to shine and sparkle brightly, lightning the area up and illuminating the rooftops. The shine of the iron sand would immediately disrupt the brainwaves of his foe, rendering him unable to move or even think, mimicking the very effects of another technique. This attack would effectively leave his targets mind and body paralyzed, leaving him quite helpless. Shikaniku had come to recognize the danger of anything his opponent did. Whether it was make a ball of light, shoot an arrow, or simply smile, there was always a catch. He decided not to risk anymore chances. His being was overcome by a black apparition, thereby making him intangible, as he charged towards Yuu. His feet skated across the air carelessly as if he was floating, and a crooked smile could be seen in his ghastly physique. "Perfect..." Yuu stated as his bodies dimensions literally opened up, with his body fading away, leaving just the contours and appearing as a hole in itself blinding bright and able to literally cast darkness itself aside; Yuu's body was a literal hold in reality, exposing the harsh environment of another plane of existence that nothing could survive if exposed to for too long. As his opponent was covered in shadow and heading towards him, another hole opened up as it shaped itself into a smile as Yuu was ready for any assault his opponent may have in store for him. "Shadows... One of the most amazing concepts in existence. Hell, being intangible has its benefits Shikaniku, but even they have a weakness..." Yuu stated as light was emitted from Yuu's body, literally engulfing everything within miles of their location. The light struck his shadow-flesh, dissipating the ghostly shroud that was once his flesh. When he materialized to his tanned skin, the light began to scathe it like an intense wave of heat. He conjured the chakra from within, and slammed his palms against the roof groaning the incarnations. Erecting from the red tiles was a concrete dome in response to Shikaniku's call, shrouding him in its protection and darkness. Like a child's hand after touching the stove, his skin was a light red, and his breathing was deep, but quick. Yet, in might of all his struggles, his left eye had remained shut. Pulling a shuriken from his robe, a blue hue encapsulated the shuriken, and with a small opening through his dome, he chucked it directly towards Yuu, all in the meanwhile as his shadow creaked into the surrounding darkness below. Utilizing his mass-less body, a beam composed of the potent energy of the dimension in the very shape of Yuu's body was fired from the hole. Upon striking the pronged, sharpened metal construct , it was simply weakened before being destroyed. With two seconds left, the surrounding area began to be destroyed, and at a rather quick pace, having been exposed to the atmosphere of Souls' Paradise for nearly ten seconds. As time ticked away, the same would occur to Shikaniku's Earth dome, as miles of Kumogakure was quite literally deteriorating away before it began vanishing, potentially killing hundreds. Shikaniku could feel his very earth dome collapsing, and though he was infusing chakra into its structure to maintain it, he could feel the futility of his efforts. Though, it was all to buy time for his shadows below to take shape below. Having allowed his own to creak into earth beneath, as light can only strike the surface of the earth, leaving a supply of shadow underneath for one to manipulate, Shikaniku had been creating shadows within other shadows during the duration of his own attack, and Yuu's response. From beneath the portal that was Yuu's body, his shadow took form, erupting from beneath the initial surface of the concreate, forcing the earth into a ball around the portal, blocking its light as it encapsulated it. The shadows, having pushed the earth around it, followed directly behind, shrouding the very rock dome that separated it from the portal. Fortunate for him, Yuu had been entirely massless, and his portal therefore, making his absorbtion that easier. "By using my shadow as a medium, I'm able to pull anything in contact with it into my shadow, as if it was a scroll!" Shikaniku groaned as he formed the appropriate handseal. The ball of shadows found themselves pulled into his own shadow, having been connected to the ball for the entirety of the time, subsequently seal, and the rocks, having been connected to the ball of shadows, was taken in as well. "By using my shadow as a medium, I'm able to pull anything in contact with it into my shadow" Upon hearing this, Yuu returned his body to normal, giving it form as he willingly fell back into his own shadow, entering his dimension. Forcefully closing off the portal, he would then secret a unique material around his body, before forming it into a dome and a one in it. This would allow him to literally create a shadow within his world of all light as he smiled. In the real world, Shikaniku absorbed the shadow covered earthen into his body, sealing it away. Yuu remained inside his dimension within the dome he create, before opening it up and simply flying high into the sky, thinking about the spectacular battle he had, and how he in fact, lost the battle, despite escaping. "Shikaniku... He's more skilled than I could have ever imagined... Hell, he almost had me several times, and even managed to corner me during out battle... I've gotten lazy..." Yuu pondered as he simply hovered, relaxing within the confines of another plane of existence. When he shadow sealed the supplies, Shikaniku could detect that Yuu was not in his technique. "That guy..." he pondered, his tone indicating his mind was lost in the vastness of thought. Sitting down on the roof, he gathered his breath, and his thoughts. He had seen his opponent's abilities, and though he had been incapable of sourcing his power, he understood that conventional attacks were no longer an option. "Perhaps..." Shikaniku stood up, sheathing his blades, and releasing his control of the shadows. "Yuu, if you're here, come out. I have a proposal to make," he exclaimed. His tone did not betray his emotions; it radiated power just as his intellect had during the entire battle. Yuu returned back to the dome. "I have much work to do after this battle..." Yuu stated before using his newly cast shadow to open a portal back to the main world. Stepping through, he noticed Shikaniku in this distance. "You requested me?" Yuu stated as he looked at the man from within his own shadow. "What would you like to say?" Yuu asked, feeling a little bewildered by Shikaniku's actions. "It's a simple one." He was assertive. "I'm here for the eight tails jinchuriki, and, unfortunately, our battle has caused me to use a bit of chakra. I doubt I'll be able to battle the jinchuriki, and escape the Kumogakure forces." Shikaniku looked towards Yuu. "I assume they're paying you a great deal of money, no? I can triple what they're paying you." "Your assumption is correct. They are paying me 2,300,000 ryō for acting as the Eight Tails Jinchuriki. I'm not interested in the money. Yuu stated. "While I don't know where they hid the Eight-Tails, I did meet the jinchuriki, Kanata Yuri. By mimicing his chakra signature, I can home in on his location. I'll assist your in your mission" Yuu asked, wanting to hear out Shikaniku. Standing up, he almost ignored Yuu's last statement. "The details are not necessary. All I need you to do is hone in and find it. You'll accompany me to the leaf and then you'll receive your payment. Yes?" His question was almost not a question, as he unsheathed his blade. "Let's prepare to depart." Hearing the man out, Yuu's body look on an orange glow as he recreated the chakra he felt within the tailed beast. Within seconds, Yuu located the signature. "Kanata's location is near the Raikage's Office." Yuu stated as he materialized a black, leather jacket around himself before following Shikaniku, looking ahead to see massive platforms surrounding various rock formations, something unique to Kumogakure. Upon reaching the desired location, Yuu turned and looked at Shikaniku. "This is as far as I got Shikaniku. It was a pleasure fighting you. May we meet again someday..." Yuu stated as he merged with the surrounding area itself, vanishing along with his chakra signature.
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