Hey guys! Again, took a while to type out this chapter only because school has been getting a little heated in these last few weeks. Graduations coming up, less changes to bring up grades are coming too. But we're not here to talk about my personal life. We're here to find out what the hell happened last time and how things will end up in this chapter!

1.) Kuma is killed by the Faceless Samurai!

2.) Tomū questions his connection to the samurai!

3.) Akiko and Katsu arrive for the samurai's final test!

What happens next? Read to find out!

"Hello, what's good bitch?"~Character talking

'Damn, she got a fine ass!'~Character thinking

"I'll blow you to smithereens!"~Bijuu/Boss talking

'Wow, he really is an idiot...'~Bijuu/Boss thinking

(PS-I would also appreciate any type of fanart dedicated to this story XD If someone has made or found any artwork, please PM me and I will link it up on my page for everyone to see! Thank you for your time!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Just my OC!

Chapter 18: Like Little Mice...

Not a single one of them could move.

It was unlike anything they ever experienced.

The air dropped several degrees and like a mirage, the samurai faded away from the branch he stood on.

Katsu didn't even know what happened. Waves of pain began to wash over his body as he saw that red lines had started appearing over his exposed skin. His mouth opened, but the only thing that came out was a choking gasp for air. With his own eyes, he watched as his fingers fell off his hands and red sprayed from the holes. Following his fingers were his hands, which had been sliced off from the wrists. Falling at his sides were his arms, completely severed from the shoulders down.

The Hyūga collapsed when he felt the back of his knees get slashed open.

As he struggled on the ground, Katsu's mouth opened and closed as he desperately tried to call for help. From the corner of his vision, he saw the sunlight reflect off a metallic object and before he knew it, the sword was plunged into the side of his skull.

Akiko was no better.

As soon as a shadow loomed over her, the kunai she held in her hand was stolen from her. The world around her turned into a blur as she was slammed into a tree, too dazed to react when her arms were pulled above her head. But she regained her senses when she felt a kunai stab clean through both of her palms, pinning them to the tree trunk.

Tears built up in her eyes as the samurai trekked closer. The kunoichi saw the samurai's sword swing towards her and soon enough, blood started to leak down her shirt. Her body trembled where it stood and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The pain of having her stomach cut open caused Akiko to convulse as her innards flowed out onto the grass. Soon enough, her body went limp.

Tomū felt a shudder run down his spine when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him.

Without warning, the teen's eyes widened and his pupils shrank when a blinding pain exploded within his chest. Coughs ripped through his throat and thin line of blood trailed down the corner of his mouth as his body went completely rigid. With heavy, uneven breaths, Tomū found himself looking down. He caught the sight of a blade protruding from his chest, the sword soaked with his own blood.

"N-No...!"

With shaking hands, Tomū grabbed the tip of the sword. He closed his eyes and squinted, trying to fight against the pain.

"Please... no more..." Tomū pleaded with a whisper. He winced when the sword started to slowly pull itself, creating welts in the palms of his hands. "H-Hurts... it hurts s-so much...!" The black haired teen repeated before another wave of coughs assaulted him. He fell to his knees when the sword was pulled out through his back. He desperately clutched at the hole in his chest.

When Tomū opened his eyes, he saw a pair of wooden sandals in front of him.

He looked up.

All he was met with was a blank mask as the sword was brought down on him.

His eyes snapped open and Tomū let out ragged gasps for air. He was drenched in sweat. Eyes blinking uncontrollably, the confused teen found himself standing back on his own two feet instead of kneeling before his executioner.

The phantom pain sparked inside him, causing his hands to grip at his own chest. He found no stab wound. There was no more pain. No blood. Tomū swallowed a lump down his throat as he tried to recall what just happened. 'An illusion?' He thought in disbelief. No, it couldn't have been fake. It was more than that, it had to be! Everything felt so real...!

But here he was, unharmed.

As his mind tried to catch up with his racing heart, Tomū started to feel weak in the legs as he tried to keep himself upright.

"I'm... I'm alive... I'm alive..." He told himself over and over as an attempt to calm himself down.

"Looks like you're barely clinging onto your sanity." A cold voice rung throughout the air, making Tomū tense up. "All except one..."

One? What was he-

The teen's head whipped around when he heard wheezing from Akiko.

Behind him, the brunette stood with her hands clutching her stomach. She was gasping for air as she looked down at herself in silent horror.

She slapped a hand over her mouth when she felt something bubbling up in her throat. Her eyes clenched shut as something forced its way through her fingers and she gagged as her mouth was flooded with the contents of her stomach. She lurched forward and released it all over the ground.

"H-Hey!" Tomū exclaimed, darting towards her side in an instant.

Meanwhile, Katsu was having just as much trouble as Tomū had with keeping himself standing on his own two feet. The world around him spun around and he felt dizzy. His face was etched into a scowling wince. His brain was pounding against his skull as if he took a direct hit from a hammer and his nerves were shot as well. Whatever just happened caused him to lose nearly all the feeling in his body, causing his muscles to switch between relaxing and hardening.

Breathing heavily, the Hyūga struggled to keep a single eye open as he tried to will himself back into his clan's traditional battle stance.

"You're proving to be very promising, Tomū."

Two set of eyes were locked onto the samurai, who was back to his old spot and stood tall on the tree branch. Katsu sucked his teeth as he took a small step back while Tomū shot a quick glance towards Akiko. His friend was in her own little world as the illusion took its toll on her mind. Trembling, she was looking at her own hands with unfocused eyes. "Tch!" Tomū inhaled sharply through his teeth. His hands balled into fists as he narrowed his angry eyes at the older swordsman. "Why are you doing this!? Why are you after me!?"

"You will get your answers eventually," The samurai responded coolly. Tomū started to feel uneasy. "But until then, your next challenge is to survive."

"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"

The masked swordsman leapt off the tree branch just as a burst of condensed air turned it into splinters. "You seem to forget," Tomū's eyes darted from the destroyed branch to his panting teammate. "That I'm still standing." Katsu's Byakugan was reactivated as he kicked himself into high gear. He watched in black and white vision as he saw his target land back onto the grass. "And I'll be damned if I let you kill my friends." The Hyūga declared in a hard voice as he targeted the samurai's chakra points.

"It seems you're handling my killer intent quite well, child." The samurai mused as he raised his sword. "You've already tasted the hands of death. Do you wish to make that fear become a reality?"

Katsu spat on the ground. "You don't scare me." With a yell, the red-clad teen raced forward as he charged his hands with chakra once more.

"Very well."

Katsu had closed the gap between them as he brought up his left hand and thrust out his palm. He felt the flat side of the samurai's sword connect with his skin, stopping him before he could shoot another Vacuum Palm. Although the swordsman showed no signs of struggling, Katsu gritted his teeth angrily before he pulled his hand back. His eyes widened when he saw the sword switch from flat to sharp as it swung towards him from the right. Like an agile animal, Katsu jumped and twisted his body to maneuver over the sword.

Just before Katsu could use his momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick to the samurai's neck, a hand reached out and grabbed him by the helm of his shirt.

He felt his body harshly swung over the samurai's head before he was slammed into the ground. He coughed out some dirt that got into his mouth and he quickly pushed himself back up. Just as he opened his eyes, he saw the samurai bringing down his sword. The illusion of being stabbed to death flashed through Katsu's mind, causing him to freeze up in shock.

*Clang!*

Katsu's watched as Tomū intercepted the man's attack with both swords.

The weight of the samurai's strike made the ground underneath the teen's boots crack. But Tomū held strong as he glared at the samurai, his blue eyes looking deep into the dark eye holes of the mask. "You think I'd just let you kill my friends?" The teen grunted out as he pressed his swords against the samurai. The samurai hummed to himself before he pulled back, throwing off Tomū's balance long enough to shot a knee towards the teen's chin.

Tomū felt his jaw snap shut as he flew back towards a tree, but he swiftly grabbed onto a branch to catch himself. Swinging over and under the branch, Tomū shot himself back towards the samurai with a battle cry.

Sparks flew in the air as the younger swordsman clashed with the older man, who was effortlessly deflecting each slash coming his way. Eventually, the samurai changed patterns as he swung his sword towards Tomū's left side. "Switch!" Came a voice before Tomū sheathed his swords and jumped into the air. "Eight Trigrams," The Faceless Samurai looked down to see the Hyūga rushing him with both arms stretched out behind him. He brought them forward with open palms glowing with blue chakra. "Full-Buster!"

With two-times the normal strength and wider range, Katsu launched another burst of air that made a direct impact in the samurai's chest. The force of his technique had pushed Katsu back and sent tingles through his arms from the recoil, but he was able to knock back the samurai as well.

Long enough for Tomū to finish a short set of hand-signs while in the air.

His chest expanded as he took in a deep breath. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He felt the heat rise up his throat before he released it from his mouth, unleashing a thick stream of fire down towards the samurai. From what he could see, the huge fireball had exploded once it reached his target.

The explosion had sent small tremors into the ground and enough of a shockwave to knock their remaining teammate onto her back.

Akiko grunted as the heat hit her skin, but the sensation was enough to bring her back down to reality. "H-Huh...?" She stammered as she picked herself back up. Her eyes blinked in surprise when she found a large cloud of smoke rose from a patch of grass and standing a few meters away were her teammates. Tomū was coughing lightly as he pulled out his swords and Katsu looked completely focused on the cloud.

Then the Hyūga's eyes widened in panic. "Move!" He barked as he tackled Tomū out of the way right before a slash of air cut apart the ground. Tomū winced when they stumbled near their teammate. "Akiko!" He called out, but she didn't respond. She didn't even seem to notice his presence at all. Concern returning, he noticed how pale her skin had gotten, almost as if she had seen a ghost. He sucked his teeth before he scrambled back to his feet.

The reason was obvious.

Like a balloon popping, the smoke disappeared quickly as if it was blown away and Akiko felt her heartbeat increase when she caught sight of the samurai. His mask was still intact, but the left side of his kimono was burnt clean off, exposing a set of bandages wrapped around his bicep. However, as scared as she was, Akiko couldn't take her eyes off the man as he turned his head towards their direction.

Her breath hitched when the blank mask came into full view.

The kunoichi let out a startled yelp when she felt a hand latch onto her shoulder. "Hey!" Her head whipped to the side where she met a scowling Katsu. Behind him, she saw that Tomū had already gotten back up with his swords ready, lunging towards the samurai with a face filled with determination. "You need to snap out of it before we get killed, Akiko! For real this time!" For a moment, she didn't recognize his face. But as she stared longer into his pale white eyes, Akiko subconsciously started to clench her fists. "You hear me!?"

*Smack!*

"Ow!" The sharp pain of Katsu's hand hitting her face was enough to make the kunoichi wince into an angry glare. "What the fu-"

"Get off your ass already and help us!" Her teammate interrupted as he helped her up. As Akiko rubbed the red mark on her cheek, her mind finally started to register their current problem. The kunoichi crushed the urge to hit the Hyūga back and looked towards her other teammate, who was being knocked around by the samurai.

"Katsu," said the brunette. "I'll let that slap go for now." When he saw her hands reaching down to her kunai pouch, Katsu's scowl quickly turn into a smirk when Akiko spun two kunai by the rings before holding them in a reverse grip. "For now, let's take this bastard down." Akiko's eyes narrowed on their enemy. When she realized that she had fallen for an illusion, her hate towards Katsu was overtaken by her growing rage for the man in front of them. Pushing her fear to the back of her mind, dirt kicked off the ground as the two genin charged forward.

"Shit!" Tomū crossed his swords in front of him when he the samurai swing his sword from the bottom up. Sparks flew between them and the teen felt his arms go numb after the samurai easily broke through his defense and caused his arms to shoot out to the sides, leaving him wide open for an attack. But then the older man sensed someone else rushing towards him from behind.

He brought up his right arm above his head and blocked an incoming kick from Akiko. "Hm?" He hummed as the kunoichi glared angrily at the white mask before she pulled her leg back. He didn't give her a chance for her feet to touch the ground as his sword slashed clean through her waist. But the angry look hadn't changed the slightest. Instead, the two halves of the kunoichi turned into chunks of a log. And on a small piece of wood, the swordsman caught sight of a paper tag. Out of the corner of his vision, the samurai saw Tomū make some distance from him.

The samurai took that as a warning to get away, but as he moved to jump away, a shout of "Vacuum Palm!" reached his ears and he saw the log chunks shoot towards him like projectiles. For a split-second, he saw the kanji symbol for 'Gas' flash red and the log piece exploded in purple smoke.

As he landed back on the ground, leaving the cloud in the air, the samurai felt his movement slow down. 'Poison?' The man thought when he realized his body was turning numb. 'They're more skillful than they look.' The samurai tried to ignore the numbing of his muscles as the group of teens started to take positions around his person. It wouldn't be long before his body is unable to move. With a sigh, the samurai lifted his sword into the air. 'It seems I've been playing around with them for too long. I need to speed this up.'

"Now!" Screamed Tomū.

'Lightning Release:...' The samurai was quiet as he pointed the tip of his sword downward. As the three neared the tall swordsman, a sense of foreboding washed over Akiko when she felt the rise of chakra. She slowed herself down and she looked at her teammates with a panicked face. "Wait!" She called out too late as the two jumped into the air. "Wild Hunt." Was all they heard as the samurai brought his sword down and stabbed it into the ground.

Electricity cackled throughout his body as he channeled of it down into his sword and streaks of blue shot out of the ground like an explosion.

Each bolt of lightning raced towards its designated targets: Tomū, Katsu, and Akiko. Except one of the three targets were capable of dodging the attack. Akiko was the only one who was alerted quick enough to jump away from the lightning that flowed towards her. But unlike her, Tomū and Katsu, took the attack head on. Akiko watched in horror as the rest of the attack went for her teammates.

A loud scream was heard from Katsu as the electricity touched his foot and rapidly coursed through the rest of his body. The samurai watched as the Hyūga child dropped to the ground, his muscles convulsing uncontrollably from the attack on his nervous system. He looked to his other side and his eyes narrowed from behind his mask. He willed the electricity race towards his next target and watched as it reached Tomū's sword, flowing down the blade and into the his arms.

Said teen had braced himself for the attack. He felt nothing.

Surprised written over his face when Tomū realized that he was covered in electricity. Which meant he was right about getting hit. Not only that, but he felt the energy pumping wildly through his muscles and bones.

So why didn't it hurt?

Why did he feel... stronger?

And he wasn't the only one who noticed it.

But because he was too confused to react, Tomū didn't notice the samurai's fist until it slammed into his stomach and sent him crashing into a ground. His back skidded across the grass and he heard Akiko yell "Tomū, look out!" As soon as the teen cracked open his eyes, he was already coughing up blood after receiving a foot to the face that sent him flying back.

The samurai heard a strained grunt before he felt something clutch at his ankle.

Looking down, he saw Katsu glaring at him with a single eye open, his jaws grinding against each other as he tried to ignore the pain.

A flash of metal was seen before it was followed after by a squelching noise. Both of the Hyūga's eyes considerably widened as his mouth opened in a silent scream. Not to long after, the samurai felt Katsu's hold leave his ankle. 'One down.' The samurai thought as he pulled his sword out of the teen's back, watching as his clothes turned a darker shade of red.

The tall man heard the sound of buzzing and turned around to deflect eight flying shuriken.

Now that his attention was on Akiko, he saw the girl with a large grin on her face. Looking closer, the samurai saw her hands held out to both of her sides and saw thin, almost near invisibly thin wire wrapped around her fingers. Akiko brought her hands together with enough force to pull on the wires, redirecting her shuriken back to the samurai until they each started to wrap around his arms and torso.

The samurai stood still as the shuriken wrapped around one final time before digging into his skin.

"Katsu!" Akiko called out, not taking her eyes off the enemy. "Katsu, are you okay!?"

Her voice seemed to reach the smoking teen, but she got no response.

"Your friend is simply unconscious." The samurai informed. Akiko sucked her teeth in irritation when she realized the samurai's words were true. From what she could sense, Katsu' chakra network was flowing at a calmer pace. "I overloaded his body with enough electricity to paralyze him, but now he's bleeding out. He should live if he is rushed to a medic. However, you on the other hand..." The samurai could feel it. The girl was growing nervous. It was only natural after realizing that her chance of survival was shot down drastically. Not only were they down one teammate, but Tomū was still dazed from the kick.

He was lying face down in the dirt and his swords were scattered several meters away from him.

"You already know how this is going to end." The samurai noticed the layer of sweat building up on Akiko's face. "You have no chance against me." His words cut deep as Akiko narrowed her eyes.

"Shut up!" The kunoichi exclaimed.

The sound of crackling caught her attention and Akiko's eyes darted down to the metals wires. Blue lightning danced down the wires towards her. Using the kunai still clenched in each hand, Akiko quickly cut herself loose and jumped away before they could reach her. But that's what the samurai wanted; a simple distraction. When Akiko looked up, she saw that the samurai was gone and her wires were sliced to ribbons. A blur caught her eye. Anxiety kicked in as she looked around for the killer.

Her heart skipped a beat when she felt her back collide with something.

"Why do you continue to fight?"

Akiko turned around, only to stare in horror when she found the samurai towering over her.

"Stay back!" Akiko croaked as she started to back away. More crackling was heard when electricity formed over the man's body. He took a small step forward. Akiko could feel the raw killing intent radiating off the samurai. "No! N-Not again...!" It was there. The cold hands of death reaching for her, clutching at her heart. She could remember how it all went down between them. He was playing with her. And when her guard was down, he'd strike. It was only a matter of time. And both of them knew it.

Akiko felt tears build up in her eyes as she threw a kunai at the samurai. She watched as the man cut the kunai in half, sending both pieces flying by him. His image contorted and shifted, but he was still there. Right? Or was this another illusion? Akiko weakly threw the second kunai, which embedded itself into the ground only a foot away from his foot.

She stumbled as the back of her foot tripped over a root.

But she didn't hesitate to roll over and scramble back to her hands and feet.

"Hn... ugh..."

The teen groaned as fingers twitched. "My head...!" Slowly, Tomū pushed himself up and brought a hand to his throbbing skull. He winced at the sharp pain. When he brought his hand down, he found a slightly blurred image of his own hand. For a moment, he remained staring at 'two' of his hand before a scream caught his attention. "GET AWAY!" The black haired swordsman blinked and shook his head, trying to get over the dizzy feeling. He looked up.

The first thing he found was Katsu. When he saw his teammate lying on his back and the pool of blood building underneath him, he assumed the worst until he saw the slightest movement in his chest, signaling that he was still breathing.

But Tomū wasn't focused on him for too long. No, now he was looking with wide eyes at his other friend.

Akiko was running across the field with a panicked look on her face, stumbling only a little in her steps. And behind her was the samurai, calm and collected without giving much of a chase.

"Akiko...?" Tomū muttered as he tried to stand up.

"Enough of this." The samurai said before he stopped walking. He held out his sword with the tip pointing straight towards Akiko's back. "Are you watching, Tomū?" The teen started to grow fearful and before he knew it, electricity started to dance down the samurai's arm. His sword crackled and pulsed blue. "With this, I'll see if you're really who you say you are..." Tomū's eyes widened when he saw the tiny head of a dragon appear over the sword's blade.

"N-No!" Tomū exclaimed as he trudged forward. He cursed his luck for falling too hard on his right leg. "Akiko!" The teen called out again, the horror pumping through his blood as he tried to sprint. His heart was pounding like crazy and his skin felt tingles all over. "Stop this! There's no need to kill her!" The pain in his leg becoming a memory, Tomū began to move faster. "Please!"

"Lightning Style..." The samurai continued as a strong burst of his chakra pulsed through the air.

"Don't!" Tomū's voice roared. He held out his hand towards his running teammate.

"Wrath of the Thunder Dragon."

As soon as the words were ushered through the man's lips, the sword glowed a bright blue as the dragon escaped from the blade, launching forward in a mad frenzy.

Tomū felt his heart skip a beat as he watched the attack race towards Akiko.

"DANGER VOLT!"

From the corner of his eye, the samurai saw the teen's body explode from a sudden rush of chakra. Blue electricity coursed throughout Tomū's body and his blue eyes flashed brightly before the teen himself turned into a blur. But the man saw everything from the time Tomū 'disappeared' and his own attack struck. This time, on a much larger scale, the thunder dragon had imploded once it reached Akiko. Smoke and dirt erupted into the air as the samurai lowered his sword, his mask gazing silently at the cloud.

*Crackle...! Crackle-Crackle!*

The samurai didn't dare look away. Because as the smoke cleared, the sound of crackling had yet to go quiet. Not only that, but he heard whimpering noises as well.

"Akiko!" He heard Tomū's worried voice from within the smoke. "Akiko, speak to me!"

Soon enough, the smoke dissipated enough for the samurai to see the two genin kneeling off to the side, merely a couple of feet away from a crater. It seems his attack hadn't connected. For the most part.

And he found the answer to be the teen covered in blue lightning, who was on his knees looking down to the kunoichi in his arms.

Tomū panted from the sudden increase in adrenaline and speed, but he wasn't worried about that. Not when his teammate was convulsing in his own arms. Akiko's face was scrunched up in painful agony, rapidly clutching and letting go of Tomū's shirt without proper control over her own muscles. Tomū quickly clutched the safe areas of Akiko's body, only to prevent more pain. Again, the teen cursed himself for being too slow.

At first, he didn't know what happened either. But instead of being confused, his only focus was to rescue his best friend. And he did. It was only in the span of a second when he cleared the distance between them and all he could remember was the blurred colors of the world around him before snatching Akiko in his arms. By then, the dragon was already on them, regardless of his speed boost. So at that last moment, Tomū had turned them around so he could take the attack.

And he did.

Most if it.

Lightning had still struck Akiko in the back when he tried to evade, searing off her shirt and leaving her back exposed. Her entire back was a disgusting red blemish, smoking from the extreme heat and some spots were even scarred black.

"T-T-T-Tomū...!" She attempted to speak, but Tomū shook his head to stop her. He didn't want her to waste any energy trying to talk. But from the surprised look on her face, Tomū had been forced to listen to more of her strained voice. "Y-Y-Yo-Your..." Gaining some control over her body, Akiko struggled to reach out towards his face. Tomū was silent as his teammate clutched the side of his head. Again, Akiko opened her mouth to speak, but all he got was a raspy breath before the girl succumbed to her wounds and passed out.

The black haired teenager heard footsteps approaching behind him as he gently placed Akiko on her side.

The samurai let out a quiet hum from behind his mask. "It's just as I thought..." Without warning, a streak of blue was seen from the unconscious Akiko all the way across the field, only to dart around rapidly until it rushed towards him like a bullet. The Faceless Samurai brought up his sword and charged it with electricity just in time to deflect two blades. And this time, the blades were infused with electricity as well.

The lightning in the samurai's sword spread down the arm and covered the man's entire body like a shroud.

"The raw power that's coursing through your veins..." The samurai said. "It's extraordinary, correct?"

"I'll kill you!" Tomū growled angrily as he took another step forward, putting more weight into his swords.

Within their stalemate, the samurai was given the chance to properly inspect the enraged teen in front of him.

"... Not only that, but it seems you've taken on other... attributes as well."

Gone were the electric blue eyes of Shokku Tomū.

Now, Glaring at the samurai, were two crimson red eyes with single tomoe-like symbols spinning around his pupils.

"No matter." The samurai concluded as Tomū pulled back, only to rush him with a faster flurry of swords.

But instead of deflecting it as easily as before, the samurai was finding a bit of difficulty with the teen's newfound speed. For the samurai, he knew better than to assume that Tomū was attacking fueled by rage alone. No, the teen was actually on both the offense and smoothly switching to defensive. Not only were the strikes double their normal strength, but it was like the teen was rapidly going through a change in patterns the longer they continued.

Tomū didn't know about the change. All he cared about was getting revenge as swiftly as possible. A goal presented to him with the help of the boost his new technique gave him.

Lightning Release: Danger Volt.

A technique suggested to him by his mother, something he's been trying to perfect for weeks on end. It was a skill meant for primary Lightning Style users, a way to physically charge his own body by overloading the nervous system with his own lightning chakra. Doing so will allow him 5 times more speed and double his physical strength, but the after-effects of using such a technique would leave him uncoordinated with his boosted movements and open to attacks.

But Tomū wasn't facing his usual problem.

Having been concentrating on both maintaining his technique and fighting off the samurai, the teen barely registered the fact that he was following the samurai's movement almost perfectly. He didn't notice that he was predicting the slightest patterns before they even happened. He was oblivious to his new ability, yet unconsciously found use for it as he saw the samurai lift the sword above his head.

Tomū quickly blocked the sword with his left handed weapon and smoothly deflected it by curving his own blade. The teen watched as the samurai's arm dropped down the side along with his sword, leaving a second-long opening for Tomū to switch his right hand to a reverse-grip. With an angry shout, the teen spun on his heels as he jumped and swung his sword.

The Faceless Samurai used his sword to block the attack and pushed Tomū with enough force to send him skidding back a couple of meters.

Tomū didn't wait for himself to come to a stop. He jumped into a spinning backflip and went through another set of hand-signs. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Catching an upside-down view of his target, Tomū shot forth another fireball from his mouth. Except this one was 3 times larger than the last one and actually scorched the ground as it flew over it, raging towards the samurai.

With a precise and powerful slash, the samurai swung his blade and split the fireball into two halves. As the attack flew by him and crashed into the trees behind him, the samurai caught a blur of black and blue out of the corner of his eye.

The crackling sound of electricity gave him away, allowing the samurai to realize the teen had dashed behind him.

Tomū's red eyes narrowed in frustration when the samurai jumped over him just as he tried to cut him in half with both swords. He felt a quick rush above him and Tomū's reflexes enabled him to spin out with his right sword. Afterwards, Tomū winced and stumbled a bit when a large cut opened up on his left shoulder. "You may have gotten faster, but don't think you can beat me." He heard before a wooden sandal crashed itself into his spine, causing the younger swordsman to fly forward.

Just before he could fall flat on his face, Tomū caught himself by planting his knuckles into the dirt and bouncing himself back to his feet.

When the samurai saw Tomū turn towards him, he spotted the shit-eating grin on the teens face.

Before he could say anything, the samurai started to cough and Tomū saw drops of blood at the bottom of the mask. "Damn this poison." The man muttered when he realized that he was too slow to avoid a small slash wound on his left bicep. Little blood seeped from the wound, but he had barely felt it happen. The gas bomb they used on him earlier was finally affecting him in ways that could prove fatal.

"Still think I can't kill you!?" Tomū's voice rang out as he raced towards the samurai.

"I do." Came the curt retort as the Faceless Samurai's body sent out another wave of electricity just as Tomū was upon him.

Tomū saw the man move, but his body didn't react quick enough when a fist buried itself deep into his stomach. Using the speed of Tomū's own rushdown against him, the samurai's punch had more of an effect than it did before and Tomū painfully spat out a thick glob of blood onto the samurai's mask. The punch hit him with enough pain to nearly make him let go of his swords, but Tomū held onto them tightly. He was going to attempt to make another slash at the samurai, but the man quickly pulled back his fist and grabbed Tomū by the neck.

Grunting as he felt the back of his head slam harshly in the ground, Tomū gripped the samurai's wrist as he tried to push more chakra into his system to escape.

"You've lost, Tomū."

At those words, he felt the tip of a sword press against his forehead. Tomū stared angrily into the mask as the samurai knelt over him. He was right. As much as Tomū hated to admit it, he was beaten. Angry tears built up in the teen's eyes as he clenched at the wrist even harder, as if he was trying to break it. But what good would that do him with a sword held point-blank against his skull?

"Now that you've gotten this far," The samurai's emotionless voice came, but he was interrupted by another fit of coughs. "I must ask you to listen."

"Fuck you!" The teen ground out through his teeth with the limited air of being choked.

"You noticed it too, haven't you? When my lightning struck you, it didn't hurt. Instead, you felt empowered, didn't you?"

At this, Tomū narrowed his eyes. "Y-Yeah, so what!?"

"From your reaction, I must assume you don't know anything about your powers." The samurai muttered.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your bloodline. Your Kekkei Genkai." The more the man spoke, the confused Tomū was getting. His what? "The blood running through your veins holds a strong ability, Tomū. An ability failed to be revealed to you because Konohagakure fears the Shokku clan's power." As soon as his last name left the man's mouth, Tomū ceased his attempts to breaking the samurai's wrist. For a moment, there was nothing else but confusion in the teen's eyes before he shook his head and scowled.

"I don't have a fucking clan! And I don't have a Kekkei Genkai!"

The samurai wanted to mention Tomū's change in eyes, but he decided against it. That was something the teen needed to learn for another time. And that time would probably be closer than the teen thought. The scowl started to shift back into a smirk when both Tomū and the samurai caught onto two chakra signatures nearing their location. The man arched his head to look in the direct of the chakra signatures. "Looks like I'm out of time." The samurai commented with slight irritation to his voice.

Tomū took in deep breaths when the samurai took his hand off his throat. "But you're still oblivious to the truth." The younger swordsman heard.

As the teen sat up, the samurai himself had turned around and started walking away without another word.

"So that's it, huh?" Tomū's coughed as he rubbed his neck. He was glaring at the man's back, shaking as his rage grew with every passing second. But the samurai didn't stop to even acknowledge the fact that the genin was talking. "You attacked me and nearly murdered my friends, just to tell me a bunch of bullshit about bloodlines?" Taking his hand away from his throat, Tomū held out a hand to point towards his teammates. Both of which were out cold and in critical condition. The samurai didn't answer. "Hey!" Tomū shouted and took hold of both of his swords. "Are you listening!?" Once the teen got to his feet, Tomū's new eyes flashed a bright red and the tomoes spun faster around his pupils.

The samurai stopped walking.

"You know nothing."

"Correction." Tomū snarled as he started walking closer. "I do know one thing." The dull layer of electricity over his body returned in full-gear. He was burning up the last of his chakra. "I know that I'm going to kick your ass!" Slamming his right foot into the dirt, the teen charged in a mad dash towards the man in front of him. Tomū was watching closely as the man moved. It's only been 4 minutes since he was exposed to Akiko's gas bomb, but from the sluggish movements in his steps, the poison was definitely hindering the man even more now.

The taller swordsman coughed again behind his mask, but he wasn't as weak as Tomū thought he was. "You are far from being my equal." The samurai whispered before he rolled his sword in his hand and turned around. The teen had jumped into the air, bring his swords down in an 'X'.

He saw everything. Yet he didn't know what happened. It was like his body had shut down. All he saw was an arm turning into a blur. Next came the rush of air. Then came a shatter. And finally, his entire world was filled with burning agony.

Tomū crashed to the ground at the man's feet. Dropping out of his hands were the handles of his swords and on each hilt were jagged pieces of metal; the rest of the fragments falling to the grass all around him. "You are lucky, Tomū. Should you have been anyone else, I'd have killed you without mercy." The samurai informed coldly as he looked at the boy's injuries. An extremely large gash had opened up from the left side of his waist all the way up to his right shoulder. The blood was already soaking through the teen's shirt.

Tomū gritted his teeth as he tried to ignore the pain.

"... You asked me who I was."

The genin opened his eyes to see the samurai hold up his sword, but it wasn't towards him or anybody else. The samurai looked at his bloodied blade with the slight tilt of his head. "Kuro." Came the short answer. "But know this." The tall man looked back down at the genin and Tomū saw the sword hover over his face. "There's more to your history than you realize, Tomū." The samurai tilted the blade so that Tomū could see his own eyes. His red eyes. The genin merely coughed as he tried to speak. "Remember that I spared your life for a reason."

The samurai finally sheathed his sword just as Tomū rolled onto his stomach, scowling towards the mask as he tried to grab at the man's ankle.

"W-W-Who are... y-you...?"

Tomū breathed out weakly. He was starting to feel lightheaded, but he didn't want to pass out. Not yet. He couldn't let things end like this. Not after his best friends were dragged into something unnecessary and ended with them laying at death's doorstep. Only because the man before him knew things he didn't. Things that involved himself, his village, and his mother. He wasn't sure if everything he heard was true, but he needed answers.

And this damned samurai seemed to hold them.

'Please...'

Tomū's vision was fading in and out.

"Kuro."

The teen barely heard the curt response, but when he blinked, he found the samurai no longer with him.

He heard the distant voices getting closer.

A small part of him believed it were more bandits or the sadistic Kiri assassin, filling him with the urge to get back up. But he couldn't. He was drained. He was tired from running for his life. He was battered and beaten worse than anything he ever experienced. He had lost too much blood. His swords were shattered and he used up the last of his chakra maintaining his Danger Volt. If there were enemies approaching, there was nothing he could do to stop them.

Hell, he could already feel the cold hands of death reaching for him.

Tomū saw two purple haired females jump down from the trees and one of them had a horrified expression on her face when she saw the state he and his team were in.

'Sensei...?'

The masked kunoichi with a sword on her back was quick to check over Katsu and began using healing ninjutsu while the one with the trench coat rushed towards him. He heard his name being called over and over and when he realized that it was Anko, Tomū's mouth curled up into the tiniest of smiles. The part of him that wanted to fight had disappeared as relief washed over him.

It was over.

He was safe.

At least for now.

"Hey!" Anko exclaimed in worry. Tomū let out a sharp hiss when he got shifted onto his back, revealing his injuries to the jonin. "Holy shit..." When she saw the extent of the wound, Anko wasted no time going through a set of hand-signs and holding out her palms over the teen's abdomen. "Don't you dare die on me, Gaki!" Her hands started to hum as her skin glowed with teal colored chakra. "You hear me!? Everything's going to be fine!" The pain he felt was slowly fading away.

"A-An... Anko-sensei..." The teen whispered.

"Huh?" Momentarily taking gaze off the gruesome gash on her student's chest, Anko quickly turned when she realized he was still conscious. She saw it. And when she did, her concentration on healing him faltered. "Oh Kami..." The purple haired jonin whispered. It was brief, but she definitely caught the unnatural red eyes before they returned to their normal blue.

Slowly, the world around him started to distort itself.

Anko's voice sounded far away.

Tomū didn't catch all of it, but he thought he heard "... ringan...?" before the darkness took him.

Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag folks!

Took a while for me to get this right and I had planned it differently, but it still came out perfectly! Hopefully this new little factor won't cause me to lose a couple of readers just because some people think it's (Quote on quote) 'unoriginal'. But it's my story and I'll make it as I see fit. Although I'm still having trouble organizing the plot together and making a decent story for everyone to enjoy. Regardless, I do hope you guys liked this chapter! I'll try to update as soon as I can, like I always try to do while multitasking school and fanfiction life. :/

But if anybody has any ideas, I'm all ears!

And just a little heads up, updating times will vary quite often because of upcoming events involving school and testing and finding a decent career. So I'll try to do as much as I can as soon as I can. It might be weeks. It might be a month. Just know that if it's been 3 months and no updates, I'm either hospitalized or dead. :/ But I'll always leave a hiatus note if I'm busy for a long time. So please don't spam me with 'update soon' or I'll make the wait longer. Okay? Okay!

Anyway, I'll leave it here! Peace!

PLEASE REVIEW!

(PS-I would also appreciate any type of fanart dedicated to this story XD If someone has made or found any artwork, please PM me and I will link it up on my page for everyone to see! Thank you for your time!)