Five days; the fighting had been non-stop. He stared up at the ceiling of the hospital room he had been placed it. He couldn’t remember anything from the previous day and he had minor wounds across his body. Something had happened and to his surprise he had woken up here. It was not reassuring in the least, he had done countless missions and had been wounded plenty and had been operating on such minimal sleep he wondered if he had just passed out. It was quiet though, even as the war raged on it seemed so quiet and calm it made his heart drop. He looked outside and the village itself seemed well. He stood up and walked slowly to the window his body feeling fine as he scanned the village it looked like the fighting had stopped but the damage was still there. He was in a gown now as well and his clothes were set aside on the opposite end of the room. Something still bothered him though he didn’t know what it was entirely; just a bad feeling that came over him. He made his way over to the other side of the room and got dressed slowly as he peeled the bandages off of him.

After getting dressed he looked outside of his room not seeing anyone or even hearing anything. If things were back to normal where was everyone at? At least that was the thought that kept running in his mind as he searched the hospital while making his way to the exit. There was still nothing, it was like everyone in the village had vanished overnight and the village was now a ghost town. As he exited the hospital he continue to look around using his keen eyes to try and locate any lead on what was going on or what might have happened, but there was nothing. Dameon quickly decided that if something had happened there would be information somewhere in the key facilities of the village. Turning toward the admin building he began running toward it. Even nature was quiet, no birds, or even the feel of a breeze against his skin. Surely if something had happened the Mizukage or at least someone would have made it to the admin building to give a clue or warning. Another though occurred to him as well, if the entire village was a ghost town why had he been the only person left in the village.

As he came to the admin building he simply ran through the doors throwing them open and proceeding up the stairs, there was still nothing. No sign of anyone leaving in a hurry, no sign of a struggle, and no sign of another human being. He ran through the war room glancing for any clues and finding none ran into the Mizukage’s office. Again no sign of anyone but this time he could see something written on the Mizukage’s desk. His eyes widened as he read the note, the note confirmed the death of the Mizukage and contingency plans for evacuation but the enemy knowing of the whereabouts due to Seven Bell’s past with the village. It is assumed everyone was captured or killed outside and away from the village. His heart sank even more as a feeling of fear and remorse washed over him. He had clearly read what was written but couldn’t believe it, though part of him had done just that as it began to eat away at him. He needed to find them and at least scout or attempt to rescue to citizens of Kiri, it was his duty.

He raced out of the admin building knowing the contingency plans as well. He needed to check the coastline for any signs of life. Something had caught his eye however as he saw a glimpse of someone moving behind a building. Someone else was there and it was likely an enemy if the note was accurate in its information. Yet something bothered him even more about the note but he decided not to dwell on it knowing there was an enemy somewhere around him. He needed to follow them however knowing that they would surely have answers if he could get them to speak. Rounding the corner of the same building at full speed his heart again escalated as he saw who he had been chasing. Toraika stood there in front of him bleeding and exhausted. Her body looked worn down and beaten and barely able to stand. Out of pure instinct he ran to her side catching her as she had begun to fall. He looked at her tears forming in his eyes wondering just what had happened. She was trying to speak and he stopped her letting her keep her strength but she had insisted.

“Dameon…everyone was taken. I tried to hold them off but there were too many…behind you,” she said as he eyes widened. Dameon turned around only to catch a back hand to his face and being tossed to the ground a few feet away from her. He looked back at who had hit him and there he was the main villain himself, Seven Bells. Who was now standing over Toraika with one of his small swords drawn just above her head. A wave of anger fell over him but before he could say anything the man opened his lips.

“Another weak fledgling of the mist, you however have something I want and that is the only reason you are alive. You love this woman do you not? I want information on the last thing you could remember, before we knocked you out you were fighting us in the war, where were your troops located, and who are the Seven Swordsman and what abilities do they possess? Answer those questions and I will kill you and not your beloved,” the man said lowering his blade to Toraika’s neck. She couldn’t walk before so Dameon knew she wouldn’t be able to get out of the way now. He also knew he wouldn’t be able to get to her in time to save her should he not comply with what the man wanted. He loved her and though in the past he had not known love or had any meaningful relationships he would be willing to die for her but not like this. Something was still bothering him as he thought but Seven Bells seemed hell bent on not giving him time to think. He kept slowly cutting into her skin around her neck making him want to answer immediately. He knew everything that he wanted to hear but the fact he was asking it after the fact seemed pointless and maybe that was the key to it all.

He thought back as quickly as he could decide on a course of action. The village had been too quiet, nobody and no trace of anyone in the village. The mysterious letter on the mizukages desk about the death of the mizukage. It all seemed too strange and now Seven Bells was asking information about the previous positioning of troops when it would have seem liked the enemy had won. He had a choice to make and he knew exactly what his gut was telling him. His eyes had been able to point out miniscule details that had lead him to believe nothing was as it seemed, his eyes though hadn’t been the giveaway. It had been all of it, well thought out and played well into his fears but now he was certain that this world was not real. The world was simply an illusion and all genjutsu had some sort of flaw in it at least In his own mind. He raised his hands up quickly.

"KAI!" he yelled but came up short, the world around him had not gone away and had not changed. Now things were looking bad. He began to think of why it wouldn’t have worked. If he had been captured and his arms bound he wouldn’t have been able to form an actual hand sign. Perhaps the key was to do the exact opposite of what the user of the genjutsu wanted. In this case it would be to not release information and let Toraika die, but his emotions within the genjutsu were still very real even if the world was not. He stood to his feet and looked at Seven Bells he needed to create a paradox in which the world would not be able to comprehend. His hands were bound he was almost certain about that so if he was to kill himself in the genjutsu a paradox would occur that would kill the genjutsu altogether. Having decided on his plan he pulled a kunai out from his coat and quickly slashed it through his own throat. As he fell to the ground bleeding out his eyes closed, hoping it wouldn’t be for the last time.

Coughing slightly he opened his eyes seeing a completely different environment than before. His assumption had been correct except now he seemed to be in a worse situation than before. There were a good six guys in old ANBU masks surrounding him. He himself was tied by wire that was digging into his skin causing him to bleed as he hung from the ceiling of what appeared to be old ruins. One of the men lowered his hand from Dameon’s forehead and swore to himself silently. As he turned and walked away while all the others stood around him. Dameon had completely forgotten what had happened while he had been under the genjutsu but now he remembered clearly. He had been assigned a mission to track the previous ANBU members that were now working for Seven Bells and obtain any useful information. He had walked into a trap where the enemy ninja has used Dameon’s sensing abilities against him and had been quickly captured. They had been torturing him for the better part of the afternoon. He was cut in all sorts of places by other things than just the wire that was holding him up. He looked at the group of ninja that seemed frustrated at not acquiring any information out of him yet.

Dameon himself began to analyze his situation as the group of ninja talked amongst themselves out of ear shot. His weapons and equipment were on the table to the left of him along with his sword. He was trying to think of an escape plan at this point knowing if they couldn’t extract information out of him they would simply kill him and return back to Seven Bells. His focused on his hands that were behind him and uncomfortably aimed upward halfway up his back. He needed to aim toward the wire that was holding him in the air. If he could land on the ground he could get out of his predicament a lot easier. He focused his chakra into his right index finger as he struggled to aim it upward completely, he knew his raiton katana wouldn’t be enough to cut through the wire but his other jutsu could, the problem was that if he missed he could easily end up killing himself with his own technique. He breathed in and out slowly as he leaned his head forward and focused before releasing the jutsu, a beam of white raiton shooting out nearly missing his scalp and hitting the wire releasing him. He landed on his feet quietly hoping they hadn’t noticed as he gripped the beam and lightly cut the area around his hands as he felt the wires give slack and release him. He quickly grabbed his sword and other equipment but as he did so they realized he had escaped. He cussed himself out under his breath as he prepared to fight drawing out his legendary dagger but not activating it yet as he dodged a wave of kunai from the enemy. He didn’t know if he could take on this many ninja of similar level to himself alone. Half the number maybe but six was pushing it.
==================================

2,020/4,000

Spoiler:

This can't be good. Sanosuke thought to himself as he masked his presence in the shadows. He wasn't as skilled as the ANBU agents, but he was about 50 meters away from Dameon being swarmed by 6 shinobi dressed in the ANBU uniform of Kiri after the young member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist had fallen victim of an ambush. The kid went down like a rock without any visible force being the cause of Dameon falling unconscious. It was most likely the cause of being at the mercy of a genjutsu, the boy didn't have any way to counter against it so he was defenseless. This was going to be troublesome indeed. Even as a genin, Sanosuke always hated genjutsu. It was such a chore to deal with and as such he hated fighting against it. Perched on a tree and masked in the shadows, Sanosuke was witnessing the capturing of his comrade. He was given orders to lend Dameon support in tracking down this rogue group of ANBU that were after precious lintel that was related to the military power of Kiri; which included any information regarding the new Seven Swordsman as well as their abilities, and their swords abilities. He was given orders that him and Dameon to stop them at all costs and find out what they know so the alliance can attempt to use them against their leader. Getting himself ready with Navi, Sanosuke moved to catch up with the boy he was supposed to be backing up. Seeing how strong the boy got would be a good thing indeed, Sanosuke was curious to meet up with the boy. Approximately an hour later, Sanosuke had finally caught up with Dameon to front row seats of the boy being captured.

It wouldn't be smart at all if Sanosuke had decided to engage all 6 of them by himself. Even if he somehow freed Dameon of his illusion based prison, Sanosuke wasn't too sure if those ex ANBU agents had reinforcements that were hidden in the shadows like the kumogakure jounin was doing. Right now Sanosuke would just observe and see what would happen. The group bounded up Dameon with wire to restrict any movement in case the genjutsu should somehow fail. Skills gained as an ANBU agent were difficult to grow out of, they don't want to take any unnecessary risks. After they were done restraining Dameon, they took off. Without them knowing, a certain kumogakure jounin accompanied with a small ball of light was following them in the shadows. The two kept a distance of 50 meters away from the group of shinobi. If there was a sensor in their group, there wasn't a doubt in Sanosuke's mind that he would have been found out if he got closer. In case they did have a sensor ninja in their group, this was a good distance to keep to avoid detection. About another hour passed when the group of shinobi finally got to their rendezvous point. It looked like an old warehouse that would have been used as a shipyard to repair ships. An abandoned warehouse that served as a shipyard, a good rendezvous point indeed.

"Navi, survey the area to make sure there aren't any other hostiles in the area." Sanosuke asked Navi. She nodded and flew off to do a sweep of the area to do what he asked. While he waited, Sanosuke thought on the reasons why they would abduct Dameon. They did need information about the Seven Swordsmen, what better way to get information than a jounin of the village hidden in the mist. Not a single doubt was in his mind that made him think they wouldn't torture the kiri jounin in spilling his contents. He would only last so long before he cracks and they find out Dameon is a member of the Seven Swordsmen. With that, they can torture him more and more until he tells the group more information about the other Seven Swordsmen and their abilities. They might even be able to use the information they tortured out of Dameon to capture the other swordsmen of the mist. If they were captured, then there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the ANBU agents would deliver the legendary swords to Seven Bells himself; leading to a drastic increase in their military power.

When Navi came back, she floated above Sanosuke's head. "We're the only ones in this area. It's just the 6 of them." Navi relayed back to his partner. Sanosuke nodded and allowed chakra that were existent in the all things in his surroundings. The mist, the trees, the streams that were nearby, the air, the soil on the ground, and some of the animals that were in the forest itself were giving him strength. When his eyes opened, the silver markings that were across his eyes showed that Sanosuke was in sage mode. His body was glowing with blue chakra with a strong buzzing sound. After his transformation was complete, Sanosuke unsheathed his sword that was on his back and smirked to his partner. "Let's go save that gaki, you with my Navi?" Sanosuke smirked as he approached the door that would lead to the kidnappers. His senjutsu chakra that he had around him would shield him from any genjutsu used against him, so that was one thing he didn't have to worry about.

With a mighty kick, Sanosuke kicked down the door and barged in. Before him was Dameon freed from his bindings. He was a bit roughed up from his interrogation but he'd live. Right now there was 6 skilled shinobi that had to be taken care of. "Hope you don't mind me coming me cutting in on this tea party. But you guys have something that doesn't belong to you." Sanosuke smirked as he walked through the warehouse. Looking to his right on a table that held the belongings of the Kiri jounin's armor. Pointing his blade at the group of shinobi, Sanosuke leveled his blade at the group of shinobi that were already getting in a defense stance. From the looks of things and from what he saw in the ambush, the genjutsu users were the ones in white cloaks while the rest of them had black hooded cloaks. "How about you try your luck with me?" Sanosuke smirked and dared any of them to attack him.

1088/4000

305/335; Jutsu Used:

‘Good timing’ he thought to himself as Sanosuke appeared behind them as they were all turned toward Dameon. If there had been more than the two of them he would say that they had them surrounded in the narrow corridor of the temple. He stood upright after having avoided the kunai getting serious now as he had just got out of their trap now they had to complete their mission. Obviously they had wanted to take part in it a little differently but being able to improvise came with the title of shinobi. He held the dagger out in front of him and activated it, sending his chakra into the blade and letting the chakra blade extend from it to a complete one a half meters. The enemy only briefly surprised drew their own weapons this was going to be difficult but his sword had a great advantage against other sword users. Because of the chakra in the blade it made enemy attacks lose power in addition the sword was also completely weightless which allowed him to react as quickly as possible. He could take on the sword users even in his current state so long as he didn’t make a mistake. He would leave the genjutsu users in the white cloaks to Sanosuke who was now in his sage mode, this fight would be over sooner than later.

Dameon ran forward into his own swords range which was just a little longer than the enemies. The bright blue light of the sword brightening up the dark room. The enemy attacked first they were attacking in waves rather than one at a time, using the brief moment Dameon would react to an attack to go for an opening they thought was there. Growling in anger he blocked the first attack and forcefully kicked the man away back a couple feet as he parried the second sword and spun around the backside of the third attacker both of them turning to attack and clashing their weapons. He stepped back a good fiver meters or so having felt successful in gaging the enemy’s strength and skill with their weapons, now he just needed to defeat them. He analyzed their movements as they positioned themselves, one in front of Dameon, and one of either side of him. A typical formatting to taking down one target but what the enemy didn’t account for was that Dameon had only been going at the enemies speed, not his own.

The easiest enemy to attack first would be the one directly in front of him and no doubt his speed would create an opening needed, after that though the remaining two enemies would be a little more prepared and assume a more defensive posture. Still he would rather fight two alert enemies than three. Feeling confident in his plan he dashed forward at full speed, indeed catching the enemy off guard as he reacted late to defend and brought up his weapons. Using the time that had been given to him he simply side stepped and slashes his sword clean through the man’s forearms. Sending blood squirting out and dropping his weapon completely as he fell to the ground in agony. He turned around just in time to catch the remaining two reacting to him as well trying to catch Dameon off guard and it might have worked too if he hadn’t already activated his electrolocation sensing jutsu. The jutsu itself gave him complete geographical awareness within several hundred meters as well as letting him know where enemies were due to the shape that they possessed within the invisible electrical field.

The two enemies attacked him non-stop trying to slow Dameon down by making him constantly have to react and leaving no time to counter. It was a sound strategy that indeed required him to focus but the weakness of their blade hitting his sword was not lost on him. He kept waiting for an opening or for a moment of weakness on their part. His sword constantly flickering around to block their attacks without Dameon even so much as breaking a sweat do to the blades weightlessness. Deciding enough was enough he decided to create his own opening. Instead of blocking the last attack he side stepped it avoiding it ever so slightly and lowered himself to sweep the leg of his opponent. It connected and threw the man into the air briefly as he fell to the ground. Using this opportunity He drew his kunai and was going to plunge it into the man’s chest as he fell. The other shinobi had plans though as he threw a kunai of his own knowing Dameon would have to either block it or avoid it and give up the fatal strike. Dameon decided to block it with the drawn kunai after it ricocheted off he grabbed it safely and chucked it at one of the genjutsu users who was attempting to perform a ninjutsu. The kunai itself connected with the man’s jugular and sent him to the ground to bleed out.

The enemy that had that had saved his comrades life swung down with his sword now. With Dameon on his knees he raised his sword to block it and rolled away momentarily. He was getting tired of these two and the other enemy had now hit the ground. He tossed the kunai at the man on the ground knowing his partner would intercept it and Dameon expected this. Surely enough the man had dashed forward to block the kunai with his katanna. Meanwhile Dameon was already moving to intercept the man from the right flank, using the moment he blocked the kunai Dameon stabbed the man through the ribcage and up into his heart before kicking him aside. By now the man on the ground had collected himself back up and attempted a counter attack. Dameon fooled the man as he went to horizontally intercept the attackers sword and deactivated his own weapon letting the blue die out as the enemies katana hit nothing but air. Dameon lined his blade up again at the side of the man’s neck and reactivated it and slicing clean through the man’s neck decapitating him.

“There is a reason I am a Seven Swordsman you dip shits,” he stated as he looked up to see how Sanosuke was doing.
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3,079/4,000

245/300

Spoiler:

Walking over to Dameon as the young member of the Seven Swordsmen were trying to recover from his time being tortured from information, Sanosuke got in front of the boy so that he stood in their way with his blade still leveled at the enemy ANBU group. If they wanted to get to the boy, all 6 of them would have to go through him first. The enemy did nothing but watched and observed as Sanosuke got over to Dameon’s side. After the boy was able to stand in a stance to fight the enemy, Sanosuke allowed for the boy to stand beside him. The enemy shinobi got in their stances to take on both a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and also a master sennin at the same time. Even though they were outnumbered 6 to 2 and it was a slim chance in hell that they could escape with their lives, Sanosuke was sure that together they would come out victorious. In all honesty Sanosuke would be able to destroy all 6 of them, but then Dameon would be killed in the blast of Sanosuke’s attack. So he was set to fight with a restraint to his powers, but in the meantime Sanosuke would have to restrain his powers so that no one else would die. With that said, Sanosuke nodded at Navi so that she would bet sent to the sidelines and observe the fight from a distance. Just Navi being close to him would be overkill for the enemies, Sanosuke while in the state of mind of a master sage of the wasps would be enough. Navi nodded and did what his partner said to do with a huff to herself as she was sidelined. However with Navi gone, Sanosuke knew that he would be at a disadvantage if he fought with his regular blade that was on his back. Judging by the armor that were showing from the tips of the cloaks, it looked like they were made out of some high quality stuff that his regular old sword wouldn’t be able to break through without straining. Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke brought his hands together in a clapping motion. The abandoned temple that was being used to interrogate Dameon resonated with the meeting of Sanosuke’s gauntlets colliding in a collision of metallic note. Even though they were tools of destruction and death, when they were brought together Sanosuke loved the way it sounded; like a string of a harp being stroked by a beautiful harpy. Blue lightning popped between his fingertips when he retracted his hands away from each other. Static began to pop and fizzle in the air as his prized twin blades materialized at the epicenter of the blue lightning. When he took hold of his swords, Sanosuke held them in a vice grip at the handle of his swords so that the lightning that fizzled around his blades would finally be engulfed by the oxygen it was using to stay alive.

With his swords in his hands, Sanosuke got in his own stance for combat. His left sword was held so that the blade itself was held at a diagonal angle while his other sword was leveled behind the jounin’s back; it was made so that the right blade, Capulet, was horizontally parallel to the ground in a reverse grip. It may have been an unorthodox fighting stance but it promoted balance in his stance so that he may be able to defend himself from any attacks. The ancient wasp clan style of defense, Asura the 7 Handed Monk. That was the name of the exact stance he was in that his ex-teacher of senjutus, Biosk, taught through multiple beatings the jounin took in each sparring match they did for the past year. While training, Sanosuke had no idea how to break that stance since that was a major defensive stance that the former Wasp Knight took in each bout to counter all of Sanosuke’s attacks. Based off its mechanics, it was an ideal defensive stance when dealing with multiple enemies at once. But would it be enough to deal with 6 ANBU leveled agents at once; that would have to be decided with action and the resolve of his nerve. Widening his stance, Sanosuke got himself ready for all of them to come at Dameon. After all they were their main target, Sanosuke was merely an obstacle that stood in their way. If at all possible they would try to avoid fighting Sanosuke just to complete their objective; that just meant that Sanosuke had to be an annoying pain in the ass for them so that their job would be harder to do. With them being distracted by Sanosuke’s attacks, they would forget that Dameon himself was a force to be reckoned with. That was the only way for Sanosuke and Dameon to succeed in this fight that they were badly outnumbered in. Sanosuke would distract the shinobi with his presence and attack pressure to lower their group’s attack power just enough for Dameon to turn the tides in their favor. Once Dameon’s would deal with his amount of foes, he would come back to rendezvous with Sanosuke’s group and gank the remaining ANBU agents. The vice versa was also true. This plan was stupid and depended highly on skill and talent to escape from this in one piece. In all honestly, this sort of half-baked plan was something that would normally be seen from something as an underdog story.

For a few seconds, they were in deadlock just starring each other off; both factions trying to feel the other out of any weaknesses that could be exploited by just examining them. Both sides looked at each other head on. It would have been more beneficial of Sanosuke took the time to attack the group of ANBU agents when their backs were turned, but then again fighting someone like that wouldn’t have sat well with the kumogakure jounin. No when he fought, Sanosuke preferred to fight the enemy head on without any cheap parlor tricks or deception involved. This would be the way he would fight them. Breaking the silence, Dameon dashed at the group of shinobi that were in black hooded cloaks and masks on. They were the weapon specialists of the group, and as such he would have more of a chance of defeating them in combat than him fighting the genjutsu specialists in white cloaks. That would be a job left for Sanosuke to deal with. Before they even had the chance to attack Dameon with his back turned to no doubt put the young elite shinobi in yet another illusion. So that’s how they fought. These guys would use illusionary attacks to get the target distracted while those guys in black would be used to finish off the incapacitated target with their blades. Quite flawless. Sanosuke thought to himself noting this group’s primary plan of attack. It seemed to be flawless but the wasp sennin knew that flawless is an illusion. Any plan of attack can be found out by simply taking it apart and looking at its specs. With extreme speeds that was granted from the chakra that Sanosuke acquired from nature itself, he moved to intercept the genjutsu attack that was meant to take care of Dameon. With his all mighty sage mode activated, Sanosuke could see the flow of chakra that was being given off by the genjutsu based attack. It was in the form of blue waves of chakra that was interacting with the nature that Snaosuke had an influence in controlling. If Sanosuke didn’t intercept the blow Dameon would have been ensnared by the illusion attack. It would have been over if Sanosuke hadn’t done what he did.

For a second , Sanosuke stood there dillegently to block the other half of the ANBU group from interrupting Dameon’s fight with the bukijutsu specialists. Finally just standing there, Sanosuke smirked and took as much of the genjutsu based attack as possible before he looked over at the white cloaked ANBU agents. ”Sorry boys but, your pussy illusions won’t work on me. So you’re going to have to find some other way to avoid me kicking your ass.” Sanosuke sneered as he got in a stance. Even though their faces were masked with ANBU masks that each had the emblem of Seven Bells on it, their shock and surprise that their illusions were ineffective against him. His body was made to combat against illusions like these, so these guys were fighting against someone who would show them that fighting against a wasp sage would be the last mistake that they would ever make. Their moment of shock and confusion wasn’t for too long as they composed themselves rather quickly to what had just occurred before their eyes. That’s ex ANBU for you, able to not let their guard down. But that meant that they were left with the option of using a strategy that wasn’t used very often. After all it was very rare for someone to counteract their own signature paradigm. Getting in a stance, Sanosuke wondered exactly what these men would do now that their main tactic was useless. They were getting in position with having their hands from their sides looking as though they were about to do something related to chakra. Sanosuke could already sense their chakra levels spiking, so what jutsu would they use. That was the question Sanosuke wondered to himself.

One of them clapped their hands together and brought it down on the ground. A pillar of stone erupted from the ground and sped towards Sanosuke in an attempt to break Sanosuke’s ribs from the pressure. It was coming at such high speeds that a normal shinobi would have been killed by it, but unlucky for those ANBU agents that Sanosuke was no ordinary shinobi. Moving quickly in a blur of blue light, Sanosuke evaded the pillar from striking him with a swift sidestep. After he had dodged the pillar, Sanosuke used the momentum of the sidestep to jump off the pillar’s side as a springboard to leap at the other ANBU agents that were still preparing for their own jutsu. Seeing that the shinobi that haled form the village hidden in the clouds, Sanosuke smirked as the group of ANBU briefly panicked trying to find some way to slow down the sage. Two of them, the ANBU agents that had not deployed any jutsu yet, nodded at each other. All three of them were making retreats and hopping backwards so that they could put some distance between them and Sanosuke. It was also so that they could potentially gain some distance for some stronger jutsu in case they would happen to get caught in the aftermath of the jutsu. The more distance gained, the stronger and wide scaled jutsu they can use.

Flashing through some hand seals, Sanosuke saw as one of them took in a huge breath in. From just his sensing abilities, Sanosuke sensed the chakra levels of that one ANBU agent was preparing to do some high leveled jutsu. The man let out a stream flames that were taking the shape of a Chinese fire dragon that was speeding right at Sanosuke with speeds that rivaled his own while in sage mode. It was obvious that there was no way that he would be able to dodge the jutsu coming right at him. There only thing he could do is jump right into the flames. Sanosuke waited for the fire dragon to come closer to him before he acted on his plan to escape from the fire dragon that threatened to engulf him whole. The fire dragon roared as it got closer to Sanosuke; even though it was an artificial being made out of chakra, it roared as it was approaching its prey. Getting his swords out so that he was holding it in front of him, Sanosuke roared and slashed at the dragon with his swords in a cross slash between his swords. His blades was made out of a special alloy from the wasp clan of Kumo. They were designed to counteract the effect of chakra based attacks it was to weaken them so that even his sword can take down a jutsu. When his sword met the fire dragon, both the dragon and the wasp sennin roared at each other before clashing with each other.

There was an explosion when they clashed. His swords had already done their damage and reduced the attack of the fire dragon to that of a C Ranked jutsu. Fortunate for Sanosuke’s armor, he was shielded from the effects of the fire so that he only got away with a few burns on his body. Nothing life threatening at all. His presence was masked in a large shroud of smoke that resulted from the clash of the fire jutsu going off. Closing his eyes, Sanosuke focused on bringing out more and more of his chakra from within his body to activate his kekkei genkei. The power made him feel faster, than he already was even though his speed in sage mode had already held the equivalent of a sannin. With this burst of speed, he now acquired the speed that was as fast as a Kage. Since his enemies were now fighting with ninjutsu, they would need some time to prepare a genjutsu. With this burst of speed, he would end this fight before they had the chance to. His chakra was no longer rumbling to shake the effects of any incoming genjutsu. Now it was his turn to attack.

Bursting out of the smoke cloud, Sanosuke dashed out of it with only few burns and ashes on his face. When he got out, Sanosuke looked to see that the ANBU agents actually believed the jutsu they unleashed had done in the Kumogakure jounin. Seeing him escape from the smoke alarmed them all since they didn’t believe he would live from that. Focusing chakra in his empty hand so that he could throw it at them, his a disc of lightning chakra was sparking in his hands ”Destructo Disc!” Sanosuke shouted and tossed the sharp chakra disc at one of them. The raiton jutsu cleaved through one of the ANBU agents clean in half horizontally. His body dropped with a heavy thud to the ground. Before his comrades could react, Sanosuke was already in their guard to the point where they could not defend themselves. A sound of shock came from their masks before Sanosuke swiftly flicked their blades out and sunk them into the chests of the remaining ANBU agents that specialized in genjutsu based attacks. Blood splattered on his face as their bodies laid before his very feet. Heavy panting ridden his body as Sanosuke deactivated his jutsu. The blue glow that was in his body had died down so that he was now standing there around the dead bodies of half of the ANBU group that wanted to get information on Kiri’s Seven Swordsman. He had done his job in taking care of the 3 genjutsu users of the ANBU group. That should make things easier for them.

”Sorry but I don’t have time to waste on your guys.” Sanosuke panted as he clapped his hands to send his swords back into his gauntlets where they belonged in a showmanship of lightning dancing between his fingertips. Slowly getting back up, Sanosuke wiped his face from any sweat and soot. ”I have a fun night at the bar with a date waiting for me.” Navi floated near Sanosuke finally that the fighting was over. Giving his partner a thumbs up, Sanosuke smirked at his partner.

235/335 Jutsu Used:

Dameon looked down at the two enemies he had just killed and felt zero remorse. With a sigh of relief however he deactivated his sword turning it back into the extended dagger appearance. He wiped the blood from it with the cloak the enemy had wrapped around them before he sheathed it back onto his back. He spit to the ground with a little blood from being tortured earlier. The enemy had done a lot of damage to him in their interrogation but had not been able to extract any information from him, and even if they had they were all dead except for one. The one he had cut the hands off of was still on the ground slowly bleeding out. Dameon grabbed the wire he had been tied up in earlier and wrapped it in the other dead enemy’s cloak. He quickly wrapped it around the man’s hands cutting off the flow of blood to keep him alive. The other part of the mission was to gather as much intel as they possibly could and this seemed like a favorable time to do it. He ripped the ANBU mask off of the man and tossed it aside as he slapped the side of the man’s face trying to wake him up from his current state.

It was an odd situation he thought first he had been the person being interrogated and a while later now he was doing it. The marks on him were still very clear, Dameon himself had circular cuts around his entire body from the wire he had tied with tightened to cut him on purpose since he wasn’t talking. On top of that he had burn marks and cuts from kunai along his arms and legs and even the side of his neck. He was in bad shape and he knew it but he also knew it was all superficial and would cause no permanent damage. Dameon never really worried about his injuries and for the most part never felt a lot of pain to begin with usually because he knew that pain caused momentary lapses in judgment. Instead however he used his tough demeanor to do the exact opposite and flip an interrogation. Most people including shinobi had a weakness when it came to interrogation. Dameon would say he didn’t but he knew it would have been a lie, especially since they had been so close to figuring it out within the genjutsu.

The enemy woke up and tried to move to his feet but Dameon stopped him by kicking him back down to the ground. He simply wagged his finger at the man who obviously did not realize the predicament he was in. He held the man down wanting with all his power to kill the man in the slowest way possible just to make him feel even a little pain for what they had done to him. Perhaps it was too harsh but lately Dameon had become desensitized to the killing and bloodshed and instead was actually beginning to enjoy the daily challenges he had been forced to endure. Realizing it was not only making him more powerful but making him a complete and total warrior. Sure he had been labeled a prodigy but even the Mizukage herself had messed up his name at the Seven Swordsman speech. It made him feel somewhat angry and felt like he needed to keep proving himself and make people know what his name really was. Sure Sanosuke knew it but he was also his sensei and the only one he had ever taken a lesson from.

Dameon stopped with his foot holding the man down to the ground. He took his foot off of him and grabbed the rest of the wire and in a fury of irrational thought wrapped the wire around the man’s neck and used it to pull him to his feet making him choke a little as he rose to his feet. He couldn’t fight back considering his forearms were completely severed so he was at the mercy of Dameon who was getting a somewhat sick satisfaction over the dominance. If this was to be an interrogation Dameon would have to be the bad guy insisting on killing the man and hopefully Sanousuke could play the part of keeping him alive afterward, but they would both know the truth, their mission was to kill them all. Still, he assumed the enemy did not know that. Kicking the man back down to his knees with the wire around his neck he pulled on it angrily drawing blood at the man’s adams apple. He released the tension slightly and the enemy began coughing furiously as he gasped for air. He also drew out his kunai and impaled it into the man’s shoulder causing him to yell in pain before Dameon muffled his screams with his hand and twisted and turned the kunai. He left it inside the man as he went back and grabbed the wire and pulled it flush against his skin.

“You are going to tell me something. I saved your life up to this point and I can just as quickly end it. Now, I want information on your troop placement, future battle plans, and the overall goal of this war. TELL ME!” He shouted at the end pulling the wire against the man’s throat again in the same spot as before causing him to start coughing and struggling to breathe again. Dameon once again let the wire go slack as the man screamed out in between the hacking and coughing he had no control over. Dameon looked up at Sanosuke. Eyeballing him to search through the remains of the enemy to see if they carried any hard evidence, something, anything. Normally most shinobi wouldn’t but mistakes happened all the time and could turn the tide of a war in a single painful step. Dameon grinned a little bit as he looked down at the man struggling to break free.
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4,080/4,000

There was a word that Sanosuke could use to describe what he and Navi was observing. Before him was Dameon taking complete advantage of the man that was at his mercy with missing hands that was most likely cut off by the young jounin’s dagger. It was the first time that Sanosuke had ever seen Dameon’s blade up close. Light danced off the clear edge of the blade as it danced around it like the sword itself was drawing in the light in a colorful illusion. Even when it was painted red with blood, the blade looked beautiful. It was a shame for Sanosuke to see the blade disappear at Dameon’s orders to be replaced with a kunai that he pulled out to start paying back the ANBU agent that was responsible for his torture. Sanosuke took the time to observe the injuries that Dameon had been inflicted with by the group of ANBU agents that they fought. Slashes of multiple sharp objects, burn wounds, and injections. It looked like as though he was put through the wringer by those ANBU agents for information; an act of either stubbornness or tenacity would be the cause of Dameon not releasing any information that the enemy shinobi needed to complete their mission. But seeing how Dameon was enjoying the torture and the fact that the man was at his will was very unsettling to the Sanosuke. The way Dameon glared at Sanosuke giving him the order to search the bodies for Intel bothered him. The one word that Sanosuke would use to describe what was witnessing was ‘madness.’

It was one thing to get revenge for being torture, but Dameon was enjoying this. The joy of having an enemy at his mercy was obvious on his face as Dameon was finally getting vengeance. Sanosuke had to intervene to stop the boy from being corrupted by his vengeance. Walking over to the young jounin, Sanosuke put his hand on the boy’s shoulder to calm him down. When Dameon would turn around to look at him, Sanosuke would speak. ”That’s enough Dameon.” Sanosuke ordered the child. Even though they had the same rank, Sanosuke was still stronger than him in both experience and strength. After all, he was his teacher in the way of the sword. Surely Dameon would listen to the words of his teacher. Though Dameon did have a point, they did need intelligence.

Walking over to the dead bodies of the ANBU agents that he took down himself, there was one scroll between the 3 of them that Sanosuke ended. Taking a look of it, Sanosuke saw what was in the contents of the scroll. It held the locations of other bases in Seven Bell’s territory in Mizu no Kuni that the mass murderer controlled. This was something they could use indeed. ”Looks like we have something that we could use against them. Here check it out.” Sanosuke said finally as he took his eyes off the scroll he obtained before tossing it over to Dameon to see for himself.

Dameon heard Sanosuke’s words about it being enough and he understood. The man he was torturing had also given a sigh of relief and he loosened up the wire completely and even tossed it aside. He was right but it wasn’t vengeance he wanted it was justice. The number of people this man had killed for seven bells for any number of reasons made him want to inflict harm to get retribution for all of those his life had changed for the worse. He watched Sanosuke grab the scroll and caught it as it was tossed to him and opened it up to read through it. His teacher had been right the information within the scroll was indeed valuable. Of course this didn’t change Dameon’s initial thought on the matter instead it just speed things up and made it easier for him. He took the kunai out from the man’s shoulder and quickly sliced the man through his jugular right along the line he had created with the wire. The man fell and began to bleed out, having gotten information from someone other than him he had become expendable and now they had everything they needed to complete their mission.

“We completed our mission. We should head back and deliver this intel to the war room,” Dameon said coldly as he placed the kunai away and started walking toward the exit. Not carrying about any of the lives he had taken. By his count he already killed over a hundred enemy forces, men and women; three more at his hand would mean little to him. The only person he would kill that would mean anything to him would be Seven Bells himself.

“In case you’re worried about me. Know that they used Toraika in the genjutsu. You would have done the same thing. It wasn’t just one genjutsu it was seven different ways to see someone I love be tortured. Once I was released I remembered them all, and what was hours to you was almost a week for me. I assume because they all channeled their chakra into one genjutsu it made more powerful ones.” he said blandly turning his head briefly to glance at him as he stopped.

371 wc

Dameon's words did make sense in a way. There was only a few things that Sanosuke could say about the issue. Anything else he would say may make him sound like a hypocrite. There were a few things that Sanosuke could speak on his behalf to consul his student. What Sanosuke went through 5 years ago, the thirst of vengenace and the burning inferno it usually brought still flickered in his heart as he remembered the incident at Anthos' Keep. Just looking at the young jounin's eyes Sanosuke remembered that lethal feeling he experienced so long ago. From his travels Sanosuke learned how to not allow his emotions like anger to motivate him to physical violence. The flames of vengenace was a curse that Sanosuke didn't want to wish on his worst enemy. It only led to an empty feeling of remorse. Sanosuke would be damned if he allowed Dameon to go through that feeling he went through. At the pace he was going, Dameon might indeed drown in the murky darkness that waited for those whom doused the vengeful flames. Sanosuke walked over to his student to make sure that he was in front of Dameon. There was no anger behind his silver eyes when he met the eyes of the young member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist.

"Throughout history, each side believe they were correct. Do you honestly believe that Seven Bells assembled this many forces reunited to just bring destruction? If you do, then you're an idiot." Sanosuke began saying. Point to Dameon's head, Sanosuke signaled for Dameon to think. "Think about it man. It's all about propaganda. Seven Bells promised these shinobi a better life because of the bad living conditions they probably had to deal with and wanted to change that. If you were living with Toraika in bad enough conditions, would you kill for her to have a better life?" Walking over past Sanosuke, the kumo jounin stopped in front of Dameon and looked at the shining spectre in the sky. It was times like these that Sanosuke would take the time and reflect on life and the choices he made recently. Even at the scene of the battle that Sanosuke and Dameon fought against Seven Bells' ex ANBU forces, there was always time to look at the moon and just think about things. Hopefully, Dameon would take the time to look at it with him. A full moon was something that should be seen by all.

"There are going to be some members of Seven Bell's forces that want nothing more than to cause destruction. But I can guranteed you that most of them are doing the fighting under Seven Bells' promise of a better life for the ones they love. When you kill an enemy shinobi, keep in mind that some of them might have family of their own. Another family destroyed by war. In this war, despite who wins the love ones of the dead shinobi are always the losers." Sanosuke said reflecting to himself aloud so that Dameon could hear his words as he spoke. Clenching his fists tightly, Sanosuke shook in anger. "The only person who deserves no sympathy is Seven Bells. So direct your anger and frustration at him."

Dameon once again listened to the words of his sensei. He was right and he knew it but everything Sanosuke had said Dameon already knew. He had not lost track of who to be angry at nor had he been so stupid as to think every person he killed didn’t have a family that would miss him. It was those thoughts that instead made him like this. He had to be a ruthless unforgiving killer and a warrior on the battlefield to protect his few loved ones from feeling the pain of his loss. He continued to look into Sanosuke’s eyes as the shinobi moved to stand in front of Dameon and cut off his path out of the temple ruins. Apparently they were going to have this talk entirely because otherwise his sensei wouldn’t let him leave. He sighed as the blood continued to drip from the cuts on his body and other spots where the blood had already dried began to ache from the soreness of the muscles.

“I’m not naïve, I realize everything you said. What you may not realize is I am new to all of this…emotions. I literally had no feelings before meeting Toraika. Slowly with everyone I have met I have been able to feel more and more and understand the risks of death. Sanousuke, I don’t feel fear, I don’t care if I die. I’m a sociopath, I am trying so hard to change but the war is making near impossible for me. You saw how I was when Toraika got hit with the arrow after the ceremony, that’s my true nature. I don’t feel remorse for others I am not empathetic like that, to me its kill or be killed. I can honestly say I don’t care if I kill someone who has loved ones that will miss them because I know that if I die I will be hurting those close to me. It’s hard to explain, I am damaged goods and I know that. I have never had a family or someone to help guide me as I grew up, hell even you only trained me one day before I got thrown into the war head first. What am I supposed to feel?” He stated as he spoke near emotionlessly as he stared into his sensei’s eyes letting him know everything he was saying was the truth and coming from his heart.
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771 wc

Coldness. That was what Sanosuke saw when he looked his student in his eyes. He had gained the power of someone that came dangerously close to his own range of power. With a couple more years, the boy that stood before him could very well come close to surpassing the kumogakure jounin. There was only one thing that Sanosuke had over the child was years and years of experience. All this child knew was how to kill. A child. That was the only word that Sanosuke could use to describe Dameon. He only knew how to kill with the blade; he called it protection, but to Sanosuke it was more like slaughter with a purpose. Sanosuke couldn't as well let him go about this. Someone whom was new to emotions wouldn't know what it meant to show compassion towards strangers, but in order for Dameon to grow up is what it meant to take someone's life. Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke and looked upwards towards the moon. The moon was full tonight and even though the mist of the hidden village was making it a bit more difficult to see them, the stars were shining brightly in the sky piercing the mist that cloaked the sky. Whenever he had the chance to reflect on life, he would always enjoy nature that was around him.

"Let me share something with you Dameon. Whenever I pick up my sword, I'm afraid of it. It's a weapon that kills, and I'm afraid of the guilt that will plague my conscious once I take someone's life with it and that is equally capable of taking my own life. Those who do not fear their blade, don't deserve to wield one at all. If you're able to surpass this fear to protect those you love, you will get much stronger." Sanosuke began to say. He walked over to Dameon and draped Dameon's arm over his shoulder so that he can help the boy get on his feet. "Just think about what I said while we head over to the hospital to get you treated. We've both have a long night, and I have a date so I wanna hurry this up." Sanosuke smiled at his student while chuckling to him to lighten the mood of the short speech he gave to his student.