First Kill

The boar masked nin saw Rayzen was slowly walking towards him, but problem was that it was not a single Rayzen that was coming at him, but more than ten.

' Is it a clone? '

He threw a shuriken straight at the one that was coming at him. The Rayzen that was the target of the shuriken didn't dodge and didn't stop walking towards the boar masked nin. But in the next second, the shuriken just went through him without the slightest resistance and he seemed to be unaffected.

Even the weapons thrown at many of the Rayzen's clones by the cat masked nin, had no effect as it went through him.

The contrast provided by all the clones' demonic red eyes and their intangibility created an eerie scene, especially when all the clones spoke the the thought of the boar masked nin at the same time:

" Is it a clone? "

Although unnerved, the boar masked nin was trying to come up with an explanation and a way to kill Rayzen fast.

' Is it an illusion? But I haven't looked into his eyes! '

Rayzen's clones spoke again as they closed in on him : " Or is it an illusion? "

The boar masked nin used ' Water Release : Wild Water Wave ' again, in an effort to wipe out, what he thought was, all the approaching clones.

Contrary to his expectations, all the clones dispersed the strong currents of water coming at them at the same time and thus managed to disperse the whole jutsu.

' Micro-Burst Jutsu '

The boar masked nin thus concluded that they were clones as he went on to stab the one that was near him with a kunai.

Rayzen or one of his clone, that had just used ' Micro-Burst Jutsu ' at the weak point of the current and dispersed part of the jutsu, had just turned back, when a kunai was close to stabbing him. He didn't dodge as he allowed the kunai to stab at him.

The boar masked nin who expected that it was just a shadow clone and would disperse into smoke, was surprised as both him and his kunai, just went through the clone, as if it didn't exist.

But the clone had vanished when the kunai hit it and magically appeared behind the boar masked nin. Encircled by a lot of clones, the boar masked nin tried his best to defend and counterattack. But it was just a fruitless effort.

He only felt that the clones were tangible when he was taking a hit or defending. But whenever he striked out, these clones became intangible!

As he was busy defending, one of the clones broke his right leg using a minor version of ' Micro-Burst Jutsu '. It was swiftly followed by another one breaking the other leg, even before the boar masked nin could scream for the first one.

All the clones seemed to slowly vanish as the original Rayzen appeared behind him. Just then he seemed to have figured something out, something he thought was impossible, as he said unable to believe his own words : " An afterimage?! "

Rayzen swiftly knocked him out!

He then deactivated his Sharingan, as it started being a bit taxing to make use of under the cover of smoke and fog, as well as his rapidly deteriorating vision from the poison.

Although less than half a minute had passed since he was poisoned, the poison started taking effect on him just now. This indicated the resistance of his body and Sharingan to such a poison.

Earlier, in order to knock the boar masked nin swiftly, he had used ' Body Flicker Jutsu ' to such a level that it produced ' Afterimage Clones '. Although the terrain was muddy, he had accounted for it as he used chakra to smoothly traverse the area. The Sharingan was helpful in providing him dynamic vision that his body could keep up with and hence smoothly knock out the Root nin.

Now that his senses were being dulled, particularly his vision, Rayzen pulled down his head band to cover both his eyes. Although he could remove the poison, it needs a bit of time, which he could get none of, unless he takes out the other Root nin too.

' Let's see where you will hide now! '

Rayzen unleashed his soul force and instantly detected the cat masked Root nin, who was using hand-seals.

Rayzen seems to have teleported infront of him, as he punched out.

' Body Flicker Jutsu '

' Micro-Burst Jutsu '

Rayzen's punch was about to reach him before his hand-seals were about to complete. But before his punch could reach, Rayzen felt an intense danger. The cat masked nin had exploded!

' Shadow Clone Explosion Jutsu '

Rayzen was barely able to escape the centre of the explosion with Body Flicker Jutsu in the last second, but he was still injured by the impact.

He appeared a bit battered, with his clothes torn here and there and his mask torn. There were some minor wounds here and there. He wiped the blood off the corner of his lips.

He clenched his fist as his muscles tightened. Unleashing his soul force again, he detected the cat masked nin again and made sure that it was the only one there and hence, most probably, not a clone. It could have been said he had teleported, if it was not for the afterimages that appeared on his path to the cat masked nin.

' Body Flicker Jutsu '

He slapped the guy's palm without holding backing as a part of arm including his hand exploded into a spray of blood. The slap was so strong that not even a piece of flesh or bone could be seen splattered on the ground.

Surprisingly enough, although the guy was experiencing intense pain, he didn't scream, he just suppressed it the best he could.

He slowly raised his other hand to form a Snake hand seal as he spoke huskily in his weak voice :

" Kill me ! Please... "

Rayzen instantly slapped his other hand, but this time he controlled the force just enough to break it with a tap.

Rayzen removed his mask to see an young man whose mouth was bleeding, probably from biting down the pain. He was crying. His condition and expression aroused pity in most. As his expression or what was left of it in his face that forgot to express emotions for a long time, morphed into one that indicated he was begging sincerely, he pleaded again:

" Please... end this... torture! I don't... want to... kill anymore!... Kill me... before you die with me! "

Rayzen felt an intense danger to his life, like none he had ever felt before. He didn't hold back anymore, as he felt he would die if he did. He activated his Byakugan and saw a lot of explosion tags sticked on the cat masked nin's body and his chakra was moving towards it.

The poison seemed to be ineffective against his Byakugan eye, as he was able to see everything clearly.

Rayzen didn't hesitate any longer, as he gazed deep into the Root nin's eye and punched him in the chest. His fist pulverized the cat masked nin's heart and went through his body to reach the other side.

The guy lost the light in his eyes as he barely spoke his last words:

" Tha..nk... U... "