Complete Mayhem (2)

The electricity crackled dangerously as A and Akashi continued to face each other. 

Meeting the iron-hard fists with the cold blades, and coupled with the miniature explosions of lightning that blinded the scene, no one could tell who was winning.

Some sparks flew and struck trees, burning them to a crisp. The temperature around the scene rose, and the air was getting drier as time went by. 

"Tch...!"

A frowned, evidently troubled by Akashi's performance.

Lightning Release: Chakra Mode, also known as lightning armor. It was the technique of Raikage's family that made them the strongest in Kumogakure. 

Not only did this technique raise one's physical capability to a vast extent and apply lightning to all its user's taijutsu moves, but also protected its user from the majority of incoming attacks. This technique placed a great deal of stress on its users' bodies, but it was a risk worth taking.

It was true that A was still improving, that he hadn't yet reached his peak. However, that wasn't of importance.

What mattered right now... was the fact that Akashi was matching his speed with nothing but a simple enhancement using chakra.

'And that's not it...!'

Though A, as the speed at which he threw his arms began to accelerate even further to match Akashi's blades that danced around him dangerously.

'Those blades...!'

Lightning Release: Chakra Mode was extremely resilient to the lightning-type ninjutsu. Akashi, who utilized Kiba the twin lightning blades, was technically hard countered by A. 

Yet, A found the light gashes on his body increasing as time went by. The trickles of blood sprinkled as Kiba blades managed their way through A's chakra armor.

That's right. On top of the unstable lightning that ran down the Kiba blades, there was a layer of wind, one sharp enough to pierce through A's lightning armor.

'Wind is a natural insulator of lightning. To make them co-exist on a single blade... just what king of chakra control is that...!'

As A leaned back at the last second to evade an incoming slash of Kiba, his eyes saw the thin flow of wind chakra on top of Kiba's blade.

A back-flipped and landed on the ground. Then, he was forced to leap right away to evade an incoming Kiba, one thrown by Akashi.

'...Thrown?'

Puff. 

A's eyes widened as the smoke suddenly enveloped the thrown Kiba before Akashi revealed himself from within, ready to slash A who was just above.

Gritting his teeth, A kicked the ground. His form disappeared along with a sudden burst of electricity, causing Akashi's blades to cut through the empty air. 

Standing behind Akashi, A punched his lightning-imbued fist through the masked shinobi.

"Hah!—Huh?!"

Puff. Akashi was proven to be a clone once again.

'How—'

A couldn't finish his thought as he had to quickly raise his arms to block the simultaneous slash of two Kiba blades from Akashi who suddenly appeared from the side.

'This technique...'

A frowned as his feet skidded back from the impact of Akashi's blades. 

'Shadow Clone technique! To think a ninja of Kiri knows Konoha's jutsu... just what is going on?!'

In silence, Akashi saw A glaring at him. Taking this brief gap of time to inspect the surroundings, Akashi saw that Mei's group was having difficulty trying to deal with the numerous ninjas of Kumo. Such was especially the case for Zabuza who was forced to protect Gai at the same time.

Immediately after, he began to devise ways to get out of this situation. 

'...Water.'

There indeed was a method worth trying. The problem was the scarcity of water due to the extensive use of Lightning Release techniques by Kumo ninjas.

'But...'

It wasn't like Mei wasn't aware of that. It could be seen that she was continuously blasting out the water release techniques to raise humidity, only to have her effort be rendered useless by tens of ninjutsu specialists of Kumo.

Akashi saw A dashing at him. Tilting his head to evade a punch, Akashi met an incoming kick with Kiba. Then, spinning his body and stabbing the other Kiba blade on the ground right below, Akashi acrobatically struck a kick of his own at A, one that was encased in wind chakra.

"Hmph...!"

A felt the shredding force of wind that caused the lightning armor around his body to ripple and quickly backed. Not missing the chance, Akashi was now the one to dash at A.

CLANG!

Blade met fist.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Both of them were moving at a speed that none of the other ninjas thought possible. The sparks of lightning emerged consecutively. Witnessing such a battle between monsters, none of the other ninjas dared to interrupt, knowing that a foot in such a fight would result in their nigh instant death.

"..."

Mei huffed as she shook her head in an attempt to remove the drowsiness that was worsening as time went by. Her chakra reserve was running out; Kumogakure's elites surely weren't the ones to be fretting with.

"Water Release—"

Mei's hand seals were interrupted by a kunai. Dodging it at the last second, Mei then watched as Ao blocked shurikens—also aimed at Mei—with a kunai in his grasp.

"Huff... huff... fuck!!"

Zabuza restlessly swung his blades to fend off the ninjas around him. Though Gai remained hidden at his back, the enemies seemed to have perceived the bump on his cloaked back as his weakness and were strenuously targeting the area.

Akashi and A saw all this. 

"...Hah,"

A breathed out, partially out of relief. As the fight between the two came to a stop for a brief moment for both of them to catch their breath, A closed his eyes.

"Taka was it?"

The lightning armor around him began to intensify.

"Everyone has an ace up their sleeve, right?"

A opened his eyes and showed resiliency. Grinning, he spoke,

"I will show you... the speed of the fastest in the world."

Lightning Release: Body Flicker.

As Akashi blinked his eye, A was no longer present in his vision.

Instead, there was the sound of lightning crackling right above him. For the first time, Akashi felt his eye widen.

For a second, he lost A. And now, here A was, right above Akashi.

Judging by the blood that trickled down his lips, it seemed that A hadn't fully mastered this technique of his just yet. However, that wasn't the point. 

Watching as A's lightning-imbued fist approached him, Akashi realized that the opponent in front of him wasn't someone whom he could look down upon.

Boom.

There was a burst of lightning. Akashi felt the blow on his chest, one hard enough to cause him to puke blood. Ignoring the pain that pulsed throughout his body, Akashi, while knocked up from the blow, quickly twisted his body to slash his blade at A who once again utilized Lightning Release: Body Flicker to bring himself in front of Akashi once again.

Fist met blade, but A then disappeared and reappeared behind Akashi. Unable to catch the immense speed of the man, Akashi was hit in the back, causing him to fall and roll across the ground.

Quickly standing back up and intensifying the flow of chakra in his body to prevent the lightning-induced paralysis, Akashi quickly leaped just in time to avoid A who suddenly appeared and punched the empty ground.

With a puff, Akashi formed two shadow clones on his left and right midair. One of his clones grabbed him by the back and threw him to the side, while another received the blow of A who flickered in nearby with a punch.

"Hah! Running away?!"

A's mouth was full of blood. His eyes, too, were letting tears of blood. It was clear that he was moving at a speed that even his body—one stronger than the steel—couldn't handle. However, the man didn't seem to care. All that mattered to him was to win the battle against Akashi, or to be more exact, the mysterious Taka, one of the seven swordsmen.

Landing on the ground and tightening his grips over two Kiba blades, Akashi watched as A disappeared from his sight again.

"..."

The thought of revealing Ryuma did tempt him. However, he concluded that even if A were to be faster than anyone whom he fought against throughout his life, this man was defeatable without revealing his true identity.

And that wasn't because Akashi was far stronger than A. In fact, he was never stronger than anyone whom he fought against. His enemies, whom he defeated, were always equal to or stronger than his strength.

His greatest strength wasn't kenjutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu, or any other techniques. 

It was his ability to deceive and trick the enemies. He was a ninja, after all.

"...My win."

A, standing behind Akashi, now had his hand piercing through Akashi's chest.

With a bloody grin, A declared his victory.

"Is it?"

Then, 'Akashi' disappeared with a puff. 

"...What?"

A whispered in disbelief upon realizing that the one whom he attacked just now was a clone. 

He looked around. Due to an intense fight, they were at a site distant from the site where Kumo ninjas and Mei's group were fighting each other. He found no presence of Akashi nearby.

In truth, Lightning Release: Body Flicker had another fatal flaw apart from the internal damage brought by the immense speed. While moving at such a speed, A too wasn't able to see things around him properly; everything appeared in a blur, and therefore, he could only move in a straightforward fashion. 

Akashi, with a keen observation, noticed this just from a few collisions previously. After, he devised a plan within the blink of an eye.

When he formed two clones midair, 'Akashi' whom one clone threw away from A wasn't the real him. That 'clone' who threw 'Akashi' away was the original. While A fought Akashi in a one-dimensional manner, Akashi played a mind game.

While A's focus was locked on 'Akashi' who was thrown, Akashi sank into the ground with the use of the Hiding Like a Mole technique. 

"...No!"

Not knowing everything in full detail but knowing full well what Akashi would do should the fight between the two of them cease, A quickly ran back to the site where Kumo ninjas and Mei's group were fighting.

"A... sama..."

And the scene that was revealed in front of A upon his arrival indeed met his grim expectations.

There was no sight of Akashi and others. All that A could see were the fallen Kumo ninjas, unable to fight.

"...FUCK!!"

A roared with a vivid rage, but there was nothing that he could do against the enemies whom he lost the trace of.