Samurai Showdown With Kakashi

- The Reapers of Metal? Why does that name sound familiar?

In front of the horrific sight of countless dead in a chaos of blood, there was merely a man, broken by this group's merciless slaughter. I felt like they were something I had heard of before, and Rakuma confirmed it:

- Its no surprise you would have hesrd of them. Anyone interested enough to read the plaques at the ancient tomb would know. The Reapers of Death are group of ninja, each from a different village, each with their own style, who left their birthplace to become samurai at the Land of Iron. They became known as the best warriors of our land at one point, and strived to spread the peace and equity of our land across the world. They were even known as heroes... until it happenned. The First Ninja War. They thought they had ridden themselves of their birthplace, but soon found out, they were more attached to it than they thought, and they were not pleased by the general's decision to not participate in the war. How could samurai improve the world if they were not involved in it?

- And then they left, and have been since then actively trying to put the samurais into action. First through treaties, then by threaths, and now by death.

- So you know about them?

- I suppose I know a little. But I thought they had been eradicated, or at least disbanded.

- When they told our land about their goal, other samurai joined them. They went from the original five to hundreds. Although it was difficult, the five leaders were defeated and their army came back to our side. That man mentioned the five Reapers of Metal. I wonder...

- Do you think the original five survived?

- I doubt it. I was merely a boy at the time of their defeat, but I believe they had their bodies. These must be new ones.

- Were they always this violent? - I said, looking at the now red forest, drenched in body pieces.

- Never. This is too much. - Rakuma stayed quiet for a little, thinking about what the best action was at the moment. - Stay here with the man, see if he tells you anything else. I'm going to look around. - While saying this, I saw legitimate fear in his eyes. Not only were there dead ninja, but also samurai, and if he knew anyone of them, it would certainly be painful.

I looked at the terrified man sitting by the tree with his hands in his head. I decided to move him. It wouldn't do any good to his mental health to stay there, nor mine, so I decided to get him somewhere else. He didn't want to get up, so I picked him up from the ground, and carried him out of there.

As I was walking towards a cleaner forest , I heard him murmur:

- His red eyes... avoid his red eyes...

No, there's no way. He can't be talking about them, can he? Was this caused by the Uchiha?

As I felt my mind swell up in anger, I heard a far away growl. Probably an animal that scented the blood and came to feast. This world can truly be horrid sometimes. A pack of crows came flying, gathering around the corpses, only to then fly away at the sight of a giant.

Rakuma headed my way running, followed by a clearly ill and hurt man. The man had several cuts and bruises, and was pursing my teacher in a slow, awkward pace. His eyes were red as if he was tired or even dead, and his movements weren't planned. He stumbled and got back up as if someone was manipulating him with strings. Rakuma shouted at me:

- Roddie, analise the situation. Tell me what's happening.

- What? - Stupidface quickly got right next to me, and was at a clearly safe distance from the zombie.

- You've clearly seen the bodies in the trees, the crazy man mumbling in fear and another walking like he's being controlled. What do you think happenned here, and how should we move forward from here?

This had to be another test. One of his sudden classes I presume. Let's see if I guess it right.

- The Reapers of Metal came across a group of patrolling samurai and ninja and saw it as an imminent threat, fully destroying the enemy troops.

- That doesn't tell me anything about the survivors. What about the crazy man?

- Well, with the way his friends died, its reasonable for him to be traumatized.

- And the zombie?

- He... well... I have no idea.

- Genjutsu! - Rakuma exclaimed as if it was obvious.

When I studied the ninja, I learned that some of their jutsus, the genjutsu, were capable of affecting the human mind, distorting its view, and in extreme cases, manipulating their movement. Yet it was not something I was familar to the point of immediately recognizing it. I proceeded the analysis:

- Then it was a very powerful genjutsu. One that can have a bruised man move around, and hunting any incoming intruders.

- Great, I'll give you 4 points out of 10.

- 4? I just missed the genjutsu, that was at leatmst 6 points.

- You also missed the enemy's motive. This seems very extreme if all they did was find samurai. This was either planned, or an accident. Plus, with the way the blood is splattered, their bodies had to explode from the inside. - He pointed at the zombie. - I fear the same could happen with him, whether as a consequence of ridding him of the genjutsu, or of killing him. We either capture him, or kill him from afar.

I grabbed the crazy man and leapt backwards to gain more distance from the incoming zombie. Rakuma soon followed and I asked:

- I feel like the only one who can dispell this would be the user of the genjutsu. Do you think he's still around?

- I doubt that there is a range limit, but its worth another check. Keep the man away from the zombie and... - A chakra slash came from behind us. It went right above my head, but I clearly wasn't the target since it hit the zombie in his neck. With that single hit, the man grew in size and looked like he was about to burst.

- Look out! - Rakuma screamed as he got in front of me and the man, bravely protecting us from the blast.

With an horrifying exploding sound, I felt the air tremble and Rakuma shake with the shock. When all that was left was a pool of blood, Rakuma moved aside, and as he turned around I noticed that the back of his armor had been completely decimated, and his own back was slightly bruised. That begs the question of which is actually tougher. I had to thank him later.

I looked back, curious to see who was the idiot who had shot a chakra slash, and when I looked I screamed in shock:

- Renji!? You idiot!

An embarassed Renji followed by a calm Lai approached us. As I saw Rakuma's expression, I was thankful I wasn't the only one mad at the situation. He yelled:

- Lai, why did you let him do that? Or better yet, what are you doing here?

- We came here due to Mifune's orders. He said to keep the rookie and the short tempered guard under watch.

- Liar. You just came here out of curiosity. And in the first second of your arrival, you managed to screw everything up.

- I'm sorr... - Renji tried to apologize, but Lai didn't let him.

- He assumed you two were in danger, and quickly reacted. I see nothing wrong in that.

- Well, my student analised the situation carefully and decided how to react, unlike your idiotic prodigy who shoots at everything he sees. - I had to admit, I was pretty happy with Rakuma's compliment.

- You've had your student for less than a week, and you already think he's better than mine?

- Lord Lai, - Renji timidly intervened. - You don't have to...

- Maybe he is. - Rakuma didn't let poor Renji talk. - From what I heard, your student has been getting worse. Maybe its because of you.

- If you really think so, I propose a duel.

- Fine, for old time's sake.

- Not between you and me, you brute. Between our students. Let the best prevail.