Board Thread:Konoha Arc/@comment-24937485-20161214011549/@comment-30271674-20161215020202

This spectacle has escalated from just a tense moment into an atrocious sight. Ieyasu didn't have time to reflect on the monk's words because it was now that he'd proceed to start this cruel fight. The monk seemed to blur slightly for an unknown reason, the underlying grass and dirt even moving a little but it seemed he was still standing there. Ieyasu was seasoned, and while he wasn't a genius it wasn't hard to realize what was going on. But even as this registered in his head, there was no way he could've even responded in time as those synapses fired and he began to try and look around what would've happened to Mushiki would've already taken place.

Ieyasu was simply too slow, so if nothing changed he'd just turn around to see Mushi flying off into some trees that cracked and exploded upon her flailing body making contact. There was something surreal about that, to see a human body so easily fly like a thrown doll. He turned back around to see the monk just staring at them, and letting out the warning like a harbinger of death. Ieyasu's chest tightened at the similar phrasing the monk used, he just heard the same thing from his father just shortly before they headed out to encounter this marauder. The crushing responsibilities, the past; they all clawed at his mind at that one moment.

"WAIT!"

Ieyasu desparately held out a hand towards the monk, pacing his breath and hoping this could give them a brief moment of respite. On the whole way there he told himself that there were no mistakes, they couldn't run away from this. If Ieyasu did, he had a fate waiting for him that he knew was harsher than death. He had to redeem himself.

"Don't kill these two, they're not ready yet. Fight... fight me."

Ieyasu held a reluctant tone to these words, but he didn't want to fail his squad members again. Not like with Shinra. Not like with Tsuneo. Something about this all started to kickstart and rev up a fire again, even as scared as he was he knew there was simply no other option. The feeling was familiar, like what he felt back during the Masked Shinobi Incident except there wasn't a pillar of support to help him stand. Was this what it felt like to be a hero?

If the monk agreed to Ieyasu's circumstance, he'd pull out the small wooden case from before with haste and quickly pop open one of the three lids on it and take the Spinach Pill. He bit down on the wooden case to still his mouth and so he could quickly follow up and get prepared. Ieyasu's hands immediately presumed a position for grabbing, keeping a watchful eye on the monk while remaining prone. As soon as he swallowed the crushed pill, he'd begin to feel changes to his body and a warm feeling as his calories were slowly converted to chakra.

He didn't care if he lived or died at this point, he wasn't the hero Keldran and even Ikeru thought he could be, and there was too much shame from hurting Shinra and letting Tsuneo die like a dog. If he failed in all of these aspects, how did he expect to rid this world of villainy like Gyugii or even just horrible people like his father?

All he needed was just one single opening, even as he shook little by little he just stood there anticipating a coming attack although he couldn't tell from or if he could react to it. If he could do just that, maybe he'd die but maybe if Azarias and Mushiki saw that same opening and stayed out of the way until then they could assassinate the monk.