Chapter 2: The Land of Vegetables

Chie whips out a kunai and lunges towards Yu, aiming for his heart. "Take this!!!!!!!" she yells.

The shuriken moved around Raiku and turned into clones, surrounding him and attacking him relentlessly at rapid speed. Dangan himself rushed in and used his wind chakra to drop kick him down into the ground. "How do you like that? That's actually something I came up with not too long ago," Dangan said proudly, "It's one of my Secret Techniques: Wind Style, Fury of the Four Winds." Dangan and his clones stood surrounding Raiku, getting ready to attack.



There's no way I can dodge this in time, Yu thought worriedly. This may be the end for me. But at least, I completed my mission. Dangan will make sure they never leave alive...

The clones distracted Raiku and the sudden drop kick caught him by surprised. He fell to the ground, creating a small crater.  "Darn," he thought as he struggled to catch his breath, "That Quick Style is no joke."  His back and chest were both badly bruised. He managed to stand up but was now surrounded by Dangan's clones.  The Lightning Clone had used up half of Raiku's chakra, as Lightning Clones don't give the original their chakra back upon dispersing, so he didn't want to use up too much more by fighting Dangan any longer than necessary.  

"I can't sustain this technique long," he thought, "But it should allow me to keep up with him just long enough.  Raiku charged lightning chakra into his dual kunai blades and then suddenly..."Cloak of Lightning!" A lightning aura immediately appeared around Raiku. His muscles expanded just a bit and his hair stood up straight.  He hadn't yet mastered the technique, but he could sustain it for a few seconds.  He lunged towards Dangan at high speed and prepared to slash him with the kunai.

Dangan dodged out of the way, just barely having the blade miss his neck. “Now we're talking,” Dangan said cheerfully. “Prove me your worth, Lightning Lion!!” Using two of his fingers, he summoned winds around him that sliced the ground and nearby rocks, some of it surrounded his fingers and extended like a sword. “Wind Style: Wind Blade!” Dangan then used his Quick Style to move in and out of sight, towards Raiku. “Now prepare to die!!!”

"I don't plan on dying today," replied Raiku. With the lightning armour jutsu still active, Raiku dashed towards Dangan, leaving a small break in the ground where his foot pushed off. The gap between them was closed in an instant as Raiku rushed in for the attack. He swung one of his two kunai towards Dangan's abdomen.

Dangan blocked it with his Wind Blade, and lifted it up to push back Raiku, knocking the kunai out of his hands, leaving minor cuts in the process. "My Wind Blade acts as a nigh-invisible longsword, made up of winds at my beck and call," Dangan told him, "capable of cutting you into ribbons. Just being near me will while this jutsu is active will leave you prone to a few nicks and scrapes. You will not win this fight."

Raiku's Lightning Style Armour fizzled out. He looked at his cuts and could feel his chakra getting low. He glared at Dangan and began making some hand signs. "Chidori" he said under his breath. The lightning chakra was loud and sounded like a bunch of chirping birds. Raiku focused on Dangan and prepared to unleash his Chidori.

With Yu unable to avoid the attack, Chie's kunai cuts threw the flesh of his chest and pierces his heart.

"Give me all you got!!" Dangan shouted. He pumped out as much chakra as he could into his Wind Blade, the near invisible razor-sharp winds surrounding his arm. He then made a mad dash towards Raiku, using Quick Style to zig-zag in and out of sight as he advanced.


Yu coughed up blood as he felt the life slowly drain from his body. "Y...you got l-lucky, kid....'" he struggled to say, "but don't think...you've won...y..yet.... I managed to pull you two... in the opposite..direction." Despite the pain, Yu managed to crack a wicked smile. "My orders were to distract you... t-to keep you away in time, for Shou to crush your leader. And then, pick you all off one by one. I bet even that brick head Ken managed to kill your little boyfriends...." Yu began to laugh manically, spurting up more blood as he did. "YOU HAVE NO TIME LEFT!! NONE OF YOU ARE LEAVING ALIVE!!!"

Raiku watched as Dangan approached him.  The Quick Style made it impossible to keep track of his exact movements.  "Come on buddy," he thought, "just a bit closer."

Meanwhile...

As Chie dealt the finishing blow to Yu, Kaita looked on in amazement. "I-I can't believe it," she thought, "That kid beat Yu."

Dangan appeared only a few feet from Raiku, the Wind Blade aimed for his heart. "Now, I've got you!"

"Now!" exclaimed Raiku. Suddenly, Nair the snake shot out of the ground to bite Dangan's heel.

Dangan felt a stinging pain in his heel, and looked back to see a snake clamped onto it. “What?!?" he shouted and stumbled to the ground, halting his attack altogether as he tried to get the snake off of him.

Nair released his grip, just barely avoiding Dangan's hand as he reached for him. "The deed is done," he said. And he disappeared. The venom began to quickly travel through Dangan's veins. With Dangan bitten and his Chidori charged up, Raiku didn't waste any time. "Now take this!" he exclaimed, "Chidori!"

Damn that snake! Dangan thought, I can't move fast enough. My Quick Style is being counteracted by the venom. There was little to nothing he could do as Dangan felt the shock and the piercing pain as the Chidori burrow through his chest, coughing up blood. "You live up to your reputation," he managed to say, silently laughing, "I guess... lightning is faster than thunder after all, eh?"

Raiku's chidori pierced Dangan's chest. Blood splattered onto Raiku's face as he glared at Dangan. His arm remaining in Dangan's body. "You were a stronger opponent than I anticipated," he said, "You fought a good fight. Now...any chance you could give me the location of the Daimyo's wife?"

"Fine." Dangan pointed to a clearing that lead to a cave. "She's in there...unharmed." He gave a cynical and slightly saddened smile to Raiku. "He he.. and here, I-I thought... i was making change.... to an unnecessary system.... all we.. wanted... was freedom to make our own lives.." The life slowly faded from his eyes. "sorry, kiddo," Dangan said looking up to the sky, "I couldn't bring.... your father's name..our name.....b-back from the mud...R...Re..n..." It was then that Shou Dangan went still, and limp.

The chidori faded away and Raiku caught Dangan's limp body. "I often times wonder if good and evil really exist?" thought Raiku as he looked at Dangan's body, "Sure, there are conflicts between humans all the time. But is either side good or bad, right or wrong? Or are we simply individuals with different ideas." With that thought, Raiku looked towards the cave. "Summoning Jutsu." Two rabbits appeared. "Go find the others and have them meet here," he said to the rabbits. The rabbits hopped off in separate directions.

After knocking out Ken, Mugen was searching for the others from the top of the highest rock he could find. “If I was Raiku sensei where would I be,” he said to himself as he looked he saw flashes of light to the north, “there you are.” “Kaze I found him lets go,” he before jumping off the rock and running north.

Kaze nodded to Mugen feeling happy that the fight with Ken was over at least for now. Kaze was in deep thought of how he lost his cool in battle and he was silently scolding himself for doing so as he ran with his mother's sword sill in hand keeping a decent distance behind Mugen.

Raiku went into the cave that Dangan pointed at, eventually finding Wanda, the wife of the daimyo. Wanda looked up and recognized the flak jacket. "You're a leaf ninja," she said. "Yes," replied Raiku, "I'm here to take you home." Raiku used a kunai to cut the ropes holding Wanda. "How did you manage to get passed the rebels?" she asked, "Surely you didn't defeat all three of them yourself." "I came here with a team and we split up," said Raiku, "Ken and Yu fought my teammates while I fought Dangan. I managed to defeat Dangan. I'm not yet sure of the fate of my teammates, but I have faith in them. Now let's get you home."

A rabbit hopped in front of Mugen and Kaze as they were traveling. It had a leaf headband wrapped around it.

“Hey it’s one of sensei’s rabbit’s,” Mugen said stopping to see its headband, “at least we’re on the right track.” Mugen looked over at Kaze and saw that he was in a bad mood. “Y’know if you’re gonna carry a prisoner you should probably put your sword away,” he said pointing at the blade.

Kaze gave no response to Mugen. The two of them followed the rabbit to Raiku and Wanda. Chie and Kaita eventually met up with the group and they all returned to the Daimyo's palace.  The couple was ecstatic to be reunited. Ken, the surviving member of the rebel team, was placed in the Land of Vegetables' most secure prison. After saying their farewells, Team Raiku headed home. "Excellent work on your first mission guys," said Raiku, "I'm proud of how far you all have come."