Chapter 49.1- Gamer of the Desert

 Turns out that when the going got tough, Cyclops could absolutely haul ass with the best of them. He covered the distance between them and the doujutsu user in seconds, with Mangetsu doing his best not to fall behind. Cyclops leaned in with a stab of his kunai. The man weaved out of the way, letting the blade move past him. Mangetsu took a step before jumping into the air for a second. The air was a dangerous place for a ninja. He stabbed down with the blade held in his left hand. The kiba sword cutting through the soft earth as the man moved backwards. Every movement quick and fluid.

 Cyclops moved back into the fight. Lashing out with a high kick. Cloaked man blocked with a single forearm. Mangetsu flowed and moved around cyclops to stab with the blade. A black rod appeared in the way to block his stab. Mangetsu smiled. A quick application of his chakra electrified the blade. He felt his smile die on his face as the electricity flowed into the rod and disappeared with no effect. He was forced to jump backwards as the same rod lashed out right at him. Cyclops remained close, stabbing with the kunai and transitioning to taijutsu attacks seemingly at random while the Cloaked man weathered the storm, dodging or blocking all the attacks. Ox → Snake → Ram, he weaved the seals in quick succession before breathing out a torrent of mist. Thick enough that he couldn’t see anything farther than a foot in front of his face. He heard it as Ao jumped backwards and disappeared into the mist.

 “Formation Two” He whispered into the mist, knowing the Cyclops would hear it. Standard procedure was to enhance your hearing the second the kirigakure no jutsu was activated. The hunter non would not have forgotten that. He quickly tracked down the position of the cloaked man. Cloak 4, he decided to call him. He was standing in the mist, unmoving. How silly, Mangetsu thought. He would not be the first to try something so foolish though. Hoping he’d be able to see the attack coming if he focused all his senses. Ridiculous.

 “Eight points: Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Each one will kill you. Where shall I strike at?” He asked rhetorically, projecting his voice into the mist just as his elders had taught him. He felt the form in the mist shift for a second and smiled besides himself.

 Dead. He body flickered through the mist and stabbed right at his opponent’s heart with both blades. Somehow, his opponent dodged by leaning backwards until his torso was parallel with the ground. Before Mangetsu could swipe downwards and cleave him in two, Cloak’s legs lashed upwards. He felt the kick force him backwards and took the pain with nary a grunt before disappearing into the mist again. He felt another presence in the mist as he heard a pop of displaced air. A large fucking presence. Kuchiyose? He scowled within himself and surrounded his body with chakra in preparation for what was to come. The kiba blades, held at both his sides, flashed with power. He electrified the entire mist for a few seconds and then dove at where he knew his opponent would be. Paralysed, he was sure. He dove. The next second he felt something slam into his body and he was sent flying backwards.

 He struggled to hold on to consciousness as he felt his head begin to leak blood. This was bad. Very fucking bad. He felt the wind around him stir as his mist was blown away. A single jutsu, he surmised. He rolled around, struggling against his body’s natural desires all the while. He managed to open his eyes only to be met with the sight of Cyclops engaging in taijutsu with Cloak 3, the leader. He could see that it was no fight. Especially as Cloak 2 joined in on the fight. Cyclops was the premier hunter nin Kiri had ever produced. But even he couldn’t face up against the two of them at once. They sandwiched him between them. He took a punch from one that knocked him right into the path of the other to receive another hit. He didn’t stand a chance, and Mangetsu almost breathed in thanks when they finally put him out of his misery. One of those strange black rods punched through Cyclops’ throat as he jumped right at Cloak 2. He pulled himself deeper into the stab to grab a hold of the man with what was undoubtedly the last bit of his strength. He formed a single hand seal. One that Mangetsu could recognise everywhere. He would never be able to tell if it was the blood loss from his head injury or the shockwave from the explosion Cyclops triggered that tossed him into unconsciousness.

XXXX - THE GENIUS HYUGA

The Head Jounin was not difficult to find. After walking inside the building, he and Sasuke had seperated to allow them escape notice or detection. He’d made a beeline to the Head Jounin’s office while Sasuke was committed to creating a distraction that would allow him carry out the assassination with little interruption.

A/N: How’s it looking?