Dragon Falls, Beast Awakens: A Tale of Young Okuri

Taro stopped shaking, and put a determined look on his face. He stuck his Naginata forward, and it began to charge power. “To blazes with you, Okuri! This is Ryuu no Raiden’s ultimate technique! Even you stand no chance!” Small lightning bolts, gradually getting larger, leapt from various objects into the weapon, the opposite of all its attacks.

As lightning drew even from him, Okuri finally seemed to realize the gravity of his situation. He reached behind his head and, as the wind in the arena intensified, pulled a sword….out of thin air. It was a dai-katana, with a blade half as long as Okuri was tall. Around it, the wind sinisterly swirled. The hilt was the upper jaws of 2 wolves conjoined so it appeared to spit out the blade.

Taro ignored this, and focused entirely on charging the Naginata. This was the battle of two of the strongest forces known to man: Evil, which caused men to kill and betray each other for the slightest gains, and Primal Insanity, which drove men to act like rabid beasts. This was a battle Evil had to win!

Ryuu no Raiden was fully charged, as bright as the sun, and Okuri seemed ready for the conclusion of the battle. The lightning at the end of the stick disappeared, and Taro leaped into the air, towards his opponent. As required by the technique, he would strike Okuri from above. There would be no body, only a massive river of carnage.

Suddenly, Okuri leaped towards Taro, dodging the staff by 3 and a half human hairs. The naginata’s blade reappeared, sending a river of pure energy before it. A massive portion of the arena vaporized. Okuri’s outstretched left arm grabbed Taro’s face, and his added mass and counter-momentum knocked them both downward with Okuri on top. Taro’s eyes widened in a unique fear. The fear that enters a man’s eyes when he knows that he is going to die…..and that nothing and no one can save him. It was different for every human, as Okuri would learn over the next few years no doubt, and the thought of trying to see them all can prove alluring to a hunter of mankind.

The blade came down swiftly, severing Taro’s head just as the impact from hitting the ground broke his spine. A kill that the most skilled members of the Mist’s Hunter nin would be proud of.

Takayuki howled in agony. His only child had been lost forever.

The Kazekage’s eyes widened in horror in anticipation of what his own son could become.

Sarutobi cursed, knowing that this would make the ANBUs job harder.

The audience gasped in shock.

Okuri was silent at the start, as if he had only begun to comprehend what he had done. Then that sick smile spread across his face. The laughter started at a humble chuckle first, then growing ever faster in maniacal cackling, and finally a much deeper, much more wicked laugh. He won! He had finally won! He was the superior! All would bow before his might! His eyes turned high up in the stadium, to focus on his next victim: Itachi!

The Uchiha recoiled in horror as the eyes of terror gazed upon him. Those eyes….more evil than the eyes of Madara himself! Filling him with cowardice, showing him the true hatred lurking in Okuri’s soul!

But as Okuri turned to make his attack, the sun began to rise through the gap in the stadium Taro had created. The sunlight hit his body, and a look of irritations spread about his face. He turned to face his new opponent, the sun, only to have his transformation reversed. His body hair disintegrated, his teeth and claws broke and slipped back to their normal form, his muscle mass reverted back to normal and his eyes lost their yellow color. All of his ferociousness suddenly turned to exhaustion, and he fell flat on his face.

Next to the Hokage, the Raikage’s head suddenly detached from his body. A guard holding a blood soaked blade was the culprit.

“Yeah. We were going to kill him later in an ambush on the way back home, but….uh……. it just felt like a really good time to kill him.”

Hiruzen sighed and rubbed his face. There was going to be no end of trouble today.