Back in the audience, in the VIP rooms of the highest tiers, sat the third Raikage.
His fingers traced his cape, his hands laid on the word 'Raikage' embroided on his cape. He was a prideful man who became who he is with his actions, not anything else.
The news of his son killing his other son was a very unfortunate thing, even if the child was born out of an affair. He could pardon Ay for killing Kuroi if he would become the ultimate successor.
Ay was destined to become the next Raikage, it was the worth of his lineage, to be the apex of the land of lightning.
...and he was wasting it all for what? For random Konoha scum who would have been hurt if not for Ay.
He had it all done perfectly, the plan, the setup, everything! But right when he should have strangled the enemy in front of him...he got soft, saved the day by sacrificing himself.
And then the same boy is wasting his life for sentimentality.
A Raikage does not go around saving the world, acting like a hero for peasants and die like a martyr. The world adjusts to their power, bowing to their greatness.
Ay took his eyes off his son, unable to bear the sheer failure he turned out to be in his eyes.
---
It was harder to breathe, no matter how deep he inhaled, he felt like he would pass out, if not for the searing pain in his skin.
The poison made his skin feel like it was being pricked by burning needles. He rushed at Satoru only to miss and crash into the ground.
Ay, now fallen to the ground, turns to look into the room where his father sat.
He looked at the man who made the person he is today eagerly, only to see a scowl on his face. He...looked disgusted, not even bothering to watch the match.
Ay felt like his father was disappointed, even hateful of what he had done. Never in his life had Ay seen his father ever promote things like saving people.
Ay felt his stomach hit the floor, the taste of blood in his mouth was a sharp reminder of all those challenges to come where he is right now.
He had faced all those harsh trials and even harsher punishments, all to make his father proud of him.
Only for his father to turn away from him.
'Will he replace me? Kuroi was already meant to be a backup. Will he discard me like how he left...Mom?' Ay felt his eyes sting from an emotion he was trained to suppress.
"Why did I choose to save them? I would have fucking won! I would won this entire god damn thing!" Ay muttered to no one in particular.
"THANK YOU!!!" Said someone in a childish voice, making Ay snap to see who it was.
"Thanks for saving us!" He heard the crowd thanking him, if he had not interfered...they would be enduring this pain.
His vision clears from the pain as he sees Satoru his fully invested in healing himself, Satoru fully utilized the time Ay provided him by staying on the ground.
Ay spits blood before standing up.
'I'm going to lose to that damn poison...but I chose this, there's not much I can do about it except...fight.' Ay cleared his mind using the pain of the poison to his advantage.
Ay's next attacks were slower than what he would like, but each attack threatened to damage Satoru like a sledgehammer to the chest. They carried the momentum too strong to put pressure on, to control and especially...to defeat.
Satoru could only escape.
Satoru jumped away from massive stones that were thrown by Ay. He attacked relentlessly, chasing Satoru down like a man on a mission.
He landed a jab, which went over Satoru's head, but another jab soon followed, Satoru barely escaped as the residual electricity pricked his skin.
Ay kept up the pressure on Satoru, who was reaching his limits from constant dodging.
Satoru tried blocking a forward kick with a kunai, only for the force to shatter the metal like it was glass, sending shrapnel in Satoru's direction.
His armor was torn from all places, the chain mail under his reinforced clothes torn from Ay's attacks, falling off in one-by-one in pieces, as if they were taking turns to leave Satoru.
Satoru could hear the people cheering Ay on. The sound of Ay's fist hitting him was almost as loud as their cheers for him.
Satoru was punished heavily for being distracted by Ay, a clean body blow rattled his insides.
He quickly rolled to the side as Ay punched forward, his body moving like a battering ram.
He winced in pain as he accidentally put pressure on his right hand. Before quickly twisting his body to save himself from the blow that would have ended him right there.
Pain wasn't an excuse for incompetence, He. Must. Survive.
His body responds in kind as if on instinct. He stays on his toes, toe specifically, Ay's attacks had made standing on his right leg too diificult.
Ay uses his right arm like a sledgehammer, swinging it sideways, making him step back. Ay skidded from the force he put into his own attack.
Satoru made a backflip, flinging some dirt at Ay in the process before shamelessly running from Ay.
Ay caught up to him very quickly, his arms were cocked back, ready to punch.
'Will it be the right arm?' A thought came to Satoru's mind, he immediately jumped to Ay's left the moment he saw movement.
Ay, to his surprise sent out his left hand like spear for Satoru's throat.
Satoru's eyes widened.
He twisted his body to the point it hurt his body, reopening wounds, the arm barely missed his neck and hit his shoulder.
But Ay wasn't done.
His left arm which was still moving in that direction, Ay punched his own left arm and turned his spear strike into a backhand blow.
The fist smashed into Satoru's back sending shockwaves through his body. His body was sent flying.
He laid weakly on the ground, he coughed out some dirt which went in his mouth, what came out was a mix of dirt and blood.
His lungs were being filled with blood as time moved on.
Satoru had gotten used being relentlessly attacked whenever he was sent flying, bracing impact knowing that Ay will chase and land another hit.
He closed his eyes for another attack only for nothing to come.
He opened his eyes only to see Ay was tightly clutching his left shoulder in pain, slowing walking towards him.
'Was redirecting his own blow too taxing on him? Wha...' Satoru couldn't end his own thoughts, as Ay threw his combat boot straight at his face.
He rolled to the side to dodge the boot that sped past him like a rocket.
Ay had gotten close but was too slow to attack. Satoru quickly weaved past his punch and pulled out a kunai.
He grabbed onto his legs and was about to stab him, but for a fraction of a second, it felt as if time had slowed down.
He looked behind Ay, into the audience to see the woman who had guided him since he was in the academy.
And she looked at him with concern in her eyes, not for what he was going through but for what he was going to do.
She shook her head, in disapproval, as if to say 'Don't!'
Satoru eyes returned back to Ay, his left hand holding the kunai almost reached Ay's neck.
Just as he was going for the killing blowing...he hesitated...he couldn't do it.
His hesitation cost him and now Ay ducked under his kunai and drop kicked him to make him crash into the wall of the stadium.
The people sitting to Mitsuki burst into cheers, making her turn to them and frown.
"Hey did you see that? He is finished for sure now!" The man's words incited many others to cheer along.
Satoru slowly came out of the crater of the wall and fell to the ground, gasping for air which was knocked out his lungs before.
Ay stood close to Satoru, backing him into a cliff and a hard place.
A punch cut through the air, missing Satoru and hitting the reinforced wall, cracking it, making a loud noise on impact.
Satoru slipped past Ay's left side, his left arm couldn't reach him and let him evade successfully.
Ay turned and punched again, almost hitting Satoru's already injured shoulder.
Satoru glanced at the knuckles which were bloody from punching the reinforced wall.
'Why didn't he stop the punch? His knuckles are damaged.' Satoru couldn't help but think before Ay lunged to body slam him.
Satoru dived to the side but wasn't that fast enough. Ay grabbed onto his broken leg.
Ay dragged Satoru through the ground by his leg, gripping the exact place where it was broken.
He threw Satoru as he twisted that part of his leg. Ay had no intention of letting Satoru walk.
Ay skidded to a halt before turning to the direction Satoru was in.
Satoru weakly got up placing all his weight on his left leg, he could feel the wound reopening.
Satoru was about to step away, but then he felt the bone in his leg creak. He inhaled, preparing for a dodge, only to burst into a fit of coughing.
Ay was approaching and gaining speed, and he couldn't move out in time.
'He couldn't stop his hand back then...he had to redirect it. Just like when he punched the wall.'
Satoru had a intrusive thought that made too much sense.
Ay's arm flared with chakra, the electricity made twitching sounds as he came dangerously close.
Satoru fell backwards, just as the arm would hit his chest.
The arm misses but Ay keeps going, he crashed into Satoru, stomping him as he kept going.
Satoru had the air as well as a mouthful of blood knocked out his lungs from the force of Ay stomping.
Ay kept going, then, his speed came to a halt. His eyes sharpened as he turned to look at Satoru.
'It was the goddamn momentum! The pain was so worth it.' Satoru slowly got up, his left side was turned towards Ay.
Satoru checked his right arm, moving the fingers around to check his dexterity. The next course of action was going to need it.
Satoru hid his right side from Ay, moving his right arm through the hole Ay made in his clothes to rummage through his pouch.
He kept a secret pouch especially for times like this.
Satoru scraped every last bit of chakra he had, forcing it into his palm, and began compressing it to create a tiny ball of air.
Ay's lightning chakra accumulated to a single point, mimicking Satoru. This attack looked like it will end this.
His right hand was coated in every ounce of his chakra. His fingers were all closed...except for one.
Satoru positioned himself directly within Ay's path, what he was going to do needs to be done...either now or never.
Ay began charging straight at Satoru, his right arm thrusted forward, with his finger pointed like a spear.
Satoru finally stopped rummaging through the pouch, his right arm was ready.
Satoru watched Ay come close as he thrusted his arm forward, cutting through the air with a whizz.
The moment the spear came within the range, Satoru hit Ay's hand with the compressed ball of wind.
The hand shifted from pointing at his heart, to his right, straight into the collarbone.
Ay didn't stop there. He couldn't. His eyes widened as he dug his heel into the ground.
But it was all for naught. Ay impaled Satoru.
Blood sprayed onto Ay's face, making him close his eyes, allowing Satoru to take out a syringe.
He quickly slammed the needle into Ay's neck, before he even had time to register what happened.
Satoru injected a fast acting tranquilizer as well as well as the antidote to the poison hurting Ay.
Ay fought to keep his eyes open, but it didn't matter, the tranquilizer already reached his heart.
Ay slumped forward losing his consciousness. Satoru instinctively caught him, wrapping his left arm around him and taking his body weight onto himself.
He gently laid him on the ground with his face down, on his stomach so he wouldn't choke on his own blood.
Satoru stood as long as he could, he could hear the medics already moving.
His leg gave out, and he fell before he could even register it. Pain surged in his body as the adrenaline wore off.
"Damn poisoner!" A person shouted.
"Ay should have won, not you!" Another added.
Just as Satoru felt himself being carried off in a stretcher, his eyes turned to the people, as if searching for someone...and there she was.
In a crowd full of people booing...all he saw was her.
His eyes closed and his grip on consciousness faded.