Kazuki choked, his hands instinctively grabbing Akira's wrist as his feet kicked the empty air.
Akira stared directly into Kazuki's crimson eyes.
"I'll finally get my revenge by killing one of you Leaf shinobi," Akira whispered darkly, his grip tightening around Kazuki's neck. "You took my everything from me."
Kazuki coughed a bit, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Despite the crushing grip on his throat, a faint smirk formed on his lips.
He struggled to speak, his voice raspy, "Didn't anyone... ever tell you? Not to look... an Uchiha in the eye."
'Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu!'
Kazuki had perfected this jutsu. Unlike the standard version he had practiced on his shadow clone, he had altered the chakra flow so that he could peer into the illusion alongside the target, allowing him to see their deepest fears and traumas to take advantage of it.
The real world faded to black. Kazuki found himself standing as an invisible observer in a dark, damp room.
He watched in horror as a woman with a hateful expression held down a young, crying Akira. She was forcefully cutting off the gills under his eyes with a kunai and trying to yank out his shark-like teeth. Kazuki heard Akira's agonizing screams, and his expression turned grim.
The scene shifted rapidly. Now they were in a forest. A young Akira, wearing his fox mask, was cornered alongside another boy. Leaf shinobi stood over them. The other boy jumped in front of Akira to protect him.
Akira said, " Wha- what are you doing? R- run away, or they'll kill you too."
But the leaf shinobi didn't even hesitate, he swung his blade at the young shinobi and severed his head from his body.
The next few seconds were just Akira rampaging, but those shinobi were very quick to escape.
Kazuki's eyes widened. 'So this is what happened to him, his own mother. How could she do this to him, that too when he was a child. Then Leaf, a shinobi, killed his friend, I guess that's what he meant by his everything. No wonder he hates us so much, but I have to guide him to the right path somehow, I can't let him turn into a villain even though he has every right to.
The illusion shattered. The emotional and mental toll of reliving his worst traumas was too much for Akira's brain to process all at once.
Akira's grip loosened completely. They both dropped to the stadium floor, panting heavily. The crackling lightning armor surrounding Akira was finally gone.
Kazuki gasped for air. He quickly grabbed his fallen sword from the ground and pointed the sharp tip directly at Akira's neck.
But suddenly, Akira's eyes snapped open. They were completely devoid of reason, filled only with raw, unadulterated madness.
A massive surge of lightning chakra flared from Akira's body, creating a shockwave that violently pushed Kazuki back several meters.
Kazuki infused chakra in his feet to stop himself from flying away, his eyes widening in shock.
He thought, 'Just how much chakra does this guy have? Even I'm running out of chakra now.'
Akira was just rampaging now, his only focus now, was killing Kazuki.
Kazuki thought, 'What should I do, I'm almost out of chakra. Wait, I can just do this.'
Kazuki made some hand signs.
'Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!'
The solid ground beneath Kazuki turned soft, and he sank seamlessly underground, completely vanishing from Akira's sight.
Above ground, Akira started rampaging. He violently hit the ground with his bare fists, slamming them repeatedly into the stone. The sheer physical force sent massive tremors through the entire stadium, causing deep cracks in the arena floor. The audience screamed in panic as the stadium shook like an earthquake.
Underground, Kazuki was struggling. The tremors were making it hard to maintain his jutsu.
He thought, 'Damn it, my chakra is almost finished.'
Unable to stay hidden any longer, Kazuki emerged from the ground, gasping for air. His chakra was nearly depleted.
He barely had time to take out his sword before Akira attacked again like a wild beast. Kazuki raised his blade, barely managing to block the heavy strikes. Every block sent painful shockwaves up his arms.
Kazuki's vision began to blur. He started getting a bit dizzy from the severe chakra exhaustion.
Akira found an opening. A devastating punch slipped past Kazuki's guard and connected solidly with his chest. It wasn't as powerful as the Lariat that had taken down Ryuma, but it was more than enough.
Kazuki was sent flying backward, slamming violently into the stadium wall.
He slumped to the ground, coughing violently.
He thought, 'Ah... Is this how this ends, I'm sorry Yuki.'
Kazuki forced his senses to focus one last time, using his Mind's Eye of the Kagura to check Akira's reserves. He noticed that Akira still had enough chakra to rampage for the next 5 minutes.
Akira's body crackled with lightning once more as he lowered his stance, preparing for a final charge.
He rushed toward Kazuki with a lariat.
Knowing he had absolutely nothing left, Kazuki weakly raised his hand toward the proctor and said, "I give up."
But Akira didn't stop. His eyes were completely serious as he shouted, "Do you think I'll just spare you like this?!"
Akira was about to reach him.
CLANG!
An ANBU wearing a Hound mask appeared standing directly in front of Kazuki. The ANBU held a short sword violently crackling with intense lightning chakra, completely stopping Akira's attack in its tracks.
Simultaneously, a shinobi wearing a weasel mask appeared silently on Akira's flank.
Akira, enraged by the interference, turned to fight the weasel-masked ANBU as well. But the moment Akira looked at him, his body suddenly went rigid. Without making a single sound, Akira fell to the ground, instantly asleep.
The stadium fell completely silent.
The hound-masked ANBU sheathed his lightning-coated blade and looked over his shoulder at Kazuki.
"You fought well," the ANBU said in a calm, authoritative voice. "Now, you should go to the hospital."
[A/N- This marks the 1st anniversary of Naruto: The Burning Spiral. Yeah, its been a year. I know I'm a very lazy Author, only 58 chapters in one whole year, Some people left because of my laziness but I am very grateful for all the people that have stayed. Thanks, guys, really, it's thanks to you that I have been able to write this wonderful fanfic and I will keep writing till I finish this fanfic. Lets aim for 1M views and 200 chapters till the 2nd anniversary, stay tuned for more updates.]
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