Chapter 25 - 25:

Kaga was engaged in a battle of blades with his opponent, each of them well versed in the art of Kenjutsu. The two of them equally matched, their skills appearing almost identical as the battle was quickly becoming a chess match.

Kaga blocked a barrage of attacks before countering with his own. Swiping with his large blade, he knocked the sand Anbu across the sand with the weight of his swing. The sand Anbu swiftly flipped back as he dodged a thrust attack by Kaga and then blocked a downward strike aimed at his head, his black ninjatō holding well, under the weight of Kaga's large blade.

The two of them locked blades as they pressed all of their weight into each other coming face to face.

"You can't win!" The sand Anbu said, before pushing Kaga's blade to the side trying to take his neck with a quick thrust.

Kaga ducked under the blade, time slowing down as the tip of it just missed his nose. Kaga had overextended his lower back and fell to the floor, the sand Anbu taking full advantage as he slashed and thrust his blade down, trying to wound him.

Kaga blocked every attack while still on his back, scuffling to his feet before jumping high into the air to avoid another slash at his midsection.

"This guy is fast..." He thought to himself as he landed, gaining a fair amount of distance.

The sand Anbu twirled his blade with expert skill and flicked it down towards the ground before pointing it at Kaga.

"I will take pŀėȧsurė in serving your head from your body!" The Anbu said.

Kaga smirked and placed his large blade on his shoulder and extended his free hand flicking his fingers into his palm twice.

"Bring it on!"

Kaga blocked another thrust from the sand Anbu and countered with a slash to his midsection, but he dodged the attack by jumping off the ground and thrust his blade down at blinding speed.

Kaga only just dodged the attack, the sand Anbu's blade slicing Kaga's cheek just missing his eye. Kaga gripped the back of the blade with his hand before slamming the black ninjatō into the ground with his own sword in an attempt to disarm his opponent.

The sand Anbu was quick to counter as he jumped into the air, slamming his left foot into his face with a roundhouse kick, knocking Kaga flying as he rolled like a rag doll onto the ground before slapping on his back.

The sand Anbu pulled his blade from the ground before twirling it around his back with expert skill and tossed the sword changing hands before he flipped through the air, slashing down at Kaga with a powerful blow.

Kaga had only just gotten back up onto one knee and was able to avoid the attack. The sand Anbu didn't stop there as he brought the blade back slashing at Kaga's head who flipped back performing a back handspring to dodge.

Kaga was starting to be pushed on the defensive as he blocked another attack on his back foot, losing more and more ground to the sand Anbu. Jumping high into the air flipping backwards Kaga landed on a large rock, trying to gain the advantage with the high ground. However, the sand Anbu sliced through the boulder with a mighty swing of his blade, causing the boulder to shatter, Kaga flipping over the Anbu as the two locked eyes in an intense stair off.

"I've had enough of you!" Kaga shouted before charging at the sand Anbu.

Kaga jumped into the air, flipping in a 360 spin before bringing all of his weight down into his blade trying to slice the Anbu in half. The two swords clashed and the weight of Kaga's attack was enough to push the Anbu into the ground flinging up debris into the air around them.

The sand Anbu pushed Kaga off of him to try and clear some ground, yet Kaga quickly rushed back in for more trying to press on the attack, engaging in another brutal exchange of attacks. This time Kaga pressed forwards gaining the advantage as he used his larger swords weight to his advantage, each blow pushing the sand Anbu back on the defence.

Kaga was somehow able to block the attack even as the blood from his nose blinded him. He pushed the sand Anbu back before charging at him once again giving a battle cry.

"Arghh!" Kaga roared attacking with all his might.

Kaga went high with his attack and the Anbu ducked under the onslaught, rolling on his hand as he did before ducking under the second attack, this time he kicked out Kaga's legs sweeping him to the floor.

Kaga hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the wind out of him. The sand Anbu didn't give him any time to rest as he thrust his blade down at his head, Kaga's eyes almost popping out of his skull as he quickly rolled out of the way.

Kaga continued to roll along the ground dodging thrust after thrust until he bounced onto one knee leaning back as far as he could, just avoiding a slash that was aimed at his head, the blade skimming Kaga's headband flinging sparks into the air.

Kaga countered with a flurry of slashes and the two of them clashed blades hard coming face to face again. Both of them breathing heavily now as the battle had dragged out, costing them a lot of stamina.

Kaga pushed forwards pressing his shoulder on the back of his large sword, the sand Anbu doing the same as the two of them competed for dominance before both of them jumped backwards landing in a ready stance.

"Its time to finish this!" They both shouted at the same time, charging towards one another.

They clashed blades so fast that they shot past one another, Kaga turned quickly throwing a handful of kunai at the Anbu, who dodged by jumping high into the air.

"Dieeee!!!" They both shouted as they clashed mid-air each of them landing with their swords stretched, waiting to see who would fall first.

-Meanwhile-

"You did well boy, but you were no match for the Kazekage..." The Kazekage said as his gold dust had fully encased Fuyōna now, ready to crush him once and for all.

Suddenly a bright light from inside started to burst its way through the layers of gold dust until it fully exploded, freeing the monster that now stood before the Kazekage.

Fuyōna's body was now covered in a dark red, nearly black layer of chakra. He had entered version two of the tailed beast state and all six tails were visible as he locked his eyes onto the Kazekage snarling at him.

"A jinchūriki..." The Kazekage said, confused, as he stared at the beast before him.

"You really are a monster!" The Kazekage shouted as he jumped back landing on a gold dust platform that continued to float into the air.

Saiken had taken full control of Fuyōna's body for him while he was unconscious. The fact that Fuyōna was out of it made things much more comfortable for Saiken as they had never entered version two together and with Fuyōna unconscious Saiken didn't have to worry about Fuyōna's chakra levels dropping. As entering version two required a lot of energy and chakra, but with Fuyōna asleep, Saiken only had to use his own chakra meaning Fuyōna could rest while Saiken battled for him. A feat not possible while Fuyōna was conscious.

The Kazekage didn't waste much time before he attacked again, using his gold dust to crash down in a massive wave trying to capture the beast before him.

Suddenly six enormous red and black chakra tails burst from the sea of gold dust and extended at a rapid rate towards the Kazekage, trying to pierce him.

The Kazekage didn't stick around and zoomed on his gold dust glider avoiding the attacks of the massive tails. Flying with expert skill as he ducked under one of the tails, he used his gold dust to redirect another sending it crashing into one of the other tails before he was forced to jump, spinning in the air to avoid the swipe of another tail.

Saiken decided to pull his tails back and burst free from the sea of gold dust jumping into the air. The Kazekaze watched as the beast leapt towards him, its claws extended ready to take his head off. Using his gold dust to grip Saken around his waist, he attempted to launch him back towards the ground.

But Saiken's body was supple and slipped free of the gold dust, the Kazekage tried to use more and more to get a hold of him, yet Saiken jumped and darted away each time getting closer to the Kazekage until he was within striking range.

"Take this!" The Kazekage shouted as he unleashed a hell-fire storm of gold dust bullets, trying to stop the advance of the six tails.

Saiken had a different idea and spat out a large blast of corrosive alkali to counter the gold dust, causing it to turn soggy and fall out of the sky before melting.

The Kazekage did well to avoid the first blast of corrosive alkali but soon noticed the smirk on Saiken's face before he spat more and more of the acid at him.

The Kazekage was forced to counter with more and more gold dust, the corrosive alkali rendering the gold dust unusable once it made contact as Saiken continued to fire as much of it as he could.

"Why you!" The Kazekage shouted as a small spec of the acid landed on his black jacket, forcing him to rip it off before the acid burnt through to his skin.

The force of it, however, knocked him flying through the air causing him to free fall while being chased by Saiken who spat more corrosive alkali at him.

The Kazekage flipped and dodged the first blast of acid. He then used a gold dust blanket to block the second burst, but Saikens form suddenly crashed through the melting blanket of gold dust smashing the Kazekage in the ribs with its razor-sharp claws.

To Saikens surprise, the Kazekage turned to gold dust and the dust wrapped around Saikens arm holding his frame in the air stopping his freefall.

"Giant gold dust spear!" The Kazekage shouted from behind as he launched his attack trying to impale Saiken.

This time, the Kazekage was surprised. The six tails body suddenly turned a dark purple in colour, wrapping itself around the spear as acid leaked out of its body, melting the Kazekages attack. Saiken slivered around the melting gold dust before extending its body trying to slash at the Kage, this time hitting him with a clean blow knocking him off his glider, sending him crashing into the desert sand below.

Saiken smiled at his handy work and dropped back down to the ground allowing his chakra to turn from purple back to red and black, giving a colossal roar shaking the very ground as it landed back onto the ground.