60 - Red and Orange

Makoto did not run when she woke up.

She didn't know what happened, exactly, and she didn't care. Right now, while everyone's head was foggy, was the one chance to kill off Kyomu's people.

They were stirring as well. Makoto breathed a sigh of relief when Mannequin was still in control. Now it was just a matter of who was the most dangerous.

The obvious answer is Kyomu himself, the leader. But something made her think, perhaps the more dangerous one was Sakasa. Sure, he seemed harmless, but we all know the cheerful ones are the dangerous ones.

'Shit.' Makoto's eyes hardened. She hesitated too long.

The burgundy haired woman took a step sideways to avoid Hoka's incoming fireball. They were conscious now, but still disoriented. Makoto didn't have this problem as she didn't have to move to fight.

It didn't take long for the fight to return to full force. Due to the collapsed roof, Sakasa adopted a hit and run strategy on his dragon, swinging his scythe at Mannequin and flying out of reach when it retaliated. Hoka mindlessly chucked fireballs while Kyomu teleported around and overall acted like an annoying mosquito, except this mosquito stabs you.

Then everything went to hell when Suika failed to fly away.

In a puff of smoke, the dragon vanished, causing Sakasa to fall from a few meters high. Quiet for once, he dropped his scythe to reduce weight, but it didn't help.

Momentarily distracted, Hoka paused her fireball throwing long enough for Mannequin to incapacitate her with a swift blow. While the fire caster was somewhere in a pile of rubble, Mannequin moved to fight Kyomu. The red haired man teleported to dodge, having low close-range combat talents, while attacking only when the chance arises.

A few meters away, Sakasa crashed into a pile of rocks. Neither Hoka nor Kyomu could go help him at the moment. Kyomu and Mannequin continued their hit and run duel.

Pain seared through Sakasa's body as he crashed into the rocky ground. He was usually a pretty pacifistic traveller, so it's not like he had much experience with fighting and pain tolerance. The reason the orange haired male was so powerful anyways was a mixture of natural talent and the result of family traditions.

Sakasa's family weren't shinobi. They were several generations ago, but by the time Sakasa was born they were just merchants and civilians.What hadn't changed were their dragon summoning contracts- contracts passed down through time.

Sakasa had no interest in summoning dragons at the time, but it was passed down to him anyways. Eventually, out of sheer boredom, and the fact that he technically could abuse merchant rights to go anywhere, Sakasa left the village to go travel.

With a lack of a good travelling method, he did resort to dragon summons. The boy was also pleasantly surprised to find the summons were all bright colors, which led to Sakasa-brand fruit names.

Dragon summons, however, also had negative consequences. Namely, people who want to steal his dragons and murder him. Yada yada.

For self defense, Sakasa went to the nearest second hand shop, picked out a gardening tool, and trained himself by swinging it around and hoping he doesn't accidentally decapitate himself. It worked.

So yeah, his life story might not be boring, but it certainly wasn't anything too dramatic.

Sakasa tried to crawl upwards after a few seconds, but the sharp pain immediately returned.

'Broken right leg, probably,' he counted internally, eyebrows furrowed. 'Maybe a few ribs. Ow- left arm, too.'

Nearby, Kyomu suddenly had a realization. Why was he fighting Mannequin when the completely defenseless Makoto was right there?

"Hoka, focus on the real Makoto," he commanded once the orange haired girl managed to get back up.

"Wait, why didn't anyone think of that before?" she demanded, whirling around to launch a fire jutsu. In response, Mannequin ignored Kyomu to defend Makoto. It deflected the flame by throwing a rock at the fireball, taking a defensive stance and circling around its creator.

Although Makoto didn't move, her eyes were concentrated, so she was probably piloting Mannequin to some degree.

Then she made the final move.

Everyone else had thought Makoto had only one emergency cave-collapse trigger. They were wrong. While Hoka took a breather from her jutsu-casting, Mannequin moved and brought down another section of the cave.

In a puff of smoke, a large (and painfully pink) dragon appeared out of the rubble. Momo's wings flared out, catching the rocks.

"Wait a sec," Hoka said. "Where's the orange guy?"

"Dying in a pile of rocks. Didn't you notice?" Kyomu replied. "I thought you were waiting for the right chance to save him."

"Oh fuck."

While Momo took over fighting Mannequin, Kyomu and Hoka rushed over to find Sakasa.

Between the collapsed rubble, Sakasa had managed to drag a bleeding arm over to his summoning scroll, face scrunched up in pain.

"Woah, are you okay, man?" Hoka questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes. Maybe. No, actually," Sakasa managed to get out.

From behind them, Momo backed away with a hiss, her wings folding over a scratch on her side, and Mannequin returned its attention to Kyomu and Hoka. The former teleported away from a lunge while the latter launched a fire jutsu to deflect it.

Thankfully, Momo returned quickly, bearing down on Mannequin and crushing it under her talons. The dragon glanced over at Sakasa, tilting her head.

"Good job, Momo-chan," he said cheerfully.

In a puff of smoke, the dragon vanished.

A few meters away, Makoto did a quick scan of her surroundings. Without any weapon, her only choice was to run for it, except her enemy was a sensor who knew what her chakra was like.

Before she could make a choice, a sharp pain shook through her.

See, Kyomu's space-time abilities, while not as special as some others, were still dangerous in a way. Mainly, he can bypass physical form and directly destroy internal organs, hence why Shigetsu had been in such a terrible state.

Shaking a splatter of blood off his hand, he gestured to Hoka. "And that's done. Now, we go find Kessho."