Baenlin's dream of battle

Baenlin did his best to still his rapid breathing as he waited for a sign of his enemy. He had been separated from his comrades some hours ago and since then at least three enemy shinobi had followed Baenlin up the mountain, dogging his path for many miles. Finally Baenlin had had enough running and stopped when he found an appropriate spot to hold them off. The mountain path leveled off here, but only enough for the walking path up the mountain that was 5 meters across at this point, and the large pond that averaged about 20 meters across. Baenlin had not even stopped to rest before he started planting explosion tags at varying heights on all the trees just before the path narrowed. Each of the tags was on the north west side of the trees, the side facing away from the approaching enemy ninja.


Baenlin began his breathing exercises to calm himself, realizing he would give himself away if the enemy was near. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, and for what seemed like forever. Maybe his excitement made the delay go by much more slowly, or perhaps the enemy had fallen more far behind than Baenlin had realized, but he knew they had to be coming. This was the only was on the south side of the mountain that lead towards the village, so they knew he was headed this way, and he wasn’t nearly close enough to the village for them to give up the chase. So he waited and he listened for his queue.


Eventually, Baenlin was shocked out of his focused breathing and listening by the sound of a young woman. One, from the sound of it, a little older than he, but still young by any count. A male voice, also young if the crack in his steady voice was anything to judge by, started to reply, but was silence by what had to be the leader of this group because the tone of his voice spoke of volumes of experience. Baenlin had to take a moment to calm himself again, as he considered the fact that at least that one was a shinobi in full, a true warrior and killer. There was a moment’s bickering as Baenlin listened to them, and he realized that they believed that they had lost him. They didn’t say why they were chasing him and his squard, but they apparently were too afraid to turn back without capture at least someone. Baenlin let them continue their quiet argument, as it guided him, telling him exactly where they were relative to himself. Baenlin waited until he was certain that the three of them were in the middle of the rigged trees, then focused his chakra and blew a large portion of the explosive tags. Baenlin quickly looked around the tree just as he did this to see the young man trying and failing to ride a falling tree down. It seemed as though he would be buried by them. The girl was much quicker and managed to get past the blasts, and was now looking back at the devastation. The oldest of the group ( and Baenlin finally saw that he was indeed middle aged) also evaded the blast, but was landing on the pond... just as Baenlin had hoped one of them would.


While the middle aged ninja was descending from his life saving jump, Baenling performed the hand seals for his Flight of Screeching Eagles Technique and timed it so that the jutsu hit the water just as the older shinobi did. The old man had just enough time to register his peril before he landed and felt the full force of the two lightning bolts that Baenlin had sent his way.


That threat may have been dealt with, but no sooner had the leader started sinking below the surface of the water than the girl came at Baenlin. She was in a rage and, thankfully, she was not the most accomplished taijutsu user. Baenlin, however, was no more practiced than she was. He tried dodging her for a few moments, but she was faster than he was. Her hits might not be overly effective, but enough of them would have been an issue. So he baited her, smiling at her in contempt, and waited until she threw a punch he new he could take without too much problem. Her fist sank into Baenlin’s clenched gut, but no sooner had it made contact than Baenlin used his full body current jutsu, which sent a proctective current over Baenlin’s body, shocking the kunoichi hard enough to make her hair stand on end and send her flying back, unconscious.


Baenlin started to rub the pain away from his gut, believing his work done, until a tree that had fallen during the explosions blew in half. Out of the smoke climbed a hulking (for his age) boy, who had, from the looks of it, just destroyed that tree with his hands alone. Baenlin sighed, knowing this one would be a problem. Never the less, he immediately sent what he hoped would be the only needed jutsu, his Screeching Eagle. Both bolts streaked out at the boy, looking to make quick work of him, but he met each one of them with what could only be called a counter punch to each one. Each of the bolts disintegrated at the end of his fist.


This unnerved Baenlin more than knowing the boy had blown the tree apart as he had. He had never heard of anyone that could take an attack such as he had launched with such impunity. Then the boy started to run at Baenlin and he had to put his fears away. The boy was not overly fast, but one hit and Baenlin knew it would be his end. Endlessly, it seemed, Baenlin went on dodging, under, side to side, and even once over by climbing up the boys arm then down his back. Baenlin kicked the boy in the side of the head on the way, but he seemed not to have noticed, even with the extra added damage from his full body current. Baenlin still couldn’t believe the sheer toughness the boy had, but he power had lost it’s mystery for him. The boy might be a power house, but he was using the wind element to create localized air pressure which would then explode out. Baenlin was contemplating how he might turn this on the boy when a round house punch came particularly close. Baenlin was forced to crouch under the blow, but when he tried to regain his balance he was met by one of the boy’s massive elbows crashing into him, throwing him backwards. Baenlin skidded along the ground for several feet, only coming to a stop when he hit a tree. He got up as quick as he could with the help of the tree, then looked at the oncoming boy. He looked almost sorrowful as he came on, thinking he was going to finish Baenlin. As bad as Baenlin felt in that moment, Baenlin feigned worse, and weight. He waited until the boy’s expected punch was on it’s way until twisting down and to his right and detonating the explosion tag he had seen of the tree as he used it as a prop. Baenlin caught some of the blast of he felt his clothes singe and splints buried themselves into his skin, but the boy caught it so much worse. His thumb was completely blown off and the rest of his hand was either missing flesh or the flesh was burnt. His eyes and face didn’t fair much better. Baenlin took no pity on the boy for his injuries though, and as he turned back towards the boy with a rasengan rising straight for his face. Baenlin doubt the boy had ever been hit that hard, as he sent his massive body flying towards the pond. Acting quickly, Baenlin performed his Screeching Eagle Jutsu once again, only this time he used his Full Body Current jutsu to power it further. As a result, the charge from the lightning bolts was much greater as the two eagles dove into the boys flesh just before he hit the water.

Baenlin quietly congradulated himself on this victory as he sat down by the pond and began pulling splinters out of his left side and back. The fight had take a good deal out of him. Much more than he had expected. "With that," he thought, "and these injuries, it would probably be best if I took my time getting back. The rest will have gotten back about now. They will send a search party."


When Baenlin finished pulling out the splinters, he closed his eyes to take a moment to calm himself again, to breath out the last moments of alarum from the fight. As he did, a large, hand shaped object reached out from the pond and grabbed him, pulled him under the water, and began to strangle him. Baenlin fought back as hard as he could, but he had no way to win. Whatever had him had a form that blended with the water. It WAS water, Baenlin noticed as he tried to shock whatever it was only to shock himself as well. In his last fading moments of brutal consciousness, the last image Baenlin remembered was the sight of the old ninja’s face on a body Baenlin couldn’t see against the water.


And that is when Baenlin woke up.

1602 words for 8 stats and 16 jp

Sure approved then.