Kotetsu had managed to slam a total of 7 tusks into the barrier so far. He was getting better at imbuing his Chakra onto the tip of each tusk, and could now do the entire process in 10 seconds flat.
"Eighteen to go…"
He had grown wary of the connections lighting up. If he tried pushing the tusk through when Chakra flowed between the outer and inner barriers, the tusk would be unable to penetrate fully. That almost resulted in him losing one tusk entirely as it shot free from the barrier, no slower than an arrow shot by a skilled archer. After claiming the tusks of another poor boar, he resumed his work shortly after.
With each passing moment, Kotetsu worried that his efforts would be in vain. Just shortly after placing the second tusk, he had seen the appearance of a third figure peering down into the pit. While he couldn't make them out due to some strange blur effect, he guessed it must be the matriarch. She continued to watch him without moving as he continued to place more and more tusks.
8, 9, then 12. By the 15th tusk, a peculiar effect had appeared. The inner barrier seemed to glow less with each passing moment, and Chakra passed through the remaining connections at a quicker rate. He needed to be faster so as to avoid the momentary exchange of Chakra.
"Faster."
Pulling another tusk from his leg, he haphazardly smeared Chakra along the edge. He now held mental connections to sixteen pieces of his own Chakra. In one swift motion, the tusk found itself embedded in another connection point.
"...Faster."
He stabbed forward with another tusk. His heartbeat continued to climb in tempo, as did the Chakra pulsing through the connections. 17. 18. 20. 22.
Each remaining connection now lit up with an exchange of Chakra every second. The inner barrier began to dim. With the 23rd tusk, the outer barrier began to dim, too. There were plenty of remaining connections all throughout the pits, way more than he had tusks for, but he hoped he was doing enough.
Kotetsu reached the 25th connection lining the boar den. By lucky happenstance, it turned out that there were only 25 connections lining the den in total. By now, the remaining connection appeared to light up every half a second, but the exchange of Chakra appeared to grow less and less with each moment. The outer barrier had dimmed significantly, and the inner barrier began to dull in several spots. Of course, this effect was only relevant to this singular part of the boar pit, but it was clear that the outer barrier took time to achieve an even flow of Chakra.
With the connections themselves blocked by the ebony tusks, it was only a matter of time before this part of the inner barrier weakened enough for him to walk right through. However, he wanted to get out right away. Which brought him in front of the final connection. And, of course, the berry eating boar.
Kotetsu stared at the boar for a moment. The connection was just above where it sat. It shouldn't mind him just stepping in, and-
"SQUEE!"
Right as he took a step forward, the boar turned on him, growing several times its original size. He stumbled back, arms moving up to protect his face, the final tusk still grasped firmly in his right hand. However, a moment later, he lowered his arms to find the damned boar back to its original tiny size, eating blackberries like nothing happened.
"I don't have time for this, damnit!"
Kotetsu attempted to leap over the boar, aiming to stab the tusk into the connection, but a wall of black fur impeded his path and sent him bouncing backwards. He landed firmly on his butt. He stood up in anger.
"You damned… grrr…"
In a moment of weakness, he stomped the ground. Something wet dribbled down the back of his leg.
"Oh, you have got to be…"
Moving his finger to the cloth, he expected to find a wound and some blood. Instead, he found something squishy.
"Oh… no…"
Suddenly, he was mortified. He truly thought he was better than this. Why did this have to happen to him, now of all times? Was he seriously so startled by the freak boar that he… that he…
With a prod, he felt a stem.
"...Oh."
His fingers slipped under the loose robes and fished out a horribly mushed bell pepper.
"Forgot about that…"
From his sparring time with Rata, to running from boars, and everything else after, he was surprised the pepper was still as whole as it was. As he held the pepper up, a snort in front of him caught his attention. The tiny boar had turned his way, and appeared to be looking right at the mashed pepper. He waved the pepper around, the boar clearly focused on it.
"You want this? Seriously? Fine, whatever."
He casually tossed the pepper to the boar, which snapped forward and ate the whole thing in a single bite. At the same time, Kotetsu realised his missed opportunity.
"Ahh, damnit! I coulda lured you away with that, or something… I don't suppose you would let me pass anyway… please?"
The boar chewed the pepper for several seconds. For a moment, he almost thought he saw a gleam in its eyes, and could have swore that it regarded him. Kotetsu decided to try his luck, slowly leaning forward with the Chakra-edge ebony tusk in hand. The boar did not react to his movements. He reached the wall, and in between one connection pulse and the next, stabbed forward with the tusk.
And all the while, the boar continued to remain still. Kotetsu quickly backed away after the job was done.
"Yeah… that's, uh, thanks. I guess."
In total, blocking the final connection had taken about thirty seconds, and he realised he probably could have just waited out the dying barrier at that point. Moving to the edge of the pit once more, Kotetsu placed his hand on the barrier, and pushed. He wasn't sure how strong the barrier might still be, and he wasn't sure if he might need to apply some Chakra or-
Pop.
The moment he pushed forward, the inner barrier covering the den popped like a soap bubble. It was rather anticlimactic. At the same moment, the blur effect lessened, and a voice from above caught his attention.
"Boy… you would not dare to move."
He felt a need to move.
His soul sight caught movement from below, and he leapt. Massive roots broke through the ground right where he was standing, only partly impeded by the ebony rocks covering the floor. Unlike last time, no invisible roof was there to catch his jump, and he successfully escaped the boar pit. However, he was not out of danger quite yet.
The moment after his leap, something seemed to click in the heads of every Asura still present in the boar pit. The disappearance of the oppressive barrier spurred on a magnificent stampede, as dozens of boars took to the sky with powerful leaps of their own.
"KOTETSU!!"
The matriarch's screeching voice pierced through the cacophonous chaos of dozens of squealing boars, straight to Kotetsu's ears. Not looking to waste any more time, he formed the seals horse, tiger, and hare again, focusing on his arms and legs. This time, he needed to move fast, and he wasn't sure his standard Chakra-infused body would get the job done. So, he hoped his modified flame pulse was up to the task.
After the previous use of the technique, he tried to adjust his power beforehand by lowering the required Chakra. He could only hope he wouldn't blow his limbs off as he jumped forward, throwing his legs and arms behind him, and with a thought, activated the technique. His world shifted as he erupted forward with far more speed than ever before. His arms and legs grew hot. Tears filled his eyes and he found himself unable to keep his mouth shut.
All of this happened in three seconds, until he temporarily suppressed the technique, leaving him flying forward while suspended off the ground. Kotetsu barely had the presence of mind to stick his feet and hands out in front of him, and with another mental click, reactivated the technique. This time, he began to fly to the side, propelled by his own white-hot flames which exploded out of his arms and legs, burning away the clothing that covered them.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kotetsu regained his bearings. His ears were filled with the thunderous roar of fire, his body was slammed against the wind, and even his normal vision was blurred by tears. All of that left one thing: willpower. He could still vaguely see outlines, and pressure pushed in on his mind from many directions. His ability to sense such presences was still fresh, but even still, two presences stood out unlike any other. One, was his sword.
The other was the matriarch.
—
There was no further reason. The situation was dancing beyond her control, and she needed to rein it in. The boy had crossed many lines, destroyed many expectations, and ruined plenty of her hard work. When he jumped free from the pit, followed by all of the Asuras, Mutsue decided that the experiment was done. She didn't need any reason to end the experiment, but if there had to be one, it would be when the boy began to move at preposterous speeds using nothing but fire, leaving behind a trail of charred destruction in his wake.
She failed to consider how dangerous his Fire release could truly be. His raw power was equivalent to shinobi a decade more experienced than him, but he lacked control. She considered the best way to catch him.
After a few more seconds in flight, she noticed his direction. Or more accurately, his sudden attention. He slowly curved himself toward her daughter… toward his sword. Just then, she wondered at how powerful his connection was to the blade. If he regained control over that, then…
Making a split second decision, two large roots extended from Mutsue's arms down into the ground. Unlike other Senju, she did not need to weave handsigns to utilise Wood release, a result of her inner garden technique. She was not confident in safely catching Kotetsu mid-flight, made apparent by his uncanny ability to dodge obstacles - weaving past boars and trees alike, all while moving at high speeds, something she was entirely unsure how he managed.
Instead, she planted all of her strongest defences around her daughter. The moment Kotetsu flew close enough, massive wooden nets would spring upward, entrapping him and separating the two. Aina appeared to prepare her own defence as well, having noticed Kotetsu's aim. It didn't matter if he could see their Chakra, if he could see the trap waiting to catch him, as he clearly needed his sword. Without it, what could he possibly accomplish?
Kotetsu weaved around a tree and flew straight toward Aina and Taisei, both tensing. Taisei did not seem to bother with any defences, possibly as he could sense what lay below their feet. Touma stood just off to Mutsue's side, remaining an observer to the scene as it played out. Kotetsu closed in on her daughter's position, reaching twenty meters, just beyond the range of her trap.
And then his flame jets flickered. It lasted less than a tenth of a second, his momentum carrying him forward for barely five meters, before the jets flickered back on. The moment Mutsue's trap barely detected his presence, massive lashing roots erupted from the ground, seeking to entrap and encase the would-be escapee. They found nothing.
Because he was no longer approaching Aina.
Mutsue had no time to react as a fist slammed into her face, moving over fifty meters per second.
—
Kotetsu was dumb. One could even say, stupid. There was no question about that. However, he would vehemently argue that he was, if nothing else, clever.
And as he twisted and dodged around his fellow escapee boars, trees, and the occasional bush, he would say that he was doubly clever. Because he had managed to play the Senju clan for fools. He utterly tricked them. While flying for his life, he noticed that the matriarch placed a lot of willpower beneath where his sword was, presumably still on Aina's back. The fact that it was a trap was pretty obvious to him. And under normal circumstances, he felt he might be caught out by this trap.
But his sword was not his goal. When he was dragged down into this boar pit, he had decided on one outcome, one objective that he was going to achieve no matter what.
He was going to punch the matriarch in her stupid nose. And he knew exactly how to do it.
So, with seconds dragging by, Kotetsu flew toward his sword. He wasn't sure how close he should get, but he would play it safe and only enact his change at the last possible moment. Which, he did.
Putting all of his focus on acting swiftly, Kotetsu deactivated his flame pulse and adjusted his position. He had never lost the matriarch's position. With a mental nudge, the fire roared back to life, resulting in a sharp turn. He felt his bones grate and his hair whip at the sudden change in angle. Nevertheless, he was now pointed head-on at the matriarch.
During the angular twist, Kotetsu kept the flames exiting his right hand suppressed, instead holding it forward, fist clenched. He didn't have any time to adjust, but he was pretty sure he had the right position.
Then… a lot of things happened all at once.
To start, Kotetsu flowed the rest of his infused Chakra into his right arm with the intent of reinforcing it, mostly centered on his fist. This resulted in his flame jets flickering out as he stopped propelling himself forward. Second, he made contact with the matriarch's face.
There were two crunches, two impacts, one after another. The first came as Kotetsu's fist slammed into her nose, sending his condensed Chakra with it. Her face split open, revealing a thin layer of wooden armour that protected her, acting as a second layer of skin. Kotetsu did not have time to see this, nor did he get to see the flash of red blood as the armour nearly shattered, revealing a busted nose just beneath. Mutsue was pushed back far enough for the roots connected to her arms to break and snap apart.
If that had been all that happened, Kotetsu would have been happy. However, that was when the second impact came. This impact began at his fist, and resulted in his skin tearing, fingers twisting, and muscles exploding. Sadly, it did not stop there, for Kotetsu had unknowingly triggered a trap that neither he nor the Matriarch expected to activate right then. A static seal that covered his entire body, attached to his skin by Mutsue herself. A retributive seal.
Of course, this was not the only intended activation method. The seal was like a taut string; held in place by pure tension. The seal theoretically held enough force to rip his body to shreds. However, it would only activate upon encountering an incredibly small list of Chakra signatures, Mutsue's included. Further, it would only partially activate based on the amount of active Chakra present. The primary intention, of course, was to respond with an equal punishment should Kotetsu ever lash out at someone whose Chakra signature was on the list.
This seal was meant to interact with proportionally small amounts of Chakra. In the event he ever tripped a barrier seal, such as one of the many that lined the clan, he would only experience minor damage from the seal's smaller amount of Chakra, such as losing part of a leg. The intention was to maim, not to kill.
Yet, as Kotetsu's fist slammed into Mutsue's face, it brought along roughly half of his entire Chakra supply. And in turn, Mutsue instinctively reacted with an equal amount of Chakra to nullify the force, which flowed directly into the seal. Or, about triple the portion of Chakra one would use for a barrier seal.
Kotetsu's momentum carried him forward, his literal exploding fist sliding off of Mutsue's face. He flew over her head, and while the impact reduced his speed somewhat, he still moved at tens of meters per second. His flight took him right into the path of another pit, its inner barrier unaffected by his earlier actions, which he slammed into, bouncing off of its surface. The bounce sent him flailing further up into the air.
Before long, Kotetsu's body crunched back down into the ground, rolling for several meters before skidding to a stop.
Adrenaline was the only thing holding him together as several broken bones fought for his immediate attention. That would not last long though, as his body began unwinding at the seams. His lungs fought for breath while his mouth tried to scream, all from the encompassing pain that etched further and further up his arm. All that was left of his hand and wrist was shredded muscle and exposed bones. From his perspective, it was as if a seamstress was pulling the stitching free of his arm, peeling back the skin and ripping apart everything within.
Kotetsu knew he had seconds before his arm would be gone. He had to think of something. There had to be a way out of this. But the pain was too much… he just wanted to sleep. He wanted this to be over, to be back with the Hyuuga, or the Uchiha, or just anywhere but here. He wanted to be stronger.
A switch flipped in his mind. His soul sight snapped on, and he furiously looked over his still-exploding arm. He saw strings of purple willpower moving up and down the remaining skin in mesmerising patterns, but he couldn't focus long enough to decipher it. The willpower continued to flow up his shoulder, and he noticed that it began to make its way toward his chest, and neck. Based on the effect so far, he could easily guess what that meant.
Could he destroy the willpower? If he pulsed his own willpower out, maybe he could disrupt whatever was going on. But what if he activated another trap? His newfound knowledge of seals only made him more sure that such a thing could happen. He didn't want to find out, but he needed to do something, or else he was going to…
He could… die.
Ultimately, Kotetsu did not get to make a choice, as the foreign willpower ceased to exist the next second. He didn't even get to register relief before he instantly passed out.
—
Mutsue moved with murderous intent toward the downed wretch. She had already fixed her broken nose, the damage being nothing more than broken cartilage and split skin, but that was not the reason behind her rage. She focused on the act of defiance. She didn't know for sure, but she suspected. He did it on purpose. Every move, every action placed with the goal of defying her in the most petty way possible. She could easily guess at his reasoning: to piss her off.
Well, it worked.
While approaching him, she saw the result of his careless actions, seeing his arm torn to shreds as her static seal took hold. She would have immediately stopped it, had the circumstances been different. But instead… she just watched. She could let nature take its course.
But fate had a different idea.
"Matriarch… you need to save him."
Touma's calm voice immediately brought her boiling anger to a halt. Not erased, but merely paused. Three long silent seconds passed between the two elder Senju. Then, raising both hands, she weaved a sign and released her Chakra from the seal.
The wretch stopped squirming immediately after, clearly having passed out from sheer pain, but the damage was already done.
"...What are your orders, Matriarch?"
She did not turn at his question, but she knew that Touma's head would be bowed, as it always was. Mutsue did not have to think too long about what to do next. If the child wanted to be petty, she would show him petty. Forming another hand sign, both she and Touma watched as earthy roots crawled out from her legs and feet, toward the fallen boy.
"Fix this mess. I will deal with him."
—
Just minutes earlier, Aina and Taisei stood side by side, watching the events of the boar pit unfold. Kotetsu seemed to be busy doing… something, but neither could be sure. Taisei was not allowed to sense beyond the auxiliary barrier, and Aina did not understand Kotetsu's goal, even while watching him steal the many boar tusks from the poor Asuras.
That is, until he stuck the first tusk into the low wall of the den. Seeing as how he somehow knew where the nodes between the two barriers were located, Aina guessed that Kotetsu's goal was to disrupt the flow of Chakra. A goal that, while feasible on paper, would not hold up under any usual circumstances.
Though, given who Kotetsu was, the word 'usual' did not seem to apply. Especially after it worked, which nobody could have seen coming.
"I believe we should move back from the edge…"
Aina's warning caught Taisei off guard, who was busy leaning as far as he could toward the barrier, trying to catch what played out below. He pulled back suddenly, as if realising what he was doing, pulling on the collar of his shirt.
"Y-yeah…" Taisei responded, a thin sweat forming on his brow.
They moved back several meters. A fortuitous decision, as only a few short minutes later, the events in the pit finally moved beyond the barrier.
Pop.
A single figure leapt from below, landing a short distance away with clear nervousness. Then, he exploded.
It was not an exaggeration from Aina and Taisei's points of view; for half a second, it genuinely looked as if he stood there, formed some handsigns, and proceeded to explode. Except he clearly didn't, as a high-speed object shot away from the massive ball of flames a moment later, trailing four large jets of fire behind.
At the same time, dozens of boars were expelled from the pit, driven by the deep-seated desire to be free from the chains of their cruel overlords. Aina and Taisei sat and watched everything ensue for several more seconds, completely in awe of the chaos caused by one individual. The rushing onslaught of Asuras seemed to avoid the two Senju completely, affording them quite the wide margin. Mutsue and Touma were unaffected as well, which left the custodians unlucky enough to be on duty for that day, who were immediately overwhelmed by the Asuras.
Aina could not keep her eyes on the speeding Kotetsu, forcing her to track him solely with her Chakra senses. Not that there was any problem. However, there was a problem when she noticed he seemed to turn her way. Both mother and daughter arrived at the same conclusion, as Aina sensed several rings of traps suddenly appear beneath her feet, while she herself prepared the fastest defensive technique she could think of.
For Taisei's part, he was partially distracted the moment the barrier opened up. Whipping his head back between Kotetsu's blurring form and the newly opened barrier, he half yelled out of confusion.
"Twenty… Twenty five individual pieces of Chakra?! But, that's… the strain-"
"Not now, Taisei!"
Aina had to pull Taisei closer to avoid him getting pulled away by the still ongoing stampede. Events had grown far beyond what either of them were comfortable with. However, before they could do anything else about the situation, a blazing missile was upon them.
And then he wasn't.
Both of the young Senju's heads snapped to the side as they followed the new trajectory, barely taking note of the several traps that sprung up all around them. Instead, they found themselves witnessing the most shocking event to occur so far.
Kotetsu's fist, slamming full force directly into the Matriarch's face. Then, the devastating aftermath.
The two Senju were visibly shaken. The way Kotetsu's arm seemed to… explode… played out in Aina's mind. She was no stranger to death and mayhem, having caused much herself throughout the years. However, in the end, her kills were just that. Killing, causing death. There was an end to their suffering. That child was not going to die. He was going to wake up, after what he'd just experienced.
Mutsue stormed off to quickly find Kotetsu, and Touma kept up beside her, not even glancing back to look at his son. The avalanche of boars had settled, many having been caught by nearby custodians, and many more having escaped. After shutting her eyes for a few seconds, she turned to Taisei.
He blankly stared off into the distance, mouth slightly agape. She noticed the small fidgeting of his fingers, as they lightly tapped against his legs. Aina didn't know what to do. It almost felt like they weren't allowed to speak, until Taisei looked at her, and did just that.
"I… need to check."
He unceremoniously slid past her and toward the direction where Kotetsu had flown through the air. Aina remained standing for a moment longer, hesitant to follow. She could easily imagine the scene, and a part of her didn't want to see it. Even though she had seen far worse, this still somehow felt wrong.
She moved to follow. Luckily, she did not have to see anything substantial.
Taisei stood from a distance watching the Matriarch stand over a wooden cocoon. Aina arrived, and instead of stopping with Taisei, continued walking toward her mother. She spoke upon reaching Mutsue's side, glancing down toward the shell she knew held Kotetsu.
"What will happen to him, mother?"
Mutsue appeared not to notice her daughter's approach, or the question. Aina felt pressured to remain silent as her mother did not even offer a moment of acknowledgement. A full minute dragged by while the two stood, Aina occasionally glancing down at Kotetsu's wooden prison before finally working up the nerve to say something else.
"Uh… do you… want me to do anythin-"
Mutsue raised a hand toward the cocoon. The motion caused Aina to fall silent. A root grew from the outstretched hand, falling down and splitting into several more roots, which wrapped around the wooden shell. The roots weaved into each other endlessly, forming a basket of sorts. Then, Mutsue stuck the loose root out to Aina, and gave a short order.
"Drag him."
Aina did not take the offered root. That is, until she looked up, and found two cruel eyes staring back. She felt a cold sweat at the Matriarch's gaze.
"Drag. Him."
She took the root with haste. Within moments, she was doing as told, pulling along the cocoon while Mutsue walked a short distance in front of her. Aina glanced back at Taisei to see his still absent expression, as he looked to where Kotetsu had landed before. Blood and other parts specked the ground surrounding that spot.
Turning back to the task at hand, Aina dragged the broken body of their prisoner back to his hell.