Ryo Gaiden

"Fuck your masks, masked people again? Everyone keeps wearing masks and stirring up trouble!" shouted Kenshin as he jumped at Number Three.

Number Three was thrown out of the tent by Kenshin's punch before he could even raise his hand.

Number Five suddenly appeared behind Asahi, but Asahi quickly reacted thanks to his instincts. He crouched and delivered a straight kick that sent Number Five flying.

Kenshin went after Number Three through the collapsed side of the tent. "I don't know why you came but I don't have time to deal with you. So die quickly!" he shouted.

Number Three quickly got up and threw a right hook at Kenshin, but Kenshin didn't even budge.

"Is that all the strength you've got?" said Kenshin mockingly and started throwing punches. But his punches couldn't find their target; Number Three was dodging all of them.

"Your first punch was luck, you can't touch me," said Number Three. His deep voice made Kenshin stop.

"Our aim wasn't to attack you, Kenshin Seiryo," said Number Three, gesturing with his hand to calm down.

Meanwhile, after Asahi's kick, he jumped on Number Five, but Number Five appeared behind him and knocked Asahi to the ground with a punch to his back. Tanyu, noticing things were about to heat up, had already fled.

Though momentarily breathless, Asahi quickly got up and moved away, but Number Five appeared behind him again and launched a kick at Asahi. Asahi barely managed to turn and block the kick. Whenever he turned to face him, Number Five would vanish from sight and attack from behind. A kick, then punches, then kicks again. Even when looking for an opening to counter-attack, Asahi couldn't match Number Five's speed.

"So there's someone faster than Naru Toki," said Asahi. He suddenly ducked when Number Five's kick went through empty air, and aimed his claws at his leg. But before reaching Number Five's leg, he maneuvered and thrust his claws behind him. He had memorized Number Five's movements; as predicted, he appeared behind him again. His left claw was lodged in Number Five's shoulder. "Got you," said Asahi, grinning. "Element Air: Storm!" shouted Number Five. He suddenly grabbed Asahi's arm, pulled out the claws, and pushed him away. A powerful air current caught Asahi and swept him away. Though he tried to maneuver in the air to avoid the wooden pieces and iron bars flying around, the scratches and force of being thrown caused Asahi to hit the ground hard, losing consciousness.

When Kenshin turned his head to look behind, he said "Do you see what you've done? You destroyed my home. Now we have one more reason to fight," his nerves were shot.

"Gravitational Pull," he said in a calm voice. His voice echoed around. The guards and other warriors had gathered but there was nothing they could do; their leader Kenshin had been captured by the enemy.

Though Kenshin resisted for a moment, he suddenly flew towards Number Three's hand, and Number Three grabbed his throat.

"I heard you were immortal, let's see if that's really true?" said Number Three, this time with a mocking tone. He squeezed Kenshin's neck so hard that it broke. Blood spurted from Kenshin's eyes, nose, and mouth. The sound of his neck breaking was loud enough to be heard from all over the camp, all his neck bones were shattered. "I guess it was a lie. What a shame, we could have recruited you to our side," he said. Kenshin's lifeless body fell from his hands. He walked past him. "Let's go Number Five, these people are useless to us."

Number Five approached. "I told you this would be a waste of time," he said. Just as he was about to touch Number Three, Kenshin suddenly jumped behind Number Three, grabbed his throat and pulled off his mask with one hand. The man had an old scar that stretched from one cheek to the other. His long black hair was tied back and his eyes were glowing pure white. The Seimei-sen eyes has rings around his eyes indicated that they had reached their final form, Shisen.

"Let's see what's behind that mask!" he shouted excitedly. When the mask fell, a momentary silence fell over everyone. As people stared in shock, voices began to rise from the crowd. "That's... Uchiyama Naizen? The Kinslayer who murdered his own father? Hadn't he disappeared?" Voices came from another direction: "Wasn't he killed in battle?" Different words poured from everyone's mouths.

"Uchiyama, is it? What a huge surprise, haven't seen you in quite a while. So you really were alive." Kenshin was thoroughly enjoying exposing him, plus his old enemy had appeared before him once again.

"I'll come back for you again, Kenshin, your immortality will only last so long." He was angry but his voice was calm. "Gravitational Push!" he shouted and threw Kenshin away from himself, towards the crowd. Several people caught Kenshin and helped him stand up.

Number Three picked up his mask while Number Five touched him. As they vanished, he was staring into Kenshin's eyes.

"Uchiyama Naizen, huh," said Kenshin with a smile on his face. When Asahi regained consciousness, he realized they were already gone.

"Perhaps we should reconsider our plans. There's someone else I want to kill now, Asahi, what do you say?" he asked. Asahi, exhausted, could only manage a nod.

When Number Five and Uchiyama returned to the base, Five collapsed from exhaustion. "Damn it, I'm completely drained, I thought I was going to die. That guy was as fast as me, at least his claws didn't sink too deep," he muttered. He took out a bandage from his belt pouch and wrapped his left shoulder.

"Is Kenshin really immortal?" asked Number Six who came up behind them.

"It seems so," Uchiyama said calmly. "Come, the others are waiting, let's discuss the details." Six gestured with her hand for them to follow.

Numbers Five and Three followed. "Ah... I wish Number Two would come back already, I desperately need to regain my strength," Number Five mumbled.

Naru Toki had watched the attack on the camp from a distance. He wasn't mistaken - his brother had returned after all these years. Despite having so many questions to ask him, he was now determined to kill him. "I need to act sooner," he thought.

He quickly teleported to Dokuro's tent. "Things have changed. I was going to take you tomorrow morning, but you're leaving this afternoon. They won't suspect me right now," he said and touched Dokuro's shoulder. They suddenly appeared on a small hill. The village was visible behind the hill, within walking distance. "This is as far as I can take you, I need to head back," said Naru. After dropping off Dokuro, he returned to the camp.

Chaos had momentarily gripped the Xen tribe, and then news of Dokuro's escape surfaced.

"He was an important prisoner," Asahi sighed.

"This must be Uchiyama Naizen's doing. I thought that bastard was dead. He's at the top of my kill list," he slammed his hand on the table angrily. They were inside the tent where they held strategic meetings.

"I won't even ask what he did if he's at the top of your list - he must have done something really messed up," said Asahi, shrugging his shoulders.

"He killed one of my siblings." Kenshin was looking at the tent entrance, having noticed Naru's arrival.

"Seems we have similar reasons then," said Asahi, who also looked toward the entrance at that moment.

Naru entered the tent with a somewhat sarcastic attitude. "I go take a leak for two seconds and everything goes to hell - what did I miss?" he asked rather eagerly.

"I would kill you just for not being there at that moment, but I need you tomorrow," said Kenshin, still fuming.

"So no changes to the attack plan?" asked Asahi.

Kenshin nodded. "The attack will proceed, but we won't use all the golems. There won't be any destruction. Naru, your task is to beat Kamiya within an inch of his life, then Asahi will finish the job. Sato is already out of the picture. I'm no longer interested in Yuiken village, I have another target."

"Fine by me," said Naru.

"If we're going to attack, we should go all the way, Kenshin, but as you said, we don't need to use our full strength." Asahi wasn't happy about Kenshin backing away from this fight.

"You might be right, I don't know, I need to think about it." He was biting his nail. "Anyway, leave now. Asahi, you'll lead tomorrow's attack. I need some time alone." He gestured for them to leave.