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Description
Disclaimer: This is a work that was originally written by Lord-Daegoth that he wrote in collaboration with me. I am reposting these parts so the Fiery Dawn story can be complete once more since he deleted his entire gallery. I have made no corrections or alterations to his work and I am posting in the original form that he did.

Decisive Battle (Yajuta vs Taurus)

The thrill of the hunt. He had always felt it more keenly than others. He was the greatest assassin to live. He would triumph here above all others. He smiled. He made the forests name for it. He had spent an entire year in this gloomy hunting ground before. He knew every piece of it, what could be eaten and what could be used.
This hunt, however, was more than any other he had been on. This hunt, if he were successful, would be for the title of the Black Death. Konoha’s most secret of discreet killers. He, unlike all the others, could never be detected. No one had ever seen him before he killed them.
He was like death itself, stalking through the world taking those that least suspected him. Occasionally he would indulge himself and reveal that he was hunting them and then observe how they ran and squealed. The chase was something he savored and the kill was an elixir like none other.
The stalker, the hunter, the predator… He was all and more. He was tracker, fighter and executioner. Judge of those found wanting in the realm of combat. He was the scourge of the strong. The title would be his and also the heads of all that stood against him.
He shivered with delight as his wrist blades plunged through the back of an unsuspecting target. The blades carved through his heart and lungs, killing him and snuffing out his existence like one would blow out a candle. He reveled in the darkness, the absence of life.
He removed the mask. He knew this one. An ANBU he had served with. He was a root member, cold and calculating. He would be missed by the military, but those who were stronger were those who survived. Those who survived were more worthy. This was the ultimate truth in life. This was the drive-train of evolution.
This was his existence. His purpose was to end others, no more and no less. There was honor in this, removing those who would do harm to the world. Removing those who were too weak and purifying the human race of sinful frailty. Those who thought themselves strong were purged by his blades. He was truly saddened when someone surrendered, robbed of any honor in their deaths. Those who acknowledged they were weak were always given the chance to become strong though. He remembered every face of everyone who had surrendered to him. When the time came he would find them again and test their new strength.
He took the pelt of the slain warrior, as it was the hunters right to do, and strung the corpse up on a tree, a sign to all of his prowess and implacable nature. Death would find everyone and so would he. He bounded into the trees and flickered and shimmered as he blurred through the trees, his chakra bending the light around him.
He spotted something. A solitary figure, alone in the clearing. He had removed his customary ANBU mask and stood there as any ordinary ninja would have. He recognized the man from his hair. Long and spiky… just like the fabled Sanin Jiraiya. The pallid grey skin and the white-ice blue eyes. His darkened armor absorbing the light and reflecting none.
He was a strong one without a doubt. He had worked with the white haired shinobi for a very long time. Taurus was not a native of Konoha. He had been born outside the village. Where exactly wasn’t known by many; the Hokage, her assistants and Taurus himself were probably the only ones who knew of his life before being a ninja.
Taurus… that name was fast becoming legend. The two of them had been given many covert operations together. Neither of them was ever spotted. Taurus could move in the places that people couldn’t see and Yajuta simply bent light around him. Both of them could kill and disappear before anyone knew anything had happened. Over time they had become used to each other. They knew how the other worked and they watched each others backs.
Even without the stealth they both employed, they were a force to be reckoned with. Both were powerhouse fighters in their own rights. Yajuta had cutting edge techniques and a combat instinct rivaled only by the Kyuubi child. Taurus knew the old ways, old tricks honed to the point where none but an expert in them could catch him. Not to mention his taijutsu skills were above the rank-and-file.
“I know you are there, Yajuta. Come out.” Yajuta had to bite down on a hiss.
“How did ya notice me?”
“Instinct. We’ve known each other for years.” He said, a sad smile playing on his lips. “So it has come to this then.”
“That it has, Taurus. That it has.” Yajuta said joyfully, “To the death with honour.”
“To the death,” Taurus echoed without any trace of glee, “with honour.” Both of them evaporated from the clearing. Yajuta pondered what course of action to take. This was a new sensation to him; it was no longer a hunter pursuing prey. This time it was two hunters stalking each other. That was strange to Yajuta. He was now both hunter and hunted.
He mused on it for a while then stopped. He was being followed. Right from the start Taurus had followed him and he didn’t even know it. Clever, Yajuta thought, very clever. Take the part of the hunter to begin with and then retreat to somewhere you’ve already riddled with traps… just like I would.
Yajuta, halfway through a leap, pulled out a long cord. Funnelling chakra to his muscles he bounded from tree to tree at insane speed, forming a web as he did so. The special wire did the same as he could and it was completely invisible. Yajuta smiled as he surged on to keep ahead.
He ran headfirst into a trap. The notes exploded from everywhere. Like leaves in the wind they whirled around him. Instantly he curled up into a ball, bringing his chakra into a coat around his skin.
He landed with all the grace of a brick as he bounced off of the floor, leaving a dent in the soft earth. He uncurled and came to his feet easily enough. He smiled. That trap had been well set and it showed him that he really was underestimating Taurus. He wondered how the other shinobi had known which way he’d go. He turned in the direction of his traps and set up an old favourite.
Four scrolls. They were like exploding notes but at the point of detonation they also summoned various poisoned weapons. It sent razor sharp and deadly metal in all directions. He placed them in a box arrangement. Even if he avoided the net, he wouldn’t see the scrolls. They weren’t invisible, just well hidden.
He stood, waiting. Suddenly Taurus’ presence disappeared from his senses. That put him on alert. Taurus shouldn’t have gotten caught by the net. It was a distraction. Taurus surely wouldn’t be so careless when he was his opponent. Taurus was never careless.
The wrist blades came whistling out of their sheaths and slashed through the air. Yajuta’s arm jarred as the blades collided. Taurus stood before him, both his ANBU short katanas locked with both of the wrist blades. Yajuta grinned.
“You’re better than I thought,” Yajuta laughed. He pushed back and flipped backwards, launching a ball of swirling chakra at his opponent. He watched as the grey man caught it in his hand, surrounded by a black aura. He crushed it like thin glass.
“I’m better than anyone.” He said simply.
“This ain’t any time to be cocky, kid.” Yajuta laughed, replicating the first conversation the two had ever had. Back when they were in the Chuunin exams. Both were considered to be the best at their age. Yajuta was a ruthless genius and Taurus a young comer from outside Konoha. “nostalgia, eh?”
Yajuta whipped around again, his blades came within two inches of his opponents face. Taurus’ eyes were wide. He obviously hadn’t been expecting Yajuta to break his Genjutsu. A wide gash opened on Taurus’s face where his chakra sensitive blades lengthened. The cut started to smoulder. It was something Yajuta didn’t do very often. His chakra was primarily fire and wind type, the opposite of Taurus’ earth and water. His blades whipped out like a furious flame, his opponent’s switched between a water whip and an unbreakable blade.
The blows were paltry, a customary greeting before they got to the real fighting. They were matched in speed, skill and strength. Where Yajuta could use his vast amounts of chakra to enhance his movements, Taurus’ obscure training let his body keep pace while conserving his much smaller chakra reserves.
Then things got serious. Taurus put his blades away, preparing now to use his hands instead. Yajuta withdrew his own close combat weapons in favour of his many other blades. Two disks flickered out from his hands and sailed in lazy arcs towards the white haired shinobi. He deflected them with a graceful ease and smiled.
“For a moment there I thought you were going to be serious.” His pale eyes fixed Yajuta. Yajuta smiled. He had longed for someone that could match him. it would make taking his victory so much sweeter. He laughed and sent glowing balls of exploding chakra at the man. The trees and foliage shattered and shredded, spray of floral debris scattering the area.
Taurus still stood.
Yajuta drew his warrior-spear from over his shoulder. He surged forwards into combat, his spear jabbing out at his opponent. Taurus weaved and dodged. Eventually the unarmed shinobi grabbed the pole based blade. It was exactly what Yajuta had been waiting for.
A chance to use his technique. As both of Taurus’ hand grasped the shaft of the spear, Yajuta’s chakra ripped open seven of the eight inner gates. Blurring forwards he closed the distance between them in less than an instant. The movement didn’t even register on the grey mans features.
Yajuta opened the final eighth gate as he launched his punch. His assassination specialty technique used the eighth gate for less than a split second. Enough to launch one punch that would kill whatever it hit. It connected with Taurus’ chest. The man simply evaporated.
Yajuta roared as he realised his mistake. He had used his assassin technique, the technique that drained him of almost everything, and he had hit a shadow clone. His invisibility flickered around him once more as he ran; his last attempt at regaining his strength and coming once more for his title.
Then he straightened, paralyzed. His eyes strained to the side. Taurus had caught him. He’d struck a nerve cluster with all his might. How he had aimed such a strike at an invisible target was beyond Yajuta’s comprehension. He fell, bending as his body collapsed helpless to the floor.
“You’ve lost.” He heard the voice of his opponent whisper in his ear. He watched as the silent, gloomy form of Taurus looked down on him. “But I won’t kill you.” He said before he disappeared into the forest.

“Taurus! Come back here and finish this! You told me with honour, Taurus!”

Despite his training, he couldn’t help the tearing at his heart. He was leaving his friend to a fate that Yajuta would rather have died before facing. He left his friend to the dishonour of being weak and being beaten. Taurus almost looked back. Yajuta had always been stronger, even from the very beginning. He’d saved Taurus more times then he could count and they had been friends.
Here was Taurus, leaving him to his fate. He hated himself for doing it, but Yajuta was like a blade, rusted and corrupted by the violence it had forged. Steeped in blood his mind had corroded. He needed to learn the true value of life before he was ordered to take it again. he wouldn’t kill his friend, one of Konoha’s best, when there was still a chance for his redemption.

Description
Disclaimer: This is a work that was originally written by Lord-Daegoth that he wrote in collaboration with me. I am reposting these parts so the Fiery Dawn story can be complete once more since he deleted his entire gallery. I have made no corrections or alterations to his work and I am posting in the original form that he did.

Decisive Battle (Yajuta vs Taurus)

The thrill of the hunt. He had always felt it more keenly than others. He was the greatest assassin to live. He would triumph here above all others. He smiled. He made the forests name for it. He had spent an entire year in this gloomy hunting ground before. He knew every piece of it, what could be eaten and what could be used.
This hunt, however, was more than any other he had been on. This hunt, if he were successful, would be for the title of the Black Death. Konoha’s most secret of discreet killers. He, unlike all the others, could never be detected. No one had ever seen him before he killed them.
He was like death itself, stalking through the world taking those that least suspected him. Occasionally he would indulge himself and reveal that he was hunting them and then observe how they ran and squealed. The chase was something he savored and the kill was an elixir like none other.
The stalker, the hunter, the predator… He was all and more. He was tracker, fighter and executioner. Judge of those found wanting in the realm of combat. He was the scourge of the strong. The title would be his and also the heads of all that stood against him.
He shivered with delight as his wrist blades plunged through the back of an unsuspecting target. The blades carved through his heart and lungs, killing him and snuffing out his existence like one would blow out a candle. He reveled in the darkness, the absence of life.
He removed the mask. He knew this one. An ANBU he had served with. He was a root member, cold and calculating. He would be missed by the military, but those who were stronger were those who survived. Those who survived were more worthy. This was the ultimate truth in life. This was the drive-train of evolution.
This was his existence. His purpose was to end others, no more and no less. There was honor in this, removing those who would do harm to the world. Removing those who were too weak and purifying the human race of sinful frailty. Those who thought themselves strong were purged by his blades. He was truly saddened when someone surrendered, robbed of any honor in their deaths. Those who acknowledged they were weak were always given the chance to become strong though. He remembered every face of everyone who had surrendered to him. When the time came he would find them again and test their new strength.
He took the pelt of the slain warrior, as it was the hunters right to do, and strung the corpse up on a tree, a sign to all of his prowess and implacable nature. Death would find everyone and so would he. He bounded into the trees and flickered and shimmered as he blurred through the trees, his chakra bending the light around him.
He spotted something. A solitary figure, alone in the clearing. He had removed his customary ANBU mask and stood there as any ordinary ninja would have. He recognized the man from his hair. Long and spiky… just like the fabled Sanin Jiraiya. The pallid grey skin and the white-ice blue eyes. His darkened armor absorbing the light and reflecting none.
He was a strong one without a doubt. He had worked with the white haired shinobi for a very long time. Taurus was not a native of Konoha. He had been born outside the village. Where exactly wasn’t known by many; the Hokage, her assistants and Taurus himself were probably the only ones who knew of his life before being a ninja.
Taurus… that name was fast becoming legend. The two of them had been given many covert operations together. Neither of them was ever spotted. Taurus could move in the places that people couldn’t see and Yajuta simply bent light around him. Both of them could kill and disappear before anyone knew anything had happened. Over time they had become used to each other. They knew how the other worked and they watched each others backs.
Even without the stealth they both employed, they were a force to be reckoned with. Both were powerhouse fighters in their own rights. Yajuta had cutting edge techniques and a combat instinct rivaled only by the Kyuubi child. Taurus knew the old ways, old tricks honed to the point where none but an expert in them could catch him. Not to mention his taijutsu skills were above the rank-and-file.
“I know you are there, Yajuta. Come out.” Yajuta had to bite down on a hiss.
“How did ya notice me?”
“Instinct. We’ve known each other for years.” He said, a sad smile playing on his lips. “So it has come to this then.”
“That it has, Taurus. That it has.” Yajuta said joyfully, “To the death with honour.”
“To the death,” Taurus echoed without any trace of glee, “with honour.” Both of them evaporated from the clearing. Yajuta pondered what course of action to take. This was a new sensation to him; it was no longer a hunter pursuing prey. This time it was two hunters stalking each other. That was strange to Yajuta. He was now both hunter and hunted.
He mused on it for a while then stopped. He was being followed. Right from the start Taurus had followed him and he didn’t even know it. Clever, Yajuta thought, very clever. Take the part of the hunter to begin with and then retreat to somewhere you’ve already riddled with traps… just like I would.
Yajuta, halfway through a leap, pulled out a long cord. Funnelling chakra to his muscles he bounded from tree to tree at insane speed, forming a web as he did so. The special wire did the same as he could and it was completely invisible. Yajuta smiled as he surged on to keep ahead.
He ran headfirst into a trap. The notes exploded from everywhere. Like leaves in the wind they whirled around him. Instantly he curled up into a ball, bringing his chakra into a coat around his skin.
He landed with all the grace of a brick as he bounced off of the floor, leaving a dent in the soft earth. He uncurled and came to his feet easily enough. He smiled. That trap had been well set and it showed him that he really was underestimating Taurus. He wondered how the other shinobi had known which way he’d go. He turned in the direction of his traps and set up an old favourite.
Four scrolls. They were like exploding notes but at the point of detonation they also summoned various poisoned weapons. It sent razor sharp and deadly metal in all directions. He placed them in a box arrangement. Even if he avoided the net, he wouldn’t see the scrolls. They weren’t invisible, just well hidden.
He stood, waiting. Suddenly Taurus’ presence disappeared from his senses. That put him on alert. Taurus shouldn’t have gotten caught by the net. It was a distraction. Taurus surely wouldn’t be so careless when he was his opponent. Taurus was never careless.
The wrist blades came whistling out of their sheaths and slashed through the air. Yajuta’s arm jarred as the blades collided. Taurus stood before him, both his ANBU short katanas locked with both of the wrist blades. Yajuta grinned.
“You’re better than I thought,” Yajuta laughed. He pushed back and flipped backwards, launching a ball of swirling chakra at his opponent. He watched as the grey man caught it in his hand, surrounded by a black aura. He crushed it like thin glass.
“I’m better than anyone.” He said simply.
“This ain’t any time to be cocky, kid.” Yajuta laughed, replicating the first conversation the two had ever had. Back when they were in the Chuunin exams. Both were considered to be the best at their age. Yajuta was a ruthless genius and Taurus a young comer from outside Konoha. “nostalgia, eh?”
Yajuta whipped around again, his blades came within two inches of his opponents face. Taurus’ eyes were wide. He obviously hadn’t been expecting Yajuta to break his Genjutsu. A wide gash opened on Taurus’s face where his chakra sensitive blades lengthened. The cut started to smoulder. It was something Yajuta didn’t do very often. His chakra was primarily fire and wind type, the opposite of Taurus’ earth and water. His blades whipped out like a furious flame, his opponent’s switched between a water whip and an unbreakable blade.
The blows were paltry, a customary greeting before they got to the real fighting. They were matched in speed, skill and strength. Where Yajuta could use his vast amounts of chakra to enhance his movements, Taurus’ obscure training let his body keep pace while conserving his much smaller chakra reserves.
Then things got serious. Taurus put his blades away, preparing now to use his hands instead. Yajuta withdrew his own close combat weapons in favour of his many other blades. Two disks flickered out from his hands and sailed in lazy arcs towards the white haired shinobi. He deflected them with a graceful ease and smiled.
“For a moment there I thought you were going to be serious.” His pale eyes fixed Yajuta. Yajuta smiled. He had longed for someone that could match him. it would make taking his victory so much sweeter. He laughed and sent glowing balls of exploding chakra at the man. The trees and foliage shattered and shredded, spray of floral debris scattering the area.
Taurus still stood.
Yajuta drew his warrior-spear from over his shoulder. He surged forwards into combat, his spear jabbing out at his opponent. Taurus weaved and dodged. Eventually the unarmed shinobi grabbed the pole based blade. It was exactly what Yajuta had been waiting for.
A chance to use his technique. As both of Taurus’ hand grasped the shaft of the spear, Yajuta’s chakra ripped open seven of the eight inner gates. Blurring forwards he closed the distance between them in less than an instant. The movement didn’t even register on the grey mans features.
Yajuta opened the final eighth gate as he launched his punch. His assassination specialty technique used the eighth gate for less than a split second. Enough to launch one punch that would kill whatever it hit. It connected with Taurus’ chest. The man simply evaporated.
Yajuta roared as he realised his mistake. He had used his assassin technique, the technique that drained him of almost everything, and he had hit a shadow clone. His invisibility flickered around him once more as he ran; his last attempt at regaining his strength and coming once more for his title.
Then he straightened, paralyzed. His eyes strained to the side. Taurus had caught him. He’d struck a nerve cluster with all his might. How he had aimed such a strike at an invisible target was beyond Yajuta’s comprehension. He fell, bending as his body collapsed helpless to the floor.
“You’ve lost.” He heard the voice of his opponent whisper in his ear. He watched as the silent, gloomy form of Taurus looked down on him. “But I won’t kill you.” He said before he disappeared into the forest.

“Taurus! Come back here and finish this! You told me with honour, Taurus!”

Despite his training, he couldn’t help the tearing at his heart. He was leaving his friend to a fate that Yajuta would rather have died before facing. He left his friend to the dishonour of being weak and being beaten. Taurus almost looked back. Yajuta had always been stronger, even from the very beginning. He’d saved Taurus more times then he could count and they had been friends.
Here was Taurus, leaving him to his fate. He hated himself for doing it, but Yajuta was like a blade, rusted and corrupted by the violence it had forged. Steeped in blood his mind had corroded. He needed to learn the true value of life before he was ordered to take it again. he wouldn’t kill his friend, one of Konoha’s best, when there was still a chance for his redemption.