Finishing Where He Left Off... (Defeating and Sealing the Four-Tailed Beast)(COMPLETE)

They were here. Finally. The foot of the mountain upon which the Four-Tailed Beast resided, dwelling on the top where it knocked the tip of the mountain off all those years ago. Yamazu remembered his last encounter with the red-furred Demon well. Every strike struck with the power of gods, each roar powerful enough to send any other man to his knees in fear. But not him. This was what he had wanted, what he had journeyed so long for. And he had done it, defeated the great Beast, only to be betrayed and lose him. It had been so long, so very long, this journey to recovering that which he had lost. But now, here he was, only a single step from the end of his quest.

He looked over at his companion, who was squinting at the mountain as well. He had made it very clear that in a battle with the Beast, even if he had his chakra flow back to normal, he would be next to useless. With the seal on his stomach blocking his chakra flow altogether, the only thing he would be able to do in the battle would be to die. They had both agreed that he would remain halfway the mountain and await Yamazu's signal via messenger monkey. The monkey would lead the Sealing Man to Yamazu when the battle was over and if he won. Should the Monkey-Priest fail, the monkey would just disappear in a puff of smoke.

They climbed the mountain in silence, both of them reserving their energies for their separate tasks. When they had hit the halfway they stopped for a moment to eat and drink. After this brief break, the Sealing Man offered the Monkey-Priest good luck and Yamazu continued the mountain alone after summoning a messenger monkey. After a long climb, Yamazu started to notice that it was getting warmer, much much warmer. He knew that he was getting close to the top.

Just as this thought passed through his mind, Yamazu's hand found a sudden flat surface. Dragging himself over the edge, he heard the tell-tale grumbling roar. The Monkey-Priest smiled widely. "We meet again, old friend", he said cheerfully. He looked into the towering form of the Ape Demon. It looked down at him for a moment, it's animal intelligence registering that it had seen Yamazu somewhere before. Soon that would change when it would realise that a creature was intruding on its' territory. Then it would attack. Yamazu kept eye contact with the Beast for a moment. Then the Four-Tails roared its' fury and charged forward. Clapping his hands together, Yamazu summoned his Staff forth and charged in himself, laughing like a maniac.

Jumping some broken rocks to gain some altitude, Yamazu swung his Staff down straight onto the Yonbi's nose, unleashing a large burst of chakra as he did so with a loud "KA-BONG!" escaping his lips as it did. The Yonbi roared in pain from the impact before swiping at the Monkey-Priest. Yamazu back-flipped in mid-air to avoid the punch. If one of those actually made contact, it might end things in one blow. The Yonbi was after all one of the strongest, if not the strongest, of the Tailed-Beasts when it came to physical strength. Luckily, the Yonbi would have to hit him first, something that Yamazu had no intention of letting happen.

His flying arc ended with him on top of the Yonbi's back. For a second, the Four-Tails seemed confused as to where he had gone, but when it felt Yamazu running along his back it bellowed in anger and tried to reach back to swat Yamazu off. The Monkey-Priest dodged the clumsy attack and swung his Staff down towards the top of the Yonbi's skull. It made contact with a sickening crunching noise as chakra burst from the impact again. The power of the strike brought the Beast's head down smacking into the floor of the flattened mountain top. Yamazu rode on the Four-Tails's back and jumped off as it hit the ground, landing a small distance away. Yamauz knew it was not over yet and the Yonbi proofed him right as it began to struggle back onto its' feet. Yamazu gave the Yonbi a smile before rushing back in just as the Four-Tails open it's mouth and belched forth a river of lava.

This has just got interesting...

This is a lot harder than the first time around was Yamazu thought to himself as he dodged yet another swing by a hairs length. But then again, back then I was much stronger. Much faster. And I had not known what I would be up against, so I had been a lot more confident he continued, his thoughts flying across his mind as he back-flipped to avoid being smashed into the ground by yet another earth shattering punch. I entered battle this time with a lot more trepidation. A lot more caution. Plus, last time I had the Sealing Man to help protect me against the worst attacks. Now, it's just me.

Yamazu was in a bad spot and no mistake. After almost half an hour of fighting with the Yonbi, he was tiring. The floor of almost half the mountain flat was covered in lava and his left arm had been mashed by a glancing blow from one of the Four-Tails powerful punches. It now just hung from his shoulder like a piece of raw meat, flapping about when he moved. To most, this would be a career ending wound, but Yamazu was tougher than your average shinobi. Thanks to the original Sealing Man's betrayal, Yamazu could heal from most wounds given time. In about a week his limb would be in full working order once more. The Monkey-Priest was still in with a fighting chance since he could use his Staff with one hand if he needed to, and he always had his tail should it prove insufficient. But he needed to end this soon, otherwise he would most likely just die from exhaustion.

The damage was not all one-sided though. He had made quite a few decent hits against the Four-Tailed Beast with his Staff and it was favouring its left leg, its right having received a nasty hit from a combined Fuuton and Katon technique while it had been distracted by a clone. It was slowing down as its own wounds began to take their toll, the head wound in particular giving it a hard time. But it would all count for nothing if Yamazu did not end it now. He had been holding back most of his chakra, preferring to use his Buinjutsu to wear it down before finishing it. But now he could see that it was time. As much as he hated to admit it, he would need that jutsu.

He dismissed his Staff with a click of his fingers and made a single handed handseal. Three extra tails spouted next to his regular one, stretching and forming above his head. With a grimace, Yamazu pulled up his mangled left arm and forced his fingers into the right handseal. Now all he had to do was hold that for about two minutes and this battle should be over. One way or another.

As if sensing that this attack would be the last, the Yonbi flew into a rage like none before, swinging his fists at the Monkey-Priest in a wild effort to crush him flat. Yamazu jumped out of the way of the attack, hopping from one raised rock to another to avoid from touching the lava flowing around him. Insanely, Yamazu was suddenly reminded of a game he had played in the Temple when he was a child all those years ago, when he pretended that the floor was hot lava and had jumped from one surface to the next to avoid touching the floor. He had caused such commotion as he went hopping about, knocking things over and breaking stuff. Who knew that he would be doing the same thing when he was older, only for real?

For the next minute and a half, he was ducking and weaving across the surface of the mountain flat, doing his best to avoid the Tailed-Beast's fists and tails. As he did so, a small ball of bright energy started to appear in between his own tails. It grew larger quickly as the seconds ticked on by until it was the size of a boulder. Knowing that he would need to time it right or he was finished, Yamazu held it for a little while longer, getting more and more fatigued as he did so. The Yonbi's efforts grew more and more desperate as it tried to kill the Monkey-Priest before he unleashed whatever this attack was. Suddenly, Yamazu stopped moving about. The Four-Tails took no time to take advantage of his motionless foe, charging forwards through the lava unharmed and raising its arm to make the final strike.

Yamazu smiled and said something.

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From his place halfway up the mountain the Sealing Man waited, sitting on his mat cross legged. He appeared to have his eyes closed, but he was keeping a careful eye on the messenger monkey Yamazu had left behind. The moment it gave the signal, he would move in. If it was dismissed, then Yamazu had failed and he was getting the hell out of there. The last thing he wanted was to stick around with a wounded Tailed-Beast nearby. The Sealing Man knew that the Beast be be at least hurt. He could hear its cries of anger from where he sat.

Suddenly, a massive burst of noise erupted from the mountaintop and snapped the silence away, makingthe whole mountain shake. The Sealing Man jerked to his feet, looking in awe at the huge beam of light that had appeared from where the Monkey-Priest and the Yonbi were fighting. With a cry of surprise, he slapped a sealing tag onto the ground as rubble flew at him. The walls of light deflected the rocky missiles, banging off the barrier. The monkey had taken cover inside too, jumping onto his back and clinging to his clothes as soon as the beam of light appeared.

It stopped as suddenly as it began, the rubble stopped falling and the mountain stopped shaking. A few seconds later, the monkey tugged at his shoulder and pointed at the mountaintop, making a screeching noise. Hardly daring to believe it, the Sealing Man took down the barrier and made his way up to the battle site.

The Sealing Man finally made it to the top of the mountain and gasped in awe. The first thing that he noticed was that everything was glowing an eery orange light. However a close second was the giant form of the Four-Tails. With a squeak of terror, the Sealing Man jumped behind a rock before realising that it was barely moving and that one of it's arms were missing. It was unconscious. But were was the Monkey-Priest? If the Yonbi had been defeated, were was the man who had brought it down?

Making sure to avoid the lava that was flowing around the mountain flat, the Sealing Man picked his way around trying to find Yamazu. After a few minutes, he finally found him, but he did not seem to be moving. With a curse, he jumped up to him and turned him over. He noticed with a sigh of relief that Yamazu was still breathing and his eye were open. But his face was severely burned, his arm was badly damaged and his left leg was gone completely. The Sealing Man paused as he looked upon the devastating injuries. How was he going to be a decent host now? There was no way he was going to recover from these wounds.

The Monkey-Priest reached up a grabbed the front of the Sealing Man's shirt, pulling him closer. Regardless of the severity of his wounds, Yamazu's grip was surprisingly strong. The man noticed that he was trying to say something, his burned lips moving and a wheezing noise coming out.

"The lava... stop... the villages..."

The Sealing Man nodded, understanding Yamazu's words. If the lava flow was left unattended then any nearby villages and towns would be instantly destroyed. He was not exactly the nicest man in the world, but but he was not exactly the worst either. He made his way to the edge of the lava, throwing down a sealing tag at four corners of it. This took a few minutes since it had spread to a wide area, but the Sealing Man still did it quickly. When this was done, he made a handseal and a barrier of light once more emerged, the lava pushing against it but unable to get through. He made sure that this barrier had no roof so that the lava would eventually cool down.

Now that the danger had been stopped, the Sealing Man went back to the injured Monkey-Priest. Judging from the ugly nature of his wounds, the Sealing Man doubted that he had long. But when he made it back to Yamazu's position, he was already hopping his way over to the unconscious Yonbi. Hurrying to catch up, he gawked at Yamazu. He should be barely able to move, never mind hop. The Monkey-Priest looked at him and gave a chuckle which ended in him coughing up a little blood.

"You should be dead!", the Sealing Man exclaimed as Yamazu sat down next to the hulk of the Four-Tails. This made the Monkey-Priest laugh even more, which ended in more uncomfortable coughing. "It's just a few scratches", he said with a chuckle. The Sealing Man gave him a funny look before saying, "A few scratches? Your leg is gone! Your arm isn't even an arm anymore and you have burns all over!" he continued as he set up a new barrier to ensure that the sealing ritual was not interrupted in any way.

Yamazu shrugged. "I've had worse", he said cheerfully before laying back on the ground. "Shall we begin the Sealing then?" The Sealing Man stood dumbfounded. This guy was serious. He still wanted the Four-Tails sealed in him despite the fact that he would not be able to use it since he had been practically dismembered. "Are you sure? I mean, you are seriously hurt" he pointed out. Yamazu made a dismissive waving motion with his hand, as if he was not bothered about his crippling injuries. "Don't worry about it. Ever since your granfather sealed me in stone I heal from these kind of wounds in no time. Besides, I sent off a monkey to my Temple. Some friends are coming to pick me up and assist me home".

The Sealing Man shrugged and positioned himself between the Four-Tails and the Monkey-Priest. He opened his bag and rummaged about for a second before finding a new sealing tag, only this one had something on it already. He had put a large amount of his chakra into the tag before he had set out on his quest. With this he would be able to regulate the huge amount of chakra about to pass through his body. He slapped it onto his chest before making a handseal, releasing the seal he had placed on his chakra system. The Sealing Man felt his whole being hum as all the energy he had forced to be stored up was set loose all at once, the tag on his chest forcing it to regulate properly without ripping his system apart. Making a new bunch of handseals, the Sealing Man placed his hands on the hide of the Four-Tails and Yamazu's stomach.

The Sealing Man felt a massive surge of power enter him. It was as if lava had been injected into him, but he could not feel it burning. The intense heat was there, he could almost feel the lava flow as it coursed through his veins, but no pain. It entered through his right had and exited through his left and into the Monkey-Priest, forming a bright seal on his stomach that hurt the eye if he looked at it too long. He could feel the enormous presence of the Yonbi pass through him and into Yamazu, the anger and pure menace of its being almost crushing the Sealing Man were he was. How the Monkey-Priest was going to control this thing he had no idea. Judging from the feel of the Four-Tails, he did not think that the two would get along.

After almost forty minutes later, the Sealing Man finally felt the presence of the Yonbi begin to fade away from him. During the ritual, he had gone blind and could not see what had happened. This did not make him panic however. He had expected something like this to happen. The large amount of alien chakra passing through him was a shock to his system. His vision would return in time. Collapsing back onto the hard rock, the Sealing Man saw Yamazu prop himself up. During the ritual, he had fallen unconscious but he seemed to be alert now. A confused look passed across his face for a moment as he searched for the Yonbi, but confusion gave way to tearful happiness when he realised that it was within him now.

"It's done... It's finally done!" he yelled in joy, raising his arms and whooping joyfully. The Sealing Man grimaced at his companions outburst before sitting up. "So... what are your plans now?" he asked, more out of a desire to stop his high pitch whooping than from any real desire to know. Yamazu took a deep breath and said, "I will return to the Temple and commune with the Yonbi. Learn about it, see what it likes and dislikes. And train, of course! I know that the Yonbi is very physically strong and enjoys fighting. it would be mean to lock it up in me and never let it fight again".

Just then, some men in the garb of monks knocked politely on the barrier wall that the Sealing Man had put up before starting the ritual. Snapping his fingers, the barrier vanished and the monks came across, helping the two men up. Yamazu clapped the Sealing Man on the shoulder. "Come to our Temple to regain your strength. It is the least I can do in return for your help in this" He was about to refuse and head away when a bad cramp hit his stomach that nearly made him fall over. Shrugging after it had faded, he allowed himself to be dragged off by the monks and the laughing Monkey-Priest.