"Hello, little boy," The bat monster said to him while licking his lips and baring his fangs and claws.
"Y-y-you! It's you!"
Dacheng couldn't help but freeze up. The bat monster was way more terrifying in real life than in his dream. Especially when combined with the setting of it hanging upside down from a nearby ledge like a vampire stalking its prey, along with a group of Genin from the Devil Storm Clan.
The only visible differences between it in his dream and it in real life were that it was wearing a blindfold. Furthermore, its ears were made of machinery.
"R-ri-ritsuko..." Dacheng stammered, "G-G-Get behind me... now."
Ritsuko quickly nodded, her hand tightly gripping Dacheng's.
Dacheng tried carrying Ritsuko on his back as they ran away from their pursuers, but when he realized it was too tiring, he just decided to have her in front of him. However, the Genin began to corner them as they sprinted through the labyrinthine roads and side alleys of Tokyo, Japan. Dacheng and Ritsuko ran past a few stores he and his family had visited a day or two ago, as well as the occasional Shinto temple. The whole place felt like a neon urban jungle.
"Somebody! Anybody! Help!" Dacheng gasped and wheezed, the words barely coming out. Strangely, even the bustling tourist district was unnervingly quiet today.
As they passed through yet another alley, Dacheng slipped past a rundown vending machine and knocked down a garbage can in a haphazard attempt to buy themselves some time. He recoiled in horror when the Genin effortlessly cleared it with a synchronized jump.
Dacheng and Ritsuko ran like they had seen a ghost, up the stairs of a nearby abandoned building. Up and up they kept going. They didn't even dare look behind them anymore, as the shouts of the ones chasing them were enough to keep them running.
Along the way, Dacheng morbidly wondered if the monster had called him "little boy" because it knew him or if it was just the monster's way of belittling and intimidating the enemy.
He hated it when he thought like that. Why was he so pessimistic?!
They ran until their legs felt as heavy as lead and until they felt like they could sink into the ground at any moment.
Ritsuko was getting tired, and so was Dacheng. When they reached the roof of the building, Dacheng had an idea.
The roof of the building was relatively plain, with pipes, air vents, and the like. Dacheng asked Ritsuko to hide in a small nook where she was relatively unnoticeable due to her tiny frame.
Dacheng had just finished helping Ritsuko hide when the bat monster suddenly flew up and landed on the roof.
Oh no! Dacheng thought. I forgot... Bats can fly!!
He decided to play it dumb.
"Who are you?" he asked. "What do you want?"
"Respect your elders, little boy!" the bat monster yelled. "I am Bloody Bat, one of the thirteen Chūnin (TLN: middle-class ninja) of the Devil Storm Clan! I have been a ninja for years! My senses have been honed to their limits! The power of echoing sound reveals all!"
A confused Dacheng promptly tilted his neck questioningly.
"Outsiders who have witnessed our secrets cannot be let off with their life!" Bloody Bat continued. "Such has been our way of life since the Warring States period! Your path ends here!"
Dacheng recoiled in shock as Bloody Bat started performing … unmistakable hand signs.
No... Dacheng thought. The jutsu in my dream... it was real?!
"Devil Storm Jutsu! Bloody Bat Special: Blizzard of Blood!" A red wind began to blow again - this time in Dacheng's direction.
Dacheng faced that jutsu from his dream. But this time, the pain was no dream. Even as he blocked the jutsu with his ninjatō, he wondered if he was about to lose his fingers or worse.
His body could no longer resist the sheer force of the Devil Storm Jutsu, and he was sent falling off the edge of the building, the ninjatō in pieces and falling beside him.
The last thing he heard before blacking out was Ritsuko screaming his name, and the last thing he thought was whether or not he was about to die.