Boss fights were always tough, you had to be able to respond to the timing of the moves and be ready to block, parry and counterattack. If you wanted to get meta, you could study the move patterns the boss used and game the system by purposefully baiting a certain move chain. This was the first time that we were seeing this boss in action. As NPCs, Keisuke and Kazuya did not have another life. If they died, they were gone for good. That was a good measure against doing that in FOG. You never wanted to risk good companions for a difficult mini boss when you had a whole dungeon to go beyond them. You could continuously hire cheap underlings, but it would not work out long term. First, your reputation would plummet as you would be known by all of the NPCs in the area as the guy who gets everyone killed. Second, if they are weak and cheap, they might be more trouble than they are worth keeping them alive until you got to the mini boss or, god forbid, the main boss itself. Although, you could flip it on its head if you could get through the bosses within a couple of cycles or so.
I had invested too much time and effort to let Keisuke die here for something dumb when we were so close. This was my 9th mission, so I could not afford to let Kazuya die either. It meant that I had to be the tank and take all of the aggro and damage. With all the fighting and experience I had been gaining since entering the world, I was level 16. I could afford to take some hits for the team. With that strategy, we ultimately chipped away at his health bar until he was in critical. He was in shambles. On his knees huffing and puffing, he got up. "That was cute! But now it's time to show you the true power of the Akaime Clan's hidden jutsu. Be grateful. Only Special Jounin and above can learn it and not a single soul has survived once it has been used." He did some hand signs and said "Blood Recollection Jutsu!" His eyes then opened for the first time. Where the whites of his eyes were supposed to be, they were blood red. His eyes were pure white otherwise. All the blood that had been shed, whether his or ours, floated in the air and entered his body. His health bar went back up to full again.
