The battle with the hidden Stone had now come to an end. With the units from the hidden Mist and hidden Leaf celebrating their victory, even if it was only short-lived. After all, there had been many casualties and many brave men and women had laid their lives on the line to achieve victory, and gathering their remains so that they could be laid to rest would take time.
With that said, the battle between the hidden Sand was still going strong, with the numbers on both sides having taken huge losses so far.
Kaga and Ganryu had found themselves in the midst of the battle, helping to do their duty as captains, leading their men into battle and keeping their fighting spirit strong. However, due to this, they had come face to face with Pakura of the scorch style and the current fifth Kazekage.
They had been forced to engage in combat, resulting in a huge number of shinobi being wiped out by Pakura's overwhelming jutsu, proving why she was strong enough to be called a Kage and showing them the might of the Sand.
It had taken everything that the two of them had, resulting in them working together to take her by surprise to land a direct blow with Kaga's water dragon. However, Ganryu was unsure if it had been enough to stop her for good.
"Did we do it?" Kaga said as he waited for the dust to settle, knowing that his water dragon had made direct contact with her.
"I'm not sure, I can't sense her..." Ganryu said, holding the hilt of his blade tight as he too waited for the dust to settle.
What lasted a few seconds seemed to drag on for hours, as both of them waited with an intense amount of anxiety for the dust to settle, only to see that she had vanished.
"Where the hell is she!" Kaga shouted, not understanding how she could have avoided his jutsu.
Ganryu quickly scanned the area, only to see an incoming attack too late.
"Watch out!" Ganryu shouted as Pakura suddenly appeared out of nowhere, charging right towards Kaga from behind.
Pakura watched as Kaga turned around too late, allowing her to push her kunai into his chest at full force, looking into his eyes as she did so she could relish in his pain.
"You are a fool if you thought that little stunt of yours would work." She whispered in his ear, watching as he coughed up blood.
"NOO! KAGA!" Ganryu shouted as he swung his explosive blade at her with all of his might, trying to finish her in one blow.
Pakura smiled one last time as she looked into Kaga's eyes, quickly pushing off of him as she flipped backwards, dodging Ganryu's attack before she landed at a safe distance.
"You are both fools. Did you really think I would struggle against two lowly swordsmen such as yourselves?" She said as she brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.
Ganryu ran over to Kaga, who had dropped to the ground now, holding his wound.
"Shit, it's going to be alright Kaga, we can fix this!" Ganryu said as he tried to stop the bleeding with his hands.
Kaga gave his friend a small smile, knowing that it wouldn't be.
"I don't think so old friend... I think this is the end for me." Kaga said, feeling his body getting weak as he lost more and more blood.
Pakura smiled at her handy work before she opened her hands.
"As touching as this is to witness, I'm afraid it's time to end this." She said as she let two flame orbs ignite in her hands.
Ganryu was still trying to stop the bleeding from Kaga's chest, not having much luck as the wound was too deep, having also punctured his lung, causing him to start choking on his own blood.
"It's over!" Pakura shouted as she threw both of the scorch-style flame orbs at them, watching as they flew towards them, eager for them to finish them both off for good.
"Die!"
"Water style, water wall!"
A large water wall suddenly rose from the ground, surrounding Ganryu and Kaga. The water wall stopped the flame orbs as they crashed into the water, causing them to burst into steam as they made an impact.
"What in the?" Pakura said with a frown, not expecting someone else to appear.
Ganryu was also surprised as the water wall appeared, saving both him and Kaga in the meantime, hearing a familiar voice as its owner landed next to them.
"Sorry, it took me so long to get here." Mei suddenly said as she moved her hair out of her face, taking a look at Kaga's injury.
"Commander Mei..." Ganryu said, not expecting her to be on the battlefield. still, he was happy she was.
"His lung has collapsed, and he is choking on his own blood," Mei said as she pulled out a small tube from her weapons pouch, using her free hand to find a space between his ribs as she did.
Mei quickly stuck the tube into Kaga's ribs, releasing the pressure from his lung and allowing him to breathe again, giving Kaga an expression of instant relief.
Mei could see the wound in his chest was deep, and she wasn't sure how much time she could buy him, still, she knew she had to try.
Mei used her lava style to coat her fingers before she spread them across his chest, cauterizing the wound and stopping the bleeding.
Kaga screamed from the pain, forcing Ganryu to have to hold him down until Mei had finished.
"You have to get him to the medics right now, I don't know how much time he has left," Mei said, knowing she had done everything she could do.
Ganryu nodded before he turned back to Pakura.
"But what about the Kazekage!" He said.
"Leave her to me," Mei said, flashing him a confident smile.
Ganryu hesitated at first, but the sound of Kaga in pain quickly snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Alright, I've got him," Ganryu said as he placed his sword onto his back, allowing him to pick Kaga up with his arms.
Mei nodded and turned to face Pakura, walking out of the water wall that had been separating them all this time.
"And who do we have here? Another Mist shinobi come to meet their end." Pakura said, watching as Ganryu made his escape with Kaga.
"Don't think you can escape from me!" Pakura shouted as she threw another scorch orb, tossing it at Ganryu as he jumped into the air.
"Water style, water blast!" Mei shouted, firing a bullet-shaped ball of water into the orb, causing it to explode before it got close to Ganryu, allowing him to escape with Kaga safely.
Mei smiled as she looked Pakura up and down.
"Honestly I was expecting something more from the Kazekage, but here you are," Mei said, placing her hand on her hip, having stopped her jutsu so easily.
Pakura raised an eyebrow in anger, not expecting Mei to be so bold with her words, or be able to stop her attack so easy.
"Do your words hold any bite, or are you all talk?" Pakura said, glaring into Mei's eyes as the two of them got ready to fight.
There was a short but tense moment as the two of them stared each other down, almost daring the other to make the first move. But soon, Pakura gave way to her frustration and decided enough was enough.
"I've had enough of you!" Pakura shouted as she created a large number of flame orbs around herself, charging in to attack as they hovered around her.
Mei already knew that if she was hit by one of the orbs she was toast, literally. But, she also knew that Pakura's scorch style was very weak to water, giving her a massive advantage thanks to her mastery of the element.
"Water style, water dragon bullets!" Mei shouted, making the hand signs slowly to show she wasn't worried about Pakura's jutsu at all.
Pakura was surprised to see three large water dragons appear from only the air, impressed that Mei could summon such a large and powerful water jutsu without any water around to aid her.
Still, Pakura was no fool, and quickly tossed three of her scorch-style orbs at each of the water dragons, causing them to explode on impact and create a wall of steam that blocked each of their view.
Pakura landed back onto the ground, doing her best to try and see through the steam, only to see that the amount of it started to grow bigger.
"Hidden mist jutsu." Mei said, taking advantage of the steam from their combined attacks and using it to create a large veil of mist, hiding her presence from Pakura.
"The hidden mist jutsu?" Pakura said, having experienced this jutsu many times before.
"That won't work on me." She then said, creating a huge scorch-style flame orb, making it bigger and bigger as she pumped a lot of chakra into it.
The heat coming off of the flame orb was immense, and it caused all of the mist in the air to dry up, proving that it was too hot for the mist to remain in the air, and causing it to evaporate.
"Not bad, if I do say so myself," Mei said, having appeared behind Pakura, chopping a knife hand into the back of her neck.
Pakura took the hit, falling to the ground with a thud as Mei watched carefully, knowing something wasn't right.
"Oh no!" She suddenly said as she clapped her hands together, doing her best to summon a water wall that only just protected her from the sudden burst of Pakura's body.
"She used a scorch-style clone, knowing I would attack her weak point," Mei said, sensing a sudden attack coming from behind her.
Pakura suddenly burst through Mei's water wall, using her scorch style to create a break in the barrier and allowing her to charge through with a kunai raised.
Mei was on her backfoot now as she turned around, drawing her own kunai to block Pakura's slash that had come down towards her face.
The kunai clashed and rang out in the air, causing sparks to fly across their faces. Pakura wasn't done there though, quickly turning on her heel and twisting all of her weight into a spinning back kick, one that hit Mei directly in the stomach and sent her flying through the air.
Mei was able to flip around and skidded onto her feet, using the kunai in her hand to grind across the ground as it helped slow her down.
"Impressive taijutsu..." Mei said as she looked up, feeling the force of that kick.
Pakura was running towards Mei with her hands raised and she created more scorch-style flame orbs, surrounding herself with them in a deadly circle.
"It's over for you!" Pakura shouted, clearly getting ready to unleash a secret technique.
Mei watched, knowing that, that many of the flame orbs were dangerous indeed.
"I guess it's time to stop playing around," Mei said as she stood to her full height with a smile on her face.
Mei placed her hands together again, making the tiger seal as she concentrated her chakra.
"vapour style, acid mist..." Mei said, breathing out the huge amount of what looked like steam from her mouth, filling the air around her with it, allowing it to travel all around her as her hidden mist jutsu had done.
"What is this? Another mist jutsu?" Pakura said to herself as she continued on her advance.
"It doesn't matter what you do! Your mist can't withstand the heat from my jutsu!" She shouted as she charged right into the vapour, pulling all of her scorch-style orbs into one as she was about to unleash its full power.
"This isn't mist..." Mei said with a small smile on her face, catching Pakura's attention.
Pakura watched as her scorch-style orb suddenly started to let off a huge amount of steam as if it was melting into the air around her.
She also noticed her skin start to tingle and her lungs start to burn before the thought clicked.
"This isn't mist... It's acid!" She yelled, also seeing that her clothing had started to melt due to the vapour.
"No... I can't. I have to get out of this!" Pakura shouted, knowing if she stayed in the vapour any longer than she would melt.
"It's over for you," Mei said as she walked through the vapour unharmed, simply smiling at Pakura who couldn't help but glare at her.
"No! I won't be defeated by the likes of you!" Pakura shouted as she tried to use her scorch style once more.
However, it was no use as before she could even get it to ignite in her hand, the vapour seemed to burn it up, turning it into more steam.
"Your jutsu won't work anymore... My vapour style can change the PH level in the air itself, causing it to melt anything and everything. Even fire." She said, watching the anger burn in Pakura's face.
"Your vapour is impressive I will give it that... But if it's only the air itself... Then allow me to show you!" Pakura shouted, quickly forming the hand signs as she prepared another jutsu.
Mei took a ready position, knowing that she hadn't made the vapour strong enough to finish her right away.
"Wind style! rippling tornado!" Pakura shouted, causing the very air around her to start turning violently before a full tornado appeared around her, forcing all of the vapour that Mei had created to be blown away.
"So she's not a one-trick pony after all," Mei said, waiting and watching to see what she would do next.
The tornado was spinning faster and faster, also becoming larger and larger as Pakura pumped more chakra into it.
"At this rate, she will affect the battlefield altogether!" Mei said, regretting giving her a chance to use another jutsu.
Mei raised her hands to cover her eyes from the strong winds that were coming off of the tornado, knowing she had to counterattack and stop this before it got out of hand.
"If you think you are protecting yourself with that wind style, you are wrong! Instead, you have sealed your own defeat!" Mei said as she made more hand signs, finishing on the dragon seal.
"Fire style, soaring dragon bullet jutsu!" Mei shouted, unleashing a powerful dragon-shaped fire style towards Pakura.
Mei knew that wind was weak to fire, and if she was in the eye of her little storm, then she would be burnt to a crisp by the intense combination of the jutsu.
The fire style hit the tornado, causing it to suddenly burst into flames as it became engulfed by a violent spinning fire that raged high into the air, crackling and roaring as the two jutsu merged together.
Pakura was still inside of the vortex of fire, feeling the heat as the wind and fire jutsu's merged together, creating an even more powerful one, giving neither of them control over the raging inferno.
"ARGHHHH!!" Pakura screamed, unable to control her own jutsu anymore and feeling the heat become too much for her to bear.
"It's over," Mei said, watching as the vortex of fire slowly burnt out and settled back down, leaving Pakura on the ground defeated and unconscious.
Mei walked over to get a better look at her, seeing that she was currently led on the ground not moving, still, she had her guard up, knowing it would be unwise to underestimate her at the final moment.
"Y-...You bitch..." Pakura said, biting through the pain her body was in.
Mei kept a straight face, knowing the fight was over now and that the Kazekage had been defeated.
"It's over. You have lost this fight." Mei said, looking down at her as she spoke.
"I... I am the Kazekage! And I won't be defeated so easily!" Pakura suddenly shouted, activating her last attack in hopes that she would take Mei out with it.
The ground under Mei's feet suddenly cracked open, revealing a huge amount of explosive tags, something Pakura had done once she had lost control of her jutsu in a last-ditch effort.
Mei was taken by surprise, not having expected something like this from her.
"Oh no, I don't have time to get out of the way!" Mei said, knowing she was about to take the full force of the massive amount of explosive tags under her.
"If I'm going down, then so are you!!!" Pakura yelled, refusing to die without taking her down too.
"BOOM!!!"
The explosive tags exploded, creating a huge blast area, sending a shock wave across the war front and creating a large plume of smoke.
Mei had closed her eyes at the last second, not being able to act fast enough and expecting to have been blown to hell.
Instead, she felt warm, finding herself pressed against a body she knew all too well.
"Are you alright Mei, that seemed like a close call?" Fuyōna said, holding her bridal style as he slowly dropped back to the ground.
"Fuyōna!" Mei shouted in surprise, more than happy to see her husband.
Fuyōna smiled and put her back on the ground, letting her stand by herself.
"I guess I owe you one when we get home," Mei said as she poked him in the chest, winking at him as she did.
Fuyōna smiled before he turned his attention back to the matter at hand, clicking his fingers as he summoned an ice mirror.
Pakura suddenly dropped out of the mirror and onto the ground, lying there in bad shape from her battle with Mei.
"You saved her too?" Mei asked, surprised that he had done so.
"Yeah... It sure was a close call though." Fuyōna said, having only just arrived in time to see what was going on.
"I wanted to get a closer look at the Kazekage, and try and talk to her if I could..." Fuyōna explained as he walked over to her.
Pakura wasn't sure what had happened, but all she knew was that she was alive and that her plan had failed.
"Lord Kazekage..." Fuyōna said, getting her attention.
"This battle is lost. Your forces have been decimated and the survivors have surrendered." Fuyōna said, having already seen to the battle grounds himself before coming over to help Mei.
Pakura bit her lip as she tried to sit up, still having a defiant look on her face.
"You haven't won... The Sand will never surrender!" She yelled, clearly out of her mind.
Mei frowned in anger, something she didn't do often.
"You idiot... Your actions have led to the death of thousands and yet you sit there and refuse to surrender!" She shouted, letting her anger get the better of her.
"I should just finish you off right now!" Mei shouted as she raised her hand.
"That's enough Mei," Fuyōna said, stopping her from saying anything else.
Mei gave him a questioning look, unsure why he was defending her after what she had done.
"I think there is more going on here than meets the eye." Fuyōna then said as he placed his hand on Pakura's head, doing his best to enter her mind.
Fuyōna opened his eyes after a moment, surprised that his hunch had been right.
"What is it Fuyōna?" Mei asked, also feeling his shock.
"She is under a genjutsu..."
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Alright that's the end of this chapter! I hope you enjoyed and as always have a great day!