Piles of smoldering corpses smoked across the plain like crude funeral pyres, the fire fueled wind carried the stench of burning flesh far across the coastline.
Charred armor pieces jutted from the heaps like broken teeth, some still clenched to the limbs of their lost owners.
The air stank of brine, blood, and smoke. Haran Bay, once a sea marshland now stained with the marks of war.
The sea, a restless beast at the edge of the bay, lapped lazily at the bloodstained shore as if it, too, was waiting for the next body to claim.
The rain grew denser and denser, stronger and stronger to the point a spark of lightning lit up within the clouds. The streaks of lightning cracked overhead, pulsing distantly and casting flashes of light across the battlefield.
The flashes of light lasted long enough to reveal just how many died and how few were left, and in the heart of it all lay a single boy. Surrounded by a whole camp of shinobi, Aki gripped his blade tighter with a hint of desperation.
The commander of the first division of the Great Battle Regiment Of The Hidden Cloud, Raiko Tetsuhide. The man wore the newly issued flak jacket for shinobi, a headband wrapped around his forehead with the sign for 'Cloud' engraved into the center, white grey pants and matching shirt along with a short tanto blade attached to a scabbard on his back.
The man was a seasoned survivor of the Warring Stated Period, a period in which the average lifespan was thirty, his age of forty six serving as a medal.
His middle age being a clear achievement of his survival in the harsh and cruel times in which he were born into, and the scar running diagonally across half his face being his constant reminder of this fact.
After Hashirama Senju, united the Land Of Fire with his system of villages, the man followed suit and joined the Hidden Cloud looking to enter a peaceful era...
Which didn't last long, war erupted once more and so Raiko picked up his rusty blade once more and was immediately positioned as the commander of the proud first division
Raiko stood in heavy silence, his arms crossed as he watched the boy gasp for, air standing on the shattered ground. His sharp calculating eyes took in every brutal detail, the blood smeared across Aki's torn skin, blackened burns from fire crawling over his small frame akin to war paint.
And yet, Aki still gripped his sword.
He didn't even have the strength to raise his head fully, but he hadn't let go of the blade.
Raiko stepped forward, his boots splashing through blood and mud. The sound was grotesquely loud in the oppressive quiet.
Not a single shinobi dared to breathe too loudly, the only noise the dull patter of the cold rain against the carnage marked earth.
He stopped a mere arm's reach away, staring down at the boy, taking advantage of his taller frame.
"You're still alive.." Raiko muttered under his breath, almost in disbelieve.
Without a word, Raiko kicked out and slammed the heel of his boot into Aki's chest, knocking the boy flat into the mud.
''Agghhhhh'' The impact forced out a ragged cry from Aki's lungs as he collapsed into the wet earth, with his body twitching in pain from the shock as the kick flared his injuries further.
Raiko didn't stop there.
He planted his foot squarely between Aki's shoulder blades and ground down with deliberate and crushing weight.
Aki couldn't even resist, as his head was shoved deep into the mud, blood, ash, filth and shit mixing into a suffocating paste that filled his nose, mouth and eyes.
He struggled, thrashing as his hands clawed at the ground and Raiki's feet.
His screams were muffled at first, but then rose in fury.
''GET OFF MEE!!'' He howled, somehow fighting through the taste of shit in his mouth.
''GET OFF ME, GOD DAMM IT, YOU DEMENTED CLOUD MOTHERFUCKER!!
''I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES''
''I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL RIP OUT YOUR GODDAM THROAT!!''
''I'LL CUT YOUR DICK OFF AND FEED IT TO DOGS!!''
At this point, the surrounding shinobi burst out in laughter, they started taunting the boy.
''AHAHAHA!! This kid is amazing, AHAHAHA!! Do it kid, cut his dick off!!''
''The kid has guts, AHAHAHA''
''Where the hell did he come from?!! AHAHAHA''
''And then kill all of us, AHAHAHA!!
''AHAHAHAHA And then cut all our dicks off too!!'' One of the men, with tears in his eyes, couldn't help but add.
''Even if he did, there's no dogs for miles, we might have to help him find some, AHAHAHA!!'' One of the men replied to his friend beside him.
The laughing continued as Aki continued screaming in fury and pain.
Raiko didn't stop the men from laughing, he knew morale was important in times of war. So letting his subordinates laugh here and there, would only help.
Raiko didn't even glance down, he let the boy squirm like a dying animal, pinned and helpless beneath his heel.
Mud smeared across Aki's cheeks as he fought to lift his head, only to be forced back down again.
"Still has fire in him," Raiko muttered.
'In my times, a boy like this would be a rarity'. He thought to himself.
He finally stepped off, letting Aki collapse onto his side, gasping and heaving.
''Looks like you finally ran out of curses to throw at me, huh?'' He commented, seeing the poor state of the boy, covered in mud and filth with his body barely holding together.
''FUCK YOU!!'' Aki shouted from the ground, ignoring the man's words.
''AHAHAHAHA!! Good, good, very good'' seeing the boys tone, Raiko burst out in laughter, his laugh carrying a sinister hint.
"You're either cursed or blessed." His lips twitched into a cold smile, dark amusement flashing in his gaze.
''Let's found out which'' His voice shook the surrounding shinobi.
''Line up all of you, form a circle, you faggots!!''
His subordinates, his subjects exchanged hesitant glances between each other.
Some blinked in disbelief and others frowned, shifting in discomfort in their armour.
Aya, the demented explosive tag obsessed retard and one of his more loyal lieutenants, stepped forward hesitantly. "Sir, what are you...?"
"You heard me." Raiko interrupted him.
Raiko's voice brooked no argument.
"One by one, trial by combat. We'll see if the little demon's death is fated today... or if death itself fears him."
''We'll give the kid a chance to die like a true shinobi, rather than an wounded animal''
A few men chuckled nervously. A few others hesitated, their hands tightening on their weapons.
''Do I need to repeat myself? I said line up!!'' Raiko raised his voice a bit more, flaring his chakra outwards, as the ground rattled underneath him.
He sensed some of the men's displeasure, and decided to make them remember their position.
Raiko was a veteran and an Elite Jonin of the Hidden Cloud, as a jonin, his experience and combat ability was distinctively higher than everyone here.
His chakra was more than enough to physically pressure an average shinobi to their knees.
None disobeyed.
Slowly, a circle closed in around Aki.
''Sorry kid, I have nothing against you''
The first man charged in, with his blade drawn in his right hand, and a cold aloof look on his face.
A cold aloofness is all one should expect from his foe, this is war.
This is not a time to show mercy, not even to children, as a child with a blade is often more dangerous than a grown man with a gun. Not that guns exist in this world.
Time seemed to slow down and come to a standtill.
For Aki, everything seemed so slow, in his final moments, so slow.
The drops of rain colliding with his muddied being, so slow.
The taste of filth still on his tongue, so slow.
The sight of the blade closing in on his neck, so slow.
And then, at the last moment before the sharp abyss was to complete its reaping harvest.
Fast.
Fast was the cornered rabbit.
By instinct, Aki drew his blade upward akin to a whisper being misheard.
His blade parried the opposing foe's edge, by the barest margin, but still parried.
The sword and arm of the cloud shinobi flew up from the parry, exposing his neck.
Aki shifted his battered frame in pain, and seeing his chance, his right arm drew again like fluid water, and there.
It was done.
Blood burst out from the neck of the cloud shinobi, like a fountain, and his body dropped to the ground.
The blood sprayed into the air, right onto Aki below.
Before? Aki was covered in mud, filth and his own blood.
Now? His whole body from head to toe, bright red, from the blood of another.
A crimson rabbit.
''You didn't take my sword from me, you fucking eunuch!!'' Aki screamed.
The words were clearly directed at Raiko.
The men were stunned, and so was Raiko.
'He's right, he didn't' The men all thought to themselves.
''KILL HIM!!'' Raiko's voice burst out like thunder.
Before this was all a game, but now, he wanted the kid dead.
His pride and anger couldn't allow the kid in front of him to live.
He lost control of the flow of his chakra, and the ground around him shattered once more.
One by one, the rest of two hundred shinobi rushed in, one by one.
'He killed one of ours, so we get to kill him'. They all thought to themselves.
He didn't see them, he heard them all, their feet stepping into the mud, their hisses of breath and the ripple of killing intent cutting through the smoke.
But he moved first, ignoring the pain through his body.
His body screamed with every motion, every step, every hip turn.
His ribs pulsating with torment, lungs raw, muscles scorched torn and useless. But something deeper than flesh carried him forward. Not strength, not technique.
Survival.
First.
The man rushed in, his intention clear.
Aki dropped his body low and slipped under the man's blade, ribs still screeching as he twisted low and with a grunt turned his blade sideways, piercing the edge of his blade into the side of the man.
And with a final push, shoved the blade deeper, through the mans lung's and into the heart.
The man dropped dead.
Second.
A shadow cut through Aki's blind spot, but Aki's ears sensed the shift.
The enemy was bigger.
A man twice his size armed with a two handed sword, and with pain blazing down his spine Aki's blade met with that of the man's. Steel met steel.
Sparks flew, as the shock of the clash rattled Aki's arms, but he held on.
The man recovered from the clash, and swung his sword again in a brute overhead arc, the kind meant to split a person in half.
Aki stepped into the arc, up close to the man. So close he could feel the breath of the man, as he rammed the hilt of his blade into the man's shoulder to cut off his swung.
The man's eyes widened in surprise.
Avoiding the arc, Aki stabbed upward once more.
His arm snapped into motion and his blade cut right into the mans chin from a low position and cleanly through his jaw, the mouth and out the other side of his skull.
The man dropped like a cut tree.
Third.
A sharp whistle of the wind, from the right.
A blade clad in lightning stabbed towards Aki's right hand side, Aki shifted his feet, dodging the stab from the man. Stepping into the man's guard he parried another swung and countered with a cut to the thigh of the man, drawing blood.
The man gasped as his balance was thrown off.
The man dropped.
Taking advantage, Aki efficiently pierced his blade right through the man's eye into his skull.
Then came the fourth, the fifth and the sixth. Again and again, over and over.
Aki's world blurred into mere fragments, the only things that mattered was his blade and his hearing. The pain throughout his body became a blur, constant and present blur, but one which he learned to handle.
The mud dragged his legs as if it wanted him to fall, but he kept going. He started noticing small incremental details which he could improve on.
His footwork became flexible, his wrists supple ready to change directions and his ears and eyes started working in tandem.
The men kept attacking one after another, and each time Aki would counter with a deadly decisive swung of his blade.
A kick came from his left.
He ducked under, but slipped in the blood and the mud.
One of the men saw the chance and hit Aki's temple straight on.
Stars burst into Aki's eyes, for a moment, he didn't move. The world spun in his eyes and he could taste blood on his lip.
''MOVE DAMM YOU!! MOVE!!''
A scream erupted from his throat, not of rage, but resistance. He pushed off the ground, his bones pulsating in pain once more and launched himself upright.
As he threw himself up on his feet, he pulled the legs out underneath the man who tried to stab his gut when he was on the ground, mere moments ago.
Aki's blade flashed and cut a line across the stomach of the exact same man who tried to take his life.
More came for Aki's life.
Aki entered a fleeting storm of constant attacks.
And each time, just when his life was to be taken, he would gain a second breath and counter.
Time stopped mattering. So did thought.
There was no technique now. No strategy. Only twitch and strike. Flinch and stab. Parry, duck, lunge, scream. Every heartbeat was a miracle. Every breath a rebellion.
Through mud. Through blood. Through smoke and steel and agony.
He became something less than human. A creature of refusal.
A body that should have broken ten times over but refused to stay down.
They came at him in twos, in three's. Some hesitated and others came with fury.
All fell.
One by one.
Thirty-six shinobi.
Broken at the feet of a boy who should have been dead long before the first had drawn their blade.
When the final one collapsed, twitching and gasping in the red-soaked mud, Aki stood in the center of a circle of corpses.
Barely upright. Barely breathing. His chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged jerks.
His arms hung limp. His skin was bruised and bleeding, carved open in a dozen places.
He looked like a corpse still standing.
And yet, he was still alive. If barely.
On the last thread of life.
''STOP'' Raiko finally interrupted the fight, sparing the live's of his left over division.
''HAHAHA!!! Boy, you really are something!! HAHAHAHA.'' Raiko spoke up.
He saw the boy transform, from a rabbit into a deadly wolf.
He didn't even mind the loss of his men, he knew how cruel war was. And he knew that, all the men that just died were replaceable. Matter of fact, the now empty ranks within his division would be filled by next week.
All it will take is a simple fake report to his superiors.
''Listen boy, you might be impressive, but there is a limit to everything''
''I can see you are barely hanging on''
''So how about you consider joining the Hidden Cloud''
This was a sincere offer from Raiko. The boy in front of him was a genuine killer, an unnoticed piece of rock, ready to be polished. A hidden talent.
As long as he took in the boy, then the deaths of his men didn't even count. The hidden cloud always valued military strength, individual talent and knowledge more than any other village in all the lands. It was better to have a single one man army than thousands of shinobi.
As long he could take the boy in, he would gain the credit for bringing in a talent.
Not to mention, he was a Leaf Shinobi, the information he could bring in might help the Hidden Cloud end this war, or at least gain an advantage from the start.
''What do you think boy? I promise you we'll take care of you''
''I can get a medic shinobi here in a matter of minutes, he will heal your injuries''
''I can promise you will be treasured and protected, even offered powerful high ranked techniques if you do well enough''
Seeing the man in front of him extend an olive branch after all this, made Aki want to laugh.
He didn't even consider the offer from the man, not out of loyalty for the Hidden Leaf or for some sense of camaraderie.
He wanted to refuse out of a sense of principal. This is the man who just forced his head down a pile of mud and filth. The man who ordered a whole camp of shinobi to try and kill him in a cruel game of his own twisted whim.
And now? Here he was, offering him life.
'Is this what I am? Someone who's life is to be decided by others so easily? One second, I am granted death and one second, I am granted life?'
'Isn't this what you would do to a dog? Or an injured horse? Or any other wild stock'
The whole situation made him even more angry, and the more his displeasure grew, the more his injuries worsened. Gathering his thoughts, Aki calmed down, afraid his anger might grow and make him die of shock from his injuries being irritated even more than they are now.
''Didn't you want to kill me just a few seconds ago?'' He replied with deep and long breaths.
''HAHAHAHA!! And? Life is full of ups and downs, twists and spirals''
''Consider me trying to kill you, a twist of the past''
''And me offering to save you, a simple spiral of the future''
''Don't you understand boy? I'm trying to be nice here, so how about you be a nice little dog and accept the bone I'm trying to throw you?''
''What will it be?''
....
Sometimes in life, one must make a choice.
Whether to live in dignity and honor, to follow customs and to know when to speak and when not to.
As insulting as Raiko's words were, the wise option would be to follow him and live to speak of the next day.
Yes, the wise, calm, responsible and reliable option.
Aki smiled in response, his smile was crooked and bloodthirsty
''A bone you say? You want me to roll over for you half chewed, flea bitten piss soaked little bone like some starving dog?'' At this point, he spat in Raiko's direction.
''What will it be? Oh, I dunno, how about you take that bone, shove it up your ass sideways, spin in it a circle and bark for me!! IS THAT A GOOD ENOUGH ANSWER FOR YOU'' He leaned forward, shoulders trembling, not from fear, but fury.
''The only thing spiraling here is your IQ!! YOU DEMENTED DOWN SYNDROME DONKEY FUCKER!!''
''Nice you say? LET ME TELL WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE!! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF YOUR MOTHER SWALLOWED YOU DOWN HER THROAT!! and if she didn't want to then maybe, someone should have snapped her fucking spine during childbirth. Cuz, maybe THEN I WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE BREATHING THE SAME AIR AS A WALKING TALKING ABORTION!!''
''Let me ask you, does your mother still charge half price behind the barn every christmas and new years? Or did she finally decide that enough is enough when she had you?!!'' Not that christmas exists in this world, or does it?
''"I bet you popped out head first into a latrine and your mom just figured, 'Eh, close enough'. Dumb bitch should've worn a cork for you''
''Here's my answer you rat infested fuck, I would rather die right now like a stray dog than be a trained dog under you''
Every sentence was spoken in a series streak like manner, one by one. With his near death state, Aki decided to curse Raiko out.
What followed after was silence. Such silence one could hear one's breath underneath their noses.
And then the silence was broken.
''AHAHAHAHAHA!! THIS KID REALLY IS MAD!! AHAHAHAH!!''
''THE KIDS A RAGE!! AHAHAHAHA''
''HE CALLED HIM A DONKEY FUCKER!! AHAAHAHAH MY STOMACHS GONNA BURST!!'' One of the men couldn't help but burst out.
''AHAHAHA!! DON'T FORGET HIS MOTHER OFFERS HALF PRICE FOR NEW YEARS TOO AHAHAHA!!'' One of the men replied to his friend beside him.
Every laugh was like a dagger right through Raiko's nerves.
'THIS GOD DAMM KID!! HE'S DEAD, HE'S DEAD, HE'S DEAD''
His anger was through the roof, any previous thoughts off helping the kid out dissipated.
''ENOUGH!! CAPTURE HIM, AND BRING HIM TO ME!! ALIVE!!'' He didn't want to kill him, well not yet, he wanted to capture, torture him and break his mind. And then, only then, kill him.
The men heard their orders and rushed in once again.
But it was too late.
What everyone failed to notice was that Aki's fingers were clutching something. Not his blade this time.
A ring of tags.
Explosive tags. Chakra-sensitive.
Gathered in the flickers of motion, ripped from belts, pouches, flailing bodies. Pieced together during the chaos, during the dance of death, his mind doing what his body no longer could. PLAN AHEAD!!
The tags fluttered in the wind. A couple hundred patchwork chain of desperation, madness, and brilliance.
He smiled.
It was wrong. Lopsided. Bloody teeth. A smile born in fire and suffering and sheer, unstoppable hatred for fate itself.
Then he moved.
Too fast.
Faster than he should've been able to.
Raiko's eyes widened, he was the only one who noticed at the last second "WAIT—!"
But it was too late.
Aki slammed the tags into the earth, his voice a torn shriek ripped from the edge of death:
"IF I'M GOING TO DIE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!!!"
Then, in a calm, near-whisper with his eyes burning he said his last words.
"And if I do make it out of this... I'm coming for you. And I won't bring a leash. I'll bring a collar with your name carved on the inside."
The world exploded.
Not sound. Not light. A force. A devouring, wrathful force birthed from the earth, fire and lightning.
BOOM.
The shockwave tore everything apart.
The sky turned white, fire blossomed like a newborn sun.
The very crust of Haran Bay cracked, then shattered.
The land groaned, gave way, and collapsed inwards as the sea roared forward to swallow it whole.
The Hidden Cloud camp vanished in seconds—war tents, armories, banners, bodies—obliterated or drowned.
Aki was flung like a leaf in the wind, crashing down with debris and shattered stone. The world was gone. Nothing but black water and broken ground.
And yet.
When the silence came…
Floating on a slab of torn earth, half-drowned, body torn beyond reason.
He breathed, just barely, miracle surviving on drags of his own life force.
Sword still in hand. Blade cracked. But unbroken.
Aki Hisakata had survived.
Not because he was meant to.
But because the world had failed to kill him.
And in the smoldering quiet that followed, as smoke curled into the clouds and dead men sank into the black tide, stories began to form.
Whispers passed from wounded lips. Fear and awe and disbelief.
Of a boy who refused to die.
Of the one who razed Haran Bay in fire and blood.
Of the Sinker Of Haran Bay.
A story just beginning.