"Wake up Sora, you have to go training today!"
"Komushi?"
"Did you forget? Granny Chiyo told us to train together for a month"
"Hmm, can't we just lie to her?"
"No you can not," Granny Chiyo uttered as she steps into my room
Thwack!
She threw a scroll at my head
I caught it after it bounced off
"Isn't this child abuse!"
"Use this scroll to store your Salamander puppet and go to training ground 4, I've gone out my way to get clearance for you, so you better use it wisely."
"Understood", I muttered dejectedly
I pack the Salamander puppet into the sealing scroll and prepare to leave.
Training Ground 4
The whistling blustery wind is hurling dust around the training ground, as me and Komushi prepare to spar.
I unfurl my scroll in the air and touch the underside of the sealing mark and summon my puppet.
Poof!
Using my chakra threads I manipulate it to levitate in front of me.
"Are you ready Sora, Here I come!"
Komushi charges toward me with his fist in the air, however I use my puppet to launch an assault against him first.
Clack Clack Clack
The puppet punches Komushi square in the face and he jumps backs and throws a kunai towards me which I jump back to quickly evade.
"You're better than I thought Sora."
He sprints towards me and attempts to throw a kick but I attach my chakra threads to his legs to manipulate his movements making him narrowly avoid me.
Then I proceed to drag him into the air with my puppeteering and slam him into the ground.
Whilst he's still tumbling away, I use the trap door mechanism in my puppets torso to quickly encapsulate him
Clink! The hinge mechanism locks
Bang Bang Bang
"Hey, let me out!", Komushi muffled voice leaks out the puppet
While he's still inside my puppet I started to vigorously shake him up and down
"Aaah! Let me out! I give up I give up!"
"Haha! I thought you're a full fledged shinobi", I couldn't help but remark whilst opening the puppet
This fight really lasted 30 seconds…
"Phew, I thought I was going to die in there"
"Let me rematch you Sora you got lucky!"
"You're too easy for me"
"What?! How could you say that, I'm a full fledged shinobi!"
"I'll rematch you tommorow, save your energy for guard duty"
Although that was good combat experience, so I don't mind doing this everyday it's just that Komushi is too weak.
So for now, I don't have time to entertain Komushi.
I'm going to focus on my own training and making my own puppet at home.
…
Just like that, a month passed, me and Komushi have been sparring everyday and I've also been diligently making my own puppet.
Lying on the desk of my room is my first fully functional combat puppet, Tarantula.
It has 8 limbs attached via a socket and ball joint each with different blade compartments hidden inside, it can also detach and launch its extremities .
When I showed Sasori the puppet he didn't show much reaction but he handed me a vial of poison for the blades.
I guess that's his way of showing he cares about me or possibly just appreciating my work.
[Puppets (2/10) - Completed(2)
Puppet and Baryon fusion reactor knowledge (0.4%)]
At least I'm making good progression with my puppets.
"I have to prepare for my first real duty as the youngest Genin in the village", I sighed as I store Tarantula into my scroll.
Over this last month I've also practiced launching kunais and shurikens with accuracy using my threads.
I can never be too careful with border security even if it's an easy route.
Putting on a beige coat and wearing a pouch containing my ninja tools, I head out.
Once I arrive to the border security building, I entered a room full of sand shinobi chatting and at the front of the room was a jonin wearing a beige flak jacket and a cloth headwrap waiting to give us instructions.
"Why is there a little brat here?", a random chunin remarked
"Hey! Be careful of what you say he's Granny Chiyo's grandson", Komushi retaliated
"Hmph, just a privileged brat"
"Quiet down you two!", the jōnin instructor ordered.
A moment later, the jonin begun speaking
"You three go to the northern border",
the instructor said assigning teams their missions.
Eventually he pointed at me.
"You two children will be assigned to the eastern border with your chunin team leader as per Counsellor Chiyo's instructions."
"Why do I have to take care of two nuisances?" The same chunin from earlier lamented
"The eastern border is a 20 minute run from here so get going!"
The chunin left the building first, me and Komushi followed after him.
Once we arrived, I was given a basic run down on how to do border patrol by the snobby chunin.
"Do you understand what I've said so far?"
"Yes", me and Komushi replied in unison.
We were assigned a trailed 10km line across the border which we patrol until sunset at which point another team takes over.
"Follow me you brats"
We follow our assigned chunin team leader across the sandy desert.
Crunch Crunch Crunch
"This is so boring, Why is granny Chiyo making me do this?", I mutter to myself
Then as if my complaint has been answered, Komushi breaks the silence in the air.
"I spotted someone!", Komushi exclaims in excitement
In the distance, a group of 3 rogue bandits seems to be trekking across the sand border.
"Be careful, they seem to be armed", the chunin cautioned to us.
"Let's get closer first"
Stealthily, we begin to slowly encroach them.
And as we got within speaking distance, the chunin stood up straight and yells out.
"Stop right there! We are the Sunagakure border division, state your purpose for being in the land of wind!"
"Uhhh, we're merchants?"
"And tell me why exactly would merchants need those weapons you're trying to conceal?"
Instead of answering however, one of them in a panic,knowing he's been caught out, hold's his a sickle and chain begins to twirl it around and…
Slice!
He launched the sickle towards Komushi and sliced his arm clean off.
Before we even had a chance to react Komushi's arm was already cleanly severed.
I was frozen in place, this was my first true combat experience and the reality just set in.
"Snap out of it!"
"Aaah! My arm!"
I unfroze due to the shrill scream of Komushi and the order of the chunin.
Cling!
Whilst I was distracted, the chunin used his kunai to deflect the next sickle attack
He began to face off with the three bandits.
Not trying to be useless like Sakura, I rapidly opened the sealing scroll and summoned Tarantula.
Clink Clink Clink
The 8 appendages of my puppet all simultaneously aimed and locked on at the initial perpetrator, launching a barrage of darts traced with Sasori's custom blend of poison.
Most of them missed , however a moment later a trail of blood trickled down his face.
The bandit jumped back but a moment later he froze in place and collapsed, dropping his sickle and chain to the ground.
"Wow! Sasori really made a strong poison"
But I didn't have time to be distracted as the chunin leader was taking on the other two who were armed with swords.
Cling! Cling!
The clash of steel reverberated the air and the luminescent sparks traced the battlefield.
Komushi was bleeding out and I had to help the chunin quickly.
So weaving my hands I launched my puppet between them.
And in an uncoordinated fashion all 8 limbs began striking.
Swish Swish Swish
With each limb revealing it's unsheathed glistening blade, I launched a frenzy of consecutive strikes.
"Aaah! Stop it!"
Bits of flesh and blood dotted the sandy dunes.
The two bandits writhed in pain as they were being minced into pieces by my puppet.
The poison rapidly set in and they fell into unconsciousness.
After being certain of their deaths I stopped.
The once arrogant chunin now looked at me with awe
When my adrenaline finally wore down, the scene of gore and bloodshed I had created finally began to affect me.
"Uugh"
I puked in disgust, I had lived a relatively peaceful life up to this point and had never killed before, nor had I seen this level of brutality, especially when it came from my own hands.
Slap!
I smacked my own face to snapping out of my nauseated state and quickly ran to tend to Komushi.
He's bleeding rapidly, so I ripped a piece of cloth and tied a knot around his arm, acting as a tourniquet to limit the bleeding.
"Help me lift him up! We have to take him to the hospital"
The awe-stricken chunin quickly snapped out of his daze and helped carry the unconscious Komushi.
We quickly sprinted back towards Sunagakure and rushed to the hospital.
On the way, many bystanders watched in shock as they saw a kid bleeding out with a missing arm, a ninja carrying him on his shoulder.
It's quite rare for conflict to occur around here, ever since the war ended a few years ago.
News of this began to spread rapidly, one of Sasori's clients at the time who was going to pick up a puppet witnessed this scene.
Sasori's Workshop
"Hey Sasori, I'm here to pick up the Crow puppet I requested"
"It's already done and you came late. I don't like when people make me have to wait"
"I have a reason!"
"The craziest thing happened , on the way here I saw an unconscious little kid from the border division bleeding out, missing an arm while he was rushed to the hospital"
Sasori's eyes widen upon mention of this news and he began to tremble.
"Sora…", Sasori whispered quietly
Sasori quickly got up leaving his workshop and the customer in a daze.
"It can't be… how could Granny Chiyo assign Sora on such a dangerous mission" Sasori muttered to himself, as he ran towards the hospital.
The doors of Sunagakure hospital quickly opened up, Sasori rushing inside
His gaze darted around searching for the receptionist.
"What does the kid who came here look like?", Sasori, out of breath, asked the receptionist frantically.
"Oh, you mean the red haired one an.."
"Tell me the room number!" Sasori cut her off.
"He's in room 27", she answered in confusion.
Sasori despite trying to maintain a calm demeanor, couldn't help but panic when he heard the description of his little brother.
"Sora…", Sasori once again repeated his little brothers name to himself, as he rushed to room 27.
Creak…
"Elder Brother! Why are you here?"
The door to room 27 opened slowly but Sasori breathed a sigh of relief upon noticing his little brother, standing there just fine, then noticing that it was Komushi who was actually injured.
"Ahem… It's just a coincidence", Sasori uttered as he scrambled to recompose himself and come up with an excuse.
Wow what a coincidence… I thought to myself.
"What happened to Komushi?", Sasori asked in his monotone voice shifting the subject.
"A group of rogue bandits attacked us and Komushi lost his arm, Fortunately his condition is stabilised now"
Pausing briefly, Sasori begun to ponder something
contemplating after hearing my the recent series of events, Sasori approached Komushi who's still unconscious, lifting up his arm, inspecting its dimensions.
…
The next day, I came to visit Komushi again, however Sasori took the initiative in visiting him and I just tagged along.
When we entered Komushi's room, a happy yet shocked look sprung up on his face in response to our sudden visit.
"Sora! What happened after I passed out?! Did the chunin deal with them himself?"
"Uhh.. yeah he took care of them...", not wanting to embarrass Komushi, I gave all the credit to the chunin.
"Phew… what a relief"
"Hey Sasori! You're here as well, I always knew you cared about me.", He said with a grin.
Sasori as always, was silent but this time showed a faint smile
Poof!
Sasori opened up his scroll and a wooden prosthetic arm appeared in a mist of white.
"Brother, is that what you were preparing all night?"
"Wow! Is that for me?"
He slipped the prosthetic arm in place of Komushi's missing one and strapped it into place.
"Use your chakra to control it, and in your palm there's a blade compartment, it's traced with poison", Sasori informed him in a flat tone.
Komushi got out of bed, ecstatically testing his new arm.
"Do you like it? I asked
"Wow! Seriously, Sasori is the best"
"I'm all healed up now! I guess I should discharge my self!"
"Are you sure?"
"How can I be a full fledged shinobi, if the loss of a mere arm stops me!"
Facepalm… this guy is too reckless.
"Thanks Sasori!", Komushi enthusiastically demonstrated his gratitude with bow, as we left his room
Pitter Patter
In the long narrow hallway, light beamed down through the circular windows , a rushed symphony of clacking steps approaches us.
"Granny Chiyo?"
"Aah!"
She suddenly hugged me out of nowhere
"I'm sorry…"
"When I heard in today's council meeting that there was an attack on the border division team at the east, I was so panicked. If I lost you I wouldn't know what to do."
She must feel guilty for sending me to border control and the unforeseen situation that occurred . I guess I should console her?
"Uh… Granny it's fine, nothing happened to me. Rather it's Komushi who's injured."
"Komushi, what happened?"
"Yeah. I messed up", Komushi said while scratching the back of his head.
"A puppet arm?!"
"Yeah thanks to Sasori I was able to get a new arm, and that not all either, I feel stronger than ever before"
Shing!
A blade pops out from Komushi's arm
"The way this is made, it fits just perfectly, it's like it's always been a part of my body"
Granny Chiyo's eyes spring open in surprise. She then noticed Sasori's presence behind me, as he walks out of the room, she glances at him with a meaningful expression.
However she quickly refocuses her attention on me and Komushi.
"You two are hereby relieved of your duties due to the risk it poses."
"Komushi, I will reconsider you're position when you get a little bit stronger"
"What!? No way!"
——
Thanks for reading this far!