We stood there, surrounded by multiple Kiri-nin, each clad in grey flak jackets, masks hiding their faces, short swords drawn. Their stances were low and grounded, like predators waiting for the perfect moment to pounce
The hissing noise of Pakuras flame serves as a deterrence between us, the evergrowing mist struggling to permeate the dry air of the desert.
Then,the first attack came.
The lead Kiri-nin formed rapid hand seals, inhaled deeply, and shouted:
Water Release: Wild Water Wave
A torrent of water violently spews out his mouth, heading in our direction, I dodge but pakura stands there, arrogantly and brazenly vaporising the water wave with her scorch style.
Her palms glowed and suddenly, the incoming stream evaporated in an instant, sizzling into a wall of steam.
"Rookie mistake," one of the masked Kiri-nin scoffed.
Then I realized — that was their plan.
The water vaporised, causing the mist to expand.
The sudden burst of steam thickened the mist, blinding us completely.
I cursed under my breath. My vision narrowed. The oppressive humidity was alien in this desert; each breath was heavy, labored.
With our vision becoming obscured, we unintentionally rely on our other senses: the uncanny sensation of the humid mist in the barren desert; my thudding heart and that's when I heard it — the faint slicing of the air.
Water Release: Water Whip
The masked Kiri ninja threw whip formed of water, aiming to entangle Pakura legs.
I swiftly bring my hands up and begin accumulating chakra to my fingertips launching it out, attaching it to Pakura.
The other hand attached to the whip while I focused on retrieving Pakura.
I pull my hands back with practiced efficiency, my chakra threads manipulate the whip making it narrowly avoid her from being ensnared.
"Tch—! You weigh more than you look," I muttered, straining as I yanked her back, narrowly avoiding entanglement.
Pakura's brow twitched.
"I'm not heavy! And I don't need your help, kid!" she snapped
"How can I expect you to beat them alone if you don't even know that you can't let your fire clash with their water! Fighting in the mist is their specialty"
I reprimanded her whilst pulling out 2 of my scrolls.
"You really think I didn't know that!" She responded with cheeks tinged red partly from frustration and embarrassment.
Poof!
I summoned my puppets in a flash of smoke - Tarantula and Mantis, the clinking of puppets redirect the attention of the enemy.
"Get the pupeteer first!" One ninja warns.
Their hands enter their ninja pouch grasping proceeding to unfurl their arms in my direction.
Shuriken and kunai zipped through the mist, aimed straight for me. Before they could connect, a violent burst of heat surged past my cheek. Pakura's Scorch Style incinerated the barrage midair, the molten remains raining down in droplets of steel
She then proceeds to leap in the air towards the closest Kiri ninja holding a kunai in hand, as fireballs swirl behind her.
Scorch Style! Super Steam Kill!
She clashes her blade with the kiri ninja , while he's distracted the fire sears through his chest leaving a circular cavity into him and his nearby allies.
Upon contact with the scorching fireballs, the Kiri ninjas get rapidly vaporised, stripped of moisture, leaving nothing but a dehydrated husk of a human left.
"Ha! Don't you puppeteers know how to defend themselves"
"I was going dodge that attack before you stepped in"
Not wasting the opening, I used my puppets sending Tarantula and Mantis toward a group of three ninjas.
I transfer chakra via my threads, accumulating in its capacitor that's implanted in the hinge of its claws.
In one fell swoop, the puppets shreds through them all at once — clamping at their heads, slicing clean through their necks like butter .
The sheer power of which shocked Pakura, leaving her mouth gaping wide open.
"H-how is your puppet so powerful, I thought you were just a little brat", Pakura stammered out ,with her eyes still glued on the gory scene, slaughtered Kiri ninjas with blood spurting out from their beheaded bodies.
Without a response , Tarantula unleashed a barrage of poison-laced senbon, piercing through the last of the squad. Silence fell, only our heavy breathing remained.
"Phew… close one," I exhaled.
"… if you were so powerful this whole time why doesn't the village know about you?"
"They do, I'm Granny Chiyos grandson— Sora"
"What!? You're Lady Chiyo's Grandson, Then you must be one of the genius puppet makers reknowned in the village. But judging by how small you are, you must be the younger one. I've heard rumours about you," she smirked "incapable of wielding his own puppets,"
She snickered out loud.
I gritted my teeth. "Hey! Who spread that rumour!?"
"But since that's clearly a lie and you are capable of wielding your puppets, wouldn't it be better for you to be serving our village in missions."
"Or could it be… you're too scared" She said grinning.
Shoot… now that I think it about it, I forgot that no one knows my true strength.
The only witness is Pakura, I highly doubt anyone will believe her ,that I was able to take out these Kiri-nin by myself though.
After all I don't want to fight in the Third ninja war.
Even so I had no choice, so there's no turning back now.
Whizz!
In the midst of my thoughts, a needle like sword whistled through the air, Pakura kicks me out the way, leading to me barely managing to dodge it in time.
"Ouch! Why the hell would you do that for?!"
However, I felt a graze, leaving a trickle of warm blood flowing down my cheeks.
Then I saw it.
A faint glint and a sword that had a wire attached to it.
The metal wire tugged at the sword, pulling it back to its user — a tall slender man with long frizzy hair reaching his shoulders, wearing the same Kiri Anbu mask as the ones we just killed and sleeves covering his arm and legs.
And to my utter dismay, beside him stood 6 other swordsmen.
The air grew heavy. The desert heat, the faint hiss of steam, the lingering scent of scorched fleshed.
It all seemed to vanish beneath the oppressive presence of the seven figures before us.
"Haha, Kushimaru you can't even kill a little brat," A red haired woman with sharp eyes, wielding a pair of thin swords each with a smaller blade extended near the base, mocked her teammate, as sparks of blue jumped out from around her.
"Don't underestimate them, Ameyuri," another voice rumbled. This one belonged to a broad man, his neck wrapped in bandages, red tattoos slashing across his jaw, the monstrous Executioner's Blade resting lazily on his shoulder. His sharp teeth glimmered as he grinned.
"Look at the mess they've made of our men"
"Hmph. They're just kids Juzo"
"No way… it's the seven swordmen of the mist."
"Uhh.. Pakura I think we should run"
Pakura clenched her fist refusing to back down.
"No! I'd rather fight and die than abandon Sunagakure! We can stall until reinforcements arrive"
Before I even had a chance to process the perilous situation that befell me, a wide twin sword emitting chakra slammed towards me with ferocity.
"Watch out!" Pakura warned
I narrowly slipped out the way, the impact causing tremors in the ground beside me.
"That sword, he must be the wielder before Chojuro", I muttered to my self
My head snaps left and right as I frantically search for my puppets.
Shit! He's too close for me to bring my puppets here, I only have one option left.
Raising my hand, chakra exits my fingertips, swirling like a vortex, a thin disc of blue chakra forms.
My very own rasengan.
It's too dangerous for me to use this directly, so I'll have to throw it like Naruto.
Whilst he's still preoccupied with pulling his sword of the ground, I twist my body generating as much torque as I can muster, hurling the chakra disc towards him.
"Hah! What will that telegraphed attack do", the spiky blue haired man said ridiculing my attack.
As he sidesteps out of the trajectory, last second I used my chakra threads to pull it back towards him.
Slice!
His head sliced clean off, not because of a lack of skill but due to his own hubris.
"…"
The ensuing silence speaks for itself.
The other six members are left shocked that a little kid, not only just killed one of the infamous seven swordsmen of the mist but seemed to have used an unknown jutsu formed purely of chakra.
Not only them, Pakura who was about to help me out stopped in her tracks, startstruck by my jutsu.
"I've never seen such a jutsu before, did this kid really create such a devastating jutsu at such a tender age", a fat orange haired man with shark teeth and blue gill like markings on his face grumbled out loud.
Not wasting any time, he swings his shark skin sword at Pakura, she blocks with her kunai causing sparks to fly in the air.
"That's the Samehada … Pakura be careful that sword can absorb your chakra!"
Pakura quickly jumps back
"You're right! That fatty just stole some of my chakra", Pakura says heaving, out of breath
"Oh, even a little brat all the way out in this barren desert has heard about you Fuguki" Juzo says mockingly.
Then a man with several bandages, covering self inflicted wounds, one of which covers an eye. The wielder of the shibuki sword (explosive tag sword) speaks out:
"We've hit the jackpot, when we tell the Third Mizukage that we killed such talented kids: one with the scorch style kekkei genkai and another a genius, we may as well nipped the future of Sunagakure in the bud."
"Haha! don't kill yourself trying Jinpachi," Ameyuri says laughing at him.
"Did you guys already forget that kid killed one of us!" Juzo interjects
As they were arguing amongst each other, I used the opportunity to summon my exo-skeleton.
"What is that?" Pakura asks.
Buzz
Equipping the exo-skeleton, I promptly charged the capacitors with as much chakra as I could.
At the same time, I controlled my two puppets and brought them back to me.
Noticing my covert movements, Fuguki uses his hair to shoot needle like darts in my direction.
With not enough time to dodge, I swing my arm horizontally with my palm wide open.
The actuator whirrs, accelerating my
arm to an immense speed.
A large gust of wind blows dust and sand forming a mini tornado.
Sheer wind pressure alone halted the ensuing attack sending Fuguki tumbling back.
"That kids power…"
At the same time, a streak of steel and lightning tore across the sand. Ameyuri's twin blades descended toward Pakura in a single, lethal arc.
"Watch out!" I shouted.
Pakura twisted aside, barely avoiding the strike.
Reflexively, a searing fireball propelled in Ameyuri direction. The sand where she'd stood moments before exploded, vaporized by the sheer force and heat of the contact.
that's not all, during the attack I also sent my Mantis puppet swiping at her direction.
She flips away, muttering under her breath, "These brats!"
Blue sparks violently erupts from her blades as a bolt of lightning shoots out at our direction, I swiftly use my chakra threads to detach the arms of Tarantula, sticking it into the ground in front of us.
The blades inside each arm act as a lightning rod redirecting her attack, as the wooden arms get charred into ash .
But now my Tarantula puppet has no arms.
As I lament over my loss, a man wielding a blunt cleaver and hammer attached to one another, jumps in the direction of Tarantula.
He slams the blade into it, following it up by slamming the hammer. The force was too much for the wooden puppet to handle, shattering it into several pieces.
After destroying my puppet, he sprints towards me, stopping last second using the residual momentum to hurl his blade into me.
I block with the metal frame attached to my arm.
Clang!
The actuator screeched under the pressure. My reinforced arm held for a fraction of a second — then snapped. Metal shards gave way, white-hot pain tore through me as the bone in my arm fractures.
"Gaaah—!" I staggered back, but Jinin wasn't done. He flipped with his hammer-side up, ready to tear through my arm.
Before the hammer could continue its path into my arm, I twist my body throwing a left hook at his direction, hissing chakra exits the actuators on my hip and elbow, the piston drives forward with blistering speed.
BANG!
Jinin's breath caught, blood spurting from his lips.
He was sent tumbling away. Failing to land upright and dropping to one knee, clutching his side, wheezing.
"Jinin!" Jūzō roared, stepping forward, Executioner's Blade already raised
"This is bad… I only have one arm and only Mantis left.", I mutter to my self clutching the broken arm.
Juzo, after seeing his allies begin to fall one by one decided to step in.
Hoisting his sword behind his back he jumps towards me.
I swiftly throw a punch in his direction but when it lands…
Splash!
It was a water clone.
He must of swapped places when he was tending to his teammate.
He reappeared behind my back.
I controlled my Mantis puppet and hurled it into his path. Sparks screamed as steel clashed with steel, the blade deflecting the strike long enough for me to retreat.
Pakura wasn't faring much better. Ameyuri's relentless lightning strikes forced her onto the defensive, her flames clashing violently against electrified blades. Sparks danced. Steam billowed. Neither gave an inch.
And then… silence.
The mist parted slightly, revealing the remaining 5 of them fanning out, their presence pressing down on us like a tidal wave. One of them, tall, thin, his expression unreadable beneath the mask — finally spoke.
"Ameyuri. Jūzō. Fuguki. Jinpachi. Stand down. These two are mine."
"Ha! There goes Kushimaru being arrogant again." Ameyuri laughs to herself.
Kushimaru. The needle-wielder. His sword gleamed faintly in the dim light, razor-thin, designed for one thing, threading flesh like paper.
He pulled his weapon taut, and the sand between us seemed to shiver beneath the pressure of his killing intent.
I could barely breathe.