Hovering over the skies, the crisp wind rushed across two figures who were latched firmly in the grasp of large mechanical tarsal claws. Above, the metal plated thorax buzzed softly with each flap of the wings.
"Pakura, could you do me a favour?"
"What is it?"
"Don't tell Lord Fourth I was here. I'll drop you near the gates, out of sight of the guards. Just report that the peace talks failed — that Kiri betrayed us."
"Huh?! Why?!"
"This was supposed to be a top secret mission right? So what would happen to me if he found out that I interrupted said mission possibly jeopardising it."
After I dropped off Pakura, I warned her once again not to mention anything regarding my involvement and hovered into the sky discreetly returning home.
…
In The Kazekages Office
A few hollow knocks echoed on the door of the Kazekage
"You may enter"
The door creaked open as Pakura entered kneeling before the Kazekage.
Rasa was bewildered and his pen froze mid-stroke, upon seeing Pakura he jolted in his seat as a cold sweat trickled down his face, he quickly forced a neutral expression to mask his shock.
"Pakura?! You're back?! Ahem… I mean how did the mission go?"
Pakura turned her head in confusion, his demeanour was off but her patriotism and dedication towards the village diverts all her attention to the current predicament with Kirigakure.
Rasa's eyes narrowed
Did Kiri go back on their word?! Or had she really managed to defeat all those Kiri shinobi herself? If so… I must've severely underestimated her.
No, she came back too quick some unforeseen circumstance must've arrived which prevented her from carrying out the mission.
"Yes Lord Fourth, It seems there has been significant development, Kiri has gone back on their word and even dared to attack me, the very one representing Sunagakure as an envoy. This is tantamount to declaring War on The Village Hidden In The Sand!"
Rasa slammed both palms on his desk out of a mix of utter shock and horror, causing several administrative scrolls to jump out of place.
"What!? And you defeated them all?!"
"Yes! We can't tolerate any disrespect to our village, Lord Fourth you must make arrangements urgently to deal with this!"
Rasa sighed and rubbed his temples. He couldn't just send Pakura back — the damage to his rapport with Kiri has already been tarnished at this point. There's no shot Kirigakure would ever trust him again, so the idea of colluding again was no longer a possibility, it seems it has come to the worst outcome for Sunagakure.
"Sigh… This has put us in a very precarious situation, it seems I must once again convene with the council…You're dismissed Pakura."
Pakura bowed, ready to leave, but hesitated for half a breath.
"Lord Fourth… I swear Kiri will pay for this."
Rasa gave a tight nod, but as the door closed, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
Damn it! this wasn't supposed to happen!
Suna Council Room
The despondent members of the council sat with their heads hung low, the high hanging light casted a grim shadow in their respective faces.
Slam!
"How could Kiri be so irresponsible and underestimate someone like Pakura! Now we are left to deal with the consequences of the negligence!"
"Calm down Tojuro, Lord Fourth, is it not possible to strike another deal?" Ebizō asked
Rasa shook his head solemnly:
"Pakura has already killed too many of their Anbu, they would be foolish to trust us again…"
"So now what?!" A concerned elder asked
"We must make preparations, contact the Daimyō, war is imminent. We were already at the cusp of war with Iwagakure but now that Kirigakure is involved the entire playing field has changed."
"We're already drowning in debt, Lord Fourth," another protested. "How are we supposed to secure funding, the Daimyou is unreliable"
Rasa exhaled sharply. "I'll have to sell part of my Gold Dust reserves… we have no choice."
One of the elders slammed his fist against the table. "Then it's settled. Everyone prepare for war! We must reinforce our borders immediately.
"Lord Fourth Iwa is not invincible! Just look at their humiliating defeat at Kanabi bridge and their battle with the Yellow Flash just last year, we may have a chance."
"Iwagakure already has supply routes established in Ishigakure, it's better for us to fight in our home territory. We must also maintain the integrity of the defense of the village."
"However, now that you mention it a preemptive strike at the heart of the supply lines doesn't sound bad."
"I'll send a highly specialised team to disrupt their supply route, if we defeat Iwagakure first, it will certainly disturb the morale of Kirigakure and they'll have to think twice before considering attacking us."
…
Grumbling wearily on my desk I was hunched over, the last few days I barely had any sort of meaningful rest.
I've been crafting as much bombs as I feasibly could. If that damn Kazekage wants me to do this mission why doesn't he fund me himself!
I've spent the majority of my scrap metal and paper tags on these bombs.
Not only that I've also managed to create an explosive device even Deidara would be in awe of— using the same technology as the capacitors, a thick steel rod weighing roughly a hundred kilos has been fitted with chakra thrusters and capped with a fully loaded capacitor.
I've made an ample amount of these bombs, of course I haven't had any time to test the destructive capabilities but I surmise it will be quite devastating.
I've also made my ultimate weapon— named Trident, it is tipped with five detachable capacitors each with their own thruster. The steel rod is double the size of a normal missile. However I'm saving this for a life threatening emergency.
One detonation with the sheer kinetic force of the thruster as well as the explosion of a single capacitor alone would obliterate everything in it's vicinity.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Sora! Stop ignoring me and unlock the door!"
-Sigh… I should've of expected this…
After receiving a top secret mission against Iwagakure, Pakura had mentioned to the Kazekage the capabilities of my Hornet puppet, including one of which is that it can perform an aerial bombing of the supply route in Ishigakure.
The Kazekage was so enthralled by this idea that he has relayed multiple messages at my door to craft some Hornet puppets for the oncoming mission.
Of course this isn't possible, these puppets require an extremely costly and laborious manufacturing process.
Not to mention I'm the only one who knows how to operate the intricate web of capacitors, actuators, pistons etc—and I intend to keep it that way as it's my only advantage in this world.
So knowing this, I've opted to join the mission, replacing Pakura, rather than give away my most precious creation to the hands of the unskilled puppet brigade.
It seemed the Kazekage harboured some ill will toward Pakura for what happened in Kirigakure, so much so that he must've intentionally sent her on this death mission out of spite but now that I've taken her place, the prospect of the mission actually working has been taken into consideration by the Kazekage.
Ishigakure is the neighbouring country between the Land of Wind and Land of Earth.
Apparently, Iwagakure has stationed multiple shinobis near our border and we are now forced to preemptively strike them.
They placed their shinobi along the border in an effort to deter and attacks and flaunt their strength. But with the failed peace treaty we now must play the aggressor.
"Sora! Wake up, what are you doing, Lord Fourth has requested for you multiple times why are you not responding."
"Pakura I can't believe you sold me out…"
"Your Hornet Puppet was perfect for this mission, if I didn't recommend you to the Kazekage for this mission I would be stupid."
"I received the missive. Did you not read it! He wants to infiltrate the heart of Ishigakure and destroy the supply route."
"This is the result of Kirigakure's action, they've forced us to play our hand early, if we wait any longer they'll scheme once again.", Pakura said gritting her teeth.
"Sora, don't be scared I know how powerful you are, with your strength we can turn the tide of this war."
And so, I made my way to the Kazekages office kneeling down upon arrival despite the ever growing vehement hatred that brews day by day for the man in front of me.
"Sora you're here, I assume you know the logistics of the mission."
"You will strike at dawn, inside the scroll I've given you is the known supply routes, if your puppet is as good as Pakura claims, then this will determine the course of Sunagakures future in this war. Chiyo is proud to have a grandson like you."
"You're dismissed."
And just like that I set off making my way through the border I reach a spot in the sandy dunes where I would like to summon my puppet.
Poof!
The Hornet puppets massive frame leaps out of the scroll enshrouded in a white mist.
As I pool chakra into the Hornet, the joints clink into place and the wings begin fluttering.
I grasp the antenna, using the head of the puppet as a make shift saddle as I whir into the sky.
Each bomb requires manual loading, there's a compartment in the head of the puppet where I can slide each missile into place.
All I have to do is summon the missile and load it in.
When peforming this mission, stealth is of the upmost importance, after all the Tsuchikage not only can fly but he can annihilate my entire existence instantly with his particle style.
Although, with the top speed of my puppet, I highly doubt he can age to achieve that.
As I rise to the air I head north, whizzing through the sky as the puppet tilts forward.
…
Eventually, the landscape shifts from the barren dunes to rocky cliffs.
I look down at the scroll noting the first location I have to decimate.
After a while of searching, I locate a few shinobi and the carts of supplies they brought with them.
There seemed to be around a dozen Iwa shinobi, messing around as they conversed with one another.
Lunk.
A steel rod drops as 2 steel plates on the abdomen of my puppet slide open.
The tip heavy rod drops down pointing towards the ground, accelerating rapidly streaking through the air.
An eerie silence blew across the shinobi below, as they cranked their heads upwards at the noise of the air ripping above them.
BOOM!
The Iwa ninjas couldn't even process what happened, the explosion rapidly expanded outwards, engulfing them in a ball of flame.
Air rushed in due to the low air pressure cavity created from the bomb and a mushroom cloud rose to the air.
The dust plume rose high alerting many.
In the distance, many of the other Iwa shinobi quickly reacted to the sudden explosion.
"WERE UNDER ATTACK!"
Panic erupted from the multiple stationed ninjas.
But it was too late for them.
I whizzed over their locations, efficiently loading missiles and dropping it in their vicinity.
Lunk.
Lunk.
Lunk.
Flashes of light emanated one after the other and in just a short while the majority of the ninjas had been killed.
Any trace of a supply route had been destroyed and craters littered the land.
Surviving ninja quickly fled to report the news as I began to return after the completion of my mission.
…
Iwagakure - Tsuchikages Office
"Lord Third! Our ninja stationed in Ishigakure have been attacked!"
"What! Those weaklings in Sunagakure really dared to attack?! What exactly happened?!"
"We don't know, all the ninjas reporting in, are saying they heard a faint buzzing in the air and then boom, a flash erupted out of nowhere taking everything out. They said it was like the dropped mini tailed beast bombs Afro the air"
"Did the new Kazekage personally fly over to attack the village?"
"No, it was too quick to be a magnetic style user, whatever flew in the air… it was something the likes of which has never been seen before."
"What! How has that bankrupt village managed to procure such a devastating tool of war! If they attempt such a thing on us I will personally have to get involved."
Discourse about what occurred continued, meanwhile I was humming happily about how easy the mission was.
"Wow! That was way easier than I thought and I didn't even have to use Trident, although the thought of killing a bunch of people is abit off putting but this is the reality of war."
"I hope the Kazekage will pay me good for such a mission. Oh! I just remembered I have to right a report on a scroll."
"I hate paperwork more than war."