—2843 words—
[Year 52, Iwa/Suna Border]
Souei stood with his two teammates as they waited for the operation to go underway. After the main army arrived at the forward base, Ishito called in for a War Council to discuss their next move. He told everyone that they had received intel that one of Iwa's bases close to the border served as a holding stage for weapons to be distributed across the other bases. Mass amounts of kunai, explosive tags, storage tags, shurikens, and swords were being held in storage and Ishito immediately planned for a raid. Take away their main storage ground for weapons, and the entire Iwa forces stationed in the Land of Stone would be crippled.
But of course, a base that serves as the main armory for their entire campaign would mean that the base itself would be heavily defended. And it was definitely the case here. In order for them to reach the base itself, they would have to capture the bridge called the Shiba Bridge that serves as the primary point of ingress towards the distribution of the weapons across the entire Land of Stone.
Ishito as the company commander opted to lead the battle himself since their spies say that Han was present and personally guarding the base itself. Team 11 would join him in taking part of the counter offensive against the Iwa forces across No Man's Land to capture the Shiba Bridge.
Team 11 was dutifully separated for the attack due to their specialties. Ishito, as Company Commander, would lead the bulk of their forces. He and Rasa were assigned to different assault squadrons while Rukia was sent with the medics.
There was of course another mission that was more delicate in nature. One that could potentially turn the tides in their favor. With Ishito leading the main army, another shinobi was chosen to lead a small contingent force for this mission. Originally, Souei arrogantly thought that that job would fall onto him, only for his sensei to pick Jun, a Suna Jounin who led the camp last time.
Souei asked Ishito the reason for it, and the reasoning of course made sense, much to his chagrin.
'You've only been a Chunin for 2 years Souei. Although you've improved leaps and bounds and possess skills higher than your rank should have, leadership is another thing entirely. You've experienced leadership and have led a few teams here and there. But that's nowhere near enough to be handling a mission as delicate as this one.' Ishito told him while holding a hand to his shoulder. 'Have some patience. You're still young, and there's ample time to experience these kinds of things. Remember that when you lead, you hold the lives of everyone under you. A single mistake could prove fatal and cost the lives of your subordinates and yourself.'
Suffice to say, Souei was humbled by the speech.
They were now waiting by the quickly set-up tents close to the bridge before the eventual attack. Ishito sensei would give the command any second now and so they opted to stay together until then.
"Are you guys ready for this?" Rukia said with slight fear evident in her voice. It seems that she, like him, is slightly worried about the fight to come. After all, this will be the first time they participate in a large-scale fight like this. Neither of them knows what to expect.
"Honestly, no." He answered truthfully.
Rukia gulped loudly as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Rasa was quiet as always, but judging by his uneven breathing that he could only pick up from being friends with him for a long time, he's just as nervous as they are.
That was when a loud horn blurred throughout their encampment, signaling that the operation was beginning.
They all stood up abruptly, all signs of nervousness and fear forcibly flushed away from their minds. They were now ninjas of Sunagakure, and it was time to fight for their homes.
Usually, a lot of people would say that the initial moments before the charge were filled with heroic speeches or shouts of defiance. But it wasn't so here. Silence reigned the entire army as Ishito led them all forward.
It didn't take long for them to see the Iwa army on the other side of the large clearing they now found themselves in. The field was riddled with all kinds of weapons and craters that Souei believes to be the result of a previous battle.
"We're here. Everyone prepare yourselves."
Although he spoke normally, Ishito's voice could be heard by all of the ninja that make up their army. Souei prepared himself for the inevitable chaos, as with a flourish, Ishito unsealed his puppet, Mukade the Centipede, and charged forward.
It only took a fraction of a second before everyone followed his example. With shouts of defiance and cries of victory, The Suna Army charged.
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— Marionette of Suna —
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Souei ducked as a stray kunai went sailing above his head. Wordlessly, he sent a Bullet String towards his assumed assailant. The simple distraction however was enough for an Iwa Ninja to come in close and attempt a wild haymaker with a fist covered in solid rock.
Souei dodged to the right before kneeing his attacker in the gut and kicking him away. He then quickly formed two string grenades before tossing them towards a group of Iwa-Nin. An explosion of blood and screams of pain told him that his attack was successful.
Souei then kept moving, the battlefield around him quickly delving into pure chaos where ninjas from Suna and Iwa engage in a taijutsu match or wildly flinging weapons and jutsu. It took every bit of his newly learned sensory technique and his own instincts to make sure he wasn't hit by a stray or random attack.
Spotting his next target, Souei moved and in a burst of speed launched a flying knee against his enemy's face. A crunch could be heard as a stream of blood was ejected from the Iwa ninja's nose. Immediately, he dropped and slammed both palms to the ground, a large wall formed that defended him from a pair of water dragons. On the other side of the field, large amounts of golden sand were being thrown around that told him that Rasa was still in the fight.
Souei immediately performed the headhunter jutsu, his body sinking onto the ground before he reappeared right in the middle of the two Iwa shinobi that created the water dragons. He held his palm up towards them both before unleashing twin lances made out of string, the attack cutting a hole straight through their chests before they dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
Taking the chance to peek at his surroundings, Souei realized that it had only been 10 minutes since the attack started. 'It felt like it's been much longer than that.'
With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Souei rallied what allies he had around him, the cluster of Suna Ninja that found themselves in his area and rushed on ahead towards the front lines.
It was at this time that he realized how utterly wasteful he's been with his chakra. The fight had only just started and there was still plenty of ground left to cover, but he's already wasted around a third of his reserves. 'I need a more efficient way of fighting. Just spewing jutsu left and right won't do. I'd sooner run out of chakra before any of this ends.'
Looking at the battlefield around him, he was hit by a sudden case of inspiration. Afterall, most people here, to conserve their own chakra levels, mainly used taijutsu or weapons as their main style of combat. The Thread Release allows him to create virtually anything with strings as its building blocks. So what if he's able to create his own weapons? Ones that could be sharper and more durable than any other conventional steel weapon?
Souei then lifted both arms, palms facing upwards as a white spiked balls that were connected to his palms with a string were forming on his hands. He started spinning the ball by the string as he swung them towards an unsuspecting Iwa Ninja.
"White Mace!"
The spikes on the newly created mace completely decimated the poor shinobi's head, turning it into a bloody pulp. Souei then swung them again, smashing towards the ribcage of another. He moved his arms intricately and in a loop, catching enemy ninja off guard as he and his fellow sand ninja kept charging forward.
Noticing even more enemies to his far right side, Souei extended his reach by lengthening the string and whipped the mace towards them, slamming them to the ground.
Dutifully ignoring the utter mayhem his new technique creates and the lethality of it, Souei continued moving. Cutting through more and more of the Iwa's formations.
Seeing his success, a few others emboldened by his courage utilized the opening that Souei just cut through out of the enemy forces to push through the enemy lines.
"Wind Style: Wind Slicer!"
"Fire Style: Emblazonment!"
"Water Style: Water Wave!"
More elemental ninjutsu were released all across the battlefield as sounds of screaming and clashing of steel could be heard all over.
Souei was running along the fields, with every step the world around him being painted in his mind's eye. His seismic sense working overtime to make sure that no attacks would surprise him. And it was only that reason that allowed Souei to barely dodge an explosion coming in his direction.
He was still launched away with soot covering his form as he coughed from the attack.
Souei mentally thanked Rukia for helping him come up with the technique before he stood back up and brushed himself. Pulling attention away from his state of clothes, Souei turned towards the enemy.
He had spiky, light-brown hair and prominent jaw-lines. Green eyes looked back at Souei with a look of manic glee and eagerness. He's wearing the standard Iwa Shinobi Uniform. He looked to be in his mid 30s, with a build meant for speed and agility.
Ignoring the battlefield around him, Souei studied this person carefully. "I recognize you. Gari of Iwa, said to be a prodigious user of the Explosion Release bloodline, managing to find ways to apply them most people could never even think of."
"And I know who you are Souei Matsuri, wielder of the now revived Thread Release of Suna. I've been wanting to test myself against you ever since news came in that you won the Chunin Exams! As soon as I heard what happened, I knew I had to fight you personally!"
Souei raised an eyebrow at that. 'Looks like a battle maniac, this could prove trouble.'
He was surprised when Gari released an explosion from his feet, blasting himself towards him at high speeds.
Reacting quickly, Souei immediately followed up as he sprouted strings in Gari's path to hopefully cut the man. But the Iwa Ninja proved his prowess as he released an explosion from his arm, launching himself upwards over the summoned strings before blasting himself again towards Souei.
"That won't work on me! Landmine Fist!"
Souei tensed in preparation for the clash, as Gari's fist slammed himself towards Souei's waiting hand in a large explosion. A large amount of dark smoke covered their forms before they both dashed out. The two then quickly traded blows, Gari's explosions driving Souei back with each hit.
"Come on! Is this all you've got?!" Gari taunted as he went for a wild haymaker that Souei only barely managed to redirect to the side. The blast going off harmlessly in the air..
Souei grunted in pain then as a point blank explosion nearly blasted his head off. 'He's able to augment his attacks with explosions. From what I can tell, it enhances both striking power and speed along with increasing his range of attack.'
Souei then quickly created strings in between them both to forcibly separate them before dashing backwards. 'He has the advantage at close combat. I'm going to have to keep him at a distance.'
He then saw Gari let out a powerful blast of fire, immediately incinerating the threads around him as he then launched himself again in Souei's direction.
"Try a little harder, come on! Give me a good fight!" Gari said with a crazed grin. It was obvious to Souei that the man in front of him was a bonafide battle maniac. 'Looks like my earlier guess was right on the money.'
"You talk too much." Souei replied coolly as he raised both his palms towards the approaching Gari, eyes narrowed in focus.
"White Lance!"
A lance made purely of white strings was ejected from his palms as they were launched towards the Iwa-nin. Gari had to quickly react as he twisted his body mid-air to dodge the attack. The sharp threads went past him and cut down a huge section of the forest behind him.
Utilizing the opening, Souei quickly went through hand signs before ending in the rabbit seal and slamming his fist to the ground.
"Earth Style: Great Chasm!"
A large crack appeared on the face of the earth as dirt and mud split apart, creating a huge gorge in between Souei and Gari.
'This should slow him down enough…'
Souei quickly took the chance to take a look around him. It seems that their fight had brought them into an empty section in the middle of a forest. Their bouts in the fight got them both separated from the main battlefields.
"So you can do earth as well, eh?"
Gari himself looked intrigued at the use of Earth Release before he himself went through some hand signs in preparation of a jutsu.
"How about this then? Lightning style: Lightning Bolt!"
Two of Gari's fingers lit up in blue chakra before he pulled them back and pointed them towards Souei, a veritable bolt of lightning was released from his fingers and flew at Souei's direction.
"Cocoon!"
It took every bit of instinct he had as Souei crossed his arms and summoned strings quick enough to protect him from the attack. An explosion covered the point of impact that burnt off all his threads and sent him rocketing away.
Souei quickly got back up with a grunt, his arms covered in 1st degree burns as the lightning managed to pierce through his attack. As he looked up, he saw Gari with a deranged grin on his face, his arms held at one side, palms held up with the center of it was a ball of black smoke that lit up with occasional sparks.
'He's compressing the explosions..!'
But what got Souei very worried was the amount of chakra that was put into the attack. Whatever this was, it was dangerous.
"You better do something quick there Souei! This technique isn't complete yet so I can't even control it. I kinda like you, so try not to die!"
Souei's eye twitched at that. Taking the challenge head on, Souei pumped chakra to his palms, a lot more than he usually would. Both his palms started to glow an orange hue as he raised them both forward.
The world suddenly grew quiet, as if expecting great destruction. The winds stopped moving as sheer silence emanated their surroundings. Souei and Gari's eyes met. It all lasted only for a moment…and they unleashed their attacks.
"Fire Thread Release: Raging Overheat!"
"Explosion Style: Atomic Impact!"
A beam of strings superheated to the point it turned white-hot were ejected from Souei's outstretched hands. The heat scalding the surface of his palms despite the attack being his own. On the other side, a massive explosion was released from Gari's hands in a cone. The force of the blast burning his own arms and creating massive fissures on the ground as it blasted its way towards Souei.
*BOOOOMMM*
The two attacks met, right above the large gorge that was summoned in the previous attack. A powerful shockwave was launched in all directions with the point of impact at its epicenter. The sound of the collision could be heard hundreds of miles across.
Everyone in the battlefield turned towards the source of the sound only to see an explosion and massive amounts of dark smoke encompass the entire forest.
By the time the fog dissipated, a huge crater could be seen where the two techniques made contact. The bowl-shaped cavity ranging 30 meters wide in diameter.
None would know yet, but that day would mark the first of many confrontations between Souei Matsuri and Gari of Iwa. The day a fierce and intense rivalry awakened, and the day that bloomed an unlikely friendship.
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Hey folks! I'm back! Sorry for the delay. I'm in my final year of college and things have been pretty hectic. But things have cooled down a bit and I found myself some time to continue my writing.
Also here to info that Warping Hero is officialy on hiatus. I'm planning to stock up on chapters before continuing with it, whilst also waiting for more chapters of the manga to come out.
Marionette of Suna and The Dark Swordsman will take priority for now.
Souei finally experiences his first bit of warfare, and Gari finally made his appearance!
I love the Explosion Release to bits, and I've been planning this confrontation for quite a while now. Hope it's satisfactory.
Advanced chapters on my pat_reon page! Depending on the tier, you could get up to between 4 or 10 chapters ahead along with a few other benefits.
P_atr_eon_com/TeemVizzle
(Remove the spaces)
Anyway, that's all from me.
Cheers!
Trivia: What's the coolest elemental kekkei genkai in Naruto? *Elemental, not doujutsu. So no sharingan >:(*