Nana was a simple woman. She lived for two things and two things only. Making money and sending people to meet their maker.
Her choice of career. Proved to be a foolish one, because it didn't matter how much you could fight hand to hand. Or how crafty you were with weapons. If you weren't careful. There would be a ninja half your age that could topple you and put you in a body bag. So, when life presented her with a rouge shinobi willing to teach her their ways. Her entire guild was delighted to partake.
Finally, they would be able to even the playing field. That had become one sided since the warring states era.
To push things even more in their favor. The big five were still recovering their numbers and were hastily pumping shinobi into their force. Leading to hands being stained with the red of infants, and her pockets lined with currencies from all over the continent. A lovely time for rogues, but a hard one for genin.
As with all overwhelming success. Her guild would need to gain more to placate their growing lifestyle of luxury. Waiting idly for unfortunate shinobi to cross your path was becoming insufficient. They needed to act. Where better than a poorly tended outpost with little physical defense.
From this drive they birthed what turned out to be a very successful raid of a secluded outpost. Her guild was sure to feast like kings for the seasons to come. Adding to this. She picked up on four signatures heading west of the outpost.
It was her lucky day.
Shinobi were without a doubt fun to fight. Even the itty-bitty ones. Bandits were never known for their technical ability. Just guerilla tactics because there was only so much one predator could do against an overwhelming number of opponents. As long as the bandits played it safe. The back up would arrive and they could gain themselves genin slaves or ornaments that could be sold to the highest bidder.
No need to rush anything. Just a great round of patience and they would all be rich enough to boost the economy of a small nation.
That also meant that Nana would have to take more hits than she wanted to. The blue headed girl was fast but as long as her hits didn't miraculously double in power. Then everyone would be alright. Nana saw no reason in blowing up the forest over something as small as a genin.
The bandit squinted at the branch she believed the shinobi girl to be on. Her vision still spinning from the direct hit to her nose. She licked the blood flowing from her clearly broken bone. Doing her best to ignore the darts of pain between her eyes. She pulled her thoughts together and decided to poke fun at the child.
"Come on kid I don't have all night," she jeered spreading her arms out wide.
This proved to be a terrible idea.
The girl appeared to take her halfhearted jab personally, because she appeared ahead of the bandit once more. Arms held back as she charged the woman. There was only one problem. She didn't launch an attack. Just ran right through the bandit.
A Clone Technique!
The fight had somehow escalated to tactical combat.
She spun around in high alert. Only to find the genin charging her again. This one also dashed straight through her midsection. There was a solid thud against the branch above drawing her attention. From the foliage descended the girl again. This time the genin made a swipe motion which gained a retaliatory uppercut.
Her fist went right through the projection, but exploded in a cloud of smoke.
The sound of sandal on wood caught her ear. Drawing her attention to the left of the branch.
As soon as Nana turned in that direction, anticipating a blind attack. The back of her head was greeted with the not so comfortable surface of a metal shin-guard. Her head snapped forward with the connection. Throwing her already frenzied mind into a state of further confusion.
She swung wildly with a backfist in hope that she could spur a counter attack. For her attempt she received a firm kick to the small of her back. Forcing her to vacate her position on the branch. She allowed a quick roll to stifle the momentum, then headed back up into the trees.
"Where the hell did they go?" Toto, the ash breather, said waving at Nana from a lower branch.
Nana let loose a growl, those little demons were buying time to escape.
She held her arm against her chest and let out a sharp pulse. Her chakra wasn't as flexible as well trained shinobi, but according to the guild's sensei. She had a lot of it. What she couldn't make up with quality, she brute forced with quantity. So tracking was still equivalent to seeing a person face to face. She could tell which direction they were facing, their height and their weight. Most of it was revealed to her.
The only downside was that her tracking didn't work like echolocation. So she would have to wait for the entire wave of chakra to come back to her. Leading to closer targets going unnoticed for a fraction of time.
The little leaf demons appeared to have cracked the code.
Out from the branch above her. Jumped another brat, bent on interrupting her scan. She swiftly moved out of the path of his axe kick, breaking her focus in the process.
"You little-," Nana began ready to swear but paused when she caught sight of the boys eyes. She narrowed hers and tilted her head in confusion. She had never seen something so disturbing, yet interesting at the same time. It wasn't everyday you came across someone with no sclera.
He ignored her staring and continued his charge. Two plumes of smoke went off ahead of him. Disrupting her view. Out of it. He flew from the top. Looking to attack her from above. She locked eyes with him once more. Planning on which attack she would use to swipe him out of the air before he could fully lay out his plans.
Suddenly running through the smoke. Came another him. Nana quickly focused on the sound. She had come to the realization that the clones were silent, because they weren't tangible.
She went into a sprint of her own. Helping him close the distance.
The young boy produced two kunai and brought his arms up over his head. A loud attempt at catching her on the downswing. Nana picked up her pace. Right before she could smack him back from whence he came. The brat swapped places with the airborne clone. Connecting a hit that should have gone right through Nana's midsection.
The wind was immediately knocked out of her, but through sheer willpower Nana held her thoughts together.
The kunai wielding toddler initiated his attack attempting to capitalize on her disarray.
Nana quickly changed her footing and graced his falling jawline with an uppercut. The bastard took the hit with a cocky grin, before sticking the two kunai hilt deep into her offending arm. She withdrew on reflex. Making space so that she could remove the knives nestled in her forearm.
The struck clone was carried by the uppercut. Into the waiting arms of his other self. Who proceeded to catch and toss the boy towards the slowly dissipating smoke. Standing there was another clone. Who in turn caught the airborne clone by his ankle and spun him twice. Then launched him full power at Nana.
She tilted her head at the antics of the boy, "What kinda circus..."
Nana applied little focus as she grabbed the boy midflight and sunk his two kunai into his forehead. His head fell back as his body went limp. The sudden dead weight almost throwing her off balance. She threw the lifeless brat against the tree and watched on as he folded against it. By the sound of bone crunching as he hit the bark. She confirmed that it was real. The two clones popping out of existence only solidified that thought.
She smirked to herself, three to go.
Right as she was about to leave the area. She caught wind of a sizzling sound. She looked at the corpse and caught sight of the tags stuck to his ankles. Apparently the clone had stuck tags on his ankles for the split second they were in contact.
Nana did not need to think twice to fast track her evasion. As soon as she leapt off the branch the boy exploded into another puff of smoke.
"A fake-"
Her statement was cut short by another attack from the blue haired girl. Who appeared from a blur of speed and caught the bandit with a jab to the chest.
Nana flew back first into the branch she was previously standing on. Then crashed to the forest floor. The woman landed face flat onto a bed of leaves and grass. But quickly propped herself up on her elbows. Ready to get up and head into the trees once more. Nana was winded but she wasn't going to lay there waiting on the girls next attack.
"You little shits," she sighed, "I'm gonna rip your faces o-"
Once again her statement was cut off. This time by the sound of a tanto being drawn. She didn't dare look behind. Nana could already feel the killing intent of several shinobi standing at her back. How did they manage to sneak up on her? She did her part in scanning for them.
Then she realized that her last scan was interrupted. The kids figured out how her scanning worked. Then baited her group into killing the time for them. That would explain why they were so eager to stop her last scan. If only that wave returned, she would have alerted her group and run away.
Those little bastards managed to pull a quick one on her.
Nana sighed to herself. It wasn't a decision she wanted to make, but it was the most ideal. Her guild had collected enough protectors at this point. They needed a diversion. Sure she was a special asset that they would lose, but money was more important.
She had decided for her guild. She would be the distraction they needed for an escape. Her next attack would either kill the shinobi and leave her incredibly injured. Or kill her and do nothing. It was a risk she was willing to take.
XxX
The impending victory was bittersweet to Kobaru.
On one hand they successfully held their own against a group of challenging opponents. On the other hand. They had to mow through the majority of the aggressors. Prematurely sending several people to the afterlife. Hopefully they were now at peace.
It wasn't a shock to him. As they were provided an option to leave the genin alone and as the saying goes. You play stupid games you win stupid prizes.
He was more or less prepared to see people die. He was taught to not approach the occurrence of death with a heavy heart as it was something that happened regardless. So he was not going to occupy his mind with the many lifeless forms that were scattered about the area. Not the one pinned to the tree with a punctured lung. Not the two hanging from the metal wire. Flesh and bones perfectly charred. Not even the one closest to him missing his limbs and his lower jaw.
He was even less interested in watching the woman bandit meet her end.
Maybe it was the red hair or the brash personality she displayed. Whatever it was it was interfering with his ability to focus. Not enough for him to accidently commit suicide by running into one of the other bandits. Still it was annoying enough that he slipped up multiple times during his prior attack on her.
He quietly climbed into the tree opposite Nagisa and signaled for her attention. The girl looked up at him. Confirming her condition with a glare and a thumbs up. Kobaru shot her a smile.
Of course the girl was unfazed. Even after getting clocked dead center of her forehead. She could probably beat Kobaru with hands tied behind her back. Thankfully, the hit wasn't going to leave a scar. He was sure, but it was hard to deny that the girl should be ignoring it. Her blood drenched nose-bridge said that much.
"I hope those protectors don't burn!" The mad bandit woman screamed from the forest floor. Then started weaving through handseals quicker than he could.
Ram. Boar. Tiger. Monkey. Snake. Horse. Tiger.
Fire Release: Fire Chakra Mode.
She appeared to catch everyone's attention. Everyone but her two surviving comrades. Who sought to make a run for it in the opposite direction.
Kobaru took this as a sign to make himself scarce, "Guys!"
His panicked screams were followed by a thick wave of hot chakra. Reminiscent of the sensing wall she used to track them down. The heat somehow freezing him in his tracks. Suddenly he was brimming with a desire to see her dead. Anything to stop her from violating his system with the ease that she did.
He turned to look at the woman again. Stiffly craning his head in her direction. His body suddenly forgetting how to breathe without bated breath.
The spike in temperature turned out to be the effect of her technique.
Now standing in her place was a bright, bipedal figure. Which was glowing with white light. At the very center of it she stood like a sentient ball of fire. Giving of a heatwave thick enough to cut with a knife. Kobaru unintentionally took in the burning air with every breath he struggled to inhale.
Everything within eight feet of the bandit immediately charred with shimmers pulsing fire. Making it obvious that she was superheating the air. The green shrubs along the forest floor began catching themselves alight. Even the ground beneath her feet melted into lava as she stood in place. She was already heel deep in lava by the time Kobaru could fully observe the technique.
With the diameter she reserved with her heatwave. It was sure no kunai was getting through to her without it turning into an incredibly softer version of itself. A pity there was barely any warning to it.
Just handseals then an instant cookout.
The remains of an almost incinerated leaf-nin lay at her feet. He had been dead before he could fully make an attempt to stop her. Embers of orange danced through what was left of his black attire. Exposing pink flesh from his lower half. His upper body was already burnt dry.
The other members of the attack squad gained refuge in the canopy. Immediately trying to quell the danger that already claimed a life. They spat out jets of water in hope that they could somehow overwhelm her fire. Only to see their attacks evaporate before it could hit it's mark.
She scanned the tree-line to get a visual on one of her attackers. Then swiped her hands wildly in no clear direction. From her palms a wide arc of white hot fire flew towards the canopy. Immediately catching the leaves and branches aflame.
A leaf-nin caught in the brunt of her attack, fell to the ground rolling in pain. A desperate attempt to snuff out the flames caught on his clothing.
The woman held up a tiger seal. Then threw another swipe of fire at the now prone leaf-nin. His body convulsed three more times with the throes of death. Then came to sudden stop.
Time sped up again for Kobaru and he immediately summoned a basic clone.
"Chusei!" he said louder than he planned to. Not knowing where the other boy was, "For the love of the sage. Your call!"
"Retreat then regroup!" the orange haired menace yelled back a little further away than Kobaru first assumed.
Which was somehow great news.
Kobaru caught himself sighing with relief knowing that his friend had not given in to his exhaustion. This relief was taken over by another state of panic. As a hot wave of chakra flooded his senses. He doubled down when it recoiled towards its source.
"Looks like two kiddies are still here," she turned to look at them. Kobaru could feel her heated breath burning through his forehead.
The ball of fire made a wide arcing swipe across at the branches. Launching another beam of heated air from her hands. Kobaru watched on as Nagisa disappeared in a blur of speed. Then once he knew she was gone. His clone placed a strong chakra fueled kick to the small of his back. Effectively throwing him out of the lined up attack.
Once safely on the forest floor. He began running. He wasn't sure which direction the village was in, but he couldn't be bothered. As long as he was moving away from the sunspot attacking his superiors.
They could handle this. They were high ranked for a reason. They were all specially trained for reasons just like this. It was all in their plan to lose two shinobi before the fight really started.
"Genin are clear!" A woman with a softer voice yelled once Kobaru had darted to a safe enough distance.
As soon as the words had left the woman's mouth. The earth began shaking violently. Kobaru struggled to make sense of his movement with the erratic vibration. He placed his hand against the tree he found himself hiding in. Channeling chakra through his palms. Clinging to the bark in an attempt to stabilize his footing.
He looked back at the still brightly beaming figure of the bandit. He had gained a lot of ground in his evasion and that was something he could be proud of.
His self-praise was cut short when four stone pillars burst out of the ground to tower over them. They curved themselves at the top covering anything that caught itself in-between. From the inside of these curves shot bolts of lightning at the woman.
She let out screams of complete agony, every second of it panging at his chest to help her. The only thing keeping him in place was that he was even more worried about dying here. His parents would never forgive him.
Her screams appeared to signal for the attack squad to increase the voltage. Appearing dead set on draining every last drop of torment out of her nerves. The throes of complete torture continued on. Piercing through the turbulent noises of an already too busy night.
Kobaru could see her through the spaces of the pillar. He could see her drop to her knees from his perch. Liquifying even more dirt at her feet. Her fire technique was still held up burning brightly as she gave in. Knowing that the moment the heatwave stopped, was the moment they would step in and decapitate her. Physically her tendons were fried. He could smell it from a hundred meters downwind.
Up until tonight the most terrifying nature technique he had seen was Chusei's fireball. It turned out to be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in fire techniques. As this random bandit lady was able to turn herself into a living furnace. Then her attack was ruled out as completely useless, when she was put up against a fortress sized taser.
Kobaru who was going through what seemed to be a bottomless pit of internal turmoil. Found it in himself to deepen his smile as he imagined himself in a position where he could cast such a grand technique. Even with the woman's indefinite demise. He saw it fit to ignore the terror and concern he was feeling. In favor of chuckling like an idiot.
Chakra was beautiful.
It could help you accomplish things as subtle as an increase in strength. To aiding in the construction of castles. All it took was figuring out how to mix the energy made from your body and spirit. It truly was a miraculous thing.
Chakra was meant to be shared with everyone and everything. Everyone should have a grasp of its capabilities. Life would be so much easier if it wasn't a subject limited to the soldiers of the continent.
Alas, he had to put himself in harm's way just to convince people that he was worth teaching these techniques. Thanks to Nohara-sensei he now had someone to properly train him. Kobaru wasn't going to let that opportunity escape him. Especially after his failed attempts to grasp the concept.
Once again his thoughts were interrupted by a feral shriek from the smoking hot bandit woman. Kobaru looked off in the distance. The lightning was still targeting her but she had made her way back onto her feet.
The bolts of blue light increased its intensity as the woman shakily lifted her hands to her chest. Forcing her muscles to comply with her request instead of giving into the electricity burning at her fibers.
She ignored the obviously mind bending pain and got her elbow to bend to a usable angle. Her flesh, tight from the forced contraction. Tore itself at the joint as she forced her muscles to move in her favor.
The attack squad member, saw this as a sign to ramp up his attack.
Thicker bolts replaced the more streamlined charges. This appeared to add some weight to his restraint as it forced the woman to her knees.
This still couldn't stop her.
With the cloak of fire shining brighter. She forced her palms together as though she was trying to lift her final prayers. Held her hands in position to better knead her chakra. Getting it to move as she would like. Then once she had gathered a sufficient amount. She sped through a chain of handseals four times.
Snake. Tiger. Dragon. Boar.
After the final chain of seals. From her body came a cloud of chakra. A cloud with such a potent amount of energy. That Kobaru could see the red mass extending outwards. Forming an inflatable bubble around everything in the vicinity. The attack squad unsure of what it was had to move out of range, but keeping the pillar's lightning active.
Without warning the bubble was pulled back into her system. So quick that Kobaru almost missed it. He arched his eyebrows in anticipation of what was to happen.
Sadly, his observation would be postponed.
As from a blur of black and blue. Nagisa appeared beside the younger boy. Fixing him with a disappointed glare, "Chusei said regroup."
She placed a hand on Kobaru's shoulder and pulled him across the forest with her. Fast enough that it turned his brain inside out, just as the Shunshin always did. Yet Nagisa was just slow enough that he could see his feet firmly planted two places at once. Not the most comfortable sight to try comprehending when your mind was being spun around in your skull.
As soon as the two landed at a safer distance. Kobaru felt gravity slam into him as though he owed it money. Hunching him over as his perception bounced between inertia and vertigo. He gagged uncontrollably trying to evict whatever climbed up his throat in the process. Considering he hadn't eaten since midday. He was stuck with several disappointing dry heaves.
Note to self. Don't shunshin with Nagisa until she can do it with one seal.
"Everyone else good?" Chusei asked looking at his youngest friend. Making sure the boy didn't spit out a lung by mistake.
"No complaints," the fourth genin replied, "looks like the attack squads handling everything well."
As though the universe was waiting for their controlled calm. An explosion went off in the direction of the glowing bandit. A cylindrical beam of light rose three storeys from the ground. It proceeded to overpower the darkness of the night sky. A fierce glow of white and yellow. Almost as if the sun itself crash landed in the forest.
The resulting heatwave broke of the rocks caging the woman in. Propelling the fragments into the air, along with dirt and uprooted trees. What wasn't flung away by the force was immediately set aflame. Making it clear that this was a technique constructed to cause as much damage in as little time.
The air was filled with the scent of ash and burning flesh. As whatever creatures caught in the crossfire were more than likely boiled from the inside out, before they even knew what was going on. Kobaru was left speechless. Gazing at the scene from what the others hoped was a safe enough distance.
Even more concerning
The woman had chosen to die than allow herself to be subjugated. What a way to go out indeed. Sure, the reserves were briefed on the possibility of exploding opponents. Yet Kobaru did not consider an explosion of this size. Especially from a bandit. Of course, she would be killed after her interrogation, but suicide by nuke wasn't a thought Kobaru found easy to empathize with.
How would one mould sufficient chakra for such an event? He could not find the answer through basic introspection. Put simply, chakra explosion made no sense.
Especially of this magnitude.
It would continue to make no sense until he somehow got his hands on Iwa's research. Or maybe the bandits documented theirs. Whatever it was, Kobaru would prefer answers. Not that he wanted to explode, but from his point of view no one should be able to.
He was brought back to reality by the sound of a dull thud hitting the ground. Kobaru looked back to see Chusei sitting on his ass. From the look on his face anyone could tell that the exhaustion caught up to him.
Kobaru moved to help the boy onto his feet, but the genin he refused to familiarize got there first. He then looked down at his body and realized that there was not much he could do anyway. As Chusei was almost a foot taller. He would be more of a hinderance than actual support.
The orange haired boy mustered up another grin. Then tried to deflect with humor, "well there goes my legs."
"Wish it was your mouth," Nagisa replied just as fast.
Kobaru turned to gaze at the explosion site once more. The beam of light was still burning bright. If they were standing any closer, he was sure it would render them blind. Which meant that the attack squad was probably fighting without sight right now.
He was too far to see exactly what was going on and the glowing cylinder of fire didn't make it any easier. His view of an actual fight came to a premature end. Now to focus all he had left in him in making it back to Konoha.
"Alright guys," Chusei said now draped over the other genin's shoulder, "Nagisa," the older boy drawled with what appeared to be his last bit of energy, "take us home."
XxX
Chusei woke up laying under a light bright enough to burn through his eyelids.
The first thing that came to his mind was that the bandit woman caught up to them. Then set off another attack once she got close enough.
He then caught on to the chilled air from the air conditioning and thought that he had somehow died of exhaustion. He slowly opened his eyes and found something much worse.
He was hospitalized.
Chusei snapped up into a sitting position. Quickly abandoning the idea when a headache the size of Earth Country forced him to lie back down. He stared up at the light fixture directly over his bed, swearing at whoever designed the place.
He tried figuring out exactly when he would have lost consciousness but came up naught. The last thing he remembered was a massive explosion that he was too far away to be affected by. Then he was hauled over the shoulders of the bukijutsu genin's shoulder. That was it.
He turned to his side and got a glimpse of his belongings at the side of his bed. Right next to it a pen and a mission report form.
Chusei chuckled to himself at the subtlety the village put towards due process. They weren't sure when he'd wake up, but he couldn't say he forgot to write down his report.
He slowly took the pen and paper and began working through his recap. Albeit begrudgingly.
A few spelling errors here and jumbled up bit of the procession there. Overall it was as he expected it to be.
Chusei never liked the idea of writing out the reports. It was too time consuming and until he figured out how to stream music directly into his brain. It was an activity that encouraged his own silence. Something he was yet to grow accustom to.
This was his main motivation for splitting D-ranks with his other cell mates in the first place. For one man missions. Only one report needed to be filed. So far he was able to piggy back of a split with Kobaru for most of the community work. Now that he was involved in missions where teams were needed. Leading to individual reports. His paperwork would reach uncomfortable heights. It would be a pain to write one of these every time he left the village. He'd be hard-pressed to do another C-rank in the near future.
He turned to the next page and out dropped a copy of his pay slip. Chusei slowly opened it up and took back everything he said about never doing a C-rank ever again.
As Konoha appeared to be very generous when it came to the higher ranked missions. Payment of 12500 ryo for the supposed "completion" of the mission. For every extra day spent on the road he got 500 ryo. Then 2500 ryo for every bandit life secured in the altercation. He would need to do over twenty D-ranks to make that much.
If he could just do C-ranks for the next few months straight. Chusei would move out of the barracks by the end of the year.
To make things even better at the end of the slip. He saw a mandatory week off for "readjusting".
Chusei almost fell out of the bed with excitement. Being a shinobi was the best. No wonder the nut jobs in the village were so committed to it. They were probably living their best lives teaching and wasting time at the main gate.
If C-ranks paid this well. Then B-ranks would be enough for him to settle for teaching at the academy by the time he hit twenty two. Maybe set up a restaurant in the market district and hire civilians to run it.
Konoha was freaking great why do people even leave the place. With this kind of pay he was surprised at their low rate of ninja immigrating in the land of fire.
Before Chusei could fully consider this though. He had two genin to pay back.
XxX
Kobaru knocked on the front door then stood back waiting for someone to let him in.
After submitting his mission report. The desk Chunin let him leave without much debate. He thought about going back to the hospital to make sure Chusei didn't keel over by mistake. But he ultimately decided that his friend could wait. There were more important things he needed to address.
He could hear the footsteps slapping against the hardwood floors as they made their way out. It was somehow a sound he didn't know he'd be so happy to hear.
A smile forced its way onto his face as the latches were undone. A sudden burst of excitement that his nine year old body could barely contain. With the expectations that most of the adults harbored for him. He sometimes forgot that he was a child. Even with great practice and suppression. There were things that he couldn't force himself to ignore.
The front door swung itself open revealing Kobaru's mother. Who replaced her glare with a bright smile when she locked eyes with the boy.
Kobaru plastered his face with a wide grin. His vision suddenly blurred with a stinging sensation.
He barreled forward and leapt up at the red head and started sobbing into the her bare collarbone.
"I watched people die," Kobaru whispered.
"I know," she replied as though she was speaking to a baby. Patting his back as she pushed the door shut, "wanna talk about it."
She felt the boy's forehead rub against her neck. That could've only been the result of stiff nods.
"Alright. Let's go wake Daddy."