Assesing Threat Levels
—2646 words—
[Year 52, Iwa/Suna Border]
"Does it always stink like this?"
Rasa commented with a scowl as the stench of dead bodies all over the battlefield became prevalent as they walked through the lines and battlements of the now conquered Shiba Bridge. His sensei walked beside him as they made regular checks to the state of their troops and current forces.
It's only been a few hours since the fight concluded. It was Rasa's first experience in such a fight where the scale of it being much higher than he's used to. War really was something you'd never understand unless you experience it yourselves.
The sheer chaos and destruction that was left in its wake was nothing to scoff at. Already the once beautiful land filled with lush greenery turned into a veritable wasteland.
Not to mention the smell.
God the smell.
"Yes. They don't teach you that at the academy did they? People usually defecate before they succumb to their deaths." His sensei answered with a calm tone. Rasa shook his head at that, leave it to his sensei to turn the words 'men shit when they die' into such a fanciful phrase.
Ishito also walked out of the battle completely unscathed. His attire was as clean as proper and he had no hair out of place. Mukade the centipede coiled around his body as always with no visible crack or injury. Leave it to the S-Rank ninja to be able to do that when so much blood was spilt around him.
Rasa himself was covered in soot and bruises. Dust covered his dark grey jacket with a few stains of blood here and there.
But still though, he got away relatively fine now that he thought about it. Considering Souei's state when they found him unconscious on the edge of a large crater in the middle of a forest. Rasa did remember seeing an explosion when he was fighting a random Iwa Jonin. Souei must have fought someone pretty powerful if the huge crater was the result of their clash.
But what worried him greatly was that they found no bodies near Souei at the site of the explosion. It was just him, the huge ass crater, and a trail of blood leading out to the forest.
'Where was his opponent? Did he survive? If he did, then why did he spare Souei if he was apparently conscious enough to walk out of the fight?'
There were too many questions, and the only person who could answer them was still sleeping in the medical tent that Rukia had quickly set up to treat their injured. Her dad was leading the medical forces and according to him, Souei would be fine. He had a mild case of chakra exhaustion along with some severe burns, the worst part on his palms, where the skin of it had scalded, but he'll live.
He and Ishito Sensei were inspecting and talking to some of the other ninjas when a messenger came and interrupted them. Apparently, Rukia sent him to inform them that Souei was finally awake.
The two glanced at each other before resolutely making their way towards the medical tent. Inwardly relieved that their friend/student made it out alright.
.
— The Warping Hero—
.
It was the sound of his own heartbeat that first woke him.
The first thing he noticed when he came to were the white flaps that undoubtedly belonged to the medical tent. He was in a personalized makeshift room with walls being mere sheets that were strung up to give the room a semblance of privacy. The second thing he noticed was the person that was asleep at the foot of his bed.
She had her arms under her head to act as cushions as she laid there innocently. She took soft breaths as her chest rose up and down as she quietly took some rest that Souei knew she desperately needed.
After all, judging by the bandages all around his body. The fact that he now feels little to no pain also means that his injuries must be somewhat healed, he must've assumed that Rukia worked through the whole night to heal him. Considering the fight they just went through to secure the bridge, she must have already used up so much of her chakra. It's no wonder she's exhausted.
'This girl…' Souei thought as he gazed at Rukia's form with a soft and warm smile.
Seriously, what had he done in life to deserve such beautiful and caring friends?
It was that exact moment that Rukia stirred awake. She stretched her body like a cat as she gave a light yawn and rubbed her eyes before looking in his direction. It was clear that she was still in the post-sleep mental inducement as she took a while to refocus and reorient herself. He couldn't but find it adorable
When she finally did, she immediately widened her eyes before closing their distance and wrapping her arms around Souei.
"You dummy! What the heck happened?! We were so worried about you!"
Souei returned the hug eagerly, not even flinching as her action bustled his injuries slightly. "Yeah..sorry about that. The guy I fought was pretty strong. Had to take him seriously or else he might've killed me."
Rukia immediately had a concerned look on his face as she let him go and sat on his bedside. She also signaled one of the shinobi outside to go find Ishito and Rasa to inform them of his waking. "Well, I'm just really glad you're okay. Ishito sensei got pretty incensed when he saw your condition. He immediately sent out parties to look for your opponent by following the blood trail he left at the scene, but he managed to slip away."
"So Gari survived, huh? Figures."
"Gari? As in Gari of the Explosion Release? That Gari?!" Rukia exclaimed in shock. She recognized that name from skimming through the Bingo Book that belonged to her clan. Apparently, Gari was a shinobi a few years older than they were that gained notoriety for dismantling an entire group of missing nin. His skill with his Kekkei Genkai was also praised highly by the Tsuchikage.
"The one and only." Souei chuckled. "He was good. But I also got a few decent hits in, and it looks like I'll have a chance to fight him again. It was interesting to see the ways he used the Explosion Release. It was an eye-opening experience for sure." He mused as he took a sip of the glass of water at the bedside table.
And it wasn't a lie. Souei had always been interested to see the different techniques and bloodlines belonging to other villages. Chakra theory and jutsu creation are topics he's very interested in after all, only second of course to puppetry.
Now that he thinks about it, he hasn't had the chance to explore more on puppetry and the likes recently. The only thing he had were the spider legs, and even then they still had much room for improvement. He's going to have to clear up his schedule soon to do some upgrades. God knows he needs them.
The recent fight with Gari only showed that he still had much to improve on if he's to get stronger.
Rukia's sigh got his attention back on her. "Of course you would consider nearly dying to be an 'eye-opening' experience. Only you Souei."
"Hey it's true. I got to see some pretty cool use of the Explosion Release. Say what you want about that damned battle maniac, but Gari could be creative when he wants to."
"So this Gari is the opponent you fought?" A sudden voice interrupted them as Ishito and Rasa entered the room.
Rukia immediately sat up straight in respect to their sensei, only for the man to raise a placating arm as a symbol to be at ease.
"You look like shit, Souei." Rasa commented in a dry voice that was only betrayed by a slight smirk on his face. "Welcome back to the world of the living."
Souei merely chuckled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He then looked to Ishito as he answered the question. "Yes. He intentionally seeked me out in the battlefield to test his strength against me. By his own words, he told me that he's wanted to fight me ever since word spread that I won the Chunin Exams."
"I see." Ishito said as he mentally made a psychological profile of this new character based on Souei's description.
Souei then leaned back on his bed as he recited the fight in his mind. "He was fast, strong, and his techniques worked in tandem with his explosion release. He's dangerous to fight in close combat since his taijutsu was enhanced by his explosions. And his last technique was probably the most destructive technique I've seen in a while. He's able to gather his explosions into his palms and compress them, resulting in a pretty devastating attack. I only survived since I ran interference with my strings."
'A battle maniac with a penchant for destruction and a creative mind to use them. A dangerous combatant indeed.' Ishito thought.
"I'll brief the commanders to have a lookout for this new character. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to label him as a squad killer with his abilities. I'm putting a priority alpha and labeling him as a High B, bordering A-Rank threat." Ishito announced as soon as he put his thoughts together. He then looked back to Rasa and Rukia. "Along with Han and Kitsuchi the 'Earthquake', it seems Iwa has another capable shinobi in their hands. Make sure to watch your backs tomorrow."
"Yes, sensei." Rasa and Rukai answered.
Souei had a curious look at the last part of Ishito's comment. "Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"
"Rukia didn't tell you yet?"
The brown haired girl gained a slight blush at that. "Sorry sensei, didn't have the chance to."
"It's fine. You were unconscious for a few hours Souei. During that time, we managed to secure the Shiba bridge and now control the sole ingress point to their storage base held at the peak of the hill. I plan to charge the base tomorrow while leaving a decent sized force here to hold the bridge to make sure it doesn't fall back into Iwa hands. We don't know where Kitsuchi is, but Han and now this Gari character is confirmed to be defending the base. That's why you, me, and Rukia will be leading the attack tomorrow." Ishito maintained as he addressed the room. "I have to be there to face Han while Rukia is needed to lead the medical forces as her father will be staying here to focus on the injured. You're needed since you have the most experience in fighting the Explosion User in case he shows up. Not to mention your abilities make you invaluable in infiltration."
Ishito then glanced in Rukia's direction as he questioned. "Souei is cleared for combat right?"
Rukia took a second to organize her thoughts before she answered. "His injuries still need time to heal properly and not to mention that his chakra reserves should be running empty. Mine too, now that I think about it."
Souei attested to that with a nod. He used up a lot of chakra and it hasn't had time to recover yet.
"That can be resolved with a chakra pill. It might not be ideal, but it's the only choice we have."
Rukia nodded as she gave a worried glance at Souei's direction.
"What about Rasa?" Souei questioned as he looked at Rasa, who simply stood there with his arms crossed.
"Rasa will stay here at the camp to focus on its defense. I'd much rather we have a place to retreat to just in case things go awry."
Souei nodded in understanding. It seems his sensei already has everything figured out.
"For now, rest up. I need you at your best tomorrow. Same goes for all of you." Ishito queried as he walked out of the tent.
Souei just watched his sensei's back as he made out for the room.
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— The Warping Hero —
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Unknown to anyone of the Suna contingent, a similar conversation was happening in the Iwa base.
In a room that was reserved for the sole use of the Iwa army leaders, a meeting was taking place that involved the highest ranking shinobis of the Iwa army stationed in the Suna border.
Their topic of conversation: Souei Matsuri.
"That boy is dangerous!" An iwa official raged as he slammed his fists to the table.
"He needs to be taken down before he becomes more powerful!" An Iwa Jounin roared in agreement.
"He was taught by the Centipede himself, who knows how far his strength will reach." stated by an imposing man who is no doubt the leader of the rabble of ninja. He held himself in a poised manner and his large stature only contributed to his imposing presence. He wore heavily plated red armor, with a mask firmly covering the bottom half of his face. This was Han, the Gobi Jinchuriki. Also known to the world as the 'Steam Bull'. A dangerous S-rank threat.
Everyone on the table simply gave the man the stink eye. However they stayed courteous only because of the fact that the man himself could fold them in half without much effort. That was the extent of respect they showed him, despite the clear authority and difference in rank.
Han, who was used to this type of treatment, simply ignored them.
"Souei Matsuri's performance in the recent Battle of Shiba Bridge cannot be ignored. The Centipede might have been the biggest threat at the field, but the boy singlehandedly rallied his allies and led the charge that managed to pierce our defensive lines. Not to mention that he also fought Gari to a standstill. Not a small feat if I do say so myself." He further commented with his hands folded in front of him.
Murmurs of agreement ran across the table as they discussed how to deal with the new problem.
"Right now, Souei Matsuri's lack of experience is his biggest weakness. We need to cut him down before he reaches his full potential. Therefore I'm officially putting a High B-Rank threat to his name, and a Mid B-Rank threat to his friend Sabaku no Rasa. His control of the Magnet Release proves a danger to our army. Warn the captains to keep a lookout and to proceed with caution. Tell everyone to not underestimate them. Is everyone in agreement?" Han questioned as he swept his eyes across the assembled group.
They all stayed quiet or quietly mumbled their agreements. Han is internally just glad they didn't raise up more of a fuss.
"Very well then, meeting adjourned."
The scrapings of chairs could be heard as everyone in attendance got up and left the room. Han opted to stay and walk towards a balcony that oversaw the horizon.
He admired the view of the setting sun as the wind slowly moved around him, the currents swaying his clothes slightly as he put his arms behind his back, enjoying the small amount of peace before the inevitable fights that would happen in the days to come..
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Han makes his appearance! He was honestly one of the more cool looking and interesting out of the jinchuriki. I hope to do him justice.
Souei is also starting to gain recognition and notoriety from the rival villages, which is to be expected of course considering his performance in the fight.
We'll revisit things with Chiyo and the things happening in Amegakure next chapter!
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Cheers!