Salamander's Interlude

[Year 52, Iwa/Suna Border, Suna Camp]

Souei stood on top of the erected walls that cover the edge of the camp that the Suna Forces had created close to the Shiba Bridge. His hair swayed in the wind as his eyes trailed to the large gaping crater far up in the mountains.

It's been a week since that fight, a week since he went face to face against an actual Jinchuriki. He's heard plenty of stories about them of course. Aunt Chiyo had plenty of them and the elders of the Clan didn't shy away from telling the youngsters about the huge chakra beasts that had the potential to destroy villages.

But they were just that, stories. He knew there were monsters in this world they live in, but it was something else to actually experience it. Souei reaalized back then that he stood little to no chance if he was the one fighting Han.

He could barely follow Han's movements and the entire fight between him and Ishito Sensei appeared like a blur to him. He made it a point of comfort that he at least somewhat contributed to the fight, even if it was just support. Even then, he vowed to get stronger. He never wants to feel as helpless as he did back then ever again.

A sudden pain suddenly flared that made him grunt as he put a hand to his ribs. From head to toe he was covered in bandages akin to a mummy. His left arm was in a cast slung across his other shoulder while his torso and neck were wrapped in thick bandages. Not surprising since his injuries were pretty severe, at least according to Isshin, Rukia's dad. Several broken ribs, a cracked shoulder blade, not to mention the burns on his hands that haven't quite healed properly from his fight with Gari. Several scars now donned his body that Sasori would undoubtedly find pretty cool.

Speaking of Sasori, he wondered how his little nephew was faring. It's been a few months since the war started and he hasn't heard any news of Sasori's Genin team. But then again, no news is also good news since he would definitely have heard something if anything bad happened.

He remembered Aunt Chiyo saying that newly minted Genin teams rarely go to the front lines and only do so when there are emergencies. The Third Kazekage isn't one so heartless to send children to their deaths meaninglessly. The current setup was one of the policies he changed from previous Kazekage's since academy graduates being used as meat shields was actually the norm back in the day. At least, according to Aunt Chiyo that is.

Souei is just glad with the current engagement. He knows Sasori won't be a child forever, but he'll take any and all chances to protect his innocence. Innocence that may have already been taken by Sakumo Hatake.

Souei shook his head from that train of thought. Thinking of the man who killed his family won't do him much good for now.

He then thought back to the previous fight. Souei's mind raced as he traced the fight from start to finish once again. The one thing that was deeply ingrained within him is how Ishito Sensei fought with Mukade.

It was something that he realized way back during sensei's test to become Genin. Ishito managed to reach a level of puppetry where he controlled Mukade seamlessly. Man and Puppet became one and the way they moved and fought in tandem was a level of puppetry that he's never seen before.

Most puppeteers usually stay in the back line while sending their puppets forward in combat. Elite puppeteers enhance this style of fighting by either incorporating deadly weapons to their puppets or increasing the number of puppets they can control at one time.

Aunt Chiyo is known as one of the greatest puppeteers that ever lived for being able to manipulate ten puppets at the same time.

Ishito Sensei completely went against the norm by being a frontline fighter. He made sure to not slack in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu to complement his repertoire. And instead of having more puppets, he instead used only one and honed it to perfection.

He then realized how he's been utterly neglecting this particular skill.

'I've been so focused on exploring the Thread Release and Chakra Transformation, I haven't had any improvements on my puppetry.'

He let out a sigh at that. Still, it wasn't all bad. He's still technically just a Chunin but already he's reached a pretty high level on nature and shape transformation, not to mention that he's also pretty confident to go toe to toe against a Jonin level Shinobi if it comes to it.

'Perhaps it's time I make some improvements to the spider legs…'

There are some upgrades he's been wanting to try, and the previous fight gave him some pretty good ideas too.

'I should also probably look into the Yin Chakra aspect of my threads. I'm sure I could do something with that….'

"Oi Souei."

As Souei pondered more and more regarding his skills, a voice from behind him caught his attention.

He looked back to see Rasa with a serious expression. But he also noticed the slight relief in his posture.

"What happened?"

"It's Rukia, she's finally awake."

Souei's eyes widened as he jumped from the wall and landed next to his friend.

"How is she?"

Rasa shrugged as they both started to walk towards the medical tent at the center of the camp.

"I just heard the news so I don't know much. But from what I heard, she should be fine."

Souei sighed in relief as they walked quickly towards their teammate.

.

.

"How are you feeling?"

Souei asked with a low voice as he sat by Rukia's bedside. Rasa stood beside him with his arms crossed.

Rukia herself put down the glass of water that she just drank from before giving a smile to her two teammates. "I'm fine, don't worry. Dad personally looked after me himself, so all my wounds should be relatively healed.

Souei nodded in acceptance as he smiled back. All things considered, Rukia managed to walk out of the battle relatively okay. According to her dad, the reason for her week-long coma is chakra depletion.

One of Rukia's main issues is her absolutely miniscule chakra levels. It was a problem she had faced ever since the academy and she supposedly found ways to work around it with Aunt Chiyo's help and guidance.

But when Han unleashed the Tailed Beast Bomb, she used up a lot of her energy to control the winds around her team to protect them. Her efforts, along with their idea to sink to the ground allowed everyone to escape with their lives.

However, she didn't go through that unscathed.

Souei eyed the large gash on her forehead, cutting through her arrow tribal tattoo horizontally. It was still healing, and would undoubtedly leave a scar.

Rukia noticed his gaze and put her hand on his and squeezed it. "I'm fine, really."

Souei let out a breath before nodding with a smile, as he squeezed her hand back.

Rasa rolled his eyes at the open display of affection between the two before he decided to interrupt. "Now all we need is sensei to wake up, then everything will be fine and dandy."

Rukia showed open shock at that piece of information. "You mean sensei hasn't woken up yet?"

Souei answered her with a shake of his head, frustration clear in his voice. "No he hasn't. It's my fault. When the beast bomb hit, Sensei jumped in front of me to protect me. I managed to cover us in my stings but he took the brunt of the damage."

"Hey, It's not your fault. None of us are ready to fight a tailed beast at this stage. It's a miracle none of us died." The ever gentle Rukia said, squeezing his hand once again in an attempt to comfort him.

"Yeah, I know. Just can't help but feel guilty is all."

"In any case, with Ishito Sensei out of commission, it makes Isshin Hoku is the most high ranking shinobi here. He'll take command until Sensei wakes up."

"Speaking of which, where is my dad?" Rukia questioned with a tilt of her head.

"He's in the main tent thinking of our next move. The main goal was to prevent the rest of the Iwa forces from receiving supplies that were based in Kamino Stronghold. Although our last mission was to capture it and take it over for our own uses. Its destruction, although unfortunate, still falls within mission parameters. So now, your father is planning to utilize that to our advantage." Rasa answered.

"Then I guess we should expect to be put back in the field soon, huh?"

Rasa answered Souei's question with a nod. "Most likely."

"Hahh, we really can't catch a break can't we?" Rukia leaned back in her bed with an audible sigh.

"We're at war? What do you expect?" Rasa commented back with a raised eyebrow.

"In that case we'll leave you to rest Rukia. I'm also going to get some shut eye. God knows we all need the rest." Souei said as he stood up from his chair. He bit back a groan from the sudden flare of pain that the movement caused.

"Agreed. We'll see you tomorrow Rukia."

"See you guys, thanks for visiting!" Rukia said with a smile as she waved them goodbye.

Souei smiled back as he and Rasa left the tent, eager to end the day.

.

.

[A week later, Land of Storms, Amegakure]

Deep within the Land of Storms, a land covered entirely with dark clouds where sunlight barely reaches through. Vast swamps, marshes, and dense forests dot the countryside, further adding to the gloomy atmosphere.

WIthin this land stands a small but highly industrialized hidden village constantly being battered with heavy rainfall. All the water pooling around the village, resulting in a large lake that completely surrounds it like an island.

In the center of the village, a tall tower stands with four humanoid faces, each facing the four cardinal directions.

Inside the tower, standing in the balcony gazing at the constant falling rain in the distance was a rather muscular man of above-average height, with long blond hair reaching down to his back and a prominent scar on his right cheek. He had unusual eyes that displayed dark sclerae and light coloured irides, akin to that of a sun surrounded by shadows. He had a dark hat on his head and his lower face was mostly obscured by a helmet-like respirator, with the upper part bearing the symbol of his village. A long Kusarigama was attached to his belt by the chain.

This man was Hanzo the Salamander, considered by many to be one of the deadliest Shinobi to currently live.

He was currently contemplating the Great War that he was forcefully involved in. A great war that stemmed between the selfishness of the leaders of three great nations. A great war that had caused death and destruction to his people.

Not that he really cared for 'his' people. Not really. They were only people who lived within the village that he was the leader of and human resources for him to delegate and use as he pleased.

Hanzo had always been a very security-conscious individual, trusting no one. He was guarded twenty-four hours a day, and did not allow anyone in his presence, even children, without being thoroughly searched.

This mindset and paranoia stemmed from his experience as a loner and an orphan, when he was forced to kill his own friend who tried to stab him in the back. And until now, that mindset had never failed him yet.

He had just returned to the village after slaughtering a platoon of Konoha Forces. Hanzo is the current Amekage, a dangerous Kage level shinobi and considered to be a flee-on-sight S-Rank threat by many Hidden Villages.

So color him surprised when three young shinobi from Konoha managed to not only survive a fight against him, but actually give him a decent enough fight.

As a reward for this accomplishment, he named them the Three Sannin and told them to refer to themselves as such in exchange for letting them live. If there was one thing that Hanzo respected in this world, it was strength. People who have the potential to be great must do their best to meet that potential.

It is also that same paranoia that had saved him from countless attempts of assassinations. Like this one right here.

"Come on out, I know your there,"

His deep voice rumbled across the room, at that moment lightning crashed from the heavens above, illuminating his face in shadows.

Just then, 3 people dressed in standard anbu attire descended from the ceiling as they rushed towards the Amekage. Hanzo idly noted their headbands depicting their loyalty to Iwa.

The man people dubbed the 'Salamander' simply chuckled as he unsheathed his kusarigama. He then turned around and dashed past all three shinobi and appeared on their other side, his weapon raised to the side.

Uncaringly, he tied the weapon back to his waist by the chain as all three of his foes dropped lifelessly to the ground with a thud, a large horizontal cut appearing on each of their necks.

The sound of gurgling caught his attention as one of the masked ninja laid on his back, both hands on his neck in an attempt to stifle the bleeding.

"Hoo, still alive are you?" Hanzo commented with amusement in his tone. "Take my advice young shinobi. You shouldn't cling to life that hard, experiencing a quick death is much better than a slow one."

Hanzo kneeled by the dying shinobi as he raised the man's head with one hand. "Shhh, it's okay. This will all be over soon."

Hanzo then slowly took off his mask, as he breathed deeply before letting out his venom laced breath towards the masked ninja. The ninja's eyes widened as his body started spasming from the pain, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he let out one last gurgle before succumbing to death's embrace.

_____________________________

Yay a new chapter!

Hanzo's presence is a major threat in the war, and I had planned to have a POV chapter from him for quite a while now. I hope I did him justice.

After this we're entering the next chapter of the war. The Sannin's fight with Hanzo has happened which means so that's fun.

I have pretty ambitious plans for that particular tidbit in this arc.

Hope y'all have enjoyed the story so far.

Drop some power stones and leave a review! I'll even give y'all an incentive and drop an extra chapter if we reach 100 stones for the week ;).

Get some chapters ahead on my patreon! Nothing much, but at least its something.

patreon.com/TeemVizzle