The Next Stage

[Year 52, Iwa/Suna Border]

It was the sudden light that woke him up from his slumber. Ishito groaned as his mind gradually seeped back into consciousness.

It felt as though his entire body had been pounded into submission. Each inhale brought pain to chest, his lungs expanding with effort against what seemed like an unseen weight. His eyelids, heavy as lead, hesitated to lift. But when they did, they revealed a dimly lit room, a white sheet covering his body that is now drenched in sweat.

There was a sterile, clinical scent that clung to the air, which told him that he was in a medical tent of some sorts.

Ishito's gaze wandered around the room. The walls were a cold, pale blue, with a single window that allowed the weak morning light to creep in. Beside him, an array of medical instruments and monitors were connected to his body.

Memory surged back in fragments, like a disjointed puzzle. He remembered the mission, Han, him turning into the Gobi and then losing control, and then... darkness. What happened? Did they win? What of his students? Questions flooded his mind, but his body refused to cooperate. He attempted to move, but his muscles screamed in protest.

The sound of a door opening drew his attention as Rukia entered the room.

"Sensei! You're awake!"

He felt as if a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders at seeing one of his students being her happy-go-lucky self. He eyed the new scar on her forehead before he gave her a small smile as he attempted to sit up and address her properly.

Rukia immediately closed the distance between them and helped him in his effort, gently raising him by the arm and grabbing another pillow to cushion his back as he sat up and leaned to the head of the bed.

"Try not to move too much, sensei. Your injuries are still healing."

Ishito's throat felt parched, as if he hadn't spoken in days. "How long have I been out, Rukia?"

His student offered him a glass of water, one that he appreciated gratefully. The cool liquid soothing his aching throat.

"It's been a little over two weeks now. A lot of things have happened since then." Rukia answered while scratching the back of his head.

"Tell me everything."

Rukia nodded at the order. "Well, the first major thing that happened was that we managed to cut off the Iwa forces's supply lines. Team 11 and a team led by my dad went on a two pronged attack on their two known routes and completely destroyed them. Ever since then, Iwa has been on the backfoot. At least on this battlefield."

"So Jun's mission was a success then?" Ishito questioned, to which Rukia answered again with a nod.

"Yep. He also told us about something else actually," Rukia continued with a large smile on her face, conveying her excitement. "Han defected. The Steam Bull, S-Rank ninja of Iwa, completely deserted his village after the fight in Kamino. He's considered a missing-nin now."

Ishito's eyes widened in surprise at that bit of information. "Is that so..?" He then closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "Quite unexpected indeed. Is there anything else?"

Ishito had a suspicion as to why the man did it. After all, just from history alone would tell you that most Jinchuriki aren't treated well by their village.

Speaking of Jinchuuriki, the current Jinchuriiki for the one tails was an old man nearing his 70s now. From what Ishito could remember, he was a veteran ninja back from the warring states and he was chosen as the first Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi until now.

It seems they would have to find a replacement soon.

Rukia smiled somewhat bitterly at the question as she shuffled in her seat, which immediately prompted a raised eyebrow from him. 'What's gotten her nervous?'

"There is one other thing. Yesterday, we received word from Kazekage-sama requesting reinforcements. Things aren't looking good in the Land of Storms and we just suffered a pretty major defeat. Even with Chiyo-sama there, the losses were pretty significant." Rukia said with a low tone.

"I see." Ishito drawled out, as he closed his eyes for a second in respect for the fallen. "So I assume that some of our contingent will be sent to reinforce them? Can we afford to do that?"

"Mhm, and it's half of our contingent actually. With the destruction of Kamino, Han's defection, and the broken supply line, Iwa's forces in the Land of Stones have been severely crippled. Dad cleared them to leave just yesterday."

Ishito nodded in agreement at the assessment, however his trained eyes noticed her down rotten posture and her morose tone. "And what's with you? What's gotten you so sullen?"

He saw her cheeks slightly redden at being caught with whatever it was she was feeling.

"Oh! I-It's nothing, sensei! It's just…Souei and Rasa are both part of the forces sent to reinforce the Kazekage. I guess I just feel slightly bummed out that I'm not with them. I know it's childish, but I also can't help but be worried." She continued, with her facial features showing obvious concern and frustration. "If the situation in the Land of Storms is so bad where even the Kazekage and Chiyo-sama together couldn't handle it, then they'll be present in a battlefield where even Kage-level shinobi are struggling."

Ishito hummed at that. True, with the powers that will be present in that battlefield, Souei and Rasa would no doubt be caught within the crossfire of fights between Kage-level powerhouses. Not to mention the amount of Elite Jonin that will be there. Strong as they are, he's sure that neither are ready for that type of confrontation.

But he has faith.

"Indeed, it's not ideal. But when is the world ever fair? Remember Rukia, that we are Shinobi and we are at war. Both Souei and Rasa understand this, which is why they are going out there right now. But also don't forget that both of them are strong. I'm confident that whatever it is they face, they'll do so with the might of every Sand Shinobi also present in that battlefield. Have faith in them, like they had faith in you."

Rukia's eyes widened at his words. Even though it might not calm her completely, it seems they were enough to help her a small bit.

"Thank you, sensei." She said with a small smile. One that he returned.

"You're welcome."

.

.

'Feel the earth beneath. Spread your chakra and pulse it. Sense everything in your surroundings.'

Souei repeated those words in his mind as he went through his daily meditation. It was a new habit that he's trying to cultivate to calm his mind and part of his Earth Chakra training.

He, along with Rasa and around 500 other sand ninja were sent to reinforce the battle at the Land of Storms. It was roughly a three day trip and they were now on the second day of travel. It was during one of the breaks where took the chance to elemental

Chakra training.

He sat on a large cliff, towering over a massive expansive forest. The moon hung high in the night sky, a cluster of stars dotting the black canvas. It's been a while since he's seen something so beautiful.

Apart from his puppetry techniques, earth nature was another one of his repertoire of abilities that he had neglected. Compared to his fire chakra training, his earth chakra mastery was sorely lacking.

He was already capable of imbuing fire to his thread release, the same could not be said for his earth. One of the major issues he's experienced during the course of the war is that his threads were too brittle and easy to destroy.

Any opponent that had a decent mastery with sharp weapons like swords could cut through his strings with ease, this was proven back during chunin exams when he fought Tosen Kaname. Not to mention that without enhancing it in any way, his strings were annoyingly easy to burn.

Fire chakra helps in increasing his threads destructive capability and piercing power, so does that mean that earth chakra would do the opposite and increase the durability and relative tensile strength of his strings?

He certainly hopes so.

Not to mention the potential effects it could have when he tries to control live people.

However, he found that trying to increase his mastery over earth was quite difficult. Ishito Sensei had helped him with the intermediate level by turning solid earth to mud and back again in the span of a single second.

Now though, he simply doesn't know the training method when it comes to the next level. He had wanted to ask his sensei prior to them leaving the base, but the man still hadn't woken up by the time they were told to leave.

He then tried asking Rasa since the guy shared the elemental affinity with him, but he was apparently even worse on earth than Souei was. Rasa had focused more on water and wind, since his Gold Dust had already much better defensive properties than earth.

It was a shame, but he had to make do.

He then thought long and hard about ways to train up earth chakra. After racking his brain for about 10 minutes and not finding a solution, he simply gave up and decided to practice a little more on his Seismic Sense.

And so here he was, 30 minutes into doing so, expanding his chakra to the earth beneath him and having the world around him painted in his mind's eye.

'This is still not enough…'

As of right now, the range for his sensory technique maxed out to around a kilometer. But that's just it, all he could do is sense their presence and nothing else. He couldn't tell their chakra level, their strength, or anything else. His technique also depended on them touching the ground. If any of his opponents were flying or jumped at him beyond his maximum range, he wouldn't be able to sense them coming.

'I knew that the Seismic Sense paled in comparison to Rukia's sensory technique, but still. There's gotta be something I could do to improve it.'

"So this is where you were."

Rasa announced as he made his presence known, particles of gold dust coalesced and formed into his frowning and arm-crossing self.

Souei had detected him coming seconds ago, and simply opened his eyes to address his friend.

"Yeah, just getting my daily dose of training in. What's up?"

"Nothing much, it was getting late and I thought to remind you that we'll be going through our final trek to the Land of Storms tomorrow." Rasa said as he walked beside the still seated Souei and joined him in looking out into the vast horizon.

"I didn't forget, don't worry. It's pretty crazy now that I think about it. We're about to go back into battle with quite possibly the elites of both Iwa AND Konoha. Not to mention Ame is also in the equation. The strength of the shinobi we're about to fight are undoubtedly on a much higher level than the usual we fought in the Land of Stone."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. We had our fair share of powerful enemies back there. Kitsuchi the Earthquake and Gari of the Explosion Release were powerful adversaries in their own right. And don't forget what that monster Han was capable of doing." Rasa added.

"I don't think I'll ever forget him…" Souei said with a shake of his head. "It's pretty crazy to see how many strong people are actually out there. Ishito Sensei is probably the strongest person I know, barring the Kazekage and Aunt Chiyo of course, but remembering his state after fighting Han is still pretty mind blowing and disorienting at the same."

"Really shakes your world view." Rasa agreed with his signature monotone voice.

"It sure sucks to not have Rukia with us. I'd much rather have her covering our backs than not to be honest. Especially with the kind of battlefield we're going into."

"You and me both, but nothing we could do about it. Look at the brightside, at least he's looking over Ishito Sensei in our stead."

Souei sighed as he stood back up and stretched his back with an audible pop. "Well, can't argue with you there. C'mon then, let's head back. It's late and we've got a long day tomorrow. Best get as much rest as we can."

Rasa wordlessly agreed as they both walked back towards camp. Souei's mind whirled as he envisioned the future ahead of him.

'Looks like we're entering the next step. Oh well, despite everything else, it'll be great to see Aunt Chiyo again.'

_

Not much happened in this chapter, aside from Ishito waking up and the fact that Rasa and Souei are now being sent to the Land of Storms.  The battlefield where monsters of all kinds are now fighting in an active war.

Advanced chapters on my pat_reon page! Depending on the tier, you could get up to chapter 33 by the time this was published. Chapter 34 and 35 are being edited as we speak and chapter 36 is already halfway done. So make sure to sign up if you want an early release.

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