Storm in the Desert
Standing at the far south of the circular hall, the elders of the Hidden Village in the Sand were visible out the upper corner of my left eye. The Third Kazekage stood with his arms crossed on the parapet. By his side stood the Honoured Siblings of Sunagakure overlooking the trainees in the hall. Ebizō patiently awaited the start of the exam, yet his eyes were already analysing each combatant. The boredom of waiting had driven his sister, Chiyo, to indulge in an afternoon nap. You would have thought the leader of the Puppet Brigade might have been slightly more interested in her potential future teammates, especially considering that she trained us all. The twenty five of us stood equidistant around the outskirts of the room, each with the intention of being one of the last five standing to pass the test and join the Puppet Brigade. Or that was the intention of twenty four of us at least.
The bell tolled as an indication to prepare our weaponised marionettes. Chiyo jutted upright from the rude awakening. All my class drew out their summoning scrolls and began to bring out their toys. I hesitated and deliberately delayed my technique, pushing my two tight braids of black hair behind each shoulder. A mass of freaky, twisted, wooden contraptions appeared before each proud puppeteer as their creations appeared before them. The satisfaction they got out of designing and using their own deadly mechanisms was truly perverse. One by one, their malicious eyes slowly turned to me in anticipation.
I boasted ten summons during the training. Ten. Sensei Chiyo could easily control ten puppets in perfect synchrony. The top of the class could control three puppets at most. Yet I, the girl at the bottom of the class, intended to use ten for the exam? Madness, to say the least. I was met with mockery and disregard. Even Chiyo had burst out in an uncontrollable fit of laughter when she first heard of it. Upon the realisation that no amount of scrutiny from anybody would every make me change my words they quickly lost interest and I became the ignored failure of the class once more. Now they were intrigued though. They wanted to see if I could keep to my promise, and my heart was set on delivering a show. Commanding the complete attention of all in the room I took central stage and calmly brought forth my summons. Ten summons I boasted, not ten puppets.
As the smoke around me cleared I crossed my arms, my fingers clutching my sides tightly to conceal my weapons. My right arm was mostly hidden by the cloth cloak that hung over my left shoulder and down to my elbow. Those close to me craned their necks to try and catch a glimpse of what was behind my back, yet it was to no avail. Above me I could see the Kazekage and Ebizō watching with what I thought, and hoped, was interest while Chiyo was shaking her head looking at the floor. Watch me. Casting the cloak behind me I extended my fingers. The chakra threads attached to each fingertip pulled out a floating blade from behind my back. The blades pointed away from me, five at each side, and were fanned out, almost akin to wings. The hilt of each blade was specially designed to allow for optimum control when using chakra strings. From there until half way up the blade they were serrated on both edges, an adjustment for destructive purposes, especially against wood. The rest of the blade was straight and ended just before the length of a normal katana in a sharp point designed for both perforation and slashing. I kept them still in the air beside me to show them off. The reactions of the examiners did not change, but I saw a mixture of hate, rage, disappointment, and comedy from my fellow classmates. Now I finally understood the pride of being able to implement my own masterpiece into battle. The bell rang out once more to signal the start of the fight as a smirk crept across my face.
The clattering of wooden parts spurring into action was deafening yet I could not allow myself to be distracted. I had insulted the uppity novices and wounded their pride, effectively painting a bull's-eye on my chest. Within moments ugly abominations swarmed me to try and claim that target. Throwing both hands forwards and twisting them round and round caused my blades to form a spinning vertical circle in front of me, which acted as a shield against oncoming projectiles. Behind the shield my visibility was reduced and created an opening for attackers, a trap for anybody stupid enough to try and seize it in all reality. Two matching puppets tried to move to flank me but were reduced to a heap of scrap when one of my blades danced through the two of them. Raising one arm in front and one behind, I dropped into a stance with blades floating all around me. With only a flick of the front wrist I sent one set of blades flying forward in a spiral, successfully stripping the body of one puppet of all its attachments, while tearing through another three. I charged forward with outright blades surrounding me. Puppets that got too close to me were impaled and shattered upon impact. Allowing myself to be surrounded by a group of them I jumped up as they attacked, looking down as they all missed. Some even damaged each other which was a helpful byproduct. I closed my eyes, smiled and spun gracefully through the air with my arms outstretched. The blades followed my movements and cut through the crowd of puppets that tried to catch me. I landed in a mess of residue as the blades floated to a halt around me. They sent an enjoyable amount of marionettes to their destruction by throwing them at me. All it took was the tiniest finger movement or the flick of a wrist and most their weapons were rendered useless. Very rarely would one pose a sufficient threat to actually make me worry. One practically presented itself to me so I slammed all ten blades into it for fun. The following one attempted to use the opportunity to attack. A foolish notion that resulted in a falling sweep from one lot of blades, which served to damage the machine. The same blades rose back up for a horizontal slash as it tried to retreat. I proved myself quicker than the toy as it was decimated by the strike. I hid my blades amongst the destruction that lay around the room, and jumped, causing them to spring up as a puppet was near them. I had eradicated most of the puppets in the hall alone as I lost myself to the feral euphoria of the fight.
Sadly my fun came to an end with the final toll of the bell. Returning to a neutral stand I grouped the blades above me, trying to fight back a grin as I looked up toward the elders. A scream echoed from behind me causing me to spin around. One of my classmates, engulfed by anger and madness, threw his arms forward as his monster followed. Its six bladed arms were pointed toward me and closing the distance between us. That caused the corners of my mouth to curl upwards. I dropped to my knees with milliseconds to spare and my blades fell, turning the mechanised beast into my own personal pincushion mere inches away from my face. As it twitched and broke I rose slowly over the remains of my enemy. It was only then that I noticed the iron sand that surrounded me. The Kazekage himself did not think that I could protect myself from such a situation and acted to protect me, but I managed myself. The sand returned to him as I examined the boy who was intent on taking my life. He was shaking, staring wide-eyed at what remained of his puppet. Perhaps it was in grief of his failure, or horror at the realisation of what he did, it made no difference to me. I was too concerned with my decisive victory.
"Arashi!" My smirk grew wider as the old hag boomed my name. Turning back to face them I saw the backs of her brother and the Kazekage leaving the parapet while she glared down at me. I couldn't help but smile. I spited the teacher who saw nothing but failure from me. "Come with me. The rest of you, clean up the mess!" As the old witch followed her fellow elders from the hall, my classmates began to raise their voices as I was heading to leave. The majority scoffed and refused to look at me. Some muttered all kinds of insults. One even spat in front of me. I was used to being alone, but such hatred hurt me. Only slightly though. Regardless I held my head high as I dismissed my summons and continued to the door.
Chiyo stood at the entrance to the hall laughing. "So very clever aren't you?" Her tone was a lot less malicious than I had prepared for but I stayed cautious. "You caught us all with that impressive little trick. Furthermore we didn't actually expect for it to defeat everybody as well. You did surprisingly well. Though a complete failure for the Puppet Brigade, the Kazekage took note of your interesting use of the technique. He wants you for the ANBU. It's not exactly an offer you can refuse." Guffawing with laughter she began to walk away. "It works out well for the both of us as our paths need never cross again." I bowed my head slightly, allowing my trademark smirk to make an appearance. Maybe I was wrong about the old bat, maybe she isn't so bad at all. More importantly though, the result had turned out far better than I could have ever imagined. I was to be an ANBU of Sunagakure by the order of the Third Kazekage.