A quick note before we begin (the summary space was too short to include this) This is a Dynasty Warriors FanFic centred around an OC and mainly follows the Jin storyline for a time. However! We will be diverting the story (And history) towards the end of the fic, to show how true the phrase "Like (grand)father, like (grand)son" truly is! I haven't yet decided if there'll be any character relationships in here, I'll obviously mention existing ones in the games, but if there's any being properly made for the first time, it will most likely be between OC's!

I also know I have another story going, but I've hit a major block on that, so consider that, for the moment, on hold until I figure out what to do with it! :)

Chapter 1 – Birth of a Hero

Zhang Hu was not his father. A passionate warrior and an able commander, yes, but he didn't have the same tenacity and inspiring qualities that his father, Zhang Liao, had always held so dear, but on the Liao Dong campaign he did not need such qualities, they would fall on the shoulders of someone else.

Zhang Hu's spear swung to the left and then to the right, each swift stroke was followed by the grunts and groans of the soldier that it brought down. Hu pointed his spear towards the peak of the mountain that they were fighting the rebels on "Swiftly!" He cried out "We must take Mount Shou!" He spurred his men onwards before charging forwards alongside them. He was leading the vanguard forces of Sima Yi up the mountain towards the peak, whilst his commander led the main force behind them. Yi had given him 800 men, hoping to inspire him to greatness, to recreate his father's great victory against Wu in which he fought of thousands with just 800. So far it seemed to work, Zhang Hu's men had so far been fighting with great intensity and had yet to be stalled by any warriors, but that would swiftly change…

At the top of the peak, Zhang Jin had been enjoying a laid-back lifestyle, living off of the bare necessities and nothing more, the hunting wasn't superb thanks to the high altitude so that meant it mainly came down to foraging for berries and herbs. Mount Shou held potential for being a home where Jin could happily live in peace and that is what had drawn him in, it meant that he would be safe. He lived in a small clearing of trees near the peak, in the standard shirt, trousers and sandals of a villager he drew no particular stares, although he must admit that he wished he had brought some sort of weapon along with him, it left him feeling almost naked despite his abilities in hand to hand combat.

One morning, he was awakened by the clashing of swords and the marching of men. Sitting up, the 18 year old rubbed his eyes and groaned as he picked his way out of the trees and made his way towards the edge of the forest. Men were marching past with spears in hand, they weren't wearing the imperial blue, instead they wore white. This meant that they must be Gongsun Yuan's rebels and that meant that they were not his friends. He had heard of Yuan's uprising but he didn't think that they would need to retreat up Mount Shou, that meant that Sima Yi had taken Liao Sui or at least had passed around it, the hasty forced march that Jin had seen must have been one of Yuan's officers marching up North to intercept him.

One man trotted past on a horse shouting "Onwards!" pointing his spear towards the combat pushing up the mountainside "We must defend Mount Shou! Our lord commands us to fight to the last man, we must not lose this position!" Jin recognized the man atop a horse as Bei Yan, one of the rebellions commanders, serving under Gongsun Yuan. His men shouted and pushed onwards towards the clashing of swords, it seems that the imperial forces were already steadily pushing themselves up the mountain towards the peak.

"Hey! You!" A soldier called, pointing at Zhang Jin, who instantly turned tail and fled, the mounted commander swiftly called up three troops.
"Chase him! He may be a spy!"
"Yes sir!" The men cried before giving chase. Zhang Jin instantly regretted not bringing any proper weapons or armour with him north, running through the trees, he realised that the soldiers would be fatigued from their march up the mountain as well as dressed in heavy armour, carrying cumbersome weapons, all disadvantages that he was free of. All the same, they would be able to track him and that would be a problem. Bei Yan would probably give the scouts a good 30 minutes before sending out a force to find them. He would need to take out his pursuers and get away before then. Quickly making sure that he was out of their line of sight, he turned around and clambered up the nearest tree and with a swift grunt, pulled himself up into a branch and waited.

"He went this way!" The first soldier clattered past, and Zhang Jin leaped down with a deep breath, the second soldier passed him as he fell and his feet collided with the helmet of the third with a heavy thud, forcing the man to the floor with a cry of pain. Crumpling to the ground and falling into unconsciousness, the soldiers grip on his spear slackened and he dropped his spear. Zhang Jin swiftly took it up himself and took a step forwards before tossing it like a javelin, his aim was true and the spear pierced through the second soldiers shoulder. The first turned around at the shouts of his comrades to see Jin unsheathing the unconscious soldiers sword with a grunt whilst the second collapsed with a sob, gripping the spear protruding from his shoulder.

The first soldier approached with his spear and gave it a firm thrust, but Zhang Jin parried the thrust aside with a swing to the left, the soldier jumped back and launched another thrust but Zhang Jin spun to the side and slashed downwards towards the soldiers neck. The momentum of his swing through his aim off and he collided with the man's shoulder, biting into his armour, not causing any significant damage. The soldier dropped his spear, the power of the swing jarring it from his hands, he went for his sword and began to unsheathe, Jin released the grip on his own blade, locked into the scales of his opponents armour and grabbed the soldiers wrist. The pair wrestled one another for a while before Jin managed to pin his opponent against a tree. Wresting his sword from his grip, he pierced it into his side, feeling the blade slide between his ribs, he removed the sword and let the body fall to the floor.

It hadn't been the first time Zhang Jin had killed a man, nor would it be the last. That much he knew. This war had absorbed him now and he knew he could not escape. Moving from the fight scene with haste, he proceeded to the one place that they wouldn't be looking for him, the rebel main camp. Peeking through the trees he saw men moving around hurriedly, archers got into position to launch volleys on the enemy positions, spearmen formed their shield walls to halt the advance of any enemy cavalry, the enemies own sparse cavalry got into a position to lead a counter-attack and charge down the mountainside when the repulsed the enemies offence. All in all, the rebels were strategically well prepared and seemed to outnumber the Imperial forces, plus they had the high ground giving their archers a much greater advantage.

"Onwards! We're almost at the peak!" A voice called in the distance. The commander of the Imperial Vanguard most likely, if he marched up here, he'd be slaughtered by those archers. Zhang Jin frowned and looked around, he needed a distraction and fast. Grabbing his sword he sprinted from the copse of trees he was hidden in and sprinted towards the enemy archers, if he could just distract them for long enough, so that the Vanguard could make it's way up the peak, he would have achieved something.

"Hey!" He called, swinging his blade at the back of an archer, the rest turned to see their ally fall and stumbled back in shock, clearly wondering how an enemy had gotten past their lines so easily. The brief moment of confusion had clearly done enough, the few who managed to train bows on him swiftly lost their target as he weaved through the archers, preventing them from getting a clean shot on him. He sliced where he could and dodged where he couldn't, and then, just when he spotted one archer get a clear shot, everything slowed down. He could see the metal of the head glinting in the sun, he could feel a shadow gathering over him, it was so real, he took a deep breath and braced himself for the oncoming death as time returned to normal around him.

A bay horse landed in front of him and a spear was thrust downwards towards the archer, piercing his throat and sending him gagging to the floor. The spear flurried left and then right at the archers and Jin needed no more warning, he was already amongst them again, sword swinging and glinting in the sunlight, tainted red by the blood of his opponents. More cavalrymen were suddenly amongst them, spears and swords were thrust and slashed at the enemy as the vanguard pushed through the defences of Mount Shou with unprecedented skill. Then came the main force, thousands of infantrymen poured up and onto the peak before falling upon the enemy army, Zhang Jin was with them, swinging his stolen sword he cut down an unprepared spearman, before spinning and parrying away another strike, an imperial troop followed through and thrust towards the rebel, killing Jin's attacker. Every now and again, Jin caught sight of the Van Commander, he never properly saw his face, but the unshaking sense of familiarity was still there all the same.

"Fight to the death! Leave none alive!" cried the familiar voice of the rebel commander as he charged forth on his horse, Zhang Jin watched as the Van Commander burst forwards to meet him, both raised spears and thrust at one another.

A searing pain shot through Zhang Hu's shoulder as he was unhorsed before the rebel commander. Troops surrounded them and cheered on their respective leaders, the rebels were roaring with glee as Hu picked himself up out of the dirt with a growl. Someone lay a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him. "Allow me to handle this, my Lord." They said as they walked past him and raised a common sword. They were dressed like a peasant, he couldn't allow some commoner to fight and die in his stead! The rebel commander, whom Hu recognized as Bei Yan, charged towards the peasant and he raised a hand in complaint
"You! What are you doing?" He cried "You'll get yourself killed!" But then, to everyone's shock, the peasant ducked low and swung his blade, Bei Yan's horse keeled over and dismounted it's rider. Hu and the entirety of the two armies watched in shock as the peasant walked over to Bei Yan and pointed his sword at him.
"Do you yield?" He asked, but Bei Yan simply snorted.
"I was ordered to fight to the death…" He growled, unsheathing a hidden dagger "And fight to the death I shall!" He lunged up towards the peasant, thrusting the dagger. The Peasant swung his sword to the left, and parried the dagger away, before swinging the sword across to the right across his throat, sending Bei Yan gagging to the floor, drowning on his own blood. The Peasant snorted in disgust
"You were not even worthy of my time…"

The armies were then at it once again, Zhang Hu wanted to find the Peasant who had fought in his stead and ask him who he was, the Wei Empire was always in need of good officers and he felt it his duty to offer the man a post. But he needed to defend himself first, spear working through the enemy, the better trained Wei troops easily glided through the rebels, before they were easily routed and sent scurrying. Zhang Hu let out a sigh of relief as he saw Sima Yi ride up to the peak, a strategists fan in his hand. Silently wafting himself with the feathered fan he looked down at Zhang Hu. "An adequate performance, Master Hu." He said with a small nod "But from what I here, it was not you who duelled and killed Bei Yan?" Zhang Hu went down onto one knee, placed his spear on the floor and placed a fist in his palm.
"It was not, my Lord" He said graciously "It was a local peasant, from the looks of things." Sima Yi suddenly burst into laughter and looked down on the general, who simply frowned, but knew better than to ask what his lord found so funny.
"That 'peasant' was no local, in fact, Master Hu, he comes from Xu Chang." Hu looked up at Sima Yi. "That 'peasant'." His lord continued "Is in fact a grand warrior. Would you care to meet him?" Zhang Hu raised a hand and gently stroked his beard.
"Yes, my Lord. I would indeed wish to meet this man!" Sima Yi nodded, before motioning him to follow with his fan before turning his horse and trotting towards his tent, the first set up on the mountain.
"We have laid siege Xiang Ping, but it seems that the weather may have other plans, the Liao River will flood, and it will be easy for Gongsun Yuan's forces to pasture their animals as well as forage." Zhang Hu nodded in response as he followed his Lord.
"We could easily assault any foragers though, the city would starve quickly enough." Sima Yi laughed and shook his head.
"No… We will leave them be, let them grow content and fat, and whence they are at their weakest, we shall strike." They had arrived at Yi's tent, and dismounting, he handed his reigns to a stable boy before motioning for Hu to step inside.

The Peasant sat at the table, gratefully sipping on a cup of warm wine, when Sima Yi and Zhang Hu entered. The Army Commander motioned for Hu to sit next to the warrior, whilst he himself seated himself opposite them. "I must say, Master Jin." Yi said as he took his place. "That was a grand display you put on against Bei Yan, the troops found it most intriguing." Hu was trying his best to see the warriors face, but could see little other than his dark black hair which fell over his face.
"Thank you my Lord." The Peasant responded "It was an honour to serve you… And you…" He turned to Zhang Hu "Father."

"Zhang Jin!" Hu exclaimed, leaning back slightly in shock, before bursting into laughter and embracing his son, before holding him at arm's length and inspecting him "You look like a common peasant, lad!" He cried "We must clean you up, at once!" Sima Yi raised a hand and Hu instantly quietened down.
"As I said…" Sima Yi started "Your display was most impressive, Master Jin." He gave an assertive nod "The men rally behind strong warriors such as yourself, your father and your grandfather before him, I would like to offer you the title of 'General Who Inspires the North' and make you an official general of the Cao-Wei Empire." Zhang Hu smiled and looked across at his son, Sima Yi had said 'grandfather' rather than the plural 'grandfathers' which meant he didn't know of Zhang Jin's ancestry yet, which was good to know.
"Son…" He said "This is a good opportunity! I know you wanted independence, that is why you left four months ago… But you're a grown man now, and being offered a post by a grand commander such as Lord Sima Yi. I implore you, fight alongside your father once more!" Zhang Jin bit his lip and looked from his father, to Sima Yi.
"General Who Inspires the North…" He muttered, before nodding slightly "I accept; on the one condition that my armour and spear are sent up to me." Sima Yi nodded with a small smile.
"They are already on their way." Zhang Hu clapped a hand on his sons shoulder.
"You've made the right choice, Jin!" Sima Yi motioned to the entrance of the tent.
"Now go, both of you, I have plans to make without you dullards distracting me so." Both men stood up and bowed deeply before taking their leave. As Zhang Hu and Zhang Jin were leaving the tent, Sima Yi's sons, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao entered. Shi stopped in front of Zhang Jin and held out a hand, halting his progress.
"You are the one who duelled and killed Bei Yan..?" He asked, to which Zhang Jin nodded and bowed deeply.
"I am, my Lord." Shi simply grunted before looking across at Zhang Hu.
"Master Hu. Given your family I would have expected more…" He looked Zhang Jin up and down "Better dressed offspring…" He then moved on, to take a seat in front of his father, leaving Zhang Hu and Zhang Jin stood their stunned.
"Don't mind my brother…" Sima Zhao said with an easy-going smile. "I saw you fight today Jin, it was a good show, well done!" Zhang Jin bowed once again.
"Thank you, my Lord." Zhao nodded at him before continuing to take his own seat in front of his father. Zhang Hu and Zhang Jin left the tent.

Zhang Jin's father turned to speak to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You should go and get some rest, son." He said "Your gear should arrive any time this week and you'll have plenty to do whilst you're waiting. I am proud of you, my son." Zhang Jin smiled
"Thank you, father. I should…" He yawned suddenly, earning a grin from his father. "I should go and find a tent…" Zhang Hu nodded and released his grip on his sons shoulder, letting him leave. As the young general walked away, he smiled, he was just like his grandfather was that boy.

"You'll be a hero yet…"