A/N: So, I am in a bit of a serious mood as a writer this week and as my regular readers know my multichaptered Minato fic is not very serious. So, instead of being all sad and going on a bit of a break just because I couldn't write a chapter for one story, I decided to create another! I mean, no one yells at writers if they write other fics, right? Well anyway this is me being mean in a way because I have hinted this fight in my other fic, and this is a bit of a teaser.
I had this taking place sometime relatively near Minato's promotion to Jounin, for context. I had an idea for a good scene and ran with it. I don't write serious scenes often and I was unsure how my ability to convey enjoyable combat measured up, hopefully I will get reviews to tell me. Enjoy.
Also I have edited the story a bit since I first posted it, because my goodness did I make some errors when I tiredly posted this.
Border Patrol
War was an ugly monstrosity, the tendrils from any given war reaching deep underground into the hearts and minds of humanity. Lives were lost, never to be regained. Countries were razed and torn apart for various reasons. Some countries simply were not content with the power that they held, wishing to dominate the world for their own objectives. Some men feared death at the cost of everything else in life, ill at ease to allow a single person to enter the land that they had deemed their own; fearful that such people could be the end of them. Then again, some people simply wished to protect their loved ones with whatever force was required. Such naïve thoughts that war was worth fighting simply because your loved ones are in danger does not change the fact that war does nothing but kill and sever our connections to this world in a most gruesome manner. Yet, if intent is not worth a man's glance, then couldn't we, as living creatures and sentient beings, simply be replaced by robots that are trained to take certain actions for the rest of time? You only get one life, and if intent doesn't matter to you, you probably aren't living it right.
A young man wanders a near endless border. His feet barely holding him as he takes ragged breaths, and the groans escaping his mouth giving away the terrible pain he is in. His body is riddled with cuts, some appearing to be very deep. In particular, his right leg has a deep gash in it and he can't be bothered to lift it off the ground. He simply finds it acceptable to drag the foot, hoping to make it back to his country. Then, and only then, will he be safe. The rain continues to pelt the man, seemingly intensifying as he nears his destination. He is only a few dozen meters away from the border of this accursed land, and then he will be safe.
Safety did not appear to be in the cards for him, sadly.
"So, a foreign shinobi has waltzed into my land and expects to leave without saying hello to its king, how rude." The voice came from a few meters in front of the wounded man, the heavy rain distorting the ninja's vision so that he could not quite make out his features other then the fact he seemed impossibly tall from this vantage point. With every word the young man felt death creep closer to him, as if newcomer's very presence made death a much more likely outcome.
"I-I am a chuunin of Konoha, I only am passing through this country as a shortcut, the accords our leaders established with this country state that-" The chuunin was cut off as the man closed the distance between them before another word could be uttered. He reached down and roughly grabbed the man by the collar of his ninja uniform before throwing him towards the border with fire country, although the heavily injured leaf-nin did not quite make it far enough to safely enter his country.
"I know about the precious accords, after all, I am the one that signed them." The chuunin's eyes bulged out as he began to crawl to his border in desperation. He now knew exactly who he was dealing with: death himself. A man so feared throughout the world that his name was only spoken in hushed whispers. Even many of the most powerful ninja in the world thought it was foolish to meet him in combat. Even worse, inside his own country of Rain, he was said to be unbeatable. Hanzō of the Salamander looked down upon the chuunin with eyes that lacked any sort of remorse.
"I told those Konoha dogs years ago that I would show them mercy if they just left my beautiful country alone. It was such a simple request, don't you agree?" Hanzō tilted his head behind his mask, his pale blonde hair becoming messier as he seemingly waited for an answer.
"I-I am a chuunin of Konoha, I am only passing through this-" Hanzō cut him off abruptly, bringing a boot down on the man's spine, causing him to scream, the pain more intense than anything he had ever felt before.
"I do not like to have people repeat themselves uselessly, especially if they cannot understand the question at hand. At the very least, peasant, if you had not spoken at all, I could have just killed you swiftly. But repeating your boring prepared speech is going to cost you extra, little puppy of fire." Hanzō bent down to paralyze the helpless ninja when a voice interrupted his enjoyment.
"Hanzō of the Salamander, it is an honor to meet you. Elation aside for a moment, I request that you step away from the Konoha ninja which you currently have in your custody in accordance to section eight paragraph three of the treaty of the second great war between the nation of Rain and the country of Fire." Hanzō took the time to look up to see a blonde haired man standing on the other side of the border, his rain falling just inches short of the man's face as the Konoha ninja stared back at him with a supremely calm look in his eyes, as if he was not on the edge of death itself for daring to come this close to his country.
"So a slightly bigger mutt has decided to make his presence known. State your name boy, it is only polite." The man on the other side of the rainy barrier cracked a small smile at the insult, although if one were to look closely they would notice the strain in that smile. The young man was angry, and when he was angry bad things tended to happen.
"My name is Namikaze Minato, jounin of the Leaf. I am on border control and noticed the chakra signature of one of our chuunin in your territory and decided to check it out. I will say again, Hanzō-sama, please return our shinobi and we can get on our ways, I know you are a busy man." The man named Minato was polite, although Hanzō could tell he was not being overly sincere with the honorific the blonde had attached to his name.
"I see. Well, jounin-chan, perhaps if you beg me with a deep enough bow I will consider sparing this pathetic child's life." As his sentence finished thunder roared overhead and lightning appeared in the horizon. Namikaze Minato was no longer smiling. His jaw line was set and his eyes narrowed, a gross amount of killing intent aimed directly at Hanzō, who was slightly taken aback by the force behind it.
"Don't you ever call a loyal ninja of Konoha such a lowly thing again, you paranoid ivory tower watching piece of trash." Minato's voice was even, his words said quietly, although Hanzō was anything but quiet. He let out a snarl as soon as the words has left Minato's lips and he performed several hand seals in quick succession before unleashing a thin jet of water at Minato who spun out of the way, although not before some of the water brushed against his jounin vest, causing it to quickly corrode. Minato quickly took the vest off and threw it into rain country, a startled look on his face.
"Acidic Water? I guess I can't hold back then."
Minato took out four kunai and threw them haphazardly at Hanzō who easily deflected them all around him and launched another water based jutsu at Minato. The blonde's eyes winded as the water split off three times to form sharpened daggers of ice that launched towards him. However as the icy daggers closed in on him Minato allowed a brief smile to play his lips before he completely disappeared from Hanzō's vision.
Hanzō looked bewildered for half of a second before he sensed a chakra presence behind him and he quickly turned to find Minato behind him holding a kunai in a stabbing motion. If he was any other ninja, the life of Hanzō of the Salamander would have ended right then and there. Not getting this far into life being ordinary, the rain ninja deftly caught the kunai hand of Minato and delivered a punishing kick to Minato's midsection, sending him flying away.
Minato was slow to get up, not used to his new technique being dodged. He didn't have much time to consider how it was possible that Hanzō was faster than his technique as the man was quickly upon him delivering a punishing knee to his midsection, causing him to cough up a little blood which smeared onto Hanzō's armor. Hanzo's cold eyes drifted down to the blood in disgust as he backhanded the blond who fell to the ground from the hit.
"Is this what passes for a jounin these days? Such a big mouth with such big words but some small hits and you are on the ground. At least have the dignity to die on your feet, boy." Hanzō stared at Minato imperiously, feeling completely in control of the situation. The rain kept coming down on the both of them, matting down Minato's hair and causing Hanzō to relish the relaxing feeling of yet another easy victory.
"My sensei taught me something valuable, every once in awhile." Minato coughed up a bit more blood as he stood up shakily. Hanzō hilted his head in amusement, able to see that the blonde ninja was a one trick wonder who had gotten beat at his only game: speed.
"He described it as a way to pick up lots of hot women, but for the purposes of this conversation it basically went like this: Taking a painful hit can sometimes have a net benefit to the one being hit. You stand around too much, Hanzō." Minato's hands rapidly began making seals at a speed that Hanzō had never seen before. At the end he whispered the name of the jutsu.
Fūton: Blood Hound
Springing up beside Minato was an ethereal dog made of swirling wind. The dog sniffed the air for a moment before settings its eyes on the rain's leader. It growled at Hanzō, who had Minato's blood on him, and charged forth at a speed that the older ninja was unprepared for. The dog impacted Hanzō and he was pushed several meters back and had cracks in all parts of his armor. His arms, which he had raised to defend himself, were marred with several cuts and gashes from the impact of the dog. Hanzō grunted as he watched the dog dissipate, the chakra Minato had put into it spent.
Minato did not give a chance for a reprieve as he threw another kunai at the man. Just as Hanzō was about to bat it down with his hand Minato appeared on the very edge of the tip of the kunai and smashed an elbow into Hanzō's face, which sent the man reeling back. Minato repeated the process, throwing a kunai at Hanzō's face and then appearing. This time, however, the intelligent rain nin was ready for it and went to twist Minato's shoulder right out of its socket. However, what Hanzō did not expect was for that to be a feint, as Minato teleported behind him and shoved a kunai in between the man's shoulder blades, causing him to scream in a mixture of pain and fury. At this Minato backed up several paces and knelt down to next to the chuunin who had been lying down on the ground during the confrontation, his condition was worsening and he needed medical attention immediately, if Minato's studies under Tsunade had taught him anything, this useless fight with Hanzō could wait another day.
Given a moment of respite, it was then Hanzō noticed that the kunai the young ninja had been throwing around were not ordinary. They all had several distinctive seal markings on them, and not all of them were immediately recognizable to the well read shinobi.
"Well young one, I'll give you your due, you are an interesting runt. Using special kunai to increase your mobility like that, it is little wonder you could wound me when I am taking you lightly. However, the time for playing is over, I will capture your head for drawing my blood, naïve boy." Hanzō's body began to glow blue as the rain intensified several fold, as Minato carried the body of the chuunin into Konoha territory.
"You tempt me, Hanzō. But my pride is not worth the life of a comrade."
Minato quickly drew a seal into the dirt and forcefully coughed up a more blood from his mouth, which he spat onto the seal to activate it. Minato smiled down at the seal, pleased with his improving skill.
Hanzō charged at Minato as fast as he could, intent on ending the young ninja's life in one swift move. As he reached the barrier between his country and fire, his felt a searing pain all through his body as he was repelled violently from the border. Hanzō tried to recover, however his body did not respond to his commands for a few seconds.
Namikaze Minato smiled grimly at him.
"Blood Seals are very powerful; it would be wise to remember that. This particular one works as a chakra barrier, anything that has chakra or has been in contact with anything with chakra recently will be repelled violently, and in the case of living creatures, they will experience a fair bit of pain. Don't worry though: I can't keep up such a powerful seal over long distances, not that I really need to do such a thing." Minato placed the passed out chuunin over his shoulder and turned his back to Hanzō.
"This isn't over Namikaze Minato. We will meet again, even if I must wander forever to find you. My soul will not know rest until I have cut off that head of yours, whelp." Minato's body went rigid at those words, and he turned to face Hanzō once more.
Hanzō would never admit it to anyone else for the rest of his days, but what he saw in those blue eyes that day scared him like nothing before or after. They held such a certainty that should not be possible for any mortal to have. It was the eeriest and most calm expression he would ever see on an imposing ninja.
"I look forward to meeting you again, wherever it may be, Salamander." Having said his piece, Minato leaped into the trees towards Konoha.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I ask that anyone reads this, regardless of how much they enjoyed it, please do review and tell me what you thought. I am a bit out of my comfort zone with this type of scenery just because I don't stretch my legs in it too often, so I hope I delivered a fun oneshot. Oh, and before anyone asks, the chuunin being unnamed is totally purposeful.