Rescue Waho - Settling a Score
3 Years ago
They were in the land of hot water. His team had been hired to escort a couple and their son-
"Brother, there's no need to act so distant."
"I'm working."
"...and as the one who hired you, I say you need to loosen up."
"Don't you have better things to do than waste money requesting my team to escort you on 'spontaneous business trips' that happen to pass through the tourist heavy section of the land of hot water."
"As the only way to get you to visit, I'd say it's money well spent, you damn workaholic."
The ninja scoffed.
"Anyway… you're going to be promoted to jonin soon right? This might be my last chance. Especially if they saddle you with a group of youngsters-"
He internalised a shudder at his brother's suggestion. He didn't like kids.
"-. We both know you've been putting your promotion off a while. Mark my words, you're going to miss this."
"Doubtful."
One of his teammates suddenly appeared at his side.
"Captain Saigorou, we think there might be an ambush up ahead."
Bandits. Time to work.
"What are their numbers? Were you spotted?"
"Ten to fifteen thugs. They didn't seem to notice us."
"Good, take the rest of the team and take them out. I'll stay behind in case it's a diversion."
Better to leave the stronger force with the client.
"If things go wrong, you know the signal."
They jumped out and were out of sight quickly.
"Brother…"
"No need for concern, it's just bandits. We know what we're doing."
A thin bolt of blue lightning shot up into the sky from up ahead.
The signal.
Something had gone wrong.
An echo of thunder: Enemy Attack.
A second echo: Enemy ninja.
A third: Enemy village.
A coordinated attack.
He needed to go help his team before they were overwhelmed.
A ruffle of grass.
Here!?
He moved quickly, placing himself between the sound and the family.
A scream, quickly muffled from behind him.
"Uncle!"
His nephew.
Saigorou turned.
I didn't even hear him.
An enemy ninja, dressed in a black slacks, with a grey jonin style vest. He had long black hair tied back in a ponytail, and a sickly sweet smirk. The man held a knife to his sister-in-law's throat. On his forehead he wore a headband with a musical note.
Stay Calm…
If he moved too quickly he would bring risk to the hostage.
A distraction.
"I'd heard rumours of a Hidden Sound Village. You have no business attacking Lightning's shinobi or its citizens, explain yourself."
The enemy shrugged casually.
"Oh, you know how it is. Man get's rich. Man get's rivals. Rivals hire shinobi to take the man out of the picture. I'm sure you've done your fair share of kidnapping and assasination missions. Now why don't we make this easy, and you just step back and let me leave with my target?"
My brother would be willing.
Their eyes met, and his brother stopped at his gaze.
"I've met your type before. You don't want the easy way."
"Hoho, how right you are. Protocol means I have to offer anyway."
The enemy shrugged in exaggerated exasperation.
"It's such a waste of time. Well, no point dallying then."
The enemy moved to execute his prisoner. A prisoner, who chose that moment to throw a fistfull of sand into his face, forcing him to let her go.
Now!
Not a moment later, and Saigorou's fist was introduced to the ninja's face, sending him flying 11 metres.
"Don't stray too far, I'll protect you."
"Right, Funida, stay close."
Saigorou brought his hands together.
Ram.
"Lightning Release Bullet: Powerful Breath!"
He cocked his fist and punched, emitting a bolt of lighting like a sapphire pillar, impactinging the jonin and blowing him to pieces.
It was easy.
Too easy.
There was no body.
A clone.
"Now where will I attack from? Right or left?"
The voice echoed around him.
A branch broke to the left, he turned.
"Wrong answer!"
He barely managed to turn back and block the kunai strike. Interlocked, the sound ninja threw three shuriken with his free hand, arcing wide and passed the cloud chunin.
Clang, two of the shuriken collided behind him.
The cloud ninja backed out of the deadlock to avoid the redirected projectile.
Boar-Ram-Snake-Horse-!
The enemy caught the shuriken and threw it again, forcing Saigorou to break off the cast.
"More lightning release? How pleasant."
The chunin brought up his fists, ready to block.
…but their positions had switched.
Instead of charging out at the cloud ninja, the bastard turned towards the family, knife in hand. He was going straight for his sister-in-law again.
"Like I'd let you!"
More familiar than breathing, Saigorou went through the hand seals to a jutsu of his own creation.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Wall!"
He planted his palms into the earth. The lightning travelled unseen through the earth, before striking up from the ground, forming a barrier between the sound ninja and the family.
It shouldn't be that quiet.
The sound ninja smirked.
Saigorou felt a massive impact, and coughed up a fistful of blood.
"Tsk tsk. Saigorou, of the lightning barrier. Poor, foolish, Saigorou…"
As his vision began to black out, the ninjas stepped close.
"...you should have just let the woman die and stabbed me in the back."
Present
"Poor foolish Saigorou, it's unfortunate that your escape would happen the day I returned from my mission. I'm the only one who could notice my favourite little pet missing from his cell. Fortune must be smiling on me."
"I was about to say the same."
Laughter.
"Please, you couldn't beat me three years ago. You think that will change now? You've barely had anything to eat the last three years, and that little monk trick of yours is at best a stopgap measure."
The 'monk trick' as he called it. A meditation that allows one to function with less food or water. Supposedly if mastered would let one completely abandon material needs. Saigorou had pursued the technique after his cousin had been captured.
"No more talk."
"Straight to the fun part then!"
To the casual observer, the two disappeared from sight before meeting again in the middle right between them.
The sound ninja held a kunai in a reverse grip, and stabbed it down while catching the cloud ninja's punch in his other hand.
With his free hand, the former prisoner stopped the kunai, letting it stab through the back of his hand. Then he yanked the kunai out of the ninja's hand with a swiping motion, spraying some of his blood in the man's eyes.
Disengage.
Siagorou's hands were together.
Ram
"Lightning Release Bullet: Powerful Breath!"
A punch and a subsequent pillar of lightning.
No thunder.
Saigorou jumped to the side, avoiding the wave of force that struck where he'd been, mirroring the sound ninja's own dodge.
"So you figured out my technique then?"
"I had 3 years to think about it. It's sound, you control the direction of sound, amplifying it to attack your enemies."
The wretch clapped his hands.
"Bravo! Bravo! So close…but that's not quite it. You are right about one thing, I can control the direction of sound waves with my jutsu. Do you know what happens when two waves overlap? Their amplitudes are added together, so when two waves of the same phase and frequency meet, the resulting amplitude doubles!"
The ninja raised a finger.
"Now, sounds typically emit in all directions around the source. If I fold that wave 180 degrees horizontally into a disk, it is strengthened by a multiple of 180! If I take that disk, and fold it 360 degrees into a spear? The resulting wave has an amplitude 64800 times stronger!"
He smirked.
"Thunder is loud. Your lightning release is less than useless against me, it is your greatest weakness. Knowing this, why don't you surrender?"
"You must love the sound of your own voice, why don't you use your jutsu to listen to it more often."
Saigorou went through a familiar set of hand signs.
"I told you that wouldn't work."
"Lightning Release: Lightning Wall!"
The pillars of the wall rose up at random locations around the ninja, some thundered, but others were silent.
"Sound release: Karmic Echo!"
The waves of sound speared Sagorou, shredding him to pieces.
"That's an obnoxious name for a technique."
Saigorou stepped out from the edge of the clearing.
"You're not the only one who can use a clone."
Ram.
"Lightning Release: Powerful Breath!"
The fist of lightning forced the sound ninja to dodge, even as they finished the sign for their own technique.
Saigorou stood still, and nothing happened.
"What!?"
"Do you hear that?"
Saigorou pointed at his ear to emphasise the point.
"You said it yourself, thunder is loud. It's one of the first things we teach genin learning lightning jutsu. If you're not too careful you can damage your ears permanently. That ringing you're hearing, we call it tinnitus."
Saigorou stepped forward calmly.
"You said it yourself, the amplitude of the waves add together. Under the right conditions they multiply, but more likely they'll cancel. I bet that kind of precise manipulation takes some sensitive hearing."
A snarl from the sound jonin, and he charged.
The former prisoner took great satisfaction in the response from the seemingly carefree ninja.
A pissed off ninja is a reckless ninja.
Boar-Ram-Snake-Horse-Dragon
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
A reckless ninja is a dead ninja.
A cone of sparks flew out from his fingers covering the entire space 5m in front of him.
Right where the sound jonin was.
The fried and paralysed body fell to the ground.
"You know what is nice about the 'Electromagnetic Murder'?"
Saigorou stepped closer to the twitching ninja.
"It has a very variable chakra cost. With enough power it can practically shred through earth and stone, but with less…"
He crouched down over the downed ninja.
"...it is perfect for taking ninja alive."
He flipped over the jonin to face him.
"You don't deserve a quick death. Not just for what you've done to me, but to every wave of prisoner you used for 'live targets'."
He grabbed his collar and held him close.
"You know, I should probably thank you for that, because you were absolutely right. Three years starving, even with the meditation, should have left me too weak to fight you. But that sickening display of yours? The one you bragged to me about every time you performed it? It's what led to the only good meal I've had in years."
Wide eyes.
"In other words. if you hadn't been such a shit person, I probably would have lost here."
Saigorou raised his fist.
"It's beautiful to see karma at work."
Punch.
"Captain Saigorou-"
Punch.
"Brother-"
Punch.
"-you damn workaholic."
Punch.
"Uncle!"
Punch, squelch.
"You've been requested by someone you should all be very familiar with-"
Punch, squelch.
"I'd say it's money well spent-"
Punch, squelch and crack.
"-you're going to miss this."
…
"Uncle, you're back! Your arm!"
"Don't worry, the blood isn't mine. Let's get to the hidden cloud. No one will be following us."
AN: Well, that's everything I had written before posting the fic. In a sense this would be the end of 'book 1' From here on out it's chapter by chapter.
Thanks for reading, hope you'll enjoy the rest that is to come.