DECLARATION OF WAR – HANNAH VS SHAO CHIN

South Aturia

Hannah and Claude remain in the snowy plains of South Aturia, sheltered by the evergreen trees. Now is the time of day when Hannah rests, and when Claude watches their surroundings from the top of one of the tallest trees. From his vantage point Claude should be able to see any predators that approach, he prides himself on his eyesight. Even the smallest insects cannot escape his gaze.

Even the eyesight of Claude has a weakness though. He has to turn his head in order to see. If he is not looking in the right direction at the right time, then he may miss a predator. After many years of experience, he believes he has found systems to overcome this weakness. He has found the perfect timing for when to turn his head and where to look when he does. If someone were to avoid him with all these factors taken into consideration, that would be a feat of remarkable skill.

There aren't many people with such skill, however, one of the few is approaching.

Shao Chin has finally found Hannah, a few thousand yards in front of him. A hunter of his distinction doesn't miss the owl though, he knew Claude was around here from the moment he arrived in this biome. When he was finally within the range to accurately pinpoint his location, Shao Chin cycled back through his many memories, working out the worst-case scenario. In the event that Claude had worked as a scout before, there is an optimal search pattern he could be using. If the hunter can manage to avoid that search pattern he will not be detected.

Shao Chin weaves between the trees with precise timing, hiding behind them when the bird's head turns in his direction. When he gets the chance to move, he treads lightly, avoiding leaving any detectable footprints in the snow. He slowly but surely gets closer and closer to Hannah, arriving within a stone's throw of her.

He takes a moment to soak in the sight of her. Purple eyes, as unusual as he had suspected they would be. It is obvious at this distance that Hannah was indeed born an adult, her height is not much different from his own, but there is something behind those purple eyes. There is a naivety that makes it clear to him that she has very little experience, even less than the pocket-worlders. She is an unfortunate victim in all this.

Shao Chin knows that Naruto wanted him to find Hannah and to bring him to her. He has no intention of doing that though, this has been the hunt of his life. He promised not to kill Hannah, but he is going to defeat his prey in this hunt, that is his intrinsic right as a hunter. Then he will bring back the defeated experiment to meet with the man who sent him.

Shao Chin positions himself perfectly beside a tree, making it impossible for Claude to see him and practically impossible for Hannah to spot him. He readies his bow and pulls an arrow from his quiver, making sure to blunt it so as not to kill her. He places the tail of the arrow against the string and draws it back, aiming it perfectly at her head to knock her out.

While she has been difficult to track, he has had a lot of fan. His only regret is that she did not put up more of a fight during this final chase so that he could not enjoy his victory more. It is a pity, but she has without doubt been worthy of his time.

The fight hasn't even begun yet though.

Hannah's arm swings backwards, the impulse that initiates it shocking her awake. From the tips of her fingers fly energy both 'darkness' and 'light'. Her body is immediately wrapped in a dual-element divine cloak, half shining brightly and half enveloping her in darkness. None of this even happens of her own free will, but as she looks over her shoulder, she sees the target of her subconscious attack.

Hannah sees a man in simple white clothes, with a bow in hand. An elderly man with grey hair hanging down past his neck with a full beard to match. She sees a man who broke through later in his life but has been a powerhouse since the moment he did. This is Shao Chin. Unbeknownst to her, perhaps the greatest hunter in Homeworld.

Shao Chin barely dodges to the side of her attack before turning back to her and grinning. It seems to him that she does have some skill after all. As reported her instincts are beyond anything the world has ever seen and are so powerful that they control her. Only in defeat, in accepting a superior will she regain some semblance of control. For him, this is an opponent out of his dreams.

"It's been a long time since my prey has been able to detect my presence," Shao Chin says, "You really are as unique and exciting as I was told to expect."

"You know about me?"

Claude flies down from his vantage point and hovers just over Hannah's shoulder. He warns her about this new arrival who managed to avoid his gaze. Clearly, he is no normal opponent. Unfortunately, he has his doubts about Shao Chin's fortunes from this point forward. He appears to have a similar strength level to Hannah, meaning that with her instinct-based divine ability she cannot lose.

"I have been sent here to collect you Hannah, daughter of General Clyde and Head General Lara."

"Don't say my parents names in front of me," Hannah warns angrily. "I am not some prize for you to collect. I just want to be free. I'm not going with you."

Shao Chin snickers. "To tell you the truth I'm glad you are refusing. Ever since I first heard about you, I've been desperate to fight you."

"Don't do it," Claude warns Shao Chin, "You seem to have some unique skills. If you run now you may be able to get away from her. Hannah doesn't want to defeat you, but if you don't get out of her way she surely will."

Shao Chin doesn't answer Claude, simply smiling at the owl. They all know what that means. The battle between the premier hunter and premier prey, is on. Claude flies up into the air so that he may observe from a safe distance. He prays that Hannah won't kill this man as well, or for the miracle that he will be able to defeat her.

Shao Chin quickly draws two arrows from his quiver and fires them at Hannah.

Hannah reminds perfectly still as the two arrows fly over her shoulders. After they have passed, she begins to walk calmly towards Shao Chin.

The hunter tries to win the fight from distance, sending multiple arrows at Hannah in quick succession. He cannot hit though. Every shot on target she avoids with minimal movement. Every dummy Shao Chin attempts she sees through and ignores. When she finally gets close, he finally decides to leap backwards, trying his best to run away from her.

Escaping Hannah when running away from her in a straight line is difficult, to escape her moving backwards is impossible. You can try to fool her, to jump in random directions to slow down her pursuit or to use obstacles, but none of these will work. No fake movements ever work on the girl with the perfect instincts.

Hannah finally catches up with Shao Chin and reaches for his neck, aiming to deal a quick and decisive blow. Suddenly, at this point, Shao Chin's backward speed increases. He zooms away from her and begins to run away instead of drifting away. His 'gale' energy is one of the best for increasing speed. To propel oneself along with one's energy is easy when your element pertains to the gusty forces of this world.

There are many elements that can help to boost your speed in addition pure 'speed' energy. 'Wind', 'gale', 'lightning', but beyond all of these there is one there is a speed-boosting element that is very difficult to master but yet so effective when you do. That element is 'light'. As it happens Hannah is a user of 'light' energy, and unfortunately for Shao Chin, she doesn't require practice to master simple tricks like a speed-boost.

'Light' energy appears beneath Hannah's feet and her speed increases in a similarly to Shao Chin's. Not only is she now on par with him, she is faster, noticeably faster, and she is gaining on him. Claude struggles to keep up as he watches over them from above, he watches the imprints they leave in the snow and the shaking of the trees as they move past them.

Shao Chin is no warrior, he is a hunter, and he was fully prepared for Hannah to chase after him. He soon passes a small dotted line in the snow that he made some time ago. This is the point he marked to show that he is beyond Claude's seeing distance from the vantage point. This means that from this point onwards he is going to run into the traps that he set up earlier.

Shao Chin moves in a straight line, wiggling only slightly to avoid bumping into the trees. Any deviation from this path and Hannah will surely run into one of his traps. He looks over his shoulder to see when this will happen. It doesn't happen though, as they move rapidly through the evergreen forest Hannah manages to avoid all of the traps. A power beyond coincidence, truly the greatest divine ability that Shao Chin has ever seen. Nobody else could move through those traps at such speed and not trigger one of them.

Hannah finally catches up to Shao Chin. She leaps up into the air and kicks him powerfully in the side of the head, pushing him back through and felling several of the trees. They land with an earth-shaking thud, lifting the snow around Shao Chin into the air. Normally he would try and use this vision-obscuring snow as a cover to attack Hannah, but he knows that she doesn't depend on her sense of sight. Hannah is depending upon a gift bestowed by the heavens.

Shao Chin continues to smile. This is too much fun.

He draws his hand-crafted blade and rushes towards Hannah. He throws the first two attacks, knowing full-well that she would avoid both of them. However, he is trying the same trick he used against Ming Dai, he is trying to lure Hannah into his rhythm.

Shao Chin blocks Hannah's next pair of incoming attacks. He parries her strikes in such a way that her next will come at the time he chooses, dragging her from her own tempo into his. Now all he has to do is find the right timing to attack.

Hannah and Shao Chin continue to trade blows at speed, each of them blocking their opponents strikes. The hunter is impressed that even when unarmed Hannah is able to tussle evenly with him in melee combat like this. The striking contest goes on and on and by the time Shao Chin realises what is happening it is far too late. Almost half a minute passes before he realises that the opening, he is looking for will never come.

The wise hunter was trying to bring this fight to a tempo where he could dominate any opponent, to a fighting speed where he is the most practiced fighter alive, an unbeatable opponent. However, there is no tempo where he can defeat Hannah. The second he brought the fight to this speed, it was no longer his tempo of preference, it was hers.

Shao Chin has only one trick left.

He steps back, putting a short distance between himself and Hannah before tossing his blade aside. They resume their strike exchange. Shao Chin was not simply tossing his blade aside though, the moment it left his grasp it began to move swiftly through the air, powered by his 'gale' energy.

The blade swings around like a boomerang, spinning before straightening and becoming a high-speed arrow. Shao Chin concentrates as hard as he can, dividing his thoughts between the strike exchange and the motion of the blade. When it's arc is complete and it is from Hannah's sight, he brings it flying back towards the rear of her skull.

As the blade approaches, Hannah begins to fend off all of Shao Chin's attacks with one hand. With the other, she reaches behind her head and catches the blade perfectly by the grip.

Shao Chin knows now that he has lost.

Hannah hits Shao Chin on the top of his head with the hilt of the knife. She watches as he slowly falls back onto the ground, landing in the snow in the shape of a star. When he lands, she lifts the blade before her face and crushes it in her hand, making it look no harder than crumpling a piece of paper.

Claude lands atop one of the evergreen trees and sighs. 'Don't say I didn't tell you so.'

Shao Chin laughs. "I have fought members of the Beast Clan countless times. I've fought beasts on a higher level and beaten them with my traps. You're an entirely different animal Hannah, I can't beat you."

Hannah slips her foot under Shao Chin's back then flicks him upwards like a football. As he rises into the air, she punches his chest with such ferocity that his back bounces off the ground. She hits him like this repeatedly, bouncing him unceremoniously off the ground again and again. It is a savagery that the hunter immediately admires. It is a savagery that Claude hopes Hannah can be saved from one day.

After Hannah bounces Shao Chin's back off the ground for the tenth time, she kicks him into a nearby tree, holding back just enough that he bashes into it without going through. As he slides to the ground he can barely move. There is now surely nothing that he can do to avoid a grizzly death, falling prey to a violent animal, exactly the kind of death that he always yearned for.

Hannah stands above Shao Chin, lowering herself only to strike him in the head. She does this repeatedly, swapping hands left and right. She keeps attacking, unrelenting until he finally says something which makes her stop.

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

Hannah stops, grabs Shao Chin by his shirt and lifts him up so their heads are next to one another.

"What did you just say?"

"I'm sorry."

"You said a name, didn't you? What name did you say?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

For some reason Hannah's instinct allows her to stop. Perhaps it has a will of its own, a will to show its total superiority, a will to prove that nobody on Hannah's level can defeat her. Perhaps that is why these instincts seek the same person Hannah does. To her that is a great relief, she can spare her opponent.

Claude takes this chance to fly down and give some supplies to Shao Chin. It is not much but he has spent much of his life alone, and he has fixed near fatal damage with less. He does his best to lessen his pain while Hannah watches over him.

Hannah has been curious about this Uzumaki Naruto from the moment she first heard his name. She has never encountered anyone who fought with such a unique combination of skills as the pocket-worlders. Even the weak ones she defeated had strange talents and abilities. Once she unknowingly ran into a trio of the most powerful shinobi in Sarada, Boruto and Hashirama. Together they were almost challenging opponents, it was they who recommended she find Naruto. It was Sarada who made Naruto seem like the only one who could save her.

"How do you know Uzumaki Naruto?" Hannah asks.

"I am here on his behalf," Shao Chin explains. "As far as I can tell Naruto owes your father a favour. He is trying to save you. He warned me about attacking you head on without any help, but in my vanity, I ignored his warnings."

"Do you think he has any chance of beating me?"

"I don't think anyone can beat you," Shao Chin admits, "But, if you really want to find someone who can defeat you Naruto is your best hope."

"What is he like?"

"I only met him briefly so I can't give you a detailed biography, but I'm happy to tell you what I do now. Uzumaki Naruto is different from anyone you've ever met for reasons that I don't truly understand. He has an aura about him, not something that you can touch or see, but something that you just know is there, something you feel. He is powered by an unstoppable willpower, a force that pushes him forward that you can glimpse behind his eyes. His will is calm like the sea, it never stops, and you feel helpless before it.

"While fighting you I've felt like I'm fighting an opponent that I cannot hope to defeat. That is how I feel about Naruto's will. I may be able to stop him for a moment, defeat him in a fight, but that is just a battle. Going against Naruto is a contest of willpower, winning a battle is difficult, winning the war is impossible."

Hannah smiles, happily taking in the story as a child would. She hopes that this man from the pocket-world is everything that he has been made out to be. A friend of her parents. The master of that pocket-worlder. A mighty warrior. An unstoppable adversary.

She gets to her feet and makes an eager request.

"Please take me to Naruto right away. Since both of us want the same thing it shouldn't be problem. We both want to fight each other."

Shao Chin gently nods his head.

"Very well."

In Response to m'j doom's Questions
About various topics

Q1:
Rana's power is roughly equal to General Odion and General Dodi.
There are some generals that are stronger than others but mostly they are on roughly the same level.

Q2:
The sound of the horn doesn't reach other nations.
News of the war will begin to spread by word of mouth.

Q3:
I couldn't possibly say without giving away spoilers.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to ultimusred's Question
About if this is the end of part 10

No, there is a long way to go in part 10 yet.
I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Engineer's Question
About various subjects

If a child understands an element they will remain a child forever. Military General Brooks understood her element in her youth and stopped ageing.
There is a way to change your age afterwards, which I can't give specific details about as I may explain it later, but I can at least tell you that without giving away spoilers.
For example both Akashi and Jonas were young men when they discovered their elements, but Clyde referred to Akashi as the 'old man' because he was aged using this method. I'm afraid I can't say more for now but hopefully that answers the question.

Can reanimations use divine energy, they probably can. Though they likely would lose a lot of the advantages of being a reanimation as their divine energy would not replenish in the same way their chakra would.

So different elements have unique ways they can be used. Naruto's 'life' means he is very good at healing himself and others.
His healing abilities are so great, from both his divine energy and chakra abilities, that he is able to avoid death after partially detonating his core, the only one who can do so. This is the basis for his divine oddity.
Given Naruto's fighting style he has probably increased his strength advantage over Sarada, Hashirama and Boruto.

Thanks for reading.