For want of a snail

Explosions rang out in cascades in the fresh morning air.

'That hurts! That hurts!'

'Ichiro, you're supposed to play the injured guy; couldn't you be a little more credible in your role?' chastised his exasperated fellow Genin Kenji, while leaning over him to finish tying a bandage around his leg. His summon, the snail Maika, protected them with her shell, waving her eyes at each explosion sound.

'Maybe I could wrap him in my slime to make the exercise closer to reality?' Maika suggested kindly.

'No, no thanks, that'll do. We don't need to push the realism of the situation that far!' Ichiro protested immediately, loud enough to be heard over the surrounding din.

'On the contrary, I think it's an excellent idea! And then think about how soft your skin will be after this treatment,' insisted Kenji. 'In fact, I could even pierce you with a few kunai so that you really need care and take the situation seriously!'

'Hey, oh, come on!' Ichiro objected indignantly. 'This is a simulation, just training, no need to resort to violence! Besides, Sensei is already doing enough!'

'Talk less and move more!' ordered their third comrade Miko, who was supplying chakra to the barrier combining compacted earth and seals against which their sensei was nonchalantly throwing handfuls of kunai loaded with explosive seals.

'Move where? Even if we move, we are in a plain and there is nowhere to hide!' whined Kenji.

'Exactly,' intervened their sensei while continuing to carelessly throw explosive kunai at them, 'you must learn to protect your injured comrades on any type of terrain! It's about time I spiced up the exercise a bit!' And she used a shunshin to bypass the group of Genin and attack them from behind.

The first kunai landed next to Maika who obligingly drowned it under a shell of slime to smother the explosion. This allowed Miko to turn around and deploy the seal of a spherical barrier at the same moment as a swearing Kenji leaned over Ichiro. Shikako immediately attacked this new barrier with other explosive seals to overload and weaken it, and Miko hastily reinforced it with another wall of compacted earth.

Kenji complained as he got up: 'We can't see anything now! We're done for, like trapped rats!'

'Because you have a better idea, you?' Miko retorted. 'With an injured person that we can't carry yet?'

'One more minute before I'm considered stabilised,' Ichiro announced, keeping track of the countdown.

'If only I had enough chakra to summon Netero!' Kenji lamented as the explosives continued to rain down on them. 'With his armoured shell and acid jets, he'd protect us without a problem!'

Miko reminded them, 'The last time you summoned him, you were unconscious for three hours! I don't want to have two dead weights to protect!'

'Don't worry,' Maika added in a consoling tone, 'I'm sure you'll have enough chakra within a year.'

'In the meantime, it's not helping us!' Miko concluded.

That's when their sensei's voice rang out again: 'Seal of the Booming Thunder God!'

For a second, the three Genin looked at each other, terrified. Simultaneously, they all placed a barrier seal on the ground, Ichiro included. The triple spherical barrier was added to the existing barrier, but it was not enough: the four barriers gave way in succession in a great roll of chakra, and the Genin were only protected from the burning breath of the explosion by the fog of slime that Maika emitted at the same time. The slime instantly vanished, leaving only a sticky, protective film on their skin and clothes.

'Zero!' Ichiro suddenly announced.

Kenji immediately threw him over his shoulder, Maika released a new thick cloud of opaque slime and unsummoned, Miko threw a kunai with a multiplier seal in the direction of their sensei, and the three Genin fled at full speed in the opposite direction, sowing explosive seals behind them to cover their backs.

They were stopped by a barrier thirty seconds of a breathless escape later, and the joyful voice of their sensei rang out: 'Not bad, not bad, we'll debrief and start again right after! This time, it'll be Miko who's injured!'

'It's the third time,' Miko complained.

'No perfection without repetition!' Shikako chirped.

All my thanks to Kaszira, who corrected the translation.

This short text was written as part of the FoF prompt fair, the French-speaking forum of the fanfiction site (and now discord) where you can meet to discuss and have fun. The constraints, besides a time limit, were as follows:

- a line: 'It hurts!'

- an object: a snail

- a situation: a fight

- a place: in a plain, a meadow

The meanings of the names are as follows: (Genin) Ichiro (first son), Kenji (second or wise), Miko (beautiful child), (snails) Maika (the one who raises), Netero (brute force).