Pakura

Digging and digging on a big, big mountain, bringing Uchiha's great-grandma home!

Dayu Mountain truly lived up to the word "Great." Uchiha Chen had spent more than ten days searching it, yet had found absolutely nothing.

After another exhausting day, Uchiha Chen lay among the branches of a century-old tree, eating rations and idly counting the stars in the night sky.

He had searched all around Dayu Mountain, especially carefully examining every kind of cave and hollow tree. He had even driven several hibernating bears out of their dens.

By rights, even the faintest trace of a Sealing Technique shouldn't have escaped Uchiha Chen's Sharingan. Yet after searching the whole mountainside, he hadn't found a single clue.

What could he do if it was sealed dozens or even hundreds of meters inside the mountain? Should he bring out Susanoo and split the mountain apart?

Uchiha Chen was starting to get a headache, but he couldn't bring himself to give up.

The moon was dim, the stars bright. In the pitch-black forest, the only sounds were the cold wind stirring the branches and the soft, silken murmur of a stream nearby.

There seem to be quite a few pools on Dayu Mountain. I can search them carefully tomorrow.

After finishing his rations, Uchiha Chen quieted his mind and listened to the stream and wind playing together, ready to get a good night's sleep before resuming his search the next day.

The stream gently lapped at the stones, its tinkling notes as pleasing as bells and chimes. The wind in the woods swelled and faded, like violins and cellos playing in harmony. Add to that the rhythmic firecracker sounds, and what a symphony of nature!

Wait, explosions?

Uchiha Chen sat up.

This godforsaken mountain only saw hunters come by in summer and autumn to hunt game. Where were those explosions coming from?

Boom!

A huge, blazing fireball flared on the eastern side of the mountain. Several water dragons surged into the sky, and as water clashed with fire, dense mist quickly spread across the area.

Pakura's heart had sunk to the bottom of her chest.

She couldn't understand why the Mist Ninja had ambushed her when she had come to sign a ceasefire agreement.

"Cough, cough!"

After barely dodging a barrage of Kunai and Shuriken, Pakura raised a slender hand and formed a Scorch Release fireball, hurling it at the enemy. Kirigakure's Water Style quickly doused it.

She was beginning to despair.

The thirty-odd Kirigakure Ninja were all elites. Six or seven of them were Jonin, and their leader was none other than Suikazan Fuguki, one of the renowned Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

The Shinobi World had never settled on a precise definition of a top-tier fighter. There was only one rough standard:

Someone who could single-handedly suppress and defeat a three-man squad led by a famous Jonin and staffed with two other Jonin.

A three-Jonin squad was generally the standard for an S-rank mission, the strongest regular force a village could field.

Any enemy such a squad couldn't defeat was unquestionably an S-rank threat. Only a few people, such as Jinchuriki and Kage, could deal with one.

In the past year or two, Pakura, a Scorch Release user in her twenties, had reached that level.

So, to show how much they respected her, Suikazan Fuguki had brought two Jonin squads and an elite company of twenty-seven.

"Scorch Release: Extremely Steam Murder!"

Like a cornered beast, Pakura ignored the cost to her Chakra and formed a mass of Scorch Release fireballs, forcing the pursuing Mist Ninja back. But her earlier injuries made her cough up a mouthful of blood.

"Why? A ceasefire would benefit both Sunagakure and Kirigakure!"

"Kirigakure and Sunagakure will, of course, make peace—but only after you're dead!"

Suikazan Fuguki gently stroked Samehada, the bandage-wrapped blade on his back that resembled a door, and grinned, baring his uneven shark teeth.

"Sunagakure sent a few hundred of you to the Land of Whirlpools to serve as cannon fodder. But you managed to survive there with them.

"Sunagakure's hero. Quite a reputation.

"If you return to Sunagakure with hundreds of battle-hardened veterans, do you think Rasa will be able to sleep at night?"

I... was betrayed by my own village?

Pakura stopped fleeing, stunned and bewildered. The blazing fireballs that had been whirling around her in an impenetrable screen now left openings.

Seeing his words had worked and Pakura's will to fight had crumbled, Suikazan Fuguki laughed maniacally.

"A hero abandoned by her village has no reason to live! Watch out for Scorch Release. Attack from a distance!"

The Mist Ninja hurled Shuriken at Pakura from every direction, trying to wear her down inside their encirclement.

Am I really going to die like this?

Pakura simply gave up resisting, closed her eyes, and began to recall her short life.

Training, fighting for the village, training, fighting for the village. Those were the only meager scenes she could summon from her memories.

Pakura shivered. At the end of her life, all she could think of was the village that had betrayed her. The irony was unbearable.

A tear slid from the corner of Pakura's eye.

Clang, clang, clang!

The crisp clatter of metal rang on without end, yet Pakura felt no pain from being struck.

Confused, she opened her eyes and saw a handsome young man wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector.

"An Uchiha?"

Pakura's eyes held no gratitude, only confusion and wariness. "Why did you save me?"

"I was about to go to sleep, but you made so much noise.

"Sunagakure is Konoha's ally, and Kirigakure is Konoha's enemy. Since I saw you being hunted, of course I had to lend a hand."

Uchiha Chen looked utterly relaxed and lazy. A withered leaf rested between his fingers, as if he hadn't even noticed the dozens of Mist Ninja around him.

He glanced at Pakura's bloodied back, then asked in puzzlement:

"It's the middle of winter, and you're wearing something that leaves your whole back bare. Aren't you cold?"

Pakura hadn't expected Uchiha Chen to ask such a ridiculous question in the middle of this crisis. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Looks like a hundred million ryo had just walked right over on its own two legs.

Suikazan Fuguki burst into laughter. Samehada suddenly tore free of the bandages wrapped around it. He held the dark-blue, spike-covered blade in one hand and pointed it at Uchiha Chen and Pakura.

"Flame Ghost Uchiha Chen! Two strokes of luck at once, two strokes of luck at once!

"Did you ever think this day would come when you were slaughtering Mist Ninja on the battlefield? Prepare to die!"

"No need to make this difficult."

Uchiha Chen raised the withered leaf between his fingers to eye level and looked through a tiny hole in it at Suikazan Fuguki. His voice was full of amusement.

"Let's make a bet. If you win, I'll kill myself. If you lose, all of you die.

"We'll bet on whether this leaf will break. I bet it will!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Chen crushed the leaf in his hand into scraps. "I win!"

"You're making a fool of me?"

Suikazan Fuguki raised a hand and made two tactical gestures signaling an attack. Two Kirigakure Ninja leaped high into the air, their gleaming Ninja Blades thrusting toward Uchiha Chen.

In the next instant,

deep crimson smoke solidified in the blink of an eye.

Yin Release Chakra took the shape of a red breastbone and ribs, shielding Uchiha Chen.

A huge skeletal arm swept lightly, brushing the two elite Mist Ninja aside like specks of dust. Then a second skeletal arm appeared and seized one of them, crushing him as he wailed.

Next, the seemingly tangible deep-red Chakra blazed fiercely and formed a skeletal upper body over ten meters tall. Its terrifying might, powerful enough to churn the seas and uproot mountains, made everyone present tremble.

That was the God's Power dwelling within the Sharingan,

darker than dusk, redder than blood. Time would pass, but the Shinobi World's fear of this technique would endure forever.

Susanoo, First Stage,

complete.

"What kind of technique is this?"

One of the Mist Ninja could no longer bear the fear and cried out in terror.

Uchiha Chen's scarlet eyes fell on him. A hint of a smile tugged at his otherwise cold face.

"A corpse... is talking?"