'Why did the boy reveal himself?' Sōshi thought, sweat rolling down his wrinkled forehead as he saw Shoto reveal himself.
'We could have worn Kurogiri down. Since he could not use chakra it would have been just a matter of time. But now? Now he knows exactly where Shota is. He'll throw everything at the kid to make sure he dies.'
Sōshi's eyes flicked to Shota's hiding spot. He managed to see the boy's condition and he was not looking good. The boy was half-burned, clothes torn, but still moving. Still planning. Suna could not lose him. Not now. Not ever.
The old puppeteer had seen a lot in his years. But the boy's Erasure was just something else. It was a weapon that turned S-rank monsters into regular men. In this fight alone, he had shut down Kurogiri's chakra and helped eliminate the rest of the Iwa nin.
'If the Kazekage had this kid by his side,' Sōshi thought, 'no other village would dare look at Suna wrong. Kazekage would easily be able to match and even win against the other Kage's. Konoha's Hokage? Gone. Kumo's Raikage? Toast. Shota could flip any fight. He's ten. Ten! Give him five years, ten years, and he'll be a god on the battlefield. Like Hashirama Senju with his wood forests. Like Madara Uchiha with his fire and eyes. Shota's not there yet, he has n't even grow a beard.but the seed is there. Suna finally has a miracle. And miracles don't grow on trees. Especially not burning ones.'
If Shota could hear these grand thoughts, he'd probably snort so hard he'd fall over.
"God of Shinobi?" he'd say, rolling his good eye. "Please. I just want to sleep all day without Matron smacking my butt with a ladle. I want Shizu to stop dragging me to play tag, I just want to sleep! And Yorii… ugh, that fat cat demands belly rubs every time I close my eyes. One time I woke up with claw marks on my face because I rolled over in my sleep! God of Shinobi? More like God of Naps. Leave me alone with my futon and a bowl of ramen, and I'm happy."
Sōshi didn't know any of that. He just saw Shota launch two more fireballs into the sky. BOOM! BOOM! They exploded like mini suns, heat rolling over the battlefield in waves.
The clouds above growled, thick and black.
Kurogiri continued to throw Clay bombs towards Shota's boulder in a deadly rain.
Shota didn't panic. He sent one of his orbiting fireballs to meet them. BOOM! The fireball exploded mid-air, catching the clay bombs in a chain reaction. This pattern repeated again.
Sōshi squinted through the smoke. Something flew toward him. It landed with a clatter at his feet.
A rope. No, a stick made of kunai. Dozens of them, tied end to end with ninja wire, stretched out straight like a metal pole. Fifteen meters long. Pointy. Perfect.
"Attach it to the metal puppet!" Shota's voice cracked through the chaos. "Keep it straight!"
Sōshi didn't ask questions. He never did when a plan this insane sounded like it might work. "You heard the kid! Top of the puppet now!"
The other puppeteer nodded fast. Chakra strings shot out, wrapping around the kunai rod. Up it went, slotting into the metal puppet's head like a giant antenna.
Kurogiri frowned. "What are you—"
Shota ignored him. One last fireball was left. He controlled it with a flick of his fingers, sending it higher than the rest. Higher. Higher. Until it was a tiny spark against the black clouds.
BOOM!
The explosion was small compared to the others, but it was enough. The final push.
The clouds answered.
First came the rumble. Deep. Slow. Like the earth itself was clearing its throat. Then the crackle. The clouds swirled. Lightning flickered inside, blue-white veins pulsing like a heartbeat.
Sōshi's eyes widened. "So that's the plan. Clever little brat. The reports weren't lying."
He turned to his team, voice sharp. "Keep your sandals on! Don't move!"
CRACK!
The lightning came down like a hammer from the heavens. A white-hot lance that screamed as it fell. It hit the kunai rod dead center.
BANG!
The metal puppet lit up like a torch. Electricity danced across the kunai, down the wire, into the puppet's steel body.
The current surged into the ground, spiderwebbing across the battlefield in glowing blue lines. Every mine it touched sparked, popped, and died.
Tiny explosions, puff, puff, puff....like firecrackers under a blanket. The hidden mines overloaded and burned out, their chakra fried by the lightning's kiss.
The Suna shinobi felt it too. A tingle in their feet. A buzz in their teeth. Hair stood on end. One guy yelped as his sandal sparked.
Sōshi grinned. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and threw it hard, twenty meters out.
Nothing. No boom. No fire. Just a kunai in the dirt.
Kurogiri's eyes went wide. His hand froze over his pouch. He did not have his chakra, his minefield was gone that kept the Suna nin at bay. All that was left were his clay bombs.
Sōshi didn't wait for him to use more of his bombs.
He poured more Chakra into his chakra strings. His giant snake puppet sprang to life. It shot forward, faster than ever thanks to the higher amount of chakra. It reached Kurogiri within two seconds. Kurogiri without his chakra was defenseless.
But Sõshi was not taking any chances. The tail of the puppet shifted, folding in on itself, compacting, hardening.
It became a pile driver.
WHAM!
The pile driver tail punched straight through his chest. Metal met flesh. Bone cracked like dry wood. Blood sprayed in a red arc, painting the dirt.
Kurogiri's body lifted off the ground, impaled, eyes wide in shock. The snake puppet slammed him down, tail twisting for good measure. A wet crunch. A final gasp.
Kurogiri went still. Blood pooled under him, mixing with the soot and ash.
Shota stared from his boulder. The gruesome hole in Kurogiri's chest steamed in the cooling air. The man's eyes stared at nothing. The cigarette lay crushed in the dirt, forgotten.
Shota sighed, long and heavy. 'Finally. It's over.'
He looked around. Twelve Suna shinobi had started this mission. Now? Five. Just five left, including him. The others were gone. Blown up. Burned. Crushed.
He could still hear their voices in his head. Jokes around the campfire. Complaints about sand in their boots. Promises to buy drinks when they got home.
Seven deaths. Seven friends. Seven empty beds in the barracks.
But the mission? A success. Huge. Iwa's prized Explosion Corps were crippled. Their best bomber, dead. With this they could make Iwa retreat from Suna's borders. With just seven lives, Suna had punched a hole in an enemy army.
'So why did it hurt so much?' Shota thought
-------Author Notes---------
Thankyou Some guy, Grabbott and Markus for supporting me!
For every 250 power stones. I would be posting an additional chapter. So gimme those power stones!!!
Y'all can read the next 15 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon. Thankyou for your support!
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
[No star]