Chapter - 12 Storm Blade Arashi V/S White Fang Final
His charge surprised the other team. Still, the young man reacted quickly. He was able to deflect his quick thrust. But still, he achieved his goal of isolating the team. Shiranai have also begun her battle, blocking the Sarutobi ninja who wanted to interfere by attacking the children. The brats may be important, he noticed, but he didn't have much time to care for their battle because he was facing a much more dangerous opponent.
He had already heard rumours about the famous young prodigy of Leaf Sakumo Hatake. He had been active in the war from the start, from an unknown rookie to a feared opponent. War itself has truly forged this young man. Arashi the Storm Blade, one who fought from the Warring States to the Shinobi war, is now facing a young man who is barely one-third of his age. And he has to say, Sakumo Hatake is now truly his equal. If Sakumo had been two years older, Arashi would have died in this fight. If Arashi were four years younger, Sakumo would be the one to fall today.
So destiny has found a perfect time for this match-up.
Sakumo's blade is truly forged from the fires of war and quenched from the blood of his victims. His sword play was clean, efficient and ruthless like a farmer who harvested wheat for years, he has already become a master of reaping lives. If he had faced a less experienced fighter or a regular ninja, he would have already been turned into a cold corpse by Sakumo's first counterattack. But Arashi simply rotated on the heels of his left leg while countering using his right blade. The young man surprised him by increasing his reaction speed with lightning release, trying to counterattack him in this awkward position. Arashi had to use his signature Earth Release Earth walk through his leg to avoid the attack in an unexpected way. He didn't want to block that blade without coating his own blade in wind nature.
After that first exchange, the fight began in full swing. with both literally swinging their blades without restraint.
Arashi felt truly alive after years! while fighting this young man. It was truly one of the most straightforward fights he ever had. This young man had no fancy moves, only three things. Speed, ruthlessness and sharpness. And he pushed all three of them to the limit of his current body. Arashi has to push his earth release and wind release to the limit to keep up with this young man, with his own aging body. And he was truly having fun. The trees exploded and ground got cut apart as they continued their carnage. Sakumo's burst speed was faster, with lightning release, and Arashi's movements with earth release were more flexible. His sharp wind had an advantage over the quick lightning saber but it was negligible.
As the fight continued Arashi realised the outcome of the battle was still uncertain. And surprisingly, Shiranai is not looking good, she had multiple small injuries which she continued to heal during the fight. She is not losing now but it is a bad sign if Shiranai is struggling. He looked at the young man who is fighting him, at Hikari, at Shiranai who is struggling. So something has to be given to break the dead lock. So he decided to give it, himself.
Shiranai's pov
There were sounds of intense wind and lightning from sensei's battle field. She wanted to make a big water release and set the atmosphere proper but this Jonin is truly unromantic! What can a single woman do in these trying times? Her sensei was truly having fun, while she was having this boring date with three brats and a middle aged Jonin. Life is truly unfair! And Hikari is just chilling in the back. Life is indeed truly unfair! But still she is truly in a bind now, she thought maybe she could finish off the brats real quick, and solo the Jonin, but the brats are tough! The pale one is cunning, the blonde one is wily, and the stupid one is surprisingly durable? He also has white hair. Maybe he is a senju? Even the son of the second Hokage! One elite Jonin and a kage level fighter to protect the brats is truly an over-kill. She could only marvel at the opulence of the first ninja village, Konoha is truly!
The Jonin is the one who is actually holding them back. The three brats are actually capable of holding her back for some time on their own. Luckily for her, he is truly protective of them, and failed to capitalize on many opportunities. But he is still a Jonin and he will see the situation clearly soon. She may have to make some nasty gambles today, but before she could make up her mind there was a mental ping from Hikari with a detailed plan, and she chose to trust her this time again.
Arashi's pov
Arashi looked at Hikari discreetly and signaled Jonin. She will figure out the rest herself. He just needed to wait for the perfect moment ,and the fight with Sakumo continued.
Soon he received a mental image of the Sarutobi Jonin and his landing spot in the next few moments. It was a self-created Jutsu by Hikari, which had the potential to be developed into a secret technique like the Yamanaka clan. The Jutsu is a S-class secret, only few people in the village privy to its existence.
Hikari had already instructed Shiranai about their plan. So everything was set.
When Sakumo attacked this time Arashi didn't defend, he only showed a posture of defending with his left blade. But at the fastest time he changed the grip of the blade and threw it towards the position Hikari had mentally mapped, Arashi's left hand flew through the air as a price for the throw. Sakumo was confused for a moment, and using that moment he dropped the blade from his right hand, and created a ball of chakra using wind nature and delivered a vicious blow to the young man's chest. Wind and earth assisted him and he delivered his fastest blow yet! Although the young man was able to negate it slightly with lightning, his growth will be stalled for some time with that injury. That is all he could do for the future of the village.
As he expected his left blade pierced through the chest of the Sarutobi Jonin ending his life. It is rather cheap to exchange the loss of his left hand for the life of a Sarutobi Jonin. But one plus one is not always true and he was willing to pay the price.
He stood in front of the young man with a missing left hand. Although his hands were dripping blood his eyes remained steady. Sakumo Hatake looked at him, Shiranai then lastly Hikari. He paused for a moment and seemed to have understood the situation. and luckily for all of them choose the most correct course of action, to retreat with the brats.
"Sakumo-san! Why do we retreat just like that? They killed Kasama Jonin! We should take revenge!, we were still winning. We really had a chance!"
Hearing Jiraiya's words brought Sakumo out from his deep thoughts. "Jiraiya, Shinobi battle is not a numbers game. The ninja who I fought is a dangerous man who is a peer of the second Kazekage, and he even fought the second Hokage once and survived. Losing an arm is not as debilitating as it looks for a ninja of his caliber, and who said I come out on top in that exchange?" He answered while wiping away the blood from the corners of his mouth.
What he didn't say to Jiraiya is that he felt a very bad feeling from the women who stood there as a bystander, as a Ninja who survived on knife-edge for years, he trusted his intuition more than anything, and it was truly telling him to retreat!