Knowing there was to be a battle at some nebulous point in the near future had only made my job more boring.
There was an unseen tension in the air that had not been there previously, and the thing that somehow made it all the more maddening was that only I could see it.
"Sohei Hatakayama, genin, here for spraining my ankle during my duties." I hummed boredly in response, noting his name and reason down. After a quick tap on the clock next to me I even managed to get the young boy to tell me the time as well.
While I could probably see the time if I really tried, it just wasn't worth the effort it took when I could just have them tell me it. I reserved that level of effort for when I actually needed it, and this was most assuredly not me needing it.
"Chunin Kirei, I brought a shipment of medical supplies." It took a while before I could get 'Chunin Kirei' to tell me his actual name, I didn't even try and get him to tell me the time I instead just guessed as best I could from a glance at the sun.
Watage and the other medics had been very confused about my 'sight' when I had first arrived. At first, they had assumed it to be some sort of sensing ability, that was correct to a point but that alone wouldn't explain my ability to see inanimate objects, even if it was harder to do so.
I think the most recent guess I had heard was something about nature chakra and a burgeoning kekkei genkai. I doubted all of that personally, I had decided long ago to take the same approach to it as Malenia had in her life, it worked as it did and worrying about it too much wasn't worth the effort.
After all, in her and my experience looking too deeply into such things tended to lead to rot, and it was best not to go looking for it.
"Hibuki Genta-", I was tiredly listening to a nervous genin girl when the front gates opened. That alone wasn't particularly unusual, it was the fact that coming through those gates was a convoy of wounded grass ninja, nine in total, that caught my attention.
Full credit to young Hibuki, she got out of the way of the medics surprisingly fast despite her earlier nerves. Before I got to work doing what I do for the medical team, waiting outside and looking mildly scary, I spotted what looked like the commander of the teams rushing towards Oniwa's office.
I can't help but smile knowing what that likely means.
It only took a few hours from when the injured teams had arrived for the announcement to come.
"SHINOBI OF KUSAGAKURA, HEAR ME!" I can almost feel the voice of the Onikage more than hear it.
He stands on the roof of the central citadel, the building that makes up the checkpoint's HQ, with his hands crossed as he shouts to the heavens for all to see. If he had stood near anywhere else I wouldn't be able to see him with the medical tent in the way, it almost feels intentional.
"Our enemy has struck, four of our brothers and sisters in arms are now dead!" he quiets slightly now that he has the attention of his men, still shouting but not as loud as it could have been.
"They think we are weak, that our rear forces will not be able to stand up to their might!" The air feels charged, I hear no birds, I hear no shouting, there is no training of the errant genin, there are only the words of a general speaking to his men resounding through the fortress.
Once I had been in his place promising victory against any and all who would dare challenge me and my men.
"But they have erred, friends, they have forgotten that this country is protected by the Onikage's forces!"
Once I had thought I was unbeatable, that no man or woman could or would dare to even attempt to best me.
"This is a mistake they can not be allowed to make again, so I make an oath to you now for all to hear!"
I had thought my knights the strongest in the known world, for who else would dare to think they could stand by my side as an equal, who else would willingly step into the maw of the scarlet rot to prove themselves.
"MY NAME IS GYOBOU MASATAKA ONIWA, AND AS I BREATHE NOT A SINGLE MAN WILL MAKE IT PAST THE KYOSHIN FORTRESS!"
I would end up being proven wrong on both accounts, the first by a man I could scarcely remember with the final moments of her life being as fragmented as they were; only the memory of a shirtless tarnished with twin swords of ice and blood remained.
The second by the army of her half brother, a titan of a man who could fight the stars themselves and win.
Malenia had told herself that she had won that fight despite the appearance of a draw, but I knew what had resulted from that 'victory' and would allow myself no such delusion.
The Onikage's army roars back to him his oath, telling the heavens themselves they would rather die than let their enemy achieve even the slightest victory.
It would be hypocritical of me to denounce them for it.
After all, I was right there with them, letting the world know what the outcome of this battle was to be before it had even happened.
Shinobi warfare was a war of information, both sides wanted to be the one who struck first and neither side wanted to be the one who was struck. That was true of all armies of course, but ambushes tented to be more deadly when both armies were filled to the brim with assassins who could quite easily be compared to the black knives of my past, and that did not even touch upon the more esoteric abilities that chakra allowed.
Both sides would be scouting the giant mushroom filled forests looking for the enemy camp, once found it would be struck soon after. If the scouts were seen the camp would be quickly moved and the process would repeat ad nauseam until someone could actually take advantage of the intel.
During this period I was relegated to defending the logistics with some of the slower or less experienced shinobi, not for lack of ability but for lack of mobility. I was fast, faster than many, possibly even most, of the ninja in the army; but I didn't have quite the forest traversing ability of the ninja nor the silent touch that was required of the frontline scout work.
From what I had gathered from some genin, who had been told this by his father, most shinobi battles didn't stop at this phase of encampment and re-encampment. If a solid ambush wasn't found what would likely end up happening instead was a small skirmish of scouts. That skirmish would end up having reinforcements called in repeatedly by both sides until eventually it stopped being a skirmish and turned into a full scale battle.
I was unlikely to be sent in during one of the early waves of reinforcements, by my estimate Oniwa wanted me to be something of a tide turner for the battle. It seems odd to me that he would be so open to the idea of me being a 'monster', as he termed it, without any sort of test on his part.
Perhaps, he just wanted to chuck me into the metaphorical lake to see if I would sink or swim. I would say that only time would tell if he was right if the outcome of an action like that weren't so blindingly obvious.
A shinobi battle was odd, for all that they were stealth predators at heart, ninja really liked being excessively flashy in battle.
I stood next to the Onikage as we both watched the battle preceding in front of us. Men and women from both countries were dying in droves it seemed. Often it wasn't even a conceited effort on the part of the enemy that ended a life but something completely random.
Be it from a piece of shrapnel, a deflected kunai, unexpected poison, or simple collateral from a jutsu not aimed at them humans died all the same no matter how skilled.
"Do you see it, girl?" rumbled Oniwa to my right as we watched the battle in silence.
"It depends." He grunts in response after a moment where I watch someone try and fail to stop an earth jutsu from crushing them.
"On?"
"What you are asking me to look for, I see a lot of things after all; things like death, fighting, defeat, and a victory in waiting." A scream resounds through the forest as a genin watches a dear friend meet his end in front of her.
"Fair enough, I'll tell you what I see then." He moves forward a few feet as he looks upon his men fighting in his name.
"I see potential yet to be realized, I see a foe yet to be brought low, I see friends in need waiting for my arrival." There is an explosion originating from the right flank of the battle, I see a plume of…smoke? No, steam rising towards the sky in a great wafting pillar.
The Onikage looks towards the rising column, a dangerous smile grows on his face, "We will win this day Mizutori Ishida, look upon the field and feel the confidence arising within our men and the fear theirs' drown in."
He's lying.
Whether intentionally or not he is lying either to himself or to me. It's plain to see from our vantage point that Kusagakure is losing this battle, its Moral is rattled, its elite have been slaughtered near to a one, all that I see remaining on the field are scared children who should never have been forced onto the field.
Suddenly he points in the direction of the earlier disturbance and shouts, "There is my target, my greatest challenge to come and their newest monster."
He then turns his head towards me and points towards the center where the greatest mass of enemy chunin and jounin remain.
"Go now, Mizutori Ishida let loose upon these fools and show them the newest monster of Kusagakure." Without a further word he takes off into the woods in the direction of the explosion with a battle cry on his lips.
Without a word of farewell I turn towards the center of the battle, we are still losing of course.
I can count at least twice the number of stone ninja to ours and the ones we have left are rapidly dwindling down to only genin and a few chunin.
It would take me around ten seconds to get from the top of this hill to the enemy at full sprint and who knows how many of ours will die in those ten seconds.
I unsheathe my sword, a passing thought goes through my mind that I should name it at some point, and take my first step to this victory.
Nine seconds.
I wonder if this will be any different than it was in my old life. I had only really fought ninjas that were considered the best of Kusagakure up to this point and I'm excited to see the contrast between them and the lowly soldier.
Eight seconds.
Idly I wonder if I should run my chakra through my blade, I dismiss the thought soon after it comes to me, I want my first real victory to be mine not the rot's.
Seven seconds.
I'm on flat ground now, I'm passing over the dead or barely living that had already lost this battle, I don't stop to check which is which.
Six seconds.
I hear an allied genin notice my presence now, shouting out to his wary comrades of reinforcements.
Five seconds.
A chunin is pulled out of my path by one of the few remaining jounin on the field.
Four seconds.
The enemy is scrambling now, noticing the fast approaching enemy coming in.
A smile graces my face, this feeling is like an old friend I haven't seen in so long.
Three seconds.
An enemy chunin tries to get in my way, a kunai thrown from somewhere behind me ends up in his head before he can finish his seals.
Two seconds.
I 'see' the aura of two enemies spread then harden as the ground in front of me rises in front of my path. It's a large, strong, and thick wall of stone, it sadly seems I'll need to take this more seriously then.
One second.
Stopping just in front of the wall I guide my chakra, and along with it the rot, into my blade and announce my entrance into this battle.
"Hiken: Mizutori no Mai!"
The wall disintegrates before me and with it goes their hope of victory. I don't pause at its destruction, the dance doesn't allow that, so I keep flowing forward every strike I make multiplied tenfold around me, each one enhanced by my chakra and the accursed rot.
Three men die in one instant, their bodies sliced into pieces and the remains poisoned forevermore.
Unmoved by their vain sacrifice I continue dancing, I reach a jounin who attempts to stop my advance with a wall of spikes, you'd think that they would realize that rocks rot away just as easily as flesh.
Reaching the last opponent to my front I pivot to my left on one foot carefully keeping momentum so as to not lose the air current flowing around me. I see a young girl attempt to run before tripping and falling, I carefully miss her and instead hit the young man trying to pull her up, he loses his head for the effort.
I manage five more kills before I can feel the winds settling, as it goes I slow the dance making what few strikes I can get out of it count for more.
A jounin manages to escape by falling into the ground, I move forward killing the people he had abandoned to save himself.
Eventually however, the dance ends and with one last attack I check behind me to see what difference it had made. Though it only lasted for a scant few seconds I can tell it had made an impact, as behind me lies a trail of bodies that were each carved to ruin and poisoned for eternity, those will need to be burned after this battle.
There is a moment of silence as both sides try to reconcile what had just happened, it takes only a single second more before the forces of Iwagakure spring into action.
A woman with a sword swings for my head, I duck below it turning the motion into a sweep that knocks her feet from out below her. As she falls I rise, bisecting her before she can even hit the ground.
A man with a jutsu that encases his body with stone tries to get in the way of my sword as I stab his comrade with blades attached to his wrists.
I reward his effort and allow them both to die to the same blow.
I abandon my attempt to retrieve my blade from the twin corpse as a ninja behind me throws a kunai with a slip of paper tied to one end at me. I let go of my sword and spin around, effortlessly grabbing the handle of the knife with my one hand and in a single motion throw it into the crowd of enemies still in front of me.
It gets all of about five feet before exploding.
I am thrown backwards into the air, and though I do manage to course correct I am now bereft of my sword and surrounded by enemies on all sides.
As the shinobi descend on me I hear more explosions resound through the forest in the direction that the onikage went in.
It's to my advantage that the first enemy to reach me is a genin trying to end me with a kunai tightly gripped in their hands. I side step their amateurish stab and grab the kid by their face and swiftly throw them as hard as I can into the direction I last saw my sword.
The crowd parts just long enough that I can see my sword sticking out of the ground, the explosion having been enough to dislodge it from the two bodies.
I charge towards it, some try to stop me but their attacks are sloppy and slow, easily dodged or countered.
Though it takes time and liberal use of kicks and throws I do manage to reach my sword.
As I take hold of the grip I feel the ground start to shake. I hear a roar behind me and the rushing sound of pressure being released coming towards my position.
The only thing that saves me is my instinct as I block an attack from whoever it was that was behind me.
The first thing I notice about my new assailant is that he is fast, faster than me even.
The second thing I notice is that he has steam wafting out from him in forceful waves.
I'm not thinking about anything after that, because despite blocking the attack with my sword I am still thrown backwards into the air.
I can't help but feel like I've just been through this, admittedly unlike last time I didn't quite manage to land as gracefully.
After sliding a few feet I am able to find solid footing once again. I'm only given just enough time to re-raise my sword before I'm once again being assaulted. This time the man, who I'm starting to realize with some surprise is actually taller than me, goes for a rising knee.
I'm just barely able to move my head far enough in one direction that I don't lose it, and since he missed me he goes airborne. There is no time to empower my blade but this is still my chance. I leap after him with my blade at the ready, I nearly even get close enough to hit him but I am pushed back down forcefully by another gust of steam coming out of the back of his armor.
We both recover at the same time, each of us turning to look at the other.
I take a quick stock of my location, we ended up not too far from where my blade landed, doing so I notice the battle around us is wrapping up quickly with the sudden death of so many Iwa shinobi. Both sides are leaving a wide berth around the two of us as if there was an unspoken agreement that it was best for everyone's health if they didn't get in the way.
"Han." My attention is brought back to the large armored man in front of me.
"Mizutori Ishida." He nods and I nod back and a moment later my blade meets his steam powered fist in a charge, it feels like hitting a dragon's scales.
Both of our arms rebound backwards after the clash, then we clash again, and again, and again.
Over and over we bring our chosen weapon down onto our opponent aiming for the kill, only to be stopped by the other at the last moment.
The strikes start to come faster now, there's been enough time since my dance now that I can feel the winds wanting to heed my call again, begging me to call for them.
I deny the urges of the rot and continue fighting.
It feels like we are there for hours, striking and clashing, sometimes we'll retreat and charge back into each other like a demented joust, neither of us able to get the upper hand.
He's faster and stronger, but I'm more skilled and have a longer range.
At some point I numbly notice that I hear someone laughing, it takes me far too long to recognize the sound of my own voice.
Ahh~ How long has it been since I have felt this? The relief, the bloodlust, the freedom to not worry about what others thought of me. This was my paradise, my safe place, and these were my people; soldiers, knights, vagabonds, tarnished, and warriors all.
They call to me, to my very soul, and I hear that call always.
The sound blares through me like a siren, past the rot corroding at the me that isn't me, past the wounded girl who just loved her brother, the first person to ever show her kindness, past the young and hungry daughter of a ronin lusting for her first victory.
Their call reaches me.
So in response to their call, I answer.
I see the warrior, no, the beast for at some point without my notice that is what he had become with steaming skin and two tails with a third inbound, in front of me hesitate for just the barest fraction of a moment.
And in that scant moment all I can see is my path to victory. I don't hesitate to take it.
I'm upon him in an instant I swing her sword upwards like she had every time before, only this time he's too slow to stop it.
By all rights he should have been decapitated, but even in his bestial state he is too skilled to allow that to happen.
He pulls back just in time to avoid his death, however I don't let him get away entirely scot free.
I angle her blade back down flowing with the momentum and for just a scant moment the blade catches on his armor, as if any mundane material had the hope of stopping the blade of a Goddess.
The armor gives way and her blade cuts rots through his arm, separating it from his body.
I stare in fascination as his body fights back against the rot, remarkably it seems to be doing well, or at least better than it should at the job.
He roars and screams, he writhes and whimpers, but eventually somehow, impossibly, he looks back up at me and looks into my face and I don't see the eyes of a mind rotting away like expected.
I see the eyes of a mind clear and pure, certainly he's in pain but he is still there enough for that to be clearly readable.
It should be impossible.
It starts as a giggle and then a chuckle but before I know it I'm laughing, no that's too simple, too quiet of a descriptor, the sound of a victor's guffaws resounds through the now silent battlefield.
All around us is the dead and dying, ahead in the distance there is the shrinking forms of the fleeing shinobi of Iwagakure and behind are the still living of Kusagakure staring in shock that against all odds they had won.
I continued to laugh and laugh, even as the beast flees in anger and defeat the laughing continues.
Eventually I stop and look down and notice that at some point I had somehow ended up covered in blood, I sigh in exhaustion as I hear the cheers of my allies begin behind me.
Truly a victory has never felt so sweet.
