Chapter 26: First Blood with Ninjutsu
As the group leaped from the Wind Eagle's back, a knot of tension formed in Kael's stomach. He instinctively turned back and shouted at the massive bird.
"Little Wind, protect Rei! Stay on the sidelines and provide support!"
With no time to wonder if the eagle understood gaming slang, Kael charged toward the raging battlefield.
Even faster than him was Watanabe Musashi. The Jonin was a blur. In one instant, he had covered dozens of meters, and a black-robed figure crumpled to the ground. In the next, the charging Jashinists were being cut down like wheat.
By the time Kael reached the battle, the enemy's formation had already been shattered. He gave a wry smile, drew his kunai, and met the scattered cultists head-on.
As he moved, a swarm of Explosive Flies erupted from the ground beneath him, spreading out across the battlefield to give him a comprehensive view of the chaos. However, most of the flies, unable to resist their artistic calling, dove straight into the eyes, ears, mouths, and noses of the Jashinists.
They were ready to die for their art!
And art... is an explosion!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Countless egg-sized fireballs lit up the battlefield. The next moment, screams of agony echoed from the Jashinists. Some clutched their mangled, bleeding faces, others clawed at their heads, howling in pain. One unfortunate soul was even seen clutching his rear, his eyes wide with shock as he collapsed to the ground, having been literally blown up from behind.
"What the...!"
Seeing the other Explosive Flies follow suit, diving for the enemy's backsides and sending the cultists scattering in terror, a chill ran down Kael's spine.
He had, completely by accident, created something truly twisted.
"They're really just following the scent, aren't they? A perfect shot every time..." he muttered.
Seeing the black-robed figures running around in a panic, Kael sheathed his kunai and began to form hand seals, his movements still a bit clumsy.
One seal per second.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!
Several crimson fire-phoenixes shot from his mouth. They grew in the wind, quickly reaching the size of soccer balls, and flew intelligently toward the nearby cultists. Although his hand seals were slow, Kael's control over the jutsu was excellent. The fireballs, as if they had eyes of their own, slammed into three fleeing Jashinists with perfect precision. In an instant, the flames engulfed them, leaving only charred corpses behind.
Kael's eyes lit up, stunned by the power of ninjutsu. It was his first time killing with it, and he couldn't deny the sense of accomplishment.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"
A sharp cry came from the sky. Kael's eyes lit up, and he quickly looked up. A hundred meters above, he could just make out the Wind Eagle opening its beak wide, a visible vortex of white wind rapidly forming within.
The next moment!
WHOOSH!
The ball of explosive wind streaked through the sky and slammed into the ground.
BOOM!
A massive storm of wind erupted in the middle of the battlefield, a hundred meters from Kael. A dozen black-robed figures were instantly blown into the air, their limbs scattering in every direction.
Is this the power of a D+ rank summon? It can join the battle without my command. Its intelligence must be on par with the toads of Mount Myoboku...
Kael smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the chaotic battlefield, focusing on his hand seals to practice his next ninjutsu.
The large-scale battle was over quickly with the intervention of Kael's team. Thanks to the Wind Eagle, not a single Jashinist escaped. Kael hunted down the last of them, riding on the eagle's back. But he felt no pride. This group of enemies had been almost entirely composed of ordinary people without chakra. They were nothing more than the lowest-ranking cannon fodder of the cult.
A week later, Kael's team had grown accustomed to their highly mobile, fluid style of combat. His ninjutsu had become more and more proficient. While he couldn't yet perform six hand seals per second, he was no longer taking a dozen seconds to choke out a single jutsu.
In that week, they had encountered two more groups of Jashinists, but both were led by a single Genin, with the rest being ordinary followers. The ease of the encounters left Kael feeling a little bored. He was the one who wanted to lay low and power up, but he was also the one who got a thrill out of a good fight.
"This is no fun at all," he grumbled, sitting on the Wind Eagle's back and chewing on a ration biscuit as the wind whipped past his face.
"Tch." Inoshita Rino just scoffed, not even bothering to look at him.
Even Watanabe Musashi was at a loss for words. "You're still young," he sighed. "You don't know that for a ninja our age, a lack of danger is the greatest blessing."
"This kid has always been ungrateful. Don't mind him, Captain. A few hard knocks will teach him how the world works," Inoshita said, taking a ration biscuit from Rei and washing it down with water.
"Here, Izumi-sensei," Rei said softly, politely handing food and water to the first-year instructor, Izumi.
Izumi smiled and took them, her eyes filled with a motherly affection.
Kael's eyes flickered. In the Shinobi World, there were many ninja like Izumi who had no surname. In fact, most shinobi didn't. Surnames were typically reserved for the Feudal Lords, nobles, and the ancient ninja clans. Those who were not from a clan but had a surname had usually taken it for themselves or inherited it from an ancestor who had. These ninja were often looked down upon by the established clans.
The Warring States Period had only ended a few decades ago, and many clans still held onto their arrogant attitudes. But that wasn't the case in the Hidden Hot Water Village. As far as Kael knew, there wasn't a single organization in the village that could be called a "ninja clan." Not one. All the shinobi in the Hidden Hot Water were commoners.
No wonder it's never developed properly, Kael thought with a sigh.
In the Five Great Shinobi Countries, with the exception of the Hidden Cloud, the core power of the major villages always lay with the ninja clans, especially those with Kekkei Genkai. As the times changed, they had settled down in the villages, and while their family names no longer held the same weight as they did in the Warring States Period, the upper echelons of the villages, even the position of Kage, were almost exclusively controlled by these clan shinobi.
It was only in recent years, when Konoha under the Third Hokage began to actively promote commoner shinobi, that the other villages started to follow suit, recruiting talented commoners into their academies. It was an unstoppable trend. The birth of the five great villages hadn't ended war; it had only escalated its scale. This led to a sharp increase in the death rate among clan shinobi, forcing them to rely on the very commoner shinobi they had once looked down upon.
Now, the number of commoner shinobi in the major villages had grown significantly. In Konoha, which had been the first to reform, commoners now made up almost half of their total ninja force.
If the Hidden Hot Water Village wants to break out of its current slump, the first thing it needs to do is break free from the Feudal Lord's control, Kael thought, seeing the situation clearly.
The economic lifelines of the hidden villages were controlled by their respective countries' Feudal Lords. They used their control over the economy and resources to keep the shinobi, their "tools," in check. The Feudal Lord of the Land of Hot Water had severely restricted the village's development. The country was famous for its hot springs and had a massive annual income, making it one of the richest of the smaller nations. Yet, after nine years, the Hidden Hot Water Village still only had a meager two or three hundred shinobi.