[Check Out My P4treon For +30 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!! And get chapters before publishing them here for free on my p4treon][https://p4treon.com/talkfictome]
===
As Captain Iryō had anticipated, the Sunagakure high command granted the "Sandstorm" squad no period of acclimation. The shadow of the Third Great Ninja War had lengthened, and the village's strategic depth was being tested. Every active shinobi was a vital cog in a machine struggling to maintain its defensive perimeter.
Their orders were delivered with cold, bureaucratic efficiency: proceed to the northeastern border of the Land of Wind, secure a fifty-kilometer patrol line, and neutralize any foreign reconnaissance elements. There were no grand speeches, only a map marked with high-risk sectors and a standing order to transmit intelligence in real-time.
Iryō's expression was tight, his veteran instincts bristling at the rushed deployment, but his voice remained steady. "Keep pace and stay sharp! Xu, center position—keep your sensory net wide. Lucado, left flank. Sayo, right flank—expand our vision with your puppets. Total radio silence from here on out."
With a sudden burst of speed, Iryō vanished into the dunes. Xu followed with a nervous start, while Lucado offered a final skeptical grunt toward Sayo before leaping into position. Sayo, silent as the desert itself, simply formed a seal.
Poof.
On his shoulder, a refined "Spider" scout puppet flickered into existence. It didn't wait for a command; it leaped into a rocky crevice, its multi-jointed legs silent on the stone, scouting the dead zones ahead of the squad's advance.
The journey began as a grueling test of endurance. They navigated the scorched Gobi Desert and jagged mountain passes, a formation of four moving at high-velocity through an oppressive silence. Iryō led with surgical precision, instinctively avoiding terrain that favored ambushes. Xu, despite her nerves, managed to track distant packs of desert wolves, preventing unnecessary skirmishes. Lucado's Earth Release proved its worth, carving temporary footholds into sheer cliff faces to maintain their momentum.
But it was Sayo who forced Iryō to re-evaluate his assumptions.
Sayo's scout puppet was a tireless phantom. It bypassed the limitations of human fatigue, transmitting tactile signals and structural warnings hundreds of meters ahead. At one point, the puppet's sensors flagged a series of micro-vibrations—a buried explosive tag trap. Had the spider not signaled the halt, the squad would have walked into a localized inferno.
The silence was finally shattered when they intercepted a cell of rogue shinobi—mercenaries likely hired by a rival nation to test Suna's border integrity.
"Engagement! End it fast!" Iryō roared. He unleashed a Wind Release: Vacuum Orb, the compressed air bullets pinning the enemy leader against a canyon wall.
Lucado was a second behind, his hands blurring. "Earth Release: Earth Spear!" Stone spikes erupted from the sand, forcing the flankers into the open. Xu, overwhelmed by the sudden violence, fumbled her kunai, her throw going wide.
Seizing the opening, a mercenary lunged from the shadow of a monolithic rock, a jagged blade aimed at Xu's throat.
"Focus, Xu!" Sayo's voice was a calm anchor amidst the chaos.
In a singular, fluid motion, Sayo applied a localized Earth Release: Headhunter technique. The ground beneath the mercenary turned to treacherous sludge, causing him to stumble. Before the enemy could recover, Sayo had closed the distance, his fingertips wreathed in the high-frequency hum of a Violent Wind Palm. He struck with the cold efficiency of a piston hitting a cylinder.
CRACK.
The sound of snapping ribs echoed through the canyon. The mercenary was hurled backward, his lungs collapsing instantly. He was out of the fight before he hit the ground.
As the dust settled, Iryō looked from the downed enemy to Sayo's unruffled expression. The boy wasn't just talented; he was lethal. His tactical integration of Ninjutsu and CQC (Close Quarters Combat) was far beyond the grade of a Genin.
The surprise deepened during the post-battle cleanup. Lucado had taken a shallow kunai graze to the forearm. Without a word, Sayo knelt beside him, his palms glowing with a steady, emerald light.
"Don't move," Sayo commanded. The Mystical Palm Technique was professional and efficient, sealing the capillaries and accelerating cellular regeneration.
Lucado watched the light fade, his previous arrogance replaced by a stunned, awkward silence. "...Thanks," he muttered, finally looking Sayo in the eye with something resembling respect.
Iryō realized then that the "connected kid" Chiyo had sent him was a tactical anomaly—a "monster" in the making. Reconnaissance, frontline combat, field medicine—Sayo had no discernable ceiling.
Over the following weeks, the "Sandstorm" squad became a firefighting unit, leaping from one crisis to the next. Sayo thrived in the high-stakes environment, his theoretical knowledge hardening into muscle memory. He mastered the Earth Flow Wall to protect retreats and used the Ōgumo for high-speed transport during escort missions. Once, in the dark of a night ambush, he subconsciously flicked a trace of Magnet Release chakra, causing an enemy's shuriken to veer harmlessly off-course—a localized anomaly that no one lived to report.
Through the blood and the grit, Sayo was no longer just a student of the Sand. He was becoming its blade.
===
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 60 on my patreon, go check it out
exclusive 18+ character images, and early chapters, please visit my Patreon. Thanks for your support!
p4treon.com/talkfictome
if you want more updates == supports with power stones
Every 20 Power Stones == Bonus Chapter
every three 5-star reviews == Bonus Chapter