Chapter Six- An Ant Before Giants

It seemed like the landscape itself was this man's sword, it guarded him from sight so well that I couldn't even tell where he was within the mountain of black sand. With a but a twitch the flowing Iron sand would condense into hardened blades that tried their best to catch the lightning bolt that would strike at places randomly. It was obvious that Sakumo sensei was stuck on the defensive, it was few and far between in the moments between strikes that Sakumo could retaliate, but it seemed useless against the mountain of iron sand.

But it was also important to note that in the few minutes I have been watching neither fighter has been able to injure the other. It seemed they were the perfect match-up for each other, a true battle between S-rank shinobi.

It made me realize exactly what the quest wanted me to do, I had to make an opening for Sakumo, with his speed all he needed was one.

There was a rather large problem with this reasoning, I have absolutely nothing that could create an opening. Every ninjutsu I have would prove absolutely useless, none of my ninja training gave me anything that could slow Russo's iron sand.

So I stopped thinking as a shinobi.

What is iron sand? A form of sand that has a high amount of Iron.

Sakumo sensei is a shinobi with a powerful Lightning affinity. Iron is a conductor. However, it seems that even with his mastery over lightning it is still not enough on its own to 'break' the Iron sand. Sakumo himself stated he couldn't have injured Russo without Lady Tsunade by his side.

So I needed to somehow increase the iron sand's conductivity if I wanted Sakumo to have any hope of piercing it with his lightning release.

'Water' It was a simple answer, but in a desert, it was almost an impossibility. I couldn't create nearly enough water for it to matter...If I was alone. 'That's it!'

I blasted off into a full sprint in the exact way I came from, it wasn't long until I found the three chunin I assisted earlier. They were slightly charred and a little worse for wear but they seemed to still have energy, and even better they were recovering away from the conflict. 

"Hey guys. I need your help!" I said as I arrived next to them while they sitting together in a bunker under a dune.

"You that crazy kid from earlier?" It seemed the youngest of the three remembered me quickly. 'Crazy? I prefer efficient'

"What is the problem?" The apparent oldest and the leader of the three asked me seriously.

"I'm Sakumo's disciple. I was hoping you guys knew a decent scale water ninjutsu, or even a water affinity. I have a plan to help sensei defeat Russo but I can't do it alone" I said in greeting as I slightly bowed while asking for their help. It wasn't needed, we were comrades, but I had to keep up appearances as a member of the clan.

"I have a water affinity, while these two know the wild water wave jutsu. What is the plan kid" It seemed that Sakumo's name brought out something in his troops, they all stood at attention immediately. Eager to contribute to their leader's battle without even a thought of the danger, it was commendable.

"Follow me I'll explain on the way. I'm Tometsu Uchiha" I said with a smile as I began running towards the sight of Sakumo's battle. They all introduced themselves as we ran, they were all civilian shinobi who worked hard to become chunin. The eldest with the water affinity was Ruko and he was a survivor of the first shinobi war. The other two turned out to be brothers and they were named Roi and Koi, it was rather amusing but we didn't have time to banter. I quickly informed them of my rather simple plan, but they didn't refuse.

We made it to the battle in a minute or so and I noticed that nothing had changed. The black sand has made no progress in catching the lightning bolt that was Sakumo.

"You boys ready for this? On the kid's signal release every bit of water you can" Ruko asked as he began building chakra. We all followed his lead.

I began flying through the seals of my only water ninjutsu until I reached the ending seal of 'dog' and held it there. Of the four hundred points of chakra I had left, I put a total of three hundred and eighty into it, well over double the usual amount for this jutsu. I nodded to other crazy shinobi who joined me in this before I took a deep breath.

"SAKUMO SENSEI NOW!" I screamed at my highest pitch before we all released our water jutsus simultaneously. I prayed to the Six Paths that he heard me over his battle.

A mountain-sized wave appeared in front of us. It was at least a hundred feet tall while being just as wide, filled to absolute brim with our combined chakra. It flowed over then crashed on the iron sand and for a moment it slowed it. But that was never what I was hoping for.

It seemed my prayers were answered as for the first time since this battle started Sakumo appeared instead of a flash of lightning. He smirked and I realized then that he understood my plan. My Sharigan came alive instantly because I knew whatever he was about to do, I wanted to be able to do it one day myself.

His hands almost blurred as he flew through well over thirty hand seals and his chakra came alive around him. He roared to the battlefield as a dragon of lightning appeared crashing from the skies.

"Lightning Style- Lightning Dragons Fall!" I saw it before I heard it as the dragon obliterated the waves of iron sand that seemed to until now rule the battlefield. Another man appeared, he wore a shocked expression as his seemingly ultimate defense was wiped away. I turned back to Sakumo but he was gone, a sound of thunder was my only clue as to where he arrived.

My eyes could barely keep up this point but what I saw shocked me, Sakumo appeared above the dark-haired Russo, and his saber was released as a white streak followed its descent towards Russo's neck.

It seemed unstoppable, but Russo proved to be an S-rank shinobi as he expertly twisted away. Sacrificing his arm, instead of losing his head. 

The waves of iron sand returned moments after while a bolt of thunder chose to retreat. Sakumo appeared a few meters away from us with Russo's still bleeding arm in a death grip. Not once turning his back to his wounded enemy.

I expected the the waves of iron sand to continue their assault with increased vigor, but surprisingly Russo began flying away. Three paper bombs appeared from within that flew into the night sky. Three explosions later I collapsed onto my rear with a sigh, that was obviously the Suna army's signal to retreat.

-

[Quest Complete]

The Fang's Apprentice

Objective: Prove yourself on the battlefield by helping your teacher defeat Russo of the Iron Sand.

Reward: Title: Fang's Apprentice, 20 stat points, 1 perk point.

{Title Acquired}

[ Fang's Apprentice- Boosts the learning speed of Kenjutsu and Lightning release by 20%. Equip?]

-

"How about that guys? Three chunin and a genin helped defeat an S-rank shinobi. We might even get a medal" I said as I began laughing my ass off at the insanity we just pulled off. I easily accepted the prompt that the 'scroll' gave me, and I was honestly proud of this achievement.

"He's right! I might be able to finally find a wife!" Koi said as he jumped for joy.

"Young people...." The elder Ruko said with an exaggerated shake of his head, but we all caught the rather large smile that adorned his features.

"I don't know about a medal but a reward is definitely in order. You three are to return to encampment, I will reward you when I return" Sakumo said as he appeared right next to me.

"The hell you mean three!" I said as I looked up to him. It was then I realized how spent he was, covered in sweat and his usual upright posture now had a small slump to it. It seemed that large jutsu took a lot out of him.

"That is unneeded commander, we just did our duty" Roi surprisingly said as he stood at attention before Sakumo.

"It is an order, chunin. Koi, Roi, and Ruko" He said while ignoring me and turned to 'my' companions with a smile. I was honestly surprised he knew these soldiers, they were as well and the gleam in their eyes almost turned devoted as they looked at Sakumo.

All three of them nodded and bowed before disappearing in a body flicker, heading towards the encampment as heroes.

After they left Sakumo turned to me with an odd expression, most likely because I looked a complete mess. Blood all over me and barely any strength left in my body after just a few hours of this.

"Can you walk?" He asked me. I nodded before I stood up with great difficulty, I almost toppled right over as he put me in a headlock and began ruffling my hair. It would been just annoying if it weren't for the fact that the arm that had me in the headlock was also the one that held a freshly severed arm that still squirted blood.

"Let me go!" I yelled in prepubescent rage as I tried my best to get his gorilla arms off me. Obviously, I failed as Sakumo began laughing at my flailing.

"Good job, Tometsu" Sakumo said between chuckles as I froze. It was the first time he used my actual name after all. He let go of me soon after as he showed me his fist, wiping the shock away I smiled as I returned the gesture.

"I had to make a wave on my first day on the battlefield, Sakumo Hatake is my teacher after all" I said slightly jokingly.

"That wasn't the plan kid, you were just supposed to watch from the sideline. But this? This might change the entire war" Sakumo said with a slight craved glean in his eye as he held up Russo's left arm to show me. I didn't realize it at first but I quickly understood, with my help, Sakumo took the arm of Suna's future Kage. This was a big deal.

"Could Suna surrender to us?" I asked while a small pit formed in my stomach. The sooner this war ended the faster my choices would catch up to me. A third war would undoubtedly follow this one, I'd be lucky if there were a decade of peace. Hiruzen was currently forty-two, I'd like the man to be well into his fifties before I even thought of fighting him. Call it cowardly but he has been atop the shinobi world for two decades now.

Sakumo smiled at me and began to reply before something crashed next to us. I would've been sent flying if weren't for Sakumo holding me by the gruff of my neck. As the dust settled I expected to see some kind of monster given the entrance. What I didn't expect was a beautiful blond woman with a…..'voluptuous' figure, even under her armor. Like a fool, my mouth hung open but I managed to close it before anyone noticed.

It didn't take me more than a moment to recognize her, she was aptly named the Slug Princess. Tsunade Senju, the strongest woman alive, and she seemed pissed…..

"Sakumo, what the hell is going on? I almost had those two before Russo called a retreat." I would readily believe her, she was most likely in the heart of this battlefield. You couldn't tell if you disregarded the dirt on her armor, she didn't sport a single injury.

"I won" Sakumo said with a smirk as he lifted Russo's arm in the hand that wasn't holding me. I could tell she was shocked as her mouth hung open for a good few seconds.

"Explain, Sakumo I am way too annoyed for your usual banter" She said with a sigh as her anger vanished. She seemed to finally take notice of me as I was still held by Sakumo like a bad kitten.

"Just a second Tsunade. Return to the encampment kid, we'll go over everything then" Sakumo said as he dropped me like a sack of potatoes. 

"Uh…. yeah, see you then sensei" I said as I made a strategic retreat from the seemingly crazy beautiful lady. 

I was running toward the encampment with a smile on my face either way, so I may have sped up the end of the war. I enjoyed myself the whole time, consequences be damned.