Ch130. Ichibi

Sunagakure was in turmoil.

Stormy clouds dark as night gathered above it, creating a sight never before seen in the village where rain never fell. The entire village was covered in a blanket of shadow, not even one ray of light getting through the clouds that sparkled and roared with barely contained lightning. The ninjas of Suna ran left and right, evacuating civilians, trying to find out what was happening, trying to find out whoever was responsible...

And then it started. Rainstorm fell like drops of water as big as eyeballs cropped the Sunagakure, desecrating its name as now the village looked more to be hidden in the flood of water.

"Karuhiko! What did you find out!?" Pakura screamed through the deafening sound of rain and lighting raging all around, not enjoying being literally bathed in water due to the rain. She even had to use water walking if she didn't want to have her feet ankle-deep in the water.

Karuhiko, one of the best sensors of Sunagakure was completely shaken. The water level was ever-so-slowly rising, and he really didn't want to find out what would happen once the lighting started raining down instead of staying in the clouds. Not when the entire village was flooded by water.

"I... The storm..." It was almost painful for him to convey his findings. "The storm is natural." He said, completely defeated.

Pakura's mood soured as she heard that. Natural... that meant no chakra was in the clouds or water... which meant there was no hope that defeating the caster would stop it. They couldn't even send Wind techniques at the clouds since they were too high up in the sky and their techniques wouldn't reach.

Pakura quickly created thirty small, marble-sized orbs of Scorch Release and moved them around her to evaporate the water in the hope to keep the flood-level down.

'No... there is no way this is natural!' Pakura thought in dismay. 'Who... Downpour.' It hit her. The only ninjas who could do this were Rei and Konan of Kiri. That was not so hard to realize considering only they were famous for such large-scale water attacks. 'But what is their goal?' Pakura desperately thought, sending even more small orbs of scorch style up in the air, vaporizing the water as it fell.

The village was now a mix of vapor that was constantly being riddled with big drops of water and reforming. The sizzling sound of evaporation fought with the deafening fall of the rain. The visibility was nil at best as the blanket of darkness, vapor, and water covered the Sunagakure. The civilians and ninjas alike shook in their boots from all the helplessness and despair... not knowing what to do.

Pakura quickly lost command. There was no way to coordinate men when her orders wouldn't go further than a few feet through all the noise around her. She couldn't even use sign language due to the abysmal visibility and vapor that covered the village like a mist. Unfortunately, Suna didn't have mind arts to connect with each other as the Yamanaka clan did and in this kind of situation, they were plainly fucked and Pakura knew it.

Forsaking the defense of the village for a second, Pakura thought what could be the attackers' goal as she continued creating small orbs of scorch to fight the heavy rain. It did create the current situation and maintained the utterly abysmal visibility but Pakura couldn't stop. That would mean letting the water-level increase. Considering there were natural walls of hardened sand around Sunagakure... letting the water-level rise could very well end with creating a lake where Sunagakure stood, completely flooding it. And even then Pakura couldn't create enough scorch balls to prevent the water-level rise completely. She was able to only slow it down. After all, the village was huge and Pakura could cover a few blocks at best. So... the water slowly rose, covering more and more of the village.

'This had to happen two days after the Kazekage left.' Pakura gritted her teeth but then it hit her. There was only one valuable thing Sunagakure had readily available. 'The bastards are after Ichibi!' Her eyes widened before hardening. Pushing half of her whole reserves into one massive orb, she guided it far up the sky above the village, and then, using her sheer knowledge of her village, she navigated through the thick vapor towards the main hidden treasury of the village where the Ichibi sealed into a jar was currently held.

...

Rei finished copying most of the high-level Jutsu scrolls and the sealing of ten percent of the Tanuki's chakra... and damn was the beast loudly cussing during the process. Rei would naturally leave the Ichibi for Suna as he did up till now. He only needed a sample of its chakra and honestly, he only took ten percent because the sand-fuck was just so annoyingly loud, Rei loved hearing the screaming cussing. For Ichibi, he even stopped mitigating the pain of chakra absorption after a few seconds in his presence.

'The sage of the six paths really must have liked them vulgar.' Rei shook his head in amusement.

He was about to walk away when... on instinct, Rei raised a Water Wall in time to intercept a ball of scorch release, sending superheated vapor all over the room before Rei blew it away with a burst of Wind Jutsu.

And there she was. The Hero of Sunagakure, Pakura of the Scorch Release. Gasping for air with wide eyes betraying how scared she was, meaning the subtle fright-inducing illusion seals inwoven into his black garbs worked, shivering despite the hot air just blowing past her, meaning the chilling illusion seals also worked, but determined to stop him.

'Cute...' Rei thought in amusement. The woman would clearly not give up despite being downright horrified and wanted nothing other than to faint.

"You won't steal Ichibi!" She cried out, barely capable of doing so without stuttering and two scorching balls appeared next to her shoulders before they flew at Rei, not even giving him time to answer.

"I think I already got what I wanted." Rei quipped and raised his hand in the direction of the incoming balls and...

All Pakura could see was white. The entire room was covered in... snow?

'How!?' She mentally shrieked, noticing her scorching balls freezing of all things and only then the change in temperature hit her as she barely heard Rei's whisper before she fainted from the mix of low temperature, fright, stress, and exhaustion.

"Snow Release: Snowfield."

Rei hummed as his new mix of Nature Energy, Wind, and Water Release covered the room in the blanket of white snow that had the ability to steadily bring the temperature lower and lower. The temperature in the room was getting chillier by the second and Pakura's body was horribly shivering despite her being unconscious.

Rei could only sigh as he canceled the Snowfield. He didn't want to kill Pakura. If anything, she would be a nice addition to his future plans if Sunagakure betrayed her. He didn't want to be a rogue ninja for the rest of his days and the most prudent way to achieve freedom was to create a village. Modern-styled village, at that. No way would he do all the administrative work himself as the other Kages do. Pakura was up there with the most important people to secure for this plan so he couldn't just let her die.

Not to mention, he was quite impressed by her determination. Where others would flee with their tail between their legs, she stood her ground. The woman was… something else, Rei decided.

'I guess that kind of foolish bravery will have to be beaten out of her later on. Fighting a battle where she would surely die without even knowing if it was the only way… I am sure Mei would like to have her own apprentice in due time.' Rei chuckled, picking her up onto his shoulder before disappearing from the treasury room.

The clouds above the Sunagakure finally cleared, letting the ever-present desert sun warm shine on the village as the vapor slowly disappeared, leaving only glittering water flooding the village, reaching up to three meters in height. The civilians hiding on the highest floors and ninjas in the streets fell on their butts in relief, thanking whatever deity it was finally over and they survived.

Oddly enough, not even one casualty came from this ordeal.

On the floor of the highest building in the village, the Kazekage Tower, unconscious Pakura peacefully laid, right under a massive message carved into the roof. Its contents...

'The Yozora was here!'