Hey guys, I've seen that you're enjoying the fanfic! Don't hesitate to give your power stones to help me keep growing and encourage me to upload more chapters. Thanks for your time, and enjoy today's chapter!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final academy bell rang like a release. The hallways filled with kids running toward the exit, eager for the end of the day. But Daigo and Sasori didn't run. They walked with determined steps, side by side, without needing words.
They had agreed on the place the day before: Training Ground No. 10, one of the most remote from the village, surrounded by tall dunes and with special permission for advanced students but because is far away no one ever go. but that good because no one would bother them there.
The walk was silent. Daigo felt the midday sun beating on the back of his neck, but his body, after months of punishment, barely noticed it. Sasori, with his usual blank expression, carried several scrolls on his belt—more than usual. Inside, Daigo knew, were his new puppets.
When they reached the entrance to the field, something stopped them dead in their tracks.
The air was... different than normal.
The temperature was several degrees higher than usual. Heat shimmered on the horizon as if the desert itself was breathing fire. Daigo frowned. Instant sweat broke out on his forehead—and that was saying something, given his near-superhuman heat resistance after training with his father.
"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly, searching for the cause of the change.
Sasori nodded without speaking. His eyes narrowed.
They advanced cautiously between the dunes surrounding the field. And then they saw it.
In the center of the ground, a solitary figure was training.
Two fire spheres the size of soccer balls orbited around her body, spinning like burning satellites. The air around her distorted from the extreme heat. The sand under her feet had turned to glass in spots, gleaming with red reflections from the sun.
Daigo swallowed hard as the heat grew even stronger the moment the orbs expanded a bit more.
Sasori felt it too, though his warm, covering clothes helped him endure the heat more than Daigo.
"Do you know her?" Sasori asked, staring at the distant figure.
Daigo, looking more closely, didn't respond immediately.
His mind, flashing back to the anime, screamed the name: Pakura. Suna's future heroine, the Scorch Release user, the one who would die betrayed during the Third Ninja War because of Rasa.
But here, in front of them, she wasn't the adult woman from the anime. She was a girl of barely ten or eleven, wearing a chūnin vest and with an expression of absolute concentration as she controlled the orbs of pure fire.
Pakura, deep in focus, noticed their presence. The two fire spheres stopped dead. With a quick seal, they vanished in a cloud of steam.
And then, along with the steam cloud, she disappeared too.
Daigo felt the cold kunai at his throat before he could react.
"Don't move," said Pakura's feminine voice, calm but with an edge of steel. "What are two academy students doing in a field restricted for my use?"
At Pakura's question, both looked at each other to decide what to do. Daigo knew Pakura was strong, but he wouldn't let himself be caught so easily.
Daigo slowly raised his hands, making Pakura—holding the kunai—lower her guard just a bit.
Sasori, beside him, noticed this and with a quick gesture moved his fingers rapidly. Toward the first scroll on his belt—a burst of smoke exploded as the scroll opened. Fast as lightning, a normal-sized puppet emerged from the smoke, positioning itself between the kunai and Daigo's neck. The puppet's hidden blades pointed directly at Pakura's arm.
Pakura, facing Sasori's movements, let out a huff and jumped back, dodging the attack though allowing Daigo to escape her grip. She landed five meters away. Now they could see her clearly, unlike before when she was far off.
Fair skin, brown eyes with no visible pupils. Green hair tied in a high bun with a hairpin, two strands framing her face with orange tips. Sleeveless and backless blouse, tight shorts, purple obi, arm warmers up to the shoulders, and bandages on thighs and ankles. The chūnin vest gleamed under the sun.
Pakura.
"Pakura-senpai?" Daigo asked, lowering his hands carefully.
She raised an eyebrow.
"You know me?" she said, a bit confused. She knew she was somewhat famous for her bloodline, but for an academy kid to recognize her meant he had knowledge.
"Everyone in Suna knows the Scorch Release prodigy," Daigo said naturally, avoiding revealing his slip-up with her name—though it seemed his lie was true.
Pakura crossed her arms, evaluating them.
"It doesn't matter if you know me—it won't save you from a report for coming to this training ground. What are you doing here?" Pakura said in a more serious tone that didn't fit her age.
Sasori spoke for the first time, voice cold.
"Train. That's all."
Pakura looked at the puppets still floating protectively in front of Daigo and beside Sasori.
"Interesting reflex. The puppeteer is quick. And you..." she looked at Daigo. "You have good instincts. But you're still brats. Leave. I don't want to accidentally kill Suna's talents."
Daigo felt his irritation rise. Months of brutal training, sweat, and pain—and now a girl (older than him) treating them like beginners. Maybe they were, but he wouldn't waste this chance to go all out against a worthy opponent.
"We're not weak brats," he said, straightening up. "We want to train here. If it bothers you... we can share the field. I don't think there's any problem with that," Daigo said, unwrapping the bandages from his arms.
Pakura let out a short laugh.
"Share? With students? Don't waste my time. At least become genin before coming to talk to me."
Sasori stepped forward.
"Then fight us," Sasori said, staring intently at Pakura. Though he didn't say it, he hated being dismissed because of his age.
"I think the same. It's not like you're that old—you're probably ten or eleven—so I don't see why I can't teach you a little respect," Daigo said with a challenging smile, making a annoyed grimace appear on Pakura's face.
Pakura looked at them with annoyance, but seconds later, a amused smile appeared.
"Two against one? Do you really think you have a chance?" she said, now sizing them both up.
Daigo smiled, the fire of rivalry growing even more.
"We're not asking for an advantage. Just a training match. If you win, we leave and don't come back for a month. If we last five minutes, you let us use the field whenever we want," Daigo said, knowing Pakura was far stronger than both and had experience they lacked.
Pakura seemed to consider.
"Five minutes against me, huh? You seem pretty confident," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Deal?" Daigo asked Pakura.
Pakura smiled—though that smile was dangerous—and nodded at Daigo's words.
"Then start whenever you want."
Daigo and Sasori exchanged a glance for a second. They didn't need words. They separated—Daigo up front, Sasori falling back to deploy.
Daigo, knowing his role and fighting style was close combat, didn't hesitate to charge first toward Pakura, leaving a cloud of sand behind in his former spot.
Close to Pakura, Daigo quickly launched a fast kick at her. In a swift, fluid movement, she left her calm position, using her arms to deflect the kick and avoid the hit.
At the same time, she clenched her fist and struck toward Daigo, who reacted quickly to his failed attack by grabbing her fist.
"Huh? You'll need more than that, Pakura," Daigo said, pulling her toward him and trying to sweep her legs with his own.
Pakura, seeing the move, jumped to avoid the kick and threw a punch at Daigo, hitting him and pushing him away. Then she heard the wind being sliced by shuriken and senbon.
At the same time, Sasori moved his fingers, and the two puppets launched shuriken and senbon toward Pakura's position, knowing Daigo would need a second to recover.
Pakura jumped, dodging the shuriken and senbon by millimeters.
"Not bad," she said in the air.
And quickly formed hand seals.
"Fūton: Reppūshō," she said in her soft voice.
A gust of wind shot from her palm, sweeping the field, dispersing the sand cloud along with the remaining shuriken heading toward her. She landed safely from all attacks, watching as both seemed ready for another round.
Daigo and Sasori just waited. For them, they didn't need to attack—the challenger here was Pakura. If she couldn't beat them in five minutes, she'd have to share the training ground.
Pakura, knowing they wouldn't move, made a seal and in a blink appeared behind Daigo, fist straight to his stomach. He took it and threw his own punch.
She blocked with her forearm, but the impact made her step back from Daigo's strength. The nearest puppet quickly moved with swords in its hands toward Pakura's back. She noticed and with rapid hand seals put her hand to her mouth.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu," Pakura said, a fireball shooting from her lips, burning the approaching puppet but leaving her exposed to Daigo, who didn't waste the chance to land a strong hit, pushing her away so Sasori could recover his puppet—which was burned and nearly useless.
Pakura, recovering, could only nod at both, who looked at her seriously.
"You make a good team, but I only have one minute left—and like I said, I don't want you here," Pakura said, her hands glowing with orange chakra.
"Scorch Release: Jōki Bōru."
Two scorching spheres, smaller but infinitely hotter, formed in her palms, slowly growing to the size both had seen upon arrival.
"This ends here," Pakura said.
She launched one.
The sphere flew straight at Daigo.
It wasn't normal fire. It was instant evaporation—and the heat, though increased from before.
Daigo felt it in the air: heat that dried the moisture from his skin in seconds. Not waiting for the heat ball to get close, he prepared the necessary seals to create a stone wall to block it.
It seemed to work at first, but small cracks appeared, forcing Daigo to use his last learned jutsu to sink into the earth, avoiding the second heat ball that evaporated everything behind the wall.
Sasori, seeing this, moved even farther back, knowing that if a normal fire jutsu had nearly eliminated one of his puppets, that heat ball would surely disintegrate it.
Pakura, seeing Daigo was gone, quickly figured out what he'd done. Looking at the ground, she noticed two hands grabbing her feet.
"Doton: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique," Daigo said, burying Pakura's body in the earth, leaving only her head out.
Daigo, seeing his technique worked, emerged from the ground, watching Pakura—who just looked at him. Seconds later, the buried Pakura dissolved into fire, letting Daigo know it was a fire clone.
Then he felt the heat even stronger than before. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the heat ball very close—his throat heated up, evaporating all his saliva.
And he knew he wouldn't have enough time to avoid this attack that would surely kill him if he didn't escape or cover himself.
In that moment, for the second time, Daigo felt death touch him—like it had before—and just like the first time, he didn't like it.
Was this really how it would end? Dead at the hands of the same ninja he wanted to help in the future, to make Suna strong, to become the Kazekage he wanted to be—would it all end?
All these thoughts flashed in less than a second, chaos in Daigo's mind. He seemed to surrender to the threat that would finish him—but for a millisecond, he saw something red and knew it was Sasori's hair.
Huh? Maybe it wasn't his end. He'd learned something he'd have to show Sasori to prove he was stronger than him. So with a strong breath, Daigo activated the First Breath of the seven heavens.
Small pink sparks appeared in his eyes, and everything seemed to move slower as all of Daigo's senses expanded.
Seeing the heat ball about to hit the ground, he put all his strength into his legs and in a second shot forward, dodging the heat ball's shockwave and rolling through the sand—having deactivated the breath and unable to stop coughing.
The second sphere went for Sasori.
Who, seeing the effect and how Daigo survived by luck, launched all his puppets toward the ball while fleeing to avoid the attack.
Sasori retreated, fingers trembling for the first time, his clothes quite burned from the shockwave.
After all that, only silence remained where the three figures stood on their sides.
Pakura approached them with her hands in her pockets.
"Almost five minutes," she said, voice calm. "You lasted longer than I expected."
Daigo panted on the ground, feeling the pain in his burned arm—it seemed he hadn't dodged as well as he thought, but at least he was alive. Sasori beside him, staring at the ashes of his puppets.
Pakura observed them for a moment.
"You," she pointed at Daigo. "That technique you used at the end saved your life—since I wasn't going to stop the heat ball. It was interesting. Seems you have quite a bit of talent." She turned to look at Sasori.
"Your puppets aren't bad, kid. You just lack experience and better materials." She turned to leave.
"Use the field whenever you want. You've earned it."
And she vanished in a shunshin, leaving only the smell of burning and glass in the air.
The field was destroyed: glass craters, melted sand, puppet ashes.
Daigo and Sasori looked at each other.
Daigo smiled first, despite the pain.
"Hahaha, she wrecked us—I almost died."
Sasori looked at the ashes, then at Daigo.
"My puppets... burned."
"Huh? Do your puppets matter more than your friend? I almost died," Daigo said, crying big tears at Sasori's words.
"Huh? But you're alive. My puppets aren't. I'll have to make them more resistant. To heat and fire," Sasori said.
Daigo just shook his head, knowing Sasori decided to ignore his drama, and nodded at his words, clenching his good fist.
"And I... need more. A lot more strength and power."
They stayed there sitting for a while, in the destroyed field, under the setting sun.
Daigo looked at his burned arm.
"Bloodlines... are on another level. Evaporating someone in seconds... If I could have one," Daigo said quietly.
He thought about his Earth chakra—maybe he could learn Fire nature and try to fuse them to make Lava Release.
"Or create a new one myself."
Sasori looked at him.
"Create one?"
Daigo smiled.
"Haha, Sasori, I don't know if it's possible—that's why they're bloodlines—but I think there are ways to achieve it. Though that would be for later. Maybe when I become a ninja, I'll try."
Sasori didn't respond, but for the first time, his eyes shone with something like hope.
The desert surrounded them, burned and broken.
But they, defeated, felt more alive than ever.
Because now they knew exactly how high the sky was that they wanted to reach.
End of Chapter 7