A cold howling breeze picked up a bunch of snowflakes from the ground and mixed them up into the fray of those that were already coming down. The clouds in the sky made the edge of the Land of Snow where the Kumogakure delegation was coming from extremely gloomy and dark. It almost looked like the place was on a completely different time zone, as if it was early morning hours in the Land of Snow where it was actually slightly past the midday. The constant blizzards and snowing that have pelted relentlessly at the faces and the very souls of the travelers have calmed way down compared to the degree they were terrorizing the delegation in the Land of Snow before. Still, the fact that snow was endlessly shaving off the last remnants of the shinobi patience made them happy to finally be close to leaving the accursed desert of endless snow and ice.
It was hard to tell clearly one ninja from another – all of them wore ponchos or hooded cloaks to shield them from both the cold and the snow. One of the hooded figures turned at another – a short feminine figure whose murky blue hair were visible even from the large hood she was wearing. "Raikage-sama, it seems like the worst is over. I still do not understand why we had to travel on foot? Locals make insane profits from caravanning people from one side of the Land of Snow to another. That's pretty much their most profitable profession…"
The woman's fingers emerged from under her poncho and she reached for the veil that protected her face from snow bashing into it. With a graceful movement the woman removed it and took in some fresh winter air and sighed. "Unfortunately you chose to accompany this lowly swordswoman to her goal, that you did. The likes of this lowly swordswoman do not deserve to traverse using the aid of caravans, that they don't. Disgraced swordsmen like this lowly one must walk their own cold broken roads with their own bleeding feet, I am very sorry that you had no choice but to follow me on that journey, that you did." Samaya Imasu was a very attractive young woman, possibly the youngest of all the Raikage and maybe even all Kage in general.
"I still don't quite understand what is so lowly about you, my lady, you are a great hero who was chosen by our people to lead after you took out a truly disgraced and lowly Raikage. Truly you should have more faith in yourself…" the cloaked bodyguard shrugged still looking curiously at Imasu. The woman was only the Raikage for over three months and she already made vast improvements to the way that the previous Raikage ruled. The Fourth Raikage – Afolabi Kimya was a promising leader. The boy was a ninja who basically raced through the ranks and entered the Kumogakure Spec Ops by the time he reached fifteen years of age. However when he was given absolute power he sort of caved in on the pressure and constantly abused his power, Afolabi constantly disappeared from the meetings and Summits only to be found ordering his villagers and entertainers around to "dance" for him or "give him all the food" off of their stalls. He was a boy that had far too much power and thought himself above everyone else because of it. For that reason when he discredited Kumogakure during the greatest Summit of all in recent times, after a blunder that nearly cost the peace of the entire Shinobi World and the unique relationship between Kumo and Land of Snow, Imasu herself drove her blade through the boy's heart.
Many people still felt like Imasu was a very controversial figure to be placed in the big chair but she was the best candidate. Afolabi almost cost the Country their peace openly offending every other Kage in the Summit and he played a dangerous game by outright demanding the friendly objects of peaceful offerings that Kumogakure and Land of Snow exchanged for generations as part of their numerous gentlemen agreements. Behavior like that could've cost far too much, the moment when Mizukage stood up to declare war Imasu plunged her blade through the boy's heart and fell to the ground begging the tyrant of the Mist to reconsider. It was only through sheer luck that blood of Afolabi pleased the tyrannical Daikon and a war was avoided… After that followed multiple years of trying to find the right candidate, while Imasu did the right thing ultimately in the eyes of the world she was very affected by the fact that she betrayed the man she swore to protect by killing him from behind. Her personality would've never allowed herself to become the next Raikage and it took long years of convincing for it to happen. So far the woman had been performing exceptionally well.
"Don't even bother… It's said that Lady Imasu has been raised and trained by Haoru-san of the Iron Country samurai – one of the swordsmen who wield the impossible God Sword jutsu. It is said that the man's training was so rough on the little girl that she grew up into the woman she is today… Just go with it." A man from the side spoke out loud, even Raikage herself heard it and she just giggled to her palm before gently rubbing her hands at each other to warm them up a bit.
"True… Master Haoru was a rather strict man but one has to be strict to educate a lowly loser like this one, that one does." Imasu replied looking at her men that surrounded her shielding the woman with their bodies just in case something went wrong.
Expected by no one white figures burst from the hiding of snow that perfectly concealed their white cloaks, men tossed a flock of kunai at every figure in the delegation which only had about fifty men plus the Raikage herself. Some of the men made it in time to react, some only blinked witnessing the kunai pop right before their faces before the assumed end. A couple of them didn't even notice the attack to begin with but this did not speak of their inexperience – all of these were most trusted men and some of Kumogakure's strongest ninja. If anything it spoke to the credit of the swift and stealthy Kirigakure Demons. They dove out of their holes and fired with pinpoint precision all at the same time – it was a perfect ambush, the infamous Blitzkrieg Assassination plan.
A loud chain of clangs echoed through the fields, then a sound of flapping poncho and light footsteps reaching the ground reached everyone's ears.
"My my… What a lowly failure, that I am…" Raikage spoke up spinning multiple kunai at her fingertips right in front of her men. "This lowly self only managed to pin some of the kunai and had to deflect the others, that she did… To think that this one had a whole second to react, that she had… Master Haoru would hit this lowly swordswoman's head into a tree stump and stomp it a couple of times, that he would." Imasu mumbled out in a tone only intelligible to herself and couple of men close to her. A younger ninja shook so hard in her shoes that her cloak slipped off of her shoulders.
"She caught most of the kunai and deflected all of the others using just her bare hands… I didn't even see her move!" the youngling kept shaking. Another Kumogakure jounin close to her laughed out and gave the young woman a thumb up.
"Never worked with Raikage-sama? This is her not even being serious… I don't know who these guys are but they are in a world of trouble." the man couldn't hide his own excitement. It was almost like he desired to see Raikage fight because it was a sight to behold.
The white cloaked and white masked assassins pulled out their kunai and took an offensive stance. "Fifth Raikage – Samaya Imasu, by the orders of Mizukage Shirona-sama you are to be executed. You may choose to surrender and have your men be spared if they swear loyalty to Shirona-sama – the soon to be Ninja Empress." One of the Demon's spoke up in a cybernetic altered voice which was supposed to further dehumanize the human weapons. The Raikage took several graceful steps forward and pulled her blade out showing her sheathed katana to her enemies by lifting her hand holding it to the eye level.
"There it is, Raikage's true strength!" one of the Kumogakure ninja shook with excitement and tried his best to keep his eyes on his idol, he knew it'd be to no avail – no one could ever see Imasu move, it was said by drunk story weavers that even Haoru blocked her attacks only by predicting them and not actually seeing them coming. Her speed surpassed even the eyes of world's strongest swordsmen. She was the pride of ninja – a kunoichi trained by samurai who surpassed her mentors even though her pride and ambition still needed work. At times it appeared like Imasu couldn't fathom her own strength herself.
Suddenly the woman plunged to the ground dropping her sword in front of her and pounding her head to the snow. "This lowly one surrenders, this one knows the Fourth Raikage had offended Kirigakure and if this lousy loser's life is the price we must pay for peace this one shall gladly surrender it but spare my men, that please do!" the woman kept bashing her head at the snow and ice beneath so strong that blood broke through and covered her lovely face. Ashamed and blushed her guard walked up to her and forcefully put Imaya on her legs and pointed at the assassins
"They're not here for that, Lady Raikage! They are here because Mizukage Daikon was succeeded by some other crazy tyrant! Please defeat them and let us move on to the Summit, Raikage-sama, we're already late because you decided to walk the whole time!" the shinobi pleaded, however as their attention turned to Imaya's blade it was no longer there, the back rows of the Demons were already passing it around. All of a sudden the Demons just leaped forward dashing towards the Raikage and her men. The Kumogakure ninja engaged the Demons and a violent clash erupted. Kumogakure was known for the strongest military in the ninja world but they were severely outnumbered in there. Even if the Kumogakure ninja were all experienced warriors fighting bunch of assassins on a battlefield of warriors, even if a single Kumo jounin surpassed a single Demon in sheer fighting prowess it did not matter having the difference of numbers in mind as none of the Kumo jounin had yet reached the stage where mere numbers didn't matter.
"Keep the sword away from the Raikage – she is a famed swordswoman so she must not get her blade!" the altered voices of the Demons spread throughout the bloody battlefield as the sword was passed backwards again and again.
"I see… So that is your plan then…" Imaya jumped around in place a couple of times as her katana was once again in her hands despite her not even appearing to have moved at all.
The Demons were absolutely stunned and overwhelmed by the woman's speed, "H-How fast… Is she?" one Demon stuttered before being cut down with a powerful gash opening up on his chest. Then another. All of this happened while the Raikage was absolutely invisible, this time it didn't look like she was standing still – she simply disappeared momentarily before a single Demon was effortlessly cut down and colored the snow with their blood.
"All Demons, focus on the Raikage, at this rate she'll pick us off in seconds!" a Demon commanded as all of the men started retreating from their murderous rampage slaughtering the Kumogakure men and all lunged at the Raikage at the same time. A powerful shockwave erupted as a deafening sound of steel clashing took the hearing away from every ninja on the field. Most of the Demons were shouting into their speakers asking what had happened but none of them could hear it. After a brief moment and more cloaked Demons joining the ranks of the beaten down on the snow with a strong beeping noise everyone's hearing returned.
"Was that some sort of a jutsu?!" a shinobi asked his comrade who looked at the cerulean haired swordswoman in a poncho and shook his head.
"No… Imaya-sama just clashed with every single Demon who attacked her and blocked the blows of all of them at the same time…" it looked like his friend struggled with believing such a statement but then after being reminded of just how fast the Raikage leaped around the battlefield dispatching of numerous assassins suddenly he found her clashing with each assassin momentarily after another much easier to believe. The assassins once again switched their targets and tried to cut down as many of the Kumogakure men as possible but… Somehow each time they tried to backstab the ninja their blade just hit an invisible wall – the Raikage made it in time to protect every single one of her subordinates in time. It was like she was omni-present and omniscient. It was like when the Raikage moved the time around her stopped.
That being said – this sort of fighting had its toll on the Raikage as she was seen breathing heavily and barely even lifting her sword off the ground for moments after moving. She barely had the time to counterattack the assassin's advances and only defended her own men. Raikage herself was supporting her men and not taking the center stage which was slowly becoming troublesome as none of her men managed to openly compete with the highly trained elite Demon Corps.
"Damn it, Raikage-sama! Stop protecting us and start cutting those bastards down!" one of the ninja yelled out after seeing what his leader was doing.
"But… This lowly self must protect those that she holds dear, that she does!" Imaya huffed out.
"Then cut all of them down so fast that we don't have time to get hurt!" another jounin challenged the woman, "If you cannot then you are a loser unworthy of your title!" it appeared like the man knew of the woman's personality and played his cards right. It was almost like at the very same moment three streaks of light lit up and set several assassins on fire on their bodies. As the Raikage's figure appeared behind the entire squad of assassins many of them fell down to the ground bleeding and covered with some sort of white fire that was crackling like lightning taking them over. "Light Step Style: Thunder Cat Paw!" Raikage mumbled to herself as she sheathed her sword and turned back seeing a significant majority of the men fall down on the floor covered with glowing white crackling light cuts that burned out like flame without air and left just the cut on the body of the men cut down.
"S-She's moving at lightspeed?" one of the Demon grunted out intimidated by the name of the technique.
"Don't fool around, no ninja can possibly be THAT fast. That is impossible! She's just really damn fast…" another assassin shouted out so most of his comrades could hear.
Imasu smiled, her body flashed almost instantly to the bodies of other Demons and she only appeared for a brief moment before drawing her sword and cutting them down so fast that it was questionable if by the time she appeared she was even there. More and more Demons fell down. "It's true! She does move at lightspeed!" as the ranks of the white cloaked assassins reduced they became visibly more intimidated.
"This? This isn't "Light Step Style", this is just "Quickdraw", this lowly self just runs really fast for a moment, that she does…" Raikage smiled more Demons tried to attack her but only hit an afterimage as the real Raikage barely even had to spend any effort to avoid the attackers' techniques. One by one more Demons fell as Imasu kept showing off what she called her "Quickdraw". Then suddenly she stopped.
"You see, this one trained with Master Haoru her entire life and only managed to master "The Three Steps", that she did. Step one is – Quickdraw Step, that it is." Raikage disappeared again appearing before an assassin momentarily before her hand blurred and the assassin fell down, this repeated in rapid succession multiple times as when the assassins tried to counterattack the woman simply wasn't there anymore. Then the Raikage reappeared where she stood when she explained her First Step.
"When this lowly swordswoman uses the Quickdraw Step, she moves so fast that while most trained ninja can follow her movement no body with some special technique can respond in time, that they cannot. In other words, you see this one but cannot respond. Then, there is Third Step, strangely enough while this one learned last, it is less useful than Second Step – Sound Step, that it is"
After the woman finished her speech the Demons weren't about to take the woman's assault, they quickly formed into a wall and made handseals in fast coordinated fashion "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" all of them shouted out in synchronized fashion sending countless dragon shaped waves of water towards where the Raikage was. The projectiles slammed into the spot completely decimating it and drilling through. All of a sudden the water that was made by the technique froze almost instantly. The assassins believing in their success just stood there and continued to wait to see Raikage's crushed body, their eyes could only feast on an empty decimated block of unsteady ice however.
"At this step as you probably have guessed – this one moves at the speed of light, that she does." A voice reached the Demon Corps as they turned around and it appeared like the embodiments of fear – the Demons were starting to understand fear themselves. Blood freezing screams of pain echoed through the field as numerous assassins fell down on the ground having been cut down in pretty much no time at all.
"It's a very flawed Step, that it is. The way Master Haoru sees it – this lowly loser moves so fast that for a brief moment – time stops, making this one move instantly. However when someone is as lowly as me and moves so fast, they are affected by very large increase of their own body mass which I have to compensate for by spending monstrous amount of chakra to keep my body moving. Also... I just like Second Step better, that I do." The woman kept talking, explaining her entire skillset to bunch of dead men, or at least so the Demons had thought. Imasu was not a woman who cared too greatly of the secret of her ability, she had no problem just telling people how it worked.
"Why! Why would you tell us all this!?" a Demon shouted out angrily, at this point he felt like a cornered animal who was ready to do something stupid because of how hopeless his situation was. Imasu smiled.
"It is simple, this lowly swordswoman has no problem about letting people know of her ability, that she does not. This one feels so miserable for killing one she swore to protect that this one deserves death, please! This one wishes you to challenge me and kill me so this one can die in peace and be redeemed of what this one did, that she does!" Raikage bowed her head slightly as her subordinates started yelling at her that this was not the time for that sort of sentiment.
"Flee!" the Demon grunted out angrily "We did not expect Raikage to be this powerful, if we keep fighting here we'll just die needlessly and if we join Mizukage-sama we can assist her in bringing this woman down!" the man ordered as the squad of Demons started to slowly retreat. Imasu took a Battojutsu stance and dashed forward. "Sound Step Style: Supersonic Draw!" she uttered under her own nose.
A powerful round burst of air roared and exploded violently sending the snow, ice and several trees forward at immense speed and grinding them into dust as the woman's impressive charge and drawing of her blade broke the sound barrier wiping not only the remainder of the Demon Corps out but also decimating the battlefield. Imasu breathed out heavily as she sheathed her blade. "W-What… The…" one Demon was still breathing and talking but it came out of immense effort and willpower. The cerulean haired beauty turned at the man.
"This is the Second Step – Sound Step, that it is!" Imasu smiled.
"She… Moved… At the speed of sound as if it was nothing!" a Kumogakure ninja shouted out in disbelief, another ninja shook his head.
"No. Her body only moved at half the speed of sound, she then suddenly stopped and transferred her force into her dominant drawing hand. It was the speed of her drawing the blade that broke the sound barrier which she further enhanced using chakra – she used a natural occurrence and kicked it up to a different level. It's easy to see why Raikage-sama favors this step – it makes her move much slower but it annihilates everything in her way, she doesn't even have to cut anyone, it's just the sound barrier being busted that crushes everyone close to her. That is the scary woman that is Amaya Imasu, the Fifth Raikage!"
Further away a blond man admired the destruction from afar. He reached for the blade on his back – the Executioner blade and looked at it. "Yes… This woman will do fine, she's just right to challenge us, under this kind of pressure we shall excel!" the man shouted out in excitement. Another Sannin was about to challenge a Kage!
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