Chapter 15: The Silver Edge of a Dying Moon
The wind blades didn't just cut the air; they shredded my skin.
Late at night, under a cold crescent moon, I stood by my window. The bandages on my hands were already soaked through. I unwound them slowly, wincing as the dried blood peeled away from my palms.
My hands were a roadmap of failure—covered in tiny, jagged scars from years of trying to tame the wildest element in the shinobi arsenal.
(Internal Monologue: Wind Release. Everyone thinks it's all about giant fans and slicing through forests. They don't see the microscopic needles that bite back at the user. If I can't master the form, I'm just a suicide bomber with a fancy name.)
I formed a single hand seal with my left hand, focusing every drop of Chakra into my right palm.
Vrummm.
A swirling ring of Wind Release Chakra ignited. It wasn't a perfect sphere—it was a chaotic, silver array of miniature blades that ricocheted off each other with the screeching sound of metal on metal.
Slice.
Fresh red lines bloomed across my wrist and fingertips. I hissed, my hand trembling as the technique flickered and died.
"Still too much friction," I muttered, teeth gritted. "But it's getting there. It's becoming practical."
I reached for the external medicine Saya had thrown at me earlier. The moment the cool ointment touched the raw cuts, a refreshing sensation flooded my nervous system, dulling the fire in my nerves.
(Internal Monologue: High-grade stuff. Did that pampered princess give me this by accident, or did she see the scars? In this village, a secret discovered is a knife at your throat. I need to move faster.)
People think being a ninja is all flashy battles. It's not. It's this—dull, agonizing repetition in a dark room while the rest of the world sleeps.
Years ago, when I found out my affinity was Wind, I thought I was the protagonist. I thought of the Rasengan. The Rasenshuriken.
What a joke.
If a Sand Genin started using the Fourth Hokage's signature move, the Konoha Anbu would have me in an interrogation room before I could blink. And the Rasenshuriken? Naruto only survived that because he was a chakra monster with a healing factor. A normal human using that would end up with shredded tendons and a career-ending injury.
No, I had to build my own path.
For four years, I've practiced nature transformation using the leaf-cutting method. My hands are proof of the cost. In the upcoming exams, my puppets will be my shield, my sand will be my wall, but this—this silver wind—will be the hidden blade that no one sees coming.
Three days later, the "Nightmare Sister" was back.
Saya stood in my doorway, her violet-painted lips curled into a snarl. She looked like she hadn't slept in forty-eight hours.
"You big liar!" she shrieked, pointing a manicured finger at my chest. "Give it back! Give me back my medicine right now!"
I leaned against the frame, picking my teeth. "Transaction's closed, Lady Saya. The ointment is already half-gone. What's the problem? Did the 'monster' I gave you bite?"
"You didn't tell me Shion didn't qualify for the Chunin Exams!"
"You didn't ask," I shot back. "I told you he was a Taijutsu freak. I told you he hadn't passed the academy. I never said he was exam-ready."
(Internal Monologue: Shion. The kid is a beast, but he's a bureaucratic nightmare. To qualify for the Chunin Exams in the Sand, a Genin needs ten completed missions. Shion has zero.)
"We have less than two months!" Saya wailed. "The Sand's exams are usually held in late May before the heat becomes lethal. How am I supposed to drag that idiot through ten missions in sixty days?"
"Build his count with D-ranks," I advised, my tone bored. "Cat-catching, fence-painting, waste-clearing. Boring? Yes. Effective? Absolutely."
"D-rank missions? Do you know who my father is? I don't do 'chores'!"
"Then don't go to the exams," I shrugged, starting to close the door. "Let your sister be the only one who advances. I'm sure she'll remind you of it every day for the next decade."
Saya froze. The thought of her sister Sana lording a promotion over her was clearly worse than cleaning toilets.
"Fine," she hissed. "Ten missions. Non-stop. If we fail because of that brat, I'm turning your apartment into a puppet graveyard."
She stomped away, her light blue hair swaying with every angry step.
(Internal Monologue: She doesn't know. Nobody does. The Leaf is going to send the invitation for a Joint Exam soon. The date will be pushed back to July. She has plenty of time... if she survives the training.)
I didn't have time to worry about her. My own clock was ticking.
The Oto-kaze Squad gathered at the village gates an hour later. The air was thick with the scent of travel rations and sharpened steel.
"Listen up," Oto Kaze said, his voice cutting through the morning haze. "The northern border fortress is rotating guards. We've been assigned to the supply escort. We move out today, and we stay there for two months on patrol."
Two months.
Chiyo and Yome looked at each other, tension visible in their shoulders. The northern border was the "Narrow Road"—a strip of contested land where Iwagakure scouts often played hide-and-seek with our patrols.
"This isn't a training exercise," Oto Kaze warned, his eyes lingering on me. "It's a live border. People die there for 'trespassing' on land that doesn't have a map."
(Internal Monologue: Perfect. Two months in the wild. Away from the village elders, away from the prying eyes of the Kazekage's office. It's the perfect place to test the 'Silver Wind' on someone who won't be coming back to report it.)
I adjusted the straps on my gear, feeling the weight of my newly built puppet core against my back.
"Two months of desert patrol?" I grinned, showing a bit too much teeth. "Sounds like a vacation, Captain."
But as we marched out into the endless dunes, a hawk circled high above us. It wasn't a Sand messenger bird. Its feathers were tinged with a strange, oily black sheen.
It followed us for miles, a silent observer in the sky.
I looked up, my hand hovering over my pouch. Someone is tracking us. And they aren't from the Sand.
The Narrow Road was about to get a lot more crowded.
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[Will the Oto-kaze Squad survive the Northern Border? Or is there a traitor among the supply line? The road to the Chunin Exams just got bloodier!]
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