For a week straight, Zero and the remains of his platoon fought ceaselessly against Iwa, Suna and Konoha. No matter where they turned, an enemy would be around the corner.
No one could be trusted. Enemy shinobi were disguised as normal civilians, and even Ame shinobi. Worst of all, out of the squad of 10, only Zero and Captain Jito were left.
Everyone else had died against the endless onslaught of the other villages.
Sitting between a small cluster of trees, the two shinobi in question could be seen cleaning the poison residue out of their respirators.
"Kid...no, Zero. It's only been a week and our entire platoon is already gone. What do you say we just call it quits and go back to the village? We need some more reinforcements to-"
"I disagree, Captain. Let's just join up with Lord Hanzo and continue from there."
Jito gritted his teeth and continued cleaning his respirator, his eyes cold as he glanced at Zero.
"I'm just tired of all this war and death. Lord Hanzo keeps getting us killed by sending us out to do these impossible missions. Why not just join up with the Leaf or the Sand? Life would be so much easier that way."
Zero glanced up at Jito as he heard this.
"Your words are dangerous, Captain. What are you really trying to say?"
Jito, throwing his respirator to the side, got closer to Zero and whispered, "The Leaf is right across the border. All we need to do is give them some information, renounce our affiliation with the Rain, and become Leaf Shinobi instead. That way, we would have more powerful shinobi on our side. We won't have to fight as much. Doesn't that sound like the good life, kid?"
Zero showed no reaction to his comments. All he did was put his respirator back on and lean back against the nearby tree as he looked at Jito.
"If you do that, I would have to kill you, Captain."
Backing off from Zero while picking up his respirator, Jito laughed meekly while rubbing the back of his head.
"Heh, you know I'm just playing around, kid. I was just testing your loyalty to the village, that's all."
Jito continued cleaning, his gaze seemingly focused on the task in front of him.
"Kid, what would you do if your family was far away, and the only way you could get to them was...you know what, I've said too much. I'll just go and scout the area. Wait here for me."
Jito put his respirator back on, grabbed his sword and just as he was about to leave, he stuck his hand in his back pocket, pulling out a certain device.
"I found this on Akiza's corpse. Its a device that plays whatever song you want by reading the chakra you input into it. He was a big fan of listening to music while he worked. Honestly, might have played a part in his death. Don't make the same mistake, kid."
WHOOSH!
Jito jumped away, seemingly going to scout as he moved through the trees.
'Maybe if I was in his position I would do the same thing...but I'll do what I have to do. A shame too, I kind of liked the Captain.'
Grabbing the device that Jito gave him, a small smile appeared on his face as he put the ear buds within his ear.
'Hm, is it like this?'
[Ludowic - Third District]
'Yeahhhh...that's what I'm talking about.'
Tapping his fingers against his knees, Zero nodded his head as he listened to the music that reminded him of his home.
Seemingly unbeknownst to him, several figures were watching him from above in the shadows, their eyes fixed on his every movement.
"Sakumo...this one is by himself. You think it could be a trap?"
Sakumo, the white haired man leading them, just chuckled.
"Nah. Nobody's around except for the other one that just ran away. For now, we got him a to ourselves. Let's make this quick."
The leaves barely rustled as the shinobi jumped down around Zero, surrounding him with weapons drawn.
Sakumo stood right in front of him with his short sword at his side, looking down at Zero who was still entranced by the music.
Crouching down, Sakumo tapped on Zero's leg and calmly said, "Wake up. I won't kill you like this. I'll at least give you the chance to fight back."
Slightly raising his head, Zero just glanced at Sakumo and everyone around before slowly standing up.
"You know...you guys could have just attacked. You couldn't kill me no matter how hard you tried."
Zero cracked his neck as he drew Kusanagi, calmly holding it to his side the same as Sakumo.
"Let's get this over with."
Sakumo raised an eyebrow at this.
'He looks kind of young...but the way he holds that sword...I can tell that he's skilled in kenjutsu. Something tells me he's holding something back too. He should not be underestimated.'
WHOOSH!
Sakumo immediately attacked, a white flash coming from his short sword as it fell down upon Zero's body.
CLANG!
Zero deflected it, but Sakumo immediately recovered and delivered a multitude of slashes, forcing Zero to stay on the defensive.
'Huh. Finally found someone that's actually skilled.'
White and purple chakra trails flashed constantly within the rain as the two fought head-to-head, both deflecting everything the other could throw at them.
Finding an opening to kick Zero away, Sakumo used his body as a springboard and formed multiple hand signs while mid-air.
'Lightning Flash Attack!'
Coating his short sword in lightning chakra, Sakumo kicked off the air with incredible speed and flew into Zero while he was off balance, seemingly cutting him down as he moved past him.
"You should have paid more attention, friend."
Looking back at Zero expecting his head to fall off, Sakumo was shocked to see Zero still standing with a deep cut in his shoulder that was quickly healing.
'He managed to move his neck out of the way that fast at the last second? This guy is skilled. He doesn't even look that old...when this guy gets older, he'll be a problem for the village. I have to end him here.'
Not saying a word, Zero immediately turned around and ran away into the darkness of the forest, seemingly on the retreat.
"Quick, get him! Don't let him escape!"
Sakumo and his comrades were quick on the uptake as they chased him down, their bodies flickering through the trees with incredible speed.
Zero deliberately slowed down as he kept running, waiting until at least one shinobi got close to him.
And with their level of speed, that only took a few seconds.
Just as one of them were about to capture him with some wires, Zero immediately stopped in his tracks, turned around and beheaded the shinobi in one slash, causing everyone else to slow down.
But Zero was a killer without brakes, a machine of slaughter that couldn't stop. How could he let this opportunity slip by?
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Jumping between trees with unfathomable speed, Zero's body became covered with a slight purple light as he channeled Yamatano-Orochi's power through himself.
Even the seal on his head started to glow as he moved, his speed reaching to such heights that the human eye couldn't keep up.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
In less than a second, three more shinobi fell at his hands, causing their formation to fall into disarray.
Just as he was about to kill another one...
CLANG!
Sakumo, with his body covered in lightning, parried Zero's blade, protecting his comrade from certain death.
"Everyone else back off! This guy is too powerful for you to handle! I'll handle this myself!"
Using this opportunity when Zero was off balance from the parry, Sakumo slashed through him multiple times, destroying his hat and respirator in the process.
But still, he was unable to pierce his defense. Zero's skill with the blade continued to surprise him more and more.
Especially when he realized that Zero was just a kid as his face was revealed.
Getting in close, Zero punched Sakumo in the face, dodged his slash, then swept him off his feet in a singular motion.
Before Sakumo could even hit the ground, Zero struck him multiple times with his blade, causing Sakumo to focus on parrying mid-fall.
Realizing that Sakumo's defenses couldn't be pierced that easily, Zero tried to kick him away, but Sakumo caught his leg mid-air, twisted his body and slammed Zero into the ground, reversing the situation completely.
Immediately jumping on top of Zero, Sakumo tried to press his short sword through his neck, but Zero blocked it with his sheathe, moved Sakumo's blade to the side and headbutted him, grabbing the dazed Sakumo by the collar of his flak jacket before throwing him through multiple trees.
WHOOSH!
Just as Zero was about to follow up, a clone of Sakumo shot out of the ground with a kunai that had a paper bomb attached to it, surprising him greatly.
'Tch.'
BOOM!
Zero's body was thrown out of the smoke as he was sent rolling backwards with flames all over his body.
Sakumo didn't stop there, he had already recovered from Zero's attack and was now charging him down with another Lightning Flash Attack, this one even faster than the last.
Healing from the explosion as he jumped backwards in the air and landed on the ground, Zero sheathed his blade and got into a crouched stance, his gaze locked on Sakumo coming towards him.
The moment Sakumo saw this, a bad feeling started to creep up in his stomach. His suspicions were true. Zero was holding something back.
But he couldn't stop now.
He had to finish this kid off here and now.
Zero's snake-like eyes flashed purple as he quietly whispered, "Dragon Dash."
WHOOSH! BOOM!
The two of them clashed, causing all the trees around them to be blown away from the immense force produced.
Even Sakumo's comrades couldn't believe what they were seeing. How could a kid from this weak village clash with Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang?
As the smoke cleared and everyone looked on to see the result, the silhouette of two figures gradually revealed themselves.
Sakumo was crouched on the ground with a large amount of blood leaking from his abdomen. The cut looked so deep that it seemed as if he was trying to stop his organs from falling out of it.
Zero on the other hand, lost his entire left arm, the arm completely disintegrating into nothingness from the power of Sakumo's attack.
But he was still standing strong. Yamatano-Orochi's healing power already stopped the bleeding and closed the wound, but It couldn't regrow his arm.
At least, at his level of mastery he couldn't manage to make that happen.
'I'll have to get that replaced somehow.'
Fortunately, his earphones miraculously survived the attack.
Seeing Zero missing an arm, the other shinobi tried to surround him in an effort to take him out as he was seemingly weakened, but Sakumo's voice stopped them in their tracks.
"N-no! Stay back. I don't think he's that much weaker. I think I may have lost this one, guys."
While some of them wanted to attack, in the end, their comradery with Sakumo caused them to listen to him.
Slowly approaching Sakumo and seeing no reaction from Zero, they picked him up and allowed him to lean on one of their shoulders.
He needed medical attention now.
Before they could leave, Sakumo turned his attention to Zero and said, "You wield that blade like a roaring dragon, friend. It took everything I had to deal that much damage to you and yet you still stand strong. What should I call you?"
Cracking his neck to stretch out any tension from the battle, the teen simply replied, "Zero, Of the Rain. You?"
Nodding his head with a chuckle, Sakumo replied, "Zero eh? Your name sounds like there's a story behind it. I'm Sakumo Hatake of the Leaf. What do you say we call this one a draw here for today?"
Zero was already planning on something similar since he was a bit low on chakra from the excessive healing he had to do, but thus suggestion was fair.
Also, if Sakumo spread rumors of his skill within the Leaf village shinobi ranks, they might be more wary of how they approach Amegakure with both him and Hanzo present.
"Fine with me. But, next time we meet, let's finish this off. Just me and you."
Sakumo chuckled and motioned to his men to take him away, nodding his head at Zero's words.
But his thoughts were different as the image of Zero got further and further away.
'I fear the next time we meet, I might not be able to keep up with you anymore, friend. Maybe my son will be your opponent in the future.'
Zero on the other hand, sheathed his blade and turned around as soon as the Leaf Shinobi got out of sight, walking into the darkness of the forest as the rain poured down upon his head.
'Time to find Jito, then Hanzo. It's time to consolidate whatever power we have left. And...'
[Ludowic - Katana Zero]
'...time to switch the tunes up a little.]