Chapter 19: Art is an Explosion!
When the students saw that the other battlefield had fallen silent, they cautiously approached. Their eyes immediately fell on Inoshita Rino, who was lying motionless on the ground, his face covered in blood.
"Rino-sensei!"
"Rino-sensei, sob... I'll never make you angry again, please, just wake up!"
The crying grated on Kael's already frayed nerves. Still shaken from the battle, he snapped, "What are you crying for? Rino-sensei isn't dead!"
The students stared at him blankly. Kael closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation.
"If I were Rino-sensei, you lot would have stressed me to death even if the enemy didn't. He just passed out."
After Inoshita woke up, they had no medical supplies, and no one knew any medical ninjutsu. Kael ended up carrying him on his back, leading the students on the long road back to the village.
Upon their return, Kael and Inoshita immediately reported everything they had learned to the village council, including the locations of several Jashinist hideouts within the Land of Hot Water.
From that day forward, the Land of Hot Water, a nation that had forgotten war, began a long and arduous campaign to eradicate the evil cult. The operation received the full support of the Feudal Lord, who provided the Hidden Hot Water Village with several years' worth of funding, weapons, and medical supplies in a single grant.
His country's citizens were being abducted, and fear was spreading like wildfire. Many villages in the western and southern regions were now completely deserted, their inhabitants having fled the country in terror. This was a direct threat to the nation's foundation. If he kept losing his people, what would the Feudal Lord have left to rule?
Time flowed like water, never to return. In the blink of an eye, Kael had finished his third year at the Ninja Academy. The end of Year 8 of the Hidden Hot Water Era was approaching.
The villagers were all excitedly flocking to the main gate to watch the festivities, but Kael remained shut in his house. The anti-Jashinist campaign, which had been raging for nearly three months, was still ongoing, though with less intensity than before. Many of the Hidden Hot Water shinobi were gradually returning to the village. The Jashinists, having suffered a severe blow, had abandoned their strongholds and gone deeper into hiding within the country.
The fierce conflict seemed to be finally winding down. Today was the day the last of the shinobi were scheduled to return, and the villagers were naturally gathering to welcome the heroes who had brought them peace.
Inside Kael's house.
"Heroes... they're always the first to die. Heh..." A cynical laugh escaped Kael's lips, his face tinged with mockery.
He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside, and looked down at the goshawk tied up in his room. The bird was half his height and glared at him with furious eyes. A patch of red stained the gray-and-white feathers on its left wing, a clear sign of a recent injury.
Kael stared at the system notification, lost in thought.
[Goshawk]
Rank: D
They're both living creatures, so why is the Goshawk D-rank while the others were all E-rank? Is the ranking based on more than just strength? Could it be intelligence?
Seeing the incredibly human-like anger in the goshawk's eyes, Kael wasn't sure.
He had spotted the hawk earlier that morning while it was hunting for food in the winter cold. An idea had immediately sparked in his mind: a flying Summoning Beast. Once the thought took root, it grew wildly, impossible to ignore. He had waited for it to land on a treetop, then pierced its wing with a well-aimed shuriken, bringing it crashing to the ground.
He glanced at his status panel again.
[Host: Kael Cross]
Race: Human
Summoning Beasts: Earth Dragon (E), Earthen Beetle (E), Ironclad Hedgehog (E), Explosive Flies x100 (E)
Life Force: 220
Chakra: 150
The "Explosive Flies" were a new generation of summons Kael had created over the past few months. Feeling that E-rank summons were becoming less helpful, he had shifted his focus to creating support-types. He knew that once he grew stronger, these flies, with their sensory capabilities, would become incredibly useful.
[Summoning Beast: Explosive Fly]
Rank: E
Species: Diptera Muscidae Insect
Attribute: Fire
Abilities:
Dynamic Vision (Passive): The Explosive Fly's eyes are composed of thousands of tiny lenses, providing an extremely wide and clear field of view and the ability to rapidly perceive motion.
Vision Sharing (Passive): The Explosive Fly can share its field of vision with its master.
Super Fertility (Passive): The Explosive Fly's lifespan has been greatly increased by the system, but it still only lasts for two months. During this time, it can lay 1,000-2,000 eggs. If hatched successfully, the offspring will automatically become the host's Summoning Beasts.
Self-Destruct: Modified by unstable Fire-nature chakra, the Explosive Fly has an extremely volatile temperament and may self-destruct at the slightest provocation. The explosion is equivalent to one percent of the power of a standard Exploding Tag.
System Evaluation: Art is an explosion!
"One percent of an exploding tag's power... that's certainly... explosive," Kael thought, unsure if he was satisfied or disappointed with his new creation. The whole thing was a bit ridiculous.
The Explosive Fly was the result of his experiments with his own Fire-nature chakra affinity. Its three passive abilities made it a top-tier support summon for the E-rank. But its only active skill, "Self-Destruct," was so underwhelming it was almost touching.
A suicide attack that only has one percent of an exploding tag's power? It's like they're putting on a firework show for the enemy... he complained internally. The fly's only attack skill was an insult to the word "art." He thought of Deidara's explosive clay and then looked at his flies' "art." He was tempted to start over with different materials to create a purely sensory-type fly, but he couldn't bring himself to give up the three incredible passive abilities. Losing any one of them would be a painful waste.
"I only have 150 chakra. That shouldn't be enough to synthesize a D-rank goshawk, but..." Kael hesitated.
The desire for a D-rank summon, especially a rare flying one, grew stronger by the second. If the system modified it, maybe he, Kael Cross, could one day soar through the skies, just like the few shinobi who could use flight jutsu.
I may not be able to fly, but my System can certainly give me a lift...
He imagined himself riding a giant hawk, just like Sasuke, and his hesitation vanished.
The Hidden Hot Water Village didn't have expensive resources like chakra paper, but through his own experiments, Kael had already determined his chakra natures: Wind and Fire. He hadn't experimented much with Fire, which had resulted in the flawed Explosive Fly. But he had spent a good deal of time studying his Wind nature.
A ball of light blue chakra began to form in his left hand. It grew more and more condensed, its color slowly shifting to a pale white. Kael's face scrunched up in concentration, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Performing a nature transformation without hand seals was still a struggle for him.
But he managed it.
When he felt a faint but real tearing sensation in the air, he quickly placed his other hand on the goshawk's head. He then bellowed at the bird with mock solemnity.
"Sage's hand upon your crown, by the System, a new life is found!"