Hit me with a Fist (Mission)

Perhaps Masaki had been right, perhaps Isamu- in a way it didn’t matter now, not when the Iwagakure army had been split into two, divided by smaller golems. These nimbler creations of rock and chakra weren’t part of the initial report and warning given to Masaki and the rest of the shinobi. But, as Masaki calmly pointed out to Isamu as they began their fight, even the strongest boulder crumbles from erosion, time, and interference, and the same can be said with the giant foe on a warpath to smaller villages and these new golems.

“A blasted hydra, that’s what it is!” Isamu roared, the hammer he carried flaring a burnt tangerine as he fed his chakra into the weapon. “Team Two, go left, Team Three, go back and destroy any you find lagging and get me back the rest of this group!” The orders of Isamu rang clear in the rock valley, the sparse trees sticking out as feeble coverage, a weak attempt to bring foliage to the Earth Country. “Masaki, cover me from underneath. We’ll clear the right group.”

Masaki nodded, affirming the commands as he watched Isamu berserk his way into the six human sized creations running their way to Tetsu no Kuni. Clasping his hands together, (Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu - Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique) Masaki fed his chakra into the ground, vibrating it into a thin sand directly underneath him. One second he was there, the next the man had vanished, the hard earth covering the entrance back up.

His vision was rendered useless as the jounin traveled underground, but he could feel the magnetic forces around him, the clicks of how far Isamu was to how far the incoming smaller golems were. When the two opponents collided, Isamu’s battle cry muffled by the earth, Masaki continued forward, tunneling through the rock as if he was a shark in water. It only took Masaki a few seconds to flank the six golems as he breached the surface, body glowing faintly with that ivy tattoo of his.

“Suiton: Teppōdama – Gunshot!”

Hands forming the tiger seal, mouth widening, Masaki spewed three bullet shaped balls of water. Some thought it strange Masaki’s second control of elemental chakra came in the form of water, but he didn’t. When asked by one of his students one time, Masaki smiled back at the curious lad, pointing over at a potted plant. What does that need to survive? Masaki questioned. Light, yes. Dirt, of course. But what else? Water. You couldn’t tend a plant without water and Masaki's bloodline bowed to plants.

His first bullet hit one of the stray golems off to the side, shattering its rocky shoulder from the impact. The golem’s arm fell with a thud as it spun to face Masaki and, unfortunately for the creature, to face the second shot. Wham! Water exploded against the golem’s chest, knocking it back, as it groaned a toe curling sound of rocks sliding against other rocks, and charged again. The creature dodged Masaki’s third bullet, the attack missing completely, spraying Isamu and the other golems in a fine mist as Masaki gritted his teeth in annoyance, a sliver of water dribbling down his chin.

Surviving arm lifted high in the air like a mace, the golem jumped at Masaki, unnervingly quick for something made out of rock. This gave Masaki the moment he needed as he shot the last water bullet from his mouth at the golem. The rock broke apart, pebbles and water falling in beautiful arcs to the ground as Masaki pivoted to his next opponent.

Isamu had taken out two, Masaki one, leaving behind three more of the right direction bound golems left. Knowing he was out of luck fighting these brutes with Taijutsu (his ivy armor was more effective against flesh than rock) Masaki resorted to something else, a different trick that would hopefully allow him to break the golems.

“Stop standing there and get the last two, Masaki!” Isamu barked as his hammer slammed down on the head of one of the golems.

A flicker of irritation ran across Masaki’s face as he barely dodged the next blow, slow enough that it earned him a good crack at his thigh. He grunted from the pain, highly aware that, had he been any slower, that would’ve been a broken bone. “Chakura no Mesu - Chakra Scalpel,” Masaki hissed as the area from his wrist upward glowed dark green.

He was not like Isamu, not like the man who wanted to rush into anything, who was so brutally honest it came out crude despite being a good leader. Masaki was tactful, a planner, and he was no fool to rush in even if some were credited to more victories that way.

Leaping back, Masaki battled with one of the golems, slicing at the rocks, chipping it away with his chakra enhanced hands as if they were blades and the golem’s stone butter. But Masaki didn’t destroy the foe without suffering his own bruises, especially on his arms when the golem hit like a demolition ball. In fact, once the construction lay dismembered at Masaki’s feet and Isamu was walking over to him, the brunette was sure he had a broken arm.

“Finished?” Isamu asked, heaving his hammer over his shoulder as he watched Masaki heal himself. “Good, because you need to get to Tetsu No Kuni and warn them about the big guy, get reinforcements if you can because as far as we know we’re still down half our men.”

A palm sized ivy leaf wilted away from Masaki’s arm as he glanced up, eyes narrowing to the horizon behind Isamu. “And those, sir?”

Isamu glanced behind him, shifting his weight to better support his weapon. “What’s another handful of golems? I’ll handle those. Just run, Masaki, that’s an order!”

Masaki obeyed.

Jutsu Used:

• Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu - Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique
• Suiton: Teppōdama – Gunshot
• Chakura no Mesu - Chakra Scalpel
• Chiyu Wakaba (Healing Leaves)

.((Totally ignore broken template at bottom. I tried.))