Shatterpoint:

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Kaze no Kuni, a land currently torn in conflict and drowning in turmoil. After the destruction of Sunagakure no Sato the land of wind has fallen into the hands of bandits and other forms of low life criminals, the four remaining ninja village's have since moved their forces into the country to quell this rise in criminal activity. Like the rest of the Shinobi hailing from Kumogakure no Sato the boy had traveled here under the orders of his Raikage, however unlike the other shinobi from the hidden cloud village the young shinobi had his own reasons for wanting to come here. Despite the fact that Raphael had risen through the ranks of the shinobi within the hidden cloud village, his career as a shinobi had started on the very sands of this desert as a genin of the village hidden in the sand. Despite the fact that the Kozai clan had their compound in the land of wind and held strong ties with the hidden sand village, the boy himself never felt strongly about the village nor did he care much about it when it fell choosing to leave his past behind him and focus on his own future by moving to Kaminari no Kuni and the hidden shinobi village of the lightning country Kumogakure no Sato. This did not stop the boy from feeling sorry for those of the hidden village in the sand who had lost their home or lost the ones they had loved in the fall of the sand village, the truth was that alot had changed in the past year, not only for the land of wind but also for the young Kozai heir. Since the young boy left his home country he has proven his ability as a shinobi under the banner of Kumogakure, when he had heard of the Raikage's plan to bring order back to the land of wind the special jounin quickly signed himself up to help the cause. Raphael's only wish was for peace to return to his former homeland, as such the young special jounin was doing whatever he could to help bring that peace to the people of Kaze no Kuni no matter what. The fact that the Kages of the different villages did not see eye to eye on how to help the people of Kaze no Kuni did not matter to the boy as his only goal was to help those that were still trying to survive here. The problem was that these criminals were underhanded sneaks and worked hard to cover their tracks and those that worked for them were willing to die rather than betray their bosses, they were either extreme loyalist or just plain stupid in the boy's opinion.

Raphael let out a wide yawn as he stretched walking out of his tent, yet another day in the land of wind for the young special jounin. As the boy made his way through the Kumogakure border camp an increase in activity caught the young shinobi's attention causing him to go see what all the fuss was about. As he drew nearer to the entrance to the Kumogakure border camp Raphael saw the growing mass of cloud shinobi, unable to understand what was going on from the back of the crowd the young special jounin pushed through until he came to the front. "That's right, a group of unknown origin has set siege to the Kirigakure border camp," came a voice calling out to the crowd, "we are currently planning a strategy to help them." The man continued as questions and concerns from the other shinobi began to fill the air, Raphael on the other hand did not waste anymore time concerning himself with questions or the administrations plan for sending help. Instead the boy took off out of the exit to the Kumogakure camp heading straight for the Kirigakure border camp, he did not know how much help he would be against the unknown enemy but he did know that the sooner he got there the more help he would be able to provide. Raphael had never been much for planning strategy or anything like that, he was more of a man of action and he understood that the longer the higher ups debated about what to do about the situation the higher the chances were that those moving against Kirigakure would succeed and he could not let that happen.

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Ayakashi stood at the tip of the spear that braced itself against the walls of the floating border camp that centralized Kirigakure's position in the region. How the attackers had managed to bypass their forward bases as well as their patrols in such numbers, Ayakashi was yet to know. However, what seemed to be evident was that the forces that accosted them on the heath at the neck of the river were plentiful. Ayakashi was powerful, it was unlikely any of the opponents here that swarmed the walls were on such a level that they would be able to strike at her successfully. The issue was their number. The forces that attacked had the head-count to occupy the Mizukage, breaking around her and still attacking the ninja defending the camp with extreme prejudice. However, the Mizukage would make them pay for their tenacity in numbers.




Ayakashi would let out a cry, slamming her fist into the ground as a violent wave of frigid force would splash out across the crowds around her. The power of the wave freezing everything in its path into little more than a statue-like visage of the bandit that had once been. The following shockwave from the force of the punch expanding in an aftershock, shattering the men and women that Ayakashi had frozen in place like crystal into glimmering shrapnel that sat among the sands. The Mizukage was left in the center of the sphere of influence, the ground beneath her feet as little more than ice; as if the Demon Ice Witch had bought the coldest of winters from the nation of Kirigakure with her. But the gripping cold would continue to spread outwards like a venom, clutching at everything that it came into contact with as it would crawl along the earth ensnaring its victims by the dozen as they would seek to charge forth.

In the slight wake of the combat, Aya would have her bow in her hands, letting out a controlled breath as she would focus her will into the tip of her arrows. The same cold running through them once again as she would pick pockets from the vastly more dense populations of enemies. Opening her eyes, Ayakashi would dodge the cross-bow bolt leveled at her chest allowing her right shoulder to fall backward to stand side-on as she would fire a single hyouton empowered bolt. The arrow would carve a line through the enemies, sending scores falling down as Ayakashi would hope to control the enemy that continued their assault.

Flowing with the recoil of her bowstring, Ayakashi's hand would move behind her, allowing her to spin, reaching into one of her pockets and producing several small sharp black objects. Fanning out the handful of shuriken, the Mizukage would let the ice empowered shuriken fly, allowing her power to deliver decisive ends to more than got in her way.




The walls, for now, appeared to be holding, no gaps had been made in the phalanx that sought to protect the soldiers and other kirigakure citizens that lay behind the wall. All the while the Mizuakge's fury, as well as the fury of a chosen few,  took their battle to the plains. Dozens were dying with each attack, but the numbers of the trained forces that assaulted them were staggering. Ninjutsu could be seen flying through the air, however, the barrier formed by the combined defensive unit of the ANBU black ops was not something that could be penetrated easily. So it was the battle would continue... the Mizukage levelling everything in her arsenal to overcome the enemies that dared to strike at Kirigakure's heart... but what was their plan? Was it just to send men into the meat grinder? Or was there something else? a deeper menace and logic to this strike that Aya had yet to discern?

"Men! Hold fast! we have another wave incoming, but dont fret, help should be on the way soon!!!"

She hoped, at least.



[714]

Raphael almost could not believe his eyes as he topped the sand dune, there were hundreds attacking the Kirigakure base, the young shinobi did not realize just how coordinated the enemy was. To rally an attack against one of the great shinobi villages was not something to take likely, the boy knew that much and he had expect the to be a large number in the assault. However for someone to coordinate this many they would have to have a lot of influence over these people, to the level of a kage or if its even possible more. These men and women in the attack had to know that this was a suicide mission, at least for most that is, there was no doubt in the boy's mind that this assault would fail but he was still curious as to who was behind this and how they had managed to get so many to charge towards their deaths. Though his mind began to fill with questions the boy knew he did not have time to think about them, quickly push those thoughts to the side the special jounin focused on the task at hand.

The boy stood to the North west of the army putting him both behind their lines and a little to the side, allowing him to go unnoticed to the attacking enemy so far. From his vantage point on the sand dune the boy could see the barrier that showed that the ANBU of the mist village were holding strong and still able to defend the border camp in the distance, how the longer this onslaught continued the more likely it became that the enemy would be able to break through. Raphael saw a flash in the distance drawing the boy's attention to the frontlines of the battlefield, he could not make out what it was but something up there was causing a lot of destruction wiping out large scores of the enemy. Not wishing for the unknown warrior or warriors to have all the fun the young shinobi charged forward from the sand dune channeling his chakra into his core as the young shinobi pulled his Kaminari Steel Windmill Shuriken from the strap on his back, in one swift motion the boy opened the windmill shuriken as he released it from his hand sending it soaring through the air towards its targets. Reaching into the pouch on his belt Raphael began unleashing eight of his Kaminari Steel Shuriken to follow suit with the windmill shuriken, through unlike their counterpart these shuriken would not return to the boy, though the did not need to as the only thing the boy could really do was kill or at the very least injure as many as he could while he had the element of surprise on the enemy. He was alone in his assault on the back half for now so whatever he could do to break their formation would have to be sufficient until more help arrived, with any luck that would be soon as one man against an army would not have an ideal outcome for the young shinobi.

Once the shuriken had been launched Raphael held his left hand up to his mouth as he released a breath of his wind chakra into his hand, pulling back a ball of spinning wind in his left hand. As he launched the first wind sphere from his left hand the boy place his right hand to his mouth giving breath to another sphere before launching it as he created a third sphere in his left, these spheres were not exactly deadly but with any luck his aim would fly true striking the targets in the head for the maximum damage they could inflict. Raphael was almost upon the back of the attacking force when his windmill shuriken return to it's master's hand, the boy catching it as he begun to spin in a three sixty before releasing it continuing it on its trajectory as if he had not caught it, the inertia of his own spin increasing the speed of the windmill shuriken as it flew through the air slicing more throats of the enemies the boy faced. The young Shinobi charged through the masses of enemies attacking as many of them as he could, this of course began drawing the attention of the forces causing them to begin to swarm the boy. With the large number of enemies surrounding the boy, Raphael released a burst of wind around him sending all those that were close to him flying backwards away from him. With the wind burst giving him some space the boy charged wind chakra into his leg, waiting until they were close Raphael crouched and swept his leg releasing the built up chakra into a powerful whirlwind. As the whirlwind formed distracting the enemy force the young special jounin quickly formed the tiger, dog, and rat handseal the boy began moving in quick bursts around the area leaving after images of himself as he moved to strike the different opponents that came within his reach.

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The young special jounin would of been out matched under normal circumstances by the sheer number of enemies, however through the help of his after image clones he was able to hold his own against the overwhelming odds stacked against him. Moving at speeds unmatched by others of his rank in addition to his own prowess with taijutsu the boy was dealing with any one and every one that came near him and thanks to the slight cover granted to him by his clones the enemy was not having any luck striking him as he would avoid one attack while attacking another from a different location. Tossing out metsubishi and smoke bombs to blind and disorient his targets, the young special jounin took out another group of enemies. This however was not nearly enough, no matter how many of the enemies forces that seemed to die at the young shinobi's hands more just kept coming. The boy began to feel as if his help was not going to be enough, that he was wasting his time and possibly going to lose his life if they kept coming at him. Was it possible that the boy had over stepped, was it possible that he underestimated this opponent and that charging into this battle would be his death sentence. The boy's mind raced with questions and doubts all of which was not suitable thinking for a warrior in the midst of a battle, his focus was split causing the boy to slip up missing a chance to move out of the way of a strike and getting knocked flat on his ass effectively ending his after image clone technique causing his clones to fade away. Three bandits stood over the boy posed to strike and end his life, for a moment Raphael was sure that he was done for.

That's when it happened another shockwave from the frontlines, these had been happening every few seconds. The young boy could not see what was causing them, but he could feel the power that eminating from them. Even from the distance he was to the frontlines the boy could feel the residual power left in these shockwaves that he felt, it was a power unlike anything he had ever felt before. The three bandits standing over him felt it too, drawing their attention away from the young shinobi they had surrounded and towards the front lines. The boy used this distraction as an opportunity to get back on his feet and get back to work, quickly reaching into his pouch the boy pulled out a small metsubishi egg throwing it into the air to go to work. With the three men effectively blinded trying their best to get the pepper, ash and glass from their eyes the boy lept back onto his feet pulling a Kunai out and slicing their throats ending the lives of the three. The boy then continued to attack the enemies using his speed to keep himself a few steps ahead, Raphael would use everything in his arsenal to cause as much damage and destruction that he could to the enemy forces. He may not be doing much in his eyes but if he could just continue to keep up for a while longer, maybe just maybe the group of shinobi that was creating this large scale of power would weaken their morale. So the boy waged on giving it everything he had and then some, soon the enemy forces between the source of destruction and the boy lessened and Raphael got his first glimpse of what was the source of power he had been feeling from the shockwaves. What he thought was a united effort with multiple shinobi was actually all the work of a single woman, Raphael did his best to keep an eye on her as he continued fighting those that surrounded him. He could not believe that a single person could hold such power, and then he saw it, the word Mizukage down the back of the long black cloak as the woman continued to cause destruction upon the battlefield. It all made sense now, the Mizukage Lady Ayakashi was a fierce fighter as well as a well respected shinobi, even in the village hidden in the clouds where she is revered second only to Hastur. The boy marvelled as he watched the Mizukage work, at least the parts that he could keep up with, as the woman moved at a speed that the boy could not keep up with. She took out enemies faster then they appeared, it was as if she was a one woman army and needlessly to say the boy let out a sigh of relief that she was on his side, or at least he hoped she was. The boy could only hope that he would not get pulled into the mizukages path and meet his end at her hands when he had come there to help.

Raphael seemed to have forgotten that he was in the middle of a battlefield, having been watching the Mizukage in action the boy lost all focus once again. No longer was the boy moving or attacking he was simply standing and watching the Mizukage work, the young shinobi would pay for this mistake as an enemy soldier ran towards the boy from behind stabbing a Kunai into the boy's left shoulder, driving the Kunai in even further as the man tackled Raphael sending him once again to the ground. The young shinobi cried out in pain as the Kunai pierced into his flesh as he fell to the ground with his assailant on top of him, the boy thought his time on the battlefield was about to come to an end. Raphael felt the man pull the Kunai from his back and lift up to strike again, he knew there was only one thing he could do to save himself if he could do it in time but that's when the most unexpected thing happened. Raphael felt the weight of the man's body shift off of him, turning around the young special jounin found the man slumped over with his head missing followed shortly by the collapse of other enemy bodies around him. Looking around Raphael saw the cause of the man losing his head, it was a Fuma Shuriken attached to a rope looking to its source the boy saw none other than the Lady Mizukage. He did not know if it was by chance that her actions saved him or if she had seen that he was in need of the help, none of it matter as the boy did not wish to waste time wondering lifting himself back to his feet the boy formed a string of five handseals creating a large dragon tornado of wind around himself. This dragon was more than just a defense for the boy as it also allowed him to flow techniques through it as well, quickly giving breath to wind spheres the boy launched them through the mouth of the dragon causing more disarray among the enemy forces as he did not want to waste the chance he was given when the Mizukage saved him whether it was intentional or not. The boy stood surrounded by his dragon protector as he continued to watch the destruction caused by the Mizukage, she was more than the stories he had heard of her in Kumogakure, she was unbelievable. Raphael would not let himself be distracted again continuing his own attacks using his dragon in combinations of his other techniques to help the Lady Mizukage as best he could.

The boy's dragon guardian was struck by a couple of jutsu, however they did not seem to weaken it, at least not that the boy could tell quickly turning his focus and his dragon upon the sources that attacked him. The boy could see the morale of the enemy was weakening as they laid eyes upon the destruction caused by the Mizukage and the dragon of wind seemed to help in that fact, but there were still those that continued the assault. More attacks came at the boy and he knew his dragon could not withstand them all, seconds before the impact struck the dragon the boy channeled a burst of chakra from his core sending him to safety away from the enemy attacks. The boy worked his way through the fray striking at the enemies as he moved closer towards the Mizukage, weaving through the enemy forces crippling them however he could as he moved whether it was a Metsubishi or a shuriken or a punch to the face.

"Lady Mizukage, I know this is not the best time to talk, but I am here to help however you need." The boy said using his whispering winds technique to travel the words over the short distance from where he was to the Mizukage, the sound of battle would only make it harder to hear but with the help of his jutsu his words would reach her without a problem. The boy continued to strike down any enemy that came near him as he spoke to the Mizukage keeping his ears open should she respond to his comment though she did not need to as he knew what he must do. The boy's superior speed and reaction time compared to his opponents were the only thing keeping him in this fight but he would not stop, he could not stop.

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