guardian of the storm | ✓

Chapter Seventeen ~ Sleep

Quite a bit of swearing near the end of the chapter; you have been warned. Please listen to song as many times as you can/want/need to throughout this chapter. Please. 

~Chapter Seventeen~

By the time the smoke cleared the explosion had been seen for several hundred miles, the brilliant flash of light a representation of destruction. Rubble. All that was left was rubble, dust and grains of sand floating down from the sky. Any human life had been incinerated, not even bones left behind to prove their existence. A gold necklace clattered to the ground with a ruby in the center- one that used to be around the neck of Judal. Two silver collars fell down as well- one used to be Winter's, the other more worn down one, Judal's- and there was a soft blue aura seeping through the air.

Crackling sounded out, a faint sound that was almost silenced from the deafening boom of the meteor crashing to the ground moments before, a circle cut neatly into the sand of undisturbed space.

Ja'far is standing with his arms thrown outwards, his blue solidified mist having formed a shield to ensure they wouldn't be reduced to ash, Winter kneeling on the ground by his feet with blood dripping out of her mouth.

Bit by bit the blue fades and he crouches down, worry flashing across his face. She waves her head dismissively with a tired, drawn look making her appear much older than she was. Grabbing her arm and slinging it over his shoulder he stands up letting her put most of her weight on him.

"You're still as reckless as ever."

She smiles weakly as they start to stumble away from the ruins of the coliseum. "Well some things just never change."

She glances up towards the sky as it clears, a soft azure blue taking the place of the ugly gray. They say that your eyes are the window to your soul. If that was the case, her lifeless eye made it appear as if she had no soul to speak of.

Ja'far guided her away from the mess of the past and to a nearby sandhole with the smoking ruins still in sight, setting her down in it before walking off to try and find some water. Wiping the blood off her face she does a few handsigns before summoning a small gray wolf pup who goes by the name of Mist. The mute wolf sits patiently as Winter collects her thoughts before starting to record when she nods her head.

In five different parts of the shinobi world, five powerful leaders lift their heads in their offices as a screen flickers to life in front of them. It's blurry before the static clears leaving a slightly grainy image of a girl with worn down features, a dead eye and ash coated on her skin. Tsunade got up, biting her nail as she takes in the destroyed- almost frail- state of Winter. The other leaders lean forward, each anxious in their own way to know what this was about.

She takes a deep breath before letting out a soft sigh of relief letting the words fall from her mouth with a hint of sadness, disbelief and surrealism.

"Three months, two weeks and six days ago precisely twenty-one minutes and forty-eight seconds ago I left the Leaf Village on a mission assigned to me by the Hokage who was instructed by the other kages to find someone capable of completing this."

The Mizukage runs a hand through her red strands of hair as she absorbs all the information being broadcasted to her.

Another shaky breath and she brushes some of the hair out of her face with trembling hands.

"Approximately four minutes and twenty-nine seconds ago I completed this mission. I, Yuki Ookami of the Hidden Leaf, obliterated the Coliseum, Judal and his guards included with no prisoner casualties."

The Tsuchikage scoffs lightly as he hears her words although something akin to approval rises up in him.

She lifts a hand and points in the direction of the still crumbling area. "That is all is left of that wretched place and I hope the ash is scattered across this world, never to reform again."