Penthesilea

Chapter One

Chapter Beta: Sakura's Unicorn

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戦国時代

Uchiha Sasuke, heir to the Uchiha clan, stalks the front line, traversing the ground soaked with the blood of ally and enemy alike.

The sun has long since set, but he has yet to find the individual he's been looking for since this latest skirmish started. Uzumaki Naruto is the one man among the enemy who Sasuke has marked as his rival, ever since they were children forced to fight on opposite sides. Their decade-long feud is only a small part of a larger conflict, a war fought for hundreds of years – since the days when Uchiha Madara and his Hyūga allies first clashed with Hashirama Senju and the Uzumaki clan.

Sasuke expects that the world looks very different now than it did then.

Over time, the daimyō were destroyed, leaving the power to the warring clans. People flee once robust villages and civilians seek protection and shelter from the strong. They toil in the ruined fields, little more than serfs who support the war effort while their masters slice each other to ribbons daily.

Sasuke's attitude vacillates between bitter resentment or indifference most days, with no in-between. There's no room for anything else, as he knows no other life than this. He was born in battle and expects to die here. If the only difference he can make is to take as many of the enemy with him as possible, so be it.

Perhaps that's why he is so often drawn to Uzumaki in battle. The other man offers a change of pace from the constant drudgery of war, a different type of interaction. The irritating idiot will make jokes while they fight or complement Sasuke's form when he almost lands a mortal blow. Or tease him when he misses, as if they're still the same scuff-kneed boys who skipped rocks at the river before the war of their parents caught up with them. It used to fill Sasuke with frustration that the stupid moron couldn't be serious about anything. As the years go by, though, he returns insults born of lazy amusement more than animosity. He doesn't know what he'll do the day he succeeds in killing the other man.

Today, he comes close to learning the answer.

As Sasuke and his rival fight, one of Uzumaki's allies—an older warrior with a scar across the bridge of his nose—falls nearby. At once, Uzumaki rushes to his side, turning a blind eye to Sasuke as if they're just enjoying a practice bout between comrades. Sasuke snarls in annoyance, intending to use the opportunity to run him through—only to be thrown backward by such a monstrous force that his teeth rattle and his ribs crack.

When he recovers himself, he sees a figure in red standing as a forbidding guard over Uzumaki while he helps the invalid to safety. The stranger is faceless behind a somen which has been carved into the shape of a snarling lion. Something like horsehair—dyed pink of all colours—peeks out from beneath a kabuto head covering.

Sasuke pauses a moment to assess the newcomer, taking stock of the shorter, lighter frame clad in the traditional armour of the Senju. His enemy's gear is sleek and efficient, built for speed. He would think he was facing a small and wiry man if not for the naginata grasped expertly in hand.

Not a lion, he realises with a smirk, a lioness.

"We've never met," he tells her, "so allow me to give you a piece of advice: don't get between combatants such as myself and Uzumaki. You cannot hope to equal either of us."

Gloved hands grip her spear more firmly.

"I do not kill women," he continues, "but I will if it means achieving my goal. Get out of my way. Go fight someone on your level."