The Hidden Training Yard — Dawn After the Ceremony
The morning after the Newbie Ceremony, the Seventh Division's private training yard echoed with the hiss of blades meeting wood.
Blade stood alone, sweat dripping down his chin, his shirt clinging to his back.
He'd been up before sunrise — Kamikaze flashing through drills again and again until his arms burned.
Ranked last. The weakest link.
His mind replayed the ceremony on loop. Tensho standing like an ice statue in first place. Suntaro, Kagami, even Kibito with new authority as Assistant Captains. And him — just a recruit.
His grip tightened around Kamikaze's hilt.
I'll cut my way out of the bottom.
---
The Sword Saint's Arrival
"Oi, rookie! Trying to kill that dummy or yourself?"
Blade spun — Kinnatsu Yuri, Captain of the Seventh Division, leaned against the wooden gate, arms folded, a grin playing at his lips.
"You didn't sleep, did you?" Kinnatsu asked.
Blade sheathed Kamikaze and wiped his brow. "Didn't need to."
"Hah!" Kinnatsu barked a laugh. "Good. Keep that hunger. Just don't break your bones before the first mission."
He tossed Blade a canteen. "Drink. Then come with me."
---
Meeting the Squad — Seventh Division's Nest
Inside the Seventh Division's dojo, three other swordsmen waited, their gazes locked on Blade as he entered behind Kinnatsu.
Kinnatsu slapped his palm on the tatami mat. "Listen up! This is Blade Taizuka — your new sibling in steel. Ranked nine, which means he buys drinks until he outranks you."
One of them, a short, broad-shouldered man with scars crossing his jaw, scoffed. "We've heard about the dragons sealed in that blade. Hope he can swing it."
A woman with a single braid flipped her blade open and shut. "Rank means nothing in a duel."
Kinnatsu barked a laugh. "Good. Because you'll need to watch each other's backs, starting tonight."
Blade blinked. "Tonight?"
---
The First Mission — "Fog on the Border"
Kinnatsu's grin dropped as he unrolled a weathered map.
"There's been movement near Hiraguri's northern border. Our scouts reported fog — unnatural fog — swirling in abandoned farmland."
Blade's heartbeat quickened. "Fog… like the cursed village?"
Kinnatsu's eyes glinted. "Exactly like that. I figured you'd want first cut."
The scarred swordsman leaned in. "Are we to kill what we find?"
Kinnatsu slammed a hand on the map. "If it breathes and it's not wearing our crest, cut it down."
He looked at Blade. "You've got the lead, rookie."
Blade froze. "Me?"
"You saw that fog before. You know its stench. Guide your squad. Make mistakes — but bring them back alive."
For a heartbeat, Blade's doubts swirled up like black water. Rank nine. They're stronger. Faster. What if I—
Then he felt the weight of Kamikaze at his hip — like the dragons inside whispered: Rise.
He squared his shoulders.
"Yes, sir."
---
Nightfall — Departing the Phoenix Walls
That evening, the Seventh Division squad moved like shadows through the outer gates. Kagami and Suntaro leaned against the ramparts to see them off.
"You sure you're ready?" Kagami asked quietly, concern in her eyes.
Blade gave a crooked grin. "I'd ask you to come, but you're a fancy Assistant Captain now."
Suntaro laughed. "Don't die, little brother! Save some beasts for me."
As the squad slipped into the trees beyond the walls, Blade felt the forest breathe around him. Branches creaked like old bones. Fog pooled low, coiling over the dirt path.
Every instinct in him screamed: This isn't normal.
---
Deep in the Fog — First Blood
They reached the abandoned farmland under a half-moon. The fog was so thick it was like stepping through wet wool.
Blade signaled for silence. The scarred swordsman, his second, crouched at his side.
"Anything?"
Blade's eyes narrowed. He could almost feel something moving — something that pulsed with rotten energy.
A low growl echoed from the mist. Then, in an instant, shapes lunged — not beasts, not men, but silhouettes wrapped in tattered cloaks, eyes gleaming like lanterns in the dark.
"MOVE!" Blade shouted.
Steel hissed free. Kamikaze's edge flared with a faint dragon's roar as it cleaved through the first phantom. But the thing reformed like smoke — claws scraping his arm.
"Captain Taizuka!" the scarred swordsman barked, half-mocking. "Orders?!"
Blade forced his feet to stay planted. He breathed out — remembering the aura drills on Mount Akatsuki.
"Circle up! Cut them from all sides — don't let them reform! Trust your blades — TRUST ME!"
Kamikaze hummed in his hands — the sealed dragons stirring, the blade's runes flickering like coals.
---
Back in the Shadows — The Enemy's Whisper
Far away, in that cavern where the cult gathered, the hooded man watched the battlefield through a pool of inky fog. Around him, his followers chanted wordless prayers to the dark.
"So the dragons stir," the man rasped. "Little sparks. It won't matter."
He raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. The fog above the farmland thickened, turning almost black.
"Let them swing their pretty swords. Let the Phoenix Order believe they stand in the light."
His voice echoed in the stone chamber — a promise that tasted like poison.
"The night has already come. They just don't know it yet."
---
In the Fog — The Predator Arrives
Back on the farmland, Blade's squad circled up, blades drawn tight around their leader as the shadows twisted unnaturally.
A shape moved — graceful, almost feline — stepping through the mist as if the darkness itself opened a door for him.
A figure emerged: lean, wrapped in layered shinobi garb marked with a crimson insignia — the brand of Akuma Chi, the dreaded rogue shinobi alliance.
His eyes gleamed behind a cracked porcelain mask. He tilted his head, savoring the tension in the air.
"Well, well…" His voice dripped with delight, a hiss between hunger and mockery. "It's been so long since I hunted fresh Order pups."
Blade tensed, Kamikaze humming at his side.
The figure spread his arms wide, blades glinting in both hands.
"Name's Zester. Try not to die too quickly, little phoenixes — the night's still young."
The fog coiled tighter, and the first clash of steel rang like a bell tolling in the dark.
---
To Be Continued…