Re: iLiB - Infinite

[LordTomyh]

"No," I said shooting a glance to Rom. "You don't have to sever your ties to your clan. Yes run, hide, survive. Live to grow stronger and fight another day. But never forsake your clan."

"That kind of sh*t will get us all killed!" Rom yelled climbing to his feet slowly, holding a hand over his burnt skin. "If we go back to your village the leaf will find us, and they'll kill us all."

"I can't abandon them!" Shiku yelled turning on the pair of us, his eyes wet behind his mask and tears leaking from the bottom. "They're my family, my friends, everyone I now or love that wasn't sent on this suicidal advance is there."

Rom let out a sigh of annoyance and looked around the battlefield. I glanced at him as I walked over to Shiku and put my hand on his shoulder, drawing him close. "I know what it means to lose friends, family, and home. I know what it means to be where you are right now."

Shiku said nothing, just giving me a 'yeah right' glance before shoving aside my hand and started towards the distant mountain, head held high in defiance and fists clenched in anger.

I sighed and looked up to the sky, putting a hand on one of my hilt's. "You won't make it in time."

Shiku stopped and turned on me, anger burning in his eyes. I glanced to him, "By the time you get back, convince your elders to abandon the village and start moving the Leaf will be upon you."

"So-"

"Quiet," I said holding up a finger to cut him off as I walked over to him. "I said you won't make it in time."

With a smile, I patted the masked ninja on the shoulder and pulled out a thick mint green scroll bound by red string and handed it to him.

"I'll race back and get everyone moving, your elders be damned. My family and I will keep them safe and find them somewhere to hide so we can all recoup and recover. When I'm done, I'll come and find you, using that scroll, so don't lose it."

"But-" Shiku started to say but paused, looking down at the scroll for several minutes. I tried to imagine the argument he was having with himself when he looked back up at me, his eyes set in determination.

"Swear to me that you will do everything you can to save my clan."

I blinked and stepped towards him, drawing one of my swords as I went. Stepping in front of Shiku i flipped the blade about and drew it against my palm, drawing blood before grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

"I swear on my name that I will save and protect your clan and your people to the best of my abilities."

"Thank you," Shiku said, letting go of my hand. I took a step back, saluted the two. Then vanished in a flash of red.

[LordTomyh]

What took me Rom and Shiku around an hour or two took me half an hour to run. I slowed down as I approached the gates to the village, coming to a complete stop in front of the guards. Before they could say anything I put my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath, holding up a finger to ask them to give me a moment.

"Wooo," I said righting myself after a few minutes and clapping my hands. "Sorry, long run."

"State your business," the first guard said pointing his spear at me, a young boy barely over 13 who looked like he was in the lower rankings of a combat school. I pushed the spear out of my face and stepped inside the weapons range to pat him on the shoulder for his effort.

"I bring word from Shuki Gyu. Your army is dead, and the Leaf army is on their way here. You have to gather all the supplies you can carry and evacuate the village, now."

The two guards looked at me, mouths agape with shock and confusion. They looked to each other, finding their voices, "But, but the elders-"

"I'll deal with your elders. Start the evacuation. The longer you wait is less time we'll have to escape the Leaf," I said pushing past the pair into the town. Jogging down the main street towards the council rooms the people of the village stepped out of their houses, looking at me in confusion and suspicion and whispering to each other. Ignoring everyone, even the confused and deadly looks from my family as they appeared near the healers house, I stepped into the council hall.

The elders looked up from their discussion as I entered, and their faces immediately contorted into anger and disgust.

"So, returned to kill us while our army is away Desert Rat?" the head elder asked, hand going for her(?) belt, the other elders doing the same. I sighed and reached into my bag, pulling out a blood-soaked rag of cloth.

"Your army is dead," I said as I threw the cloth to the elders and shot a small wind vortex to ensure it landed on the table in front of the elders. One of them snatched the cloth from the table and held it to his face, before looking to hi comrades.

"This is from our soldiers."

"He speaks truth," another said collapsing in his chair despairingly. The head elder snapped at him before settling her angry glare back on me.

"He lies, he cut the cloth and stained it himself, to gain our trust. GUA-"

The wind picked up as I sped around the table to stand in front of the head elder, my hand on her wrist, their robes and hair blowing in the gust. The others jumped back at my sudden movement, but the head remained calm and collected, only lowering her head to glare at me harder.

"If the next words from your mouth are not 'evacuate the village', then I swear by the oath I made with the only GYU I've met so far who acts competently I will knock you all out and strap you to a cart."

"You dare order me! I will have you-"

The head elder was cut off as I buried the pommel of my shorter blade in her face, knocking her out cold. I caught the elder as she fell and threw her over my shoulder before turning to face the others, sheathing my blade. "This village is lost, but it is a place of wood and stone. What makes your people a clan is not place or belongings, but the people and family.'

'A massive force of the Leaf is marching this way. Your army is dead, and you cannot fight against them, so tuck your tails away and flee, so that you can build up the Gyu name again and reclaim what is yours."

The elders looked amongst themselves, and with a wordless conversation that lasted all but several seconds they turned back to me.

"Evacuate the village!" one bellowed, turning around to storm from the room issuing orders for wagons and supplies and whatever of import that could be carried. The others followed swift, with me bringing up the rear the head elder slung over my shoulder.

"She'll forgive me in time," I muttered to myself as I stepped outside and passed her onto the first guard I found. "I hope."

"Tei!" Lily, Rose and Sabi said as they ran up to me, hands hovering near their weapons and eyes darting around each other as the preparation began.

"What's going on?"

"Why are you back?"

"Where are the other two you left with?"

I held up a hand to quiet them, opening my mouth to answer their questions when someone yelled from the front gate, "LEAF SCOUTS! PREPARE FOR COMBAT!"

In a flash I was standing at the village gates, hand on the smooth wood looking down on the pathway leading down the mountain. Near the where the path curved out of sight were a dozen or so ninja dressed in the green and red colours of the Leaf. As I watched one finished a summoning jutsu and a white and gold monkey appeared in a flash of smoke.

"Son of a b*tch!" I yelled as I stepped out of the village and drew my swords.

"You three!" I yelled over my shoulder at my aunt and cousins standing just behind me with their weapons drawn. "Aid the evacuation, get as many out of here as you can!"

"But-" Lily started, but I shouted her down.

"GO! I can handle the scouts!" Turning my blades so they stuck out at odd angles I ran down the mountain, a small cloud of dust building up behind me as I went. I aimed straight for the summon, the monkey turning to face me just as I got close enough to strike. I swung, the silver blade cutting through the air straight at the summon's body.

And missed. The summon jumped aside at the last second and took off down the path; my blade separated flesh as a Leaf scouts head sailed after the summon.

"b*tch!" I yelled, now standing in the middle of the Leaf scouts of their dead comrade. I looked at each of the ones in my field of vision and flashed a smile, raising my swords. "HAVE AT IT THEN YOU GUTLESS COWARDS! SHOW THE TATSUMAKI WHAT YOUR SKILLS!

[Conor]

In a puff of Crimson smoke Tei and his students were gone. Only the crackling hum of the fire remained, Shiku and myself draped around the warmth as we tried to decide what to do next. It was then that I heard the all too familiar call of the crow, as it came swooping down onto the brim of my hat.

"We should just eat that thing." Shiku joked.

"I have a feeling the Gods would have my soul for it." I groaned in reply, soaking up the warmth in my hands.

"So you have faith in the old Gods?" Shiku asked, puzzled "not many who do remain." I smiled at the man sincerely, and replied;

"No, no faith. Just an expression carried on by my mother." I shook my head, causing the bird to hop off me and onto the ground. It stood for a while, staring into the fire aimlessly. I observed it for a second, watching it begin to gather sticks from the remains of the battlefield around us. Now was not the time to be nesting!

"And she was?" Shiku asked.

"Oh, just a housewife. My father was a fisherman." I explained, humbly.

"Such simple beginnings for a seemingly master ninja." Shiku complemented generously, and I chuckled at the thought.

"I do not fight masterfully, just desperately." I described, causing Shiku to tilt his head in confusion.

"Meaning...?"

"Any man can survive if they want it enough." I began "I've seen ninja simply give up on life from a small wound, simply because it's easier to go to 'heaven' than it is to shame their clan with defeat. But if you don't believe in all that, it's a simple choice; live or die. I can be dead forever, so I'd rather live while I can." Shiku nodded, understanding the haphazard madness that was my opinion. I looked back to the crow, which had built a small structure in twigs resembling the Elder tower of my village, and I was struck with inspiration "I'd rather you live as well. That's why we're heading for my village."

"Come again?" Shiku snapped, his eyes darting my way, causing me to flinch.

"My village is in the south. Just around the mountain. If we set off now, we could be there by tomorrow afternoon."

"We could be dead by then." Shiku objected.

"Or we could be alive. The place is a fortress, I rebuilt it myself. There's supplies. Food, water, wine and coin, and from there we could rebuild."

"Rebuild what exactly?"

"Well that's up to you. I want to stop the war, that's my aim. But I am not a leader, I am an assassin. So I vote we regroup there, send word to the Tatsumaki clan, and then you give me a target." Shiku silenced himself, weighing up his options in the dancing flames.

"We could be there by morning if we move fast." He replied. "What's the name of your village?"

"In the common tongue?" I began "Brightwater."

"Then let's move."

[Damxge]

We moved quick after dousing our fire, running at a steady pace, almost haphazardly it seemed at times, around the rim of the mountain range. Thankfully, there seemed to be a method to the madness Rom displayed, guiding us through the darkened woods, and then over severely rocky terrain, around any encampments I knew of. Where I would have had to consult my map he simply ran onward. The air became warmer and warmer as the night changed to early morning, the soft glow of the sun slipping through the pine trees, which slowly turned to palm. I'd never been so far south, despite it being literally on the opposite side of the mountain range in which I was raised. The Gyu weren't a seafaring clan, and the Mizudori Clan, an old group of ninja who resided along the coast were not friendly toward us. They had mastered water jutsu to the point of perfection and venturing too close to the sea, the largest body of water anyone had ever seen, was asking for trouble with the Mizudori. I trusted in Rom, though, and followed him as the night slipped into day and we came upon his home.

He wasn't joking when he said it was a fortress. Tall walls surrounded the village, which was set into an outcropping of rocks along the coast. Several guard towers looked out over the sea, and over the jungle like inland. It was clean no one was here, and no one had been here for some time.

"The Mizudori don't attack you here?" I asked as we slowed to a jog, the crow coming down from above to land on Rom's shoulder.

"We supplied fish to them back when they were at their largest," Rom explained, walking toward the gates, glancing about for danger, "They actually protected us for a time, until several other sea clans banded together and attacked them,"

"The Mizudori are dead?" I asked. The elders had drilled into our minds from the day we were born to stay away from the water for fear of the Mizudori and it shocked me that they could have been gone for so long.

"No, but they took a big hit and moved further out to sea," He shook his head, "The other clans attacked every village they could and then moved up the coast toward the north where the war was raging the hardest to try to carve themselves a place in the lands up there,"

"Why would they attack them, why not use the villages for supplies?" I pressed as we entered the village. It was small but the buildings were ornate, carved with beautiful symbols and imagery. It took my mind completely off of the topic of the Mizudori, causing me to stand there with my mouth agape in awe.

"They were spiteful, and there were too many Mizudori supporters, they felt they would be safer to just kill everyone," Rom interrupted my revel.

"You built this?" I asked, turning a slow three-sixty to get a view of the walled village, completely abandoning the previous conversation.

"I did, I had some help once in a while, but the majority is mine," He said, pride saturating his voice as he put his hands on his hips, breathing in the salty air, the sunlight filtering through the tower at the opposite end of the village deepening the shadow beneath his wide brimmed hat.

He led me to the main tower, which he informed me was originally to watch for great beasts out to sea, less to warn the village of them because of danger and more to let them know there's a giant piece of meat swimming about, ripe for the taking. He'd re-purposed it, though, as housing and offices. It seemed he'd restored the village fully expecting to repopulate it in the future, and less of a fishing village, more of a ninja village. All the way down to training pits for practicing fighting and weapon throwing.

"What had you planned on doing with the village?" I asked as we wandered toward the main doorway.

"I didn't have any plans," He laughed, "I restored it during a very rough part of my life, it was more of a personal project than something with purpose,"

"So you had no plans of using it?" I pressed.

"I use it as a base, I come here for time to myself, I come here to plan, I come here to train, and I also come here to stockpile supplies. And now, I'm using it to assist you and the Tatsumaki if they so choose to accept my aid," He explained, hauling the heavy wooden doors open to reveal a slightly dusty interior. As with the exterior, everything was beautifully carved and the craftsmanship was astounding, particularly when you figure most of it was done by a single man. The first floor seemed to be a greeting area with two large window facing out into the village. A desk sat before us and behind it was a sitting area with plushy cushions scattered across a soft looking red carpet. To the left and right were staircases that curved along the walls to the next story.

"There are bunks on the next floor, pick whatever room you like," He commented, leaning against the desk and surveying the room, "Above that is the armory, in the basement there's a good stash of food and fresh water, the third, forth, and fifth stories is unfurnished, not sure what to do with them yet. Top floor is my room and office,"

"Get yourself situated, drop off your backpack and take a walk around the village, I have some things I need to take care of. We'll wait for Tei and his family to get back before we plan anything,"

[LordTomyh]

The last scout fell to his trying to hold in his intestines. I turned and placed my bloody blade against his neck and stepped around to face him. Despite his pain and the blood staining his hand he glared up at me with contempt.

"How many are there in your army?" I asked, pressing the blade just into his skin but not enough to break it. The scout, despite the hole in his belly, tried to be brave and squared his shoulders, raising his chin. I couldn't help but smirk at his bravado, but my sword didn't waver.

"Tell me, how many men do you have?"

"We have as many men as the leaves on the trees of our home," the scout spat, making me roll my eyes, 'why did they have to exaggerate to sound brave'. I cut into his skin to shut him up.

"Quit the small talk. How many warriors, how many soldiers, how many officers and generals?"

"The Leaf will bury you Mesa scum! Our warriors will wash over this village and leave your body for the crows!"

This time, I rolled my head in response, the motion making the edge of my blade waver a fraction and remove a layer of skin, making the scout shut up.

"IS everyone in the Leaf this pointlessly stupid? Do any of you have any sense? Your life is on a blades edge, literally, and yet you still see the need to boast and exaggerate the strength and terror of your army."

"What have we to fear!" The scout said, trying to get to his feet but almost toppling over instead. "We are the strongest force in the world!"

I saw a glimmer from the corner of my eye and ducked aside; the scout continued to scream and rant until a large warhammer reduced his body to a pasty-soup. Holding back a string of curses I turned on the new opponent, drawing my second sword out again. The man towered over me by several feet and was twice my width. He wore the uniform of the Leaf army, but he had the sleeves removed with a pair of bracers on his forearms and a 5-layer sode on his right shoulder; his large bald head was hidden behind a full face mask detailed after some kind of monster. With a sound of disgust, the giant lifted his massive weapon with little effort and hung it across his shoulder.

"Right," I said taking a few steps back. "Who the f*** are you then?"

The man laughed and turned his body to face me front on. "Little man, I am your demise."

I raised an eyebrow at the statement and let a drawn our "right" slip off my tongue. "So who are-"

For someone of his size, the man was deceptively fast. His warhammer coming within inches of taking off my head before I dropped into a three-point crouch. The giant chuckled and shifting the warhammer's momentum, the head arching over his body to slam down on me from above. The ground shook from the blow, and I exhaled a sigh of relief as I jumped up from my roll and brought my hands together working through a quick jutsu hand-signal.

"Vortex Cannon: Violet!"

A vortex of wind, half as big as the ones I was throwing around against Rom when I met him, burst from my hands as I threw them out at the giant. The ninjutsu attack caught the man square in his chest but did nothing more than push him back a few feet. As the wind died down the man looked to me, his eyes showing the wicked grin hidden behind the mask.

"sh*t!" I said bringing my hands together again, almost taking off my nose in my haste. I tried to quickly perform a '
hand sign but the giant lifted his warhammer and threw the massive weapon straight at me.

"Oh sh*t." Abandoning the hand sign I turned into a rapid spin, using the blades of my swords and my chakra to whip the wind into a large dome of air, deflecting the warhammer. As the weapon hit my wind dome, with me inside, was knocked several feet up the mountain path, digging out a slight groove in the rock. I killed the jutsu and turned my attention back to the man, raising my weapons and hoping he was less scary without his.

The man chuckled and raised his hand to his weapon near me. A black glow surrounded the head, the whole weapon lifting from the ground and flying back to his waiting hand. I lowered my swords slightly and said "Ok that's cheating" in an annoyed tone.

The man laughed and hefted his weapon back onto his shoulder. "I like to see you dance, little man."

[Conor]

Dusk crept up on us once more, and it swallowed the village whole. Not a single candle flickered within the dwellings of its alleyways and arches. All was laced in dark, except the main quarters in the top of the watchtower, in which Shiku and I had chose to reside. No earthly sound made itself known. Not even the crow, which slept perched atop a set of books near us.
We sat at ease, a table between us, a bottle of rum a top that. We had a perfect view of the sea from here, and took advantage of such a treat - both the view, and the rum.

"I have no idea where to go from here." Shiku said, suddenly. I had been fondling my dragon mask, equipping it to my face over and over slowly in contemplation, but Shiku (thankfully) disturbed my drifting.

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled. "We'll stop the Sand for a start!"

"Of course, i know," he began, sipping on his drink softly "But in order to do that, we need an army. A group bigger than two, at least." he slouched back in this chair in defeat, sighing deeply. I, on the other hand, leaned back with lax.

"Tei's handling it, and he's pretty close to an army." I laughed smugly "Let him handle it."
A breeze snuck its way through the open window, taking us by surprise, but we didn't complain during these warm Summer nights. The moon glared at us from afar menacingly.

"Be that as it may I doubt he'll single-handedly destroy an entire Clan. But I've been wrong before." Shiku grumbled, breaking the quiet, placid moment.

"Then perhaps," I began, heaving myself onto my feet and flicking my hat from the table. As I did so, I mistook the trajectory of the object, and adjusted my hand placement according - and unsuccessfully, many times, in rapid succession. After a final attempt, I managed to place the hat a top my head, though with less pride and self-esteem thereafter. "Perhaps, it's time we repopulate this old village."

"Hm?" Shiku queried "What do you mean? Have people live here again?"

"Yes. But not just people, fighters. Ones who wish for the end of this war just as much as we do!" Shiku didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.

"That's a long shot. That stuff can't just happen overnight." he grumbled, rubbing his head "Maybe you've had too much rum, Rom."

"Even if that's true," I began, shaken "There is a simpler way. Just give me a name and a target. You know the Sand better than I." I placed my mask upon my face, this time without issue "And consider them done."

[Damxge]

It was several hours later, the sun had set, Rom had wandered off to go to bed, the crow now resting on a support beam overhead, making soft cawing noises in it's sleep. I hadn't moved from the table, a half glass of run still in my hand as I gazed out at the ocean. My home was more than likely destroyed and most of the people who resided there dead. I was sure to join them soon, and the more I thought about it, the more depressed I got. Maybe I would just try to sneak into their capitol and go crazy, just ignore chakra limits and kill myself in an all out martyr. And now, the more I thought about this, the more I felt it was a good idea. In fact, I was almost convinced of it when the crow jumped down from the support and into my lap. Startled, I almost dropped my rum, sloshing a fair amount of it onto my hand and leg.

"The f*** are you-" I started, but the crow interrupted me, opening it's beak to let out a harsh, annoying caw.

That's what I expected anyway, what actually happened was far scarier. A human voice echoed forth from this bird, a deep male voice. I didn't even hear what it said, I was too busy throwing myself backward, knocking the chair over and rolling to my feet, my glass skittering across the floor. I stared in sheer disbelief at the bird, which had hopped onto the table a moment prior to my freak out.

"Maybe you were meant for more than just killing a few people," The bird said, pruning it's left wing feathers nonchalantly, as if this were an offhand conversation and not a bird talking to me in full sentences.

"Y-you're talking," I stuttered, staring at my glass several feet away, how much had I had to drink?

"Shut up and listen," He said, fluffing his feathers grumpily. I didn't argue, after all, if it could talk, what else could it do?

"Go on?" I said after a moment.

"You've been presented with a perfect opportunity, one of the greatest assassins of this era has literally offered to kill whomever you choose while you gather support to attack the Leaf," The crow said, settling down onto the table, his beady black eye fixed on me as he spoke, "He has put his faith in you as he has done with no other his entire life,"

"So, I should-" I started, but he interrupted me again.

"I'm not telling you what you should do, I'm informing you of the situation, boy," The crow responded grumpily.

I was just called "boy" by a bird.

"You-" I started again, but jerked awake in my seat just as I started. It was pitch black in the room, the sounds of the crow sleeping overhead the only noise in the otherwise silent night. My glass of rum drooped dangerously close to falling from my grip, a large spot of white staining my pants where, and I looked up to confirm, the bird had sh*t on me.

The rest of the evening I inhabited one of the offices in Rom's tower and set about listing all of the high ranking officers I knew of, eventually narrowing it down to several people who were in control in this area of the continent. The people I would ask Rom to kill while I scouted around to find people to resist the Leaf.


[Feel free to make up three or four names and take your time killing them. They would be important squad leaders, maybe a general, or significant in power or skill that they would be more of a threat.]

[Damxge]

Morning rolled around and I'd only slept for an our or two. The sun came blaring in through the narrow windows in the office filling the wooden room with a golden glow. The desk that lay in the center of the room was covered in papers, which were in turn covered in scribbles, names, places, tactics, all scattered haphazardly. I snorted and rolled over on my bedroll, which I'd positioned to the left side of the otherwise empty office space.

"Time to get moving," Rom's voice roused me almost immediately, the door creaking open just enough for him to poke his haggard, hungover head in. I gave a soft groan and sat up, the covers sliding off of me as I rubbed my face in my hands, "Looks like you've been busy," He said pointedly, his eyes resting on the desk.

"Trying to come up with the best way to confront the Leaf in this region," I said, my voice crackly and sleep laden.

"Well, any generals would be a good start," Rom suggested, pacing into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist his only clothes.

"The hell you doing?" I asked, gesturing at the towel as he shuffled through the papers.

"On my way to the bath, figured I'd make sure you didn't take off in the night," he replied distractedly, holding up one paper in particular, the one with the closest leading officials and tacticians on it, "So, these the targets?" He said, a new fervor in his voice as he looked over the paper to me. I hauled myself to my feet and paced over, grabbing another piece of paper.

"These are the last known locations of each, the info is about three weeks old, but they were stationed there for several months, so it's easy to assume that they're still nearby," I explained, showing him the new sheet of paper.

"Piece of cake," He purred, taking the new paper.

"I want to accompany you, though," I added, drawing his gaze. I wandered over to my bed and grabbed my shirt up, throwing it over my head as he thought about the prospect.

"You're going to need to dress for it," He said after a while, gesturing at me.

"Whatcha mean?" I asked, looking down at my clothes. My tan pants, red shirt, and stark white socks.

"You're not dressed as an assassin," He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if it were obvious. Either that or he was hungover. Both were possible.

"How does an assassin dress, then?" I asked with a laugh, "In red robes and armor?"

"f*** no, that's my battle gear, when I go for killing I look the part," He replied to my sarcastic comment, a grumpy look on his face, "You're good at sneaking around outside the gates, to be successful inside you have to try a little harder,"

"I-" I started to disagree, but he cut me off with a raised hand.

"No offense to you, but your clan aren't assassins. You don't train for it, you don't dress for it, and you've probably never really pulled one off that wasn't a full scale ambush," He said, offending me greatly in the process, "You guys are guerilla and one on one fighters, which doesn't work for sh*t when you've got a thousand enemies bearing down on you. It's why you survived so long in the mountains, you don't just march an army up there without knowing anything, and you could handle smaller groups of scouts,"

"So you're saying you don't want me along?" I asked flatly, staring at my feet.

"No, I'm saying you need to change your mindset if you want to be successful," He sighed, "I'll show you what I mean later, for now, I'm goin for a soak," He tossed the papers back on the desk and sidled out of the room, greeted with a harsh 'CAW' as he exited.

"f***ing bird, I've got a headache!" He shouted, followed by ",ow."

Rather than be annoyed by his words, I wandered outside of the small walled village to the training area on the beach. Here, I took off my shirt and socks and did my best to practice some of my jutsus. Unfortunately, my mind was clouded heavily and it made it difficult to focus on what I was doing. After about two hours of struggling, Rom made his appearance, leaping from the wall to land beside me, equally barefoot and dressed casually.

"Little more humid here than back home, eh?" He laughed, immediately dropping to do some stretches.

"A little is an understatement," I panted, sweat matting my hair and running down my body. I had also burned rather badly in the sun, having spent most of my time in uniform and in the mountains, or underground. In fact, I couldn't remember a time I took my shirt off outside of home. The air itself was hot as fire, the sand a practical bed of coals, and the breeze seemed not to exist at the moment.

"Come with me, we'll prep for our missions," He said with a chuckle, "Then you can get a bath, you smell like a wet rat," He waved a hand in front of his face as he turned and wandered back toward the entrance to the town.

[Will continue shortly if no one else posts.]

[Damxge]

"Welcome to my armory," He said, opening a door in the main tower. He walked in, stubbed his toe on something that made a loud crashing noise, and eventually lit a torch, "Son of a mother-" He was grumbling as he wandered around the spacious room lighting lamps. Inside were shelves upon shelves of weapons. Weapons I'd never seen before, weapons I'd heard about or seen in books, and a few I recognized immediately as Gyu made.

"Where did you get all of these?" I asked in awe, standing just inside the door, gawking at the sheer multitude of weapons.

"Years of collecting," He replied, righting a shelf that had held several dozen shortswords, obviously what he'd knocked over in his search for the torch.

"So you were struggling to trade odds and ends when you had this sitting here at home?" I asked, looking to him curiously.

"What's here isn't for trade, once I've got it, it's mine and it stays," He replied in all seriousness, "Every time I leave, I do so with some coin and the clothes on my back, I make my way for a while and then return here with whatever I've gathered,"

"That's incredible," I commented as I wandered through the room, ogling the various sharp odds and ends.

"You've got your weapons already," He said loudly, drawing my attention to where he stood, next to a row of wardrobes, "Put some of this sh*t on," He said, pointing at the clothing, "Wear dark colors, black or dark brown are my favorites,"

Sighing, I walked over and started going through the heaps of clothing and armor. Rom, after watching me for a moment, wandered away into the room, counting weapons. As irritating as it was playing dress-up when there were real issues that needed resolving, I went along with it anyway. After all, I needed Rom's help, and if this was the only way I was going to get it, so be it.

After a short time, Rom made his way back over to me, just as I slipped my mask onto my face, completing my new set of attire.

"Ditch the white mask, it gives you away," Rom said immediately, crossing his arms.

"The mask is a mark of-" I started, but he held up a hand.

"f*** off with the marks and meanings, wear something that's non-reflective and dark colored. Your mask is neither," He scolded. I could feel my face run red with annoyance and embarrassment, but I withheld any further comments. Instead, I found a sleeve and slipped it over my head to cover the my nose and mouth.

"Better?" I asked, a little edge to my voice.

"Yeah, now fix your pants," He pointed to my legs.

"What's wrong with my pants?" I asked, looking down at the black cargo pants I'd picked. They were practically identical to my beige ones, just a different color.

"Tie the ankles down tight so they don't trip you up or catch on sh*t, then get some shoes that don't clunk when you walk," He instructed, gesturing at his own pants, where the hems of each leg were tied down with thick black strips. On his feet he wore some samurai looking two toed shoes.

Without verbal complaint, I did as he asked, fixing each tiny detail of my attire until I was standing before him wearing a black, skin tight long sleeve shirt, black cargo pants bound at the ankles, and some shoes I could only describe as slippers.

"Much better," He nodded slowly, "Now we plan the mission,"

[Conor]

As much as it annoyed the young Gyu, what I instructed of him were nothing but necessities. His mask was too bright, and reflected light, bouncing it everywhere. I noticed this in the woods, by the fire that night. Not only did his pant legs risk him tripping, but they also flapped as he ran - a trained Leaf ninja would hear the fabric a mile off. Perhaps I did not need to be as righteously indignant about it as I was, but these things were a matter of life and death, and I had no doubt Shiku had faced far worse teachers than I during his training.
A sunset soaked the land in a fiery hue. The light crept through the windowless openings in the top of the tower, covetting our office warmly. In the past of the day's heat, we huddled round a small table, looking down at a small map of Ohaka, one of the Leaf clan's mercenary villages. I don't remember exactly how I got it, as I had draws stacked with similar ones that I had collected over time. It was Shiku, due to curiosity, that recognised the etching and pulled it out from the rest.

"The man we're after is General Mao," Shiku begun, not yet gesturing anything on the map. I listened intently, pouring us both a cup of tea "Thanks. So yeah, Mao. In all honesty, he's not all that. Barely scraped through his training and is a bit of an embarrassment when it comes to combat, or so I've heard."

"But he has a sh*t tonne of Intel?" I asked, peering up from my hat.

"Exactly." Shiku hummed with readiness. "And with good reason. The man hardly sleeps, apparently. He sits up all night reading, planning and sending and rceiving messages. So we're not gonna get to stab him in his sleep, which would've made things easier..."

"Well where's his quarters?" I asked, placing a hand on the map and pointing at several areas "the place looks open as f***. Hardly a fortress. We could easily sneak in and head straight for him."

"Ah, see, that's where you're wrong." Shiku began. At that moment the crow glided in, heading for my hat. I stood up swiftly and flailed around, diverging it to its original perch through cusses and grumbled. Then I took a seat.

"Sorry, go on."

"The village isn't tall structurally, it's deep. The whole area has an underground labyrinth, with Mao's office at the very bottom. There's a rope lift, but if we were spotted they could just cut the ropes and we'd drop." He said grimly.

"Eeesh," I echoed through my cup as I sipped "and I'm guessing I don't have the maps for the underground?"

"Already looked." The young Gyu replied, shaking his head. His new mask was far more fitting, and suited the spry ninja's face well. If it weren't for his piercing eyes, he would be invisible.

"We could draw him out then? Who knows, we might get lucky and he may be out in the open. We could just run in, stab stab, done. There's two of us - one can diverge, rh and other can still ike at th opportune moment. In and out lol a flash, no casualties."

"This is the thing," Shiku began in a more serious tone "this isn't just an assassination, it's a publicity stunt. My plan is for us to make such a bang that people know what happened from all over the province, so we can draw in as much support as possible. A simple stealth kill-"

"It's far from simple, it's art."

"Whatever, the point is, we n we to make a big enough bang for this to be prosperous in any way. No survivors. We need to bring the place down in flames, or we may as well not bother. Mao will only get replaced if we just kill him."

"Ah, I see." I purred, stroking my chin.

"Which is why we need Mao alive."

"Oh. You just made things a lot harder then. The explosion - no problem, I have explosive in the armoury. But if we're taking Mao hostage... I don't see how we can blow up the place without Nao getting ng caught in the cross fire."

"Well, I've got a plan for that too." Shiku smiled smugly.

"What a surprise." I got in less a sarcasticly. Shiku went on o elaborate without further instruction.

"We plant the bombs strategically, more specifically, in ththe underground tunnels. One of us can do this while the other gets Mao. Once we know he's away from the blast radius, we set off the bombs and bring the whole village down into its own grave. Take out the stragglers, then get out of there sharpish."

"That still means we have to get in the underground, even if Mao isn't."

"I know, but it's better than fighting a whole ninja village."

Could argue with that.

(Sorry for any spelling errors or plot changes ( I can't remember if we already picked a target, if so just be it his name where Mao's is) I'm on my phone)

[Damxge]

"I'll go place the explosives if you get Mao," Rom said after a few moments of contemplation, gazing at the map, "I feel my experience would be most useful for that aspect of the mission," The waning sunlight that streamed through the windows illuminated his straw hat, making it look as if it glowed, but cast a shadow across his face, darkening his serious expression, a glint in his eye.

"We depart tonight?" I asked, drawing his gaze to me.

"That's on you, boss," He said with a laugh, breaking the tension in the room. But there was darkness behind the mirth, he had changed considerably from the weird, half-crazy Rom I met just days prior. This Rom was far more threatening, dangerous even. Perhaps this was the Rain Dragon from the stories.

"It'll take about three hours to get there," I said, glancing out the window and the setting sun, "If we leave in an hour it'll be dark by the time we reach Leaf territory.

"I'll grab the explosives and meet you at the gate, then we'll depart," He said as he turned to leave, walking quietly out of the room, leaving me standing at the table, my knuckles resting on it's surface, the light slowly dying from the air as the sun descended into the sea. This was more dangerous than any mission I'd undertaken to date, and not only that, but it was my plan rather than just following orders, and someone else had placed their life on the line as well.

A half hour later, I was standing out before the gate, the hum of crickets and frogs filling the air, a lonely locust sounding off in the distance. The long shadows crept like panthers from their dens, lurking in the forest and along the walls, expanding as the night approached. It wasn't long before Rom appeared at the entrance of the tower, a satchel across his shoulder. He closed the heavy door after him and made his way down the road to me, running a hand lightly over the rail as he descended down the short flight of stairs leading to the tower.

"Let's do this," He said as he reached me, gazing into the forest with an expression I couldn't really place, it was like a cross between excited and serious. With practiced grace, he brought his hand to his face, placing his dragon halfmask over his mouth and nose. With a sideways glance at me, he nodded, and we were off, sprinting through the forest at a breakneck pace. As the sun set, the air cooled, dew springing into existence on the leaves of the trees and bushes, the forest floor growing damp.

It was pitch black out when we arrived at the base, that intense darkness between sunset and moonrise saturating the night, filling it with an inky blackness you could almost feel. The base itself was lit up light a bonfire, torches protruded from every surface, blazing away, illuminating the Leaf soldiers who patrolled the above ground section of the fortress, which was, as Rom had mentioned, extremely open. A few watchtowers scattered about with some random buildings that appeared to be a medical clinic and several barracks.

"Where's the entrance?" Rom asked softly, his eyes scanning the base for any sign of our way in.

"It should be in one of the Barracks buildings, I'd say the one with the guards around it," I pointed at the center of the five barracks buildings, four guards lingering around the entrance, obviously trying to appear as if they weren't guarding something, but failing considerably.

"They wouldn't leave something so valuable so easy to access," Rom stated, "I'd almost guarantee the building is solid stone and metal and that door is the only way in without making a hole," I nodded slowly, his assumption would probably hold true, meaning we would have to get past those four guards and down into the guts of the base without being spotted. It was unlikely they had any escape hatches that could be accessed from the outside, most likely explosive charges to blow their way out should they become trapped to avoid anyone sneaking in.

"Let's go," He said, bringing his hands together.

"What? How are we getting in?" I asked, fearing I'd missed something important.

"We'll hide in the downpour," He looked over at me from under the brim of his hat, cracking a sly smile. And then the rains came. It was sudden and violent, sheet after sheet of water falling from the sky, steam rising from the ground and the buildings, obscuring everything further than a few feet in front of you eyes. Without hesitating, I rushed forward, slipping along close to the ground, past the perimeter guards and to the barracks, where I pressed myself against the wall between our target and the neighboring building. I peeked around to find Rom standing on the stoop, waiting for me patiently, the guards nowhere to be found. Slightly confused, I rounded the corner and entered the building before turning to watch Rom summon four water clones that looked identical to the guards that had mysteriously vanished. He then stepped inside and closed the door.

The room was small and cramped, as Rom had predicted, the majority of the building was solid stone. Before us lay a short hall to a heavy looking metal lift, inside of which there was a lever to control the speed. Swallowing my worry, I pressed on, boarding the lift.

[Conor]

I swung my head to the side. In the corner, amidst the dark, was a small set of ladders leading to the level below. A flicker of light danced through the hatch, indicating any thee route.
I turned back to Shiku, who was already in the lift. It was shoddy and the worn, barely safe, but if it worked then so be it. A lever protruded from the side, forming a mechanism that lowered and lifted the platform via rope.

"I will lower you down," I said allowed, but my mask muffled the word to whispers "but I will go a different way, down there, and plant the explosives." Shiku simply nodded, and gave a deep breath before giving me the go-to. I yanked on the lever, the machine waking up with a groan, and watched as Shiku's ghastly figure, reared and tensed, disappeared into the depths. The last I saw of him was darkness swallowing the light from his eyes.
The sound of the rain bounced outside. It was best to keep the storm flowing in the meantime, so with another dexterous whip of my fingers another harsh downpour began. I sighed, temporarily exhausted as the energy sapped from me, then soaked back in. As it did so, the candles in the room flickered towards me, and as I breathed out, dust escaped beneath my feet, carried by the outward chi.

A dashed down the ladders to be met with an empty room, which branched off further down a corridor. Wooden beams littered the way, supporting the whole structure. Cautiously, I crept through the hallway and into another small room, which was also void of any guards or personnel of any kind. Only moths fluttered around the candles, their shadows making the walls dance.
I picked a beam, and placed a small bomb by its base, then moved on.

Another laddered hatch presented itself round a hallway that stuck out from the room I was in. I heard voices beneath, and snuck closer to hear.

"Who's using the lift at this time of night?" Came a man's grumble. It sounded lower to the floor, so he must be sitting, perhaps at a desk. It was also slightly muffled, suggesting he wore a helmet of some kind - or worse, a master Leaf ninja mask.

"I was thinking the exact same thing," came a younger, more feminine voice "I'll go take a look up top. Probably the general getting food sent."

Soon after, the ladders began to be climbed. I gulped, darting backwards and waiting until the woman's torso was poking out the hatch before whipping an arm towards her. My rope dart fired from my wrist, striking the young soldier in the neck just as she noticed. I yanked towards me, pulling the soon-dead body towards me and away from the hatch. I paused a moment, hearing a short grunt of curiosity emit from the man downstairs. Footsteps creeped towards the bottom of the ladders once more, whereby I leapt down and sliced through the throat-protecting armour the ninja wire, and pressed on the wound hard, preventing any sound escaping from his gullet. He bled our soon enough, so I straightened from my hunched stature and turned.
There, before me, sat a young Leaf ninja. He was an apprentice by the looks of his attire, and stared with a look of shock mid sip, his cup of tea curled around his lips. I glared at him with wide eyes, and a moment of silence began.
Suddenly, the young man bolted from his seat, and he made a run for it. He didn't get far.
I lifted an arm, and watched as the tea from the boys cup (which had launched from his grip upon his escape) traced my finger and pursued the boy. The small lump of liquid moved like a ghostly breeze, striking the boy in the face. From the heat he screamed, his skin sizzling from the boiling substance, but soon couldn't speak at all as I caused it to clog his nostrils and throat. He fell to his knees, passed out, then drowned, blood and chai tea oozing between his teeth.
Without hesitation, I leapt over the desk he and his master had been sitting at and lobbed another explosive towards the supporting beam, before snatching the book the master Leaf ninja had been writing in for Intel and placing it in my bomb satchel. There was probably little I could make of it, but perhaps Shiku could make use of it.

All that was left to do was repeat this process until I reached the bottom, to which me and Shiku were clueless regarding a how many floors that would take. But I carried on regardless, ready to meet up with the young Gyu at the bottom. I wonder how he was doing...

[Damxge]

I descended slowly, the old lift creaking and rattling, causing quite the racket. The shaft was rough and looked to have been mined by hand, each floor separated by about three feet of solid stone. I crouched low behind the railing, which wasn't much of a hiding place, and prayed no guards were standing too close to see me. From what I could see, the complex was a series of long hallways with openings on either side, some of them were simply empty doorways while others still contained old wooden doors with heavy metal rings. Torches were placed intermittently on the walls, leaving large areas of shadow between them, perfect places to blend in.

"Who the f*** started the lift," Came a voice from the level below, just as the cart passed the fifth floor, completely unnoticed. Taking a deep breath, I brought my hands together, focusing my mind, calming my nerves.

"Who-!" He started, as the lift eased its way to his floor, the shocked guard standing in the middle of the hall, staring, wide eyed, at me as I stood. Without a word, I stepped from the lift and pushed my hand toward him, a soft 'whump' noise following as a wave of chakra infused sound washed over him, staggering him, blood springing from his nose, ears, and eyes.

"A-alarm," He sputtered, nowhere near loud enough for anyone to hear, blood dotting the rough concrete floor at his feet. And then, as if a switch was thrown, his eyes rolled upward and he fell to his knees, where he seemed to hover for a moment before slumping to the side, a trickle of red draining from his mouth to pool on the ground, the flickering torchlight glinting in the blood. And like that, he was gone, the lift descending to the next floor, where it stopped with a loud shudder.

Judging by the sounds below, this wasn't the final floor, and I would have to find another way down into the depths. I was already seven stories down and who knew how much further it went. Cracking my neck, I stepped into the hall, staying low and close to the wall, checking each doorway before passing, following the faint noises, hopefully, to a staircase. The base was used as a prepping area, where they would move a mass of soldiers to before attacking other targets in the region. The region, however, now fully belonged to the Leaf, so this base in particular was useless, so they kept it as a tactical stronghold and a storehouse. The storehouse part was rather evident, each room I passed was stacked with boxes and sacks filled with various food and materials.

I was almost to the end of the hall when the flickering light coming from a doorway on my left drew my attention, the faint sound of breathing reaching my ears as I drew closer. Ever so gently, I eased the door open to find three Leaf soldiers sitting at a table, two of them playing a game of cards, the other eating some bread. The rest of the room was plain, a dresser stood against the opposite wall next to a single bed, the only light coming from a candle at the center of the table. It was then that an idea occurred to me. Should I steal one of their uniforms, it would make it far less likely I would be spotted immediately. Naturally, it wouldn't work up close, but at a distance it would be hard to identify me.

My mind made up, I turned and extended my palm to the long hallway, a strong breeze gusting from my hand, extinguishing the torches all the way down to where the lift rested, plunging the entire tunnel into darkness. It was no problem for me, with my chakra sense, but others would find it rather difficult to fight, which was what I was counting on. With that, I eased the door further open and performed the same jutsu to put out the candle, drawing a surprised cry from the men at the table. Quick as lightning, I slipped through the door, drawing a short blade from my belt to plunge into the neck of the nearest ninja, drawing a sputtered gasp before I shoved him, hard, knocking the chair over as he crashed to the floor.

"Fire style-" Started one of the others, bolting upright, bringing his hands together, his chair tumbling over behind him. A fire flickered at the tip of his fingers, illuminating the room in a soft orange glow, revealing the horrified expression of he and his comrade as they witnessed what was happening. I crouched low over the body of their cohort, the blade glinting red, my eyes flashing dangerously.

"No," I hissed, the sound blasting out with a thudding noise, blowing the table up and over, smashing the fire wielding ninja against the wall, skewering him on the candle holder, and extinguishing the glow, his head splattering like an egg, leaving a crimson spray on the stone walls, coating the bed and dresser next to him. And like that, I was on the last ninja, stabbing into his neck with deadly accuracy, using my weight and the momentum from my lunge to push him back and down to the floor, shoving the blade in until I heard the distinct crack of breaking bone. Only then did I ease the pressure and stand up, surveying the scene. Without wasting time, I dressed in the least bloody of the uniforms, throwing the shirt and vest on over my clothes before wrapping the headband around my own head.

With a confident stride, I made my way out into the hall, closing the door firmly behind me, and then walked to the end of the corridor. It T'd off, going on for quite a ways in both directions, other halls branching off from it. This place was more of a labyrinth than I'd expected. It took some exploring and four more dead guards before I found the staircase leading down, tucked away down a thin hall. Thankfully, the stairs went down almost seven levels to what I assumed was the deepest floor judging by how there were only two doors in the room the stairs spat you out on. It had taken me at least an hour to get this far and there was a chance someone would discover the bodies soon, despite my efforts to hide them, so there was no time to waste. I crept to the door on the right and pressed my ear to the wood, listening for any life on the other side. To my dismay, no sound met my senses. With a silent prayer, I moved to the other door and did the same. This time, to my relief, the sounds of a sleeping individual greeted me.

The door, however, was locked. It was now that Rom's sentiments flowed back to me, he was right, I wasn't an assassin, I hadn't been trained for it. In fact, all my training said about locked doors was to kick them, and if that didn't work, use a bomb or jutsu.

[Conor]

As I reached the bottom of the underground tower, past the corpses I hadn't cause as Shiku gained a lead on me, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. It had been a long time since I did something like this - at least, it felt like it anyway. Perhaps it was the extra company.
I met with Shiku, who was stood by a door. He was damn lucky I didn't off him there and then, as he was wearing and strangely fitting Leaf uniform.

"What is the problem?" I asked hastily. Shiku's arm outstretched to the lock.

"It's locked." He murmured, almost embarrassed. I paused a minute, confused, before approaching the door and kicking it through.

"Was that so f***ing hard?" I grunted, watching as Shiku noticed the site in the room. He sprung forward, latching onto a man and grappling him out of his bed. They tumbled to the floor, but Shiku's skills easily paralysed his target. I'm a viscous lock I could not describe, the man, still in his pyjamas, winced in pain as I approached him.

"General Mao?" I asked, crouching and observing the old man's face. He looked to be in his 60s, and donned a moustache that looked like two hairy tentacles escaping from his nostrils. His hair was that of a samurai. His eyes, tight and cavernous, looked up my way. And yet, the man said nothing. "Um..." I murmured, clearing my throat and speaking up slightly "General Mao?" perhaps his hearing had faded over the years. But he just stared, a scowl on his face.

"It's him." Shiku confirmed "We'll get him to talk eventually."

After he said that, he struck Mao hard in the back of the head, knocking him out cold and slinging him over his shoulder. With that, I began to throw what I would describe as a sh*t tonne of explosives into Mao's room, and then a few more trailing towards the lift, through the store room. We moved our way to the lift, where we decided it would be easier and quicker to climb the shaft. For Mao, I emptied my water satchel on his clothing, then continued to use it was we climbed to literally carry Mao through the air. The liquid in his clothing animated through chakra, I climbed whilst controlling Mao. Once half way, Shiku dropped a lit match. I heard flames ignite, and we climbed double time. Once at the top, I dropped Mao with a damp flop, before Shiku continued to carry his limp body as we exited. It was then that a sound boomed from beneath us. There were more after it, each growing in frequency until it was just one loud, elemental scream. The floor beneath us rumbled, then shattered, but we were already gone.
The ground collapsed within itself. As if the Earth was eating it, the base sunk into dirt and rubble. Soldiers screamed as they lost their footing, falling into the cavern and crushing like plums between shifting slates of stone and earth. A final explosion emitted, vomiting the remains back up and crashing around, like lava from a volcano. I didn't see it. But I could imagine it from the sound, which was pretty hard to ignore. As we ran, I saw a giddy smile on Shiku's face, who was still in Leaf uniform. That was one to add to the collection. I laughed too.

---

The rubble had settled. Smoke poured from the site as the morning sun blessed the burial ground. Hardly anything remained, and only a handful of confused, terrified survivors scattered around the premises, trying to work out what happened.
A lone crow flies down to the ground, a piece of paper in its beak. It lands momentarily, tucking the paper beneath a piece of stone so it doesn't get caught in the early breeze. Then, it flew away, cawing loudly to attract attention.
A young leaf soldier approaches the paper after seeing the bird. He picks it up hesitantly, but noticed something scribed roughly on its front. Her eyes widen, and her face contorts into a look of shock, as if in disbelief.
She hands the paper around to the other surviving members of her squadron, each one sharing the same expression. They are silent for a while, but slowly begin to talk to one another. A tense feeling is in the air.
A conclusion is made, and four of the leaf soldiers begin to head North, towards the sea. Only one remains, the young girl, who had seen the paper to begin with. She held it momentarily, scowling at the image and text scrawled in front of her. But before long, she began to walk the same direction as the rest, placing the paper back on the ground. On it, a simple message presented itself in the form of a drawing of a blue dragon. Below it, the text read:

"Now hiring."

[Damxge]

I slept like a rock. After we made it home, Rom took Mao to the basement of the tower where he said he would be secure for the rest of the night and the morning. Despite my intention to interrogate the man immediately, I went up to bed, at Rom's urging. And there I lay, sprawled across the bed, mouth agape, a soft snore streaming from my nose, the gentle morning breeze blowing through the open window, tussling the deep blue curtains, a soft glow warming the floorboards to the ceiling. My room was simple, as all of the rooms in Rom's town were, a bed, a dresser, and a mirror occupying the otherwise empty room.

A soft whistle roused me from my slumber, drawing me back into reality. I groaned and sat upright, taking a moment to compute what was going on. The sound was soft and melodic, as if someone were whistling an old sea shanty down by the shore, a few dozen feet from my window. Easing myself out of bed, I threw on my shirt, a simple white t-shirt, and wandered to the open window, gazing out at the sea, the warm morning breeze caressing my face, tasseling my hair ever so gently, the song growing louder, now evidently coming from the sea. Curious, I was about to leave my room to try to find the source, when Rom burst through the door.

"It's the alarm, get geared!" He said hurriedly, already garbed in full battle gear, a serious expression on his face. And with that, he was gone, sprinting down the hall to the stairs. Swearing, I dashed across the room to the pile of clothes lying on the floor, the blood still wet on them from the night's endeavors. Hurriedly, I threw the clothes on and ran downstairs, pulling the cloth mask over my face as I exited the front of the tower in a flurry, my feet barely touching the steps as I made for the front gate, which was already closed firmly.

The song had grown in volume, but had changed dramatically from the shanty-esque tune to a more threatening, deeper tone, as if a great beast were humming in the sea, about to attack. The very air reverberated with the sound, the pit of my stomach trembling as the bass boomed out, the crash of waves accompanying the hum, dark clouds spiraling in overhead, a soft rain beginning to fall. The temperature dropped as well, from a balmy summer morning to a wet, dismal cold; the soft breeze whipping itself into a frenzy, the rush of leaves permeating the air as I made my way up onto the wall to where Rom stood, his hat clenched in his hand, a grim expression on his face.

"What's happening?" I asked, shielding my eyes from the rain as the wind picked up, driving it with stinging force.

"Defensive measures, preps the area for my style of combat," Rom stated flatly.

"You mean this is a jutsu?" I asked, shock clear in my tone.

"It is, a very old one, referred to as the Forbidden Storm Jutsu," He nodded slowly, his eyes scanning the forests, a good half mile from us.

"Forbidden?" I asked, cocking my head.

"It feeds off of the natural chi in the ocean, it's extremely dangerous and the method is extremely secret," He explained as we watched the forest intently. After a few minutes of standing in the cold rain, something finally happened. Five people emerged from the woods, their hands before their faces, protecting them from the driving rain, their Leaf soldier uniforms soaked through. As they emerged from the woods, the leader, a young woman, froze in her tracks, staring wide eyed at the walled village, and then, up at us where we stood atop the wall. The four behind her stopped, their eyes following the same path as hers, also alighting on us. We must have looked rather threatening, because two of the people dropped to their knees, and one of them put his hands up. Three men, two women, all looking ragged and tired, as if they'd been walking all day.

"They found us awfully fast," Rom said with a frown, visibly scanning the strangers.

"Why do you think they're here?" I asked, searching the nearby area for any signs of an ambush or trick.

"I would assume to defect," He said, looking over to me, a wide smile on his face.

"It can't be that easy," I said softly, taken aback by the suddenness of it.

"You've spent so much time looking at the Leaf as the enemy, and only as the enemy," Rom started, walking slowly to the stairs. I followed close behind him, "That you didn't notice the effect they've had on these lands, these lands that only recently belong to them,"

"So," I started, but Rom cut me off as he hauled the gate open with a loud creak.

"Most families are given the choice, give up one of their own to serve as a soldier of the Leaf, farm until your hands fall off, or go to prison," He explained, pausing at the now open gate, the rains slowly easing, a ray of sunshine filtering down through the darkened skies, "Most of the time a child from the family goes to serve, they're trained, fed, and given bunk, and the family is given some land in return to support themselves. Most people find this to be the best option, but in the end, what the Leaf has, are soldiers who serve only to protect their family, not to protect the Leaf," And with those words, we set out across the stretch of open land to meet our guests.

As we approached, four of the soldiers dropped to their knees, bowing to us in a manner I'd never seen before. It was a bow of desperation, a groveling bow. But only four did this, the woman, or rather, girl, at the lead of their small group stood firm, her shoulders back, a steel in her eye, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that had started to come undone, giving her a disheveled look. She stared us down as we approached, her fists clenched at her sides.

"Hello," I said, breaking the silence as we came to a halt ten or so yards before them. Rom, however, stayed quiet, placing his hat back on his head now that the wind had died, a soft steam rising from the sand as the clouds began to clear, allowing the sun to heat the earth.

"Who are you people?" The girl asked, her voice clear and concise, and with a tone that matched her hardened expression.

"I am Shiku, and this is my associate," I said, motioning to Rom, unsure of whether he wanted to divulge his own name or not.

"The Rain Dragon," whispered one of the young men, drawing my gaze to him where he sat, his eyes staring in fear and amazement at Rom. The same look I gave him when I found out who he was.

One thing I noticed about these soldiers was that they were all very young, probably around fifteen or sixteen, the girl looking to be the oldest, somewhere around my age. They looked fresh and new, and innocent, a look the Gyu beat out of you from a very young age.

"What do you want?" She continued, breaking my train of thought and returning me to the conversation at hand.

"An odd question for one to ask as they stand on our doorstep," I replied, Rom staying silent and still.

"You attacked our base last night, don't play dumb!" She said loudly, taking a step toward us, raising a fist in anger. Neither myself nor Rom reacted, the soft 'caw' of the crow filtering down from a bove.

"That's not what we want, that's what we've done," I responded, taking a slow step forward, causing her to take her step back, her guise of toughness faltering a moment as a look of fear darted across her face.

"We found your note, we followed the raven here," One of the boys piped up, drawing everyone's gaze. That explains how they got here so fast.

"But why?" I asked, pacing forward slowly, but steadily.

"If we return to the Leaf, they'll punish us for abandoning post, they won't understand what happened, they'll see it as our fault," The boy went on, rising to his feet, "But your note said you were recruiting,"

"So you fear for your lives," I said with a nod, stopping a yard or two in front of them.

"We fear for the lives of our family," The girl said, glaring openly at me.

"Your family?" I queried, looking to her curiously. Maybe it was as Rom had suggested.

"If we return and they punish us, it won't just be us that gets punished, they'll kick our families out onto the streets, or worse," She went on, her glare softening.

"And what happens when they find out you've defected?" I pressed, "What happens to the families of traitors?"

"That's what we hoped to ask of you, sir," Piped up the other girl, a pale girl with mousey brown hair and a petite face, "We'd like to pledge ourselves to your cause, to fight the Leaf, if you'll help us save our families," As far as I could tell, they were all truthful. Jutsus only went so far when distinguishing lies, but the Gyu had developed their hearing to a point where small, almost inaudible ques could determine if the speaker was being genuine, and they'd passed all of the tests so far.

"Come clean yourselves up and get some sleep, we'll discuss this further this evening," I said after a moment, turning and walking back to Rom, "You're a genius," I said, softly enough that only he could hear, a small smile gracing his lips beneath his wide brimmed hat before he squashed it. And with that, we led the small group into the village and, after Rom's instruction, it was his village after all, I gave them access to a small hut near the entrance and directed them to the hotspring Rom had only just shown me upon arriving home from the mission. And with that, I retreated into the tower with Rom, joining him at the top of the tower in his office, where I'd accidentally fallen asleep the first night here. There was much to discuss in terms of the newcomers, as well as Mao.

[Conor]

The plan had gone as planned, just as I planned it. After all the planning, the plan I had organised had gone according to plan.
I couldn't feel more smug. There I sat, leaned back on the roof of the tower, gazing out onto the sunrise as it began to climb over the horizon. Much like myself, the shining orb lurched tiredly over the peak of the ocean, like a weary traveller reaching the end of his long, sprawling journey. But what had happened was far from the end, and I had felt tired so many times before that I'd forgotten what it felt like.
And so I gazed, sleeplessly, as the cold blue of the night sky began to transform into its radiant former self. In the distance I saw the crow flying towards me, growing closer and closer until it perched silently next to me. I didn't shoo it, but instead welcomed it with a quiet understanding.

I had wondered how to get the message across. How to let the survivors of our raid know who to contact, and where. It had never occured to me to even ask, despite all my past dreams and visions.
I looked to the crow, which seemed to be appreciating the sunrise just as much as I, despite those lifeless, black marble eyes. When it had sensed my gazed, it turned to me.

"My thanks." I murmured, still unsure of what I really meant by this.
Perhaps some background would be useful.

Earlier that night, I had done something rather strange. With no true plan on how to make the hostage-isation of Mao beneficial for our long term plans, I had turned to desperate measures. I approached the crow, or more, it approached me, and it solitude I spoke to it. Never did it speak, but I always felt as though it was contributing to the discussion, and I definitely could tell it was consciously listening to my words. I asked it to deliver the note, then guide those that followed to the village. I found it hard to believe it really worked. Shiku was mistaken when he called me a genius. I'm just, quite simply, mad. How could I not be? I spent hours trying to get that painting on the note right...

I knew not was spirit inhabited this flying beast, but at least now I knew it went deeper. But these thought plagued my mind little. I was far too absorbed in Shiku and I's success. The young Gyu showed great competence. It was obvious he was a high ranking member of his clan - this much came through in his military-grade strategics. But what was more important was that he was competent with jutsu. So much so that I was confident he could not only master his craft, but learn others. This was rare. But it would prove important in the days to come.
I gave a sigh of relief, but that was all the rest I would need. The rest could sleep for now. I will leave a note on Shiku's door instructing to keep the defected Leaf away from the tower during the interrogation, as they, too, will need to be questioned. But the priority is building an army, and our newly initiated followers could play a part in that.

I stood, then dropped, the crow swooping down with me. It was time to face Mao.

[Damxge]

I awoke with a yawn, the sunlight just barely creeping into my room over the windowsill, as a child might peer curiously into the neighbor's house. Even going to bed as late as I had, I felt rejuvenated and full of energy. Maybe it was because of our success with the attack, or the fact that we were actually getting somewhere almost immediately with recruiting for our cause. I still hadn't heard a peep from Tei, however, and this weighed on my mind rather heavily. He'd sworn to get as many out as he could, and in the days I'd spent here they should have arrived by now. Shaking my head, I tried to put it out of my thoughts and grabbed a towel from the closet and made for the door.

I yanked open the door to find a note stuck to the wood, the scrawl of Rom's handwriting decorating the surface.

Interrogating Mao today, keep the others away from the tower until I'm done, then we'll question them as well.

I nodded slowly and stuck the note into the pocket of my cargo pants. Then I realized what I was doing. I looked down at myself, no shirt, a towel wrapped around my neck, some beige pants and socks without shoes, on my way to the bath. I swore in my head, I was supposed to be the leader here, I couldn't just hop out of bed and waltz off to the spring for a bath. After all, I couldn't remember ever seeing the Elders, or even the generals out of uniform. This whole gig would take a long while getting used to.

I sighed and stepped back inside and got dressed completely, having grabbed a new, but identical, set of clothes from the armory before going to bed. I would have to wash the bloodied ones before I wore them again, they had begun to stink of battle and I would rather not wander around in that. And with that, I piled my bath utilities into my bag and made my way out and to the ground floor of the tower where a pair of baths were hidden away in the next room. As for why there were "public" baths on the ground floor, I wasn't sure. Best I could assume was that it was for visitors or the elderly who didn't want to run all the way to the spring. The waters in the bath, however, were frigid, being run directly from the sea, through a filter, and into the bath, and because we didn't have someone to stock the boilers all the time, it stayed cold.

After my refreshing and short bath, I returned to my room and suited up completely before heading out into the town to check on our visitors and warn them away from the tower. Upon stepping from the ornately carved porch into the warm glow of the morning, I immediately spotted the Leaf defects. They were gathered on the porch of their small hut, a short way down the street, sitting around the table with a deck of cards. Four of them sat there playing a game while the fifth, their squad leader, leaned against the rail, surveying the small one road town. As soon as I stepped onto the rough cobble street, her eyes darted to me, her brow furrowing slightly. They were all dressed in casual clothes, a variety of colored t-shirts and black slacks. I had to assume Rom had given them to them, as I'd seen similar clothes in the armory. They all looked so young to me, like kids hanging out avoiding responsibility.

"Morning, sir!" Said one of the boys, a shorter young man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a bright green shirt. In a hustle of movement, everyone at the table got to their feet, jostling the table and chairs. One of the other boys, this one with absolutely no hair on his head, saluted.

"You can show respect without saluting," I said as I approached, stepping up onto the porch with them. The girl almost ignoring me, staring back out at the town. For someone who wanted something from us, she was rather stuck up, "At ease," I continued after they didn't budge. Together, they all resumed their seats, their eyes fixed to me as I leaned against the railing opposite them, next to the door, which was covered by a bug screen.

"What happens now?" The brown haired girl asked slowly. I immediately shifted my gaze to her, causing her to look down, almost in guilt.

"Now, I have to interview each one of you personally," I started, scanning each of them, "Once that's done, we'll begin discussing how we can get your families away from the Leaves without them catching on and following us," Finally, their squad leader moved, turning to face me, a small smile on her thin lips.

"So you will help us?" She asked, her usual stony tone replaced by a hopeful one.

"My goal is to combat the Leaf," I said flatly, my eyes locking with hers, "To do this, I need help. We are just two men and can only do so much,"

"You destroyed an entire base by yourselves," Spoke up the boy with the ponytail, amazement in his tone.

"Not every situation can be handled as such, and there are far too many troops and far too much influence to truly combat them and make a difference," I explained to him, "And the goal isn't just to fight the Leaf, the goal is to help these lands, help the people, and end this awful war,"

"We already told you we would pledge to you if you helped us, what more do you want?" The bald boy said, a confused frown on his face.

"What I want is to invite your families here," I said, motioning to the village, "I want to offer them employment, their skills and services for protection, food, and shelter,"

"You want our families to work for you?" The bald boy asked, his confusion transforming into suspicion.

"There are no farmlands around here, and our families are all farmers, what do you propose they offer in exchange for your help?" The blonde leader girl said, her glare slowly returning.

"This village, and further, the nearby buildings, are already set up to begin processing fish and seaweed, all we need are people to fish, gather, and refine," I explained it as clearly as I could to them, "If your families offer to work the jobs required, we'll offer them a place to live, food on the table until they produce enough for themselves, and eventually we'll pay for their services. They'll be free to leave at any time,"

[Will continue tomorrow morning...]

[Damxge]

"It's more of a safe haven than anything, then?" Asked the bald boy, looking to the others for their opinions.

"We aren't fishermen, as we told you," The blonde leader girl said, an annoyed tone in her voice.

"That is the offer, we will rescue them from Leaf territory regardless, if your offer to join us stands true," I shook my head, "But if they cannot contribute, they cannot stay here,"

"If that's the case, we'll just have to wait and see what they say," The brown haired girl said happily, clapping her hands and smiling at her comrades.

"First order of business, I need all of you to take some paper and write down your names, where you lived, your backgrounds, and just about anything else about yourselves that we may need to know. I'll be compiling files on everyone for official record. I'll also be compiling one on myself that will be a matter of public record, if you so wish to learn more about me," I said, snapping straight to business, "Tomorrow, after you're done with that, I'll interview each one of you and ask you some general questions, then we'll go out and we'll test you physically, see what you're capable of," I paused and looked at all of them, hope filling my chest as their nervous, but optimistic faces peered up at me. That is, aside from the blonde girl, who fixed me with her usual iron gaze, "That's the plan, and by tomorrow evening, we'll be working a way to get your families out of Leaf territory," I straightened up and nodded to them before making my way down the stairs onto the narrow street, "Also, the tower is off limits, but feel free to explore the rest of the village and the beaches,"

With that, I marched back up the lane to the tower, a soft scream filtering it's way through the floorboards as I entered the sitting area at the base. Ignoring it, I made my way up the stairs to my office. With a sigh, I pulled my mask down off of my face and plopped myself in my seat, gazing at the piles of papers scattered across the desk. I'd started to form a list of things I had to do in my head, and now I leaned forward and grabbed a pen and empty piece of paper and began to write.

1. Set up a room for personnel filing.

There were plenty of empty rooms in the tower, but these files could be very sensitive, so I would have to choose one that would be easy to either disguise or guard.

2. Set up a tactical room.

A large, up to date map would be a must, as well as a small briefing room. Possibly with a comms area set off to the side.

3. Begin documenting.

I prayed Rom already had documentation on most of his supplies, weapons, clothes, and buildings, because if he didn't, I was in for a rough couple days of counting everything.

4. Staff listings.

I would have to explore the village a bit, and the buildings on the coast, to see exactly what jobs we needed done. It would be nice to have specialists or tradesmen working the posts, but I knew that was highly unlikely. I had a feeling that for a long time we would be looting most of our supplies from the Leaf. After all, we needed someone who knows their trade when it comes to weapons, armor, and clothes.

5. Defensive measures.

I had witnessed first hand the power Rom controlled in the form on his forbidden jutsu, but I wasn't sure exactly what security measures were in place around the village. If any at all, aside from the alarm. If there weren't any, we would have to come up with something, as well as more far reaching alarms. We were about to show up on the radar of every major clan in the region, we had to be sure our base was secure. For this, I would need to talk to Rom, who was still with our prisoner.

I gazed at the list, trying to come up with other items to add to it, but this would probably be enough to get us started. I had a busy afternoon ahead of me. I sat there for a few more minutes, staring out the window where the ocean tossed and turned, tiny mountains cresting in white before sinking back to the depths, only to be replaced by a new, shimmering blue wave. The sun smiling down from above in the cloudless blue sky, a soft breeze filtering through the open window, rustling the curtains and my hair. I breathed in the fresh salty air and found my feet, tucking the note into my pocket as I rose from the desk and made my way to the door.

Finding somewhere to store files was no problem, there were plenty of empty rooms in the tower, many of them rather expansive. I managed to find one with several rows of empty bookshelves already in it. It was a massive, windowless room, circular in shape, with a single entrance. My best assumption was that it was at the center of the tower with the hall circling it. Pleased with my discovery, I moved the shelves into place in the middle of the room. While there were only six here for the time being, I arranged them into what would be rows later on when we had more shelving and more to store on them.

With that taken care of, I moved on to find a tactical room, somewhere we could plop a big map down in and call it home. Unfortunately, this was a bit harder than finding a room to stack some shelves in. Perhaps I was being too picky, looking for something similar to the war room set up back at home in my village. I was just giving up hope of finding one I liked when I stumbled upon a door tucked away at the end of the hall on the floor below Rom's penthouse. Inside was a medium sized room, a ten or fifteen foot walkway circling the entire room with a several foot drop to the center where a massive table sat. The literal definition of the room I was looking for. It seemed Rom had thought of everything when building the tower. It was then that a soft hum filled the air.

I sprinted down the stairs to find Rom standing at the main gate, waiting for me, the wind already beginning to whip themselves into a frenzy, his hat blowing from his head and down the street.

"I'll head into the forest," I said to him, pulling my mask up over my face.

"Be careful," He said with a nod. And with that, I sprinted out to the forest, leaping into the treetops as soon as I got close enough, heading deeper to head off whoever was coming. Then the rain began to fall, completely dousing everything as if a faucet had been turned on. After a few minutes, I stopped, perched atop a tree, watching the forest for any movement. And there they were, four people battling against the onslaught of the rain and wind, dressed in heavy cloaks, possibly to conceal something, possibly because of poor weather. I followed above them, allowing the storm to pick up a bit more before revealing myself.

I dropped to the leaf strewn ground several dozen yards in front of them, causing them to stop instantly and drop into fighting stance, but they didn't attack immediately.

"Identify yourselves," I bellowed, using my chakra to amplify my voice a dozen fold, the words booming out through the forest above the din of the rain and thunder.

"You identify yourself," Responded one of the figures, a young, snarky female voice delivering the message. A voice I recognized.

"What do I carry in my pocket?" I asked loudly, not breaking combat stance.

"How should-" The same girl started up, but the leading figure straightened up, immediately relaxed.

"The scroll of Tei Tatsumaki," She said, and the rest of the tension eased.

"You about gave us a heart attack," I laughed, walking toward them, "Where's Tei?"

"He's a bit preoccupied with the Leaf," His wife answered.

"And my clan?" I asked, suddenly nervous.

"They got away, further into the mountains, but they sustained heavy casualties," She explained as we walked back to the village, the storm raging on, "They refused to come with us to Rom's village," It was then that we broke from the forest, the village coming into full view, drawing gasps from the small group. Almost immediately, the storm broke, the rain easing.

I would get them situated somewhere in the village, then I needed to discuss Mao with Rom and interview our recruits.

[Almost done with setup.]

[LordTomyh]

"So, the Leaf army has three prison camps for rebels, thieves and other undesirables throughout their occupied territories, two more for political prisoners, then a single camp for the correction of decadence and re-education, and another simple titles concentration."

Above the sounds of soldiers picking up their weapons and fastening armour the rustling of a page being turned went unheard, as did the juicy crunch of an apple being bitten. Sitting in the rafters of the town armoury, once a granary for food and now the most frequented building since the Leaf took over Tei sat leafing through army reports, a green apple in one hand. Despite the army preparing under him, the ninja of the sands looked comfortable and content, as if he was in a park reading and not surrounded by people that wanted him dead.

"Now, baggage trains, supply lines. There are six major ones, supplying the front lines at Uchiha's Rest, Mizu falls, mt Kurama and lake Uzimaki. As they are deep inside Leaf occupied territory they are lightly guarded. They start at the Leaf's main village, meaning that in total there are around 30 kilometres for those supplies to travel per supply line. Could use some hit and runs if we're getting low on sh*t."

Tei flipped the page. Taking a bite from his apple he scanned the page, mostly details on troop convoys heading away from the frontlines for R&R when he paused on a paragraph.

"The Butcher of the Sands, Cyan, is requesting elite soldiers for a special unit. The mission priority set forth by Cyan states he is hunting down a specific target yet further details have been withheld. The Butcher of the Sands? Could it be-

"INTRUDER!"

Tei looked up from the thick stack of pages as the small giant of a man he had fought back at Shiku's village burst into the armoury, the left side of his face, including his eye hidden beneath bandages with a nasty looking scar snaking out to touch his mouth. Tei smiled as he saw him and pressed the stack of pages to his ribs, still hurting after being hit by a sucker punch. Still, Tei had gotten off light from their encounter. The red -haired ninja watched bemused as the man, Ko Kyojin, walked through the armoury to stand literally just beneath him.

"There is an intruder in this town! One of the guards has been found slain! I want this shitstain of a town searched top to bottom! NOW!"

The men jumped at the loudness and bolted from the room, many not wearing their armour proper and some not wearing any at all. Ko turned and took a step towards the exit, growling at the stragglers when he heard a faint juicy crucnh, coming from right above him. His injured flesh tingled under the bandages and he turned and looked up at the rafters.

There was nothing there but empty space and dust disturbed by the movement below, 'or was it disturbed by something else' Ko thought as he turned and left, keeping his eye pointing to the right ready to turn around; on the rafter above Ko could not see the green apple, two large bites taken from it.

[Damxge]

"f***ing nothing," Rom bellowed, slamming his fist down on the table. Evening had descended and we were holed up on the top floor of the tower yet again, watching as the sun sank into the ocean, "I was down there for twelve hours and he didn't know sh*t!"

"Could he be that well trained?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink, a noticeable lack of booze meeting my taste buds. Had to stay sharp now that we had more people around, not all of whom I was convinced I could trust.

"No, and he hasn't got a curse mark anywhere on him to suggest he's under the influence of a jutsu," Rom said, flopping down in his chair and an exhausted sigh, "He's just a moron who doesn't pay attention and doesn't remember sh*t,"

"Well, it's a good thing we got his notes, then," I sighed, sitting my drink down and picking up the book, "Have you looked at it yet?"

"Yeah, it's all just daily activity stuff," He said, waving a hand at it dismissively as his other grabbed for his drink.

"He's more clever than you give him credit for," I laughed as I leafed through the pages.

"What?" Was my the only response, an annoyed and frustrated Rom glaring over a fork-full of salted fish he was about to bite.

"We use a code similar, using daily reports to cover sensitive information, so it just looks like goings on, but is really correspondence and plans," I explained, trying to gain some understanding of what was actually written there, but came up short.

"So you can decipher it?" He asked through a mouthful of fish and crackers.

"No, I need the key," I replied, furrowing my brow as I flicked from page to page. The wording was so awkward that it was obviously code, it had to be, or the guy was a complete moron as Rom suggested.

"Then what do we do?" He said, devoting his gaze to the sunset, which was particularly orange tonight, a few soft clouds floating about in the darkening blue sky.

"I'll ask the recruits about it when I interview them tomorrow," I said, closing the book and placing it on the table.

"What will we be doing with the kids?" He asked after a few minutes of silent chewing and drinking.

"Once we help them with their families, they're under our permanent employment, we'll be able to send them on missions and whatnot," I shrugged, taking another bite of fish.

"And how will you be getting their families out of Leaf territory without drawing attention. People don't just up and move when they're in such a safe spot," Rom asked without looking over.

"Assuming the interviews go well, I'll be staging an attack," I said simply through my food.

"An attack? You're attacking the Leaf farmlands? What will you destroy, an outhouse or two?" Rom laughed, the crow, who had been silent until now, chiming in with a few "caw"s.

"I spoke with them a bit more today and their families are located right outside of a village called Jiu-Sun, which is a farm town that was re-purposed as an armory and storehouse for Leaf goods," I explained, "What I'll do is set charges in their homes and launch a small assault on the edges of the town while they escape, then when I go to get out, I detonate the charges and boom, no deserters, just dead farmers,"

"That kind of clever, but you expect to assault an armory position and walk away?" Rom raised an eyebrow, "They've got some pretty high-tier security, not like the laid back sh*t we've encountered,"

"The recruits will be assisting me. The Tatsumaki family has also agreed to assist me with the attack," I went on, thinking on the issue myself.

"Still, they'll have some extremely well trained ninja there, not your average soldiers, it'll get messy real quick," He warned, "But it may work, if you're careful. Just don't lead them back here,"


The next morning rolled around far too soon, finding me resting at a table in one of the village homes, the bald recruit, Sasun, seated across from me, answering my questions. The interviews were less of interviews and more of a polite interrogation. They had also finished their files, their full names and basic attributes scrawled on pieces of paper, ready to be filed away. As far as I could tell, they were all truthful and pure, truly wanting to join us and fight the Leaf. They were also rather insistent on getting their families out before performing any missions, which was annoying, but understandable.

And then I got to Kili-Jun, or Jun, as she preferred to be called, the squad leader and eldest member of their small group.

"Name," I said, holding her file in front of me.

"Kili-Jun," She said firmly, staring intently at me, a stone expression gracing her face, her hands folded on the table before her.

"Do you have any information, off the top of your head, that you could share with me about the Leaf and their forces?" I asked after a moment of reading down her paper.

"They told us very little, we were looked down on for not being purebred ninja and didn't advance far in the ranks," She explained, a hint of spite flavoring her tone.

"Fair enough," I nodded slowly, "Do you know anything about the codes the Leaf uses to encrypt their documents?"

"Only thing I know about any code is that General Mao keeps all of his orders filed away in a book, never leaves it alone. Probably buried under a hundred feet of stone now," She said, pointing her words at our decision to destroy the place.

"This book, do you know what kind of code is used?" I asked, "If we were to get our hands on it?"

"I have no idea, I just know that Mao always forgot the key, so he kept it written down in a compartment in the cover of the book," She shrugged, "The other generals always mocked him for it whenever they were visiting the base," I almost shouted as she finished speaking. This was amazing news, not only was it likely we had the key to the Leaf's direct orders, but it had been handed to us by their own general. The rest of the interview went off without a hitch, asking her the same questions as everyone. Opinions on certain matters, experience, skill level, and all that nonsense.

As soon as I was done, I bolted to my office, grabbing up the book and feeling the cover. Just as she'd suggested, there was a compartment, the slit hidden nicely by the way the pages curled, and inside, a sheet with the exact key scrawled upon it. Immediately, I began decoding as much of the book as I could, some bits still in an even deeper layer of code, quite possibly not meant for Mao's eyes. These chunks I had to skip, but the information I could decipher pointed heavily to an attack the Leaf had planned, to take a prominent Cloud Clan fortress along the edge of the mountain range, and then use that strong point to plan attacks on the lands controlled by the Cloud to the east and south. It took quite a bit of poring over the material before I found a date. In one week.

Swearing, I ran out into the hall, glancing each way as if I expected Rom to be walking along. Unfortunately for me, it took me almost an hour to find him, sitting outside of the walls in the training pit, watching the Tatsukmaki girls sparring.

"Rom!" I said loudly, running up to him, drawing a curious look from the Tatsumaki, who paused in their punching.

"What's up? Everything okay?" He asked, taking a sip of his drink, a concerned look on his face.

"I've managed to decode the book, we have a problem," I explained, waiting for the girls to continue before resuming, "The Leaf are planning an attack on the Yún Fortress, and it's going down a week from today,"

"They can't take it, it's impossible, it's the most secure fortress in the country," Rom said, a shocked expression gracing his face beneath his wide straw hat.

"The document talks about spies inside of the fortress who can let hundreds of ninja into the compound without detection, but it doesn't explain how or where," I said quickly, making sure the girls weren't listening.

"We have to do something, then," Rom stood, his expression turning to morbid seriousness, "If they get hold of that, who knows how long it'll be before we can cripple them, and they say the Cloud family's secret weapon is in there, if they had that, they..." He trailed off.

"f*** sakes, that gives us less than a week to get these farmers out

[LordTomyh]

Running across rooftops, stopping every now and then to watch the soldiers on the streets below and mark their locations or directions, Tei had learned two things. One, people never looked up unless told to, because who would expect the intruder to be on a roof. And two, the leaf were fecking stupid. One would think that running around and hiding in a town of people out to kill you while reading a bright red haori would make one an easy target. But Tei had not only managed to get out of the armoury without being seen, but he had managed to cross some streets, climb a wall and jump some roofs.

Tei stopped on the lip of a roof and crouched down, watching the soldiers checking behind crates or looking through gaps in fences or through windows. Not one looked up. As he thought, stupid.

Tei stood and jumped the divide between buildings, landing and quickly scaling the tiled surface to the top. He was standing on a large building, at least double the size of the others. While it was still only a single story Tei bent down and turned in a circle, checking every street, alleyway, building, and square in sight. Ont one Leaf sightline fell on him, even if they were looking up, they could not see him. Add in that the tiles of the roof were almost the same shade of red as his haori and he reckoned he'd found the best place to sit in the town.

"Why didn't I find this place before," he muttered to himself as he sat down, pulling an apple and the stack of pages from his bag of tricks. "Now, where was I?"

Leafing through the pages, stopping only to take bites from the fruit, Tei found his page and was looking for the section on this Cyan when something caught his eye. He dropped the apple and grabbed the paper with both hands bringing it closer as if the distance was making him mistake the words.

"All the necessary troops and supplies are in place to take the Yún Fortress in Cloud territory. The assault begins with a week, and the generals and I gurantee that we shall be claming the land beyond a day after." sh*t. The Cloud was the biggest and most powerfull of the kingdoms, its great strength coming from its defence. If the Yún Fortress fell to the Leaf, then the Cloud's defences effectivness would be almost useless. Tei had no love for the Cloud, arrogant bastards with their horrible rapping, but he had less love for the militiristic Leaf. Tei read the rest of the report and tore through teh other pages looking for anything relevent to the attack. Once he had flipped through the pages twice he dropped them and put a hand to his chin.

'The attack will be the biggest the Leaf has mustered. 1,000 soldiers, plus officers, chain of command, horses, animals and supplies. Meaning if one could put a dent in that army large enough to destabilize it, the Leaf's campaign will ground to a halt, and one could even push them back.'

'And this was one of the major hubs," Tei said looking around the town. There was still people yelling and looking for him, well the uniedentified intruder, while everyone else seemed to have gone back to what they were doing, preparing for a siege. Tei jumped up to a crouch and stood up high enough to see most of the people down on the streets while still staying low to hide. From the reports he knew that there was roughly 400 troops in the village and around 70 officers, with more reported to be passing by when the army starts moving.

So Tei had a 4th of the army to play with, that seemed like a sizeable dent. The redhead sat back down and started to think how he could mess with the soldiers. Simple, target the supplies. He could kill or incapaciate a soldier, but someone else would just take their place, but target the supplies, the food and weapons, and the army will collapse and break up from moral loss and starvation.


So how to target the supplies. Tei looked down at the town hall which the Leaf had taken to hold most of their food supplies. The rest were still packed up on wagons or were being loaded in preperation for the march ahead. Loaded wagons were being kept in a stable across the street, and under heavy guard, so he couldn't get to them without a distraction. But if tei could get to the supplies as tehy were being loaded, he could rig them with some bombs, then when the army is on the move he could detonate them.

But that also presented a problem. Tei had plenty of bombs in his bag of tricks, but not enough to destroy more than nine or ten supplie wagons out of a few hundred. 'I could do some shopping,' Tei thought with a smile as he  looked over to another of the buildings the Leaf had captured and repourposed, this one as a powder magazine. It stood off away from all the other buildings, having once being a prison for the town. The problem was it was more guarded than the main hall or the supply stables with guards patrolling it 24/7 and the only people allowed in or out were the officers or soldiers on very important buissness.

Tei let out a sigh, he'd have to get real creative with this one. Standing up he reached his hands above his hands and stretched, twisting his body to crack his spine. Dropping his arms he looked around the town, marking points or persons of interest while making a lsit of patrol route, numbers and armament; For a second he saw a shadow in an alley way move, almsot like someone moving while not wanting to be seen, but when he looked proper the shadows were just shadows. With a shrug Tei tuyrned back to counting the Leaf army, the gears in his head turning.

This was going to be tough one, but fun.

[Damxge]

"They're setting up for the attack in this small town," I said, unrolling a map upon the central table of what I'd decided would be our war room. Rom stood across from me, a serious look on his face, the dim candlelight only just reaching him, shrouding most of his face in darkness.

"Why that one? It's hardly a strategic position," Rom asked, scratching the stubble on his jaw.

"My best guess is that it's small, out of the way, and to the other great clans' knowledge, of little value," I replied, surveying the surrounding land, "And it's one of the closest villages to the Cloud's territory that wouldn't draw suspicion if they see the Leaf there,"

"So you suggest we attack them there?" He continued, sounding doubtful.

"An attack would be suicide," I sighed, "They'll have their best ninja there, and in force. No, we have to be smart about this,"

"Well, let's start by warning the Cloud an Yun Fortress," Rom said as he eased himself into a chair, "They'll be on high alert, making it that much harder for the Leaf to get anything past them,"

"Good idea," I nodded, "Can you ask the crow to deliver the message?" I'd come to terms with the fact that the bird did whatever it pleased and we could only ask its assistance.

"Should we give them the cypher for the Leaf's codes as well?" He asked, eyeing the journal, which was on the table next to the map.

"No, to end this war on our terms, we'll need a balance of power," I shook my head, "If we hand over the code, the Cloud will simply annihilate the Leaf, which hands the entire war to them,"

"So help the Cloud, but not too much," Rom laughed, nodding his head.

"Exactly," I responded, "Once they have word of the imminent attack, they should beef their defenses a little,"

"Even then, if the Leaf have a way to get around the walls, it'll still be their fight," He scowled at the journal, "If we knew how they were going to get that many people in, we could tell them and they could close the gap,"

"Let's figure out how they're going to get in, then," I said, dropping into my seat and grabbing a piece of paper, "First, we have to find out how they're NOT getting in, then we figure out how they can get past their defenses,"

"Alright, well," Rom looked down pensively, "They've got powerful jutsu in place to prevent any explosives going off anywhere near their walls, sensory jutsu that alert them when anything with the chakra of a human passes through, and they have outposts extending in every direction to warn them of a coming large scale attack,"

"What about a summoning?" I asked, looking up at him.

"What do you mean?" His eyes glinting as he narrowed them to slits.

"Summoning, with a formula and blood sacrifice," I elaborated, "It's a relatively new art, but in my village we were able to transport items over long distances if you left them within the circle and then activated an identical circle with blood a great distance away,"

"I'd heard they were working on things like that, but do you think it could have advanced far enough to transport hundreds of ninja?" Rom asked, shocked by the idea.

"Who knows, the Leaf are a powerful clan, or they may have a completely different plan," I shrugged, "Best way to find out is to do some snooping where they're prepping,"

"I feel like this is going to fall to me," He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I need you to go to the village and poke around, see what kind of supplies they have, and see if you can figure out what they're up to," I nodded, "And if you can, disrupt their progress, the longer we delay them, the better,"

"What will you be doing?" He asked, standing from his seat.

"I'll be going after our recruits' families, I'm heading out tomorrow," I said, rolling up the map.

"I'll seal the village off when you leave, then," He said with a nod, "I'll give you a scroll to unseal it when you get back, otherwise you'll be roasted by lightning,"

[LordTomyh]

Night fell, the village became quiet save for the marching of men on patrol and the flickering of fires in torches or pot fires. The men walking the outside of the powder magazine watched the shadows, keeping the lights from fires behind them as not to ruin their night vision and make the darkness harder to see through. On the western side two men stood looking around, staring facing from each other and sweeping the buildings, alleys and road till their visions overlaps and returning.

Something clattered in the darkness of an alley and the two men jumped to the sound, raising their weapons. Nothing moved, there was no other noise, so one stepped forward, his partner hanging back watching him. The first guard approached the alley slowly, carefully. Just as he was about to step in a bird flew into his face, making him yell in surprise and take a step back as he felt another hit him in the chest. The birds flew off, the guard taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves and walked back to his partner, both men relaxing slightly.

"Damn birds," the first guard said as he joined his partner, wiping his face. The second guard paused and looked at him.

"There was only one bird."

The first guard froze. He had felt two hit him. His hand went to his chest. An explosion ripped through the air, consuming the two guards and lighting up the night. The wooden walls facing the explosion were blown apart, the buildings collapsing killing the soldiers within, while the stone walls of the powder magazine held firm, the outer surface only becoming scorched.

Men began to call out in alarm, a bell beginning to toll. Someone screamed they were under attack and men and woman ran for their weapons and gear, most dressed for bed. A group ran to the armory, half splitting off to check where the explosion had gone off while the other half ran inside to check their stock.

Ko Kyojin growled furiously as he walked towards the powder magazine, dressed in his full armor with his weapons drawn; his men moved out of his way despite the chaotic run to their weapons and to the defenses. Arriving at the stone building he turned to the first person he found.

"What the f*** was that?"

"W-we don't know sure. An explosion went off outside the powder magazine."

"I CAN f***ing SEE THAT! What the f*** caused it!"

"We don't know sir. We think it was the intruder!"

"Then f***ing find him! I want that bastards head!"

The men saluted and ran off, screaming orders. Ko Kyojin growled again and looked to the powder magazine. It was going to be a long night.

[Sponsored content]