Sadao brushed off Saitou’s comment nonchalantly and with a smile, turning towards the gates and leading the squad. Evidently, Sadao was a more relaxed leader than Shikaruto had first anticipated, which was good to know. Shikaruto wanted to deduce Sadao’s leadership style, so he would know how to act under his instruction. Obviously, Sadao liked shinobi who were able to think and act independently, whilst still carry an over arching power that showed that ultimately, he was the leader. From this, Shikaruto assumed that Sadao had an ego that needed satisfying, and as he was too bothered about remaining well liked within the village to do it himself, he had to rely on others to satisfy it for him. Shikaruto wasn’t sure how he would converse with Sadao yet, but he knew he would know what to say when the time came.

The kunoichi who was guarding the gates looked tired, but she responded to Sadao’s small talk in a polite manner, as she stamped the mission document and carelessly waved for the guards to open the gate. Shikaruto noticed a moment of connection between Sadao and the kunoichi, as there were flirtatious connotations to their words. Shikaruto let it go, knowing that it was all part of Sadao’s act of being an effective conversationalist. Initially, Shikaruto had been envious and impressed by Sadao’s communication skills. Now, whilst he was still envious, he was somewhat wary, knowing that soon those tactics would be employed on him, and he had better be ready when they were. Complying with the kunoichi’s orders, the guards opened the gates partially, allowing Shikaruto and the others to slip through, before they were closed again behind them. It was early in the morning, so there was no need for the gates to be wide open, allowing anyone to enter and exit the village as they pleased. There had to be precautions in place. If anything, it made their departure from the village less than spectacular, but it wasn’t as if Shikaruto had expected much.

As they exited Konohagakure no Sato, Sadao struck up small talk between the team. As they travelled, Shikaruto got to see Sadao’s conversational skills in action, but he begun to discover that perhaps his motives weren’t as innocent as they originally seemed. Whilst all of Sadao’s small talk seemed polite and friendly, merely a way to make up the time between their departure and their destination, it became obvious to Shikaruto that he had an ulterior motive. His questions were often analytical and probing, like there was hidden information in his teammates that he was desperate to discover. Shikaruto didn’t like it. He asked questions about everything; from their combat skills to their personal life. Shikaruto knew Sadao already had background information on both of them, having received their files before accepting them as teammates, which was a customary practice within the village. Therefore, his reasoning for asking questions he already knew the answers to was unclear, but Shikaruto assumed it had something to do with feeling out how they felt about themselves as shinobi, as well as learning about their mannerisms when communicating. Still, he couldn’t object for the sake of the mission, so he smiled and nodded politely, whilst giving away as little information about himself as possible, without raising suspicions. He got the feeling that both Sadao and Saitou were intuitive people themselves. When asked about his abilities, Shikaruto spoke of himself factually, and without emotion, as if he were reading a file on himself to them both. When the subject of his family was brought up, Shikaruto glossed over the fact that his father was dead, and revealed very little, knowing his father’s dead would be a valid excuse as to why he didn’t say much about his personal life. Saitou’s also stated that his father was dead, which Shikaruto wasn’t surprised at. Death was a common theme in the shinobi world, and its claws gripped everyone eventually. However, it was Shikaruto’s aim to learn more about the others than he revealed about himself. The less he revealed, the more they could wonder.

By the time they reached the little mining town, it was nightfall, and Shikaruto was tired of talking. He stood, collecting his thoughts, whilst Sadao scaled a tree and carried out surveillance on the town, asserting his position as the team leader. Shikaruto worried that Saitou might try and engage him in conversation whilst Sadao was fifteen feet above them, but he didn’t, for which Shikaruto was thankful. He’d had enough of thinking about what he was saying. Once he dropped out of the tree, Sadao beckoned Shikaruto and Saitou over to him and gave them an explanation of the four guards protecting the town and how they were positioned. He gave direct orders for them to split up, showing his assertive side as a leader. Shikaruto was tasked with taking out the guard on the left. Nerves quickly built up within him, as he realised that this was the first time since becoming a shinobi that he had been ordered to kill someone. How he got to the rank of Chūnin without killing someone was beyond him.

The group quickly split up as they entered the town, and Shikaruto immediately wondered how they would cope with the lack of communication. It wasn’t obvious whether Sadao intended for them all to kill simultaneously, or whether they were to act independently. Given his behaviour earlier, Shikaruto assumed the latter. It appeared that this was the opening task for Shikaruto to prove himself to his comrades. Dipping behind a building to the left, he glanced up the street and immediately saw his target. Peeking his head out from behind the building, Shikaruto watched the man’s steps, and saw that he appeared to be walking in a predetermined pattern that he was very bored of. The guard’s steps were almost mechanical, and it was obvious he wasn’t paying any attention to what he was doing. Evidently, he didn’t think there was a reason for him to be out guarding the town at this time of night. Withdrawing a shuriken from his ninja kit, Shikaruto watched the guard repeat his patrol routine three more times before he felt comfortable launching the shuriken. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Shikaruto flung the kunai down the street. He could hear the metal shard whipping through the wind as it approached the guard, and as he had hoped for, the shrunken sliced through the man’s jugular vein, cutting halfway through his neck, partially decapitating him, before the man fell to the ground with a thud, unable to make a noise due his extensive injuries, which were a testament to Shikaruto’s accuracy.

Running quickly and quietly up the street, Shikaruto saw that although his target hadn’t made any noise, he wasn’t quite dead yet. The blood from his jugular vein was rapidly pooling into the man’s throat and choking him to death. Shikaruto stood over him, unsure of what to do. He had never killed anybody before, in all his career as a shinobi. Yet, here he was, half way through the task, and losing his nerve. The blood building up in the guard’s throat caused him to begin to gargle and cough, and Shikaruto knew he needed to silence him immediately, otherwise he was going to draw attention to himself and ruin the mission for his comrades. The guard’s eyes were rolling back into his head at this point, as his body began to fit in response to his asphyxia. In a moment of lucidity, the guard’s eyes locked on to Shikaruto’s, and he managed to gurgle out, “Just do it.”

Out of mercy, Shikaruto dropped to his knees and put one hand over the guard’s mouth, then pulled the shuriken through his neck, fully decapitating him. The volume of blood was unreal, but it soaked up into the dry dirt and Shikaruto managed to avoid getting any on his clothes. Dragging the body by the arm and holding the guard’s head by his hair, Shikaruto dumped them into a back alley, where he was certain they wouldn’t be found until the morning, when he would be long gone. the emotions surging through him because of what he had just done were unlike anything he had ever felt before. He felt accomplished and oddly satisfied, but also disgusted in himself and a little nauseous. Staring at the mess of a corpse, the smell of blood rushed over Shikaruto and he vomited down the wall. Steadying himself, he squeezed his fists together until he managed to get a hold of himself, taking an emotionless approach to the mission and realising that this was his job. It was simply something that had to be done. Having calmed down and completed his task, Shikaruto continued north to the building Sadao had previously described, hoping to find his teammates there and carry on with their mission.

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aaron, viridian 2013©