To steal from thieves

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Passing through the fisherman's port, Hiruzen loved the smell of the sea, but could not care much for the scent that lingered near the docks. The smell of fish was never really something he enjoyed, though he more or less just blocked it out by taking shorter breaths. The reason why he had come to this place at this point in time was because of the same reason as always, there was something for him to gain. Quite recently, he had been having a conversation with some shady men back in the canyons to the west. They spoke of something that would come in at the port and was supposed to bring up a lot of money. Not being overly descriptive as to what the content might be, the only things he managed to get out of them was that it was "very old and made out of stone". Figuring that this was about the level of response he could get from this kind of people, he still took what he could get.

The fact that something was both old and made from stone would most likely mean that it was some kind of old statue, a stone slab with an engraved picture on it or maybe even a rune tablet. No matter what it was, it was most likely going to be worth a lot of money to a collector. Depending on what exactly it was, that collector might just be Hiruzen himself. He had spent years of his life searching for bits and pieces from the old world that existed before the time of the shinobi came into being. Finding that most of the relics from that period of time were well worth the effort he put into them, it was a sad thing to consider that he was not able to take the massive walls of ancient symbols hidden beneath the three temples he had visited. The information they contained was hard to extract, though Hiruzen had done a marvelous job at figuring out their hidden content. Soon, he would continue to search for the hidden temples that were still out there, though he had to put an end to the Parabrahma first.

When Hiruzen had been asking about the kind of people that were transferring this relic and to what end, it turned out that they were men from the Order of Jurōjin. On his quest to unravel the secrets of Ninjutsu, chakra and the history of the world itself, he had bumped into this organization several times. To the outside world, the Order of Jurōjin seemed like a group of people that were merely protecting ancient works of art or objects of unspeakable value. However, most of the criminal underworld knew that this was just a way of protecting themselves from the watchful eyes of the authorities. In secret, they had been selling priceless antiquities to the highest bidders at shady auctions, sometimes even to the Daimyou of lesser and great nations. To Hiruzen, things like that proved that the time he had spent as a shinobi in a hidden village had been under false pretenses. There would come a time when Hiruzen would liberate these relics from the homes of the Daimyou themselves, though now was not yet the time for it.

So far, the Order had done a good job at keeping themselves hidden from organizations such as the ANBU or the KYOBU, but in spite of naming their group after one of the lucky gods, their luck had run out. Knowing from the mostly reliable intel he had received that a ship called the "Rakkī shika" would arrive at the docks within the next thirty minutes, Hiruzen could already see a couple of ships approaching from the ocean. From this distance, it was impossible to tell which one of these ships would be the one he was looking for, so he had to stay patient and wait them out. Several minutes passed before Hiruzen could finally make out a ship that had a solid gold deer-shaped ornament on the front of their ship. As the name of the ship implied, this had to be the Lucky Deer he was looking for. Not making any attempts at hiding his presence or in any way covering his appearance, he knew that he carried a certain amount of authority as a member of the temples of fire, iron and lightning. Besides, what he lacked in authority, he made up for in sheer notoriety.

Waiting as the ship ankered itself a good one hundred meters away from the port, it was standard procedure to send the captain to the docks in order to sign some papers before the ship would be allowed to dock and stay docked for the agreed amount of time. This was not Hiruzen's first rodeo as he had been dealing with this sort of thing back when he was still a shinobi of the Hidden Cloud, not to mention that the entire situation that earned him his title had been executed by acquiring a ship from these very same docks. Tracking a small boat coming towards the docks from the Lucky Deer, the Uchiha knew that it would only be a matter of time now. As soon as it got dark out, Hiruzen channeled his chakra into his soles and jumped down the docks and onto the surface of the ocean. Dashing towards the ship under the cover of darkness, he walking up the side of the ship and hopped aboard the ship. Looking around, there was but a handful of men working on the ship, meaning that most of them had likely retreated back into the ship for some liquor.

Finding it easier to take out everyone at the same time, Hiruzen formed a string of hand seals and shot a small fireball at the main sail that instantly started burning. Several seconds later, one of the men started ringing a loud bell, calling for help. As soon as the men started swarming onto the deck of the ship, the light of the fire illuminated everything in the dark, including Hiruzen himself. Drawing knives and whatever make-shift weapons they had on them, several of them started assaulting the Uchiha. Effortlessly evading their attacks and making them all look like fools, it was time to try out something he had only recently figured out about himself. Closing his eyes, he released his vibrant violet chakra from his body. Towering up from his body to a height of at least two meters, the chakra started taking the shape of a vicious demon with bloodthirsty eyes. The moment Hiruzen himself opened his eyes again and showed the crimson red Sharingan, most of the men did not even notice the tomoe shaped pattern. All they saw was the blood red in his eyes, believing that the devil himself had come to claim their souls.

It only took them seconds after the horrific chakra aura died down to jump overboard, hide behind some barrels or run to the other side of the deck. Putting the fear of death into their very souls, Hiruzen no longer had to worry about any of the brave sailors to come after him as he entered the cargo hold. Much to his surprise, the massive ship was only transporting a very small crate. There was no doubt in his mind about the amount of money this package was worth if the Order of Jurōjin sent an entire ship to send such a small thing across the ocean. Wasting no time, he checked the crate for any traps or seals before taking the lid off. Taking a peek inside, the first thing he saw was a large amount of hay, most likely used as padding to keep the relic from sustaining any damage on the treacherous waters. Digging through the hay, he eventually reached a small stone slab that had a lot of writing on it in a language he had only seen beneath the temples. Not having the time to figure out what the thing said, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the captain and the people guarding him would return to the ship and cause a big fuss.

Sealing the relic inside of a small scroll, Hiruzen knew for a fact that this thing would have a part to play in his grand scheme. Stepping back onto the deck, some of the man seemed to have regained some of their composure and wandered closer to the Uchiha. Shooting a glance in their direction, they stopped in their tracks as if they froze in place. Putting the small scroll into his pocket, Hiruzen grinned a bit as he leaped down to the water's surface. Not risking any intervention by the authorities that might have come running once they noticed the burning seals, he made his escape by following the coastline to the point where the docks were several hundreds of meters behind him before setting foot on dry land again. From that point on, all he had to do was get home and figure out how the slab of stone would affect his plans in the long run.

1200/1534 words used
Demon Shroud Trained