The Mystery Behind it All

Age : 30 Posts : 1701

Abelard did not stop running as he ran through the waterfall country. The trip through Takigakure was considerably short. He was running at the fastest speed he could maintain while conserving his endurance. He spoke then, to Kaz, answering a question asked earlier that day by him. "I am running considerably faster than he is. I can tell by a number of things, mostly based on the depressions he leaves on the earth. If you look at mine, you see mostly the tip of my foot, because for sprinting, it's the fastest. This man is running on his heels, which is much more suitable for a slower jog. And actually, over the past hour or so, I've noticed a change in his tracks. He's getting tired, and slowing down. I doubt he'll be able to maintain a lead on us for long. We'll definitely catch him long before we get to the Spark Nation. However, thats something I wanted to-" Abelard stopped talking instantly. In an insanely quick motion, he removed his Longbow from his shoulders and released two arrows in quick succession, and slung his bow across his shoulder once more. Ahead of him, the two arrows found their marks easily, and to pressure triggered explosive tags went off, fortunately far away from Kaz and Abelard. Continuing on as if nothing had happened, Abelard spoke once more "to talk about. I don't think this man is just randomly stealing documents. It doesn't make sense that he would come here and steal some blueprints to what? steal the idea? No. I think there's something a lot more intrinsically malevolent in this seemingly simple mission. I think that instead of apprehending him, I'm going to follow him all the way to wherever he's going. That way, we can find out what he's really up to." With that, Abelard stopped talking and continued on.

The day stretched on, and after running through the forests and marshes of Takigakure, Abelard and the ninja summon Kaz passed into Otogakure. They ran without stopping and mostly without talking. Occasionally, Abelard would disarm a carelessly laid trap set by the man they were pursuing. Abelard couldn't get his thoughts off of what this man had in his mind. What was the purpose of stealing the documents? Why would he be so afraid to constantly attempt to set traps up, even though he left his combatant injured and knocked out? He had to be afraid of something. No doubt he was but a minion in a much larger plan. It was something Abelard was all too familiar with. Starting to get slightly out of breath, Abelard pressed forward with a burst of speed. The entire time he was invisible. He blended in seamlessly with his surroundings. He could hardly be referred to as a shadow, because he wasn't even that noticeable. He was a glimmer in the light at most. And most importantly of all, he would not be seen because nobody was looking for him. It was the most key skill in the book. He moved without sound, and without disturbing the area around him, he constantly followed the footprint, positive of his tracking abilities. He saw a small hunk of cloth torn on a branch and smiled inwardly. They were not tracking the wrong man.

The hours blazed by as they made it from Oto into Yu, and then finally into Shima. It was in Shima that they caught the first glimpse of the man. It was obvious who he was, with the torn cloak. Abelard walked down the street of some random town in Shima, following the man remarkably discreetly. Abelard figured that the man finally chose to think that nobody had managed to follow him. How wrong he would be. But Abelard didn't confront him. No, he just idly tracked his prey. The man in the cloak stayed in shima an awfully long time, and Abelard witnessed several exchanges between different people in the village. He was a regular here, it seemed. Not only welcomed, but well known. Abelard kept his hood up, shielding his face in an all encompassing shadow. Abelard followed the man as he left shima, Abelard using his concealment technique to blend perfectly into his surroundings. He followed at a silent run as the man took off in the direction of the spark nation, located on a peninsula in the Lightning Country. The run was silent, excitement building in Abelards veins at the idea of uncovering this whole mess. After hours more of running, they had finally made it to the spark nation.

The place had a very strange aura about it. All around, men and women of different sizes and statures gallivanted about the streets with a certain confidence. They were in a safe haven for missing ninja. Nobody would be tracking them here. Within the walls of the village, they were safe from repayment of their crime. Abelard followed close behind the man he was tracking. This environment was so easy for Abelard to blend into. There were shadows everywhere, and it was as if there was a thick blurry film over everything he saw. After tracking the man for a while, he entered a building. With incredible precision, Abelard completed a feat that most others would have thought impossible. Unnoticed, Abelard slipped into the room, inches behind the man he was tracking, and immediately disappeared into the shadows of the lighting fixtures in the room, which did a fairly pis poor job of illumination. There was a man in this room, waiting, as Abelard realized, for the man that Abelard was tracking. This man looked far more powerful than the other. He commanded an aura of respect, and the huge sword strapped across his back certainly didn't hurt his image any.

"Tarek." The large man boomed. "Do you have the scroll?".

The man Abelard was chasing seemed to almost cower in fear of the man before him. He stammered as he uttered his reply. "N-no. my lord, I was intercepted by three jounin at Kusa, hek hek hek"

Abelard noted the lie almost immediately. Not only because he knew it to be fake, but the man looked from left to right in such an obvious manner that Abelard found it appalling. It appeared as well that he wasn't the only one who noticed.

"3 jouning eh? And you managed to escape without a scratch! not bad for a B rank missing ninja. Were their swords made out of foam, or were they too busy laughing at you to actually attack you?"

The man Abelard was tracking, apparently named "Tarek" cowered slightly at the reply to his incredibly obvious lie. Then, the larger man began speaking again. "It's really of no consequence, those blueprints would've given us a nice insight during our invasion, but in all honesty, I never expected you to handle this mission well, as simple as it is! You're a failure, this was your final test, and you blew it."

Tarek's eyes grew with fear, and Abelard knew what was coming next. But, before committing the act, the man spoke some key words, which Abelard hoped would eventually bring his downfall. "I have a force of 1000 men ready to attack Kusa, and you my friend, shall not be joining them!" In an instant, Tarek's life was ended. The booming man had raised up his right arm with incredible speed, and a huge chain shot out of it. On the end of that chain was a large blade, which found a home in Tarek's throat. The gurgling and gasping of someone bleeding to death and being unable to breathe lasted only about a minute or so. Then, the large man exited through the back, remarking under his breath that he needed to get someone to clean up the mess. With speed and purpose, Abelard silently left the room and retreated to a dark alley. There, he gave Kaz the okay to talk, before talking himself. "This is some troubling news. Kaz. You've played you're part well and have made an excellent companion. For now, go back to the spirit world. I have a technique to warn the village of what has happened. Enjoy some rest, you may be needed in the days to come." Abelard nodded encouragingly at Kaz. Sure that the lizard would've disappeared, Abelard made his way from the alley and found a small hotel. He paid in cash, as was common place, and wasn't asked any questions. He found his room and locked the door. Then, assuming a cross legged position, he made several handseals, and suddenly, his mind was hundreds of miles away...

[End B rank mission; Start A rank mission]

Edited By Blaize: The next post is in the first post of the thread The Lit Apparition of Abelard.
Afterwards Abelard will continue to post here for his time in the Lightning Country as the topic mentioned before will involve the Kusa shinobi he made contact to. In other words this is two topics concerning each other.

Age : 29 Posts : 4301

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