Protect the Man of Sales! [Mission]

Posts : 1216

[I got yo travel topic right hurrr. Travel travel travel! Chill broski garsh.]

Kanji walked slowly towards the village before him, he had decided to run part of the way across snow country so he wouldn't freeze. The remainder of the trip pretty much consisted of him walking along the road and camping out on the side. He was fully rested albeit a tiny bit hungry it wasn't anything that would hinder him from doing his mission properly. Stretching, Kanji felt his back pop from the simple motion. A wave of pleasure washed over him as Kanji enjoyed popping his joints. The village was rather small, it was mostly used as a rest station for travelers. The thought that Sasaki might have once wandered through here popped into Kanji's head, he quickly dismissed it. Such irrelevant thoughts weren't required now of all times. Kanji had managed to get lucky on his way to the village to find a river. He was able to bath and now actually smell decent for his mission rather than cause the salesman to hurl from the stench. A small collection of houses were located north of the village while the travel related things were down south. There stood a small inn and the ramen shop that Kanji was told to look for. No man stood outside of it but that was fine, all that was needed for Kanji was the ramen shop. Walking towards it he took notice of the Kanji written on the cloth. It wasn't normally written kanji that said the village name or the shop title but it written entirely than the usual font used for them. It said, 'D's Ramen shop' which normally wouldn't bother Kanji. But it just didn't seem to fit well that someone would write the kanji the way they did. Kanji ignored it and chalked it up to the fact at the village had been far off away from the major villages. He walked inside the shop and took a seat on the stool awaiting service. After a good three minutes without service Kanji coughed loudly to try and gather some attention. A figured moved in the back and finally came out wearing an apron. He was an old man that was brittle and looked as if he would break any minute now. He smiled weakly at Kanji which made him sick to his stomach. Another man moved in the back before emerging, his long indigo hair pulled back in a pony tail. The apron seemed to fit him more than his traditional samurai outfit. Sasaki Kojiro stood before Kanji Senju wearing an apron assisting the elderly man.

"Ah! You're the one- Hello Kanji-kun! How are you today? I got a part time job here to help out this old fellow." Sasaki said with a silly grin. Kanji wasn't so sure what the man meant but ignored it none the less. He was thankful that the old man wouldn't be serving him since it would hurt his heart to watch the old man. Sasaki began to prepare a bowl of ramen while the old man went to the back to presumably lie down and rest. "So mister assassin. You gonna poison my ramen while I try to enjoy this moment before my mission?" Kanji said while keeping his eyes on the man, he couldn't see what he was doing but he could tell from his gestures to what he might be trying to put in it. "What? No no no... It is too sunny and beautiful to ruin it with killing. Enjoy your ramen. I'll be in the back. Consider this on the house since your here on a mission." Sasaki said with a wink and grin, he set the ramen on the counter and walked to the back. Disappearing from sight, Sasaki had done nothing to Kanji's food but it still took away his appetite. Kanji forced himself to eat and stood up from the bar. He walked away and stood outside waiting for the salesman. From the distance Kanji could see him coming up to him now, all he could really make out was that he wore a straw hat with a backpack of some sorts. His grey shirt matched his grey pants, however he wore sandals that seemed to through the attire off. It mattered not to Kanji but he couldn't help but stare curiously. Kanji then looked down at himself and his mission clothes that had managed to remain clean during his camping trip. He smiled to himself as he leaned against the ramen shop to await the man, once he arrived Kanji would follow him like a lost puppy to guide him to bear country safely.

Posts : 760

Oh it was a lovely day. A lovely day indeed thought the man in the straw hat. It was hot, most likely a drought was coming around this time. It hadn’t rain for a good month or two, bad for the crops this time of year and most likely an increase in the items that submerge themselves in the cold. The business will do well, especially the ones who sell water. He was thinking on how it is he could exploit that little opportunity of his. Overprice the water was one thing he could do. He was thinking that he could monopolize all those who sold water in these parts, take the water from the north and resell it to the south. Oh no, that would be too simplistic, too much time and love to think on these things, especially when a day like today effort spent just redistributing the water that way. Oh he just could scorch the skin right off. Oh yes, a lovely day for him as well as a lovely inquiry for the young man. Just as he was told, the young man would be in the village for some time. He was a dark skinned young boy, perhaps no older than sixteen by the looks of him. The boy had white spiked hair that protruded from his scalp which made him stand out quite a bit in the small little crowd. What an interesting little man the straw hat man thought.

He sticks a hand out wanting him the young man to shake it. “Quite intriguing, quite intruding” was the first thing he said to him. His voice was in such a rasp that he sounded like he had a sore throat. “I do believe and I say I do believe you are the one that I’m waiting for, oh yes indeed, Yes! In! Deed! You got that Kumo band on ya!” He points directly at the headband “How interesting, how interesting…” he spoke in such a quick voice that he was travelling a mile a minute. He raised his head out of the shadow of the straw hat and the boy could now see the figure of the man. He was about fifty from his look. It wasn’t a bad thing to say he looked it; he aged quite well for someone who looks like he’s been in a stressful business. There were deep lines in his forehead and deep lines in his cheek that contrasted well with the sharp jaw-line underneath the scruff of a salt and pepper beard. What stood out even in the shadow were his eyes. They were not quite blue, not quite grey eyes. He had a smile on his face; a charming grin that had wooed many people, both customers and entrepreneurs to him but it was the eyes that seem the haunting. They were distance, far off and not all the way there like he was watching something that no one else could see. While his face did the interaction, the eyes would watch the intricate underlying current of a conversation.

“Oh! Where are my manners? How do you young sir, my name is Lao Xiaong, owner and C.E.O of Lao incorporate. It is an honor to make your acquaintance…though I was a bit sure that there would be….” He made gestures to the spaces beside the young boy “Well, more of you. I was hoping that perhaps your Kage would ensure the safety of my fellow man and your fellow objective.” He smiled, his eyes slanting so the eyes could not be seen any more “But she may have confidence in you to be a lone man in this job, how proud she must be.”

Posts : 1216

The scratchy voice quickly grated on Kanji's ears, the man definitely had one reason why he should be killed. Shaking his hand reluctantly, Kanji mentally reminded himself this was a mission and he was here to keep this man alive. Letting the man ramble on about Kanji's headband his main focus were the eyes of the man. They weren't normal eyes, Kanji had eyes that would stop a charging bull in its place. But this man's eyes weren't that kind of threatening, they were eyes of someone who knew what you thought without even trying. The man would easily know what Kanji would mean if he tried to subtly insult him or even hint at something. His years as a salesman granted him these types of eyes and perhaps what could be called a skill. Lao Xiaong was the man's name and he none the less wasn't too tense around the senju. He even seemed to show what could be called disappoint at the lack of teammates Kanji had with him. Chalking it up to a paranoid old man Kanji continued to stare at him stoically trying to hide any emotions. However his next statement caused Kanji's eyebrow to raise up in anger, “Well, more of you. I was hoping that perhaps your Kage would ensure the safety of my fellow man and your fellow objective.” "Hm." Kanji grunted at the man.

He didn't take kindly to being underestimated nor Persy basically being insulted by such a statement. As if trying to redeem himself, his stupid little smile almost made it seem as if he was mocking the chuunin before him. “But she may have confidence in you to be a lone man in this job, how proud she must be.” Kanji wanted to sock him in the jaw right away, he wasn't taking kindly to this man. "I assure you that I am more than enough for a simple mission such as this. Perhaps if it was A-rank I'd require my partner. For now though you can consider yourself already in bear country with me by your side." Kanji said with a slight frown, his tone was rough trying to quickly put the man in his place. Already starting to walk ahead of the man, Kanji motioned over his shoulder for him to follow. They began to walk, well Kanji did anyways, he figured that the man would follow if he wished to cross over to bear country. The senju walked a good ten meters in silence hoping the man would start some sort of conversation. Sadly this wouldn't happen considering that fact that Kanji had a demeanor the kept most from talking. The clear skies showed not a single cloud as its heat beat down on Kanji. His tan skin warming up from the constant attention from the sun, this would be nice if he was at the beach. But here on the road made him only irritable from having his body set on fire from the sky.

Gritting his teeth in the silence, Kanji kept his eyes straight forward on the dirt path. He was aware of everything going on around him, the man breathing, the wind blowing, the man breathing. The grass moving from the breeze, the man breathing, the foot steps of the two going down the dirt path. The man breathing, the man breathing, "STOP BREATHING SO LOUDLY!" Kanji lashed out at the man behind him. His anger had reached its boiling point from being under the blazing hot sun. He took a deep breath and placed his right hand on his forehead. "Look. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. It is just hot and I tend to be irritable with bad conditions. Let's keep going..." Kanji said as he started to walk forward again. They neared the border of the rice field country. Soon the bear country would be there however they might need to stop for a day in order to save energy. They couldn't just trek cross an entire country with no problem, that would be inhuman. After a good thirty meters of silence, Kanji began to feel bad for his out burst and decided to try and break the ice.

"So... What are you doing in bear country that required my protection? You must be some very important individual to have assassins after your head. Well... You don't have to tell me if you don't wish to. Just curious is all." Kanji said listening for anything the man might say to him. However before he let the man speak another thing popped into his mind. Stopping in his tracks Kanji would easily be ran into if the man hadn't paid attention and stopped. Turning to face the man, Kanji had his serious scowl sprawled across his face. It felt much more natural for him to have this than a smiling face. Kanji finally took notice of their height difference, He towered over the man a good four inches. Those four inches let Kanji look down at him, giving his scowl a much more menacing appearance. "If anyone you know, anyone at all. Who is on the bingo book, who could possible out rank me as a criminal. I need to know. Right away. And if you are trying to pull anything, using this mission as a way to smuggle anything into bear country. I must know. There have been bad stories of shinobi going to their death because they weren't warned ahead of time of the enemies they may face. Bear country is a day's travel away right now. They will come for us soon. So man to man, is there anything you are hiding from me?" Kanji's tone was at first one willing to kill the man before him, it softened as he spoke though. It soon ended with him speaking as if he was talking to a friend, his scowl was gone but only genuine concern for this man and himself replaced it.

Posts : 760

The smile held on his lips. Lao saw the boy’s agitation, most likely to the fact that he insulted his capabilities. Oh, how Lao loves to play, his thoughts of play had given him quite a long and fruitful personality that most people start to hate because of its condescending, almost unbearable attitude yet his smile was always there, never fading away whenever his words cutting into someone. However, he shouldn’t make the boy uncomfortable, that would surely make this travel troublesome and it would cause this boy to rethink his position. Not smart, Lao thought, not smart. Play it cool. The boy motion with his finger to follow and Lao did so without much hesitation.

He saw that the boy had an attentive look walking along the path they took. His eyes seem to wander to the left and to the right without moving a single muscle in his eye. He looked so professional, someone who knew that this was a job and everything else around him was simply a distraction. There was that temptation again, the little devil in Lao’s head that wanted him to mess with the boy. It was such a soft whisper, the voice of his younger self just lighting up with joy as he saw an opportune time to simply indulge himself. Lao open his mouth up ever so slightly and let the air fall into his mouth and nose breathing in and out. In…and out….

The boy didn’t take notice at first. Or so he did but he didn’t show signs of noticing. Lao decided to continue to breath in and out…letting the air fill his lungs and diaphragm and letting it out slowly through his mouth. Come on boy…just a little push…I want to see how capable you are and see if you are as competent as you look…he continued to breathe in and out-in and out. And the slower he did, the more noise it made. The boy could hear the rattling sound of his throat as the air made its way down a clogged breathing pipe. He kept doing this for maybe a minute and during that minute Lao looked attentively at the young boy. His through process began as the boy was all ready agitated by his first impressions. It was then that the heat would make it difficult for one to keep their minds at a calm level. He saw this many times in business meetings when the surroundings did not fit the comfortable mood they desired. While they expected a cool, charming environment, they instead were place in some arbitrary place where the surroundings were crowded, the temperature was seemingly unbearable and the tension that Lao brought was cherry on top.

"STOP BREATHING SO LOUDLY!" the boy lashed out. Lao showed a bit of surprise in his eyes. He lifted up his head and showed those not-so-blue-not-so-grey eyes at him that held no emotion whatsoever. The boy looked down at him, towering over him and once he noticed that his anger overtook him he reprised himself and looked apologetic Look. I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. It is just hot and I tend to be irritable with bad conditions. Let's keep going..."

“Ah, let us continue my friend.” Lao said in his raspy voice.

Again, there was silence. Lao was tempted to pull the trick again, to see if the agitation was still there but the boy had interrupted his thoughts "So... What are you doing in bear country that required my protection? You must be some very important individual to have assassins after your head. Well... You don't have to tell me if you don't wish to. Just curious is all." But he was curious. He was a tall individual, no one could deny him and he towered over Lao by four or five inches. He looked at him trying to view his eyes again but Lao’s were closed. He didn’t know whether or not Lao could see or not but he knew he was following him and he knew right away that Lao was able to spot him on without a single glance. He looked downward at Lao with such intimidation that it could’ve scared a herd of lamb back into their pen. He was searching for his eyes so he could intimidate him "If anyone you know, anyone at all. Who is on the bingo book, who could possible out rank me as a criminal. I need to know. Right away. And if you are trying to pull anything, using this mission as a way to smuggle anything into bear country. I must know. There have been bad stories of shinobi going to their death because they weren't warned ahead of time of the enemies they may face. Bear country is a day's travel away right now. They will come for us soon. So man to man, is there anything you are hiding from me?"

The man opened his eyes yet again. There it was, that non-emotional eyes that held back nothing. It couldn’t be read nor it could it be examined to know what it was that the man was thinking. He looked up at the boy; his glare had overshadowed his eyes giving him a menacing look. He would be a good businessman if he plays his cards right. He would’ve put a lot of men without no balls out of business. He let out a rasp chuckled and pats the boys shoulder “You are a funny boy. I admire such intensity in you. You show such-“ he snaps his fingers “gusto in your actions. Has anyone ever told you that you would succeed well in whatever field you go into? Perhaps the field of show business or perhaps being a entrepreneur. You show aggression in which business is all about aggression. Oh yes, you would do marvelous. The only thing I would work at is the fact that you’re so-stiff. You look like a manikin just staring me with eyes drawn to intimidate me. That would work if I was a low wage worker but you have to understand that I’ve meant people like you before in my life. Especially people who have the title and rank of a shinobi. I’ll never understand why you think that because you are a shinobi that you can simply use that as an advantage over those who are not shinobi.”

He waves his hand gesturing the topic aside “In any case. You ask me if there is anyone specifically that would hunt me down. I can say to you that I do not know. I know that there are many people in my line of work that are always hunted down because one person just doesn’t like the other and vice versa. That’s the way corporations work in this world. Secondly, I wouldn’t use your village or any major village to harbor anything other than soaps and towels if I was in that business. A black market item to smuggle is ideally done by black market dealers and I sir am NOT a black market dealer.” He points to his bag “You ask if I'm hiding anything. All I'm hiding is the fact that I haven't been married for five years and I have a daughter and son in Fire Country who owns a small hotel business. All that’s in here is another spare hat, some extra clothes and some files containing recent trading reports between Wind Country and Snow Country.”

He pokes at the boy’s chest “And remember, I’m the one that asked your village to escort me across Bear Country. I am the employer while you are the employee. You have every right to question me and my motives and that’s fine. ” His voice immediately lost all its lackadaisical joy and immediately turned cold “But never look down at me with those eyes unless you have every intent on killing me…because that’s what I see right now. And if I can guess something about you, you wish to adhere to your…morals and killing someone on a mission wouldn’t look too good on your repertoire. Even if you did kill me, just imagine what you would feel like if someone would hunt you down constantly.” His face lit up and smiled. His eyes closed to that slant and he continued walking “Let’s get a move on” His voice returning to its joyful tone “I do not wish to waste any time.”

Posts : 1216

The man touched Kanji's shoulder with a laugh, for the small moment in time Kanji thought this was a normal person just like those Kanji met. However that quickly disappeared as he began to speak of something called gutso, the term was lost on Kanji. "You show aggression in which business is all about aggression. Oh yes, you would do marvelous. The only thing I would work at is the fact that you’re so-stiff. You look like a manikin just staring me with eyes drawn to intimidate me. That would work if I was a low wage worker but you have to understand that I’ve meant people like you before in my life. Especially people who have the title and rank of a shinobi. I’ll never understand why you think that because you are a shinobi that you can simply use that as an advantage over those who are not shinobi." Those words caused Kanji to once more raise an eyebrow in irritation at the man. He wanted to snap his next, this man thought to slowly of the senju before him then Kanji would give him a reason to. "I don't use it as an advantage... I don't think I'm better than anyone..." Kanji muttered, but it was lost to the man as he continued talking. He explained he wasn't smuggling anything with put Kanji at some sort of ease to know he wasn't trying to hide that. He also had no idea whether or not a hit was for certain. That could be considered a good thing, at least the man didn't have any one definitely after him.

Then the man poked Kanji's chest, his muscle would offer all resistance needed from the man's fingers. However his words carried a different sharpness to them, no matter how strong Kanji's body may be, this man was use to dealing with words. “And remember, I’m the one that asked your village to escort me across Bear Country. I am the employer while you are the employee. You have every right to question me and my motives and that’s fine.” He had that stupid carefree tone to his voice but it seemed to disappear near the end of his sentence. Kanji prepared himself for the next thing the man could possibly say, however this was something that still got his blood boiling. “But never look down at me with those eyes unless you have every intent on killing me…because that’s what I see right now. And if I can guess something about you, you wish to adhere to your…morals and killing someone on a mission wouldn’t look too good on your repertoire. Even if you did kill me, just imagine what you would feel like if someone would hunt you down constantly.”

For that moment in time, Kanji felt a true intent to kill someone. The true feeling of wanting someone to die by your hands washed over him. His clenched his hands into fist for merely a second and the air around him became heavy. The world stopped moving as Kanji was now able to imagine every possible way to kill this man. Then just as fast as it came it disappeared. Kanji's eyes softened from his murderous attitude as the man walked past him. He stood there for a moment trying to regain his composure, it wouldn't look good for Kanji if he tried to murder the person he needed to protect. Turning around, Kanji followed the man and quickly took his place in front of him. "Hmm." Kanji looked around trying to find a suitable location for them. He kept up the pace that would let them cross into bear country but they needed to camp for now. It wouldn't be good to traverse into bear country on no sleep. Pulling out a kunai slowly from his ninja pouch, Kanji twirled it on his right index finger through the hoop. He peeked back at the man and saw he still followed Kanji with ease. Nodding to himself, Kanji continued forward before tossing the kunai to the right side of the young man. The location was prime with the grass being low and the weather was looking rather good. Kanji walked over to the kunai and waved his hand for the man to walk over towards him.

Putting the kunai up, Kanji began to push aside what he could to make the ground clear of an debris. "We are camping here for now. Tomorrow we will make it to bear country." Kanji said as he pulled out a rolled up cloth from his pocket. It was rather thick but it wasn't very wide, Kanji unfolded it and laid it out on the ground. It stretched a good three feet before it stopped, it was about three feet wide too so Kanji could at least sit on it. He ignored the man as he cleared up a small area in the middle of the camping grounds, preforming a string of hand seals, a large cage formed from the ground made out of wood. Kicking in the bars and destroying the cage to pure scrap for them to use to light the fire. He cleared out the area to where there was just two wooden squares in between the man and Kanji. The sixteen bars from the cage sat off to the side so they could feed the fire. "Go ahead and light it, this will be our campfire and feed the fire when you want. The wood should be over there all night." He said motioning towards the wood. Kanji rubbed the back of his head as he let the man light the fire.

Kanji yawned as he dug through his pockets looking for any extra food he might have, he pulled out a small bag with two biscuits in them. That was what was left of his food supply after his long travel, he had meant to pick up some food on his way back. Pulling out the two biscuits, Kanji eat them silently as he watched the man curiously. After finishing off his food, Kanji looked at the sky and saw how night began to cover it from its usual blue hue. Albeit he would be sleeping earlier than normal that was required, they could get up earlier and sneak across hopefully avoiding any people trying to ambush them. Stretching out on his small cloth, Kanji's legs hung off it as his upper body had the small comfort of it. He laid on his back staring at the now black sky with the fire being their only light source. Crickets began to come to life around this time, "Go to bed for now. We will get up early so we can cross the border with little to no problem. If anything happens just call out Senju or something coherent that lets me know you need my help. If you excuse me I'll be getting to sleep now." Kanji said sounding a bit grumpy obviously still upset with the man from earlier. He closed his eyes as he rested his hands behind his head making a make-shift pillow.

Before Kanji knew it it was day time as the moon began to set and the sun starting to rise. His eyes were wide as he did an internal check on his body. He assured himself he wasn't knocked out but rather fell asleep rather quickly. Looking around for the man, Kanji didn't see him in sight. Jumping up from his spot, the senju rolled up the cloth while trying to keep an eye out for him. "Lao...! Lao..!" Kanji cried out trying to make sure he wouldn't alert anyone of his presence. Moving back to the road now, Kanji could see a figure and rushed up towards it. Grabbing the man by his shoulders, Kanji spun him around to look at his face. It wasn't Lao but rather a traveler scared that Kanji had just grabbed him out of no where. "Have you seen a man around here?! He wears a straw hat and has a grey shirt on!" Kanji yelled, his eyes frantically searching the man's before him. "I-I don't know!" The man said before pulling away from Kanji. Letting his arms drop to his side, Kanji watched as the man ran off in the distance to try getting away. Running back to the camp site, Kanji looked around and saw no sign of a struggle. Taking in a deep breath he scanned the are for Lao one last time before noticing foot prints.

Following the foot prints a good walk away from the campsite Kanji stumbled upon a river. His fear took over, he was afraid that someone had thrown him into the water and drowned him. "Damn it Lao... Why didn't you call for me?" Kanji said obviously upset at the thought that this man could be dead ruining his mission and even worse giving him a guilty conscience. Running his hands through his hair, Kanji sighed loudly before sitting down in front of the river. He stared at the water for a moment before he heard a noise nearby. "Who's there?!" Kanji called out quickly, he pulled out a kunai faster than one could blink and held it in his right hand with the point of it pointing to the right. His left hand poised in front of his mouth and the kunai held out stretched from his body. Kanji prepared for anything that could come at him the best he could.

Spoiler:

Posts : 760

His eyes could see. His eyes could follow. His eyes…could do a lot more than just peer at the view of his target. His eyes peered up at the tall young man and the older gentlemen as they walked along the path in town. He seemed to be an easy target, no less just an old man with a straw hat and some bags he’s carrying over. What was in it might be important to his assailant. Some papers maybe? Or perhaps what was in there was a nice little stock of cash for him to loot. His assailant, the man in the hood, didn’t say what was in it and he didn’t give him much restriction as to whether or not he could loot his body if he killed him. He supposed it was free pickings and needless to say he was in a raiding mood to do all that to the old man.

He was sitting down on a bench and in hand was the newspaper, an extra large copy which covered much of his appearance. The taller individual was no older than his youngest bandit. He looked so serious as he walked and his eyes searching, feeling the area out. His eyes did peer at him but he had his legs crossed, the paper covering his entire face and upper body and as an added bonus he heard himself whistle a jolly tune. The boy didn’t even give a second glance from the looks of it. He was too caught up in the heat, too agitated by the old man’s demeanor. He wouldn’t even notice. As the two pass, Samiel folded the newspaper over and glanced over the other side of the path. His two cohorts, tweedledee and tweedledum as he likes to call him, had pretended to hold a conversation with each other. When the target had left their sights, they turned to Samiel and saw the wondrous and horrid grin he had on his face. He had very little teeth in his mouth, resembling a cartoon character of the sort. Samiel reached in his front vest and pulled out a brown stick and raised it to his mouth. He reached out from another pocket and pulled out a battered up silver lighter. The moment he opened the top, a burst of flame emitted from the top before its intensity drop to a small flame and he leaned the brown stick into the flame. He inhaled deeply letting the smoke fill him and breathed out the smoke from his nostrils.

“Oh boy…” he said in that cartoonish voice “This is going to be fun…”

Tweedledee and Tweedledum walked over to him getting a good whiff of the makeshift cigarillo. They knew well enough to know that it didn’t contain tobacco of any kind. It had a much stronger smell, something even stronger than hashish. It got to the point that he smell of that stench whenever he sweat or even got excited. The stench was heavy and they weren’t even in an enclosed area so both of them knew that he was excited. “Want us to attack him?” Tweedledee whispered.

Samiel shook his head “No, no, no. That won’t do. We want to make this trip last. No fun in killing a kid when he just got here. No, no, no. Let’s have a bit of playing time with the man. Fuck with the kid’s head before we pounce on him. Let’s just keep behind for awhile. He isn’t paying much attention to us.” A purple tongue slithered out of his mouth and licked the crust of his lips. He then took the brown cigarillo and inhaled all of it into his mouth.

Night was a young, no more a child in time at this point but the young man wished to rest. Lao did not mind to rest at this point. They were far out of the town when he arrived in to meet the young man and no less had they wasted daylight with their consistent pausing. Although reaching into Bear Country wasn’t a large jungle, the foliage did make it difficult and he could not have blamed him. Lao, himself, could be the one to blame. He was not as springy as this particular youth but he could blame the boy for not preparing himself for the heat. Nevertheless, they stopped and made camp. By the time they settled, the sun was beginning to set and the weather had toned down immensely. He began to hear the nightlife spring out of its holes and began to chat away as the darkness slowly unfolds. Lao sat down and set his large bag down on the ground. There he sat down, crossing his legs in and reached inside to pull out a small riceball. It was filled with a tangy beef concoction with an assembly of small vegetables cooked within the beat. It’s light and fluffy exterior was met with the hearty interior. He looked and saw that the boy had created a sort of cage with wood. That was impressive. He didn’t know much about the Senju, only know the little history lessons he was told as a child but never actually meeting one in person. In honesty, he watched in some amazement as he kicked the wood for the campfire.

"Go ahead and light it, this will be our campfire and feed the fire when you want. The wood should be over there all night." He sounded exhausted, almost ready to fall asleep. Lao nodded and continued to finish off his riceball. He wouldn’t need the fire for long he knew. He could fall asleep and be dreaming in less than fifteen minutes if he wanted. Oh a simple pleasure and joy for being an older man. He took off his straw hat. Like his beard, his hair was a intricate mix of white and black. He had a full crop of hair on the top while on the sides were it was pure white. He laid his head on the softest part of the bag and closed his eyes knowing well that he would be off and asleep in fifteen. He fell asleep sooner, only taking ten minutes to be off in the realm of dreams.

But he could not remember what his dream was. He awoke in the morning, early just as he use to when he was younger. His eyes peered up and then left and right. Lao had no idea as to where he was until he saw the boy still sleeping on his side. He appeared out and not even close to waking. Funny, he was expecting him to wake up sooner than he was since he was a bit younger. But he almost forgot that he was once a young man like him and could sleep for hours at a time without as much as peep from him.

He smacked his lips feeling it dry and salty. The beef riceball he had made him parch but he fell asleep before he could even get a sip of water. Well, he couldn’t complain now. He was up and was ready for the day. He stood up and stretched his arms and his legs before putting his stuff in his bag. The boy would wake up soon and he would probably want to move as soon as possible. Hell, he wanted to move as soon as possible. Ok, so this is what he’ll do. He’ll go to find a river or stream, get some water in him and wash his face and then if the kid doesn’t wake by then he’ll walk over to the kid and kick him in the chest or something. He wanted to get a move on. He set his straw hat on his head and walked into the forest.

He saw a river come up. Crystal clear, without a single tarnish. He got on one knee and cupped one hand into the water. He received a handful and brought it to his mouth. He took a sip and let out a refreshing ‘ahh’. He then lowered his head so his nose was touching the water and used both hands to wash his face. The cold water made sure he was awake and his eyes were now wide. But then something became off to his…nose? Some smell made his nose twinge and the hair in his nose wanting to burst into flames. Goodness, what in the hell was that smell? It was not the smell of cigarettes nor was it the smell of weed. Both of these things he knew well with the former he never truly enjoyed and the latter he did partake in once in awhile. No, it was something much stronger than that. Something toxic and almost-there was a momentary pain in the back of his neck. Good lord that would hurt but for now all he could feel was a heaviness in his eyes. He was falling unconsciousness. He knew that before he even hit the ground.

Samiel picked him up and placed him on his shoulders. He was not a big man, probably as stringy and gaunt as most teenage boys are when they are twelve but he had surprising strength. He looked at his two minions, both Tweedledee and Tweedledum. He points to tweedledee. “You come with me. I want you to look after my ass as I take him.” He then points to Tweedledum. Tweedledum was a large, almost hulking individual that had a height of seven feet and weighing in around 280 pounds. “Well, you stay behind and see what Mr. Dark Skinned McGee wants to do.”

“Do you want me to tell him anything?” Tweedledum asked. He didn’t have a voice that made him sound dumb. He sounded quite intellectual, almost scholarly

Samiel thought for a moment. He was biting at his long fingernails then said “Tell him whatever you want to tell him. I really don’t give a damn. I just want to kill this man in private. You know how it I am with that.”

Tweedledum knew exactly and nods “As you wish…I’ll do whatever it is I need to do.”

Samiel and Tweedledee made their way over the river and ran into the forest where they disappeared. Tweedledum watched this until they were nothing more than added noises in the forest. He looked over and waited for the young man to come. He knew he would spot him sooner or later. Whenever it was, he would have something to say to the boy.

The boy walked out of forest and into the clearing. Tweedledum was up on a tree branch squatting down and watching the boy look at the footprints the old man had made towards the river. The boy was probably thinking that whoever had taken him had perhaps drowned him in the river. That would’ve been easy for Samiel to do but Samiel was not that type of person to make a target go out without any sort of pain. Samiel was too sadistic for the easy route. The boy sat down at the river, not sure as to what he needs to do. Tweedledum stood up, the branch moving as he do so. This caught the boy’s attention. “Who’s there” he called out. He stood up with a kunai in hand. Tweedledum jumped down landing on both feet. He looked at the boy, looking down at him

“You looking for that old man? I may know where he is but I’ll need your cooperation.”

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Kanji could only stare at the behemoth before him, the man easily towered over Kanji and obviously had muscle. Everything about him would seem intimidating if Kanji wasn't trained to kill. Taking in a deep breath, Kanji prepared to dash forward and kill the man. However his voice easily stopped the senju in his tracks, “You looking for that old man? I may know where he is but I’ll need your cooperation.” That wasn't a monster. This man had intelligence. He was a scholar and probably was smarter than Kanji from the sound of his voice. Taking in another breath to get a hold on himself, putting his kunai away Kanji looked the man in the eyes. "What are you terms? What do you need from me anyways..." Kanji said eyeing the man carefully. The two would probably be equal in strength but Kanji could easily out run him. From his appearance anyways, not much could be said for what he could do. He might have hidden weapons or he might even know jutsu to trap Kanji. Sighing and running his hands through his hair, Kanji looked at the man. He was still on guard for any attacks but no need to remain tense when the man planned to help him out obviously. "Hm. What is your name? Mine is Kanji Senju. As you can tell I'm from Kumogakure on a mission to protect that man. If I had to guess you're either with the person who kidnapped him or you just saw him get kidnapped and want some sort of reward. Either way I won't kill you or attack you if you remain peaceful and help me get to him. I prefer not to stain my hands with blood of someone who isn't wanting to fight."

Kanji said in his normal serious tone, he had no idea how the man would react to anything he said but all he could do is wait. He took this small moment in time to observe the man's appearance and add it to memory. It would be best if he had to turn him in as a criminal. He was tall yes, but his face seemed to be rough around the edges. His head was bald as if no hair had ever grown there and he had brown eyes? Maybe black eyes. Kanji couldn't tell him his distance however his clothes didn't seem to say much for him either, they were plain and seemed dirty. Before Kanji knew it, his analysis was over and the man began to speak. On his toes, Kanji listened closely to what the man would have to say.

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"Hm. What is your name? Mine is Kanji Senju. As you can tell I'm from Kumogakure on a mission to protect that man. If I had to guess you're either with the person who kidnapped him or you just saw him get kidnapped and want some sort of reward. Either way I won't kill you or attack you if you remain peaceful and help me get to him. I prefer not to stain my hands with blood of someone who isn't wanting to fight."

Tweedledum was hesitant but saw that there was no reason for him to hold back his name. In a sense, he did not fear this young boy and the boy apparently didn’t fear him. “My name is Jin. I go by and live by Jin. I do not have a surname, I abandon that long ago when I...” He paused, the edge of his lips rising slightly that wasn’t quite a snarl as it was a lifting of his lip as if a fish hook got caught in it “…lost myself…”

Jin signaled him to follow and he knew he would so as long as the crazed man, the sadistic Samiel held captive of whoever it was that Kanji was intending on protecting “The terms are simple. All I need you to do is follow me. I am unarmed and I have nothing more to give then my voice…and my history. He won’t kill him, not yet…the man you want to know or wish to know is a man who enjoys an audience. He is a man that finds pleasure in seeing others watching him do what he wants to do with his…games.”

He turns and sees the headband. The insignia of the cloud, the one place that harbored much of his grief and it showed in his face as his eyes looked at it, turning away with a sadden look “I knew a man once who came from Kumogakure. He was a tall man like you, with white just like yours. He was a talker. A smooth talker who had a charming face and those eyes that just made the women go nuts.” He reached down picking a tall piece of grass and stuck it in his mouth “He was a man who was odd. Mighty odd. I didn’t know whether he was to be trusted or to trust. I found that he was in the latter category. He treated me like an individual, like a person who has free will and thought. A man who inspired others to follow him…” he paused “He disappeared long ago, I do not know where he went but his legacy hasn’t been forgotten.” His voice was sad, almost torn and sounding bitter as he reminisces of the past. Talking about it was as much a strain to him it seem. He looked so tired, tired of living in a world of pain. Why he hadn’t ended it was only for his brother…”I thought that perhaps I could escape such a vile existence only to be caught up with it again with this man whom you will have to fight. And believe me, you will have to fight him.” He turned back again and looked at him with tired but stern eyes

“Tell me…have you ever seen madness incarnate? Have you ever see a man who has been twisted and contorted into a being of that of the devil? I doubt you have young man, you haven’t lived long to see such vile behavior in someone. You seem young. If I am correct, he would’ve been the same age as you…” who he was referring to got lost when he said “You…look like a man who has seen much honor in his life. A man who has lived a code that only honor can bring. But you must know that even if you see your honor being questioned…make sure you know what the answer to that question is. Because if you don’t-“ he paused, staring vacantly at Kanji leaving the comment unfinished. He turned and continued walking knowing that Kanji would continue to follow.

A rush of cold water surprised Lao up from his unconscious slumber. He let out a gasp of air thinking he was drowning only to realize soon after that he was not. He was, however, tied to a chair with his arms bound behind him and his legs tied to the legs of the chair. He had no reason to struggle, no intention on struggling because he knew there was no point in wasting energy. He found a large man, a man who was maybe close to seven feet with a bucket in hand looking down at him. He was not as big as his counterpart Jin being leaner and surprisingly handsome for someone as tall as him. He did not speak; he did not show an ounce of movement in his face, not a single shred of emotion from his eyes or a single iota of anything. He just looked down at him for a brief period of time. He then leaned down and slowly brought out a white towel. He then rubbed Lao’s face of the dirt and bit of grime. When the large man removed the cloth from his face, he saw the thick grime on the towel. It was a mixture of dirt, sweat, some paint and some other substance that Lao couldn’t recognize. When in the hell did his face get covered with all of this shit? He could not have been unconscious for more than a thirty minutes, an hour max. What in the hell.

“You don’t look scared.” A cartoonish voice spoke from the background. He looked around his surrounding area seeing that he was in a clearing far in the forest. The trees circled around the clearing gave the clearing an absent feeling as if he was in some sort of enclosed dome of some kind.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been captured and tied up. Most definitely my eighth time.”

Jumping out of the trees, a figure rose into the sky. It was just a black dot before falling down in the middle of the clearing and then walked his way towards him and the large man “Eighth…well damn old man, you must be into that BDSM shit cause if this ain’t your first rodeo…”

“I’m a popular man you see.” He coughed then cleared his throat. “I do find it interesting that you are keeping me tied up in the middle of a clearing. What you got planned, a ritual sacrifice or something?”

Samiel smiled and licked those cracked lips of his “Of course. You are my goat in all of this shit. I was told to capture you and make sure you don’t make it to your destination. The guy never said what I can do to you, only that you shouldn’t make it.” He walks up to Lao and grabs his face. His nails touched the part of his face not covered in a beard and felt the cold, griming nails on his fingers. Good lord, what the hell…his eyes peered down at his nails and saw that they were completely black and they were extremely long, close to five inches. “But I want to make this fun…I want to make that little shithead of a shinobi watch as I sacrifice you. You’ll be so much fun to play with this little kid’s head. I’m just eager for him to join in on the fun.” He let out a shrill of a laugh; a ear aching, heart shattering laugh that could be heard throughout the forest. Lao had now felt a sick feeling in his stomach as he laughed…something he hadn’t felt in quite awhile. It was either that or he had to use the bathroom.

The laugh echoed throughout the forest. A rush of birds shot out of the trees cawing and chirping out of the fear of the unknown. Jin halted in his step and cringed as he heard the laugh. It wasn’t pleasant to hear, not in the slightest. “That’s him” he said, almost in a whisper “Just keep following me. If you go ahead and try to go gung ho without looking at the situation, he’ll kill him before you could even touch him with a kunai. You have to play by his rules…otherwise you’ll…well, not have a good time…”

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“My name is Jin. I go by and live by Jin. I do not have a surname, I abandon that long ago when I...” Kanji inwardly grimaced at the facial expression the man made. It was rather weird if not disturbing to watch a human make that expression. “…lost myself…” Kanji felt a small feeling of sympathy for the man, he gave himself up to live the life he did. From the way he talked, he must have been working with the man who kidnapped Lao. Kanji wanted to just kill him and fight his was towards the man but that wouldn't be wise. If he could get out of this peacefully then it would be all the better. Following the behemoth known as Jin, Kanji walked with a small distance between them. It was there so neither of them could strike without the other having a chance to react. “The terms are simple. All I need you to do is follow me. I am unarmed and I have nothing more to give then my voice…and my history. He won’t kill him, not yet…the man you want to know or wish to know is a man who enjoys an audience. He is a man that finds pleasure in seeing others watching him do what he wants to do with his…games.” Kanji swallowed whatever remained in his mouth upon hearing this, he wasn't sure if it throat was dry or he was just nervous. Kanji watched as Jin turned around to face him for a brief moment, yet his eyes weren't focusing on Kanji. He spoke far off, remembering a better time. A piece of grass found its way into his mouth as he continued reliving the moments he spent with this man.

“He disappeared long ago, I do not know where he went but his legacy hasn’t been forgotten.” Kanji felt horrible now, he had once thought to kill this gentle man. Kanji felt his resolve only strength to defeat this man's boss, it was the only way he could complete his mission and help this man. ”I thought that perhaps I could escape such a vile existence only to be caught up with it again with this man whom you will have to fight. And believe me, you will have to fight him.” From what Jin said, the man sounded as if words were useless. Reason was thrown to the curb and you had to do the impossible to try and reason with him. Jin now faced him, he didn't seem sad now. He seemed more or less disturbed, something he remembered triggered this. “Tell me…have you ever seen madness incarnate? Have you ever see a man who has been twisted and contorted into a being of that of the devil? I doubt you have young man, you haven’t lived long to see such vile behavior in someone. You seem young. If I am correct, he would’ve been the same age as you…” Who? Who was this man he spoke of? Is it that white haired shinobi he spoke of earlier? Kanji shook his head as he pushed those thoughts to the side. He needed to focus on what Jin said, if anything they can only help. But something was off, this man had seen madness incarnate. He had seen him so often that he could be considered part of madness.

He looked at Kanji one last time. These weren't normal eyes, these were the eyes of someone who had done horrible things. The eyes of someone who just wanted to sleep for decades and forget about the bad memories he had made. “You…look like a man who has seen much honor in his life. A man who has lived a code that only honor can bring. But you must know that even if you see your honor being questioned…make sure you know what the answer to that question is. Because if you don’t-“ He stopped. He just stared at Kanji now, "If I don't?!" Kanji asked quickly. Jin just ignored him and starting walking forward, they both knew what he meant. If Kanji couldn't hold his resolve then he would fall before this man, the madness incarnate. It wasn't good to hear that, Kanji followed Jin through the forest. After a good minute of silence the trees seemed to be thicker. They were getting in the heart of the woods now, but what made it creepier wasn't the silence. It was the laughter, if you could call it that. Oh god the laughter was like a cartoon character gone insane. “That’s him” "Madness incarnate...?" They both whispered, it was obvious that this man wasn't normal.

“Just keep following me. If you go ahead and try to go gung ho without looking at the situation, he’ll kill him before you could even touch him with a kunai. You have to play by his rules…otherwise you’ll…well, not have a good time…” Kanji grimaced trying to stomach this, he would hate having to listen to that man. He wasn't sane, he wasn't human to have that kind of laugh. "I'll play his little game. But for now... if things start to get hairy... Can I trust you not to try and attack me?" Kanji said, he knew that Jin would probably be forced to say no. It was only natural that he would if this man was his leader. "Actually... Don't answer that... I won't kill you even if you attack me. I'll show you why Kumogakure Shinobi are chosen for this job." Kanji said as he picked up the pace. He ended up in front of Jin and kept pressing forward. Just as the tree line began to thin Kanji stopped, he looked back at Jin and smiled towards him. It wasn't a friendly smile or a weak smile, it was the smile of someone who knew he would die if he went forward. "Thanks Jin. If I die, at least make sure your cartoon friend doesn't eat me. I'm sure the man you once knew would be proud of you to have lived this long with someone so crazy. Make him proud and keep living on for him and yourself." Kanji stepped through the tree line and arrived in the heart of the forest.

Lao sat in the middle bounded to a chair, to the side there was another person. He looked similar to Jin. But in the middle, there was the man Kanji needed to fight. He stood over Lao, at least Lao was safe but with that man standing over him. Kanji shuddered to imagine what the man would have in store. "Hey. I've come to retrieve the old man. I'm Kanji Senju from Kumogakure. Now. How can we do this peacefully so we can both walk away from this situation with little to no harm done? Or would you rather tango with me?" Kanji said boldly. The man wasn't tall, he was shorter than Kanji. His Mohawk looked messy and he himself didn't look to good either. His large leather vest and his pale skin, his body looked as if it would collapse on itself any moment if he wasn't careful. Kanji took a deep breath and prepared himself for anything that could happen. If the giant to his right charged him he would flip him on his back, if Jin charged him he would dash to the left to dodge him. If the cartoon before him tried to attack him he would dash left and zig zag he way towards him. But the only issue with Kanji's planning was just that. It focused on him, if they attacks Lao or held a blade to his throat. Kanji couldn't do anything about it but listen to their demands. He growled lowly, low enough for it to not be heard. He wasn't one for hostage situations, he was meant to be on the front lines and fight. Kanji relaxed his muscles and simply waited, that was the best thing he could do right now in his situation.

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Samiel lifted his head like a dog would hearing an abnormal sound. He grinned then licked the remaining teeth in his mouth. He turned his head and found both Jin and Kanji coming out of the forest. The dark skinned, white haired boy came along with Jin and he was all the happier knowing they had come to his arena…his abode…Once they were in the arena, the game timer has started and the event was about to take place.

Jin did a good job of doing what he was told. He’s always been a rowdy one, no doubt the most rebellious of the two in whom he controls but that’s all right. A little persuasion here and there and a little bit of reasoning on his part made sure he would follow him with no hitches whatsoever. Samiel raised a hand to his lips and he licked the insides of his fingernails. A bitter, moldy taste filled his tongue but instead of revolting he savored it. It first strung, then turned sour but in his mind it was sweet like candy.

“I’m glad you can make it my pretty!” He shrilled “I’m so excited to see that you decided to play a fun game with me. What do you say?”

What Samiel got instead was a formal introduction, a bold face one with the boy puffing his chest up "Hey. I've come to retrieve the old man. I'm Kanji Senju from Kumogakure. Now, how can we do this peacefully so we can both walk away from this situation with little to no harm done? Or would you rather tango with me?"

“I’m not much of a dancer with your type. You’re too stiff” He clasp his fingers together “A stiff dancer makes things all the boring and uneventful. I advise that you play with me, I like playing because playing brings the true nature of people sometimes. Especially your type.” He grinned “There was this one shinobi from your village. I had fun with him” his voice cracked “He…hehehehe…he was so fun that I decided to play with his body AFTER I killed him. What I did first was crazy…well, I don’t think it’s crazy. I think it’s marvelous…”

He snaps his fingers “Rozin…” he shouted “Set yourself you fool. The game has begun!” Their attention went towards the man behind Samiel who stood right beside Lao. He pulled out a knife and set it by Lao’s neck. Lao stiffen a bit, the cold metal made his skin crawl and his spine feel electric. His eyes then peered at Kanji that was not so much begging as it was pleading for him to get him out of this situation “Here’s the deal my good friend. You have…one minute to get from there to him…in that one minute, I will be the one who will be the blockade. It’s my version of tag, except when your friend is tagged…” he smiled “No one can help you. Not even Jin because is a man who I’ve broken many times in the past. Isn’t that right Jin? Your poor brother is nothing more than a vegetable to you because I have control him. He’s like a living puppet!” He jumped up and down and clapped his hands.

“So Kanji of the Cloud, I hope you understand because the game…starts…now…” he clasped his hands together with them doing a row of seals. The chakra within him spun and rotates then began to form outward into the physical realm. Walking from behind was a splitting image of him. It stood right beside him. Then another copy of himself walked from behind him, then another, then another. Five copies of Samiel stood, all of them with the same expression on their faces that invoked madness. One of them spoke and said “Did you know…” it started then another voice chimed in.

“Long ago there was a jutsu that allowed there to be doppelgangers…” another spoke in its cartoonish voice.

“It is said that the doppelgangers were entirely invincible and could not be killed…”

“Guess what jutsu that I just used…?” They all smiled and two of the servants run towards Kanji, both of them laughing manically.

Jutsu used

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Kanji gritted his teeth at the mad man before him, “Rozin…!” the maniac shouted, “Set yourself you fool. The game has begun!” The knife was set to Lao's throat before Kanji could react. It was obvious what was going to happen now, Kanji was at this man's will if he wanted to get Lao back. “Here’s the deal my good friend. You have…one minute to get from there to him…in that one minute, I will be the one who will be the blockade. It’s my version of tag, except when your friend is tagged…” His sickly smile showed again as he seemed pleased by his own twisted game. “No one can help you. Not even Jin because is a man who I’ve broken many times in the past. Isn’t that right Jin? Your poor brother is nothing more than a vegetable to you because I have control him. He’s like a living puppet!” The man jumped up and down like a giddy child who just found the Christmas presents in his parent's closet. “So Kanji of the Cloud, I hope you understand because the game…starts…now…” The man did a row of seals to which Kanji reacted immediately. Pulling out of a kunai, he watched carefully.

He extended his right hand that held the kunai in front of him. He flipped the blade to where the point was pointing towards the right while his left hand was placed in front of his chest preparing for the fight. The man began to speak again in his creepy voice, “Long ago there was a jutsu that allowed there to be doppelgangers…” then another one spoke up to finish his sentence. “It is said that the doppelgangers were entirely invincible and could not be killed…” Kanji's eyes widened before taking in a deep breath. It was either a bluff, a genjutsu or a legitimate jutsu. He frowned as they charged towards him, pulling his right arm back he threw the kunai at the one coming from his right. Going through it with little trouble, Kanji dashed towards the left to avoid them. He wasn't sure if they just regenerated or it was a genjutsu. But he'd rather not take chances and just use his Kai, as he prepared to do that another one charged him forcing him to dodge and dash towards Lao. "Kai!" Kanji shouted as he preformed the hand seal to negate the genjutsu. The clones disappeared as Kanji kept running towards Lao. "You used a Genjutsu! Probably an advance version of the clone jutsu used by the academy students!" Kanji said as he ran forward.

If Kanji wasn't stopped or forced back he would end up just below Lao, he would grab onto Rozin's hand and force the knife back saving Lao. His main focus would be to get away so to accomplish this he would grab the chair and simply dash off into the woods. If he was stopped, Kanji would jump back and try to avoid any attacks and try to rush the chair once more.

Jutsu

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The man pulled out another knife out of his back pocket. It was a much longer, sharper knife then the knife that was placed on Lao’s neck. When Jin saw this, his eyes widen knowing exactly what it was his brother was about to do “Fuck!” he shouted and he started to run towards all three of them. Rozin raised the blade high towards his neck and kept it there. He let the sharp end of the blade press against his skin and trickles of blood began to drip onto the knife. He was not a man to show any emotion and even as the blood trickled slowly onto the knife, there was not a single iota of pain or suffering. He simply stood there passively just waiting for the orders to go. The order to cut his throat would be inevitable.

“Rozin!” Jin cried out “Don’t! Don’t you dare…”

“Dare what!?” Samiel shrilled again. His voice got higher which would’ve been comical in most cases. But in this case there was not a single thing funny about that voice going that high “I wish that Cloud man will take the guy. That’s one less person for you to worry about and one more game for me to play!”

He did not wait for Kanji to decide whether or not he was going to take Lao. What would stop Kanji was Lao himself when he shouted “Stop you fool!” Lao’s eyes pointed to Samiel who was jumping up and down like a savage monkey.

“No cloudy man, no keep on going! Don’t stop! Take him, take him, take him!”

“Don’t listen to that buffoon.” Lao said. “There are wires around my damn neck. It’s tied to this guy over here and the damn ground” His eyes shifted to Rozin who still had the blade on his neck “He wants you to take me. You’re stronger than these guys but he knows that…and he’ll use your strength against you…”

“KAH!” Samiel shrieked. He began to pound his hands on the ground. He began to shout obscenities out that few would be sure it wasn’t even real words. He shouted and continued slapping the ground like a child in a tantrum “WHY YOU SHOUT YOU FOOL! Damn, I knew I should’ve put fucking tape around your mouth. That would’ve been simpler to do. Damn! But that would’ve ruined it too! Oh the double edge shit!”

“Is that it? Is this what you call a game you blubbering buffoon?”

“Why you spoil it dude…geez, I wanted to see if your head would pop off or not. God, that was going to be so fun to see your head just plop off and roll to the ground. I would’ve laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed…”

Lao looked at Kanji, his face strained a bit as he moved his neck. If he couldn’t see the wire before, now he could. There were three wires that gripped onto Lao’s neck and it was gripping at it nicely with little blood coming out of the spots. The thin wire went was attached to the Rozin’s arm where the knife was pressing against his neck. He had strong enough arms and probably a great deal of strength that the moment he swiped his neck he would snap Lao’s neck. “Kid, you can’t let him play…he’ll…

“I’ll what?” He shouted and pulled out four kunai from his inner vest. At the ends of each of them were tags, ones that Kanji would know all too well. “I’m having a jolly ole time. Come on boy, come and play with me. I want to lick your throat and eat your intestines…” he began to slither and then made a noise with his tongue that was both sucking in at one moment then spitting out the next moment. The tags began to light. He threw the tags not at Kanji or Lao but at the ground. The instant they hit, they exploded and dust rose up from the ground and encircled the small area.

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Kanji froze in place upon Lao telling him to stop. Glancing over his shoulder at the monkey human monster that jumped up and down. “No cloudy man, no keep on going! Don’t stop! Take him, take him, take him!” This man was crazy, he was definitely not human. “Don’t listen to that buffoon.” Lao said. “There are wires around my damn neck. It’s tied to this guy over here and the damn ground” His eyes shifted to Rozin who still had the blade on his neck, that is when Kanji began to notice the thin wires. “He wants you to take me. You’re stronger than these guys but he knows that…and he’ll use your strength against you…” The world around Kanji began to drown at as he tried to piece two and two together. He was a good four meters from Lao so he couldn't just pop the big guy in the face. Behind him was the shrieking monkey blabbering on about how his game was ruined and Lao merely responded to him. Keep his eyes on Lao he noticed him straining his neck to make the wire more apparent to Kanji. With one swipe of his arm Lao's neck would come off. From how Jin acted Kanji couldn't out right kill him either, this was obviously his brother. “I’m having a jolly ole time. Come on boy, come and play with me. I want to lick your throat and eat your intestines…”

Kanji tuned back into the world to hear the crazed monkey blabber on more about his game. Next thing he noticed were the kunai planted into the ground and the smoke now covering the area. This was his time, this was his chance to quickly defeat everyone. Preforming a single hand seal five clones came from Kanji and waited. Preforming another string of hand seals, Kanji dived underground and re-submerged behind Rozin just as quickly as he submerged. Grabbing Rozin's arm he smiled towards the giant. His clone sprung into action now as they dashed out of the smoke charging the monkey. Two would strike from his left and two from his right, they would try to attack his upper and lower body simultaneously while the fifth one charged head on. Jumping into the air to kick him in the head despite them just being genjutsu clones. Kanji on the other hand held Rozin's arms in their place trying to keep him from killing Lao and himself. Gritting his teeth, his left hand was placed on the knife pressed against Lao's throat. Pushing it away from Lao's throat then twisting it, he tried to force Rozin to let go of the blade. While with his right arm he had more trouble trying to push it away from his throat while at the same time trying to make the wires around Lao's throat loosen. Kanji needed to act quickly before his clones were dispersed by the maniac monkey. "Come on damn it... Let the fuck go of the knives for your brother..." Kanji thought as his frustration became more apparent. "God damn it... JIN! I'll keep your brother from killing Lao and himself if you help me! Either get these wires off Lao or hold the maniac back! My shadow clones won't last long against that monkey!" Kanji lied through his teeth hoping the cartoon character would believe that they are indeed shadow clones so he'd be more weary of them.

SC

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Jutsu

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Posts : 760

The two clones charged at Samiel, one from the left and the other from the right. Their intention was to cause any damage to this man as possible but there sole intention was to distract him at all possible. Samiel had planned for some of this in his head awhile back. He was after all a shinobi of the cloud and seeing how well he’s done so far to protect this man, he had to have more up his sleeves than what he has now. Perhaps he did or perhaps he didn’t. Samiel, with all his madness and all of the delirium that courses through his mind, had the initial thinking and thought processes of a man who will do anything to get his fix. His fix was simply playing a game and that was all euphoric in his eyes.

Shadow clones he thought. Let’s see how powerful the clones really were. If they were, they would have some weight to them when he finished them off with these kicks. If not, then it’ll be all the better and the bluff would be no good. He dropped to his hands and in one swift motion lifted up his legs and spun rapidly. The spin gave him the momentum to make his spinning kick powerful as the two clones dispersed. One of his kick hit the clone in the neck while the other made contact with its sides. There were no substance to them, no feel as he almost ripped through them like paper mache. He got back up on his feet. He stretched his neck rotating it so that it gave him a crooked look. He knew that Jin and Rozin were being hesitant. Jin was the worst of it. He’s always been the worse of the two. It was easy to control Rozin. He had nothing much to live for, nothing for him in the future ahead except a death so cruel that thinking about it was something of a sexual thing to Samiel. He knew that if he wanted to draw out this game any longer, he was going to bring out something he hadn’t intended on bringing out. Samiel made a noise in his throat that wasn’t much of him clearing it as it was just him rolling the mucus around. He then Samiel started to…sing

“Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down….
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…”

Before the singing, Jin looked through the dust and saw Kanji rise up from the ground. He had saw that he had acted fast during the rise of the dust and created some clones in order for them to distract Samiel. He had no idea as to how long that man would be distracted by the clones but he knew that if the clones played it right, they could until Lao and his brother and they could get out…if Jin wasn’t so hesitant. He had no idea if he should help or if he should stop him. The conflicted issue in his mind troubled him as he saw Kanji glance over "God damn it... JIN! I'll keep your brother from killing Lao and himself if you help me! Either get these wires off Lao or hold the maniac back! My shadow clones won't last long against that monkey!"

He was frustrated and Jin couldn’t blame him for being that. He would be frustrated too if he saw a giant man just standing there just watching his brother trying to kill himself. He had to move with resolve and God Damn it is right, he shouldn’t just stand there. He began to run over looking at Rozin. Good God he thought what have I let that maniac do to you? He saw the empty fixation he was giving that showed not an ounce of emotion in it. His eyes stared blankly ahead like a machine that was waiting for the next command. And both of them knew that the next command would be his last one. No, he thought, no I won’t allow that.

He began to run over but even before he could reach over to their spot there was a sound…a distinct noise in his head that began to ring. Jin turned his head and knew that the ring was not something of chakra origin, even with his lack of training there was nothing ninjutsu about it. He stopped where he was moving and heard the sound of Samiel’s voice

“Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down….
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…”

Oh no…he knew that song…he knew what effect it had on himself as he found that this was the same song he sung when he was torturing them all them years ago. The song brought an absolute terror into him, a fear that dwelled in their minds like a lingering monster and could be spawning up anything Samiel wished for it to appear. “Fuck…this…is…” he was going to say bad until he saw the look on his brother’s face. What he saw then could be described as neither fear nor terror. It was something even primordial, the look of men of old had when they first looked at night sky and saw not a single star or moon to light their way. It was that ancient fear that Jin saw in his brother’s eyes and the song was triggering that fear.

“Oh my god…” Lao spoke in a choked voice “I didn’t think-no, no that makes sense…of course, that’s why Rozin so…” Lao looked at Kanji “This isn’t genjutsu boy…it’s something far worse…it's damn brainwashing...an old programming techniqued used by...aaccckk” jhe was getting choked out by the man who was standing there shaking. Lao knew this; he knew immediately that this was not the way of the shinobi but something far more sinister and something that even the evilest of men used out of its simplicity. The power of programming-the ability to trigger something that was similar to Post Traumatic Stress with simple words or phrases. Lao knew it but he couldn't say it as it was hard to breathe. Damn he thought, he had to tell Kanji but it was so hard to say anything.

The singing continued. It was on tune surprisingly; the voice was echoing and echoing bouncing off the trees like walls in an auditorium. He kept on singing
“Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down….
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…”

“You weren’t thinking of betraying me were you Jin-kun…?” A voice coming from behind Jin. Jin head slowly turned and saw Samiel standing there with another kunai in hand “Do you remember this when I ripped out your son’s throat…do you remember as I made you watch me rip your wife’s heart and ate it right in front of you? Do you remember that…?” Without a second hesitation, his hand struck into Jin’s throat. It hit the carotid arteries and immediately being struck came a rush of blood out of his neck. Jin made a choking sound and his eyes were slowly…slowly glazing over then he fell onto the ground. Samiel turned his head “Now you’ll meet them in hell…”

He turned to face Rozin, Kanji and Lao. He smiled. Much of Jin’s blood had covered his face and the missing tooth smiling man became even more so insane as he looked at them all. “Rozin…didn’t I kill your wife like that too…I killed him just like I killed your brother…right there in her neck. She was a pretty thing…a pretty little thing…”

Rozin’s eyes widen. That blank expression he once had turned into sadness. There it was, that life in him that was once missing all those years go…his brother…oh God no…his own flesh and blood was gone. The memories of them all on a table, their legs and arms spread apart. He remembered the tables would lift off the ground and they were standing upright. He saw his wife, his daughter, his brother and his family all around a circle, all them tied up by the arms and legs and in the middle was this mad man. He was standing there with those black plague fingernails and he would bite at them constantly, seeing him bite at them made me puke…he believed he did so many times.

And then it was one by one. One by one he would begin to torture them, torture them slowly with him singing that awful song. He would hum it as he would take a long knife and began to cut away at his wife’s arms and legs. She was screaming and he used some genjutsu so that she wouldn’t fall unconscious. He wanted her to feel the pain as he did so. He hummed the song when he was killing his daughter…then his brother’s family then he laughed…and laughed and laughed….and-

He was laughing now. That maniacal laughter that was shrieking…and mocked him. Oh yes, it was mocking him now. It was making him want to take the blade in his hand and run the blade right through that character’s throat. He looked at blade that was in his hand and moved it away from his neck. He was in his own little world now, the rage within him had overtaken him and he did not see either Kanji or Lao anymore. He did not feel the tightness of the wires around his arm that was attached to Lao’s neck nor did he care. He was enraged…

He let out a shout. He was about to charge out at Samiel ready to take his life. Lao saw this and looked to Kanji praying to whatever God there was that he was going to cut these damn wires. If not…he was a dead man and he would be if he didn’t.

Samiel motioned him to come with his hands “COME ON! COME AT ME! I KNOW YOU WANT TO COME AT ME! I KILLED YOUR BROTHER AND YOU WANT TO KILL ME! YES, COME ON ROZIN, COME TO ME!” Forming from behind him were the mist servant clones, all five of them were showing to Lao, Kanji and Rozin now. All of them were beckoning Rozin to come “COME TO US!” they shouted “COME TO US NOW!”

Rozin let out a scream.

Posts : 1216

“Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down….
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…”

Dear god. What is that noise? That isn't the sound of a human singing, that is the sound of madness licking at your ears. Jesus H. for horrifying Christ. The monkey began to sing, he wasn't a monkey now. He was a demon that would drive you mad from his singing. Kanji felt himself loosen his grip only to tighten it. He gritted his teeth as he stared the scene before him dead in the face. “I didn’t think-no, no that makes sense…of course, that’s why Rozin so…” Lao looked at Kanji, “This isn’t genjutsu boy…it’s something far worse…it's damn brainwashing...an old programming techniqued used by...aaccckk” he was cut off by the wires choking him to near death. So Rozin was brainwashed by this technique, it would make sense if he had to listen to this constantly.

“Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down….
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…”

The demon appeared behind Jin. Jin needed to run, but he couldn't no one could after hearing that monster. “Do you remember this when I ripped out your son’s throat…do you remember as I made you watch me rip your wife’s heart and ate it right in front of you? Do you remember that…?” Kanji's eyes widened in horror as he heard of the deeds the man did to Jin and his family. This man was batshit insane, there was no leaving this area without someone dying. As if on cue, Jin now fell over on the ground spraying blood as if it was a give away. The monster before them now covered in blood only smiled towards the three as if something amusing just happened. “Rozin…didn’t I kill your wife like that too…I killed him just like I killed your brother…right there in her neck. She was a pretty thing…a pretty little thing…” Kanji's eyes widened as he didn't like where this was going, letting go of Jin's right hand he quickly pulled out a kunai in his right. He cut at the wires rapidly before they finally snapped loose on Lao's neck. Tossing the kunai to the right of him, he grabbed a hold of Lao's shoulder and tossed him to the side. Letting go of Rozin, Kanji stepped back as it wouldn't do them any good to try restraining the monster. Kanji ran over to Lao and grabbed his kunai as he began to cut him free. "Sorry..." He whispered in his ear as his arms were cut free. “COME ON! COME AT ME! I KNOW YOU WANT TO COME AT ME! I KILLED YOUR BROTHER AND YOU WANT TO KILL ME! YES, COME ON ROZIN, COME TO ME!” Kanji looked over to see five of those monsters and chalked it up to the genjutsu again. He gritted his teeth as he touched Lao's shoulder. "Shh." He preformed a single hand seal and preformed Kai on both of them. Now the monster known at Rozin charged the single demon before them. Preforming a few hand seals Kanji placed his hands on the ground as he watched the tree grow from the ground and try to bind the crazed demon. If they succeeded in doing that them maybe Rizon would be able to kill him without Kanji needing to. If failed then Kanji would simply watch the fight before him before stepping in to kill the sadistic demon.

SC

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Jutsu

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Posts : 760

A man stood among the tree tops, squatting down so that he could be concealed by the branches. He watched as Samiel’s entire body was held together by the tree branches, the technique of Mokuton. They held strong onto his body and he knew immediately that there was no point of him struggling. Later on, when the one who watched from afar looked at it, he didn’t think that Samiel was struggling. He was still laughing as the large man screamed and charged at him blindly. It was a straight shot, almost like a single arrow hitting a person at point blank range. The man stood there intrigued, he wondered if this scene went out different then would the crazed man kept on going? He didn’t ponder it for long for he knew the answer would be yes. This man was fueled by madness…and in his madness drove him like the moon drives men into hysteria.

The screaming Rozin charged at Samiel. The binding of the trees, whatever magic that was to him, was holding him back so that he couldn’t escape. He didn’t see him jump back or even move as the branches bounded his arms and legs. It sort of resembled the tables that bounded him, the ones that held his wife and children and his brother’s family. How fitting he thought. He came in with the knife and still in the reverse gripped reached back and stabbed the knife into Samiel’s chest. Samiel let out a world defying screech of pleasure-not pain but pleasure. It was ear shrieking like a demon letting out a howl into the world and letting the world know of its existence.

The blade settled into his body, all of the metal into his blade with only the handle sticking out. Samiel looked down at it and saw the hand that was attached to the handle. It was Rozin’s hand. He looked up at him and saw his face was contorted with hatred, sweat beading off of him in the heat. He was breathing heavily as if he was running a marathon and he just finished. He looked up at Samiel and saw how those eyes had looked at him once. They once looked down at him like he was beneath human, he use to torture him and his brother and made them work for him…he use to fear this man, he use to dream of this man tying him back up and resurrecting his family just so he could kill them again. He heard the screams, oh dear god the screams. How they would echo in his head. He saw that now this monster now held down by trees and had suffered a fate that would end him. And he knew something, at that very moment. He knew all too well that this death did not suit him. It was punishing to him, not a single thing about this stabbing could bring relief into his heart.

He drew away from Samiel, saw that even after he drew his last breath there was something of a smile on his face. It was an awful imprint of a grin that bore his sharp teeth. They all looked like canines, every single one of them just looked like canines. He looked vampiric at that very moment as all the blood drew out of the deep wound in his chest. Rozin looked at his hands and saw the blood of Samiel on his palms. He wiped it on the ground knowing he would want to wash his hands off or burn it off his skin. He didn’t want this damn-thing on him. He saw his brother’s body lay sprawl on the ground. The blood came out of his neck and slowly oozed out creating a large pile. He got on his knees and set his head down. A burning sensation came over his eyes and he realized that he was crying. He wanted to shout. He wanted to scream to the heavens and curse the ever loving God that would take his only family away…his only blood relation now lay on the ground with his blood spilled on the earth.

Lao rubbed his neck. He felt a mild stinging sensation on his neck from where the wires were placed on his body but he was fine. He leaned his head back and could feel the heaviness of the back of his head. It was wear Samiel had probably punched him, no doubt leaving a good size mark that would swell for a days. Well, it was better than dying and he couldn’t say the same thing about Jin and that man. He stood up from the chair, he caught himself with the arm of the chair feeling his legs were numb. They had fallen asleep during his time being tied up and he wouldn’t know it for the longest time but he had to take the biggest piss in his entire life.

“Let him mourn child…” Lao spoke in a even raspier voice “We must keep on going yes? I have to explain some things to you while we travel. This may some time and you are on a time limit with me.” He rubbed his neck “And I’m not one to be sentimental towards people who’ve lost things. I’ve lost many things in my life…just like that young man over.”

They would walk back to their camp and retrieve their items. Even after seeing all of the death that happen, Lao had no intention of staying there and rest. He wanted to get to where it was he needed to go and then sleep this entire day away. Hopefully this will be something he’ll forget through time and effort. Or the best way, in his opinion, to forget was booze. He began speaking as they were walking “That was an old technique that has been used for some time now. It’s an old principle that was planned and thought by an old war general way before the time of the shinobi…I don’t know how long it was or even if the history of it is true. It’s simply been used as a way of implementing something with a trigger. The trigger can be something small like a word or a phrase. Sometimes it can even be something as small as a blue bird or as tall as a building. When it triggers, it reaches into the mind and begins to form simple constructs. These constructs can be something as decent as happy memories to block out horrifying ones or, in the case of that, it was an image of something horrifying that triggered their bodies to stop moving or prolong movement. People call it brain-washing. It’s not inaccurate but it’s not right either. Think of it as a giant button in the head after putting in these triggers and certain programs, like a computer. And you put it in and all the sudden an innocent bystander turns into a murderous human being.”

He paused to swallow some saliva and continued “This was heavily used by the old organization known as the Shantakai. I remember one of their main members using it so efficiently that an entire village could be under their control and they simply wouldn’t know it. I think that particular person branched off of the group after some dispute. I remember talking to a former member long ago about this. The main leader wanted to use that ability but of course that member was selfish and broke off teaching it to others. I’m guessing this guy must’ve learned it from him but it was incomplete or something.” He tapped his temple concentrating hard to find the name of that person but it slipped his mind before he could grasp it “In any case,” he dismissed “You were a bit young when they first arrived but when they did…one part of the shinobi world literally broke off because of that mental programming. They called it Seishin. That’s what I call it too and it fits perfectly. This Seishin allows someone to infiltrate the mind through techniques of torture and other methods. I don’t know any more methods then torture but I can imagine there are many ways of putting in something a person wouldn’t volunteer themselves with. If that is the case, you must leave with the information that I have given you and report it back because if the old remnant of this group still has the technique of Seishin…then it may be a matter of time before it is used again on the villages.”

Posts : 1216

The madness before them seemed to only intensify being bound by Kanji's tree. He laughed madly as Rozin easily found the real one and charged. The scene wasn't going to be pretty, gritting his teeth, Kanji watched as Rozin stabbed the man. His death wail echoed throughout the area and every living thing with a brain fled the area quickly. Poor Rozin stepped away from the corpse of his tormentor, the smile on his face seemed to mock him even in death. He stumbled over to Jin's body as the blood had finally stopped pumping so the large puddle reached its limit. He sat there hunched over the corpse as Lao spoke up, “Let him mourn child…” Lao spoke in a even raspier voice, the wires really did a number on him. “We must keep on going yes? I have to explain some things to you while we travel. This may some time and you are on a time limit with me.” He rubbed his neck obviously still sore from the pain. “And I’m not one to be sentimental towards people who’ve lost things. I’ve lost many things in my life…just like that young man over.” Kanji nodded his head as he too had lost many thing in his life as well. The walk to camp was long and quiet, but nothing was to be spoken of. Kanji had saved his life just as he had endangered it. Kanji had undone the wrong that he could have been perceived to had made. They finally made it to camp which mostly consisted of Lao packing up his goods and them going on the road. As they walked Lao began to speak up before they reached the road,

“That was an old technique that has been used for some time now. It’s an old principle that was planned and thought by an old war general way before the time of the shinobi…I don’t know how long it was or even if the history of it is true. It’s simply been used as a way of implementing something with a trigger. The trigger can be something small like a word or a phrase. Sometimes it can even be something as small as a blue bird or as tall as a building. When it triggers, it reaches into the mind and begins to form simple constructs. These constructs can be something as decent as happy memories to block out horrifying ones or, in the case of that, it was an image of something horrifying that triggered their bodies to stop moving or prolong movement. People call it brain-washing. It’s not inaccurate but it’s not right either. Think of it as a giant button in the head after putting in these triggers and certain programs, like a computer. And you put it in and all the sudden an innocent bystander turns into a murderous human being.” Kanji's eyes widened at the mention of this information. He made a mental note to memorize this since it would be important to report after the mission.

“This was heavily used by the old organization known as the Shantakai. I remember one of their main members using it so efficiently that an entire village could be under their control and they simply wouldn’t know it. I think that particular person branched off of the group after some dispute. I remember talking to a former member long ago about this. The main leader wanted to use that ability but of course that member was selfish and broke off teaching it to others. I’m guessing this guy must’ve learned it from him but it was incomplete or something.” Lao tapped his temples concentrating trying to remember the name he was searching for, “In any case,” Lao dismissed the thought. “You were a bit young when they first arrived but when they did…one part of the shinobi world literally broke off because of that mental programming. They called it Seishin. That’s what I call it too and it fits perfectly. This Seishin allows someone to infiltrate the mind through techniques of torture and other methods. I don’t know any more methods then torture but I can imagine there are many ways of putting in something a person wouldn’t volunteer themselves with. If that is the case, you must leave with the information that I have given you and report it back because if the old remnant of this group still has the technique of Seishin…then it may be a matter of time before it is used again on the villages.” Kanji nodded his head and began to turn before stopping himself.

"I'm sorry but I will be taking my leave. You should have no more threats considering that one group of bandits is more than enough for an old man. You can either return to your village to stay with the man known as Sasaki Kojiro. He'd be your body guard for cheap. He is rather friendly and I wouldn't put it past him to travel with you where ever you need to go." Kanji said as he dashed away. He lied about Saaski from not knowing him too well but from what he had seen the swordsman seemed friendly. Kanji would run back to his village and easily make it back within two days if he ran properly. But first he needed to stop in town to grab some food for his travel.

[Exit]

Posts : 760

The boy had left the old Lao Xiaong all to himself. There was not a single soul that crossed him for the next five minutes. He was left with himself, the trees and the blowing air that whistled every time it passed through a hollow spot through the threes. He didn’t mind it however. There was the fact that everything around him had turned quite serene and with all that had happened in the past hour or two, it was the serene scene he was looking for. He set his pack on the ground and rummaged through it fingering at the sheets of papers. He grabbed them and counted each one with a finger. Not a single document was out of place. He wasn’t worried that the boy would go through his things. Like he said previously, he was one who upheld his honor and went by his word that would promise and not lie. Still, working in a business where everything is severely corrupted can bring in some habits that makes one cautious rather than foolish. He set his papers back in his bag and hauled it over his shoulder where he continued on walking. The boy suggested that he should hire another man for his travels. He would not have to, he believed to be safe for the moment.

The rest of the way to his target location was no more than a few kilometers away from the battle in which his former employee had taken place. When he arrived at the entranced, he saw a few men surrounding a ladder where one man was taking down a large red lantern. He was giving out commands as he let the large lantern fall into one of the men on the ground hands. They seemed to finish one of their festivals; it was the middle of summer and most towns and small villages where doing their annual summer festivals by now. He missed out on this one but with the large commotion he had dealt with not a few hours before; he believed he was done with festivals for this year. There were two men who were walking out of the village, one of them had told a joke and the other laughed heartily. It was a deep bass of a laugh, nothing like the laugh of that one…thing that kidnapped him. He wondered if any of the commotion had reached over here to this town. His laughter shook the entirety of the forest as was an ear screeching, nail scratching on a chalkboard type of laugh that can make ears ring for days. It sent a cold shiver down his back thinking about it. That was surprising, he actually had a shivering feeling which made gooseflesh rise on his skin. How funny he thought and giggled.

He took his time to an inn or rather a hotel. It called itself The Bear Inn but the entirety of the place was very glamorous to be a hotel rather than a rundown inn or even a fancy one at that. It was quite a modern looking inn with a very large lobby which had a desk clerk ringing in clients. He stood in line and waited for his turn to come up. When it did, the clerk looked at him with mild amusement then her face immediately turned to a more concern look. Lao knew already what it was “I got caught in some chicken wire, just a small wound is all. I’m fine.”

As much a lie it was, she took it without much thought and dropped it all together. “Are you looking for a room for the night?” she asked pleasantly.

He shook his head “No, no I’m just looking for the room of this person…” he pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket and slid it on the desk. She leaned down and read it. Her expression was filled with that earlier amusement.

“Oh Sasayaki-san is in one of our penthouse rooms.”

“Penthouse rooms? There are only two floors how can there be…”

“It’s odd how the company set it up yes but it just means he’s in one of our specialized rooms on the second floor. Would you like for me to ring for him to come down?”

He waved his hand “Not necessary. I’ll just need to know his room number is all.” She gave him the number and he thanked her. He took the stairwell up to the second floor. The room number was the very last room at the end of the hallway. He knocked when he got to the door. There was a small shuffling noise like tiny feet were moving close to the door. Was there a kid in the room with Sasayaki? That’ll be odd to see when coming to a business meeting such as this. Who in the hell is going to answer it?

The door slowly turned. There was a small noise that Lao heard when the door pulled open. He saw no one in front of him when the door was pulled. He wondered if this was some sort of trick until he heard that small shuffling noise and from behind the door was a small, blue haired girl. She had to be no older than four or five and was probably one of the cutest little girls he had ever seen. He didn’t say anything at first because he was hypnotized by the eyes. They were…they sudden changed colors. In the first instances the color of her eyes were a shade of deep blue then it changed to a soft yellow then to a melting orange. The colors kept on changing to intricate colors that almost gave her a haunting chill down his back again but he caught the shock. He kneeled down “Hello little one.” He said, his voice was still a harsh rasp but he tried to make it sound as attractive as possible trying not to scare her off. “Is your…” he didn’t know what to say at first. Is this the young Sasayaki’s daughter or relative of some kind? Who was this little girl? He felt as though saying is your father or mother in would make the moment much odder. This was an already an odd child with color changing eyes and later he would realize that he would not of been odd for him to say if her mother or father was home. At the spur of thought, he went with the safe route “Is Sasayaki-san in?”

She nodded slowly. It was not the nod of a normal girl. Most children he saw had that sort of energy that all children are gifted at the early stages of life. Her nod had a calmer disposition to it almost as if she was a small adult. Her long blue hair went down to her back, long luxurious hair that seems to be combed out well. She was wearing a brightly color shirt with a large strawberry in the center with blue jeans that appeared to have smaller strawberries where the pockets lie. Her clothes just didn’t match that look on her face which held such a power to him that he couldn’t put in a single word. It wasn’t maturity or a sense of calm. It was something…otherworldly. She used his fingers to motion for him to follow. This was getting odd but he had known for awhile that Sasayaki was not exactly a normal citizen of society. They walked around a corner and into a large space where there was a small area laid out with rocks and a small fountain of water rose up and out the crevices of the rocks. There was a couch and two chairs that were position around the fountain. Over in the far right was a kitchen space entirely decked out with modern furnishings and up to date kitchen ware. He could imagine the refrigerator was stocked with selective foods and fine drink. There was a large table that had an entire dinner set at the ready with fine china of plates, expensive forks and spoons with intricate knives not seen around this area of the world.

The light in the room was not artificial but all sunlight. It was still the afternoon and with the light still bright in the sky, the large windows let in the light that gave the entire white room a clean fixture. So this is what they meant when they said penthouse room.

Lao took off his sandals and set his back on the floor. He didn’t want to step on the white carpet with such dirty feet. He took out his papers and filed them in order. The little girl walked up on the ledge and went over to the couch where he saw papers of things being drawn on them. She got back on the couch and took up a crayon.

There were footsteps coming from the far back. Out from another corner were three people, two of which he had made his acquaintance with. The first person was the slightly taller Zurui Sasayaki, owner and C.E.O of the Sasayaki corporation and head leader of the Sasayaki clan. His drawn back hair gave his slanted eyes an almost charming look. He had that sly smile of his that was always partially genuine and partially sinister. Next to him was a young woman, the second person he was acquainted with. She had dark skin, the color of coffee and cream with black hair that fell to her shoulders. She was beautiful in a tough exterior way, one that could only be achieved by living in the islands for so many years working hard with the hands. Her arms had a muscular tone to them and even with the white cotton lace blouse she wore Lao could see that she was fit as a horse for a woman or any human being. He had met her along with Sasayaki on his first visit. She was wearing more professional wear than the blouse and skirt she was wearing now but she was all the beautiful.

And then there was Keiro.

This man didn’t stand out to Lao, not by first glance. When he saw him he immediately spotted the unkempt brown hair and the gi he was wearing which was all black with the shirt being entirely sleeveless. He was muscular, by far a very lean and muscular man that seemed to have the ability to crush the very heads of whomever it was he grabbed with. He had the entire appearance of a martial art master who just finished teaching his class. Keiro stood behind the two of them with his black eyes staring at Lao. It was those eyes that gave him that chill down his back but this time he couldn’t catch that shock. What in the hell was up with his eyes? Lao didn’t know whether the man was something like that little girl but someone who was the polar opposite or perhaps they were one and the same. It sent gooseflesh all over him and he didn’t like it.

“Lao-kun!” Zurui said in falsetto voice “How good of you to come. Please, sit…”

“Ah, da, da, da” He puts a hand up. His face had immediately changed from somewhat disturbed to mild discontent “Don’t give me the formalities. You didn’t tell me you were sending Samiel the terror on me. I had no idea he was still alive…”

Zurui didn’t seem surprise by this. He turned his head towards to Keiro. “Hei…” he said, not saying it as annoyed as he wanted to as there was still a hint of mild pleasure in his voice “I thought we agreed it had to be someone that wouldn’t try and outright kill Lao…”

Keiro shrugged “And I told you, Zurui that I wanted to test out the prowess of the current generation of Kumogakure shinobi. If I just got some random bandits off of some guild to hunt him down I would not have seem the full potential of this guy. Did you catch his name?”

Lao shook his head “No, I only know is that he sprouted trees out of the ground so my guess is that he is a Senju.”

“Yeah, I knew that much. The branches that came out of the ground were an obvious. He was just an odd looking one, with the dark skin and white hair is all. I suppose I shouldn’t judge by the way a person looks but I’ve never seen a Senju with dark skin. How very interesting.”

The lights in Lao’s mind, the word ‘knew’ sparked in his head. That meant that he had further knowledge of this person but how could that be? Lao tilted his head “Wait…how did you know he was a Senju? Were you…”

“I was there watching you, that kid and Samiel’s group the entire time. I had followed you and him as this entire charade of ours began. You didn’t notice I was there because I made it appear as if I was a mere traveler walking among the forest.

Moving back to the road now, Kanji could see a figure and rushed up towards it. Grabbing the man by his shoulders, Kanji spun him around to look at his face. It wasn't Lao but rather a traveler scared that Kanji had just grabbed him out of no where. "Have you seen a man around here?! He wears a straw hat and has a grey shirt on!" Kanji yelled, his eyes frantically searching the man's before him. "I-I don't know!" The man said before pulling away from Kanji. Letting his arms drop to his side, Kanji watched as the man ran off in the distance to try getting away. The man dashed behind like a blur and jumped up onto the branches landing on it with such subtly that it was almost silent. He watched as Kanji’s panic with great attention and surprised interest as to what it is he will do now that Samiel the terror had done what he had asked.

Samiel was hesitant in taking the job. As much as he was a low tier shinobi in terms of power, his mind was considered beyond the norm and he was one of the old Shantakai leader’s proud subjects of the power of MK or as Lao put it Seishin. He had read up on the subject on how certain individuals are placed as spies in their own country to cause havoc by either being a saboteur or infiltrate into a group and wreck chaos but he needed to see it in action through the power of Seishin. He didn’t hear anything about it through his father but then again he hadn’t expected his father to inform of anything about the old Shantakai anyway. He found this out by himself. Keiro had found a few remnants but Samiel the terror was one of the few he decided was best for him to test this out. He did and found out that the consequences were powerful-maybe too powerful. He hired him in hoping that it would be his demise and sure enough it was. Not only did that kid kill him but he saw what skill the kid posses and the power of Seishin in the work.

“I knew there was a risk Xiaong but I needed information and the only way to test that was to simply put both parties in a position that’ll unleash the full potential of members. I knew you would be in danger but I believed out of the all the men we were going to ask for this assignment, you were the best qualified due to your…eccentric behavior. Without it, anyone else would’ve cracked to Samiel’s madness. And from what I can tell, the only scar you received is the ones on your neck.” Lao’s hand instinctively rubbed where the wires had cut into his skin and felt a slight sting “In honesty, it was Zurui who suggested we hire you to be the guinea pig so you might want to put the blame on him instead of me…”

Lao, for one second, hesitated because there was a split second of rage the filled in his head. So this was all for naught he thought, all of this was planned by Zurui and this Hei fellow. This meeting of this was only meant for him to be a puppet to scheme. How cruel of them he thought but then that one second faded and he realized that these two men were doing what was necessary. They did not do this out of cruelty but out of some plan they thought up. He understood that Hei spoke this out without an ounce of emotion in his voice when he explained that he set this up and he had no empathy over Lao’s pain. He was simply a casualty for the cause and that is the case then let it be. How business-like of them he thought. He smiled and sat down in the chair “So I suppose you wanted me because I have these reports on the latest profits and loss on these major corporations am I correct? I wonder as to why it is you wanted all of these?”

“Well,” Keiro smiled “Zurui also said that you’re one powerful man to get connections with in terms of finding out who it is I want to succeed and who it is I want to ruin. You have one of the best infiltration units when it comes to corporate power and he said that you were the best corps to do so.”

“I would’ve been useless to you if I was dead…”

Keiro shrugged “ “That’s the risk I had to take. If I didn’t, I would’ve never gotten a chance to see you out in the open where you, Zurui and I can talk. So I suppose we should get down to business.” Keiro walks over one of the chairs and sit down and motions for all of them to sit. “Let’s talk.”

[End Topic]