Ouroboros compound-Orochi Estate: two days prior

An infuriated Enaka was yelling at a masked man in his office, having gotten the news that there was some kind of political figure with a lot of influence in the world, trying to accuse Konoha for crimes not committed, planning to incite a war.

"Hataro, I know well enough that I wanted a war, but only one in which I have all control of how it ends," The man sighed, throwing the reports on the politician on his desk, which due to the shock spreaded out in a wave of written words on paper. "Find me someone…I dont care who, someone not allied to our village or better yet…give me a moment."

The masked man nodded, while Enaka walked to one of the cabinets and opened a drawer, pulling out a thin file with a snapshot on an unidentified person who had been in Konoha for a while now, but was in no means a shinobi of the village.

"Slip the mission through to this guy," Enaka laughed, while handing over the file to Hataro. "Send one of our guys to deliver this to his address, make sure he thinks this is a direct offer from the mission board, but alter his mission a bit, make sure he gathers the information, the files or documents containing the proof for those accusations and bring them to me."

After a quick nod, The masked man in black ANBU attire vanished from sight, leaving the Ouroboros regent alone in his office.

ANBU headquarters: One day prior

There are no objectives but one, to remove this man from the public face of politics," A blond woman from the CID spoke up, showing the picture of a handsome, yet slightly cold looking person on the board. "We want the full cooperation of the ANBU and hope you are capable enough to stop this guy in his tracks."

Risu listened calmly to what the woman in front was saying, paying little attention to her bright blue eyes and the scar which somehow defiled her otherwise very elegant face. She looked at the report and gave a swift smile, it seemed that she had been picked out for this mission, even though their was the chance that the politician had hired a few men to travel with him beyond the border. The objective was simple: eliminating the guy before he managed to cross the border and all those helping him IF they obstructed the ANBU in their job.

being kept apart from the rest of her team when the debriefing was done, the young Orochi woman snickered a bit, giving a soft smile at the blonde woman, who patted her on her shoulders. "I dont think I need to add that you should make sure no identities are leaked from our side."

Risu only nodded and placed her mask in front of her face, ready to make sure she would not be noticed by anyone when she left the headquarters.

Present time, forest near Hi no Kuni border

The carriage rode over the sandy road, two men sat in front, keeping the horses in check, armed with katanas, the politician most likely was sitting inside with the high probability of having another guard in there.

Pulling the mask in the shape of a snake's face over her head, Risu took on her identity as 'Lamya' once again, observing the incoming carriage from within the trees at the side of the road, ready to spring her trap when necessary.

592/2500

[Yesterday:]

Aethir was relaxing at his home, balancing a pencil on his index finger. "This is so...Why? Why did he even tell me to balance this pencil?"  "I don't know, but hey! Look! You're getting better!"  "Ah, hush. I'm...I'm almost losing it..." he balanced the pencil until it fell over, Aethir sighing loudly as he water clones eyed him. "Wow...Well that was one second longer than last time!"  "AUGH, BUT IT STILL ISN'T AN HOUR!!" The ronin sat in his chair, looking at a random spot on his wall. 'Balance this pencil for an hour.' the old man's voice, Aethir's teacher, sounding in his head. "Ugh...But why? Why an hour, old man?" he sighed before a knock sounded at his door, Aethir getting up to get it. "Who is it?"  "Come on, you know that if you don't know, I don't know..." The clone stuck out it's tongue before receiving a sheet of paper. It was a mission offer, Aethir smiling as he closed the door. "Well, me, we're back in business...!" the clone stared as Aethir smiled at him.

[Today:]

Darkness... Aethir was in the middle of darkness, the floor rippling with each step he took. "Water clone technique!" he shouted, his voice strained and sounding desperate. Five clones spawned, rushing in to either attack with taijutsu or suiton jutsus. However, the clones were damaged, turning into water puddles. "R-Raiton shadow clone jutsu!!" Aethir nearly screamed, raiton clones formed, using lightning javelins, shock bullets, and other raiton techniques Aethir knew, the target swiftly dodging each attack while rushing towards him. These raiton clones dispersed, Aethir's heart pounding as he backed away. This target was...the same bandaged man from the ANBU missions he apparently hallucinated about. But for a hallucination, this person had always been reappearing in Aethir's mind, making it hard for him to forget. The bandaged man smiled widely, bandages covering his whole face except for his mouth and right red eye. He screamed a high pitched scream, hoping high into the air. 'As you are now, you are now,' Aethir gasped as the bandaged man started spiraling downwards to him, laughing a high pitched cackle, 'You can't defend yourself against those who are a slave to evil.' The ronin froze as he usually did, the bandaged man drawing his usual crimson daggers drawn to gouge out the ronin's eyes once again...


Aethir opened his now stinging eyes, the ronin resting in the carriage. "I can't win...I just can't win..." he sighed, looking off to the side, his heart pounding quickly, "I'm too damn afraid...of that thing..." The laughter and shriek from the bandaged man filled his mind, the image of a mansion filled with bodies popping back into his mind from the mission. "But...But he's teaching me...right? Balancing a damn pencil will help me somehow..." Aethir was silent, hearing the cackle of of the bandaged man along with the carriage moving across the land of fire. He then gasped, sitting up, realizing he wasn't alone in the carriage, seeing the political man staring at him awkwardly. 'I hope he doesn't think I'm crazy..." Aethir gasped, the image of a red eye popping into his mind. 'God damn it...Focus!!' he closed his eyes tightly, opening them with a cleared mind. Aethir smiled, glancing at the file of accusation proofs he was meant to gather before extending it over to the man.

"The proofs sir. I should let you hold onto them..." Aethir nodded, gesturing the folder filled with the files to the man by shaking it lightly, the man quickly taking it and looking through it. With a deep menacing chuckle, he look at the ronin and nodded. "Yes, this will do nicely. Except your pay soon." Aethir shrugged as he was getting up. "But before you leave, please stay for a bit." the man asked the ronin, Aethir staring before sitting back down. "Trust issues you see... Just stay until we're past the border." Aethir continued to stare before slowly nodding to the man, riding inside his cart with him.

Word Count: 707/2500

The clouds started to gather, rain falling out of the sky with buckets at once, drenching the grass and the dirt in the forest, the sand on the road, the clothes of those on the carriage and the fur of the horses, limiting the ability to see further than a few meters away. The carriage didn't stop however, it rode on, having a relatively high pace, though not too fast for the sneaky snake following it through the trees, leading the carriage and its passengers straight into the trap she had made.

A few dozen meters further up the road, she had been placing a lot of dirt from the forest, laying a foundation for one of her more practical jutsu, aiming to use it just for the sake of putting a stop to the horse-pulled vehicle and carry out her assignment.

With a few fast jumps, the young woman in ANBU attire managed to leap ahead of the carriage, surprising the men who drove it by forming a three meter high and one meter thick wall of mud to suddenly rise up in front of them, forcing them to stop instantly, almost making the carriage turn unfavorably and slam it against the mud wall, which due to the quick reaction of the two men was narrowly avoided to happen.

"Damned, who goes there?" The tallest of the two men yelled, jumping off the carriage and walking to the side of the vehicle, pulling the curtain aside from the little window opening in the door. "We have this under control sir, dont be alarmed, probably some highwaymen that think they can get some money from you."

Greeting the man next to the politician, the guard turned around and walked towards the wall, which had already started to crumble again, making it apparent that in a mfew minutes they could be moving again, but both guards wanted to know what was going on, so the shorter one of the two tried to closely examine the wall, when suddenly two snakes made out of mud seemed to sprout out of the mud wall, slamming painfully against the man, squashing him to a pulp, like an overripe grapefruit, which made it obvious with the man's guts and blood splattering around, his crushed corpse falling to the drenched muddy road: the person responsible for this was no ordinary bandit.

A swift motion, a shadow leaping through the air surprised the surviving second guard, who had already pulled his katana, yet when he felt the wind blow right passed him, he heard a metalic screech, followed by half of his katana's blade dropping to the ground and as he looked up to see what or who it was he was dealing with, he noticed the slender shadow on top of the mud wall…

"You have a chance to survive unlike your friend over there," A distorted, eerie female voice ressonated through the rumble of the rainstorm. "Bring me the person who's paying you and I'll be lenient towards you!!"

1102/2500

Silence filled the cart as Aethir looked around inside, twiddling his thumbs. 'Sheesh...I want to strike up a conversation, but...' Aethir looked up at the political man, staring at his creepy smile. "He's just so creepy..."  "What was that?"  "UM...Nothing." Aethir smiled wide before the political man slowly looked back down at his proofs. As this exchange occurred, the cart stopped suddenly, Aethir nearly tumbling out of his seat. "This carriage sucks..."  "What was that?! Why did we stop?!"  "What- ...What WAS that?! We...better...find out~!" Aethir laughed nervously before the cart's small window was opened, one of the guards speaking through. He spoke of highwaymen that are possibly trying to rob this man for his money... But Aethir couldn't help but feel like it was the bandaged man, becoming a reality...and is somehow after him. As the guard greeted the ronin, Aethir blinked rapidly before nodding back over to him.

As he slowly sat back up straight as the window closed, he grew pale, sweat running down the side of his head. 'What if...' Aethir gulped, looking down at his now trembling hands, 'What if that wasn't a hallucination? I mean...I...' the ronin looked at the man, mustering up his voice to ask a question to him. "Should... Should I go aid them?" Aethir asked, pointing at the recently opened window. "No... Stay here just in case it's more than just highwaymen... These proofs are valuable." Aethir stared, slowly nodding before looking at the recently opened window. 'Let's hope it's just highwaymen and not that...thing...' he thought to himself as silence fell inside the cart once again, the rain at least attempting to break the silence...

He spent this time to run over possible scenarios, all of them causing the ronin to feel more comfortable if he left the cart. "I'm sorry," Aethir spoke before attempting to open the cart, "But I just feel more at ease if I can see my enemy, instead of being anxious in here." As the cart opened, Aethir crawled out of it slowly, nodding to the political man and slowly closing it. He turned to see some odd pile further down the road next to what looked like a mud wall. He saw the shorter guards' katana in half, soon looking for the taller guard. "Is that...?" Aethir narrowed his eyes, then covered his mouth as the eyes widened as the realization of what became of the guard. "I see..." As Aethir slowly inched closer, he finally noticed one more thing, noticing someone the rain had been shielding his eyes from. At the top of what looked to be a wall made of mud was someone in some sort of outfit... ANBU... The outfit this person was wearing was an ANBU outfit! But was it him? The officer from his mission? No... Aethir noticed the mask was completely different. But the ronin couldn't help but chuckle, sighing as he was a bit relieved that it wasn't the bandaged man.

As he continued to walk closer towards the wall, eventually standing about ten meters across from the shorter man, Aethir looked up as he narrowed his eyes, a makeshift shield from the rain for his eyes. "What's going on here?" Aethir asked so casually, shrugging as he smiled up to the ANBU officer. He wasn't exactly feeling that the officer would suddenly go 'Oh nothing, just saying hi~!' and run along... One of the guards had died, and this one had his sword cut. "Maybe we can help you with something?" the ronin asked, the smile slowly fading, a look of seriousness on his face now as he moved the now soaked brown hair that lied in front of his eyes. "Maybe...? Hm?" Aethir repeated, eyeing the officer for any signs of movement, his eyes showing now signs of fear. The corps and the half missing blade was a hint to the ronin that this officer meant business... And to the ronin's knowledge, these people were just innocent people, and this ANBU appeared as some sort of assassin to him. From the ronin's perspective, the ANBU appeared to be working on the side of injustice. This officer appeared to be his enemy...

Word Count: 1425/2500

standing from atop the diminishing mud wall, Risu looked down, as one of the men seemed to come out of the cart, revealing a rather young and certainly not ugly man, but that wasn't the politician, so the masked woman had to assume that this guy was another guard, but seeing as this one didn't carry a weapon and his sense and appearance showed more, pure confidence, this wasn't someone as lowly as those two others.

"Oy you, you can't handle two of us at the same time, can you?" The guard seemingly regained his confidence with Aethir having appeared on the scene. Foolishly he started to taunt the masked ANBU officer, spouting out unnecessary threats. "You should just give up and surrender peacefully…huh?"

The ANBU had jumped off of the wall and landed right in front of the guard, her palms straight against the man's gut, when a pulsating shock went through his body, sending him flying backwards, crashing unconsciously against the cart.

From up close, Aethir should now have been able to see that there was a distinct difference between the ANBU officer he had seen before and the one he was seeing now. This one actually had the gray standard konoha ANBU armor, the standard mask and the mandatory ANBU tattoo visible above the long sleeved gloves this person was wearing. This should've also been enough to make him realize that the other man whom he thought to have been an ANBU officer wore an entirely black ANBU armor with two silver chains at the right side, had covered his shoulders and had a black mask with silver lines going down from the eyes to the lower jawline of the mask.

The masked woman turned to aethir, keeping silent for a moment, yet not losing her balanced stance. She stood close enough for him to see the feminin curves underneath the official ANBU outfit and the snakelike golden eyes behind the mask.

"So tell me," The woman said with a distorted voice thanks to the mask, making it sound more raspy and darker than it actually was. "Are you going to stand in my way as well or do you want to live your life?"

1477/2500

Aethir continued to look up at the ANBU officer, looking over to the shorter guard shoot off his mouth. Shaking his head while having a sarcastic look on his face, Aethir looked back up at the officer, awaiting an answer. As he saw the officer jump off the wall, Aethir quickly skipped backwards a few feet, away from the landing area of the officer. Hearing a crash, Aethir turned to glance at the cart, then back at the officer. 'The cart is...fine...' Aethir confirmed to himself mentally while studying the officer who was now standing more closely.

'Hey...' Aethir blinked while examining the armor, 'This doesn't look like his armor... Is this a Konoha variation of the ANBU armor? What...' the ronin shook his head to himself, not having had seen many armors of the ANBU in his time of living. 'Doesn't matter... Irrelevant. What needs to be taken care of is-' The masked officer had then turned to Aethir as he stared at her with a serious look on his face. As he continued his examination, he noticed the small features he failed to notice when she was a far. She...being the ANBU officer now that Aethir could see some of the finer details. What caught his attention were the eyes that belonged to her... He took note of this and sighed, realizing this person before him is someone completely new.

As she began to speak, the voice caught him off guard as he nearly reacted by attempting to dodge vocal sound waves. As he listened to the woman's words, he scratched the top of his right eyebrow as he smiled. "Sorry," he began, inhaling deep, "But I can't let anyone go around harming innocents." he stopped scratching his eyebrow, dropping his hands to the side. "Not even an ANBU officer like yourself. But don't let that stop you from explaining your reasoning for this." With that being said, Aethir once again prepared himself for any of the ANBU officer's sudden movements. As he slowly began to walk backwards, the information he was visually able to gather so far came to his mind. 'Female. Golden eyes. Gray armor. Mask...' he continued on as he listed the details mentally...

Word Count: 1802/2500

"My mission is absolute," The woman behind the mask replied coldly to Aethir's statement that he could not let her kill anyone innocent, even if those were her ANBU orders. Working for two opposing sides was not always something fun. "Someone who spreads false accusations on Konoha and thinks to get away with it, must be punished severely, those are the orders I've been given."

Her voice showed her resolution to complete her mission, what was worse, she had decided that she was not going to argue with Aethir on this matter, her job was to kill the politician and make sure he would not reach that political summit outside of the land of fire.

With a slight 'zooming' sound, her hands suddenly started to glow with a purple hue, followed by those hands being envelloped by a thick, jagged stream of chakra, a technique commonly known as one of the most dangerous and effective weapons among combat medics: the chakra scalpel, a jutsu which could be used to heal or to destroy, truly a fearsome jutsu.

"Time's up," The woman spoke softly, placing her chakra imbued hands together and forming some seals, followed by the ANBU officer holding one hand straight upwards and one in front of her mouth, out of which a stream of fast growing stream of vapor appeared, covering the area with a thick mist. "You wont stop me."

Having decided to take down the man in front of her at first, Risu used her Snake senses-jutsu to remove her eyesight and completely be guided by her other, sharper senses so she could execute her mission. Knowing that Aethir was in front of her, she turned aside, running towards the carriage through the thick mist, ready to take down the politician as ordered. However, a second thought made her turn again, rushing towards the ronin, trying to use her chakra scalpel to cut underneath the young man's armpits, just to make sure he would not be able to use his arms for the time being.

This was not an aim to kill, but to incapacitate, as Risu felt that the ronin was not to be hurt just because he was doing his job.

1849/2500

The ronin was about to rush in and attack the ANBU officer before she brought up some...peculiar details. She spoke of someone spreading false accusations. 'Is she speaking about the man in the... No... he's just a-' Snapping out of his thoughts, Aethir watched as the ANBU began to form hand seals, soon quickly backing away a few meters. As he moved, some sort of thick mist had formed around him, Aethir glancing around himself to take note of it. 'Hidden mist technique? Or is this a different jut-' Looking back at the woman's direction, he noticed she was gone, causing him to look around himself one more, more quickly this time, even checking above himself to be sure she wasn't in midair.

'But...if she is telling the truth...Then these people weren't innocent.' he unwillingly thought to himself as he slowly turned, trying to find where she went. The unwanted thoughts continued... 'But I can't just take her word for it, can I? No... No, I'll need some proof that she's speaking the truth...' He cautiously turned more in another direction, thinking about a strategy now. 'Rain... I could use my water clone technique.' he nodded, then eyed the mist. 'I can also use it on the mist to clear some of it up I think...So then I'll-' as he was raising his hands to begin his strategy, he heard quick footsteps in a direction, turning to see the woman already a meter close to him. He back away once more in a direction, however he was too late as the woman's attack had landed due to her being faster than what he had expected. The ronin slipped as he landed on the wet ground due to a natural fear reaction to being harmed.

'Damn it, she's fast...I'll just have to counter with my own speed...' He was kneeling on the ground, the ronin attempting to use his arms to push himself up into a standing position...however he found that his arms weren't responding. "What- ..." as he tried and tried, Aethir couldn't help but sigh and give off a nervous chuckle. 'Well there goes my strategy...' he sighed, looking up to the woman. 'I know where she is now... But I can't use my arms.' He looked down, appearing to have an idea as he tapped his foot in the knelt down position. 'I can still use my legs...Yes...I can try to kick her.' It was here that Aethir realized a very...very important detail... 'Fool, you've never practiced any kicking techniques... UGH!! Of all the times I skipped leg training day, I-" Aethir went silent, a serious look on his face as he eyed the woman. 'No. No time for that. Focus and think of a plan.' he nodded to himself, eyeing the woman the best he could in this mist and rain combination.

Word Count: 2300/2500

Risu felt her chakra connecting with the sinews and tendons underneath the ronin's skin, making her smile slightly behind her mask. While she turned around, she ended her snake senses jutsu to prevent herself from going permanently blind, deciding to admire her work, yet knowing fully well that she still had to take down that politician.

"I'm not here to kill you, ronin," The masked ANBU officer sneered, while stepping back into the mist, trying to blend with it slowly. "I do not know what you are meant to do, but in your condition you will not be able to stop me."

Without hesitation, the young woman walked towards the carriage. A shudder passed through her body, when her entire skin was layered with scales, making it more easier for her to crack open the cart like an empty nutshell. A single punch was enough to drive her entire arm through the roof of the carriage and rip it off, revealing a scared man sitting inside, with feverish eyes, clutching his arms around a large map with papers inside it.

"Sasori Masaru, for the crimes comitted against Konohagakure, you are hereby sentenced to death," Risu raised both of her arms, clasping her hands together and forming a few hand seals, after which two large snakes made out of rock and water protruded through the bottom of the carriage, forcefully breaking through the wooden floor as if it were made out of matchsticks and grabbing the man by his arms, pinning him in his seat and slowly pulling him down. "Be glad, it wont hurt…much."

While the man was screaming in fear, Risu did not notice that behind her someone had appeared, someone as tall as her and apart from wearing no mask, this person looked exactly the same as her, yet with black, hollow doll-eyes. Before the ANBU could react, she could feel a scalpel piercing through her armor, her skin and placing itself cleanly between her floating ribs at the right side. Her eyes widened a bit, while stumbling backwards.

Another lifeless looking person appeared, with long gray hair and wearing two extremely long nodachi katanas, one imbued with fuuton, the other with raiton chakra. She was outnumbered, but could not see who these people were, nor find an answer to the question: why were they here.

At Aethir's location, another man had appeared, wearing an entirely black ANBU outfit, complete with a black mask with silver lines and two silver chains at the side of his vest. He simply nodded at the ronin, while the fingers of his right hand seemed to twitch constantly.

"Do you have the documents of the politician, as requested?" The man asked rather coldly, ignoring the state in which Aethir was at that point. "You do know we need those documents before the ANBU send their killer for Sasori Masaru, do you understand, Aethir?"

2335/2500

Aethir eyed the woman as she spoke of not killing him, backing into the mist as Aethir soon lost visual of her again. He was silent as he heard the word of the officer, eventually looking down at his disabled arms to think to himself for a moment. 'My jutsus are out and half of my combat strength has been rendered useless now...but...' Aethir listened to the rain drop around him, 'But why not kill me...? Unless the village forbid the ANBU to...' He blinked, closing his eyes as he remembered the different statements he heard the woman say to him. 'False accusations... Maybe that man is-' Aethir suddenly gasped as he turned, snapping out of his thoughts after hearing screams pierce the hissing sound of the rain near him, the ronin getting ready to stand and run over to possibly prevent any killing going on...before he noticed someone standing by him.

Aethir stared at the man as he listened to his words. 'It's...' Aethir gulped, then nodded, gesturing over to the carriage with his head, at first trying with his arms... "I gave it to him... The man in the carriage." Aethir turned back to the carriage, now seeing the woman in a bit of a pinch with other people nearby... The rain and wisps from the mist made it somewhat hard to see from where he was. With a frustrated groan, Aethir turned to the man in the ANBU outfit. "Just what's going on here?! All I was meant to do was to deliver the proofs to that guy, right? ... " Aethir stared up to the man, still kneeling on the ground. Aethir eyed the man for a bit before realizing he could still use his legs, deciding to back away from the man a few meters, still staring. 'Aren't these people on the same side...?' Aethir glanced at the woman near the carriage, then back at the man, keeping an eye on him.

Word count: 2500/2500
Extra: 2630 (130)

The masked man laughed softly, yet eerily when Aethir explained that he had given the proofs of treason to the politician, complementing him for having gained that man's trust so easily and playing the game so perfectly. However, he did not count on the ANBU themselves having reacted to the politician's defection so quickly by sending someone of their own to take him down.

"You've done your job and as such you will receive your fair payment when you arrive at your home," The puppeteer exclaimed calmly, leaving no doubt that he had brought Aethir into an internal struggle for control in Konoha. "Depending on these results, my organization might be willing to use you again for our goals. With Sasori Masaru's role played out, he no longer has any use for us."

Another twitch of the man's hand and the two human puppets vanished from sight, while he himself vanished into the mist created by the ANBU operative, though before he had been gone completely, he gave Aethir some good advice.

"If any, you should make yourself scarce now, for the ANBU will be sweeping the area when the operative has done her job," The last words before he had gone away completely, leaving no trace of his earlier presence.

At the very same time, Risu regained her composue after being shocked by seeing someone so similar to herself almost mortaly wound her, yet she was luckily to only be scraped at one of her ribs, nothing a good rest and some healing jutsu couldn't fix. The screaming man had awoken her from her slumber and deciding that she could no longer dawdle, the ANBU operative simply drew her high rate scalpel and cut the politician's throat with surgical precision.

"Damn you Sasori, you've been a hassle," The woman sighed, putting her scalpel away, thinking that with those puppets gone, that ronin would've most likely have gone off somewhere too and seeing as he was of no concern to her, Risu decided to leave it at that and merely go and report the succes of her mission at headquarters.

2694/2500 A rank mission complete.