Just how were the olden traditions of ninja gone? How did their usual job of assassinating become voided? Why must they do pitiful jobs such as walking dogs, helping the elderly across the street, and escorting some shop owner to their own at night? What happened? While many would say different answers, one of the much more common ones is that times have changed. There is simply no place for such violence. Such chaos. Such death. However, no matter what happens, the origin was still there. No matter how hard someone tries to deny it, ninjas did start out as cold-blooded killers of the dark. Perhaps, this is why the Yuurei were created. To recreate history. Bring something from the past back and improve it ten-fold. Then again, is it really improved if the by-product lashes out at its master? Certainly not. A prime example would be the certain Yuurei who is jumping from branch to branch amongst the rich forest. Moonlight barely managed to penetrate the canopy of the dense forest, the night simply replacing light with darkness. Yet Sozaemon, a Yuurei, has managed to avoid colliding into things, which is a bit impressive. The ninja simply jumped from each tree in utter and complete silence, not even leaving a trace that he was there.

His black outfit allowed him to perfectly blend into his surroudings, making him seem almost invisible. While skilled, he was still somewhat human, and stopped on a large enough branch and sat down,leaning his body against trunk of the tree, his back concealing his wakizashi. No animals were out tonight, whether they were asleep or else where, he didn't know or really care. His very faint panting could be barely heard as he looked down at the canopy floor, squinting his eyes in-order to see anything.

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A light grunting could easily be heard as the ronin dragged along a bag. Inside were large slabs of steel, the young man groaning as he gave one final pull before falling to the ground. He rested for a moment, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Zorata," he sighed, looking at the back, "why do you require so many metals?" The ronin knew his large ship was in the distance, and knew that he just had a few more miles to go before reaching it. "Okay... Okay, you got this... Here goes!" He began to pull once more, groaning as he did, moving a grand total of five centimeters. "Move... You... bag of... Okay, break time...! B-break time..." he sighed, panting heavily as he sat back on the ground.

He soon fell onto his back, breathing deeply as he relaxed. "I really need some more sleep." he closed his eyes. "I can't keep staying up, fixing the hunk of junk..." He placed a hand over his smiling face. "I've skipped out on training so many time now that my students started to catch up to me. I really need to lay off of this..." However,deep down, he wanted to fix the ship up so that he can explore the lands beyond the five near him. "Ah well, the sooner I fix it up, the sooner I can start exploring! And the sooner I explore, the sooner I can get back to-... Who the hell am I talk to, anyways?" the man finally questioned, coming to a stand. 'Alright, let's get back to it...' he nodded, gripping the back and pulling it towards him as he continued through the dark forest.

Wc: 285

Sozaemon slowly stood to his feet and stretched while looking down, having managed to spot...someone. By what he could make-out, it was a male. Dragging somesort of large load. Of what, Sozaemon couldn't tell. Nonetheless, the ninja was somewhat intrigued in the male and decided to investigate. He jumped to a lower branch, no sound being made at all as he jumped or landed."Ah well, the sooner I fix it up, the sooner I can start exploring! And the sooner I explore, the sooner I can get back to-... Who the hell am I talk to, anyways?"Sozaemon raised a eyebrow, but said nothing. He jumped to the ground in utter silence and calmly walked behind the young man, the darkness of the forest and his black ninja suit making it hard to see him in-case the boy were to turn around, allowing some escape time. Sozaemon, however, was curious, and kept a steady pace, wanting to see where the boy was heading.

476 words

He continued to pull the cotton bag, his blue eyes now narrowed as his face grew red. 'Just...move....you...!' His hands slipped, the ronin falling to the ground. "I have spent...way too much ryo to just leave you here, so could you..." The ronin pointed at the bag as he got onto his knees, the red fading from his face, "could you like...cooperate or something?!" As if the bag could respond, he waited for an answer. "Can't I make it lighter?" he questioned, crawling over to the bag. On his hands and knees, he tilted his head as he began to think. "No, I...I don't think I have any tricks for that..." Aethir stood up, staring at the bag. "Alright," he pointed at it, "you win! For now..." He then crossed his arms, frowning. "These are some expensive scraps though... I wonder if I can...?" He shook his head, sighing. "No, I have to get it there! Because, for some strange reason, Konoha is infested with thieves!" he shouted at...no one. Realizing this, he sighed. "And I'm talking to myself again! I- I...I think I have problems..." Gripping the back one more time, he breathed deeply. "Alright, bag of iron, you're victory afterglow is...over!!" He tugged strongly on the back, slowly inching in the direction behind him. "Come on!! ...Come...on!" he chanted, his teeth clenched as he did so. He thought he was making progress, however through all the pulling, had moved a grand total of...one single centimeter. "O-okay, break time, part two..." he sighed, breathing as he sat on the ground.

    'I swear, it was morning when I bought this stuff...' he shook his head, putting hands over his face. He then gasped. "Wait... Of course!" he grinned, forming several hand seals before water began to rise from the ground. It then took the shape of the ronin, Aethir grinning to six other copies of himself. "On wards!" Aethir held up one of his hands, the others cheering as well. They encircled the bag, each grabbing a part of it before moving in a direction with ease and in sync. And throughout all of this, none of them had realized they were being watched by someone...

Jutsu used:

Chakra: 97/250
Clones 1~6: 25/25
[WC: 666]

Sozaemon continued to watch as the young man struggled with the large bag. His face was a red as a apple as he struggled, which would've made Sozaemon chuckle if he knew how to express emotion. He cocked any eyebrow as he watched him try to communicate with the bag, trying to persuade it. And of course, he saw the usual process of him trying to lift the bag and continue moving on, only to fail horribly at it. But Sozaemon knew he had something up his sleeve the moment he saw that twinkle in his eye. He watched as water arose from the ground, forming slowly into what appeared to be the boy. Water Clones, it seemed. The clones were quick to react, easily picking up the bag as they went on their merry way, following the leader. Sozaemon attempted to resist, but couldn't and continued following them, but not before quickly returning into the trees. There were now seven. Meaning, seven points of view. It would've been much easier for them to spot him if he were still on the ground behind them. Nonetheless, he stook with low branches, allowing him to still have a good view on them. Sozaemon, however, wanted to test something, and took out a single senbon. He threw it to one of the clones' heads, aiming at the back of it. Once thrown, he quickly retreated to the higher branches and watched, wanting to see how they react to a random senbon being thrown out of no where.

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"Do you think we're almost there?" one of the clones said. Another yawned before speaking. "I don't know, but I'm getting awfully tired. Aren't you guys?" One more shrugged it's shoulders. "Mmm...I could go for some sleep, yeah." The clone next to that one laughed. "Well, we can't sleep! Because we have a job to do!" The main ronin nodded. "That's right, that's right. No worries! We'll just move the scraps to the side so no one steals them!" Four clones agreed by shouting 'yeah', stopping their carrying to throw a fist into the air. One of them smiled silently while another was yawning with a fist halfway up. "Y-yeah... Let's go-" spoke the sleepy clone.

    The talking clone yelped from being shoved away by another as it tackled a random clone, the weight of the bag taking the others by surprise. "U-uh oh!" one of them fell with the bag. "Oh no, no! What's the problem now?!" shouted another. "Hey you two, cut that out!" called out the third. Aethir scratched his head, staring at the tackling clone curiously. "Your hand..." The clones looked at the prime Aethir, and then over to the clone's hand. It was bleeding from a random senbon, appearing to have come out of no where. "What- ...A needle?" questioned a clone, leaning closer to the two other clones. The bleeding clone slowly stood up,  revealing the wound. "Where'd it come from? And how could you see it in the dark?" The wounded clone stuck out it's tongue with a smile. The one that was tackled leaned forward, resting his hands on he knee caps as he did. It was unknown to him that his shirt had risen from the fall, a strange red and black mark visible on his backside. "Eh, I could of taken that..." The wounded clone looked over to the tackled clone. "To the back of the skull? Really now?" the clone asked, sighing as the tackled clone nodded. "Yeah, yeah!"

    "I suggest we search for clues for the senbon's source." one of the clones spoke, another sighing. "Who died and made you leader?" With that, the clones looked over to the prime Aethir who was tapping his foot, appearing to be lost in thought. "Yeah, he's right... O-or I'm right rather." he nodded to the clones. "Looking for clues would be smart, but the chances of a random senbon flying out here in the dark isn't abnormal." The clones were silent, looking at one another. "Who knows, with all the noise and the size of this bag, we probably looked like some wild animal." The group of ronins were silent before one spoke. "Should we... Um..." All of them turned their heads to the only clone who hadn't talk yet.  "What should we do? Do we keep going?"  The clones turned their heads to the prime Aethir, who slowly nodded. "We'll just keep an eye out. It was probably some stray-"

    "OW!" shouted the tackled clone. "THAT REALLY SMARTS!!!"

    "W-What the hell are you shouting for?!"  an angry clone eyed the tackled clone. "Well if they know they hit a human, they'll come say sorry, right?" The tackled clone smiled, looking over to the wounded clone. "I...highly doubt that." the quiet clone smiled over to the tackled clone. "Ah well! I vote we keep going!" spoke another clone in an upbeat voice. "I'm sure it was just a stray! L-like you said! Or ...one of us said..." Aethir sighed, shaking his head with a smile. "That's probably best. Keep carrying the bag towards the ship." The clones nodded, except one. "Are you sure you can carry that? With that hand in that state, I mean?" spoke the sleepy clone from earlier, the wounded clone nodding. "I can do it, yes." As they continued further, Aethir kept an eye out for anymore senbons. "Should we burn the forest down?" spoke the angry clone, grinning wickedly. "That'd be an option...if we knew any katon jutsus." The quiet clone looked over to the angry clone, staring as it chuckled. "Who needs jutsus when you have two hands, right? ...Except for you." The wounded clone sighed, smiling as he continued his rambling of forest fires. Then, the weight was dropped by the clones, the others groaning and dropping the bag once more.

    "Something stinks about this whole 'stray senbon' thing." spoke the clone who suggested to search for clues. He turned to look at Aethir. "I'm sorry, but can we just take a moment to see if we're being spied on?" Aethir looked to the sided. 'Well, we don't want the ship to be found by anyone else...' He then nodded to everyone. "A quick break." And with that, each clone took a seat on the jagged bag, looking and listening around the forest for any movement. The tackled clone yawned, then gasped, noticing his shirt was exposing more than he wanted it to. "Plumber, could you please pull your shirt before someone sees the-"  "I'm on it, I'm on it... Sheesh..." groaned the clone, tugging on the shirt to cover his skin. "Keep an eye out..." Aethir reminded everyone, doing so himself for anything that wasn't the wind making noise.
Chakra: 97/250
Clones 1~6: 25/25

[WC: 1571]

....You have got to be kidding me. Almost a senbon too the back of the head and this is what they react!? Calling out to whoever threw the damn thing?! Sozaemon couldn't help but face palm at how this was playing out. Honestly, one would think they'd be atleast a little bit more weary than this this! Nonetheless, they were going to be on the lookout for him, and even search about to see if they could find the culprit of the stray weapon. As such, Sozaemon took out his kunai and jumped onto the higher branches. While this visiblity of him to the group was now harder to make out, it would also be definitely hard for them to find him. As such, he took out a kunai, his eyes peering down onto the forest floor as they continued bickering about, even as they agreed to search around. Sozaemon was slowly formulating in his mind however. Oh yes, he was planning something. Possibly even taking out one or two of the clones in the process. It certainly would make this night much more entertaining and would help him in his assassination training.

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The trees continued to sway as the winds blew. Nothing notably strong, just small gusts of winds. The seven ronins were still on the look out, three of the clones silently pacing about, still craning and turning their heads in different directions. The other three were sitting on three different corners of the bag of iron scraps, looking from side to side. The main ronin suddenly turned his head in a direction, one of the clones looking at him curious. The clone then turned to the direction the ronin was look, looking back at him. "What's up?" he asked, Aethir peering upwards into the darkness above. 'I could have sworn...' Aethir slowly shook his head, looking back down at the clone. "Nothing." the ronin nodded to him, soon turning his head away to keep an ear out for more movement.

    'I know I heard...movement...' Aethir took a few deep breaths before closing his eyes, visualizing a near infinite void of darkness around him. The wind was mute now, and some of the clone's movement and chatter was ignored. To the ronin's ears, all he heard was...nothing. No, he was listening... Listening for something 'Focus on the area... Silence the mind... And...' In the ronin's mind, water silently rose from the ground, accompanying the darkness around him. His hair rose and floated from under the water, his breathing growing paper thin, and soon it was as if he had stopped completely. Yet, even without the breathing, he hadn't felt the need to breath. Each beat of Aethir's slowing heart felt like it caused his whole body to ripple along with the imaginary water. In this mental state, he saw his own body having waves of some sort run across his body. They were colored white, the sound of the clones chatting and moving being head each time the waves reached his ears. Then, green colored waves were seen occasionally, the sound of trees rustling being heard. The colors rand over each other as he continued to listen...

"Uh, hey-" A clone was stopped by another, the clone looking over in confusion. "He's in his state. He won't hear you even if you shouted." Another clone turned over to them, clearing it's throat before speaking. "Actually, he can hear you. It's just...he's ignoring us." The stopped clone turned to the newly spoken clone. "Right, right... That's how it works." The three of them glanced to the silent ronin who had his arms crossed now, frozen like a statue. "Come on," the clone that stopped the other clone began to walk away, "let's check behind these trees..." With a nod, the stopped clone followed, the third clone turning to resume listening for anything out of the ordinary.


[WC: 2041]

Chakra: 97/250
Clones 1~6: 25/25

This seemed....interesting. One of them seemed to, from what Sozaemon could make out and hear, trying to sense whomever was here with them, which happened to be the ninja in-question. He continued to watch for a few more moments before slowly unsheathing his wakizashi with his right hand, still no sound being made due to the yuurei's special ability. He was greatly outnumbered here, so he had to think of a plan. Two clones wandered off, three went somewhere else, and one, which he assumed was the original, was still there, standing still. Perhaps....he could jump down and stab him in the neck? The built up speed from the height, as well as proper aiming would allow the feat to be done. As the ninja continued thinking this through, he didn't notice the branch he was on was slowly coming off the tree until a loud a crack was heard. Down came Sozaemon and the branch, back to earth. He landed literally three feet away from Aethir with a loud thud, his sword landing next to his head, piercing itself into the ground, as the branch lay near both of them. Sozaemon was knocked out instantly as he hit the ground, falling unconscious. His mask was still in-place, covering his mouth and nose, but not the rest of his face. He was completely vulnerable.

1159 Words

'Wind...is blowing past the trees. Zero sound...' The ronin remained in his sensing state, listening for the slightest bit of sound. 'No movement. Debating on no presence... Perhaps-' Right when the ronin was about to admit defeat in his sensing ability, a foreign sound was heard. With the sound of a loud crack as if thunder sounded, a red sound wave rushed over the ronin's body, definitely standing out from the usual colors. All other sounds ceased when the ronin's eyes snapped open, his head turning in the direction of the sound. The water in this mental illusion had instantly vanished, red filling the area with the cause of the sound being the only black shaded object in the red reality. Multiple large blue eyes opened in the red sky, the eyes striking a resemblance to his own as they locked onto the black object that resembled a tree. 'Found.'

"It was another raccoon. Probably the same one from before-" A clone stopped talking as the original's head snapped in a direction with a light growl, and a cloud of dust was left where he once was standing. Curious, the clones that were nearby turned to see where the original was about to run off to, looking upwards as he had stopped and stared towards a tree. The clones then immediately spotted someone falling from a limb. 'Hostile. Immediate termina- ...Hold...' Aethir, who had his fist clenched to deliver his signature punch, relaxed his arm as he eye the falling being with a suspicious look. The clones and Aethir's heads followed the man to the ground, the clones wincing as he hit it. '...Where's the impact? The thud, I felt it, but...' Aethir tossed his head slowly from side to side, continuing his stare. The others that were out exploring had come back just in time, looking in confusion.  "What's- ...Who's...?" One of the returnees pointed to the guy laying on the ground. "Eh? ...Huh, I didn't even heard him land..." another clone spoke.

The six of the clones gathered around the unconscious being, looking over the man curiously. "Is he... You know... Is he-"  "Dead?"  "Well... Yeah." One clone turned to the other two who spoke. "I know we come from the same person, so there's no way you can be that dense. You're just acting dumb for some smiles." The clone who asked the question chuckled. "Found me out, huh?"  "How could I not? We're the same." The questioning clone sighed, but then turned as the wounded clone pointed. "What do we do with the weapon?"  "We don't touch it."

The clones turned to see Aethir walking over slowly to the man's body, his voice's tone lowered to a more serious vibe. "In fact, we touch nothing of his. His body, blade, not even that tree limb." One of the clones grinned, putting their hands on their sides. "Oho, mister serious, huh? Well why should we leave him here?" Aethir looked over to the grinning clone, sighing as his eyes narrowed. "He serves no purpose to any of us being unconscious as he is. We do not do anything to or with him, and simply leave him."  "B-but what if he wakes up? A-and he finds the...you know...?" Aethir raised his eyebrows, eyeing his clones who had a worried look on their faces. 'And this is the part where I realize I forget some steps when serious... Calming down.' He took a deep breath, running a hand over his hair as he relaxed. His bones cracked as his body's stress was lessened. He turned to the clone with a smile. "Well then, we tie him up! Then, we'll wait until he wakes up." the ronin spoke, his voice light like the others. The clones, almost at the same time, rose their hands in agreement. A synchronized 'alright' came from all of them, Aethir nodding to them. "Mister serious has left the building!" one of the clones commented, Aethir snickering. "Just get that weapon away from his head already. Put it all the way over there." he spoke and pointed, the clones beginning to get to work on tying the man. 'I had to treat the situation as if it were an ANBU officer, or someone of that rank. I couldn't risk it. But this guy...' Aethir looked over to the unconscious man, still smiling. 'This guy is probably as harmless as the rattlesnakes in these forests.  He did have that blade, so he posed a bit of a threat.'


When the man was tied and separated from his weapon, the seven Aethirs would just hang around and wait for him to awaken. One of the clones would apparently be curious of the man's mask, slowly reaching for it. "Don't touch." he'd speak Aethir, shaking his head as the clone immediately would backed off. They'd continued to wait for the person's awakening.


Chakra: 97/250
Clones 1~6: 25/25

[WC: 2880]

Darkness. That's all there was. No light. No land. No sky. No air. Only pure, never ending darkness. However, as time passed, a figure slowly formed and emerged from it, albiet, disturbingly so. It....he was a child, possibly no more then eleven years old. He had simple, tan skin along with long, black, raven hair, almost blending into the darkness. He was nude, showing off his numerous scars which criss-crossed his young body. His face held a serious look, and in his hands held a katana. He peered directly at Sozaemon, never once blinking, as he slowly lifted the blade to his throat. "You will never rest." He said as he slowly cut into his hard, rough flesh, blood coming down like a ruby waterfall. The boy feel back as he gurgled, choking on his own blood as the life slowly existed him.


Sozaemon began shaking as he laid on the ground. At first, it was almost unnoticable. As if he was simply shivering. But soon, it grew more and more violent. As if he were having a seizure. Sweat crossed his face as he let out a deep growl, as if he was somesort of cornered animal. After a few more moments of this, the shaking growing worse every second, he sprung up, putting him a sitting position. Sweat continued to fall as he panted, eyes as wide as watermelons. His vision was blurry, so he could barely make anything out. He didn't seem to notice that he was currently tied up...for now.

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One of the clones, who now happened to have a squirrel in their arms, turned to the tied up man. His eyes widened as he saw the man beginning to move.  The clone slowly got up with the squirrel, inching over to the prime Aethir. "Er, he's up I think." spoke the clone, Aethir turning to the man. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the panting man, slowly nodding. "Alright. Go and tell the others to be- ..." The ronin stopped talking, eyeing something of the clone, the squirrel in it's arms. The clone looked at what Aethir was  looking at, smiling to him. "I saved it from a snake!" Aethir raised his eyebrows, nodding to his clone, starting to walk over to the tied up man before remembering to command his clone. "Tell the others, and bring the sword while you're at it." As he said this, the clone ran off towards different clones, telling them of the awakening man.

Aethir stood in front of the tied up man, crouching down before him. 'Being tied up and disarmed, he should be no trouble.' The ronin tilted his head, looking over the man's body. 'Then again, we didn't frisk his body. I'll assume he has another weapon somewhere.' With a quick rub of his nose, Aethir finished up his analysis of the man. 'Doesn't appear to be a ninja... At least, no ninja I've ever seen. Frankly, I don't even know what a standard ninja looks like... Would jutsus be a problem? ...Maybe we should have taped his mouth... But then he couldn't talk-... Bah, I'm over thinking...' The ronin shrugged, smiling to himself. The smile faded quickly when he thought of a legitimate question to ask. "Are you the one who threw this senbon?" asked the ronin, holding up a needle that had old blood stained on it. Asking this created a thought in his mind. 'Senbon... If he has one of these, he has some other tools on him, right? Damn it, we should have frisked him...'

Aethir turned, hearing running footsteps, all of his clones running over. One of them grabbed Aethir's arm, shoving it to the man's face. "Are you the one who threw this?!" the clone shouted, causing Aethir to clear his throat. "I already asked that." The prime Aethir nearly jumped, feeling tiny claws dig into his back, something climbing higher and higher until it was perched on his shoulder. The squirrel from earlier stared at the man curious, Aethir chuckling nervously as he looked off to his left. The clones began to shout questions and make assumptions all at once, the clone who once had the squirrel staying silent.

"Why'd you throw it?! Are you trying to kill us?! Who asked you to kill us?!"

"He's probably from the land of birds. Are you from the land that has tons of birds?!"

"Probably from one of the mowed down villages in that land of birds."

"If that's the case, then we have to do away with him now before more come!"

"That's right. If we don't kill him, it'll come back to bite us." This clone leaned forward, the others following. "Let's make it a quick kill and then find a way to discard the body... Maybe carry it with us to the docks and ditch it. Careful not to get blood on ourselves because-"

"Or..." The prime Aethir rubbed his eyes with one of his hands, yawning, his voice causing the clones to relax and stare curiously, "or we can try to ask questions first to figure out some things."

"B-but if we spend time here, more will probably come and-" the clone stopped speaking as the prime Aethir chuckled, petting the squirrel on his shoulder.

"We haven't been in a fight that we've lost yet, have we?" the clones looked at each other, then back to the cocky ronin, all of them raising a finger and opening their mouths. "Besides the old man..." continued the ronin, the clones closing their mouths and scratching their heads. "Exactly. So let them come." Aethir turned to the man with a somewhat sinister grin. "Now then, you heard their questions, right? We want the who, the what, the where, and the why. Don't care for the when or how."

"Don't give us a straight answer and we'll break your arms-"

"You're not helping..." Aethir smiled to the aggressive clone, the clone crossing its arms and puffing it's face as the ronin looked back to the man. "If we're satisfied with your answer," Aethir waved a hand to the clones, one of them holding up the man's dropped weapon, "we'll give this back to you. If not, we'll just cash it in for some strawberry money." With light twirls of the senbon, the ronin grinned. "So what'll be, assassin? ...Assassin..." Aethir thought for a moment while maintaining visual of the man, multitasking his thinking with his listening for answers. 'Maybe he's just some assassin out for some money... If that's the case...' he continued thinking to himself, twirling the senbon while listening out for the man's voice.

[WC: 887]
[TWC 3767:]

Slowly and steadily, the world was becoming clearer and clearer to Sozaemon. Soon enough, he could hear the bickering of the man and his clones again, sadly enough. Apparently, they were talking about saving something from a snake. Sozaemon blinked, ignoring them for the most part, as he made sure everything was in-tact. However, his attention was drawn when a senbon, his senbon, was held to his face, as one of them questioned whether or not it was his, following up the threat of them breaking his arm. Then each of them accused him of some trivial thing before one of them, which Sozaemon assumed to be the real one, mentioned just to question him. And that they did, though with some bickering. Sozaemon, however, remained silent and slowly stood, and looked directly into the eyes of the man. His tiny, crazed pupils were locked unto the others normal ones. With this, he opened his hand, hidden under the rope, and did his signature technique, a katana-sized blade of solified fire bursting out and the cutting the rope, freeing him. However, Sozaemon made no sudden movements, and remained in his standing position, still silent as ever.

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15 chakra:145 chakra:

As the man was staring into his eyes, Aethir maintained eye contact. He had to admit, if someone with eyes like these were to stare him down when he first started his ninja journey, he'd be a nervous wreck. A nervous pink wreck at that, full of blushes and stuttering, complete with nervous movements that hinted at uneasiness. Alas, he's seen so much in the past years that these eyes practically didn't phase him. He heard a sound come from behind the mysterious man, automatically assuming he was freeing himself. 'It's not a shocker he'd free himself somehow...' he smiled. That smile turned into a frown as he saw what looked to be a flaming sword out the corner of his eyes. '...That, on the other hand, is. Flaming swords, huh...?'

With a confident 'hmph' and a smile, Aethir was about to speak. However, he heard one of his clones rushing forward. He held up a hand, keeping his eyes on the man.

"But the guy's- ..."

"He sees it, I'm sure..." another clone informed the worried one.

How couldn't the ronin see it? It was a glowing object, definitely standing out in the darkness of the forest. The ronin finally began speaking.

"I've seen a lot of jutsus in my time, and have faced many people with different weapons on them," he grinned as he lowered his hand, "some weapons that'll make your head spin and question if you're in a genjutsu or not." He glanced over to his six copies behind them, and then back over to the man. "With this kind of experience, multiplied by seven, I don't think you'll last long if you're looking for a fight." The clones began chuckling and taunting silently, the ronin sighing as he shook his head. 'This jutsu promises exact clones of myself? Right...'

"Dessert money's still here!" the clone behind him waved the man's sword around with a smile.

The ronin shrugged in response to the clone's statement. He then finally broke eye contact with the man, spotting two of the six clones that he thought was still behind him now about two meters behind the man. "Don't think about running!" on of them spoke, both of them looking as if they were ready to battle.

"Sheesh... Eager much?" Aethir sighed, turning behind him to his other clones. He then blinked. "Wait a sec... One... Two... W-where's...?" He stared at two of his six clones standing behind him.

"Oh... Erm... Two of them ran over to that side, two of us stayed here, a-and two others said 'Be right back, we're going to hide'..." the clone that held the squirrel spoke, the other clone with the man's sword nodding to his statements.

Four clones of the ronin stared at the two clones running over to the other side of the two. "Don't even think about running!" they shouted. Two clones, one of them with a hand on their hip, sighed. "Be right back, we're going to hide." spoke one of them, the other going the opposite direction. The clone that had caught the squirrel reached over to one of the clones, gasping, but then looked back over to the sword clone with a worried look.

"Should we-"

"Huh? W-what happened?" the sword clone turned to the squirrel clone curiously.

"Erm.... Nothing... nothing..." it chuckled, looking forward to the two men before it.

The clone blinked as the original ronin continued to eye him, watching as the squirrel mad his way towards the clone who had caught it. "S-so I don't know where they went."

"Got it." The ronin sighed, turning back to the man. "They're like hungry dogs, getting ready to pounce. So my question still stands, guy."

"You're kind of calling yourself a dog you kn-"

"HOISUT!" the ronin made a random sound while pointing off to his right, hearing one of his clones somewhere in the trees above. He blushed a bit from the slight embarrassment, but that was short lived as the pink faded. "The answer... I'm still waiting on it." he sighed, eyeing the man before him.

Unknown to the ronin stood the other two clones hiding fifteen meters from the original on both his left and right sides. They had taken the initiative of using the water clone technique once more, making three more clones each, a total of six more being made. The newly made clones began to spread out further, two positioned on the ground and one positioned in the trees above. Single clones from both sides of the ground began to move towards the south-west/east of the original ronin. More on both sides moved to the north-east/west of him. They then waited, a total of thirteen people staring at the assassin and the ronin from out of sight while encircling them.

This plan was good, but the only downside is that the ronin himself and the other clones weren't in on it. However, as the ronin heard, they were exact copies of the user. They all must possess his strengths and weaknesses, plus his intelligence. Thus, the ronin and the clones who weren't in on it wouldn't be surprised if this plan was put into action by the hiding clones. If the assassin were to run, he'd definitely be stopped physically by at least one of them. 'Now what if he runs...?' the ronin thought, thinking of the possibilities and options he had before him. 'Maybe they- ...' Suddenly, the idea of cloning more of himself came into mind, which lead to the strategy the clones had already put into action. '...I have to assume they didn't. Now, if he runs...'

Options flashed into his mind nearly per second, how water puts out fire, and certain techniques he could pull. He then thought of how the man's capable of sword manifestation, wondering if he had any other techniques. He assumed he did, taking into the account of the different techniques and jutsus he's encountered. Then, the fight with the anbu woman came to mind, how he was helpless due to his brute tactics. 'Medical ninja, dislocation and disabling of the nerves just by a simple touch... Could be possible, thus I need to keep distance, but...' he continued with his thinking, still eyeing the man for any movements at the same time, nearly a master a splitting his attention into multiple tasks.

After a few moments of waiting, Aethir sighed. "You know, I'll just-..." He shrugged, shaking his head. The enemy hadn't made a move it seemed, so he thought they went home for dinner. Thus, he did the same.

[Exit]

Chakra: 85/250
Clones 1~4: 25/25
Clones 5/6: 2.5/25 <-- Jutsu
Clones 7~12: 2.5/2.5

Jutsu Used:

[WC: 1101]
[TWC: 4868]

Fuuin: C->B 4000/4000  *4000*
Katon: B->a 4706/5000 (from another thread) *868