The thunder cracked as the sky came to life above Kumo. Clouds had rolled in and blanketed out the moon and stars. Darkness hugged the land as the only light came from the occasional crash of power in the clouds. The trees swayed in the howling winds just as the first few droplets hit the ground. Cold and wet as would be expected. However the warning was short lived. Within moments of the first signs of rain the skys seemed to crack open with a mighty peal of thunder and the torrent came down. Water began to soak the woods as it poured down, a flash of light from the sky above peeled away the darkness in time to show a pale boy with grey hair and eyes just as grey. Though the only light in those eyes seemed to be from the reflection of the storm. No life seemed to follow the brief flash. Just a twitch to look up and a twitch back to his path. Even in such dark conditions he could see well enough. Every few seconds the thunder crashed and he could memorize the next ten meters in front of him. For him it was slow progress had anyone been watching, one moment a flash of light would reveal a pale boy and then he would be plunged into darkness and in a matter of seconds the light would come back for a second to reveal him 10 meters from where he had been. If rumors hadn't already been around about the mine being haunted they were now.

He progressed through the torrent into a clearing as his clothes dripped along his path. Sandals dug into the muddy path as he slowly moved along the clearing towards the cave. Grey robes covered him with wide sleeves and grey socks leading to grey sandals. He barely seemed to separate from the rain as a being. Still his movements suddenly stopped a few meters from the cave as he rolled his neck to look to his left with a flat expression. He seemed to be waiting for something. He had smelled them. The human stench of fear and greed. He could tell there was two of them. Even in the storm they had approached downwind of him. Really he wished if they would send bounty hunters after him this far away they would at least be decent. Or perhaps they just hadn't any real idea what they were facing. The second thought was more likely. More fools...sheep to the slaughter.

Grey eyes watched as two figures moved into sight from behind a rather large boulder. Each moving from either side of it. The one on the left had throwing knives tucked into his vest in rows and was twirling one in his right hand. A dark haired individual with a crew cut and mutton chops. Black jeans and boots. He could already feel his own right hand twitching...his mind, no, his instincts telling him to kill that one first. Kill him painfully. Still he ignored the animal within for now as Grey eyes twitched to look over the other one. This one wielded sickles and chains. Two of them. Each attached to his belt and he was a bit larger. His grin showed a scar on his top lip and a bald head. He was wearing a Dark long sleeve and camo pants with combat boots. He was bigger and likely slower. The range on those weapons looked to be about two meters. Still they were out of range of his aura. He could tell by their confidence. He would give it a moment. Let them step into it and understand their folly before they met their end. Perhaps he would even let them run....no....that wouldn't do....he had been kept from the killings during the last mission by that woman....she had hogged them all for herself....he wanted this.

He watched as they stepped closer....twenty meters...eighteen....sixteen...fifteen. Ah there it was. He watched as their advance halted instantly. They felt him now...they felt that thing within. He watched them look to each other with doubt in their eyes before hands tightened on weapons. They didn't understand the warning...the feeling they had from him was peer brutality. The feeling one gets when there is something hunting...something just around the corner...watching and waiting to tear at the throat. It was almost numbing to the skin as they stood there unsure. The sweat beaded on their foreheads mixing with the rain. However it was too late to doubt their mission. They had drawn weapons against Sero. Bared their teeth to him and shown nothing to signify any authority to do so. However he saw them for what they were. A brand on each of their necks marking them as human hunters. He had met their kind before and they hardly deserved that name. There was still a lesson to teach them though, what it was truly like to be hunted.

The thunder cracked directly overhead and lit the land revealing everything in light. However when it faded their eyes widened in surprise. Sero was gone. He had been standing right in front of them before but now he was.... wait...they felt him closer now. Both of them looked up to see Sero sitting on top of the boulder. Legs dangling over the side as grey, murderous eyes stared down at them. In his right hand he held a knife. The same knife the man had been wielding before. Suddenly the man with the knives looked down to realize his knife in his hand was missing. And he felt...pain? He reached down to touch his gut before bringing a red hand back up to his face. When had he been stabbed? How fast was this guy? He dropped to one knee and grabbed another knife from his vest before throwing it straight at Sero while his ally jumped up to do a simultaneous attack.

Sero merely smirked as he stepped back from the blade throw and watched as the big man threw a sickle at him and a length of chain. Sero reached out with his left hand and gripped the top of the sickle to avoid the blade and held it. The big man grinned before gripping the chain and yanking. However Sero didn't budge. Instead much to the mans surprise he was pulled to Sero. He screamed as he flew uncontrolled at the young man but that was all he could do as Sero stepped. His single step carried him passed or rather through the man before he settled on the ground behind him. The big man landed in front of his partner before dropping to his knees. His own sickle shoved into his throat. He held out his own blood soaked hand to his friend before falling down. Blood mixing with mud. His life leaking from him as his friend reached out with tears in his eyes and screamed. A mind shattered scream of pain and loss and fear. It was too late though. Sero stood before him. Filling his eyes as his tears did him no good. A wolf at his door.

Moments later Sero moved into one of the mine entrances. The two bodies outside dangling by the necks by chains nailed to the stone via sickles. In the bodies was carved "Stay" and "Out". Both of them with dead gazes staring out in horror at their last moments. Blood and rain dripping down into the mud below them...drip drop...drip drop. Sero himself moved into the darkness for a time. The death behind him satisfying his hunger for homicide for now. He was grateful to them...they eased his hand. He hummed as he moved in a better mood. " Are you, are you Coming to the tree? They strung up a man They say who murdered three. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight In the hanging tree." He liked the song... it was his favorite. Still he made it through several tunnels before settling at a dead end. He calmly lit a fire with some spare wood and oil. He could dry off here. Avoid further illness.

1392

The thunder boomed echos all around the village and shook everything down to their roots. The wind blew shutters open and slammed then shut with force. These conditions made the night quiet and dark with very little lit around the village besides when the lightning would arc out and reveal the darkened land below. This night was just a night that some liked to observe and witness natures true forces at work. Kairo sat in his room on the edge of his bed looking out the big windows into the darkness. This was a perfect night for him to be up and about unlike the rest of the village which seemed to have fallen dead silent. Kairo looked over to his night stand and grabbed the two pieces of parchment that lay there and stared at them as the lightning cast light upon them for easier reading. He had been assigned to a mission a long time ago but he had yet to get around to it. He was tasked with getting resources from the abandoned mine outside the village and bring them back. But with his not so recent graduating of the academy and becoming a genin without being put into a squad he was having trouble finding motivation to leave his training and be bossed around to help the village.

The thought would come to him to get his gear on and maybe scout out the location ahead of time and see what the big deal was about the mine that so many others would refuse to go and do the mission as well. Kairo would grab his black leather jacket and throw it on over his white undershirt. The black pants and boots were suffice enough to take the walks in the rain. When he was leaving he would stop to hear his mother was already sound asleep, oblivious to the torrent that seemed to be brewing outside their home. She was used to Kairo coming and going to his own accord or it seemed she was with how she never questioned where he was going. Kairo would try and leave his house while creating as little noise as possible and leave little trace that he had left. Kairo looked up to the sky as the rain washed over his ice cold skin and seem to almost turn into ice before leaving his face. His long black hair making excellent trails for the rain to pour off of him. Kairo was try to take out the paper with the location of the mine without letting the page get soaked and unreadable. He was able to make out the directions and knew which gate he had to exit from in order to begin the trip. He would quickly cram the note back into his pocket and stuff his hands in as well as he enjoyed the stroll to the gate.

When he reached the gate he looked upon the pitch darkness that lay outside the village where there would be little to no light to reach from the street lights. Only the random flashes of lightning would be his guide for the trip. His eyes would seem to somewhat adjust as he was able to keep himself in the middle of the path with the help of the flashes. Even on this cold night as he walked he could see his breath sink in the rainy air. The thoughts of being a shinobi Aisu like his father head been made him feel more accomplished as a step towards his goals. He hoped to join a squad soon and become more adept in his skills so that he could get on the fast track to becoming a much stronger person than he already was. And those thoughts seem to cement themselves more and more into is thoughts as the rain came down on him and drenched his long hair.

He would finally reach the perimeter of the mine and as he did he was hit with the smell of something foul. A smell he had not been exposed to before. He decided to follow it as it barely had anymore strength from being washed by the rain. Kairo knew he was getting closer as it seemed to be getting stronger the more he moved to the entrance of the mine. When he rounded the corner he would happen upon a scene of malice intentions and what seemed like a hard struggle. Two men hanged by chains and nailed to a stone by sickles. Kairo would walk closer to the scene and see something inscribed in the bodies when the lightning would flash. When he got within a couple feet the word "Keep" and "Out" became crystal clear in the light . The words were carved deep and cleanly into the flesh as if by a master weapon user. Kairo was taken back as there was almost no word around the village about this incident so it must have just happened.

Kairo was quick to look around and see if he could spot any place where an assailant could hide. He looked to the bodies and pulled a sickle from the and of one of them and watched the lifeless limb fall to its side. He gripped the sickle as he had been trained to and brought it up to a guard and circled the scene to try and find some clue that wasn't covered in blood or mud. As he circled around to the entrance he caught the faint hint of smoke coming from the inside of the mine. Whoever was responsible for the incident would surely be inside the dark depth if he followed the smoke. Kairo felt a surge of confidence while he had a weapon he was trained with in his hand and felt he should be able to sneak in and get the jump on whoever was inside. Kairo clutched the sickle tighter and slowly walked down the main shaft into total darkness He would slowly try to let out his breath and watch the icy breath appear in the darkness as he try to follow the smoky smell. Whoever was responsible was down here and Kairo felt he had the drop on them.

1039/1039

Sero sat there next to the fire. His grey eyes staring into it as he thought back to his life so far. The fires that had attempted to burn him in the exams he was in coming to mind. He still didn't understand why they had let him in if he wasn't allowed to kill. Being unable to kill his opponent meant he had to go for the less then vital areas. He had raised himself to go in for the kill. Never go for a leg wound in an actual fight if the neck was also an option. He had always gone on kill missions and had never hesitated to take the life of another. Yet when those exams began that was what he was expected to do. They hated him...the murderous child in those exams. He wasn't sure if he cared at the time but now it bothered him. His time out of country keeping him in a series of new experiences. Truth was he was happy two criminals had hunted him. Even if they had no idea what they hunted would be what hunted them. They hadn't been a challenge but he hadn't cared. He just needed to shed some blood. To be what he had been designed to be from birth. A killer.

He would consider restraining himself when he returned to the manor. The flavor of death had become dull when every night was another throat. However having not killed anything for days on end...having restrained himself he could feel something in carving into another again. He felt that need again, that urge to bring out the terror in his enemies. He could almost laugh at the smell of dried blood on his robes. Steam rose from them as he resided there by the fire. He couldn't feel if he was cold but he knew that with the temperature, wind and rain that most bodies were in danger of illness. So he would dry himself and raise his temperature by this fire in a cave where it was dry. His grey eyes rose to look at the smoke filtering out along the ceiling towards the way he had come. It shouldn't be a problem with the night this dark unless they got close enough to smell it. Even then the signs he had left up out front would keep some away. Others that came might actually interest him. After all who walked right into a murder cave if not interesting people?

Speaking of he froze where he sat as he heard a shift in noise. Another benefit to Being in a cave system during a rain storm was that anyone outside coming in was wet. The dripping noise would echo ever so slightly from the entrance but he could tell after a few meters lesser drips were getting closer. Each drip like a finger on a piano key to him telling a story like a song. The steps were wide enough to be about average height for an adult. There was a significant amount of drips in comparison to when he himself had arrived though. More surfaces then what he carried....an object? Perhaps but what kind? Or long hair...that was possible too. He faced the fire and waited as it drew closer. When it rounded the corner about fifteen meters directly behind Sero he would feel him. That aura seemed to fill the entire tunnel like a monster exhaling. Some giant predator filling the cave with a breath that felt of death and destruction. His shadow played on the floor behind him and with that aura seemed to stretch out like dark claws reaching out and trying in vain to rip into the young man. Still Sero would turn his head just to show one grey eye, no life within it but somehow it looked hungry. His voice carried like a whisper...like hell was laughing.

"If you want to survive the night...play nice. Drop your weapon there and slowly move around the fire and I will consider not making a third addition to my signs outside."

2086

Kairo continued to slink down the long corridors cut deep into the earth, following the smell of smoke down a certain tunnel that held the strongest scent to it. He kept his heart as still as he could and tried to keep his movements slow but fast enough to make some ground before anyone knew he was there. The sickle in his hand helped to lower any anxiety he was feeling as he saw an orange glow at the end of the shaft. He would hug the wall and side step until he reached the corner and looked to see a single man facing the fire. This was his chance to secure his advantage. Kairo would let out a final breath and lock his eyes on his mark like a hawk targeting a mouse. He clenched his fist on the sickle and rounded the corner.

But when he rounded the corner, the person was already looking back at him. Kairo looked in shock not thinking of how they could have known. But the obvious had slipped his mind. He was soaking wet with the water still dripping from his long hair. The man looked to Kairo with a lifeless grey eye. The color as dull as sword metal and looked to hold as much soul as the same. They locked eyes for a second and Kairo could almost feel the blue being drained from his the longer they stared. The man would finally break the silence with the simple proposition for him. Drop the weapon and maybe get out alive by the morning. Kairo thought himself to be smart but obviously he was still fresh and blew his element of surprise as soon as he stepped down into the mine. He was careless and now the person he was tracking had known he was here the whole time. The man obviously had some skill to him if he was the one solely responsible for the scene outside. But could Kairo trust the man to have an equally solid word of trust that could equal the skill of killing.

These thoughts rushed Kairo's head as he seemed to almost freeze up himself. He tried to get himself back under control, if the man knew he was here the whole time and was as good as the outside had suggested then Kairo might not be standing or have gotten this far down the mine to find the man. Kairo shook his head and relaxed his muscles a bit he would do as the man asked for now and threw the sickle against the base of the wall with a metallic clang that rang though the mine shaft. Kairo would slowly walk forward keeping his eyes on the man and giving him a wide circle as he rounded the fire. He would stay standing on the other side of the fire just enough for his front to be lit and back enough to give himself room to maneuver if the situation called for it. He would finally break his silence and ask the man.

"So what did those two do to you that they needed to be made an example of advertisement to any shinobi with a sense of adventure or bloodlust to enter the mine? If you were looking for seclusion that was probably the wrong way to go about it."

560/1599

As the young man froze the shadows seemed to shift ever so slowly towards him. Long, crooked fingers by the look of the reaching and grasping. A mind of their own as they wanted to tear into the armed individual. His eye took him in as he sat there motionless. He could sense his own blood lust rising. Coming at him with a weapon was usually the final challenge anyone issued him. However he recognized this individual did not bear any markings of a bounty hunter or gang member. If he was intelligent enough not to display those than he might deserve to survive. Or perhaps he wasn't with the others. If he was on his own then he had seen the signs and entered just for his own reasons. Not to finish a mission or to avenge his comrades. Sero could relate in all honesty. Perhaps it was his Narcissism or lack of empathy but death always drew him in. This individual grasped one of the weapons that had pinned one of his signs up and that brought out a frown. Did he need to rehang his sign? Not that it really mattered. It hadn't even lasted the night before someone intruded on him.

The Shadows and killing intent twitched as the weapon flew away from the boy. As if they almost launched at him right then. The individual would feel it like breathing on his neck, Fangs and claws outstretched from the sudden movement with the weapon. It had almost caused a scene. Yet Sero only watched the weapon as it clanged against the wall. His aura hesitated as he almost looked bored with the result. Perhaps he hadn't had his fill of killing for the night and he had hoped the young man would challenge him like the others. Instead Kairo moved around the cave giving Sero as wide a radius as the cave allowed. Not that it really mattered but whatever made the guy feel safer. He could almost feel the tension of the room around him building. It excited him a little knowing that at any moment either of them could lash out and bring destruction upon the entire room. His shadow seemed to seep back to him and simply sit there shifting back and forth...almost like it was shifting and waiting...hoping for more. The young man across from him stood just within the light and from here he could truly see Sero.

Sero sat there staring with dull grey eyes. Almost dead like in nature. Almost as if he was a corpse himself. Stitches across the bridge of his nose from an old wound seemed to be just a permanent feature. If anything could be described from feeling Sero and looking into his soulless eyes it was madness. It did not feel like sanity could survive in this cave with him. This close it would be like the fire barely lit the cave...like all that was beyond the fire was darkness and damnation. Even with him directly in front of the young man it felt like he was right behind him ready to tear him apart. Still Sero raised a brow as Kairo spoke. No hesitation in his voice. Bravery.....perhaps. Still he was not used to being questioned so directly. And by someone he did not know of all people. A death wish certainly. After all who would find a body so deep in an abandoned mine? Or question its collapse if all the sudden it caved in? Still Sero spoke in a cold tone. His words seeming to echo ever so slightly in the cave like whispers.

"Those men were attempting to collect on an illegal contract on me from one of the organizations I hunt in Kirigakure. I have done enough damage to them that they now offer a reward to anyone willing to test me in battle and end me. They drew weapons against me and released killing intent. I killed them first. The signs were to keep the civilians out. Anyone beyond that who enters to test my metal shall have it. I have answered your questions....now you answer mine. Who are you and where are you from?"

2792

As Kairo had spoken he looked upon the still souless eyes that even the fire didn't even want to cast a reflection into them. A scar with stitches was a sign of either experience or the aftermath of a cocky encounter. He felt a certain pressure feel the room as if a wave of uneasiness overcame the two. The shinobi seemed to be taken back by the question as if he was not used to being on the other end of a interrogation table. But he gave a fluid answer as his words bounced and barely echoed with his soft tone through the mine shaft. A man who was wanted dead by a certain group of people probably wasn't the best company to keep in a tight situation, but if the man was as bloodthirsty as his description made him seem, Kairo might not have had to chance to be standing face to face with him. He had only defended himself and wanted to make sure no random civilians would walk down to find him. Then the man would ask his own question and pry for his own bit of knowledge.

Kairo let out a breath and watched the icy aura sink to the group and disappear as it was heated by the flames. He would look the man back into his gray eyes and respond to him. "I suppose it is in proper order for me to introduce myself after I have asked the obvious of you. My name is Kairo of the Aisu clan. My family hails from Kirigakure like the rest if not most of the clan. I have come here to scope out the mine since I have a mission to come down here soon and excavate some of the ore. Since it was a cold rainy night it was a perfect fit to come check it out and it just so happened to provide a nice atmosphere for your encounter and now our little talk. And since you seem to have a cool head about the situation I may take a seat as well." Kairo would easily and slowly sit and keep one knee up to rest his arms and head on as he watched the fire. Its warmth was good for his clothes and hair to dry off but heat would cause the ice chakra he held inside to become unstable and force him to waste chakra. But there was no better thing to keep his attention in this hole in the ground other than if the other man would make a move. But for now the shinobi seemed to have no ill intentions towards him which he was thankful for. An enemy in a cramped space was something he didn't want to start his shinobi path on.


He looked back up to the man as he thought and would speak in the same tone. "So now that I have given you my story may I ask who you are and what brought you here as well?"


506/2105

Sero tilted his head as the young man across from him began his explanation. Each second was like a pulse of a heartbeat in that cave. Slowly drowning out the outside. It was more the fire then Sero but beyond Sero the darkness of the cave seemed to press in like a door closing from the only escape route. As if positioning Sero near the exit had let the only hope of leaving escape. Sero couldn't help it as this ability was simply a part of him. His grey eyes reflected nothing of life in them and if not for the occasional blinking it would appear as if Kairo was sitting across from a recently dead corpse. Pale fingers reached out and collected another piece of wood from beside him as claw like nails dug into the parts where finger met wood with a grinding noise. He would move it to the fire and release it but with how close Kairo was to it all he would clearly see on the wood it was already burnt in the exact spots Sero had touched it. Long, dark marks along the fingers like a hand print. If anything Sero and Kairo were opposites in nature. Cold and heat left alone in a cave.

Still the mention of Aisu interested Sero. One of his mentors had been Aisu and had taught him most of his knowledge in different weapons. She had helped him become a master of any weapon as a genin and for that he had some respect for Aisu. Her position had some to do with it but at the same time very little. A person like Sero cared very little for land and title. Simply where the orders came from. If he was assigned to take down a king he had no issues doing so. So long as it was within his capabilities anyway. Still his grey eyes twitched to the icy breath as if coming to life to look at it. If nothing else that should be enough evidence for him in the moment. The fire was burning hot so the cave was certainly not cold enough for one to see their breath. It did trigger a little bit of caution in Sero though. One of the greater parts of his abilities was the ability to switch between a mist form and a liquid form with his jutsu. Respectively the weaknesses of those however were wind and water. He knew the Aisu ability was made up of those and thus they were designed to take him down naturally if they had the power to do so. For now if Kairo made a wrong move Sero wouldn't hesitate to eliminate that risk before it was used against him.

Still the individual finally returned a question and Sero raised an eyebrow. He may as well introduce himself but that itself would lead to issues. He was perhaps the most infamous individual in all of Kiri. The chances that someone didn't know of his more recent history with the village since he became ANBU was unlikely. People from different villages were cautious around him. It had been so during his visit to Kumo. They had been warned of his coming and people had been nervous of him since his arrival. The name he was about to present was his ANBU name but it carried with it a great deal of lore. An ANBU who only took kill missions. Criminals found dead in droves and even some corpses had been dragged off...so had some of the living. However anyone the individual had been sent to kill was either found dead with their bodies mangled and their skin melted and their expressions left in terror and pain or they had never been seen again. People spoke of him like a phantom haunting the streets and even in broad daylight they did so in whispers. He was not a good person to be around.

"My codename is Māshī. Or Mercy if you prefer. I am here as a deterrent should anyone want to harm one of our nations own here during the event outside of friendly spars and the competition. It is common knowledge among the higher ups that should something befall one of our own I am to be set on the one responsible. So far it has served its purpose."

3524
Anrīshudo san ejji (Unleashed Acid edge - アンリーシュド酸エッジ) A rank trained 2000/2000

1524
Fire Style: Giant Flame Bullet (火遁・大炎弾 ~ Katon: Dai-Endan) B rank trained
1500/1500

24 words remaining.

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