Guards ran back and forth, a high pitched raid siren blaring overhead. Trilby had been sent an urgent summons to Sunagakure's prison. “About time you got here.” The warden said, walking over to Trilby and shaking his hand. “What's the situation” Trilby said, adjusting his hat. It was late at night, though thankfully the normally harsh sunagakure winds were non-existent tonight, meaning any trails they made would probably be in-tact. “We had a prison break, five prisoners, looks like they had help. Someone blew a hole in the wall, from the outside by the looks of the blast. The escapees were all high priority prisoners. Three murderers, two rapists. They lost our trackers in the desert, so we needed... a professional.” It didn't sound good. It would be difficult to find all five of them unless they were hiding together. Still, he would do his best. “What direction did they head?” “West” “That'll be all” Trilby had no time to lose. Five dangerous, experienced criminals were travelling west of sunagakure. It wouldn't be too long before they hit a town and ruined some more people's lives.

The desert was freezing, the sand was not known for holding heat. Being that they would be in prison uniforms, the criminals would have had to hunker down eventually or they would freeze to death. Thankfully, Trilby's clothing was a lot thicker than whatever they would be wearing, so he could handle the cold of the night. The desert winds weren't existent, so there were footprints to follow at least. Five pairs of footprints in the sand went together for quite a way, before splitting off into three distinct paths. Trilby crouched down, looking at the paths. They were beginning to fade, if he followed one and returned to follow the others, they'd have vanished. He looked up, scanning the environment. A single pair went straight out into the desert. Another set of footprints went towards the mountains in the distance. A third pair went out into the desert in a different direction. He could see a small flair of fire from the foot of the mountain, so it was clear that pair wasn't leaving anytime soon. Trilby decided to head out after the group in the desert, being that by the time he caught the first group the second group would be fairly close.

Trilby ran for thirty minutes, following the tracks. The desert air was unnaturally still, and while Trilby was glad he didn't have to hold onto his hat, it still bothered him. It wasn't normal for sunagakure. Still, it was allowing him to follow the tracks, so it was a blessing in disguise. The tracks were getting fresher and fresher the further he went, it was clear he was running faster than they were travelling. It wasn't long before he came across a cacti, the top was cut clean off, and it's water gone. They had blades. This was problematic. Still, he pressed on. I few minutes after his cacti find, he saw shadows bobbing in the distance. Success. He had found them. A pair of men walking together, Trilby was too far away to see if they were armed. Still, he had to strike hard and fast. Snake, Ox, Ram, Trilby quickly formed some handseals, spewing up a mound of stone that rapidly formed a stone clone of himself.

Five feet. Four feet. Three feet. The tiny noise of sand compressing rung through the the dead air, causing the two men to halt and turn quickly. “Hey boys” Trilby said, smiling. The two men were wearing orange prison robes, covered in dirt and sand. One of them had a katana, probably supplied by the man who busted them out. He stepped forward, shoving the katana into Trilby's chest. As the blade pierced him, the clone grabbed his hand, holding him in-place as he began to crumble, katana still in his chest. Trilby's hand ripped through the sand, grabbing one of the men and dragging him into the ground. The man who stabbed the clone lunged, trying to pull his sword from the rubble. Trilby tackled him before he could get it, punching him in the throat. The man choked, gasping for air as Trilby stood up, grabbing his katana. He had limited options for detainment, and nothing that would last long enough for him to deal with the others and have them not escape. There was only one solution. Trilby left the severed heads of the two rapists in the sand by their bodies, heading off towards the north. The footprints he had followed to find the first two men went west, and the single pair next to those diverged off towards the north.

It wasn't long before Trilby reached the man's tracks, and like with the first mob, followed them, the convict's katana in hand. It was another five minutes before he caught a glimpse of the criminal in the distance, and like with the previous men, slowly crept up behind him. This man was limping, and bleeding badly. It appeared he'd run into a wolf and been bitten. This one would be an easy case. Trilby charged the man, who screamed and hobbled as quickly as he could, but it was no use. A quick swing later, he left the corpse to the wolves, and turned his attention towards the northeast. He could still see the fire in the distance, the two convicts must have made a rather large campfire, the fools.

Prowling the edge of the camp, he could see clearly the two remaining men. They were huddled together, shivering and miserable. They both had knives stuck in the dirt by the camp, easily within reach. Snake, Ox, Ram. Trilby made three stone clones, and the four Trilbies marched into the light from different angles, blocking any escape routes. Dog, Boar, Bird. Signing in unison, the four Trilbies Shot rows of stone spears into the convicts before they could even react, leaving them hanging there for the ravens to pick at. They would hurt nobody ever again.

Word count: 1011/1000

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