Clear Site:

In the Kage office, Maikumaru slouched in his chair, with a Shinobi in front of him. “How are the mercenaries falling in line?”

“Better than I had expected. And I don’t think Imai has caught wind of your activity.”

“As long as he doesn’t find out that the Merchant is in any way connected to Iwagakure it should be fine. His rivals should give us ample time to build. And how goes the construction?”

“There’s a bit of a problem. Bandits have been finding some of the construction sites, and tried to raid them. We are mostly successful at holding them off, but it's putting a really big strain on productivity.” Maikumaru clenched the arms of his chair and turned around to the window. “Is that so…”

“Lord Nineteenth?”

“I’ll handle it...personally. Go find...Kizmaru. He could benefit from this experience." The mission wasn't too dangerous enough for The Tsuchikage to want to not take a lower ranked Ninja along. The Shinobi left the office to set off. As he did, Maikumaru's mind drifted off into thought. He couldn't risk any opposition. While the other powers that were at play fought amongst each other, he would safely build The Stone's military into a very dangerous force. He would have to fight everyone fast and hard. He continued to think. Maikumaru was going to have to implement ANBU moles in order to gain more information on everyone. Including the merchant. The Nineteenth Tsuchikage stood up. There was much of him to do. But for right now he was going to only relax, and kill some bandits.

275 WC

It was gloomy and rainy morning in the in the land of rock which was already rare in itself considering the setting they were in. Most people would see this as some sort of bad omen but for Kizmaru it means the complete opposite. Today he felt something would go his way today but he wasn't sure what. Still, if all he was gonna do is mull it over in his apartment he might as well go, get situated and then head outside. He did his usual routine of freshening up and such, showering, brush his teeth and putting on a clean attire before he stepped out of his abode. He didn't have an umbrella for he assumed it NEVER rained in Rock and when it does, he should just embrace it and let the water fall on him as a sign of good luck. He was sure most people thought of it differently because normally, when it rains it always carried some sort of bad news of somebody big and important passing which would normally be the case. Kizmaru was walking along the muddy trail of the village hidden in the rocks with no real destination. He wasn't sure what to do know to progress further in his ninja career. The only thing he was truthfully looking forward to was passing the Chuunins and then hopefully it would be smooth sailing from there. Instead, he found himself lost on the path of a shinobi where he assumed it would have been a straight long as long as he continued to fight for his village and take the requests of the common folk as well as the nobles.

As he continued to aimlessly walk through the a village, Kizmaru had been halted by an attendant of the Tsuchikage. He wasn't sure what warranted this visit by one of the Tsuchikage's personal attendants but he assumed it was urgent. After listening to the attendant, Kizmaru was then quickly ushered to the office where his Kage resided. Upon laying his eyes on the Kage, he had bent his knee and crossed his chest with his right arm, bowing as a sign of respect to the leader of the village. After a moment, he raised his head of his own accord and spoke up. "You wish to see me, Lord Nineteenth?"

W.C: 393

Maikumaru’s one handed pushups was interrupted by the presence of Kizmaru. He stood up and looked at the young Chuunin. “Hello young Kizmaru. You are going to accompany me on a mission. I figured you could use the experience. You and I are going to the outskirts of the Foundry. In case you aren’t informed, the Foundry is a giant valley where we have construction going on there. There has been a bit of a commotion. We have bandits disrupting our construction, and causing me a headache. They aren’t worth the time to recruit, so I call for an extermination. I’m sure you are up for the task. The plan is rather simple, as the ANBU had already given me most of the details. They are a small bunch. I could no doubt take them all alone. But that doesn’t mean I’ll carry you every step of the way. This mission will be as much as your Kage evaluating you as it is a mission. Now that we got all the boring shit out of the way, let’s go.”

He would lead Kizmaru deep into the badlands. They would come to the outskirts of the Foundry. “This is where we part ways. I’m sure you can pull this off alone. They may be stronger than you are, so you’re going to have to use your head more. Don’t worry. They aren’t that smart.” Maikumaru left Kizmaru behind, told him the direction they should be in. Maikumaru went in the other direction. “We’ll meet up when it's all said and done!”

237/512 WC

Entering the office of his Tsuchikage, he was kneeling on the ground with a lowered head. After a moment of kneeling out of respect, Kizmaru had raised his head slightly to actually see what his Kage was doing. It appeared that he had entered while the currently village leader was training. Kizmaru assumed he was warming up for something big that they both were going to be involved in, almost revealing a subtle smirk before holding the motion back. He then stood up from his kneeling position in order to better receive the news as to why he was summoned to his office. After lord nineteenth had spoken, Kiznaru's excitement had began to plummet briefly. Bandits, huh? Kizmaru wasn't going to lie to himself, that sounds boring as hell. According to the Kage, there was something happening at what Kizmaru assumed was a crucial point for the village. He was surprised that this place wasn't significantly guarded for such an event like Bandit raids and what not. Secondly, he was also surprised that this wasn't dealt with sooner but then again, this is probably why he was called here for so there's that. Another point was, why didn't the Kage just have them all wiped out by the Anbu while they were present at the foundry since they were so few in number? Well, such mysteries of leadership was a foreign concept to Kizmaru so he didn't bother pondering on it too hard. After all, if he had commanded the Anbu to take care of it, he wouldn't have something to do right now so he decided to live with. After all, he got to show off in front of his  Kizmaru blinked a few times after pondering all of this and decided to just lower his head once more, closing his eyes and say "Yes, Lord Nineteenth. The Kage did say this was some sort of evaluation for him after all so he figured if he did really well, he'd probably be considered for promotion in the future or something.

With that, Kizmaru had set off behind Maikumaru en route to the place of interest. The foundry, was it? Kizmaru could immediately see why bandits would raid a place like this. It was perfect for getting the material and equipment the might need to go on larger, future raids but Kizmaru knew that he wouldn't let it go any further than this. Inhaling to keep his nerves, Kizmaru continued to follow Maikumaru through what seemed like the badlands of the Iwa Nation before making it to the outskirts of foundry. There wasn't much to see between the village and the large foundry that the bandits were raiding so Kizmaru made no note so to speak of the area he was travelling through. He figured it wouldn't be in his best interest to do this often so he thought to himself that next time, he would try and take note of all the surrounds where they were plentiful or barren of things he may or may not use in combat, to forage or to collect. Who knows, maybe if he successfully completed this mission he might get an extra reward on the side for his heroism and bravery. Nah, that was probably a tall order due to being accompanied by his Kage and most likely, he would clean up a majority of them anyways. Now then, it seems his Kage had more to say to him so Kizmaru had snapped out of his daydreaming to listen. Apparently, it seems Kizmaru had to go it alone from here without the aid of his Kage and that was it turns out that these bandits were much stronger than ones he had dealt with previously when he was guarding a caravan with his teammate back when he was Genin. He was told that in a single individual of them might be stronger than himself and he should be careful. With that, Kizmaru swallowed a bit hard and smirked since this time he couldn't contain himself. Alright then, this is fine, this is good. He'd go it alone from here. Kizmaru went into the direction that his Kage had pointed out, layign low in hopes he could at least strike unseen, hard and above all, first.

W:C: 726

T.W.C: 1119

Maikumaru smelled the fresh warm air. Memories of his days in his cave flooded in. As he had predicted it didn’t take him long in his journey before he was approached by the bandits. They fit the descriptions of those who had griefed the construction at the foundry. “Hey there big guy. How about sparring us some money.”

However, one of them smacked the other on the back of the head. “You idiot. Don’t you know who that is? That’s the Tsuchikage!” They both looked at Maikumaru, his stern and serious face. No words were spoken, only a glare of contempt. These bandits. These scum would have to think twice before screwing around in the Land of Earth. Especially after Jigoku was created. The group of Bandits backed away. “Uh...sorry. We’re just going to be on our way.” The Brawler of the Stone wasn’t going to let them get away that easily. He was going to fight them. The bandits around here were known for being of low capability, but Maikumaru wasn’t going to be too picky about which ones he had inducted into his invasion force. But then again. He wanted to send a message to the other bandits. “No. You’ve got in the way of something very important. And I can’t have you giving too many details to anyone.” He walked closer towards them. Maikumaru narrowed his eyes, and furrowed his brow. They all backed away before running off. The Tsuchikage smiled, and activated Gaia’s Eyes. He was going to have great fun with them. They couldn’t have gone too far off. They weren’t fast. They went into a maneuver of splitting up.

The Tsuchikage first walked casually, at a brisk pace. And then he went into a full sprint. He was going to hunt them down one by one, as he used to for sport. The Tsuchikage would try to pick his target wisely. He would choose the one with the long hair. The pretty boy. Maikumaru cracked his knuckles. He hated those types. But it wasn’t fair of him to judge based solely on looks. He chased after him. Until he had to stop and catch his breath. Figures. He was the first to do so. He didn’t have a lot of endurance, and he wasted a good amount of it trying to escape the Tsuchikage’s wrath. The Brawler of the Stone, stood atop a small cliff, peering down at the bandit. The bandit noticed his shadow. He yelped and fell backwards, backing away from the Tsuchikage. “Look man! We didn’t mean anything by it! No hard feelings right?”

He placed his foot over the cliff and dropped off the ledge. The Tsuchikage walked closer towards him. There wasn’t much fight in him. That was disappointing. He was a shinobi who hesitated. He got up and started weaving hand signs. But it was already too late. Maikumaru had casted his judgement on him. And his sentence would be death. He let out a blast of water towards Maikumaru. He hardened his own skin into stone, naturally blocking the attack through elemental superiority. He could end him as quickly as wanted. But his face. It was very handsome. It needed to be brutalized. It needed to be bloodied. He was frowzen with fear from the approaching Tsuchikage. “You are going to serve me in death.” He placed his hand on his chest, and shoved him onto the hard ground. Maikumaru grabbed a hold of his leg. “Wait! What are you dong!?” He placed his hand on his thigh, and another hand on the ankle. And then, with his enormous strength, The Brawler of the Stone pulled. And his leg was ripped. He screamed in absolute horror. And in absolute pain. This would happen with his other leg as well. And then his arms. To prevent bloodlost, Maikumaru would use his medical ninjutsu to seal the bandits wounds. He wanted him to stay alive. While not dead, he was unconscious.

The Tsuchikage returned closer to the Foundry. He used Earth Release to create a pillar, covered in large barbs. Attached to it was the bandit. As a sign to those who would cross this territory. But his work wasn’t yet done. The pillar needed to be filled. There was more hunting to be done.

734/1246 WC

Making his way into the direction Maikumaru pointed out, Kizmaru had slowly and cautiously made his way into the foundry in hopes he that he would get the jump on the bandits that were currently on a looting spree. Upon entering, Kizmaru looked around the area to examine his surroundings. He knew that he was suppose to be bandit hunting at the time but he was mesmerized by the fact he was standing in a place where he aspired to learn from in the future. He already knew what he wanted to make, how to do it and how he would use it when the item in question was complete. Simply looking back, Kizmaru had began to recite the the different steps to metal making and forging in his head as he looked for the bandits. As he did this, metals were being cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminium and cast iron. However, other metals, such as bronze, brass, steel, magnesium, and zinc, are also used to produce castings in foundries. In this process, parts of desired shapes and sizes can be formed. Virgin material, external scrap, internal scrap, and alloying elements are used to charge the furnace. Virgin material refers to commercially pure forms of the primary metal used to form a particular alloy. Alloying elements are either pure forms of an alloying element, like electrolytic nickel, or alloys of limited composition, such as ferroalloys or master alloys. External scrap is material from other forming processes such as punching, forging, or machining. Internal scrap consists of gates, risers, defective castings, and other extraneous metal oddments produced within the facility.

This process includes melting the charge, refining the melt, adjusting the melt chemistry and tapping into a transport vessel. Refining is done to remove deleterious gases and elements from the molten metal to avoid casting defects. Material is added during the melting process to bring the final chemistry within a specific range specified by industry and/or internal standards. Certain fluxes may be used to separate the metal from slag and/or dross and degassers are used to remove dissolved gas from metals that readily dissolve certain gasses. During the tap, final chemistry adjustments are made. Several specialized furnaces are used to heat the metal. Furnaces are refractory-lined vessels that contain the material to be melted and provide the energy to melt it. Modern furnace types include electric arc furnaces, induction furnaces, cupolas, reverberatory, and crucible furnaces. Furnace choice is dependent on the alloy system quantities produced. For ferrous materials, cupolas, and induction furnaces are commonly used. Reverberatory and crucible furnaces are common for producing aluminium, bronze, and brass castings.

Furnace design is a complex process, and the design can be optimized based on multiple factors. Furnaces in foundries can be any size, ranging from small ones used to melt precious metals to furnaces weighing several tons, designed to melt hundreds of pounds of scrap at one time. They are designed according to the type of metals that are to be melted. Furnaces must also be designed based on the fuel being used to produce the desired temperature. For low temperature melting point alloys, such as zinc or tin, melting furnaces may reach around five hundred Celsius or nine hundred and thirty two degrees Fahrenheit. Electricity, propane, or natural gas are usually used to achieve these temperatures. For high melting point alloys such as steel or nickel-based alloys, the furnace must be designed for temperatures over one thousand and six hundred Celsius or two thousand nine hundred and twelve Fahrenheit. The fuel used to reach these high temperatures can be electricity or coke. The majority of foundries specialize in a particular metal and have furnaces dedicated to these metals. For example, an iron foundry may use a cupola, induction furnace while a steel foundry will use an induction furnace. Bronze or brass foundries use crucible furnaces or induction furnaces. Most aluminium foundries use either electric resistance or gas heated crucible furnaces or reverberatory furnaces.

Kizmaru was enjoying himself while he thought about metal making and processing of metals when he had snapped back to reality when he heard a voice. It seems his body was on auto-pilot when he lost himself in thought upon hearing the sounds of furnaces, automated hammers pounding metal and liquefied metal being poured into molds. He stumbled upon the bandits, hiding behind a rather large machine as to conceal his presence for the time being. It seems that he was beaten to the location of the bandits as he first spotted his Kage, Maikumaru, engaging in battle with them. At first, they seemed to recognize who he was and try to outmaneuver him by splitting up and running in opposite directions. At this point in time, Kizmaru debated on jumping out and catching one of them off guard but decided he would observe his Kage closely as well as which direction the enemy was running to so he could prepare to cut them off. Above all, he was mostly curious about how his Kage fought in battle and maybe he would borrow some of his moves and techniques later in spars and matches. This made young Kizmaru smile in anticipation as he continued to hide from them and observe the events that unfolds. Watching in anticipation, what happened next, wasn't what Kizmaru expected, he watched his Kage rip a man's leg clean off of his body. The sight nor the thought of this disturbed Kizmaru but he was genuinely impressed by the Kage's strength although he had thought t himself it was a bit excessive even if it was to exterminate some bandits. Well, it was unfortunate that the kage was the one that caught him instead of Kizmaru. Well, that's one down he had thought to himself before slowly creeping away to track down the other bandit that had taken off in the opposite direction as well as locate and destroy the other three that hasn't been discovered yet.

W:C: 1032

T.W.C: 2151

Maikumaru looked for the next bandit. They weren’t getting far. He went back to his tracking roots from when he was a Mercenary. He wondered how many of them used chakra enhanced speed to escape the Tsuchikage. He activated another sensory ninjutsu. The residue of chakra became visible to him. The Tsuchikage sped in the direction the tracks were leading. With Gaia’s Eyes still activated, he eventually caught up to the Bandit. He was many meters away. As soon as he turned around to find a large raging kage running straight at him, he bolted in the other direction. But alas it was no use. He stopped running, realized it was futile, and turned around. In his hand was a windmill shuriken. “Stay back! Don’t underestimate me!” He spun it around, and made a fighting stance with it. Apparently, with his fluid movement into the stance, he was adept at using the traditionally long ranged weapon for close quarters combat.

“Fine. So you don’t want me to underestimate you?” Maikumaru asked curiously, pretending to have a light conversation with him.

“N-no.”

“Hmm. Fine. I won’t underestimate you. I’ll fight you at my full strength.” Before he could say a word, the Tsuchikage ran towards him once more, moving in for the kill. On reaction, he threw his giant shuriken. The Brawler of The Hidden Stone dodged to the right. But he was no fool. He knew how people used these weapons. Instead of advancing towards him, Maikumaru placed his hand behind him, to catch the weapon. He smirked, and waved the weapon at its owner. He tossed it over to him. The bandit caught it and looked at Maikumaru with a puzzled expression. “Keep fighting. We aren’t done here.”

Maikumaru ran towards him again, to get in close. The Tsuchikage needed to see how this form of combat played out. It was very elaborate. The style the bandit boasted was very dexterous. His movements were acrobati, and frantic. He kept spinning around orozontally, and vertically with his giant shuriken in hand. Maikumaru would have been impressed. But he noticed that he was beginning to slow down. He became less erratic and bold with his movements, and became more sluggish. As dexterous as he was, he didn’t have enough energy to keep up. And Maikumaru could very easily see his attacks coming. Nothing would hit.

He had seen enough. It was time for him to go on the offensive. The bandit made one attack, with his shuriken, one that was over extended, allowing the Tsuchikage to block with his arm against the foe. After the block, he moved his arm downward, to grab his own forearm, and squeeze, causing him to drop the weapon. He let go, causing him to move back and clutch at his arm. Maikumaru would throw a hook to his hip. And another punch to his face that would make him spin around. Unleashing his animalistic fury, he would go into a full combination. A hook to the ribs, a hook to the shoulder, a jab to the chest, a slap to the face, an elbow to the other shoulder. And then, he grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up, meeting eyes with him “You have potential. You lack energy. But that can be fixed.” Maikumaru had a smile on his face that grew wider. “Yes. You will do juuuuust fine.” He waited for the bandit to stop struggling. He had passed out due to a lack of oxygen. Maikumaru flung him on his shoulder, and went back to the camp. The Foundry. One of the guards there greeted him. “Yes? Lord Tsuchikage? How goes the mission?”

“Great so far. But I found this guy. I think he has a future in Earth Country. Take him to Jigoku. And place him under as an “untouchable.” I want him to leave the prison in one piece.”

“Lord Tsuchikage. Forgive me for speaking out of term, but do you really think people like this will be good for Iwagakure?”

Maikumaru gave a smile. “Yes. They are very valuable to our future and specifically my vision for not only Iwagakure, but all of Earth Country. Thugs, for sure, but I wasn’t much different myself. All it takes is a little bit of…‘fixing’ to turn them into something we all can be proud of. Now, go do as I asked. I have to get back to my mission.”

“Yes, Lord Tsuchikage.”

757/2003

Searching for the remaining bandits, Kizmaru had been focused on the remaining bandits. He thought about going after the other bandit that had begun to flee as soon as his Kage started to tear into the other guy, literally and figurative. Making his way through the foundry, he had stumbled onto onto a set of doors that led to a different part of the said foundry, Upon reaching the set of doors, he had pushed them open with slightly more force than needed to make some sort of dramatic entrance for himself. Of course, this in turned the heads of the bandits and the one organizing this raid in his general direction. It wasn’t the one that had escaped from the Tsuchikage but he looked furious at Kizmaru for interrupting his looting spree. Kizmaru sneered at the bandit wondering if he was going to do something about it? Looking around the room, not only had the bandit grown even more furious, so did most if not all of the remaining bandits that had been furious at his entrance and started menacingly walk towards him, while shouting incoherent insults. Kizmaru had playing with his fingers for a bit before entering his combat stance. His sneer turned into a playful smile as if he was about to test himself against a series of bandits, although it was just three in particular. Making a quick head count of the ones coming towards him, there was three of them. Before the first action was taken, the one behind the organization of this raid had raised his hand to quell the uproar of his fellow bandits and instead stepped up to Kizmaru in their place.

Kizmaru scratched the back of his head and scoffed at the man. He wasn’t much older than Kizmaru, he assumed from the way he presented himself but he knew that the bandit approaching should not be taking lightly. Kizmaru still had that mocking smile upon his face while he said this. The man had scowled and scrunched his face up before lifting his left arm and twisting it in a way that signaled he was attempting to strike him with it. After throwing a rather quick but lackluster punch towards Kizmaru’s face, or to his nose to be more accurate. Kizmaru parried the blow with relative ease, pushing the bandit's elbow to the left with his right arm whilst moving his own head to the right. As he did this, Kizmaru thrusts his left hand at the bandit's chin in an attempt to end the fight right then and there. It was close but to no avail, it wasn't very effective. He only managed to graze the bandit's chin. The man had staggered back considerably while rubbing his chin. Kizmaru would give him an “A” for tenacity but all he really wanted to do was get this troublesome request out of the way. He was here for only a few moments and everybody was already shooting death glares or targeting his head because he had interrupted their "shopping spree". He wished these pussies would suck it up and just give up already and get this over with. The man had began rushing towards him this time with a glowing orange chakra around his frame. Kizmaru had over heard one of the other bandits shouting, “Look! It’s master’s famous Striking Tiger attack! That’ll show him.” Kizmaru didn’t look slightly phased by the oncoming attack. It just looks like a guy coming at him with a glowing orange cat about to scratch him or something.

Sighing and maintaining his previous combat stance, he had lifted his arms, curling his hands into fists and taking a fighter’s stance. It had been awhile since he had a good old fist fight but he felt a bit at a disadvantage since the so called “leader” was using chakra to fuel his attacks with extra damage so why not do the same. He had generated enough chakra around his fists to augment his own strength. He dashed forward in turn, lowering his head a bit trying to bait an attack with a false opening. The man had swung his tiger-like right arm in a sort of swiping manner towers Kizmaru’s face. He’d counteract this by lifting his left arm and grasping the inner joint opposite from his elbow, pulling him further towards Kizmaru and flipping him over his shoulder onto the ground. The man had jumped back up immediately after being thrown and tried to retaliate with the same move. Kizmaru wasn’t really in the mood for constantly playing this game of “throw the ragdoll around”. He was frankly sick and tired of this and just wanted to get on with his request of ridding the foundry of bandits. Kizmaru had murderous intent now as he clenched his fists with both hands. He waited for the man to attempt to strike him once more before making his retaliation. The man had seemed to notice this, stopping mid charge to wait for Kizmaru to make an attack himself. Kizmaru and the man then sat there for a minutes on end before Kizmaru grew impatient.

It was time for him to make an attack himself anyways. Kizmaru had rushed towards the man pinpointing a location he wanted to attack and hinder. He decided the leg would be an easy target to cripple the man and not kill him. Upon entering the man’s zone, Kizmaru could barely remember what happened next. All he remembered was being knocked to the ground at a moment's notice. Rising up from his apparent knockdown, looking up at the man after just rising, it appeared he had had his eyes closed and a smirk had cracked across his face which had infuriated Kizmaru. Looking around, he was on the floor with his legs spread wide open like he barely made it. Kizmaru had pulled himself up from off the ground keeping eyes on the man just in case the man would try to stop him but it seemed as if he had no intention of doing so. At this point of the battle, it was a evident that this man was a bit stronger and faster than he was and most likely would need so sort of plan or maybe even a little help. Well, they were at a stand still for the time being so Kizmaru used these few moments to think of something else he could potentially do.

W.C: 1094

T.W.C: 3245

Maikumaru had decided to lurk underground, while Gaia’s Eyes were activated. He was going to continue the search for the remainder of the bandits. He swam through the earth, feeling it’s vibrations, the tremors, its stress. He sifted through the rocks and subterra of the earth. He finally found a group of them held up on top of a high plateau. They were the last few that were left. He didn't believe that they were in possession of any great strength. Going after them would be relatively easy. He rushed through the Earth, before arriving at the base of the platform. He dug his way through it, before swimming upwards to the surface. Before emerging from the ground he stood buy and listened to the parlay. "Yo! We have the Tsuchikage on our ass! And I can't we can't find the others!"

"Assume they are either captured or dead. We can't risk this. Dammit, why did we have to go after the Foundry. I told the boss from the very beginning going at Iwagakure directly was a bad idea." A large meaty hand rose from the ground. It grasped at the surface, before pulling itself up, revealing Maikumaru." Yes. It was a VERY bad idea. Bad enough to catch my attention."

Everyone backed away. And drew their weapons. Their swords, Kunai, and shurikens. Analysing the situation, Maikumaru saw five shinobi. He didn't pick up any greater numbers, less he would have sensed them with his jutsu. However, he wasn't going to let his guard down just yet. He knew he could beat them easily. The damage they have caused while going on their raids was moderate to minimal.

He looked at the five of them. They all had their faces obscured with face masks. One of them was brazen enough to lunge forward at him with his kunai. They may be lacking when it came to overall individual strength, but they held the power of superb teamwork. The Kunai user feinted his attack, stepping to the side at the last minute. The tactic was for Maikumaru to gain the attention of the first attacker, while the other and quicker bandit would slice at Maikumaru’s midsection with a tachi sword. Another would use his long chain, holding either end and throwing the rest over Maikumaru’s head. He held himself where he had been cut, he was caught off guard by the chain. The bandit threw another end to one of his allies, and they both raced around Maikumaru, wrapping him up with the long iron chain. They all stopped there, pointing their weapons at The Champion of The Hidden Stone. “Hey...we got him...we actually got the Tsuchikage! We did it!”

“Shut up. Let’s play this cool…now Lord Tsuchikage. You are going to come with us. I wonder how much randsome you’ll go for.”

“C'mon man. This is a Tsuchikage we outdid. We're going to be filthy rich."

"I said play it cool!"

He locked up the chain and started to pull Maikumaru. The Tsuchikage had to give it to them. For a second there, they earnestly did catch him off guard. However he could break out any time he wanted. He was going to play their game until they reached where they were going. He presented them a Trojan horse."Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up, prisoner." Maikumaru glared at him. The bandit didn’t even look at Maikumaru. This made him want to break out immediately and just end their miserable existences. One of them turned towards Maikumaru, the one who held the chain. “The other two. What happened to them. They didn’t meet up with us.” The Tsuchikage would grin at him before answering. “I killed them of course. They died pretty quickly. They weren’t much of a match for me. Low effort prey.”

“Y-you bastard.” He would kick his foot straight into Maikumaru’s ribes. He was protected by the chain. Though he didn’t need it. The kick wasn’t a strong one. “What did you do to them?! Huh?! Answer me!!”

“You weak, pathetic bandits. Disrupting my plans." He was about to draw the blade from his sheath. But his fellow bandits stopped him." C'mon Hisei. This guy's out meal ticket. If they are dead, it won't be for nothing. We can finally take on one of the big groups."

The Tsuchikage deduced that they were a small time gang. He had only heard of them recently. He hadn't even heard of them when he was a hermit in the mountains. Their weapons were of varying quality and they didn't have a specific uniform other than their signature Kanji painted on their back. It meant that they weren't the most wealthiest of bandit groups. Their backgrounds probably spoke of that. If they already had money they wouldn't be bandits. From the looks of it they were all relatively young, too. Maikumaru had almost forgotten how much he used to love making educated deductions. It reminded him of his days working with Takahare. "Hey! What are you thinking about?"

"Me? Oh, nothing important, really, just reciting quotes in my head to surpass the time."

"Don't you know what kind of situation you're in? We could kill you right here and right now just for the rep."

"But you aren't going to kill me. I'm the Tsuchikage I'm way too valuable to pass up. Meal ticket, remember?" The Bandit grit his teeth, holding strong disdain at the idea of his words used against him. A

After walking for thirty minutes more, over the horizon there was a giant plateau, similar to the one they had their meeting on. It had a giant tent cover it. “Aaaahh so THAT’S your hideout.”

“Yeah, what’s it to you? Our leader should be there soon, and we’re going to surprise him with a kage?”

“No. You aren’t There’s no reason for me to play this little game anymore.” He outstretched his arms, breaking the rusty chains. They fell to the ground. Maikumaru wiped off the scraps of metal from his body. “Now. Where was I?” He grabbed the one who put him in the chain to begin with, maintaining a grip on his shoulder, while reaching down to pick up the chain, once he successfully grabbed that as well, he ran forward, pushing the bandit with him, removing themselves from his allies. He wrapped his chain around his throat, and started strangling him. He turned around to see that his allies had caught up to him. He used him as a meat shield. He tugged on both ends of the chin, smirking at them as they watched their comrade. The face mask began to wet with saliva. Tears were falling down his eyes. And finally, Maikumaru pulled the ends with greater force. A snap was heard. And a body went limp. He let go and let him fall to the ground, an airless corpse. Maikumaru walked over his body, and towards the other bandits. “You thought you were strong. I led you to believe that you could successfully capture me. I knew you wouldn’t kill me outright. Look at yourselves. You obviously come from some wretched gutter. I knew you wouldn’t kill me, because I knew I would be of high value. And I knew you would have to go to a place to discuss it. Which was obviously be your hideout. And now...I will kill you all.” A Shuriken was thrown at Maikumaru. He ducked, placing his hand to the ground in a ready sprint position. He dashed forward, tackling the thrower of the Shuriken. He could feel the breaking of ribs, the caving in of the lungs. He stopped running, and stood upright, having him rest on his shoulder. He dropped him to the ground, blood spilling through his mask. Three left.

One of them started to create hand seals, before allowing a gust of wind leave his mouth. Maikumaru raised his hands, blocking the attack while moving forward into it. He got close to him, and placed his hand on his mouth. “You are such a blowhard.” He lifted him up, squeezing at his face. His screams were muffled by the large hand grappling at it mouth. His ally decided to come to his rescue. He raised his taishi, and let it down on Maikumaru. The Self Proclaimed Champion of The Hidden Stone Grabbed his wrist. He squeezed hard enough to break it, and forcing him to drop the sword. He threw them both to the side. Maikumaru walked over to the Fuuton user. He stepped on his back, breaking his spine. He grabbed at his head, and ripped it off from his shoulders. And then he threw it on the ground. He walked over to the last one and shoved his fist into the ground. Blood was everywhere. He stood up and wiped his left hand of the blood. He turned around to see that there was one left. He was shocked. “So...you and I both know that you can’t run from me. You either die like a wimp. Or die like a warrior.”

He took a fighting stance. And Maikumaru did the same. “Now we’re talking.” He rushed at the Tsuchikage and jumped into a spinning back kick. Maikumaru blocked with his forearm. He landed rather graceful, and transitioned into a sweep. Maikumaru jumped over him and kicked him in the face. He didn’t put too much force into it. He got up, and kept fighting. He was getting frustrated. Until the Tsuchikage threw a single punch to the head. And then he would wrap both of his fingers around his neck. Maikumaru squeezed, until the life was choked out of him too. The Tsuchikage threw his dead body to the ground. He looked on the corpses before him. He dusted himself off. It was always nice to deal away with a bandit infestation.

He looked around the plateau. Nothing too crazy, and nothing too out of the ordinary. It was a tent with sleeping bags, a pot of food, and some very cheaply made training equipment. Some stolen goods, naturally. And a large rock in the shape of a throne. The Tsuchikage sat in it. This was probably where their supposed leader sat. While on the throne he closed his eyes. He wanted a throne. A throne to call his own. A throne who’s power would extend out to nations. He sat almost giggled like a madman to himself. “Ah. Soon enough.”

1792/3795

Watching his opponent carefully, Kizmaru continue to ponder of his course of action. Weighing in the options he had, it wasn't really that many to begin with. His first option was, of course, the most straight forward one where he'd charge in and fight the leader toe-to-toe. He's already performed that option found out he was no match for the man in close quarters combat. Doing so again, would only give the man the edge in this particular fight and that wasn't something he was trying to do in a battle that could cost him his life. Kizmaru knew he wasn't being taken very seriously or they would all just come at him at once. He was grateful for this and could possibly use this to his advantage in the future. His second option, was to use a jutsu of some kind to aid him in battle. Kizmaru wasn't sure if the man had jutsu of his own and didn't really want to blow through his chakra trying to figure it out. He thought he should use at least one or two just to test the waters but overall, he registered it as more of an experiment than an actual course of action. He decided that he would go with that plan first before trying to take him head on again.

His last option, if you can even call it that, was to try and escape and come back with more time to set up or to try and find back-up. His only potential back up was the Tsuchikage himself and the Kage had already told him before they entered the foundry that he was mostly going to be on his own and to see it as a trial to test himself as well as his limits. Even if he would try for that plan, he was sure his opponent was faster than him and would just come at him with his squad of bandits. Well, Kizmaru could cross that one out since that was the most risky and offered little reward. Well, it seems Kizmaru had no choice but to enact his plan. Using a series of hand seals, Kizmaru inhaled, gathering his chakra into his lungs before exhaling and blowing out a stream of fire towards the bandit's general direction.  Kizmaru carefully watched to see what the bandits next course of action would be. Would he use fire to counteract his own? Water to nullify? Something defensive? Kizmaru watched while his flames travelled towards his target. Suddenly, the unexpected had happened. The bandit had simply jumped out of the way. He clearly had time to use a jutsu of his own to combat his but he simply didn't.

How odd, Kizmaru thought to himself. Maybe the man was conserving his chakra for something big or, he didn't have any jutsu to use at all. Kizmaru was hoping this was the case as he continued to maintain the stream of fire in the bandit leader's direction, causing him to continuously try to avoid the flame. Kizmaru soon after ran out of breath, forcing him to cancel his jutsu. With his fire jutsu down and the bandit leader being about to catch his breath, he had bellowed, "Hey, stop fighting like a coward and fight man-to-man."  This is all Kizmaru needed to hear. That statement alone confirmed he didn't have anything other than Tajutsu to rely on. While it was exceptional, Kizmaru had a few other tricks up his sleeves other than Taijutsu. He had to begrudgingly accept that the man was an overall better Hand-to-hand specialist than himself but that doesn't mean this particular guy was unbeatable.

Kizmaru knew how he wanted to approach this situation now. With the setting he's in, t would be easy for him tto use his fire jutsu and maybe even ramp up the power of it by utilizing the giant foundry they were in. Kizmaru had no more time to think as the sudden stream of flames keeping the man at bay had sudden;y emerged and charged straight for Kizmaru. The man had his arms outstretched into what seems like a grapple and was charging at his lower torso. Kizmaru didn't have time to cast another jutsu so he decided to throw an axe kick as soon as the man was in his vicinity. This managed to bring the man to his knee briefly. Seeing this as an opportunity, Kizmaru started up hand seals to his Phoenix Flower jutsu. After he finished performing the seals, he inhaled a second time, gathering his chakra into his lungs before exhaling in controlled bursts. He spat out two small fireballs towards the bandit leader, one behind the man, and one on each side of him. By doing this, he'd thought to have cut off the man's course of escape. Kizmaru then continued to hold his breath to wait and see what the bandit leader would do. If his hunch was correct, he wouldn't try to block them but he would try to evade and there was only one way he could go to evade all of those fireballs.

Watching carefully, it seems the bandit leader had move in a way Kizmaru had predicted. The bandit leader would jump straight up into the air to avoid all the incoming fireballs. This was his chance and Kizmaru won't let it slip past him. Firing another fireball, slightly larger than the rest towards the bandit leader's head when he was a good distance into the air, Kizmaru immediately dashed forward then leaping into the air. What happens next was the fireball had soared through the air at the bandit leader's face. He noticed the fireball coming in and realized he couldn't evade this one so he raised his arms to block his face so he didn't get burned. It didn't matter at all that the bandit shielded himself from the fireball since the goal of the flames wasn't to harm him with it. The fireball had collided with the man's arms and he began to lean backwards and descend. Kizmaru had jumped after the fireball so as the man fell backwards, Kizmaru wrapped his hands around both of the leader's ankles, wrapped his legs around his waist and drove the opponent's head into the ground. Kizmaru then released his hold and performed a side flip a few feet away from where he had dropped the bandit. Watching carefully, the bandit was still positioned still on his head before slowly falling onto his back. He wasn't dead but was surely unconscious. Any higher than that and most likely he wouldn't have survived or wouldn't escape severe injury.

Kizmaru then looked around the room to see if the others were willing to fight and avenge the loss of their leader. The rest of them seem to have taken up arms and Kizmaru was getting ready for a second round when another bandit had ran in scream there was a monster of a man slaughtering their fellows in another location of the foundry Kizmaru had assumed that this was his Kage at work and eased up a bit since the men seemed to lose their will to fight and now started to scatter in different directions of the foundry. Letting out a sigh of relief escape his lips, Kizmaru began to walk into the direction the other bandit came from in hopes to meet up with his Kage and get this mission wrapped up.

W.C: 1281

T.W.C: 4526