The caves were dark and damp. Isamu loved all nature, but this was not his favorite. His missed the light outside, but he didn't flinch. He continued down the wet corridor, dodging stalagmites and boulders left and right. It became increasingly dark inside, so he took out a torch and lifted it up. The mission was to search the caverns for a threat, as a few people had gone missing recently. The thought that an animal or some crazed ninja could jumped out of nowhere and attack sent chills down his spine, but he kept going, mushy footstep after mushy footstep. He almost forgot that his friend Sodaina would be accompanying him on the mission as well, so he turned and waited for him to catch up.

Word Count: 128/1000

A lit cigarette dropped from the Bald man's semi-clasped lips as he gazed inside the cave, his comrade had entered several minutes earlier with the vigor only a teenager could muster. Sighing he wiped the sleep from his eyes, he had gotten up only an hour ago with the usual hangover, stomping out the smoke Boruda began his ascent into a dark, dank, Hell of a place. His pace was far more casual than his accompaniment, observing the area around him for signs of struggles or anything of that nature. Of course he had no such luck, he never was the lucky sort. Minutes passed as the Bald ninja continued into the caverns, hoping to find something or other to suggest the idiots who had made their way out here in the first place had been mauled by a bear, instead of the prospect of finding a murderer.

As he continued to walk a light began to catch his eye, obviously his comrade ahead of him. Before continuing any further Boruda stared the boy down, from what he could see there was a doe eyed child with snow white hair. They had sent a Boy to help him on a search and rescue procedure, in which all likely hood everyone one had long since died, internally shaking his head in disapproval Boruda made his way closer speaking as he closed in "So, you're my mate then." he paused to look the boy over once again, something about him shouted he was quite effeminate, as though he should smell like lilac, as opposed to the brewery stench Boruda habitually carried.

"I was checking for signs of a struggle, bodies and the like on the way in. Didn't find anything," he paused taking in a deep inhalation before continuing "In all likelihood the people stumbled too close to a Bear's or a Wolve's den...Be looking for remains, or anything that would say that..." he paused thinking once again of the boy's age and look before continuing "Nevermind, let's just see if we can find any remnants." an odd feeling washing over him, as if something wrong was happening in this cave.


[368/1000]

"Remnants, got it." said Isamu. He noticed an odd shaping in one wall of the corridor, and turned to it. He saw that it was dented, like something had crashed into it. He pressed the surface carefully, and felt a sharp crack. It frightened him, and he stepped back a few paces as the crack widened. It continued to grow until a small fissure was growing and the cave began to shake. Stalagmites from the ceiling fell and hit the ground, echoing through the tunnel. Finally, it stopped, and left in front of Isamu was a large hole that was once a dented. He held his torch in place, and it turned out to be a separate path through the caverns. He turned back to Sōdaina, who looked sleepy and was in the other direction.

"Sōdaina, over here! I found a path! Looks like someone's been covering their tracks."

Isamu proceeded into the hole. The path was long and narrow; there was barely room for the two people to fit in. He went down, further and further, and it became cold and the overwhelming stench of death and dried blood flooded their olfactory senses. Isamu covered his nose immediately. In the distance, there was a dim light that seemed to be that of a lantern. Isamu gestured forward and the two continued towards it.

Soon, he halted and in his line of sight sat a person, his back to them, hunched over something. Isamu kept quiet and spied the boy carefully from afar. Upon examination, they realized he was looking at a corpse, fairly recently dead by the look of it, and there was blood all over the sword strapped to his back.

Isamu inched forward, and his foot landed in a puddle, sending a loud *SPLASH* through the room. The boy heard the noise and turned, his eyes pitch black and directed at the two. He slowly took his sword from its perch on his torso...

Word Count: 458/1000

Boruda followed in silence as the boy lead him down a long corridor a growing sense that something wasn't quite right began to culminate as the smell of coagulated blood reached his nostrils. Looking toward the end of the corridor there appeared to a very low light, and in that light a silhouette appeared to be kneeling over something. Panic hit the elder of the two like a brick-shit-house, immediately he grasped what had happened to those people, they weren't dealing with an animal they were dealing with a person...

Yet as any Shinobi would the two pressed onward toward the figure until eventually they were but feet away, stooped silently until suddenly his partner stepped in a puddle making a reverberating noise amongst the silence Shit! Shit! Shit! Boruda thought to himself as the figure who had obviously killed everyone stood and turned in their direction...

It was but a boy, a boy with eyes black as night that stood before the two Shinobi. A boy that had drawn his blade and knew that someone was there watching him. Gazing over at his partner Boruda attempted to formulate a plan in the seconds they had before fully discovered, the only thing that came to mind was the thought screaming throughout his entirety RUSH HIM, acting on impulse Boruda spoke to his comrade as quietly as he could " We can't go back, he'll know. We have to hit him while we have the surprise. On three I'm going to charge him, I need you to help." cold sweat dripped down his face as seconds turned to hours hoping that his fellow Shinobi would have another option. Finally the man began his count down, each fraction of a second the boy becoming more aware of their presence " Three...Two..." pausing for a moment to catch his breath and wish once more his mate had a better idea...

[691/1,000]

Isamu listened to Sōdaina's countdown. The suspense was killing him, pulling him apart, until finally it reached one. Everything was a blur. He sprinted forward, his hands quickly making the hand signs for two jutsu. He split into 3 forms, each coming at the boy from different directions. The boy didn't hesitate, and pushed his hands into the ground, causing spikes of earth to rise. Isamu's speed outmatched the boy's and he dodged 2 of them, but the last hit one of his clones, dissipating it. The boy still didn't panic as Isamu and his clone rushed at him from both sides; he took his sword in hand and swept his foot under one of them, sending him falling to the ground. This meant the other was a clone, and the boy turned quickly, slashing it and making it dissipate as well. Isamu rolled back to his feet and tried to throw a punch at the boy, who dodged and stabbed Isamu's hand. "Ah, you bastard!" Isamu yelled as pulled his hand back. Blood flowed seamlessly from the wound, but Isamu merely took another step forward. The boy smiled, amused, and said, "You can take pain, apparently, but you're weak. I am Sato, and I'm going to kill you..." Sato took grip of Isamu's neck. "Any last words?"

Suddenly, Isamu exploded in a flash of smoke, and Sato was holding one of the stalagmites from the ceiling. He threw it aside, and struggled to see through the smoke when Isamu's hummingbird, Kuremachisu, flew in and scratched his eye with a talon. It left him disoriented, which gave the real Isamu, who had gone behind him, a chance to execute another jutsu. The hand sign was quick, just the Bird sign, and he blew a barrage of 6 bullets from his mouth at his adversary. A moment passed before Sato realized what had happened (he was temporarily blinded in his left eye because of Machi's attack) and he managed to dodge 3, while the other 3 of the bullets hit him, impacting hard and sending him crashing against a wall with lacerations where they hit. Machi flew back to Isamu and perched on his shoulder as he fell to his knees, breathing hard. Sato looked up and felt his forehead. At look at his hand after showed that his impact was harder than he thought, and his head was bleeding. He got to his feet and rushed the other ninja. Isamu saw this and sent out a frantic warning cry.

"SŌDAINA!"

He heard a yell just after his, coming from further down into the corridor. He used all of his might to stand and slowly paced his way over, following the cry for help. He figured Sōdaina could handle the weakened Sato on his own, not that Isamu could be of much help as of right now anyway.

Used Jutsu, in Order of their Use:

Word Count: 949/1000

Mere moments passed as everything unfolded, Boruda began his charge as his friend had done moments before, and in but moments the hell that combat was unfolded. For the time being it seemed the boy's strategy was working as a flurry of moves passed between the two leaving Bourda to contemplate how to end the fight as quickly as possible, soon the murderer had announced his name and seemed to of had Isamu in a bit of a bad spot, that is until both he and the murderer realized he had grasped onto a stalagmite which had appeared in Isamu's shape.

Soon the two were in another clash this time both of them wounded, Sato taking three shots from what had appeared to be a Fuuton jutsu of some sort. Immediately he was brought out of his thoughts as Isamu yelled notifying that the boy was rushing him, something which he himself had noticed "Yeah, I noticed" the Bald ninja stated facetiously.

Immediately after speaking the murderer had closed the distance and had begun to stab Boruda with the trained strikes of a life time Kenjutsu user. Of course Boruda was as well, managing to deftly avoid all the flourishes, except a single strike that cut into his left arm. The murderous child seemed to be quite happy about this as he stopped and hopped backward just to yell in an excited tone "Blood! Blood! Blood! Give me your blood!" this idiotic stoppage cost the young murderer. While the boy was shouting maniacally Boruda closed the distance between the two of them quickly delivering a quick right hook to his jaw, the murderer fell onto his bottom several feet backward, losing the grip on his blade and sending it flying forward toward Boruda...

Sato sat upon his bottom holding his jaw with doe eyes asking "Why would you do that?" his eyes filling with tears, as if the earlier facts weren't enough it was apparent the kid was bat-shit crazy. Boruda quickly kneeled down taking Sato's shoddily made sword in his right hand. The weight distribution was horrid, and the sword itself seemed to have been made entirely of iron instead of the far more superior steel, "How many?" Boruda asked once again closing the distance between them placing the tip of the blade at the boy's throat as he sat silently gripping his jaw, "Five dead, there are a few more in the back still alive...Most dismembered in some way or another. Missing an ear, or a tongue." the tubby psychopath giggled at the thought of what he had done.

"Now, take me in." the child commanded simply, a wide grin stretched across his face, the blade still but inches from his throat. Quickly the Bald ninja looked for his mate, as to come to a verdict for the boy, life or death? Since it seemed his comrade had made his way off somewhere leaving him with the lone decision, the answer seemed obvious enough.

Once more he locked eyes speaking to him in a hushed tone "As a medical ninja I have decided to devote my life to helping my Comrades, and the way I see it there are two ways of doing that," as he spoke he removed the blade from his neck continuing "Healing those in need, and making sure that there is no chance for people like you to go free." a look of fear crossing the killer's eyes as he yelled at him holding his hands out to protect himself from what was going to happen "Wait! No, no, no! This isn't how it goes!" of course Boruda took no heed continuing with his speech "If I were take you to be court-martialed, there would be the slight chance they would not send you to death, due to your age...So, I'm appointing myself as your Judge, Jury, and Executioner."

Once more the boy pleaded for his life with tears streaming down his cheeks, but it mattered not... The killing blow was painless enough, a single downward blow landing atop the psychopath's head as a red mist filled the room, the blade itself breaking from the hilt making it impossible for further strikes with the weapon.


Wiping his face the bald man stood over the body awaiting the return of his comrade, hopefully the boy would understand what had to be done in the situation...

[1,431/1,000]

Isamu lifted his hand and used Funsui no Shukufuku, culminating the healing waters in his hand. He closed his fist, letting the wound from Sato's sword slowly heal. The blood seeping from the wound stop, and the pain subsided, somewhat. Isamu took a moment to listen. He could hear the sounds of a struggle between Sodaina and Sato...mostly maniacal screams and rantings from Sato. They abruptly stopped just after the sound of a sword falling to the ground with a loud clash. Isamu hesitated and turned around, but decided that his fellow Genin was indeed much older than he was and could handle himself in a fight. Another scream echoed through the pathway, clearly a statement of help, and Isamu sprung into action. He followed the voices until he came upon a torture room of sorts. The smell of death was pungent and heavy here, obviously because of the corpses. There were 5 total, and in a small corner of the room sat 2 survivors, one an adult female and the other a teenage male, both crying. A third was sitting right next to them, but he was unconscious. Isamu rushed over to them. "Are you alright? I'm here to help."

The boy struggled to form words, but in his open mouth sat a stub of a tongue, and the woman next to him was bleeding from her ear...or at last, where her ear should've been. Isamu was disgusted, but used to seeing such horrid things. He'd been patching up the wounded as long as he could remember using Funsui no Shukufuku. But he was tired now, and felt that he couldn't do much anyway. His kekkei genkai was powerful, but for a ninja of his rank, there was no way he could magically put a tongue and an ear back in place. He untied them and lifted them to their feet, and threw the unconscious one over his shoulder. "Let's go."

They went back in the direction from which Isamu came, Kuremachisu fluttering and gliding in front of them. Isamu reached the previous space, and there stood a blood-soaked Sodaina, looking down at Sato. There was a blade in Sato's head, and spattered blood covered the entire area. The captives cried out in fear and horror, but Isamu urged them to continue and gestured to Sodaina, signaling that this was all of them. He continued back up through the pathway and back to the fissure, then to the surface and the entrance of the Cave. The sunlight was shimmering down, a stark contrast to the dark cave. Isamu put out his torch and threw it aside. Carefully setting the unconscious man down, he wrote a quick note for Sodaina, as he couldn't wait too long for him to get out; the woman's bleeding was worsening. He scribbled, "I'll going to admit the victims to the hospital. I'll meet you at the Kage's mansion for payment. --Isamu" and left it out on a rock in front of the entrance. He picked up the man again, and led the victims out to safety.

Used Jutsu:

Word Count: 1485/1000

Boruda stood in silence staring at the now dead boy, breathing heavily finally he spoke to the dead body "Saru mo ki kara ochiru. (Everyone makes mistakes.)" everyone makes mistakes after all. The question was, who was the statement directed toward, the young killer, or himself?...

Sounds echoed behind him, panicked screams echoed behind him forcing him to turn and gaze as his comrade and several of the victims of the psychopath. The Bald Shinobi gave a curt wave to the bunch, it seemed like Isamu had everything under control. Boruda once again turned toward the dead boy speaking to everyone "Got him." of course by the time his thoughts translated into words everyone had long since fled the area. So alone again, aside from the corpses, Boruda simply stared at the dead boy.

The sound of water dripping from the stalactites brought him back to reality, immediately the thought of going and getting waxed crossed his mind, allowing him to return to his normal mind frame once again. Sighing Boruda once again wiped the dried blood from his face, talking to himself as he did "I need a shower so bad..." walking away from the bodies and back toward the entrance of the alcove.

Once he reached the beginning of the cave the man noticed a little note stating that he should go to the Kage's mansion for payment, fair enough. Not before a shower of course, and maybe a drink...


[Exit]