Memories haunted Gin as she made her way through the forests of Iwagakure. It had only been a few days since she had agreed to join the Blue Rose – though not without a hefty fee, of course. She didn’t know how long she would work with the group of bandits. Thus far, it hadn’t been bad. Her job was simple: she had to help a few smugglers get their supplies into nearby towns, intimidate a few people who disrespected the organization. In the latter case, all she had to do was flash her silver blade. It had taken less than five minutes to convince the old man to pay the money he owed the Blue Rose. And of course, that part was going into fixing the fence that she had torn out of its hinges on day one. The former Kazekage was still very unapologetic for having done that. She thought it had been necessary at the time to get their attention. Not only that, but they had also stolen her money and her scrolls. In her opinion, they deserved to have the fence torn down. Therefore, she had refused to pay for it and there was not really much that they could do about that, was there?

The mercenary – Shinobu, as she had instructed the other members of the organization to call her – had made it quite clear that she was not to be messed with. As long as they stayed out of her way and let her do what they had hired her to do, everything would be fine. Despite having left Sunagakure, Gin still had a very strong set of moral rules that guided her decisions. Sure, she was now a sell sword, but that didn’t mean that she would take up just any job. She would never involve innocent civilians, nor would she pick a fight with someone who was powerless to stop her. And as always, she would not kill unless it was strictly necessary. Of course, Gin enjoyed challenging battles and sought them out avidly, but she was by no means driven by a sense of bloodlust. The former Kazekage retained her sanity in that respect, despite the adversity that she had gone through.

And the former Kazekage’s recent actions led her to where she was now. She had taken up an assignment on the mission board. It was more of an assassination contract than anything else. However, that wasn’t what was bringing up old memories and feelings of angst. Killing a criminal wasn’t beyond her nor was it something that would stop her from going to sleep at night. No, it was rather the type of criminal that she was facing: A slave trader. The young woman had been on her fair share of missions that went along similar lines. At the time, her late husband had been by her side… Shinobu shook her head fervently. No, now was not the time for reminiscing and losing herself in such thoughts. She had a task at hand and she would go about it methodically, as she always did.

[Word Count: 514/1500]

Now she headed through the forest of Iwagakure, towards the mountains where the slavers hid. Shinobu knew their tactics fairly well by now: they would ransack small villages that had little to no security only to take innocent people as victims to be bought and sold like livestock. That, or they would have a long-standing contract with the same type of village, maybe a larger one. The contract would require them to hand over their own people in order to supposedly keep the peace between those left and the heartless bandits who took their brothers and sisters away. It dehumanized people, turned them against each other and turned them into animals. In both cases, those who resisted would be killed and made examples of to prevent the same from happening again. I was disgusting.

Shinobu had been offered the option to kill the leader and forgive his group or even take them into the Blue Rose. She had scoffed at the idea and instantly resolved to leave no one alive there. Such people didn’t deserve her forgiveness. They deserve to see their own blood spill onto the ground while she stared in satisfaction as they drew their last struggling breaths. The thought of punishing those scum drove her forward, through the forest and up the mountains where the gang was located. Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to track down their location. It had been conveniently given to her beforehand, which made things considerably easier. Apparently, they had sent a scout before who was apparently unwilling to charge head first into the gang of slavers and slaughter them all like they deserved. In other words, the former Kazekage was now being sent to do the dirty work for the Blue Rose. She didn’t mind. It was what she was being paid for, after all.

The young woman was near the camp in hardly no time. She crept behind the rocks, keeping her presence hidden while she scouted the layout and verified her surroundings. “Wind Style: October,” she whispered under her breath. Her chakra spread through the wind, letting her feel what was around her. She could now tell where the gang members were. She couldn’t tell who was who, but it didn’t matter. They were all her targets anyways. She just needed to know who she would pick off first. There were about 25 people scattered around the camp. Some seemed to be on break, others appeared to be on active guard duty. As far as she could tell, they were wielding swords. Perfect. This would be a very simple takeover.

Shinobu opened the palm of her hand to summon Yajirushi to her. She swung the sword from where she stood, creating a projectile. She didn’t need to look at the men to know where they were. The brightly shining blade flew through the sky, piercing through the heads of five men before they even realized what was happening. This was bound to be easy. Of course, by now, the rest of the guards had been alerted that something was amiss. But by then, it was already too late. Shinobu had already set her plan into action. She might as well step out of the shadows now. She knew that there was little to no chance that a mere group of grunts would be able to take her on.

[Word Count: 1071/1500]

The former Kazekage walked slowly towards the center of the camp. Her projectile had now impaled about five more guards before it flew out of range. It was more than enough for a preemptive strike. It wasn’t long before the leader came out to greet her. He seemed angry – well, of course she was, seeing as she had decimated almost half of his gang in one fell swoop. He made an effort of trying to hide it underneath what seemed to be a very arrogant façade. Shinobu’s expression was cold and blank. Her eye was locked onto his. The other was covered behind the eye patch. “Who the hell do you think you are?” He growled. Shinobu didn’t dignify the question with an answer. Instead, she approached him. His arrogance made him stand straight, not daring to back down, lest he look weak in front of his men. He signaled for them to attack.

The former Kazekage hadn’t caught the visual instruction, but she could feel the men moving behind her. The ripples that they caused in the chakra-infused wind were enough to let her know where they were. With a quick swing of her sword, their heads were on the ground. She could see a flash of fear in the boss’s eyes. Shinobu swung her blade again, sending a projectile to deal with the remaining men. All of the gang members were dead in a few seconds. Afterwards, she simply discarded the blade. It faded in her hand. This man deserved a more painful death. “Do you think this means anything? The man let out. “They’ll be replaced before the week is over,” Shinobu still said nothing. She just approached the man casually.

He attacked her, throwing a punch aimed at her chest and infused with fire. The young woman dodged, spinning away from the attack in a graceful movement. He spun with her, not wanting to let her get in his blind spot. As he did, he attempted to kick the young woman in the stomach. The attack was once again infused with a thin coat of heat and fire. The former Kazekage dodged once again, leaping backwards. The man was quicker than she expected, she had to give him that. But Shinobu had no time to waste. She wanted this over with. She wanted to paint the camp in his blood. With no more time to waste, she moved swiftly. She drew the blade from her prosthetic arm. It was time to test how effective it was.

Dodging yet another kick by ducking underneath it, Shinobu stabbed the blade into the man’s thigh. It sent a powerful electric shock through his body. In under a second, he was convulsing. He stopped moving. He was rendered stunned, paralyzed. He fell to the ground with a loud clatter, next to the bodies of some of his men. She stabbed him multiple times with the same blade, sending the powerful shock raking through his body without letting him recover. Once she had had enough, she slit his throat. “Tell the Devil that Kuroka Gin sends her regards,” She said. His eyes widened, showing that he recognized the name. However, the phrase had little time to set in. In a few seconds, he was dead.

[Word Count: 1615/1500]