The Mission:

Karumo stood at the gate to the village, all his weapons and ninja tools in tow, his sword across his shoulder and his normal black pants, grey shirt and black jacket followed by his black sandals. It was nearly stormy, the clouds grey and a cool wind blew through the air as he puffed on his cigar and leaned up against the gate while waiting for his partner on this mission. Two gate guards stood next to him and talked, he was half in and half out of the conversation thinking about the mission and how to go about it. Their mission was to stop an assassination attempt, and the self-conceited bastard who was behind it had written them a nice letter on how to deal with it. Luckily for Karumo he was in the room with the intel corps when they received the letter and he had thought of an immediate plan to go against him. A good bit of risk behind it, but if he was as proud and conscious as this enemy portrayed himself to be, it would be all but too easy to draw him out and end him.

The guards conversation bored him though as he waited for an old friend to join up with him and help form their squad. Hopefully someone that could help balance Karumo's lack of physical ability when compared to this would be assassin, but really, as long as he held the numbers advantage then his plan would only have a moderate chance of failure. What information they had on this would-be assassin was that he thought very highly of himself, it would be in Karumo's plan to use himself as bait and to draw out his would be attacker on the Stone Bridge where he was supposed to find him. On the bridge, he would engage the man one on one for a brief moment and then his goal would be to turn his attention away from the location at which they would arrive, leaving his ally or allies in wait out of sight. Then, with his full ability Karumo would turn his attention away and do his best to blind him to an oncoming threat and when the moment was ripe, it would be all too easy for them to swoop in and claim his life with any of array of techniques to deliver a swift death.

But for now, he merely had to wait for his support to arrive, and when he did, Karumo would greet him fondly and maybe catch up for a brief second, offering him a cigar if he would take one before he would begin to rant on his plan for the mission and make sure they were ready to head out. He vaguely remembered back to his mission with Nanashi and Harichimo, a simple B rank, but he also suggested their plan back then as well. Nothing to do but wait and think, and Karumo did both so well while he puffed away at his cigar and let his smoke go to join the slowly building thunderstorm over head.

[521 words]

Two less than familiar faces each dropped from the shadows, full ANBU attire on and without much of a word, they slunk up to his position at the gate. Karumo's eyes wandered up towards them, exhaling a bit of smoke from his cigar as he eyed them over, both of them looked extremely fit and like they could hold their own against anyone. Karumo certainly stood no chance physically against either of them much less against the both of them. He took the cigar from his mouth into his hand as he spoke, "Are you two here to make up the rest of my squad then?" he spoke with some command. His purple eyes wandered over their very being, wondering how they would respond and what their directive was. It was a very important mission, he would be glad to have a couple of true killers on his team this time around.

The man in the mask of a dog spoke up first, "Yes." he voice was obviously changed by the mask, a little bit deeper and his words a little bit sharper. The distinction of change from normal speech was obvious but his real voice was not readily known, and who could tell with nothing but a single word to go on. It was the other man in the fox mask who spoke up after him, "We were told to accompany you on the missions and to see to it anyways you saw fit. So you're the captain here, just tell us where to point our blades." the both of them eyed him over and put their hands across their body and touched their chests.

Some symbol of loyalty to him, but calling the shots was one thing, he needed to get a better feel for them and their skills, as their target was no amateur bandit or escaped chuunin. No, they would need the full repetoire of their abilities at hand, and maybe even a little bit beyond whatever physical prowess they may have. Karumo too the cigar in his hand and took another hefty puff of it, exhaling the smoke as thickly as he had at any point before. Then with a single motion he raised his hand and flicked it into a nearby puddle, the rain helping to put it out as it splashed about in the puddle and smoke rose from the extinguished flame. His head then turned to the two, "Let's go, we're burning daylight." he would say and flicker off down the path to their target location.

The two ANBU turned towards each other and shrugged, they caught the irony of his sentiment about losing daylight in the rain, but did they care why. They probably wrote it off as some weird quirk of his, noting that many genuises were often also crazy at the same time that their minds were discovered to be great. But for Karumo, he had serious doubts about how great he truly was, any stature of his own was just stumbling upwards through the rungs. He, himself, had serious doubts about whether he had proven himself worthy of anything at all. Whether his time as a ninja had been wasted, but that was besides the point, for now, he had a mission to lead and a situation to figure out.

The trio sped through the terrain, leaping from vantage point to vantage point, stopping and using their ANBU sensory range to determine their proximity to others and map their way through their surroundings. Every so often they would stop and Karumo would ask them questions, figuring out their skill set and working to incorporate them into his plan. Whatever they knew, and however they worked, he had to find a way to use them. Karumo pondered on the issue as they continued to move along,

The first man, Dog as he wishes to go by. An expert in Taijutsu and a very heavy hitter. Also good with medical ninjutsu and can take a hit like no other. Perhaps he will be the best distraction, his taijutsu weak to Notoro's weaponry, but if he takes a hit he can tank through it better than us.

The other guy, Fox. He is a ninjutsu and stealth infiltrator with a wide assortment of items to play to his advantage and a great affinity for senbon and senbon based jutsu. He'll play the roll of assassin for sure, which means that we'll have to keep him in waiting.

his thoughts ran rampant as he started serializing their abilities and categorizing the potential outcomes and events of the battle. The two ANBU would surely notice him deep in thought but they were only half a kilometer away from the bridge and Karumo needed to stop and explain everything before they arrived and began to face their opponent. One who may not have as great a plan, but would certainly be no easy task to face alone.

The group stopped about 150 meters away from the bridge, there Karumo prepped the plan in full and explained everything he was thinking to them. Every scenario and every nook and cranny and every facet the mission had to it, it would take a moment but by the time they were done, there wouldn't be anything unknown to them. It would take a hefty bit for them to be caught off guard, perhaps a kekkai genkai of great strength or an underwhelming report on his abilities. But that was of little concern as the squad began to place themselves and set up for the inevitable battle before them.

[939 words, 1460 words total]
[To be continued]

The setup would have to be smooth, there would be no room for error and non of them would be able to have even a single misstep. Granted that they all wanted to leave alive and in one piece, that is. It would be up to Karumo and Dog to begin the onslaught, drawing him out and taunting him into a vulnerability. Then Fox would have to come in and clean up quickly, striking with precision for a killing blow that the others might not get a chance for.

Fox started by hiding himself away quite some distance from the pair of them, they dropped down below and caught their breathe. Gathering their composure to meet their foe head on, Karumo spoke softly, as he formed the signs for a shadow clone and let another figure of himself burst into life in a puff of smoke next to him. The real Karumo looked towards Dog along with his clone before speaking out, "Were going to be fighting mostly in Taijutsu, if he ever gets a hold on or grabs my clone clear out of the area as quickly as you can." he spoke softly so as not to attract attention but loud enough for him to hear. Dog nodded as he continued on, "The real me will be lying in wait, the second I see an opening, or if my clone is destroyed then I will jump in and help out as best I can." he paused briefly while thinking. "Also, I'd prefer it if you let me do the talking. If that's okay with you?" Dog merely nodded again and looked out towards the bridge just past the treeline.

Fox should be in a decent enough position, Karumo jumped up to a perch in the trees as discreetly as he could, with the best vantage that he could find. Leaving Dog and the clone of Karumo to go to meet the man head on, the bulky ANBU fighter and the lack luster Karumo walked to the edge of the bridge. Their opponent, Tuso Notoro, waited for them sitting off the side of the path, yawning as he sat there. He ecstatically stood up and brought out his sword, a whip sword that he lazily and apathetically let clang and drag on the ground. More yawning to entice his enemies, "I was wondering when you guys would show up, I've been out here waiting for almost two days now." the man in the black suit and tie spoke, then he mumbled away, talking to himself, "The big guy won't do, his face proportions are too awkward, but the scrawny one might work out perfectly, hmmmm..." he started grinning menacingly.

Karumo exhaled with a final take to gather his composure, the report on him was that he would carry a very handsome face and yet, the one he had seemed different from all the ones he had seen listed and described. Karumo called out to him, "You are Tuso Notoro then? You know we have to take you in for your crimes, come easily or we will haul you off ourselves." The man smiled back, standing straight up and holding to his sword as he drew his arm back slightly, "You will certainly try..." he spoke and let his arm fling forward. The sword in his hand shot out and Karumo turned his shoulder, just barely getting out of it's range as it cut into his jacket.

He jumped to the side and knew he had to close the distance, this guy was quick, far quicker than he was but by the time he began to really think. Notoro had already closed the gap, drawing the whip sword back to himself to wind up for another strike, he was a meter or so from Karumo. Dog had the better idea, he charged towards Karumo as well, bracing his shoulder and planning some Taijutsu maneuver, he intended to cut the man off with his own charge attack. But he saw it coming, sliding onto the ground and under the charge, he used his legs to kick into Dog and used his own momentum to volley him off the side of the stone bridge to the river below. It certainly wouldn't be fatal, but it did clear the battlefield of his little nuisance for a moment, but was it worth it?

As he jumped back to his feet, Karumo closed the distance to the two of them, grabbing hold of the mans torso in a bear hug and squeezing his arms to his body. Whispering to his ear just before catastrophe would strike, "Sorry about the face.. I know how much you valued it." then with ferocity an explosion gave way. A great shock wave rang out and smoke covered the area, blasting away the stone of the bridge at the point of the explosion. After the dust began to clear, Karumo jumped down from his treeline to the entrance of the bridge and Dog ran back up next to him. Giving him a quick note that he was alright as the pair of them waited for the stone to fall and smoke to clear.

What emerged from the smoke was not much of a person, disfigured and burnt away. His left arm missing completely and his face carried severe burn marks along with it, he was absolutely hideous and tattered from the explosion. Karumo drew his sword and Dog readied himself, the shriek of a banshee rang out as the man realized what had happened, he dropped his guard for a moment and it cost him everything. Severe blood loss and the trauma alone, it was amazing he was still standing but he cried out and turned towards the pair. Charging them with his whip sword in hand, blood poured out and rage in his eyes, he flicked his whip sword forward and began to swing violently, hoping to hit them the second he came into range.

But from the corner of his eyes, two sun flares rang out in his eyes, the flash of senbon flying in the air. Tuso was so enraged he didn't even notice, the senbon both hit him in vital spots, one to the temple on the good side of his face and the other into his neck. He fell to the ground with a thud and his sword along with it, they would let him suffer for a moment, not wanting to get to close until they were sure that he lost the will to stick around.

From there, clean up was easy and a quicker return to the village to report a mission complete and threat eliminated. At least, as close to all clear gets, it would only be a very short amount of time before someone else also rose up to make a threat or try to sabotage something. But dealing with that was the life of a ninja, and it was never going to get any easier.

[1171 words, 2631 words total]
[Mission Complete]
[Exit Thread]