Intel arrived early this morning about a threat heading towards the Bastion Adamantine. An old ninja, formerly apart of Iwagakure no Sato's ninja corps. His dossier read as such, An old man once retired from the Shinobi ranks failed to save his daughter from being raped and murdered. He blames Iwa for not acting and staying safe behind their walls and in return he intends to destroy that well. You must stop him and the only way to do so is to kill him. He is Jounin ranked but made frail with old age. A sad story that made Karumo feel a bit poor about it all, an old man who was lost to himself and his history, probably holding the village partially responsible for whatever crimes and tragedy that transpired. His full profile as it was updated read as such,

Name: Igarashi Moto
Age: 62
General Appearance: An old man in classical monk clothing. His frail body is thin and its obvious he is nearing his end. His hair is gone and he never smiles.
Personality: Moto is a cold man. Once he was famous for his kind demeanor and reveled as a hero. Now he has nothing but hate for all of Iwa. He will kill anyone in his way with out hesitation.


It was short and sweet but told Karumo everything he needed to know. Most recent report showed him buying an extremely large set of paper bombs for what he could only imagine would be a not great cause. No one individual needed that many explosives, and for someone who held so much resentment for the village it was a worrisome report. Karumo tightened his ANBU armor, each strap pulling tightly as he prepared himself for any potential eventual outcome. Upon word of the purchase of the explosives, Karumo sent word to keep an eye on him from a distance, but it turns out the old Jounin still had some perception skills and caught wind of his tail. Another agent flickered into view from the nearby window, calling out as he entered, "Lord Tsuchikage, it's urgent."

Karumo sighed and tightened the last wrist strap to his forearm, "Yeah, go on..." he spoke calmly, he knew what he was about to hear and he had hoped not to.

"It's Igarashi, sir. He caught wind of his tail and proceeded to attack him, a few guards entered into the fray but we've backed off and forced him into a corner, it seems he's making a mad dash towards the wall sir. What should we do?" the ANBU spoke quickly, maybe even slightly frantically. The way he spoke and his demeanor, he was clearly new to it all, so green and yet so confident. But this ANBU's prowess and potential was something to worry about later on, for now, Karumo had no time to analyze this but instead had an issue to address, a quickly growing problem.

"Alright, go back them up, I'll meet him before he gets to the wall, have a few troops waiting there just in case I fail." Karumo spoke with a smile, a calming tone, and a look of confidence. The ANBU agent flickered away after a quick nod, an exhale came from Karumo's chest as he wondered what he would have to do and what it would come to. He didn't take joy in the combat of an old ally of the village, someone who survived long enough to retire with what he had. And yet, this old man had lost so much in his time in the village though, and blames Iwagakure no Sato and her ninja for the travesty against his family. It may be a stretch to place the blame, but Karumo was empathetic to his ideas, if only he could be saved from his path, if he gets a chance to do so. A very big if indeed, Karumo thought to himself as he jumped to his window and flickered off to the nearby rooftops in a direct sprint towards the Bastion Adamantine.

[683 words]
[To be continued]

Every rooftop, the brown stucco or the light brown shingles, each one a reminder of what he had to do and what he needed to protect. Whether it be the roof of someone's business or place of work, or the home of a citizen and/or their families along with it. Every single one was a reason to protect the village, to never jeopardize its citizens, every home and every person. He kept that in mind as he dashed along, the breeze of the wind pressing against his face as he moved along in his ANBU armor, the tightness of the straps faded away as he continued to bring himself into the task mentally. To prepare to do whatever it took to protect the village from any threat, intruder, or problem. Even if that meant having to strike down an elder of the village itself, but maybe, just maybe he could resolve this with a bit of negotiation.

How childish, he probably thought he would be made fun of try to seek peace against an act of war, of violence against what he pledged to serve and protect. What would the other ninja think, of his decisions and actions? Could the ninja of the village pledge themselves to someone who was so idealistic and so self-righteous, and even in the face of battle would seek peace? But opposite to that, would they want to serve someone who was so willing to strike down an ally, even a former one. The man held sway in the village, his service and retirement could never be so easily forsaken. But his actions were certainly not going to be forgivable if he continued on this path, the decision therein was no doubt a tough one, and with all eyes on him to see how he would decide to act as the leader of the village, his choice would truly matter.

It didn't take long, moving at top speed to help intercept the runaway and awol elder, Karumo found a squad nervously standing guard over a park just a few hundred meters from the wall. Green grass and a slow breeze gave the backdrop to the scene of utter silence, one man with a large case slung around his shoulder, standing on guard in the middle of the park. And the rest, four ANBU members standing at the ready on rooftops adjacent the scene, each of them kunai or weapon draw and looking down on the scene. Karumo dashed down next to one of the ANBU and looked conservatively onto the scene, the sweat of the old man was obvious as Karumo and another arrived onto the scene. Outnumbered now, Karumo's job was merely to assist, but soon he would take over, and if it came to combat, it would be his burden to bear. Karumo spoke calmly to the captain of the squad of soldiers on the scene, "Tell me, what's the situation..." he remained with his concentration on Igarashi as he made every detail of everything known.

The ANBU agent spoke up and began to tell everything, "We finally were able to stop his progress and surround him, however he has an excessive number of paper bombs in his bag there, and we haven't found any openings to move in yet..." everyone remained still and silence was the only thing to fill the air. Igarashi called out in anger to break it, everyone twitched in readiness, waiting to see what would happen, except for Karumo who waited and listened in.

How dare you! Tsuchikage! the man screamed at the top of his lungs, eyes filled with anger and lungs about to burst with rage. "You show up here, and plan to kill me! After everything else the village has taken from me, you expect to take my life too!" he called out, cursing the ground where he stood, it was insulting and even more than that, unsettling. Karumo spoke calmly to the man next to him on the rooftop,

"You're first mistake was staying on these rooftops, if he threw his paper bombs at you, you risk damaging the buildings and those inside them..." he continued on as he watched Igarashi, "For now, cover me but don't do anything unless I do, I'll handle it from here..." he said and dropped down, moving slowly towards the panicked man. With every step he grew more nervous and flinched in anticipation of what would happen next.

[750 words, 1433 words total]
[To be continued]

Worry was visible on his face and hands, stepping back slightly and letting his feet slide across the ground with each step, beads of sweat almost visible. "How dare you... approach me like everything is fine, like you have any right!" his words stung like a knife, the cursing of everything he had known. It was disgraceful for his legacy, for what Karumo stood for, to watch someone make such a choice and abandon everything in what.. revenge? If this could even be said as much. It was more juvenile than that, holding the village responsible for his tragic past and lashing out in the only way he seemed to know how.

"Don't do this to yourself Igarashi... whatever your reasons we can end this here..." Karumo pleaded with him as he waited a few meters away from him, stopping in his tracks as he kept a careful eye on him.

Igarashi laughed in response though, staying prepared, his hand resting above his bag, he yelled out in defiant retort, "Stop what I'm doing! You want me to stop?! To give up and surrender??" he said and grabbed a kunai with two paper bombs hanging from it with wire, the kunai loosely in his hands, he pointed it at Karumo. A raised eyebrow in response, Karumo was almost unsure of how serious he was with that and what he intended to do with it. "You think that I want to escape from this? That I... I'm in distress or something and am making some mistake? No!" he swung the kunai in his hand a bit, making Karumo uneasy at the sight as he lowered into his own stance, his heels shoulder width apart now.

"You!... and your sacred village! You took everything from me, I gave my life and watch my friends die in battle! The battles of the village that I wasn't apart of and all for the sake of protecting others and my family! And at the end of all of it..." he gritted his teeth, the painful memory was obvious, "You let her die! This village failed her! They violated her and killed her and what did I get in return, to appease my lose?? Nothing! To die in old age with nothing but my horrid memories and experiences." he barked with all the anger in his body, every muscle quivering with anxiety and impatience. Karumo exhaled and drew a kunai from pouch and let it rotate in his hands a few times as he prepared it in a reverse grip to prepare for what was obviously coming up next.

"Now, I'm going to create the same sense of loss in this village as I felt! Hiding behind your wall and ignoring the world... I'm gonna destroy that wall and then... when the enemy attacks and slays the people, taking family members away and scaring everyone. Then and only then can the village pretend to know my pain and when that understanding comes, then they'll be able to protect the village and each other properly." his wicked cowl made Karumo's stomach ill. How anyone's ideology ever diverged to such a point or how anyone could come to these conclusions, that this course of action could even be an answer to accomplish anything. Disgusting, but his course of action was obvious now.

Karumo sat into his stance, eyes trained on Igarashi as he prepared for attack, "Igarashi... just know that I am truly sorry." His words were calm and filled with empathy, but it mattered not, Igarashi's kunai flew forward as the paper bombs began to burn, ignited to explode. The explosion went off just before him, a great cloud of smoke and debris covering the area as Karumo had jumped back and crossed his arms to defend himself. Each ANBU agent squatted into position and drew their weapons preparing to move in, no doubt their impatience and anger would draw for him striking out again. But Igarashi saw the move coming, more kunai with paper bombs had launched towards the rooftops, two more kunai in the east and west direction.

But before their path was finished a couple of shuriken flew out and knocked them up into the air before they could make it, causing them to explode a few meters above their targets. From the cloud of smoke and debris, Karumo shot out and dashed towards Igarashi who fumbled for another kunai with more bombs tied to it. But it didn't matter, Karumo stuck his kunai into the bombs and stabbed through and pressed it into his bag, preparing to detonate the bag itself, as he made his motion, he smiled at Igarashi and held his eye contact, speaking quickly from the moment he emerged from the smoke, "I said I was sorry, that I couldn't have saved your daughter, but harming the village is not even revenge, it's a child lashing out. Let them live in ignorant bliss and let those who are truly strong carry that burden." then nothing but explosions rang out the first one from the paper bombs and a second explosion from within.

A few moments passed as the dust and debris settled, a crater from where Igarashi and Karumo had collided, and the ANBU agents looking in. Sadness seemed to carry about them, but from behind them a rock fell forward, a section of the wall fell forward and Karumo emerged from it. The ANBU captain looked in surprise, "Lord Tsuchikage?" he spoke, thinking to himself, He must have used his dynamic doppelganger jutsu, switching places in the chaos of his first attack... a clever move indeed.

Karumo smiled and began to explain, still melancholy that Igarashi had to die in all of that, but prepared to quarantine the park to clean everything up and start repairs. His mission here was done for the time being, and he had to return to his work now, his job was never over and in the darkest times, he just had to press forward and do his best to ignore the difficulty. Having to kill Igarashi, a former ninja of the village, a jounin, and now retired elder was no small memory to have to bear. Hopefully he handled the situation alright though, it wouldn't make him feel any better about it, but it could certainly make him feel worse.

[1071 words, 2504 words total]
[Mission Complete]
[Exit Thread]