The trek to jadestone was not hard, simply long. It would take him most of the day to walk there, and by the time he arrived, he would be royally fucking pissed off. There was sand in his shoes, hair and eyes, and he was pretty sure his trip took an extra several hours longer than it should have due to him losing his bearings and sense of direction several times. By the time Tre would arrive in the village of Jadestone, it would be mid afternoon. With the sun already dropping towards the horizon, he would head into the village, stepping through the broken mess that was once the village gates.
Inside, the village resembled a warzone; many of the buildings contained smashed in windows, blown out walls and had smoke rising from them. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog was barking, and a child was crying for thier mother. As Tre walked down the main street, he would adjust the puple scarf around his neck, pulling it up so that it covered his mouth. The air was a thick with dust and smoke from the fires; there was also a strange stench in the air, and the smell of blood, something he knew too well. He did not slow down, he did not faulter; even as he moved, he was fully aware that he was being watched. He could see them from the corners of his eyes; fleeting shadows of the remaining villagers as they peered at him from the burnt out shells of thier former homes and alley ways. Some wore worried expressions upon thier faces -- was this man here to do them harm? Was he with the bandits that harmed the town? For the moment, he would let them wonder; he'd get to thier concerns soon enough.
Tre would make his way into what seemed to be the remains of the town square; this placed seemed like something out of hell; there were sizable craters in the ground, charred bodies and red stains everyhwere. There was even one poor unfortunate soul hanging from the top a building. So, this was the disaster of Jadestone? Man, this shit was hard to look at. No wonder these people were in such dire straits. If this gang of bandits were leaving the people in such a manner, then they needed to be killed. These people seemed so distrusting; even now, they were creeping from the shadows, eyeing the stranger that entered thier town. Some were holding weapons, as if they intended to attack Tre should he prove to be a threat. As he watched them carefully approach, he would calmly hold up his hands to that that he meant the people of the village no harm.
"Peace, be still. I was sent by Iwagakure no Sato to secure the area until the main forces arrive. My name is Tre Natake." He paused, watching as the villagers processed the information he gave them; a few seemed distrusting, other faces held glimmers of hope. "I am supposed to maintain order here until the security force, and if necessary, take out these bandits."
"But you are only one guy! And a kid at that!"
Tre frowned; was someone here questioning his ability? "I could always leave, you know. You people seem to be doing a fine job defending yourselves so far!" A chorus of disagreement rose up, and the male hid a smile behind hid scarf. "Well then, I suggest we get down to business. Some one fill me in on what happened here. As for the rest of you, I suggest you all set up some defenses using what you can, just in case."
~ The Next Morning ~
The next morning, and Tre was up early before the sun rose in the sky, already out and patrolling the perimeter of the village of Jadestone. Last night, the appointed spokesman of the village, the late mayor's assistant, filled Tre in on the situation; a group of bandits who called themselves the Masks. It seemed that the bandits were ex-ninja who took to raiding the minor villages to sustain themselves. Because Jadestone was one of the 'larger' minor villages, they were hit repeatedly. There were five members of the group. Each one wore a black mask over thier face save for the leader. Thier leader distinguished himself from the rest by the red, ornate mask he wore. Armed with this knowledge, Tre aimed to set off early in the morning, learning the layout of the village. When the rest of the villagers awoke, they awoke to the sight of Tre standing atop the remains of the temple, staring out at the mountain pass at what seemed to be an approaching cloud of dust. Judging by the speed at which it appeared to be moving, it would not be long until the cloud reached the village. Even at this distance, Tre could tell that this cloud was not a natural phenom. He had to act quickly; either this dust cloud contained the reinforcement forces promised by Iwagakure no Sato, or it was another raid.
He prayed for the former, but could not help but think it was the latter.
Turning his attention to the villagers, he spoke quickly, as time was of the essence. "Hide. I'll handle this. Do not come out until I come back and tell you that its safe to come out." As the villagers scrambled to find places to hide, Tre leapt from the top of the temple to a nearby rooftop before sprinting to the village outskirts. As he moved, the male began to channel chakra to the kunai hidden in his clothing in preparation for something to come, should the people this dust could contain proved to harbor ill intentions. Tre would come to a stop outside the village gates, waiting patiently as he adjusted his his scarf to cover the bottom half of his face. Soon enough, a group of five men descended upon the gates, each wearing a mask upon it, with one of them wearing a red one.
As they spotted Tre outside the gates, they came to a stop roughly ten meters away, watching him carefully; who was this man? Why was he here? Was he some sort of protection the village hired? Finally, the man wearing the red mask stepped forward, pointing at Tre. "Who the frick are are you?!"
Tre smiled behind his scarf. "Me? I am nobody. Who are are you?"
"I am Setsuko Kashiro, leader of the Masks!" Ooh, this one was a boastful one? Tre continued to smile behid the scarf, feeling that familiar itch begining to surface. That itch, that desire to murder. For the moment, he pushed it down, repressed it. He would give in to it soon enough, and it would feel all that much better.
The one thing he could not hide -- did not even bother to try -- was the boner he was getting from this.
"Thats nice, Setsuko Kashiro." The response was nonchalant, as if the male was wholly unimpressed by the name. In truth, he was not. He did not care for this man's name, but it was valuable information nonetheless. Perhaps there was a bounty on his head that Tre could collect on for more money? He would have to lug the body back to Sunanagakure no Sato if there was, or perhaps there was a bounty station nearby? He would figure it out later; right now, there was still the matter of dealing with these people. "So, I am going to have to kill you now, okay? Just so there is no confusion as to what is about to happen, okay?"
The leader laughed. It was obvious that he did not think that Tre could back up his words. "You? You defeat me, the great Setsuko Kashiro, the leader of the legendary Masks?! Impossible!" His henchmen laughed as well, but Tre ignored them. "There is only one of you, and five of us! You can not do shit to us! I suggest you run your ass back home to Mama and hide, little boy, before I put you over my knee like your Papa should have done."
Tre paused for a moment, considering this man's choice of words. It took only a split second, but in that split second, he decided that this man's very poor choice of words had flipped a switch within his psyche. For this, Setsuko Kashiro's reward would be a slow, painful death. With a small sigh, Tre pulled out his Kunai, charged it with Raiton chakra, and began to lay waste to Setsuko Kashiro's men. In a flash, Tre crossed the expanse and swung the kunai twice, slashing out the throats of the two closest Masks. The scent of burning blood would fill the air as the crimson liquid crumbled off the blade, as Tre turned his attention to the three remaining bandits. Despite the masks covering most of thier face, Tre could tell a horrified expression when he saw it. Beneath that scarf he wore, the grin grew; the murderer was released, and he would not go away until the job was finished.
"Get him!" A cry from Setsuko's mouth as he pushed the two remaining men forward and turned away in an attempt to run away. Unfortunately for him, Tre was not having any of that. No, this man was beyond saving. There was no salvation, help was not coming. There would be no forgiveness, and running only made you look like prey. No, these men had come to this village with the intention to pillage only to find the tables turned upon them. Tre wondered for a moment before he drove the kunai into the eye socket of the next mask member if they expected something like this to happen? Did they think that thier actions would not garner the attention of a monster? There was always someone bigger and badder out there that was higher up on the food chain that you were, and everyone's days were numbered. For these men, they devoured the villagers, and in turn, they were being devoured by Tre. Survival, at its most base.
With a wet suction sound, the Kunai was yanked free of the third Mask and and shoved into the mouth of the fourth, knocking out teeth; a solid upper cut to the jaw would drive it through the soft tissue of the palate and into the brain. Tre knew there would be no time to retrieve it just then; the Setsuko Kashiro was attempting to get away! No matter. Before the Mask leader could get out of range, Tre released the jutsu that he had been preparing since he'd left the top of the temple; a loud ringing sound would fill the air around them, stemming from the bell located in Tre's topknot. With the usage of chakra, the full force of the ringing was guided and amplified towards Setsuko's eardrum, throwing his nervous system for a loop. He immediately stumbled and fell over retching until he emptied the contents of his stomach into the sands. So long as Tre kept up the ringing, this guy was not going anywhere. With a smug smirk, Tre walked over and kicked Setsuko Kashiro over onto his back.
"Add one more body to the death toll. May God rest this poor bastard's soul."
A fist was drawn back as Tre dropped upon this man, pummeling him into the ground with no remorse. On and on the blows rained down until bones cracked within the skull and the face caved in. The body had long since ceased twitching, but Tre did not care. When he finally pulled off this man, he he was exhausted from beating it. Beneath him, the sands were stained red, and a bits of grey matter were splattered about. Tre cleaned of his hands on Setsuko's clothes, and ambled back to the village to alert them that the threat of the bandits was no longer a threat. As he broke the news to the villagers, they began to cheer and cry in relief. A small smile crept to Tre's face; it felt good to help people like this in thier time of need. Even though this was not his village, people in need were people in need; and every one was human. He did not need a reason to help someone else, even though being compensated monetarily did indeed help a lot. As the villagers cheered on, the mayor's assistant pulled Tre to the side and pressed a small item into his hands.
"Please, take this for all your troubles. It is a precious gem that represents our village, of our strength and resilience. We would be honored if a shinobi such as yourself would wear it. It is said that the wearer of this necklace is granted a great power."
Tre took the gem from the mayor's assistant, it was a small rose colored teardrop on a necklace. Nodding slowly, Tre took the necklace and placed it around his neck. The gem felt cool against his skin
"Thank you." He gave the aide a bow, wondering just exactly what ability this small gem seemed to hold. Oh well, he would fine out at some point, would he not? For now, he simply remained silent, wondering what was next to come. As the cheering died down, the young ninja informed the people of Jadestone that he would be departing later in the evening to get back to Iwagakure no sato and inform them of the situation, and to let them know that the situation with the bandits had been resolved.
As Tre left the village, he looked back, wondering what would happen to these people. Would thier lives improve now that the threat was eliminated? Or would they continue to struggle? Would Iwagakure no sato even bother to rebuild the village? From what he could gather from speaking to the villagers last night, it would seem that Jadestone was at a cross roads of sorts on the trade routes; they were a frequent stop for traders and miners in the area who came to rest and sell thier wares before heading to the much larger Iwagakure.
But this was something that he should not worry about, because this was not his kingdom to watch over. His own was a place filled with forest and lush grasslands; a place he was almost ready to get back to.
Where the frick was Kenta?
~Thread Exit~
2422 | 3439
3439/1000 = Mission completed = C Rank jutsu token
2439/1180 = [Genius Perk = 20% WC Reduction per stat tier] = END E-3 to D-3
1259/1180 = [Genius Perk = 20% WC Reduction per stat tier] = STR E-3 to D-3
79 WC remaining