Konoha was a large village with a multilayered, deep history that had its roots in many a war and had been led by over a dozen Hokage throughout its span. Part of this history involved jutsu of many kinds: hiden, in its various native clans; Mokuton, from the famous Senju; doujutsu, in the Sharingan and the Byakugan of the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, respectively. What was more clandestine in nature, shrouded by a veil of mystery, were the kinjutsu native to Konoha. Konoha kept its "forbidden" techniques under wraps, for fear that one day they fall into the wrong hands, since some could potentially wipe out an entire village with their destructive power. Scrolls containing the jutsu were locked away in secure, hidden locations scattered throughout the village and out in the wilds of Hi no Kuni. Only the highest ranking shinobi knew where these locations were, but sometimes, information slipped, secrets were revealed, and knuckleheaded, bold, desperate people found themselves capable of finding the forbidden jutsu, leaving the village with the obligation to stop them before they could unleash the catastrophic consequences that use of kinjutsu often entailed. They had plenty of trained shinobi within the village, from Chuunin up to Jounin and even ANBU, if necessary, to hunt down the thieves and recover the scrolls.

So why was Issei being hired to do it, instead? He scratched his head thoughtfully, having been contacted less than an hour prior--by the same person he had received his last independent mission from--concerning this issue. Of course, he accepted the task gratefully, especially since the reward was...steep, but it didn't quite add up in his head. Perhaps they didn't want to worry the general public by sending out their own forces out. Such a commotion would surely be noticed, and it wouldn't be long before word spread of what was going on, which was something that would only be detrimental, in the long run. Issei figured it was best to accept that as the case, regardless of whether it was true or not, because it wasn't his job to question his superiors when he was hired to do something. All he had to do was find the thief, capture them, and ensure the scroll was returned with its seal intact. Simple enough.

The Kirigakure ninja left the village, armed only with the knowledge that the perpetrator had last been seen heading into the southern forest, and it was a fair assumption that he was headed toward the dock to escape on a sea vessel. Issei moved as fast as he could, jumping between treetops and keeping his eyes peeled. He planned to stop the thief far before they got the chance to reach the waterfront.

It wasn't long before Issei was approaching the dock, with still no sign of the thief. He knew he couldn't have been too late, and he was a bit worried that the thief had noticed him trailing behind and set up some kind of elaborate trap. He activated his body heat sensory jutsu, releasing his chakra in waves that  blanketed the area, wrapping around nearby trees and folding into the grass and leaves below. There was no heat that signaled an explosive or fire-based trap, so that was a relief, but it was eerily quiet then and Issei became all too aware of the fact that his jutsu hadn't registered a single nocturnal creature anywhere nearby, which was suspicious considering how many he'd seen just the other night on a walk. He started to weave hand seals, first to create a tail of bone to act as an extra appendage, then another set to recreate his skeleton and transform it into a static bird to use as a substitute. Taking aim with his right eye, he threw the bird down toward the dock, then used his chakra to make it simulate flight until it landed just at the edge of the dock, silently. Then, he waited.

Five minutes passed, and then ten, and by the fifteen minute mark with no activity, Issei was convinced that his intended target must have been aware of his presence. There was simply no possibility of him having arrived and departed before Issei could have caught up, as even in the evening darkness, the view was clear enough that the surface of the water was visible for quite a far distance. Just as he turned to face the forest and took his eyes off of the dock, the figure appeared behind him, creating a loud clanging sound as its armor-clad arms rushed to strike. Issei coiled his tail around himself to block the strike, and then unfurled it just as quickly, slamming its center segment into the thief's gut. The armor that the thief was wearing protected him from harm, for the most part, and there they stood, face to face, with the only thing separating them being the extra vertebrae that Issei had created. He wore an oni mask and when he spoke, his voice was distorted. "Ha, I steal a forbidden jutsu scroll and you're all they send after me? This is gonna be easier than I thought." Issei pushed the man away with his tail at full force, knocking him away and causing him to fall out of the tree, but the man fell into a backflip and threw a kunai when he was facing upwards again and his arm was outstretched. Issei moved his head slightly to dodge the kunai and it lodged into the bark of the tree he was in, but when it started to glow, he realized that there was a paper bomb attached to it. The thief smiled and darted towards the dock, leaving Issei with barely a second to react. He stood there and formed a single hand seal before being seemingly consumed by the subsequent explosion.

When the thief turned back around to survey the damage, all he saw was a pillar of black smoke rising from a fallen tree, and a charred skeleton at its base. Despite this, when he tried to follow through with his escape, he found Issei standing in front of him on the pier, blocking his way. "Gonna take more than that to run away from me." The thief hadn't seen Issei placing the skeleton earlier, meant to be used to save himself in the event of imminent danger via the substitution jutsu. Nonetheless, he laughed in Issei's face. "Okay. Well, it's the scroll you want so badly, yes? Too bad I already sealed it away. There's no way you can get to it without me." It was clear that the thief also didn't know that Issei was well-versed in fuuinjutsu, but Issei figured telling him so wasn't necessary. He pointed his tail at the criminal's neck, awaiting his next move.

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In a swift motion, the thief kicked away Issei's tail and ducked past him, running towards the dock. Issei started to chase him hurriedly, and quickly took note of the fact that the man was starting to weave a few hand seals. Issei recognized at least half of the seals, and they seemed to signal a water technique, so when the thief turned around to face him again, he was already bracing himself and preparing a jutsu of his own. The thief called out the name of his jutsu, triumphantly, as though he had already sealed his victory over Issei with its use. "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" He took a deep breath, likely building Suiton chakra in his throat, before releasing a flood of water that overwhelmed the dock and advanced toward Issei at violent speeds. Issei's sequence of hand seals was nearly complete within a second of the wave's arrival, and he jumped back to avoid the wave and buy himself a bit more time when the thief called out a second name. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!" Above the surface of the raging waves came an elongated pillar of water in the form of a dragon, headed straight for Issei. It seemed to be moving with him, controlled directly by the thief's chakra, so Issei didn't have much hope in defending himself from it by dodging it. Just before it struck, he called out the name of his own jutsu in response. "Water Release: Water Encampment Wall." He produced a ton of water and incorporated the water beneath the pier into his jutsu as well, forming a huge defensive wall that both the incoming wave and the the dragon smashed into, creating a deafening splash before all three techniques were essentially nullified and the dock itself had been completely submerged by the now-higher water level. Issei and the thief both stood atop the water, but the thief was sprinting straight towards Issei with his fists raised.

Issei blocked his first strike and retaliated with a high kick aimed for his throat, which missed by a hair. The thief caught Issei's leg and attempted to flip him, but Issei used his momentum to move with the direction he was being pulled, grab the thief's face using his bone tail in the process, and throw the thief a few meters away with its strength. He landed on the surface of the water flawlessly while the thief plummeted into the water before resurfacing moments later. "Give it up." The thief laughed, the distortion from his mask causing him to sound like a rabid creature more than a misguided man. "Electromagnetic Murder!" He placed his hand onto the surface of the water, almost instantly lighting it with pulsing yellow electricity that skated through towards Issei. Issei didn't have any jutsu that could effectively block a Raiton jutsu, so he pulled back the one sleeve on his Ninshiki robe to reveal his chakra armor gauntlet near his wrist, connected to his Gigantes' Fist. He poised his hand towards the water, timing it so that by the time the lightning had nearly reached him, his chakra armor was already powered up and glowing, ready to absorb the incoming jutsu. The lightning was pulled from the water in a blue vortex of chakra before being completely consumed by the armor and rendered useless.

It was clear that the thief was starting to get tired, having used far more chakra than Issei had, but he wasn't quite finished yet. Issei was not concerned in the slightest.

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