Escort the Ninja:

Bōei had been given a new mission, this one significantly more promising than the last. He had been tasked with escorting a young leader, a shinobi from a neighboring village, back to his village as a show of solidarity between the two villages. He was to meet his escortee at the village gates and the two would be on their way. As he reached the gates, he saw the young shinobi draped in rich indigo garbs with a ornate sword on his hip. He walked up to him and introduced himself to the young shinobi who in turn replied in kind. "There will be another accompanying us on this journey. Another wandering nin named Ieyasu whom I met on my travels here will also follow us back to my home," the young shinobi informed Bōei. "That wasn't part of the mission briefing but if you insist, I have no qualms about it," Bōei replied. As the two waited for this Ieyasu to appear, Bōei wondered just who he was and why the young shinobi seemed to be so fond of him. He figured the answer would reveal itself along their travels but for the time being he kept his curiosity in check.

WC: 210

It wasn't very long ago that the Land of Iron forever expelled Ieyasu Tokugawa for his treason. He could still remember the smell of blood running down his chest after the blade cut through, the piss that he let out in his fear as the tip of the general's blade reached within less than an inch of his throat, the tears running down his face as he begged for forgiveness like a dog in front of the young, ambitious, inexperienced samurai that he had rallied behind him to rebel and seize power. It was a wonder that they didn't kill him, and for that mistake, the government of the Land of Iron would pay a heavy price. He would come back, with an army of his own, to take back what he saw as rightfully his.

In attempt to align himself with a small village in the Land of Fire that bordered the Land of Iron so that he could eventually rally them behind his cause when the time was right, as they had a relatively impressive militia of fifty samurai strong,  he met with the leader of the village, a young shinobi, during his travels to discuss the current state of relations between the Land of Iron and their small village, trying to see what weakness he could exploit to get the village on his side.

He soon found that there was a dispute over the rights to a nearby forest, one which the daimyo of the Land of Fire would not dedicate any political capital to disputing, thus having it go to the Land of Iron rather than the small village who had relied upon the forest for game and wood for a long time. Having portrayed his tale, to the leader, as if he were a hero fighting a corrupt establishment in the Land of Iron rather than an ambitious coward seeking power but faltering when his life was on the balance, he soon convinced the shinobi leader that if he ever came to power in the Land of Iron, he would restore the village's rights to that nearby forest, gaining favor in the eyes of the leader. Escorting him would not only earn Ieyasu some desperately needed ryo; it would also earn him a favor later on that, compounded with the village's interest in the forest, might convince the young shinobi later on to help him invade the Land of Iron.

Apparently, a successful shinobi from Konoha was also being sent to guard this young leader on his way back to his village. Perhaps he could get this shinobi on his side as well. After all, if he ever wanted to dream of taking the Land of Iron for himself one day, he would need to return with a large, diverse army. Fifty samurai from this small village, if he could even convince this leader to do that much, wouldn't be nearly enough for what he was trying to pull off. Not just that, but he would have to improve his own skills as well. He had shown a poor display of strength in the battle with the general that had been his ultimate downfall during the coup; he couldn't even land one hit on the guy when push came to shove.

"Hello, friend Ieyasu!" the young shinobi would welcome him as he arrived at the village gates of Konohagakure, spotting the princely village leader along with the shinobi escort from the hidden village, "This is the shinobi from Konohagakure who is to assist us on the travel back to the village. By the by, what is your name, young man?" With that, he would turn to the shinobi from Konoha; whether or not he supplied his name, they would begin their journey to the small border village.

"What else would you like to see from the Land of Iron?" the exiled samurai would inquire from the princely young shinobi, trying to see if there was anything else he could offer to make sending troops more enticing when he would appeal to this man later on.

"Frankly," the man would reply as the trio walked, "I'd like to see more favorable trade relations between the Land of Iron and our village, in addition to regaining our rights to our forest." It was a reasonable desire: better trade to make the simple people of his small village more prosperous in addition to those land rights that he'd already mentioned in their earlier discussions.

"I assure you, when I come to rule the Land of Iron," he spoke, trying to further persuade the shinobi leader, "Your land rights will be restored, and trade relations will be better than ever." He was making these promises now, so that he could bring them up later whenever he was to appeal this shinobi leader on sending troops for his cause. Of course, that was a long way away, but, given this shinobi's young age, he was sure that he would remain in power for a long time to come, barring an assassination or sudden illness that couldn't be cured by medical ninjutsu.

"So as for you," he would speak, turning to the shinobi from Konohagakure, "What is your background?" He wanted to know more about this Konohagakure shinobi, so that he could perhaps find some desire in him to exploit for his cause just as he had done with the shinobi leader of the small border village.

WC: 917

As Bōei waited beside the young shinobi, a man walked up to the gates of the leaf and was warmly welcomed by the young prince standing beside him. "Hello, friend Ieyasu!" the young shinobi shouted, "This is the shinobi from Konohagakure who is to assist us on the travel back to the village. By the by, what is your name, young man?" Given that they had just introduced themselves, it appeared as though the prince had already forgotten who he was. Quite irritated by the slight, he decided to remain silent as he knew his all black eyes would betray his emotions otherwise. He quickly analyzed the large man standing before him and realized immediately he didn't appear like a shinobi. He appeared more as a heavily armored, middle-aged samurai with a significant amount of facial hair. He wore a large steel helmet with a golden eagle emblem in the center of it. He has a rather large and bulky brute strewn with armor and a spear; every trait about him seemed quite the opposite of what one would find in a shinobi. The trio would begin to walk forward towards the prince's home with a bit of small banter.

"What else would you like to see from the Land of Iron?" Ieyasu asked of the prince. "Land of Iron huh...well that explains a lot..." he thought to himself remaining silent once more. "Frankly, I'd like to see more favorable trade relations between the Land of Iron and our village, in addition to regaining our rights to our forest." Their conversation seemed of little interest to Bōei as he was simply there to ensure the safety of the prince. Nothing more, nothing less. Ieyasu rambled on a bit more as it appeared he was attempting to butter up prince and gain more of his favor. "I assure you, when I come to rule the Land of Iron, Your land rights will be restored, and trade relations will be better than ever.". Ieyasu seemed to be making bold promises but that was none of Bōei's business so he didn't question his claims. Ieyasu turned to him and asked "So as for you, What is your background?".

"I have been assigned to protect the prince on his way back to his home. My talents were deemed worthy enough to protect him and that is as much as you need to know," he responded bluntly. Bōei hoped that the remainder of the mission would remain as calm as the beginning although he could do without the unnecessary chit chat. Unfortunately his desire of smooth sailing was short lived at he heard the rustle of the bushes on either side of the trio. "Stand between us," he commanded the prince as he tried to pin point the source of the noise. He pulled out his specially designed kunai in preparation to defend the prince from any would be dangers.  "Ieyasu prepare for a fight..."

WC: 537

OOC: Remember that my character's spear and the armor are aesthetic combat-wise, so he won't be attacking the criminals with his spear and all, and nd his steel armor will act like normal clothing.

"I have been assigned to protect the prince on his way back to his home. My talents were deemed worthy enough to protect him and that is as much as you need to know," the hidden village ninja responded bluntly, almost confrontational at the end. It seemed that he had contempt for the old samurai - the refusal to speak his name didn't help either; anyone who knew the cunning of Ieyasu - and this boy probably noticed it from his buttering of the prince - wouldn't find him remotely pleasing, however he preferred to think that most people never dared to show it. He didn't care about personal popularity. All he needed in the end was power.

"Stand between us, the hidden village shinobi then commanded, which the princely young shinobi did quickly. Were they being attacked? Could Ieyasu possibly die? A small drop of sweat would roll down the side of his face, but he would feel safer behind his steel. Besides, he had this hidden village boy to act as cannon fodder in case someone needed to die. If worst came to worst, he could flee, preferably with the prince but if necessary, without.

"Ieyasu prepare for a fight..." the hidden village shinobi spoke. Ieyasu would immediately get in a ready defensive position, stepping backwards with his right foot and entering a front stance, holding out a fist with his left hand. and keeping the chain spear in his right hand on the ready.

Three ninja armed with kunai knives would jump out; only one would step up to speak their intent, "We've been hired to take you out for a good price by our contractor. Your political power can't save you now. No one's here to help you except for that piece of front line fodder and that boy with the knife!" While he didn't like the term "front line fodder", it was partly true. Samurai were trained to jump into the front lines in formation to create giant armies in mass, nothing like the creative techniques of the shinobi. Alone, unlike shinobi, individual samurai were nothing. One of the things he wished to learn from the shinobi world was how to truly become stronger and perhaps even how to understand how to properly wield the Steel Style.

The three low-life bounty hunters would charge at the hidden village shinobi, the steel-plated samurai, and the princely shinobi that they were to protect. He wouldn't do anything besides defending himself and their escortee for now; he wanted to see what tricks the hidden village shinobi had to defeat these guys or die trying. Besides, he preferred that others do the dirty work of battle for him whenever possible.

WC: 1373

Three ninja jumped from the bushes making their intent known with their kunai drawn just as Bōei did. One bold ninja stood out from the other 2 and spoke, "We've been hired to take you out for a good price by our contractor. Your political power can't save you now. No one's here to help you except for that piece of front line fodder and that boy with the knife!"  Bōei looked at each of them and studied their posture and stance to try to determine any strengths or weaknesses he could use against them. After a few moments he came up with a plan to defeat the three ninja while keeping his target safe from harm. Bōei moved his shadow to reside in front of him to allow him an easier time to attack and defend with it.

In a swift motion he performed the rat hand seal and sent his shadow forward towards the ninja who spoke as the three mercenaries ran toward Bōei and his companions. Before the ninja could respond, he entrapped him in a pure black sphere of shadow which cut him off from his support. Upon realizing their leader had been immediately taken away, one of the other ninja simply ran off in fear back into the woods. The other was a bit more courageous and continued to assault Bōei with his kunai. Prepared for the attack, Bōei countered with his own specially designed kunai which was made exactly for this type of situation. As the two kunai clashed together, he launched his shadow from in front of him into the ninja's chest knocking him off balance. Using the opportunity of his opponents compromised frame, Bōei moved forward quickly and launched a barrage of punches at the ninja's chest then swept his legs out from underneath him. As the ninja fell to the ground, Bōei quickly moved on top of him and placed his kunai to his throat. "Who sent you..." Bōei growled as he pressed the kunai harder against his throat. "I'll never tell you!" he exclaimed. "Fine by me..." Bōei said as he jammed the kunai into the ninja's throat, twisting it as it entered. He watched as the blood began to pour from the ninja's throat as the life slowly left his body with the gurgles of death leaving his mouth.

After ensuring the swift demise of the first ninja who had attacked him, Bōei turned to his two travel companions to ensure they had not been harmed thus far. He looked to Ieyasu and spoke "I took care of one and another ran off. The leader is locked up on my shadow prison as you saw. He's going to be disoriented when I release him. I'll leave him to you".  He gave enough time for Ieyasu to prepare himself to deal with the ninja trapped in prison then released the ninja from his bondage.

WC: 520

As he watched the ninja stagger off towards Ieyasu, clearly a bit disoriented from being trapped inside the shadow prison, Bōei realized Ieyasu was quite not prepared to combat the assailant quickly closing in on him. "This won't end well if I don't help....how bothersome," Bōei sighed as he quickly made his way to intercept the ninja who was almost right on top of Ieyasu. Attacking from the ninja's blind spot as he was too focused on Ieyasu to notice, Bōei quickly dispatched the assailant with a swift swipe of the blade across his neck then grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck to ease the suffering he was sure to endure by bleeding out. "Well...you were quite useful..." Bōei snickered at Ieyasu as he shook his head in disappointment. "Come now you two...this is taking way more effort than I would have hoped," Bōei spoke with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He began to walk forward as the prince and Ieyasu followed close behind. It wasn't much farther to the gates of the village, so the time passed quickly before they arrived.

As they walked through the gates of the prince's home Bōei spoke once more, "Well I have completed my mission so I must leave now and return to Konoha. I wish you the best and if you return to Konoha please ensure you have protection at least as good as me...." Bōei snickered. The prince thanks him for his service and returned to his residence to conduct his business. Bōei turned and walked back out of the gates, ignoring Ieyasu on his way out while simply shaking his head, "...How troublesome".


[~Exit Thread~]

WC: 294
TWC: 1561

Remaining WC: 1561-1000 = 561 words