mission briefing:

Anger was usually not something the masked shinobi of the Yamada clan showed, yet when Iatobi talke to him about a potential mission for him, Kegare could not refrain from letting his anger and emotions boild over. It appeared that a thief had dared to try and steal some of Iwagakure no sato's most sacred treasures.

Even though the man had failed, it was more than apparent that a lesson needed to be taught to this miscreant who believed he'd be able to steal from the hidden village, much less it's sacred treasures.

"You know I usually don't care much about the clan or the village in that regard, but stealing precious works of art and testaments of the times when belief and hope were still worth living for," The masked man hissed slightly, almost biting his tongue as he spat out those words in a fast manner. "That is simply unacceptable."

Iwatobi simply grumbled a bit, nodding in agreement to Kegare's statement and sliding a piece of paper over the small wooden table standing between them. This piece of paper was the mission briefing and it appeared that Iwatobi had managed to convince the higher ups that to deal with such a situation and extraordinary person was needed, someone willing to go rather far to teach someone a lesson.

"I see, due to the fact I'm not known to be a friendly or goodnatured person, they want me to do it?" The masked shinobi looked at the paper, read the briefing and laughed rather softly. "I think I might have an idea; I'll break this person's hands to make them understand that petty theft is one thing, stealing sacred treasures is a whole other thing. Very well, I'll take this and get to it immediately."

wc: 305/1000

The latest info had to be correct, there were signs pointing towards the thief's whereabouts at the Gisei lake, but they could not yet be confirmed nor denied, so Kegare had no other choice than to search for his target there. Jumping from tree to tree, the shinobi started to make a mental image of the forest surrounding the lake, checking each and every spot and remembering every inch of the forest and the edges of the lake he had seen so far. Yet, as he jumped from tree to tree, he could feel that he was being watched, the very sensation of a set of eyes being locked upon him made him feel uneasy and at the same time annoyed him greatly.

Alas, he had nor the time or patience to deal with what could've easily been just a delusional influence from his own emotional state, so the masked man kept looking around, kept jumping from tree to tree to figure out where the thief had managed to hide himself. Luckily, the old man did manage to find something interesting after having almost circumnavigated the entire lake: a still smoldering and thus recently used campfire.

"It's still smoking, so the person who was here must not have left until recently," The man deduced this, as he also noticed that there were papers and writing utensils nearby, not to mention a cast iron pot still steaming with heat and remnants of a stew inside it. Kegare's pupils narrowed a bit behind his trademark mask when he felt that same sensation of being watched again, in an instant, he turned around only to take a step back and feel cornered by what he saw. "You...what are you doing here?"

A skeletal figure, nearly blending perfectly with the darkness of the forest and the late evening appeared and calmly started to walk around, softly chuckling and looking at the old man with cold eyes. "Don't worry, I won't be here for long. Though I must say that it is funny that you have not realized it yet, where your target truly is hiding."

To his surprise, the skeletal figure faded away into the darkness again, kegare was so shocked that he could not react to anything, but he did wonder what Kijin meant with his cryptic words. Then it came to his mind, that it probably wasn't Kijin who gave him that sensation of being watched, but the thief and it seemed he was right, for not a second after the skeletal figure had vanished into thin air, a man covered in black garments suddenly jumped out of the shadows and kicked Kegare right in the face, knocking off his mask and grabbing a bag which had been hidden in a small crevice near a tree.

wc: 474/779/1000