Nayoko pulled the collar of his jacket up in front of his face to block it from the wind. It was blowing harder than it had since he had arrived in the Village Hidden in the Mists, and because of that, the very mist that the village was famous for was significantly lighter than normal. On most days Nayoko would have welcomed the change from the usual, dreary weather that he had become accustomed to here in the Land of Water;  but today he was disappointed in his luck, as the cover of mist would have been helpful. After completing two other missions for the Kirigakure no Sato administration, the village had finally entrusted him with a mission that he was allowed to take on his own. Previously, he had been accompanied by one of the village’s Special Jonin, who had showed him just how ruthless the shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Mists were. Having completed that mission with that ninja as the leader, he was looking forward to taking on a very similar mission. Though when he had finally unraveled the scroll that had the mission briefing on it, he realized why Burittsu had been so ruthless in the first place. The mission was very clear; smugglers had been seen in the area trying to transfer illegal goods into the Land of Water, and it was Nayoko’s job to kill them. Not just to stop them. No, he had to kill them, all of them, at the order of the Mizukage.

And so, as Nayoko stepped out of the gates of the village and headed toward the area of the coastline that was in question, he could not help but sigh. Up until very recently, Nayoko had never taken a life. It all started with the mission he had taken back in the Land of Fire for his home, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He was supposed to deal with a group of bandits that had begun to raid travellers on the roads near the village. He had originally intended to capture them and take them in to the village as prisoners, but on his way to their location, he had run into Mitsuo Sarutobi, the Sword Saint of Konoha and more recently, S-Ranked missing ninja. It had been a startling turn of events, but in the end, the head of the Sarutobi clan had agreed to help him with his mission, which had ended in Nayoko taken not only his first, but second and third life in the process. He did not regret it, that much was certain, but it had changed him for sure. He knew that it was better that they had died rather than terrorize the country side any longer, but once he had gone that far, he found it much easier going forward. On his mission in Kiri, he had not hesitated at all to kill the smugglers as he had been ordered before; he simply killed them because he was told to.

It was an unsettling thought, that he might be becoming a weapon for his village more than a man that wanted to protect his village of late. Not wanting to dwell on that string of thought any longer, Nayoko shook his head and broke into a run, heading toward a spot in on a nearby river. The village ANBU and other ninja that had been on patrol had informed the administration of Kirigakure that this was supposed to be a very likely spot for the smugglers to travel past in their boat. Luckily for the young Hattori, it was also a spot where a small bridge spanned the distance between the mainland and a small island that was one of many of the surrounding Islands in the area. As he approached the area, he looked up through the trees and was able to catch a glimpse of the bridge in question, which he then sped towards.

When he finally arrived, he was happy to find everything was quiet for the most part, which gave him a chance to prepare for what was to come. He looked down to see that the water was about fifteen metres below him, meaning that the boat that would come through would probably be a small one. Thinking through his options, Nayoko decided to prepare to use one of his newer techniques to give him an edge on the fight to come. Smiling at the plan he had made, he took a seat on the side of the bridge and allowed his legs to hand off on the side while he waited for his targets to show up. As he waited, he glanced over to his left at the now setting sun. It would be dark soon, which would help his plan even more. Good, the twenty two year old Hattori thought to himself.  I’ll strike hard and fast, taking them out before they even know what hit them. He shook his head at the thought, slightly appalled at how easy he found it to devise a plan to kill a boat full of people. The man he was only a few short months ago would not have recognized the shinobi he had become so recently. But after all, a lot of his life had changed lately.

The sun had just gone down over the distant horizon when he saw it; a small, unmarked vessel, moving down the river toward his position. Understanding that this must be his target, he quickly stood up and activated his new stealth based jutsu, coating himself in chakra and bending the light around his body to that he was virtually invisible to the naked eye while also silencing his heartbeat so that he could not be heard that way. Then, taking a deep breath, Nayoko crouched down on the edge of the bridge and waited to get a better look at what he was up against. As the boat moved closer he was able to pick out some details. There were 10 men on the ship, each of them walking around and looking like a normal group of people just riding their boat down the river. If not for the intelligence he had been given, he would not have assumed that these men were criminals in need of execution. He continued to watch them, most of them tying down crates and mulling about as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The young Hattori was able to spot the one that seemed ot be in charge, and made a mental note to deal with him quickly to make the rest of the fight straight forward.

Finally, the boat was almost directly below the bridge, and Nayoko began to weave a series of hand seals to start of the battle in his favour. When he was finished, beside the boat a huge dragon head made of Nayoko’s chakra infused water rose up out of nowhere, taking the crew of smugglers by surprise and smashing across the deck of the ship, taking three of the crew with it back into the water on the other side of the boat. Without wasting any time, Nayoko jumped from his perch on the bridge above the boat and landed on the deck, which caused the remained crew to spin on search of him. Unfortunately for them, his jutsu still concealed him from view. Smirking, he rushed forward to the closest man and drove his fist full force into his face, knocking him unconscious and leaving him with some serious damage.

It seemed after watching their comrade get knocked out by some invisible force, the other smugglers began to panic, shooting off some Katon jutsu toward his position in a hope to catch him in the blast. Nayoko was almost caught in one of the fireballs that were launched in his direction, but was able to dodge at the last second by jumping up to and upper level of the deck and behind who he assumed was a leader of some sort. Rolling up behind him, he launched into his Leaf Great Whirlwind Technique, launching the captain into the air before smashing him back down to the vessel below, causing the wooden deck to crack with the force with which he landed. Then, while still in the air, Nayoko began to create and spin water in the palm of his hand before launching it forward using his Tearing Torrent jutsu, completely destroying to more men on the deck by crushing their internal organs.

With five enemies left and his invisibility gone, Nayoko created 4 water clones and pressed his offensive. The battle was definitely not quick or easy, but eventually he was able to subdue and subsequently kill the remaining crew members, leaving the captain for last. He had ended up laying face down on the deck for most of the fight, but in the end Nayoko filled his body with a thousand flying water needles, causing him to pass out from the pain and letting Nayoko easily slit his throat. Shaking his head at the carnage he caused, Nayoko proceeded to open up the crates that they were smuggling to find and assortment of illegal weapons and equipment which he picked up and carried to the shore, taking a mental note of where they were before heading back to the village proper to make his report.

[Exit Thread]

WC:1569

Mission Complete! (1500/1500)
Unused WC: 69