Spoiler:

The cool air whipped across his face as the grass danced along with the wind’s movement. A loud whistle could be heard under his kasa. It was like peace on earth until a sound he recognized well disturbed him. An obnoxious cooing disrupted his train of thinking as he sat on a cliff outside of the village. A grey pigeon swooped down in circular motions and landed in his lap. The bird then moved between his crossed legs and sat down as if it were warming eggs on a nest. Tomohiro’s eyes widened in disgust as he tried to shoo the bird away to no avail. He picked up the bird and realized that it had a small parchment attached to its leg.

Tomohiro read the parchment as the pigeon returned to the warmth between his crossed legs. The letter was very brief. It was a solo mission that directed him to a small village in the outskirts of their borders. The events in the parchment happened fairly recent. His early morning meditation had been quite disturbed already. Though, he wasn’t bothered by it too much. It had been awhile since he undertook a mission. It was probably for the best that it was assigned. The road to the next chapter in his story seemed to be a bit delayed. He hadn’t done a lot with his free time. At least, he had unlocked his Rain Netsugan during the time he wasn’t doing much. He hoped this mission would be a lot more interesting than his last one. Dispersing bandits gave him a certain level of calm and at the same time excitment. It felt good to rid the village and its allies of evil that seemed to heavily plague his home country. Grasping onto the feeling he would move forward.

Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a pen and wrote a note on the back of the paper. The note he marked down mentioned that he would head out immediately and succeed. The pigeon made his way to his shoulder as he reached for its leg. He sighed as he tried to fight the creature to get the note on its leg. After a few moments, he successfully attached the letter and told the bird, “Raikage’s Office.” The bird flew up unwillingly trying to gather air underneath its wings. Tomohiro shook his head and began making his way to his destination. He looked up to the sky and tried remember the exact location of the village from where he was. There was a road that traveled beneath him as he finally got his bearings. The village was a few kilometers north of his current position. He knew it would probably take him a while to get there. Based on what he read, he would need to make haste.

The sun hadn’t quite fully made its way over the mountain peaks which was pretty good for him. He would have the cover of darkness before he would arrive, so he thought. Smiling slightly, he made his way through the trees branches. The feeling of combat brought some excitement to him. Though, it wasn’t as consuming as it was in the past. The control over his emotions had gotten stronger. Seeing his enemies fall before him was always a plus in his book. Fighting was the closest thing to actually being alive. Being on the verge of death, had its own excitement. He hated losing and being in precarious predicaments, but each time he survived made him stronger. There was no disappointment in surviving a trial of combat. Having his own will push him forward was one of the greatest things he could wish to improve himself.

Tomohiro started to close onto the small village as he parkoured over branches to make his way to a very tall tree that stood over the village. The village sat into the mountain like a woodpecker’s nest. It seemed like it was originally supposed to be secluded from everything, but a lot of the trees had been cut down around it to make way for more housing. From his point of view, he would probably be seen entering from whatever angle he approached at. The tree line would only give so much cover. He wasn’t the one for stealth techniques either. It was probably something he could invest in later on, but he was too straight forward when it came to combat. Everything after the initial death of an enemy escalated his adrenaline. The mission just became a bit more interesting and he liked that.

He made his way to ground level as he walked straight into the village. The village seemed to be a wreck. Doors and windows had been knocked in or broken beyond repair. A group of villagers sat on the ground as the village elder had been literally been kicked around. Tomohiro raised an eyebrow as he stood their watching. There was no need to let the village elder die. He still needed someone to pay him. It wasn’t in him to let innocents die...or was it. He reminded himself that he had to be strong for his village. Why the bandits decided to display their “authority” by kicking the man to death was beyond him. They were probably just wasting time and trying to instill fear. Tomohiro had enough seeing his possible client getting beat. Three other bandits stood around each other a short distance away.

“Hey!” he screamed out, “Who wants to die?!”

The villagers and the bandits turned to look at him. There was a red headed man that looked to be about his build. The man just pointed to one of the men that stood next to him and the man started running toward him. “Really?” he thought to himself. The man who seemed to be a bit older than him lunged toward him. Tomohiro wondered if he should even draw his sword and thought that it probably wouldn’t be immediately necessary. He must have been pretty bold to attack an armed man without a weapon. The man that lunged toward him must of had a deathwish and Tomohiro wasn’t in the mood for giving swift deaths. At the same time, he wanted this mission to end as soon as possible.

Tomohiro shifted to the left casually as the man missed a tackle. The man then threw a punch toward him which he pushed to the side with his inner forearm. A fist of his own made contact with the man’s gut. The man bent over gasping for the air that was just knocked out of him. Tomohiro then put him in a headlock as the man continued to struggle for air. The man’s body went limp from lack of oxygen. He let his opponent’s body fall to the ground as he then crushed the man’s windpipe under his boot after a few stomps. Tomohiro’s cold eyes met the leader’s eyes as the red headed man pointed for another of his men to take him on. The anger in the leader’s eyes was pleasing to him. Tomohiro would hope to make sure that he drew out all of the anger from the leader before he would finish them off.

The battle cry of his next opponent rung throughout the village as he moved toward him. This man was easily twice his size and he wasn’t going to let the man’s size dominate him. Tomohiro pushed his blade out of its sheath with his thumb. The old rusted blade took on the man’s chest. The blade cut deep drawing blood. He could feel contact with bone as he swung the blade. The young Nakir side stepped and brought the blade down upon his opponent’s neck. The artery in the man’s neck was completely severed from the depth of his blade past the skin. Tomohiro flourished his blade to remove the blood. The blood of his now fallen opponent stained his clothes which made him sigh a bit. He had just washed his clothes and wasn’t feeling to happy about having to wash this set of clothes again. Well, it was just one of the things you had to deal with as a shinobi of his rank.

The leader then sent the remaining two of his entourage toward him. Tomohiro was a bit tired of playing around with these weaklings. He then noticed that the leader started to run away. Tomohiro’s face started to twist up in disapproval. The leader was a coward. He formed a hand seal and summoned two fire clones. The clones took on the two remaining men as Tomohiro ran after the leader. He took a deep breath and launched a flame bullet toward the leader. The leader looked back as the sizeable projectile overtook him. The coward leader squirmed on the ground as the flames began to melt his skin. Tomohiro then looked backwards towards his clones. His clones had already taken care of the bandits. He looked at them and tossed a kunai towards them and motioned for them to slash their necks. One of the clones snatched the kunai out of the air as it whistled by.

Tomohiro drew his blade as he continued to watch the leader suffer. He didn’t show any visible emotion as he approached the leader. The leader started to drag himself forward asking for mercy. Tomohiro stepped back as he didn’t want to get caught in his own flame. He shook his head as he lifted up his blade in the air. “Coward, get lost in the void,” he whispered being overtaken by the man’s scream. The blade entered into the man’s arteries as he slit the ones on both sides of the man’s neck. He would let the man lay their and suffer for a moment. The clones handed him his kunai back as he made his way toward their direction. Tomohiro slipped the blade back into his pouch and began walking away from the villagers. The clones having successfully done their job were dispersed immediately.

He glimpsed back to observe his work. It was quite a bloody scene. The villagers stood up some waved as others watched in fear. His job was just to deal with the bandits. As they lay dying or dead, it was none of his concern. He threw up two fingers as he started to walk away. Then he heard a voice that sounded stifled. Tomohiro turned back around and saw the village elder with two others holding him up. The man bowed toward him to thank him. Tomohiro completely turned around and returned a bow of his own. The man looked like he wished he could offer more, but Tomohiro wouldn’t accept anything other than his mission payment. He wasn’t the kind of guy to take away from people who obvious could barely afford it as is.

Fighting the mediocre bandits didn’t feel like it did him much justice. It seemed more like a cakewalk. No wonder he was sent on this mission alone. There wasn’t much to it. He enjoyed working alone, but he kind of wish he had someone he go on a mission with. Maybe next time he would request to take a genin on a mission with him. Though, he didn’t feel quite ready watching over someone else as their ward. He didn’t plan on becoming a sensei after his next promotion. His current plans were to become a member of ANBU and become a greater asset to the village. At this point, he wasn’t sure how else he could continue to be an asset other than getting stronger and completing task giving to him.

Tomohiro started to walk back toward the safety of Kumo’s walls. The scent of the trees calmed him a bit. The adrenaline that flowed through him ceased as he began to meditate as he walked the main road. He focused on the smells and tried to defuse the scent of blood that ravaged his clothes. A sense of total focus and calmness flowed through him like a flower pedals moving down a smooth river. He took calm slow breathes. The meditation was definitely needed as he arrived to the edge of a large lake. The lake was calm and unmoving. Tomohiro would look across it and see the reflection of one of the larger mountain peaks in the area. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

He slowly walked over to the lake and removed his blade in front of him. Tomohiro attempted to remove some of the blood that plagued his dark clothing. It was mostly unseen, but thick and heavy on his clothes. The blood would seep out into the water as he scrubbed his poncho free of blood and hung it on a nearby tree. His day had virtually gotten started and there was no need to rush back to the village. Today was many of a multiple days he kept free in his schedule. This was the perfect place to meditate away from the hustle and bustle of the Kumo. A change of environment was also good for meditation. There was no one here to disturb him or strange acting birds to get in his way. It was just him and the nature that surrounded him. Finding inner peace was important to him. Unfortunately, it was a never ending journey to the find the peace within himself. For many years, he struggled trying to find the perfect sense of calm. His heart and emotions toiled with him at almost every turn. Would today he find solitude? Only fate truly knew what was in store for him.

[Exit Thread]
2312/1500
800/800 [Extra Ryo= +200]
12 unused words