OOC: This is a flashback thread, reliving Tatsumaru's first assassination.

With a sigh, Tatsumaru pressed his thumb into the black seal binding the scroll. It flared as it recognized his identity, releasing a beautiful orange glow before dissolving, allowing the scroll to be opened. He was terrified of reading the contents within, for he already knew the nature of it's words. His time had come to be inaugurated by performing his first assassination. With no small amount of anxiety, Tatsumaru slowly opened the scroll. Ayame Senju. Apparently a Chuunin like Tatsumaru. Sixteen years of age. A young prodigy, like Tatsumaru. According to the file, if she wasn't put down early, she could grow to be one of if not the strongest Senju of the generation. She was apparently an easy target at present, given that she was outside the Senju quarters, staying with some civilian friends for the weekend. A perfect time to strike. Kill the girl, remove her from her home, deliver the body to the designated area and the cleanup crew frames another senju. Two birds, one stone. Pressing his thumb into the small seal at the base of the scroll, a second burst of orange light consumed his vision, and the text dissolved, rendering it nothing more than a simple blank scroll.

Dropping the now worthless heap of parchment at his feet, Tatsumaru rested his hands atop his knees, digging the tips into his kneecap. He could barely contain his terror. I mean, sure, he had taken lives. He'd killed men before, and been sent on missions against enemy agents. This, however, was a different beast entirely. The mere thought of killing another Konoha Shinobi sent a chill down Tatsumaru's spine. Sure, she was a senju, but she was still a Konohagakure Shinobi, and a teenager, just like him. She would probably just as terrified as he is now if she awoke in the night to see him looming over her, knife in hand. Still, he didn't have a choice in the matter. The Senju were a threat to everything he held dear. His father was right, he had to pull the weed out at the root.

The walk to the address Ayame Senju was staying at was a sombre one to say the least. It was a cloudless night, and the moon was bright to say the least. It made stealth harder, but it also made it easier for him to see if anything went wrong and he was forced to fight in the streets. Taking a quick glance at his watch, Tatsumaru struggled to make out the hands ticking silently against the clock face. It was 2:30 am. The target would almost certainly be asleep. Looking up, the roof of the house in question was beginning to come into view. Approaching the house with cautious, Tatsumaru took a moment to ensure nobody was watching him before looking for a point of entry. As the file had indicated, the second floor had a balcony with bay doors, and apparently the residents didn't bother to lock them. Tatsumaru silently climbed the wall leading up to the balcony, the chakra coating his hands and feet acting as an artificial suction cup, helping him cling to the surface.

Dropping soundlessly onto the balcony, Tatsumaru approached the doors. They were made out of brass, and as such provided a clear view into the room. It was a living room, completely void of life. The room was pretty generic, with a coffee table, a television and a sofa. The walls were covered in bookshelves and pictures. The only ways out of this room were a set of stairs leading to the ground floor and a single shut door. Tatsumaru moved slowly, his every step calculated to be inaudible. It took him nearly a minute to reach the door. Placing his hand gently against the cold brass handle, Tatsumaru began to turn ever so slowly, taking several minutes to complete the revolution, ensuring the metal contraptions moving within the door would be as silent as possible. Taking special care to ensure the hinges didn't creak, he pushed the door open just enough to slide his head through the gap. He could hear someone breathing, and, given the amount of time he had spent in the darkness, his eyes had adjusted enough for him to see a vague picture of the scene. It was a double bed, with a man and a woman sleeping in each other's arms. Not the target. Slowly shutting the door, Tatsumaru turned his attention to the staircase. The girl had to be downstairs.

Tatsumaru walked down the staircase with no small amount of caution, ensuring each stair didn't creak and give away his existence, until finally he reached the first floor. The silhouette of a person could be vaguely seen on a mattress laid out on the floor of the living room. Taking a moment to calm his nerves, Tatsumaru slowed his breathing, trying to silence his rapidly beating heart lest it give him away. He took no less than fifteen minutes to approach the girl, ensuring that not a single drop of noise was emitted, until finally he could see her face. It was Ayame Senju. Tatsumaru's hand approached his pocket slowly, withdrawing a kunai, taking special care to not accidentally brush it against the other objects in his pocket and as such create noise. Raising the blade in front of his face, Tatsumaru brought his other hand up to help him keep his grip on the kunai, his shaking so intense that he could barely control himself. Taking a deep breath, Tatsumaru steeled himself; now was the time.

In one rapid movement, Tatsumaru's left hand covered her mouth while his right brought the blade to her throat. He pressed the sharp edge against her Jugular, staring into her eyes as she awoke to realize what was going on. The terror in her expression was palpable. Tatsumaru held this position for a few seconds, staring into her large green eyes, his hand shaking, the blade pressed against her throat so firmly that a single bead of blood was working it's way down it's surface. They stayed like this for the better part of a minute before Tatsumaru realized a simple fact: He couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to kill a beautiful young woman in her bed, fathers orders or not. "I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. Don't scream." Tatsumaru whispered to her, his hand slowly rising, the blade remaining firmly pressed against her skin. "Please god don't kill me. I'll give you whatever you want" she pleaded in a hushed whisper. Her terror was deafening, even worse than what Tatsumaru felt it seemed. "Calm down. I'm not going to kill you." As he spoke, Tatsumaru removed his knife from Ayame's throat. As he started to get off from on top of her, she quickly took advantage of the window of opportunity to form the bird hand seal. From the ground at Tatsumaru's feet, two thick branches rose from the floor, rapidly binding Tatsumaru's arms at the wrists. The branches had a vice grip, forcing Tatsumaru's hands to open. His kunai dropped to the floor, landing tip first. The terror Tatsumaru had felt preciously tripled as he realized he was now at the whim of a person he had just tried to kill.

Ayame crouched down, touching the ground with her fingertips. Where she touched, a shaft of wood began to sprout, rapidly taking the form of a long, sharp Yari spear. Holding it in both hands, Ayame pulled it free from the ground and aimed it's tip directly at Tatsumaru's heart. Tatsumaru's heart was pounding violently in his chest as he squirmed to break free. "I won't be as merciful as you were" Ayame growled at Tatsumaru, the tip of the spear digging into the skin above his heart. In an act of pure desperation, Tatsumaru channeled all his chakra to the spot where the spear was, and in a state of pure hysteria, managed to create an explosion. While it wasn't much, the blast timed itself perfectly with Ayame's thrust, knocking the blade off course and causing it to dig into his left shoulder blade. Sinking his teeth into his lower lip, Tatsumaru forced himself to repress his scream, forcing all his attention on freeing his arms. Using his free arms, Tatsumaru kicked off the ground, sinking both his legs into Ayame's chest. She was knocked back several feet, losing her grip on the spear that was lodged in Tatsumaru's left shoulder in the process. While his opponent was out of reach, Tatsumaru hooked his feet back, locking each foot against the base of the branches that were rising up to bind him. Pushing against the base of the branches with his feet as he pulled with his arms, the branches began to splinter, losing their stability and eventually shattering, freeing Tatsumaru's arms.

Collapsing onto the floor in a heap, Tatsumaru fell onto the spear, shattering it along it's shaft but driving the tip further into his shoulder blade. Looking up, Tatsumaru saw Ayame thrusting a kunai towards his face. Her movements seemed painfully slow, and he could see with a new found clarity the path which her attack intended to follow. rolling to his right, Tatsumaru dislodged his kunai from it's resting place in the surface of the floor, rising to face Ayame. He threw a Shuriken with her left hand, but it's movement seemed labored and slow to Tatsumaru's eyes. He could tell he had activated his Sharingan, though he didn't remember consciously doing so, yet his eyes were never so... precise. Shoving the tip of his kunai through the hole in the center of the shuriken, Tatsumaru flicked his wrist, sending the shuriken flying back towards Ayame. She let out a pained groan as it lodged itself in her right shoulder, dropping the kunai in her right hand as the pain overwhelmed her. Exploiting the opening, Tatsumaru lunged forward, shoving his kunai through the soft flesh under her left armpit, straight into her heart.

Catching her falling body with his right shoulder, Tatsumaru lifted Ayame's now lifeless body into the air. The taste of his own blood flooded his mouth. When he had bit his lip to stop himself from screaming, he'd bitten straight through part of his lip. Trying to ignore the searing pain from both his shoulder and his lip, Tatsumaru began to carry Ayame out of the house. It was a minor miracle nobody had woken up, probably due to the fact that Ayame had avoided screaming, lest her friend and her family get dragged into the crossfire. She was a smart girl. It was a shame her intelligence had got her killed. If she had just trusted him, she would be alive now. Admittedly, Tatsumaru felt bad for killing her, but it only confirmed what his father had taught him. The Senju were not to be trusted. Giving them any leeway would simply get him killed. Hell, it almost did. If it weren't for the fact that his opponent was less experienced than he was, he would be a dead man.

The walk from the house where the battle had occurred to the designated drop point was a difficult one to say the least. It wasn't easy to carry another human being at the best of times, let alone while you're trying to avoid detection in a crowded village where the earliest of workers are beginning to wake up. Glancing down at his shoulder as he made his way through the various shrouded alleyways and back streets, Tatsumaru could see that the spear head was still lodged in his shoulder. The burning sensation was unlike anything he had experienced before. Something about it was just... overwhelming. Still, it kept him focused, and after a few minutes hurried walking, Tatsumaru reached the drop off point. Tatsumaru's father was waiting for him there, as well as two other individuals he hadn't met before, though their presence implied they too were Uchiha. Tatsumaru's father was grinning as his son approached; until he saw the blood. Hurrying over, he took Ayame from Tatsumaru and handed him off to one of his comrades before examining his wounds. "You were sloppy, you fool." he barked at his son, locking eyes with him. A sudden look of surprise washed over his face as he stared at his son, which slowly turned into a smile. "My boy... you've unlocked your second Tomoe." he said with no small amount of pride. Tatsumaru was in too much surprise to be shocked at this revelation, his attention completely locked on his shoulder. Still, it explained how he managed to see Ayame's movements. If this was the second Tomoe, he could barely fathom the effects of the third. "Come, lets get you home. You need to be tidied up."