As Kenji approached the gate, the sun that had prevented him from seeing the two figures was now rolling behind a mountain; “It’s evening, you made it just in time. Thank you for your assistance on this mission.” Kenji nodded to the two men. He removed his scarf as the sun was no longer berating him. “It’s my pleasure to help. Would you two show me to a lodge, I would like to rest up. We can meet tomorrow morning to discuss the mission further, yes?” The shinobi looked at each other. Kenji loved his rest, and it was essential for him to be well rested if he was to be at his peak. The man on the left tall and lean, around the same height as Kenji. He had a small scarf on his head, but some of his hair was visible, it appeared to be straight and black. The lean shinobi was middle aged and was obviously the more experienced out of the two. He further exercised his superiority; “That’s fine, we’ll come to pick you up at noon. We’ll then head to the nearest café to iron out the details.” The three men walked, engaging in small talk. How was the trip? Did it take long? And so on…

The second Iwa shinobi was much shorter than the older of the two. He had long blonde hair, and was very stocky. He had a nice demeanor but was clearly reserved and a bit nervous. Kenji hoped he was more confident in combat. Kenji arrived at the lodge. A nice lady, with a perfect tan greeted him, “Oh, A visitor?” Kenji smiled and nodded his head in response. “I’m always excited to meet new people. Where are you coming from?” Even though Kenji had sleepy eyes, he was always more than willing to entertain a beautiful lady. Kenji’s headband that showed his village, because of the scarf was turned to the side. He adjusted it showing her. “Wow, a shinobi. From the village hidden in the clouds; I’ve never met anyone from the cloud.” Kenji adjusted his clothes; the many layers were a little uncomfortable for him. He was accustomed to wearing t-shirts, usually sleeveless. “How long will you be staying?” Kenji finally used verbal communication, “Not long, this trip is strictly business related. But after my obligations are fulfilled, I might stay a while longer. I haven’t had time to think about it yet, but yeah, maybe I’ll hang around.” Kenji’s tone drifted off to a more sensual tone, it was completely on accident. It was because he was tired that his tone became deeper and somewhat seductive. The young lady had dark brown eyes and a golden tint to her skin. Her round cheeks began to light up. She brushed her chin length brown hair off to the side; “Well, I hope you stay a little longer, you seem like a really interesting guy.” Kenji grinned as she was staring at his blue hair while she spoke. “I might be forced to, for such a nice host.” As she laughed she handed him the keys to his room. They continued to talk for a few more minutes.

Knock. Knock.

Kenji looked to the clock on the nightstand by his head. “9 o’clock. I thought they said noon.” There was pressure on his chest. The girl from the front desk, arm was across his bare chest. “Latika, don’t worry. What happens in Iwagakure stays in Iwagakure.” Kenji gently kissed her hand and moved up her arm to her shoulder. As he started to nibble on her ear a smile came on her face, along with her squeezing his pectoral. In a low whisper, she said, “I enjoyed last night.” Kenji ruffled his blue hair, “You just couldn’t take the chance of not seeing me again.” Her left leg began to creep up the inside of his leg. “Whoa. Before you do that I think I should answer the door.” Kenji turned and stood up erect in more ways than one, in his cloud boxers he went to the door. “Otto?” Kenji asked. “Yes, it’s Otto, Kenji.” Kenji opened the door slightly, hiding his lower body. Otto was the shorter and younger of the two Iwagakure shinobi. When Kenji opened the door slightly, his eyes went straight to the gorgeous lady in the bed; her eyes were closed as she was tired from last night.

“I’m sorry for coming earlier than agreed. But we figured you’d agree with getting an earlier start, we want to have an in depth meeting.” Kenji with closed eyes nodded, “Of course. Please, give me 10 minutes. I’ll meet you in the lobby.” Kenji went into the bathroom, he hopped in the shower. Using the shampoo inside to wash his hair, his blue hair now had a shine to it. “Wow…” Kenji said while looking in the mirror. He removed the towel from around his waste to finish drying off. He put on his black sweatpants and a white plain long sleeve shirt with a regular black vest on top. After adjusting his headband he put his katana on his hip along with his other ninja tools. He opened the door and before leaving he looked back at the lovely woman. She rose up a little bit, her upper body only, exposing her breast. She turned to him biting her bottom lip. Kenji’s eyes squinted and he exhaled as a shudder reverberated throughout his body; “If only they had got here at noon…”

920/2500

The squad went on to describe each other’s strength. Ta’zuma had a knack for details and was more of a long range fighter; using katon and suiton Ninjutsu from range. Otto was a fitness freak; he had a stocky frame which was more common in Iwagakure. Otto possessed unbelievable stamina and was predominantly a mid range fighter; using doton and fuuton. They also told Kenji that they had been partners for over 5 years and have grown adept in working together, and capable of sufficient combination attacks. Kenji was glad to hear that. “My main talent lies in Genjutsu, making me an obvious threat from mid range; however, I have trained in the art of Bukitjutsu. My trusted katana and I can hang with anyone in close. Oh, and I’m also a sage. My elements are irrelevant.” The two men began to laugh at the thought of Kumgakure sending a sage to help them, but when faced with Kenji’s stoic expression the laughter faded. “Are you really a sage…” Otto began to stutter after that, completely shook up. Kenji saved him, “Yes. I can enter sage mode and I’m capable of regenerating lost chakra. Whoever these criminals are, their going to have their hands full.”

Standing outside the village gate they looked over a map, to better help the outsider visualize the environment they were entering. “The big one is going to be on guard, but trust me, once we’re within 30 meters they’ll know. It’ll take them a while to arrive though. We may… have a… maximum of 2 minutes with the big guy before the other two get to the location.” Kenji interjected, “There are only three guys?” “Yes, they are apart of bigger organization though; they were sent to invoke fear and small damage as well as gather Intel. They sent this dangerous three man cell to deliver one last blow. If they succeed, the rest will be able to have their way. We can’t let their plan unfold. It’s only these three, they set up camp here.” Otto spoke up, “I have an idea on how to avoid the sensor, a tad at least.” Ta’zuma and Kenji looked at him, “I can use my doton to travel underground, and that’ll delay the others a little and allow us to ambush.” They all agreed that moving underground would make it slightly more difficult for them to sense him.

Now 50 meters from the base that was below them. They were uphill behind a wall. The camp was surrounded by small and large boulders. A rather flat dirt terrain led to the camp. Ta’zuma had impeccable vision and he was able to make out the big guy guarding the outside of the entrance. Ta’zuma surveyed the area further and gave Otto the go ahead to move in. Otto’s nervous and anxious demeanor was gone.

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He slipped from behind the wall, made the hand seal and was submersed underground. In only a few seconds he was emerging from the ground and initiating a doton on the unsuspecting guard trapping him momentarily, but Ta’zuma could see that the doton wasn’t holding up well. Needing to get over quickly to help Otto, Kenji went into sage mode to get there in a hurry; he arrived almost as quickly as Otto did. Otto was moving forward with a kunai. The big man exploded out of the doton knocking Otto back. Kenji initiated his “Ultimate Deception”. He disappeared from sight, as he casted his reflection out of his field of vision. He approached undetected. He tried to stab the man in the heart, but the blade wasn’t able to penetrate. “Armor”

From his back he swung around his war hammer. Kenji’s senses were drastically amplified while in sage mode. He was able to easily leap back and avoid the horizontal blow. The big man grunted, seemingly a little intimidated by going up against three shinobi at once. “I’m guarding for a reason. If anyone is capable of taking on multiple opponents it’s me. But they’re on their way now. You guys are dead.”

Ta’zuma leaped into the air and released a flood of water from his mouth. The water collided with a spontaneous wall of earth. “The others have arrived.” The wall lowered and revealed the other two shinobi. They were all dressed in black cloaks, and they all had an evil grin on their face. All of them had strong facial features, common of Iwagakure shinobi. The big guy stood about 6’4” and was easily 300 lbs. He looked to be the craziest of all them. The short guy, who was the sensor, had a blank expression with a slight grin. His blue eyes darted to Kenji, “We have to be careful boss; the blue guy is a sage and a Genjutsu user.” The tall one was sickly looking; he nodded to the shorter one who spoke to him. Kenji had subtly activated his kekkai genkai earlier, “I can’t afford to let my teammates get caught in an illusion by this guy.”

Ta’zuma threw out a smoke bomb to mask their movements momentarily. Kenji deftly weaved 15 hand seals in the commotion, and once the smoke cleared locked eyes with the short man. Otto initiated an advancing wall of fuuton and Ta’zuma added a wild stream of katon. The fiery bombardment was massive. The leader looked to his teammate as the fire advanced, “Damn, he’s in a Genjutsu already, this guy’s good.” The leader released him from the illusion in time for them all to hop on his flying summon that barely got out of the way.

The mammoth of a man jumped off and headed down for Otto with his war hammer. The color of the hammer turned from dark brown to black. Otto spewed a film of mud that almost instantly attached itself to his eyes. As the others flew up above the Genjutsu user seemed to be disoriented from the illusion. “I didn’t even get a chance to finish it; he seems to be more susceptible to Genjutsu than normal.” The flying mount flapped its wings and released a concussive wave of fuuton. It appeared that whatever armor the huge man was wearing protected him from bladed weapons and fuuton. Otto was able to shift the earth backwards; helping them to escape the force.

2350/2500

Hour Later

The battle was intense; all of the shinobi were battered. The leader had suffered severe wounds but the medical ninja/sensor was able to heal him. The med himself was beat and completely burnt out. The case was the same for Ta’zuma; he was on his knees. Otto created a very strong dome of doton that protected him, and one for Kenji, so he could regenerate his chakra. Kenji was no longer in sage mode.

The big guy was immobilized; Kenji hit him with a Genjutsu earlier that weakened him, “Acidic Cloud.” He was still twitching. Otto took advantage and used another mud jutsu that immobilized him; he had to maintain it though. The dome around Kenji crumbled, and it was shaping up to be a one on one fight between him and the leader.

“I’m very impressed with you, blue hair guy; mastering senjutsu. You had yourself a pretty good squad, competent members. But without your sage mode you don’t stand a chance of defeating me.” Kenji’s chakra pool had been significantly replenished. He drew his katana. The reflection of the katana snared the leader in an illusion. Once again he approached undetected, but this time the target had no armor. “An illusion, but when… Son of a…” Kenji decapitated him. The big guy was traumatized, the sensor was in critical condition, and the leader was dead. The mission was a success.

“Otto, see to Ta’zuma.” Kenji approached the brute of the group. He knocked him unconscious. Otto had a jutsu where he could make a container made of doton, and inside the container were sharp doton spikes; so if whoever was inside moved too much they would be pierced. Kenji had him use it to hold the three criminals. Because they were made of earth, he was able to transport them mentally.

Once they got back to the village, Ta’zuma went straight to the hospital after thanking Kenji for his help. Kenji found out Otto was the same age as him, “Otto, I have to be honest with you. You are a talented ninja.” Hopefully from then on Otto would show more self confidence. “Thanks again, Kenji. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. Well, it’s been a pleasure; I have to take these criminals to the hospital then transport them to the prison. Are you staying a while” “Likewise; I might stick around. I think I forgot a few things at the lodge.” The two shinobi smiled at each other and went their separate ways.

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~EXIT THREAD~