People claimed that time would change people, and there were few things that Oshiki agreed with as much as that little thought. Everyone changed with time, although more than in one way. For example, it could be said that he had grown a little colder as he grew older, understanding just how important it was to keep alive and to keep everything fine in this world. It was why he was no longer as innocent as he had once been, and why he had been willing to break someone's leg to keep them from escaping whilst he went after their team-mates a few days ago. However, there was another way that he'd grown as he'd gotten older. As he'd gotten older, although there was a long pause in between when he began to study the arts of the ninja and where he was now, he had eventually begun to get strong again and that speed of him getting stronger was almost unbelievable. Last month he was little more than a genin, and now he was as strong as a Jounin. Well, as fast as one anyway. In terms of skills, he was there but not quite. He was a brilliant tactician and he would be a great assassin if he ever decided to go down that road, but he definitely wasn't quite as well-rounded as he should be to get full jounin on honors. He was sure there was a rank like what he was thinking of, although he couldn't think of what it was called. Tokujo perhaps? He didn't know, maybe he should have a talk with the hokage when he was finished with what he needed to do here.

But for now he was going to have to carry on with what he was doing out here. He had been sent out here to find out about the truth behind the rumors of there being a missing-nin out here who was threatening the village. Well, he said threatening, but no real threats had been made, or at least that was the way that he understood it. However, at the same time, missing-nins who were merely staying in an area were always going to be a threat as long as they were above a certain rank. They had skills where they could destroy almost any lower ranking ninja with ease, so of course people were going to be worried about their presence in somewhere they'd already betrayed. Of course, thankfully he wasn't quite as strong as either Hao or even tame, so he wasn't all that worried. He could only imagine how worried people who had to come face to face with that monster who called himself an Uchiha would feel. Hell, it had taken not only the Kage but both his bodyguards and one of the sannin all at once and he hadn't even died from that situation. They hadn't died either, but it was bizarre that one person could fight most of the highest ranking people in a village and yet still somehow manage to come out of it alive. It could be said that he was so strong it would take an entire village's heirarchy to take him out. What a strange man.

The man that he was supposed to take out was a strange one; He was an ex-Konoha ninja, as could probably be expected since a Konoha ninja was the one sent out to kill him, but what was even more surprising was the reason that was on tap for him leaving. He was apparently a die-hard Tribly supporter, and so when he was killed by Tame and nobody went after him, he went rogue from the village. Of course, he didn't instantly go rogue, no he tried to leave but when people attempted to stop him he killed them. Rather brutally, from the bodies that he'd seen. It was only reasonable that the village would respond by sending someone out there with the orders to take him dead or alive, preferably dead. It wasn't like he had all that much information, he had no history of violence before this incident but this incident was bad enough for it to be considered active treason of the village and thus deserve the death penalty. He couldn't help but wonder how they would have reacted if this man had, instead of killing people who got between him and leaving, had simply taken them down non-lethally. Although, now that he thought about it, if they allowed him to just go out and attack Tame, they wouldn't have to waste someone on this job, but if Tame misunderstood and associated Konoha with the man's actions he might come back and attack the village again. He was probably going to do that eventually anyway, but it was good to be on the safe side.

Although, there was another piece of information that was going to be helpful on this mission. This guy, this jounin, was supposedly a master of the taijutsu arts. Well, maybe not master, but he definitely had a deep understanding in it that even Oshi himself didn't have, so he was going to have to be very careful and work out how to take him out before he could do any major damage. And that was exactly why Oshi had developed his most recent in his line of jutsu. It was an interesting little trick, it was almost like a spider bite in the fact that it completely paralyzed the victim of it, leaving them trapped inside their own body. This one was pretty much a cheat code against those kinds of fighter, and even if this guy considered himself jounin level, he was not going to be worth anything in a few moments. All he had to do was get the man's attention. From what he'd heard about this guy, he was currently staying in a small camp in the middle of the forest, which was why he was even out here right now. So, as he moved towards where it had been reported, he made sure to keep his eyes peeled. If he saw even the slightest movement, he stopped and made sure to hide in the foliage of the tree to try and make sure that he wasn't detected. He had to be able to get the jump on this guy, even if he was intending him to attack him. After all, if he was hit without expecting it he could still be killed even with this new technique. All that would need to happen would be for his skull to be the one that was hit, because with a jounin's skill at taijutsu his head would probably shatter like a ripe watermelon. So, even with this little trick of his he had to be at least basically careful.

Well, he tried to be careful but as he was standing above the camp, he heard the sound of someone getting the jump on him. Namely, footsteps coming up rapidly behind him. He barely had time to dodge out of the way as the man came steam-rolling through before jumping out upon him. Oshi didn't have much place to move as he was currently standing on a tree limb, but since the man landed next to him he did have one option. As the first punch moved forwards, Oshi dodged it and hit the underside of the arm. Instantly, the man was caught in his genjutsu, his body locking up as if it was made of stone rather than anything else. Inside the man's mind, a rune had appeared on the underside of his arm, although he could only see a part of it since it was on the underside of his arm. However, it continued to seep through as if it was a chakra chain, runes that interlocked with the other runes rapidly, spreading over his arm. This was a... what did they call it, he thought quickly in his panic. A fuuinjutsu? He was being locked inside his own mind, a barrier placed around the rest of his body, he was sure of it. He was in a precarious position and was now unable to move.... Oshi grinned almost sadistically.

Well, this was going to be an easy mission. Smiling cruelly at the man like a spider looking at a fly caught in his web, he moved his hand to his arm, giving it a gentle push so that he over-balanced and fell off the treelimb. Falling off of the branch and unable to move to save himself, he fell.... and fell... and fell even further, eventually making a rather meaty sounding thump on the forest floor. Looking down, he examined the body and... yep, he was dead. But, the body was still recognizable so he was still going to get his money's worth on this mission. He had been hired to kill the man anyway, it shouldn't be weird that he was doing just that. So much for this fool being as strong as a jounin, he couldn't even defeat a chuunin.

1511/1500