Daraku knew that they were close as the landscape around changed to a more nature-oriented feel, full of woodlands and whatnot. Shinobu was somewhere behind him, he was too focused to wait for her, but he knew that she would arrive soon enough, which was all that mattered in terms of battle. He landed in the top of a tree, hidden by the leaves as he looked out over the landscape and near the border of Hi no Kuni. There was a figure in the distance, who of didn't fit the description of Tame, their retrieval target; a man with long, green hair, wielding some sort of crossbow devices. Rather, this man was unrecognizable, but he nonetheless seemed to be engaged in combat. A labyrinth of walls was up, and a puppet was attached to him by a series of chakra strings. Taking his usual approach to fights, Daraku sprinted off to the right, headed toward the man who must've been fighting Tame in hopes to strike from an unexpected spot. As he grew closer, their surroundings became more clear; he would have a stark advantage attacking from behind using his kekkei genkai, and rescuing Tame wouldn't be a problem in the least, or so he assumed. The anticipation was ravaging...
A moment or two passed, and Daraku now was in place. He held a hand up to his chest and formed a hand seal, before quietly reciting to himself...
"Isō Zure." Color drained from him, fading him to a pastel and desaturated gray, then the light fled him as well, leaving him as dark as a shadow...his skin, his eyes, his hair, his clothes, even the swords strapped to him. He tested to ensure that the kekkei genkai was working properly, and attempted to clap his hands. They passed through one another effortlessly and made no sound.
"Perfect." He advanced under the shade of the forestry like a wisp in the wind, whirling as he went forward unseen by any eye. Even under close inspection, one would have to be pretty near to see him in the least, and the man was still turned, full attention on the labyrinth and Tame within it. By the time he heard the footsteps behind him, it was too late, and Daraku had his sword to his neck.
"Good-bye, now." The target immediately moved in an effort to escape, but found his demise in this futile attempt, as Daraku pushed the blade hard onto his Adam's Apple; the moment he tried to move, it caused a deep dash, and after a few minutes of choking and clawing at his bleeding neck, the figure lay immobile on the ground, all life robbed from his body and all remaining will lost with his departed soul. The blood spread, creating a puddle in the dirt around them. Daraku's lips curled into a sickly smile as he watched the body drain into an empty husk. First kill of the day, what a RUSH...he felt up the corpse for some sign of identification because he was the type to pin a name to each of his murders. A ninja info card was found in the dead man's back pocket: Chikamatsu, Noboru. Noboru, huh...? Too bad for him, not that Daraku cared.
The corpse suddenly burst into blue flames that consumed it and the puddle of blood, leaving no trace. A clank in the distance registered in Daraku's hearing, and he went to the area he'd heard it. It was a puppet, the one that Noboru had been using previously. He grabbed the puppet and put tied it to his back using the tie he wore under his Aoi Bara cloak, as a token of victory. Another noise interrupted him, a nearby one that startled him just a tad. He abandoned his shadowy form and looked to the west, where the sound's origin apparently was. It was similar to the sound of an explosion, or so he thought. He wondered how far back Shinobu was, and if she had heard or even seen the blast. The nearby labyrinth jutsu finally released as Noboru's chakra faded away due to his death. Daraku's smile faded, as the world began to return to him. He still had the task of taking Tame back, and the explosion meant there was another enemy to eliminate in this. He wiped Noboru's blood from his blade, Hikō, and grasped its hilt firmly as he proceeded towards the origin point of the explosion. Who knew? Maybe he would get lucky and manage to kill more weaklings today.
Training Chemical Release: Breaking Point
Word Count: 776/2,200 {10% higher Word Count requirement due to Ishido Clan}
- Equipped Items:
Aoi Bara Mask, Aoi Bara Cloak, Mugen Hikō, Kage no Ken (link to Locker is in my signature)
- 230/250:
Name: Phase Shift (Isō Zure ~ 位相ずれ)
Canon/Custom: Custom
Rank: B
Type: Supplementary
Element: N/A
Range: Self
Specialty: N/A (Ishido Kekkei Genkai)
Duration: 3 posts
Cooldown: 6 posts
Description: The user focuses for a few seconds, and enters a ghostly form, wherein they may pass through walls and objects; Taijutsu and Kenjutsu will also have -2 ranks of effectiveness against them, unless it is used with a jutsu, enhanced by chakra, or dealt by a weapon of B-Rank or higher (brass knuckles, gauntlets, footwraps and such are considered "weapons" in Tajutsu). Due to the user's Path of Fortune, they also gain a shadow-like appearance, preventing detection by the naked eye unless the person searching for them is within 3 meters of the user when they are in dark rooms or at night.