Chocolate brown eyes rolled as he walked out of the administration building on to the streets of Iwagakure. Fire red hair move slighting in the soft winds that rolled across the village. Kazu must really expect great things for him to be assigned this mission with an outsider. He wouldn't let him down though. Apparently, Sabaku Genzai would be informed of the mission already and would be meeting with Satoshi at the village gate. He sighed in frustration as he though of all the things that could go wrong with this. He could kill the boy, and not even feel bad for it. Regardless, this had to be done, and so the Jounin of the rocks moved towards the gates. He moved with impressive speed as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, kicking up dirt with each landing. He could see the gates in the distance. Large stone walls that were the main defense of the village that had not often been attacked. Most people knew of the shinobi of Iwagakure's knowledge of defensive techniques and did not dare attack. He was entrusted to make sure it stayed that way, as he always was. They might as well make him an Anbu, as he was always doing high level missions that required secrecy. Whatever, it was time to get there.

As he approached, he noticed the few guards that were on duty. He nodded to them and landed near the base of the wall. From there, he would wait on the arrival of his 'partner' before moving on with the mission. He hoped the ninja was not to mouthy or aggravating, as he didn't feel like killing two people today. He was the leader of this mission, he just hoped whoever this kid was accepted that fact. Satoshi walked over to a nearby rock of large size and sat down. He looked around every few minutes for the outsider before going back into random thoughts of battle and offensive strategies. From what he was told, his opponent was not to be underestimated, and so he would be ready for anything. Failure was not an option.

Word Count: 358/3000

It was a strange thing, this mission was a seriously tough one, it was definitely above Genzai's level right now. This was him being hired to take out a ninja who had been threatening the village, jounin and above had been killed trying to take this guy out, yet they were hiring him anyway. A part of his mind was telling him to be suspicious of what was going on here, it just seemed fishy. Normally he'd assume this was a mission that he wasn't supposed to be coming back from, it would make sense since they were hiring a mercenary for it rather than a member of their village, however when they said that rather than giving him the mission alone they were giving him to someone as an assistant... well, it was weird. This was more comforting, since if he was sent alone that would have meant that they weren't expecting him to come back. Instead, the fact that he was being hired as back up meant they realized that this was a difficult mission and they were sending him a long because they wanted a better chance of it succeeding. Since they cared about it succeeding, that meant it was most likely going to be something dangerous but survivable. That was a good thing, and he had enough confidence in himself that he was going to be able to complete this mission without too much difficulty. Not that he was being overconfident but... well, actually, he was being a bit overconfident but who cared?

So, waiting on the roof near the village's gate, he sat with his legs dangling into the void to see who was going to come out to this point. The place was only slightly busy, people coming and going from their individual missions. He knew that he had been one of those people more and more recently, although leaving via the main gate was a method used by fools and plebs who didn't have a giant bird to fly around on. But, one of these people was the person that he was assisting, and that meant that he was going to be able to get a vantage point over his team-mate if he could see him first. He knew for a fact that they would have paired him up with someone who his skills complimented, and if that was the case it was almost definite that whoever this guy was would be a close combat specialist. A taijutsuist or a bukijutsuist. After all, he was becoming well known within the village's leaders for his abilities as a long distance based ninja. For other people that would mean that they would be able to avoid being detected by people, but since he was flying around on the back of a giant bird he was hardly captain stealth. Still, he was pretty damned indefatigable, what with people being completely unable to land their attacks against him.

One of the people that had come out here was a strange one. He was a brown haired kid, short and stocky with the sort of body that only people who worked with physical techniques regularly had. He was nodding to some guards, and then he moved himself so that it was obvious that he was waiting for someone. Could this be the guy that he was waiting for? If it was indeed, then he was right about their selection process. At least, judging by appearances he was. When he moved over to a rock, Gen walked over to his hawk, moving himself so he was straddling Horus' back as usual, as if he was riding a giant flying horse, before taking off. They moved into the air, before turning on a pin's head, spiraling down with the wind currents as they moved down to the position of their new team-mate, something that would have looked strange to most people. After all, as far as he knew, he was the only ninja who used giant hawks for his techniques. When they landed, he smiled at the brown haired kid, getting in the first words before Horus could interrupt.

"So, you the one they hired me to help with this missing nin?" He asked, in a voice that showed that he was interested rather than he was irritated. When he heard the sound of birds cawing, he turned around and noticed something that he should have noticed already. The sunset was setting in, the sky already turning a rather lovely red color that was almost the color of ripe tomatoes. There was an old proverb about red sky at night suggesting that blood would be spilled during that night. However, there was also another proverb that claimed that it would cause there to be good wind conditions which was why Shepherds liked it so much. But, either way, that meant that nightfall was coming soon. That was not a good sign - If they were an infiltrator, they were going to be good at stealth and that meant they would be able to use the cover of night to make their job even more difficult. If fighting a skilled ninja wasn't difficult enough, they were going to have to do it in the cover of darkness.

Set's voice crowed in the back of his head, the same way that it had when they were dealing with the strange woman in the temple. "What is it with you taking risks recently? Don't forget, we both have to live in this body, you can't just get it killed because of some stupid self righteous thing about doing the right thing and protecting the village that gave you a roof over your head!" Whilst some people might have been flattered that someone was worried about him, he was not comfortable at all with this and quite honestly the way that he was acting like they had equal rights over the body was annoying "Yeah, well, if you hadn't killed those people back in the tribe then we'd be there right now and we wouldn't have to deal with these risks. Are you really sure you're in a position to complain about me taking risks with our body? No, with MY body? You're just the one I'm letting live in it."

1047/3000

As Satoshi sat their thinking about the battle to come, he hear movement above him. He looked up to see a gigantic hawk with someone riding it like a horse. He choked back laughter as the bird landed. He had never seen someone use an oversized bird for transportation before. He cleared his throat as the boy spoke up, speaking in an intrigued tone. Sato didn't really do well on teams, but was forced to have back up on this mission, so he would play nice as long as he could. "Yes, I'm Kanetsu, Satoshi and I will be leading you on this mission. I'm sure you were debriefed already, so I won't waste your time. We will be leaving immediately, so let me know if you have any questions on the way." He spoke boldly as he explained what was going to happen on the mission. He stood up from his seated position and looked to the guards with a nod. He then glanced one last time at the man before taking off towards the wild section of Iwagakure no Sato. Nightfall was fast approaching, so haste was necessary if they were going to find and kill the man.

As Satoshi ran at an impressive pace, he though about the fight ahead in more detail. The man was a close combat specialist with Genjutsu to back him up. If the mission was going to be a success, he was going to have to be careful. He could handle a close quarters fight, but he would much rather bombard the opponent from a distance. For that to happen, they need to find the missing ninja before they were detected, Whig would be a problem if his companion was flying high in the sky. It's not like Iwa was know for anything besides rocks and mountains, and the landscape reflected that fact. Sato looked up as he spoke. "Stealth will be key in this mission. Even at night, a giant hawk will be hard to miss, please be aware of that as we approach our destination." He simply explained his thought process, fixing his eyes back on the path ahead. This was going to be a long night.

Word Count: 730

There was a rather irritating expression on the boy's face that seemed to be holding back laughter. What, exactly, was so funny? Was he laughing at the fact that Gen was riding a giant bird? What was funny about that, there was something rather dignified and brilliant about someone who had the ability to live among the skies, something that the majority of people would never be able to do.

Gen was going to say something about it, then realized that it was a pointless argument, they only needed to deal with each other for long enough to get this mission done. However, Horus was a lot less forgiving, since he was the one who was being mocked after all. Few men are able to take mockery without offense, and Horus was not one of those people. Glaring at the boy, he spoke through his beak in the usual imperious tone that he used when talking to people that had managed to ruffle his feathers.

"What are you laughing about, hairless ape? Something funny about the majestic appearance of a hawk that's able to stand taller than you, shorty?" Gen had to avoid face-palming at that one. His partner was so damned prideful, it was one of the things that got them in trouble so often. The other thing was Set, which he should probably be glad about. He might cause trouble, but he wasn't even attempting to take control just yet so that was something. As long as he still remained dormant inside Gen's head, there was nothing wrong. The moment he stopped being dormant and tried to take over again, things were going to get awkward. Giving Horus a quick and rather painless slap on the bit of skin just before the beak and just under the eye, he chastised his friend for getting so angry at someone for something so relatively simple.

"eh, what's that about? He was rude to you but you didn't need to fight back. You're able to rise above everything else, don't forget to rise above jackasses like this guy or else you're going to get us in trouble again. Remember the land of iron?" He asked, before shooting Satoshi a look that said "you insulted my friend, I'm not going to apologize for calling you a jackass".

With that, they were off through the city and out to the other side. The beneficial thing about nightfall coming was that they were able to move about without being detected, though that would make it harder for them to find this guy since they were both hidden. That was not a good sign, he thought with a dark little shiver. If they would have trouble finding him normally, they would definitely have a hard time doing it when there was nothing but darkness out there where they were having to hunt. He could only imagine how hard it would have been to fight the tunnel snakes if it had been in total darkness when they had done that. Hopefully they could get it done before the moon rose above the horizon.

They were matching pace pretty well, their basic speed close but with a minor discrepancy between Satoshi and Horus, but the wind currents under Horus' wings were giving him the advantage that allowed them to close the gap and make them move at the same speed as they shot over the desert. They had only been in Iwagakure, but already it felt as if they were getting a sense of deja vu about this entire area. This place seemed to be the same place that he had fought so many people within the last month, this was an area that was going to be awkward to find someone in. Still, they were going to have to deal with it anyway.

Thankfully, they had a special weapon on their side that would make this hunt putty in their hands. Though he wasn't going to mention this to Satoshi, there was a brilliant thing that Horus could do that made him the perfect scout. He had an amazing radius of vision, and because they were so deeply linked they were able to mix their senses together, so if he was ever called out to see what was going on he'd have an areal view of the area, and he would be able to find out where the man was within moments of finding even the slightest trace of him, something that put his skill and usefulness in this situation far above the person he was supposed to be aiding. It was time to move on.

Finally, they arrived in the area that they were hunting for, and Satoshi spoke again, telling them to be stealthy. Gen had to admit that a giant hawk would be detected a lot easier than two guys dressed in robes and headbands for the village, so they were going to have to remove that risk before they got through anything else. Still, he had already known about this and he had brought Horus anyway, not because he was an emotional bastard and couldn't imagine going anywhere without his partner, but because there was a serious benefit to having him with them, something that overwhelmed the risk of having him be detected easier. Nodding, Gen slipped off of Horus' back and moved next to Satoshi, still shooting him a sour look for offending his friend.

"Horus, take a scout of the area. Move into the clouds so that you're harder to spot, but keep low enough that you'll still be able to get a good view. We're going to need your vision on this mission if we're going to find him before he gets away." Horus nodded before shooting into the sky, before diving into the cloud layer, the first cloud seeming to envelop him like a giant mouth chewing on some sort of chocolate.
"Now, we might have an easier way of finding him, but don't let your guard down. If you do that, we're going to have even more trouble."

2058/3000

Satoshi simply ignored the birds squawking. It didn't have any authority here and he wasn't going to entertain it with bickering. It wasn't his job. As they continued to head in the direction of the last spotting of the criminal, his partner commanded his pet to fly out of sight. Obviously, the bird had to have some sort of sensory to be useful at that height, but that was up to the guy. He also said something specific about the animal's sight, so he may be correct in the fact that the bird had special sensory skills. Regardless, he had to focus on finding the culprit. His comrade added in a comment about alertness, which was almost insulting. He wasn't going to rely on some feathered beast that just insulted him. To do so would be foolish at the very least. Satoshi did not respond and instead, focused on calculating distance. They were only a few more meters from where the man had last been seen. Silence was key now, and he hoped that the kid would pick up on that fact.

As they approached the area, Satoshi spotted the very specific rock formation that he had heard about from the mission briefing. A giant bolder in the shape of a half moon. It was one of those wonders that aren't logical, but are breathe taking in sight. At least there was something nice about this mission, as the sun was completely absent by this time. Night time was not something that any Kanetsu member enjoyed, as the sun was ultimate signal of warmth in their lives. Sato simply stopped upon seeing the formation. He turned to Genzai with a serious expression and commanding gaze. "On the other side of the formation is where the man was last seen. Extreme caution and stealth are going to be required to find him. I'll take the left, you take the right side. If you do not find anything, return to this spot in thirty minutes." Sato gave simply instructions as he whispered. He then turned around once more and used the night sky to act as he stealth. He crept to the left of the formation, being sure to use various rocks for cover as he searched.

Word Count:1,112

As they continued to walk after Horus' entrance into the cloud layer, he could feel resentment radiating off of the guy like he had said something really offensive. What was so offensive about giving them a better way to scout the area? Was it that he didn't like Horus and so resented doing anything with him? That was stupid and unprofessional, if that was really the case then he wondered how this man became a fully fledged Jounin at all. He didn't like most of the people that he worked for in the Blue Rose, he didn't even really like his boss (knocking out all the guards over dinner just to show that he could? Really? Who does that when the dinner is perfectly fine so far?) but he was still willing to work with them because that was what people had to do when they were given an obstacle. They overcame it, or they endured.

However, the further and further they walked, the man's resentment and displeasure turned more to... he wasn't entirely sure what that emotion was. This guy seemed to be getting worried about something on the other side of a giant bunch of boulders, and Gen was not entirely sure why or exactly what he was so worried about. It wouldn't be the ninja, that was just silly. If he was so focused on stealth, he wouldn't have been so easy to detect. He still hadn't been given any warnings from Horus yet, so he hadn't found him, and there were so many other reasons besides that stopped him believing that the man was behind the rock, so what was it? Then he remembered;

They had given him a warning about a specific bunch of boulders where the man was last seen, although that was one of the least helpful tips he had ever been given. It was like they didn't realize that there were boulders all over this place. There must be something special about these boulders to make Satoshi assume that it was these ones, but he couldn't see what they would be. They looked, for all intents and purposes, to be a normal bunch of rocks. Was there something particularly unique about them? Probably just something a ninja who'd lived among these rocks all his life would notice. Shrugging it off, he listened to his cohorts orders before shooting him a look that clearly showed his displeasure.

"Please do not presume to order me about, Satoshi." Gen began. The tone in his voice wasn't anger, more like displeasure. That being said, there was a sort of eerie calmness behind it that made it sound even worse than anger. He clearly did not appreciate the way he was being treated by someone he had actually volunteered to help. Sure, he was getting paid, but he could have just let Satoshi get attacked by this guy alone and watch the body count rise by another one.

"You might be a Jounin, but I'm not from your village, which means that you have no command over me. Don't think for a second that you do." he said, before straightening up, clicking his back slightly as he stretched, before turning around the rock and moving to his half. Sure, he might be doing exactly what the guy had just ordered, but it was not the orders themselves that he had any problem with. Quite frankly, they were sound orders, he had just given them to the wrong person.

It was something that had come from back when he was a tribesman. He had been ordered around all of his childhood by his father, he hadn't been allowed to do anything and now he was here and some stupid fool who felt so self important and got into fights with people over nothing was actually presuming to order him around like he was a lackey? The only person that could order him around was the leader of Blue Rose, and either he had an amazing shape changing jutsu that made everyone in town get his name wrong and give him a completely different back story, or this man was not his leader. He let out an annoyed sigh as he moved into a run. His feet over the stones made very light footfalls, only able to be heard if someone would stand still and do nothing but listen, or if the person had some sort of sensory jutsu that detected sound. He hadn't been told about anything like that, so he doubted that was the case.

Back in the cloud layer, Horus was flying over the area trying to work out what was going on. They had split off, which meant that they had found the boulders that they had been warned about, but what was so special about THOSE boulders? He was a bird, yes, so he wasn't the most familiar with the ins and outs of stones, but for all he could see (which was a lot) they looked just like every other stone in this forsaken place. Maybe the hairless ape had just wanted to get rid of his master... that was likely the case, so he was going to abandon helping the village ninja. If he got jumped by the nuke-nin, then it served him right for being such a dick.

The problem with clouds that Horus had always found was that they were made of water vapor. When given something to heat up around, such as a body, they condensed and turned into actual water. Thus, whenever he flew into the clouds, he got covered in cold water. It was really unpleasant, and he was glad that he had his feathers or else he would actually be able to feel the wet sliminess of the shower. He shuddered at just the thought, before changing his position and heading towards where his "brother" was running through the area. They would hopefully find the man before too long, or else they were going to be in trouble. Even he didn't have very good night vision.

3000/3000 -Mission undertaken-
0068/3000 -Doton training (B-> A) In Progress-

As Satoshi's feet left the ground to leave for the rock formation ahead, he heard the voice of his difficult comrade. Apparently, he was upset that Satoshi took the liberty of taking the lead of the mission. It's not like he wanted to be here searching in the dark with some stranger from outside of his village. He didn't care if his partner lived or died, the boy probably felt that as he looked back at him. However, it was his orders to kill this target and doing so would be much easier with the ninja and his feathered friend. Satoshi just sighed in age ovation as he knew that when it came down to it, he couldn't let the white haired shinobi die. He had to clear the air, or there was no way this would go correctly. When they returned to that spot, he would try to be civil and talk to him, though that route usually blew up in his face. Regardless, he had to focus on the mission at hand and he intended to do so. Shaking his ever so slightly to clear it, Satoshi continued his search through the vast night.

He crept from rock to rock, relying not only on his sight, but also his hearing as he searched for the guy. He made sure to stay to the shadows of the bigger structures as the moonlight pierced through the empty sky lighting the ground brilliantly. A few minutes went by without a trace of his enemy. Did they really send him out here on a wild goose Chase? He furrowed his eyebrows as he had been searching for fifteen minutes through a seemingly endless amount of rocks for small clues. If he didn't find something soon, he was going to be severely pissed with Kazu. As his mind raced with these thoughts, his eyes darted to an area that was particularly interesting. Making sure to stay hidden he inched over to see a footprint on the ground. It was not in the shape of a shinobi sandal and no citizen ventured out this far. As he studied it further, he observed the direction of the print he heard a step in the distance. As he sunk further into the shadows, he heard more steps that grew louder with each passing second. It was time.

As Satoshi became still and quiet, his eyes darted around for his comrade for the mission. He didn't see him at the moment which meant either he was hiding or wasn't await of the enemies presence. Sato thought carefully about the next few moments carefully, he could either use the element of surprise to try and get the jump by himself, or he could wait for a sign of his partner and try to make contact so they could make a plan. The second was very unlikely without alerting his opponent, so he was left with one choice. He had to hit the man fast and hard if he wanted to be successful in this mission. He softly and discretely made the horse, OC, and tiger hand signs before he started to build chakra in his lungs, throat, and mouth. He was within 10 meters of his enemy, so this attack would be hard to dodge for him at this range and would kill on contact. This was his chance. After a moment or two of careful technique, he release a rapidly moved cloud of ash and lava. It rushed forward like an avalanche as it moved toward his target. His enemies' head snapped in Sato's direction and his eyes became wide as he understood his predicament. Using blistering speeds that would impress anyone, the man dodged the attack at the last second landing on a nearby rock.

"If you are going to kill me, you will have to do better than that." He spoke very arrogantly as he searched the shadows for Sato. Satoshi's mind raced as he explored his options tried to decide the appropriate move. At this point, he would have trouble killing this man unless he made it to where dodging was impossible. This was going to prove to be truly difficult. Of course, he still had his comrade, when he showed up. After the attack crashed into a nearby rock and burnt it to ash, the bird would be sure to notice and alert him. Unfortunately he didn't have any time to make sure the duo was on his side, but it was out of his hands now. His eyes focused on the man Kumo armor clad ninja in front of him. A sword was mounted upon his back and his Anbu mask sat carefully on his face. This just became a lot more difficult. It was time to let him make the next move.

Word Count: 1,923/3,000

Chakra 270/300:

It was time to make a move. Satoshi had one more chance to surprise his opponent, and he couldn't waste it. Regardless if his partner didn't show, he would complete this mission. Thinking through his arsenal of skills and jutsu, he searched for the perfect plan. Going in to close combat would be a mistake. Genjutsu and Bukijutsu would equal death for him. He needed to immobilize him and kill him. While he had a few options, only one would do the trick for certain. He immediately started to mold chakra in his lungs and throat, as he prepped for the first of a few steps that would end the ninja's life. moving his hands into the tiger hand sign, his attack was ready, and he darted out from behind the rock at full speed. His mouth opened wide to release a large ball of crackling fire that hurdled towards to ninja in Kumo attire. The man smirked as he recognized the technique to be of low level. "Something that weak will never be enough to defeat me. You obviously don't know how powerful I am." He spoke with a chilling tone of displeasure as he awaited the burning attack.

As it seemed that the Katon jutsu was about to land, the man moved quickly to the right. He dashed at the last second to prove that his speed was more than enough to conquer Satoshi, or so it seemed. Sato had different plans, and the second phase was about to start. He once again molded chakra in his lungs as dashed forward to close some distance. The speed of his opponent wasn't that great. In fact, Satoshi was practically equal in that area. However, the less distance the jutsu had to travel, the harder it would be to dodge. Once he got within 5 meters, he launched a large ball of quicklime from his mouth, watching as it sped at terrifyingly fast speeds towards the ninja. The dark shinobi reacted immediately jumping up just in enough time to dodge it. However, that was his biggest mistake. If he would have dodged to the right or left, he would have had an easier time dodging the next one. Opening his mouth once more, Satoshi released as second glob of the sticky substance. While the ninja had impressive speed, he couldn't move in the air. He was simply stuck without a way to dodge.

The attack landed perfectly, hitting the man in the chest and sending him flying back into the rock behind him. The red haired shinobi of Iwagakure took no time for chance as he immediately hardened the substance at the cost of a little more chakra. He wouldn't need to conserve chakra now. The man struggled to move as his legs and arms flailed in the air. Satoshi smiled as he watched the man struggle. Luckily, the impact made him drop the sword. This couldn't have went better. "I don't care who you are and I don't want to know your purpose. Just know that you are an enemy of Iwagakure and will be eliminated for it. Goodbye." Satoshi spoke with the cold voice that he had been holding back the entire mission. In a way, it was times like this that made him happy. It wasn't the fact that he was about to take another man's life that gave him joy. It was the fact that he could do it if he needed to that made him smile. Looking toward the man with an expression that showed no mercy, he decided quickly on what jutsu to use to finish the job.

"You will be the first to see this jutsu from me. Be honored that you have this priveledge." Satoshi added with a chuckle as he started to build chakra in his lungs and throat. "Wait! I can give you information! Doesn't your Kage want to know more?!" The man spoke desperately as he continued to struggle. Such words did nothing but make Satoshi pity the man. For such a coward to have so much power was a waste. "No" was the only word that the man heard before the Kanetsu clan member opened his mouth. One after the other, six large balls of molten rock flew out of Satoshi's mouth. They raced across the distance almost instantly as the helpless man's eyes grew wide. The last thing he would see was lava rushing towards his face. The first three hit the man's face burning it and causing him to go unconscious. He was most likely dead by that point, but all six had already left Sato's body. The last three hit the man directly in the chest. Where his heart was, to be exact. After the last one hit, the rock crumbled behind him and the concrete on his chest had already shattered. A lifeless body slumped to the floor.

"What a waste of my time." Satoshi scoffed at the man, walking over to make sure he was dead. He reached down to check his pulse. Of course, he felt nothing. He raised back up with a grin of victory on his face. His eyes constantly checked around him for the arrival of back-up or his partner. If he was lucky, the boy and his overgrown turkey would have left the village by now. He didn't even want to know what happened. It wasn't any of his concern. He turned to the man's sword and picked it up with a curious expression. He didn't see anything particularly nice about it, but he would take it as proof that the mission was complete. Making absolutely sure that no one else would come, he turned and took off back towards the village he loved so dearly. Within a few moments, he passed the designated meeting place and saw no sign of the wandering ninja. Good. He continued to move forward at top speeds. Within what only seemed like an hour or so, he saw the entrance to Iwagakure. With that in his sight, he nodded to the guards and darted through the gates. He immediately turned and went in the direction of the administration building. Kazu would be the first to hear about this and see the sword. He would also get a little attitude for wasting his time, but nothing to bad. Kazu was only person with a worse temper than Sato.

Word Count: 3,010/3,000 Complete

Chakra 200/300: