Manzo moved quickly through the woods, in a true Shinobi fashion he was jumping from branch to branch. Anyone could run along the ground but Shinobi used the trees. It felt good to be running to this small village. Anytime he could spend some time away from the bustle of the town was a good day for him. Getting paid for it just made it even better. The village of Taegye was small enough that it almost surprised him that they could afford to pay for a Shinobi to take care of their problem. But he was given the mission so they must have been able to. Now it was up to him to make the village look good by getting rid of a few bandits.
Suddenly he stopped. His instincts told him there was something or someone out there. He waited in complete stillness for a good while, letting whatever was out there make a move so he could confirm it, but when a bird landed on his head he knew either his instincts were off or someone had more patience than him. If they were dumb enough to keep following him then he would deal with them later. He took several Quicksilver Steps to make up for some lost time before he started his normal jumping from branch to branch.
Eventually Manzo got to the village without any other incident. It fortunate that he showed up when he did for the village was under attack. It was mass chaos. Marauders were running through the taking what they wanted, some were setting fire to buildings. Seeing that made Manzo cridge slightly. He may have a natural affinity to water, he just never invested any time in any water jutsus. There were some townsfolk that were trying to defend their homes but while these marauders didn’t seem to be very skilled they certainly had better weapons and they were a lot more aggressive.
Not wanting to waste any time, past getting a basic assessment of the situation Manzo quickly formed three Elemental Clones made of lighting. This was going to be a case where flashing area of effect jutus would not work will, not with all of the civilians that he was supposed to protect. This was going to have to take precision of working one on one. The clones would have to act his area of effect. Jumping into action the four versions of Manzo bounded into actions. Each clone attacking a different marauder utilizing lighting techniques while the real Manzo attacked with something he preferred to use. He had created a sword that whenever someone looked at it, it hurt their head. Not a physical pain, but a pain from the brain admitting that the sword was wrong. The sword should not exist. The sword blazed and cut through marauders as if they were not even there.
There were simply too many for Manzo to attack at once so he prioritized ones that were offending his honor and those that were attempting to burn down the buildings. It wasn’t long before a horn was sounded and the marauders started to retreat. Manzo considered following them but as much as the blood lust wanted him to hunt these criminals down he knew the villagers would take first priority. The marauders would have their time, he would just have to hunt them down.
As he looked around to see if there was any that he could help, an old man being supported by a cane walked very slowly up to him.
”You must be the Shinobi that we requested to help us, I am Inai Mitsuzuka the village elder”
“I am, but I am sorry that i was not here sooner, perhaps I could have stopped them from this madness.” Mitsuzuka simply nodded at the statement “Is there anything in particular they want?”
”We must pay a gang of thugs protection money to prevent such things from occurring. We did not meet our obligations this month.”
It was obvious why they had not made the this month's protection money. They had paid it to the village in order to stop this kind of thing from happening. ”Well I will have to just hunt them down and ensure they don’t try and shake anyone else down” Manzo knew that he was going to have to either kill them all, something that he didn’t relish doing or be so brutal that they decide that this is a bad way to live their lives.
The second option sounded better.
Looking around Manzo noticed that despite the short amount of time since the attack had ended the town had quickly and efficiently started working on the damage. Fires were being put out. The injured were being help. This type of attack must be far to regular an occurrence for them.
”It looks like you have the town in hand, my skills would be better put to use tracking these thugs down.” The village elder nodded in agreement. It was obvious that he was anxious to get this matter resolved, and Manzo did not blame him.
Bounding away Manzo started to follow the trail the retreating marauders had made. It was simple to follow it they were not looking to be stealthy. The most likely were used to being the top of the food chain, this far away from the village. No one would be crazy enough to hunt them down.
It did not take Manzo long to find the group at their base. They were nursing their wounds and grumbling about what had happened to them. A perfect time for a nice theatrical entrance.
Using his speed he suddenly stood amongst them. ”If I could have your attention please.” He wasn’t yelling but his voice was raised slightly. Keeping with the theatrics he was also speaking with his hands. ”You may be wondering what happened to you this afternoon, why your plans for pillaging and plunder went awry. Well the answer is very simple. Me” He let the word hand in the air. Some of them started to get up, grabbing their weapons ready to institute the fight once again. After all it was a mob of them and only one of him, what could Manzo do?
”So let me explain the situation to you in words you can understand village of Taegye is now off limits. It is under my protection. Now I know what you are thinking, what is little old me going to do against all of you, and the answer is you have three options.
Option one: I get out of here and come back killing all of you in your sleep. It is simple it is effective and I lose a single night's worth of sleep. You all die very peacefully in your sleep and never know any different. Somehow I don’t think you are going to go for option one, but I thought I would put it out there for you.
Option two: You all charge me and think you can kill me. But the problem with this option is most of you won't’ die. I will just leave you without any limbs. I will even cauterize the wounds just so you can live another day as a paraplegic. I am sure I will slip up and there will be some that end up dead.” There were a few that looked like they were about ready to start to attack until he said those words. They were delivered with such confidence that they started to question their choice. That was good the less of them he had to deal with the better.
”Option three: And I will say this is my prefered option. You send out whoever is leading this group. We fight, I kill him, then I get to do what I want with you. Now I am sure someone is about to say, how about we just kill you” Manzo could see one of the thugs eyes get a bit bigger as he was about to say just that. ” but the problem with that is, if you come at me and your are not the leader that means you chose for the group and that means option two.”
Placing his right fist into the palm of his left hand he slowly brought them apart creating a sword straight from the fabric of reality itself.
” So the question is, and this may be the most important question. Who is going to come at me first?”
There was uncertainty in the crowd, which was exactly what Manzo wanted to create. Despite the fact that they thought they could take him, the sword he just created, had created doubt and no one it seemed wanted to be first.
Until a booming voice called out ”I WILL” The voice came from a giant of a man, standing seven feet tall. It was obvious that he cared about his image for he didn’t wear a shirt in order to show off the mussels. Over one should he cared a huge hammer.
”Are you the leader of this rabble?”
”I am, and I am going to squash you” He said as he began to push people out of the way. He was not gentle about it as they went flying.
Manzo took one last look at the monstrosity of a man and knew he would have to make this swift and brutal. There would be no time to go easy on him. This was the man that was terrorizing towns, all the others were simpletons following this bully.
Jumping back Manzo landed on one of the rafters wanted to create space between them. This needed to be brutal but flashy.
As soon as the monstrosity roared at him he did a Quicksilver Step landing in a squat just behind him and quickly used his blade to cut the back of his hamstring on his left leg then dodged out of the way of the swing of the hammer. The momentum of the hammer was the only thing that had kept it going as he feel, no longer able to stand on his left leg.
The crowd gasped, not able to believe that their leader had been taken down so quickly.
Manzo was not done yet and neither was the monstrosity, the former trying to swing his hammer but Manzo deftly dodge out of the way then jumped back into slice the right foot neatly off. As the monstrosity fell backwards, Manzo used the gravitational forces of Shinra Tensei to blow him back through the nearest wall.
The crowd fell deathly silent. The moans coming from the broken and bloody body. Despite this Manzo wasn't done. An brutal example needed to be set as he slowly walked over to the body. It was time to put it out of its misery. He started to use his blood lines ultimate technique. One that didn’t look like was doing anything, so to the crowed it only looked like Manzo was looking at him and he started to scream louder and louder. His molecular started to dissipate as he was being torn apart at the cellular level.
It didn’t long until the hulking monstrosity had ceased to exist. At which point Manzo turned to face the group.
”It appears that your leader is no more, so that just leaves options one and two on the table. Or you can surrender to me”
It wasn’t long before before weapons started falling to the ground.
Manzo used his ninja wire to start to bind them together. It was going to be a long forced march back to the prison.
[WC: 1985]
Suddenly he stopped. His instincts told him there was something or someone out there. He waited in complete stillness for a good while, letting whatever was out there make a move so he could confirm it, but when a bird landed on his head he knew either his instincts were off or someone had more patience than him. If they were dumb enough to keep following him then he would deal with them later. He took several Quicksilver Steps to make up for some lost time before he started his normal jumping from branch to branch.
Eventually Manzo got to the village without any other incident. It fortunate that he showed up when he did for the village was under attack. It was mass chaos. Marauders were running through the taking what they wanted, some were setting fire to buildings. Seeing that made Manzo cridge slightly. He may have a natural affinity to water, he just never invested any time in any water jutsus. There were some townsfolk that were trying to defend their homes but while these marauders didn’t seem to be very skilled they certainly had better weapons and they were a lot more aggressive.
Not wanting to waste any time, past getting a basic assessment of the situation Manzo quickly formed three Elemental Clones made of lighting. This was going to be a case where flashing area of effect jutus would not work will, not with all of the civilians that he was supposed to protect. This was going to have to take precision of working one on one. The clones would have to act his area of effect. Jumping into action the four versions of Manzo bounded into actions. Each clone attacking a different marauder utilizing lighting techniques while the real Manzo attacked with something he preferred to use. He had created a sword that whenever someone looked at it, it hurt their head. Not a physical pain, but a pain from the brain admitting that the sword was wrong. The sword should not exist. The sword blazed and cut through marauders as if they were not even there.
There were simply too many for Manzo to attack at once so he prioritized ones that were offending his honor and those that were attempting to burn down the buildings. It wasn’t long before a horn was sounded and the marauders started to retreat. Manzo considered following them but as much as the blood lust wanted him to hunt these criminals down he knew the villagers would take first priority. The marauders would have their time, he would just have to hunt them down.
As he looked around to see if there was any that he could help, an old man being supported by a cane walked very slowly up to him.
”You must be the Shinobi that we requested to help us, I am Inai Mitsuzuka the village elder”
“I am, but I am sorry that i was not here sooner, perhaps I could have stopped them from this madness.” Mitsuzuka simply nodded at the statement “Is there anything in particular they want?”
”We must pay a gang of thugs protection money to prevent such things from occurring. We did not meet our obligations this month.”
It was obvious why they had not made the this month's protection money. They had paid it to the village in order to stop this kind of thing from happening. ”Well I will have to just hunt them down and ensure they don’t try and shake anyone else down” Manzo knew that he was going to have to either kill them all, something that he didn’t relish doing or be so brutal that they decide that this is a bad way to live their lives.
The second option sounded better.
Looking around Manzo noticed that despite the short amount of time since the attack had ended the town had quickly and efficiently started working on the damage. Fires were being put out. The injured were being help. This type of attack must be far to regular an occurrence for them.
”It looks like you have the town in hand, my skills would be better put to use tracking these thugs down.” The village elder nodded in agreement. It was obvious that he was anxious to get this matter resolved, and Manzo did not blame him.
Bounding away Manzo started to follow the trail the retreating marauders had made. It was simple to follow it they were not looking to be stealthy. The most likely were used to being the top of the food chain, this far away from the village. No one would be crazy enough to hunt them down.
It did not take Manzo long to find the group at their base. They were nursing their wounds and grumbling about what had happened to them. A perfect time for a nice theatrical entrance.
Using his speed he suddenly stood amongst them. ”If I could have your attention please.” He wasn’t yelling but his voice was raised slightly. Keeping with the theatrics he was also speaking with his hands. ”You may be wondering what happened to you this afternoon, why your plans for pillaging and plunder went awry. Well the answer is very simple. Me” He let the word hand in the air. Some of them started to get up, grabbing their weapons ready to institute the fight once again. After all it was a mob of them and only one of him, what could Manzo do?
”So let me explain the situation to you in words you can understand village of Taegye is now off limits. It is under my protection. Now I know what you are thinking, what is little old me going to do against all of you, and the answer is you have three options.
Option one: I get out of here and come back killing all of you in your sleep. It is simple it is effective and I lose a single night's worth of sleep. You all die very peacefully in your sleep and never know any different. Somehow I don’t think you are going to go for option one, but I thought I would put it out there for you.
Option two: You all charge me and think you can kill me. But the problem with this option is most of you won't’ die. I will just leave you without any limbs. I will even cauterize the wounds just so you can live another day as a paraplegic. I am sure I will slip up and there will be some that end up dead.” There were a few that looked like they were about ready to start to attack until he said those words. They were delivered with such confidence that they started to question their choice. That was good the less of them he had to deal with the better.
”Option three: And I will say this is my prefered option. You send out whoever is leading this group. We fight, I kill him, then I get to do what I want with you. Now I am sure someone is about to say, how about we just kill you” Manzo could see one of the thugs eyes get a bit bigger as he was about to say just that. ” but the problem with that is, if you come at me and your are not the leader that means you chose for the group and that means option two.”
Placing his right fist into the palm of his left hand he slowly brought them apart creating a sword straight from the fabric of reality itself.
” So the question is, and this may be the most important question. Who is going to come at me first?”
There was uncertainty in the crowd, which was exactly what Manzo wanted to create. Despite the fact that they thought they could take him, the sword he just created, had created doubt and no one it seemed wanted to be first.
Until a booming voice called out ”I WILL” The voice came from a giant of a man, standing seven feet tall. It was obvious that he cared about his image for he didn’t wear a shirt in order to show off the mussels. Over one should he cared a huge hammer.
”Are you the leader of this rabble?”
”I am, and I am going to squash you” He said as he began to push people out of the way. He was not gentle about it as they went flying.
Manzo took one last look at the monstrosity of a man and knew he would have to make this swift and brutal. There would be no time to go easy on him. This was the man that was terrorizing towns, all the others were simpletons following this bully.
Jumping back Manzo landed on one of the rafters wanted to create space between them. This needed to be brutal but flashy.
As soon as the monstrosity roared at him he did a Quicksilver Step landing in a squat just behind him and quickly used his blade to cut the back of his hamstring on his left leg then dodged out of the way of the swing of the hammer. The momentum of the hammer was the only thing that had kept it going as he feel, no longer able to stand on his left leg.
The crowd gasped, not able to believe that their leader had been taken down so quickly.
Manzo was not done yet and neither was the monstrosity, the former trying to swing his hammer but Manzo deftly dodge out of the way then jumped back into slice the right foot neatly off. As the monstrosity fell backwards, Manzo used the gravitational forces of Shinra Tensei to blow him back through the nearest wall.
The crowd fell deathly silent. The moans coming from the broken and bloody body. Despite this Manzo wasn't done. An brutal example needed to be set as he slowly walked over to the body. It was time to put it out of its misery. He started to use his blood lines ultimate technique. One that didn’t look like was doing anything, so to the crowed it only looked like Manzo was looking at him and he started to scream louder and louder. His molecular started to dissipate as he was being torn apart at the cellular level.
It didn’t long until the hulking monstrosity had ceased to exist. At which point Manzo turned to face the group.
”It appears that your leader is no more, so that just leaves options one and two on the table. Or you can surrender to me”
It wasn’t long before before weapons started falling to the ground.
Manzo used his ninja wire to start to bind them together. It was going to be a long forced march back to the prison.
[WC: 1985]