Explosions overhead. Screams of the innocent getting swept up into a conflict that was meant to be far more subtle. The smell of blood, death, and burning wafting through the air. All of it stung his senses in a way Uzu hadn’t felt in a very long time. Two longswords were strapped to his back made during an ancient time when gods and dragons were at war with each other. One made from a mysterious metal he was never able to fully ascertain, and the other crafted from basic steel folded in a method long lost to mankind. He could feel their weight and the hum of raw power that pulsed into his body as he stalked through the streets in search of his final target. The wakizashi that sat below the small of his back on his belt, held in a horizontal position for easy drawing, felt timid compared to the monsters above; despite the fact it was made from the strongest steel currently known to man.
Toushin’s golden eyes scanned the streets for injured as he moved forward despite keeping to the shadows. Every now and again he’d run across someone in distress - a child trapped by rubble, a woman with a broken leg, a dog barking at a burning building as screams from its family echoed out onto the street. He stopped by each one, permitting himself a few acts of kindness to the citizens he had sworn to protect, even if it was entirely out of character for the Uzu. At least, it was supposed to be. Training to earn the highest honor of his clan meant mission first, others second. However, with his ascension into a far greater clan - the Sunagakure Military - he had began to bend his own self rules to permit a much kinder leader of the ANBU. He didn’t do it for fame, or the warm fuzzies his future son-in-law so enjoyed, but because it was simply his duty to protect who he could, when he could; so long as they were of his new order. Of course, these little tasks were also simple so he also couldn’t find a reason not to help.
As he neared the Diamond District where his target hid the assassin quickly noted the new extensive security. The Network had given him a quick rundown on their more recent upgrades: a stack full of Wei’s own guards, mechanical surveillance using stolen technology from another country, and a specialized barrier that prevented immediate entry. Uzu was thankful he had manged to get information on that last bit, as he could not see even a hint of that barrier. It was said to be able to stop a man’s heart the moment he crossed the threshold without a specialized seal marked on them. That didn’t mean it was impossible to get pass, though. Drawing one of the two Ryuu swords on his back, he threw it towards the barrier with a grace that defied physics. No sword should be able to fly through the air like a hurled dagger and yet, the blade pierced perfectly into the air, striking the invisible barrier. It hung in the air for a moment before a flickering light of the barrier dying out caused it to drop down.
Flipping hilt over blade it quickly dropped towards gravity’s pull, and before it could crash against ground the assassin reclaimed his blade as he charged the gates. A black mask with golden stripes across the front like claw marks guised the captain’s face. It was a mask he wore rarely, and one that made him immediately indistinguishable from any other secret soldier. Four guards rushed to meet the advance of what appeared to be a rogue shinobi. Chakra quickly shot to his legs, propelling him into the pack, a hand on the blade he had caught, and a hand on the shorter blade at his waist. In an instant he drew the second, and cut all four guards down with obscene precision. The Ryuu’s weapon bisected one, his shorter blade slicing the neck of another. He twisted his body and leapt, turning his body horizontal with the ground to dodge past the blades of two scimitars. Uzu’s longsword and blade were re-sheathed, and his hand moved down to the second longsword. He drew it and the short blade again, flipping his body as he did so to land on his feet to a skidding stop as they cut through the last two guard’s spines. Flicking his wrists flung the blood away from the weapons seemingly coated in an oil that kept them lifeblood from clinging to the steel. Sheathing the weapons once more he slowly walked towards the pooling red from the slain opponents and knelt down to draw it up into a special needle, and capped it. Then, like a ghost, he slowly faded away from vision as he activated the Camouflage technique.
With temporary invisibility the assassin moved into the back corners of the Diamond District until he found a bakery shop unmanned due to the ongoing conflict. Toushin broke down the backdoor with a kick and slipped inside before settling down in the large oven where multiple loves would be baked and closing the door. Utter darkness surrounded him, giving enough comfort to undo the camo that aided temporary protection from sight. Withdrawing the capped needle, he exposed the point and jabbed it into his neck before pushing the plunger. His black blood quickly attacked the invading blood, pulling apart the cells within until nothing was left but latent chakra from his victims. The chakra he melded into his own circuit before forming six handseals to activate the Uzumoreru Ninjutsu that changed his genetic makeup to take on the form of one of the guards he had slain. This would make it slightly easier to move around.
Once the utter pain of turning into another person subsided, he slinked out of the bread shop and back into the back alley. He removed his ANBU mask, hid it in his clothing, and walked out of the street and back into the main area where a number of nobles were preparing to leave Suna.
“Hey! You there, guard!” one of them cried out, trying to catch his attention, “Help me with this bag!” Not missing a beat the disguised assassin quickly moved up to the man and helped him lift the rather heavy luggage onto the cart.
“Ah, thank you. Shame I have to do this myself with all of my servants barred from entry to the district…but, shouldn’t you be at the gates? What’s with that get up too?”
“I’m on loan from Wei,” Toushin replied with a voice not his own, and the noble simply nodded, accepting the lie without question. Wei’s loaned guards did not guard gates.
“Good, good…we need all we can get here. With the Toraono clan pulling a coup who knows how it’ll shake out for the Old Blood. Soon as my personal bodyguards find an opening, we’re leaving. Thankfully I have a vacation home in Sora so I ain’t losing a lot but…well, it’s hard leaving the home you grew up in.”
“Can’t say I relate, ser,” Uzu replied with frank honesty, “I came from what remains of a village ravaged by Nomads on the Wind Country’s border and it happened when I was little. Wandering is all I’ve ever known.”
“Shame, a man should have somewhere to call home. I don’t recommend Sunagakure though. This place has been such a mess since…well, since your boss took over. No offense.”
“Non taken, I’m not beholden. He pays good, that’s all I care for.”
“Ah! A man after my own heart! Well, tell you what…” the noble reached into his shirt to pull out a pouch full of golden coins stamped with not Suna’s mark, but Soon’s. He tossed it at the disguised assassin who caught it deftly, “Take that for your trouble, but do me a favor in the future - if you find yourself in Sora, look up the Yokitaki family name. I’d be happy to pay for an honest bodyguard and, I pay handsomely.”
“Ah! I appreciate it,” Toushin replied after taking a quick peak inside of the back to see the man was true to his word, “though I do have a quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“I’m currently supposed to be guarding the Rangakou household, as they plan to stick around to merit off the village once the carnage is over. You have any advice?”
“Ugh, the Rangakou…yes, quit while you’re ahead. Utter traitorous basta-, I mean…not very good people. Aside from the rumors about their hands in the Black Market underneath us they aren’t exactly beloved by the other Old Bloods.”
“…why? You don’t have to answer,” he quickly added when his newfound noble buddy scrunched his face.
“No, no…you’ve honestly helped a man in need so let me return the favor to a mercenary who might not know our ways. I can’t speak for certain, but…there’s rumors they’ve been in bed with the Twins who took over Soon. Even blacker rumors that they were the family that allowed, the Twins to find a foothold in the country in the first place after their uncle died.” Toushin nodded along, already aware of this information so far. It was why he was here. “Also…there’s talk among the servants that the current head, Itsomoto is…into some really dark things. Collecting bits of people as trophies that are never displayed. Hearts, in particular.” The noble shuddered, “Ah! There is my people now! Good luck on your duties and I hope to see you after all this mess is over!”
“Honestly I hope the same,” Toushin replied before shaking the noble’s hand and moving on deeper into the district.
A Revenant. He was facing, a Revenant. A tight feeling in the pit of his stomach unnerved the assassin as he headed towards the large house marked for him as the target’s home. It was a terrible and black jutsu this Itsomoto was supposedly practicing. Either on themselves or another, it was a bad sign for his mission as Revenants were notoriously hard to kill. Each death delivered upon their bodies would destroy not them, but a single heart they had stored inside of their body. On top of that their muscle tissue was alive, tendril like and weaponized to both attack and defend at a range to keep melee fighters such as himself at bay. Uzu clenched his jaw realizing he would need to drop his disguise to give himself a fuller access to his own library of Uzumoreru Blood Ninjutsu; otherwise the odds were set beyond what he would normally try.
The house loomed over him. Black marble trimmed in white gold, the entire gaudy home seemed less like a place to live and more like a place to display wealth. He walked past it, and back into the secretive allies around it, making a few rounds to note where those cameras were. He was stopped a couple of times by the local guards but his lie of being on loan cleared him every time with tremendous luck. Noting that there was only one real weakspot in the houses’ defense, and that was guarded with camera, Toushin sighed in frustration. Reaching into his clothes he donned the mask once more, undid his clan’s justu to return to his natural state, and reached into a pouch on his belt. Within was a vial of his blood, already drawn and ready to go. He threw it at the one camera, exploding on impact to remove it. His body dashed forward, vaulted the wrought iron fence, and exploded into the back door.
He was met with no less than twenty guards.
“Shit.”
In a flash three of them were dropped by his speed, talent, and weapons. The other seventeen did not go as easily. In a battle of flashing steel and flying limbs the assassin tore through the other men, taking a wound for each guard he managed to lay low but continued to press on until he and three guards were all that remained. Standing in a living area turned battlefield the four men circled around as the masked assassin bled freely from his wounds. His sight was blurring as blood loss was quickly becoming an issue; but that was actually to his advantage. The strongest of his clan’s techniques required the user to be wounded, and for him to ingest the blood of his targets. Problem being he was saving that technique for the harder to kill target above him and the three guards slowly starting to corner Uzu had manged to not take any wounds besides. The pressed him until his back hit a wall, two of them suddenly leaping forward with perfect timing. He parried the first weapon, and countered by beheading one of them but their technique made the other attack impossible to dodge. Steel plunged itself into his stomach, pinning him to the wall. He vomited blood that filled his belly, dripping out of the mask and onto his clothing to deepen their soak with his lifeforce. The moment he had been pinned the last two guards moved to end him, but were stopped by the voice of the noble he had come to hunt.
“Stop! I have need of this one to remain alive!”
“Ser, he just killed most of your men! I insist we end him while we still have the chance, there’s no telling what tricks he has left!”
“You question me, servant?” The guard speaking against the Old Blood balked suddenly and stepped away quickly. It was clear Itsomoto had a reign on these men that went beyond duty.
“Ah, so close. I will say when I heard the mess downstairs after receiving news the guards out front had been laid low, I knew the ANBU had finally stumbled upon my deeds. Lets see who this is, shall we?” Toushin tried to move, but realized a little too late that the blade piercing him to the wall had drained more blood than he could function without. The black mask was lifted off of his face.
“Oh-ho! Why, boys they sent a captain! Uzumoreru Toushin, last of his clan…famed assassin and self titled “Assassin King,” a pleasure to meet you.” Itsomoto’s hand suddenly crashed into his chest, gripping the ANBU captain’s heart, “I’ll be taking this. Hope you don’t mind.”
[MFT]
Toushin’s golden eyes scanned the streets for injured as he moved forward despite keeping to the shadows. Every now and again he’d run across someone in distress - a child trapped by rubble, a woman with a broken leg, a dog barking at a burning building as screams from its family echoed out onto the street. He stopped by each one, permitting himself a few acts of kindness to the citizens he had sworn to protect, even if it was entirely out of character for the Uzu. At least, it was supposed to be. Training to earn the highest honor of his clan meant mission first, others second. However, with his ascension into a far greater clan - the Sunagakure Military - he had began to bend his own self rules to permit a much kinder leader of the ANBU. He didn’t do it for fame, or the warm fuzzies his future son-in-law so enjoyed, but because it was simply his duty to protect who he could, when he could; so long as they were of his new order. Of course, these little tasks were also simple so he also couldn’t find a reason not to help.
As he neared the Diamond District where his target hid the assassin quickly noted the new extensive security. The Network had given him a quick rundown on their more recent upgrades: a stack full of Wei’s own guards, mechanical surveillance using stolen technology from another country, and a specialized barrier that prevented immediate entry. Uzu was thankful he had manged to get information on that last bit, as he could not see even a hint of that barrier. It was said to be able to stop a man’s heart the moment he crossed the threshold without a specialized seal marked on them. That didn’t mean it was impossible to get pass, though. Drawing one of the two Ryuu swords on his back, he threw it towards the barrier with a grace that defied physics. No sword should be able to fly through the air like a hurled dagger and yet, the blade pierced perfectly into the air, striking the invisible barrier. It hung in the air for a moment before a flickering light of the barrier dying out caused it to drop down.
Flipping hilt over blade it quickly dropped towards gravity’s pull, and before it could crash against ground the assassin reclaimed his blade as he charged the gates. A black mask with golden stripes across the front like claw marks guised the captain’s face. It was a mask he wore rarely, and one that made him immediately indistinguishable from any other secret soldier. Four guards rushed to meet the advance of what appeared to be a rogue shinobi. Chakra quickly shot to his legs, propelling him into the pack, a hand on the blade he had caught, and a hand on the shorter blade at his waist. In an instant he drew the second, and cut all four guards down with obscene precision. The Ryuu’s weapon bisected one, his shorter blade slicing the neck of another. He twisted his body and leapt, turning his body horizontal with the ground to dodge past the blades of two scimitars. Uzu’s longsword and blade were re-sheathed, and his hand moved down to the second longsword. He drew it and the short blade again, flipping his body as he did so to land on his feet to a skidding stop as they cut through the last two guard’s spines. Flicking his wrists flung the blood away from the weapons seemingly coated in an oil that kept them lifeblood from clinging to the steel. Sheathing the weapons once more he slowly walked towards the pooling red from the slain opponents and knelt down to draw it up into a special needle, and capped it. Then, like a ghost, he slowly faded away from vision as he activated the Camouflage technique.
With temporary invisibility the assassin moved into the back corners of the Diamond District until he found a bakery shop unmanned due to the ongoing conflict. Toushin broke down the backdoor with a kick and slipped inside before settling down in the large oven where multiple loves would be baked and closing the door. Utter darkness surrounded him, giving enough comfort to undo the camo that aided temporary protection from sight. Withdrawing the capped needle, he exposed the point and jabbed it into his neck before pushing the plunger. His black blood quickly attacked the invading blood, pulling apart the cells within until nothing was left but latent chakra from his victims. The chakra he melded into his own circuit before forming six handseals to activate the Uzumoreru Ninjutsu that changed his genetic makeup to take on the form of one of the guards he had slain. This would make it slightly easier to move around.
Once the utter pain of turning into another person subsided, he slinked out of the bread shop and back into the back alley. He removed his ANBU mask, hid it in his clothing, and walked out of the street and back into the main area where a number of nobles were preparing to leave Suna.
“Hey! You there, guard!” one of them cried out, trying to catch his attention, “Help me with this bag!” Not missing a beat the disguised assassin quickly moved up to the man and helped him lift the rather heavy luggage onto the cart.
“Ah, thank you. Shame I have to do this myself with all of my servants barred from entry to the district…but, shouldn’t you be at the gates? What’s with that get up too?”
“I’m on loan from Wei,” Toushin replied with a voice not his own, and the noble simply nodded, accepting the lie without question. Wei’s loaned guards did not guard gates.
“Good, good…we need all we can get here. With the Toraono clan pulling a coup who knows how it’ll shake out for the Old Blood. Soon as my personal bodyguards find an opening, we’re leaving. Thankfully I have a vacation home in Sora so I ain’t losing a lot but…well, it’s hard leaving the home you grew up in.”
“Can’t say I relate, ser,” Uzu replied with frank honesty, “I came from what remains of a village ravaged by Nomads on the Wind Country’s border and it happened when I was little. Wandering is all I’ve ever known.”
“Shame, a man should have somewhere to call home. I don’t recommend Sunagakure though. This place has been such a mess since…well, since your boss took over. No offense.”
“Non taken, I’m not beholden. He pays good, that’s all I care for.”
“Ah! A man after my own heart! Well, tell you what…” the noble reached into his shirt to pull out a pouch full of golden coins stamped with not Suna’s mark, but Soon’s. He tossed it at the disguised assassin who caught it deftly, “Take that for your trouble, but do me a favor in the future - if you find yourself in Sora, look up the Yokitaki family name. I’d be happy to pay for an honest bodyguard and, I pay handsomely.”
“Ah! I appreciate it,” Toushin replied after taking a quick peak inside of the back to see the man was true to his word, “though I do have a quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“I’m currently supposed to be guarding the Rangakou household, as they plan to stick around to merit off the village once the carnage is over. You have any advice?”
“Ugh, the Rangakou…yes, quit while you’re ahead. Utter traitorous basta-, I mean…not very good people. Aside from the rumors about their hands in the Black Market underneath us they aren’t exactly beloved by the other Old Bloods.”
“…why? You don’t have to answer,” he quickly added when his newfound noble buddy scrunched his face.
“No, no…you’ve honestly helped a man in need so let me return the favor to a mercenary who might not know our ways. I can’t speak for certain, but…there’s rumors they’ve been in bed with the Twins who took over Soon. Even blacker rumors that they were the family that allowed, the Twins to find a foothold in the country in the first place after their uncle died.” Toushin nodded along, already aware of this information so far. It was why he was here. “Also…there’s talk among the servants that the current head, Itsomoto is…into some really dark things. Collecting bits of people as trophies that are never displayed. Hearts, in particular.” The noble shuddered, “Ah! There is my people now! Good luck on your duties and I hope to see you after all this mess is over!”
“Honestly I hope the same,” Toushin replied before shaking the noble’s hand and moving on deeper into the district.
A Revenant. He was facing, a Revenant. A tight feeling in the pit of his stomach unnerved the assassin as he headed towards the large house marked for him as the target’s home. It was a terrible and black jutsu this Itsomoto was supposedly practicing. Either on themselves or another, it was a bad sign for his mission as Revenants were notoriously hard to kill. Each death delivered upon their bodies would destroy not them, but a single heart they had stored inside of their body. On top of that their muscle tissue was alive, tendril like and weaponized to both attack and defend at a range to keep melee fighters such as himself at bay. Uzu clenched his jaw realizing he would need to drop his disguise to give himself a fuller access to his own library of Uzumoreru Blood Ninjutsu; otherwise the odds were set beyond what he would normally try.
The house loomed over him. Black marble trimmed in white gold, the entire gaudy home seemed less like a place to live and more like a place to display wealth. He walked past it, and back into the secretive allies around it, making a few rounds to note where those cameras were. He was stopped a couple of times by the local guards but his lie of being on loan cleared him every time with tremendous luck. Noting that there was only one real weakspot in the houses’ defense, and that was guarded with camera, Toushin sighed in frustration. Reaching into his clothes he donned the mask once more, undid his clan’s justu to return to his natural state, and reached into a pouch on his belt. Within was a vial of his blood, already drawn and ready to go. He threw it at the one camera, exploding on impact to remove it. His body dashed forward, vaulted the wrought iron fence, and exploded into the back door.
He was met with no less than twenty guards.
“Shit.”
In a flash three of them were dropped by his speed, talent, and weapons. The other seventeen did not go as easily. In a battle of flashing steel and flying limbs the assassin tore through the other men, taking a wound for each guard he managed to lay low but continued to press on until he and three guards were all that remained. Standing in a living area turned battlefield the four men circled around as the masked assassin bled freely from his wounds. His sight was blurring as blood loss was quickly becoming an issue; but that was actually to his advantage. The strongest of his clan’s techniques required the user to be wounded, and for him to ingest the blood of his targets. Problem being he was saving that technique for the harder to kill target above him and the three guards slowly starting to corner Uzu had manged to not take any wounds besides. The pressed him until his back hit a wall, two of them suddenly leaping forward with perfect timing. He parried the first weapon, and countered by beheading one of them but their technique made the other attack impossible to dodge. Steel plunged itself into his stomach, pinning him to the wall. He vomited blood that filled his belly, dripping out of the mask and onto his clothing to deepen their soak with his lifeforce. The moment he had been pinned the last two guards moved to end him, but were stopped by the voice of the noble he had come to hunt.
“Stop! I have need of this one to remain alive!”
“Ser, he just killed most of your men! I insist we end him while we still have the chance, there’s no telling what tricks he has left!”
“You question me, servant?” The guard speaking against the Old Blood balked suddenly and stepped away quickly. It was clear Itsomoto had a reign on these men that went beyond duty.
“Ah, so close. I will say when I heard the mess downstairs after receiving news the guards out front had been laid low, I knew the ANBU had finally stumbled upon my deeds. Lets see who this is, shall we?” Toushin tried to move, but realized a little too late that the blade piercing him to the wall had drained more blood than he could function without. The black mask was lifted off of his face.
“Oh-ho! Why, boys they sent a captain! Uzumoreru Toushin, last of his clan…famed assassin and self titled “Assassin King,” a pleasure to meet you.” Itsomoto’s hand suddenly crashed into his chest, gripping the ANBU captain’s heart, “I’ll be taking this. Hope you don’t mind.”
[MFT]
