Concerns of a Lesser Nature [B-rank]

[Shizue Uchiha]

The midsummer air rushed through Shizue Uchiha, who had been leaping from one tree to another in the forests of the Land of Rivers. It was a pleasant little country, more sizable than other countries he had been to once already. The most notable feature of the Land of Rivers landscape was of course... its rivers, which flowed all throughout the land, creating what looked like a borderline between one part of the country and other parts of the country. Veins of the earth, more or less. He was tasked by his older brother, the Hokage, to sneak his way into the nation, morosely, Takumi Village also known as the Village of Artisans. In the past they'd been resentful toward the Five Great Nations since their technology that they once provided became obsolete. Whereas this was his target, his fellow ANBU operatives were deployed in other neighboring nations either in two-man cells or alone. Shizue was alone on this mission, but that was only because he himself preferred it that way. Nevertheless, a squad of Jounin would come looking for him if he didn't return within two days. It was protocol.

[Shizue Uchiha]

The map that Shizue had at his disposal wasn't up-to-date and he was well aware of it, since the presumed location of Takumi Village was reduced to nothing more than a few individual huts. Nevertheless, Shizue figured he may be able to acquire an updated version of the map by the locals. He leaped off of a branch and landed on the soft grass below. It was a nice change of pace, being able to walk on the grass instead of having to press against a series of wooden branches. It took a few simple knocks to get the local's attention. He kept his mask against his lower back, concealed from the man's vision. "Hello, sir. I'm here to purchase a weapons supply." The elderly man looked puzzled. "Pardon? We don't carry weapons here. This is a peaceful village." Well, either he was covering something up or the man wasn't aware of his own country's history. "...This isn't Takumi village?" It sounded as innocent as he could make it sound. "Take a look at my map. Perhaps you can point me in the right direction." Shizue handed the man his map of the Land of Rivers. The man scanned the map and trailed his finger throughout it. "Follow the shoju river south from this point." That didn't sound right to Shizue, that would put the village closer to the Hi no Kuni border. The old man returned the map to him. "Thank you, sir. Take care of yourself." He simply nodded.

[Shizue Uchiha]

Shizue followed the elderly man's directions and the closer he reached it, the more obvious it became to him that this was a trap. It mattered little to Shizue, as a matter of fact, he intended to allow for it to play out the way the elder intended it to. It would give him easy access to Takumi Village, since they'd deploy their shinobi right to his location. He settled down in a clearing that was supposed to be Takumi Village and positioned himself so that he would have the element of surprise on his side. He waited patiently for a few minutes and then, three shinobi leaped onto the very center of the clearing. Every one of them were dressed differently but they all bore the same insignia on their forehead protector, "匠". No doubt they were shinobi. One of them wielded a hook blade, a great-sword and a halberd. They were custom made. That was when Shizue felt a man's arm wrap around his neck and lift him up from the bush he was hiding inside of. "Found him." Shizue reeled around the man's arm and smashed the base of his tabi against the man's face, also using it to gain momentum and get atop a tree branch. "Ow! He's up there!" Shizue turned to face the first man to jump up at him. He threw two shuriken at the man as he was in the air and before he could land onto the same branch Shizue was on, Shizue jumped off of it, landing on a tree on the other side of the clearing. Before he knew it two of them appeared next to him with the body flicker technique and smashed down on his position with their heels. He landed lightly on the grass below. Things weren't looking too good.

10/12 Shuriken remaining.

[Shizue Uchiha]

The brief moment of rest was interrupted by a heavy gauntlet that the large one who grabbed him earlier had equipped. Fortunately, he was able to parry it with one of his kunai and he armed himself with a second kunai to block the greatsword that struck at him from behind. He was being overwhelmed, but before they could surround him, he backflipped into the air, over his adversaries and ended up behind the one armed with a greatsword. He rested the edge of his kunai against his neck. "...Unless you'd like to witness your comrade's neck being gouged out, I advise you lay down your arms." There was a moment of tension. It made sense to Shizue since these were ninja from a minor country with no real field experience, despite their status in their Village. "...Who sent you?" He asked. They looked amongst themselves with a glare that meant to Shizue "say nothing". That wouldn't do. "Alternatively, I could kill all three of you and extract the information from the last man standing." A moment's silence. "...who will that be, I wonder?" The largest one was beginning to sweat. This meant that he could be broken more easily than his comrades. "We're not going to tell you a damn thing, kid!" Retorted the ninja wielding a hook blade. He pressed the edge against the man's throat and it shed blood. "Is a man's life really worth the information you can give me?" The large one was sweating even more and was having trouble hiding the fear in his eyes. "You don't got the guts, boy." The only female member, armed with a halberd remarked. "Sorry pal, but your partners here don't give a damn about you." That said, he slit the man's throat and leaped backward. The large one was silent, the one armed with the hook-blade was angry and the woman was only just realizing how dangerous being a ninja was.

[Shizue Uchiha]

The battle proceeded, except this time, the big, bald ninja was unable to move the moment his comrades blood splattered all over his torso and parts of his face. The woman was strictly defensive and trying to recompose herself. The only one that was actually making an effort to stop Shizue was the gelled-back short-haired ninja with a goatee. He had a funny look about him, but he was really lashing out at the young Uchiha. It was one strike after another after another. Though his strikes were full of ferocity, they were utterly predictable, even without the Sharingan active. "Just die already, damn you!!" The man yelled viciously at Shizue. He smirked and side stepped, avoiding the man's strike completely. Then, he smashed his heel into the man's leg, forcing him on one knee. Before the man could turn around, he struck at his blade's hilt and it went flying upward. "Don't you understand? You can't kill me. You're better off surrendering what you know." The man's face was red at this point. "I'M NOT TELLING YOU SHIT!" He made it very clear. "...You're being foolish." He feigned slashing the man and instead jabbed him right in the face, knocking him out cold. He turned to face the other two. They weren't at all ready to face him.

[Shizue Uchiha]

Shizue crept slowly toward the two; it was a scare tactic. He stretched out his arm and allowed for their comrade's blood on the tip of his kunai trickle down onto the grass, turning its natural green into an unsettling crimson; in a way, it mirrored the Sharingan in color. "You've seen what I'm capable of. I wasn't sent to a foreign land on my own for no reason." That wasn't enough to get a reaction from them. "I've been relying solely on taijutsu since our fight began." The woman eyed her weapon and was probably formulating an analysis in her head of how her next move would play out. All Shizue was expecting was more bukijutsu so she could surprise him, but he also hinted on having knowledge of other fields, so, it could very well work against her. No, no... She had to try. If there was one thing she would never do it was turn her back on her own village. "Tadou, snap out of it. It's time we fight for real." Apparently Tadou was the big guy's name. He looked into her eyes very weakly and simply nodded, turning his gaze to Shizue and inhaling deeply. Shizue got in a ready stance. "So, you're too stubborn to comply? I'm afraid that I'll have to take this fight more seriously now." That was when the woman began swinging her blade like a windmill above her head. Air began gathering above her. "Wind Release: Searing Wind Swipe!" At the same time, Tadous had already performed the necessary hand seals. "Earth Release: Pebbles Unfolding!" He stomped his feet against the ground and rocks rose on their own around him. A series of razor winds headed his way and were augmented by a barrage of rocks. This would be a little tricky.

[Shizue Uchiha]

Shizue reacted swiftly by sheathing his kunai and performing the necessary hand seals, Horse → Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger, "Great Fireball Technique!" he inhaled and then exhaled a gigantic ball of fire from the tip of his mouth. The air around him suddenly got warmer, but faded as the fireball neared its target: the combined jutsu. Being that it was Fire-natured, it could handle the Wind well enough, only problem was that the Wind was augmented by Earth-nature, so, it was mainly used to lessen their collaborative technique's impact and diverge them. By the time the jutsu clashed, Shizue was already diving down toward Tadou with his kunai faced downward as he came spiraling toward him. Tadou didn't have enough time to react and was struck by both kunai, Shizue decided to leave them planted in the joints between his arms and shoulders, making their movement all the more difficult and painful. He then smashed his fists smack in abdomen, knocking him back a few feet. The woman had enough time to ready her defense and struck at him horizontally. She used the pole of her halberd to throw Shizue off his feet and down onto the ground below, but before she could impale him with her halberd's edge, he rolled over, avoiding the strike. He flipped backward once more and got back on his feet. "You're good, I'll give you that." He complemented her for her efforts. "...however, it would appear you're not good enough." She didn't quite understand what he meant by that, until she felt cold arms wrap themselves around her with a kunai to her throat. "How did you-" The corpse of her dead comrade pressed the kunai's blade against her neck. "Drop your weapon." This time, she was more than willing to do so and it clambered as it hit the ground. "Now the two of us can have a nice talk, hm?" She would have no other option but to submit.

2/4 Kunai remaining.
365/400 Chakra remaining.

Jutsu Used

Spoiler:

[Shizue Uchiha]

It was the woman and Shizue now. The aggressive one was unconscious, Tadou was in a whole lot of pain and unable to use his arms properly due to having severed the biceps connection to the glenoid and the dead man's corpse was being used as a weapon. "You do realize I didn't have to go through all this trouble to get what I wanted, don't you?" It was a partial truth, if he could've avoided the conflict he would have, but it was better that his enemies not know that. "I've given you a glimpse of what I'm truly capable of, but that's all it is: a glimpse. I could level this entire forest. Land becomes Sea. I can make your death swift and painless as opposed to a few seconds longer." He stepped even closer to the woman and looked her straight in the eye. "...There's another way that you can survive here. You can escort me to the real Takumi Village. You're proud, I understand that; but, it's unwise to put your stubborn pride before your will to live." She cringed, the smell of her comrade's blood was still fresh and all over her clothes since his corpse was pressed so closely against her. "Y-You're from the Leaf, aren't you?" She asked him. This meant she knew more about his objective that he initially thought. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." She knew well enough that he was. "Heh. I'd expect nothing less from the five 'smug' nations; they've oppressed us for years now." She was being indirect with him and trying to buy time. "Will you comply or will I be forced to make you?" She spat at the mask over his face. ...Yeah? And how will you do that?... there's not a jutsu in the world." He pressed a small button at the side of the mask's right eye socket and it opened up, revealing his terrible red eye; the Sharingan. "...then prepare to be amazed." The moment she looked into his eye, the three jet black tomoes projected out of his iris and grew in size right before her eyes; then, there was a flash of light and she was gone.

345/400 Chakra remaining.

Jutsu Used

Spoiler:

[Shizue Uchiha]

No matter how much, the woman didn't want to feed Shizue intelligence and betray her village, she was forced to do so under the Sharingan's influence. It was perhaps one of the more psychologically damaging genjutsu, in that her will wasn't her own. It was then that he deactivated his Sharingan, he didn't need it know that she was in his genjutsu. "Where is Takumi Village located?" He asked her. "Beyond the Ikijo Forest; follow the Jimyohi river north and you'll pass through Ikijo within a matter of hours." So far everything was working according to plan. "Should I be expecting any trouble should I enter Ikijo?" For a moment she stuttered, trying to make an effort not to submit, but she was utterly helpless. "Y-Yes, there will be two squads waiting for you on the path along the river made up of 4 shinobi each." He continued, "Was your squad expecting reinforcements to arrive at this location?" Again she tried resisting, but failed. "...originally there was supposed to be, but Suke insisted on assassinating you on his own accord and returning your head to the Village Elder." He was almost done acquiring what information he needed. "Was the Village Elder responsible for stealing a scroll from the Hidden Leaf?" Well, he revealed his loyalties, but it wouldn't matter anymore. "No, however, he was conspiring with those who did steal the scroll from the Hidden Leaf village." He had to ask, "Who were they? Missing-nin?" It took her a moment, "I don't know, the Village Elder doesn't share that level of intelligence with us, but none are currently in service to Takumi Village." They were sent in to do the grunt-work, this to Shizue meant that they were known for their combative abilities. He probably dealt with some of the more skillful members of their Village already. "Thank you for being so cooperative. That's all I'll need." With that said, she completely collapsed to the ground out of the corpse' grip. She was drained and undignified. "...now what?" she asked him very meekly like a mouse in a trap. "You can no longer be a shinobi after having betrayed your village. Instead of killing you, I've decided on sparing your life; but there's a price." There was no evidence that she betrayed them and she did it against her will, surely they'd understand? It was all she held onto. "...while you very well may be doubting the possibility, you're going to be a traitor because I'll turn you into one." That said, he performed the Dog → Boar → Ram seal and in a cloud of smoke, he became she and picked up her halberd. With her voice, he spoke, "I've had a change of heart." She was ruined and absolutely broke down as he began walking away in the direction of her Village.

340/400 Chakra remaining.

Jutsu Used

Spoiler:

[Shizue Uchiha]

Shizue proceeded in the direction of Takumi Village in the form of Kichima, the woman wielding the halberd. Bukijutsu wasn't his specialty; far from it, but, he could manage for as long as he needed to. The halberd was rather heavy altogether. It wasn't his style at all. He was surprised a woman at her height and weight could wield it so skillfully, but then again, she comes from a Village known for its weaponry and she likely had training from when she was a little girl. Her muscle conditioning was specialized for polearms, no doubt. By the time he reached Ikijo forest, it was pitch black. It got really dark, especially under the veil of all the trees that surrounded him. He was expecting two squads to reveal themselves; and he only intended to deal with one of them on his own. A man came from within the crown of a nearby tree. "Kichima, is that you?" He asked him. It was dark and hard to really see who was who. "Of course it's me! That's no way to talk to your betters, Tsitsui." He took a little more than just a few answers to his questions from her mind. "M-My apologies, sir! It's just... where are the others?" They were far enough away for him to reveal their locations to the man. "No more than three miles southeast of here, it was where we trapped that ninja. Two are mortally wounded and one was killed." He ran off along with his lackeys who were hiding within other trees around him. There was one squad out of the way. He was one step closer to Takumi Village.

After having traveled yet another mile, the 2nd squad revealed themselves. Shizue must've been really close to the Village now. "Halt! Where is the rest of your squad?" He paused, "Two are mortally wounded and one is dead. If you don't mind, I have a report to return to the Village Elder!" They bowed. "Yes, sir!" He walked past them until their backs were turned. At that moment, he swung his halberd around, hacking their necks open, just barely dismembering their skull from their spine. That was two down. Before one of the two remaining had a chance to react, he swung the spear in the man's direction, impaling him through the chest. That meant that only one remained, and he was gaining more distance. Shizue smirked because he had anticipated that the survivor would return to Takumi Village and warn them, but before he could get any farther, the man's dead corpse from earlier blocked his path and tackled him, stabbing his greatsword straight through the survivor's abdominal region. It served its usage and he dispelled the reanimated corpse via cutting it off from his chakra's influence. The Village was just ahead...

[Shizue Uchiha]

Takumi Village wasn't quite what Shizue was expecting. It was somewhat larger than the Village he had come across earlier, except their was a large building atop the highest level of stairs. It was obviously modeled to be a palace of some kind, though made of base materials that the villagers had easy access to. They didn't trade much, that was certain. Which was ironic, since they were well-known for having forged weaponry for their clients. Four guardsmen surrounded Shizue. "Kichima! Explain why you left your comrades behind!" They nudged out the edge of their polearms, even a slight movement would result in Shizue being pierced by one of their blades. "...It was a young male, donned in a porcelain mask. We were unable to defeat him, I only barely escaped." He paused as though he had undergone a stressful scenario, which was easy to portray, since he had. "That's too much blood for one man!" He wasn't done explaining himself, "One of our squads were under the influence of a genjutsu and I was forced to defend myself. Don't you get it... He's in this Village!" In a way he was. "Well, don't just stand there! Get the Village Elder to safety." And they did, the whole Village had a procedure for this kind of red alert situation. With all the chaos, he'd more easily be able to find his way to the Village Elder. He followed the four guardsmen back to the palace.

[Shizue Uchiha]

The five of them rushed into the palace. It smelled more like a forge than it did a luxurious residence. It certainly wasn't fit for a noble. "Red alert! We have an intruder and given our intelligence, he's after you, Great Elder." They all bowed before this man, Shizue followed ensuit. "No, no. I do not think I am the target..." He paused and one of the guardsman spoke up, "What? Then who is?!" The elderly man grinned. "Not 'who' is, but 'what' is. The dogs of the Leaf want their toy back." He didn't like being referred to as a dog, that was for sure. "Shouldn't you be evacuating, sir?" He shook his head. "...No, no. That won't be necessary because the intruder is among you." He eyed Shizue. "...He better make his move quick before I call on more of the guards." The four guardsmen looked amongst themselves. They didn't like being used as test subjects. "It's you, isn't it, Hirodo!" Things were about to get heated as the men started pointing fingers. Shizue, in the form of Kichima, reached for a kunai, and strapped an explosive tag on it. He jumped back and threw it straight at the Village Elder. It destroyed the man's throne and the surrounding area, killing two of his guardsmen and knocking the others unconscious.

When the smoke cleared, the Village Elder was no where to be found and nor was the scroll. Shizue knew that the scroll was made of a durable enough material not to be destroyed by an explosion with a lessened explosion radius, but, it was no where to be found. The Village Elder was somewhere in the palace and Shizue had to find him. The moment he stepped out of the throne room, there were already pikemen ready to skewer him. He dispelled the Transformation and graciously leaped upward, landing on the pikemens' heads and shoulders as he maneuvered over them. He caught wind of the Village Elder and picked up on his trail. He appeared to be leaving the Village entirely, using the chaos to his advantage much like Shizue did only moments ago.

1/4 Kunai remaining.
3/4 Explosive Tags remaining.

[Shizue Uchiha]

In his withered, old age, the Village Elder wasn't fast enough to outrun Shizue; but it was clear to Shizue that if he didn't incapacitate the man soon, he'd likely fall into whichever trap he was leading him into. He channeled chakra to his hands and feet, and used the superhuman strength from doing so to soar over the old man and crash down on him with two tonnes of force. If it landed, the elderly man would die instantly and he'd be able to return to the Leaf with the scroll and if he failed to land it would at the very least knock the old man back and make it a whole lot harder for him to gain enough ground to escape the Uchiha. The power of the kick left a massive crater on the earth below and just a few feet off was the shriveled old man trying to get back on his feet. "You're a real pain to get in touch with, you know that?" The old man got up, there was no way he could run. That was no longer an option. "A real ninja is supposed to be, unlike the Hidden Leaf and its Hokage." While that may have been true, given that Konohagakure at this point in time was no longer as 'hidden' as one might like it to be, it had an impenetrable defense since those behind it learned much from its devastation over a century ago. "...the most noticeable difference is our level of training and yours. Your strongest shinobi are Chūnin at best." That flustered the old man a bit. "You and the Five Great Nations are so smug! It's about time we show you what we're capable of!" The man performed the snake seal and a circular seal revealed itself beneath him. Shizue stepped back as a stone golem rose from the ground.

With the Village Elder on top of its head, he'd be much harder to reach, especially since it stood at thirty feet high. Its fingers were made of giant kunai attached to chords and its body was two feet thick. Instead of a pair of legs it had serrated wheels and in its mouth it looked as though it had a protrusile cannon. "Behold my Ganseki Masshā, you Konoha worm! It's the last thing you'll ever see." Shizue was a tad more concerned but what it had in strength it lacked in speed, that was something he could at the very least use to his advantage. "Die!" And with that the golem smashed both of its fists into the ground where Shizue had been standing.

315/400 Chakra remaining.

Jutsu used

Spoiler:

[Shizue Uchiha]

What was revealed to the Elder and his golem was a crushed log. This brief diversion was helpful since Shizue ended up behind the Golem and hammered his fist into its back, knocking it forward and forcing it to imbalance and have to resituate itself. He used that moment to jump on its back and ran along it up toward the Elder, who in-turn, evoked one of the Kunai fingers to lash around the Golem and attempt to crush Shizue. Every time it swooped down to deal the killing blow he was able to dodge it by leaping to the sides. When he finally made it to the Elder, he kicked upward at him, and he tried blocking it or at least absorbing part of the impact with a kunai; it was ineffective and he was kicked off of the head of the golem, but instead of landing hard and heavy, the Elder got back on his feet and looked up at Shizue. At the same time, the Golem reached its hand upward and grabbed Shizue tightly. "Crush him!" The Elder ordered. It began squeezing tighter and tighter. Without his augmented strength he most definitely would've been crushed, but he resisted. That's when the Elder ordered the Golem to use its second hand to compress him even further. It was becoming too much for him to bear. Shizue let out a roar and with one final ounce of strength he burst out of the golem's hands, destroying a few of its fingers in the process.

It was then that he made his way toward the Elder. "Fire away!" He yelled at the golem, fearing for his own life. Shizue turned his head and eyed the golem; its mouth opened wide and a cannon revealed itself. Chakra was being compressed at the barrel of the cannon and it didn't take long for the cannon to unleash a series of fireballs at Shizue. He activated his Sharingan and was just barely able to keep up with them, reacting before the fireballs landed. Seeing that the Golem's chakra supply was low and its barrage of fireballs would be ending shortly, Shizue performed the Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger seals and let out a series of fireballs which cancelled out the rest of the Golem's own and overwhelmed the golem, exploding on its face and mouth.

The Elder's eyes widened as Shizue was closing in for the killing blow. The Elder jumped back, but before he could, Shizue had already leaped forward, foreseeing his movement and crushed the core of his body with two tons of force. He went flying over 10m away from Shizue upon impact. The moment he stopped skidding on the dirt, the golem behind Shizue had crumbled to pieces, dissolving back into a huge pile of dust and rubble. Hopefully Shizue didn't damage the scroll in the process. He approached the Elder slowly since he was getting exhausted.

290/400 Chakra remaining.

Jutsu used

Spoiler:

[Shizue Uchiha]

The old man's core was smashed up completely and he was hardly audible. He eyed Shizue and tried speaking, this was when Shizue knelt down and put his ear to the old man's mouth. "Th-This i-is only th-the beginn...ing." With that, the man spoke no more and died shortly thereafter. He reached into the man's haori and grabbed the scroll which was all bloodied at this point. At least the contents would be clearly presented should his older brother need to review them. He didn't quite know what was so special about the scroll, but whatever it was, it appeared to be a forbidden technique. Konohagakure had a vault of such scrolls hidden by all but a select few. He strapped the scroll around his waist and began walking away from the scene of the battle. Before he could make his escape however, a small battalion of Takumi Village shinobi arrived at the scene. "You think you can just leave? After ALL the damage you've done?!" Shizue wasn't at all in the mood to deal with unnecessary trouble, he'd much rather avoid it. "I accomplished my mission. You all on the other hand, don't have to defend a man who's dead. It's unreasonable." They didn't care and he knew he'd either have to retreat or defend himself. They charged at him. "For Elder Tousen!" He threw down two smoke bombs and made his escape. The guardsmen would never find him and his identity would remain a secret... to some.

280/400 Chakra remaining.
0/2 Smoke Bombs remaining.

(OoC: I've accomplished my mission. I'll turn it in for Points now.)

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