Ambush!!

[Masshiro Kurama]

Masshiro Kurama Rank D Shinobi Ninjutsu: 1 Taijutsu: 1 Genjutsu: 9 Technique: 1 Toughness:1 Speed: 1 Stamina: 1 HP: 420 Chakra: 16 Shinobi Armor Elite Shinobi armor Forehead Protector Chakra Meteorite Demonic Flute

    Giving a bit of a groan he walked over to the captured Shinobi, grumbling under his breath as he stopped in front of them, narrowing his eyes as one seemed trying to badly crawl.

"I wouldn't do that."

    Very slowly he walked up on the Shinobi who hadn't moved more than a foot and placed his foot on his back and pushed him down and held him in place.

"Wha?"

    Turning around as he was only half paying attention to the others, he mentally caught up to what they had said, pushing on the Shinobi's back that much harder. Pointing at the leader of the group, he narrowed his eyes trying to think how to describe what he saw.

"Well, it was a bit of a mess in there. There is some kinda marking on the roof of his mouth but I couldn't tell you what it was exactly. His tongue looked pretty gross, but I can't tell if someone else did it, or it's from him biting it or from the attacks to the face."

    Pointing around as if he was looking for something, he pointing over at what he had taken off of them laying in a pile.

"Didn't look through their stuff, just pulled it off his belt. This one here might know something. He's angry, and staring daggers at your friend."

    Making a motion towards Yosuru in the direction the Shinobi he was currently half-standing on was glaring.

  

OWL

[Narrator Sprinkles]

NARRATOR 1 C  Rank 3  D  Rank

    With a foot now on his back, the squirming Shinobi wasn't going much of anywhere, about as useful as his unconscious friend and the barely conscious leader. The glare that had been fixated on Yosuru shifted towards looking at the mess left by the explosion, then over to Kuroda and Hana, and finally up at Masshiro.

"Three Uchiha and whatever the you two are."

    The tone of voice made it clear he his words dripped with disgust, especially at the mention of Uchiha. He let out a bit of a laugh as he dropped his head against the ground as if he had finally and fully given up.

"I get it now, they never expected us to return."

    Looking over at their team leader he started to come to a realization about all that was happening. The one person who he assumed fully understood the mission couldn't speak, but up till now he simply assumed he was choosing not to. They knew that they had a singular target and had no idea the others would be with him or the two non-Uchiha would show up.

    For whatever reason their leader was unable to speak through whatever means he wasn't actually sure, only the leader knew for sure.

"Don't bother asking, I don't know why you were our target, only he knows if I had to guess. We were told to follow him and help capture you."

OWL

[Yōsuru Shin]

Yōsuru frowned a little at Kuroda's reminder that he did have defensive Jutsu. During the war, he'd seen many confident Shinobi blown apart by an unexpected explosive tag. The damn things were unpredictable by design, it was foolhardy to assume you'd always be able to protect yourself.

But soon enough he shakes it off and simply chuckles as he gets back to his feet. "Understood, next time I'll throw you straight at the problem." He dusts off his clothing and tries not to put too much pressure on his legs as he follows the Uchiha Lord back to their remaining foes.

As expected, the information they received was fairly useless. Though that was to be expected. The rank and file grunts wouldn't be given anything they didn't need to know. They were just there to do the job, whether they lived or died. At the very least, co-operation had started.

"Well Kuroda, time for you to start counting down the list of people who don't like you. I hope it's not a long list." He looks over slightly when he sees Masshiro gesture to him. His gaze following down to the angry Prisoner. He raised an eyebrow gently at the expression. It was a look he was not unfamiliar with, but he supposed in this instance the look was coming because his knack for Lightning Style Jutsu had counteracted their plan. "Next time...diversify." Was all he said as he pivoted round to examine the treeline, before moving towards the spare and unconscious Uchiha.

With a series of rapid light taps on the cheek he tried to bring the man back around. "Up and at them friend. Let's get you back on your feet."

[Kuroda Uchiha]

    Kuroda took in all that was being said, and closes his eyes, considering what options were available to him, which were feasible, and which were foolish. The only one able to provide intel on this whole debacle had a mangled tongue, and what Kuroda suspected about the marking on the roof of their mouth...

    "There's nothing to learn from any of them." Kuroda says after a few moments of deep thought. "Their leader, by the sound of it, has a Seal Mark in their mouth. Even if they could talk, the Seal would prevent them from talking about anyone or anything directly. If we forcefully used Genjutsu or another kind of intel gathering jutsu, seals like that are designed to kill the person marked with it."

    "So no matter what, whatever he does know, would die with him." Hana says, eying the shinobi Masshiro had stopped from crawling away.

    "There's a risk in taking them prisoner, too." Kuroda says grimly. "Tracking seals can be placed on a person if the user has a powerful supply of Chakra. Taking someone prisoner if they had such a mark could lead enemies to our front door. If I were to send out people, and believed there was a chance that my own could be captured and taken away, it's what I would do. Set a tracking seal so I can find the enemy base, and hopefully stage a rescue, and destroy the enemy holding them hostage."

    Hana nods, and silently moves over to help Yōsuru with getting Yagura roused. Kuroda, for his part, knew what was coming next. And as the Head of the Uchiha Clan, it was grim. No matter how or why these shinobi had come to be here, they had come with the intent to capture and bring him somewhere to either be held hostage, or used for some other dark purpose. Ignorant as they may be to the designs of those that had sent them... it could not be excused.

    Kuroda knew better than to show that kind of weakness. He had already learned this lesson the hard way once before, and the duplicity of his grandfather and father's schemes also colored this perspective. And the disgust in the shinobi's voice at the speaking of the Uchiha name left Kuroda no doubts - these were enemy of the Uchiha. And if not Kuroda, they would have gladly taken someone else. They almost had when they tried to drag Yagura away. And the one hissing now was the same one who had tried to kill Yagura.

    There was a time for forgiveness and reconciliation. This was not one of those situations. This, this situation, was a lingering vestige of war. Three crimes against the Uchiha in this short span of time - the attempted kidnapping of Kuroda, taking Yagura hostage and then attempting to kill the hostage, as well as being compliant with a plot to capture or kill Kuroda, Head of the Uchiha Clan.

    Kuroda had been serious when he warned them of the consequences of not walking away, and they chose to continue their attack. Death was the only acceptable result from everything taken into account.

    "I will not risk the Uchiha Clan nor the people of our village by taking these shinobi prisoner. There is too much unknown about them. They could even have allowed themselves to lose, so to hopefully infiltrate our home." Kuroda says grimly. "We cannot set them free, either. If they return with information about us, our skills, and descriptions of the two of you," he looks between Yōsuru and Masshiro, "Then you too become targets by their masters."

    Kuroda draws his short sword.

    "I will execute them." he says with grim finality. "I cannot allow this situation to develop in the favor of our enemy."

    Kuroda turns first to the shinobi that had bothered to speak to Kuroda before, and knew full well that his next words would fall on deaf ears. But he spoke anyway.

    "I pray that your family do not come to harm. Die with honor and dignity here, and die knowing that if your masters do harm your family, then your masters will one day meet their own bloody end at the hands of the Uchiha." he says.

    Kuroda walks over to the shinobi wriggling under Masshiro's foot, and kneels down next to them. He took no pleasure in executions - and knew the fastest way to kill them with the least pain possible. Kuroda set the tip of his blade between the captured Shinobi's shoulder blades, above where the heart would be, cupping the pommel in his left hand, and presses down hard, intending to pierce through the prisoner's heart and end them swiftly.

    At the same time, Yagura begins to awaken, groaning first, and then hissing as the pain of the slash wound across his chest protests the movement.

---

WC: 812

[Masshiro Kurama]

Masshiro Kurama Rank D Shinobi Ninjutsu: 1 Taijutsu: 1 Genjutsu: 9 Technique: 1 Toughness:1 Speed: 1 Stamina: 1 HP: 420 Chakra: 16 Shinobi Armor Elite Shinobi armor Forehead Protector Chakra Meteorite Demonic Flute

    Giving a bit of a contorted face at Kuroda, he looked down at the man he was still essentially stepping on, and then over at the other two tied up and not making much attempt to move.

"You sound like you're trying to talk yourself into it."

    Reaching down, he grabbed at the back of the Shinobi's top and pulled at it a bit as if trying to get his attention back onto him

"Unfortunate."

    Pushing him down against the ground he went back to stepping on his back, closer to his neck, making sure he wasn't going anywhere, as he watched Kuroda come closer. Sliding his foot back, he looked back down, then to Kuroda again, and pushed right into the middle of the Shinobi's back. Stepping away after the thrust, he wiped his foot onto the grass, despite there being nothing there, but almost as if it were a force of habit, then casually walked over to the other two downed and captured Shinobi.

"Can't do much with this one-"

    Giving the unconscious Shinobi a hard kick, they didn't seem to even stir, but turned around and kicked and pushed the leader onto his back.

"Could have saved you the sword cleaning later and put these guys under an incredibly unpleasant Genjutsu and been done with it. Well guess you'd still have to do something about the unconscious guy."

  

OWL

[Narrator Sprinkles]

NARRATOR 1 C  Rank 3  D  Rank

    Four Shinobi sent after the leader of the Uchiha, meeting far more than their match and then some. One had done themselves in, and it seemed as if a second was destined to fall by the blade of Kuroda Uchiha. The man on the ground squired, but strangely didn't say much, eventually sitting incredibly still as he felt the pressure of the blade, but right as Kuroda was driving the blade down they seemed to go completely still.

    If Kuroda was observant, he might have noticed a sharp needle sticking out of the man's neck. It was fairly quick, but there were black marks around the skin where it had entered, the color starting to spread like broken glass across his skin.

    The unconscious Shinobi on the ground next to the groups leader was in fact not unconscious at all, and hadn't been for some time. Out of the side of his neck almost exactly the same as the other was a needle, but the coloring of the wound was darker as it had happened sooner and the poison had time to spread.

    There was barely a rustle from the far side away from where everyone was, and a needle stuck in the tree right next to Yagura, missing them by no more than an inch if that. Just moments later the Shinobi leader started to thrash, and if anyone checked quick enough would notice the exact same needle in their neck.

    If anyone was so inclined to head in the direction of the noise, or to try and find someone or something there, by the time anyone would head in that direction they'd find nothing there but what looked like a poorly crafted blow dart, meant to be discarded after minimal use, and nothing else.

OWL

[Yōsuru Shin]

With the lightning fast reflexes of a well-trained veteran Yōsuru would attempt to firmly pull Hana just to the side as a dart came whizzing past them, moving her just out of its path. He said nothing as Yagura stirred, he would leave him in the care of Hana as his eyes traced the trail of the dart and he leapt up the tree he had determined its path started from.

There was no Assassin to be found. Likely once they had fired all their darts they had fled before even checking if they'd hit their marks. At the very least it seemed they'd hit the ones they needed to. Presumably they had fired the fourth dart towards the group just to see if they could score an extra kill, given that they found themselves with one extra due to the sudden detonation of one of the ambushing Shinobi.

Yōsuru briefly examines the blowgun. Trying to discern any indication of its origin. It seemed crudely made, slapped together for a single purpose only to be disposed of later. "Hmm..." He sighs, stroking his beard as he ponders the situation.

After a few moments he returns to the group, holding out the blowgun and looking at the now still corpses of their captives. "I suppose it's fortunate you were going to put them to death anyway." He remarks to Kuroda. His tone was neutral, but almost betrayed a hint of judgement.

"Any clans in the Land of Fire that specialise in darts and poison?" He asks curiously. It was a broad question to be sure. As any Ninja could make themselves a poisons expert if they wished. But it might be a start to determining the origin of the Assassin.

[Kuroda Uchiha]

    There wasn't so much as a light whistling noise. But even as Kuroda drove his blade through the back and heart of the Shinobi, he sharp eyes caught the unusual coloring on their neck. Kuroda frowns, and pulls the collar back - and finds the dark webbing of veins and a small needle protruding from the skin.

    "...A poison dart..?!" Kuroda exclaims. Just as he had done so, Yagura flinches - and looks sideways at a fresh needle that had thumped into the tree almost right next to where his head was resting.

    Kuroda and Hana rush together, taking up a defensive array to the front and sides of Yagura. A rustle caught their ears, and before Kuroda could say a word, Yōsuru was already in motion. Before long, it was already over. Yōsuru came back, confirming that whoever had done the act was gone. He held up the discarded blowgun, and remarked about the fortune of not having to kill the rest on their own.

    Kuroda held Yōsuru's gaze for a moment. He had made his decision based on how he was trained as a Shinobi - there was evidently a philosophical difference between Kuroda and Yōsuru, but not one that needed to be argued about in the middle of the forest. He had heard the hint of judgement hidden in Yōsuru's tone, but elects to ignore it. Kuroda had rationalized all likely possibilities and made his decision - and that was the most any of them could be expected to do.

    At Yōsuru's question, Kuroda could only look at the discarded blowgun and shake his head.

    "It's impossible to say - that can be made by anyone, including non-Shinobi." Kuroda says, wiping the blood from his blade and sliding it back into its sheath. "We Uchiha made any number of enemies during the long war. But given the circumstances - a team leader with a seal in their mouth, all of them using Earth Release, and now a hidden watcher who chose to kill them once they'd been captured even though I was prepared to execute them myself..."

    Kuroda grimaces.

    "The information, what little there is, points towards them possibly having been Shinobi from the Land of Earth. But that's circumstantial at best. There's not nearly enough to say for sure." he says, shaking his head.

---

WC: 388

    

[Masshiro Kurama]

Masshiro Kurama Rank D Shinobi Ninjutsu: 1 Taijutsu: 1 Genjutsu: 9 Technique: 1 Toughness:1 Speed: 1 Stamina: 1 HP: 420 Chakra: 16 Shinobi Armor Elite Shinobi armor Forehead Protector Chakra Meteorite Demonic Flute

    There was a sudden change in mood from the situation being well in hand and coming to an end to one of at least light panic. Masshiro however was near oblivious to what had just happened, or that anything was even happening until Kuroda spoke and Yosuru took off running. Kneeling to inspect what Kuroda had just exposed on the neck of the Shinobi, he narrowed his eyes, going to check the others as if there wasn't still something going on, casually walking over and seeing both of them had the same needle and the same signs of poison.

"Who exactly did you piss off?"

    Looking over at Kuroda, he had a raised brow, asking somewhere between a rhetorical question and an actual curiosity. Turning around he looked to the blowgun Yosuru was holding, assuming it was all that was left of whatever had just happened, and let out a groaning noise. None of this was what he wanted to hear or see, not because it bothered him on any level of morality, but because quite frankly this could have put him right in the middle of whatever it was.

    For all he knew he had now been seen twice with Kuroda and now been labeled an ally to an extent that would put a target on his own back. He much preferred being the one doing the targeting, so it wasn't a thought he was particularly fond of.

"I can't say much for this land of Fire, but I can say that there are no clans from the Land of Earth that specialize in this. Unfortunately like Kuroda said, anyone really could use something like that. If it's a ninja tool, it's a sloppy one. Looking like someone made in in a few minutes, and the fact they left it here was either on purpose or because it was worthless to them."

    Giving a sigh as he bent down and pulled the needle out of the neck of the deceased leader, looking it over, making sure to be careful handling it.

"This however, never seen this type of poison, and I don't know a lot about needles frankly, but this looks like a nice one."

    Dropping it onto the Shinobi's chest he immediately bent down and started wiping off his fingers in the grass.

  

OWL

[Narrator Sprinkles]

NARRATOR 1 C  Rank 3  D  Rank

    All four of the Shinobi had been dispatched in one form or another. No helpful information was taken from any of them either because of there own actions or the actions of others before and after the battle. There was more going on here however than just a simple ambush that was almost destined to fail. 

    One Shinobi was nothing more than a small crater in the dirt, one had a sword stab wound through his back, another had been taken out without ever regaining consciousness, and then there was the leader. What information he had in head was taken to the grave before he ever showed up to fight, sealed away, but it wasn't quite that simple.

    There was still the few things he had on his person that Masshiro had thrown into a pile earlier and hadn't gone threw in any detail.

- A few kunai and a single shuriken looking like it had never been used, with an explosive tag attached to a ring under the handle.

- One unattached explosive tag that wasn't used for whatever reason, looking very similar to the one that ended the life in dramatic fashion of the other Shinobi, though neither of the other two had one.

- A headband that strangely was in a pouch and wasn't actually worn, many scratches and cuts from likely many battles when it was used.

- The final item was a scroll, or at least part of one. It looked like it might be something of interest if opened, only to find a large portion of it was ripped off, and what was left was blank for all but a symbol with no text that was near unlikely for any one of the Shinobi present to recognize, and if opened, a single needle would have fallen out.

OWL

[Yōsuru Shin]

Yōsuru shakes his head slowly and tosses the blowgun aside if nobody planned to take it from him. Given its brittle nature it was likely just slapped together by an amateur and most likely would not lead them to any kinds of credible clue as to where the weapon came from.

"Frankly I'd argue them coming from anywhere but Fire is at best unlikely." He explains, pacing gently as he examines the scene. "They didn't seem like Mercenaries, in it for the coin. They seemed frightened almost, as if whoever hired them had extreme power over their lives. And while it's not impossible that power comes from a foreign land..." He looks over to Kuroda. "Doesn't this seem to be a little too soon after our...'religious outing' to be a coincidence?" He suggests, not sure if Masshiro was on the need to know list about what went down at the Fire Temple that night.

"Irregardless, we were lucky enough to catch these attackers off guard this time. And ordinarily we'd be safe given that they're all deceased, but the existence of another assailant who has escaped us means its likely they'll report back. We are known to them now, and they're unlikely to make the same mistake again."

He stretches and places his straw hat on his head and retrieves his pipe from his pack, pressing some herbs into it and lighting them before taking a deep drag. "Either way, my little holiday ends soon. I'm going to go and rest up. You take care of yourselves, all of you." He nods to each person present. 

"Lord Kuroda, I'll be seeing you soon."

And with that, he walked away.

EXIT

[Kuroda Uchiha]

    Kuroda listens to Masshiro silently, the man had insight when he needed to. As for the first question, Kuroda could only guess. Most of his enemies had only been so because of the war; others were so because of his grandfather. That was a long list, and that was just personal grudges - never mind the grudges many of the enemies of the Uchiha Clan itself held.

    "A poor blowgun, but a powerful toxin, and a well crafted needle." Kuroda mutters. "...Seems to me like a way to throw off an investigation."

    Kuroda moves over to the pile of things Masshiro had made, and began working through them. As he did so, Yōsuru spoke up. Kuroda looks over at the Shin Clan Head, his eyes taking on a narrowing of understanding.

    "Thank you for your help." Kuroda says as Yōsuru turns to leave.

    Hana, still tending to Yagura, offers her express gratitude as well. Kuroda checks over what looks like fresh equipment - and disarms the explosive tags. The last thing he needed was to get blown up being careless. The most interesting was a scroll; Kuroda opens it, hoping to find something useful, but only finds that it had been damaged. However - a symbol Kuroda was not familiar with did seem to survive whatever had happened to the scroll, and an intact needle fell out.

    Kuroda looks at the needles, and then uses part of the scroll to pick it up and tore the piece off, using the parchment to secure the needle. They could study it later; if it was coated with the same poison, they could even make an antidote. Kuroda's eyes went back to the strange symbol. Kuroda rolls the scroll back up and puts it in his hip pouch, along with the equipment they had recovered.

    "Masshiro - I guess I should be thankful you arrived too." Kuroda says, approaching the man. "We were struggling, but your arrival turned the tables solidly in our favor. Consider a debt owed, since you and Yōsuru saved our lives. Should you require it, you can come to the Uchiha in your own time of need."

    Kuroda moves over to Yagura, and both he and Hana drape Yagura's arms over their shoulders. They had come out here to retrieve Kuroda's hunted great snake, but he would have to delegate that to a larger group instead. For now, he needed rest. They all did.

    "We're leaving too - please be careful out here." Kuroda says to Masshiro. "Hopefully, we can meet again under better circumstances - our last two meetings have been... tense."

    With that, Kuroda and Hana leap away, taking Yagura along between them...

---

WC: 443
# of posts: 17

EXIT!

[Masshiro Kurama]

Masshiro Kurama Rank D Shinobi Ninjutsu: 1 Taijutsu: 1 Genjutsu: 9 Technique: 1 Toughness:1 Speed: 1 Stamina: 1 HP: 420 Chakra: 16 Shinobi Armor Elite Shinobi armor Forehead Protector Chakra Meteorite Demonic Flute

        

Giving a heavy wave, Masshiro puffs out his chest. He was watching long enough to know they didn't need his help to finish these guys off, but he wasn't about to pass up a compliment or this apparent owed debt.

"Yeah, you guys looked like you were in trouble with out me. Sometimes a fight just needs a real hero ya know?"

    Messing with his hair a bit he gives a stretch, looking far too proud of himself all of a sudden. Looking over he was seeing Yosuru leaving but didn't give him much attention. He hadn't addressed anyone but Kuroda as he was leaving, so he wasn't going to go out of his way to flag down the man who was one step above a stranger.

    Looking over to the group of battered Uchiha, he looked down at his clothes and lightly dusted out a few wrinkles, then looked back to the bodies.

"Leaving is probably for the best. I'm gonna, take the leader with me. Curious about the sealing put on him, and some other curiosities. So don't mind me if you see me dragging off a body."

    Walking over and bending down, he grabbed the dead Shinobi leader by his legs and grunted a bit as he started dragging him through the grass.

"I'll be nearby for a few moments so yell if you get attacked again."

    It was a clear struggle dragging the body, but he did it all the same, finally leaving view through the trees with only the sounds of the dragging as any sign he was still there.

   EXIT

OWL

[Edsauce]

Kuroda Uchiha gains 20 XP
8 + 20 = 28

Yōsuru Shin gains 19 XP
27 + 19 = 46

Masshiro Kurama gains 12 XP
45 + 12 = 57