The sun was shining down in the boundary from the tea country to the water country, and the three mist ninja who made up squad 4 were sweltering in the midday heat.
“Are we there yet?” Kanji moaned, as he plodded along behind Katoso and Sakina, his face covered in sweat. “For the sixteenth time, NO! Stop asking you baka!” Sakina shouted- she was getting very agitated and annoyed at her squad mates immaturity.
All three of them sighed; they were all tired, and so hot it seemed as if the were wandering into an oven.
“All right, I think we better take a rest here, I for one need a drink.” Sakina said, and Kanji and Katoso nodded in agreement.
Kanji got out the pack his mother had prepared for them, and took out the three flasks of water, handing them to his squad mates. Kanji gulped it down as fast as he could; he was so thirsty it was like his mouth had become a miniature desert. “You shouldn’t drink it so fast, loser. You’ll get dizzy or even ill...” Katoso started, but Kanji just kept drinking.
Sakina stood up; “Right, let’s get going, the sooner we get there, the sooner this mission ends!” she said optimistically. Kanji tried to get up, but it felt like the world was spinning around him; “(Damnit! Katoso was right… Argh, I hate this!)” he thought angrily. Katoso looked at Kanji, and saw that he was having trouble standing up. “I told you, you idiot.” He said mockingly. “SHUT UP!” Kanji replied angrily, leaping to his feet. See? Now let’s go already!”
As they entered the tea country, Katoso couldn’t help admiring the scene; it was a landscape of rolling fields of all sorts of crop; rice, wheat, barley, and of course tea leaves, and the air was calm and still. But then Katoso started to think about other things, like what the the Mizukage had said to him- a flashback occurred to him;
“My boy, my scouts have told me that you have… an intresting gift.” The Mizukage said calmly “If you would call my kekkei genkai a ‘gift’ then yes.” Katoso replied, the mizukage smiled; “I’ve only heard of one clan who could do that kind of technique, and that the legendary Shunin clan- the clan of Shadows.”
How did he know? Katoso had always thought his clan was a secret aong other things, and although the he was Mizukage, he couldn’t help pondering what contacts the old man may have… Then Katoso’s flashback turned to the other thing the Mizukage said;
Katoso opened the door; “Katoso, one last thing.” The Mizukage said suddenly; “Please restrain of using THAT kind of jutsu in this Village, and please on use it when needed- though I have not witnessed it myself, your clans unique style is know to cause… terror.”
Katoso shook his head, that kind of jutsu was his best! And if he had to ue the forbidden Shadow Style to beat them, if they were truly the cause of the entire villages murder, which was not beyond their limits, Katoso would have to use that style, or he would surely die…
“What are you thinking about Katoso? Whats wrong?” Sakina asked, looking over at Katoso. “Oh... Nothing” Katoso replied quickly, shaking his head. Sakina pouted; “You really shouldn’t be so quiet and secluded… if you have a problem, its our duty as teammates to help you!” she said with a smile. “Hmph, as if the loser could help me.” Katoso grunted, pointing at Kanji. “Hey! I feel insulted!” Kanji cried defensively, and Sakina just laughed at the two’s rivalry. Katoso looked forward. “It seems we’re almost there…” he said, pointing at the crumbled wreckage of a town in front of them.
The three looked among the ruins, there were smashed shops, all the buildings were either completely destroyed, or were only just standing, with massive holes in their sides.
Dust floated all around them, and in the rubble, some long things were sticking out- human arms. Those who were trapped underneath the heavy rubble of buildings, the small fragments of rock and steel to be their tomb. Katoso looked down, there was a small Childs stuffed animal- a teddy at his feet. He picked it up, and clenched it in his hands- it had to be them… maybe the younger of the two couldn’t bear to do this… but HE could… he had no compassion, no mercy, he had no heart… only he could bring such destruction for no reason, apart from to test that his affinity for killing was still at its best… “(I vow, right here, right now, I will avenge all whos had to die because of me, all who’s had to die by his hand)” Katoso thought furiously, rage showing on his face. The three began looking for survivors, although they themselves doubted there would be any. But as they searched through the skeletal frames of houses and shops, they heard a large crash from the other side of the Village; “Don’t drop that you fool!” Somebody shouted loudly and angrily.
The three went to the cause of all the noise, and secretly looked round the corner; there were three men, picking up old iron beams, and loading them into some kind of truck- they were scavenging for metal.
Two of the men looked exactly the same, short brown hair, and a black uniform that covered their entire bodies that no part of their skin could be seen, and on their faces all you could see where masks- masks that showed someone screaming. The third man also had short, but dark purple hair, which was tied up into a small pony-tail at the back, and he had wide, rectangular glasses. He wore a large white cape, which obscured his entire body.
“Keep working, you ignorant mongrels!” he shouted at the two, who were amazingly kept working in complete silence, even though they were being pelted by this mans horrible insults.
Suddenly, the man saw squad 4 spying on him out of the corner of his eye, and immediately pointed at them; “Witnesses! They can’t escape! Kill them all!” he shouted frantically, and the two workers put down their iron beams and began running at them, kunai drawn.
“Shit!” Kanji cursed, and he drew his own blade, and blocked one of the mens attacks. Sakina jumped back, and threw a couple of throwing stars at the other man- all three hit his chest, but he kept running at full pelt! Not even any bloodshed! Katoso drew out his scythe, and countered the enemies assault, sending the man who obviously had no concept of pain into a wall, causing it to collapse on top of him.
“Haha! You’re a good field test, you are, little children!” said the man mockingly.
“Who are you, and what do you want?!” Kanji said, still locked in arms with the first man, “Well, I might as well tell you, as your going to die here… My name is Joko, and I’m one of the Sial Bandit Lords- the lord of steel is my full title…” Joko said in a pompous tone.
“Never heard of them, but that still doesn’t tell us what you want though, does it?” Katoso asked, one of his scythe blades pointed toward Joko. “Well, I’m here getting metal for my beautiful creations, but now you’ve seen me, I can’t let you live! However, you can make good test subjects for my drone prototypes, hm?” Joko replied with a grin on his face.
“Drones? You mean puppets?” Sakina asked. “No dear girl, puppets are the way of the past!” Joko shouted braggingly, pointing toward the wreckage of the wall, where the man was arising, his uniform torn to shreds.
Kanji saw his opportunity, and quickly thrust the second drones kunai into the air, and punched it as hard as he could it the face. The mask crack down the middle, and fell to the floor, all that remained was metal and blank face of rusty metal.
“My puppets don’t need strings! My puppets are independent! These are my finest creations! Mecha-nin!” he shouted, and the two drones leapt out of their uniforms and masks, and jumped so they were next to their master, so that the squad could see what they truly looked like.
They were tall, their faces completely blank and emotionless as a wall. And their torso had a large gear protruding out of it continually spinning round, their arms and legs full of bolts, screws, and dials with moving needles. The only sound that came from the drones were the small ticking’s that echoed from within their bodies, they looked so human, but inhuman at the same time.
“Okay drones, draw your weapons! And initialize attack on these spies!” Joko shouted, pointing at the squad. The drones left hands dropped to the floor, and in the hands place, a rusty blades slid menacingly out.
The drones ran amazingly fast at the squad, so fast both Kanji and Katoso didn’t have time to prepare, and got forced backward several feet, and the drones just stood there, waiting with ticking fury.
Katoso got up, he was fine, but when he looked over at Kanji, he had a large gash on his left leg, there was no way he’d be able to avoid another assault, and he would get seriously injured. “Sakina! Check Kanji! I’ll deal with these!” Katoso instructed as he got up, to face his mechanical opponents. “Looks like I’ll have to defy you, Mizukage…” Katoso uttered to himself. The first drone ran toward Katoso, and Katoso jumped high enough to do a somersault, and embed his scythe into the Mecha-nins neck, and threw it toward the other drone, causing both to fall on top of each other in a scrambled heap.
But it just stood up again, completely unaffected by what just happened, “(damn, looks like my weapon cant affect them…)” Katoso thought. Joko laughed, and began clapping. “Very Impressive for such a young ninja, I must say.” He said with a sick smile.
The drones began moving again, and lunged toward Katoso with blades drawn- Katoso jumped backward to avoid it, and it seemed to of worked, but the blades suddenly slid out further, and only narrowly missed Katoso’s stomach. Katoso quickly snapped the first ones blade, and stuck it into its head. The mecha-nin made electrified sounds, going into complete spasm, before just completely dying, and falling to fall as crap metal.
“One down, one to go…” Katoso said, breathing hard, this was testing his endurance heavily. Joko frowned for a moment, but reverted back to his mocking grin soon after.
“Good work boy, but can you take the other? Now it knows how you beat the first drone, it won’t make the same mistake!”
He was right. The drone jumped back, and the blade slid back into its arm. Then, it right hand this time ejected, only this time, and hand was still connected by a steel-wire rope.
The Mecha-nin was using it as a flail, trying to avoid close combat! It really was learning!
Katoso thought hard, there had to be a way to get close to it…
He snapped his fingers, he had an idea! “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” he shouted, and there were now four Katoso’s, instead of one!
The drone went for the Katoso to the far left, throwing its hand-flail as hard as it could, but Katoso just exploded in a puff of smoke, it was a clone!
Then two other Katoso’s quickly grabbed the flail, and pulled it as hard as they could, causing the robot to fly forward. They kicked to robot high into the air. And then the two also exploded into puffs of smoke.
Then the remaining, and the original Katoso leapt up to meet the drone in mid-air, and grabbed its left arm and left leg. “Cngratulations, you’re the first victim to this technique…” Katoso said with a weak smile.
He span round, still holding the mecha-nin, and locked his feet into the mechanical montrousities side, and pulled out as hard as he could, causing the drone to bend into the arrow shape. “Moonlight Execution!” shouted Katoso, as they hit the ground with seismic force, sending waves of dust over Sakina, Kanji, and even Joko, who was now scowling.
As Katoso looked down, the mecha-nin had been smashed to pieces, its limbs scattered among the ground, and various gears and wires littered around him.
“You did it Katoso!” Sakina shouted happily. “Not quite…” Joko replied with an angry glare. “You may of beaten my mere drones, which to say I’m rather angry about, but you still have yet to beat the master!”
Joko unhooked his cloak, and it fell to the floor with a thump.Sakina, Kanji and Katoso gasped at what Joko’s true form really was.
The right side of Joko’s body was completely mechanised, with large exhaust’s constantly puffing out steam, and large dials move from left to right. All the metal was browned with rustn and Joko’s left hand was to be replaced by another menacing claw.
“What are you?” Kanji asked.
“Your opponent!”
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