a disastrous mission? (solo training)

The mission office was buzzing with people. Curious to find the reason and source of the commotion, Kotonaru slipped past the line, walking up to the front to see what was going on. A bunch of officials were briefing everyone in the village it seemed, on a recent incident. Some ninjas, almost all genin, on a patrol had been jumped by some missing ninja. The missing ninja had left a note declaring war on Konoha, at a time when many of the higher rank ninjas were off on long missions elsewhere, or tied up with important duties that they could not be spared from. This was unfortunate timing, almost as if the missing ninja had been watching for Konoha to find the opportune moment to strike. Konoha needed more chuunin and especially jounin, but they were in short supply at the moment… The genin who had been killed were 3 in number. 2 of the ninjas he did not know, Kotonaru was not even sure he had even seen them before, but the third was a name that sent cold shivers through his entire body. That third genin was his best friend in the ninja academy, and was pretty much assumed dead, if the blood left behind that was not from the other two killed genin was anything to judge by. This boy was a known Uchiha clan member, which was probably why his body had been taken away by the missing ninja. The two of them had still done a lot of stuff together after graduating despite busy schedules. One of the few people Kotonaru truly trusted and had gotten along well with had been suddenly yanked out of his life, the other boy being one of the few Uchiha who were not arrogant. He was not sure what to think. As the officials continued to talk to the gathered ninjas, Kotonaru went through quite a number of emotions, ending with the desire to see his friend’s body with his own eyes, since if he was actually alive then there was little point in getting worked up. He was seriously worried, but he had to keep himself under control until his friend, the third genin, was truly known to be dead. After any missions he would be needed for, he would be able to find time to sit by himself and let his emotions take hold.

Kotonaru suppressed his various feelings of sadness, worry, fear, and anger, so that he could listen better to the officials. The officials were finishing up explaining the evidence they had found as well as answering questions to the gathered shinobi. The officials began assigning ninja to various tasks, such as strengthened patrols. When the officials asked for volunteers to track down the missing ninja, Kotonaru Uchiha ahem- Haruto, was the first ninja to have his hand in the air. When asked why he was so eager, he explained that he needed to prove himself, not having been in much of actual combat anywhere yet. The officials listened to his reasoning, not knowing, or at least pretending not to know his more personal reasons behind his eagerness to accept the mission.

Soon, a group of ninja, 10 in number, were grouped to travel to the site where the bodies had been found. Everyone was given a signal flare, that could be used to signal to both the others of the ten, and the main village, where the missing-nin were. Nobody knew how many missing nin there were in the group, there being several groups travelling around. The ninja moved out, running at top speed to get to the site of the killings before the trails would become cold and almost impossible to follow for what remained. Hopefully they would be successful. First though, they had to get to the site. The journey was a little long, and mostly uneventful.
Eventually they arrived at the scene. Unsure what to expect, the group of 10 walked into the clearing, and examined their surroundings. Unbeknownst to them, a missing nin watched them from a long distance away, carefully hiding his chakra. They had arrived at the scene, it was time to notify the boss so that an ambush could be prepared while the ninjas from that wussy little village attempted to follow the trail. Only 10 ninjas would not be enough to handle 30 missing nin. He chuckled quietly to himself, as he went off into the distance, unbeknownst to the village ninja who had arrived at the scene.
Fortunately, several ninjas had been left to guard the bodies as they were found. These guys had done a little snooping around themselves, and there were bloodstains to the east. These were likely from the kidnapped or killed Uchiha clan member. Otherwise the 3 genin who ahd been ambushed, had managed to wound one of their assailants. That was not likely though, due to the potential difference in numbers. The genin may have been annihilated in an instant, the only worthwhile one having his body being dragged off. The ninjas who had just arrived combed over the scene too, just like the other ninjas who were already there had. Unfortunately, they did not find anything useful. The weapons scattered in the bushes had all been used by the Konoha ninja, some of which had their blood stains dried on. There were no clues implicating any particular group of missing ninja. This was unfortunate of course. The only thing of note that could be found… anywhere, was a large bloodstain without a corresponding body, with a trail leading off into some bushes.
There was nothing to do then but to follow the trail. The ninjas would split up if they found anything. They began running as fast as the group could, while making sure that everyone stayed near each other. Fortunately this was easily slow enough to be able to see the various things that could be used to track the missing nin and their loot, or whatever they had taken (or not taken) from the bodies, live or dead, of the Konoha ninja. The group ran through the forest, wondering what kind of enemy they would encounter. The forest was silent as the group travelled through the woods, with the only sounds being that of their breathing… wait. Something was wrong. The forest should still have sounds from the wildlife, but nobody had heard anything of the like. Either all the wildlife was dead, in which case the trees should also likely be obliterated, or, the wildlife had been scared off. To be completely honest, the latter was more likely, as there were no animal carcasses lying around, or obliterated trees for that matter. Kotonaru got the attention of the squad leader, and explained his theory, which was considered to be plenty reasonably by the other Konoha ninjas.
The group slowed down a little, the ninjas with any kind of sensory technique taking the lead, so as to better be able to sense… traps! Kotonaru yelled out a warning, as a giant log crashed through the undergrowth where several of them had been, smashing into the ground. The earth itself seemed to shake under the weight, almost as if someone had artificially enhanced its weight. The earth shook a second time, as the vines holding the log up collapsed, the end held in the air collapsing. Kotonaru blinked, surprised by the size of the log that had been set up. He knew of nobody in Konoha that set up traps like that. Granted, that was not many to choose from but still, that was quite a distinctive trap. Hopefully the other traps would be detected early too before there were any casualties on their side.
The group continued on their path, some, including Kotonaru, a little shaken. The tree trunk was huge. Somebody in the missing ninja group was rather immensely strong. Hopefully there was only one, as the leader, if a guy that strong was NOT the leader then the entire group may well be wiped out. That could be trouble. They should seriously consider splitting up so that someone could report back to the village if they did not make it. The next trap was a little obvious. Perhaps it was a decoy, to hide a second, more deadly trap. The pitfall was covered in leaves and branches. The ninjas, happy to have found the second trap, walked around the pitfall. Suddenly they were ordered frantically to stop by one of the ones in the back. He pointed to a couple of unusual looking scuff marks, and an upright twig, all about twenty feet from the pitfall. The group carefully backed up to the other side of the pitfall, then one of the other ninja threw a second twig at the first twig. A snapping sound was heard, and a second giant log fell to the ground, out from its perch among the trees. That was not all. The ground opened up, swallowing up the tree trunk, and everything else, almost extending all the way to the first pit they had found. The group breathed a sigh of relief and walked slowly up to the edge of the pit, where they stopped.
A massive pit, a hundred feet deep, filled with sharp bamboo spears, confronted them. Everyone was very quiet after that, as that trap could have become extremely deadly. None of the ten ninja were ever found to be not looking for traps, but fortunately there were no others. The trip proved uninteresting, until the trail led the group to a waterfall. The water proved to be pure, without anything poisonous in it, which was fortunate for the more thirsty ones. The trail seemed to lead up the waterfall, or the cliff next to it, as the trail was not found everywhere else on the ground. The cliff seemed too slippery though, to climb normally. Eventually a taijutsu user was able to scale the cliff, and toss down a rope, which was clambered on by all the other members of the group. Kotonaru had the hardest time, as he was one of the newer ninjas, and was not at all strong.
A bloodstain greeted them at the top of the waterfall, which was shaped like a person dumped on the ground. Perhaps the third ninja, presumed dead, was in fact still alive? It was a possibility, especially if there were any medical ninja among the missing nin. Kotonaru began to hope, just a little, that his friend was just a hostage, not a body and a statistic, a dot on the tally of village deaths that day.
From the bloodstains, it seemed that there were quite a number of trails now. Ten in all coincidentally. It was entirely possible at this point that all the trails would be fruitful, and just as possible that 9 were there to confuse the pursuit. The group split up, each ninja following a path. If anybody found the missing-nin they were to pull the flare to alert both the other searchers, and the main village, which was a number of miles away now. Until then the guy who had found the missing nin would have to hold on and monitor the situation, trying to get a headcount of the missing-nin. Kotonaru followed his trail carefully, and by a stroke of luck, or bad fortune depending on how you looked at things, found the camp of the missing nin. Pausing just within sight of the camp, in the bushes, he released the flare, to signal to everyone else. Now he just had to keep the missing-nin from leaving while reinforcements went in hot pursuit.
Kotonaru crept closer to the camp, skirting sideways first around the camp through the undergrowth, to avoid being found at the site where the flare launched. This was none too soon, as a couple of minutes later, several missing nin zipped through the underbrush, stopping to examine the launch zone. By this time however, Kotonaru was on the other side of the camp, and he could see the missing-nin had largely left the camp, to search for intruders it seemed. If they were actually leaving they would likely be in a group but this band had no intention of leaving it seemed. Hiding in a tree, Kotonaru counted the missing-nin realizing that they heavily outnumbered the group he was part of. Thirty to ten would be extremely difficult to hold out against.
Kotonaru crept closer to the camp, obscured by the bushes. It was then that he saw off to one side of the clearing, a ninja who radiated a powerful aura, with his eyes bandaged up. By his side… Kotonaru’s friend was on the ground, a sword still stuck in his heart. He must have unlocked the sharingan at some point because the only things missing, were his eyes. Reality hit Kotonaru, and hard at that. He fell to his knees, stunned. His friend was dead, the murderer having transplanted the eyes. He did not even notice the other missing-nin that was working on healing the guy who could only be the leader of the missing-nin. Kotonaru heard shouting in the distance as the other ninjas of his group began encountering the missing-nin sent out to deal with intruders. He did not truly notice though, his mind was still trying to recover from the shock it had been dealt. His friend was dead, and recently at that. Tears, unusual for Kotonaru, began to work their way down his face, as he realized that if his group had been a little faster, if he had been a little stronger, and clambered up the waterfall faster, he might have been able to save his friend. Instead, one of the few people he had trusted, had been turned into… an eye farm for a missing-nin. He pounded the ground in his frustration. His mind was becoming a total mess, and he could not think straight. It was then that he began to think of revenge, killing the missing-nin who had his friend’s eyes. He could not believe his friend had died on him so soon, despite lasting so long. Kotonaru's mind blanked out... hopefully nobody found him in this state, as his eye had altered, a single comma shape appearing on each eye.

(to be continued... potentially)

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ttl wc: 2374
claiming the first tomoe of the sharingan

approved

It was only a minute or two at most, before Kotonaru recovered from his trance. However, to him it felt that an eternity had passed, his mind filled with the image of his dead friend and the missing-nin who had rather obviously implanted his eyes, quite possibly gaining a sharingan somewhat advanced through the stages, already. This would be trouble. For the moment though, even if that guy who was likely a medic was helping the leader of the missing-nin, he would still take some time to recover. Hopefully Kotonaru and his other 9 teammates would be able to retreat far enough to get help from the main village. He had seen a second flare come up from where his teammates likely started encountering the missing ninja, 2 flares from one area being the signal that they would need a LOT of help, but it still took time to organize that many troops. There was little point in sending all the ninjas out as they came in. A hundred ninja, one by one, would likely all die without doing anything significant to 30 clustered together, assuming the latter group was not joking around, and being serious about fighting. Considering the 30 in question happened to be battle hardened missing ninja with nowhere to shelter (not really), it could turn into a massacre for the Konoha ninja if they were not careful.

Kotonaru swallowed his grief for his lost friend, and quietly snuck back around to where he could hear fighting erupting between the two groups of ninja, more and more ninja being attracted to the scene. If he was not able to take down a large number of ninja, he would soon be confronted by more bodies, more casualties that he had not been strong enough to save. He could hardly deliver justice, attempting to help those that the Uchiha clan had wronged in the past, if he was too weak to save his own teammates. His own weakness could turn into a injustice itself, if he had big words that his teammates relied on when the time came. He clenched his fist in frustration, it trembling as he fought the urge to scream out loud.

He saw the battlefield. One of the missing-ninja was on the ground, and not moving! Awesome! That was one down, 29 more to go! Then he realized that all his teammates, the 9 of them, were trying to fight against the slowly increasing number of missing ninjas. Kotonaru pulled out some of the equipment they had been given, preparing for a fight. He was in a fairly lucky position. While he could somehow see the chakra of everyone nearby, that did not improve the situation for the others much. Kotonaru must have accidentally unlocked one of the stages of the sharingan recently, he was pretty sure he had not been able to see chakra like that before.

His allies were slowly retreating, all nine of them spread out on the ground behind trees, attempting to keep any of the… Kotonaru counted the ninja facing them – 26 missing nin, from sneaking up on them. They were able to watch a lot of the forest, from their formation, but the enemy had the advantage of numbers, and they, not having much of anything left, had little to lose. As a result, the missing-nin were essentially fearless, as nothing could get much worse for them. In contrast, the Konoha ninja were largely trying to stay alive for those back at home, and they had lots of reason to turn tail and run.

Kotonaru was not sure how much longer they would hold out, as the enemy had gathered and started attacking again, all 26 of them. Kotonaru tried to remember how many he had seen before…. That’s right, there were 30, he had counted them just before he had seen his de- NO! He would not let himself think about that yet. For now he had to prevent more casualties. So, if the missing ninja stabbed with weapons and resembling a pin cushion was a dead enemy, as opposed to a dead dummy or a genjutsu, that was one down. That combined with the leader and the guy attending to him, meant 3 missing ninja that should not be here at the fight. Kotonaru counted again, yup, there were 26 enemies facing his 9 teammates, 9 being for the moment, he was not sure how long they would last. Ok, everything was goo – wait. Wait. Something was not right. 26 facing the rest of the Konoha ninja, and 3 who were out of action for the moment… that meant… 1 ninja whose whereabouts where unknown. Kotonaru would have to support his teammates, while keeping an eye out for that last missing-ninja.

Kotonaru heard some movement. Turning around, he saw nothing… but when he tried using his sharingan again, he saw a lump of chakra in some bushes, about 25 feet away. That must be the missing ninja, as all his teammates were accounted for. He drew a kunai and charged. He saw the bushes shake, and instinct told him to dodge by jumping to one side. He did so, and a kunai shot out of the bushes, through where his head had been when he was just starting to jump. He threw his kunai into the bush where he guessed the ninja was lurking. He heard a grunt, then it seemed he had gotten lucky. The ninja had been hit in the throat, dying instantly. Kotonatu drew a weapon just in case the missing ninja somehow came back to life, and advanced slowly, but the ninja was truly well and dead. Kotonaru looted the body of weapons. Money he ignored, there was not much to begin with, and money was hardly the least of his worries at the moment. Money would not help a dead body, except to pay for a funeral, which he wanted to come out of the pockets of the missing-ninja, just to spite them.

Kotonaru finished looting the body of weapons, even grabbing the ones that had been tossed, wiping off his kunai knife on the dead ninja’s clothing. He turned to the battlefield, which was still raging it seemed. Advancing slowly through the tree line, he paused, and used his newfound chakra sensory ability to do a head count. The missing ninja had lost 2, including the one Kotonaru had just killed, and one of his allies was on the ground. His chakra was faint, barely flickering in and out. Kotonaru had to see if he could help him. The only issue was that this guy was in the open. Helping that guy would mean revealing Kotonaru’s existence, but he might be able to save a life. However, that ninja would be a liability, if they bothered trying to save him after that. Kotonaru would not be able to move secretly anymore. If he stayed in the shadows, he would be abel to take out more potentially, though if he was found, he would not be able to last long either. This was quite a troublesome decision, that largely hinged on whether Kotonaru thought he could take out enough of the missing ninjas to make a difference. If not he should help his comrade in arms, lying on the ground, left to die. If he appeared it might give his teammates a morale boost. In any case he should hide his sharingan until he was stronger, otherwise he might well be killed like his friend was, for his eyes. That would probably hurt, but… Kotonaru looked at the chakra of his team mate. His teammate’s chakra was fading. Kotonaru made a decision that would haunt him alter on for weeks to come.

Kotonaru snuck through the underbrush, getting as close as possible to his teammate without breaking cover. A few times a kunai flailed wildly through the air, into a bush nearby. At these points he would deviate from his original course, to collect weapons. He was pretty sure that his teammates might be running low on ammunition by now. His teammate was in the middle of an open area, about 10 feet wide. He was near the back of the formation, Kotonaru was pretty sure he was hit accidentally. Kotonaru snuck up to the edge of the bushes, then suddenly made a break for it. He dashed towards the other, fallen ninja, scooping up weapons quickly while zigging and zagging through the clearing. He made sure not to go in a straight line, nor to aim for all the weapons on the ground, as this would make his path too predictable. Catching hold of the other ninja, he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder, and ran back into the bushes, pursued by some shuriken that embedded themselves in a nearby tree trunk he had previously blocked from the sight of the missing ninjas.

Kotonaru did not stop under the cover of the bushes though, he continued to run while trying to avoid the missiles that flew by every once in a while. He tore off some of the ninja’s clothing, once he was fairly far away, and tried to bandage the guy. He then left to rejoin his comrades to help them fight against the missing ninjas.

Upon returning to the battlefield, Kotonaru saw that the missing ninjas had decided to surround his partners, while others were missing. Some he could see lying in the bushes, with 2 of his allies down as well, but not all of them were likely to be killed. The situation was getting worse. He hated to say it but he might have to not help anyone else, and instead just try to kill people without anyone noticing. However, those ninjas he could not see… it was a fair bet they were sneaking up on someone, likely him. He heard a movement behind him and dodged to the side, the kunai thrown at his back sailing into the underbrush. He threw several of the weapons he had found at one of the ninjas pursuing him, one of them hitting and doing minor damage, the rest missing entirely or grabbed in mid-air by the enemy. He cursed. He was not likely to be able to do much. He began to wonder whether he would be ever able to kill any more of the ninjas than he already had. That first kill of his heavily disturbed him, humans were generally not born natural killers, and he was not an exception.

Kotonaru tried to flee back towards the rest of the group but it was soon apparent this was not going to work. He saw that the remaining ninjas of his group were reduced to 5. They were almost back to back. His teammates saw him coming, and some were nice enough to help him out a little. Some of them threw weapons at his pursuers before returning their attention to the 23 ninjas circling them. As the weapons hurtled towards Kotonaru and his pursuers, he dodged below them, spinning in mid-air and throwing more kunai at his pursuers. The end result being a pair of missing ninjas dead, but so were two of Kotonaru’s allies. They had been killed while they had momentarily been distracted helping him out. He fought back the tears, they would only obscure his vision and if he had a nervous break down now, nobody would survive until help arrived, he was sure.

Kotonaru rejoined his group, circled by the missing ninjas. The enemy ninjas came in to pursue Kotonaru and friends, who were fleeing the opponents, towards Konoha, using every trick up their sleeve. One of the missing ninja was killed when Kotonaru managed to pull off a substitution jutsu on a lone ninja in the front, but this would hardly work on the others too. The clones did not work as one of the ninjas in the back of the pursuing pack was a skilled sensory type. The same went for transformation jutsus, as one of Kotonaru’s teammates found out the hard way. One of his comrades had managed to take down a ninja by creatively by applying chakra to his foot and kicking a weapon at a pursuer. With every attempt to fight back, Kotonaru’s stomach sank further – for every ninja they managed to kill, they lost one of their own as well, if not 2, they were fighting a hopeless, ridiculous battle. The numbers against them were far too great for a group mostly comprised of genin to handle.

This battle was hopeless, there was no point in fighting back, Kotonaru and the others decided. They were outnumbered so badly they could do nothing but run, trying to avoid a hailstorm of flying shuriken. The battle was lost long ago, when they were discovered, and the situation had deteriorated since then, and badly at that. Eventually Kotonaru and the remaining few split up and he managed to lose his pursuers, but this was just horrible. Shortly after losing his pursuers, he had snuck back to try to help his remaining friends but they were all dead, even the ones who had split from him just a minute ago. All alone in the forest, Kotonaru silently began to sob, tears streaming down his face, as he grieved for his teammates, his friend, and his own weakness, which had made the battle a hopeless one... unbeknownst to him, his sharingan grew a second tomoe.

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(ttl wc: 2245)
attempting to claim the 2nd tomoe

Approved

Kotonaru cursed the fact that he had not yet learned any more advanced jutsu. He had only managed to learn a few jutsu so far. The ones he had learned had not helped him much, there were many he had planned to learn that he had not yet. He was certainly in danger of paying the price now, for his sloth. Most of his teammates had already. In fact, as Kotonaru was the only one left out of the ten who had ventured out from Konoha’s gates, the rest were all dead. In exchange, less than a handful of the missing ninja, the enemy, had been killed, there were still over twenty combatants of the enemy, not counting the leader and his medical attendant. Against them was Kotonaru and his eyes, the reinforcements from Konoha hopefully at least at the waterfall that his group had encountered earlier. Kotonaru had to tell them that the rest of his group was annihilated, so that nobody tried looking for them until after the battle. That could result in more casualties, something Kotonaru had to avoid. Kotonaru was not sure quite why he had suddenly gained new powers in the ocular department, but based on the stuff he had overheard from other Uchiha before, it sounded like he had obtained some of the powers of the Sharingan. How handy. Too bad he had not had those abilities early enough to have made a difference. If only he had gained those powers earlier such as to improve his tracking speeds…. His friend could have still been alive. Kotonaru wallowed in misery for a while, and slowly came back to reality, all alone in the forest.
He started thinking over his current options. The Konoha reinforcements were likely soon to arrive. He could go back to regroup with them. This would give him a high chance of survival, considering his new found powers, at least the ocular ones. However, the missing ninjas may well carry off the bodies and use them for dna transplants, resulting in a stronger enemy for the village of Konoha to face later. The missing ninja would likely escape, while Kotonaru was fleeing in the opposite direction, and might meet up with other groups. On the other hand, the village would know of the strength of the missing ninjas next time they sent out a team to follow them. Now, Kotonaru could be fairly certain he would be able to get away, but there was a chance that he was being secretly trailed. Kotonaru tried using his eyes again to see chakra, and slowly turned in a circle. Nothing was nearby, the movements of the missing ninja could be seen heading back to their camp. He could probably make a break for it.
Now on the other hand, his original mission was to find the killers of the three genin. If he turned back he would have failed his mission if the missing ninja did what any sensible person would do given the circumstances. Any sensible person would move to a different location just to avoid annoyances like a large army of hostile ninja intent on revenge for their fallen ones. It was also a prudent idea to move to a different location just to avoid the pesky door to door salesmen. Some of those guys were incredibly enterprising. You would be surprised what they were willing to achieve for a few more magazine subscriptions. Anyways, to put it simply, Kotonaru could continue on his original mission, tracking down the killers of the recent genin fatalities, he would have to keep an eye out for the missing ninjas, while slowly leaving behind a trail for the other ninjas who had still not arrived yet, to follow. If he could he would try to eliminate some more of the missing ninja, hopefully he could take out enough to actually help the reinforcements significantly.
Whatever he did, Kotonaru would have to preserve his new ocular powers, he could not let the sacrifice that was his team mates, go to waste. He thought long and hard about it for several minutes, as the chakra signatures he could see of the missing ninjas, still many in number, began to recede into the distance. He had to hurry. By the time reinforcements came up, it would be too late, the missing ninjas would likely have fled the chicken coop, so to speak, and it would be hard to track them down again. Kotonaru began moving towards the missing ninjas, only flaring his sharingan once in a while to make sure he was headed in the right direction. He did not yet know how to hide his chakra but it would probably help if he didn’t use it all the time. He would leave a trail, such that other ninjas might see it. He started marking trees as he went from his current location. Hopefully the reinforcements would notice it.
Kotonaru headed towards the other ninjas, certain that the only way he would be able to catch up and do anything remotely useful, was through usage of his eyes. His jutsu that he had learned at the academy had helped a little, but while they were fundamental jutsu, they were not much help in the face of overwhelming numbers. What he really needed was something that hit an entire area, hard. Not that he had any jutsu that would do such, nor any items. He really needed allies to make up for this but his chance was gone and he would need to take chances on his own.
Kotonaru slowly came up to the camp that the missing ninjas had previously been occupying. They appeared to be in the process of packing up and quickly too. He had to do something so that they did not get away. He could try to set up traps in their way as they had done to the pursuers they had ended up massacring, but this would not necessarily work, especially since at least one of them was probably a sensory type shinobi. Traps could potentially get them in large groups but there was only one of him and he did not have the benefit of umbers or jutsu to truly aid him in his work. This is assuming the traps were not seen and avoided, or even dismantled, disabled, or used to finish Kotonaru himself off. That would be a painful way to go.
What else could he do? Physical barricades would be dumb. He did not know any barrier ninjutsu. He did not even know genjutsu that might allow him to knock out the enemy, until the reinforcements showed up. That left him getting their attention by an assault. If he could remain in hiding and eliminate all who came after him with the help of his new ocular powers, he could well throw the enemy camp into confusion, or at least give them a reason to stick around until help arrived. He snuck up to the camp of the missing ninjas, looking for a weak looking straggler to jump.
Eventually he saw a lone ninja by himself. Kotonaru snuck up in the bushes behind the guy, and Quickly stabbed him in the back. Ordinarily Kotonaru would not have liked doing such, but he was starting to get desperate. Looking around for more enemies using his eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief. None were to be found. He had to stay alive to safeguard his eyes, they seemed to be his only way to get stronger. Sounds nearby caused him to snap out of his trance. Another missing ninja was nearby. Kotonaru wondered whether his story might become the basis for a movie, having recently watched a bunch of movies involving a muscular guy taking on armies by himself… what was that guy’s name again? Kotonaru thought his name was the Italian Stallion, though he did not know what “Itallian” referred too, perhaps it meant the guy had horse like characteristics. Yes, that was it, the word “Itallian” was obviously a clan made up for the purposes of the movie. They seemed to use weird weapons, but then again, this was an imported movie, it would be weird if everyone else was just like those in Konoha. Heck, the samurai were radically different already.
Kotonaru was snapped out of his fantasizing, as a kunai was waved in front of his face. He snapped back to reality, and cursed himself for his stupidity. If he died, he deserved it, even if it meant he would never exact justice on anyone. He was surprised when the missing ninja instead marched Kotonaru into the clearing of the missing ninjas camp.
Surprised he was not yet killed, Kotonaru was then confronted by the presence of the leader of the missing ninjas. It seemed he had been brought only to be executed for fun. His death would be long and painful, as opposed to quick. He would not die a meaningful death in battle it seemed. The leader of the missing ninjas saw his expression and laughed, if Kotonaru’s glare could kill, his eyes would have a new found ability it seemed. Too bad it was not the case yet. The leader was without bandages though, his healing from implanting eyes seemed to be complete, which was bad news for Kotonaru. Indeed, the leader proclaimed to the gathered missing ninjas that he was going to test out his new abilities, on the survivor of the Konoha ninjas.
The battle began, the missing ninja surrounding Kotonaru to ensure he would not escape, probably ready to kill him if he somehow won. What they did not know was that Kotonaru had found himself able to rely on his eyes a significant amount, having managed to wipe out several opponents with their help. Of course, his opponent was ready for anything, having the same eyes now despite not being a clansmate of his.Kotonaru’s hopes were dashed as his opponent proved he was able to activate up to the second level of the sharingan. Kotonaru’s friend must have unintentionally unlocked them but not soon enough to do anything useful.
Kotonaru wanted to hide the fact that he also had ocular powers, if he was killed, he did not want them to be used against his village. He and the leader of the missing ninja circled each other, looking for an opening. Kotonaru got impatient and attempted to make the first strike. Unfortunately, the other ninja was ready, his sharingan activated. Kotonaru received a punch in the chest for his trouble, sending him flying away and landing hard on the ground. Groaning, he got up. That punch had hurt and it was well timed too. It was as if the other ninja could read all of Kotonaru’s movements as he made them.
Kotonaru looked up to see the missing ninja attacking him. Not having time to think much, he spent the next few minutes frantically trying to dodge. Several times he was able to duck under the ninja’s limbs, scampering to the other side of the make shift arena.. Slwoly, despite managing to evade the other ninja with well timed substitutions, Kotonaru began to realize that his speed was much too low to be able to do much against the other ninja. He had no choice but to try using his eyes too. His sharingan flared into existence, somewhat hidden by the hair that now hung down in front of his face. The fight continued, most of the ninjas noticing Kotonaru’s enhanced movements and reactions. Fortunately they held good on their promise to not interfere in the fight, the leader had good control over them.
The fight lasted a while, and the reinforcements arrived, the fight between Kotonaru and the missing ninja continuing largely undisturbed. Kotonaru managed to hide his sharingan from his teammates, as he stabbed the leader to death while he was distracted by their arrival.
Some time later, Kotonaru was seen standing over his friend’s grave, vowing to never let such an event happen again. Him, and his new eyes would obliterate anyone who attempted to cause such strife.


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ttl wc: 2023
claiming the 3rd tomoe of da sharingan

Sure, approved.