Bloody, Bloody Mist [Solo,NK]

“MORE ICE PLEASE!” Nero shouted, but it was no use, the restaurant was too crowded and loud. “UGH!!!!”. He tried to flip the table, but it wouldn’t even shake, as it was probably directly bound to the ground. Even more frustrated than before, Nero stormed out. It was near midnight, so he didn’t really have anywhere to go. But he was fueled by fury, so he didn’t hesitate to take a step forward, and just kept walking at a fast pace with no set destination in mind. He looked up, there were surprisingly few clouds. Nero picked up the pace even more after going into a wider street. He kept running and running until he came across a familiar store. In fact, it was being guarded by a familiar figure, a small white dog. It was barking excitedly at Nero.

Nero approached the dog, calming down with the sight of pure joy coming out of this little fur ball of wonder. He only then noticed that the dog was chained to the door of the store by her collar. “What wrong, buddy?” Nero would ask, as he crouched down to start petting the dog, “Furui not here?”. Watching the dog bark and jump around for a few more seconds, Nero realized that perhaps the dog wasn’t barking out of excitement but out of worry. He looked around, and tried to sense the chakra around him, maybe he could have caught a glimpse of Furui’s chakra, and just maybe, he could have traced the old man. He closed his eyes and focused. His senses were a lot more sharp nowadays than before, but it was still nowhere near enough to being useful.

He was picking up a few unique chakra signatures, but didn’t recognize any of them to necessarily be Furui’s. Then it hit him. He looked back at the dog. “Of course,” he thought, “She’s better at sensing chakra than I am - adding to the fact that she’s a good girl, oh yes she is, she probably has the best sense of smell ever… Wait what was I thinking? Oh right. She also probably can recognize Furui’s chakra signature quite easily, since she’s attuned to it after being near it for her (presumably) whole life.”. He started taking apart the chains connecting to the door, “Let’s go find him, buddy.”. He then held that end of the chains, using it to walk the dog, as he has done most of his life.

The dog kept barking and running forward, and Nero kept trying to keep up with her. As they were, Nero was trying to sense the chakra around him, hoping to figure out which one of these distinct signatures the dog was following. They ran for just a few minutes before the dog led Nero to an unusually well-lighted alley. They passed through the alley to reach a dead end center that led to two doors on both sides, a total of four. The dog stopped at the front of the door to the far right, looking intently at it. “Okay buddy.” Nero said as he tied the dog somewhere nearby, “This is as far as you should come.”. The dog kept barking at Nero, jumping around. Nero crouched down to pet her and try to calm her down, “It’s okay, have a little faith in me.”. Nero flashed the headband once again to the dog, knowing he didn’t even need to do it because she was great at sensing chakra and telling ninja from regular citizens. Nero then opened the door and went in.

What he saw inside was just total chaos. The first thing that caught Nero’s attention about this room was all of the red. Blood seemed to have splashed everywhere, some dried and some still fresh. There were also lots of destroyed wooden furniture, generally tables and chairs. He then noticed the ashes. They were more bunched together in some places, but (however long it has been since they’ve been turned to ash) they seemed to have covered everything by now. If he was still the Nero he was a few years ago, he would have already been feeling dizzy at the sight and the smell, but alas, Kiri, the Bloody Mist, had made him stronger; and possibly more numb to situations like these. “Another monday…” Nero thought, as he approached one of the larger piles of ash, and dropped down to his knees. “There’s an awful lot of ashes…” he thought, grabbing a small bit of the ashes with his fingertips, then bringing them closer to his eyes to examine it, “But ashes of what?”. He sniffed a bit of it, clearly not thinking enough about his actions, as a bunch of ashes filled his nose. “Ugh…” Nero coughed. Then he tried to exhale with his nose. Nothing took away the feel of burning in his nose.

Then, while he was struggling with the regular fight to stay alive in Kirigakure, (granted this was one of those times that it was %100 Nero’s fault that he was in any danger) out of the corner of his eye, something sparkled. Nero turned around at the general place the sparkle came from, but he didn’t see anything except for ash, blood, and broken wood. But, he was barely sensing something from beneath the wood… Something similar, almost. Nero focused more on the sensation he was getting from that direction, but that seemed to be the extent of his abilities when it came to getting specifics from his chakra senses. But what he got from the reading overall was that the chakra was far too weak for the source to be a living being. He approached the mess, then started pushing around ash and wood to reach whatever was hiding beneath.

After brushing off some more rubbish, a piece of gold caught Nero’s attention. He reached in, and grabbed at it. He took it out and saw what it was; a golden pocket watch. In fact, it was the pocket watch he saw at Furui’s shop. He had presented Nero with the art of chakra sensory, using a pocket watch enchanted with chakra, a regular pocket watch and the chakra sensing dog that was now buckled outside, thanks to none other than the Genin himself. He focused on the pocket watch to see if this was the original piece or the fake one, and after just a few seconds of doing so; Nero was able to tell that a faint chakra was coming off the golden watch. “So Furui was here…” Nero thought to himself, “Or the people who made this mess took this from him. Or maybe Furui was the one that made all of this. So he has a ⅓ chance of being innocent and dead, ⅓ chance of being innocent and fine, and ⅓ chance of being fine but evil… Well, relatively evil. This is Kiri after all.”.

[WC: 1155
To be continued.]

He then started walking around the room, continuing to analyze the situation. “Well. If it was Furui that was behind this; why would he have left the actual thing here instead of the copy? I guess that makes the “Furui’s behind this” theory the least likely.”. He looked around the room. “But there’s too much blood for the only victim here to be the old man; so it can’t be a personal attack. Also assuming it wasn’t a ninja - multiple people must be responsible for this. The fact that Furui had the pocket watch with him can’t be a coincidence, he was dragged here from his own shop after all, guessing from the dog’s worried mood from the very start. The watch must be linked to Furui’s kidnapping, if not the direct reason of. If it is the direct reason behind him being taken away, it would make more sense for him to hide it somewhere here; keeping the copy piece with himself. Wait. If that’s the case, the person or people who harmed him can’t be ninjas, because they could have sensed the original piece in addition to the fake one, and they could have located it.”. After he was finished with checking the crime scene out; the genin decided it was time to leave.

Nero took a step outside. He was immediately met by the dog still barking, at least as energetic as before if not more. He unbinded her collar, and started walking her back to old man Furui’s store. “Surely I will find some kinds of other leads in the shop. Or at least I will find something that will help me. Any little thing would count.”. But the first thing Nero decided to do after reaching the shop and tying the dog up again by the collar, was to find a higher ranked ninja around, to tell them of the crime scene and the missing man. The dog barked behind him, in Nero’s mind trying to ask him to come along; but Nero wouldn’t let the poor dog get into this possibly dangerous, perhaps even deadly, situation. He would finally find another ninja (who at least seemed like she had more experience than Nero) after a few minutes of searching. “Hey.” Nero would approach her, only to be greeted by her palm in his face. “Sorry kid,” she would answer in a low voice, “I’m not signing autographs today. Beat it.”.

Nero was shocked by the answer. “I…” he tried to get away from the palm to get a better look and see who this person was. “I wasn’t…” She seemed like a normal person, a girl in his twenties with short brown hair, and sunglasses. “Of course she’s wearing shades…” Nero thought, as he tried to continue and explain the situation, “I, no, you don’t- Understand. GOD.”. He broke away from the girl’s grasp. “I need help. Ninja business. Possible murder. God stop wasting time.”. The girl lowered the shades for a second, “Murder? You sure kid?”. Nero sighed, “You’re like only barely older than me. Yeah possible murder. Emphasis on the possible. But also on the murder.”. The girl sighed, “Fine. But if you turn out to be a fan trying to get some idol-meeting time, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you...”. Nero shook his head, “Ugh. No. I can promise you that that’s not it.”. The girl stood silent for a few seconds until she finally went “Okay kid, let’s go.”. Nero showed her the way, while mumbling, “You’re barely any older than me…”.

After passing through a few crowded streets where the girl did get a lot of attention from the citizens around, they were close to the ‘crime scene’. “So she wasn’t lying about being famous…” Nero thought, and right at that second 3 men at least a decade older than either ninja approached the two. “Defaniiii~” they shouted in unison while approaching. The girl, who was apparently called Defani, sighed and shouted, “Go away, you idiots! I’m on a job!”. A really overweight one from among them stood in front of them, holding a magazine of sorts in front of his chest “My daughter is your biggest fan- and- and she’s sick with a deathly illness.”. Defani shouted from the top of her lungs, kicking the man back, “The hell she is!” she would shout after doing so. Nero would be shocked, “Wha- What are you doing to Kirigakure citizens?” Nero would ask her, pulling a  kunai from out of his pouch, holding it in front of Defani’s face, only to realize the kunai wasn’t in his hand any more. “Don’t be a fool, fool.” she would shout, at Nero this time, “You’re lucky that I believe you in the ‘murder scene’ scenario, otherwise I would have kicked your face in, fool. Also you’re lucky I’m full on kunai, or I would have kept it.”. Nero would be kind of surprised by the latter part more than the former. He checked his ninja pouch. All kunai were there. “Was she really that fast?” Nero thought while guiding her on to the murder scene, “Was it a Genjutsu to make me believe I picked up the kunai when in fact I never have? Was it a Space-Time technique that teleported the kunai back into my pouch? Was it maybe a wind technique that slipped the weapon out of my hands? What did she just do?”. Alas, Nero had no idea.

They arrived at the place. Defani signaled Nero to stand back, and demanded she go in first, alone. “You’ll only mess with my mojo, hobo.” she would say, once again making Nero sigh. She would go in to the house, Nero waiting outside; where he had left the puppy earlier. Only a few seconds later, Defani would come back with a pissed look on her face. “What the hell is this?” she would ask. “What? How are you finished already?” Nero asked. “With what?” the girl answered furiously. Nero saw the inside of the home through the door she left open. The part of the room he saw seemed empty, though from before he remembered there being at least a few pieces of wooden furniture. Nero went in, as Defani kept shouting at him, “I thought you weren’t a freak fan, fool! Now I’m gonna beat your ass up- Hey! Wait! Where do you think you’re going?”. Nero was in, the room was completely empty. Nero sighed, “What the hell?” he exclaimed in a disappointed voice.

The girl calmed down, looking intrigued. “Look I don’t know what your deal is, kid; but you don’t look or act like a stalker fanboy. But there’s clearly no case here either; so you’re either lying your ass off for another reason or you’re plain mad. Either way, I’m out. Leave me the hell alone, fool.”. She would then leave, Nero creating no fuss about it. He was still trying to figure out what happened. “They clearly came back to destroy the evidence. If I had just hid and waited here… I could have ambushed them. Damn it. Either way. What is the next step now? I can’t get other ninja involved, because on a surface level, there really is no case. Wait.”. Nero checked his pocket. The pocketwatch was still there. “Okay. At least I managed to grab this last time I was here, so I have at least the smallest bit of a lead; and more importantly whoever did this doesn’t have it; for whatever reason they want it.”. Nero sighed, and headed back to the shop, this time with a real intention to explore every small detail of it.


[WC:1282,
TWC: 2437,
To be continued.]

The shop had a completely different to it when it was empty. It was still as wide and as beautifully set up; the colors were right and the furniture fit the place just right. But without Furui to welcome Nero when he entered, the place had lost its homey feeling. Nero walked around the shop, taking every little thing in, touching all counters as he walked by, taking a look at all shelves to see if any book name would stick out. He would walk down every aisle to see if they felt more narrow, or maybe wider; so he could figure out if the place has been tampered with or not. And as far as Nero could tell, it didn’t feel like it has been. He walked around for maybe another half an hour, but there was no indication of any attack at this store, temperament of any kind, or even any sign of anyone other than Furui having been there. Maybe the attackers haven’t even come into the shop at all, taking him away from the front of it. “Something doesn’t seem right here.” Nero thought to himself, “The thing at the scene was definitely my fault. It was dumb on their part to leave the place like that the first time. Of course they’ll have to clean it up. So, the first time they must have left in a hurry. But then also the time I left the place alone; it was such a short time. It must have taken me at most 5 minutes to get from there to here to the store; I left the dog here than it took me less than 2 minutes (probably). I can’t have lost more than 5 minutes trying to get that Defani to the crime scene. All in all, I couldn’t have waisted more than 15 minutes… That place looked like it needed a lot more work to clean. What am I missing here? Did they know I was there by the way? How did they choose the exact 15 minutes to clean the place between the two times I was there; first time alone and next time with a higher ranked ninja.”.


“Am I overthinking this?” he thought, moving towards the door. After walking around the shop for so many minutes he was convinced that there was not a single clue there that could help him find out who the attackers were, or Furui’s whereabouts. “Am I missing something maybe? Wait.”. He stopped, turned around and headed for the checkout counter. There were a few books lying around under the desk. “Nice.” Nero thought, “These must be the books that Furui must be keeping for… Store… Stuff… Purposes… Well, I don’t really understand how owning a store really works but there’s gotta be some useful stuff here somewhere.”. Nero opened one of the books, there was a post-it on it that read “Account on all Accounts”. Nero didn’t really get it. He started flipping through the pages, and there was just an ocean of names and numbers. Nero couldn’t focus long enough to pick up any name or number that seemed interesting; so he gained no intel from opening that book. However he did waste at least 20 minutes trying to convince himself that he understood these kinds of things and could pick something up if it was out of the ordinary. “Everything seems to be normal here.” he thought to himself, convinced, putting the book back to where he took it from.

He climbed the counter, and sat on it, looking around. “What’s the next step here?” he thought. He almost felt lost. “What am I supposed to do? This is one of those things they don’t teach you well enough at the academy. They’re always much more focused on how to fight, or morals. Well Kiri’s academy isn’t really heavy on morals, but they are pretty heavy on fighting. The genin exam, for god’s sake, is just using three jutsu. Like that will be directly applicable to any ninja mission. Everybody knows and learns jutsu; most even innovate them. But they don’t teach you how to stalk your target, how to blend into a culture, how to blend into the background, stealth, tracking, getting information when you have no leads,  what to do when you get stuck on a mission… Maybe if they did, Sera would have been alive. But that was largely my fault, if I have to be honest with myself. Still though. I was the weakest and the least experienced part of that group; the others should have been trained well enough to know how to handle opponents much larger than you, especially when they are in groups. Anyway… There’s no point in complaining about the academy anymore… I should just focus on getting strong enough to sustain myself on missions; and then go out on every single one I can find. That’s way down the road though. Now I should focus on this ‘mission’ (that’s not a real one because I assigned myself and the town doesn’t recognise it) and actually figure out how to solve the ‘mystery’ so to say.”.

He got up from the counter, and then walked out of the store. He untied the dog’s collar once again, and started walking him. He was looking around, trying to see if there was anything suspicious. There wasn’t. It was the good old streets of Kiri, the cement, the rain, the wind, the cold, the smell of death in the air. Pretty serene. "Ugh… What would my parents would have done?”. Then, Nero reached into his ninja pouch, grabbed something, then started thinking about his parents.



A 12 year old Nero woke up in a tent outside of Konoha’s forest. The sun was already up, which Nero could tell as the rays of heat were hitting his face through the thin surface of said tent; the main material component of it thought by Nero to be satin - which obviously wasn’t the case since his parents were both ninja; and obviously a satin tent is not cost efficient, nor is it great for stealth. It was however, pure white, which also wasn’t great for stealth; but when the family was shopping for one, Nero had insisted that they pick the white one because he thought it was too beautiful. His parents weren’t really the kind to adhere to Nero’s every wish, but this was one that they found it in themselves to grant. It was a big tent, big enough to allow the three-membered family to fit in quite comfortably, each with their own sleeping bags, and tons of items that they would be carrying from one part of the world to another.


That day, not unlike most others, Nero woke up alone, to the freedom and fresh joy of having this big tent all to himself; and the cherry on top, having the freedom to wander around. And that was usually the first thing he did every morning. He straightened his back to get into a sitting position, looked around to locate the sandwich his parents would leave him every morning, along with water in a wooden flask. He picked both of those up, and got out of the tent. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue shorts. He was walking around barefooted. His father told him that the area around Konoha was really safe for any outsiders, and that he could hang around there as if he owned the place and nothing bad would have happened to him. This would become a feeling Nero would grow up on, but at the time he was still getting used to that natural comfort.


Nero didn’t possess the ability to use the Tree Climbing jutsu yet; so he actually had to do it with his hands like a pleb, (which was a word he learned from his parents, used regularly regarding Konoha ninja). He got up, found a strong branch he could comfortably sit on, and started eating his sandwich, enjoying the view of the Konoha forest. There was nothing but green. Nero had traveled a lot of the world by now so even at that age he knew that there were a lot of greater sights, so he couldn’t enjoy this environment as much as he did last time, when he was just 7 years old and new very little of the world. Either way, he enjoyed his sandwich in serenity. There were squirrels running by, birds flying, cats trying to hunt both species; a lot more wildlife than some of the other places he has been to at least. That, Nero could accept; he loved animals after all, even at that age.


Then he saw possibly the cutest animal he had seen in the wild ugliness that was the Konoha forest. It was a bear cub, with fluffy brown fur. Nero had already finished his sandwich by the time he saw it, so he jumped down, put the trash into his tent (because even if it was Konoha’s forest, Nero was far too woke to intentionally throw his garbage in it; despite his parents assuring him that the ninja of the city were far worse trash than any he could throw into their land. Nero didn’t always agree with them, especially on subjects regarding people from villages other than Kirigakure.). After getting out of the tent, Nero looked around to once again spot the little bear, but he couldn’t. The cub was nowhere to be seen. The boy walked towards the spot where he saw the animal, then he started looking for footprints. He found little pawprints close by, and assumed those must have belonged to the animal he just saw. He started following them.


The prints led him to a circle-shaped opening in the forest, restricted on its sides by rocks and trees. As soon as he entered this opening, Nero saw a cave right in front of him. The sun was behind said cave at the time, so only reflections was hitting into the entrance of the cave, the rays not hitting it directly. So, Nero could only see as far as a few steps into the cave, and the rest was total darkness. Nero was kind of intimated by the unknown, but the words of his parents ringed in his head, “Nothing in the Konohagakure forest has the potential to hurt you, not the animals, not the people. You have the Yuki blood flowing in your veins, and the mercilessness of the Mist in your soul. You will not die. And if you do, you will have deserved it and we wouldn't be sad. So you don’t need to feel any pressure to stay alive.”. Those kind words from his parents gave Nero comfort. He slowly started walking towards the cave with as slow a heartbeat as he had when he was playing checkers with an old man in Sunagakure.


When he walked a little bit, he saw the light on an eye reflect back at him; it was as near to the ground as Nero assumed a cub’s eye would be when it was standing. Still, Nero’s heartbeat couldn’t help but get a little bit faster.  Then the eye started rising in the darkness, and it reached far beyond where a bear cub could have. Suddenly, there was a second eye, far to the left; it only hit Nero at that point that this wasn’t the cub he saw. He froze with fear, he knew the advice his parents had given him, but he couldn’t help but be afraid. He was. He didn’t feel pressure to not let his parents down, he didn’t feel pressure to not let his clan or his village down; he just was afraid. On the basest form it could possibly be, Nero was feeling fear, anger, and the will to stay alive. He turned around as fast as he could, running out into the opening. The bear roared, and followed him. He was much slower than Nero, as he also realized. That could’ve possibly been his only advantage against the giant beast.


As soon as Nero was once again in the opening, he started climbing one of the trees nearby, hoping that the bear wasn’t more agile than it looked. He was doing the same thing he did just minutes ago, climbing a tree; but this felt much different. Yeah, it sounded like it would be an obvious thing, having a giant bear furiously following you or not, but there was a more subtle change inside Nero’s feelings. He climbed that tree faster than he had ever done before, with more strength and focus. He had trained with his parents multiple times, but this was the first time he was seriously analyzing the situation he was in; and his chances of survival. He stood on a branch, turned back and looked at the beast for the first time. It was huge. Granted, Nero was also small at the time; but this must have been the biggest living organism the kid had came across at that age. Another wave of shock went through Nero’s body. A rush. The bear seemed unable to climb the tree, which gave him both a little bit of comfort, and the time to think. But not much, as the tree Nero was standing on was quite a thin one, and just the bear leaning on it was causing it to crack and bend.  Nero jumped on to  the next tree, then onto the next one, the bear always just a few steps behind him.


Soon enough, he was close to the tree above his family’s tent again. When he was close enough to get a glimpse at the tent, he saw that his parents were there, looking around shouting his name. Nero jumped from the last tree directly down in front of the tent, landing in front of his parents, “Mom…” was the only word he could form, out of the daze that his fear was causing. His mom directly turned her gaze towards him, his father instead looking at directly behind him; as his mother’s gaze also went there afterwards. Nero turned around, seeing the bear coming to attack him. The bear stood on his hind legs, assumably preparing to attack, as Nero walked backwards as fast as he could. Then, at a split second, The bear’s head was trapped in an ice ball, and then Nero saw his mother pull a sword from her back, and dash to the bear; splitting its head clean off with a swift swing of the blade.. His mother and father then both ran towards Nero, embracing him; Nero’s eyes still fixated on the severed frozen head of the beast that was terrorizing him but a few seconds ago.  He was still in shock, but softly calming down with his parents’ presence.


The next few minutes went by in a hurry that Nero couldn’t really comprehend. His parents comforted Nero by saying that they loved him, and they would of course be sad if he ever got hurt so he shouldn’t be trying dangerous things like that; and that they were only telling him the things they were told by their own parents because they were trying to build Nero’s character. But Nero really didn’t take any of those in. What he did take in, was the pure rush of the life-threatening situation; and how the fear of death had pushed him like nothing else could have done so before. A few minutes later, a soft purring-like voice came from behind the bear’s corpse. All three heads turned to that direction. A few seconds later, the bear cub Nero had seen before came walking out of its hiding spot behind the trees. Nero’s parents made eye contact, then his mother nodded. She got up from the ground, walked towards the bear cub, and went it started running away, dashed in and grabbed it by its neck. It was making a sound Nero didn’t recognize, but it sounded like moaning or crying to him. His mother brought the cub towards Nero. Nero’s expression didn’t change. He found the bear cub still cute, was sad its mother or father just died (killed by his own parents too), somewhat glad the bear that terrorized him died, still not sure what to make of the feeling that being that close to death gave him. He was overwhelmed with all of it. He didn’t know what to think. At that moment, he saw his father holding something shiny in his hand.


It’s only at that moment that the shroud around Nero’s perception dissolved, and he clearly heard his father say, “Today’s the day. You grow up. It’s time you meet death. And grow.”.  Nero looked at him with tearful eyes, “Is… This feeling… Growing?” he asked. “Is it right to kill?”. His father put his hand on Nero’s head, “It’s the only way to become strong, physically and mentally. It’s how you build character.”. Nero then took the dagger from his father’s hand and started examining it closely. The blade was shiny, the whole thing seemed to be made of silver or some other metal that resembled it. It was light, and looked sharp. There was something engraved on the hilt, but Nero’s perception wasn’t 100% back yet. He held the dagger’s hilt strongly with his right hand, and stabbed the bear cub held by his mom, in its heart. The cub struggled for a few seconds, then passed away.



The vision of the bear in his head was replaced by the vision of the dog standing in front of him. “Parents right?” the 20 year old Genin thought to himself, taking the dagger out of his ninja pouch and checking it out once again. The hilt read “Character Development.”. Nero smiled, “Oh buddy. I didn’t know I’d be using you any time soon. Things look to be heading that way though. But maybe not quite yet.” he said, putting the dagger back into his pouch. “Now that I think about it, it’s pretty clear what I should do next. Nothing seemed to have been taken out of Furui’s shop, and they for some reason were after…”. He took out the pocket watch to further examine it, “...this. So, they don’t have what they came for, so they can’t skip town just yet. And they will want to do so as fast as possible. No criminal wants to stay in Kiri for longer than they have to. It’s practically suicide. That only leaves one option for them. They have to try and get it back from the Genin that’s holding it, and do it as soon as possible.”. Nero put the pocket watch back into his pouch.

He was at Kite’s door once again by now. He knocked on it. Kite opened the door, with a surprised look. “Nero?”. Nero smiled, “What, are you surprised to see me?”. Kite shook his head with a smirk, “I’m surprised to see you… Let’s see, what have we got in our history? With an unconscious girl on your shoulder, with a broom tied to two buckets-”, “Hey!” Nero cut him off, “the invention™ is really gonna take off, don’t mix that in with other.... questionable things....”. Kite smiled. “Okay, let me continue. Asking for all the ice in my home, asking if you could get my fireplace out of the house for a little while - the only request by you that I have ever declined probably, that time you brought like 13 dogs saying you were going to take care of them but had to go take an exam at the academy, that time-”. Nero cut him off again, “Okay, okay I got it.”. Kite smiled. “Just came for tea, this time?” he asked, “Or did you decide to end the day early?”.

Nero laughed awkwardly, “Heheh. Well, funny you should ask.” He moved aside to show the dog that was behind Nero the whole time he was speaking to Kite. “I… She… You…”. Kite sighed, “What is it this time? Stole it from a cult that’s sacrificing puppies to their cat-god?”. Nero laughed again, “Heh. It’s… Her owner is kind of kidnapped I guess? He may also be lost, it’s not 100% clear. Anyway, they will probably be coming after me or I’ll be going after them, whichever happens sooner, so I won’t get a chance to take care of her.”. Kite sighed, “Okay. You’re lucky I’ve kept your notes about dog sitting, and I guess compared to the last time, the one I’ve mentioned where you gave 13 DOGS to me…”, “God” Nero cut him off again, “Give it a rest, Kite. They were good doggos.”. Kite sighed, “Sure they were, my point is, this will be easier.”. Kite then crouched, and reached forward with his right hand, towards the dog. The dog started sniffing and licking the man’s hands. Kite then picked him up and started hugging it. “We’ll be fine.” Kite said, “Let me know if you need anything else; and let me know when your job is done. I’ll prepare a nice dinner.”. Nero scratched the back of his head, smiling; “Thanks Kite, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”. Kite smiled and nodded. Nero started climbing the building. Kite turned to the dog and said “Let’s go get you some food buddy.”. He then put the dog down and started waking it. Nero started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, to his favourite one. He reached it in no time.

He stood on the rooftop, then freezed. “Wait.” he thought, “What… What was the plan? What am I even going to train?”. He quickly went back to Furui’s shop, grabbed whatever book or scroll he could find on Jutsu, and dashed back to the rooftop. “Ok let’s see here.”. He sat down and started going through the books and scrolls. Then he saw something that he recognized, “Oh! Oh! I know this one!” he exclaimed, verbally. Then he managed to silence himself, and “The Quiet Footsteps. Yeah this is a good one. I should train to use this. I saw some higher ranked ninja teaching this to other Genin at the academy. It sounds and looks like a very basic assassin technique, and should be kind of elementary. Okay let’s give it a go. I’m sure it’s pretty much the technique I use to walk on water, mixed with some wind elemental affinity. Should take no time for me to figure it out.”. And as seldom an event as it was, Nero was right in calling out his talent this time. He first used the water walking technique (on land, so it didn’t really do anything but set the mood for him, so to say), then he used the tree climbing technique. And finally he infused his wind chakra into the already manifested parts under his feet. He walked around. No sound. It worked like a charm.

Next up was ventriloquism. It was apparently a puppetry technique, but reading through what it was Nero figured out it could be a useful technique for an assassin to know. Not all useful jutsu needed to be village-threatening fireballs or secret dimensions after all. Like the transformation technique, some Jutsu were as useful as they were simple and easy to learn. Ventriloquism seemed to be one of those. It took Nero 5 minutes and a few tries to perfect it, and it was done. Then the hiding in the mist technique. Something about this one must have come natural to Nero, maybe it was his affinity to both water and wind, maybe his skill in ninjutsu; or maybe it was simply Nero’s love for Kiri’s weather. But something clicked, and Nero, following the instructions and information on the book, successfully used the the technique on his first try. “Now this,” he thought, “is a useful skill to have. Though I can see I’ll be using this for shits and giggles anyway. Oh boy imagine using this inside Kite’s house. He’ll be mad as hell…”. Nero giggled, and started fantasizing about how he would be able to prank his closest friend Kite.

It took him a few minutes to able to regain his attention, but he managed to do it. He continued going through the books and scrolls. After quickly coming across a few good, even some essential techniques to learn, Nero was stuck with tons of techniques that were either useless in his eyes, or techniques he couldn’t pull off with his current strength. He seemed stuck. What he learned in the last few minutes (to an hour maybe) was impressive for the time he spent on them, but they weren’t really useful in theory, when Nero would be face to face with his opponent, maybe even multiple opponents. He was going through the books when he saw something that could be remotely useful. “The Art of The Parry.” Nero read aloud. He then went into the book, reading about it. It was once again a basic weaponry technique, but this time one that could be really useful in the heat of the battle. “But…” thought the genius to himself, “To be able to train  how to correctly parry, I’ll need a second person to actually attack me.”. Then the magnificent genius kept thinking, where even regular geniuses would have stopped doing so, and theorized beyond. Beyond what was believed to be humanly possible, up until that point in the history of humankind, “And I don’t have any.”. And philosophy, science, and thus, humankind itself, was changed forever. Then Nero heard a voice coming from the streets down belows, “Look fool, do you think I’m a fool like you, huh? You think you can come at me with those dumb questions and not anger me? Huh, fool?”. Nero recognized the voice, “Oh no.”.

Nero walked to the edge of the rooftop, and lied down so that only his arms and up would be sticking out, rest of his body balancing him on the ground. He looked down, wondering what was going on (though he had a slight guess considering he had run into the person shouting around, only a few hours ago. As he had guessed, the person down in the street, shouting at an old man in front of a small vegetable stand, was none other than Defani. She was just going off against this small old man, who was probably trying to go about his way. “I see you looking at me funny, old man? You think I’m joking here? Huh, fool? You think I won’t beat your ass up just because you have weak bones? Fool! It would only make it easier and more fun, fool! I’m asking for the last freaking time! Are these all organic or not? Huh?”. Nero smirked. “This could be the perfect time to test my new technique…” he thought to himself.

Down in the streets, Defani heard a whisper next to her ear, “You’re not even that popular though. Shaaaaame.”. “Huh?” she turned around, raising a fist back to throw it at somebody’s face she assumed was there, but there was no one to be seen. Then she heard giggles coming from the roof of the building she was next to. Her teeth grinded with anger. She was visibly more red than before. She dashed towards the rooftop, using the Wall Climbing Technique to run up the side of the building; and in a flash, she was there, right next to Nero, who was lying down, looking up giggling like an idiot. “Fool.” she said, in a lower voice than usual, with clear anger and intent to harm the Genin. Nero just then realised her arrival, welcoming her with a (somewhat worried) smile, “Hi Defani! You bullying old people now?”. Defani slowly started rolling up her sleeves.

[WC: 4663,
TWC: 7100
To be continued.]

Defani growled, “Fool.”. She attacked Nero where he was lying, the Genin barely able to jump up and away. A piece of the roof broke with Defani’s punch, falling down to the streets, where gasps and shouts would reach the two on the roof as answer. “Chill…” Nero would say, his hands in front of him in a non-confrontational manner, but one that was for the purpose of defense, and possibly to visualize his attempt to calm the ninja down. “I’m just trying to train here.”. Defani’s expression didn’t change, but at least she wasn’t attacking Nero and listening to him, “You fool!” she exlaimed, “Never do that again, fool, for your own sake! I could have slapped your head off if you angered me just a little bit more you fool!”. She then glanced over to the pile of books and scrolls that covered the entire roof now (thanks to Nero already being a messy person, and even more so when he was reading, grabbing one of the books, rolling around, leaving the book there and repeating). “What are you training, dumbass?” the girl asked. “I… Just things… In general… How to be a good ninja? I guess?”. Defani scoffed. “You think I’m a fool, fool? Where’d you get all this stuff from anyways?”. Nero’s heart skipped a beat when he realized that acquiring these books might not have been 100% legal, but the owner of the shop Furui was a dear friend of his, and he was meaning to return them anyway. “They belong to my friend.” Nero said, with no doubt in his voice.

“What are you training for, you fool?” she then asked, “I told you you had no case.”. Nero shrugged, “Just in case I guess.” he answered. Defani let go of her offensive posture, now standing naturally instead. Then she crossed her arms in front of her chest, “I’m gonna warn you one last time, fool.” she said (calmly this time) sending shivers down Nero’s spine, “Don’t. Try. To. Make. Me. A. Fool.”. Nero was confused, too dazed to answer for a few seconds. Then he shook his head so that he would be cleared off that feeling and answered, “You know that’s kind of a lot of words to over-pronounce one by one. Usually people choose like 3 or 4 words at most when they want to put more emphasis on every single word of a sentence. It just gets really slow and confusing otherwise.”. With every single word Nero spoke, Defani, whose skin was back to its original color by now, once again started to slowly become red. “Fool. You trying to anger me again fool? You know what happens to people who piss me off? Huh? Huh fool?”.

Nero nodded, “Sorry. Yeah. I was just training. You wanna join?”. Defani’s arms were still crossed, she was standing still like a statue. “Fool.” she said. There was a silence for a few seconds. “Maybe.”. Nero smiled, giggled and opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off far before he could even form a single syllable, “But just because I’m bored and I don’t have anything else to do…. Fool…”. Nero smiled and bowed, “Thank you Defani.”. He then held his fists in front of him signaling he was ready to fight, “So…” he asked, “How exactly are we doing this?”. Defani punched her knuckles together twice before matching Nero’s fighting stance (which was that of an amateur’s). That alone was enough to get Nero to start analyzing her movements and actions. “So, she’s probably not experienced as she looks, at least in hand-to-hand combat. When she put the kunai I pulled back into my pouch though; she moved at a speed where she was basically invisible to me. That kind of settles it I guess. That was either a Space-Time technique or a Genjutsu. It couldn’t have been just pure physical prowess. That means hand-to-hand I can probably hold my own, and maybe I might even have an advantage against her.”. Before he could analyzed further, Defani jumped towards him, aiming a punch with her right fist against Nero’s face.

Nero could read the movement clearly, and dodged the punch by tilting his head forward and down, and then raising it back up again once the swing had fully passed him. Nero then went for an uppercut, as Defani still hadn’t landed properly, so the genin saw this as an opening he could take advantage of. Defani, however, grabbed Nero’s punch with her left hand. “You’re not that fast.” Nero said, not in a mocking but in a surprised fashion, “How did you do the thing with the kunai before?”. Defani had swung again with her right fist (that Nero didn’t see while talking) which hit as soon as the ninja finished his words. The punch sent Nero to the opposite edge of the rooftop, thankfully Nero’s reflexes were fast enough to activate the Wall Climbing Jutsu so he could gain his balance back. He then turned around to face the girl again, “Now that was uncalled for.” he said nonchalantly, again with a smile on his face. “Fool.” Defani answered, (not surprisingly so) “You don’t talk in the middle of a battle, fool. Or you get your face kicked in, like right now.”. “Well,” Nero answered, “I can’t really help it, I have a hard time telling the difference between thinking and thinking out loud.”. Defani’s eyes closed down just a bit out of confusion, “Huh? How? Are you really that dumb, dumb-ass?”. She sighed, “I guess it makes sense. You did bring me somewhere you claimed was a crime-scene but there wasn’t anything there now was there?”.

Nero sighed. “No. I mean there was. Okay there wasn’t when you were there, but there was before.”. Defani chuckled, “You are dumb. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE JUST STANDING, YOU FOOL? COME FIGHT ME!”. Nero shook his head, “Oh right”. He then dashed towards the girl, and threw himself down, going for a kick to Defani’s feet, hoping to tackle her. “Why won’t you believe me?” he would ask while doing so. Defani would simply jump up, allowing Nero to slide past her, and move with all his speed towards the edge of the roof. Once again, his reaction was just fast enough for him to catch the edge, and hold on. As he pulled himself, he kept talking, “Do I sound or look like I’m lying?”. Defani looked at Nero with an expression making it clear she was unsure about him. “I don’t know.” she answered, “You don’t sound like you’re lying.”. She walked towards Nero as he pulled himself up, so she was in close quarters with him when he was finally standing. As soon as he was, she started throwing a flurry of punches at him. Nero did his best to dodge them, but a few of them he had to block with his hands, that almost threw him off balance, and well, off the roof…

Nero soon found an opening and aimed a punch at Defani’s face. It wasn’t intended to hurt her but instead create enough momentum in that direction to go somewhere closer to the center of the roof, and away from the edge. It worked. The girl dodged to the site, allowing Nero to run to the center. “Anyway.” Nero said, his voice alone seemingly enough to annoy the girl she was sparring with, “You wanna help with the case or not?”. Defani sighed once again, “You fool.” she said calmly, to create contrast to the shouting she was about to do, “THERE IS NO FREAKING CASE!”. She dashed towards Nero, aiming another punch. “THERE IS!” Nero shouted back, punching the punch that was trying to punch him. “Damn you, Defani. If you won’t help, I’ll find someone who will. Anyway, I better keep working on my secret technology stuff, bye.”. Defani raised both her hands, not understanding the kid even a little bit. “Okay fool.” she would say, “Long as you stay far away from me.”. Nero would nod angrily (looking as dumb as that sounds) and leave, after getting all the scrolls and books back to his friend, of course.

[EXIT, WC:1369; TWC: 8469. Claiming;

That this topic has a rushed ending so I could thread with Hayate,
42 Stats
Quiet Footsteps - 500
Character Development - 1500
Ventriloquism - 500
Soul Expulsion (C-Rank) - 2000
Chakra Sensory (Already at 1480/2000) - Finishing with 520
Hidden Mist - 1000
Flicker Movement - 1000
Body Flicker - 1000]

Approved

Oops also the remaining 449 words towards Yuki Physiology please, thanks ^^

Also approved