Revenge or Justice?

Revenge or Justice?

The night had set in, it was early evening, the long days of the Kumo summer had passed. Clouds rolled across the sky with an almost full moon reflecting light through the breaks in the cloud cover. 'The conditions could be better' Ryu thought to himself as he turned to his pouch and went over his equipment one last time, as he checked the various number of weapons and other various items he held in his pack his mind wandered back to the admin office where he received this mission. Ryu was tasked with investigating a possible location for the base of the bandits who had recently been terrorizing the local populace. The mission itself had seemed above his pay grade, especially since it was solo. Ryuzaki pushed the thought from his mind, it was a chance to prove he was worthy of advancement. 

Several hours had passed since Ryuzaki took up his position overlooking the entrance, no movement had occurred, but the place looked like there had been activity fairly recently. Several overturned carts lay-out front with what Ryu assumed was wasted materials strewn around, anything that the bandits had no use for or was of no value. Ryuzaki dropped off the side of his perch and landed on the floor, a small sound escaping as he softened his landing. In one motion Ryuzaki kept low and started to sprint towards the door, sacrificing speed to remain as quiet as possible. Reaching the entrance Ryu came to a stop his shoulder touching the edge of the doorframe, he took a quick look around him to see if his infiltration had stirred up any movement, it appeared he was still good. Ryuzaki dropped to one knee and reached for the handle of the door, he turned it, but it would not move. 'Locked' he thought to himself as he brought out several paper bombs and placed them around the carts and other discarded material that lay-out front of the entrance.

After a few minutes, Ryuzaki reached another entrance point and brought his hands together, sending chakra out towards the paper bomb, which then ignited the paper. A second later the explosion burst out from the various paper bombs, the carts and other materials flew in all manner of directions, the blast could be heard from a good distance away, Ryuzaki was hoping it would draw out the residents of the hideout, he started to make his entrance. He timed his smashing of the door with the final paper bomb explosion. the door was relieved of its connection to the doorframe, Ryu did not stop as he carried through the door, as it landed on the floor he continued to run, taking corner after corner, he listened out for any sounds other than his own footsteps. It was quiet inside, he expected to hear some commotion, the panicked rushing of people under attack, but he heard nothing. 'Were they gone? were they waiting to ambush me?' Ryuzaki's mind began to race as he weighed up his options, he had infiltrated, potentially without detection. 

Are you afraid

The words of his master filled Ryu's head, fear was good, but only in properly segregated doses. Ryuzaki stopped as he came to a corner, he dropped to one knee and closed both his eyes, focusing his senses and pushing them outwards. Hearing only a slow dripping of water Ryuzaki opened his eyes and entered the room, scanning now visually from side to side. The room was dark and had no artificial lighting, there were massive piles of items, mostly seeming to be trade or barter items. A table of valuables sat in the corner of the room, probably waiting to be fenced to the right person, an item stood out to Ryu, he couldn't take his eyes away as he started to approach the table. Ryuzaki's hand slowly started to reach for the item, he could not believe what he was seeing, Ryuzaki picked up the black band and he ran he finger around the edge, he felt the ridges, it was the Nara clan symbol, it was his ring. Ryuzaki stood there confused for a few seconds, it was his ring that had been stolen from him years ago, the scar on his face suddenly started to sting as a voice called out from behind him.

"So you thought you could steal all of our precious possessions? We worked very hard and had to hurt a lot of people to get them, most of them we didn't even kill" Ryuzaki turned to see a familiar face, the face of the man who had given him his scar "Of course we didn't kill them so they would bring us more possessions". Ryuzaki dropped into a stance and he drew the tanto that rested above his weapon pouches on his lower back, the man standing in front of him was big and muscular, he held a big hammer in one hand, it looked like to a normal person it would require both hands to wield effectively, and unlikely ever to be effective in combat. Ryuzaki inhaled and took a second to calm himself, the slightest tinge of fear crept into his mind, then he acted, flinging himself forward, in a flash he brought his tanto down to strike at the man's shoulder, he was met with the head of the hammer and forced down, Ryuzaki reached into his weapon pouch as he rolled to the side, dropping a smoke bomb. A second later as the man in front of him turned to strike again, but the smoke exploded outward, causing him to cough and cover his eyes. Ryuzaki, however, was more resistant to the effects of the smoke bomb and used the opportunity to escape.

The halls twisted and turned in front of Ryuaki as he retraced his steps to exit the compound, he went at top speed, his tanto still clutched in his right hand. Ryuzaki burst through the back entrance that he entered into originally and off into the night.

WC: 1007, 1100 Ryo, +3 ap, +10 speed, 1000 words for Leaf Rising Wind

Approved.