The Takemura Sword!

Mission:

Kita sat atop the village gates, waiting patiently for his team to arrive. The young boy's legs dangled off the side of the gates, kicking freely in the wind as the boy sat back on his left palm. His right hand reached deftly into his weapon's pouch he kept by his side and withdrew a single lollipop. A small smile drifted across his pale face. Even as jaded as he was, he still got a rush of joy at the prospect of eating sugar. As Kita popped the sugary treat into his mouth, he couldn't help but think that he was going to get fat when he was older if he kept this diet up. Ah well.

As Kita stared down at the misty landscape of the islands beyond the village, his mind went back to the mission he had been assigned earlier this morning. As usual, a letter had been slipped underneath the boy's door as he was eating breakfast. The boy sighed, though it wasn't something particularly unusual by this point. With a weary and defeated gait, he walked over to the lone envelope on the floor and scooped it from the ground, tearing open the top and reading through the message within.

"'The Takemura clan requests your assistance in locating the sword of our founder, Hanzo Takemura. The item is very important to our clan, and you will be paid handsomely for returning it. It can be found...'"

Kita's voice trailed off, the young shinobi growing bored of reading it aloud, and tossed the envelope to the side. He had gotten the important bits, and that was enough. No need to hear their entire life story.

It was that letter that had brought Kita to the top of the gates, waiting on other members of the team to arrive. As Kita sucked upon the lollipop he had been given, he couldn't help but wonder who would be assisting him.

Word Count - 322

Niko was walking towards the gates of Kiri he had picked out a vacation destination to celebrate his promotion as a chuunin as well as the acquisition of the Jugo organ. How ironic it was that he had acquired an organ that the very person he was about to meet had been imprisoned over. His vacation would be at the Takemura estates legendary hot spring. The assistant warden had given him a 100% off coupon for a full-day visit. So Niko decided to use some of his limited time to visit said hot spring. The assistant warden liked him and it seemed as if

Walking towards the village gate Niko would notice a figure out of the corner of his eyes starts to fall from the top of the gates before making a stunt landing. Niko would look up from his scroll labeled 'The Jugo Organ' to look towards the man who had fallen. Inspecting him he would notice that this man was as average as they got. Except for his pale skin. Which was in no competition with Niko's own but still could be considered an out-of-ordinary trait. Though his landing was what had impressed Niko this was no regular citizen. No this was a ninja of some skill. Greater than that of the Mitsu he had fought in the tournament.

"Well hello, it is nice to meet you, my friend. I am Niko Kazan assistant warden, and chuunin. How about you." Niko would give a slight bow. Which unknowingly displayed the name of the scroll he was inspecting to this man. Getting friends was great for many things. That is why Niko put up with Sayatria and Dana senju. They were strange people to be around but they had quite some skill. The skill that could be useful to the Zetsu should the need arise.
(TWC 306)

Kita waited... and waited.... and waited some more. He had arrived at that gate relatively early in the morning, and yet nobody seemed to show up at the location. Minutes turned to hours, and the boy's patience slowly began to run thin.

"The hell is taking them so long?!"

By this point, he was more than mildly annoyed. The heck was going on? Was he pranked somehow? As far as he was aware, it was illegal to fake an official mission. So why on earth weren't his comrades arriving? Kita pondered that thought for a moment, before withdrawing the note from his bag once again. It didn't specify who his team was supposed to be. Only that he was to descend into a cave system located near their estate and retrieve the sword from there. Didn't seem to be too difficult to the boy, but apparently there was a catch. The cave system was winding and labyrinthian, easy to get lost in if you weren't extremely careful. Not to mention that it was home to all manners of hostile creatures. Giant poisonous insects, cave bears, even some missing ninja were suspected to be located in the area. That was already problem enough, but big techniques couldn't really be used in a cave system like that for fear of bringing the whole thing crashing down around you. Definitely not a mission for the faint of heart.

Kita gave a deep sigh. In truth, the mission didn't seem to particularly difficult for him. After all, he was used to fighting up close and personal. Not many creatures can survive a sword through their eye and into their brain after all. Plus, he was sick of waiting for comrades who wouldn't come. The boy closed his eyes and let his weight pull him forward, dragging him downwards towards the earth. For a moment he dropped head first towards the ground below. A fatal fall if he hit, though at the last minute he swung his body around, flipping in the air just in time so that he landed feet first on the ground. Time to be on his way he supposed.

Though just before he was about to walk off, he heard someone speaking behind him. The boy turned to find that an individual with pure white skin was standing there before him. He introduced himself as Niko Kazan, a Chuunin ranked shinobi, and apparently the assistant warden? What the Kirigakure prison's assistant warden was doing out here was beyond him, though it seemed that they were shinobi of equal rank. Kita gave a bow in kind to the individual, though as he did so, something on his form caught Kita's attention. A single scroll titled "The Jugo Organ." Sour memories filled Kita's mind as he recalled his time back in Hoshigakure, how he had been foolish enough to believe he needed the power of a Jugo. Though... that power was still tempting...

No. He banished the thought. The power was tempting, but cheap. Besides... he had more than enough tricks to copy whatever power the Jugo possessed. Whatever the case, Kita threw a smile on his face and raised himself up to talk to Niko.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there. The name's Kita Hajime, pleasure to meet you!" Kita extended a hand towards the man in question. Regardless of whether he shook it or not though, Kita would ask, "You heading out on a mission as well?"

Word Count - 576

Total Word Count - 898

Noting that the ninja turned to him Niko would do his best to take note of the man. If he was not a ninja of Kiri Niko would be forced to ascertain what the ninja was doing. Though for some reason he was getting good vibes from the ninja it was unlikely that Niko would be forced to do anything irrational. Inspecting the man he would notice that the man had a certain interest in the scroll that Niko had, and while Niko saw this as an opportunity Niko was not so sure that was a good thing so he would slide the scroll into his backpack just in case. Trying not to be offensive with the movement.
 
Looking towards the man he would take note of the generally impassive face turn into a smile and notice the change of posture. Unless this is a trick it seems unlikely that the man had any bad intentions. In fact, it seemed the opposite. Good if Niko could find himself yet another powerful ally Niko would be doing quite well. Though Niko would make sure to pay attention to the man's every word. 

So it seemed as though the man's name was Kita Hajime, good to know. Niko would slightly raise his hand for the handshake a little hesitant but with Kita having asked him if he was going out on a mission as well Niko's unwarranted hesitancy would diminish it seemed as though Kita was either a fellow ninja of Kirigakure no Sato. Or he was a shackled Missing Ninja-like his old sensei Daiko. Maybe this was the turnaround in Niko's life. He would finally be able to meet someone normal. Overwhelmed by the thought without thinking Niko would respond to the man whilst shaking his hand.

"It truly is a pleasure to meet you Kita Hajime. Why yes I would be going on a mission at the present the one at the-" Niko would fumble a little before realizing what he had originally intended to do today go to the hot spring. God damn it Niko had ruined his own vacation and it's not like he can refund the coupon. So trying his lacking luck Niko would say.

"The mission at the Takemura estate, that's where you're going as well right?" Niko would ask nearly pleading with his tone. Upon an affirmative answer, Niko would follow the man towards the estate. If this was truly the case Niko would be able to enjoy his vacation and gain a friend as unlikely as it was.

During the travel to the estate, Niko would pose some questions for the man. In an effort to get to know another 'normal' person. The first normal person he had met in Kiri seeing as the prisoners were insane the warden was a pervert for putting him in the butler suit that he was currently wearing. The pair of Senju he had met lacked in sanity but not in power. Then the craziest and weird of them all was his own sensei who had abandoned him to go double desecrate like 30 civilians and become a criminal. My god the more Niko thought of the situation he was in it made him wonder why he had ever chosen to join Kirigakure of all villages to join. Was it because of his nationality alone or merely his parents dying support for the village? Niko truly did not know.

"So who truly are you? By that I mean, are you a genin, a chuunin maybe even a jounin. and what art are you studying I personally am studying Ninjutsu at the moment but I mainly specialize in puppetry. How about yourself." Maybe the man in front of him was a possible teacher. Then he would be able to get taught on a regular schedule unlike his current 'sensei' who disappears for months on end. How quickly might Niko have grown given a capable and active teacher? Oh, what a world of thought.

Awaiting the man's response Niko would notice that they were near the estate. Turning to his associate he would pose one final question.

"So what's the plan we are going with?"
(TWC 1001)

The man responded in the affirmative that he was indeed going on a mission. Coincidentally, he seemed to be going to the one at the Takemura Estate. Kita frowned a tiny bit once he had heard that. This guy was on his team? Then why on earth was he so late? And he seemed to already be en route to the mission location as well. Didn't even try to stop at the mission meetup location. Nevertheless, it was better to maintain friendly relations than to spend time chewing him out. From what Kita had learned, calling people out on their mistakes typically didn't end that well. Even if it was genuinely with the best intentions at heart.

"Ah, so you're on the Takemura mission as well. I was wondering when the rest of the team would get here. Unsure how many others were supposed to join us, but they've all been no shows so far. I don't really want to wait much longer for them, so I'd prefer we just get underway."

Niko seemed willing to go forth with that plan, and followed behind Kita as he began travelling towards the mission location. The actual cave system was pretty close to the main Takemura estate, which just so happened to be a popular tourist's spot. Apparently they had some very nice hot springs there, though Kita had never been there himself. Thankfully for him though, the actual location wasn't very far from the village, being about an hour and a half out at walking pace. Significantly less than that if Kita ran at top speeds he reckoned. Plenty of time to chat with one another it seemed. His partner seemed curious about Kita himself, asking some number of questions about him on the way over. He started off simple, asking who Kita truly was. Kita furrowed his brow in thought, before bringing his hand to his chin. He mostly seemed interested in his rank and abilities. A fair question, considering that they were about to be embarking on a mission together.

"Who I truly am huh? Well, I'm also a Chuunin believe it or not. Though I reckon that I probably have enough training under my belt by this point to give a Jounin a run for their money. As for my shinobi arts... I'm some strange hybrid of Weapon Master and Ninjutsu specialist. I know a bit of Fuinjutsu on the side as well, though it's far from my main vocation."

Kita looked his ally up and down, pondering for a moment if he should offer him one of the cursed seals he had perfected. He'd already given one to Hafuma successfully, and it never hurt to give his fellow shinobi a little power boost. Though Kita quickly changed his mind. After all, he had seen the scroll he had on his person. If he had access to any Jugo body parts, then he likely wouldn't need anything Kita had to offer in terms of cursed seals.

Though something else he mentioned was a bit interesting to the young shinobi. Apparently he was a puppetry user as well. Something that he had in common with the strange girl he had met the other day Sayatria. He still wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but ah well. He wasn't about to admit to ignorance in front of his new comrade. He would just have to wait to see his abilities in action proper. THEN he'd learn what the hell puppetry actually was.

"I've been at this stuff for only a little while now though. If I had to take a guess, I reckon that I've been a shinobi for a little over a year. Lots of crazy stuff happened in that time too. I've known the current Mizukage when she was just a Genin believe it or not. I've had to deal with chakra enhanced monkeys escaping from Kirigakure's R&D department. Strangely more dangerous than you'd think. Lost contact with one of the guys on that mission, think he ended up MIA. I've been to the Hoshigakure Chuunin Exams, even got arrested there for an illegal organ transplant. Got it ripped out of my body later. The encounter actually ended up killing me weirdly enough, but that's a longer story. Got back home and got promoted. Recently got teleported to some weird snowy place with some weird lady obsessed with cookies, presents, and pine trees, that was a weird one. There was also a major meteor crashing into one of the islands near here that I ran a rescue operation on with one of my ANBU buddies. I've already seen a lot, and I have no doubt I'm gonna see a ton of other strange things before my career is over."

God, Kita really had been around the block, hadn't he? And to think that was only a little over a year's worth of adventure. He knew that there were a rare few number of shinobi who didn't see half as much action over the course of their entire careers. How that was Kita had no idea, but it was still true.

"You know, that reminds me. That illegal organ I told you I got? The one that killed me for a while? It was actually a Jugo organ strangely enough." Kita turned to look at Niko for a moment before turning back to the path. "I'd pay good money to get back at the people who took it from me. Heck, I'd pay around one hundred thousand ryo if I could get my hands on another, if only to piss off the people who took my last one from me."

Why the hell did he say that?! One hundred thousand?! For an organ he didn't even want? What an idiot he was. Kita wondered just how his strange new ally would take the unsaid proposition. Would he be offended? Was it not for sale? No, it's not as if Kita cared. Sure, a Jugo organ wouldn't hurt to HAVE, but it's not as if he'd actually implant the damn thing. No, best to change the subject.

"How about you? How's life as a shinobi been treating you?"

He would have plenty of time to either answer or ignore Kita's proposition and question on the way over to the estate. Though it wasn't long after that before they were pretty near. Niko asked what the plan is, and Kita began pointing over towards a nearby hill that seemed to loom over the estate.

"We'll be heading over that way. There's supposedly a cave entrance on the other side that the sword we're looking for it located in. The hot springs waters apparently come from there, and there's a lot of mean beasts that'll attack on sight if you head in. We're going to get in and stick together cause it's easy to get lost down there. We'll hug the right wall, travel until we find the sword, then get out. No big and flashy techniques either if we're attacked. Small scale stuff, otherwise the cave will collapse. Easy money if we pull it off."

Now that Kita thought about it, it was kind of strange that the Takemura clan didn't seem to realize that their prized weapon was located inside their hot springs until just recently, though he supposed that it was just a strange happenstance. If Niko was okay with the plan, Kita would begin walking towards the hill, drawing his blade in anticipation of the fight they would have to undergo.

Words - 1253

Total Word Count - 2151

"Comrades? As far as I know, it's just me." Niko would try his best to get Kita away from the village and the meeting location. If he had potential comrades near it was possible that they would not be as easy to fool as Kita himself. Though it was quite a stroke of luck that Kita's mission was in the same place as his hot spring vacation. Maybe the tides of luck were finally turning Niko's way.

It seemed that Kita had similar thoughts to Niko as when asked the prying questions instead of showing any disdain he showed merely intrigue. That was good another outstanding quality to find in a fellow shinobi. Maybe this could be Niko's chance for true friendship. A temporary escape from his life as a glorified servant.

"A chunin. That's great. I could learn so much from you. You're saying you have the power of a jounin? So you must be even stronger than my sensei. You may know him as the double desecrator Daiko. I am learning Ninjutsu right now. It's far simpler than puppetry, to say the least."

Noticing Kita sizing him up. Niko pondered what question the man may ask. The opportunities were plentiful. Weaponry was an art he had never seen a true master use. The only person being Mitsu from the tournament. Niko had destroyed the man utterly. Nearly decapitating him with a kunai. Though Mitsu was a far cry from a jounin. Being in a genin tournament that is. It only made Niko wonder more if the art was truly as strong as his puppetry.

"I could say the same. While I have been dealing with ninja for far longer than my occupation as a kiri ninja I've only been a shinobi for a year. But for you to have risen through the ranks to chunin as quick as I. You must also have a bit of genius in you. Believe me for a second there I thought there was gonna be a war. My job and home a prime targets. That would not have been fun. Though it would have been a great time to get myself a hard-earned promotion. Filling someone else's spot probably. I would rather not speak of the current Mizukage as a bit of a sore spot. I was one of the people who captured the perpetrator behind the escaped monkeys. Quite the crime strangely they were released after a mere day or two. Those hoshi fucks. Hope they get what they deserve. Sorry for the outburst hoshi is a bit of a sore spot. That sucks about the organ though. They sold it to you and then ripped it out killing you, then how the hell are you alive?  You got promoted for dying. Huh, I nearly got demoted for helping out. The mizukage sure is a weird one. No offense to you or the mizukage. Just me thinking out loud here. You also got teleported? No way me too. I think I may have met the kazekage there. It was quite the confusing event. I did walk out with a plump sum of ryo. A meteor? How did I not know about this? The most interesting thing I have done was cultivate life in my basement and screw over feudal lords. You sure do have one up on me. Though if you did learn that coming back from the dead technique I would fancy learning that."

God, that Kita really had been around the block, hadn't he? Niko was presuming that Kita was at some point demoted. For him to have such a list of achievements and not be a jounin was preposterous. Or maybe a jounin just has that high of a skill level. Niko truly did not know.

"A hundred thousand ryo you say. Interesting, this jugo organ was quite expensive. The prices have gone up due to excessive hunting. I got mine for a hundred and ten thousand. I will think about your offer."

This was the perfect opportunity. With the strength of a jugo this man would turn out to be a most excellent ally. Now of course Niko was lying to the man about the actual price of the organ but that was merely for show. All it would do was serve a unique purpose.

"Over the past year, most of my life has been mundane. I experienced a tournament. Became an assistant warden. Met one mizukage. Almost helped in thrusting the shinobi world into a world war. Then I got promoted. To think it all started with me washing a statue." While Niko may not have accomplished much he had truly grown from the hate-filled vengeance-seeking naive child that he was into a respectable chunin truly quite the growth.

Noticing Kita start to point he would pay attention perhaps being able to glean what this mission was actually about before he was caught in his lie. He would listen to Kita and would be able to decern a few key things outside of the strategy that was imposed by Kita.

"I got it. I'll follow your lead. You seem like the type of guy who knows what he is doing." This was a test for Niko. To discern if the man had the brains to truly deserve a gift. If he was able to execute this plan perfectly. Demonstrating his intellect he would be worthy. Then it clicked in Niko's mind. Wait for the hot springs. No, No if they shut down the hot springs he would have inadvertently ruined his own vacation. No, he would have to go one step further. When completing this mission

Following Kita, up the hill, he would notice him drawing his blade in anticipation of a fight. So Niko would draw his 'blades as well' forming a handseal in each hand he would activate last puppeteer and skillful just as he and Kita got over the hill. Looking forwards he would notice two wild wolves that seemed as if they were guarding the entrance to the cave. Sending his ten invisible strings over the hill he would latch 5 of them onto each of the 'guards' sending them flying at each other at his max speed of 165. Instantly knocking them unconscious. Niko would then motion for Kita to follow him as he ventured into the cave.

After searching for about 15 minutes Niko would notice a brick wall ahead of them.

"We should just sneak by them. If we can do this mission without alerting the guards that would be preferable. I will take the lead."

 With two sleeping humans sitting atop it. Niko would this time activate hiding with camouflage with his left hand. He would then walk to the wooden door in the center of the brick wall and open it slowly allowing for Kita to follow him. Heading within he would notice that the cave head expanded majorly the ceiling that was previously a mere 10 meters above the ground was nearly 30 and the room was far wider. It sported five watchtowers with a guard in each. Unlike the previous two guards, these ones were awake and alert. From there he would move his invisible body towards Kita.

"I can take the sword in this state but if you could create some kind of natural distraction enough to alert them but not have them raise any alarms that would be great. Look over to your left do you see that door. That's probably how the guards get here in between shifts. I will be through there when I have acquired the sword." Niko would then walk over to the sword that was stuck inside of the solid stone. While waiting for some kind of distraction from his fellow chunin he would unseal a sword and apply a simple illusion to it. It would last mere hours and would be easily detected if actually looked into. But at a mere glance, the sword looked nearly identical to the Takemura clan sword. Upon the distraction Niko would flex his invisible strings out he would grab the sword and pull it. As it popped out of the stone he would immediately grab it with his right and hoist the replacement with his left stabbing it into the rock.

Taking the Takemura sword through the door he would notice that this door heads right into the back of the reception area of the hot spring. Appearing Niko would motion for Kita to follow him into the reception area taking a seat on the comfortable sofa. He would begin to speak.

"I have acquired the object. But I would like to talk about the purposed deal. I must decline the hundred thousand ryo. Instead, I have a gift for you." Niko would then take out a scroll. It was now or never. Handing it to Kita he would proceed to talk.

"You have the skill, talent, and intellect. You are a worthy comrade, to say the least. It would honor me greatly to give you this organ. not to merely get back at Hoshigakure but to also help, one I can hope to someday call a friend." Niko would then extend his right hand for a handshake with the man. While this may seem like a profit loss. The worth of a skillful comrade was incomparable to a mere organ.

(TWC 2566)

Seems as though Niko had also been around the block more than once himself. He had been worried about the war apparently, and Kita couldn't say he blamed him. War was a terrifying thought, and the last thing he wanted was to see another great shinobi war. At the very least not with Sunagakure. Though exactly how he almost caused a war wasn't elaborated on further. He was a puppetry user it seemed, similar to the Sayatria girl he had met some few days prior. He also shared Kita's great hatred for Hoshigakure, something which satisfied the young shinobi greatly. The more people that realized how morally bankrupt that Hoshigakure really was, the better in Kita's mind. After all, it was that village that had imprisoned him for a little over three months. He also seemed to share similar experiences with the teleportation to that strange land faraway and a little scuffle with the chakra enhanced monkeys from R&D. Strange how they somehow kept escaping from the facility.... He was also somewhat curious about the technique used to bring Kita back to life, though Kita himself knew very little about it.

"I'd tell you more, but I'm afraid I don't know much about it either. User uses some kind of healing pit and throws you in. You come back to life with the small catch that you don't have any blood when you come out. That's actually what happened to me believe it or not. I still haven't gotten my blood back. Instead it got replaced by boiling water. Doesn't really hurt inside the body, but it stings like crazy when it comes out."

Kita chose deliberately not to comment on his opinion of Murata, though he was curious as to why he didn't like her. Maybe he'd ask her later if she knew anything about Mr. Niko here, and that might shed light on the subject. One of the last things he mentioned was about the Jugo organ. Apparently prices had gone way up, and the cost he had paid for the thing was one hundred and ten thousand ryo. Kita winced when he heard that. He wouldn't be able to pay that kind of cash. Oh well, it was probably for the better after all. It wasn't like he had any plans to implant it in the first place.... Regardless, they reached their destination very shortly after, and Niko followed behind Kita as he drew his sword and approached the mouth of the cave. Two wolves seemed to be standing guard, though Niko very quickly took care of that with some unknown manipulation technique. Worked for him. Kita followed along into the cave below, where they spend some considerable time searching. It was dark and damp, and incredibly warm down here from what Kita assumed to be evaporated hot springs water. The entire place would probably make a great tourist attraction if it weren't for the winding tunnels and various wildlife and criminal threats present within the place.

It wasn't long before they had made their way towards some strange brick wall that had been erected in the cave. Both chuunin activated their Hiding With Camoflage techniques before scaling their way up the side of the thing. Niko passed by the pair of slumbering guards who had decided to rest here, though Kita was a little bit more greedy. Using dextrous fingers and his silent killing ability, he quickly snatched the weapon's pouch off of one of these sleeping guards. A quick peek inside revealed that there were roughly about five shuriken inside. Perfect. Kita quickly followed behind his ally by tracking his trail through Chakra Sensory, following until they discovered the room with five guard towers. Niko quickly broke off to recover the sword, while leaving Kita to deal with the guards. Simple enough Kita reckoned. He asked for Kita to deliver a 'natural distraction,' and he figured that nothing would be more natural than an execution. Kita huffed to himself under his breath. It WOULD be natural, though he had little intention of ending these men's lives senselessly, even if it was the easiest solution. Instead Kita quickly withdrew the shuriken he had just snatched, and took careful aim. In each of the guard towers was a single bell located immediately above the guards. Likely the signal to indicate to their comrades within their camp that there were intruders. Kita quickly let loose the shuriken at all of the bells, targeting the clapper inside. All five shuriken hit their marks, and the clappers fell down with a heavy thud on top of the guards, effectively both disabling the bells and the guardsmen. Any who did realize something was wrong, and indeed there were some men already going to check on the guards, wouldn't be able to use those bells to alert their friends, and would need to do it the hard way. It would provide Niko plenty of time to grab the sword and get out.

The distraction was enough to get the guards away from Niko's position, and he was quickly able to get in and out with the blade before anyone had time to stop him. Kita may have cost them some time before they realized that someone had broken in, though that wasn't too much of a concern for shinobi such as themselves. Honestly, this mission seemed... abnormally easy. He was honestly expecting significantly more resistance considering the supposed value this artifact had for the clan, though that had proved not to be the case.

"Hardly seems worthy of an A ranking..."

It wasn't long before Niko came out with blade in tow and motioned for Kita to follow him through another door. Kita quickly nodded and followed along, traveling down a short stone hallway that lead... directly into the receptionists area of the resort? Kita quickly hissed out something under his breath that only he could hear.

"Are you fucking shitting me?"

They travelled all the way here. Went through that entire cave. Got worried about armed guards in their basement. For NOTHING?! It was located right below them this whole fucking time, with easy backdoor access?! Kita ripped his pouch open and whipped the note out, re-reading and re-reading it. There were some smudges smattering the page, and he quickly realized the error. Apparently he was supposed to 'deliver' the sword to the cave, not 'retrieve' it. He had simply assumed through the smudge that it had meant to retrieve it. Though if that were the case, why the hell was the sword already down there?! It was at that point he noticed something strange about the note. It was hardly visible, but Kita eventually saw a tiny place on the corner where the paper seemed to be peeling away from itself. A sure sign that...

"There were... two parts to this note..."

Kita peeled off the front part before quickly reading the back. Just as he suspected, there were two notes, somehow having gotten some sticky substance on the back that caused them to stick together. The back note was smudged and faded, but there was just enough information to figure out what had happened. The mission had been due last week. There was an expedition to an entirely different region of Island Country to recover the sword and bring it here. It even detailed Kita's squad that he was to meet with. Some idiot had delivered his mail an entire week late! They had just beaten up and stolen from the people they were supposed to be working for!

"I am going to be in so much trouble..."

Kita would take a seat next to Niko on the sofa and sigh, plopping himself down next to him and hanging his head in his hands. Though it was only a few moments after that Niko mentioned their deal. He didn't want money, but he wanted to give Kita the organ for free. The young boy was flabbergasted.

"Are you... are you for real?"

He handed Kita the scroll, and extended a handshake to him. Kita looked down at the scroll and back to him multiple times in rapid succession, disbelief and surprise echoed in wide eyes on his face. He graciously accepted the scroll and extended a hand to him, shaking it quickly.

"I... don't know what to say. Thank you!"

Kita grinned, looking at the scroll. Though he quickly dismissed the look, instead trying his best to remain stoic. He had just botched a mission, and would now need to beg the Mizukage not to assign him to cleanup duty for the rest of his days. Besides, he wasn't ever going to implant this thing. It was just to have. Just to keep hold of for now, to spite Hoshigakure. Kita quickly whistled out a tune for Storage Displacement, sending the scroll to the extradimensional space he stored all his important objects before turning back to Niko.

"So what're you gonna do now?"

Word Count - 1494

Total Word Count - 3645

Just as Niko was about to answer, the sound of a slamming door could be heard through the room. Kita's head quickly turned to the side to see that the door they had went through was open, and standing there was a particularly angry and disheveled looking individual, holding what seemed to be a kitchen knife in hand.

"THIEVES!"

He bellowed the word at the top of his lungs, and before the two of them could react he lunged forward with the dagger towards Niko, aiming directly for his eye. If it hit, it would slam straight through the socket and into the brain, killing him.

Word Count - 106

Total Word Count - 3751

Mere moments later, it was over. The man jammed the knife into Niko's head, pushing it in until the life left his body. Kita himself overcame the shock, and with deft movements withdrew his blade from him scabbard, chopping the assailants head clean off his shoulders with one dextrous stroke. Both Niko and the assailant fell lifelessly to the ground, leaving Kita as the sole survivor.

"What the fuck?!"

Adrenaline coursed through Kita's panicked body. His ally had just died in front of them! Not only had he broke into a client's house and stolen their prized artifact, but killed one of their guards, and let an ally die in the process. Kita's mind began racing. Would he get in trouble for this? How bad would his punishment be? Would he be arrested? His heart pounded like a jackhammer, sending the boiling water that had become his blood throughout his system. He guessed he'd find out later. Kita decided he'd make the situation a little easier on himself and rummaged around Niko's body, eventually grabbing hold of his Hitai-ate. Kita quickly slashed across the thing before dropping it down on top of the man who had just attacked them. The signature of a missing ninja. Then he placed the antique sword in his hands. Best case scenario, they assume he was a missing-ninja who got greedy trying to steal their weapon. Worst case scenario, and indeed most likely, they assume it was an attack from another missing-ninja who left their hitai-ate there. Either way though, Kita was in the clear. Kita quickly took out the corpse storage scroll and expelled the Jugo organ Niko had referred to, carefully taking off his kimono and wrapping it around the lung. He then used his Storage Displacement to send it to his storage dimension, and then put Niko's body in the storage scroll. He then left with his silent killing and hiding in the camoflage active, making it impossible for any of these guys to track him. He'd go ahead and give Niko's body back to the village eventually. He just had to come up with a plausible reason behind why he died...

Word Count - 360

Total Word Count - 4111

Exit Claims: