Operation: New Tomorrows

Mission Name: Reconstruction (Mountain Wars ToW)
Mission Type: Humanitarian Relief
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Help With the Restoration of The Commonwealth
Description: The battle for the "hearts and minds" of the Earth Country's people rages on! And it's becoming a hell of a slog. The Evacuation might have saved their lives, but now the time has come to help save their livelihoods. Homes and stores will need to be rebuilt. Bodies will need burying. Debris must be cleared out or incorporated into the reconstruction efforts. And so on and so forth. This is an occasion for the more peacefully-inclined shinobi to show their stuff!
Payment: 25,000 Ryo
Requirements: None

Snake. Rat. Ox. Ram. Snake.

Mokuton: Four-Pillar House Technique! Ashitaka thought as he focused his chakra into the art of reconstructing the building according to the images he was given. Alternating between this jutsu and its superior mass-production version had been his life for the past... he didn't even know how long it'd been since the horrific battle that resulted in their use being required. The days blurred together. He was living in a surreal cycle now: go to a place, build something, go somewhere else, build something else, rinse and repeat as he tried to tune out the cries of those who had lost so much to this war until he ended up dragging his exhausted body to yet another strange and foreign sleeping place in a country where his faction was very unwelcome.

He spoke to no one in any social manner, only conversing enough to direct the lost where to go and learn where he was needed when he too lacked direction. In this dreary haze, he didn't know how the battles had turned out, only that they seemed to be over for now. Not that it was any surprise to him that he was ignorant, given that his age tended to lead to people keeping him out of the loop of vital information regardless of his societal rank. He hadn't heard from his friends or his sensei in days, but that was hardly anything new. Team 10 was a team in name only. And since they were his strongest bond outside of his employer Okane, that left him very much alone.

It was likely only by virtue of the abundance of weapons on his person that he was generally not troubled by bandits. Even after giving one of his White Dragon Fangs to each of the oldest among the five dozen or so orphans of the Twin City Massacre so they can protect themselves and the younger ones from getting mugged or abducted, Ashitaka still had a fair number of blades at hand, not counting the two destroyed by the Burned Man. The bastard. Those had taken him hours to forge.

Snake. Rat. Ox. Ram. Snake.

Mokuton: Serial Pillar Houses Technique. Not like these buildings and homes he was putting up in an instant. He really hoped that they wouldn't go down just as quickly. That would be incredibly demoralizing, and he really didn't need any more of that right now. He tried to remember if he'd had anything to eat this week, and ended up looking around for one of the soup kitchens. While he felt bad for taking food without really needing it, he just really wanted to feel that warmth and the sensation of having satisfied a primal need, even if it didn't really apply to him.




___________________________

Info:

Chen too was silent. He had no urge or willingness to speak to anyone. There was a silent rage in his actions but it was will hidden under a façade of nonchalance. The Ōtsutsuki was angry that Iwa had lost its bid for independence. The Mountain Alliance had successfully occupied large parts of the country and the Tsuchikage was now in a plague induced coma. Suffice to say Chen's tenure as an Iwa shinobi was not off to a good start. He had considered running but he knew that might be a foolhardy decision. Iwa had not been sacked which meant that some kind of surrender was probably being negotiated. If he turned tail and ran then he might end up being hunted by both Konoha and Iwa. It was best to keep his head down and do his job to the best of his ability until his sensei woke up.

Chen utilized a combination of Earth Release and Water Release techniques to gather up debris and bury them. Most of it was biodegradable: destroyed mud huts, straw, human bodies, the works. He saw another kid his age working on constructing some houses. He noticed that the structures were made out of wood and from there he deduced that a foreign kekkei genkai was in play.

Konoha-Nin Chen speculated. He stared at Ashitaka from a distance of about 15 meters. The child's face was pale and graven like stone. Who were these Konoha shinobi coming into his lands and "helping" as if they hadn't nearly killed an entire region worth of civilians?

Ram. Ox. Rat. Boar. Snake.

Mokuton: Mass Architectural Restructuring

If his Sensory ability had been active, Ashitaka probably would have noticed Chen long before the other kid was close enough that he could feel the unbridled contempt radiating from the goth's gaze. Instead, he didn't notice him until he was done fending off the slightly-too-affectionate displays of gratitude from the crowd of laborers whose apartment complex he had just stood back up. Luckily, most of the buildings were still present, just in shambles, so it was more a matter of putting them back together than creating new material. In just that moment, several hundred people would no longer have to worry about sleeping in the shelters erected for the purpose of helping them survive calamities like the one his nation's allies had just nearly caused. Having noticed that the other preteen wasn't moving with the crowd as they filtered back into their homes to go about the process of getting their lives back together, so he worked his way past him and approached the oddball.

"Hello," he said with the most non-threatening tone he could manage and a small, polite bow. "I'm Ashitaka Inuzuka Senju, and I'm here to help. Is there a particular place you want me to look at?"

His words and tone were courteous, but his demeanor naturally reacted to the one he was faced with. Barely-contained seething rage from the goth was met with his own ice like a wildfire ascending a mountain meeting a rain cloud on its way down. Under normal circumstances, a meeting between two boys with their kind of power and pride had a high chance of resulting in a fight for any or no reason. Especially since they were members of opposing factions that were on at best uneasy terms. However, both of them were also under explicit orders not to start an incident that would jeopardize the new and tenuous peace between their respective nations. Whether or not they held fast to those orders remained to be seen.

Ashitaka was perplexed by what he was getting back from his chakra detection. This dark-clad kid was definitely an Otsusuki, but there was one particular distinction that set him apart from the others of his kind. A unique quality that he couldn't believe he was registering, in spite of the evidence right before his very eyes.

Weird... he's so weak... I didn't think that it was possible for his kind to be at this level. He must be the runt of the litter, the poor bastard. he thought but kept to himself as he waited for a response from the angry kid. It was possible he had some kind of complex about it and Ashi wasn't keen to trigger him. He was just starting to get back into Nyg-sensei's good graces.




_____________________



[WC 506
Technique Trained:
Wood Release: Mass Architectural Restructuring (A, Custom) -10 CP (UA)




Note: words in italics without quotes are thought, not spoken.

Chen did not reply. He continued to stare at this kid called "Ashitaka Senju." The surname was familiar but the given was unknown. He appeared to be rather proud of his Wood Release, he was spamming it all over the place in a bid to win the hearts of the people. He played at modesty but Chen believed him to be some kind of PR monkey. They'd trot out their best genin Senju and have him go to work making people forget that the reason their homes had been destroyed was because of people like him. Fortunately, it was indeed the case that Chen was under explicit orders not to attack Konoha-Nin pursuant to the armistice. In theory, he shouldn't even care. He was not born in Iwa and he had no emotional attachment to the plot of dirt they currently occupied. But there was a visceral part of him that hated losing and he was beginning to associate Konoha with the force that had caused him to be on the losing end of this war. Chen's unilateral staring competition was interrupted by Gyo who approached with all the merryment of a person ignorant of rising tensions.

Chen turned to Gyo and stared at him for a moment before looking back at the Senju. He wasn't interested in lunch or water. He wanted this interloper out of his lands.

The other kid seemed intent on not offering anything to say, so Ashitaka responded in kind. Instead, he turned to the rather flamboyant young man who had imposed himself on their silent feud. He smiled shyly at the unintentionally abrasive invitation to... water and whatever lunch they offered the refugees.

"Water would be pretty great right now, thanks" he replied as warmly as he could manage in the face of a Kumo nin. While this one didn't seem the same kind of violently insane as the one he was most familiar with or as crushingly powerful as the only other one he was aware of, there was still something about the garish young man that raised his hackles. Perhaps it was his miraculous ability to, somehow, simultaneously have a cultured voice reminiscent of Okane-sensei's (save for its ungodly pitch) and be shockingly tone-deaf. His presence and demeanor revealed that if there was one constant among the residents of his village, it was a stark lack of basic human empathy.

He tightened his right eye in a half-wink as he rubbed the corresponding ear with the palm of his hand as undisciplined instinct spurred him to give away his auditory sensitivity. Not that he especially cared about people discovering that particular vulnerability, since people who were polite would go out of their way to avoid assailing it. And those who were unwise enough to deliberately exploit it were due for a swift and physical education. After all, as his training with the Uchiha maid indicated, there were people who could not see his hands when he delivered strikes even with the help of their hoity-toity dojutsu.

"By the way, would you happen to be an entertainer? Your voice carries quite well and you have a very..." Ashitaka paused, searching for a not-unkind way to express the opinion. It was a long pause. "...noticeable appearance. I feel like I could have seen you coming if you snuck up behind me in my sleep."

As he walked beside the man, relieved that he didn't have to quicken his pace to an uncomfortable extent to match the other's stride, he thought about what life might have been like for him if he'd pursued such a path. Probably not good, considering the circumstances under which he was found. But compared to how things had been for him lately, he wondered how much he really would have to complain about given the alternative. He knew that his own voice was pleasant enough due to his need to pitch and tune it as was demanded by his acute hearing, not to mention the matter of the howling that was prevalent in his early childhood. However, having the capability to perform and having the confidence or utter disregard of other people's opinions to do it while at the center of attention was another matter entirely.

By this point, the grump was largely forgotten, but Ashitaka knew that he was still walking next to a member of an adversarial force while deep in enemy territory. Thus, his Sensory Field remained active at full capacity. Besides, it's not like maintaining it was costing him anything significant in the way of chakra.





______________________

Stuff:

Chen watched as Ashitaka turned away from him and his silence. The young Senju lad wasn't the type to start a confrontation. Good. His lot were always interfereing with the business of other nations and declaring themselves saviors or conquerors. Chen saw through the weak façade of their patriotism. It was all about power. Taking from the weak and enriching themselves. They justified their acts with ideologies tailored to their actions and when all was said and done they'd write books about their heroic actions. Chen wanted to spit in disgust but it'd be a waste of fluid. As the pair walked away from him, Chen said in an even yet clear tone:

"That's right. Walk away."

He waited to see if this provoked a reaction. He wanted them to know he was not afraid of either of them. That this was his land and that were better off leaving him be than trying to win his friendship. If the continue scurried like the meek rats they were, Chen would go back to fixing structures and clearing debris.

Ashitaka neatly caught the bottle tossed to him by Gyo, letting the older teenager go on for a bit while he paused to drink the water from it. He heard the goth's comment cutting into the bragging of the idol and had to swallow his current mouthful to keep from choking on it. It took some work to suppress his laughter at the statement so stereotypical that he couldn't help wondering if the kid who'd responded to his offer of help with a silent stare had a real personality or was just putting on airs. Not that he had any real room to talk, considering how much he himself had invested into being civil that he was actually starting to forget his real self. Something about this Iwa kid was reminding him, though. The broody jerk had the cold eyes of a snake, Ashi's second favorite source of meat after sharks and only narrowly eking out a win over bears.

"Listen here, Otsutsuki... I don't know what your problem is, but you're going to have to make a decision whether or not you want to interact with me. I'm not going to stand here on a razor's edge while you flake in random directions on the matter. My superiors have given me a shipload of work to do, and if you think you're going to spoil my break with your tough guy act, you've got another thing coming."

With that said, he continued on after the idol, immensely curious about the sort of person who saw fit to make creating pleasant sounds to listen to a profession. He strode into the tent that he'd seen him previously head into, intent on apologizing for the disruption and resuming their prior conversation. He found Gyo sitting at one of the tables and moved over to join him, echoing his order before speaking directly to him again.

"Sorry about that, I thought that local had something to say for a moment. I must have been hearing things."



__________

Stuff:

When Ashitaka choked on his drink, Chen knew he had him. The goth cracked a smirk as now he would get the chance to see what the Senju was made out of. However what Ashitaka opened his mouth to say made Chen's blood run cold. For the first time in recent memory, Chen was shocked. He had nothing to say and his normally blank stare was now punctuated with emotion. As the chuunin continued speaking, his face got redder. The rest of the response was hardly Shakespearean. In fact, it was so generic and uninspiring that it made Ashitaka's address even more pronounced. He had casually called out a secret that he himself barely understood and followed it with a blithe reply about "work" and "tough guy act."

The whole scenario made Chen ball his hands into fists.

How did he know? How the fuck did he know?!

Chen had not told anyone about his secret. Even his sensei Masaru did not know. This random foreigner had pegged his heritage just by looking at him and had just informed another without any regard to Chen's safety. He could deny it but Chen was self-aware enough to know that his reaction had already confirmed it. The only real option he had left was to kill this omniscient Senju and the bubbling Kumo fool that had hydrated him. Anyone else in earshot would probably have to die as well. The only question was whether he was strong enough to take them both. There was only one way to find out. The rational part of his brain told him to respond with more provocations so that he could claim self-defense. A tactic that had served him before. The non-rational part of his brain told him to draw first blood.

The non-rational part won out.

Chen got close to Ashitaka and shoved him with all of his might. The goal was to interrupt the rest of his actions and knock him on his butt. If he succeeded in making Ashitaka stumble, he'd raise his left hand and backhand the boy while protruding a chakra receiver through the back of his hand. The result would be a nasty cut across his face, goring his cheek and perhaps even robbing him of his teeth. Chen was on the verge of losing total control. He had guarded his status as an Ōtsutsuki out of fear of others and because his own understanding of those abilities were superficial. This stranger seemed to know so much and that trait made Chen angrier than anything he'd ever experienced with Mitsukira.



Used: Chakra Receiver

As the goth's face reddened and hands curled into tight fists in time with the total loss of his vaunted composure, Ashitaka couldn't help wondering what part of what he'd just said was so offensive. But the rushing shove informed him that that was a concern for later. For now, he had to stop the moron's effort to break his face. Raising his own left hand, he intended to catch Chen's attacking arm by the forearm and wrist, although he was just slightly too late. The black receiver would cut into his cheek before being deflected by the combination of the Senju's rigid bone/muscle structure and his defense against the assault. Everyone watching would be able to see the blood trickling down the side of the Leaf ninja's face, and most would know that the Stone one was guilty of initiating the skirmish.

"That was a terrible decision on your part." Ashitaka stated coldly as he tightened his grip on his attacker's arm with his left until he felt/heard the other kid's bones creaking in protest of the strain they were being put under. With his right hand, he reached across his chest to grab at the Black Receiver, intent on pulling it free of Chen's hand and holding it up between their faces. "You know, I'm getting real sick of you people trying to shove these things into me." He'd tighten the grip of his right hand until the rod splintered and released the pieces to rain down between their feet. "You want to reject the pretenses of civilization that's sheltered you up until now? Fine. Let's embrace the One Law, then."

He was of course referring to the unwritten but undeniable command of nature that fools like Chen believed read "only the strong survive", when in reality it was more accurate to say it was "adapt or die". Sure strength helped a lot, but not as much as coming to terms with and compensating for one's own weaknesses. A notion that Ashitaka was sure had completely eluded his opponent. He tightened his grip on his foe's left arm until the bones finally did give way, leveraging the captive arm in an effort to force the young Otsutsuki to his knees as he continued speaking.

"You seem to be incapable of gauging your target's capabilities relative to your own. A critical shortcoming. But since your betters within your clan have seen fit to show me mercy when I was as helpless before them as you are before me, I'm willing to extend the same magnanimity to you. Once. Now tell me, do you know how to apologize and beg for forgiveness? Or are you eager to taste the pain that preceded the mercy I was shown?"




_____________________


Techniques Used:
Sensing Technique: -0.5 CP
Senju Regeneration: -2 CP

208.5/235 CP remaining

Chen was convinced that the Senju was nothing special when he managed to nick him across the cheek. He had drawn first blood and soon it'd be followed by first organ. "That was a terrible decision on your part." Chen's arm had been grabbed so quickly he barely saw it. He was fast. The kid was strong too as when Chen tried to wrest himself from Ashitaka's grip, it felt like he was moving against stone or wood. Chen's anger increased and he tried even harder to break free. Ashitaka began to exert pressure on his bones and they squelched in response prompting a primal scream from the goth.

FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!

He thought to himself as he tried to use his other hand as leverage to push away from his opponent. It was all in vain. Ashitaka was too strong and before he knew it the Black Receiver had been taken out of his hand. He said something about people trying to shove them into him which caused Chen to forget his anger and fear for but a moment. This wasn't the stranger's first rodeo with one of Chen's kind. The thought was disturbing but it at least explained why he had been outed so quickly. Whoever this individual was, he was not someone to be trifled with. Chen's kin were rare and most of them quite powerful so if he had survived a fatal encounter with them then he had to have been a Jounin level ninja or higher. Chen watched as Ashitaka snapped the Black Receiver like a twig. He stopped struggling then as he recognized its futility. There was no hope of escape. He was at the Konoha-Nin's mercy. He was younger than Chen but even stronger, it hurt him to his core to see how far behind he was. It was a blow to his own powers of self-perception and a victory for Mitsukira, as absurd and unrelated as that might be.

Chen looked Ashitaka in the eye when he said something about the "One Law." The phrase was alien to him but the look in his eyes unmistakable. They were now speaking the same language. Chen heard a snap then felt a white hot pain radiate in his arm. He fell to his knees as Ashitaka forced him down. The pain was so great that tears were streaming down his face and he had to struggle to stay conscious. It hurt so bad he could not even scream. Appearances, revenge, and pride were all distant thoughts now. All he could think of was surviving. There were words coming out of the enemy's mouth and he struggled to comprehend them. The powerlessness and fear he had felt as a boy had taken hold and he could only manage a weak: "Let...go of me"

Ashitaka watched Chen's face continue going through a series of raw emotions as the goth's attack was initiated, failed, and subsequently punished. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve... he thought as his opponent reacted like an animal with its leg in a bear trap which, to be fair, wasn't too far off the mark. It was a surreal enough experience to be fighting someone weaker than himself, let alone that person being an Otsutsuki. And the way his opponent reacted to the reality check was somewhere between pitiful and disgusting, something which the Senju made no effort to hide as he stared down at the other kid. This little shit wouldn't have lasted ten seconds in the Forest.

"That didn't sound like an apo-" he paused as his Sensing Field was disturbed by a dozen or so intrusions. He looked up and around to see that they'd been surrounded by Iwa and Kumo nin, all with either weapons brandished or jutsu prepped. Some of them were visibly surprised that they hadn't gotten the drop on him despite his clear preoccupation. Most had either expected this ability or just better discipline, or had their reactions obscured by their ANBU masks. In any case, one of those bearing a cheap-looking sword spoke up.

"Let him go, Leaf-nin. That's the Tsuchikage's protégé you have there, and you're violating the armistice." the man demanded, and almost as one, the entire ring turned to glare at the man incredulously. Chen's position may have been a fair assumption to someone who looked, but it was hardly common knowledge, especially outside of Iwa. As it happened, Ashitaka was incidentally a bit ignorant of the game of subterfuge and didn't make any special note of the declaration. Still, it did helped to be reminded that their actions weren't taking place in a vacuum. "You're pretty tough, but don't think you can take all-"

"Who do ya think ya are, tryin'a tell the Leaf what they can and can' do?" A coarse voice cut in from behind the first man shortly after another dozen or so chakra signatures appeared in a slightly larger circle surrounding the pair. The Senju would, of course, completely fail to identify the trappings of the Kaifeng family. But the sloppy appearance, stance, mannerisms, et all indicating a Yakuza-esque thug were unmistakable anywhere to anyone who's seen at least one of them in person. "Didja forget who runs these streets?"

The situation was escalating in a rapid spiral away from the meticulous control Ashitaka had been maintaining over his conflict with Chen. It rubbed him the wrong way just as much as the shoddy conditions of most of the weapons present on the scene, not to mention the notion that the gangsters were ostensibly on his side. He scratched at his temple with he free hand as he tried to work out a solution that didn't result in the Commonwealth becoming the sparking point for a civil war within the Land of Stone.

"If I haven't made it clear by now, allow me: I can stand and speak for myself." he said to the gang sergeant who'd come to his 'rescue'. Then he looked down at his peer and pulled and twisted the trapped arm again, this time in a very specific manner that forced his broken bones back into alignment. This would, of course, hurt even more than the initial break at first. But its lasting pain would be much less than if he'd left it as is, and it could be healed more quickly and easily with lower risk of leaving a permanent deformity. In his free hand, he conjured what looked like two giant chopsticks, then he turned and sat on Chen's back as he worked the thick end of the wood between his defeated opponent's wrist and his own fingers. Once he was satisfied with their alignment, he crossed his left leg over his right knee and began unraveling the bandages he'd had wrapped around it. These were used to bind the sticks in place with numerous wraps.

The other ninja and the civilian gawkers just looked on stupefied as Ashitaka finished treating Chen and forced him back to his feet. This course of action was a cruel parody of its performer's usual kindness, still serving the same purpose but with a wholly different intent. Where before, he would have mended the wounds demanded and inflicted by his superiors or the situation in an effort to lay the groundwork for repaired relations in the future, now he did it to further illustrate the power gap between the two of them. He had just shown his foe that even without chakra or technique, he could deliver and diminish pain as it suited him. And it wasn't like he lacked in chakra or techniques. He shoved the goth in the direction of his heroes, who were incidentally adorned with stone-torsoed butterflies of varying size indicating their membership in a sizeable, if informal, Mitsukira fan club. Another thing which he was, of course, wholly ignorant of.

"There is no further need for this situation to get any more violent. I'm going to be generous and assume that idiot has at least regretted his actions, whether or not he's learned a lesson. Regardless, the Land of Fire will be withdrawing its aid in the Land of Stone's recovery from this point forward." he announced, earning Chen a chorus of heated glares from "friendly" shinobi and civilians alike. To suit action to word, he passed on a command acting on his authority as the Hokage's protégé and the Senju Clan Head that all Konoha forces were to drop what they were doing and withdraw from the Commonwealth due to the apparent threat their presence presented to the newly-won peace between the two nations. Then he started walking toward the exit of the city he'd been helping rebuild, leaving Chen to face the civil and administrative fallout of his actions. After he got a certain distance away, the sticks bracing his broken arm simply poofed.


[Attempted exit]



______________________________


Technique Used:
Mokuton: Bouquet -1 CP
Sensory: Sensing Technique -0.5 CP

207/235 CP remaining

Chen was in so much pain that he could hardly focus on the escalating nature of the situation. Iwa Nin and Konoha-Nin were converging on the scene as the two protege battled each other, or more aptly, as one dominated the other. Chen was still on the ground reeling from the damage that the Senju had wrought when Ashitaka announced his intention to withdraw. The additional twist to his arm caused him to cry out in pain even louder. Chen didn't have the strength to stop him from doing what he did next but he wish he had. As the goth peered through the stars and tears of his agony, he saw Ashitaka helping him. The boy was creating a brace that would help the healing process and ensure that the bones did not malform. For a kid in his position to be assisted by a foreign enemy was a stunning blow to his pride. He'd have fought back, cursed, and refused Ashitaka's help, but the truth was that he was scared to do further damager to his arm. He was at the mercy of the Senju and if he tried to act out then his ninja career could very well be cut short. Konoha was rolling deep in these lands now and they had already lost their bid for independence. If Chen was the start of another conflict then his own nin were likely to lynch him.

He thus remained motionless as Ashitaka bandaged what he had destroyed. Chen was then forced to his feet and shoved in the direction of his "side." He stumbled and almost fell to the ground but was caught by the Iwa shinobi. Chen chanced a look on their faces and their expressions did not match the act of kindness he had received. They were angry and justifiably so. He had picked a fight with someone his age and lost. It didn't help that this occupier had been assisting with reconstruction efforts. Chen looked down at the ground as he struggled to stay on his own feet. The humiliation of the moment burned brighter than a thousand suns. It appeared as though he had found someone even more infuriating than Mitsukira. Someone who wasn't afraid to beat him into the dirt but would then rub poison in the wound by demonstrating all the qualities that he despised in the Tsuchikage's bride. Kindness, gentleness, and mercy. They were demonstrated not due to any lack of naivety but as part of a deliberate attempt to show how weak he was. He'd have respected it if he wasn't on the losing end of that proposition.

Chen forced himself to look Ashitaka in the eye. Ashitaka announced that he would be de-escalating the situation by withdrawing Konoha's humanitarian aid from the area. This did not bother Chen in of itself. He hated Konoha and the sooner they had left his lands the better. However, he was intelligent enough to realize that Iwa was in a sorry state post-war. The burden of reconstruction would take a heavy toll on its military and municipal infrastructure. Without Konoha's help, it would take a long time before the nation was back on its feet. The fact that this was all sparked by his stubborn pride made the situation even worse. The miltiary would turn against him and if Masaru woke up then he'd be chastized, or worse yet, expelled from his tutelage. It was a loss on every conceivable front. Chen's eyes burned hot with rage and he wanted to scream. He wanted to call out to the mysterious dendrokinetic. He wanted to shout out "We aren't done yet!" or "Get back here!." But the words caught in his throat and even his mind was going blank. A feeling crept up behind him and seized him. He was no longer cognizant of the death glares he got from his own men or the civilians that had been benefiting from Konoha's generosity. All he felt was a the beating of his own chest and the familiar taste of fear.

No....

Chen would not fall from this defeat. He had faced worse torment at the hands of people crueler than Ashitaka. He'd rebuild his reputation and seize control of Iwa. He'd get stronger and turn his body into a potent weapon that would cause the likes of even Nozomi Himitsu to tremble. Then once he had done all that, he'd come back and find this child. He'd gut him like a fish. Chen turned to leave the area but collapsed once the sticks holding his arm together poofed. He felt to the ground mewling in pain and had to be carried out like a invalid.

Exit