Chapter 16: Blood and Bone

Shogo Isobe rarely sleeps peacefully. He had developed a bad case of insomnia given the festering paranoia of getting caught off guard by the other temple orphans, the gang members, or worse, a horrifying "land shark zombie" that's out for revenge.

However, since Lady Hanagetsuya had begun to host Shogo in her home, he had begun to sleep better than he had in his whole life. Whether it was due to pure exhaustion from his daunting trials or the safety he felt within Lady Hana's home, it served to improve his night paranoia by leaps and bounds.

After being thoroughly worked over by Lady Hana for an hour or two. The gash between his shoulders had closed up to leave a giant scar and his arm ligaments had been repaired. After, she immediately fed and watered him then ordered Shogo to go to sleep on his usual cot. Shogo went to dream land as soon as his head hit the cotton pillow.

Now here we are six hours later. With Shogo still sleeping like a log that just got done jogging twelve miles.

Shogo POV

Zzzzzzz….

ZzzzzzZzzz….

*Wooshh!*

"Wha-!"

*Splshhhh!*

My head is submerged into the lake as I'm dangling upside down by my left leg. I open my eyes as best as I can through the water in my face and see Gengetsu's disgusting smirk beaming down onto my distressed form. I try to kick him in his goddamn smug face but before I can retaliate, I am lifted out of the lake and tossed into the cold mud a ways away from the blonde bastard. My shirt and shorts are soaked and are ruined from the wet dirt.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bacon!"

I glare at him coughing up the water that had made it down my throat and nose. He walks up to my downed form and glares down at me with a vicious look in his eye.

"Bet you wish you had given me time to warn you about this yesterday huh you little shit! Next time you walk away from me while I'm talking to you, I'll pin you up by your hands and feet to a damn boulder and chuck your pathetic ass in the ocean!"

I can only nod in fear because I knew the exceedingly cruel man was more than capable of such a despicable act. I flinch as a set of black clothes abruptly collides with my face.

"Put that shit on quickly. All that expensive stuff the hag wasted on you will get you killed out in the field. You're too pathetic at the moment to go unnoticed to even the untrained eye in all that colorful garbage."

Hearing him disrespect Lady Hana and her gift to me makes me clench my teeth but I stay my tongue. The oily bastard seems particularly fired up today and it would be dumb of me to poke at his already unstable attitude.

I quickly put on the skintight black long sleeved shirt and pants. How he and his grandmother knew the correct measurements for me by a glance disturbs me quite a bit. I don't even know what the hell size I wear!

"These are the clothes you will wear whenever you go on a mission until I tell you otherwise! Put on this mask too."

He throws another piece of cloth at my face but this time I catch it before it makes contact with my nose. I quickly examine the black article of clothing in my hand; the material was soft and somewhat stretchy along two oval shaped holes for both the eyes and mouth area.

I slip it on my head and pull it down snugly below my chin. I can feel my hair flatten onto my head a bit making me a bit uncomfortable, but it is nothing I couldn't ignore.

"Perfect. Now your targets won't be subjected to the unnecessary pain of seeing your face in their final moments. Now follow me boy, and make sure you keep up. It took you entirely too long to round up that meager shopping list. So we will be focusing on building up your speed for the next year or so."

The only warning I have before he speeds off is the sound his sandals made prior to him hopping to the nearest tree. I immediately pump my legs full of chakra and leap after the bastard. I barely make it on to the branch of the tall tree but manage to keep my balance. I can only look on in despair as the bastard is already at least 40 meters ahead of me. Hopefully, it will be easier to keep up with him when we get to the ocean.

5 Hours later…

I have been following Gengetsu southeast for what feels like forever. I hit my stride when we hit open water like I had predicted. I was able to catch up with him more than I could on land, but after the first hour of straight sprinting I had begun to slow down again. Staying within 40 meters of the bastard was a struggle and it hadn't gotten any better. I am very lucky that the mist today is on the lighter side considering how it usually is thick enough to not see your hands in front of your face.

Although, even if the mist was the stagnant soup that often defines this country, I bet I could still follow the bastard just by the scent of his atrocious hair gel.

After ten more minutes of skating along the ocean, land finally comes into view with Gengetsu standing on the coast impatiently tapping his foot. When I finally reach the beach and walk up to him, Gengetsu fixes me with a dismissive look,

"It's a wonder you even finished that small task if you're this slow. But don't worry we'll be fixing that very soon."

With that he strolls off towards the brush of the forest in front of us. I quickly follow him with my hands clenched at the reminder of the stupid task that nearly got me killed numerous times.

As we walked through the foliage of the island we arrived at, I couldn't help but notice how effortlessly Gengetsu moved through everything. It was like he was a ghost as he made no sound or disturbed any of the surroundings. I really had to reevaluate how good I thought I was at being stealthy. In comparison to Gengetsu, I left a trail of snapped sticks and disturbed shrubs in my wake while he might as well have been floating off the ground given the lack of evidence that Gengetsu had ever walked in front of me.

As we walked deeper and deeper into the meager forest with not a sound besides my clumsy footsteps, I couldn't help but dwell on the ginormous gap that existed between my near nonexistent level as a shinobi and wherever the hell Gengetsu had reached. I mean this shit is ridiculous! We don't even walk-through bushes the same!

It was evident to me at the start that Gengetsu is far beyond my comprehension in terms of personal power. Part of me had been hoping that some of his residual energy would rub off on me during that hellish training week and make me that much closer to gaining my independence. However, Gengetsu, whether consciously or unconsciously, reminds me that all my struggles amount to nothing in the face of true power time and time again.

Honestly though whatever amount of blood, sweat, and tears it will take for me to actually have the ability to brutally crush my oppressors will make it that much sweeter. I'll make Gengetsu rue the day he decided to force me into becoming a shinobi. I refuse to be a casualty of another person's whim. Surviving isn't enough anymore. I need to start improving!

Starting with the essential ability to walk silently!

After about ten more minutes of walking in the wet foggy forest of one of the many islands in Water country. Gengetsu suddenly comes to a stop and motions me to come closer to him. I reluctantly walk up to the disturbingly still man and get close but stay just out of reach.

He produces a very familiar katana seemingly out of nowhere and hands it to me while he continues to survey the area in front of us. The intense focus in Gengetsu's eyes at the moment is beginning to make more nervous. I look down at the katana with my hands clenched tightly around the hilt.

Of course, the bastard would bring the fucking phony katana that Hana said not to use! You have got to be fucking kidding me! I knew he would try to fuck with me somehow on this goddamn mission.

"You-!"

Gengetsu grabs my face with his gigantic right hand and squeezes my mouth shut before I yell at him.

"Listen to me because I'm only going to tell you this once. Never talk unless I give you permission when you're on a mission with me. Now I'm going to give you your assignment so shut the fuck up."

I could only stare wide eyed at the absolute ferocity in which Gengetsu spoke to me. I shake a little when my face is released, and he stands to his full height over me. I knew that Gengetsu was a tall individual but right now he seems like a menacing mountain towering over my 4'5" frame. For some reason his beady eyes commanded every ounce of my attention and I doubt I can look away even if I tried.

"We are currently on a search and destroy/assassination mission. The search part has already been taken care of as I have found our target area along with the location of the marks."

He gestures toward the area he's been looking, and I quickly scan trying to get an idea of what I would be going against. The first thing I see is a sizable wooden wall around a camp. There is a large river going through the camp with a large but sleek boat parked in the middle. The boat is painted all black which honestly was a bizarre color for a boat to me.

"This is the headquarters of the largest international smuggling ring in all of Water country."

That tidbit makes my heart slam to a halt. I look at Gengetsu with wide eyes hoping he was exaggerating. There's no way we could possibly destroy this whole outpost by ourselves! Especially on my first damn mission.

Sensing my reluctance Gengetsu sucks his teeth,

"If you're scared to fight non-ninjas? How the hell do you expect to survive against a full-fledged shinobi or kunoichi? You had better shape up now or I'll just kill you now to save us both the embarrassment!"

My nails dig into the palms of my hands at the harsh wakeup call from my asshole sensei. Even if I hate to admit, Gengetsu is right goddamnit. I can't let this intimidate me right now when I want so much more for myself. Today is the day I start taking my fate into my own hands.

I stare up at Gengetsu with all the determination I can muster. With a nod, he continues with the debrief,

"Good. I'll handle the actual destruction of the outpost itself but you will be responsible for the assassination of the head of the ring and his second in command."

My breath gets caught in my throat at the announcement that I would be killing the two targets.

"The head is an average adult man but the second in command has had some combat training. By no means, is the head allowed to walk away from this alive so he takes top priority. But you should be aiming to kill both men in the time limit I give you or I'll be very displeased. Understood?"

Gengetsu hunches over to put more emphasis on his expectations for me. I nod confirming that I understand my role. The lingering threat of his displeasure will continue to hang over my head for the remainder of the mission. I did not want to know how he would make my life harder than it currently is under his tutelage.

"Excellent. You have 10 minutes starting from this very moment to complete your task and get back to this very spot before I blow up the outpost. Your targets are located in the sole longhouse on the second floor in the study."

With that last bit of info, Gengetsu melts into water leaving me to my task.

'Welp at least there aren't any archers along the walls. I can just climb over them and get right to work.'

I quickly glance left and right to make sure there were no stray guards patrolling the perimeter. Satisfied that I wouldn't get caught sling my katana onto my back and I leap out of the bushes before scrambling over to the wall. When I reach the wood, I don't even bother to stop my momentum as I use it to shimmy up the wall with the slight use of chakra to the bottom of my soles. I stop just before the top of the wall and peek inside the camp.

The layout of the camp goes one side of the river, which I assume is where the minions sleep as there are numerous tents that line one half of the camp while on the other side is a lengthy two-story well-built house. Both sides of the camp were connected by the ramps on the ship floating in the river.

The whole camp appears to be extremely vulnerable as none of the smugglers seemed vigilant in any way, shape or form. Everyone seems to be drinking, playing card games or chatting up a storm. Not at all the type of behavior one would expect from such a large covert operation.

'Whatever. Just makes my job even easier.'

I slowly climb over the top of the wall and perch along the other side before pumping chakra into my legs. With a powerful leap I go soaring toward the banister of the ship and land on the very tip with one foot. I almost overshot it but I use chakra to help balance myself on the beam. Look around to see if any of the drunken smugglers saw my clumsy leap and to my relief, I have managed to go completely unnoticed.

I hunch over on the banister and survey the longhouse trying to get a look at where the study is located on the second floor of the building. None of the upstairs rooms look occupied so my desired room must be on the other side of the house.

Another chakra powered hop later, I am tiptoeing on the roof to the other side. I silently peer under the roof and look for my targets. I check maybe four windows before I come face to back with a rather gaudy looking pale bald man sitting at a desk drinking wine out of an expensive looking glass. The numerous rings and jewelry on his person make me conclude that I had found my priority target and the man he is talking to must be his second in command.

In comparison to the head, the second in command cuts a much more intimidating frame. From the short buzz cut hair to the huge muscular frame and horrifying scar that marred the right side of his face. The second in command is obviously the man responsible for keeping all of the smuggling organization's men in line.

The scarred man is lounging on a plush couch to the left of the head's desk and periodically sips from the large wine bottle in his huge hand. He doesn't look to be overly concerned with whatever the head is saying to him as I see him mechanically nod his head every now and again. I take a mental note of the large cleaver laying next to the large scary man before I start to put together my plan of attack.

I only have about eight minutes left before I have to return to the spot in the bushes, meaning I have no room for error or hesitation. This needs to be quick and clean. To make matters even worse I must be painstakingly precise with this particular katana.

I need to get the drop on the scarred man because I doubt, I'll be able to handle him quick enough to leave the scene so I need to get the drop on him first then get the boss before he can escape.

The window won't allow me a good shot at the commander before he can react, and the boss will be able to escape while we're fighting so that's out. However, if I enter through the sole door parallel to the desk, I'll be able to launch my attack while also choking off the escape route. There was a window leading to the hallway outside of the study I can use to get in the house without alerting the two of them. I need to act fast.

'Now how do I get the commander to be the one to open the door?'

1 minute later…

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

My knuckles bounce against the wood of the study door with my left hand tightly gripping my now unsheathed katana. I stand at the ready with my palms super sweaty and my legs shaking from anxiety. I focus entirely on what's going on behind the door as I hear the boss abruptly stop talking and shout,

"What's the problem?! We're busy right now!"

I cough and put my hand over my mouth to distort my voice a bit.

"One of the boys is challenging old scarface to a drink off!"

I hear the heavy steps collide with the wooden floor quickly heading to the door. The knob turns slowly as I set my foot back in a stance slightly before I send chakra to my arms, both hands on the hilt of the katana primed to the left of my body.

Time seems to slow down as the door creaks open slowly revealing the livid visage of the commander's face. As soon as I saw his right eye my katana was already in motion. Arcing upwards to where I estimate his neck to be fully intent on cleaving through the wood of the door and into the meat of his neck.

The blade cuts through the wood like warm butter and the pained scream of the commander lets me know I have managed to hurt him, hopefully fatally.

The now injured commander continues to barrel out of the study, his eyes completely focused on me in bloodshot rage. His right hand is gripping the gash on his neck as blood pours blood down onto the floor but in his left hand is the large cleaver in a tight grip. No more than half a second had gone by since my sword made contact with the commander's neck and by now I could tell the wound was too shallow to have the desired effect of instant death.

The momentum of the swing has put the blade almost behind my body as the force of the swing had made my body twist completely to the right.

The bleeding scarred man swings his cleaver down toward me, clearly intent on bisecting my person down the middle. Though the man is so close to me, the cleaver seems to be moving in slow motion. I let myself finish the rotation before taking a hop back out of immediate danger.

The commander's cleaver wedges into the wooden floor with a loud thunk. My adversary's eyes widen at my fast movement, and he immediately tries to unhinge the cleaver from the ground, but I already leap toward him, slashing from my left hip again.

The commander must've known he wouldn't be able to avoid my blade completely, so he didn't bother. Instead, he released his grip on the cleaver then brought up his left arm, flexed his arm muscles and stepped left into the apex of my slash.

The defensive movement caught me off guard so I couldn't adjust the trajectory of my swing. The blade continues into his left arm and shoulder all the way to the bone before the momentum of the blade itself halts but my arms along with hilt keep moving to the right. Most of the katana had gotten caught in the arm of the commander and only about 7 inches of the metal remained on the hilt.

My shock wears off as I curl up to minimize the damage from a quick straight kick to my left side from the commander. The kick sends me a few feet back as I try to regain my footing all the while careful not to take my eyes off the scarred man's hands. Even though the commander's left arm has been rendered completely useless, the grievously injured man uses his right hand to yank out the remainder of my blade and charges me with his intent on skewering my face.

I quickly feint to the right before hopping to the left and using the wall to propel myself out of range above his right shoulder. Then I kick the ceiling above him to push toward his unprotected back.

He tries to stop his charge and turn around but by then it's too late. My feet plant into the area between his massive shoulders and I stab the remains of the katana into the base of his skull with all my might.

The wet crunch of his skull is the only warning I get before my face is sprayed with blood and brain matter. The mountain of muscle collapses under my feet and I hop backwards with back to the study.

The scent and warmth of the blood all over my mask and hands made me start to dry heave. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything in a while but I'm sure if I had it would have all come up in my mask at that very moment.

I want so badly to take off the mask to get a reprieve from the blood and gore currently coating my face but I fear what Gengetsu would do to me even more so I didn't dare remove it.

As my mind is in a fog trying to get my stomach back under control, I get tingles up my spine.

'Wait! The boss-'

*Twang!*