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| - The story of the group known as the dark secret society now hidden in the shadows, known as "The Hand" truly begins centuries ago, in feudal Japan. Seeking autonomy from the oppressive class system of the time, a few citizens fled into the mountainous regions of Iga and Kōga. There they developed ninjutsu, a stealthy martial art perhaps inspired by Sun Tzu's The Art of War and practiced various assassination techniques. Seemingly, The Hand did not have a particular style as seen they practiced both the ways of Ninja and Samurai. Over a period of centuries, they refined their art in secluded camps. Students trained and practiced the art from birth, playing children's games designed to impart expertise in unarmed combat, swordplay, weaponry, camouflage, escape and evasion. Ninjutsu was also designed to encourage spiritual growth by pushing oneself physically and mentally beyond normal human limits. The ninja were expert in espionage and assassination, and offered their specialized services to samurai warlords and others who could afford them. The committed themselves to texts such as Six Secret Teachings. However, there's a much darker story about the secret society. A shinobi officially brought them together after the Second Shinobi War. The Hand covets power above all other objectives. They are primarily based in Japan, but operate internationally. The Hand has been known to assassinate important shinobi's like Lords, Head Ninja's, ANBU captain's and now they want to kill the current Hokage; one they call Fūrin. They summoned their most trusted assassin and associate Tsuyoi Hyō; also known as the most dangerous assassin in Land of Wind. "Tsuyoi, we want you to do something for her" said the council of Hand. "Yes, my lords?" she replied. Tsuyoi had been monitoring the actions in Hokage's office for weeks, she learned about most of her associates and juniors but she failed to locate her as she was away. She maintained her disguise of a Konohagakure genin whom she had kidnapped, she was living the kid's life for the last three weeks. She was waiting for an opportunity, however, realizing that it wont be easy she began investigating and gathering information on her prey. Fūrin was no small-fry, stories about her adventures and missions were famous in the Land of Fire. During her stay at Konoha, she found a few articles about Fūrin; she figured out how she was born in a very rich family and during most of her childhood she was shadowed by her father and how she fights her way to gain her name. Specially in the academy and genin sessions, even now, teachers praise her abilities and determination. Maintaining her secret identity, she searched for every clue, every rumor and every witness who has had their confrontation with Fūrin. She found out about Haru, her secretary who was merely a genin-level shinobi. Tsuyoi planned to extract every information about Fūrin from the weakling. It was not hard to follow Haru all day, with the secretary being wimpy and funny. Tsuyoi in her journal mentions that she used the same technique as Itachi to infiltrate Konoha and pass through the barriers undetected. After following Haru for a few days, she decided to enter Haru's apartment and interrogate the guy. She prepared special equipment to enter the apartment. For she knew battling Fūrin was no child's play. She was a renowned Wind Master, this fact terrorized her the most, Tsuyoi kept thinking of plans to overcome this disadvantage. But, now she didn't have anytime to waste on something as trivial as thinking, she must act or her entire plan will be in jeopardy. She secretly went in his apartment but she was not aware of the fact that he was in bathroom, "Meh, of all the time? Guys never change!" she exclaimed as she waited for her prey to arrive. It was already night time, she notes in her journal "9:52 pm". She waited in a dark corner next to the bathroom to grab her prey, she took out a very long and sharp knife. Apparently a customized one, she had used this dagger in the past, evident from the dry blood stains near the blade, must have been something she considers as precious to her. Haru spent a lot of time in the bathroom, unaware of what's waiting for him in front of the door. Meanwhile, Fūrin wasn't in Konoha as she travelled to the Daimyō to talk about some politics and was on her way to the land of iron in order to meet her former teachers and give that place a visit, since she spent years away from it. She travelled in a Narimono, used by only wealthy individuals. It is used to carry feudal lords and important people. It was carried by two Chūnin. Both were in their thirties. They came with Fūrin in order to escort her on her travels. The beauty sat in the well-made Narimono. It was manufactured out of valuable material, which consisted of gold, diamonds, and lots of other gems that were highly rare and tricky to find. Nothing less than her mighty position as the Hokage. She was content with her meeting with the Daimyō. She managed to speak with him about highly important subjects that were halting the progress of the village as well as the land of fire. As usual, there was talk about economy and politics, especially with new criminal organizations that began to show up, making the position of the Kage a heavy weight on Fūrin's shoulders as she was responsible for the safety of the village and its citizens. Fūrin noted that these cults and organizations are "inferior to the flow", believing that the flow of life is like the flow of a breeze, one just has to flow with it and see where it goes. This philosophy displayed Fūrin's chilled and relaxed personality and showed her for the easy-going person she is. Known as Shikaze (Death Breeze), the beauty sat in her luxurious Narimono carried by the two Chūnin towards the land of iron, she couldn't wait to see her former sensei and how all of her friends were doing. It was a nice way to decrease the tension and stress formed by all of the troubles she had to deal with on a daily bases, little did she know that a bigger trouble was awaiting her. She was wearing her ceremonial, showing off some skin as all of her dresses do. She wore a short skirt and her outfit in general was designed to look good and in the same time refrain from restraining her movement as she might get in a battle at any time. She was carried by the two shinobi and she finally reached the land of iron after waiting for so long. "Finally ... I missed this place." said Fūrin as she opened the door to the Narimono and got out to see the land of iron and the samurai base there. She walked in, expected to come in, so she wasn't stopped on the gates. She was greeted in fact as she was known in the whole land of iron. Fūrin had many close friends there who were with her on her journey there as she was sent in order to train on Kenjutsu in the land of iron. She walked in and suddenly people started cheering in joy as she saw that almost the whole place was filled with Samurai awaiting her return and greeting her as one of them and as the honorable Hokage, the one who protects and leads Konoha to victories, a genius by all the meanings that the word carries. When she went to the land of iron, she was already skilled with the sword and had background about Kenjutsu. She developed her skills even further by training with the samurai and learning their techniques and mastering them. Fūrin mastered the samurai techniques to the degree where she became better than most of the samurai, maybe even the best in the shinobi world to wield a sword. Her skill aren't matched by anyone. She defeated everyone in the land of iron when she was twenty five years old. Right before she became the Hokage. This shows the unmatchable skills and technique that Fūrin possessed. She was like a breeze where she would get past her opponent in an instant, it would seem as if nothing happened while in reality she sliced him apart, the speed was so fast that it took time for her opponent to even get chopped. After she makes her move with three seconds, the whole area would be filled with the blood of her target that splattered allover the place, while her sword remains clean thanks to her speed in swinging that exceeded Mifune himself, which isn't an easy task. These scene of unmerciful slicing of the opponent's body was only scene by few people, and used on many people. However, only shinobi that were on her side of the battle live to tell the tale of what they saw. That is why she was called Shikaze, she attacks like a breeze and before anyone knows it, her opponents are dead. For that reputation, Fūrin was respected allover the shinobi world and especially in the land of iron as it played a big part in developing her skills to reach the level that she's in at the moment. Fūrin stayed in a room in a building near the headquarters of the samurai as she decided to stay in the room she stayed in back in the days when she went there for training. She was about eleven years old by that time. She met all of her former teachers and chatted with them a bit before going to bed. She went to bed at 11 pm. Meanwhile, Haru was still in the bathroom. He kept Tsuyoi waiting outside as he had some problems with what he ate that day, and he had to take a shower because he was exhausted from the long day. Haru finally finished his "trip" to the bathroom. He washed his hands and got out of the bathroom, not expecting anything to occur, he was truly a genin level shinobi. However, he was chosen as the secretary of the Hokage thanks to his office skills. Land of Iron, the beautiful country wrapped up in diamond like pure ice and snow. The land being politically neutral was an ideal place for holding meetings and family vacations, personally one of Tsuyoi's favorite places. Sadly enough, she couldn't make her usual visit to the Land during this time of the year because of this mission. Unknown, that her target was actually in her favorite country. Ironic, but true, seemingly luck did not favor her as her patience was being tested. She was getting sick of waiting for Haru to come out of the washroom. "Disarm, twist, disrupt balance, ribs, head, body, head, mock, increase pain, make the target beg for it, induce blindness, slit throat" she murmured to herself as he recalled her technique of killing her prey, slowly and painfully. Shikaze or not, no one ever has escaped Tsuyoi's wrath, not even the most gifted shinobi's. She describe's there nothing particularly fun about Haru or the Hokage, both seemed pretty dull and way too much simple, nothing to seek, nothing to find out. They were open books in her opinion. She adjusted her cloak, revealing her belt containing a multitude of weapons, finally she realized it was time. As she saw Haru getting out of the bathroom, she launched a sharp scalpel at him which passed right in front of his eyes, missing him by an inch or so. The sudden ambush was made to appall Haru and traumatize him, in a single fluid movement she got behind Haru and said in a deep and harsh voice, "I am in the shadows behind you, try to be smart and you're dead!" as she placed a knife near his throat a few inches away while her other hand reached for his neck about a few centimeters away from it, she took a foreign stance, one that no one had seen so far. Probably she was thinking of hitting his nerve clusters to paralyze him. "Now Speak!!!" she shouted. "Woah woah woah, now don't do anything you will regret." said Haru as he couldn't move thanks to Tsuyoi restricting his movement with her scalpel. "Me? Regret? 186 kills last year, 7 kills last week. I don't regret killing, see of this as a gift. I will be freeing you from your mortal shell, mere human!" she said in an intimidating tone. She used her dark and mysterious presence and intimidating tone along with death threats to force her target to leak information. Something which she considers as one of the most easiest ways to interrogate someone. "I-I-I think we can make an agreement, no? I mean, there must me something you desire to attack me. I-I didn't do anything to deserve this. PLEASE! I will give you what you want, just don't kill me!" he said with a scared tone. "Fine then, tell me everything you know about your boss, the Hokage; Fūrin. Everything start by telling me where is she, what are her true capabilities, what are her weaknesses and who is she inside?" questioned Tsuyoi as she further threatened Haru. "If you don't start spilling the beans I shall give you the most painful death and I will start by breaking your fingers, one by one!" she added. "No no, no need for that. I will tell you what you wanna know!! Fūrin-sama went for a visit to the land of iron to visit some friends. I don't know anything about her abilities, she never shows them to anyone, but she is known to be the strongest Hokage of them all. She goes by the name Shikaze, which means Death Breeze. THAT'S ALL I KNOW NOW PLEASE LET GO OF ME!!" said Haru in a frightened voice. "You are the useless one after all" said Tsuyoi as he took out a smoke bomb and hurled it nearby causing an explosion and she disappeared in the smoke. The smoke bomb apparently contained "Sleeping gas"; an oneirogenic general anaesthetic that is used to put a subject into a state where they are not conscious of what is happening around them. Incapacitating agent is a related general term for "knockout gases" or "KO gas" that ideally render a person unable to harm themselves or others, regardless of consciousness. Fūrin was resting in her apartment in the Land of Iron. She had her window open and then suddenly a strong breeze of wind came inside. It was like the wind wanted to tell her something. "This is not good, something bad happened. I can sense it." she thought. However, she went to sleep regardless. She tried to sleep, but just couldn't. She was worried and she felt that she should leave the land of iron immediately as she held the possibility of being targeted. She then left a letter in her bedroom, which states the reason for leaving and told her escorts what to do. She didn't want to take them with her as they would just get in the way when she is in battle so they would distract her rather than help her in the battle. It was nighttime as she got out from the Land of Iron and started walking back home as she took the typical way when returning. It seemed like she wanted her chaser to find her if there was even a chaser. She concentrated on any chakra signature that would step into the area she was walking in. She used her Sensing abilities in order to locate any other chakra presence that might come close to her. "I never expected you'd be here, I was on my way to pick you up Fūrin-sama", said Tsuyoi while in Haru's disguise. She donned the disguise to befool Fūrin, so that, she could easily assassinate her. Tsuyoi's mechanical arm prevented her true chakra signature from being revealed, something that has always fooled even the best of the sensors. "H-Haru?" said Fūrin as she looked at the disguised Tsuyoi for a moment. She then smiled "Thanks Haru, you always know the right time to arrive. I'm so glad that you're here. Now, lets go home. She walked towards Tsuyoi and stood right in front of her and smiled closing her eyes to display and expression of joy. Her face then changed to a serious look as she said "how foolish do you think I am?" she then swinged her hand to create a blade that attacked Tsuyoi directly in an attempt to slice her in half. This blade was compressed and sharpened and could cut through steel, but the most lethal part is that the blade was invisible so it was very hard to detect. It could be detected by sound. However, it would be too late to react relative to the distance between Fūrin and Tsuyoi, which was equivalent to about two meters. Fūrin kept her guard on as she waited to see the effects of her devastating attack. Nothing it was too late to react with her taijutsu skills, she simply choose to take the blades head on with her mechanical arm which was supposedly indestructible, being made of the strongest alloy ever created. She easily detected the sound of the gushing wind which was impossible for a normal shinobi to do but thanks due to her innate enhanced senses she could not only hear such sounds but also see in other spectrum's that would include ultraviolet and infrared. What seemed completely undodgeable had been countered for the first time in the shinobi history by employing a simple move. Her arm easily endured the technique without showing any signs of damage. Much to Fūrin's shock, Tsuyoi was no average shinobi. "How did you see through my disguise, bitch?" questioned Tsuyoi as she hurled a kunai at Fūrin. Fūrin looked at Tsuyoi as she threw a Kunai to deflect the one that Tsuyoi threw. She seemed not phased by the fact that Tsuyoi dodged her attack. "Wow ... it's a disgrace. I would have thought that for someone to try to assassinate me, they would at least send someone of my calibre or higher, or even someone good. Let me tell you, young woman. Your disguise was terrible. You made so many flaws that a genin would be suspicious of you. The worst part is you tried to assassinate an elite tier assassin." she said with a smirk as if she was taunting Tsuyoi. "For someone like me, what you did wasn't a disguise, it was a child trying to play ninja. I sneaked into an organization of S-Ranked criminals and convinced them that I was one of them for several years, I was never discovered. In the end, I killed them ... one ... by ...one." she said in a cocky tone as she was proud of her achievements. "After that, I was promoted to the captain of the assassination squad and the leader of the entire ANBU. My stealth skills were unmatched, my disguises were flawless. As for you, you made many mistakes. One is that you didn't know the person you were disguised as well. He is Haru, my secretary. He is in charge of my paperwork when I'm gone, so it is impossible for him to leave the village without an emergency." "And even if there was an emergency, he would sent someone out so that he doesn't leave the village alone. Haru is like a harmless kitten, he wouldn't come here in the dark night and risk his life. Besides, there is no reason for him to come here in the first place. Another mistake is that you didn't clarify your purpose when coming, you said that you came to take me back home without saying a reason, which is irrational. Another mistake is that Haru is a genin level, he cannot hide his chakra from me like you did. Your chakra was untraceable. And the final and most stupid of them all. You took the main road to the land of iron, and to make it worse, you took the ground route, which everyone takes. An assassin needs to be unpredictable. You should have came from another route and made a surprise attack, I wouldn't have sensed you since your chakra is undetectable." said Fūrin, displaying her supreme analogy skills by detecting the mistakes that Tsuyoi had within a very short period of time. Fūrin stood in her place as the breeze of wind came and moved her silky hair, which danced with it. Her eyes were looking directly in Tsuyoi's. She had a smirk of cockiness and confidence as if she was telling Tsuyoi that she was better than her. "You don't get it, do you? I let you find me. As for you meaning less blabbering, I have checked you're stealth skills weren't even close to the world class top-tier assassins, you call it stealth because you used those nasty wind moves to kill your targets before they even get a chance to realize. You can't even manage to stay of the radar. You're nothing less than a blabbering wreck, you maybe strong and all but you were never, I repeat "NEVER" stealthy. You're an assassin's disgrace, judging from the way you created the single blade, you tend to underestimate people and you're title of so-called wind master or Shikaze is a facade. You don't know the basics child. You make me puke! The only reason your dear Haru is alive is because I let him live and the only reason you found me is because I wanted you to find. You know I have cancer, and it's incurable so even if I die today it wont make a difference, bitch!" replied Tsuyoi in a harsh tone revealing about her suicidal side. Perhaps she wished to die in a battle rather than succumb to her disease. She probably wanted a peaceful and honorable death that every warrior wishes. The only reason she choose to reveal herself was to let Fūrin channel all her anger on her but Fūrin didn't realized she had failed Tsuyoi. Tsuyoi punched a gigantic boulder (almost three times of her own size) leaving a gigantic crack on it and causing it to become smaller in size (most of the parts of the boulder were destroyed by her punch). Tsuyoi hurled the gigantic boulder towards Fūrin. Fūrin laughed at Tsuyoi as she continued to look at the angry woman, commenting "So it's that time of the month, eh? you're very angry and your anger is irrational. Stealth? haha, I wasn't being stealthy at all. To be honest, I thought that the single blade would kill you since someone with your skill must be a Genin. If I tried to be stealthy, you would have been dead by now. I'm a disgrace to assassins? quit joking, says the one who can't pull off a simple assassination. You are an excuse for a shinobi, you're an excuse for a human being. Someone with your low level of intelligence shouldn't even talk shit with someone of my elite calibre." said Fūrin as she used Body Flicker Technique to get out of the way of the boulder. "You're ... very ... very ... slow" said Fūrin as she moved with her blinding speed. She weaved the bird hand seal as she molded her chakra "Fuukoushu" she said as compressed and pressurized air made a thin yet very condensed and compressed layer of air, outlining Tsuyoi's body. This was enough to restrain a monster. "You said that you are going to die anyways, then I will put you out of your misery." she said. "Now, you didn't like the single blade. Alright then, take this." she continued as she molded her chakra into her fingertips and swung it making a storm of Wind blades hurling towards Tsuyoi with great speed. There were forty blades going directly towards Tsuyoi. The blades were compressed and sharpened to the point where even the hardest of steel wouldn't stand a chance against them. Although it was a devastating attack, it cost little chakra to Fūrin as she was a master of this technique.
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