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| - The sound of rain droplets falling on the building of Ame consumes the ears. Ripples are created on the ground from the falling rain, forging a graceful motion in the water, which is disturbed by the shadow of a woman who walks in the water. The woman is obscured in the darkness and the shade of the buildings. An average-sized woman, wearing a black leather coat decorated with what seemed as raven feathers. The woman is blond with perfect body figure. She wears a rather revealing attire. Seizing an umbrella in her hand to protect her from the rain. Her face completely obscured in shadows. The woman makes her way to the mansion of the Amekage, she enters and walks up a set of stairs, making her way towards a room. She knocks on the door. "Come in" as soon as she hears the response, she opens the door to view a man sitting on the office. However, the man is not the Amekage. It is a short man with silky hair dropping on his face, he seems to be an assistant as he didn't have a sufficient level of chakra to be a shinobi. "I was summoned?" the woman obviously notes with an impassive expression. The man starts gazing at her curvaceous figure as he blushes. "Oh ... oh my. You're truly as they describe you..." he says with a low fading tone. "Excuse me ... my eyes are up here ..." she says gazing at the man, seemingly piercing him with her sharp glance. "Yes! Of course! my apologies. Let me introduce myself. I'm-" He's interrupted by the woman who notes bluntly "I don't give a rat's ass who you are, now tell me why I've been summoned here. And I would advice you not to irritate me, it has been three days since I savored the taste of human blood. So I'd be happy to make you my meal right now." the woman says coldly, her eyes describe her intentions, she wants demise. Seeing that, the man backed off and started shivering slightly. "I-I-I'll get right to it. Honorable captain commander of the stealth division, Yuzuki-sama, the Amekage told me to deliver a special message to you. It's ... an S-Rank mission!" Yūzuki's expression changes, she becomes more fascinated, which is indicated by a slight smirk on her visage. "Is that so? What type of S-Rank mission is it?" Yūzuki questions, adjusting her long hair bang dropping on her eyes. The smirk never parted her face, it was as if she would finally savor blood once more. "About a week ago, the honorable Amekage sent out a platoon of Chūnin in order to stop a ritual, yet there was an unpleasant surprise waiting for them there. A man, but he's no ordinary man. He managed to take down the platoon single-handedly in merely four seconds!" the man says as he continues to shiver. "Owh, a hotshot." Yūzuki notes with a smile on her face. "Resume..." she tells the man. "Um ... yes, of course. Out of the whole platoon, there was only one who managed to escape, he was the only Jōnin in the platoon, but the medical division said that he cannot resume his duties as a shinobi due to his injuries." the man stiffens up in anger for his fallen comrades. Yūzuki watches the man as he gets worked up. "So let me guess, my job is to annihilate that man, correct?" she says without showing the slightest sign of anxiety. "Yessir!" says the man. Yūzuki looks at him and smirks "Show me that Jōnin survivor. I want to speak with him." she says as she walked out of the room. "S-sure, one second. This way please." says the man escorting her to the Jōnin who's laying on a bed in the hospital. "Excuse me, sir. The Captain Commander of The Ste-! AUG!!" "Move out of the way damn it." Yūzuki says as she punched the man across the room. "I hate babbling bitches so stay silent until I say otherwise ... understood?" she looks at him coldly with demise fuming from her eyes. "Y-Yes ma'am". "So you're the Jōnin survivor?" she questions the man laying on the bed. The man looks at her "Well I-" he's interrupted by her "Actually don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question." she sarcastically notes as she places her hand on the Jōnin's forehead. She closes her eyes as both of their Yin collide. Yūzuki gains access to the man's memories and experiences. She goes back to the day of the battle. She sees a man with brown hair and black eyes standing face to face with the platoon. "So that's the target? He's quite handsome I have to say." the man introduces himself as "Kazuhide". A few seconds after that, the whole platoon is on the ground. And the Jōnin throws a smoke bomb at Kazuhide then uses all the strength he had left to run back to Ame. Yūzuki removes her hands from the Jōnin's forehead. "I see. I got all the intel that I need. Now, dimwit (Amekage's assistant), tell me where the target was spotted last time." she says pointing at the Amekage's assistant. "W-W-Well, I'll give you the coordinates, ma'am. They are in the Amekage's office, if you'll accompany me there. there will also be a team that will accompany you on your way." he says shivering and stuttering. Yūzuki sighs "Team? no thanks, I operate solo." "B-but.." he says raising his index finger. "I said I operate solo" she looks at the assistant with her piercing gaze. "Y-Y-Yes, ma'am." he lowers his finger. "Before we go, I have unfinished business with this Jōnin." she says turning her eyes to the helpless man on the bed. She leans towards him and whispers "You're too weak..." the man's expression changes quickly. Extreme fear and fright are apparent on his visage. "N-no, Y-Y-Yūzuki-sama! I'm not done! I can still fight! I'm the only one who managed to escape that man!!!" the man started shouting in panic and fear. "Fool ... you think you escaped? heheh, the truth is, he let you go. A shinobi of his level would have easily slaughtered you and tore you apart, but he let you go. It was a warning to anyone who dares opposing him, especially from Ame. And you come back here like the coward you are and eat our food, sleep in our beds and consume our goddamn oxygen after you disgraced the name of Amegakure and ran away like a helpless chicken. And you dare ask for forgiveness?" Yūzuki says as the look on her face changes, it becomes grim and cold. "I-I-I IT WAS A MISTAKE! I'M SORRY! IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN! I PROMISE!" the man cries helplessly, not able to move a single part of his body out of his fear. "Mistake? heheh" she giggles as she makes her hand into a gun by pointing towards the Jōnin with her index finger and raising her thumb. She then rests it on the temples in the man's skull. "All it takes is one mistake to die, you're not a shinobi anymore, you can't fight. That means you're deadweight, and we don't need deadweight here in Ame." she says shaking her head, teasing the man. "How about a little round or russian roulette? hm? sounds fun?" she notes sarcastically with a smirk on her face. "Here's the countdown ... 3..." she starts to countdown as the man's face turns grim. "NO! PLEAAASE! NOOOO!!!! I HAVE CHILDREN!!!..." "... 2 ..." "NOO!!!! PLEEAASSEE!!!" "... 1 ..." "YŪZZUUKII-SAMA!!!!!" "Bang" as soon as Yūzuki speaks, a bullet comes flying from her finger, breaking the man's skull as blood drowns the bed and Yūzuki's hand. Yūzuki smirks and licks the blood off of her hand. Her eyes are filled with happiness and joy and her face indicates satisfaction. The assistant is sitting in a corner, shivering as his face became pale "S-S-She killed him!" he talks to himself. "Indeed, I did. Now if you want your fate to end differently, go get me the intel on the coordinates of the target." she says pointing towards the exit. The assistant dashes towards the office with great speed to get the intel, while Yūzuki walks calmly behind him. "Kazuhide, eh?" she smirks as she's seemingly swallowed by the shadows. It had been around a week since Kazuhide had safeguarded the ritual of an obscure religious group hoping to summon their so called god. Luckily they had payed the mercenary swordsman some of his charges in advance. Not five minutes after the extensive ceremony had been completed the monstrosity they conjured forth, from some deep recesses of the mists, broke free from the head summoner's control and wrought utter havoc throughout the masses of fleeing acolytes. Decimated, the disciples of this demonic deity payed for the foolish endeavors with both their mortal lives and their immortal souls as the beast assimilated their essence into its very being. While originally contained within the subterranean temple in which it was called forth, the beast quickly sought more sustenance after massacring its loyal servants. Bursting from the depths it sets its sight upon the mercenary tasked with guarding the entrance to the temple. Compared to the folly of the acolytes in their mistake, who were fully capable of understanding the potential ramifications of their actions, the demonic entity's error beyond its comprehension. The moment it lunged toward its target its entire body was bathed in a flame of such intensity that the stones of the temple's entrance glowed like hot iron due to their mere proximity. The god itself was erased entirety, not even managing to utter a howl of pain before being expunged from world. "At least it was a more interesting opponent than the ragtag group of shinobi that Amegakure sent," Kazuhide thinks to himself whilst sighing, thinking back on the mission as he sits on the bench under an umbrella of a roadside dango stand. Taking a sip of his tea a subtle smirk crosses his face as he notices the peppermint added to the beverage. A refreshing surprise at the very least, Kazuhide downs the rest of his drink before standing up. Willfully overpaying for the meal, the mercenary stretches for a moment before continuing down the road. Heading south, he hoped to reach the border of this nation as soon as possible, and the dreary weather that came along with it. While it was far from a complete downpour, more of a mild drizzle at the moment, the constant rainfall become quite annoying over the course of the week. This mission had taken longer than he had hoped, especially considering he had to track surviving members of the cult to pay him the rest of his money, and he was looking forward to kicking back at home for a while. Tomoe would be looking forward to his return, and Tokino was the type to do something costly if left alone for too long. As Kazuhide ventures to his destination, Yūzuki already decided his location and his destination. "So then, lets begin, shall we, Kazuhide-san. Heheh.". As Kazuhide walks through the land making his way to his desired destination, the sky started raining heavily, soaking Kazuhide in a few seconds. Along his path, four puddles were placed, they are made out of Yūzuki's chakra. The puddles are placed in such a way that they make the shape of a square on the ground with a seven meters gap between them. As soon as Kazuhide steps into the center of the square ambush, hurling bubbles dash out of the puddles. In a few seconds the area was obscured with tens of bubbles surrounding the mercenary. "Lets see how you dodge this ..." Yūzuki says. Her body and face are obscured in shadows as she makes the confrontation hand seal, which triggers the bubbles. They all explode at once, creating craters in the ground. A cloud of smoke conceal the area after the succession of explosions occurred. Yūzuki steps out of a water puddle, slowly ascending as she used her Hydrification Technique to hide in one of the puddles. Similar to a certain technique. The woman is soaked in the rain as she looks at the dust. "Well...?" she awaits to see the results of her assault. "A fair attempt at a trap," Kazuhide's voice comments from beyond the cloud of dust, "Though...next time I would suggest arranging the puddles in an irregular fashion. Otherwise, anyone would suspect an ambush." As the heavy rain quickly erases the obscuration, Kazuhide can be viewed casually standing just outside of the explosion's range, while the remnants of a black sword, with which he had seemingly replaced, lay broken in the center of the myriad of craters. "Though considering the quick setup, I suppose I should credit you with an solid arrangement nonetheless," the swordsman continues, a condescending tone on his voice, "It seems Hōzuki women have a knack for being brash." Stepping into the craters the swordsman picks up the handle of the shattered blade, which reforms once held in his grasp. Turning his attention to his opponent, the mercenary points his blade up towards Yūzuki. "Forgive me. I'm forgetting my manners. Now that you have my attention, what is it I can do for you?" Kazuhide inquires as he glares, water dripping down his face. Yūzuki stands in her position as rain droplets showers her completely soaking all her clothes. She blows in her pipe, which also serves as her bubble blower. Smirking at the mercenary "Well, well. Looks like you're a tough one to beat. You got the eyes of an eagle to decipher the patterns of the puddles even during the rain. As for what I want, I was sent here by Amegakure. And, I'm sure you realize why. Such a shame, that handsome face is going to be drowned in blood soon enough." she says smiling at the shinobi. "Tell me, Kazuhide. Have you ever witnessed true terror...?" she questions the man. "A kiri kunoichi relocating to Ame, fair enough," Kazuhide comments prior to responding to Yūzuki specifically, "If you have any qualms with my latest mission, then I would suggest taking it up with my former employer. "My contract and association with them has since expired. So, I'd appreciate it if you didn't have any hard feelings over something that was strictly business." While attempting to talk himself out of an unnecessary battle, Kazuhide quietly analyzed the woman before him. Her apparent skill set, background, and appearance all matched with the records of a kunoichi from Kiri who had come to be known as the Bloody Phantom of the Moon. Oddly though, that woman made a name for herself some thirty years ago, which conflicted with the individual before him. While it wasn't impossible that she had found some way to retain her appearance, as kunoichi had been known to do, it was more likely that this woman was a copycat of Kiri's Yūzuki of the Hōzuki clan. Regardless, she had the air of a considerable opponent, who could be problematic should things continue to develop. "So...you know my name?" the mercenary continues, all the while staying on high alert for any aggressive developments, "Hopefully, that's all you know about me. As for true terror, I would imagine our descriptions of such a thing are quite different." "Is that so, Kazuhide-san? Well, I have nothing against you, it's nothing personal. If these men died in battle, it's there fault. However, exterminating you is the orders of the Amekage, I cannot think twice about disobeying them." she says adjusting her hair bang. "Before we begin this slaughter, I would like to introduce myself. I'm the daughter of the former head of the Hōzuki clan and the current captain commander of Amegakure's Stealth Division, Yūzuki. However, I'm infamous for my title, "Tsuki no Chigen". I'm sure you know how I earned it." the kunoichi smiles at her opponent. "Now, as for true terror, I can show you a small glimpse." the woman says as she started kneading chakra. She performed a succession of hand seals, which were used to gain control over the chakra flow in Kazuhide's brain, a blunt way to use Genjutsu, yet she intended for him to realize. Afterwards, she weaves the following succession of hand seals (Snake → Ram → Tiger → Horse → Snake → Rabbit → Horse → Snake → Serpant → Tiger), which employs a powerful Genjutsu known as "Mugen Kōkyo no Jutsu" Yūzuki used her unbearable killing intent to feed the Genjutsu. Kazuhide is shown many deaths of his own, where he's stabbed, crushed and decapitated. All of them scenes full of gore and blood. Additionally, she uses the first Genjutsu, which she employed. "Demonic Illusion: Five Senses Manipulation" in order to enhance the feeling of pain and agony in Kazuhide's body greatly. Kazuhide witnesses about twenty extremely painful deaths of his own in the time interval of two seconds as Yūzuki can alter the perception of time during her Genjutsu. The Genjutsu then perished and the man went back to his normal state as Yūzuki intentionally deactivated the Genjutsu. "Well, Kazuhide-san. This was a mere glimpse. There much more to come ... trust me." The woman adds while smiling at Kazuhide. Death fumed from her eyes as she sees her prey in front of her, longing to savor his blood. Grimacing under the effects of Yūzuki's two pronged assault, Kazuhide lowered his gaze as he seemingly fought to maintain his composure. "You have a decent grasp on the appropriate elements of pain," the mercenary began, spoken in a quiet tone, "...but to reiterate what I just said, our concepts of fear couldn't be any farther apart." While somewhat troubled that the opponent before him had remained committed to this violent engagement, the illusory display he had just been forced to endure had served a valuable purpose indeed. Normally, Kazuhide was hesitant to willfully combat females, which would explain his attempt to talk his way out of the situation at hand. This trait wasn't founded in a warped sense of chivalry, or even a failure to respect a female combatant as a suitable opponent. Instead, his aversion to such predicaments was rooted solely in the fact that he simply found the activity distasteful. Today though, his adversary had ensured that he could look past his personal quirks with her affinity for inflicting inhumane level of pain. Demonstrating an unnatural ability to recover in moments from the tortuous display inflicted upon him, Kazuhide reassigns his gaze upon Yūzuki. "Since you're here strictly on business, I suppose trying to talk you out of this would be unprofessional of me," the swordsman explains, disappearing from view at such an immense rate that his outline in the rain can be visualized for a mere moment as it collapses to the ground. Having relocated immediately behind his sadistic enemy, Kazuhide attempted a lightning quick bisection of the woman with his blade. While under normal circumstances such an attack would be useless against a Hōzuki, Kazuhide was already prepared against such a technique. Having been partnered with a member of the same clan for quite a while, and thus having become intimately familiar with the Hydrification Technique, the swordsman possessed the potential to undo its performance with complete ease. Despite his strike seemingly absolutely normal from an observer's perspective, on the slightest contact with Yūzuki's watery chakra he would instantly activate one of his signature techniques. If successful his technique would sever the flow of chakra being used to bind the Hōzuki's liquid body together in such a manner that the technique would be temporarily cancelled. In the worst case scenario Yūzuki would lose her life as the technique faded and she was bisected. More than likely though she would only be incapacitated long enough for Kazuhide to take his leave. As Kazuhide disappears, Yūzuki looks at the man behind her, glimpsing at him for an instant "You're fast on your feet, that's for sure." she comments on the man's unimaginable velocity. As soon as Kazuhide swings his sword, Yūzuki prepares to employ her clan's signature technique. However, she notices the aura of chakra surrounding the blade at the last instant, she attempts to move using chakra augmentation. She appears about ten meters away from Kazuhide. Blood slowly dripping on the wet ground to merge with the ripples created by the rain. "Very skillful, I have to say, Kazuhide-san." she says as she reveals her finger, which was cut during her escape. "I have to admit, if I was a split second slower on that exchange, I might have been dead right now. Heheh, it has been a while ..." her expression changes. Her eyes becomes much colder. "A while since I last saw my own blood. I do have to say that it's one hell of a technique you have there, you managed to temporarily nullify my jutsu using chakra flow to intercept it. You're truly a worthy opponent. Now, Kazuhide-san. Shall we begin the slaughter?" the woman questions sarcastically. Yūzuki weaves the confrontation hand seal, which causes mist to consume the proximity. The mist is immensely dense, seeing anything was almost impossible. Additionally, Kazuhide's chakra begins to fade away while in the mist. The sound of bubble blowing consumes the atmosphere, Yūzuki is using her pipe to blow out an enormous amount of bubbles. "Kazuhide-san, I know you can't view the battlefield at the moment, but I would advise you not to move. Heh, Suiton: Hōmatsu no Jutsu" she says as the while battlefield is covered in dozens of bubbles, which surround Kazuhide from every direction. The slightest movement would result in the explosion of these bubbles. "Not fast enough...it seems," Kazuhide retorts, shrugging while subtly noticing Yūzuki's blood blending with the water. Sighing as his opponent continues her banter, he observes carefully as she envelopes the area with a thick fog. "Standard Kiri approach co-opted with her earlier attack pattern," he thinks to himself, patiently listening the production of a myriad of additional bubbles that surround the battlefield. Considering his options, the mercenary notices his chakra slowly being sapped away. "Using the mist as a medium for chakra absorption?" he quietly inquires before speaking aloud, "In that case...I'll need to respond in turn." Having said his piece, Kazuhide tightened his grip on his blade for a moment. Miraculously, the fog in his immediately vicinity began to fade mysteriously in an expanding radius around him. Like clockwork, the bubbles closest to him followed suit, seemingly dissolving under the effect of some unseen force. After removing the bubbles that were close enough to threaten him directly, Kazuhide swung him blade before him. In doing so the rate of his opponent's techniques disappearance accelerated significantly, revealing the rest of the surrounding area in an instant. "Against most opponent's that would have been a winning strategy," the mercenary explained, in a tone befitting an instructor more than an enemy combatant. "Unfortunately, by my estimates the amount of chakra you were able to leech during that time was far less than what you expended on the bubble and mist setup," he continues, holding his blade before him that radiated with an aura composed of Yūzuki's stolen energy. "Last chance...are you sure you want to go through with this?" he questions, scratching his blade across the wet earth, despite knowing that his opponent wasn't the type to back down so easily. "Hoho, quite the technique you have there. You were seemingly able to destroy my techniques. No matter." the woman says with apparently no anxiety or surprise. Using her Body Flicker Technique, she was able to move with very high speed. By using a slight illusion, she is able to manipulate the perception of time to make it seem as if she was moving with quintuple her actual speed. This creates the illusion that she is incredibly swift. She begins to move in circles around Kazuhide, leaving illusionary afterimages in her wake. "Let's see if you got what it takes, boy" she thinks to herself before firing a succession of bullets form all directions. "Subtle illusion. I would have likely overlooked it had you not already revealed the chakra signature for your genjutsu not once, but twice," Kazuhide thinks to himself, as Yūzuki's technique takes effect and she begins to dash around him at an incredible observed pace. Rather than break the illusion, and give away the fact that he had seen through her deception, he instead enhanced his ability to process the sensory information of his surroundings. Now able to keep pace with his opponent's alteration of his perception of time, Kazuhide was able to focus his attention on the incoming barrage of water from around him. As if possessed by a demonic warrior the swordsman expertly flew into a flurry, intercepting each of the incoming projectiles with a paradoxical fusion of fury and grace. As each of the water bullets crashed upon his blade, a portion of the dispersing chakra was drawn into the mercenary's blade. Moving to counterattack, Kazuhide's blade radiated with Yūzuki's chakra. Rotating in a vicious circle he converted a normally arc shaped chakra burst into a expanding halo, which rapidly expanded around him that threatened to strike Yūzuki with intense blow of chakra absorption. Unfazed by her opponent's attack, her rapid movement causes the chakra arc to miss her. "Not even close, and there I thought you were an interesting one." she taunts the man. She then comes to a stop. Standing twenty feet away from the man. "Well now, you seem to be a fascinating one. You're the anti-ninjutsu type it seems. Each single technique of yours is designed to destroy any form of ninjutsu and turn them against their user. Impressive ... shinobi." the woman says, running her hands through her hair. "Now then, lets get serious, shall we?" she taunts him once more. She weaves the snake hand seal "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" she says before spewing a great deal of water, creating a gigantic wave, which makes its way towards Kazuhide. The amount of water is enough to create a miniature ocean. As the wave crashes down, it leads the rocks and boulders to shatter and break from the sheer force of the wave. Once the wave settles down, it creates a small ocean covering a large proximity. Yūzuki emerges from the water slowly to stand on its surface. "Well, looks like he is interesting after all." she says with a smirk. Leaping up over the crest of the massive wave of water, Kazuhide lands safely on the newly formed surface of liquid. "An impressive volume of chakra even for an individual with an affinity for water," the swordsman thinks to himself, mentally scanning his surroundings as he watches his opponent appear from the watery depths, "...with this much of her chakra in her surroundings she could easily hide clones or even her true presence, I should proceed cautiously. At the same time though, I don't have the luxury of taking this at a casual pace." Holding his sword out to the side the shape of the black armament changes into that of an arrow, as he simultaneously manifests a jet black bow in his free hand. Nocking the arrow, he fires the projectile with an enhanced force, powered by a portion of the chakra he had stolen from Yūzuki, that is significant to disrupt the water beneath his feet as the arrow is launched. In a fraction of an instant the ebony projectile had crossed the distance between the two combatants, at a pace that even Kazuhide himself would find difficult to emulate. Just before the arrow would have made contact with the Hōzuki it shatters into an omnidirectional burst of sharp chakra shards, each retaining the parent weapons ability to sap chakra. Their velocity is significant enough to project those that were launched downwards completely through the water and embed themselves into the ground. Meanwhile, Kazuhide had took the opportunity to carefully weave three hand seals, that seemingly produced no effect, before equipping his shadowy bow once again.
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