Prologue

Darkness shrouded the approach of the three silent figures, moving like phantoms, gliding like black quicksilver through the few patches of gloomy light they could not avoid, then fading back into the shadows. They moved without hurry or hesitation, their fluid gentle movements, easily mistaken for a fleeting shadow or a gust of wind. A would be observer, gazing straight at their path would have been hard-pressed to differentiate them from their surroundings.

They reached the house and with expert motions, disconnected the alarm and entered through a window. Making their way soundlessly to the living room of the two story house, there they waited until they confirmed the soft sounds of snoring from upstairs.

One of them said 'We all know our orders, however there has been a last minute change of plans.' His tone was commanding and full of authority, obviously the team's leader.

Another member of the trio expressed his concern at this sudden news, while the third one remained silent. 'How so?' he asked.

'The mission has changed, this is not an extraction anymore, we're here to provide cleanup.'

'Cleanup?'

'Yes.'

'That is not what I was told, I didn't agree to an assassination.'

'It appears the target is worth more dead than alive, and this is less hassle for us too, does this pose a problem for you, "pup"?'

'I do, I don't like unexpected sudden changes in the middle of a mission. Do you have confirmation of this?'

'Yes, why would you trust me?' The first man replied sardonically. 'Don't worry pup I have the proof right here.' He reached into a belt pouch and took out a small scroll of paper which he handed over to be examined.

'It's genuine, stamped by the council of elders. It confirms you were telling the truth.'

'Yes.'

'And you've known about this since before we set foot in the country.' it wasn't a question, just a statement of fact.

'Indeed.'

'This complicates things then.'

'Yes, I thought it would.'

'I won't allow you to kill this man.'

Despite the sky-mask, the leader's face practically glowed with the wolfish smile that appeared in it. 'Does that mean, that you are refusing to follow a direct order issued by the council of elders of the Iga ninja?'

'If that order is to murder someone, yes.'

'Then I brand you a traitor to the clan and declare your life forfeit as of this very moment.'

From stillness, the movement seemed to explode. The room was suddenly filled with the sound of swords being drawn from their scabbards and steel blades striking each other. They fought with the shadows, using the darkness against each other, the glint of light on their blades the only telltale of their movements.

Then, the silence was broken by the leader's gloating voice. 'I'm actually elated about this whole situation, I had no idea why they were drafting me of all people to babysit you. Then right before we leave, the council summons me and tells me they're unsure about your loyalty and they've accepted a counter-offer on the target to test it. Well you obviously failed that one, and now I get to kill you myself.' He paused for a moment savouring the next words in anticipation. 'You have no idea how happy that makes me.'

A parry and a grunt was the only reply.

'What's this? Too busy brooding to talk? How surprising!' his voice was thick with sarcasm. 'Don't worry, soon you will be silent forever. Maybe you should say something while you still can. Leave some famous last words? Or you could plead for mercy. But if not, that's okay too. Why don't you show me what Kamogawa's pet can d—OOOF!'

Another parry was followed by a sudden side step, then a knee dug itself deep into the side of the talkative fighter, with enough force to lift him off his feet, his attacker then spun on his heels and dug his elbow into his former leader's face, effectively shutting him up and throwing him like a ragdoll. The stoic fighter then turned to the third man in their party.

"Fukuda, you don't have to do this." He said gently, almost pleading, but there was no fear in that voice, only concern.

"Yes I must, it is our way, we are bound to the clan by a vow of obedience. You have broken that vow.'

A slight bow acknowledged Fukuda's argument, there was no need to say anything else. They lunged at each other, silently. The only sound coming from them was that of their swords as they hit each other. Then there was a grunt of pain, and as a hand loosened its grip on its blade, a boot hit it from the side, sending it away. There was a slash, a cry of pain barely suppressed through gritted teeth. And Fukuda, now wounded in one leg stumbled, right onto a foot hitting him squarely in the centre of his solar plexus. The kick knocked the wind out of him and threw him against the wall behind him. The impact against the hard surface robbing him of consciousness. As he fell, Fukuda managed to say one thing before passing out.

'Not pup, but wolf now.'

The victor bowed to his downed opponent and whispered; 'I'm sorry Fukuda.'

It wasn't over yet and he knew it. He tightened his grip on his sword, readying himself to face his prior opponent. Only to find him at the top of the stairs leading the second floor, holding a knife to a girl's throat. She seemed to be about twelve and her knees shook with terror. The girl's parents were lying prone on the floor.

'Bastard, I guess there's a bit of truth to Kamogawa's boasting about you. But I don't really have to fight you. If you're dumb enough to sign your own death sentence over a worthless political dissident. Then I can use them as leverage. Now drop the sword.'

There was only a second's hesitation before the weapon was thrown away as ordered, with a voice like the wind blowing between ancient gravestones he said.

"Let her go, or you shall discover what pain truly means."

An involuntary chill ran up the spine of the man holding the knife to the little girl's neck, but that was all. He smiled under his sky-mask, a sick hateful smile.

"You know how to make threats pup. That much I'll give you. But I don't think you will. In fact I think you will let me kill you, or you will get to see how I slit this girl's throat. Throw away the belt too, I don't want to find out firsthand what Kamogawa's famous bag of tricks are, lose it now."

'You dishonour yourself with this.'

'Honour?! Bah, what's honour got to do with being a ninja? We do the job no matter what, that is our way, to succeed at all costs. Kamogawa is a fool for clinging to old traditions, and so are the other council members who side with him, can't they see that the world they once knew died twenty years ago? But now your betrayal will shame him and make him lose face in the council, he will be forced to leave his seat and I will be there to pick up the pieces and take my place in…'

There was a flash of metal, and the first man screamed as something lodged itself in his hand, cutting off the tendons of his index and middle fingers, making him almost lose the grip on the knife pressed against the girl's throat. Before he could react and slice the girl's neck, he felt a hand on his wrist gripping it like a vice and yanking it away, his eyes opened wide in disbelief as he realised the 'pup' had, in that split second, managed to close the distance between them. The girl fell to the floor then and the men rolled down the stairs struggling all the way down. Then the sounds of struggle were replaced by muffled screams of pain and the sickening sounds of broken bones.

The girl looked down the stairs then, and for a moment she saw a young boy, tired and hurt, sighing with weariness, allowing himself a short moment of rest. That moment went by as fast as it had come and then it was gone. Fear took her again, but this time it was a different kind of dread. Not for herself, but for whatever could make someone this cold and harsh.

The last man standing walked out from the the darkness and made his way slowly back up the stairs again. The girl's parents were now embracing her. But she kept her gaze on him. Her father looked up from where he knelt with his family and with a voice trembling with fear managed to croak.

"Who are you?"

"Your best chance."


Master Kamogawa sat in the traditional seiza position, which considering his age was quite impressive in and of itself. He laid down his tea on the tatami mat and continued reading the book in the lectern by candlelight.

'It's all about presentation.' he thought to himself, 'one must give a proper image to those who look up to one.' Inwardly however and for the millionth time, he cursed the 'bloody' seiza position and wished for a comfy armchair to sit in, a room with proper illumination and a book with big characters which wouldn't make him squint as much at the ones he was attempting to read right now, but those wouldn't be as dignified, oh no.

He allowed himself a moment's rest to rearrange his legs from under him and thought about the reasons why he still kept up these appearances, it wasn't as if the guest he was expecting cared at all for these formalities and he was far too fed up and annoyed with most of the younger members of the clan to care about what they thought about him.

He should be here already, he was sure his guest was at this point within the grounds, having slipped past the posted guards. Perhaps he was simply waiting, aware of how much he disliked sitting in this position at this point in his life and having a little bit of revenge, and he had to admit he had good reason to feel peeved off.

He exhaled and closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing and expanding his senses, probing every corner of the room trying to feel any presence and after a while he thought he felt something.

Not for the first time, Kamogawa felt amazed at the skill he demonstrated, he was a natural at obfuscating his presence from others, it was only thanks to the fact that Kamogawa had trained him and knew exactly what to look for that he was able to feel him at all. And he had achieved this level of skill in such a short time too.

"I know you're there, why are you just standing there without saying nothing like a dummy?"

"You should know. How are your legs?" said the much younger man coming out of the shadows and sitting down on the tatami mats next to Kamogawa.

"I see you're not above the occasional bit of cruelty."

"Considering what you got me into, this is a ridiculously small revenge. And it's your own fault for wanting to keep up appearances. First of all, the family, are they safe?"

"Yes, we got them out and honoured our original contract on them, what happened with Nagato was ugly, but needed to be done."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you've probably already figured out most of it."

He grunted in tacit agreement "But, what I don't understand however is the timing or the method, surely there were other more subtle ways to remove Nagato from scheming his way to the council."

"Yes but they would have taken time and he forced our hand, he was doing things which we didn't really approve, things that made even us nervous, so we gave him a poisoned apple that he couldn't resist."

"A chance to kill me and embarrass you publicly."

"Precisely, Fukuda was Nagato's man, but an honourable one, he respected you and would not attack you at the same time as Nagato, this we knew and also that you could best the both of them separately without a problem."

"And making me an outlaw from the clan by disobeying direct orders? Was that also part of the plan?"

"An outlaw, my dear boy? How can you be outlawed from the Iga clan when you were never a part of it in the first place?"

"Come again?"

"You never planned to stay in the first place, you joined the clan fully aware that when you left you would become a marked man."

"I needed to learn..."

"And I respect that, which is why we have done this."

"Done what exactly?"

"Expunged you from the records boy, as of today, you were never a part of the Iga clan."

"That's ridiculous, you can't just wipe the slate clean, there are laws about those who disobey orders and you can't...?"

"Of course I can't, not alone, but if all the council agrees. You see, no one really liked Nagato, not even his allies, now think about it, his defeat at the hands of an unknown novice who hasn't even finished basic training diminishes his status as a master of the martial arts. And one of the things that we pride ourselves is never going back on a contract we have already accepted, not even when offered a better deal, it's not only about honour, it's bad business practice. His lack of hesitation when accepting the counteroffer did not sit well with the rest of the council. When you consider both things he brought great shame upon himself and ruined his position. Since Nagato was a threat which you so readily removed we agreed to reward you by not hunting you down."

"And am I to believe that no one opposed such a move?"

"There were a few voices who disagreed, but when given proper motivation, they lost interest and became quiet."

"Why?"

"Why? I just told you that..."

"I heard and I don't believe it, completely deleting someone from the records to make it as if he never existed is unheard of. I betrayed the Iga clan, any benefits I might have earned for the council by Nagato's removal are secondary to that."

Kamogawa sighed and suddenly looked old, not just in body but in spirit.

"I have been a paid mercenary for most of my life, all I've ever done is conspire, steal, and kill for money. I'm an old man now and when I look back I can't see any legacy of which I can be proud of. Nothing, except perhaps you."

As he said this, Kamogawa laid a hand on the younger man's shoulder for a second, then there was a sudden flurry of movement, both men jumped to their feet, hands and feet whipped about, grabbed and parried, when they finally stopped, they were both grabbing each other, deadlocked.

"Only about one in ten would have been able to block me as effectively as you have, and certainly none in the short time you have been learning our arts. Do you understand what I mean when I say you are my best student?"

Then the old man smiled, he moved again and this time the younger man was on the floor and Kamogawa's right hand pointed like a blade towards his throat.

"However you are still a student. It takes years to master all our techniques, you've barely been four years, and already you are one of our finest warriors, better than many. But you're not yet a master."

"You're the best student I've ever had, and the purest. The fire in your heart burns the brightest I have ever seen, I know you are destined for great things. I would not have been able to look back and see that fire extinguished by a ridiculous need for vengeance."

"I still don't believe you have done this out of sentimentality, you are much too pragmatic to let affection overrule your judgement."

Kamogawa smirked and sighed, letting go of the young man and returning to a sitting position, although this time he sat cross legged. "And then there's that sharp mind of yours, always noticing things, looking at little details and putting them together to make sense out of everything. The truth is that we're letting you go free because we were told to."

"What? Who could force the Iga clan to do such thing?"

"These men can, you have no idea of the influence they wield. You have some very powerful friends boy."

"I have no friends."

"While I'd agree that these men are certainly not your friends, I know for a fact that statement is untrue." He said with a knowing smirk as laughter danced in his eyes for a second. "Even if you do think it to be true. What you also have is anger, a rage at the world, at its unfairness, at its lack of justice and even at yourself which fills you to your very core. A fire which was kindled thirteen years ago, isn't that right?"

The younger man remained silent.

"These men, they are capable of things I cannot even imagine, and no one has ever accused me of being unimaginative. And they have the power to see them through. So when we were contacted and told that they wanted you back... we were forced to agree. The Nagato thing was just something we came up with to explain your departure to everyone who would ask. Deleting you from the records has the added benefit of making you a taboo, so no one will dare to ask."

"You said back, back to where? Who are these men?"

Kamogawa looked at the younger man straight in the eyes, and his expression softened, there was a tenderness that was not there before. With a sigh he asked. "How well do you remember what happened thirteen years ago?"

"Everything, every detail, every sound, every smell, sometimes I wish I didn't. I still see it in my sleep."

"You remember the shots then?"

"I do, every single one of the three shots that killed my parents. Shot right before my eyes in a dark alley. They collapsed and bled to their deaths before my eyes and I couldn't do anything."

"Yes well, it seems that is not exactly what happened, you are mostly right of course except for one detail."

"Don't joke with that sensei. What are you trying to say?"

"Apparently not both your parents died that night. It seems that your father might have survived that bullet and be related somehow to those very powerful men. The fact that they were able to track you here despite being hidden among us should give you a clue of just how resourceful these people are."

Kamogawa reached beside the lectern picking up a plastic folder and offered it to the young man before him, but he made no effort to grab it, in fact he didn't even seem to have noticed it, and his eyes seemed to gaze at some point far, far away.

"I realise this is a lot to take in all of a sudden but. Here, these are some documents for you that were entrusted to us. They explain about what I just told you."

"Shinji your father might be alive somewhere in Tokyo-3"