THE CRIMSON FLOWER
Uchiha Madara has been defeated. The War is over. Everything is back to normal. But people changed. In a good or bad way?
Chapter 1:
A tall, dark figure walked out of the blanket of woods by the Northern border of the Fire Country, his black kimono belted loosely around his muscular waist with a thin red and navy sash, displaying his sculpted chest. His black sandals made hardly any sound as he found his way through the boulders and stepped into the underground passage.
The assassin had been working in the shadows alone for four years now, not knowing any other ways to live his now dull life. He was to meet his new client tonight in an old abandoned headquarter that he knew too well.
Greeted at the door by two other missing-nins, the mercenary met his client. A rich entrepreneur that benefited from the shinobi wars, just like Gato. It was an ironic thought that came to the assassin's mind; how alike he and Zabuza Momochi were now, something neither would have guessed at their first meeting.
Kuroda Taiki, literally a large black field. That man was the client. Such a name could scare ignorant people or if that man was a shinobi, but to the mercenary, it was just a joke. If that person was as dark as his name then he would kill his prey himself; not hire a mercenary like himself. Though that would mean no job for him.
"Uchiha Sasuke, an S-rank missing-nin from Konoha. The last shinobi of the great Uchiha clan, a former teammate of the Kyubi's host, a former student of the great Sannin Orochimaru and a former partner of Uchiha Madara…"
All the meeting started the same way. The client telling Sasuke about himself, like he did not know his own life, and then making assumptions based on rumors…
"I heard you were the one who killed said master Orochimaru, and that you were somehow part of the murder of Uchiha Madara, and that you avenged your clan by assassinating your own onii-san. I wonder if all of that is true."
And here are the assumptions, though those are actually truths.
"My life does not concerns anyone but me. If you do not wish for my services then I'll take my leave."
So many words in one sentence… it was very … un-Sasuke-ish, but the shinobi knew he did not have a choice if he wanted to get this matter over with. Sasuke turned away and started counting backward. It was always the same routine; after 3 seconds the client would call him back, apologize and give him his assignment.
3
...
2
...
1
"Mate! Gomennnasai Uchiha-san. It was an inappropriate comment."
Sasuke came back to Taiki. "Hn"
The assassin could see his client was nervous with him so close, after his lack of respect, something very important to the Uchiha.
"The Crimson Flower, heard of it?" asked Taiki, still somewhat nervous.
Sasuke had never heard of that. Curious he took a seat across Taiki and made him continue.
"It is the name given to a shinobi. None of the assassins I sent after him came back alive. He is the reason why my business is having a hard time, he kills my men, protects my enemies; basically he is a thorn in my foot and I want you to take care of it."
"Hn. More info." Sasuke said; that could be anyone.
"Well, that's the issue, it's all the facts I have on that person, beside that he always leaves a kunai with a bloody flower petal attached to it in each of his kills. The rest are rumors."
Sasuke sighed. Rumors are troublesome because they usually are made-up stories but with the lack of info, the rumors might be his best lead to track that shinobi. Maybe that assignment would be less boring than the usual ones.
"Rumors are his armor is crimson red, from all the blood of his victims. This and the flower bullshit is the reason he is named the Crimson Flower."
"Hn"
Taiki took a long breath; the situation was scary to him.
"No one lived long enough to identify that man, but a farmer once found himself in the middle of a scene; over 200 ex-Sound-nins were slaughtered, all with the signature kunai in them-" Taiki leaned toward Sasuke "but get this, in the middle of all the corpses a Konoha headband was found."
"So, it could be from one of the victims"
"Maybe" agreed Taiki, "But I do not think so. This is why I called you in; you are familiar with that village, so you are the person the best adapted for this assignment."
"Aa"
With that as an agreement, Sasuke left his client and went back to the darkness of his familiar forest.
Later that night, our Uchiha avenger took out his bingo book and wrote all he learned so far on his target; the Crimson Petal, which wasn't much.
Name: (?) AKA The Crimson Flower
Gender: Male
Age: (?)
Village: Konohagakure (?)
Rank: (?) probably S according to his victories
Fighting Style: (?)
Abilities: (?)
Trademark: red clothing and flowered kunais
Reading what he wrote down, the shinobi sighed… if he wanted to accomplish his mission, he either needed to catch this man red-handed, which was not very likely seeing his targets were random, or collect more information. He opted for the second alternative while lying down to catch some sleep. His best option was to somewhat infiltrate Konoha and find out if there was indeed a man called 'The Crimson Flower' there.
He fell asleep thinking of all his old teammates back in Konoha and if any of them could indeed be the one he had to kill. Even if that was the case, he had no bonds left in that village and could easily kill any of them to get enough to eat for a week.
If only he knew…
Next Chapter in 10 reviews
;P