Chapter One
Lei Narukami
Lei pulled his hood around himself just a little more, making other minor adjustments to his cloak afterwards. Every now and then he would chuckle to himself, a confirmation that his conscious had yet again justified his actions. He shuffled back into his corner, on a small stool he had found aboard the ship, which was currently leaving on a fishing trip of a commercial kind, it would be heading towards the Water Country, stopping for a few days, and then proceeding to the Tea Country where Lei would then leave them be. The arrangement for his boarding was a bit shifty, as the fishermen were originally reluctant to let a dangerous looking stranger aboard their shaky vessel. Lei expected this and demanded to see the captain, who he subsequently threw around his cabin until he permitted his company. After this he felt mightily guilty, everything considered, and soon parted with some of his funds as a fee, and as compensation for the light beating.
From his back pocket, the dark skinned shinobi produced a small notebook, covered in scribblings upon an initial observation. Rhymes and stage names were scrawled across many pages, though one page contained a neat list, with tick boxes on each row, and if anyone was of high enough rank or status in Kumogakure, they would know that it was a more standard version of the village's Bingo Book. His plan wasn't difficult to understand, though the rewards were nowhere near as obvious as you might assume. Lei was to travel to the Tea Country to first assassinate the first three names on his list, they were insignificant to the safety of the village, but the three in question, and whatever colleagues they were with at the time, raided a small settlement not far from Kumogakure, raping both men and women, and cutting the throats of many victims in an extremely sadistic fashion. Their faces were identified and soon were their names, which unveiled the consistency of these attacks, as the party of criminals had attacked other small settlements over the course of three years, leaving many traumatised and even more dead.
The sum of money for these three wasn't the greatest amount on the list, but that didn't matter to Lei, he had realised the backwards nature of the Bingo Book as a whole, it was much like mercenary work, contracts had to be signed, formal agreements as well. It was pathetic, monsters like the men and women on the list would be tossed to the back because of their price, and some would also be ignored due to political consequences. Though this wasn't why Lei fled his village, for he tried to sort an arrangement with his peers, and was rejected violently. He had now took it upon himself to cross each and every name off this list, and in the process allowing Kumogakure to avoid a huge pile of debt. The political obstacles were now obsolete, as Lei was prepared to be declared a criminal for his patriotic and vigilante-esque actions.
Ahead of him, he could clearly see a young fisherman struggling with a crate, whether it was fish or the apparatus used to catch them, he was no older than seventeen. He wheezed and spluttered with every attempt, and at one point he clearly damaged his back as he pressed the back of his hand in the centre. Lei stood and sighed, pacing towards the young lad, who he then shuffled aside from the crate. It was one of a pair, the other being below it, and with the handles on the bottom crate, Lei effortlessly picked it up, with great posture as to not even vaguely discomfort his back. He turned his head to the young boy, who was not the most fragrant person in the world, and coughed intently.
"Oh. Erm, over there." He sheepishly replied, pointing to a smaller boat that was tied to the side of the current craft.
Lei got to the other vessel and gently placed the crates inside, taking the top one and putting it aside its twin as to retain the balance of the clearly pathetic construct. He didn't turn to the boy, and instead realised he hadn't once appreciated the sea, which was covered in a blanket of mist, making it hauntingly beautiful.
"Right, well, thankyou." The fisherman nodded, shaking due to his efforts and also due to the fact the captain still had minor bruising.
"A name, kid, you got one?" Lei asked as he sharply turned to face him, and even sprung forward a step in classic shinobi fashion. His shades obscured Lei's eyes, so he could survey the boy before him, he was skinny and weak looking, clearly not cut out for any dangerous escapades, maybe right now wasn't the time to be looking for a sidekick.
"Maguro, sir. And yours? If, if that's okay to ask of course." The kid answered but he was clearly trembling.
Lei tilted his shades at the reply, that was an awful name for someone in this kind of business, but the appropriate title wasn't too shabby, it was funny almost, and Lei was begging to be asked his name. He reached into his jacket, and though the kid flinched, Lei pulled out a small piece of card, of which he had many, and thrusted it towards Maguro, who then took it politely.
"Lei?" He appeared confused and soon realised that Lei wasn't someone to consider too dangerous.
"Don't wear it out, son, that there is my autograph, and it's gonna fetch you enough money to get off this rickety piece of shit, all in due time my young fisherman." Lei answered in a rhyming fashion, quick paced to boot.
The rest of the journey was short lived, the fishermen soon found themselves making arrangements in a small fishing village near Kirigakure, and Lei found ample oppertunity to pass out a few more autographs before insisting that the captain of the fishing operation should soon leave for Tea Country, and conclude his business as soon as possible.
This wish wasn't soon to be fulfilled, as commotion soon stirred around Lei as guards spotted he was clearly no fisherman. Security near Kirigakure was intimidating, and shinobi were amongst these investigative militia. The rumours collected to form a small story, a rogue shinobi had apparently conspired to assassinate the Mizukage, though the story had holes, and it soon seemed that Kirigakure had simply lost a skilled shinobi.
Though his first plan was to stick to the boat, it was soon to be searched by a cocktail of Country Guards and two hunter-nin, who had no respect for the fishermen in question, as crates were knocked aside and other damages made, creating friction in Lei's good nature.
As one of the hunter's placed a bandaged hand upon yet another crate, with full intentions to topple it, Lei roared and pointed at the inconsiderate shinobi, ready to teach him some manners.
"Yo, is this your boat motherfu-" He was stopped abruptly, by the shaky hand of Maguro, which was pressed against his chest. Lei looked down and smiled at the fragile boy, and pushed him aside to resume his confrontation, which had now left the hunter-nin looking over his shoulder at the tall dark shinobi. The eye contact, seemingly improbable due to the hunter's mask and Lei's shades grew extremely tense, and with a mocking chuckle, the Kirigakure ninja proceeded to topple the crate, though it never met contact with the deck. Lei grabbed a corner of the crate before it crashed, and then lifted his arm with great speed, in the direction of the hunter. A corner soon crashed into his mask, smashing it completely, shards of a tough porcelain scattering harmlessly, though the hunter now had a cut on the bridge of his nose, which was bleeding profusely. He fell back, and a look of shock was splashed across his face as he reached for his nose. He simply pointed at Lei with confusion and screamed an order to the guards behind him, who soon rushed towards the broad smiling shinobi with sharpened naginata. The other hunter nin was soon aware of the situation, and stood at guard, waiting to react after the guards had proceeded with their attack, though that was short lived, as Lei stepped into the thrust and found himself between the naginata, which were then grabbed before the head and pulled. Once they were both aligned, they were thrusted backwards with force, almost impaling the guards in the guts, though they instead lost grip and were sent rolling back behind the hunter-nin, and into the wooden construct of the ship, splitting a few planks. The hunter ran forward, kunai in hand and was ready to slash. Lei found himself unprepared, but still grabbed the wrist of the hunter and pulled his arm away from his body, leaving his back open for blows. The opportunity was taken and Lei forced a knee into the side of the hunter, below his outstretched arm, which he let go of with great coordination, sending the shinobi off the side of the boat, landing onto the base of the port, unfortunately on his feet.
They shared a glance and barked an order of restraint though it wasn't met, because as the hunter regained his balance, the fog had gotten suspiciously thicker, and civilians soon panicked, many falling to their feet submissively. The hunters crouched to jump, but their attack was soon cut short mid jump, as Lei could see amongst the mist that projectiles had effortlessly opened their throats and sides, the force of the hidden attack knocking them to the side, both onto a table which presented an array of equally smelly fish. Lei turned to protect Maguro, but noticed a heavy series of splashes, bodies coming in contact with the water. The boat also begun to move at suprising pace, as if something had encouraged its departure. Lei was ready to jump overboard, but a blow connected to the back of his head, catching him off guard. He turned only to receive another to the throat, and just as he made out the figure of his assailant did he fail to catch his breath and receive a finishing blow between the eyes, this time with a blunt weapon of sorts. Falling to his knees he steadily lost consciousness, encouraged by another blow to the back of the head.
