A short while after he'd sent Ino and Chouji off to go find out what Shikamaru was shouting about, Asuma could sense that something sinister was afoot. Suddenly, a hail of kunai came at him from practically out of nowhere and he had to act fast to keep from getting hit. Hearing Ryobi shouting from somewhere in the woods, he was instructed to move the wagon somewhere where he could protect it better. So he proceeded to pull it down the main path. Though he worried about his students, Asuma knew that he'd trained them well enough to fend for themselves in his absence. Feeling he'd gone a very good distance, he went and hid the wagon amid the safety of some towering rock spikes. Whoever was after the crate should have the sense of spotting the tracks he'd made to this point, and they'd probably follow them straight to where Asuma was now hiding in the shadows. But he'd be ready for them, and give them one hell of a 'warm welcome'. All of his senses were alert now, and even the tiniest disturbance would catch his attention. Minutes ticked on, and not a sound was heard that would be that of someone approaching (even in stealth). Asuma was beginning to wonder if maybe leaving the willow wasn't such a bright idea, and was contemplating if he should return to look for Ryobi and his students. But while this was going on, a pair of eyes was watching him from atop one of the rocks. An evil grin came upon the lips of Asuma's watcher, and he tightened a dial on the strange headphone-like device that he wore on his head. Taking out some kind of blowdart gun, the stranger aimed straight for the left side of Asuma's back. Sensing danger, Asuma quickly dropped to the ground - the dart missing his back and hitting him in the shoulder. Immediately removing it once it'd hit, the jonin franticly searched for the dart's origin and its owner. He was already beginning to feel sick and feared that the dart might've contained some kind of poison, but for now ignored it, caring only to find his foe. With a graceful leap, Asuma's attacker jumped down in front of him and smiled gleefully. Asuma was amazed his enemy was so bold to come this close, for he could try to kill this man at such a range. Chuckling darkly, the man said:
"Asuma-san, I see you've hidden yourself and the crate away in the darkest hole you could find...how foolish of you. It's not ordinary thieves you face, and that surely was no ordinary dart I used. Heh."
Going down on his knees, Asuma was feeling dizzy and hot, then winced as he felt a shock of pain erupt inside his chest - making him winded. Getting a much better look at his foe now, he was even more startled to see that he was wearing a Konoha band on his head. But this one had a deep gash crossed through the leaf. He was a genuine "missing-nin", and a criminal. Asuma then recognized him by his long turquoise hair to be an A-class criminal by the name of Aosakana Shinryaku. He was a true master of assasination and adept at making various kinds of poisons for a myriad of uses. And he always targetted his victim's hearts, having a morbid fascination and fetish for the heart. Shinryaku leered at him as he lowered his head to Asuma's level - mocking him in a way by this.
"You feel horrible, don't you? All hot and achy, and in a lot of pain I'm sure. That's my most ingenius concoction that's flowing in your veins right now, Asuma-san. I call it the 'Elixir of Discord'. What it does is rapidly dehydrate your body and cause trauma to your internal organs, especially to the heart. Usually a victim's heart goes into arrythmia and they suffer a heart attack. Or it could make their heart completely stop and they drop down dead as a stone. But I gave you a rather weak dose of it for amusement. Killing you that way isn't really that much fun, and it wouldn't be as brutal as I'd like for it to be. There's an antidote for it, if you'd like to know. A master of poisons like me never makes a custom poison without having an antidote for it (in case of accidents). You could try and fight me for it, but I would suggest you'd better just give up that crate instead. In your current condition, you have no chance at all of defeating me...heh heh heh."
Asuma grimaced as he heard the assasin speak, but then smiled a little. Shinryaku saw this and looked rather annoyed - he was hoping to see a look of fear or suffering on his victim's face. Suddenly, Asuma leaped backwards a ways and armed himself with his favorite weapons, which were a pair of bladed metal knuckles with a knife on one end. Though he was having a lot of discomfort trying to breathe, Asuma stood there looking as brave and defiant as he could. This enraged Shinryaku even more as he pulled out his own weapon - a long dagger that had large, curved spikes on either side of the blade, similar to those on a Sai. Feeling rather confident that Asuma had no chance in hell of even knicking him, Shinryaku then proceeded to toss aside his combat jacket. All he wore underneath was a fishnet-sleeved tan shirt with an emblem that resembled a fierce dark blue fish leaping out of the water. With a smirk on his lips and battle-lust sparkling in his amber-colored eyes, Shinryaku made a swift dash at his foe. But as he advanced, Asuma made no effort at all to get out of the attack's path, as though he'd some kind of death wish. Keeping his gaze on Shinryaku, the valiant jonin stood his ground as his opponent grew dangerously closer by the second. Then, just as Shinryaku was about to plunge his dagger into Asuma's heart, the bearded ninja leaped powerfully into the air and narrowly evaded harm. Shocked by his opponent's amazing speed, Shinryaku let his guard down long enough for Asuma to strike. As he descended from his great leap, Asuma positioned himself in such a way so as to drive his feet into Shinryaku's face and thus sent the man sprawling backwards onto the ground from the force - knocking the dagger out of his hand. Spitting out some blood, Shinryaku was about to jump out of the way when Asuma quickly punched him hard in the stomach and shoved him powerfully into one of the rocky towers. He coughed up quite a lot of blood this time, but tried his best not to lose control of the situation - grabbing hold of Asuma's arm before the jonin had a chance to pull it away from him. Grinning a little insanely and coughing some more, Shinryaku exclaimed in a mocking tone:
"Like I said, you can't defeat me, Asuma-san. You might have managed to get this far and been able to hurt me, but that's all you'll ever get."
Pulling out a dart from one of his pockets, he eyed it happily and then faced Asuma once more - holding the dart very close to the jonin's arm.
"If I shove this dart in your arm, it'll make the poison inside of you become full force in strength. So no matter what you may do to me after that, you'll die very soon... A painful and miserable death!"
Asuma (looking very serious): "I don't think you truly realize what you've gotten yourself into right now, Shinryaku. I see that you've gotten a bit too cocky since last time we met, because you certainly haven't grasped the imminent danger that you're in. Thus, may your great foolishness be your downfall...KURAE!"
Moving with impressive speed for someone in as poor health that he was at the moment, Asuma kicked the dart out of Shinryaku's grasp, while punching him in the stomach with his iron-knuckled free hand. Letting go of Asuma's arm over the force and pain from the blow, Shinryaku left himself wide open for another attack. Asuma took full advantage of this and in one swift move, shoved one of his blades into the ninja's chest. Shinryaku widely eyed Asuma with a look of shock and disbelief on his face as he limply slouched against the rock. Asuma heatedly demanded he tell him the location of the poison's antidote or he'd make him suffer even more before death took him. Weakly fumbling inside of a pocket, Shinryaku brought forth a vial filled with a cloudy green liquid and said that he'd need to take half of it. Still astonished over being so quickly defeated, Shinryaku kept on staring bug-eyed at Asuma while the fatally wounded man's breathing became more and more labored. Removing his blade after a few moments, Asuma allowed his opponent to fall into a sitting position - blood now speedily coursing from the deep wound. His eyes slowly closing, Shinryaku managed to use what little life that he had left within him to speak to his opponent.
"I'm amazed. But it's not... unexpected. You were... one of the best... in the academy. I suppose then... it should be... an honor... to die by your hand. So I ask... that you'd allow me... a last request."
Asuma: "Fine, then, I suppose. What is it that you wish?"
"Take my tools... and scrolls. Keep what you'd like... give the rest... to my brother, Daikin. Take my money... if you wish. It's because of that... which led me... to leave Konoha. And when I'm gone... please bury my ashes... on my clan's plot. Let me at least... have some shred of honor... in my passing. Despite... all the evils I've done."
Asuma nodded in response to Shinryaku's request, and the dying ninja mustered a small smile - the last decent thing he'd ever do. Then, with a final shuddering breath, he closed his eyes and quietly passed away. Though he'd become a criminal, Asuma felt sorry for Shinryaku and vowed to fulfill his dying wish. Then he feverishly remembered the poison that still flowed in his blood and hurriedly searched Shinryaku for something that he could administer the antidote with. Finding a sterile needle in a plastic pouch, he quickly injected himself with the green solution and rested against a rock while he allowed it to take effect. Taking this moment to remove Shinryaku's belongings from his body, Asuma marveled over the strange things he owned. In addition to all his scrolls, many containing information on crafting poisons, as well as a few darts and a pouch containing poisoned tetsubishi, there was the odd high-tech device that he wore on his head. Placing it on his own head, Asuma fiddled with the buttons and came to the interesting conclusion that it was used for listening to heartbeats. Besides that, it only picked up the heartbeat of whoever was in the wearer's line of vision. Perhaps this weird thing was used for satisfying his disturbing fetish as much as it was used for assasination purposes. Setting it aside once he'd learned of it's use, Asuma continued to gather together everything else worth taking from the dead man and hid them in various places on his person. It felt very weird to be doing this, like he was lowering himself to the level of a bandit in taking all of the man's belongings. But he'd asked him to do it, so at least it wasn't so wrong. And as soon as he'd finished, feeling much better now as the antidote was being pumped through his bloodstream, Asuma placed the dead body inside of the wagon and wondered what his next course of action should be...