Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait between chapters, I'm planning out the Chuunin Arc and the next Arc before they truly get underway. I'm calling them arcs, simply because that's what they call them in the Manga, so why not? Also, I might incorporate a few things from movies or the Anime, but I'll be following the Manga chiefly, as that's the only thing truly canon.
Aruji is going to be another OC whose POV I will be using from time to time.
Aruji's POV-
I sat in the corner of a poorly lit sewer, just underneath the marketplace in Iwa. The smell alone was enough to drive me crazy, but luckily I was able to steal a lighter from some poor sap. The cigarette smoke wafted into my nose, driving away some of the stench, as the lit end of the cigarette stuck out in the darkness of the sewer, revealing my location to my subordinates.
"Burashikage, we must be going. A sewer is not a safe place, not to mention the fact that it's under Iwa, we need to find a more secure area." Ahhh, that was Hoseki, always looking out for me… Ever since I'd rescued him and his friend from that odd laboratory, he'd been following me around, as if his sole mission in life were to protect me. It was only fitting that he was one of the four men that guarded the four entrances to Burashi.
What nice young men they were, so reliable, so trustworthy. So….. Stupid. Devoting your entire life to guarding one gate? I never could make any sense out of it, but hey, they protected my village, and I wasn't going to talk them out of it. I reached out to pat the young crystal user's shoulder, shaking my head slowly. "Now now Hoseki-kun, calm down. You know I prefer to avoid moving out in the open."
I tended to stick to the shadows, it was much safer. I walked forward a bit, my hand moving from my cigarette to my pocket, as I withdrew three Iwa forehead protectors from it, grimacing lightly. My hand clenched around the metal, wondering how my oldest friend could betray me like this… Granted, he thought I was dead, but still, it was the principle of the matter.
For one of the five great Shinobi villages to attack a minor village without provocation… Well, that was just cowardly. The three foolish Shinobi who tried it were hopefully missing-nin, the thought of destroying Iwa was a pain… Then again, waging war on a major village would have repercussions, and even Barashi might not survive if all of Iwa's allies swarmed them… Sure, it was built to defend against a large enemy force, but still…
Maybe a peace offering would work… Oh well, I'd need to worry bout that later…. I made his way down the sewer, walking into a side tunnel, where multiple candles lit the area, hovering over a single pentagram on the floor. I made my way into the center, kneeling down on my knees as my hands made their way up to the necklace hanging around my neck, the one of a simple raven. "I offer this prayer up to Ridan, mistress of the shadows and patron of the thieves."
I reached into my pocket, pulling out the various stolen items my shadows had brought me. A bag of Kunai with smoke bombs attached was the first item. I had tested the bombs, they weren't filled with smoke, they were filled with quicklime… It was odd. Next came a multitude of golden charms that the shadows claimed to have stolen from some little girl…. Who would let their daughter wear so much jewelry?
Oh well, it was none of my business…. I felt a slight weight on my shoulder, and I turned my head to look at a small shadowy figure… It looked like a miniature version of myself, though it was featureless, and only carried my outline… Such was the shape of my shadow. Of course, it was only a fraction of my shadow…
Breathing life to my own shadow and others, splitting my shadow into a multitude of shadows… Such were the gifts granted to Ridan's priests. Unlike those god-forsaken Jashinits…. Those skeleton bodies they had when using their rituals were creepy… It's why I preferred Ridan to Jashin, Ridan's gifts were elegant, and required finesse. Jashin's gifts were ugly, creepy, just plain disturbing… Besides, who needed to be unkillable? Being unseen was the same thing, and your attacks were more diverse than just slashing away like madmen…
Morons that they were, Jashinists were still powerful…. I'd often contemplated recruiting one. But Barashi was a place for the arts, not for butchers…. Only the artful were allowed inside Barashi, and through the arts their strength would be greater than any of the Five Great Shinobi villages, greater even than that of the Samurai of the Land of Iron.
I stood, making my way back out as the shadows behind me began burying the various stolen items. Ridan would collect the offering I'd given her, that I knew, and she would bless me for it. The shadow techniques were secrets passed down from priest to priest, but could only be used with Ridan's blessing…. Many young acolytes had not had the blessing, and had been forced out of the order…
Still, such had not been my fate. Now, back to the other pressing matter… A peace offering… Of course, such a thing would require a powerful bargaining chip… Maybe… "Kamu! How's our guest doing?" The dark skinned archer appeared to the side of me, one of my shadows on his shoulder, biting down on an arrowhead curiously.
The tiny figure drew one of the arrows and held it out to me, it's form frothing happily. "ARUJI! I found a shiny! Look! Shiny!" I shook my head, patting the shadows head as Kamu snatched the arrow from it. The former Kumo-nin turned to me, shrugging his shoulders. "He's doing fine…. For now. He'll lose the arm of course, but he'll live."
The man was the only member of my group that I actually feared… Alone, the man was nothing, not even a blip on my radar. But his weapons…. Those were the real danger. The bow and the dagger, while not impressive at first, hid a powerful secret… One I only knew due to my shadows. It was for this reason that Kamu wasn't allowed to leave without a shadow accompanying him.
Still, Kamu knew his place. He was my subordinate, and he wouldn't soon forget it…. He was allowed into Barashi only due to the ink jutsu he used, and without the knife that would be gone too, and he'd be forced out. Kamu knew I knew where his power came from, and he was constantly afraid I would steal the weapons from him…
Still, he was useful, and fighting him would be too dangerous… For the moment I'd have to deal with him. "Thank you Kamu, you may return to your post. Send word back to camp, tell Uchien I want him and his squad ready to move on our signal. If this goes poorly, he'll be crucial to our escape."
I scratched my cheek softly, my thoughts drifting to the village I'd worked so hard to build…. It was left virtually undefended, with only Masuta, Yakuma, Kasumi, and a few others there. I'd opted for a preemptive strike against Iwa if they did want a war, and Masuta and Yakuma could work well enough to hold off an invading force long enough for us to return…. But still…
Yakuma was too proud to work with others smoothly, and Masuta was a wild card…. But in the current predicament, I'd have to work with what I had. "Oh, and Kamu? Send word to Barashigakure as well…. Tell Masuta that during my absence he may kill invaders in whatever way he sees fit." The dark skinned man raised his brow at this, but shrugged, heading off to somewhere that he could summon the owl's that served as his messengers.
He was a useful servant… Kaja was more so, but she was otherwise preoccupied… Still, when it came to stealth, my choice in servants was clear… I whistled loudly, as multiple shadows flocked to my side. I traced my fingers along ones back gently, the shadow darkening and paling in pleasure as I did.
I turned to the shadows, holding up a single coin to them all, keeping it under a sewer grate so that the sun would reflect and shine off of it's edge. The shadows were each immediately drawn to the shine, as was I for just a second… I turned back to the shadows, grinning lightly. "See this? I will give this shiny thing to whichever one of you can bring me back the most information about one Shinuhi… My old sensei, I'm sure you all remember him."
The shadows all began nodding and shouting out affirmatives loudly, some of them even making up false information on the spot… I merely frowned at the ones lying, sliding the coin into my pocket as I pointed at the grate. "You have twenty-four hours, and none of you had better lie to me… You know I'll know."
The shadows grumbled lightly about having to do work, before slinking up through the sewer grate. I reached out to pluck one by the leg and place it back on my shoulder… I liked to keep just one around for company… Not that I'd tell Kasumi or Arikasa… They'd never let me hear the end of it.
Of course, the shadows held a lot of secrets about me…. The most closely guarded one was also my biggest weakness… Shiny objects… As silly as it was, I loved things that shined… Shadows were actually representations of myself…
Their personalities were actually just my personality stripped down to my most secret and hidden desire…. I was a thief who'd been forced by circumstance to live the life of a leader… No more stealing for me. Of course, the only things worth stealing were the shiny things… So the shadows were obsessed with obtaining shiny objects… Such simple creatures… Yet so complex.