As Hanzō stalked towards the frontline, three bundled figures came into focus. Even though cloth caps concealed their foreheads, and their bodies were buried beneath multiple layers of shapeless fabric, the three shinobi reeked of Sunagakure. The three Sand shinobi had stopped only feet away from the first line of traps. This didn't surprise Hanzō, but it didn't please him either. Between the three of them, Hanzō counted four puppets. Of course, that meant very little since puppets, like all weapons, could be summoned by the wave of a hand sign. Hanzō decided it was best to eliminate the sand trio quickly before they could summon reinforcements. During Hanzō's thought process, the center shinobi lifted its cap to reveal pale hair and a pudgy, smirking face. Hanzō's eyes narrowed in distaste at the sight of his now-familiar foe, Chiyo.
"Chiyo. Fate has already spared you from my blade twice. It's ungrateful of you to try its patience," Hanzō growled, brandishing his kusarigama. "Whatever miracle has spared you up until now will not save you this time."
"Hu-hu-hu!" the kunoichi bellowed in response. "I see we weren't as sneaky as we'd thought! This is all your fault, Ebizō," the small, stoat kunoichi elbowed one of her male companions.
"Nonsense!" the taller shinobi to Chiyo's left spat in response, "I told you leaving those Ame shinobi out in the open was a bad idea! Any dolt could have found them!"
"Enough talk!" Hanzō interjected, patience rapidly shrinking. "You can continue your discussion in hell! IBUSE!" In a swift sequence of motions, Hanzō unrolled a scroll from his belt and smeared it with blood from his palm. The blood reacted with the parchment to produce a plume of purple smoke. Moments later, Hanzō found himself rising into the air as his summoned salamander sprouted from the ground. "Do it, Ibuse!" Hanzō cued. "Now," Hanzō's attention snapped back to the foreign trio below him, "be bathed with poison and die!"
A cloud of toxic, purple smoke enveloped the battlefield. "HU-HU-HU," Hanzō's nemesis's laugh pierced the opaque fog. "Turning us away at your doorstep, are you? What hospitality. I haven't even given you your host gift yet!" Once reaching a safe distance from the fog, the kunoichi and her team planted themselves in a three-man formation. Grabbing a scroll from her own pouch, Chiyo unraveled the parchment. "White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!" A series of popping sounds signaled the arrival of Chiyo's ten, grotesque puppets.
I suspected as much. Hanzō knew one drawback to his traps was that his opponent could potentially use them as their own shield. By hiding behind the traps, his shinobi could not attack the puppet masters directly. Instead, his forces would have to eliminate enough of the puppets to allow him to cross the traps and personally meet the puppeteers head on. Hanzō's eyes dashed from puppet to puppet. With the new additions, there were now fourteen. Sixty shinobi and himself versus fourteen puppets. Child's play.
At the sight of a small movement below him, Hanzō's eyes shot to the male teammate Chiyo had argued with before. "Always have to be first, don't you sister?" Chiyo's brother chided. "Well, I won't let you hog all the glory. Secret Art, Chakra Threads!"
Shit. Hanzō's eyes widened in alarm. More puppets were about to enter the battlefield than he had bargained for.
Peeking outside her tent, Shiori could make out the outline of a wall of shinobi, but nothing more. Despite the poor visibility and light rain that had begun to fall during the night, she could tell that conflict could erupt at any moment. The shinobi all stood with knees slightly bent, feet shoulder width apart, as if ready to spring into action in a moment's notice. However, from this angle, she would not be able to see the fight. "Do you think we could move a little closer without putting ourselves in danger? Perhaps if we moved to the edge of the battlefield at the far corner? I can't see or hear anything."
Rika's head suddenly popped out above Shiori's, causing the hairs on the young woman's neck to stand on end. Shifting from left to right, Rika's teal eyes carefully assessed the situation. "I think that can be arranged. I wouldn't mind a better view myself."
"I'm afraid that's not a good idea," Shiori's masked guard shook his head. Shiori found it strange that when his comrades headed to the front time, he remained behind.
The young lady's lips formed a slight pout. There would be no moving forward with this man around. Shiori wracked her brain to think of a way to get rid her obstacle. "But don't you want to experience the action with your friends?" Shiori appealed to his pride, "Please don't feel like you have to stay here with me. Rika and I will be fine. I'm sure Lord Hanzō needs you more on the front line than in this tent." Hopefully dropping Hanzō's name would convince him.
She was wrong. The immutable shinobi merely shook his head again. "My orders are to remain here until Lord Hanzō or a superior instructs otherwise."
"I instruct otherwise," Rika turned her attention from the battlefield to the masked shinobi.
"But-but-" he stuttered in frustration, "you are no superior of mine! You have no authority to-"
"Are you sure?" Though smiling, Shiori could have sworn she saw a threat flicker in Rika's eyes. Apparently, their male companion was not sure. Rather than dispute with Rika, he merely shifted his feet in discomfort. Now that Shiori thought about it, what was Rika's rank? She didn't fit into any hierarchy Shiori observed, and was not a member of a three man squad. Shiori filed away yet another question for Hanzō.
"I'll rephrase the question," Rika continued, wrapping an arm around the now very nervous shinobi. "Would you rather stay in this tent alone, guarding yourself until Lord Hanzō returns, or would you rather guard Lady Shiori outside with me?"
"Ve-very well," he squirmed under Rika's grasp, "but I do not approve of this." His unease must have been contagious, because Shiori was starting to agree with him.
Grabbing their equipment, including Shiori's bow which hadn't left her side since her earlier spar with Hanzō, Rika, Shiori, and the reluctant, masked shinobi staked out a short distance behind the front line. Reaching their position just in time to see Ibuse emerge from the ground, the three watched in awe as the massive creature filled the night sky. This time, the sight of Ibuse filled Shiori with pride rather than fear. Even so, she was happy to be on the opposite side of the purple cloud that soon enveloped the battlefield.
"HA!" Shiori's male escort balled his fists in excitement. "Game over. Even if they miss the traps, they won't escape Ibuse."
Unable to see through the thick fog, the three waited instead to hear triumphant shouts signaling victory. Instead, there was silence. And then, a few clangs from the clashing of metal. And then, shouts. But these were no shouts of joy. "What's going on?!" The male shinobi shot up in alarm. "Stay back–I'm going to figure out what's happening." Tightening his respirator in preparation for the poisonous plunge into Ibuse's cloud, the shinobi took off towards the field. After only a few feet, however, the shinobi stopped dead in his tracks. "What's happening to me? I–I can't move!"
Shiori and Rika looked on in shock as the shinobi's limbs began to flail widely, his body turning from the battlefield to face them directly. "What is this?! LOOK OUT! I think I'm going to attack you! I can't stop myself!" Shiori watched, frozen in terror, as her escort turned enemy lunged at them with a drawn kunai. Closing her eyes and bracing herself for impact, Shiori instead felt the splash of warm moisture on her face. Opening her eyes, Shiori witnessed the shinobi slump to his feet, chest impaled by Rika's kunai. Shiori screamed.
"It's alright now," Rika said plainly, kneeling beside the mortally wounded shinobi. "But the enemy is controlling our forces like puppets with chakra threads. We should probably head back to the tent before they attach to me."
Barely aware of Rika's speech, Shiori crawled frantically to their fallen comrade. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Rika! Rika we have to help him!"
Rika's head tilted sideways in consideration. "He's probably too far gone. I'm pretty sure I pierced his heart just now." Studying the shinobi a few moments more, the nonchalant kunoichi shrugged. "What a mess. Ah well, let's get going then."
"But you did this to him!" Shiori's shouts rose in hysteria. "We can't just leave him like this!" Lifting the shinobi's head into her lap, the young woman watched helplessly as the man's ragged breathing grew quiet.
"Aw, little Shiori," Rika crooned, withdrawing her kunai from the now still shinobi, "that's just how war works. Shinobi are like dolls. Once they break, you can't play with them anymore. And besides, we don't have time to fix broken dolls," Rika outstretched her hand to help Shiori to her feet. "Let's go."
Shiori stared at Rika's hand as though it were a snake poised to strike her. Desperate to be anywhere but here with Rika, Shiori searched frantically for an escape. There was none. On all sides, she and her now one escort were surrounded by confused screams and bloodshed. Panic began to surge through her.
"Shiori?" Shiori gasped as Rika's face appeared before her own. "Didn't you hear me? Come on, let's go," Rika suggested, gently clasping Shiori's arm.
On edge from the horrific sequence of events, Shiori snapped. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Shiori screamed, slapping Rika with more strength than either knew she possessed. Rika reeled backward, hand covering the reddening skin on her face as Shiori gasped, appalled by her actions. Seconds passed as neither woman spoke. When Rika finally lifted her face again, her eyes were open wide and her smile had vanished completely. This wasn't Rika. The sudden transformation sent a chill down Shiori's spine. What had she done?
"Rika? Rika, I'm sorry. What's wrong?" The teal-eyed woman made no response. "I'm sorry Rika, but we can't just stand here!" Still no response. Whatever Shiori had triggered in Rika had taken full control of and immobilized the green haired woman. Though Rika's teal eyes locked with her own, Shiori couldn't tell whether Rika understood or heard a word she was saying. "Rika, we don't have time for this. We need to go now. What can I say to make you move?!"
At last, Rika responded in a voice as emotionless as her expression.
"Tell me where to go."