(Welcome back! This is the Fourth Chapter of a new 5 Part Arc. Kasumi Momochi, a prodigy from the Hidden Mist and in line to be the next Mizukage. Does Team 15 stand a chance against her? The criminal is fast, but are ninja faster? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Kuroda rises back up to his feet, the decision already made about his next move. He watches his comrades face off with the powerful and beautiful young ninja from the Hidden Mist. He waits patiently and counts himself lucky that no one is paying any attention to him. This is most likely due to the fact that Team 15 is not used to working as a five man squad and their opponent is too busy dealing with them to notice him. He sees his opportunity as Naoko uses some strange hand gestures and is able to make fallen kunai rise up from the earth and attack the water clone.
With everything in place and no one the least bit wiser he starts the second phase of his plan. "I'm not going to let you complete that Jutsu!" Kuroda yells as he sprints forward in an attempt to stop Kasumi from executing her latest move. Yet out of nowhere another clone of the Mist Ninja smashes her fist into his face and sends him crashing into a wall. His body is limp and unmoving even as rubble from the wall falls on top of him.
"Another clone!" Rame Tsu exclaims, too late.
"Kuroda!" Shun yells, wanting to run over and assist, but hesitant to expose himself to attack.
"But where has it been hiding?" Naoko wonders, searching around the cave for concealed spots.
"When did she make…" Tousen thinks, trying to recall each part of the battle so far.
"What the hell?" Kasumi thinks, flabbergasted, "That's not my…"
Everyone, including the real Kasumi, is stunned at this occurrence and they disregard all their training and freeze in place. Then suddenly four more clones appear. Rame Tsu is the first to notice, but before she can warn the others she is hit from behind and everything goes black. As everyone else looks her way they are attacked in a similar manner. Within seconds each member of Team 15 has been knocked unconscious with a blow to the back of the neck.
Panic setting in, Kasumi frantically searches around the room for answers, "What the hell is going on? Where the hell did all those clones come from? I certainly didn't create them"
Kuroda stands up from his feigned unconsciousness, pushing dirt and rubble off his body, and orders, "Take Team 15's bodies outside. Rough them up a bit so it looks like they were all in battle, and make sure they stay unconscious until I come out."
"Yeah, we know what to do," one of the clones replies, rolling his eyes, before hefting Naoko's listless body over his shoulder.
Kasumi stares at the boy in utter confusion and asks, "What the heck are you doing? How did you make all of those clones and transform them into copies of me without anyone seeing? And why the hell are you attacking ninja from your own team?"
Kuroda shrugs and comments, "Why would I tell the secrets of my Jutsu to you? I will however say that I took out my own team because I wanted to be alone with you."
Kasumi starts laughing hysterically, "You are a fool for wanting to fight an advanced Jonin like me by yourself. There is no way you can win with all those weak attacks you used earlier. I barely even had to try."
"I was only using a tenth of my power to attack earlier," Kuroda casually retorts before he throws a few kunai at her and then disappears from view.
Kasumi sidesteps the knives, and then is attacked with a kick from behind by Kuroda. She spins around and blocks the attack with her left arm and then catches his leg and throws him against the ground saying, "So you are faster than you showed earlier. Your speed is impressive for a Genin, but it is still not good enough."
As the dust clears Kuroda's body turns into smoke and the original Kuroda appears above Kasumi and lands a powerful axe kick to the head. Her body melts into a pool of water. Then she materializes next to him and traps him in a Water Prison Jutsu.
She comments, "Good strategy, but you are not the only one who can create a clone within only a few seconds." A puff of smoke appears inside the Water Prison and Kasumi releases the Jutsu with an angry look on her face.
She yells, "I'm getting pissed off and now I'm not going hold back anymore. I'll just use some of my more advanced Jutsu to kill you quickly."
Five clones materialize out of thin air and charge at her. She takes out a kunai and tears the replications to shreds; Dodging their punches and kicks with ease while landing multiple hits of her own. After a quick couple of strikes the individual clones lose stability and explode into harmless smoke.
When one of the clones does not disappear she kicks it away and quickly uses some hand signs. "Water Style: Rapid Crasher!" she shouts as a stream of highly pressurized water shoots out of her palm and straight at Kuroda at a very fast speed while at the same time pushing her backwards.
He is able to get most of his body out of the way, but the attack hits his left arm and nearly rips it off his body. His face contorts in anguish as he feels his muscles being torn apart inside his arm. The force of the attack throws off his balance and he twists around, falling to his knees. He immediately feels the shooting pain in his left arm and struggles to hold in a scream of agony. The pain is like nothing he has ever felt before, and he knows his arm is severely injured.
With gasping breaths Kuroda forces himself to make hand signs and a Shadow Clone soon pops up beside him. Without delay its hands start to produce a faint green glow as it uses the Mystical Palm Technique to heal him.
"You disrespectful little punk!" Kasumi yells in a rage, her anger growing by the second, "Do you really think I am going to allow you to just sit there and heal yourself in the middle of a battle!"
She lifts her arm up again and fires off another Rapid Crasher at him. This time his eyes glow yellow and a violent yet controlled fury washes over his normally complacent and confident expression. He instantly transports right behind her and slashes her back with a kunai. She falls to the ground screaming in agony. He quietly steps over her, resuming his normal demeanor, and walks over to his clone to begin healing his arm again.
Kasumi struggles to sit up and groans, "Impossible, no one can move that fast. Besides, you were only half as fast as I was, so there is no way you should be able to do that."
Kuroda sighs, "I already told you I was only using a tenth of my power. As a Jonin you should know to never underestimate an opponent that you know nothing about." Kuroda examines his arm, seemingly satisfied with the state of it, even though it is not fully healed, and then walks toward Kasumi.
"How dare you lecture me, you little brat," Kasumi yells, blood soaking the back of her shirt as she rolls over onto her hands and knees.
Ignoring her comments, Kuroda replies, "This battle is over, and now I need to hurry and fulfill my objective before the others wake up."
Kasumi somehow struggles to her feet appearing even more enraged than earlier. Through her willpower and ferocity she is able to stand tall and charge at him. He easily dodges her punch and this time lands a huge slash across her chest with a kunai. She falls to the ground, landing on her side with another tortured scream.
Kuroda eyes focus on her more intensely, "I'm impressed. You are indeed a highly-skilled ninja. That first wound was so deep that you shouldn't even be able to walk right now. I really don't want to kill you. I'm not a cruel man. I'm very willing to spare your life. All I ask in exchange is that you serve under me from now on."
"Screw you!" she shouts before spiting in his face and then jumping up and away across the room. She immediately starts a long, complex chain of hand signs.
Kuroda smiles, his first genuine smile in a long time, and comments, "You just keep surprising me. To think that you still have enough chakra to do what I assume is an extremely advanced Jutsu."
Kasumi responds, "Prepare yourself, this Jutsu is going to send you straight to hell!"
"Really? I'm eager to see it then," he replies, shifting back into a battle stance. His knees are slightly bent so he is able to move quickly. His eyes are attentive, trying to read the style and type of attack. His arms are in position, but relaxed so they can act at a moments notice.
Once she finishes the hand signs she screams, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" She uses her chakra to gather all the moisture in the cavern and all the pools of water on the ground.
A huge river of water rises up behind her and surges toward Kuroda, and he has no way to escape it. The chakra fueled water takes on the shape of a frenzied dragon and smashes into the young Leaf Ninja. He is tossed around inside the water and slammed against the cave wall. Once the liquid washes away Kasumi throws some kunai at Kuroda to finish the job, but his body goes up in smoke.
"Did you forget about the shadow clone I created to heal me?" the boy's voice says, echoing around the room.
She falls down to her knees exhausted, "Curse you and your Clone Jutsu."
Kuroda appears behind Kasumi, wraps an arm around her, and presses a kunai knife to her throat. He whispers into her ear, restating his proposition, "My offer is still on the table. Your continued existence in this world in exchange for your servitude."
"How is he so strong? He is still so young. Is he even more of a genius then I am?" Kasumi thinks to herself, "I will probably be executed if I go back to the village and tell them I failed this mission. If I don't accept his offer then I am dead. What should I do?"
"What say you, Kasumi Momochi of the Village Hidden in the Mist?" he asks.
"I… accept your offer," she answers, her head drooping in defeat and shame.
Kuroda takes out a scroll from his pouch and unrolls it in front of her. Then he orders, "Sign your name in blood to bind the agreement."
After a moment of hesitation she wipes her finger in the blood from her chest wound and signs her name.
"Excellent," he says removing his weapon from her neck and then rolling up the scroll, "And now, I'll need you to take off your clothes."
"…what did you say?" She says in hesitation. A surging pain flares through her body, making her writhe in agony.
Kuroda tells her, "This pain will happen every time you don't do as I ask. It is not fatal, but it hurts a lot. I suggest you obey if you want it to stop."
Unable to bear the torture she quickly fumbles to strip off her clothes. Relieved when the pain ceases, she slowly removes all of her garments, wincing every time a movement causes one of her wounds to flicker up with pain. As an accomplished and highly-trained ninja Kasumi does not let show any emotional discomfort with the situation. Once she is unclothed he has her lie on her back and holds his hand out above her searching for the right spot. When he finds it he takes a kunai and lightly carves a special seal into the flesh right below her lowest rib. Then he makes a few hand signs and pours some of his chakra into the mark. After a minute, the mark dims and soon is no longer visible.
Kuroda stands and starts to wipe his kunai off on his shirt and says, "You're to inform no one about the ceremony I just preformed. Oh, and you can put your clothes back on."
"What did you just do to me?" she asks as she slowly redresses, her injuries still throbbing.
"I gave you a gift," he replies.
"You think a cursed seal is a gift?" she questions, her voice sounding morbid and grim as she no longer has the energy to express anger.
"Interesting," he notes, "You're the first one to figure out it was a seal."
"What do you mean the first one?" she inquires.
"There are others who serve under me," he explains, "You'll meet them eventually. In any case, the seal is not a curse. At least not for you."
"What do you mean by that?" Kasumi frowns, hissing as she slips her top back over her head.
"It doesn't matter," he replies, "Now that you're dressed I need to heal that wound on your back. Otherwise you won't be able to travel."
"Are you sure you can do it?" she inquires, not really doubting his abilities after having been defeated by him.
"I'm only going to heal this one wound, and only partially as I'm not a fully trained medical ninja," Kuroda says as he places a glowing, green hand on her back, "I won't heal any of the other ones, because you need to look like you were just in a battle. You will return to the Village Hidden in the Mist and report everything up until I took out my teammates. Instead you will lie and say that a mysterious and powerful ninja attacked all of us and somehow you were able to get away and head back towards the village."
Kasumi vehemently rejects the idea, "If I go back to my village I will be executed for failing the mission!"
Kuroda ignores her concern and says, "They wouldn't kill you because of that."
She tries to object, "You don't understand. I am…"
But he harshly cuts her off, "You must do as I order unless you wish for that pain to return."
Kasumi gives up fighting, remembering the horrible pain, and instead asks, "What are you going to tell your village?"
He finishes tending to her back and responds, "Oh, I'm just going to pretend that I was knocked out like the rest, and woke up outside the cave with you gone. As you may have picked up on, I am a very good actor. Now let's go, I think the others will be waking soon and you need to be gone by then."
They walk back to the entrance of the cave and head over to the others, who had been placed their earlier by the shadow clones. "Now remember the plan," he reminds her, "You are to depart back home as soon as your finished knocking me unconscious. I'll make contact with you once I need you for something specific."
"Understood," she replies before slamming her fist into his head and knocking him out. With a grin of satisfaction she turns away and runs off.
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? What will happen once everyone wakes up? Read the next chapter to find out. As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)