Sculpting Tools
By Daniel Walker
Interlude
"Ah, that's good sake," Osako Ujio murmured to himself as he sipped his cup. Drinking was the best way to start off a day in his opinion. He had been doing this every morning for the past twelve years. He cursed to himself as bitter memories came back to him all of a sudden, ruining his good mood. It was all Zabuza's fault. Thirteen years ago, he, along with a handful of other jounin and some high-ranking chuunin, had followed Momochi Zabuza in his effort to assassinate the Mizukage. The plan had failed miserably. Before they had barely taken a step into the Mizukage's tower, they were discovered by ANBU. They were quickly overwhelmed and Zabuza called a retreat. They spent the next year steering clear of civilization, trying to avoid the hunter-nin. They took various jobs from many an unsavory character, anything to finance a second assault on Kirigakure.
Ujio let out a laugh, but there was no pleasant feeling behind the humor. A few of the other patrons looked at him, but they quickly went back to nursing their glasses after a hard glare from him. Zabuza had been an idiot. Ujio had told him that a second assault would be as futile as the first, but Zabuza would have none of it, not even from his second-in-command. However, he had cast his lot with Zabuza and he had been determined to see how his hand played out. Things went from bad to worse. Zabuza had had the horribly bad luck to run into Hatake Kakashi, the legendary Copy Ninja from Konohagakure. Zabuza would have died that day if not for that bootlicking chuunin Haku rescuing him at the last minute. Zabuza, his arrogance once again getting the best of him, confronted Kakashi a week later. Ujio didn't know the details of it, but Zabuza and Haku never returned. If that weren't bad enough, that day Hidden Mist hunter-nin descended upon their hideout. Ujio managed to escape in the confusion. He did not consider himself a coward, far from it, but he knew how to pick his battles. Since that day, he had been running, trying to stay one step ahead of those who sought his life. I'll see you in hell, Zabuza.
Finishing his drink, he slammed a bill on the counter and stormed out of the bar. People who were in his way got out of it quickly. However, in his fury he failed to notice a man in the corner get up and follow him out.
Ujio cursed as he walked through the trash-filled streets that led to the motel that he was currently staying at. Thirteen years ago he had lived in a very comfortable apartment flat. He had been a respected jounin and the sensei of three capable genin. Life had been good. Why in the world had he thrown it all away to follow that insufferable moron? Looking up at the sky, he saw that it was about to rain. What a rotten day this was turning out to be. The only way it could get any worse was...
The faint yet familiar sound of footsteps on tile roofing triggered battle-trained reflexes and Ujio whipped out a pair of kunai as he spun around. "Come out, hunter!" he snarled. "If we're going to fight, let us fight like men! No sneaking around!"
There was silence for a few moments. Then a voice started and it seemed to come from everywhere. "We are not men, Osako Ujio. We are shinobi." The speaker paused. "However, I suppose I could grant a last request." With that, a figure dropped to the ground behind Ujio. He was garbed in the typical hunter-nin black clothing. On his face was a clay mask with two red vertical lines passing across the eye slits. "Is this more to your liking?" he asked in an emotionless voice.
Ujio spun around in surprise. He cursed mentally. He must have drunk more than he thought if this man was able to sneak up on him so easily. Barely missing a beat, he threw both his kunai at his opponent and immediately started forming hand seals. The weapons missed, of course, but they bought him the time that he needed to complete his technique. "Suiton: Suishouha!" An underground river that passed below the street erupted to the surface and became a wave twenty feet high. The street was quickly covered in the watery onslaught. Nevertheless, a figure emerged calmly from the surface of the water after a few moments. His hands were already in the "snake" form.
"Doton: Tekkou Hebi Shibari no Jutsu." Six grappling chains sprung out of the ground and wrapped themselves securely around Ujio. "You are beaten," the hunter-nin said in the same cold voice. "Submit now and I will make your death painless."
Ujio smirked. "I'm beaten, am I?" His form dissolved into a puddle of water. The hunter-nin didn't move a muscle but Ujio could have sworn that the man's eyes glowed for a brief moment through the mask's eye slits. Assuring himself that it was nothing, he fell from a rooftop and plunged two kunai into his opponent's back. He had a grin on his face for the split-second before the hunter-nin's body dissolved into water itself. Ujio didn't have time to react as the ground beneath his feet suddenly opened, forming a giant chasm. He plunged into darkness. His mind became a hazy blur as he desperately tried to think of a jutsu to get himself out of this predicament. However, the alcohol prevented him from thinking clearly. It wasn't until the last second when he felt a kunai drive into his back and he was slammed into the wall of a building that he realized that he had just fallen for a genjutsu.
Slumping to the ground, he turned himself around to face his killer. "At least let me see your face," he said while coughing up blood. "It's my right." Sighing, the only sign of emotion the man had shown so far, the hunter-nin removed his mask. Ujio gasped. "You?" He chortled, which sounded odd with the blood clogging his throat. "I guess this is how it should be." He paused, considering something. "Tell me, am I the last one?" Seeing the nod, he sighed. "So it's over." A green glow suddenly surrounded his body. "Chakra Bakuhatsu no Jutsu!" Ujio's body exploded in a storm of fire, blood, and flesh.
Kyojin Takeo stepped out of the shadows and exhaled. He was glad that he thought to switch with a bunshin after stabbing Ujio. A smile came to his face as he realized that Ujio had saved him the task of disposing of the body. The smile faded away as the scene before him brought back an old memory. His first mission. His first kill.