(Welcome back! What has happened to Kuroda? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
The next thing that Kuroda sees is a blanket of white and he feels the chill of harsh weather creeping up his skin. Awareness at the back of his mind of the conditions of his summoning, he searches for the immediate threat. He catches the gleam of a silver katana as it stabs towards his stomach. He instantly shifts to the side and brings his knee up while simultaneously moving his elbow down. With this maneuver he catches the tip of the blade in between the elbow and the knee, completely stopping the momentum it had.
"I didn't think I would be seeing you so soon again, Yukiko," he says without even looking at the girl behind him. He drops the katana to the ground, the blade shattering into pieces due to the amount of force he had to use to stop it.
The young white-haired girl is on the ground, her face bruised and battered and her clothes covered in blood. While she tries to recover from the shock of his sudden appearance he looks around for the enemy.
"It looks like we are in the northern part of the Snow Country," he thinks as he notices the features of the land, "Although I can't be too sure seeing as I've only read descriptions in books. We didn't come to this area during our mission. I'll just have to ask Yukiko when I take care of that Rain Ninja over there. But it is good to know that my Cursed Seal Jutsu works over such a great distance. It is hundreds of miles from here to the Leaf Village."
"I don't understand, how did you…?" stutters Yukiko when she is finally able to speak.
"I promised to sacrifice my life for yours without hesitation," he responds, "This is me keeping that promise."
"I… thank you," she says gratefully, still not understanding how he appeared before her.
"You are welcome," he says as he stares at the enemy ninja waiting for him to make a move, "What level of injuries have you sustained?"
"Nothing fatal, just a few gashes on my legs," she reveals, touching her hands to her wounds.
"I see, his strategy was to limit your ability to move," thinks Kuroda as he takes a second to glance back and examine her wounds.
"What are you going to do now?" she inquires, "I know you wanted me to look for powerful female shinobi, but this guy is pretty strong."
"Stay back here, out of the way, while I go see if he can be useful to me," he orders as he walks forward.
"It is a good thing no one else is around," he thinks as he lifts up his shirt. Because he was studying in the library he doesn't have any of his normal ninja gear with him. However, knowing that a situation like this might arise, he prepared himself. A roll of white bandages is wrapped around the middle of his chest and he quickly unravels it. Two specially designed kunai fall out of their hiding places and he catches one in each hand. Their blades are smaller and shorter than most kunai, but the handles are normal size allowing him to wrap his special tags around them. He stalks towards the enemy and begins implementing the fighting strategy he chose several moments ago.
"I'm surprised you have not attacked by now, most ninja would have," he calls towards the enemy.
"There is no point in attacking if there aren't any openings," the Rain Ninja yells back. He watches the Leaf Ninja's moves carefully with his hazel eyes. Other than that there is nothing really notable about him. He has messy brown hair with his blue headband wrapped around his head and wears a long tan cloak for protection against the cold. He also carries some large weapon on his back that Kuroda can't quite make out.
"So you noticed that? You must have some good eyes," Kuroda responds.
"Not really, just very experienced," the Rain Ninja calls back, "Plus I'm not stupid. You are obviously the one in charge of the girl making you more powerful in theory. It also makes you the one I am after, so I can't just go rushing in if I want to capture you."
"Oh, and why would you want to do that?" Kuroda questions.
"I was hired by a nearby village to track her and find out what she was up to. I wasn't aware until now that she was acting on someone else's orders, but now that I am, I realize this is much bigger than the villagers thought," the Rain Ninja explains.
"I don't understand, why would the Snow Country hire someone all the way from the Rain Country to investigate?" asks Kuroda.
"You don't know a lot about the Snow Country, do you? I should have guessed that especially since you aren't dressed for the season," scoffs the Rain Ninja, "I guess that makes you either the middleman or a newcomer. I'll explain it to you then. The Snow Country does have its own ninja village however they are small, disorganized, and dealing with the conflict in the east."
"That is still going on? I thought that would have been over by now. I guess I'll have to ask Yukiko about it again," thinks Kuroda.
"So, since their own ninja village is busy they call on ninja from other countries to help out with suspicious situations," the Rain Ninja finishes.
"Well then, I guess that just gives me another reason to kill you," says Kuroda, his muscles tensing as his body shifts into an attack position.
"Not likely," sneers the Rain Ninja as he shifts his left leg back. He pushes his cloak open and reaches inside. A second later a batch of five shuriken is speeding towards the Leaf Ninja. Kuroda plants his right foot firmly on the ground and pushes off to the left to dodge the razor-sharp weapons.
"He is pretty quick," thinks Kuroda as he has to dodge another batch and move back towards his right. He changes his course again and resumes his original direction of heading straight at his opponent. The Rain Ninja pushes open the other side of his cloak and this time tosses out three kunai. One is aimed slightly to the left of his target, one slightly to the right, and the final one directly at Kuroda's head.
Kuroda ducks down onto one knee and stabs the weapon in his right hand into the snow. Two of the incoming weapons fly right by, but as the third one passes he is able to catch its handle.
"That is pretty impressive if he is able to grab something moving that fast," the Rain Ninja thinks, "His eyes must be as good as mine and his hands are pretty good too." Without hesitation Kuroda sends the kunai flying right back at its owner. The Rain Ninja reaches behind his back and pulls out the stored weapon. A large silver umbrella slides over his shoulders and he pops it into an open position. There is a large clang when the kunai hits and then it twirls in the air and falls harmlessly to the ground.
"What happened? A kunai should be able to tear right through a simple umbrella," thinks Kuroda as he watches for the enemy to make a counter-attack, "Is he reinforcing his weapon with chakra?"
"We seem to be evenly matched in long distance combat," the Rain Ninja calls as he holds his weapon out in front with little effort, "Close combat will have to decide this."
"I think you are right," agrees Kuroda as he charges forward with blinding speed.
"Shit, he is fast," thinks the Rain Ninja, "He was holding back before."
Kuroda gets in close and tries to slash at the enemy's side. But the Rain Ninja moves his silver umbrella to the side and the blade scratches against it making a screeching noise as tiny sparks fly into the air. Then he thrusts forward with all of his weight trying to land a heavy blow. Kuroda twists around putting his left leg on the umbrella and pushing off. But the rain ninja keeps pressing forward and tries to smash into him as he lands. Kuroda lands on the top of the umbrella and tries to attack his enemy's head, but before he can the Rain Ninja swings the weapon up throwing the black-haired youth into the air. Kuroda comes back down and slashes with both hands, but the kunai do nothing against the silver umbrella. He lands on top and then leaps off as far as he can before turning around.
"He didn't follow, his specialty must be counter-attacking," Kuroda thinks as he recalls the encounter, "That umbrella is definitely metal, but how is he able to move it around so freely? I didn't sense him expending a whole lot of chakra so I doubt it was a Jutsu."
"You're wondering about my umbrella, aren't you?" the Rain Ninja smirks, "Pretty cool, isn't it? It is made from a special lightweight steel. There is only one blacksmith who knows how to make it and he just happens to live in the Rain Country. I was lucky to receive this piece because he doesn't take very many requests."
"I see, very interesting," Kuroda replies, "I'll have to investigate this man once I defeat you."
"How optimistic of you," the Rain Ninja says, "Well, since you don't seem to want to attack again I guess I will." He collapses his umbrella and throws it on his shoulder before charging forward. As he gets close he reaches into his cloak and throws out two shuriken.
Kuroda deflects the shuriken with the two special kunai in his hands, but as soon as that is finished the enemy is above him, ready to slam the steel weapon down on his head. Kuroda rolls to the side and the weapon slams into the ground throwing up a cloud of snow. The Rain Ninja pops open the umbrella and swings it around after the black-haired boy. Now, with a closer look at the weapon, Kuroda can see the edges are razor-sharp. He hops up just high enough so the weapon passes under him. In mid-air he twists around and lands a spin-kick to the back of the enemy's head. The kick causes the Rain Ninja's headband to go flying off into the snow, but other than that it just makes him angry.
He uses his momentum to swing the umbrella in a full circle, intending to catch Kuroda on the way down. But Kuroda had already anticipated this and lands on the face of the umbrella and then pushes back off into the air. He slips one of the special kunai in between his teeth while throwing the other at the opponent. The Rain Ninja sees the projectile and raises his weapon so the kunai hits the bottom portion and stabs itself into the ground at his feet. Kuroda quickly makes a series of hand signs before throwing his remaining kunai straight at the enemy.
"I thought you were smart enough to know that isn't going to work," yells the Rain Ninja as he bats the projectile out of the way.
"Flying Thunder God Technique," whispers Kuroda before he winks out of existence.
(Kuroda has been transported back to the Snow Country to defend his ally Yukiko. Will he be able to defeat the enemy when he has only two kunai to fight with? As always, 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.)