(Thanks for coming back to read the next chapter of the series! Hitomi, Kuroda, and Yovestu have arrived in the Land of Panthers. What dangerous forces are at work there? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Hitomi, Kuroda and the clone get back on the path and head to the small village once more. They enter Tao Village, a collection of brightly colored houses in various styles and sizes, and start to look around but there is no one to be seen. They recognize a strange blue, circular house where they are supposed to meet their contact, Yanagi. The clone walks up to the door and knocks on it, but there is no response. He knocks a second time and again no response. He checks the door and finds it is unlocked, so he opens it. "Stay outside and keep watch," Kuroda says to Hitomi as he follows the clone inside. Kuroda looks around inside and doesn't find anything unusual or helpful.
He hears a door open at the back of the house and prepares to attack. The real Yovestu steps inside. "Did you see anyone?" asks Kuroda.
"There was no one the way I came," he replies, "Find anything in here?"
"Nothing," replies Kuroda.
"Where is Hitomi?" inquires Yovestu.
"She is out in the front," he responds.
"Let's go get her and look around some of the other houses to see if we can find out what happened," suggests Yovestu. They get near the entrance when they hear a voice speaking with Hitomi.
"Who are you?" asks a young, male voice.
"Who are you?" counters Hitomi.
"Hello, there," says Yovestu, stepping out of the house.
"So, you brought a friend," comments the boy, "That is good."
Kuroda steps out of the house, "We are looking for the man who lives here. Do you know where he is?"
"Three of you? Well, that is even better," says the young boy. He has brown skin and short, spiky, white hair and an innocent look to his face, "But why are you looking for him?"
"We are supposed to meet him and get something from him," replies Kuroda, "Do you know where he is?"
"I don't know him," replies the boy as his shifts the huge three-headed sword he is carrying to his other shoulder, "You guys are pretty strange."
"Look who is talking," whispers Hitomi softly so the boy doesn't hear.
"Shinmaru, where are you?" calls a female voice.
"I am over here, Rizuki!" shouts Shinmaru as he sticks his free hand into his black baggy pants, "I found three more recruits."
"Where are you, you shrimp?" she repeats.
"By the blue house!" he yells back. A slender female, with powder blue hair down to the neck and covering her right eye, jumps onto the top of a nearby red house.
"So there are three more already?" she asks as she crouches down.
"Hello, there," says Yovestu, politely. The black flap of fabric hanging in front and back of Rizuki's tiny black shorts flaps in a rare gust of wind as she looks down at them.
"They are kind of strange, though," comments Shinmaru.
Rizuki scratches the Grass headband she wears as a belt as she examines the trio with her blue eyes. She suddenly realizes something and leaps into the air. "You idiot!" she screams, "Those are Leaf Ninja! They aren't here to join us."
The team takes out kunai and they prepare for a fight. With surprising speed Shinmaru gets the large sword off his back and sweeps it across the ground, spraying dirt at them. Up above Rizuki finishes the seals of a Jutsu, "Ninja Art: Cloud of Darkness!" A dense black smoke spews out of her mouth and covers the area. "You idiot, didn't you look at the symbols on their headbands?" she yells.
"I told you something was strange about them," argues Shinmaru.
As Rizuki lands back on the roof, Kuroda shoots out of the blackness with incredible speed, aiming a kunai at her. She is unprepared and he nearly stabs the kunai through her throat, but a large shuriken hits him in the side and cuts him in half.
"Hey, look," says a voice.
"You hit him," says a similar voice. The two halves of Kuroda disperse into clouds of white smoke.
"Oh no," says lanky male with greasy black hair as he lands next to Rizuki.
"It was just a clone," says a second male with the same face as he lands on the other side of her.
"Why are you two here?" asks Rizuki, visibly disgusted by having the two men standing next to her.
"You should be more grateful," says the one on her right, wearing a dark green shirt and tan pants.
"To the people who saved your life," finishes the other one who is wearing a crimson red shirt and tan pants. A black cape with blue flowers drops down in front of them and Shinmaru stabs his strange sword into the rooftop.
"So what should we do?" he asks.
Rizuki brushes some dust off her tight black shirt that exposes her belly and only has a long sleeve on the right side, "That is obvious. We kill them and then report back to the leader."
"What is the plan?" asks Kuroda as he hides crouched down behind a large wooden crate.
"I think it is obvious that they are part of the group we were told about," states Yovestu, "So if we can capture one of them and make him talk we should be able to find out what is going on."
"Okay, so which one?" asks Hitomi.
"That girl is not going to tell us anything," comments Kuroda, "She is from the Hidden Grass Village."
"We haven't had enough time to observe those twins who showed up and destroyed Kuroda's clone. So that leaves the short one called Shinmaru. He didn't seem to bright anyways, so it should be easy to get information out of him," deducts Yovestu, "Kuroda, I want you to take the girl. I'll handle the twins. Hitomi, it is your job to capture Shinmaru."
"I got it," acknowledges Hitomi.
"Good, let's move out on three," says Yovestu, "One…"
"Two!" yells the green-shirted twin as he slams his fist down, crushing Hitomi.
"Three!" yells the other twin as he performs the same action on Kuroda.
"Too bad, Leaf Ninja," says Shinmaru as he drops from above and slices Yovestu in two halves.
"Not quite!" says Kuroda as he transforms from the form of the wooden crate and kicks Shinmaru in the jaw, sending him flying over a building, "He is all yours, Hitomi."
"Another clone?" questions the green-shirted twin as hurls his arm at Kuroda's chest.
"How annoying, brother," comments the crimson-shirted twin as he lowers himself for a leg sweep.
Kuroda twists in the air and grabs each of the attackers' extended limbs, then rotates his body and throws them into the side of the blue house.
"Not bad, but try stopping this!" yells Rizuki as she rolls towards Kuroda in a wheel of fire. With amazing instincts Kuroda performs hand signs and slams his palms on the ground. "Earth Style: Earth Shore Return!" he yells. The wall of earth erupts from the ground and blocks the blazing fire attack just in time. Black smoke starts to overtake the wall and spreads out towards Kuroda.
"Not that again," he complains as he retreats backwards.
"What, you don't like being in the dark?" asks Rizuki as she appears behind him and slashes with a downwards angle at his back.
"That was unexpected, Jishi," says the twin in the green shirt as he pushes aside some of the debris from the building's wall.
"I don't like that guy, Hatsu," says Jishi, coming out behind him.
"Well, then," says Hatsu.
"Let's go kill him," finishes Jishi.
"Sorry, but I am going to be your opponent!" announces Yovestu, blocking their path.
"This sucks, brother," complains Hatsu.
"Yeah, fighting guys is no fun," adds Jishi.
"Well, then, after we are done with him," says Hatsu, taking out a kunai and charging forward.
"We will go after that pretty, dark-haired girl," says Jishi, following suit.
Shinmaru plants his sword in the ground and uses it to help himself up. "Wow, that hurt," he comments.
"Nice sword you have there," comments Hitomi, sitting on a stool a few feet away munching on a loaf of bread.
"Are you the one who kicked me?" asks Shinmaru as he lifts up his sword.
"No, that was my friend over there," replies Hitomi, pointing over towards the smoke on the other side of the village.
"How come you're not attacking me?" questions Shinmaru.
"I thought it would be easier to try talking to you first," explains Hitomi.
"We are enemies, what is there to talk about?" he replies.
"Who says we have to be enemies?" she responds.
He cocks his head to the side and says, "Rizuki said you were the enemy."
"Is that your friend with the blue hair?" asks Hitomi.
"Yeah, she is nice," he replies, putting his hand in his pocket.
"Well, maybe she was wrong, maybe I can be your friend," says Hitomi.
Shinmaru scratches his head, "You are weird." Then he lifts up his sword and charges at her. "You look nice, but I don't like you. I like Rizuki," says Shinmaru as he swings his three-headed sword horizontally.
Hitomi leaps backwards, narrowly avoiding the tips of his blade. "Well, that didn't work," she thinks to herself, "This is going to be harder than I thought."
"Fire Style: Fire Wheel Jutsu!" exclaims Rizuki from behind the black mask that covers her mouth and nose. As she rolls forward in a cartwheel, fire spreads out over her feet and hands turning her into a flaming wheel.
Kuroda easily dodges out of the way and she rolls past him. "I already defeated that attack once, what makes you think it will work the second time?" he asks.
Rizuki jumps into a neat back flip and lands agilely on a wooden post, glaring at Kuroda. "That is a lovely scowl, but it won't help you defeat me," says Kuroda, "Why don't you just surrender already? Then we can sit down and have a chat about where everyone in this village disappeared to."
"Sorry, but I don't surrender, and I don't give out free information," replies Rizuki before she whips six shuriken at him.
"Not bad, you two work very well together," compliments Yovestu as he catches his breath.
"Well, we are," says Hatsu.
"Brothers," finishes Jishi as they move in to attack.
"I am outnumbered and at a disadvantage," says Leaf Team leader as he makes hand seals, "How about I even the odds?" A flame erupts from the ground next to him and then dies down to reveal a clone.
"Another clone? How annoying, brother," says Hatsu.
"I agree, but we will just smash it like the rest," comments Jishi. The two identical leaf ninja line up parallel and run to meet the enemy.
The brothers and the Leaf Ninja clash in the middle and engage in a fierce Taijustu battle. Fists fly, legs kick, and arms block in quick succession. The brothers seem to have a strength advantage, but Yovestu is faster than them. Hatsu is able to get a shot to the gut on the real Yovestu. Then he lifts both his arms up and smashes them down onto the Leaf Ninja's back. Yovestu falls to the ground and Hatsu lifts his arms up for another strike. Yovestu leaps out of the way at the last moment and avoids the attack that creates a small crater in the ground.
"Quickly, while we have time, brother," calls Jishi as he struggles with the clone. The man is able to get the clone into a headlock and hold him in place. Hatsu takes out a kunai, charges forward, and stabs the clone in the heart.
As Yovestu watches he smirks and thinks, "Perfect, I didn't expect to get both of them." Suddenly the clone starts glowing bright red and orange.
"Brother, get away quickly!" says Hatsu as he jumps backwards.
"It is going to explode!" finishes Jishi as he jumps away.
Kuroda hears the huge explosion before looking behind and seeing the blazing hot flames engulf a whole house. "What was that?" thinks Kuroda, "It came from where Yovestu was fighting with the twins. I should probably stop fooling around here and go check on him."
"Fire Style: Black Serpent!" yells Rizuki from behind him. Two long clouds of blackness shoot out from her arms. Their ends from into the shape of snakes, twisting toward their target. Kuroda tries to slice through the head of one, but his kunai passes right through, having no effect.
The two black cloud snakes extend their fangs and clamp down on his wrists. "I thought you were better than that," taunts Rizuki, "Only a rookie would take his eyes off his opponent for that long. And now I have you in my grasp. Don't even bother trying to escape, my serpents never let go once they sink their teeth in. So now why don't you tell me just exactly how the Leaf Village was called here." Kuroda struggles to break free, and in response Rizuki uses her jutsu to lift him up and slam him into a wall a few times.
"Next time I'll put you through the wall," she warns, "Now, start talking."
"Well, it seems I have no choice," replies Kuroda.
"What the hell was that explosion?" wonders Hitomi as she braces a kunai against the strange three-headed sword.
"Big bang over there," comments Shinmaru, "It must have been from your side."
"What makes you say that?" inquires Hitomi.
"Too big for Rizuki and not the style of the crazy brothers," he answers.
"Is that their name? Or a description?" she asks.
"Description," he replies, "Those two are insane. Best not to stand too close to them, or they might kill you for no reason."
"Good to know," she responds, "I haven't seen Kuroda use an attack like that, but it could have been him. But I think it is more likely that it was Yovestu if it didn't come from your side."
"Which one is that?" asks Shinmaru.
"The blonde one," she says.
"Should we go check on them?" asks Shinmaru.
"Sorry, but I am supposed to keep you over here," explains Hitomi as she disengages and moves over to block his path.
"You are strange," he repeats once again before swinging his sword horizontally.
"Start talking already!" demands Rizuki.
"How about we make a deal?" proposes Kuroda, "You tell me what interest the Grass Village has here and I will tell you what interest the Leaf Village has."
"I'm not with the Grass Village," she replies, "Now start talking!"
"Thanks for the info," says Kuroda as he drops the kunai that he was still holding in his hand, "I think I will escape now."
"Damn you! You're not going anywhere!" she yells as she lifts him up into the air again. As the kunai falls to the ground, Kuroda sticks out the bottom of his foot and gathers chakra on it. The kunai passes by his foot and then stick to the bottom when it makes contact with his chakra. Suddenly he is thrown towards the nearest wall. Before he hits the wall, Kuroda is able to twist around and kick his foot. The kunai is released from the chakra grasp and flies straight at Rizuki. "Nice try, but you are not going to get me with a single kunai," says the Grass deserter as she prepares to dodge. Suddenly Kuroda appears next to the kunai moving at the exact same speed. "Shit!" exclaims Rizuki as she tries to end her Jutsu and defend herself.
Kuroda grabs the kunai when close enough and slashes at her midsection, tearing right through the fishnet and her skin. He twists around and plants the base of his foot right into her back, kicking her across the ground. As she rolls she turns into a cloud of black smoke and disappears from view. Kuroda stands in place and scans around the area for his opponent. "What an interesting Jutsu," he thinks as he searches, "It would be very useful to me. I should try to recruit her if I can."
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? Yovestu and the Leaf Ninja have encountered the enemy, will they defeat them? And will Kuroda be adding a new member to his forces? 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.)