The previous assassination of Murikubou Yosuke had gone swimmingly. The whole thing was a setup meant to lure him in to trying to interfere with Cloud's missions yet again and he had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. He never realized that there was no wealthy noble and walked right in to the trap. Fortunately, the whole point of doing it this way was to delay suspicion from the group he was a part of. To the outside world, it seemed as though he had just fallen to the shinobi guarding his target- no one yet realized that he had been the target. Now it was time for the second name on Ayumu's list: Satonaka Tomoe.
Reading the dossier of information gathered on her it was quite similar to Yosuke's story. In her home village, not a shinobi village, she was the daughter of a single mother- a seamstress, though a long past generation had been from Kumogakure and part of the Haku bloodline. She had grown up learning the trade, but showed some signs of being able to manipulate chakra. Cloud itself had heard of this and thought to snatch her up, but before it could she disappeared. She had reappeared just recently, like Yosuke, fully trained as a shinobi and taking jobs that often involved disrupting Cloud's missions.
This time, Cloud's connections in the seedy parts of cities spread the word of a high value purchase going down, sure to include the detail that a Cloud shinobi had been hired to make sure it went smoothly. This would draw many thugs foolhardy enough to challenge a shinobi, but unbeknownst to them Ayumu wasn't the only one present. A few other Cloud shinobi lurked in the shadows taking down the common thugs before they even got close. If they didn't also locate Tomoe, who was known to be taking jobs in this city, she was sure to be found interrupting the "purchase".
Something was off, however. Things didn't appear to be going as planned. The two actors entered the room at the pre-determined time that had been well broadcasted to the shady types who would hire Tomoe. They talked for a while, as planned, to give Tomoe time to make her move but she never came. They eventually had to trade a suitcase of bills for the large ruby- both of which were fake. Now that the "purchase" was complete, but Tomoe was still not there. It was possible she had not taken the bait, but more likely in Ayumu's mind that she was waiting for the ruby to leave the building. He followed the "customer" under his active camo, making him invisible to the naked eye.
Entering the streets outside the building, Ayumu began watching the rooftops for any signs of a shinobi, but nothing seemed to be coming. Then, a call on his radio. "We just found the actor playing the customer unconscious, apprehend the impostor!" another shinobi said. The two "bodyguards" on either side of the "customer" got the same message and went to grab the man by his arms. All Ayumu could see was an eruption of smoke that engulfed the three of them before a pillar of ice shot up from the smoke with a figure atop it sporting chin length brown hair, a green jacket, and black shorts. Satonaka Tomoe had been disguised as the customer.
Ayumu jumped to the top of a light post and then to a rooftop in pursuit. Oddly, it was beginning to snow, but any fool would know the cause. Another of the Cloud shinobi made their move first, springing at Tomoe from a hidden place on a rooftop. An translucent dome of ice, barely visible, caught Ayumu's eye for a brief moment. Suddenly, the dome exploded outward, sending chunks of ice in all directions which struck the Cloud shinobi, throwing him off course and giving him a rough landing through the top of a street stand. Ayumu winced- not because he felt badly for the man (he did) but because a snowflake had just cut his cheek. In fact, several slits were appearing all over his clothing from the deadly snow. He needed to work quickly.
He sprung forward off of the roof top, sword drawn to carry out his assination in one strike- of course it would never be that easy. Despite his active camo, snow had accumulated on him which made him barely visible- enough for Tomoe to spot him. She formed a seal with one hand and the snow falling around her gathered and condensed in to a clone of her blocking Ayumu's attack at the cost of it's arm, which fell away and shattered as ice on the ground. It went to cast a jutsu but found itself missing another arm before being cut in half. Ayumu landed on a rooftop and suddenly found himself surrounded by mirrors. Two waves of senbon made of ice shot forth from mirrors on either side of him, Tomoe reflected in them. He knocked down one with his sword, then the other- unfortunately an unseen wave of them embeded four ice senbon in his back causing him to groan in pain.
The waves of senbon kept coming and he quickly sheathed his sword for a moment while dodging to summon forth some shadow servants. They assisted him by deflecting some of the senbon for him while he watched Tomoe disappear and reappear from mirror to mirror. His eyes weren't fast enough to follow her movements, but he did have one thing going for him. He attacked a mirror with Tomoe in it, only to have her disappear a second before. The mirror shattered from his strong attack, though it began to reform. He moved quickly, chasing after but not catching Tomoe. Still, with each hit one less mirror remained for Tomoe to merge with.
After several successive mirrors were smashed and Ayumu had quite a few ice senbon sticking out of him, only three mirrors remained. He made to attack a mirror, but stopped short and made a lightning fast movement to the next. His prediction proved to be correct- there were only so many options for Tomoe left after all. She appeared in the mirror he switched to and though she tried to switch again he caught her half way out of the mirror, piercing her torso with his sword and ending the battle. The remaining mirrors shattered. Another Cloud shinobi approached to take care of the body as Ayumu walked away in search of the Med-nin, plucking senbon from his body and wincing at the cuts the razor sharp snowflakes had made. He would return to the village until he was called to take out the next on his list.
[Mission Complete]
[WC: 1,127]
Reading the dossier of information gathered on her it was quite similar to Yosuke's story. In her home village, not a shinobi village, she was the daughter of a single mother- a seamstress, though a long past generation had been from Kumogakure and part of the Haku bloodline. She had grown up learning the trade, but showed some signs of being able to manipulate chakra. Cloud itself had heard of this and thought to snatch her up, but before it could she disappeared. She had reappeared just recently, like Yosuke, fully trained as a shinobi and taking jobs that often involved disrupting Cloud's missions.
This time, Cloud's connections in the seedy parts of cities spread the word of a high value purchase going down, sure to include the detail that a Cloud shinobi had been hired to make sure it went smoothly. This would draw many thugs foolhardy enough to challenge a shinobi, but unbeknownst to them Ayumu wasn't the only one present. A few other Cloud shinobi lurked in the shadows taking down the common thugs before they even got close. If they didn't also locate Tomoe, who was known to be taking jobs in this city, she was sure to be found interrupting the "purchase".
Something was off, however. Things didn't appear to be going as planned. The two actors entered the room at the pre-determined time that had been well broadcasted to the shady types who would hire Tomoe. They talked for a while, as planned, to give Tomoe time to make her move but she never came. They eventually had to trade a suitcase of bills for the large ruby- both of which were fake. Now that the "purchase" was complete, but Tomoe was still not there. It was possible she had not taken the bait, but more likely in Ayumu's mind that she was waiting for the ruby to leave the building. He followed the "customer" under his active camo, making him invisible to the naked eye.
Entering the streets outside the building, Ayumu began watching the rooftops for any signs of a shinobi, but nothing seemed to be coming. Then, a call on his radio. "We just found the actor playing the customer unconscious, apprehend the impostor!" another shinobi said. The two "bodyguards" on either side of the "customer" got the same message and went to grab the man by his arms. All Ayumu could see was an eruption of smoke that engulfed the three of them before a pillar of ice shot up from the smoke with a figure atop it sporting chin length brown hair, a green jacket, and black shorts. Satonaka Tomoe had been disguised as the customer.
Ayumu jumped to the top of a light post and then to a rooftop in pursuit. Oddly, it was beginning to snow, but any fool would know the cause. Another of the Cloud shinobi made their move first, springing at Tomoe from a hidden place on a rooftop. An translucent dome of ice, barely visible, caught Ayumu's eye for a brief moment. Suddenly, the dome exploded outward, sending chunks of ice in all directions which struck the Cloud shinobi, throwing him off course and giving him a rough landing through the top of a street stand. Ayumu winced- not because he felt badly for the man (he did) but because a snowflake had just cut his cheek. In fact, several slits were appearing all over his clothing from the deadly snow. He needed to work quickly.
He sprung forward off of the roof top, sword drawn to carry out his assination in one strike- of course it would never be that easy. Despite his active camo, snow had accumulated on him which made him barely visible- enough for Tomoe to spot him. She formed a seal with one hand and the snow falling around her gathered and condensed in to a clone of her blocking Ayumu's attack at the cost of it's arm, which fell away and shattered as ice on the ground. It went to cast a jutsu but found itself missing another arm before being cut in half. Ayumu landed on a rooftop and suddenly found himself surrounded by mirrors. Two waves of senbon made of ice shot forth from mirrors on either side of him, Tomoe reflected in them. He knocked down one with his sword, then the other- unfortunately an unseen wave of them embeded four ice senbon in his back causing him to groan in pain.
The waves of senbon kept coming and he quickly sheathed his sword for a moment while dodging to summon forth some shadow servants. They assisted him by deflecting some of the senbon for him while he watched Tomoe disappear and reappear from mirror to mirror. His eyes weren't fast enough to follow her movements, but he did have one thing going for him. He attacked a mirror with Tomoe in it, only to have her disappear a second before. The mirror shattered from his strong attack, though it began to reform. He moved quickly, chasing after but not catching Tomoe. Still, with each hit one less mirror remained for Tomoe to merge with.
After several successive mirrors were smashed and Ayumu had quite a few ice senbon sticking out of him, only three mirrors remained. He made to attack a mirror, but stopped short and made a lightning fast movement to the next. His prediction proved to be correct- there were only so many options for Tomoe left after all. She appeared in the mirror he switched to and though she tried to switch again he caught her half way out of the mirror, piercing her torso with his sword and ending the battle. The remaining mirrors shattered. Another Cloud shinobi approached to take care of the body as Ayumu walked away in search of the Med-nin, plucking senbon from his body and wincing at the cuts the razor sharp snowflakes had made. He would return to the village until he was called to take out the next on his list.
[Mission Complete]
[WC: 1,127]