| abstract | - There were only a few days left before the exams, and already Kirigakure was beginning to fill from shinobi from surrounding lands. The residents of the hidden village, generally superstitious of outsiders, raised their noses at the newcomers and tried their best to avoid them. Nevertheless, the influx of travelers was good for business, and even as the sun began to set the streets were filled with customers looking to buy equipment for the upcoming event, or simply to find a good meal before nightfall. A lanky youth carrying a giant shuriken on his back fell into the latter category. He tossed his hands behind his head as his stomach growled loudly, and muttered under his breath. “Can’t find a decent meal around this place.” He cast his gaze up at the towering, cylindrical buildings that surrounded him, silent sentinels that loomed over the town. They were strange to him, with thick groves of plants spilling over the sides of their roofs. He had never seen buildings like that in his home land, and he found them slightly monotonous and eerie. As it continued to grow dark mist began to fill the streets, and the lights of the town shone in murky, glowing pools in the dusk. Following the delicious mingled scent of dozens of mouth-watering dishes, he at last found a street filled with food vendors. “All right,” he said, casting his gaze around to find the cheapest establishment. He had been given a limited budget by Jinsei, and the money would not go far, especially considering the amount he would need to eat to build up his energy reserves. He cursed his own immense appetite, and felt a pang of homesickness as he thought of his sensei. He had accompanied a group of genin from Tanigakure, but aside from them all being from the Land of Rivers, he held little in common with the others. Since there were ten of them and he was from outside the official hidden village, he was the odd man out. The Tanigakure jōnin that was in charge of the group had promised him that he would find him a team, but so far that prospect seemed to be growing slimmer and slimmer. “Stay with the group,” the jōnin had told him. “Don’t wander off on your own.” “Hmph.” he curled his lip as he remembered the instructions. “Like hell.” He was not a part of the group to begin with. As usual the other genin had excluded him. Not that he cared. He rarely cared about what others thought of him. But it was that which had prompted him to explore the town on his own, orders or no orders. At last he stopped in front of a small, dingy noodle stand. He stared at the board advertising the prices for a moment before he sighed. Although he was sure the owner had done his best to inflate the prices for the exams, it could not be helped. He was hungry, which meant he was in a bad mood, and he did not care enough to bicker over the prices. “Might as well,” he grumbled as he stepped under the grease-stained curtain and took a seat. Elsewhere within the village Hidden in the Mist was a young black haired boy, accompanied by a wolf. The two were an unbreakable pair, they would often be seen arguing with each other but never the less the bond they shared was one like no other. Raijūmaru, the wolf, was sniffing everywhere trying to adjust to all the new scents in the village. His human partner, Raiden, was one of the many genin level shinobi awaiting the upcoming Chunin Exams. The young shinobi was hyped up about the exams although he wasn't to happy with all these strangers in his home village. He felt that thhe village was to vulnerable with all the foreigners pouring in by the day. Raiden was in a foul mood ever since he had been dismissed from training early because 'apparently' he needed to rest up according to his sensei. It was complete and utter bullshit as far as he was concerned. On top of that his sensei told him and Aoi, his teammate, that they would be having an outsider on their team due to the third members fatal injury on their last mission. It was an insult. As they wondered around the village they saw countless genin from various villages. Curiosity began to grow in Raiden's mind. He wondered how strong the other genin were. An idea came into his head within seconds and a devious smile took up the entierty of his face. "Whats gotten in to you", Asked Raijūmaru, the grey wolf. "Lets see how strong these genin really are", Replied Raiden. "You know the rules strictly forbid combat before the inital exams", Raijūmaru said. "I am the great Raiden Narukami. I know nothing of these rules. Now c'mon"," Raiden responded, in his usual vain, self-centred self. His companion sighed. "This kids gonna be the death of me", Raijūmaru thought to himself as the two darted off into th misty sky. A half hour and fifteen bowls of noodles later Chūgo finally emerged from the food stand. He stretched and yawned, still not quite full. But he had succeeded in subduing the gnawing pit in his stomach, and that would do for now. It had grown considerably darker since he had sat down to eat, and as he stared at the sky he noted gathering clouds, and found that the air was heavy with the scent of rain. He supposed it would be best to return to his team’s headquarters, although he did not care either way if he were caught in a storm or not. He set off once more, chewing on a toothpick as he walked and quickly losing interest in the town as he continued to wander through it. There were a lot of genin strolling about, he noted, but none of them impressed him. If he were not running so short on daylight he would have explored the forests outside the village instead of the streets, in order to get a good feel for the terrain. He had been told the ground could be treacherous, filled with unseen marshes that could swallow a shinobi in the blink of an eye. If that were the case, the second part of the exam would be incredibly dangerous. He frowned. Perhaps he should be more concerned with the first part: the written exam. After all, if he did not pass that there would be no need to study a marsh he would never get to in the first place. Maybe it would be better to return to headquarters to study, but he cast that thought aside. It didn’t matter in the end, whether he studied or not, he concluded. And at this rate, he wanted to avoid, for as long as possible, contact with the jōnin who would no doubt have a lengthy earful to give him upon his return. He was just about to turn back when something caught his attention. He stopped, turned and, with a sudden light of interest in his eyes hurried over to peer in through the store front. It was a shop selling all manner of gadgetry, from used radios to TVs and toasters. Perfect place to kill more time. He thought. He dragged his hand over his mouth to make sure there were no traces of residual noodle left on his face as he made his way towards the door. Meanwhile.. Raiden and his partner had been stealthily pursuing multiple genin from foreign villages. As the darkness befell the Hidden Mist village the two began to grow tired of this pointless search. "If the ninja from the other villages are like these chumps, we'll ace this test for sure!" Raiden declared triumphantly. Raijū halted their high speed travel and descended upon a rooftop, his nose sniffing the air erratically. He almost looked happy, which came has a surprise to Raiden as the wolf was generally moody. "Raijū, wussup?" Questioned Raiden. "Just caught a whiff of a strong chakra, perhaps stronger than yours and its no one from our villages chakra," Replied the wolf. Being a wolf granted Raijū extrodinary sensory prowess, far greater than those of a human. Even surpassing a ninja hounds. "Bullshit.. We'll see about that," The same devious smile emerged on Raidens face yet again. "What ever it is, lets check it out," Completely contradicting his previous comment but he couldn't supress his curiosity. "Lead the way.. bitch," Raiden Mocked. The offended party chose to ignore it as he snorted and jumped off into the night sky. Under normal circumstances, Chūgo was not particularly receptive to the chakra signatures of others. But now he could sense the approaching individual clearly, their aura registering like rising red bars in his mind. Well, not really in his mind, as in his hand he held a chakra-measuring device. “How much for this, old man?” he asked the storekeeper behind the counter. The grizzled, bearded vendor scowled and gave him an exorbitant number. Chūgo sighed and placed the device back on the shelf. He figured a chakra monitor would have come in handy, but it was far above his price range. Maybe he could try and come up with something on his own once he returned home. With a slouched posture he exited the shop and stared up at the sky for a moment. What the read-out on the screen had shown him was an intense and swiftly approaching chakra signature, and now he did not even need a device to sense it. Strangely enough, although he could have been imagining it, the mist around him seemed to be charged with an almost electric presence. Whoever his unseen enemy was—that level of intensity could only belong to an enemy— they were undoubtedly out to catch him. A grin spread across Chūgo’s face. In that case, he would just have to catch them first. Chūgo took off at a sprint, running through the streets until he found what he was looking for: a short, narrow alley hedged in by a wall to one side and a low, two-story building on the other. Perfect. Quickly and nimbly, he strung a complex wire pattern across the span of the alleyway, fixing the wires to small shuriken that he concealed from sight in the cracks in the walls or under the ground. What was most complicated about the trap was the way he suspended the string. He carefully planned the design so that, with a simple pull at the right angle the hexagon of layered wire would close upon his adversary in an instant. As a final measure, Chūgo placed several exploding tags in a ring around where he was sure his opponent would land, smoothing the dirt over them so the ground looked undisturbed. “All right,” he said as he straightened up and brushed off his hands. He widened his stance and exhaled before forming the seal for ram with his hands, followed by snake and tiger. An intangible copy of his own body appeared, and by exerting a bit more chakra he was able to make it appear solid enough so that he and his clone were indistinguishable. He left the illusion in the center of the wire hexagon and, in a flash, had disappeared from the alley. He concealed himself in the thick foliage on the roof of the two-story building, and peering out from the shadows, waited for his enemy to arrive. Across the road, opposite the alley stood a three-story building and on top of it landed a male and a wolf, obviously Raiden and Raijū. As the two were aspiring assassins they were more than proficient in the art of Silent Killing. "Target Aquired," Whispered Raiden to his partner, gesturing to twelve o'clock dead ahead. The person with the mysterious chakra level stood at the end of a one way alley way. Raidens silent killing technique required him to get behind his enemy first but seeing as to were his foe had stationed him self that was impossible. "Impressive," Raiden thought to himself. Just as he was about to leap from the building he was perched upon he was stopped by his companion. "It must be a trap, he wouldn't corner himself dileberately, think about. Summon your bow and take a shot from here," Instructed Raijū. "Now where is the fun in that," Grinned the black haired boy. Raiden recited the first assasin rule to himself as he supressed his chakra. "Assassin Rule Number One: Silence- dissolve in the darkness and erase your breath. Wait for an opening to attack your target," He muttered. It didn't really apply to him given the situation, but he felt that it kept him focused in battle. Afterh is battle rituals, he jumped down and sprinted towards the alley. Raijū had an irritating knack for being right, so Raiden took in to consideration the possibility of him being right about a trap.. yet again. He stopped in the middle of the road and reached for three shuriken. All were released at a terrifying speed from his hands and were directed towards his target. "Lightning Release: Voltage Blade!" Roared Raiden. The shuriken were imbued in his lightning chakra, speeding them up expententially. Two of which seemed to have stopped mid-flight. Raiden was confused but a shuriken emerged from the darkness within the alley, taking him by surprise. "Fuck! No time to react," He thought to himself Appearingly out of nowhere his wolf had jumped in the way of the speeding projectile. The shuriken struk him right in side, sending him crashing to the dusty street floor. "Raijū..!" Screamed Raiden. "Dont worry about me kid, worry about your self. This guy aint no ordinary shinobi," Replied Raijū, trying to supress the pain. As he was just a summon animal he poofed away back to Gōzen Ridge. Raidens attention reverted back to the other shuriken that had made it through the trap. It hit the dark lanky figure directly in his chest. Like his wounded comrade, the enemy puffed into smoke. "Shit! It was a clone!" He thought as he gritted his teeth and jump backwards, in order to give himself time to react in case his enemy had any more surprises for him. Raiden hadn't a clue as to where the real one was hiding. "Come and fight me like a man! You coward!!" He yelled in to the empty alley, still un aware of his oppenents location. If there was anything he hated more than foreigners, it was a coward. They were the complete opposite. After a few seconds of silence Raiden shouted again. "Dont ignore me you bastard! Im gonna kill you!!" Raiden yelled. He drew his sword from his scabbard on his back, preparing for combat. Raiden probably wasn't joking, after all being a ninja of the Mist he was no stranger to killing. The blade became imbued in his lightning chakra, it was the same technique as before. It illuminated the dark. Seconds after chakra began to radiate from his body, forming as mini shocks of lightning around. He was pissed. Yep he was pissed, definetly pissed. That was one thing you never wanted to do. Piss off Raiden... Well, that was unexpected. Chūgo thought. He had planned on his pursuer initiating a direct taijutsu attack from the get-go, as that is most likely what he would have done, or at least what the genin he trained with back in Chogakure would have done. That had been a mistake, and a huge oversight on his part. The genin had sent his missiles into one of the wires with such force that it had jerked out one of the shuriken anchors and hurled it forward as a projectile, collapsing one side of the trap in the process. Chūgo had not intended to show such a level of hostility, but at least it had succeeded in causing the summoned wolf to disappear. That had been a surprise to Chūgo, as it was a rare technique and suggested his opponent possessed considerable skill as a shinobi. As the genin shouted his challenge Chūgo pressed his teeth into his left thumb, turning over all possible responses in his mind. He had several options here. He could create another clone, or play the sniper by using his crossbow, or mislead his adversary with a barrage of kunai while he set up a secondary attack. His opponent had obviously struck to kill, which meant Chūgo should respond in kind. But it puzzled him, as his opponent had intended to murder him with seemingly no apparent reason, putting himself at risk of disqualification from the exams. Perhaps he had been assigned to assassinate a member from the Land of Rivers teams, which was the more likely case. Only... why? He should wait to determine his opponent's motives before attacking. At any rate, the trap had only been meant to constrain and threaten his follower, not kill him. The fact that it had not worked according to plan was unfortunate, but still, he could use the situation to his advantage. Ah, what the hell... he flew from the rooftop in an eruption of leaves and landed in a crouch in the center of what remained of the trap. Craters formed where his hands and feet contacted the ground due to the extra weight of his heavy fūma shuriken. He sighed and then stood to his feet, a wall of unseen wires separating him from his opponent. Although he did not seem to have much in the way of distanced attacks due to him having drawn a sword, Chūgo was still wary of his foe. He could easily block a projectile attack by spinning his fūma shuriken, relying on his keen reflexes to counter, but whatever the case he needed to bring his enemy to him. Close contact, in other words, in order to initiate the next stage of his attack. But then, considering the electricity that sparked all around his adversary, he wondered if that was such good idea at all. With an inner shrug he decided to follow through with his original plan anyway. So long as he did not get hit by the charged blade, he would be fine... he hoped. Judging from the anger and annoyance demonstrated by the genin, the easiest way to bring him closer would be to provoke him. "You say I'm a coward, huh?" Chūgo asked, attempting to bate his opponent. "That's rich. A bit hypocritical isn't it?" He made sure he was completely relaxed as energy began to coalesce in his body, which would allow him to react instantly to anything his foe might throw his way. "You know, where I come from it's usually pretty bad policy to try and kill some guy you don't know anything about... makes you look stupid, if you catch my drift." He reached out and subtly took hold of one of the nearby wires. "And it's an easy way to get cut from the exams." Raiden quickly caught on to what his opponent was doing and didn't give in to his anger. Instead, he used it to his advantage by channeling it to empower is chakra. The lightning on the blade intensified, the chakra was so powerful you could hear it. An eerie, sinister howl that would make the most dominant wolves shudder. He decided to call it; 'The Wolfs Howl'. He then recited the next rule of the assassins. "Assassins Rule Number Two: Transpositional thinking- Analyze the target in order to predict his thoughts and movements." He muttered to himself. It was such powerful raw chakra he didn't know how long he could sustain it so he wasted no time at all. Raiden made his move, charging directly at his opponent. "I'm Raiden Narukami! The Spectre of the Mist. Let's see whats stronger.. My sword or your Fuma Shuriken," Yelled Raiden. He then seemingly disappeared, but in truth he had used one of his famed moves the Lightning Release: Body Flicker. It enabled him to travel at speeds greater than that of the original technique ny infusing the chakra with the chakra he uses for the normal Body Flicker. Raiden re appeared in the sky just above his opponent, his sword held high as he was descending towards him. He had such mastery over his breath control it couldn't be heard to the human ears. The only thing giving away his location were the howls of his blade. "Assassin's Rule Number Three: Speed- take out the target before the target notices your presence." Raiden said in his head. It was confirmed. He was going in for the kill. The Genin —Raiden— charged forwards as expected. The instant he started running Chūgo formed a rapid succession of hand seals. Ram, snake... But when his adversary disappeared with a flash of light he was caught off guard. Chūgo did not wait around to see where his opponent would attack from, all that mattered was that he would attack. He leaped backwards out of the trap, snapping through another side of wires as he completed the jutsu with a tiger seal, a clone appearing the instant he moved. His momentum continued to carry him backwards, and he felt himself losing his balance. With another leap he flipped over backwards, pushing his hands against the ground in order to propel himself up to the side of the building, where he slid to a stop. He watched in awe as Raiden brought all the power of a storm down towards his clone. The Genin had used Body Flicker with incredible velocity, faster than what Chūgo could see with his eyes. In fact, it seemed to rival the speed of even that technique... He had moved in an instant, and Chūgo was relieved that he had been able to evade the attack at all. With a simple tug of the one string he held in his hand, he constricted the remaining two webs of wire in around his opponent, closing the trap in an instant in order to immobilize him. The wires seemed as if they had appeared out of nowhere, if their was one thing that Raiden knew was that his opponent was good with those wires. He knew if he allowed him self to get caught it would be over. He attempted to use his advance Body Flicker once again, but even he wasn't fast enough to evade the trap. Wire strings were wrapped around him from his shoulders to his ankles. Raidens hands were completely restricted, therefore he couldn't do his hand seals.. Meaning no ninjutsu. "Shit, Shit, Shit! Im fucking done for if i stay in this thing!" Raiden thought to himself as he squirmed. He soon composed himself as he forged a plan in the few seconds he had, but he had to admit it was risky even for him. Raiden noticed that the enemy still had a firm grip on the wire so he had to take the principles from the Voltage Blade Technique, which was primarily chakra flow, and apply it to the wires surrounding him by sending lightning chakra through the wire. If he pulled it off he would temporarily paralyze the opponent or at least shock them, buying him enough time to do what he needed to do. On the other hand, if he failed somehow, which was unlikely seeing as how good his chakra flow currently was, he was sure that the enemy would slaughter him with that oversized shuriken. "I wont die! Not here! Not Now! And definetly not by your doing!" Raiden shouted as he release lightning chakra through the wire and straight at the lanky boy at an unimaginable speed. Of course, Chūgo had expected Raiden to use the wire as a conduit. It was the only logical option available to him. As such, he had taken his opponent's electrical chakra into consideration, and had wrapped the wire around the handle of a kunai as soon as he had landed on the wall. Before the lightning could reach him, he simply drove the blade into the side of the building in order to diffuse the electricity. Having no other route to take, the lightning pooled into and charged the kunai, and Chūgo knew that it would rapidly begin to heat up: in other words, he did not have much time before it burned through the wire, releasing Raiden from his cage of metal strands. In the meantime... "There are three explosive tags planted beneath your feet," he said, staring down at his captive. Chūgo raised his hands as if to form a seal. "If you try to attack me, I'll detonate them. So basically... Well, I wouldn't move if I were you." he grinned. "Now, since you won't be going anywhere, let's say we slow down and have a little chat." he paused, then asked bluntly: "Why were you following me, who hired you, and why did you try to kill me?" "Ugh.. this sucks. Im happy Kizuko-Sensei aint here to see this. He'd whoop my ass...for sure," Raiden thought to himself. "Hire? What do you take me for? A fool? The Great Spectre of the Mist can NOT simply be hired, I came on my own accord" Raiden said. "And as for the second question, I just wanted to test how strong you are," He added. This whole ordeal had Raiden's blood pumping, he hadn't faced such a strong opponent in a long while now. He simply couldn't wait to kill him. "This guy hasn't even seen half of my power. He's gonna be in for a shocking surprise," Raiden thought. Raiden had somewhat of a knack for making terrible jokes in situations like these. He almost laughed at his own pun but he composed himself because he would of looked lame. "Ok. My turn to ask the questions. Who are you?" Asked Raiden. "What? That's it? You attacked me because you thought it would be a good fight?" Chūgo sighed and shook his head. "The name's Chūgo, Chūgo Omu. And if it's a fight you're looking for..." he reached for his fūma shuriken, but stopped, quickly gauging his current situation. The alleyway was too narrow for him to properly use his weapon of choice, and the wire would soon melt anyway. His options were limited here, even if a fight would have been interesting. "Save it for the exams. It's not worth it anyway." he finished before he disappeared, flickering away into the distance and leaving his opponent in the alley behind him. Raiden watch as he dissolved into the darkness, he didn't bother call after him as he knew it would be pointless. He could feel the metal wire beginning to give way. "This couldn't get any worse," Snorted Raiden as he lost his balance and was pulled down to the ground by gravity. "Great," He thought. Soon after, he was able to break free from the wires clutches. Raiden picked up his sword and returned it to the scabbard on his back. Then he began a sequence of hand seals, Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram. Following this he bit his thumb and slammed his hand to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu," He murmered. A puff of smoke was seen and then his wolf companion emerged from. "Its about time, Great Wolf Sage healed me up ages ago. Now, fill me in," Raijū demanded. "Great. No time. Track down Chūgo. I'll tell you the details enroute," Replied Raiden "Chūgo?" Asked the wolf. "Giant shuriken guy.. Now let go," Raiden said. Raijū gave a simple nod, and he was off into the lingering mist once again. "Chūgo Omu, huh. Let's how tough you really are. Im coming for you... you bastard," Raiden thought to himself with a grin as he soared through the night sky.
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