Making Moves

Tue Jan 29, 2019 2:38 am

As The Monster strode through the seemingly endless seas of sand that made up Wind Country he would look towards the sky and allow his glowing eyes to rest upon the brightly shining form of the moon. The stars too were shining brightly, seemingly working together with the moon to bathe the world in their cold and ethereal light. It truly was a beautiful night… although to most the giant plume of smoke and still burning ash that rose into the sky would overshadow said beauty. Kenshin however would not agree with that opinion, and he personally felt that the glowing orange of the ash within the ever rising cloud of smoke provided the night with a beauty like no other. The fact that said plume of smoke was rising from what remained of the final outpost of Kumogakure within Wind Country only made the sight all the more appealing to his rather macabre tastes. The ever growing plume of deep and dark smoke blocked out countless stars and even threatened to block out the moon in some instances, but the still burning ash and embers that rose into the sky alongside the smoke replaced the stars with little effort.

He had given the forces of Wind Country a full week to prepare for his assault after his encounter with the young Yamaguchi, and in that week he had gathered information on the locations of each of the five Kumogakure outposts in Wind Country. The first of the outposts to fall had been located quite close to the border of Shadow, and just like the bases within Rain Country it hadn’t seemed that the inhabitants of the base had been prepared for an attack from someone of his calibre. Whether this meant that the Undead Puppeteer had succumbed to his injuries before he could warn his comrades, fled without warning them, or his superiors had sorely underestimated the strength of The Immortal was anyone's guess, but in the end the truth of the matter meant little. He had given the bases inhabitants every chance to fight back and prove the strength of the Village of Rot, but all they had succeeded in doing was confirming that a vast majority of the villages forces were not worth their ranks. Much like the outposts within Rain Country and the Yamaguchi boy he had been able to toy with them relentlessly, and unlike the child none of them had shown a level of ruthlessness or cunning that the half-blood Uzumaki could truly respect.

Well, that was not entirely true, one shinobi had earned a modicum of respect when she had detonated a handful of hidden explosive tags on her torso in a desperate final attempt to stop The Monster that was ruthlessly ravaging her comrades. She had waited until he was focused on fighting a trio of Chunin before launching herself at him with the body flicker technique, although in doing so she had all but announced her location to the silver haired teen. His chains had ended her just as easily as they had so many of her comrades, but the rather large explosion that engulfed her lifeless body mere moments later told him what her true goal was. It was unfortunate that she had died before she actually managed to get within range of him… well, unfortunate for her and her comrades anyway. But other than that one unnamed kunoichi none of the worthless scum that wore the headband of Kumogakure had earned even the smallest hint of his respect. After the disappointment that he had felt during his assault on the first outpost he had decided to give the shinobi within the other outposts a further three days before he launched his attack on the second.

Much to his glee the second outpost seemed to be prepared for an attack of some kind, as not only were the people within the relatively small base on high alert, but it seemed that they had received a fair amount of reinforcements… likely from their main base within Sunagakure itself. The twisted creature had even decided that he would be entirely serious about this attack right from the beginning, no toying around with the inhabitants like he had those within Rain Country or even the first outpost in Wind. He had hoped that the shinobi within the base would pose a true challenge to him based solely on their numbers and the fact that he had given them days to prepare for his arrival… but much to his dismay the second outpost had ended up falling much quicker than the first. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t take a great deal of glee out of decimating the base or slaughtering those within, as he had indeed taken a great deal of pleasure from their cries of terror, screams of pain and pleas for mercy… but the lack of a challenge had left his ‘victory’ feeling hollow.

Again he had given the remaining outposts three days to prepare for his next assault, and again the outpost that he had targeted was on higher alert and had more shinobi than the last… but unlike the last base the shinobi within didn’t end up falling quite as fast. In fact, if anything, exterminating the vermin that called the third outpost home had proved to be a bit challenging. However, that wasn’t because the shinobi within were stronger or had better defences… they had simply opted to flee after it became obvious that they were fighting a losing battle. The thrill of the hunt had been rather intense and he had definitely enjoyed hunting down the cowards that had taken off into the vast sands of Wind Country… but he knew that some had actually managed to escape from him, and that left a bad taste in his mouth. Three days later, during his assault on the fourth outpost, he had again been forced to chase down fleeing shinobi after their initial attempts at launching a counterattack on him had failed… and again he knew that some of his prey had managed to escape from him.

When the shinobi within the outposts had fled from him the first time he had taken it as a sign that they were simply cowards who knew that fighting him was a death sentence. After the second instance of a mass retreat he began to suspect that they had been ordered to do so if it looked like the fight was hopeless. There would not be a third… and when he launched his attack on the fifth and final outpost he would ensure that none of his prey managed to escape. The silver haired heated thief had arrived at the fifth base in the same day that the fourth had fallen but rather than launching an attack he had simply observed the shinobi within the outpost, taking note of the guards patrol routes, times at which the guards switched, and the locations of the main barracks. He launched his attack once the sun had begun to set, mere minutes before the guards were due to switch so that the guards he had to deal with were already exhausted and preparing to sleep once their replacements arrived.

There were a total of seven guards around the base, and the three that atop a series of sandstone guard towers on the walls of the outpost were the first to fall. The first was taken out by the silently thrown kunai of a Shadow Clone that was using the cover of darkness to charge the gates. The true Kenshin took out the second of the three, using his Hiding Like a Mole to infiltrate the base without being seen or heard and much like the clone using the cover of darkness to climb the watchtower and silently dispatch the guard. As the Shadow Clone reached the gates it would begin to form four hand seals, and upon the completion a black smoke would begin to seep from its pores. With the technique used the clone would dispel itself and the user would watch with a dark grin as a large portion of base, including the barracks and gates, were seemingly erased from existence. The screams of those within had been brief yet powerful, and before the survivors had a chance to start running Kenshin would use his position atop the last remaining guard tower to rain fire down on what little remained of the base.

A dark grin spread across the scarred face of The Monster as he continued to walk away from the billowing cloud of ash and smoke… his plan had worked perfectly, and none of his prey had managed to escape this time.

And now all that remained was Sunagakure itself.

TWC: 1461

[Exit]

1461 words towards Scarlet Spheres (3478 words remaining)

Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:32 am

Approved.

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