Leon sighed as his partner yet again stopped next to a stall, looking at the swine that were for sale. It was slightly annoying since he really wanted to get to Konoha that day and get out. This way there wouldn’t be massive amounts of travelling throughout the night. That would mean, in the long run, that Leon would manage to get a full nights worth of sleep compared to the past few nights. Even if they had to stop in an inn tonight, it wouldn’t be that bad.

Sighing yet again, Leon looked down at the pig that his partner had selected from the nearly two hundred other swine and paid for it. Shaking his head, Leon kept walking towards the exit of this outskirt village, which was obstructing his view of his target, the Hokage Monument standing on the horizon signifying that Konoha was quite close.

There was no real purpose for this venture, just a personal thing for Leon. Unlike most normal people, he happened to have a few quirks, ones that normally set him off on killing rampages every now and then. The vacation he was undertaking with Yuushu, his partner, was more of a killing spree than an actual vacation. Leon happened to have a unique fear of a certain number he loathed to mention, as well as a certain sky view under a certain weather condition, and a certain hair color. Those three things were nigh unmentionable around him unless people wanted to die, the only exception at this point in time being his partner. That was namely because Yuushu literally kicked his right arm off his body last time Leon had tried to kill him for mentioning that number. It wasn’t a fatal wound because Leon sewed it back up himself, but still, it was quite annoying to need to reattach body parts when Yuushu got annoyed or bored. Just because he was able to rebuild himself didn’t make him a punching bag.

Turning around, Leon swore under his breath as he saw Yuushu trying to follow him with a pig thrown over his shoulders, and cooking supplies. While Yuushu would be remaining outside of the village, cooking an entire pig was going to give away quite a bit. Shrugging his shoulders, Leon released one of his sealing scrolls from his belt and handed it to Yuushu, which would allow him to seal all of the items he was carrying into the scroll and not take so long to walk.

” Yknow, all that is unnecessary. A simple package of bacon and a lighter would have been enough, but you HAD to buy the full pig didn’t you. This had better be a good damned explanation to get into the village if you think there’s going to be enough time for you to cook that whole pig before I get back.”

The invisible force that catches even the strongest of men; the hunger within Yuushu was a beast of another nature. As his stomach churned wanting food for his hungry body, the simple idea of getting fast food came into his mind. They were so close to the village, just a few hundred metres away and he could eat all the fast food he desired. But he didn’t want to wait that long, no, that’s ridiculous. As hungry as he was, he could eat just about anything. Perhaps the Nara forest where the deer reside, a good amount of venison would satisfy his need. A bit of marinating of the meat, perhaps slow cook it in a pot or so, the meat so good that it would melt in his mouth. Ah, the science behind it all was tantalizing and almost orgasmic.

No, that would take too long and he wanted to have at least some type of hope before he went on and-oh, now wait now, what is this. Yuushu eyes peeked over by a stable where there, on the path, was a farm that was holding swine. All of them were bunched up together, Yuushu could see with the movements that the bigger swine were on the outside pushing in the small ones. He smiled, he could feel his mouth watering and actually taste the savory crisp ribs of the pork and the bacon. “We’re making a stop first” Yuushu said to Leon, his cohort. The obvious annoyance of Leon made Yuushu grab his neck and shaking it “Relax buddy, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Yuushu bought the biggest pig the farmer had to offer. Easy money for him to give away, the farmer thought it was a deal seeing the amount of ryo Yuushu had in his hand when he gave to him. What the farmer didn’t notice was that all of what he gave was counterfeit. A few keen men would’ve seen it right away, but commoners of their kind who were greedy like the pigs themselves were too blind to know. Yuushu killed the pig immediately, snapping its neck and hauled it over his shoulder. He never left home without the proper tools to feast on large quantities of food; he had his salt, his fork, his knife and a lighter to help start a fire. He plans on roasting it with a very smoky wood.

Leon turned around. Digging into one of his pockets, he pulled a scroll for Yuushu to move in all of his ingredients and food “Mighty kind of ya” Yuushu said thankfully. He immediately sealed the items into the scroll and placed the scroll into his trench coat.

” Yknow, all that is unnecessary. A simple package of bacon and a lighter would have been enough, but you HAD to buy the full pig didn’t you. This had better be a good damned explanation to get into the village if you think there’s going to be enough time for you to cook that whole pig before I get back.”

Yuushu flapped his hand at him signaling him to be patient “Listen, don’t worry. The path that I’m going to tell you will basically make sure that I’ll have time to cook this bad boy. Now, what’s going to happen is that you are going to invade inside of the compound, the village if you aren’t paying attention. The entire complex has a large sensory defense system that tells what comes in. It can’t recognize who it is but they’ll know it’s an intruder” he taps Leon’s shoulder “Your sensory abilities will allow you to find the few holes of this system. High ranking shinobi understand this little hole and because they reside of the village, they can enter into this hole. You, well, the holes are at random and they change periodically. During the day is when it is at a normal interchangeable field, meaning that it changes once every two minutes. You’ll have two minutes to find the hole otherwise you’ll be sensed right away.”

“As for me, I’ll be cooking this bad boy. I know a few spots that the ROOT members take. If you need any back up…well, you’re on your own. I don’t feel like fighting the entire black ops and the Hokage. As much as I want to, it’s not the smartest thing to do at the moment. Whatever you have in mind, your crazy ass should do fine”

Leon just shook his head at his partners explanation of how to get in and out of Konoha. It all seemed like much more work that it was worth, sneaking in and out of gaps in their defense was just so much more complicated than what Leon had thought of.

”Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but… we have these neat fake passports. Why cant we just use these and walk right in the front gate?” Leon asked, patting the pocket that his own passport was stored into. ”That just seems to make more sense. Although with you… well… I guess the Nara are still out after your blood, aren’t they?”

Leon shrugged and kept walking through the village, but the continuous smells began to bombard him; all the cooking, the different meats and vegetables odors were slowly swirling around him and invading his nasal cavities. Shaking his head, Leon tried to distract himself by looking for something around the town they were walking through to get off the mind set of eating. They had eaten like… two hours ago. It wasn’t like there was any reason for either of them to be as hungry as it would seem they were getting, but as they neared closer to the end of the village, Leon swore and turned around, heading back in.

”Stay right there, Ill be right back” Leon said, his eyes fashioned in a slight glare as he strode back into the village, pulling another scroll out of his pocket and swearing all the while. Since Yuushu had bought the entire pig, it would be a total waste to not make a complete meal out of it, and Leon always had an unsuitable craving for any kind of steak… and speaking of steak, there was a bull stand. His attention completely diverted by any other thoughts, Leon quickly moved through the crowd, avoiding colliding with anyone and stood in front of the person running the stall.

”Gimme the best bull you got. No crappy version of meat, Ill tell right away if you are trying to make a quick buck,” Leon said, glaring at the man intensely. Nodding, the clerk quickly ran out into the pen and searched around for a minute, before turning back, pulling a beautiful black bull behind him. Drooling slightly, Leon imitated Yuushu from earlier and wrapped his arms around the bulls neck, snapping it in a quick turn and putting it in the scroll. Tossing a small bag of ryo at the stand, Leon walked away and quickly stopped at a fresh produce market, grabbing quite a few cloves of garlic and fresh pepper. As he was about to walk back out of the village, and clanging sound caught his attention and Leon turned, staring into a kitchen appliance shop.

After debating for a quick minute, Leon walked out of the village holding a cast iron fry pan, non stick, and a small wooden bottle of vinegar and extra virgin olive oil in his pockets. In his free hand, Leon carried a blob of dirt that he had picked up outside of the store, and threw it at Yuushu’s face as he reached his side.

”See? This is what happens when you get freaking meat. You make me bloody hungry, and I end up getting more food. Now, thanks to that, I cant concentrate on anything other than food, which means we need to wait another day to get to Konoha because butchering all this meat, cooking it, eating, and by that time it will be dark,” Leon said, swearing under his breath again. It wasn’t fully Yuushu’s fault, had Leon noticed the bull earlier, the positions would have been switched.

”Well, its not that bad of a deal actually… we each cook for each other, and you can teach me some jutsu. This way I wont suck as much until I get what I came to this damnable village for.”

Leon just shook his head. Yuushu had tilted his head slightly giving Leon and look that said “what do you mean no?” but Leon then explained”Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but… we have these neat fake passports. Why can’t we just use these and walk right in the front gate?” Leon asked, patting the pocket that his own passport was stored into. ”That just seems to make more sense. Although with you… well… I guess the Nara is still out after your blood, aren’t they?”

The Nara clan was still after his head for leaving them but they were the least of his worries. Out of everyone in that particular clan that would give him a bit of trouble, it would be his younger sister. Time passed and since it’s been over ten years since he last been to Konoha, she had the element of surprise on her side. The only thing Yuushu had on her was experience with handling the Nara clansmen in particular. This was a theory if she was the enemy; she wasn’t his enemy and he knew well that his sister still hold dear to him. No, he wouldn’t hurt her nor kill her but if she did get in his way then there would be hell to pay.

Yuushu rubbed the back of his head. His plan was simple to him; really just a matter of timing but of course his partner wasn’t one who looks at it simply. He was risking a bit more due to the fact that Leon has a way of being too spontaneous and that would make infiltrating Konoha had difficult in the long run. There was no point of arguing with him, it wasn’t him that was infiltrating into Konoha. Whatever Leon does at that point, that was up to him. If he wanted to go through the front gate, fine. If he wanted to take the path Yuushu suggested, that would be fine too. Either way, Yuushu wouldn’t involve himself as of yet. Yuushu breathed out “Fine by me. Whatever you want, I’ll go with it” he smiled lethargically “You the crazy one, not I”

The market had a variety of meats cooking in the air. It was sinister and almost making Yuushu want to cook his pig now so he wouldn’t have to deal with the smell. He turned to see Leon, whose eyes was in a glaze and fixated with all of the meat around him. He looked as if he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Wait-Leon went over to a stand which was selling bulls. He asked, rather demanded for the best bull. Interesting as to why they were selling bulls at a market. Yuushu glanced around and saw different kinds of animals ranging from smaller swine than the one had in his scroll, to large chicken, trout, salmon, shrimp, crab, hanged meat that appeared to be lamb, goat; the amount of meats would make a man go insane if they are hungry. Yuushu looked over to Leon; the salvia was dripping down from the sides of his mouth looking like a starving man who hasn’t seen food for weeks. He couldn’t be that hungry, he only ate just two hours ago and they were walking to Konoha.

Leon received his bull and did the same procedure as what Yuushu did when he got his pig. When he killed it and got the other flavoring agents, he placed the bull into a scroll. Yuushu watched this even happen. He also saw him pick up a blob of dirt from earlier. When Leon attempt to throw it in his face, Yuushu yawned and lean himself back evading the dirt entirely. When he turned to Leon, he went off saying how now they would have to wait a day or so to eat before reaching into Konoha. Yuushu glanced at him then turned away and continued to walk forward for a bit. He had no intention of waiting, not for Leon. He is his partner, not a lifetime friend who he could wait on. “I could really give two shits if you are hungry or not. And I said maybe, MAYBE I’ll teach you the Nara’s secret jutsu and Konoha's techniques. Don’t get too ahead of yourself. I want to see you action before I can decide on whether I want to teach you a damn thing or not”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocket watch. He flipped it open and it was getting closer to three o clock. He thumb was rubbing the glass part of the watch as he was beginning to contempt on the situation at hand. He began to have a revelation on how bad the objective would go if Leon went alone into Konoha. He didn’t care for Leon at all but he didn’t want to be liable for him if he were to die. “Besides, I’ve decided to tail with you. Even with the Nara clan on my ass, I could care less if they come after me or not. It wasn’t them that were used as a tool for the Hokage. None of those clowns ever went to ROOT just to be a damn assassin and used as a weapon. So pull out that thong of yours that is stuck in your ass and hold in your hungry self because we’re going into Konoha today”

Akegata lounged upon the red brick shingles of the roof atop a wallless building. He was pretty sure it was called a gazeebo. Where was he exactly? He wasnt even sure what this place was called. He knew it was in Fire country but as to the name of the place, he neither knew nor cared. What did it matter, He was just passing through anyway. This little shit hole had nothing for him as far as he was concerned. Nothing other then the fairly good sized barrel of sake sitting next to him on the roof, held in place by a sword stuck vertically between two shingles to keep it from sliding off and crashing onto the ground below and spoiling. Granted, it was pretty well enforced and probably wouldnt break from a fall this high, but there was always the chance of it falling on someones head and then having to deal with local authorities about the matter and risk losing it or having to fight over it. Not that he wouldnt be able to have his way, but it just wasnt worth it, plus, then hed have to go get it. There was a whole list of reasons why he just as soon wanted it up here with him, but why bother naming them all when it wasnt even an issue.

He held a small cup in one hand and had the other laid upon the tap that gave access to the cool, soothing liquid with in. He had downed about five cups already and was feeling a slight, comforting weight on the back of his mind. The alcohol was taking effect. He began to day dream about random nonsense, not fully in reality anymore, but not completely disconnected from it either. He was aware of his surroundings but was more or less ignoring them. That was until a familiar voice had caught his ear.

”Well, its not that bad of a deal actually… we each cook for each other, and you can teach me some jutsu. This way I wont suck as much until I get what I came to this damnable village for.”

He knew that voice. back from when he had been learning the ways of a shinobi, expanding on his simple samurai training. The sword was not enough when dealing with the clients he had and the enemies he was hired to face. He had needed that extra edge and had sought out and received training from one of the most legendary ranks. One of the legendary Shikyo of old. His name had been Riku, and he had not disappointed. He had even granted Akegata with one of his most prized possessions, the Suraikou blade. A weapon of Raiton and so much power it was hard for even him to control, one of the most worthy of its kind.

Admist all that training that had mad him fairly capable in the arts of ninjutsu, he had brought another one of his students along. This one had been crazy, sometimes forsaking all his composure for a complete insanity that was almost humorous, to a point. In truth, he had annoyed Akegata, who couldnt succumb to such things, for better or worse, and lacked an over all emotion or intricate personality. Some thought him mysterious, but there wasnt much more then met the eye. It wasnt that he was trying to hide something, there was nothing to hide in the first place. There just wasnt much to reveal.

Leon.......that's his name

The two were exiting now, and though they had never been overly fond of each other, having almost gotten into a stand off had Riku not stepped in last time, Akegata did wonder what he was doing here and who that man was that was with him. Also he wondered if he knew of any news about Riku, whom he had not heard from for a while now, having no clue as to his whereabouts.

HEY YOU

In the sparsely populated place, there was no one else to hear him as he bellowed out towards the two who were now almost out of the village. They were too entrapped in conversation however and did not here him. He was also to enamored to speak as loudly as he intended too anyway. Since words got him no where, he did the next best thing. He acted.

Standing up, Akegatata put pressure on the hilt of the sword till it slipped up from the shingles and catapulted the barrel up into the air. On its descent back down, he palmed the bottom of it with one arm and thrust it out, flinging the wood container towards Leon and his unknown companion. He jumped down from the building, keeping his hand down as he landed in a crouched position, the sword back in its sheath with the other two he carried along with the bow across his back and the quiver of arrows. , He stood up straight and looked up just in time to see the cork that held the sake in after being poured in come out right above the two, and the sake begin cascading upon them.

The first warning Leon had was a slight tingle in the back of his head, a presence of someone he knew or had met before. The second warning was an eerily familiar voice, shouting from somewhere behind Leon. He didn’t really know whether he was hearing things or not, since the voice was one he had heard a long time ago, almost in another life time. However, all doubts were shattered as the third and final warning hit Leon, almost quite literally.

Small splashes of liquid, almost clear as water began hitting Leon as he slowly turned around. The smell was clearly alcoholic and obviously flammable, but the approach was far too… accidental it seemed to be an attack. As a little landed on his lips, Leon licked them and immediately recognized the taste of one of the oldest sake brands in the known world, and looked up. Swearing under his breath as the cork from the flying barrel hit him in the forehead, Leon grimaced and threw his spare scroll into the hole where the cork once was, effectively sealing off the sake flow.

Catching the barrel and setting it down in one fluid motion, Leon seemingly flung his hand towards where the barrel had come from, turning towards the direction still as he did so. From his hand a sword hand practically flown out from his sheath and extended drastically, links separating into multiple parts of an elongated sword. This was one of Leons favorite weapons, as it could be used in combat for mid to short range depending on what Leon decided he was in the mood for that day.

As his eyes settled on the figure who threw the barrel of sake, Leon flicked his wrist, retracting the blade and resheathing it. It wasn’t like the figure would have gotten impaled by that little attack, on the contrary if Leon had continued he most likely would need to have brought out the other swords he was carrying just to stay alive. The reason for the retraction was because Leon recognized the man standing there.

Sitting there for a minute, Leon tapped his finger against his chin thinking as he played with names in his head. It had been years since he had seen this face and this particular way of standing, let alone the weird assortment of weapons on the back. The only other hint towards the name of this person was the flying sake… something that Riku always had flipped out about.

And that was the trigger. Remembering Riku set off the name in the back of Leons head and he jumped, slamming his feet down on the ground stirring up a little dust as he did so, and pointed, screaming.

”Akegata, you bastard! Didn’t Riku ever teach you to not throw the sake at someone to get their attention? You almost wasted perfectly good hundred year old sake.” Leon panted heavily at the end of his screaming and looked to make sure the barrel was still in one piece from his little spin attack. If he could have bet on it, he would have bet that Riku would appear from the grave just to haunt them both for destroying a barrel of sake, because that’s just how RIku was.

”Yuushu, Akegata. Akegata, Yuushu. Yuushu is a tag along buddy, mostly because I think he got bored. Akegata is a student under my old sensei,” Leon quickly introduced them, grabbing the cork as he did so and pulling out his sealing scroll from the barrel, putting that back in his pocket as he put the cork back in the barrel.

Leon went silent when he didn’t comment. Yuushu was hoping he would make a dumb remark or a smart one. It was hard to determine which one Leon would go for since he was-as his father would put it-too interesting of a character. Hovering up in the sky was a shadow that caught Yuushu’s attention. A large barrel was falling from the sky. His first initial reaction to was side step out the way which he did and he was grateful he did because the moment he side step a small flood of liquid poured out onto the spot where he was standing. Leon, however, had caught the barrel which was slightly illogical to do since he was unaware of the contents. He saw Leon’s nose flare and he breathed in heavily the content. Yuushu already knew the reaction he was going to get from it since he could also smell the content. Sake that old couldn’t be ignored by its potent smell.

Leon had a shocking reaction when he found this out. He quickly took a scroll to seal in the rest of the aged sake that hadn’t leaked out. Yuushu then look over a few feet away a man who was in a crouching position. He notice the blades he wielded which made Yuushu quickly analyze how this situation would play out. Leon was already on guard as he heard the mechanism of something being unsheathed. Yuushu was ready to speak when Leon showed some sign of recognition towards this newly appearing opponent.

“You know this man?” Yuushu asked but of course Leon ignored any slight awareness of the person beside him and was in a state of annoyance and slight anger.

Yuushu turned to the man again. If Yuushu could describe the person in one word, the one word would be a color and that is blue. This man was the epiphany of blue seeing that his hair was blue, his eyes were blue, his persona was entirely blue. In retrospective, a song came into mind. Leon went on some slander about how he was wasting good sake. Ok, that is somewhat of a reasonable thing to get annoyed by since sake, aged sake for that matter, is expensive and hard. They could steal some sake-well that’s not it, Yuushu could steal some sake. Leon would blow it up seeing how he’s a living time bomb and everything he touches has a tendency of, how to put it, well blowing up.

”Yuushu, Akegata. Akegata, Yuushu. Yuushu is a tag along buddy, mostly because I think he got bored. Akegata is a student under my old sensei.”

“Charmed, I’m sure” he said, showing no interest to Akegata having not once looked at him except from a battle perspective. “You’re tagging along with me. Last time I checked, which was just fifteen seconds ago, you were going on about how you didn’t want to be as useless without the jutsus I could teach you”

He waved his hands telling them to forget about it “I don’t care anymore ‘bout that. Listen, I’m sure what your sensei taught you was…prominently useful and I’m sure you two have awesome stories to talk about but I’m not here to make acquaintances nor listen to what you have to say. I have a feeling you are a part of our group since you didn’t outright attack us and explosive one over here knows you” he waves them off as he walked down the path “I’m going to Konoha, with or without your hungry ass”

He was obviously agitated, very much so since they were getting closer and closer to Konoha. But who wouldn’t be agitated when they were getting closer and closer to the place that essentially murdered his father and essentially messed with his family. It was something he should get over, a story of revenge is boring to him. But he couldn’t play it out; he was the main character in this revenge story and Konoha was the antagonist. He was moving right along the path of this story and hell, at this point, he didn’t care whether or not it turns out to be a good ending or a bad ending. But last time Yuushu checked, the protagonist of revenge stories never have a happy ending. He was regretting this decision entirely.

Leon introduced the two new strangers, but Akegata wasnt paying much attention. He had been too lost in thought as soon as Riku's name had been mentioned. It was the only real connection the two of them had. Akegata had been unnerved by his disappearance. Not because he cared for Riku, in fact Riku was one of his least favorite people, with his whimsical ways and philosophy that he tried to shove down everyones throats in the form of chess analogies. It made his ears hurt to listen to the drivel, but had been worth it to gain the assets he now had. However, he knew Riku was fairly powerful in his own right, and for him to just go missing like this was rather odd. Of course he had his own agenda and Akegata knew that, but he had not returned at the time he said he would, and that was not on par with the behavior he had seen displayed.

As soon as Leon shut his loud ass trap, he responded to him in kind. "Where is the useless old bag of tricks anyway." He was being disrespectful he knew, but he didnt care. He also didnt know how attached to Riku Leon was and was curious to see if the jibe would spark any kind of reaction out of him other then just a casual response. Before he could answer though, the supposed tag along as Leon had called him spoke about random nothings. He seemed quite sure of himself.

He seemed to think of himself as some kind of leader or something, to judge others with out being judged or looked down on. Something that Akegata could relate to, but didnt like it much when the shoe was on the other foot. He was hypocritical that way. Already he wasnt much fond of him, he reminded him too much of......himself. In fact, he was pretty sure he hated him. Still, he had hated Riku and look how valuable that had experience had turned out to be. Thats right, a test was in order.

Soundlessly he flicked open the light clasp on the hilt of Kyanseru, the plain black blade at his hip with the notch carved out of the middle, and drew it with out effort. Being of the sword and bow, he was both agile and strong enough, though he relied on an extension of his body to carry most of his power and will. Try as he might, he could not shake the will of the samurai from his mind, it was branded into deep.

Yunshu had already turned around, but Akegata waited till he had started walking, waiting for the opportune moment. He gave a glance at Leon, meeting his eye and flashing a steelly grin of thin lips and a pale face. Cold and hungry for blood for the sake of nothing more then taking life. He did not care for causing mass mayhem or the like, but having the control over life and death, that was a source of power he had long ago tasted and much indulged in since. Would he fancy a deliverance here?

Winking once, he struck.

He simply pushed off with his foot, bending the knee and springing it forward like a slingshot and his body the missile. He landed as though Yunshu was pointed north and his body pointed north east, pointed at a diagonal angle, but his forward foot, the left, in equal alignment with the mans center, as his feet met the ground his knees bent and absorbed the shock as well as centered his body, granting it power, and had his sword up by his head with both hands upon the hilt. He brought it down in a flash of a motion, directed at the area between his neck and shoulder, a small target, but easy for a man with a samurai's training to nail with out a problem. However, it was in a controlled state. If the man was of Akegata's level, he could block in time, if not, he would die, his worthlessness proving itself, and dying out as it should.

Leon shrugged at Akegata’s question, not knowing the answer himself. ”How should I know where the worthless flea ridden pervert is? Last I actually saw of him was when he locked me in the damnable cave for the torture he called training.”

Turning, Leon uncapped the sake and sniffed it, his glands immediately aching as his saliva production kicked in overdrive, and began drooling slightly. He recapped sake and watched as Yuushu walked away, noticeably agitated. Leon could guess why, as Yuushu was a Nara and Konoha was the home of that clan. Given the fact that Yuushu was in the bingo book now… Leon could only assume he wanted to kill someone. Of course that could also be a factor due to the small dead rabbit that Yuushu had kicked while walking into a tree. Looking down as he walked up to it, Leon noticed that the creature was dead, its spine having been snapped upon impact with the tree, and the skull slightly cracked.

Shrugging, Leon picked the rabbit up and threw it in his pouch. The sudden impact caused the rabbit to die without any blood being spilled, so Leon really didn’t care about where he put it. Blinking and going back to pick up the sake, Leon stopped mid stride and turned back to Yuushu, pointing his finger again.

”YOU BASTARD!! I DON’T BLOW EVERYTHING UP THANK YOU VERY MUCH,” he shouted, trying to deny the claims. That however was quickly countered by the bark on the tree that Leon just was at blew outwards, nearly missing Leon as he finished shouting. Blinking, Leon turned and looked at the tree, moving his finger from pointing to scratching his head in confusion.

”How the hell… what… did that just really happen?” Leon asked, staring in confusion still. There was no real reason why the tree exploded, so Leon assumed that either Yuushu or Akegata had something to do with it. He shrugged and looked at Akegata just in time to see him unsheathe his sword and wink, before he attacked Yuushu.

Shrugging again Leon pulled the top off the sake and looked around for a second before grabbing a lantern on the side of the road, and popping the top off. Wiping the inside out with his shirt and cleaning it up a bit, Leon dipped the top into the sake and began sipping it, just standing there watching the action unfold between those two.

He guessed he was right when he said they were going to talk about some good times and what not, though from what Yuushu could hear it wasn’t any kind words for the old sensei they had. Then it got strangely quiet. The silence wasn’t an eerie silence that lingered when one is alone, but it was a silence that gave a presence. It was the silence before something was about to happen. What then happen next broke the silence; a sharp yell from Leon proclaiming that he didn’t blow up everything. Bullshit was most appropriate word to fit in that situation. His past history doesn’t really help his case, seeing he was known for his ‘explosive’ behavior.

Akegata landed in front of Yuushu, not to the side of Yuushu, his blade out and ready. In that few seconds in time, Yuushu could see that intent; the eyes glow red, bloodthirsty and wanting. His eyes were calling forth the spirit of death which gave him an eerie presence. His movement was elegant, swift and agile like the samurai that he is. His hand moved back, sword and all ready to diagonally cut at him. The samurai is fast and he had the aspect of control on his side.

The opportunity to move back would be the deadly thing to do; moving forward would only cause him even more damage. The samurai was playing the queen piece early and it seemed that it was checkmate. Like a leaf flowing in a current, Yuushu entire body leaned back, his legs stationary, performing a gymnastic move known as the bridge; a simple move to dodge an attack as such. Yuushu then fell onto his back but this wasn’t a typical fall as he pulled his legs and upper body and began to spin on his back moving out of range for Akegata to counter. He created enough momentum to swiftly get up off the ground when he was out of range.

“I see why you’re revered as such” he said, brushing off the dirt from his coat “Your sensei wasn’t a complete jack off. After all, seeing that attack of yours almost cut my neck has some proof you got skill.” He cracked his hands together by tightening them into a fist then relaxed them when he felt them crack. He looked at the chard pieces of what remained of the tree that once stood on the side of the path. Leon was sitting there, drinking at the large barrel of sake that Akegata had thrown.

Yuushu didn’t have time nor did he have the patience for these two. One wanted to fight him; the other was ready to get plastered on the large quantity of alcohol. His day was going swell when he found a large pig for food later on, now he has to deal with some guy who had thought it was necessary to test him. Pointless.

“Time is of essence. I’m going with or without you two” he said again though this time there was a hint of kill intent in it. He was obviously agitated but it didn’t show in his expression. “If you want to fight someone, fight the guy who is drinking that barrel over there or hell, I don’t know, fight some shinobi in Konoha. I need my energy for something rather important. Didn’t your sensei teach you anything about sense…?” he paused then waved it off “Never mind, that guy over there just blew up a damn tree. What the hell am I saying about sense.” he continued on moving on the path though, his shadow underneath him was moving alongside him, at his aide now ready to disperse into capturing anyone who stand in his way.

It seemed that Rikus style has lived on for years. The locking of Leon in a secluded place and just leaving him to fend for himself somehow was right up his alley of randomness and brutality, subtle though it was. However, he now had somewhat of a time line in his head. He had seen Riku after the last time Leon did, because he had been told this story by the man himself who had flashed a toothy grin and the hilarity of it. He had found a bit of humor and wisdom in everything, and to that extent, Akegata had absolutely fucking hated him. HE had such a striking personality and it was beyond his own scope, he who lacked any sense of real feeling. He personally did not care about the loss of Riku, should he be lost in fact, but he had been a useful tool in enhancing his own abilities. He had been a physical stimulus, nothing more. Akegata was more then capable of handling things on his own from here. The gateway had been opened, and he was already walking down the path.

Returning his focus back to his missed assault on this Yuushu character, he was satisfied with the mans capabilities of evasion and tactical manipulation of his own body. They didnt seem to be anything over the top, not that he couldnt match, but they were enough. He had enough to gauge, that this guy was useful. He already knew Leon could be, he had power, to the extent he could barely control it, which he properly demonstrated by blowing chunks of wood from a once whole tree.

And so now it seemed this pair he had stumbled upon was headed towards Konoha. He felt a light tingle in his hand which gripped his sword still holding it out in a post slice manner. Perfect. With these two he could get in easy. He had been wanting to get in on his own accord for a while, but unless he was getting hired out by the head of their secret Root organization like he had in the past, he was not ever able to gain access, and under those premises, going out of line meant not getting paid, and not surviving. Now however, there was nothing real on the line, certainly not his head or his life. Damned shinobi all so soft. He had not yet met one with out a heart. The closest he had seen was Riku, but even still, he had his goals and intentions. Such was a mask to give life purpose. There was no purpose, there was live then die. There was survival and that was it. He wanted to see how well the Konoha natives could survive, how well they could handle true threat. He had some new tactics he needed to try anyway.

Still this character Yuushu needed to gripe and mention sense and basically a hint of philosiphy yada yada yada. He didnt give a fuck really, but for now he could use both Yuushu and Leon to his own devices certainly, and for that some sort of bond could be useful, how ever thin, connections were needed, no matter what the basis. If Yuushu felt like he could understand Akegata even a little, even if it was under false pretenses, he would be put in a better position. He sheathed his sword and began to walk along side the man, not bothering to pay anymore mind to Leon.

"It would make sense to know a basic bit of the capabilities of a man I would travel with. Lets go to Konoha and have us a little party how about it."

Leon shrugged as the two finished their greetings and recapped the sake, throwing the lantern top off into the forest. Pulling the scroll with the bull in it out, Leon sealed the sake into the same area, and put the scroll back in his pocket and began heading towards Konoha.

”Sounds good to meee,” Leon said, slurring his words slightly. He wasn’t really drunk, just buzzed and was speaking a bit faster than normal due to the warm feeling of the sake that was flowing through his system. He probably would be slightly drunk by the time they reached Konoha, the sake having had enough time to run itself through his system. Since he had eaten only like two hours ago, it really wouldn’t affect him greatly.

Yawning as they walked towards the village, Leon pulled out a small little gaming device and flipped it open, turning it on. It wasn’t much really, just something Leon used to pass the time, and since a new game had come out for it earlier that week, Leon had been playing it whenever he had the chance. Last time he was interrupted, he killed off a small bandit camp, their noise and ruckus interrupting his epic music playing from the game. It was slightly petty, but Leon had missed his favorite part and was highly upset.

Whistling as they reached the entrance to Konoha, Leon ignoring any conversation behind him, or ahead of him because he wasn’t paying attention to where the other two were located, Leon attempted to just walk right into the gate. Well, that was a bad choice, as his game was closed on him and an average Chuunin guard stood in front of him, trying to get his attention. Leon looked up with a glare in his eye. The Chuunin obviously was unnerved by it, a slight back step indicating this fact, but stood his ground.

”Your passport, and reason for coming to Konoha please,” the Chuunin said, trying to sound tough. It was obvious he wasn’t used to this position, or from the way he held himself, this rank in general.

”You just shut my game… I WAS ON THE DAMNABLE GYM LEADER YOU JACK ASS!” Leon shouted, moving toward the Chuunin. The other Chuunin appeared to sense danger, as he appeared behind the first one. Leon thrust out his fist, causing the Chuunin to both jump back, but they relaxed when they say his passport, false of course, in his hand.

”As to my purpose…” Leon coughed for a second then turned back to them, beginning to sing. ”I wanna be, the very best. Like no one ever was… To test them is my real quest, to kill them is my cause…”

Mid song Leon had whipped out his whip swords, and released them, wrapping them around the stupefied Chuunin bodies, and began pulling, tightening the blade and causing it to cut the Chuunins slowly. As he reached the end of the first line, Leon pulled on the hilts and began doing a little pop star dance, ending up in a victory pose with one hand clenched at his waist like a martial arts stance, the horse stance, and the other hand in the air, his head bowed as his feet tapped. Hearing a gurgle, Leon opened his eyes and stopped, looking at the two beheaded Chuunin and sighed, retracting his blade and wiping them on the Chuunins clothes before putting them away.

”Y’know… why can no one every stay alive long enough to me to finish my introduction? I haven’t even thought of the next line because they keep dying so quickly,” Leon muttered, waving at Yuushu and Akegata as he walked over the bodies and into Konoha. ”Lets go have some fun.”

Yuushu took the lead, Akegata was second behind and Leon was the caboose. What Akegata said was something he expected for those battle intelligent people, wanting to know what skills his opponent or ally posses before the fight. The warm up before the main event Yuushu said to himself. He reached in his pocket, shifting through the pocket lint and few coins he had in there and felted the prick of a toothpick. He pulled it out and sticks it in his mouth where his teeth began to grind on the end of it. It’s funny; he hadn’t had an urge to bite on a toothpick in a long while. The thought was a bit surprising at first when he thought about it, seeing that the only time he ever had the urge to chew on a toothpick was when he was about to kill someone or when he was going to an unknown place. He suppose he would be doing two thing today, if he was lucky.

They all walked up a small hill. As they got to the top they could see the buildings and scrapers of the village hidden in the leaves. Yuushu took in some warm air. It felt a tad chilled in his mouth which gave him an unpleasant taste. He looked back seeing of course Akegata who was in that zone. He looked focused yet at the same time relaxed. Yuushu couldn’t really blame him, from the first impression only fifteen minutes before he had that relaxed yet focused look. Yuushu knew he was prepared for anything. What was going on behind him was the polar opposite with Leon looking straight down at the hand held game he was playing. He could hear the music beeping from his distance and he could see how Leon was entranced within that small little screen focus on whatever objective he had to pursue. Yuushu immediately placed a hand on his forehead and slid downward. Fuck me sideways he imagined this scene was going to be very disturbing once they got to the gate. There was a sudden realization that made him stop for just a tiny fraction of a second. He wasn’t even thinking that they were getting closer and closer to Konoha, he was lost in his thoughts for that time being and he wasn’t even trying to effectively think of a plan. They were too close to even try and do anything. The moment they got too close, Konoha would not hold its hand in releasing their jounin or worse, their black ops.

No, no, wait. Think for a second, Yuushu had to think. He stopped walking letting Akegata walk by. Leon eyes were still sucked away at that hand held so he wouldn’t notice anything at the time. This was good, this was very good. Yuushu stepped on Leon’s shadow. It became much darker than what the sun was casting. Yuushu began to sink into the blackness where he held his hands in the handseal of the rat. He closed his eyes and waited for just a few. When he was fully immersed, he opened his eyes and he was moving along Leon’s shadow. He felt odd with his eyes looking up at Leon’s legs and eyes; sinking into the shadows was like sinking into the shallow end of water and your eyes are peaking out of the thin surface of the shadow. He waited as both Akegata and Leon was moving.

All three of them reached to the gate but only the Chunin guard saw Akegata and Leon. Leon was continuing on past the guards. The guards just watched for a moment as Leon was unaware. “Dammit” Yuushu said softly to himself “Look the fuck up.” Yuushu thought Leon heard him when he stopped moving almost immediately but Yuushu saw the footsteps of the chunin guard who had got his attention. He was a young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties trying to appear tough when he could hear the unfamiliarity in his voice. This had to be his first week here, if not first then just inexperienced.

What happened next didn’t necessarily surprise Yuushu at all; it made him facepalm mentally over and over again as he saw it happen. He wasn’t a sensor of emotion but he could see the rage in Leon’s face when he turned to the chunin and began to say “You just shut off my game…” there was that momentary pause before he could feel the anger through his voice. He didn’t have to know that the other guard’s eyebrows were raised and that signal in the brain that was saying ‘caution’ was beeping a hazardous yellow. “I WAS ON THE DAMNABLE GYM LEADER YOU JACK ASS”.

God, if you are out there, don’t let this dumbass do anything stupid. Please don’t. Leon struck out his hand and the chunin jumped back looking at each other with that signal to be ready for anything. When they saw the passport they momentarily relaxed. As if God had completely ignored him, Leon began to…sing. He start singing out some lyrics that he had never heard before. Through mid-song he took out his blade and began to strike at the chunin. They were too slow in avoiding the speed of this man’s blade as they were cut down like cattle going to the slaughter.

It was when Leon cut the last person that Yuushu popped out of Leon’s shadow. The chunin guard fell over, eyes blank with blood splattered over his vest. This had to be the third time Yuushu facepalmed himself. ”Y’know… why can no one every stay alive long enough to me to finish my introduction? I haven’t even thought of the next line because they keep dying so quickly,” He muttered before signaling both Akegata and Yuushu to come with him “Let’s have some fun.”

“I realized now that God really hates me. Either he hates me or he has a sense of humor.” He took out the end of his toothpick and flicked it away from his finger “This guy is going to get us killed…” now he was regretting what he said earlier saying what was the worst that could possibly happen. He was biting his tongue.

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