"Fate? How can I believe in something like that?"

Fate didn't exist. There was no destiny, no preordained path that life would take. There just... couldn't be. To accept something like that was unthinkable. It was a betrayal of everything that had ever happened in her life, of everything she had achieved. There was no such thing as fate, because accepting 'fate' would be the same thing as thoughtlessly pardoning every unpardonable action. 'It was fate, it would have happened anyway. I had no choice in the matter,' or 'It was fate, there was no way I couldn't have succeeded.' Pah. The people who spouted such gibberish were disgusting. Throwing away their achievements as readily as their failures. They were the worst, scum of the earth.

No, perhaps they weren't the worst. The worst were the ones who attributed this so-called 'fate' whenever it was most convenient. Their failures couldn't be helped, but their achievements were their own work all along. That such people would have the nerve to look down on her as if she was only a child, when in fact it was the other way around. They were the children, hiding behind a fantastic veil of fate, woven up nice and snug for their convenience. If there was a fate, it would only be the one brought about by the people who didn't believe in it, those willing to work hard to achieve results rather than just expecting them.

"Tch... Ojiki..." Swallowing her frustration, Saki applied her attention once again to the list she held precariously between the thumb and forefinger of her left hand. Her tasks in the village itself had been, for the most part, completed. Though it had taken over an hour to convince the local baker that they should get the bulk prices for bread after informing him that her uncle would be needing nearly twice as much through the busy season, things in general had gone quite smoothly. A repairman had been contracted for their weathered old grandfather clock, she had delivered Ojiki's letters to the post office, and... well, a lot of work had been done that morning. Anything left to be done inside the village could be handled on the way home, anyway. That just left for the singular retrieval of a parcel outside of the village.

Heh, this was almost like some kind of mission that she would never receive credit or payment for. As Saki's sandled feet paused for a moment, her hand rose thoughtfully to her chin, like she was some kind of philosopher. She had no delusions about her own ability in that area - minimal, at best - but had never quite managed to drop the habit of assuming that pose anyway. It would probably have been way easier if she had just pawned her tasks off on someone else, it would probably have given some other Genin some trivial task to do for them to get paid. Not like she was going to get paid for working for her uncle, she never did. Besides, that would take money, money that she frankly didn't have.

Though, she supposed, simply having room and board was a sort of payment in and of itself. If it hadn't been for her aunt and uncle's kindness, she and Kida-kun would have been forced to fend entirely for themselves after her parent's disappearance. If she had to do a little work to earn her keep, then she'd put up with that... though at this point, it was starting to look as if taking on work as a shinobi - even if it was annoying little jobs like the ones she did for Ojiki - and simply paying rent would've been a lot more efficient. Ojiki sure did give her a lot of work lately, despite the fact she really should have been spending her time training or doing 'real' missions. The old man... okay, maybe old wasn't exactly fair for a man who's barely fourty, though it seemed like he was terribly ancient to her. He was like the stereotypical obstinate old man, though she knew that stemmed in a large part from the pressures he experienced both from his business and his wife. "Ah, well." It can't be helped.

Flicking the list with the index finger of her right hand, as much to listen to the sound of crinkling paper and release stress as for any particular purpose, she set out down the weathered old road that would lead her to the outpost from which she was to collect the supplies. Linen? Can't you just pick some up inside the village, Ojiki? Ah, well. Her uncle's strange requests, she supposed, most likely came from her insatiably demanding aunt. The woman had taken Saki and her brother in after her parent's dissapearance primarily so there would be other children around to 'play' with her own daughter, Marina. Though Saki didn't think poorly of Marina (in truth, she didn't think much of her at all), they had never been particularly close, nor had Saki ever been particularly close with her aunt.

Snapped from her thoughts by... something, she looked up again, realizing she had hit a fork in the road and nearly gone the wrong way. Must have just been noticing that I was about to go somewhere I wasn't intending to, she mused thoughtfully. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that it just might have been something else. She had been so zoned out in her own thoughts that she had only been paying cursory attention to her surroundings, but now that she was paying attention again, some of the things she had missed before sprouted into her memory like weeds through the cracks in the cobbles. She probably hadn't just been imagining the casual "Good morning"s she'd gotten, but were the whispering rumors of strange people being sighted in this area true, or merely a figment of her own thoughts? Surely if there had been trouble, someone would have sent a patrol through this area, right? How often did those go around, anyway?

1007

{Saki's speech in white, thoughts in italic, other colours being random people, who... I don't use very often. My apologies if my post isn't very good.}

It was a typical afternoon for the young medical celebrity whose name was among one of the most infamous people the ninja world has seen in this generations, Aki Izayoi was the name he was given to him from his birth and those that known him as a person or criminal, his reputation across the ninja world hit the hardest amongst the medical society as he has earned the title of the third coming of Tsunada whose named one of the three legendary ninja amongst the era of naruto before and after his time as hero. That was the name he had to live up to in his flied and yet...he simple did not care about it now a days, he was already better then most and his title had come with just his own hard work. Coming up with more would have to take a second seat till he learned how to create his dream world and bring it into a reality here, where everyone would give a standing ovation to their savoir. It was a wonderfully thought for him and was his goal. The second thing Aki was known for was being one of the more vain avatar’s of a stereo typical vision of beauty, his vanity known to be his greatest weakness but yet known would disagree that his claims were false for all that laid their owns in the stunning bomb shell blond male were at a loss for words only able to accept. His attire of a tight small red and white sleeveless shirt that relived washboard abs and defined arms was one of his many signatures, even the pants he were as well from the denem design that fight so tightly around his but you could see the tone curves. There was nothing this man wasn’t ready to show off, his pride in appearance was unmatched to this day. Today was just like another typical afternoon on the sunny weather of the village hidden in the leaves, the sun raising in the morning, slowly moving through the day toward the setting time of the evening bleh bleh bleh. It was so boring to the young man as it was very repetitive living in such a predicable reality, he much rather stick to his own personal fantasy world which he kept visiting on many occasions, even while moving around and perform other actions with his body. It managed to keep him alive long enough with reactions to prevent his life from catching up with him.

Today was the same old for him around this area so near the village he grew up in, he walked outside from his hidden base in a monastery hidden by a strange Genjutsu that apparently had existed long before his knowledge of it had come to pass, even had a convenient alliance with the fire lord that protected people like him on the run even if they were able to detect the missing nin’s location. It was weird but effective enough for a living space. Aki wonder off into the country side where the main road would take him closer to the outskirts then anywhere dangerous in the patrol areas so it was safer then most for him to actually travel upon freely. The weather was slightly changing from sunny to cloudy overcast the more he walked but he didn’t notice while his mind wonder off thinking about a few name worthy guys back at the bathhouse and what...personally actives that would be too naughty to say out loud. Pretty long sessions to the boy was walking far enough that into the wilderness that many people thought he be mad or drunk to endure such dangerous alone, as of late the news had indicated there has been an outbreak of a raging bear in the area, it was larger then the average animals local to this area and the locals weren’t dumb enough to be alone right now. Aki was aware of this and didn’t much care for it, he was trained well enough handle himself against beasts.

As he started to realized his actually location after taking a break playing the dirty deed in his mind he started to focus back into reality he notice the heavily forested area around, the scent of strong greenery and a few trails of leftovers linger from the dinners of the normal animals and the local road was just in front of his view. Something was a little off though to which Aki reacted by stopping his advancement and taking in the sights at a more analytical view...it was actually quite, far too much to for the wilderness. And to his sights arrived a little young lady that he didn’t recognized to the east of where he was... and from the massive shadow that was coming from out the bushes with the sounds of hunger emitting from the satire rustling. From the logical guess Aki believed it to be the dangerous animal that everyone was so worried about now praying on a smaller bundle of flesh to his next meal.

Aki wasn’t really concerned right now at the fate of a stranger to one of nature’s normal circumstances of life...but there was this odd itching sensation he had to see a little blood shed and actually to see how the young little girl would react, she had to be something to be alone like this and judging from the appearance, height his guess couldn't be too off. She was really pale too even her hair was ghostly to his gold locks, thinking to himself she needed something of a little more color to her tone. Oh well if his guess was wrong he just kill the bear too and take both their bodies as samples or test subjects for inhuman jutsu or something like that he could only wait and see now. The sound of the bushes rattled fast as it looked as though the young genin had stopped to pondering the direction to take in that fork, reading it self the bear began its roar of aggression f or appearing its massive stature of terror to pounce at the young girl.

A quiet day. Kneading her fingers into her forehead, Saki silently wished for just that. A day where she didn't have to worry about doing anything she didn't want to do, and where nothing could possibly go wrong. Heh, as if such a thing existed... though that would have certainly been nice. No, she couldn't really hope for that. Not until she was old, strong and well enough off that she could move out somewhere on her own without anyone else around to bug her. Talk about far-fetched dreams. Well, she'd get there eventually, so maybe a quiet day wasn't entirely impossible after all? If she worked hard enough, for long enough, surely such a day would come, even if it was merely a twinkling moment here and there to break the monotony of everyday life. Monotony was hardly something that she was unfamiliar with, though it could be fairly debated if 'routine' and 'monotony' were synonymous. It probably had something to do with how you looked at it, or something silly like that.

"Why hello, there." Well, look at that, she had a visitor coming by to say 'Hi', one that certainly was different from the normal folk she ran into on a day to day basis. Though her senses, admittedly, were hardly the sort that she could attribute to some kind of great ninja that could detect even the slightest disturbance in her surroundings, like the ones in the old stories, she was hardly deaf... or blind. The sound of rustling bushes and a low growl were her hearty good day's greeting from her most recent travelling companion. No, that was perhaps going too far - after all, it was highly unlikely that the 'visitor' was going in the same direction she was, it was more accurate to state that it was going in her direction. Was there a difference? Of course there was, though some subtler minds might have quibbled on the details.

The time for quibbling wasn't exactly right now, though, so Saki graciously accomodated her guest by preparing herself for action. If it had come by expecting an invitation to lunch, then it would hardly be sportsmanlike, much less gracious as a host for her to disappoint it, now, would it? As the bear ambled out from the bush, Saki was crossing to the opposite side of the path, clearing as much space between herself and the beast as possible. Along the way, she scattered down a small handful of pieces of paper, spreading them out along the path between herself and the bear. There were only about five, so it shouldn't have been overly obvious, at least to an observer like this - some wild animal. Of course, outrunning a bear was unfortunately not an option, so that left the option of giving it a 'tasty treat' to convince it to go away, being eaten, or... well, that was really what the options came down to, wasn't it? As the growling from the bear continued, it sounded halfway as if it was coming as much from the creature's stomach as it was from it's mouth, which even now flashed grisly yellowed fangs, dripping with saliva as if the bloody beast was rabid. Or obscenely hungry, more likely.

"Not enough iron in your diet, huh?" Damn, if she hit it with anything that wasn't enough to take it down, or at least slow it down, she would probably only serve to irritate the creature, and with those teeth, she really wasn't fond of the idea of letting it get a bite. Hope speculated that the exploding tags she had laid down would be enough to lay low the bloody thing, but you could never be sure. Flipping open the flap that held her kunai, she made sure that one was free to be readily grabbed as she formed the handseal for Explosion Tag: Activate. The bear's advance, too distracted with an easy, sizable meal within reach, had brought it right over the paper she had laid earlier. With a loud 'bang', the exploding tags went off, launching the bear from it's feet and Saki into a nearby tree trunk. Already a fair distance back from the blast, Saki was spared from the worst of it and was the first to recover. "Cooking's done... time for your snack."

Though she was hardly strong enough for something like this to have worked if the beast was in better condition, now that it was already injured, all she had to do was finish it off, right? Making her way closer so she definitely wouldn't miss - not that it wasn't a huge target and hard to miss in the first place - she drew a kunai from her weapon's holster. Whipping it back for a moment, allowing the weight and momentum to cause it to rock back into the crook of her palm, Saki then threw it directly into the bear's face, aiming for the eye. The bear was recovering by this point, but she caught it was it attempted to rise to it's feet. Her original aim was off, but at least she caught it -between- the eyes. Backpedalling away as the animal flailed in it's death throes, she waited until it was still again before relaxing. "You'd be better off if you respected home cooking in the future, bear-chan." Rolling her shoulders, she retrieved the kunai from the bear, pushing off it's head with her foot to tug it out. With that little mess settled, now she just had to regain her bearings and continue on until she finished with her task, right? Still, it was hard to shake the feeling that someone was watching...


945.

Jutsu/Equipment used (Not that you probably need it.)

Spoiler:

Aki actually wondered how much closer that animal was going to get before the young lass was going to react, even an average person would have notice nothing now with all that noise of it about to attack and there was even a final rawr that could have been just a lucky break as most hunters know not to declare there attack. A second there Aki thought the young girl was taking and as soon as she finished her body stance changed to that of a less relaxed state, now staring down at the massive beast face to face with a look that he did not expect from a little child. Her action spoke of reaction good enough to be considered to be trained in any school but not enough to claim herself to be versed in the world outside. He could now confine she had at least someone in her life that taught her a few self defence methods and even how to use chakra as her left behind a trail of bombs in her wake. Luring that beast down with a mocking tone before sending its limbs across the tress then finishing it off like a weapon’s marksmen with a stab in-between the eyes. As if to show off a little to an unseen crowed it seemed like it was a bit of an overkill to mock the poor thing... wait...

Aki notice something was a little off with that bear, sure it was massive and huge compared to the average types around here but there was something just about it that itched the back of Aki’s neck, something was off. Coming from the behind the sea of green his appearance and color could have easily been notice now, not like he was trying to hide anymore he walked up to the two dancers of battle at a brisk past as not to waste a lot of time. “ Nice work” he spoke to the little genin was he passed her by quickly to check out her new bear skin rug. The medic picked up a few traits, checking the length of the arm, checking its fur and noticing the size of its grouch and already he knew what bother was so much. But before that he looked over at the little girl, not that little as she was at a moderate height but still a shortly and it didn’t seem like she had much meat on them bones either, but what was the most striking feature he notice of her was that it her complexion was ghostly, whiter then most snow cones and with match hair to boot. If he didn’t know better he could have sworn that she was some kind of other world aberration that just killed a physical monster for no reason. He rose back to his feet and walked over towards the girl, before kneeling down and taking a eerie look at her with one eye cocked up with his brow and his head titled.

She looked alive enough but just lacked a lot of color, when he was an poke able distance away from the genin Aki took out from his waist pack a small pack of foundation making, medium tone and started to try and pat her down around the area the had little to no color...which was of course her entire face. And if she did just took it she would find Aki wasn’t the nicest makeup artist as when he powered he really pounded on that pad to her sensitive skin quite aggressively. “ You really need to get out in the sun more, your paler then most ghosts” he said while trying to give her more color. If he was allowed to finished he put away his kit and take out a mirror to try and show her while he admire his work. “ Awe isn’t that better? Oh and nice job with that little cub of over, plan to kill the rest of the family and big mama bear too?” he spoke in a cutie manner before dropping a little bomb shell to her pride. Since it was true, monster like animal were rare to see and although the one she killed effortless was larger it was still just a little bear trying out its first hunt by itself likely under the watchfully eyes of its larger siblings and course the parent. Aki prediction was in fact true as right after the forest seemed to shake in vibration, the birds on the other side of the trees flying away while the trembling was getting louder and louder at the two and there were more than one quaking sensation. The tree themselves in the distance looked to be as though to being pushed aside from something large...that actually didn’t even describe as the looming shadows coming were at least twice the size of the dead bear here and one in the farer back that was even larger. Aki wondered what to do now...or rather what they were going to do to entertain the little family here, kill’em, play some cat and mouse, feed them to some villagers or have them attack other people and watch them deal with it. Oh so many possibilities that they could have done but it was really up for either of them to chose and with the footsteps getting louder then would have to decide soon.

Mildly surprised by her own reaction, Saki's right canine began chewing awkwardly at her lip as she observed the results of her work. Though she had known that she couldn't afford to play lightly with a bear, of all things, the thought that she might have gone a little overboard nonetheless was an inescapable one. The use of exploding tags for their concussive power had been a solid enough plan - if tacky and far noisier than she would have liked - and the kunai had been the only bladed weapon she had with enough weight to do anything more than irritate a bear without pinpoint precision. Still, the sheer volume seemed to be something of a waste, though it would have been just as much of a waste if she had let the creature suffer before putting it out of it's misery. Ah, well, only the survivors were allowed regrets, so she would have to live with this little one. If the life of a wild animal taken in self-defense was enough to shake her conviction, she would never make it anywhere as a kunoichi.

"... I should probably bury it," she thought aloud, studying the corpse with thoroughly disgusted eyes. It had made quite a mess on the road, and even now was still... leaking. Dead things sure bled a lot, just like they were still living things, almost. Glancing at the gore stained knife in her left hand, Saki pondered just how on earth she would handle the logistics of such a huge task, especially when she had her own errands to run. If it had been some kind of smaller animal it wouldn't have been too difficult to dig a hole and haul it over there, but... even in it's current condition, it had to be pretty heavy, and Saki's muscles weren't exactly of the super bulky variety. Before she had time to contemplate the manner in depth, an unfamiliar figure arrived, dressed in the most eccentric choice of clothing that she had seen in a fairly long time. Though her own choice of clothing couldn't really be called 'normal' for everyday wear this fellow - or was it a girl...? - seemed to be wearing something more similar to 'half' an outfit than an actual set of clothes.

To have the first thing said to you after something that like... being 'nice work'... was a slightly jarring experience. It was almost as if he was some teacher back at the academy complimenting his students on hitting a target, even though the circumstances were totally different. Of course, he neither looked nor acted like Saki would expect a teacher to look, but the confidence with which he carried himself and the deadly edge in the air was enough to put her back on her guard. Maybe she was just imagining things and this... whatever this person was... was simply some kind of narcissist, and maybe she would be better off keeping her trap shut to prevent herself from saying something that could antagonize a potential threat. She had enough things to worry about without having some crazy, possibly crazily strong person trying to kill her when all she was trying to do was pick up some linens. Damn it, Ojiki...

When the unannounced stranger turned his attention in her direction, she could feel her body moving of it's own accord. Her muscles screamed at her to get away, that the risk infinitely outweighed any potential gain from staying, and she caught herself moving to take a step back away from him by reflex. Silently gritting her teeth, hidden back behind her lips, she forcibly pressed her foot right back into the ground where it had been a moment before, pressing down with her toe and twirling it slightly at the ankle, as if it was a natural movement to work some feeling into her feet. Of course, it was pretty obviously otherwise, but the effort had been made on a superficial level, at least. Saki quietly sighed as she made an attempt to dance aside from the strange blonde's attempts to apply some kind of makeup to her face. It wasn't very successful, and she had to suppress the response to sigh again when he flashed a mirror in her direction. She was definitely going to have to wash her face before going home.

"... I see. So it's true. The children of trouble come in threes." It didn't take a genius to know that something was coming when the trees themselves started to visibly move from the approach of the bears. Judging by the weight of their footsteps and the sounds coming from them... no, she didn't even need that. When you could see their shadows, it became a much more obvious conclusion to assume that the bloody beasts were enormous. If they were anywhere near as durable as the last one - and she suspected that they were most likely even tougher - she neither held the techniques nor equipment to outright defeat them. Not that violence was the only answer in a kunoichi's arsenal, of course. Still, it was frustrating to deal with such an irrationally persistent adversary, couldn't they just give up when it had already been demonstrated that the risk of death was considerable? Well, it might have been if she hadn't already wasted those tags.

"Not particularly. Not interested in being a snack, either." Hmm. For the moment, it seemed that withdrawing would be a more practical solution than attempting to brawl it out with Bear-chan's family. Besides, she had no anymosity with the animals in any case, and they were merely acting as their instinct directed. She could always try some form of ninjutsu, but it was probably better to preserve her chakra for later. At the very least, she could keep those cards in hand and play them close to her chest, as she still wasn't sure if she could trust this overly cheerful man with his makeup at all. "Tactical withdrawal. I'm going that way." As she spoke, she slipped a smoke stinker into her hand from her hip pouch and pointed down the road. A simple smoke bomb might have allowed her to escape for the moment, but she would just be tracked by her scent. She had to cut off the threat at the root. Of course, she'd already wasted too much time as it was, and the bears had already made it to the road. What a nuisance.

Throwing the smoke stinker towards the bears, Saki waited until the smoke began to spread before jogging away from the scene, down the road the way she had originally been going. Though part of her wanted to just sprint, to run and run until they were so far behind they couldn't catch up, the more practical side of her won out. She had to conserve her energy in case she ran into anything else.

1152

Spoiler:

Aki wasn’t too please that the little lady didn’t want him to fix her up a somewhat, it wasn’t even the deadly kind of toxin that would have killed the average person either upon him touching skin with and she should had seen that with the first few pants he managed to hit, and yet still she persisted to just not be beautified like a normal person. Though his work was a little sloppy no thanks so Saki there was some...patches he could be proud of and that was all that he could asked for now. He already notice the foot steps that could have easy have been mistaken for small quakes in their time but he was more interested on how to get this girl...liking more normal, sure the whole snow white princess look is classic and not worn enough to be beaten to death by the paparazzi just yet but still...she was too young for it. but his thoughts were being interrupted as she wanted to say something about the whole not wanting to be eaten or fighting more then she has to and what not...Aki couldn’t catch it all as he ponder too much on the last subject. The footsteps grew louder and the shakes kept on coming stronger, Now Aki couldn’t just ignore them and face that he was getting into a family affair. Saki too seemed to sense what was going on and proclaimed once more of her plan, to ran like a chicken with its head caught off and hope speed was enough. Then throwing a simple smoke bomb and booking it like a mad woman she was off! Down the path around the corner and breaking only to breath!...well ok not all that she just ran towards the north side of the road as the smoke covered their back sights. The missing nin thought for a second..then really knew he should join her otherwise he have no other human contact today and just play with more of the boring old beasts.

He started to run up with the lady of the day with a good sped himself, in fact he already caught up to her and knew he could have easily have just passed her if this was race, he looked to his side as they both ran neck and neck in this marathon “Going to have to be a little quicker miss bears can run...” he said as he looked to the back of them seeing a couple of shinny objects rushing towards them, like shinny butterflies he thought at first...then stopping and quickly shifting his weight on the opposite side of the rushing and quickly rotating his head as the knife brushed past nearly touching his flawless flash before he caught the projectile and admired it for a second while the rest of the weapons flew past him towards the running genin. The style of kunie was slightly different then the versions back in konaha that was for sure...much larger and wider to hit rather then kill upon impact as if a giant sized person would use one of these as it covered most of Aki’s hand past the mid forearm. And then the rest of the situation hit him as a massive black form crossed over head and past towards the girl, trying to land in front of her with a massive thud from its weight and its body stance set to kill, staring angrily at the little miss with its teeth extend and its claws firmly holding a giant sword, claymore style. It was one of those massive bears, slightly larger than the one Saki killed earlier...but this one had a ninja head band on its fuzzy arm and standing on its upwards bottom feet like a person. It even looked like it had a few packs of gear. Aki wasn’t sure...but that bear looked like a nin animal...though a missing one as the symbol on the metal was crossed out. “Village of the hidden bears?...Neat!” he exclaimed whole looking back at the larger shadow coming in their way. The larger shadow was still behind them and walking up slower then one would think as a hunter...this one however didn’t need to move too fast as the size of this bear was just...monstrous... The smoke screen didn’t even cover enough area to hide this mother bear mug. As it walked she pushed the light smoke away with just her movement’s current.

She too wore a massive crossed out head back, unarmed though this one...didn’t look like she needed any kind of weapon though. Aki started to look a little serious now with his brow dropped. From the one in front and the one glaring at their back sides it look like they were in a fight, the medic could have likely escaped with no issue but the dramatic tension this two animals were trying to convey was just soo cute he couldn’t help but want to see what they wanted and just how far they would go for it. “Hope you can handles your battle buddy!” Aki shouted back at Saki before turning back at his foe.

The shorter bear of the two that faced Saki head on growled with its fangs out in piercing yellow, slowly inching towards her with its feet heavily rooted to its stance, a single breath as the breeze picked up...and which it roared in its stating position and dashed at her. It raised its arms with an almighty swing before driving it downward with enough force that if it missed then it would slam though the surface dirt clean into the clay section of the ground and if it did hit her...well should could kiss that body goodbye while watching it cleanly fly away. Aki’s foe on the other hand still was not rushing at him like her impatient son, instead it started to form a long series of hand seals at one seal per minute from its bloody peace, Aki wanted to wait to see what happened, tapping his toe for her to hurry the hell up though.

Geez, Saki was pretty sure she'd never heard of a travelling cosmeticist in the area, but if she had, she surely wouldn't have come out this way willingly. Sure, he had been harmless enough so far, but it was kind of embarassing to have yet another person... another stranger... fussing over her appearance like this. The memories it stirred up threatened to drown her, but she really didn't have time for casually indulging in frivolous flashbacks right now. As much as the words she wanted to say burned at her throat, she choked them back down along with the sick feeling that had begun sinking in after her previous actions. The burning was a real thing, she realized, the bile-like feeling that frequently came before throwing up. However, she didn't have time for throwing up any more than she did for moping and being self-conscious. For the moment, she had to focus on getting out of the mess she had gotten herself into - or... had she?... - well, it didn't matter. She had to focus on getting out of this mess, so that's what she did. After tossing out her smoke stinker, Saki had set out down the road again, hoping to take advantage of the distraction in order to gain some distance at least.

When the strangely dressed blonde cosmeticist caught up with her, Saki wasn't particularly surprised. It wasn't exactly a shocking relevation that someone who could stay totally calm in that kind of situation was probably stronger, faster, and generally better than she was. His words weren't exactly a surprise either, though her own quick response... was. "Strong sense of smell. They won't like the sulfur, it should slow them down." She was wrong, apparently, and when her new 'guest' stopped for some reason, Saki wasn't naive enough to think it was for no reason. Throwing her weight forward and slightly to the side, her feet slammed hard back onto the road as she skidded to a stop. The jarring force of it was nearly enough to slide her feet right out of her sandals and subsequently dump her unceremoniously to the ground, and her legs felt like they had been set alight under the pressure of preventing that from happening. Even as she did, and the gesture placed Mr. Cosmetics between her and the bears, she realized what a close call it had really been. What seemed more like shovels than kunai sailed past her on both sides, one even coming close enough to clip her sleeve and send her reeling again. If it had cut her, it had been shallow enough that she couldn't tell past the dull soreness that now quietly set into her arm.

This is really starting to wear me down, she thought with a sigh. Even as she thought it, the situation went from frustrating to beyond the impossible. A gigantic bear sailed... right overhead... and landed in front of her, striking the ground with sufficient force to cause her to widen her stance in order to keep her footing at all. Great. Not only had she just seen a bear fly - and not just any bear, but what was probably be biggest... No, after today, wouldn't that be second biggest?... bear that she have ever seen. The second biggest bear she had ever seen, with a two handed sword to match it's size, standing on it's hind legs like it was a human. A moment later, her eyes caught the ninja headband on it's arm with a slash through it, as well as pouches similar to it's own, likely where it had kept those shovel-knives it had tossed a moment ago. Village of the Hidden Bears?

"... I don't suppose this could be settled by discussing our differences, huh?" By the look of the bear that had cornered her - and that, really, was what it was, when it came down to it, wasn't it? being outmaneuvered - she didn't expect that it could. Instead of dwelling on what wouldn't work, she had to try and think of something that would. A sword that big would be powerful, and, given that she was dealing with a ninja bear, she couldn't count on it being slow. However, a weapon that big would be difficult to maneuver, and the number of ways that she could be attacked with it would be limited compared to that of a smaller weapon. That was exactly why most shinobi weapons were fairly small, both because they were easier to conceal, but also due to the relative ease which they could be handled. She had to count on that if she wanted to survive this.

Focusing herself entirely on her opponent, Saki deliberately ignored the blonde's patronizing remark as she faced the growling beast across from her. As it inched forward, she inched back, though she knew that maintaining the distance wouldn't work for very long before she ended up backing right into Cosmetics and Mama. Though the thunderous roar that followed likely would have shocked her had she been unprepared for it, her recent experiences with bears - and a reasonably strong desire to live - left her ready to react rather than being startled into submission. As the bear dashed at her, she waited until it had committed - prepared itself to throw itself wholeheartedly into killing her - before moving. So, it had chosen a type of attack that would bissect her vertically, in other words, a downwards cut. That made things a lot easier. Grinding her feet into the dirt for traction, she tossed herself bodily to the side in a sort of aerial barrel roll, the bloody kunai she had been holding being thrown in the bear's direction as she went. By the time she had hit the ground, Saki had curled herself up enough to roll, and then staggered to her feet a fair distance to the left of her original position. Had the bear recovered already? If it hadn't, she would have to press the offensive while she still could, but if it had... well, it would be back to looking for another opening and hoping that it made enough mistakes for her to whittle it down before she made -one- and got split open.

1043.

The bear’s massive sword missed despite its power and speed, it didn’t look like it the girl was any more experienced then the opponent he was fighting which made harder to deal with, and even one. This was actually the first foe it fought that was much smaller then most of the fish it ate and just as slippery. Fully grown humans or other animals were the common types he fought along his family during the times of survival and now it was like fighting a tiny bug, annoying and persistence, if his attacks couldn’t lad too much he knew his stamina would out last her by a mile stone. His crushed blade hurled his anger at her only to be destined for discharge it amongst the earth, the impact was great enough to cause a small fissure in the solid stone to form in the shape of the metal razor before he managed to get a breath in and pull it out, Saki soon retaliated and throw her bloody knife at the young cub, to which his reaction was too slow from its first attack, hurling fast at him all he could do was raise his massive paw in his face to defend, it hit and slit into his flesh like an arrow dripped in venom. The pain rushed though his arm's pain sensors but he ignored it...

For a new sensation and fuel to his fire had emerged, his eyes grew red with blood as he pulled ever muscle in his face to action, crouching down with anger as the very fur over his body started to raise up in vibration. What cause such a feral state in the intelligent beast you ask? Why the blood of his baby brother was, the scent come from the kunai his challenge threw the blood of his fallen kin now mixing with its own. The girl needed die and die badly, it was the only thought that he could image now with all sensible gone, with it any chance she had of talking things out. The young genin bear rolled into to his feet, letting out a soul chilling roar to the heaven’s proclaim his revenge as the new fate he has given to his prey. The cub waved his claws together forming seals that all nin should have been aware of, faster past then one could think of with such massive hands, around his form the wind started to pick up twirling with his chakra, the empowered air current he sent hurled at the pale girl trying to knock her back, along side it the massive bear threw seven Shuriken with wires attached to them hiding in plain sight due its thinness, he planned to use the wind to distract Saki as well as assist the force the weapon’s speed to increase in speed and cutting power, the cub guessed that likely the young female ninja would try to dodge and that was the point in which the missing animal knew would be his chance. When she dodged he would pull the wires and dragged her along toward him where the bear could feel her flesh being torn apart between his claws.

Back with Aki the mother bear felt the wind change thanks to her son’s attacked and noted that other human she faced was busy watching the other fight. This is where should earned her high class criminal seal, her hands quickly turned into a blur of speed as she finished the Ninjutsu, she knew her son’s favorite element and thus planned to merely slow her actually speed to get her foe to drop his guard. Course Aki wasn’t that dumb he knew the attack was coming...but he didn’t really know what kind of attack it was. From the mouth of the monster mother a large black smoke quickly enveloped the area between the two of them and quickly consumed the medic as well. Aki quickly held his breath now blinded by the massive darken cloud and holding his breath, it was faster then it should have been but that was what the female bear planned, using the vacuum effect of her son’s wind jutus allowed her air born smoke to move much faster.

Aki didn’t detect the poison though but it smelled , familiar....Gun powered. Quickly his reactions kick in and he stuck placed his left thumb up, enchant the water in the atmosphere to his command and swirling around his beautifully body in a large egg shaped shield of powerfully torrent just as the bear clicked her fangs and ignited the massive cloud in a powerfully and fiery blast. She grinned in expectoration that her deed was done, too easy in fact. Aki also grinned in the foolish attack, forming more seals with his single left hand to further use his water to attack, the H20 once more more moved to his whims, gathering underneath him and push him upward away from the explosion dust to gain a better view of the battle flied. His feral enemy shocked to see the adult human unharmed before readying herself to leap at him with a quick and powerfully slash of her claws. The water holding its master up in a large pillar moved once more, hurling itself at the bear while Aki rolled back behind his attack. Watching in glee the massive tidal wave rushed at her and brought even the massive sized mother down smashing at the ground underneath and now soaked head to. Quickly the LaVaeas shoot out a blur of seals formed with his right hand this time, creating an electrically current through out his arm before letting its power jump toward wet trail he created earlier. The sizzling blue lighting hissed along the ground, breaking apart the solid foundation of stone as it moved over the living flesh.

The shocking truth of the attack greatly sends such overwhelming surges over her body the poor thing could have almost climax itself to a early grave. But she didn’t and slowly stood back up, chard and in pain with the blood pouring out from her burns, still willing to fight though. Aki started to giggle to himself as this was too entertaining to finish just yet, he wanted to further feel her anguish and disgust. There was just something about the smell of cooked bear meat that got his mouth watery with saliva, tasty and firm the dish was almost one of his top ten in preferred meals, with a quick haste he pulled out a simple metal fork while licking his lips, mocking the ever pissed off bear with his arrogance.

jutsu:

Spoiler:

Steel plated death, along with a side order of fangs and fur. Gritting her teeth, Saki forced herself to swallow rather than waste the time of spitting out the tension-driven saliva that had accumulated in her lower jaw, mingling with a light bead of sweat from her forehead. As the missing Bear-nin's sword cleaved through the air, and furthermore into the ground where she had just been standing, it was difficult for anyone, much less a fresh Genin of her limited experience to stay calm. However, the potential loss of composure on the albino Genin's behalf was hardly the kind of helpless terror that might have been demonstrated by a less confident shinobi or civilian. Instead, she channelled her frustration at her circumstances, her fear of death, and her desire to survive if for no better purpose than to get out of here into a constructive purpose. Her flashing encounter with the near death experience only made her stronger, rather than driving her into her shell like some kind of cowardly turtle.

Sakki... killing intent. Was it a coincidence that I could be called this?... Not in my hate-filled family. Otosan... When the bear moved to block her kunai with it's bare (pardon the pun) paw, Saki found the opening she needed to press her assault. It was a reckless move on the bear's part, taking a hit on one of it's limbs - limbs that it would need to fight her with - rather than evading or attempting to recover it's sword for a more formalized block. Not that she had left it much time to attempt a recovery, she supposed, but it was still a point to her advantage. All of this information flashed through her mind over the course of a few measly heartbeats, but that was all it took for the moment. Her gritted teeth turning into a toothless grin, the Uchihan's eyes, previously a monochromatic pink, now flashed red, a single hooked tomoe hovering above her left iris and to the lower right corner of her right eye, each locked on that of the furious animal across from her.

Press the attack... Both hands went immediately to work, and she quickly produced both another kunai and an exploding tag, which she wrapped around the weapon's handle as her opponent dropped into it's feral crouch. The creature's hackles had been raised, but there was hardly anything she could do about that now, and so she simply noted it and proceeded to do exactly as she had planned. With her preparations complete as the bear rose back to it's feet, Saki threw the kunai directly for the bear's torso as it threw it's own attention into it's intensely noisy declaration of war. It was a little late to be shouting your challenges to the heavens when you had already attacked someone, after all. Of course, Saki didn't have the time to enjoy the satisfying sound that came from a bear being the sole target of an exploding tag's explosive force, she had other concerns to be worried with. Like the fact the thing was attacking her right back.

Still, despite all of the signs strongly suggesting that this thing was, in fact, a ninja as much (or perhaps even more) than she was, it was a little surprising when she noticed that there was some kind of distinctive disturbance in it's chakra. Jutsu? Yup, judging by the fact that it was flashing through handseals at an abominably rapid rate, she supposed that was probably the case. Turning her torso to hide the specifics of the motion, Saki formed the dog, boar, and ram handseals herself, deciding that it was probably about time that she made herself as minimalized of a target as possible. 'Disappearing' with a poof of smoke, Saki transformed herself into a small rock coloured the same shade as the road underfoot, making her fundamentally invisible as she camoflauged herself in with the scenery as she allowed the bear's attacks to go 'overhead'.

Of course, the bear's wind had been sufficient to push her back a little even with her transformation, but her own deception would be covered by the work of Cosmetics and Mama. As the Mama bear's smoke engulfed the strange blonde man and proceeded to explode, Saki took advantage of the opening to sneak around to attack her own opponent from the flank. Though her first explosive tag might not have been sufficient to finish this one off, (assuming he lived) she had attached another three - geez, she really was acting like a demolitions expert today, wasn't she? - to dangle from the loop at the end of yet another kunai's hilt. Appearing as the dust from the previous explosions began to clear, Saki launched this kunai towards the bear-swordsman as well. Perhaps it wasn't a perfect or elegant solution to the issue of having a bloodthirsty bear on her hands, but there really wasn't all that much she could do about that right now. For the moment, she threw her focus into making her opponent die before he settled his own arrangements for checking her in for tonight's passage over the river of the dead.

Would her offense - hell, her defense, for that matter - be sufficient for dealing with this troublesome bear that refused to just leave her alone? She wasn't sure at all. If her firepower was lacking, though, she'd just have to hit it again, even harder this time, wouldn't she? Ah, if only everything was this simple. Live and let live. Kill or be killed. Defend yourself and take vengeance against those who would harm you and yours. This intoxicating adrenaline rush of battle, wasn't this what life as a shinobi was about...? Now focus. Be prepared for anything, and act decisively if you must, but do not waste your energy or resources needlessly.

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The attack from the young girl before the bear did have some of the impact she wanted but not enough aside from the blooming shock wave she created before his wind picked up and distorted the explosion further then it would have without his resistance. The young cub thought that his sized and power would be enough but clearly she was a stubborn one, and what made it worse was the fact that she seemed different then the normal humans he haunted along before. It wasn’t the ninja training he was taught upon how to deal with that well enough by his elder mama but she had something he didn’t see before, somehow her battler perception was well beyond that of something that should have been her rank and he didn’t even understand. Raging in a fit after his last attacked failed and all he saw that his attacks he was a pile of stones while she herself seemed to have vanished, the fact that a loud explosion from mama didn’t help, especially with the force of the blast pushing him back a little and distracting his sense away from an opponent.

The next thing he she was behind him floating in mid air while throwing another weapon chained with paper at him, there wasn’t much too react to aside from the thought of avoid the damage, he raised his sword in a more tradition sense as a shield to take the heat while pushing him back against the force of the boom. The rushing three tags exploded with such force one after another before leaving the smoke behind it. The cub felt the searing heat from his sword as it pressed along his flesh and fur, threatening to melt some of his follicles he pulled back as he flew back being knocked on his right side bloody and exhausted from battle, crimson stains all covering his own silk like wood tone and his blade thrown across towards where Aki and mama stood. The young animal’s breath beat heavily and sweaty dripped off with the blood its pool began to pull underneath. It was still alive that was certain enough though not in any will shape to move any more for the remind of the fight. It fates was up to Saki now as its body as well spirit had been broken to the point of not recovering by itself, right now all he could do is pant and try to come up with a way to escape, thoughts of death and being charred in hell floated and curved stomped any forefront emotions or training he might have taken in, inexperience and nativity took over as all it wanted was to cling to life and get its revenge for this...

Mean while the massive sword landed beside Aki and the wounded bear, he took notice of the battle on the other side of the area now with his own battle seemly over as the mother bear still was not moving just yet. He dropped his forked and picked up the massive blade beside him. It was heavier then he expected as the initial heave failed, took him more focus just to bring it up and carry on his shoulder with a arm free. Turning back once to check up on his foe she still remained unknown as stillness was there and the smell of what appeared to be nearing death was present. He believed the threat for him to be over so with a non caring altitude and his whimsical style of thought the young man walked over towards the only other human here and dropped the large sword solid in the earth next to her, looking over at her handy work with a analytical eye and a smiling grin at the damage socked battle tore filed. His eyes showed sinfully pleasure in their azure gaze as did the licking lips on the bottom section. “ Nice work nice and bloody just like you should treat every threat, so if you’re done with your prey best to finish him off before he gets the strength to fight again. Since somehow things tend to bite people in the ass if things are left unfinished, for example I’m sure that older bear over there is planning something to try and counter us with myself not watching her right now, probably will be something that hurts but its worth it for the fun of it, you on the other hand look to be done with fighting today so send him to the afterlife. Use his own blade to add insult to injury just for the fin of it” he spoke while tapping on the hilt of the blade before steeping back, letting Saki do whatever she wanted right now. He hoped for a more...cruel way of things, to bring some reality of being a shinobi to her and just for the fun of corrupting the youth out of a child.

Kyeh. It wasn't entirely surprising for her that such a stubborn opponent would also be this resilient, btu even so, it could hardly be classified as anything but an annoyance. When it managed to somehow distort her initial exploding tag with some kind of blast, she reasoned that it's elemental affinity most likely was wind. That she would be forced to resort to such drastic measures on someone - some 'beast' - of such a ridiculously inefficient compatability was beyond frustration. If an occasion like this ever occurred again, she silently vowed, she would be ready to turn the poor sap on the other side into barbecue. She had been willing to 'play fair' so far, but this was enough to push her into a state where absolute victory was the only option. Even as she managed her 'disappearing act', Saki's eyes relentlessly sought openings in her opponent's guard.

It came quickly enough, and she struck decisively. It seemed that the bear had recovered his sword in the interval, and had the decent sense to utilize it to guard rather than attempting another trick with it's bare paws again. "You learn quickly, huh? Pain always was the best teacher. Now thank your sensei and die..." An idle smirk crept across the kunoichi's face as she advanced towards the fallen bear again, taking at least the basic precaution of approaching from an angle where it couldn't easily easily spot her on the off-chance that it still felt like trying to lash out in an attempt to wound her enough that it could survive - or at least take her down with it. There was no point taking needless risks, even for indulging in the curiousity of what lay hidden in such a creature's eyes as it died. The sound of the bear's harsh breathing was a little distracting, she'd never heard anything quite like it, but overall she felt like she had the situation under control now.

Still, she was under no illusions that a creature so ridiculously stubborn wouldn't come back for more if given the chance. That it had already been humiliated like this was reason enough, that it had some other kind of grudge against her, well, that really couldn't be helped. There wasn't much choice in the matter, she would have to follow through and finish what she had begun. Even as she had this thought, a sign of movement caught her attention, and she briefly shifted her head to face the strange blonde haired man who had picked up the fallen bear's sword. So, he is strong after all. The thought wasn't an entirely comforting one, as she still wasn't entirely sure if she could trust him as far as she could throw him. Given how she felt right now, she was reasonably certain she wouldn't be throwing anyone any time soon, much less someone with the muscle power to lift that kind of weapon with one hand.

His arrival evaporated her facial expression, leaving it neutral again as he began to speak. If it was best to finish off your 'prey' before it got the strength to fight again, what exactly was he doing chit-chatting with her instead of taking care of his own business? Then again, picking and choosing when to act reasonably was the perogative of the strong, who could get away with acting in ridiculous manners when they felt like it. Stifling a sigh, she drew a kunai, ignoring the direction to use the bear's own blade to end it's life. If she was going to kill it, it would be for two reasons - because it needed to be done, one or the other of them was going to die anyway, and to put it out of it's misery so that it at least didn't have to suffer for a lengthy period of time before it died. Insults weren't going to solve her problems, and... well, to be honest, she didn't really feel like embarassing herself fumbling around with that obnoxiously huge sword. Kirima would probably never let her live down something like that, so she decided for the moment it was best to just stick to what she knew best.

... That bit about his own opponent planning a counter was also worrying her a bit, as she was reasonably certain that she wouldn't stand much of a chance against something that could have made that explosion earlier. At least, not yet. Who knew, maybe even the runt... hell, if such a huge bear could be called a runt... was planning something too, so it was best to just end it quickly. Taking the kunai, she stabbed it for the bear's neck from behind, as close to a 'certain' means of killing it as any without having to fumble around looking for the spine or an opening in it's skull. Yanking the knife back out, she resisted the urge to vomit at the sight as her eyes returned to normal, bringing with them a sense of reality and a sickening wave of nausea. Though she knew she had no-one to pin it on, she somehow felt like she hadn't really done any of that at all, and she had merely been watching it from outside like some kind of spectator. It was... well, a little frightening.

"I... should probably be going." Saki used the window of her brief comment to step back from the bear, turning her gaze away from it to instead regain her bearings (pardon the pun) and determine where, exactly, she was. Once that was done... well, she'd have to make sure no more of those bears would be following her before finishing up her errand. What the hell was up with these bears, anyway?

953

Aki wasn’t all that please that the little young lady didn’t want to finish her foe like he wanted, instead taking the more humane way of doing things and making it as painless as she could have done, simple stab in the back of the head so the spike of the knife would only be felt for a few moments. He signed in disappoint and shock his had lightly, such a waste of pleasure, if she had to kill something might as well as enjoy it, she even looked sick from there thought of wasting such an awesome thrill. He told her so her body knew better, he thought in such a sadistic way before picking up the blade once more from where he slammed it and throw it on top of the genin ranked bear. He let loose his strength this time lifting the blade with easier and chucking it like a football at the poor animals corpse, a nice gashing sound of the internal organs slicing in half, much like the sound of old jelly being hit with a dull knife attached to a generated, blood and other bodily fluids released from their sac like organs being splattered in out on the once green grass, now painted a brownish crimson. The blade managed to penetrate though body and grounded itself in the earth upward at an angle of 35 slightly leaning towards the west side of their direction. Aki’s smiled in glee before clapping his had free from the dust then taking a few steps towards the little girl, hoping she enjoyed the little show to seeing someone enjoying his work.

He notice that the smell and sound of a sick person when he so one and she didn’t seemed to be hiding it all that well, slowly he walked up to the poor girl and tried to place his palm over her forehead. If he didn’t find any resistance then he would take into account she didn’t feet all that bad, slightly tired and fugitive from the fight it appeared though but that was about it, nothing all that bad that required to be treated. And if his examination was cut short then he still could tell from the vomit she was tired. “Well little lady did you just say you need to be going? Cause at first I thought you might be lost when I found you, where are you heading to anyways?” the innocent medical nin asked with his head coked to the side. Shifting his weight in order to turn around the LaVaeas wanted to see how his other little bear buddy was doing, what he saw didn’t surprise him either as it appeared the massive body he took car of had vanished...there wasn’t a trace of the presence of the massive mama bear and the little cub still laid dead with its own sword in the body. He shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring manner before paying attention back towards saki to judge what she would do carefully.

If Saki had convinced herself that dealing with the bear would be the end of her problems for the day (and, admittedly, she had for a moment), reality slammed right back with a jolting reminder that there were other things that could kill her just as, if not more, easily than they could. Even as she stepped away from the bear and tried to turn her attention elsewhere, it was firmly placed right back where she wanted it least as the strange blonde haired man dissected the creature with it's own blade. The initial ripping sound, interrupted by that of some internal organ bursting, sounded just about as pleasant as a lifetime of detention with Naru-sensei back at the academy. Just about as pleasant, and about a thousand times more squeamish. Of course, letting something like that visually show just wasn't going to cut it, especially not now. She couldn't afford to show more weakness than she already had in front of this crazy guy. Staring at the scene for a moment, she allowed it to burn itself uncomfortably into her eyes... no, she couldn't really help that part, could she? It wasn't going to be something she would be able to just forget even if she had wanted to, what a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. If she had known she had run into such dangerous people... well, no. On second thought, she probably would have done it anyway, so there was no point complaining. A touch of old-fashioned contrariness and spite still ran through her veins, she would have made this trip even if she knew. Didn't mean she'd enjoy it, though.

When the blonde made his way towards her, part of her felt like walking away or fighting back, just to be contrary. She could see the results of that in her minds eye quite easily enough even without her Kekkai Genkai, so she wasn't in any particular hurry to rush that fate along. Even if she tried to openly resist, she would just be overpowered, anyway. No, her objective for the time being was to get through this as smoothly as possible without causing any more problems for herself. Unconsciously holding her breath when he went so far as to put his hand on her forehead, she reminded herself again that nothing especially harmful had happened the last time. Of course, sometimes things changed, but there was a considerably higher chance of things going wrong if she flipped out over it than if she merely calmly handled the situation. How to handle it, well, that was something that would require some thinking on, and, frustratingly, thinking was about the last thing her brain felt like doing right now. It would have to suck it up and do what she wanted anyway, that was one of the few, simple requirements she made of it, in any case.

"I do. I'm not lost. Running errands, so I won't be troubling you any longer." Following the man's eyes towards the corpse and a... empty space... she pondered thoughtfully for a moment what he might be looking for. Then, of course, it hit her. Of course, after his speech about 'finishing off your prey' before they came back for you, he had gone and neglected his own opponent in some kind of sadistic need to eviscerate the body of her own foe. It didn't help that said creature had demonstrated enough firepower (pardon the pun) to be problematic, but now would have the drop on him - or... though she hated to admit it... her - should it decide to come back. It was rather strange, altogether, though. They had been so intensely noisy on the way in, and she had managed to vanish altogether without so much as producing enough sound to attract their attention? Had everything before just been a set of theatrics in an attempt to intimidate them before the fighting had begun, like dogs flushing their prey out into the opening as the hunt began? I'll have to keep that one in mind... and for more reasons than one. It could be used against her again, of course, so caution couldn't hurt, but it had been a mistake to start without finishing. She could use that tactic herself, now, and perhaps it would be useful someday.

"Might be a worthwhile idea to be cautious until you're out of the area or find out what happened to Okaasan over there. My apologies if I've been rude. Thank you for your assistance today, I'm not sure I would have survived if I had to deal with all of them by myself." In fact, she was reasonably certain that she wouldn't have. Defeating an opponent with a trap was a cinch for any ninja who knew what they were doing, but that went both ways. Being outnumbered wasn't generally a beneficial state to be in, either, and though she knew a clever and skilled enough shinobi could probably deal with it, she wasn't there yet. Maybe she never would be. Only time would tell. In any case, unless faced with some kind of resistance, Saki once again resumed her passage down the flipping road to hell. That, of course, had no reason whatsoever to be secure despite being connected directly to the village. How odd...

Was it worth giving this strange man a warning he probably didn't even need? Though she wouldn't put coming here past a feat of total whimsy, she was also reasonably certain he could take care of himself. She didn't know who he was - which, when she came to think of it, said quite a bit about what he might be - and decided it was probably a good idea for it to remain that way. If she didn't know anything about him her conscience could stay, for the most part anyway, clean, and if she did, she'd probably end up regretting whatever came from the knowing. It was best not to meddle in the affairs of people who could use such a ginormous sword as a throwing weapon, anyway.

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