[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." LET'S GET GOING! Shigure was excited! He was about to go on a C-Rank mission with his buddy, Yusuke. This was actually their very first mission together, and due to the fact that Yusuke outranked him, he was the leader for this mission, so Shigure didn't know many details on it, other than the brief he received: Some people went missing in a town called Sagyo, and apparently they suspected a group of cultist were using those people as sacrifices. It was grim and terrible, and it angered Shigure when he heard about it, but he quickly changed his mindset, as he was going there to put a stop into this evildoing, and he was confident they would succeed, they had a member of the ANBU tagging along, for crying out loud. In any case, they were supposed to find their hideout and arrest or dispose of those cultist so that Sagyo could have some peace once again. Packing his equipment and some food, enough for a week or so, Shigure headed to the western gate of the village where he would be meeting with Yusuke. Once there, he sit by a bench and waited while re-reading the short mission brief. There were some other details, such as the victims not being older than twenty-five. "This is either an important part of it, or just a coincidence... Too early to tell... But I don't think it is a coincidence..." he thought to himself. The other detail was that the disappearances were associated with the full moon, and because of that, they were calculating their travel time so that they could arrive in Sagyo the day before this month's full moon. It shouldn't take them more than a day or two to get there, considering they were shinobi, but there's always the risk of unpredictable events on the road or upon arrival in the town, so it would be better to be a tad bit overzealous; they didn't want to miss the right timing to find those cultists, right? "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Western Gate [Sō Yusuke] [337 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"house of horrors". . "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Time to Go! Yusuke was excited albeit a bit nervous, he had been on his share of C-rank missions before so the difficulty wasn't an issue, however, it was his first time taking the lead. There had been reports of human sacrifice in a nearby town called Sagyo, the details go on to explain the victims were always under the age of 25 and the sacrifices seem to coincide with the full moon. Yusukes main question is what did these people hope to gain from sacrifices? He was a little disappointed he had heard rumors of clans who participated in human sacrifice in exchange for great power, but for a C-rank mission, he knew that couldn't be the case here. None the less he knew more information was required to solve the case and complete the mission, but first things first he agreed to meet with Shigure at the west gate. Using Shunsin to reach his destination, he appeared in front of his partner in a puff of smoke. "YO! Shigure-senpai~, how's it going? ready for our first ever mission?! I see you're already catching up on the brief you little bookworm!" He exclaimed tussling the boy's hair. "Ready for our big trip? it's a bit of a hike but if we make good time it should only take a day, we can talk strategy on the way. As far as a C-rank goes with your Byakugan this should be a sinch!" "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." C-rank Mission Leaving from West Gate [Hyūga Shigure] [words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." DEPARTURE Shigure didn't have to wait long until Yusuke just 'poofed' in front of him. He was a bit startle, but being a shinobi, he was kinda used to being surprised by the Body Flicker Technique every now and then. With a large smile, he greeted his friend, who was enthusiastic as ever. With a firm nod, he chuckled lightly before speaking. "Hey buddy! We need to be well prepared, right? I had missions before, but this one seems particularly dreadful... But having you by my side is certainly reassuring!" he said in a rather happy tone. So the trip was supposed to take them a day, that wasn't so bad. Shigure hoped they could make it by the end of today, but it made sense that they would take the time to rest and preserve their energy, it was very likely that they would end up fighting some people, and although they were supposed to be a lower threat, considering the rank of the mission, the Hyuuga knew better than to underestimate his enemies. "When we get closer to Sagyo, I will activate my Byakugan and start scanning the area. So... If you are ready, let's go!" he said. The duo would then start to head towards their destination at a moderate pace. Even though they were still in their country, to just assume the roads would be safe would be foolish. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission On the way [Sō Yusuke Han] [233 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Time to Chat The boys set out for their mission. The likelihood of something going wrong along the way was low, but it never hurt to be prepared. "We're still really close to the village, so chances are it'll be easy going till our next destination but never let your guard down while on the clock!" Yusuke emphasized the last part, testing it out as a potential new catchphrase, but after hearing it out loud he put his index finger and thumb up to his chin "hmm no that's dumb, hey Shigure, you got any cool catchphrases? maybe something cool like Hyuganna regret that!" He shifted quickly from thinking out loud to small talk. The boys chatted and caught up more while they traveled some more and got closer to their destination, Yusuke shifted the conversation to a more serious note. "so Shigure, this mission is a little darker than your average one and I know how strong your moral compass is, assuming we find these guys, we weren't given any specifics on how to deal with them so what are you thinking?" Yusuke didn't have any qualms about killing people, it was pretty much a job requirement for him, but he knew what his friends had been through and wanted to make sure it wouldn't be an issue or put the mission at risk if worst came to worst. By the time they finished talking Yusuke could see the outline of the town, "alright Shigure, time to get to work! let's see what you got. He said stopping on a branch of a tree overlooking the small village. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Notes [Hyūga Shigure Han] [261 words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." SAGYO Shigure couldn't help but to creack up a laughter when Yusuke made the silly pun with his clan's name, and then he shook his head. "Not of the sort, I'm afraid. I do tend to say that the price of freedom is steep, and I try to live by that. But that's a bit too serious, so you can definitely look at me and say 'You Suck' hahahaha!" he said, adding his own silly pun with Yusuke's name. As they approached their destination, the tone of their otherwise casual conversation became a bit more serious. He then asked Shigure about how he intended to deal with those people and the young man sighed. "Well... I used to be quite naive when I was younger, so I get where you are coming from, but honestly? This world can do better without scumbags like that." he added, with a slight hint of anger in his tone. "So, for all I care, we just end their lives." there was no hesitation in his tone, and although Shigure wasn't one too intimate with murder, he had taken lives before, and would not hesitate to do it again if duty called. Once they finished talking, they could see the town in the distance. Frowning his brows, the young man activated his doujutsu. "Byakugan!" quickly scanning the area. He found the headquarters of the local law enforcement and, just like it was said in the briefing for the mission, there was one person restrained there. "Let's head to the headquarters of Sagyo's law enforcement. The prisoner is being held there." he said as the veins around his face faded away; there was no reason to keep his doujutsu activated right now since they had already located their destination. The local authorities were already expecting the assistance of the Hidden Leaf, so they would just grant the two access to the area and to the interrogation room. Once they were both inside, they could see the captured man - who was tied up to a chair - was solely staring at the ground, mumbling some nonsense. Before entering the interrogation room, Shigure looked at Yusuke. "How do you want to do this? I can use my Byakugan to detect lies, so I can help you interrogate him. But maybe you can be more succesful making him collaborate with us using your ANBU tactics?" he wondered. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Sagyo [Sō Yusuke] [400 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Quick Answers Yusuke's face fell flat hearing his friend's motto, followed by the free invite to add insult. "well as long as you know you suck I guess I don't have to say it. That right there is where we are different, you say the price of freedom is high? I say try to take mine, the price will be much higher." he said somewhere in the middle of joking and being completely serious. Their conversation had come to an end and Yusuke had been reassured that his friend would be ok with the potential gruesome aspects of this mission. As planned Shigure began using his Byakugan to scan the surrounding area as they neared the village, to Yusuke's disappointment there seemed to be no signs of ambush or current foul-play causing him to sigh. Following Shigures' lead and loving every moment of not needing to talk to anyone for directions the young men reached the Sagyo law enforcement building where the suspect was restrained. Their information having been sent ahead of them, they were allowed in to see the restrained man with no trouble. The man was bound to a chair staring at the ground muttering something to himself, he didn't seem like much of a threat so extracting information should be a walk in a park, Yusuke decided after a brief observation. Shigure offered to play the support role, between his abilities being best used to detect any lies in the given answers, and Yusuke's experience with an interrogation from his line of work, they made a great team. Yusuke walked up to the man who looked up to meet his gaze when he noticed him enter the room. Yusuke smirked and pulled out two kunai and spun one in each hand "alright, we're gonna make this nice and quick, I've been running all day and could really use some me time" he said infusing a bit of chakra into his words. He then stopped both kunai from spinning upright and brought them down quickly, poking two small holes in the man's neck activating his genjutsu "Ikamono Tsurugi". As far as the man could tell, two continuous streams of blood began to pour out of his neck making him panic, "ouch, I think I stuck them in too deep, whoopsie" Yusuke said taunting the man. "Now that's something we can fix super easy, but first you gotta tell us everything you want ok?" he said and struck a slight pose of pointing his index finger up, tilting his head, and sticking his tongue out. "Hmmm now lets see...what do we want to knowwww hmmm. Man nothing comes to mind what do you think Shigure-san~?" He put his hand to his chin pretending to ponder and stall for time as the man grew more and more frantic to his apparent blood loss. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Ikamono Tsurugi [Hyūga Shigure] [words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." EASY ANSWERS Once they were in there, Yusuke was quick to inform the man that they were not there to waste time, and activated a Genjutsu. Shigure always found it a bit amusing how Genjutsu affected people's brain by infusing it with the user's chakra. After his training with the Jounin from the Hidden Cloud, he was paying way more attention to that, trying to understand how it affected people and what triggered its activation. Not being a Shinobi, the man fell into despair the moment he thought he was going to be bled to death like a pig, and started struggling to leave the bindings in his chair and scream, but when Yusuke mentioned that they could patch him up, he seemed more eager to collaborate. "H-help me!! I will tell you what I know!" the man begged, to which Shigure nodded, taking a step closer to him, gazing upon the man with his intimidating eyes. "Where are your group? Where are you taking the victims to?" he asked, and the man shook his head. "I... I d-don't know... I swear! I'm just an underling... P-please..." he begged, and from what he could see from his Byakugan he wasn't lying. Shigure sighed deeply in mild frustration, but it was too early to give up. "That's not very help, is it, Yusuke? Well... Tell you what... Give us something useful, and we can spare your life." he said, and the man stopped for a moment, and then he nodded. "W-well... Tonight we have a victim... Her name is Nami, she is a blacksmith's daughter... I... I was told to gather with the others close to midnight, and kidnap her..." he said, and again it seemed like he was telling the truth. Shigure nodded and glanced at Yusuke, indicating they had what they needed, and that the Chuunin could do as he pleased with the man, and then he turned around and left the room, waiting outside for his friend, not really caring too much what Yusuke had decided for the fate of that scumbag. Once his friend was outside, he would look at him. "I have a plan." he announced. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Interrogation room [Sō Yusuke] [360 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Teamwork makes the dream work! Shigure took the lead in the interrogation quickly gathering what little information there was from the frantic and very compliant man, he didn't have much he could tell them, but he gave them a great place to start looking. Shigure mentioned he had a plan of sorts and quickly left the room leaving the man with Yusuke. The man still frantic pleaded with him "P...please! I told you everything I know, please stop the bleeding! he shouted, trying to thrash in the chair. Yusuke stepped forward and leaned in real close, putting himself face to face with the man. He waved his hand over the man's throat making the blood disappear. "T...Thank you! thank you for sparing me! please let me go, I'll never do this again!" Yusuke started to walk away but turned back at the man's latest request, "spare you? I'm sorry but I think you're still a little confused, I'm not sparing you, you just aren't mine to kill he motioned to the two enforcers that were standing out the door to come in. "You're fate will be in their hands, this is a really small town but maybe if you're lucky these guys didn't know any of the victims. Bye-bye!" He gave him a smile and wave and the color drained from the man's face as the two officers stepped towards him, the doors closed behind Yusuke and he trotted outside to his friend. "so watcha think? like the choice I made Mr.Justice? I know you were watching." he said giving Shigure a slap on the back. "Now let's hear about this plan you have, I got some pretty good ideas too, but you've always been a smart cookie so let's see if we're on the same wavelength" he stood back to hear Shigures plan while silently mime-ing his attempt to send his psychic thoughts into Shigure's mind. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Yusuke uses "Psychic", It's super effective! [Hyūga Shigure] [words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." REPLACEMENT Once Yusuke walked out of the interrogation room, he asked if he liked the way he handled it, to which Shigure gave a firm nod. "Indeed, it's better to leave it for the locals. They know how painful their loss was, so it's their call in the end." Then, it was about time for them to discuss the strategy they had. "Well, my idea is for one of us to switch places with the victim, while the other watches it from hiding. Let them guide us to their hideout and take them all down. Swift and effectively. If we can destroy this evil by the root, I think we are good." he explained, having quite the solid guess that he and Yusuke were likeminded regarding this approach. The Hyuuga then touched his chin, assuming a more thoughtful expression. "As for who should take the girl's place... I don't mind either way, but I do believe it would be easier for me to follow you with my Byakugan if you took her place, without the need of any sort of signal that may out our plans. What do you think?" he asked, eager to hear the answer from his friend. Regardless of who would take the position or not, the Shigure approached the law enforcement officers in the building, asking where Nami, the daughter of the blacksmith lived, and they were very helpful in pointing the two shinobi towards their residence, at the east end of Sagyo. It wasn't a very big place, but it seemed busy enough, which Shigure knew because of his eyes. Without delay, he was quick to relay the information of its location and general look to Yusuke, thanks to his Byakugan, and once that was done, he deactivated his doujutsu; he didn't want to overuse it now, for he knew it would be needed soon enough. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Who will take her place? [Sō Yusuke] [314 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." ARA ARA~ As Shigure finished describing his plan to Yusuke, Yusuke's face went pale and deadly serious. He took his fingers off his temples and stared at his hands as they were shaking, a bead of sweat running down his temple "Dear god...it actually worked...Shigure I...I think I'm psychic! he exclaimed looking at his less than impressed friend. Without missing a beat Shigure continued his thoughts on the plan, stating that he believed he was more suited to follow from a distance while Yusuke acted as bait. Upon hearing this Yusuked was ready for his debut! "leave it to me! check this out! Yusuke fell to the ground simultaneously activating his Henge no Jutsu, transforming himself into a woman with a loosely bound kimono, putting the back of his hand to his forehead he put on his best damsel in distress act "oh no! I've fallen...help me Shigure-sama~ doing his best to fluster his stoic friend, this was followed immediately by a sudden shift in his demeanor now toying with him Yusuke follow up with an "Ara ara" using his own unmasked voice. All joking aside their next step was finding the location of the girl in question, and thanks to Shigure's handy-dandy Byakugan it was done in no time at all. They still had a bit of time before midnight to get their plan in action so Yusuke suggested they get ready in their positions, making his way to the girl's location to both make sure she stays out of harms way and that she doesn't accidentally blow his cover. Using Shunshin to get there as quickly as discreetly as possible, he startled the girl but after a quick breakdown of the situation, he convinced her to stay indoors till morning and got her to describe her nightly routine so he knew how to play the part. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Gives Shigure a show! [Hyūga Shigure] [300-ish]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." DESGUISE AND KIDNAPPING Yusuke could be quite the goof at times, even in such dire moments such as this, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. If anything, it helped lighten the weight of their lives as shinobi, making things a bit easier to deal with, and making Shigure chuckled a bit, while he shook his head. "Hahaha, yeah right!" he said in a light-hearted tone, clearly not believing the 'psychic' claim from his good friend. Then, as they discussed the plan, Yusuke volunteered to play the damsel in distress by promptly interpreting one while using the Transformation Technique to change into the shape of a woman with a loose Kimono. Shigure laughed a bit louder this time, resting one hand on his waist, and the other covering his face, as he tried to not laugh too hard. With that being decided and the location of the blacksmith's house discovered, they proceeded with the plan. Yusuke used the Body Flicker Technique to go there, while Shigure found a very discrete and dark spot on a roof nearby, activating his Doujutsu to observe the whole scene. Once the girl was hiding and Yusuke took her form, they just waited as the Chuunin proceeded with her nightly routine, which involved some errands, helping her father with the forge until it was close to midnight, then cleaning herself up - which he avoided really looking - and then getting ready to go to bed. At around this time, he noticed a few people dressed in black robes lurking in the dark alleys around the place. "That should be them..." his conclusion was on point. There were a total of four of them, and they were ready to act. They had tantos with them, and some other shinobi-like gear, but they didn't seem to have the training of a shinobi at the very least. The way they sneaked around was not half-bad when their target was civilians, however. A moment later, they invaded the house, and while two of them took care of knocking the blacksmith out, the other two went on the seize the girl. They were not in a talking mood, and instead, they went on to try and restrain Yusuke, while the other two entered the room with ropes and a piece of black cloth to cover his face. Of course he wasn't going to fight back at this moment, and that was good, because there was no other members of the group around, so they really needed them to guide them to the hideout, wherever it was. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Kidnapping [Sō Yusuke] [425 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Damsel in Distress It was time to put the plan in motion, Yusuke took the form of the girl and thanks to doing his homework began to act out her evening routine. There was nothing special about the night; it involved running errands, helping her father with his work, typical civilian life. Fortunately easy to mimic making it even easier to fool the untrained eye into believing. It was getting close to midnight, just needed to put on the finishing touches, Yusuke helped the blacksmith close up for the night and headed to the back to clean up before bed. As he began to clean up still in disguise, he made it a point to look back in Shigure's general direction and mouth the word "pervert' with a smirk on his face. He wasn't blessed with a Byakugan like his friend but he got a feeling that Shigure just made a sudden change with his gaze. Yusuke was laying in bed when it finally struck midnight. He could hear people shuffling around the house making their way to the door. "Not very subtle, but I guess not too bad for normal people that aren't supposed to be expected" he thought to himself. "showtime Shigure" he mouthed as he could hear the blacksmith being knocked out in the next room as two cloaked men armed with tantos burst through his door. Yusuke took his time making sure they were in range to stop him when he made a fake attempt to scream, they quickly, albeit messily bound his wrist and legs and covered his face with a gag and blindfold. Although they were disguised Yusuke was still using his defensive scales so he wasn't too worried about taking damage, thrashing around a bit until the men got in a few blows with the hilt of their weapons. Yusuke took this opportunity to pretend to fall unconscious and waited to see where he was about to be taken. It took a surprising amount of time to get to the next location, Yusuke couldn't see much but thanks to sounds and smells he could at least tell it was a bit of a hike through the woods, thinking this to be their hideout was probably a safe bet. When they entered a building they threw Yusuke to the ground. He still couldn't see anything but the circumstances just became a little more serious. The air was heavy and had the distinct smell of blood hanging around, at this point the man just laid there still feigning unconsciousness and listening for his partner to make an entrance or some kind of signal. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Notes [Hyūga Shigure] [words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." SHACK IN THE WOODS Shigure chuckled lightly at his friend's joke. It was funny how he never changed, not even after joining the ANBU, and that was almost reassuring to a degree; it meant that as long as you know well enough who you are, your environment will not overpower you, and although Shigure was doing much better mentally, he still had many scars. In any case, back to the more serious expression and focus on the mission, for these criminals needed to get their due retribution. Once they attacked, the deception seemed to work perfectly. Yusuke did great with the acting and fake resisting and after some struggle, they bind the Chuunin with a rope and put the black cloth on his head, and then they escaped, heading towards the forest. "Time to find their hideout." and without hesitation, Shigure leaped from roof to roof, until he made his way to the woods. He was allowing the criminals to be around five hundred metres ahead of him, within the comfortable range of his Byakugan. After around fifteen minutes, the group arrived at a hidden shack deep in the woods. The place reeked of old blood, making Shigure grimace. Most of the members entered the shack, while two of them remained outside, standing guard. "Showtime." he thought, and without further ado, Shigure leaped towards the entrance, landing just beside the two men. They looked shocked, but before they could even react, the Hyuuga had already landed a palm strike at the heart of one of them. "Shoutei!" he roared, destroying the man's heart and instantly killing him, only to turn around and execute the other one. They didn't have enough time to make a sound other than the thud when their bodies hit the ground. Inside, there were the other three man, and an older, priest-looking man. He stared at the girl and removed the blindfold. "You will die today in honour of our lord Kibutsuji!" he announced with a wicked smile on his face, while he poured some weird liquid on the dagger he was holding. Inside, the heads of the previous victims were hanged on the walls, they all had their eyes gouged out of their orbits and had terrified expression on their faces. What they were doing here warranted no forgiveness, and they would have to pay the ultimate price. But before the priest-looking man could proceed, Shigure kicked the door open. "W-what is this?! You were followed?!" he barked at his followers. "This ends tonight. Yusuke!" When he said Yusuke, the four man in the shack looked very confused; little did they know that their victim this time was - in fact - a disguised Shinobi. Things were about to get ugly for them. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Rescue [Sō Yusuke] [455 words]

[Sō Yusuke]

"House of Horrors". "You laugh, because you think it is a joke. I laugh because you think I am joking." Holey Man After a few moments of conversation between the men that kidnapped him, Yusuke was brought to the back of the building. He was placed on the floor and his blindfold was removed. He quickly took a second to get an idea of his surroundings, there were four men in the room with him. the closest being an older man wearing some sort of ceremonial garb wielding an odd dagger. The walls were decorated with the bodies of their previous victims, all of which were missing their eyes and their faces twisted in ways that hinted at all this having been done while they were still alive. No sooner than he made his assessment the older man doused his blade in a strange concoction "You will die today in honor of our lord Kibutsuji!" his plan was cut short by the sudden loud bang that filled the room. Shigure walked in through the newly kicked open door "W-what is this?! You were followed?!" the old man yelled in shock. To really set the tone for his entrance Shigure followed up with "This ends tonight. Yusuke!" There was a brief moment of silence, the men quickly looked at each other in confusion, none of them making a move. Yusuke (still in disguise) turned to look at Shigure having just freed himself from his bindings with his Nawanuke no Jutsu [Rope Escape Technique] "who?" he asked sticking his tongue out knowing he full well just ruined a really cool entrance. There was a long moment of silence this time, as the men tried to process everything that happened in the last few seconds. By the time the old man had put together what was going on, Yusuke had already moved behind him, using a partial transformation of his clan's cherished Hijutsu reinforcing his arm and making his hands claw-like. He put his fist through the man's back and through his chest "I'll be taking that" He said as he grabbed the blade the man was holding, the priest looked behind himself in stunned silence and met Yusuke's gaze. Yusuke stared back at the man with glowing yellow eyes as his disguise disappeared, revealing who he truly was. "For your sake, I hope your lord promised a nice kind of after-life, if not, you can take it up with him when I send him your way" he said coldly as he kicked the man forward, simultaneously pulling his arm and the dagger back through his chest. "Ok Shigure, you can handle the rest, I'm bored now! He exclaimed immediately changing his demeanor back to his casual, joking self. "Dying to win and risking death to win are completely different. But no matter how many allies you have around you, when you die, you will die alone.." Ref 1 Notes [Hyūga Shigure] [words]

[Hyūga Shigure]

"house of horrors". "No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living." KIBUTSUJI Even Shigure was taken aback by Yusuke's reaction after freeing himself. "What?!" Shigure exclaimed in mild confusion, but nothing compared to the four man in there, who were completely shocked by not only Shigure's entrance, but by the fact that the girl freed herself from the ropes so easily. "I-impossible!" the priest stuttered, gulping as his bald head started to sweat from nervousness. With a quick and precise movement, the Chuunin claimed the life of the priest, and as he did that, Shigure spread open his arms, visualising the area of his Eight Trigrams. "Hakke Sanjuuni Shou!" and with an incredible speed, the Genin started to assault the three remaining man with his palm strikes. Yes, those people had no chakra in them, but the attack was instead destroying their internal organs and they started spitting blood by the time Shigure finished. As they fell to the floor, the Hyuuga approached them with a cold look on his face; the heads on the wall incited the ire within his normally gentle heart. "Explain who is your lord, and I will make it quick. Refuse and I will leave you to suffer until your life slips away." two of them seemed to be willing to suffer for the secret, but one of the man pointed to a place in the wall. When Shigure looked at it properly with his Byakugan, he found a secret storage with a few scrolls. He didn't have much time to assess them, but they were communication between this cell and what seemed to be the main cell of this group. "Disgusting..." he thought yo himself, but as he promised, he approached the cooperative man and with one palm strike, he stopped his heart. The other two begged, but Shigure walked away from them, leaving the shack with Yusuke, who took care of seizing the scrolls. "Let's report this to the townsfolk, and head back to the village... This is not the end of it, my friend... I fear this situation is far worse than we thought. We need to find this Kibutsuji person." he sighed, feeling some anger and frustration. Yes, they saved the city from this horror, but at the same time they found out that there were more of these fanatics around the world, and with each passing day, more people suffered at their hands. They needed to find this man quickly and put an end to that, but they needed the village to assess it first. After reporting to the locals, the two rushed back to the Hidden Leaf, the sense of urgency guiding them. "So what if it seems hopeless? If it were me, I still wouldn't give up. Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honour as a Shinobi, for the price of freedom is steep." C-Rank Mission Mission Complete [Sō Yusuke] [433 words]