ABOUT US

[Ochiba Meido]

Date and Time: June 12th, 8:00am
Location: A few miles away from Tsuchi no Kuni's southern border.

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The flat bottoms of his worn and familiar sandals left light footsteps on the ever dusty ground of Tsuchi no Kuni's soil. The grains of dust that were kicked up weren't as fine as the dust particles found in other nations. Due to a sharp lack of trees and roots to hold the soil together, such sizable grains were responsible for the country's well known dust rain. It was a bit different from Kaze no Kuni's sandstorms, though the mix of gray and brown falling nearly completely dry presented an ironic juxtaposition of a, perhaps, incorrectly named natural occurrence.

Though far from being a native of the country Meido was by no means unfamiliar with the arid and brown environment. It was always slightly amusing for him to enter into the country and think of it as a kind of wasteland. Though unlike the sands which either produced endlessly long ocean-less beaches beset by clear skies and a painfully hot sun, the vast lack of sustained life further juxtaposed by lofty mountain ranges provided similar feelings of isolation and death.

In truth such a place have unnerved Meido when he was younger. It wasn't that there was a lack of life; in places where there was an abundance of life and few deaths Meido got the same feeling. To inexperienced eyes the lack of a natural cycle seemed to be the purest definition that he could find of extinction.

At this point through his eyes had become well adapted to the true meaning of this place; the perseverance of life feeding off of those too ill-equipped to survive. Tiny blades of brownish grass hugging the top of the soil; tiny insects racing above and under the ground constantly hunting for food; larger animals surviving on little more than the base minerals found deep below the cracked soil; all showed a constant struggle for life wrapped around in a tight vacuum of unforgiving death.

It allowed for only the most well adapted to survive and most of the time this made for hardy species. Indeed, the hardiest of them all were the villagers of Iwagakure. He couldn't see the village from his location, nor would he be able to see it unless he was standing at the peak of a nearby mountain. Though clearly there lied a suitable vessel, or more accurately, a suitable host.

Slitting his thin and convex eyes barely open he surveyed the area. Surely his arrival in the country hadn't attracted much attention. The highest concentrations of patrols and shinobi in Tsuchi were centered in and around Iwagakure.

Still...

As he shifted his eyes around he didn't see anything of interest, but he knew without question that someone else was within his general vicinity. He didn't need jutsu to understand the subtle ques of the differences in sounds that his ever attentive ears were regularly picking up. Over the years he'd come to understand the differences between walking alone and walking with an uninvited guest.

Pressing his cane against the ground, he leaned slightly to his right side allowing it to take most of his weight transfer. Onward he continued to move at the pace of a wise elder.

[Ubume]

Chasing rumors, rumors and more rumors was the rice of Ubume's life now a days, ever since she was ordered to betray her village, turn into a criminal and "help" the growing band of Nuke nin named Hebi. Make sure that the young leader of the band found his brother. All for the sake of learning more about another band an organization that was shaking the whole shinobi world, the group Akatsuki and their mysterious goals, why they targeted Jinchuuriki and the Bijuu inside them, what did they plan to do with them? this was Ubume's goal, for that she was ordered to betray what little she loved.

After this mission; after this assignment there would be no more life, the night Kinrui Kansen the leader of Kusagakure told her to leave the village was the day that Ubume would not see the luminescent mushrooms that light the underground village ever again.

Today Ubume was on her own, far from Hebi but not too far from them. She had learned that Iwagakure employed members of Akatsuki several times in the past, while it was common knowledge that the Village Hidden in the Rocks often employed mercenaries to do their dirty work it was less known that they were using the world wanted criminals. The veteran Kunoichi mentioned this to Uchiha Sasuke and there was enough interest to allow her to try and see if she could come up with any potential leads, she did learn a couple of things but nothing major so now she planned to return to her comrades.

She was always careful, but now she had to be doubly careful as Hebi was branded an enemy of Iwagakure for defeating and capturing their last Jinchuuriki Han. So there was little room for doubt that the Shinobi of Tsuchi no Kuni were out for Hebi's blood, which also included her blood. So the thing Ubume least wanted was to draw attraction.

This region she knew very well, she had passed through here many times enough to know that Iwagakure patrols didn't pass through this arid, dead and empty pass. It was a good doorway and exit to the country if one planned to go unnoticed

Ubume hid her pale features under a canonical straw hat, a brown long brown robe also concealed much of her body. For now that was her best attire, she of course could steal a face, but leaving a corpse behind would draw attention so it was best to simply enter and leave the country in the same fashion, with her real face.

The A rank criminal hailing from Kusagakure kept to the high ground, using the little hills and boulders to keep an eye on her surroundings, to keep an eye on anyone who could get too close, mainly a Iwagakure patrol. When her senses did register that someone was nearing, she ducked and jumped down hiding in a nook between a couple of large rocks. The ever patient Kunoichi waited, the person who was traveling through this forsaken part was taking his time but that did not bothered Ubume, who rested her back against the rocks. Her purple eyes were closed, she focused on her ears and listened. When it was near enough so Ubume could tell that the person was using a cane, the Kunoichi relaxed her breathing keeping it slow, a kunai slid into her left hand as a precaution.

Ubume intended to let the person go through, she had no intention of fighting unless the fight was brought to her, best if she was unnoticed... it was always better when she was not noticed.

[Ochiba Meido]

As Meido continued his almost painfully slow stroll--one which seemed to rely a little too much on his cane for support--his extraneous senses were going out; his hearing, smell, sense of feeling and shinobi sense of danger were looking for the proper hints that would give him a direction and from that direction a general location. Placing his cane down to take another step forward it was in fact his sense of sight that gave him the first initial indication: Dust grains. They were gently and unobtrusively flowing past his face, his breathing calming for a moment so that he didn't take in the substance. However, it was the direction of their flow which caught his attention; they flowed from his right eye to his left in a reverse exponential fashion.

Above and to his immediate right. His pale purple eyes gently shifted from behind the convex slit of his barely open eyelids. In that direction he could see rocky outcroppings, a hillside that ran along, up and above where he was moving. Slowly but surely in the passing of not more than about two seconds he continued to walk. The rocks themselves were indeed a good place for one to get excellent cover and protection.

It was a brief moment, the slightest of instances that would be easily miss-able to those less experienced than him, but his eyes caught it. The rocks were a distinct shade of brown, a darker kind common to Tsuchi no Kuni. Why then, in this particular area of uniform dark brown, was there a shade of lighter brown?

Meido didn't hesitate. His cane tapped lightly against the soil, a small upturn of dust resulting. Though immediately after there was a slightly greater kick-up of dust that seemed a bit unnatural for his previous action. This was because Meido had used his simply lethargy genjutsu technique to buffer his following shunshin technique which saw him landing gently on the tip of a broken boulder slightly above Ubume's position.

All that Meido saw in the half-second that the balls of his right foot gave him leverage on the boulder were Ubume's feminine figure and brown clothing. However, it was the brown clothing that made him think that this person was a part of some kind of fringe Iwagakure patrol.

Now then, he couldn't have his presence be discovered now could he?

Thus as his second foot came down, a single senbon was released from between his teeth. It was a normal senbon but Meido had laced it with Fuuton chakra flow. At the very least it'd go through that straw hat and--if this shinobi lacked skill--straight through their left eye.

[Ubume]

With her eyes shut closed, Ubume began focusing on her other attuned senses. Often what gave a person in surveillance was slipping in feelings into their stare, most people would never be the wiser if they were being watched but an experienced Shinobi was another thing, many could feel that they were being watched, while the stronger ones could even tell from where they were being watched. So at times it was best not to look, just feel and that was what Ubume was doing.

Her ears were listening to the painfully slow movement of the traveler, the wind and how it bended around everything. Her back was pressed against the rock which gave her enough cover from untrained eyes. Ubume's breathing dropped, grew slower, softer and softer as the old man approached.

Tap

Ubume's ears perked up underneath her straw hat, she heard how more dust was kicked up by the gentle tap. She felt as the shadow of the boulder above her became darker, colder. She felt the killing intent the split of a second between Meido's first foot landed on the rock above her, Ubume's left leg pressed against the boulder and impulsed her out of the way, she flipped around the air throwing her kunai at the same time Meido fired his Senbon. The Kunoichi's eyes slightly widened when she saw her attacker, she knew that venerable Shinobi, but as quickly as the surprised appeared around Ubume's cold purple eyes they vanished as she landed on the ground, she curled into a ball rolled twice and jumped high into the air, landing on the top of another rock smaller than the one Meido was standing on, ten feet was what separated the two veteran shinobi. Of course unlike before there was a gentle cut in Ubume's hat, she was fast but not fast enough to avoid the senbon in its totality.

In Ubume's hands was already one of her rattles, her main combat tool and on the other a kunai. Meido would know the purpose of the rattle, they had worked together many times in the past. During the third war, when Ubume was an OWL he often was the one that gave Ubume's team her assignments.

"Ochiba Sama" That was Ubume's greeting, it lacked feelings of any kind. She knew of course that Meido's surname in reality was Kinrui but she also knew that he preferred to go about using Ochiba, Meido also knew that Ubume knew who he really was and that she was respectful enough to not reveal Meido's real surname in the unlikely chance there was someone else listening in.

She removed her hat without her near lifeless eyes diverting from Meido, revealing her Kusagakure headband which now had a long scratch running along it. Unlike Meido's purple eyes which had a certain inhuman brilliance about them, he was a man of deep thought. Unlike him, her equally purple eyes simple lacked everything, they never betrayed any feeling revealing just how much Ubume had buried her past. Meido knew her past or at the very least had some knowledge of it. From how Ubume's father had once been a prominent member of the village, how he infiltrated the Kinrui Hive and clashed with a young Kansen who killed him, or how her husband had dishonored Kusagakure or that she lost her one and only chance to have semblance of a normal life...

Ubume was a woman of little words, so was Meido or at least the Meido she knew. For know Ubume's thoughts drifted into two vital questions. First was Meido alone and second how was she going to escape and lose him?

[Ochiba Meido]

Meido's senses were keen and he didn't miss any of the actions performed by his brown clad target. The senbon that he had fired did indeed cut through the rice hat of its owner, but did no other damage. Physically his target quickly moved and counterattacked Meido at the same time. Impressive. Even though the shinobi had come under a surprise attack they had realized Meido's location with relative ease and aimed a well placed and expertly thrown kunai towards his throat. It wasn't difficult to dodge--a gentle shift to the left saw the kunai soaring past him--but it did grant the shinobi enough time to put distance between themselves and Meido. The spinning movements made sense as a kind of balletic insurance of dodging follow-up kunai attacks, but from Meido's point of view showed that this shinobi had exploitable unnecessary movements.

There was rarely a moment when Meido's mind stopped thinking and contemplating. Often times new situations just made his mind operate more-so or more rapidly depending on the circumstances. However, when he saw the face and attire of the shinobi before him, his mind did both. It paused as his eyes gave his mind sensory recognition and then all of his thoughts completely diverged to focus on this new subject: Riaki Ubume. All of his previous formulating plans that involved an Iwagakure shinobi were quickly shattered and new ones began to take root in his mind.

The relevant information that came to his mind first was that Ubume was currently a nuke-nin from Kusagakure. This set off a red flare of branching thought patterns in his mind which all stemmed from this overarching fact. Of the two initial branching paths the first was that Ubume was an exceptionally well trained shinobi that specialized mainly in Genjutsu but was also skilled in Fuuinjutsu. This meant that Ubume was a proficient mid-range to long distanced combatant with exceptional battlefield control and techniques that could easily disorient her foes. This combined with the second fact about Ubume: She was an ex-OWLs member; her level of attention to detail was master class.

Even joining the OWLs is a feat, but she managed to remain with them during the shinobi wars and was one of their best. Meido knew of her during her time with the OWLs, but their relationship wasn't a personal one; they were mainly soldiers working together on similar assignments where both were expected to perform with very little or no fault. Indeed--to Meido--Ubume was one of the many reliable shinobi with which his well planned skirmishes and operations could be carried out near effortlessly; she was once an ally who's presence could guarantee a smooth operation.

A difficult opponent.

For this reason and others, Meido wanted every single possible advantage. The method in which he did so in an unexpected encounter was to determine the personality and fighting style of his opponent and then exploit their weaknesses. He already largely knew of both and part of Ubume's weakest link, despite the fact that her eyes betrayed no emotion, was her personality and feelings. He would strike there first; it would put him at the helm of this confrontation and give him insight into a different question that had remained unanswered for him since Ubume's betrayal; no matter how much a shinobi portrayed a lack of emotion, emotions could always be found buried deep underneath.

"Shikabane Joo--The Corpse Queen" Meido said in response to Ubume's greeting, his words belaying no indication of his previous and current thoughts. Meido's tone of voice was harsh but not forceful, want more-so to allow for the depth of meaning of that title to begin to flow up from the bowls of suppressed memory. What he wanted was a marred focus, for even a slightly disoriented opponent was a vulnerable one.

"Clever of you to choose both your second and third options" Meido said, alluding to the three choices that Kansen had given her when she was a child. "Or perhaps you had always chosen the first option all along?" Meido questioned slowly, his figure and eyes not betraying any kind of plan or movement.

Ubume already had her primary weapon in hand but to use it she'd have to perform hand seals first. If she started, then Meido would likely see and exploit the opening. However, for now conversation would do well enough to peel back hardened layers and reveal weaknesses and opportunities.

[Ubume]

Who would have thought that a commander and a subordinate would end up fighting each other. It was common for squads of OWLS agents to work with and under a Kinrui shinobi, during her seven years with the OWLS Ubume had served under the ancient Kinrui, he had a brilliant head for planning and counter planning, forming strategies behind the scenes and on the go that made sure many difficult operations went as smoothly as they could in a war torn battlefield. It was why Ubume wasn't going to leave room for going easy against such opponent, as both veterans seized each other, it was no surprise Ubume was also forming strategies and patterns to escape successfully from this place.

Most thought patterns ended up rather grim, Meido wasn't someone to take lightly even in his advance age he was a fearsome opponent and for all intend and purposes he was a Kinrui the clan that was widely considered the strongest of the three founding clans of Kusagakure, of the two leaders that had kept the village in one piece both were of the mysterious clan. Konoha used to have the Uchiha and Kusagakure had the Kinrui, that was how Ubume considered the Kinrui to be. the closing hours of the Samurai war proved her right, as the consumed an entire army within minutes.

The first words Meido muttered gave a small sting to Ubume's heart but she did not show, that nickname was something the former Kusagakure Kunoichi had never fully accepted, it reminded her of every failure, every burden and everyone she lost. She had no idea who had started calling her like that, but it started shortly after she spend most of her time in the little patch of monuments to the dead, it was stuck to her afterwards and it was the first step into distancing her from the villagers of the Kusagakure.

"He gives me too much credit, I can use that" Ubume made a mental check, truth be told Ubume hand't left Kusagakure because she had finally gotten sick of being shunned, or because of her failures, desiring freedom or holding an old grudge over her family fate under Kansen, those things were in the past and buried. She grew up alone without knowing them, she felt no love for them so why would she feel the desire to avenge them? No her reasons for leaving Kusagakure was to better serve the village, she was no longer trusted there and Kansen knew it. The whimsical leader of the village concluded that result was to have Ubume "betray" the village, then have her act independedly from any political damage, the scenes in the shinobi world were changing and many new threats were rising chiefly among them was a mystirous group called Akatsuki who's appearant goal was gathering the Bijuu of other villages, weapons of mass destruction, no good would come if one party held them all.

"Perhaps, or perhaps not Meido Sama" Ubume replied, being vague right now this was another much more subtle battle. This round was about who could gain more information about the other. Mood, desires everything could be used if you knew how and Meido was a master at it. "Things change, people change... I simply picked what was best for me at the time, like I did that night when I left the village"

"Although I may have made a mistake somewhere along the road, to end up meeting you here" Ubume spoke, her tone was soft, cold and neutral betraying no emotion or feeling. "Are you the one after me may I ask? or is there another team tasked with looking for me?" Ubume asked, for the sake of conversation she knew that Meido would never reply to that, this had the same amounts of probability of being a random encounter as of Meido being tasked with killing Ubume. Rogues from Kusagakure lived short lives, the OWLS were always after them and behind them there was always a Kinrui. It was probable that Kansen had already put a bounty in her head, even if she was working for him and for the benefit of the village she would remain a criminal and would never return to Kusagakure for the remaining days of her life...

[Ochiba Meido]

There was something to be said about a battle of minds. It was a more refined method of fighting and one that was almost always employed by Jounin shinobi; sometimes exceptional Chuunin and Prodigal Genin could also engage in such combat, but intelligence wasn't the primary skill necessary to gain the upper hand in such confrontations. No. The most important element to such strenuous skirmishes was experience. How quickly any shinobi--and any human for that matter--reacted to a situation and variations to the situation was greatly dependent on how easily and how much familiar factors they could pinpoint and take advantage of in the situation. How well a combatant performed was simply down to how many relatable details they could notice and how well they could act upon these fine margins.

Meido's pale purple eyes laid transfixed on Ubume's own purple eyes through his barely slit eyelids, but his mind and peripherals were working extra duty. The environment always played a key role in any battle. Therefore it was very important for Meido to take stock of exactly where he was and see what could be used. Of course one of the greater challenges with battles in a country such as Tsuchi no Kuni were the wide areas of solid flat ground in between the near endless mountain ranges. This particular location did have boulders scattered about the brown plains for miles around, but the rocky outcropping where both he and Ubume now stood was the only landmark that could be labeled as such.

It provided cover for protection and hidden movement but the compact nature of the rocks meant that any form of intense fighting would have to happen above the crevices of the rocks. That said, a more subtle battle could happen within the crevices despite the great strain on mobility. Just as easily as the rocks and boulders could provide a safe haven could they also become a death trap. Little room to maneuver also meant little room to escape. To that effect, timing and position in this particular area would be key to properly execute techniques.

As a portion of his mind busily worked out various stratagems, most of his mental processing power was focused on finding fault in Ubume. His initial statement didn't seem to garner any noticeable physical response from Ubume. This was not surprising. As well trained as Ubume was, breaking so easily would have shown that she had gotten incredibly rusty. What Meido wanted was for his first statement to be like a nagging itch where an unneeded and distracting emotional concern remained present.

Key to his strategy was how Ubume answered his questions--if she even answered them at all. Ubume's first ambiguous and sarcastic response gave Meido his first answer. While most would ponder the rhetorics of perhaps, Meido was experienced to know that Ubume's real answer was most likely no. He had dealt with Nuke-nin in the past and more than ninety-five percent of them were always clear or easily understandable in their reason for abandoning the village.

So, if she didn't leave for vengeance or petty dislike, then what was the reason?

Her second response made the answer a little more clear: 'Best for me at the time'. That statement told a more vivid and detailed story to Meido than anything else that Ubume could have said. Clearly Ubume didn't plan on abandoning the village that night--whether or not she wanted to leave at a later time or at all wasn't discernible. Shinobi have to be able to think on their feet and adapt to changing situations accordingly. For this reason even a choice that seems blasphemous might have the best outcome.

This realization brought to mind the location where Ubume had escaped. The details were fuzzy--something that irritated Meido--but it was near the main meeting chamber of Kusagakure; this was where the villages leaders, Jounin and--on occasion--politicians discussed matters of political importance. For something to have happened there that made Ubume leave the village meant--to Meido--that she stumbled into a situation that a mere appeal to the village leaders wouldn't save her from; perhaps this was because it was they that could easily twist the facts against her.

Ubume's following sentences made this much more clear and believable. It was a fact that like the ANBU Kusagakure's OWLs went after Nuke-nin. Meido had been following the reports of the OWLs very closely and the OWLs numbers sent after Ubume were smaller than usual. Granted at the time he could understand that this was because Ubume's skill required quality soldiers not quantity, but the real reason hit him. Someone had pulled strings and was perhaps using a special internal force to chase after Ubume.

This was all supposition based on the vague answers that Ubume gave, but this was Meido's conclusion; barely three seconds had passed since he worked all of this out in his mind, but likely Ubume would be able to feel the change in the mood. He felt no empathy for Ubume having to leave the village because of circumstances that she couldn't control, or perhaps circumstances that she didn't properly plan out. However, he wouldn't tolerate political dissidence in Kusagakure.

If there was a snake aiming for a Coup in Kusagakure then Meido would weed them out.

"So that's it" Meido said after Ubume had finished talking, not bothering to answer her questions. "Those secrets that you are hiding..." Meido started off by saying, his eyelids widening slightly. In that same instance Meido had gently let go of his cane. Gravity had taken hold and the cane was tilting into a fall. Likely for two shinobi as skilled as they, time would seem to slow down.

"I shall tear them from your mind!" Meido said, his voice becoming more harsh. In that moment the cane would come flying, with deadly accuracy, towards Ubume; Meido had applied chakra to his feet, and then subsequently to the cane which caused it to scream with Fuuton chakra at its intended target. Within that same half second Meido had formed hand seals.

If Ubume didn't react in time then she would have her eardrums viciously attacked by an incredibly loud wind noise. It was a simple Genjutsu technique from Meido--and for a master like Ubume wouldn't affect her long--but a fraction of a second was all that Meido needed; if she didn't move because of the Genjutsu then such an easily avoidable cane--for one of her level--would prove to be more than just a little damaging.

[Ubume]

Ubume's eyes kept to Meido, she was scanning her surroundings through her memory. She like several Kusagakure operatives such as Meido had used this area to infiltrate the earth country on multiple occasions, she also recently entered Tsuchi no Kuni through here so her memory of detail was fresh. What her mind gave her was not pleasing, this wasn't the ideal battlefield for Ubume but wishing for the ideal was fruitless at best so Ubume's thoughts raced through what she could use here and now, instead of wishing for more cover. Two things popped into Rikai's Ubume head, the first was analyzing that Meido was obviously going to infiltrate the country hence the lack of an OWL escort which brought Ubume to the realization that he would want to keep this as quiet as possible less the battle alert any Iwagakure shinobi patrols in the area blowing up his cover into the country. Ubume was of course affected by this, but she wasn't trying to get inside the country so in the short run Meido would get off this worse than she would and what ever his original goal was would be possibly halted.

Problem with that fighting scenario was that Ubume lacked obvious means to cause a scene, all her life she had been training her ninjutsu, genjutsu and life style to be subtle. She had also been born without an affinity to any element so that mostly removed her ways of truly scar the environment. Of course she could use her larger summons but that would take time and chakra, perhaps too much chakra. In the end Ubume concluded that using her larger summons would be the last possible scenario.

"You are not the fist, nor you will be the last Meido Sama" Ubume replied, throwing the kunai in her left hand at the same time Meido threw his cane infused with Fuuton. Ubume shook her rattle while seeping her chakra to the sounds it created, the sound waves would carry a genjutsu to Meido's head. The old ninja would see the kunai multiply and surround him, coming at him from every angle. This was a weak genjutsu and to someone as experienced as the Kinrui elder it would be easy to find flaws in it, or make out which was the real kunai but it mattered little, it would keep him busy long enough for Ubume to make a follow up attack, or so she judged before being affected by the genjutsu Meido had cast.

The veteran Kunoichi cringed and dropped to the side as she was assaulted by the thunderous wind howls. As she fell Ubume dug one of her fangs into the side of her lips, the force was enough to puncture the soft skin but the pain knocked the genjutsu out of Ubume's system. Ubume shook her rattle once more, this time using her genjutsu called Reipo which was aimed to trick Meido into losing his sense of smell, a simple wash of chakra would root out the genjutsu through a "kai" however, Ubume didn't plan to give enough room for Meido to do it, at least not yet.

Ubume dropped her rattle making one handseal, she inhaled deeply and then began exhaling a sickly green gas in Meido's direction. If Meido did as so much catch a whif of the smoke it would lay a genjutsu deep into his system, once he released Reipo Ubume would activate the genjutsu which would then assault him with a potent smell of rot, death, feces and decay at the same time. The Undertaker perhaps wouldn't be ready for such an attack, if however he was unaffected by it Ubume would have finally prove her theory of the Kinrui living with rot.

[Ochiba Meido]

There were many differences between the varying level of shinobi: From academy student all the way up to Legendary shinobi--most of which were once called Kage. Meido had gone through nearly all of these transitions in his life and for combat he learned that there were key components that he should always remember to rely on. The first and foremost was experience. The second was observation. The last was a calm mind, no matter what is happening. The enemy could never take away the first, but one could also lack it. The enemy could mar one's ability to do the second, but those with enough skill could work around this flaw. Finally, a calm mind was a trait that Meido saw as the hardest to achieve by most. However, unlike most, he had over half a century to perfect it.

As the first throngs of the skirmish started in earnest--Meido launching the first blow--Meido could see that Ubume was already counterattacking with a kunai of her own. As he had expected the former OWLs kunoichi was fighting him on a hair trigger. He caught the tensing of her muscles when he let go of his cane; obviously it had been a clear telegraph that he was going to do something. His eyes tracked the kunai carefully, but what he was really focused on was what Ubume was doing with her rattle and her hands.

The immediate Genjutsu of multiplying kunai told Meido all that he needed to know.

Ubume's eyes would have likely caught the sight of Meido starting to raise his right hand just before his own ear shattering Genjutsu reached her. Though after that it would have seemed like her follow-up techniques to remove Meido's sense of smell and then set him up for a longer Genjutsu worked. Meido was trapped by her Genjutsu.

The perfect execution of a plan.

Too perfect.

Whenever she realized the truth, her eyes would be greeted by a faint shadow meshing with hers on the ground. Meido had gotten above her.

How did this happen?

Meido merely utilized the three key points to the maximum of their effectiveness. Keeping a calm mind had become second nature for him. Though his mental processes could function in many different directions at any moment, it was because of his regular thinking that he was capable of quelling unnecessary thoughts and emotions when he needed to. This backbone fed right into his experience about Ubume and her techniques as well as what his senses were presenting him with.

The two primary indicators for Meido were Ubume's kunai Genjutsu and Ubume's immediate use of her rattle. The initial Genjutsu itself told Meido that it was a diversionary technique, one that would act as a buffer for her follow-up techniques. Ubume's skill with Genjutsu and the convenience of her rattle meant that subsequent Genjutsu would be easy for her to perform in rapid succession. On top of that her fighting style was similar to that of most Genjutsu users. The battle for their type was lost if they allowed their opponent even a moment of disillusion. Therefore hammering Meido with Genjutsu after Genjutsu as quickly and effectively as possible was a sound game plan. The issue with this, and all plans, was that knowing was half the battle and Meido knew very well.

When Ubume was briefly afflicted by his own Genjutsu, he reached his hand out. He knew very clearly which one of these myriad fake kunai was the real one. There was no reason for him to use the kai technique to break the cast. In fact, had he used it then his window of opportunity--Ubume's lack of attentiveness--would be lost.

He allowed the kunai to puncture the flesh on his hand. In doing this he had essentially crippled a chunk of Ubume's arsenal.

Pain was a major weakness of Genjutsu users. If their opponent could constantly feel acute pain, then most of their techniques would no longer work, no matter how elaborate. This was why it was important to trap their enemy in a Genjutsu before they had a chance to do such, and constrict their minds in a fake world; this would make it much harder for them to realize which sensations were of their real body and therefore prevent them from causing themselves pain.

In short, for victory against Ubume who was master level with Genjutsu, Meido had to make the first move. It was a simple tactic, but it was well thought out. The pain from the kunai broke Ubume's first Genjutsu, and from this wound Meido now had a constant escape from whatever Genjutsu Ubume used on him throughout the duration of the battle.

Kinrui had a better control over their cells than other shinobi. Whereas a anti-Genjutsu master would have trained himself to focus his mind on the pain in his hand each time Ubume used a Genjutsu, all that Meido had to do was amplify the sensation of pain being sent by his nervous system to his brain. Now he had a constant burning flesh-like sensation permeating from his right hand.

The price of freedom from illusion was a painful one, but Meido knew the ends justified the means.

Now with his hidden ace secured within the first half second of the battle, Meido used his lethargy technique again and leaped into the sky above Ubume.

Shuk! The sound of Ubume's own kunai, tipped with Meido's blood, jabbing into the ground in front of her.

There was an explosive tag attached to it.

It wasn't alone.

Inhaling deeply Meido used his Impact Cannon technique in the same moment of his throw. The force of wind that he launched would be enough to slam Ubume against the ground if she was caught by it, pinning her there just long enough for the tag to go off.

A step by step execution where simple pieces linked to a dangerous conclusion.

Ubume should have been familiar with Meido's style of fighting, for if she had forgotten it would cost her.

[Ubume]

Meido was an obstacle, a huge obstacle and one that couldn't be easily overcome. Ubume had had over thirty years worth of experience as a Shinobi Meido on the other hand had over twice the experience of the former Kusagakure kunoichi. That was a pretty huge difference between the two veterans, further more Meido Kinrui was among the handful few Ubume counted as they could out think her, he further more had the advantage of having supervised Ubume during missions as well as her in his strategies. So at worst Rikai Ubume judged that Meido had in his mind about eighty percent accurate knowledge on what Ubume was capable of doing, if not more. It was Meido's brain power could win today not his body or his jutsu but his ability to think ahead and remain calm, open for anything.

"Ah, I see instead of dodging he allowed himself to be hit that way he gains a counter for my genjutsu, instead of wounding himself he deemed it better to turn my attack into an advantage" That was Ubume's analysis as soon as she saw her kunai be stabbed on the floor next to her feet. Ubume was not master taijutsu user, or someone who relied too much on her body, she hadn't that much talent in that field so she knew that escaping the impact of wind would be impossible, the wind seals on her feet would not help her because she was in the angle that it would push her up directly into the wind blast. So Ubume instead of wasting energy on trying to unsuccessfully dodge the blast wasted her energy into being slammed to the ground but in a way that she faced up and that her feet were the ones facing the kunai and not her head.

The impact was hard, really hard enough to cause Ubume to groan in pain. But she was trained to withstand pain and it would not cripple her focus. The rogue Kunoichi planted her feet on the explosive kunai, then ran chakra to the seals in her feet this caused a blast of chakra to be forcefully expelled through her soles. This caused two things to happen, the first was that her left feet which was on the kanai to blast it far enough where the explosion would not hurt her and the second was that Ubume was half shoved out of the pressure of Meido's jutsu. With her upper half out of the preassure Ubume had enough freedom to flash through a small set of handseals, pumping chakra to the summoning tattoos on her arms.

"Kakusa Reta Mukade no Jutsu" (Hidden centipede blade technique)

Two meter long centipedes would shoot out of Ubume's sleeves, one from each arm and they would seek to grapple around his ankles. If successful two things would happen, Ubume would use all her strength to slam Meido to the ground on her right, if this succeeded the centipedes would bite at Meido's ankles...

[Ochiba Meido]

There were various scenarios going on at the back of Meido's mind as he launched his attack. The use of Ubume's Kunai as a weapon was situational. He didn't have to, but since he had acquired his enemy's tool it made more sense for him to use it instead of wasting his own. Even though he did carry shinobi tools on his person, he didn't have a copious amount of them. Therefore each one that he could save and have Ubume waste was a slight advantage for him; this battle was all about advantages.

Perhaps the most difficult decision for him to work out within the few seconds before he counterattacked Ubume was the use of the explosive tag. The explosion from a normal explosive tag was noticeable by anyone in the area. It was for this reason that Meido had learned to only ever carry around tags with their explosive sealing toned down. This lowered their effective damage area but that was fine with him. Still, it was a risk to use the tag because of the sound that it gave off. It wasn't windy but Meido didn't work with 'hopes'. He utilized facts.

His jump into the air was more than just to get a better position on Ubume. It was to check out the surrounding area. From what he could scan in the seconds that he was up there was nothing more than continuous brown earth and mountains in the background. He fully understood that Iwa shinobi teams had techniques that enabled them to blend into the environment, but for the moment he was satisfied that no brash or head-strong shinobi were on the way.

The elder Kinrui watched as Ubume was able to maneuver her body to take the least amount of damage from the explosive tag. She then used the concussive force, and the pain that came with it, to begin a counterattack of her own. Dipping into his memory Meido recognized those hand seals. These were the negatives and benefits to fighting one of your former subordinates. Often times you can anticipate their techniques even before they use them.

It was as much the case for Ubume as it was for Meido. She should have known what was coming next. The centipedes did manage to move around Meido's ankles, but he had pulled up his pants so that they latched onto his bare flesh. It wasn't insanity, it was a well timed counter. If they had gripped the fabric of his clothing then this maneuver would not have worked.

From the pores located around his ankles a special lubricating oil immediately coated Meido's outer flesh which made his skin incredibly slippery. Normally he would only use this technique to make his skin partially slippery, but he had to factor in the backwards facing teeth and claw like legs of the centipede. Without a proper hold on Meido, Ubume wouldn't be able throw the elder Kusa-nin as she had expected do.

The distance between Meido and Ubume had now been closed. Ironically neither were close range fighters even though Ubume had the stealth training from the OWLs. In this case neither of them should have been favored, but Meido could turn even the smallest of opportunities and openings to his advantage. Ubume had just attacked and now her hands, which were once free, were supporting the length of the bodies of her centipedes. Of course she could drop them any time she wanted, but in the milliseconds that it would take Meido to perform hand seals, Ubume likely wouldn't be able to.

It was a small window and Meido was going to take it.

Rapidly forming hand seals the Kinrui elder unleashed a Genjutsu upon Ubume. It was a technique that would make the opponent feel as though blizzard force winds were pushing against them, making it incredibly hard for them to move.

In the real world Meido would attempt a risky maneuver. He never liked close combat, but if he got in close then there was a possibility that he could end this confrontation as the victor and without killing Ubume; it took longer to gather information from a lifeless corpse. Meido was now well out of his comfort zone and well within close range of Ubume. His hand was outstretching and his palm was littered with tiny openings. From these openings his body was producing another liquid.

It was a fungal version of Chloroform.

To those inexperienced with the normal organic substance, it was possible to easily kill their opponent with this compound; it affected the central nervous system and, if used incorrectly, could cause fatal cardiac arrest.

What Meido was producing was a variation. His aim was to get the fumes to enter Ubume's respiratory system--via her nose--and some of the liquid into her digestive system--via her mouth. Similar to the actual substance it would attack the nervous system, but its main function was to slow nerve signals over time. In short it was the equivalent combination of an anesthetic and sleeping pills.

What made it likely for the technique to work was that Meido wanted to combine the feeling of resistance and wind pressure of the genjutsu with the actual limitations that the liquid would put on Ubume's body if he could cover her mouth and nose with it. What made this maneuver risky was that all Ubume had to do was break the Genjutsu a moment too early which would then leave Meido open for a counter.

The elder knew this very well, but this was a clear opportunity to finish this battle right now and against someone so skilled he had to take it.

[Ubume]

The attack was slightly countered but still successful, it wasn't the ideal scenario when Ubume was fighting in close combat, but that worry was slightly relieved as she knew that Meido was also slightly at loss in this scenario. It was a new round and it came back down to who could the first decisive blow and in a fight between two skilled, experienced and veteran shinobi who fought more through subtlety than through brute force. It was either land a strike or make sure ones attack was apt to counter the other, who ever did land a true blow in this fight would win, that was something clear for both. Ubume had one slight advantage in age but that was easily overcomed by the sheer variate the Kinrui could do with their bodies, Ubume had seen many and knew some patterns but each Kinrui was unique and it was unlike any clan Ubume had encountered. The other advantage is that Ubume was not alone, she was had gained the title Hyaku no Ubume, Ubume of the hundred for her ability to act through the use of her summons and her genjutsu like if she was a hundred people, the sheer versatility she could conjure of illusions and actual monsters was well known, even that five members of the Bakuha Butai could only fight her to a stalemate, hence the description that Ubume could be like a hundred.

The former Kusagakure Kunoichi was hit by the genjutsu but not before she pressed her hands together, she cringed as she watched Meido fall close. Too close but it was expected, she had seen this coming and as the older shinobi hand was coming to press itself against Ubume's face, her cold purple eyes saw the holes and fumes it gave off, she didn't have to smell it to know what it was. An anesthetic.

However, Ubume was prepared and as the Meido's hand was a hand width from Ubume's nose the Kunoichi opened her mouth. Inside was a centipede...

It sprang up and it would lash at Meido's hand, however Ubume wasn't certain of the effect of the attack as the anesthetic might be strong enough to knock out the centipede before it could bite at Meido. If it did then Meido would be poisoned, the poison was mild and not fatal to humans but it was weakening. However, Ubume knew of the one weakness that plagued the clan in general and that was the weakness to poisons and venoms, thats why the Kinrui highly respected the Yodomuko Clan and were also wary of their jutsu. So if the bite was successful then it would be victory for Ubume. Rikai Ubume had learn of this weakness while treating Kinrui during the war, she knew but she had always remained quiet about it never thinking that she would ever need to fight a Kinrui.

However, Ubume was prepared for the failure of her centipede as her legs shot up and the wind seals were once activated propelling herself through the air, her hands forming handseals. At this point Ubume would exhale a huge cloud of fire, it was a genjutsu but the heat, pressure of it could be felt, it was but a mere mask for Ubume to gather the sufficient chakra for a summon.

When Ubume landed on the ground her hand would slam, kanji would be appear on the ground in a large circumference and a huge cloud puffed into existence. There was a powerful hiss as a towering eight meters long centipede rose like a cobra... its plates were hard enough that small weapons would do nothing to it, the soft skin was also nigh impregnable for normal weaponry

{feel free to kill the centipede if you can, this is going to be the reason to draw Wan to the area}

[Ochiba Meido]

Closing the gap between himself and Ubume shouldn't have taken longer than a third of a second. However, in the shinobi world during intense combat between two shinobi of the same level, especially Jounin shinobi of the same level, one-third might as well have been a week. The closer that Meido got in those briefest of instances the more clearly he was able to see that the Kunoichi's hands already clasped. He knew that this was a risk, and he simply wasn't fast enough to capitalize on the opening. Instead of affecting Ubume with the fumes, it was the Kinrui elder than ended up being afflicted with a foreign toxin.

A centipede sprung from the nostrils of the former OWLs. In truth, Meido wasn't expecting one to be summoned form there, and it was his underestimation of Ubume's resourcefulness than cost him the opportunity. The creature jumped out and bit down hard into the hand of the elder shinobi. Though the fumes of the anesthetic from Meido's hand was enough to near instantly kill the centipede, its task had been done. It took nothing more than the brief burning sensation in his hand for Meido to realize what it was.

Poison!?

The greatest weakness of all Kinrui was Poison. The Subayo cells that inhabited every Kinrui's body were extremely sensitive due to the fact that they could break down most any material, even a lot of toxins. However, most poisons, especially shinobi poisons, could easily hemorrhage the Subayo cells. Meido never told Ubume of the Kinrui's weakness and the only other shinobi that knew were of the Yodomukou; the Kinrui didn't even tell the Fukurou. If it had been any other then Meido might have succumbed then and there.

However...

Ubume would have been able to see that as quickly as the centipede fell to the ground lifeless from the fumes, so too did a stream of blood being released from Meido's hand. He had opened the pores in his skin, a hole in his muscles and then a hole in the blood vessel that the centipede had injected with the poison. As quickly as it entered, the poison was expelled.

Though Ubume did try and use a fire based Genjutsu against Meido, the pain from having his blood leaking out and from his earlier injury was enough to destroy the illusion before it was even a tenth of the way initiated. Ubume still had the time to bring forth her summon, but Meido was more serious now than before.

A rapid string of hand seals saw the Kinrui blowing out an undercurrent of wind that would have reached Ubume and the centipede right at the moment when it appeared. These were no normal winds though, they were a slicing torrent that could easily rip both the centipede and the former OWLs to shreds. Famously Suna shinobi say: "A blade of metal can be blocked, but a blade of wind cannot."

Unfortunately the sound and presence of the towering summon didn't go unnoticed. To add on to this the Fuuton Ninjutsu that Meido just used could envelope the entire creature and send huge chunks of it flying everywhere if it was caught. That was not likely to go unnoticed.

[Ubume]

There was a small amount of satisfaction in Ubume as she watched her centipede jaws pierce Meido's hand, the centipede died but that was of little consequence Ubume breed them for this purposes. However, that satisfaction was small and meaningless, it was the meal of an starved ego that Ubume rarely fed as she had no use for it. In truth it was a small revelation that the Kinrui could be killed, it was silly for she had seen them wounded, she had treated Kinrui but she had never seen a dead Kinrui and it was highly unlikely that she ever saw one, unless she continued to bump into her former commander.

The former OWL shinobi was atop the head of her centipede when Meido began forming handseals for a jutsu that Ubume recognized. However, she was prepared for the destructive currents of wind, from her point of view Ubume also noticed something...

It was the opening Ubume was looking for. It was the way to get out of this without further use of chakra or time on Ubume's part. The moment the sizzling wind current tore at the centipede they also completely obliterated the Kunoichi or so it would have looked. In truth Ubume had stopped being there the moment she noticed the thing and a milisecond before the Kinrui elder finished his handseals. What was ripped apart by the currents was a mere illusion brought by the small part of Meido that wanted the jutsu to succeed hitting its mark, it was the three deaths genjutsu of Ubume, who had used the body flicker technique to move down the canyon and away from Tsuchi's no Kuni border.

Meido was making a choice right now, while he weighted his options it would provide Ubume with the headstart if he chose to follow her instead of deal with the interloper. Even in her hurry Ubume was careful, she was a former OWL and she would leave careless marks of her passing.

There was no goodbye between the old comrades, there was no lingering feeling of camaraderie. It would also mean that the hunt for Ubume would be given more priority as Meido was one of the few close to Kansen, and word of her might force Kansen to step up the hunt for Ubume, so he could cover her tracks or not. There was no way to guess what action the whimsical village leader would take. Either way this was the first stepping stone, the first time Ubume had truly fought and could have killed one of her old companions. The world would only go darker from now on, Ubume's bones could feel it... something was brewing now.

(Ubume exit)

[Chidare Wan]

Wan was being quite prolific with the assignments after his promotion to Chunin. This was due to the nature of the tasks, of course. Because he constantly asked- or some might say 'badgered'- for missions he could undertake alone he was given a good number of D rank missions that were keeping him within the village.

However, once in a while he was giving a simple mission that got him out of the village. They were missions he had gotten as a genin when he worked on one team or another, and even then they had been less than exciting. But they gave Wan experience, and that was what he needed. The more missions he recieved and completed without fail, the more he would be entrusted to do. That was his goal, his pipe dream.

Right now he was just heading back home from one of those simple missions. The last couple of days had been him traveling to a village near the border between Tsuchi no Kuni and En no Kuni. The contents of the scroll were unknown to him, but he liked to imagine that it had top secret orders for an undercover operative that was vital to some secret mission that could mean the difference between peace and war in the near future.

It was a lot more uplifting than if the scroll was a cooking recipe.

He was taking a shortcut through the wilderness of Earth Country to avoid a major U-bend in the road and save himself a couple hours when an incredibly loud noise caught his attention. An explosion? It was far enough away to be hard to discern accurately but loud enough to capture his attention.

Looking off in the approximate direction of the sound, he turned his head to look back the way he was supposed to be going, then back towards the sound, then back towards home. He sighed and made up his mind without further hesitation. He would be a poor shinobi if he didn't investigate mysterious sounds in his home country.

Sprinting towards where he had heard the noise, a shape in the distance caught his attention. A massive thing it had to be given how far away he percieved it, and it was moving. As he got closer it seemed highly....insectoid? Some very big bug. He ran faster so he could find wherever it was the creature was before it vanished from his sight.

It did, however, but Wan felt he was close enough to approximate where it had been. He continued to run, keeping his eye sharply focused on his surroundings as he moved. He was thinking about the possibility of ambush when he suddenly stopped.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a smoke bomb. When traveling without a team, a lone ninja needed backup. What better backup than a clone or three? He pulled part of the bomb off so that instead of bursting in a large puff of smoke it produced a constant spray that was more of a screen than a cloud. He dropped it then went through the handseals needed to instigate the Smoke Clone Jutsu.

The black smoke stopped billowing into the air and formed near him into three identical appearences of himself. Taking the lead, Wan continued onward, two clones on his flanks and one bringing up the rear. A rather standard squad formation.

Whatever was up ahead, he'd discover it and report it to the village.