kumogakure noire.

[Estilo]

Abduction [2]

---

I followed the best lead I had at the current moment. A dingy hotel on the outskirts of Kumogakure no Sato that the bastard had claimed was being used as an undercover brothel. It was, he claimed, a popular safe house for his associates. And, apparently, it also served as a "checkpoint" for the people who participated in kidnapping young women, only to send them out of the country after receiving a high price from an interested "customer".

So, after beating the criminal I had interrogated- and leaving him on the corner of a street, in front of a shinobi patrol station- I promptly followed the lead. Leaping across rooftop to rooftop, I picked up my pace. Statistics stated that that I had less than seventy-two hours before the girl I was looking for disappeared forever. I hoped that was not the case, but I was not going to risk it. I would bring this operation down, and save the girl.

I reached the outskirts of Kumogakure no Sato, leaping through its poorer neighborhoods and keeping a naked eye for anything suspicious. When I found the dingy hotel building that I was looking for, I stuck to the shadows, and headed for an opened window on the third story. Using my wall climbing technique, I reached the fire escape that would lead to said window. Slowly, I peeked inside, expecting to find a group of thugs.

But... the room was empty. And dark. So, as quietly as I had approached just before, I entered through the open window and kept my eye peeled on the closed door ahead. Light filtered beneath its crack, and footsteps passed by on an almost constant basis. The wooden floor beneath me slightly groaned with each tentative step i took, I dropped to a crouch as I continued.

[Estilo]

Abduction [3]

---

The door creaked with a low whine as I eased it open slowly, displaying the utmost caution as I peeked around one side of the hallway, then turned over to peek down the other. The scene was clear... for now. And I needed to act fast. So I made my way down the hallway, passing doors, before catching sight of a door left ajar. The sound of moaning came from within the room, weak and distressed. I could not help but to advance towards it, tentatively.

I eased my way within, still dropped to a low crouch, before closing the door silently behind me. Inside, it was dark. Another dingy bedroom, like the one from which I had entered previously. But I could make out the silhouette of cabinets, and drawers, and a figure wrapped in blankets on the mattress nearby. I neared it, expecting to find the girl I was looking for. But as the countenance of the figure there became clearer and clearer...

I was disappointed to realize that it was not her. Whoever this lady was- or rather, used to be- was long gone now. She looked like she was in her fifties, when I presumed that her actual age was around thirty or forty years old. Scars on her arms, and a nearly constant bout of coughing, signaled problems with health and addiction. It was clear, at least to me, what this woman had been used for once. And it disgusted me to my very core.

I had half a mind to search each and every room right now, and free all the kidnapped women within this establishment, but I knew that I would have to dispatch the goons in this warehouse beforehand. So I made my way out of that hag's room, and closed the door behind me again. Straightening into an upright posture, from my previously sneaking crouch, I cracked my knuckles. It was time to get to work. I had one hell of a surprise in store.

[Estilo]

Abduction [4]

---

I crawled through the abnormally large vents located within the infrastructure that the factory was composed of, trying my best to remain silent as I approached what I hoped to be the hub of all the criminal activity. As I crawled through these ducts, rather annoyed by the cramped spaces that I came across, I would intermittently pass a few openings where I could look down and see what was going on beneath me, and who was there.

I passed over restrooms, break rooms, hallways, offices, bedrooms, and more than a few janitorial closets before finally reaching my destination. The vent I was following had entered the large and spacious epicenter of the warehouse and, below me, thousands of crates and packages were huddled together in a great mass. Somewhere in the depths of this massive storage room, I could hear a group of men conversing. Bottles clinking, poker chips rattling against the surface of a creaky wooden table. They were here.

When the vent I traveled through led me over a pile of neatly stacked wooden crates, I would gently open the hatch beneath me and soundlessly jump down. I landed with cat-like precision on the wooden crate below me, balancing myself out with a single hand as it touched upon the crate's surface gently. Then I'd make my way over to those sounds I'd heard.

Despite the abundance of fluorescent light bulbs that hung from the ceiling, the entire storage room was filled with large gaps of dark shadow, filling up the mountains of crates surrounding me, as the sea filled up the canyons below ground-level. I traveled through these shadows with as much expertise as before, eyes peeled and action-ready. It was time to attack.

[Estilo]

Abduction [5]

---

They were huddled around a poker table, conversing and laughing. Across this table, poker chips, ryo, and snacks were scattered about. They were having a gay old time, and it disgusted me. How could they tear young girls away from their homes, and force them into such a trade, and... live with themselves, like this? They were despicable, soulless, dirty thugs.

I neared their location slowly, creeping through the shadows with a held breath, issuing a sequence of hand seals simultaneously. The swiftness of my first attack would catch them completely off guard if everything went well. And, if I executed this attack well, they would all be immobilized and detained in an instant. My plans, however, were suddenly shattered.

"WE GOT A STALKER!"

I sharply turned toward the source of the sound, deciding then that the brunt of my attack would strike them first. Before any of them even managed to rise from their seats, the one that had been standing- the one who had spotted me- would gaze in horror as electricity violently surged in his direction. He wouldn't get a chance to see it, the lightning dragon.

But the rest of his comrades did. They would turn just in time to see the lightning-composed dragon violently shock their comrade into unconsciousness. Then, with a seemingly malevolent grin, the dragon would rear its shockingly blue head towards them. The ones who didn't run would emit loud battle-cries. But my dragon devoured them all without remorse.

[Estilo]

Abduction [6]

---

I grabbed the only bastard that remained conscious by the lapels of his jacket, roughly pulling him upwards as I dropped to a crouch. My angered green eyes stared into his own, drowsy and half-opaque. It was clear that there wouldn't be much time before this scumbag succumbed to unconsciousness, too. So I needed to talk fast, for him to spill all the intel.

"WHERE DO I GO NEXT. WHERE DO I FIND THE REST OF THE GIRLS?" I backhanded the side of his face with such strength that I could have sworn I'd seen a tooth fly off into the corner of the room. "YOU BETTER START TALKING, YOU PILE OF SHIT." I was using aggressive means, but I was desperate to save those girls from slavery.

It appeared, however, that the intensity of my growling and intimidation had sufficed. The man whimpered, crying, blood running down the edges of his mouth as he talked. There was a dock, not far from this factory. And a clandestine ship was loading the girls on there, among other things they deemed illegal and expensive. It was going to leave soon, however.

So I knocked the thug out, punching the center of his forehead swiftly, before straightening in posture and radioing in for reinforcements in this area. The commanding officer demanded to know where I was going, and what I was doing, but I switched off then. All I needed them for was to clean up whatever I left behind. There were more abductees to save.

[Estilo]

Abduction [7]

---

A distant, far-away bell tolled somewhere in the mist that clouded the docks below. Several wooden platforms and bridges kept the buildings over the harbor safe from the presence of the sea below it. A breezy ocean wind came in sweeping from the east, cold and bitter. And the large ship that I had been looking for was still docked. They were still here. Thank Kami.

I covertly made my way down the cliffside preceding the docks, via a creaky wooden staircase and a few detours down the branches that jutted out from the side of the cliff like dismembered arms. When I reached the bottom, and entered the vicinity of the docks, I would use the crates that hadn't been loaded yet as cover. From there, I'd stalk the workers.

Whenever the moment was ripe, I'd systematically sneak upon on them one-by-one, knocking them out and dragging their unconscious forms into the shadows. When the loading dock had been cleared of thugs, and a crew member came out of the ship to find out where they had all gone, I would suddenly explode into action. Running swiftly- and silently- towards the ship member, I would manage to catch him off guard with a swift kick.

His body dropped to the wooden planks with a dull 'thud'. With this vagrant out of the picture, and all those out of the ship under the same condition, there was nowhere else to continue but inside the ship itself. If the victims of these kidnappings were in there, however, I would need to act cautiously. If things went wrong, the thugs could use these girls against me- as hostages.

[Estilo]

Abduction [8]

---

The hallways within the ship were dark, and steamy, and foreboding. Sweat trailed down my forehead from the sheer heat of it all... or, was it just tension? I wasn't quite sure. Regardless of all that, it took me quite some time to find any other living being within this massive testament to human ingenuity. When I did, however, I'd make sure they never saw me coming.

It was just another thug, walking down the hallway with purpose, as if he were going off to do something important. He wouldn't hear me as my crouched footsteps brought me closer and closer, until finally I was within arm's reach. It was only then that I'd put him in a headlock and sleeper hold. I'd continue doing this to the scattered crew members I found throughout it all. Sneaking, and silently knocking them out, before advancing.

Within a moment's time, I found a large room, much like the one I had found in the warehouse. It was then that I'd pull a smoke bomb out of my pouch, pull the pin, and cast it within. For, thanks to the sounds of human conversation I heard, I knew the majority of the crew members were in there. When the smoke went off, and they panicked, I would leap in there, issuing hand seals rapidly. They didn't stand a chance thereafter.

A pair of Zeus' Leviathans roared to life within the cramped (at least, for them) space, wrapping their lightning-composed bodies around the entirety of the room, and shocking all of those within. I smiled with satisfaction as their bodies hit the floor in unison, unconscious and most likely knocked out for hours to come. I radioed in. The thugs were knocked out, the girls saved.

G A M E O V E R

[Estilo]

Chapter Twenty-Six

Zoological

Name: Zoological Disaster
Rank: B
Description: Some whacko's been releasing wild animals into very public places within Kumogakure no Sato. We've had things like cougars attacking pedestrians in farmer's markets, wolves running rampant in plazas, and even- on one strange occurrence- an elephant crashing a spring festival! We need you to detain any animals you might come across- until our wildlife experts can tranquilize them- but, most importantly, we need you to find the culprit.
Reward: 300 experience, 5,000 ryo
Minimum Shinobi: 1
Mission Status: Interminable

There were screams, panic-filled cries, and a rather intimidating wave of fleeing civilians running down the main boulevard. It seemed, and was most likely, that I was the only one heading into the direction of the calamity. I could not see the threat that had broken the tranquility that had once reigned supreme over this setting, but I knew it was there. Something terrifying enough to send a wave of human civilians running. An angered beast.

It was only when the beast in question released a sharp roar, that I realized exactly what I was dealing with. It was a big cat, that much was sure. And, as I neared the big cat at the center of the now empty plaza, I saw that it was a mountain lion. The "whacko" I had been ordered to find and arrest had unleashed a bloody mountain lion within the public area. I nearly laughed.

Although the creature had not killed anyone yet (at least, not that I knew of) I promptly realized that this was no joking matter. The fact that the bastard I was tracking down had the cajones to do something like this, and the randomness of it all, had inspired me to laugh. But only because it sounded too unbelievable to be true. But now, I would have to handle business.

The mountain lion seemed to be preoccupied with tearing a stuffed teddy bear to shreds as I approached it slowly. I looked to the side, and realized that it had taken the toy from one of the stalls lining the marketplace boulevard. With the beast momentarily distracted, however, I would need to act fast if I hoped in catching it. So I issued my hand seals, preparing.

[Estilo]

Zoological [2]

---

I finished the last hand seal that I intended to execute but, by then, the mountain lion had already set its sights on me. I stood frozen in place for a moment, as it bared its sharp teeth, and glared at me with those voracious yellow eyes. The creature was pissed, that much was certain. And I could only imagine what sort of pain and turmoil its despicable handler had put it through. Enough, apparently, to attack all humans in sight or in range.

The movement occurred in a fraction of seconds, and my body reacted out of the sheer instinctive adrenaline that rushed throughout my veins at that instant. I had seen it positioning its body into a crouch, and perhaps that, too, had aided my evasion of its next move. It pounced, claws bared and mouth agape, unleashing a terrifying roar that nearly seemed to deafen my ears.

In reaction to this sudden attack, however, I powered the soles of my feet with chakra and leaped over it, performing an expertly executed front-flip before landing on the area where it had once been. Without much delay, and kick the torn remains of the teddy bear backwards with my heel, causing it to hit the mountain lion's face when it turned around to look at me- as I ran.

The kicked teddy bear had distracted it for a few seconds, but before too long, it gave chase. Having already issued my hand seals prior to this little situation, however, my body began to emit sparks of lightning blue electricity. My body had been coated with a faint glow of lightning armor, and it was what I would do next that would have me obtain victory over the angered creature. I just needed to get to the fish stand as quick as I could!

[Estilo]

Zoological [3]

---

I reached the fish stand on the other side of the circular plaza- barely with enough time to hop over the counter, and grab the edges of a large wooden tub positioned on it. Inside, a substantial pool of water kept the captured salmon fresh and barely alive. The fisherman who ran this stall had, seemingly, left in a hurry. Decapitated fish heads, and half-skinned trout on the counter, laid proof to that. Surely, the cougar was attracted to the bounty.

But no. It kept its dark yellow eyes locked on me, seemingly not caring for the number of fresh fish before it, brimming with a hatred for humanity- including the red-maned shinobi before it. As it continued to run towards me, I only had a fraction of seconds to respond. Without further adieu, I would spill the contents of the large wooden tub in its direction.

A wave of water and flopping fish rushed towards it, and the mountain lion abruptly skidded to a halt, attempting to make distance between the rapidly approaching anomaly. But it didn't, and it nearly slipped when the water and fish soaked arounds its paws. As its observant eyes remained focused on the fish surrounding it- at least for the moment- I would silently (and quickly) hop over the counter once more, landing on a dry patch of street.

"Oi, pussy cat." I'd smile, standing calmly before it. My hands were placed casually in my pockets, my right foot tapped the asphalt below me with the back of its heel. "Do you like your fish fried?" Before the big cat could respond, I slammed my electrified right foot on the puddle of water, immediately channeling the bright blue electricity throughout the long puddle. The large cat, and the flopping fish, were shocked instantly.

[Estilo]

Zoological [4]

---

With the mountain lion down for the count, I took the liberty of radioing in for the wildlife team to come through. They would take things over from here, attending to the mountain lion's injuries, sedating it, and putting it away for rehabilitation. I hoped, should it learn to be less aggressive towards humans, that it would not be euthanized like the others. It needed help.

Perhaps, I figured, that was one of the worst things that came out of this whacko's scheme. Whoever the culprit was, who liked to cause chaos in Kumogakure no Sato by unleashing wild animals within very public places, they had a certain way of training these wild creatures to be as dangerous as they could be. Abuse, mental conditioning, the application of drugs- I personally had no idea how long this list could go. But it had to be stopped.

I hated to see beautiful creatures, such as that mountain lion, succumb to the might of Kumogakure no Sato's shinobi. To know that they had been treated like that, against their will, and then pitted against people who had no other choice than to put it down- sometimes permanently. And it frustrated me to think that the culprit would strike again, with another animal, and not care for the consequences of his or her actions. I was going to finish it.

So I leaped away from the plaza, descending upon the rooftops of Kumogakure no Sato's buildings, before venturing off to patrol the city once more. My assignment today was clear. To take down the psycho who was unleashing these animals, and bring them to justice. But on the sidelines, I also planned in discovering their hideout, and releasing their already captured creatures to the wildlife experts of Kumogakure no Sato.

[Estilo]

Zoological [5]

---

Wolves ran rampant within a park, which had only recently been swamped with an abundance of bunny rabbits and mice. I was part of a large squad of shinobi designated to keep this incident contained, and help the civilians that were still within the park evacuate. Rumor already had it that a small boy, no more than two or three years of age, had attempted to pick up a bunny. Rumor had it that a wolf had ripped the poor infant's face off.

This was the last straw for me. While I had been combating a plethora of wolves that deemed me as a threat, and came at me with teeth bared, I knew that my squad would be capable of handling things from here. I had already downed more than a dozen of these creatures with electricity, and it was my responsibility to find the culprit within this mayhem as quickly as possible.

As I leaped throughout the rather spacious landscape that was this park, I noticed that most (if not all) of the civilians had been effectively evacuated from this area. With this burden off of my mind, I could continue searching for any trace or indication of the psycho's presence around here. There was a conglomeration of bushes afar. Trees casted a shadow across it all. But a gleam of sunlight managed to give me a clue in the brush. Metal.

I approached it cautiously, wolves still running around in the backdrop, as my fellow shinobi steadily began to take them down one-by-one. As I neared the site of the metal gleam, I began to take notice of exactly what I was looking at. A foul stench came from it, a large metal cage filled with wolf feces. They had been cramped here, and released, but how did the cage get here in the first place? It was only when I looked behind it...

[Estilo]

Zoological [6]

---

The brush that surrounded the cage, and effectively hid it from view (at least, from a long distance), would dip into a small hill. The hill in question would lead to a short canal, blocked off on its sides, by chain link fences. This short canal held the entrance to the sewer system beneath the park, a round metal gate blocking most anyone from heading into the dark depths of its tunnels. But the gate had been unlocked. This was where the cage...

It had come from here! A trail of mud and muck laid proof to the fact that it had been semi-dragged throughout the tunnels in the sewer system, and hauled up the small hill into the clandestine cover of the brush, trees, and shadow. But how was such a heavy cage dragged through it in the first place? And where was the culprit now? My only lead now was the sewer.

So I followed the trail presented before me, cautiously entering the shadow that filled the tunnel within, and keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of the psycho I was hunting down. This was going to be the end of it, I would make sure of that, and I was not going to let the culprit get away with having an infant's face ripped off by a wolf. This was where I won.

My footsteps made light splashes in the muck that the sewer was swamped in and, as I followed those faint clues that pointed me in the direction in which the cage had come from, I started to feel like I wasn't alone in this sewer. There was somebody else here, lurking in the shadows, scuttling about like the rat they were. Sharply turning my red-maned head towards a spotlight down the other end of the tunnel, I narrowed my emerald eyes.

[Estilo]

Zoological [7]

---

Then, something... so strange, and so creepy, manifested within the spotlight I saw. A large gray hide, wrinkled and spotted with splashes of brown. What appeared to be a large gray tentacle, waving about, and throwing dirty water into the foul air within the sewer. As the creature emerged from the shadows, a large pair of ivory tusks manifested from the darkness.

It was only when I saw the large ears that the fact this was an elephant completely sunk in. An elephant! In the sewers! And it was headed straight towards me. Right when I was sure that is eyesight would be a hindrance in the darkness of this place, I witnessed an arm come out of the shadows behind it- carrying what seemed to be a stick. But it was much worse.

Whoever this person was- although, I was sure it was the culprit responsible- tapped the elephant's behind with the stick, issuing a sharp shock of electricity to its bum, and causing it to holler out in pain. Before too long, the elephant started stampeding in my direction! Its sheer weight caused the entire sewer to tremble with each step, water splashing.

Although the present danger was more than intimidating, I kept my eyes focused on the culprit afar. He was just standing there, a lean figure in the spotlight, and I swore I could see his greasy smile. It angered me, to the point where I no longer cared about detaining the elephant any longer. No, instead, I would focus on evading it. And pursuing its crooked handler.

[Estilo]

Zoological [8]

---

As the elephant stampeded towards me, I ran towards it. Eyes narrowing and attempting to see through the darkness of it all, trying to discern an evasion tactic that I could use to my advantage. After seeing me running towards the elephant, I was sure the psycho that had released it would stick around to see what would happen next. But as soon as I got past this massive beast, he would surely turn tail and run. I needed to act fast, and not give him the chance. So, having discerned an opening, I advanced.

It came at me with those massive ivory tusks swinging to and fro, at times scratching against the walls of the sewer with a sharp and irritating sound. And I leaped, chakra-propelled feet casting me over its massive fram, so that I may land on its back. Balance was difficult, for it continued to stomp its way through the murky tunnel, but I would not remain there for long.

The moment I got a chance to, I jumped up and grabbed one of the lamps that hung from the ceiling, holding on to it as the elephant passed by below me. By the time it had gone, the culprit standing in the muck of the sewer afar had seen me. He was going to run. I could feel it. And, before he could even blink, I'd drop from the lamp, and land into the water-covered ground beneath me. Even when he started to run, I went on to issue hand seals.

The sound of the elephant stomping away behind me was becoming rhythmic and hollow. And, when I finished my seals, a lightning dragon formed around me. It would dart into the tunnel ahead of me, chasing the culprit I sought, then dropping into the water to travel faster than it had been doing so before. Then there was a scream. With the culprit down, and the elephant contained in the maze-like conditions of the sewer system, I could call in the wildlife experts. Before long, I'd find the psycho's hideout.

G A M E O V E R