Kitsumoto's New Job
Kinsho ran as fast as he could. Amidst the rocky underbelly of the canyon there was little way to go but forwards, yet to him it was enough. Clambering over a rock, he jumped from rock to rock, ricocheting between the earthen walls that constricted him to gain speed. Though the thundering rain would make such a stunt a challenge for an amateur shinobi, he was a Chunin, or at least, he was supposed to be one, had it not been for the time he had accidentally killed an rather important target he was to capture. With that kind of stain on his name, he decided to simply abandon his village and make a fortune on his own. In retrospect, that seemed to be a rather poor decision he had made.
He was doing great at first, by all means...until this cursed mission. It was simple - he, and the entire gang he had joined, had been contracted by a rather wealthy, anonymous donor to carry a set of four odd scrolls across the Land of Earth at utmost speed, with orders to dispatch any who so much as saw them. For a band of lost nin, the payout was particularly grand, and so it seemed almost obvious to take it. What a mistake. He jumped out of the canyon, though not before looking around to see if he had been followed. Their sensory ninja had been the first to be taken out by 'it', but luckily for him he had learned the ability to enhance his hearing in secret. Even amidst such heavy rain, he could hear the movements of the smallest of frogs across a radius two miles wide. Had he managed to lose him? He continued to run anyways.
*It had been easy at first - they had managed to cross through the Wind and the Rain Countries without any issues whatsoever, save for a few piddling civilian bandits easily dispatched. They had begun to make good headway into the Land of Earth, thinking that they had simply lucked out on an easy job with a patron who overestimated a threat. Until one morning, seemingly innocent in nature, only half of their gang woke up. The rest died in their sleep without so much as a single sound...it was poison. The gang's medical nin was targetted too..only survived because he was paranoid enough to purify every spoon he put into his mouth. Not that it did him any good...
He stopped beneath a natural covering of the rain, sitting under it for a moment to breath, tired from running for well over an hour now. He wondered if any of the other ones had made it. They had split in four, each carrying one of the items. It was a risky move, a stupid one...but even one scroll would yield them half the pay, and their numbers had done nothing to stop the attacks. He still heard nothing...he had to have been chasing one of the others, right?
After the poison, they'd been much more watchful, but even that was not enough, not when the rain started. Their sensor was lost to an camouflaged kunai that came out of nowhere, ricochetting off a rock before catching him right in the neck. They didn't even have time to try to heal him. Next was our medic...we didn't even hear his scream - one moment he was there, and the next his neck was spurting blood. Thinking quickly, they had managed to cast an Infinite Embrace Barrier Jutsu upon the would-be assassin - but it had been just a Water Clone, who turned into a puddle of formelss liquid after being caught. We decided to split not much longer after that.
The meeting point wasn't too much farther from there - he'd find reinforcements from his employers there. They were waiting for him. Even if they weren't able to beat his pursuer, it'd give him time to flee. Kinsho went back to running, flickering every time he could, enhancing his speed through Taijutsu with every last drop of chakra he had. So close - so close to surviving. He could see it in the distance, the lights of their encampment. They were near, so near, even nearer. They could already see him, surely. He'd be fine then! He just needed to run, to run some more, just a bit more-
Kinsho fell to the ground, a shuriken lodged upon the back of his head. He was dead on the spot
Kitsumoto Hachirō stared at the corpse beneath him, the wind howling between the desolate mountains of the earth country, rays of light piercing the clouds as he dispelled his Rain Dance Technique, which he had used to maintain the rain falling upon the head of his target. Although beginnin as a real rain (he didn't have nearly enough chakra to maintain a thunderstorm for days on end), towards the final hours, he had simply maintained it above the area of this last target. It seems panic had taken him to the point he was unable to even realize the 'reach' of this downpour was but a few dozen meters around him.
"I must admit, I am surprised. I did not think you would be able to hunt down every last one of them."
"Not too hard. They lacked deception...though with such stupidity, I could have probably won in an open fight."
He turned to the man who had been talking to him - his employer, and as it had been clear by now, the one who had called this band of lost nin on that escort mission. He had not noticed his approach, even as he maintained his sensory jutsu. Though Kitsumoto was unable to hear, deafened by his 'death', he had honed his senses to the point he could read lips by sensing the very vibrations coming from the mouths of those around him. After that, it was simply a matter of learning to speak well enough to maintain a conversation without outing his injuries.
"Going to guess...these 'scrolls' had nothing in them, did they?"
"They certainly were not wrong to call you smart for your age, boy. You figured it out. I needed to see if you had the manner of skill necessary for your next job. Your real job."
"You want me...to infiltrate the Chuunin Exams."
Inaba freezed for a moment - Just how had this lowlife found out that...?
Regaining his composure, he cracked his natural deceptive smile.
"I will not bother to ask how you figured that out, kid...but you are correct. I will need an operative of my own within it. You'll receive more information when the time comes...but you won't have to do anything out of your grade. This latest edition of the exam will have quite a few 'mixed' teams. You should have no issue blending right in."
"That's quite a risk, still. What's the payment...?"
"Your actions here have given me quite a bite of hope for your potential, kid. In a gesture of good faith, I'll reward you with...a million Ryō. It is a more than generous offer, well above the grade of any other pitiful errands someone of your status could achieve alone."
"Mhmm..."
Kitsumoto pondered this new 'offer' - to infiltrate the very exams, an event filled to the brim with Jonin, Anbu and all other manner of high-ranking shinobi he could not even hope to fight, was an insane task. Yet he had heard himself that this year's exam was rather unique in it's presence of cross-village teams, seemingly done to 'foster peace'. He knew better than to believe such pitiful lies, but it was a chink within their armor nonetheless, a hidden passageway for infiltration. He also knew this man to be 'Inaba Hyūga, a powerful man from a powerful clan...even if from the ill-reputed Branch House. Normally, he'd refuse such a risky job...though something told him the would not leave this place alive if he did. Yet it was more than that. In the depths of his dead, charred soul, he could hear something...a feeling that whispered at the back of his mind. It told him to go.
"I'll accept it."
Inaba clasped his hands, his grin turning into a smile.
"That is great to hear. I've taken the liberty of transporting your belongings - they're right at the camp. It will be a long journey back to Konoha..."
And so, the two departed, leaving the body amongst them to rot in the earth, clutching an empty scroll. The hand of fate began to move...