Shadows of Evil

Shadows of Evil Another place, another time... Rio kept her head down as she played the role needed of her; the demure and quiet temple monk. It's a role that required her head to be shaved, but that was of little consequence. She knew medical nin with hair growth salves that would have her luscious black locks back in no time.

Besides, she could count on one hand how many hours she had left before all hell would break loose in this shrine nestled in the Land of Ogres. She considered this place to be scarier than anywhere because they relied on real, organized forces of samurai for defense: men and women who didn't talk your ear off before cutting you in half with a sword. She was there to pick up the notes of the last spy the Kage sent who ended up disappearing, and that dead man's cover was a priest.

The people here seemed insane to her, but perhaps that was the only reason she was scared of them. She didn't understand a world where the gods weren't stories you were told as a kid to make you behave or an excuse to hold festivals. The people here believed wholeheartedly in their strange faith.

She had done her homework, of course, and learned the chants and gestures that any trainee priestess would know. She could swear people were watching her from somewhere, despite the shrine not even having a roof in most places and her keen senses telling her nothing was amiss.

However, her gut was telling her to be ready for things to go badly, and her gut had never steered her wrong before.

She walks with the other nuns to the outdoor library; she looks for any way out beyond simply hopping the fence and hoping for the best. They would know if she stuffed something down her robes: the warrior monks attending the library could catch a fly with chopsticks deaf and blindfolded. Their bladed whips shone under the sunlight, capable of easily taking her head off with one clean slice.

Rio mutters the location in her head, keeping her head down as she was allowed to look around and sort the books.

"Under the Bright Pinnacle..."

She pored through the books, searched for riddles, and looked for titles and page ciphers, to no avail.
The revelation as to where the notes were hidden was so obvious that it made her crack a smile for a moment. She was staring directly at it as she baked in the sunlight in the oven of her robes.

The roof ornament, shaped like the sun: the notes were cut into a circle, the outside layered with a thin foil of copper to match the exterior of the roof ornament, and stuck on using adhesive. When she makes that jump, her disguise is exposed as something more than a wandering convert, and the
warriors of the shrine have full rights to her head. If she's unlucky, they'll capture her, torture everything she knows out of her, and then kill her.

She shakes her head, sorting out the last book before lifting her tongue and taking a flash bomb out from under it. She throws it on the ground and is already on the roof and running for the note before anyone on the ground even sees the blinding light she deployed. She tears her left sleeve off to grab the heated metal note and tugs on it as she passes it, barely getting it off on the first pass. Had she been there trying to pry at it, she would have already been captured by the fast-responding warrior monks.

She flashes across rooftops in a supersonic race against the warrior monks who were keeping pace with the runaway spy. Letting them get close was a death sentence. Thankfully, the special ingredient she mixed into her flash bomb was activating in daylight: a light accelerant, which would set some of the library on fire. The priestesses wouldn't be able to put the fire out on their own, so the warrior monks had half a second to choose what was more important: their archives or the spy.

Rio didn't bother looking back to see what choice they made; the very fact she was still alive and leaving the city was proof her gamble worked.

Choko sits on a tree branch, watching her sensei nap, while Mitsu hangs upside down from the branch, using only one foot to support his weight. They were a day's walk from Konoha, and they hadn't found a third student to rush into exams with. At this rate, they'd never be able to pass the written portion, let alone the greater challenges.
But then again, Choko was trying not to think that following some old friend of her mother's around and calling her sensei wasn't a terrible idea. As within, as without, after all...

"Mitsu, we were supposed to be leaving an hour ago," Choko said as she sharpened her arrows.
"Sensei requires time to meditate"
"You mean sleep in"
"No, she is quite deep into her thoughts. To interrupt her would be a severe misstep"

Choko looks at the eyeless boy and sighs, jumping quietly on the grass. Her things were already packed as she saw Rio stir awake. The woman's long black hair and simple clothes rustle as she stands and stretches:
"Everyone ready to hit the dusty trail?" Rio asks her students.
"Yes Sensei" Mitsu says calmly as he lands on the ground, while Choko merely nods. Her eyes track 3 figures at the edge of her vision, moving quickly: It could just be a falcon chasing prey, but it put her on edge regardless.

Yuuto and Azusa watch the group from afar, their black combat vests and masks concealing their identity. Their orders were clear yet at the same time, they were only told the time and place of their target, not the identity of who their to spy on. She seemed wholly ordinary herself, even Yuuto's chakra sensing showed she barely had any to speak of. It was her company that scared them more: two strong genin Azusa recognized from a last-minute addition to the exam roster. They had a third pending, so either the talentless lady leading them was going to take the spot or they were going in one person less than possible.

In other words, a massive disadvantage.

Their orders were very specifically to watch the woman at all times and look for any kind of major abnormalities in her behavior. The mission was ranked S-rank, so she must have some kind of hidden power or ability to diminish her chakra to the levels of an untrained commoner.

They don't move efficiently either, as if trying to be easy to see. They stuck to paths, the blindfolded genin's bloodied feet left a trail clear as day, and the bored yapping of the archer and her sensei had an off feeling to it...

"Azusa, I think a decoy got sent our way"
"Yuuto, go ask around about Team 8's Sensei, I'll keep watch. The meeting place will be the alleyway southernmost in the village" says the more experienced of the whisperers. The black ops flicker away, leaping across branches and over the wall with practiced ease.

The Blackshadow family was feared and ostracized for their master of darkness in every sense, reflected in their raven black hair and dark clothes. While the clan itself was small(3 people), it was still feared enough that they were unwelcome in some parts of Konoha for their great power.

Or rather, that is what the trio told themselves, a family of troublesome shadow users with untamed power. The mother and father used to be Chunin before they came back from a mission far past schedule, mentally broken and spouting grandiose nonsense. The medical Nin could not heal it nor even find the source of the affliction, and the pair eventually found their madness tolerated only by each other. While they lost their rank and job, they would marry and produce a child.

Kuro Blackshadow was said to be born during the apex of night, in the winter, after a long and draining pregnancy. She took after her parents in all aspects as she grew up with the scorn of being the child of the mad couple, retreating into her parent's personality quirks and adopting them. Her talent for manipulating shadows, and the supposed "secret art" of her family possibly being real, she was trained as a genin. An outcast, but one proficient enough to eligible for exams.

Sadly, she had the scorn of the whole academy and her instructors were not going to let a lone girl potentially step into the Forest of Death, especially one as delusional and hated as Kuro.

One might ask how the family found food given their status as outcasts: While the Blackshadows would call it terrifyingly efficient banditry, their methods are obvious enough that most simply placate their needs to avoid a fight. Had they been a threat, Anbu Black Ops would have disappeared long ago.

The family stalked a group of diverse travelers through the shadows of their woods outside of Konoha, the sunny day providing stark shadows to hide in. They spied a Lady leading a flagellant and huntress with a noble crest: a visiting noble and her poor excuse for a guard. The three spread out, planning to cast their shadow over the whole of the whole of group: The Blackshadow clan would earn the fear of the Hidden Leaf if they did not earn its respect.

Outside of Konoha

Choko could feel every fiber of her being that this was a bad spot to rest, but Konoki-Sensei had been insistent. She could see figures in the shadows, and not just animals: people moving like shinobi, could be robbers. She strings up her bow while Rio sat and smoked some nice smelling herbs out of a short pipe, Mitsu having decided now of all times to let the adjacent stream wash the wounds on his feet in a sickeningly painful display.

She kept an arrow at the ready despite some worried looks from Rio, but she must be mad not to be worried.

"Cho-Chan, It's alright, It's just some harmless beggars" she says before taking a peaceful puff of her pipe.
"But they're moving like Shinobi! They're going to try and hurt us!" Choko says visibly panicking.
"Your seeing shadows and hiding from them, instead of looking for the source, Cho-Chan"
Choko bites her lip and turns to Mitsu, interrupting his chanting: "Stop torturing yourself and get ready to fight!"
"My suffering is a blessed activity, but if you insist on being disruptive..." he says as he rises.

The two stand, ready for a fight as painful briars spread themselves out to find and ensnare those running on the ground. The defense fails as three large figures of menacing darkness loom over team 8. They stand like monstrous demons as the tallest speaks in a low tone, trying to be scary.
"We offer you the mercy of running with your lives, on the condition you leave your valuables and bring word to the kage that the Blaskshadows are on the prowl, worms"
A woman's voice pipes up: "Heed his words and tremble, for there are countless souls who have not and paid the price for such insolence"
A girl's voice follows: "Indeed, you poor, unfortunate souls have been fated to be the targets of the Blackshadow clan since before you had been born: Surrender now and take our fleeting mercy!"

Rio stifles a laugh as Choko starts to tear up, her arrow shaking on the string while Mitsu tries to focus in on where the Blackshadows are.

The Daughter of the Blackshadow Clan steps forward, casting a shadow over the terrified archer. She raises a seemingly clawed hand to slice at Choko. It doesn't cut her, but instead has her controlled like a marionette shaking in shock and surprise as she falls to her knees and turns out her pockets. The forced self-search reveals some trinkets of her clan that could be valuable to the treasury of the Blackshadow clan to prosecute their vengeance against the hidden leaf.

The daughter looks as she sees the smoking lady clap and approach, somehow not scared of her immaculate illusion. No mortal could see through the techniques of her clan, so she must be fearless or stupid.
"Damn fine performance young lady! Your clan's taught you pretty well how to do a classic roadside robbery!" The lady says, snuffing her pipe out.

Her forbears laugh at the flattery: "You offer your praise for what? So you may not burn with the hidden leaf when we rise to ULTIMATE POWER?!" her father remarks.

"Nah, I'm honestly more interested in helping you folks!" The lady says, prompting a howl of laughter.

"More desperate pleading darling, or perhaps she is like us, touched by a power beyond comprehension..." the mother says.

"Or merely a pawn of the leaf thrown our way in the wake of our recent thefts! We require a show of goodwill in order to believe a word out of your mouth, cur!" Kuro snaps at the woman, who merely smirks.

"Name's Rio Konoki, and I can get you into the Chunin exams to show up all those bastards in the leaf and abroad who think your clan's full of shit. Prove them wrong by beating them at their own game and proclaiming victory over them against their shitty odds"

Kuro had to admit: Konoki made a good offer. A chance to spit in the faces of her detractors at the academy? Some well-earned vengeance in front of a crowd to watch? Loyal followers, to assist her rise to dominance afterward?

"Perhaps you are more than a mere target, Miss Konoki" Kuro says, showing her true form: She wears the ceremonial jacket and skirt of the Blackshadow clan, all black with copper buttons and a high collar despite the heat. She grins and approaches Rio with a look between respect and danger.

Mitsu had chosen to stay focused on the chakra around him instead of letting the material illusions that scared Choko control his actions. These were not incredibly strong shadow users, just clever ones who manifested all their chakra out in a single rush of shadow manipulation which did indeed give the impression of a fearsome opponent.

But the daughter of the Blackshadow clan was likely to faint from the excessive strain on her Chakra in a matter of minutes. If this sort of power could be trained for longer bursts and coordinated with ambushed foes, then perhaps the Hidden Leaf would spare some concern for their actions.

As usual, Konoki-Sensei was emitting nothing, a still calm puddle in the eye of a raging storm.
Choko was having her body controlled and was terrified to the point where her Chakra was out of control. Her crying and sniffling confirmed this was not an effect of the Jutsu.
The Patriarch and Matriarch of the Blackshadow clan's shadows loomed large, much like their egos. They hand a good angle of the sun to project their shadow into its menacing illusory shape as their daughter seemed to a bit closer, as if wrapping herself in a protective layer of darkness over simply projecting a scary illusion.

These are the sort of tricks only a real shinobi would have learned, meaning they had to be here for a reason....

Or perhaps they were simply mad, delusional bandits with a daughter raised to see such eccentric behavior as normal: Rio seemed to have the situation handled without the need to waste Chakra on a fight and show off his techniques to any inquisitive passerby.

Rio nods as Kuro's parents make her swear an oath to assist their daughter in her endeavors of vengeance: By the sound of it the whole family was simply very dramatic about the way they spoke about a simple case of bullying. It was slightly more complicated as she tried to read it into what the truth of the matter was, but it was likely Kuro's eccentricities and hyper-focus on shadow jutsu that led her to be bullied and outcast.

The former spy speaks the long and over-complicated oath with a sly smile on her face. This wasn't merely to get out of paying, but she had a feeling about the daughter of the clan given her courage and clear skill a very specialized form of Jutsu she didn't see much. Of course, that personality might be a flaw in some places, but right now it gave her the courage to do a test considered very difficult even for adults.

What Rio saw mostly before here was a raw talent that was going to be wasted without guidance and someone with the same kind of stupidity she has:
a failure to know when to quit.

Choko eyes the former bandit that she told bore the name of Kuro Blackshadow with suspicion as they rolled out their futons for the night in the cheapest inn Konoha had to offer to outsiders. The girl seemed to attract hateful glances from every child in the village, even those younger than her. The owner of the Inn charged the group almost double just for being with Kuro.

As an outcast herself, she felt a need to understand why this one was loathed so much.

Mitsu sits on the balcony to torture his skin with cold night air while Choko and Kuro change into nightwear. While Choko pulls a long, warm gown over her head, Kuro simply loosely wraps a black yukata around her and ties it with a sash. As usual, Rio sleeps in her clothes, somehow not getting them dirty at night. It's fully possible she was leaving at night and given her skills at being hidden, even Choko's vision couldn't see through the kind of tricks Rio was training her against.

She drifts off to the safety of her dreams, the Chunin exams all too close as she hopes her teammates can work out something for the written portion that doesn't involve their sensei copying the answers for them.