The Merc Assignment [PLOT]

The wind tasted like morning dew, but of course, it was the morning and the sun was just starting to rise from the horizon. One would aspire to see such a sight, but not the one who ran atop trees and branches in a quick fashion, no, not him. To him, it tasted raw, pointless, his mind couldn't filter it out, it was too focused on the goal set by itself - to hunt. For the past year, he was the hunted, the prey, the one on the run, but now, he was searching for those who, like him, were prey and hunted, but now, they are being hunted by a once-upon-a-time their own kind - Hatake Sōra.

Leap. Land. Leap. Flip. Land.

The process was often repeated and varied upon situation, but it remained the same. The terrain was like he had always remembered it to be, clogged and concealing, it was perfect for the hunter, and perfect for the prey. The person he's been hunting for a while now reigned from a village now ruins - Amegakure - and the ones that refuse to conform into the surrounding shinobi nations were labeled as Rogue Shinobi, as they possessed no master that commanded them, making them highly unstable and highly volatile - radioactive, so to speak. You couldn't predict what they would do, or why they would do it, so they were classified as rogues to be eliminated. Despite the reason, overall, Sōra understood them. He had not wanted to conform to society anymore, he wanted free-will, and if you have great power...why be? Perhaps his thoughts spawned into a radical, but it spawned, and that's what he wanted - to spawn.

He stopped abruptly, taking cover behind the large form of a tree to the best of his abilities as he saw a figure nearby, his sharingan could see the chakra form of the individual, it was the perfect tracker. As long as anything was in eyesight and gave off chakra of an abundant nature, it could see it perfectly. Perfectly. There was multiple ways to approach the situation, he didn't know whether this was a civilian, loyal shinobi, or a nukenin, despite his constant tracking simply due to the fact he could not see the entire form - face and all - so it was up to pure luck. However, this was where he tracked him.

He waited.

A shinobi waited for confirmation. If one wasn't certain, one could end up dead. A simple fact that has proven itself time and time again to be truthful to the very core. His all-seeing eyes watched the movements. It took a few minutes, stealthy movements, and the correct angle for the confirmation - it was him. Satou, Himura, Amegakure Rogue. He took out his kunai, calmed his breath, waited for the correct moment and engaged with a distraction - The kunai was thrown. Thrown kunai truly only had two important objectives: Distraction & Explosion. It allowed the user to gain control and launch quick and well-planned attacks, as it's not exactly the most stealthiest of tools.

It was dodged. He was on alert, scanning the area with hostile intention in his eyes. He was rattled. Now to make him more exasperated. Another kunai launched from his blind-side, this was accomplished by careful maneuvering. He dodged erratically. His movements became more intense, wild, and his face gave clear indications of fear. What was probably on in his mind is a 2 or more squad was coming after him, so now he had to be 360 aware, and moving wasn't an option without being able to tell how many enemies there were or where they were. He could be running into a trap. He was trapped. This was a perfect situation with a perfect scenario of thought. His body couldn't stop moving, he was spinning in a 360 degree motion attempting to react to any attacks. It was sad really.

"Come out, cowards!" Was this guy from a story? It didn't matter. Another calming of the breath, and he was ready. Performing a set of handseals, he sucked into the earth, silently traveling to the erratic shinobi, until, boom. He was now head deep into the ground. After grabbing him by his ankles, Sōra forcefully pulled him downwards but at the same time lifted himself upwards. He was trapped. The sweat he emitted was seeping to the ground, he struggled, but it was over. Sōra's eyes had already met his. He was done, a small but fast movement of his hands put the kunai hidden in his pouch to Himura's throat. It was over with a slash.

Poof. The fuck? A log was left there with a small cut into it. Impossible. How? Unless...Shit. He must've had Earth Style Techniques. Getting out of that trap would've been easy, or was it after? No. It was during. The moment he was trapped, his eyes looked out just for a moment, that was when. However, his Genjutsu...did it? He knew it was weird, but. Miscalculation. Sōra had never expected an Amegakaure shinobi to possess earth element. Now, his opponent was probably meters away or in hiding. If he's hiding in the earth, it'll be even difficult to find him. This hunt was a failure. Shit.

There he was, standing with his sharingan lite in failure. Something he wasn't used to. This individual was smart. He played it off despite knowing he could escape, and using a gamble for one of them to use a technique large enough to conceal his escape using Earth Style. Smart. That's why he acted erratic. Sōra got played, not him. His mental tactics counted by mental tactics. Instead of imposing a desire emotion into your opponent, enacting an emotion so your opponent comes to a incorrect conclusion. It just struck Sōra rather harshly, it was a tactic used only by the smartest of people due to its inability to correctly work unless in specific situations where that desired emotion is completely legit. Unlike Sōra's tactic, which is just control-based and can be induced as long as you create the situation.

Be that as it may, his hunt was not finished yet, and so, with a leap, he was off. Time to find a new target.

[Dialogue]: E32636
[Total Word Count]: [1057\1250]
[Inventory]:

[Techniques Used]:

• [Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique]
• [Sharingan: Genjutsu | Paralysis]