Chronicles of the Leaf

"Kurayami" - Isamu I

The Smartest Shinobi to ever live.

It was a silly nickname. I tried to push my arms outwards but all I could feel was the strength of the ropes around me and the wooden chair beneath me. My body was numb from the beatings. I looked up at my captor who wore no headband despite being a ninja, symbolising that this battle hadn't been on equal terms. You see a Leaf Ninja always puts on their headband as a sign of respect and fighting on equal terms.

"Isamu the Mirror." The rogue ninja before me spoke, looking down at me with both pride and respect. It had been years since I've actually introduced myself to somebody. She spoke to me again, "I want to know the location of the Hidden Leaf's scroll on sealing chakra."

Of course. My specialty involved the sealing and unsealing of chakra and jutsu. Obviously I wasn't going to give up so easily. "Just because you want something doesn't mean you're gonna get it, bud." I spoke calmly, like I was the one holding her captive whilst my eyes scanned every millimetre of the room.

"When you attacked us you wore a brown cloak and a mask. That's the uniform for the Kurayami, but your hands are shaky so clearly you're not experienced or evil enough to be considered a true member. You're doing a mission for them, and you're scared you'll fail." I coldly read out my examination whilst looking into her fearful eyes.

"How?! How could you have known all of that?!" She stepped back, exactly where I wanted her.

"You've got a splinter on the back of your foot now. It's small but you can't focus anymore, can't you? You can't focus your chakra to save your life." A smirk formed on my face as I spoke. After channelling my own chakra, with the slightest movement in my arms, I tore the ropes around me and stood up in front of her. "I also know that your physical strength is weak and you're likely just a genin who got lucky."

The woman's shaking had gotten worse, to the point I almost felt bad for her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and reassured, "Just surrender your weapons and I'll bring you in peacefully. I don't know why you went rogue but it's probably because you were given a bad hand in life." I forced a comforting smile as I gazed into her eyes with honesty.

Falling from above came the wooden planks in the ceiling following a loud crash. Without even looking up to see what it was, I tackled the woman out of the way and hugged her to shield her from the wooden planks. I could feel her shaking coming to a halt as my warmth coated her but I had to move.
I turned immediately to see what had occured since my jonin jacket shielded me from the wood. I saw a shinobi wearing a similiar brown cloak to the one this woman had previously worn but the mask was different. The woman had a white mask moulded to fit a face. This one was more decorative. It was shaped like a koala with red stripes. Whoever this shinobi was, they were likely a true member of the Kurayami.

"External Summoning Jutsu-" The voice of a man cried out from behind that mask. I couldn't allow him to take us so I dashed forwards and threw a punch to his face, using chakra to enhance the muscles in my body which created a strength powerful enough to break his mask.
The man stumbled back as his mask fell off in pieces. I took a moment to look at his face. Old but no older than 55, bald and squinting so he likely needs glasses to see far. Good.
I pushed onwards, swinging a second punch to his face but he disappeared in the blink of an eye with smoke. I felt contact but I knew it was the substitution jutsu. I turned to see the old man appear where a plank of wood once laid. He was between the woman and I but I had already figured out a solution.

I threw four shuriken to both sides of the shinobi on the wall behind him, connected to strings under my influence. He said, "Cheap tricks like that won't work on me!", and cut four of the strings with a blade. In their place, emerged lines of blue chakra which wrapped around the shinobi in unison with the other four strings. Perfect. I grinned as I pulled on the strings, using my strength to swing the shinobi around and throw him through the window. Then I immediately ran for the rogue kunoichi to pick her up and escape the building.

Whilst carrying her on my shoulder, I sprinted through the forest. Unfortunately speed was never my strong point and I could hear the footsteps of the Kurayami member catching up in the trees. I put the woman down and turned to see... no one.

There wasn't a single sound or sight of the rogue ninja. My mind ran through various scenarios before coming up with a counter in seconds. He was going for the woman. I stepped in front of her. Unfortunately I knew nothing about this individual, but I knew that every member of the Kurayami was an S-Rank Criminal so I'd have to be careful. I formed a hand seal and created twenty clones of myself, ten of which transformed into exact replicates of the kunoichi. All of us would then have a kunoichi to carry to confuse the enemy.

I waited, listening deeply to my surroundings before hearing the rustling of leaves. The bald, old rogue ninja dropped down from the trees with a creepy smile across his face as he stood up straight. He bit his finger and pressed against the grass beneath us before yelling, "Summong Jutsu: Buffalo Stampede!"
In front of the man, smoke flooded the forests in seconds then I heard the ground shake. Immediately we began running away as a herd of buffalo chased us down. My heart raced faster than I could run like it was about to explode. I couldn't let this person die. It would just be wrong.

Whilst some of the clones began to get trampled, the real me jumped onto a tree with the real kunoichi. I knew that the Kurayami shinobi was out there somewhere so I turned to look around then...

STAB

I could feel something penetrating my chest. It was a kunai. I moved back quick enough for it not to make a big wound. I looked back to the kunoichi behind me. Before I could turn my head again, it was punched repeatedly by the old shinobi. My head rang as my vision faded into a dizzy blur. There was no way I was going to let her die.

I poured my chakra into my muscles and simply walked into him, pushing him off the tree with the mere strength of my presence. I looked down at him and stated coldly, "You Kurayami disgust me, thinking you can have and do whatever you want without consequence. I am that consequence."

I turned around and faced another clone rogue shinobi whilst the one that fell off the tree disappeared into smoke. I caught his two punches and looked to my left seeing another shinobi who looked exactly the same running for the kunoichi on the tree branch. Without any thought, I kicked the shadow clone into smoke and ran in front of her as my torso was bombarded with an array of shuriken. I grunted in pain, falling my knees as blood ran down my body, but the rogue didn't stop. I was slapped across the face, sending me falling off the tree.

At the bottom, the rogue shinobi stood over me, holding a senbon dripping with some sort of liquid. The very same senbon was pierced into my head. My eyes widened as my lips parted to scream out in pain. Had I finally been defeated?

I looked to the tree and saw that the kunoichi had fled. If I died, at least it was protecting someone.

Isamu the Mirror