Behind the Mask

Chapter 12

I'm back from the dead, freshly risen from the ashes of my vampire body. No smokes and mirrors here, ladies and gents.

Anyways, in all seriousness there is no real excuse than a loss of muse. BUT, I've decided to upload my chapters for other stories at the same time as I feel bad for not updating in such a long time.

Life is hard.

Being an adult is hard.

Kids think that adults have everything together and are respectable—Ah-ha, jokes on them, I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

I hope you all enjoy my latest updates! Thanks!

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For once Kuroko was thankful for his abnormalities as his astute hearing was the only thing that gave him enough time to react. His warning jump-started Chouji and Shikamaru and they were prepared to pull Ino out of the way of a kunai that would have knocked her out of the battle right off the bat.

Kuroko's ear twitched as he heard foliage move, "Shika, behind!"

Team ten had a system. Ino, while not trained for close combat, was using purely defensive taijutsu to protect Shikamaru while he used his shadow ninjutsu to restrain. Chouji was the main frontline fighter of the team and Ino couldn't use her Mind Transfer technique with so many enemies in the vicinity, but she was doing her best to hold them off until they could be dispatched.

Team ten knew they were not fit for an all out brawl. They were meant for support—to stall and capture.

But they had to adapt.

Shikamaru held one person when Chouji rocketed into the man's stomach, knocking him back into a tree with a crunch of bark and possible bones while Ino kicked a man in his nether regions, thus giving another opening for Chouji who cringed but took advantage of the man's misfortune.

With the sudden charge of adrenaline pumping in his veins, Kuroko whipped out a spool of wire and a kunai under his poncho to keep it hidden from view. A subtle flick of his wrist and nimble fingers was all it took to tie the wire off on the kunai under his poncho as Kuroko sprinted around three of the bandits. Using his small stature, he weaved through the groups legs with the wire and tied it off. Having his feet stuck to the ground with chakra gave him enough leverage to topple them over as he put his weight into it and yanked.

Finishing them off, Kuroko dislocated their wrists by jabbing his thumb in the right place and used the pommel of his knife to knock them out.

They would need to get information out of them at the end of the chaos after all.

Glancing over his shoulder, Shikamaru nodded and gave Kuroko the go ahead as he ran through signs. They would take care of that side. He finished just in time as man that lunged at the horses froze in his tracks.

"We'll protect the horses! Go!"

Seeing that the three of them were well off at the moment, Kuroko took to the other side of the carriage, jumping on top of it to get a better view. One assailant was about to enter the carriage when Kuroko landed on his shoulders, making him lose his balance and toppling to the ground. Cutting the inside of the man's knees deeply, Kuroko was able to sufficiently tie him up, but wasn't prepared for a hefty kick from the man's comrade to blindside him.

Kuroko tumbled and hit the ground hard, the wind forcefully escaping his lungs as he rolled.

"Stay inside! By no means come out!" Kuroko hoped that their charge heard his message, because there was only one entrance into the carriage.