Kitsune no Akuryō

An Assassination Mission

Welcome to the next chapter of Kitsuen no Akuryo. I know we're passed this stage in Kinoe's life, but it works based on the time when things are happening. Over the course of Kitsune's career, he has graduated from simple reconnaissance missions to assassinations. How will he fair in the real world, where death and life are blurred by the edge of a kunai?

Kitsune's P.O.V.

    It was a sad day when I moved on from recon missions to assassinations, but I couldn't worry about that now. My opinions and thoughts, my feelings didn't matter. To save Konoha, I had to give everything. I was taking lessons for that very purpose right now in the deepest parts of ROOT, what used to be the scariest place of my imaginings, but that didn't matter any more.

    My mission now was simple: extract a group of suspected Iwa-nin on the Land of Fire's borders; interrogate them about what they knew; kill them so that they couldn't spread any information; and prepare their bodies for informational extraction.

    Kinoe was looking at me worriedly as we ran through the trees of the Land of Fire. "Are you sure you're alright," he asked for the thousandth time.

    I nodded with a huff. There had been far too many close calls over the passed year for me to take these missions lightly. There had been too many times when I had felt pity and stilled my hand for too long and almost lost my friend. There had been times  when I had almost died myself because I would remember the blind rage that killed Chō-chan. I had to put my emotions aside. I had to bury them deep inside me. We spoke very little from then on, well Kinoe did anyway.

    I often took point nowadays. While Kinoe might go on about wanting to protect me, I could often make lesser ninja wet their pants and scare the living day-lights out of other ninja. In any interrogation mission, I was a good asset. It also helped Danzo think that I was in control of the Nine-Tails. I was becoming rather good at controlling the Kyūbi's voice when I used it. As we neared the rendezvous point, Kione began looking at me with unease; I had a feeling he was looking at my lips specifically. He didn't like it when I used the Kyūbi's voice and had voiced his opinion often, but I couldn't be choosy right now.

    By now I was wearing a henge seal to change my hair colour to brown. Sabatage never worked well when my sun kissed blond hair gave me away to every ninja in all of the Five Nations. I had also released enough Kyūbi-chakra to gain sharpened nails, pointed teeth, red-slit eyes, and disheveled hair. Kinoe stopped just short of the camp and watched from the tree tops. I put on the performance. I just barely came bearing a haggard posture to the edge of the firelight, looking the Iwa-nin directly in the eye for the briefest of moment before promptly collapsing to the forest floor.  I felt all three chakra jerk in a weird sort of way, almost become agitated. I couldn't blame them. The Kyūbi's chakra was menacing to sense.

     Through lidded eyes I saw one of them jump in his seat and look around, from the campfire before walking cautiously over to me. The other two remained next to the campfire looking at me suspiciously. I heard the soft rustling in the trees as Kinoe moved in for the kill.

     Once the ninja was within a decimeter of me, I jerked my body up, and began talking, "Finally someone who will help this poor--brat."

    The Kyūbi's deep voice halted for a moment as we fought for control, but I ran with the slip.

     "No one cared to come near this brat, and I've been needing a new vessel."

     I reached out my hands to grab the ninja who opened his mouth, emitting a voiceless scream. The other two ninja had reached for their weapons, and I quickly move my head to dodge the stray kunai.