Kitsune no Akuryō

A Slight Detour...

Koni'chiwa minna! Welcome to the next part of Kitsune's first in-story, out of-Konoha adventure, or, at least, to a slight detour of it. Kitsune never recovered from his injury, and it has created some problems, but Kinoe is always willing to listen and watch. Over the months, Kitsune has begun to practice Fuun-jutsu, the delicate art of seal-making to make up for his complete lack of chakra-control. It should be enough to help him complete this mission, but he has to be careful and skilled enough to make up for what the seals can't do.

Kitsune's P.O.V.

     Getting into the village wasn't too difficult. A rouge ninja trying to infiltrate a village was not that uncommon and required little proof: namely the bound prisoner and a guard of the necessary village. We got down into the dungeons easily enough, but before Kinoe could whisper any last words, I was shut inside the cell, and he was called on other duties.

     I first checked the cell for any visual seals through which guards or others could use to spy on prisoners. Finding none, I spent the day sitting in the shadows trying not to show the guard that I was making a  seal for causing excitement. He looked like he was trying to be important, and would nod or bow whenever someone would come by. There was one in particular that caught my eye. He had a cloth covering half his face, and he would often peer in and look at me before looking at the guard and nodding before leaving. I tried to keep a level head when he did that.

     After the excitement seal was done, I began making mental notes about my guard's appearance: short dirty blonde hair, medium body, long legs, and medium arms. I couldn't begin writing the seal now since I also needed a description of his face which was facing the opposite direction. If I started the seal now, the ink would dry before I could figure what his face looked like and how to describe it in a fuun-jutsu. Once the ink dried, adding to a seal was rather difficult and could make for awkward seals that had artificial layers, especially with henge seals. Having two seals over the muladhara chakra point (or any chakra point for that matter) was also a bad idea since my chakra would try account for both of them and possibly miss important parts for either of them.

     Once I had a clear idea in my head of what he looked like in general in fuun-jutsu format, I moved onto the next seal, a sleeping seal which would make sure that my double didn't "accidentally" wander off while I was on my mission or otherwise ruin everything. While I was working on the sleeping seal, I tried to figure out how to get the guard to look at me. I could pick a lock they might have; I had a storage seal on my left shin full of kunai and senbon, a perfect lockpick and key. However, by the time I had finished the sleep seal, my stomach growled, and another genius idea struck me: I remembered prisoners got food. Putting everything away, I walked to the bars of the cell and pulled on his vest.

     He ignored me.

     I pulled on it again, and he continued to ignore me. I felt like a child doing this, and I was, but I was a ninja, a ROOT ANBU. Even what I was about to say felt childish, but for the sake of the mission, I would ask him the question any nine year old would ask his mother: What can I have to eat?

     After enough pulls on his vest, he finally turned around, and I asked the question, moving my lips as carefully and slowly as possible to make it seem like I was trying to get it right, which I was (I was hungry after all), but my eyes scanned his features: small hazel eyes, a thin straight nose, full lips, a long face, and sharp chin.

     I quickly turned away and walked back to my seat whether or not he understood my question which, given his blank face behind the bars, he hadn't. He quickly turned around to show that he hadn't been distracted. I set about writing a larger henge seal which was fine since it was going on me and I could deal with the mild discomfort. As I worked, I realized that I didn't need the excitement seal, and it might actually have broken my cover. Having let it dry, I folded it in on itself and put it into the storage seal on my right shoulder.