OC’s overall guide for DB4D:

Here’s a simple template for all the OC’s that will/have been introduced to give you a better feel for them, and a reference point.

So let’s start:

Yurei Uchiha
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Village: Leaf (Former)
History: Genin at age 12, chunin at age 15, and introduced into ANBU at age 19. Disbanded from hidden leaf at age 22 to join The Circle.
Height: 5’10’’

Appearance: Pale complexion with scraggy brown hair. Body is littered with scars due to service in ANBU. Wears an all black version of Leaf ANBU gear and a black cowl and mask-covering majority of his face. Wears a red sash around waist.

Abillities: Yurei is a very collected ninja that has a varied collection of jutsu at his disposal (thanks to the sharingan) such as many Fire techniques and illusions. Very intelligent and quick on his feet. Not exactly a powerhouse in terms of physical strength. Charka control is masterful and use with forming hand signs is high level. Basic knowledge of weapons and use(such as Kunai). Can take a few hits, but not the most durable of shinobi. Lacks superior chakra levels which limits amount of jutsu he can use in a given fight without exhausting himself. Not great in social situations and can be quite blunt.

Strengths: Genjutsu, Fire Ninjutsu, kekkei genkai abilities(mangekyo sharingan).

Weaknesses: Taijutsu, long drawn out fights, sealing jutsu and weaponry.


Saji Oduru
Gender:Female
Age: 30
Village: Land of Iron(former)
History: Samurai at age 16, left to join The Circle at age 24.
Height: 5’9’’

Appearance: Has a darker skin tone and wears a black version of Kumo ANBU uniform with a rapier on her left side, complete with cowl and mask. Medium length black hair with hazel eyes. Has a gray sash.

Abillities: Saji is a very upfront and personal shinobi that is adept to strategy making, but by no means is a tactician. Mainly uses her rapier and other weaponry to disable and kill opponents with deadly efficiency. Doesn’t use nin-jutsu nor cares to learn any. Taijutsu is quite versatile and is much stronger than a typical female shinobi, though is not fast but has good reflexes. Doesn’t have knowledge of any genjutsu, but does know how to dispel illusions. Chakra control and amount is fairly average among low ranking jounin and doesn’t really use hand signs. Can take many shots and doesn’t wear out easily in a fight, and can be somewhat persuasive.

Strengths: Taijutsu, kenjutsu, stamina

Weaknesses: ninjutsu, long range battles, genjutsu and sealing jutsu.

Maebure Kyosei
Gender: Male
Age: 55
Village: Grass(former)
History: genin by age 13, chunin by age 17. Left village at 19 to join The Circle. At age 41 was chosen to be new leader of The Circle.
Height: 6’0’’

Appearance: An older pale gentleman that has some wrinkles on his face with little minor scars. Wears a black and gray robe with a black sash around his waist. Balding and has green eyes. No mask or cowl.

Abillities: Long standing member of The Circle and has massive knowledge on the art of assassination and several techniques that can be utilized. About mid level chunin strength and mobility. Master in the sealing arts and very knowledgeable of curse seals. Can use low-level jounin earth ninjutsu techniques and above average understanding in dispelling genjutsu, though doesn’t cast genjutsu traditionally. Great public speaker, and not a very durable fighter at all. Has outstanding chakra control and average amount of chakra found in low ranking jounin.

Strengths: Fuinjutsu, tactics, speech abilities, and juinjutsu

Weaknesses: Mobility/physical strength, durability and taijutsu.

Moyasu Hokori
Gender: male
Age: 32
Village: Sand (former)
History: genin by 12, chunin by 16, special jounin by 17, jounin by 20, left village for The Circle by age 25.
Height: 6’6’’

Appearance: A hulking brute of a man that wears a cloth mask and cowl with standard blacked out Sand ANBU uniform with beady brown eyes and a slight tan skin color. Very muscular and a wears a yellow sash.

Abilities: One tough shinobi in terms of raw strength and ability to take a serious beating and not even seem tired. Very skilled in weaponry and taijutsu along with some chunin level wind ninjutsu. Not well versed against genjutsu and isn’t very fast assailant, though does possess good balance. Chakra control can be a bit erratic at times and does have a large tank of chakra at his disposal. Not a very tactical fighter, but not entirely a bonehead either, so will use basic strategy. Can intimidate people when conversing and is surprisingly a savvy talker when amongst others.

Strengths: Taijutsu, stamina and durability, chakra amount

Weaknesses: genjutsu, speed, tactics and fuinjutsu.

Takeo Kenko
Gender: Male
Age: 37
Village: Mist (former)
History: genin age 9, chunin age 14, Hunter-nin age 16, joined Circle at age 18
Height: 5’8’’

Appearance: Wears a black version of Mist ANBU attire with a dark blue sash around his waist, short cropped black hair and a somewhat tan complexion. Stocky in stature.

Abilities: As a former elite hunter-nin from the hidden mist, even at a young age he specializes mostly in tracking, espionage, and versatile tactics. He is a sensory type, which enables him greatly in tracking down his foes and uses many signature jutsu of the hidden mist, such as the silent killing technique. Well rounded in taijutsu and a bit a genjutsu as well, though tends to avoid most ninjutsu in fights. Uses hit and run tactics and is also a skilled swordsman. Amicable and can read other people quite well.

Strengths: tactics and kenjutsu

Weaknesses: ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and speed.

Torvald Shiza
Gender: Male
Age: mid 30’s?
Village: ???
History: joined Circle 10 years ago
Height: 5’ll’’

Appearance: Uses a Sand ANBU style outfit and always wears a hood and cowl with it to cover his face. Fairly average build among shinobi and has very pale skin and pink eyes, thus making the assumption he is albino.

Abillities: A very soft spoken shinobi who is a master of deception. Mastery over the transformation jutsu has him known as a master of disguise, and has never been caught actually murdering his targets in his true form, even possessing the power to set a henge upon an opponent, and make it permanent. Doesn’t use and traditional genjutsu or ninjutsu, through is very fast and taijutsu is some unknown style that he has apparently mastered. Smart and cunning, and never someone that simply fights head on. Plays dirty and expects to come out on top. Also decently versed in the sealing arts.

Strengths: taijutsu, tactics, fuinjutsu and speed.

Weaknesses: Chakra, ninjutsu, genjutsu

Isamo Jundo
Age:29
Gender: male
Village: Waterfall(former)
History: genin at age 11, chunin at age 14, special jounin at age 18, joined The Circle at age 21.
Height: 6’

Appearance: Wears a black version of ANBU leaf outfit even though he’s from Taki, only wears the cowl with no mask covering his face, along with a white sash around his waist. Right hand man to Maebure in The Circle. Light blue eyes and medium length straight brown hair.

Abilities: Ninjutsu in Wind and Water style both very strong and deadly against opponents along with decent taijutsu. Doesn’t use genjutsu much at all and isn’t very strong physically. Not incredibly great tactics, decent knowledge with fuinjutsu and juinjutsu. More of a defensive shinobi and has a decent amount of chakra at his disposal.

Strengths: ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and juinjutsu, chakra

Weaknesses: taijutsu, genjutsu, strength

Rika Yokubo
Gender: Female
Age: 31
Village: Cloud(former)
History: Genin age 8, chunin age 12, jounin age 17 , joined Circle at age 20.
Height” 5’9’’

Appearance: Wears both cowl and mask while wearing a blacked-out version of Cloud ANBU get-up. Has a purple sash around her waist and is very dark skinned with long black hair with hazel eyes, and medium length brown hair.

Abilities: Heralded as a prodigy from a young age due to her picking up on shinobi techniques along with having excellent chakra control and chakra amount. Lighting style nin-jutsu expert and good at dispelling genjutsu and using tough taijutsu. Smart tactics and can be a bit sadistic. Amateur with sealing jutsu, also decently fast and agile though about average strength. Chakra all around is good and quite durable.

Strengths: ninjutsu, intelligence, chakra

Weaknesses: Strengths, kenjutsu, sealing

Tsukiko Akumo
Gender:female
Age: 23
Village: Rain(former)
History: genin age 12, chunin age 16, special jounin age 21, joined Circle age 22.
Height: 5’4’’

Appearance: A petite and nimble young lady that wears standard ANBU Rain gear with mask and hood hiding her face away. Fair/pale complexion and a few visible scars on her forearms. Orange sash around her waist and has dark blue eyes, and wavy purple hair slightly poking out of her hood.

Abilities: A very quick and efficient kuniochi that specializes in using a scythe in close quarters combats and throwing it like a boomerang for long range combat. Skilled at taijutsu and dispelling genjutsu as well. Chunin level Wind ninjutsu techniques, mostly incorporated with use of her scythe. Has good accuracy in throwing her scythe but lacks strength and stamina to hurl it far and carry on long fights. No knowledge of fuinjutsu, and fairly basic tactics.

Strengths: kenjutsu, taijutsu chakra control and agility.

Weaknesses: strength, stamina, durabillty, fuinjutsu

Fukuro Zagura
Gender: Male
Age: 49
Village: Sand(former)
History: Genin age 10, chunin age 13, ANBU age 18, joined The Circle at age 27.
Height: 6’2’’

Appearance: Wears Sand ANBU uniform with only the hood, no mask to cover his face. Dark gray eyes and a slight tan skin color. Has a brown sash around his waist and also can be seen with black sunglasses on occasionally, and has a shaved head.

Abilities: A cold blooded killer that worked as the Kazekage’s personal hit man for several years before joining the Circle. Very stealthy and intelligent. Skilled in Wind ninjutsu and Earth ninjutsu at a high level and can use some genjutsu as well around chunin level. Taijutsu is elite and decently skilled with just about any weapon. Knowledgeable of both various sealing jutsu and planting on juinjutsu learned through his years in ANBU. Average speed and strength among jounin level shinobi, and possess an adequate level of chakra amount and control.prefers using a bow and arrow.

Strengths: ninjutsu,stealth, tactics, chakra, tactics

Weaknesses: Genjutsu, overconfidence, speed.

Fauru Uzumaki
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Village: Steam(former)
History: Genin age 11, chunin age 15, joined Circle at age 18.
Height: 5’10’’

Appearance: Wears Leaf ANBU gear opposed to Steam ANBU gear, as a katana strapped to his back, wears both mask and cowl, white skinned with slight tan, and green eyes. Has a teal sash around his waist and has long straight red hair down slightly passed his shoulders.

Abilities: Best skill is with his katana and imposing strength and speed, which translates well into taijutsu. Also a good caster of genjutsu when fighting long range, though doesn’t really rely on any ninjutsu of sorts. Decent tactics when fighting and a good sealing arts person. Lacks elite amount of chakra but makes up for it for having some of the best chakra control.

Strengths: kenjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, fuinjutsu, and chakra control

Weaknesses: ninjutsu, chakra amount, and questionable decision making at times.

Kuzuri Yobirin
Gender: Male
Age: 34
Village: Mist(former)
History: Genin age 9, chunin age 12, jounin age 16, ANBU age 18, joined Circle at age 26.
Height: 5’11’’

Appearance: Once heralded as one of the greatest shinobi in the hidden Mist, after almost dying on the battle field at age 22 he was left almost crippled and badly disfigured, including brain trauma, 3rd degree burns all through his body and internal organ damage. Wears Mist ANBU gear and wears a black undershirt to cover up rest of his body. Wears a Maroon sash around his waist along with cowl and mask. Under his mask he wears a respirator to enable him to breathe, and wears blacked out goggles setup to properly let him see.

Abilities: A smart shinobi and dedicated killer with massive amounts of chakra and decent control, is somewhat fragile due to his past injuries and isn’t very physically strong. Very elusive and quick on his feet, though tends to avoid taijutsu and doesn’t use much genjutsu at all, but can dispel it quite easily. Some knowledge in sealing arts, though limited and a powerhouse when using ninjutsu. Can use Lighting, Water, and Wind style ninjutsu all at very high levels. Around high chunin level skill with weapons.

Strengths: Ninjutsu, quickness, chakra amount

Weaknesses: Durability, strength, taijutsu,

Usagi Kita
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Village: Frost(former)
History: genin age 12, chunin age 15, Special jounin age 19, joined Circle at age 24.

Appearance: Former daughter of a well-respected elder, she has cropped curly blonde hair in a bob, no mask or cowl. Wears Cloud style ANBU gear and has a pink sash around her waist, along with bright red eyes and fair skin color.

Abilities: She has only average chakra control and amount, skilled with weapons; especially her signature morning star. Uses chunin level fire ninjutsu, and not great at dealing with genjutsu and only decent with basic sealing. Good technical taijutsu fighter and a very smooth talker. Also uses a summoning jutsu of swarms of ants to aid her in fights.

Strengths: summoning jutsu, kenjutsu, taijutsu

Weaknesses: genjutsu, sealing jutsu, chakra, durability

Misuto Nara
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Village: Leaf(former)
History: genin age 11, chunin age 15, joined Circle at age 17.
Height: 5’5”

Appearance: Black hair with a fair complexion, wears a Leaf style ANBU uniform along with just the cowl leaving her face exposed. Wears a lime green sash around her waist and has hazel colored eyes.

Abilities: A master tactician at a very young age combined with skillful use of her clans shadow techniques. Quick on her feet as well and basic knowledge of sealing jutsu. Decent at dispelling genjutsu and also decent in taijutsu. Not greatly skilled with weapons of any kind. Chakra control is quite well but has fairly average chakra amount.

Strengths: Tactics, ninja art, quickness

Weakness: kenjutsu, chakra amount, strength.

Death before Dishonor

Disciple

The harsh bewildering wind and rain crashes against my face as struggled to hold the unconscious body on my left shoulder as I dash fiercely through the night. Out of all the members to choose from to retrieve the initiate, it had to be didn’t it? Must be pay back for failing my mission over in Yu a few months ago, although sprinting with a heavy body through the cruel weather conditions of the Fire Country’s eastern shore is not exactly my cup of tea.

Initiates are rare, and when one is brought to the Circle’s attention it has to be carried out swiftly and with care, so I suppose there was some reasoning in picking me to get the brat. Heck, I don’t even know the kids name yet, not that it really matters. All that matters is I do my job correctly to please the almighty one, for his judgment is pitiless and vindictive.

The rain begins to clear up as I reach my checkpoint so I take a chance to look behind me to see if my pursuers still give chase to their fruitless endeavors. I smirk to myself, as there is nothing in sight behind me but the vast empty shoreline. Silly errand should be over soon enough, and than I can get back to my real work. Not this frivolous chore of a job.

As I drag the limp body over to the extraction point, (a specially marked and sealed tree no less) I can hear faint murmurs coming from the child. She must be waking up, and I hadn’t the decency to tie her up. What a blunder on my part, but then again with several shinobi hot on my heels I couldn’t really afford the luxury.

I watch with mild amusement as the kid slowly wakes up and rolls to a sitting up position and absentmindedly mumbles to herself, “…What happened...”. The girl may be a decent initiate with potential from what the almighty one foretold, but I don’t see anything special. Looks like any run of the mill chunin to my eyes, but I suppose that’s why I’m not in charge after all.

Her eyes slowly flutter open and attentively looked to me with a combination of fear, confusion, anger and disdain. I smirk from underneath my black mask and cowl at her disgust.

“Who are you and where am I!” She screams as she jumps to her feet only to fall down in failure suddenly. Seems the nerve I hit in her sleep is still keeping her body from fully functioning. Seems I didn’t have to tie her up anyways.

“Be quiet whelp, I need to concentrate.” I sternly state as I turn my back to her and faced the encrypted tree to activate the seal once more.

“I want answers!” She screams at the top of her lungs, snapping my concentration in the process. I swiftly turn around and punch the girl square in the face with enough force to break her nose and send her to her back gasping for air.

“ I said be quiet, why can’t you follow simple direction? Consider that a warning.” I say to her, and then I promptly turn back around to finish up decoding the special seal. A minute later I activate the seal and an odd purplish black portal forms from the seal large enough for someone to enter.

I turn to face the girl again and this time I offer to help her up, which she refuses instantly as she again has struggled to sit up and maintain a very pissed look upon her face.

“Why can’t you explain to me what is going on? What do you want with me?” She demands, but has more of a pleading vibe to her tone.

“Soon, but your fate is not mine to decide. The fact that you are missing has little to do with the fact that Sandaime will send a devoted search for your body. You now belong to the Circle; to execute the almighty one’s will.” I solemnly recite to her, and she is speechless with only a look of disgust and shock on her face.

“Now, let’s go. You’re holding us up.” I demand as I offer her my hand to help her up since her body is still in a fragile state.

“Go to hell you lunatic.” She spits back into my face as she scrambles drastically to her feet to escape. Feisty as she may be, it’s putting us behind schedule and making things difficult. I quickly run in behind the girl and grab a hold of her long black hair and drag her over to the portal as she screams in pain and curses me. Now I’m seeing why none of the other members really wanted this job in the first place.

After little struggle I managed to drag her completely into the portal with me, leaving the small shrubbery and shores of eastern Fire Country behind to the hideout. I’ve dragged her into a small dark room lit only by a near by candle. I turned to the wall behind us to see the same intricate seal embedded there.

“I just want to go home.” She whimpers as tears start to form in her eyes as she stares at the floor. How pathetic is this going to get? I can’t believe this is the new initiate, can’t even keep her emotions together. I truly hope this isn’t some big misunderstanding; I did kidnap the correct girl didn’t I? Black hair, fair complexion with mole on her lower left cheek, roughly 5’5’’, wearing standard chunin shinobi gear for a leaf ninja. Fits the description from what I was given, so no mistakes on my end.

As she wallows in her own soils I hear someone else enter the room, dressed similar to me; a simple all black ANBU style get-up with in place of a mask a cowl and partial mask revealing only the eyes, and quite a tall and bulky fellow as well. The key difference is the sash around our waists, both bearing the kanji for “Death” in black letters only his sash is yellow opposed to my red one.

“Get the initiate ready; we’ve waited long enough brother.” He says to me, and I nod as I watch him exit the musty stone room quickly as he entered.

I return my attention to the girl who is now looking up to me very afraid and silently crying, and whispers, “Just tell me something; anything, even if it’s only a name. Please, I’m begging you.”

I exhale and place my hands on my hips in annoyance, but I do sympathize with her a bit so I might as well ease her heart before the ceremony. “Very well. My name is Yurei Uchiha. Welcome to the family.”

Death Before Dishonor

Homecoming

“Yurei Uchiha? I swear I’ve heard you’re name before. Anyways I’m Misuto Nara.” She says with a little bit of her confidence regained, and has managed to stop crying.

“That’s all fine, but I need you to focus. Initiation is not to be taken lightly, and this is your first impression on the Circle. Don’t mess up. Now follow me.” I instruct to Misuto as grab her wrist and lead her out of the room. I can her stammering trying to come up with a rebuttal, but it seems she’s still a bit too shocked to form coherent thoughts. Hopefully that changes in about 2 minutes, for her sake.

As I’m leading her down the old, dark stone corridor I hear her ask to me, “Just why me though?”

“Because you were chosen by the almighty one, the Shinigami, and now you must him for initiation.”

“What? Why are you talking about the god of death like you worship him!” She yelps in surprise. Another mistake I’ve made in telling her about the Shinigami, just my luck. I tighten my grip on her wrist and walk at a quickened pace as I take a sharp left with her and down another pitch black corridor with a sliver of light at the very end.

“I don’t want to do this, let me go!” Misuto shouts as she tries to pry her hand free from my grip but fails, as I continue to begrudgingly drag her to her inevitable fate.

We finally reach the grand dome like room that with a path made out leading to a shrine that resembles a life size statue of the Shinigami that is faintly glowing white. On each side of the path all the members of the Circle have gathered to see the initiation, as is custom for us to usher in our 12th and newest member.

I stop the two of us infront a few feet infront of the large shrine and I whisper into Misuto’s ear, “Go on now, this is what we’re all here for. Just to coax you, if you don’t comply you’re dead on the spot.”

I back away from her and the Circle and I watch her approach the death god statue, and with each step she takes it grows a little brighter and we can all feel the shift in the atmosphere. He will grace her with his presence, and only her.

Misuto finally manages to be in reach of the statue and slowly extends her arm out to touch the statue. All of us are watching in awe and suspense as she is almost touching the statue, and then it happens and the world goes white.

All I’m able to hear is a scream, then it abruptly gets cut off in the bright light and then just as suddenly as the light came it disappears leaving the room dark as it once was only to be lit by near by candles. Misuto is on her knees infront of the statue, but her back is turned to me so I can’t see if she’s still conscious.

I turn to the most elder member of the Circle, Maebure, who wears a black sash with the kanji of death in white lettering unlike the rest of us and I ask, “Shall I take her to a bed?”

“That would be best.” Maebure quietly responds, so I walk over to Misuto and realize she’s not moving. I check her pulse and she is still breathing, so she passed initiation it seems.

I scoop up her body and throw her over my shoulder as I head toward the corridor opposite to the one we entered the shrine room from, to put in a bed in the barracks of the old underground fortress. I look behind me and it seems all the other members have dispersed to continue their duties and other desires, so I continue on through to the barracks with Misuto on my left shoulder.

A relatively peaceful and quiet walk to the barracks without any whining from Misuto is soothing, and with a plethora of empty rooms to choose from I head to the very end of the hall and enter the room on the left. Quickly use a small fire jutsu to light a nearby candle, and I examine the room as I set Misuto down on the old bed. I wipe some of the cobwebs out of the room so it’s a little less ancient looking, and then I leave to go find a blanket. There should be one close in the laundry room.

After about 10 minutes of searching I find a blanket and I head back to the dark barracks to see the far left door is open since I an see the faint candle light seeping into the hallway, so I wonder if Misuto has woken up yet.

I turn into the room to see Misuto is not alone, as Saji, a woman with a rapier in a holster on her left side dressed in just the same as me with a gray sash with that all too familiar word is leaning up against the far wall of the room analyzing Misuto.

“What are you doing here?” I ask as I place the blanket over the still unconscious Misuto.

“Just wanting to meet our newest member, that’s all brother.” Saji responds in a relaxed tone, but my gut tells me of other underlying intentions.

“Don’t you have a mission in Suna that you were supposed to be doing?” I say trying to change the subject from Misuto.

“Ahh, but I gave that contract to Moyasu. He was itching to return to Suna, and I couldn’t deny him that pleasure.” Saji coyly replies with a small smirk on her face I can see through her mask.

“Well no matter, go find something to occupy your time. She’s still in no condition for anything.” I warn to Saji, who removes herself from leaning on the wall and says to me, “ Very well. I wouldn’t want to anger the powerful Black Dragon of the Uchiha now would I?” Her voice dripping with sarcasm as she moves past me and exits the room into the dark foreboding corridor.

I sigh and refuse to let Saji’s remarks get into my head as I shut the door and take a seat up against the old wooden door watching Misuto carefully. I see why now Maebure wanted me to deal with the new member of the Circle, since someone like Saji might try something. Looks like I’ll be on babysitting duty for the next few days to show Misuto the ropes, but I have hope now. She managed to live through initiation so the potential is definitely there, only question will she have the ability to unlock her hidden talents.

Death before Dishonor

Pantheon

I walk back into Misuto’s room after grabbing some bread and water for Misuto, assuming she’ll be hungry when she wakes from her coma like state and myself as well. As I set the food on the old wooden nightstand next to the candle I hear her starting to rustle around. I was starting to think she’d never wake since it has already been just over two days.

After a few minutes of shifting around I hear Misuto groan, “…I had the weirdest dream…”

“It wasn’t a dream girl.” I reply firmly back to her and she sits up as quickly as she can, which isn’t that fast considering her joints and muscles haven’t moved in a couple days.

Once she’s finally facing me with a face stricken with horror Misuto utters, “Wait...all that actually happened? Wha…I thought you we’re going to kill me.”

“Quite the opposite actually. Since you’ve passed initiation I believe its time I give you a formal introduction into your new family. You’re the newest member of the Circle, an ancient order devoted to carrying out the Shinigami’s hungry will, like it or not you are a part of us.”

Still a bit shaken Misuto hastily responds, “And what if I refuse and try to escape or call bullshit, what then?”

I shake my head and sigh and reply, “Look, you don’t have a choice in any of this. You were chosen, as I was too before you. Everyone was chosen. This organization isn’t a voluntary one. You were hand picked by the Shinigami for your talents in assassination and murder, and now that you’ve passed initiation you have a small piece of the Shinigami inside of you.”

Misuto closes her eyes tightly and holds her head in her hands and says, “This is hardly making any sense.”

As I’m starting to get fed up being nice as I possibly can I bluntly reply, “Then let me make it simple. You now work for the Shinigami; your old life is over. You’re new job is to kill designated targets assigned by the Shinigami through our oracle, who is a man named Maebure. And if you resist, you’ll lose your soul to the Shinigami anyways. The initiation wasn’t all just for show, go ahead and pull up your sleeve and bottom of your shirt.”

Misuto glares at me suspiciously and turns around to examine her self in the dim candlelight, and I hear a gasp. Figured its good now to tell her about the curse she now shares with the others and me.

“What the heck is this?!” Misuto yells as she traces 5 long black lines that extend outward from the middle of her stomach to each of her hands and feet, and one line partially up her neck with a large curse seal in the center of her body that is very similar to the reaper death seal.

“It is what binds you to the Shinigami, and if you resist his demands then accept that you’ve given up your soul. Now, it isn’t all bad in perspective. The curse seal grants each person a fragment of the Shinigami’s power, and a bit more innate feeling of bloodlust as well.” I explain to her as best I can.

Misuto cautiously grabs the glass of water near her and inspects it carefully before taking a few sips, and again I have to suppress a smirk from appearing on my face. She’s so rattled that she probably thinks I poisoned her food or something. Hopefully this paranoia isn’t long lasting.

“Now, moving on to another subject. I have to get you geared up and show you how to use our special sealing jutsu used to reach this base through special beacons, as you probably don’t know…these catacombs don’t have a tangible entrance or exit.” I slowly tell the mystified young woman.

“What do mean by that?”

“I mean, that the only access to these catacombs is through a portal jutsu used on certain sealing beacons, like how I dragged you into that portal earlier.”

“Okay I’m getting it. Thanks, I guess.”

“Good, now if you can move you’re going to have to get some new gear. Leaf ninja clothing isn’t our standard, and you’ll have to get rid of your headband too, unfortunately.” I say to her, as she looks a bit depressed about removing the headband that covers her forehead.

I lead her down the dark labyrinth once again and I hear her sheepishly ask, “Can I ask you just two questions?”

“If you so desire.”

“Well, first is why are you helping me, and second is why I can’t I remember anything that happened during the “initiation”?

“Answering your first question is simple. I’ve been assigned to basically show you the ropes so you don’t end up being murdered and a waste of all our time. Your second question is trickier to answer. All of us have had different experiences during the initiation from having lingering nightmares and hallucinations for a bit or not experiencing anything at all besides a long nap like your case. Now, all the initiation really did is open you up to the Shinigami’s influence, and has been known to communicate through dreams, although I can’t speak from experience.” I explain as thoroughly as I possibly can to the stunned young recruit as we take a sharp left turn into the catacomb’s armory.

As I walk over to light a candle Misuto asks me, “How can you walk through these halls without any light and know where you’re going? Its pitch black.”

“I’m an Uchiha, and you’re from the leaf so you must know a little bit about the sharingan and its abilities. Also a bit of memorizations helps too.” I reply as I light the candle and point to a large chest, a line of clothing, and a rack of weapons.

“So what am I getting?”

“Well you’re going to have to pick out a uniform while I fetch your sash, standard Circle attire. After that you may take some basic shinobi weapons and supplies.” I say as I leave the room and shut the door on the way out to retrieve her sash from the shrine room.

After obtaining her sash, a lime green color with the kanji of “death” written upon it I head back to the armory hastily at almost a worried pace. I still don’t trust her for some reason, but then again I don’t trust anybody that I don’t know well.

I re-enter the room slowly and I see Misuto has gotten all geared up, but is talking with another figure quietly near the weapon rack.

The person facing Misuto says to me, “Welcome back Yurei, I was just talking to our new sister. Interesting girl.”

The man turns around and I see it is Takeo Kenko, a former hunter nin for the hidden Mist. He’s not very tall in stature and a bit broad, around his mid-thirties (so about 10 years my senior), with short cropped black hair and a battle tested face. He doesn’t wear the mask and hood like many members do, but still has his dark blue sash for show around his waist.

“That’s fine Takeo; I’m just finishing up here getting ready to take Misuto out to the arena.” I state as I walk over to Misuto and hand her a lime green sash.

“Alright well I’ll be on my way. Think about what I told you Misuto and farewell Uchiha-san.” Takeo says with a small wave as he leaves the armory into the dark with a candle in hand.

I turn to face Misuto and ask her curiously, “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing really special, but he is interesting. Who exactly is he?”

“He’s a former hidden mist shinobi that specializes in silent killing and tracking. He’s very dangerous and doesn’t take prisoners. He’s been in the Circle for almost 20 years, so he’s quite experienced. I believe he joined up around you age.”

“Huh, are all of the members like him? I mean, like specialized murders.”

“In short, yes. Everyone here is a powerful assassin. Now, methods of assassination vary from member to member along with some being quite social with other members of the Circle to a few who only show up to receive contracts and required events. Just be wary of meeting someone for the first time, it’s not safe to just trust someone without reason, even if we’re all essentially on the same “team”. Now, let’s be off to the arena.”

“Arena?” Misuto questions and I respond, “It’s a sparring session just to check I out your skills and teach you the special seal used to transport us in and out of this sanctuary.” I say as I motion with my left hand for her to follow me out of the room.

After a long walk down a few musty corridors and relatively no questions or complaints from Misuto we reach a large underground courtyard lit by torches on the stone walls and I lead her out to the middle of the room. I face Misuto who is just a bit shorter than me and I stare into her eyes with my sharingan and analyze her She’s dressed nearly identical as me with black body, forearm and shin armor with black shirt. Only difference is she opted for only the cowl with no mask and her bright green sash.

“Now we will fight. Fight with the intent to kill me. I’m curious if you are indeed worthy to be here.”

“Alright…how is this goi-ahh!” Misuto yells as I lunge toward her with a straight kick that she jumps backward to avoid. Now I shall see if the Shinigami chose right, for her to be deserving of the cursed blessing.

Death Before Dishonor

Dragon’s Fire

We stare each other down for a brief moment until I form a few quick hand signs and say, “Fire style: Fireball jutsu.” I release a huge fireball towards Misuto who sidesteps it like I assumed, and I use my sharingan to lock her into my genjutsu.

I pause for a second as my genjutsu fails since it’s a clone. I quickly turn around dodge a roundhouse kick to my head from Misuto, who has risen out of my own shadow behind me. Quite crafty indeed, and what I would expect from a Nara.

“Close, but you’re going to have to better than that.” I calmly as I activate my left Mangekyo sharingan and maintain eye contact. My mangekyo spiral is a jagged 2-pronged spiral covering my iris, and I see Misuto immediately look away from me.

“I know how the sharingan works, I won’t look you in the eyes.” Misuto states as her body fades away just as it appeared from the shadow earlier. Too bad she looked into my eyes earlier at the beginning of the battle and is stuck in my Subete no Mirume jutsu (all seeing eye jutsu).

My signature genjutsu doesn’t actually disrupt the targets mind, but once active every time they make eye contact with me after I can read their thoughts, predict future thoughts and figure out most vital information. I know my opponents next move before they even do. The only down side is the jutsu is useless if eye contact cannot be made frequently or constantly.

The same pattern of her attacking from the shadows and me deflecting her attacks continues for a bit until after one of her attacks I catch a glimpse of her eyes. Now she’s done; I just need to time my attack perfectly now.

I wait attentively for her attack that is I’m anticipating from my left side slightly behind me, than I sense her move in and I strike. I turn hastily and grab her by the throat with my right hand. Looks like this is the extent of her skill after all, but than I hear her whisper, “Gotcha.”

Suddenly many black threads sprout from her body and drill their way into my body forcing me to let her drop down. My right mangekyo sharingan comes to as I’m focusing my chakra as I glare at Misuto as she lectures, “That worked well. I assumed their was something up with you’re genjutsu as when I looked at your eyes earlier, when I tried to dispel it in cover I realized you had a complex genjutsu that connected our thoughts. I figured I would wait it out and try using a partial idea. Looks like I win!”

My chakra starts to flare up as I slowly turn my head towards Misuto and stare at her with my fierce eyes and whisper, “It’s far from over.” I use my right sharingan’s Amaterasu aimed at Misuto who jumps out of the way and releases her shadow binding jutsu from my body.

“You shall now see why I’m feared as the black dragon of the Uchiha!” I shout as I form a few hand signs and continue to say, “Wind style: Great rotation!” I start to spin rapidly and use my Amaterasu in conjunction creating a huge fiery circle around the large courtyard burning nearly everything in sight.

I stop my rotation to see the only spot in the room not on fire is the one I’m standing on, as I also hear someone screaming which I identify as Misuto. I use a great chunk of my chakra again to dispel all of my black fire and I see a burnt up body on the other side of the room. I slowly approach the smoky body and identify it as Misuto who has passed out.

I reach down to investigate the damage on her body, and just as I’m about to touch her I feel my body stop. My body has frozen in place and I hear Misuto’s voice coyly say out to me, “That was some firepower…but did you really think you could burn a shadow?”

I smirk to myself and reply, “No I didn’t, but do you really think I’m that blunt?” and I hear a grunt from Misuto than a thud hit the ground as her shadow possession jutsu.

“Yet you didn’t realize I switched myself out with a clone during that fire show. Disappointing.” I lament to Misuto’s unconscious body lying before me as her burnt clone and my clone both dispel. She did put on a good showing, not bad for a rookie at all. She’ll fit in just fine around here.

“Way to burn everything to a crisp Yurei. I was wanting to meet the new member, but it seems there a bit incapacitated at the moment.” I hear a hoarse voice sarcastically say to me.

I turn around to see a slender hooded and masked man with a brown sash around his waist approaching me. Fukuro Zuruga is a ex-jounin from the hidden sand that is roughly 50 years of age that specializes in long range weaponry and wind style jutsu: deadliest man with a bow and arrow all across the land and when combined with his wind style and pinpoint accuracy, he’s nearly untouchable at long range.

“Sorry but you’ll have to wait a bit. What’s the real reason you’re here?”

“Bah, don’t believe I’m here simply because I want to be? Well, you’re right. I have a big joint mission that is going to require four members, and you two are in on it per request.”

“What’s the details and who’s all in on it besides us two.” I inquire curiously.

Fukuro takes out a scroll and reads off, “ Ahh, here we go: mission assigned to: Yurei Uchiha, Fukuro Zuruga, Misuto Nara and Tsukiko Akumu. Details are we will be tracking down the hidden Key’s base of operations and eliminate all elders, leaders, and heirs to their government and anyone who gets in our way. We’re talking around 20-30 people approximately. Should be quite fun.”

“Hmmm, and Tsukiko is on this mission? Sounds like one deadly squad we have ourselves. They don’t stand a chance.” I remark happily. Tsukiko is an average height kuniochi formerly of the hidden rain that wears an orange sash, hood and mask, and a large long bladed scythe strapped onto her back. A fierce close combat assailant that has earned her the nickname of “The Butcher” for her gruesome style.

“Yes, well we will meet at the transport seal tomorrow in about 12 hours. Make sure both of you are there. The Shinigami is not patient and desires bloodshed.” Fukuro states in his cold hoarse voice as he leaves the courtyard as quietly as he entered.

I return my attention to Misuto and scoop up her limp body and throw her over my shoulder. As I turn around my body tenses up and I activate my sharingan as I see another dark figure waiting behind me. The figure steps out of the shadows to reveal Kuzuri Yoborin, and mysterious man that bears a maroon sash that wears no forearm protectors on his bear forearms, a mouth respirator replacing his mask, and blacked out goggles covering his eyes creating a foreboding effect.

“…. That’s hardly a way to greet someone.” Kuzuri says through his respirator mechanically without any emotion.

“It’s not exactly smart to sneak up on professional murders.” I arrogantly reply as I frown at the robotic like man.

“I wasn’t completely…. sure of how to approach the situation….I hope you under stand.” Kuzuri replies to me with breathing pauses audible from his respirator. A very strange man indeed from Kirigakure, but a killing machine in an ironic sense. The man is practically invisible when he wants to be and most people he kills don’t even realize they’ve died, just since he’s so stealthy at cloaking his chakra signature, eliminating any sound he makes, and his masterful use of the body flicker jutsu make a deadly combination.

“Just try not to sneak up on me like that. Take care, Misuto will be awake soon enough and probably happy to meet you with the rest of the members.” I explain to the mechanical man.

“I see….goodbye than Yurei.” Kuzuri says in his usual mechanical monotone, and than vanishes via his body flicker jutsu. I don’t really care for Kuzuri, but their isn’t wrong with being part machine. To my understanding he has many battle wounds covering his body and he has mechanical parts all through his body, and by this point is more machine than human, but I won’t ever know for sure most likely.

As I walk back with Misuto on my shoulder I can feel the fatigue in my body from using my mangekyo sharingan a bit too much in that spar with Misuto, which is just an indicator that I need to slow down on using my sharingan so I don’t go blind. At least Misuto’s first mission is a joint mission she’ll learn from experience with back-up if she does manage to mess-up.

Death Before Dishonor

Darkness

Misuto wakes up a few hours after our slightly feisty spar and she asks me, “What happened? Was I out?”

“Yes, a little longer than I would have liked, about 8 hours. You’re quite skilled for being so young. In no time you’ll be even more of a force. Now we have a joint mission. You’ll meet the other two soon enough. Wake up first and we’ll head to the rendezvous point.” I instruct as Misuto starts to stretch her arms as she slowly rises out of the bed.

After about five minutes of Misuto waking her body I motion for her to follow. Figure we should go to the mess hall and get some decent food before heading out. As we’re walking down the dark corridors Misuto asks to me, “So who are the other two people on the mission, and what is it exactly?”

“You’ll meet them soon enough, and they’ll be happy to introduce themselves. As for the mission it’s a mass homicide mission, these usually don’t come around too often. Basically its 4 noble families of the Land of Key that we’ll be killing in one big sweep.” I reply sternly back to her as we take a sharp left turn.

“What’s the meaning behind the mission?” Misuto innocently replies, as I quickly suppress a small laugh.

“The reason is the Shinigami wills it, and it must be done. We have no choice as being part of the Circle. It’s a draw back of having to serve the Shinigami; we just obey orders.” I reply with a bit of disdain in my last words. I’m not a fan of being left in the dark either, but there’s no choice in any of it.

“Really? Seems really odd to just serve as a puppet.”

“It is, but like all things you get used to it after awhile. Unfortunately.”

Misuto is about to ask another question to me when I swiftly take us into a room with a huge table and kitchen in the back dimly lit by candle, and one person appears to be eating some food near the far end of the table.

“ Wow, so this is where everyone eats?” Misuto exclaims as she looks around, and I reply, “ Yes, but we don’t eat together like some weird family. Everyone comes and goes as they wish in here, although sometimes we’ll hold meetings in here at this table.”

We walk to the end of the room and I look over at the person eating, which from their green sash I can tell its Torvald Shiza, the master of disguise. A very soft spoken person who never really interacts with anyone while simply carrying out his missions. Not a very expressive person either, but when you’re busy being someone else all the time I suppose it sucks the life out of you a bit.

“Hello Torvald, how was you’re last mission?” I ask Torvald as I also point Misuto to the small candle lit kitchen area to make herself something.

“Not much to say. Killed the Water Country Daimyo’s brother. No witnesses.” Torvald monotonously replies as he continues to eat his rice.

“How’d you do it?” I inquire curiously.

He sets his chopsticks down and exhales audibly, re-adjusts his mask and cowl and looks at me and says, “Poison. I impersonated a simple servant at the daimyo’s mansion for a couple weeks, than one dinner I snuck into the kitchen as the chef when he left for break, and I spiked the brother’s tea with a deadly poison. I changed back into the servant and watched them convict the chef of assassination. Quite the show if I do say so myself.”

“Wow, that’s very elaborate and smart.”

“Don’t praise me Yurei, I know when you bullshit me. Being other people is the only thing I have that I live for, which is quite sad in my opinion. Now, leave me be I want to finish my meal. Also tell Kuzuri to stop trying to talk to me if you see him. I want nothing to do with that twisted piece of metal; he’s less of a human than me.”

“Very well, good hunting to you brother.” I say to Torvald he nods to me accordingly.

I look over to the kitchen to see Misuto had finished scavenging up some rice and water and is coming over to sit across from Torvald to eat; maybe not the best choice. I walk around the end table and take the seat adjacent to her.

“So, who are you?” Misuto asks Torvald who just grunts in response and continues eating his food, which Misuto returns a confused look and asks me, “Did I already piss the guy off?”

“No, he just doesn’t talk too many people period. You’re new and he doesn’t trust you, that’s all.” I respond to ease Misuto who just nods and begins to eat her rice. I think to myself about how the mission will go down, it’s just very odd that four people have been ordered to one mission as basic as this. The last contract of this size was a demolition mission of a village about 4 years ago, but that was killing hundreds, not a mere 20-30 people. My gut tells me something is up, but I can’t disobey orders of any magnitude, for their must be some reasoning to the Shinigami’s will.

After Misuto’s meal we leave to the portal to meet up with Tsukiko and Fukuro for the mission. The Land of Key is near impossible to find if you’ve never seen it, and the reality is it’s a small village hidden in the mountains far to west between Wind Country and Earth Country. It’s highly secretive in all its operations as the country itself is allied with nobody and completely neutral. The shinobi from their specialize in espionage and information gathering, so their very secretive by nature.

Misuto and I arrive at the portal and I see Fukuro and Tsukiko are already here, Tsukiko has her giant scythe strapped to her back and Fukuro is armed with his bow as well. I approach them without saying any words with Misuto behind me and Fukuro motions over to the portal and activates the seal, teleporting us to the southwest reaches of Earth Country.

After a brief lapse the four of us are standing outside in a large stone trench that must be a good 70 meters deep. The sun is not directly overhead so for now from our current location it’s either sunrise or sunset.

“So, how long til we reach the land of Key, Fukuro? You’re the only one who’s actually been there out of all of us.” Tsukiko boredly asks as she stretches out her legs a bit.

“Patience Tsukiko. It’s a 2 day journey from here if I remember correctly. Now, we must get out of this crevice and to high ground to get a better visual.” Fukuro responds as he leads the three of us up and out of the small canyon by scaling the wall by putting chakra into our feet.

We reach the top of the trench to see a many mountains surrounding us with limited vegetation. Every direction looks vaguely the same, and I’ve never been in Earth Country much we’ll all have to rely on Fukuro’s expertise a bit.

“Looks like sunset from the position of the sun.” I muse out loud as I stare at the sky.

“Then I guess we setup camp. No Iwa shinobi should be around for several miles since this is all barren wastelands and mountains. Yurei, go start us a fire since you use fire style.” Fukuro orders as I nod in compliance and head off to find some suitable wood, as Misuto begins to talk with both of them.

I come back to the area to see a fire pit has been made, so I bring out a scroll and unseal it letting several logs of would burst out. I carefully place a few in the pit and use a simple fire jutsu to light them ablaze.

“Yurei, sit down. We have quite the interesting young recruit.” Fukuro says as he points to a nearby spot for me to sit down.

“I’d agree. Reminds myself a little bit of me when I joined.” Tsukiko remarks as she reaches for her canteen.

“Well, it’s just I’m trying to get used to it all. And you too have some very interesting backgrounds. I would have never guessed there would be an organization of assassins that work together for a death god. Speaking of which, what keeps you all from killing eachother if you disagree?” Misuto quickly asks after softly speaking. She may be young, but being from the Nara clan she has some of the quickest wit I’ve ever come across.

“Good question. It’s all relative to our curse mark that we all possess on our bodies that we receive during our initiation. At any point the Shinigami can control our bodies to an extent and even kill us for disobedience; through the Oracle of course, which would be Maebure. He is our leader, but there is more to it than that. He is the living conduit for the Shinigami to cross onto the mortal plan from the spirit world. If he were dead than the curse would fade until a new conduit is chosen, which can be done by wearing the Mask of Death. That’s a sacred artifact of the Shinigami, there a three in total I do believe.” Fukuro explains while unstrapping his bow from his body and getting more comfortable on the hard ground that’s around the fire.

“How come you know all of this?” Misuto questions and Tsukiko adds on, “Yeah…I didn’t even know all that either.” And to be quite honest I was unaware that Maebure had that much power, and that there are more than one artifacts of the Shinigami.

“I was once a candidate to become the leader of the Circle years ago when Maebure and I were simply equals. Maebure has always been more devoted to the Shinigami’s worship than I and is my elder so he naturally won favor over me and the other candidate, not that I really cared. Maebure was the one who really wanted it anyways.” Fukuro elaborates and we all nod in understanding.

“Our last leader, Yoshi, at one point almost had all three artifacts at one point. He died trying to retrieve the last one, the Reaper’s Cloak. The Masque of Death is always a possession of the Circle’s leader, and he found the Dagger of Banishment in an old tomb, which kills any opponent by a single touch of the blade and sends their soul straight to the stomach of the Shinigami.” Fukuro finishes as he takes out his flask and serves himself to a hearty drink of sake.

“Dangerous tools like that are locked away for a reason. Any know how where the dagger is now?” I ask Fukuro and he shrugs his shoulders.

“Unsure. When we found his body he only had the masque on him, meaning who or whatever killed him took the Dagger of Banishment as well.” Fukuro says as he takes another swig from his flask.

“So what happens if someone gets all three of the artifacts and what’s the cloak do?” Misuto asks Fukuro who replies, “Well…as legend says if I remember correctly the Reaper’s Cloak allows the wearer to be completely invisible and undetectable to any opponent. When all three artifacts are joined, the user is the “Master of Death” is how I think the old stone tablet put it.”

“That sounds intriguing. No wonder someone would try and devote their life to that kind of mystery and power.” Tsukiko muses as she looks up at the dark sky and thinks to herself.

“Very intriguing indeed. What’s stopped you from going after it if you have so much knowledge of it?” I ask Fukuro who groans as he seals the cap on his flask.

“My whole life has been devoted to serving someone else, whether it is the Kazekage or the Circle. I’ve never been a leader and I don’t need cheap tricks for an old dog like me to kill someone.” Fukuro responds he lies down on his back with his eyes looking at the stars.

“I’ll take first watch tonight. Let’s do this contract right and be on the move early.” I declare as I stand up and get a grunt from Fukuro, a nod and hand wave from Tsukiko, and Misuto says, “Sure Yurei.” In response. For a bunch of murderers and assassins we can be almost seemingly normal shinobi at times, kinda like these.

Death Before Dishonor

Only The Strong Survive

After some quite boring traveling under Fukuro, the palace estate is within our sight and our timing couldn’t be any better. It’s the late afternoon within the mountains and the meeting between all the important officials of the Land of Key is meeting up here tonight. The goal? Kill ‘em all.

“That’s the place I reckon. By looking at the sun, almost everyone important should have arrived or is just about to.” Fukuro states as he takes a seat on ground to take a quick break.

Tsukiko removes her scythe from her back and gives it a few practice swings as Misuto asks, “So what’s our plan of action?”

“Glad you brought that up, I was just about to ask the same thing.” Fukuro says as he looks longingly at the distant estate.

“We could charge in by force with 3 of us and have one maintain the perimeter to ensure nobody escapes.” I offer and Tsukiko and Fukuro nod approvingly as Misuto tilts her head in thought.

“Okay, but who would keep the perimeter? We need someone quite fast.” Misuto says as Fukuro stands up and chuckles.

“No worries kid, no shinobi alive can outrun an arrow from me. I’ll maintain the perimeter from a place up high and pick off any stragglers that try to escape while you 3 cause some mayhem.” Fukuro says as he takes his bow off his back. With Fukuro covering us they wont even know what hit them.

“Okay, but where’s you’re arrows?” Misuto asks and this time Tsukiko cuts off Fukuro and responds, “His arrows are made of pure chakra. Essentially he wont run out as long as he manages his chakra well enough. Now lets kill some people!” Tsukiko them takes off running with her scythe held low and I quickly follow with Misuto in tow.

A couple minutes later we reach the edges of the estate and notice there are a few shinobi scattered around for surveillance. After all their most important officials are here, but the Key shinobi are a bit arrogant in thinking nobody knows where they are so security isn’t too terribly high.

“Tsukiko, think you can give us a distraction while me and Yurei sneak inside?” Misuto asks Tsukiko and she gives off a deviant grin full of malice and leaps into action. Guess that’s our cue.

We head down the opposite border of the estate as Tsukiko and not before long I can sense chakra spiking up all over the place. I motion to Misuto now’s our time to move and we stealthily move over the gated wall and into the courtyard, and nobody is around. Tsukiko does one hell of a job being a distraction. We both move silently and quickly into the house and I motion for us to split up.

With Tsukiko out there its only a matter of time before everyone here high tails it, so we need to be fast. As I’m running down the south hall I hear footsteps around the corner so I skid to a stop and leap around the corner using my fireball jutsu that engulfs the entire hallway, leaving only burnt corpses in its wake. By the looks of their clothing it was 2 shinobi and 3 officials.

I continue to race down hallways of the large mansion until I take a left and spot 5 key shinobi and a very well dressed man in the middle. The feudal lord of the Land of Key. Time to finish this.

“Guards! Kill that man!” The feudal lords shouts as his shinobi throw all types of weaponry at me and charge me. I smirk a little bit as I activate my mangekyo sharingan and return fire with my Amaterasu, which destroys all the weapons and shinobi, leaving me and the feudal lord.

I leap across the black fire that is starting to ravage the hallway, and run around the lord to cut off his exit, leaving the only thing behind him a wall way burning in black fire.

“Please, take what you want and just leave me be.” The man sobs as he falls to his knees.

“The Shinigami desires you’re soul, and I intend to take it!” I say to the man as I make a few quick hand signs for a special sealing jutsu, the reaper death seal. The one perk about being a servant of the Shinigami is since you’re soul is already indebted to him any member can use this jutsu without the fear of dying at the Shinigami’s hands.

A few moment later the dead is done and the lord just a lifeless corpse on the ground and I head for an exit. My Amaterasu will soon consume the entire estate so its time get out. After dashing down a few halls I see a window and I jump through it, luckily it was open and I’m not full of glass shards. I look around and nobody seems to be in the courtyard so I head towards the point over in the hills that all four of us we’re at before we set off to the estate.

A couple minutes of running through a few twisting and mountain crag I reach the point where I see Misuto and Tsukiko have both beaten me, Misuto looking a little exhausted and Tsukiko completely covered in blood and sharpening her scythe looking quite satisfied.

“Well that was fun. I thought I would have a challenge but I felt like a damn lumberjack at the speed they were falling down.” Tsukiko muses and Misuto rolls her eyes at her.

“Where’s Fukuro?” I ask just as I see Fukuro arrive around the corner and I respond, “Never mind.”

“Good show. Only 2 tried to escape from the estate and they were dead before they hit the ground. Let’s get back to base and tell Maebure the good news. I’m not quite fond of the middle of nowhere.” Fukuro states as he sheathes his bow. We all nod and begin to walk back the way we came. And just under 15 minutes a whole country has been thrown into turmoil because of four elite assassins. That’s the kind of power the Circle possesses under the will of the Shinigami.

The trip back was quite an eventful 2 days of travel, but on the third day I woke up to something very strange. Fukuro was freaking out a ranting on like a madman, which is very unlike his calm behavior.

I get up and run over to him and hold him still for a second as Tsukiko wakes up and shouts, “What the fuck are you doing you crazy old man!?”

“S-s-something is horribly wrong! Wrong!” Fukuro shouts again over and over until he freezes still and I look to my left to see Misuto has put him in one of her shadow hold techniques so I let go of him.

“Can somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?” Tsukiko yells at the top of her lungs with her scythe in hand as I scratch my head and try to piece things together, when I glance at my inner forearm and I don’t see the black tattoo of the Shinigami’s mark on my arm. I take off my bracer as Misuto and Tsukiko talk back and forth, until Misuto looks over to me and hesitantly asks, “ Umm…Yurei why are you taking you’re clothes off?”

“To clarify something.” I briefly reply as I take my undershirt off and inspect my body. Nothing. Nothing at all is on my body. The seal that binds us to the Shinigami is suddenly gone?

“What the? Where’s your seal?” Tsukiko stammers as she drops her scythe to inspect herself and comes to the same conclusion as me. “No seal on me either….release the old man and have him explain. He must know.” Misuto nods as she undoes her jutsu as Fukuro falls down onto his hands and knees to catch his breath.

“This is what I was talking about! Something is horribly wrong!” Fukuro shouts as I calmly ask him, “Explain. My patience is wearing thin Fukuro.”

Fukuro takes a step back and shakes his head a few times before his eyes widen and responds, “This can only mean one thing! The conduit is destroyed! We are no longer physically bound to the Shinigami!”

“Okay, and what’s the conduit exactly?” I ask and Fukuro furrows his brow and goes back into deep thought before cautiously replying, “The conduit is Maebure…. which must mean he is dead. But how? The seal on us prevent members from killing one another, and nobody else knows how to get into the sanctuary, which he never leaves. A perplexing problem indeed….”

“Then we must get back immediately to figure this out.” I state as I put my clothing back on and we all hurry towards the teleportation seal. Something is seriously off, and the repercussions are going to be huge having a bunch of S class criminals with no objective. Its pure chaos about to unfold.

Only an hour later we arrived at the seal and I activated it immediately to send the four of us to the sanctuary. We arrive at the portal and I almost yell in shock to see Usagi Kita nailed to the ceiling above us with kunai and the four of us standing in her entrails that scatter the floor as her stomach and chest cavity have been wrecked.

“Something is definitely up.” Tsukiko whispers as I take an unlit torch up off the ground and light it with a small fire jutsu.

“I say we stick together for now and head to the main hall where Maebure usually is. Maybe we can find some clues.” Fukuro states as I hand him my torch and let him take point.

We carefully navigate the dark mysterious corridors ready for anything or anyone to jump out until we reach the ceremony room to see it still dimly lit by some torches. I activate my sharingan to inspect the area further and I see a body on the ground just behind the shrine. I walk over to the shrine carefully to see the ravaged body of what appears to be Maebure, or whatever is left of him since he has so many wounds its impossible to tell what multitude of weapons and/or jutsu caused this.

“Well Maebure is definitely dead. Anything over by you guys?” I ask out to them and across the room Fukuro responds, “Well we found what seems to be Isamo’s body missing a head-“which Tsukiko interrupts and says, “Found it.” As she holds up Isamo’s decapitated head a few meters across from Fukuro.

“This is deeper than we’re realizing. Only someone in the Circle has access to the sanctuary and to kill the leader and his heir apparent speaks volumes of their power. So far we have 3 confirmed dead in Maebure, Isamo and Kita. The 4 of us are not the killers since we were away, leaving 7 other members of the Circle to account for. Whoever the killer is may return and might still be here.” Fukuro states as he continues to examine Maebure’s body.

“I’m with ya, since we’re no longer bound to the Shinigami I’m leaving.” Tsukiko happily states as she starts to walk out of the room until she looks up at the ceiling and stops and slowly says, “Hey, everybody look up….”

We all turn our head up to see a message written in blood upon the ceiling reading, “The hunters now become the hunted.” Such an ominous message, but which means whoever killed Maebure is out to kill everyone in the Circle. And with the 7 people it could be, we have all been thrown into the most dangerous game of cat and mouse.

“We all need to leave, but I suggest we keep some form of contact.” I suggest which seems to be shrugged off by Tsukiko, but Fukuro and Misuto nod in agreement.

“Agreed. Whoever the killer is will show up eventually, so I think strength in numbers will be our best bet.” Misuto adds to which Tsukiko replies, “So, you suggest we go into hiding and wait for the freak? Sorry girlie, but I’ve been sick of serving the Shinigami so I’m going to go live a little before I get my life back.”

After that last comment we all head to the portal to leave the sanctuary and head our separate ways, Tsukiko on her own and Fukuro, Misuto and I own our path. The three of us appear somewhere in River country it seems from the surroundings and we walk for a bit to setup a place to rest.

We all sit down and Fukuro removes his sash from his waist and says, “We won’t need these anymore I suppose.”

“I guess you’re right.” I reply as Misuto and I remove our own, which is so weird to me after that being the insignia I’ve grown used to.

Misuto puts her sash in her pocket and speaks up, “So we’re free, but we are all some sort of criminal on the outside correct? So we can’t ask any other shinobi or group for help since nobody will care. Our best chance is to find the other members of the Circle before the killer.”

“Indeed, and something else I noticed when inspecting Maebure’s body, his artifact is gone. I believe whoever is the killer is aiming to be the new idol of death by getting all 3 artifacts. This is very dangerous, and killing him before he/she gets the artifacts is paramount, because if we don’t there is zero chance we kill ‘em.” Fukuro explains as he asses his current equipment on hand.

“That’s all good and fine, but where do we start?” I ask and Fukuro just gives out a sigh of defeat. Looks like this is going to be a very difficult task to even begin, let alone carry out.

“So, let’s just go over who is still out there in the Circle and what we know about them, and where they could be?” Misuto suggests to us, and Fukuro closes his eyes to think.

“Well, the other members that could potentially be the killer include, Saji Odoru, Moyasu Hokori, Kuzuri Yobirin, Rika Yokubo, Fauru Uzumaki, Torvald Shizen, and Takeo Kenko. Torvald will be impossible to find due to his transformation techniques, so let’s put him aside. This gives us 6 to work with, now we just pick one.” Fukuro says as he scribbles in the ground with a stick to give a rough diagram.

“Fine, let’s go after Saji Odoru. Never really liked her. If I had to guess, she’s made contact with some of her old mercenary friends to probably get some money, or trying to hunt us down.” I offer and both of them seem content with the choice.

“Great, so where do we go now?” Misuto asks and I reply, “She’s from Iron Country, so that’s our best bet at meeting one of her contacts. Let’s get a move on soon, this is our new mission.”